Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2818: Beyond the Scale: Rethinking Metrics for Fitness Success

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

Why Daily Weigh-Ins Sabotage Progress + Drop Sets, VO2 Max, and Blue Collar Training . The hosts argue that frequent scale weigh-ins often sabotage progress because most people misinterpret weight fluctuations and let the number dictate mood, sharing client stories where the scale undermined visible body-composition improvements and reinforced unhealthy behavior. They discuss better metrics like performance, strength, sleep, and energy, and note how water retention, inflammation, and creatine can skew the scale and mirror. They also touch on "therians," rising California gas prices, mileage-tax proposals, and Tesla robo-taxi income ideas, plus peptide-market news and Vita Bella's membership model. Listener Q&A covers training and nutrition for blue-collar workers, why drop sets are rarely emphasized, maintaining strength while improving endurance/VO2 max, and front squat form to reduce biceps strain.   The Spring Bundle: Symmetry ($187), Prime ($107), Advanced Training Techniques Guide ($47) all for $147 (over 50% off) mapsmarch.com    This episode is brought to you by Caldera + Lab calderalab.com/mindpump Code MINDPUMP20 for 20% off your first order their best products.   This episode is also brought to you by Dose dosedaily.co/MINDPUMP Discount code "MINDPUMP" for 25% off your first month of subscription.   LMNT is an electrolyte drink perfect for replenishing after a hard workout or just to stay hydrated daily ! Try it out for yourself. http://drinklmnt.com/MindPump "Get a free Sample Pack of LMNT's most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase!   00:00 Mind Pump Intro  00:40 Sponsors And Deals 02:06 Scale Obsession Trap 04:49 Client Stories And Lessons 09:04 Better Progress Metrics 16:37 Mirror And Inflammation 20:18 Creatine Water Weight Myth 21:32 Dose Liver Support Explained 24:32 Therians And Identity Talk 33:23 Disconnecting From The Noise 35:45 California Gas Price Spike 36:28 Gas Taxes Explained 37:58 Mileage Tax Debate 39:28 Horses and Classic Cars 40:37 Gas Nostalgia and Storage 42:01 Tesla Robotaxi Side Hustle 45:31 Skincare Stack Breakdown 47:51 Hats Hair and Collab Lessons 52:33 Peptide Market Shakeup 56:33 Blue Collar Training Nutrition 59:57 Drop Sets Reality Check 01:02:54 Endurance Without Losing Strength 01:05:29 Front Squat Arm Pain Fix  

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 in the history of the entire universe. That's right. This is Mind Pump. In today's episode, we answered questions that were written into Instagram or Instagram pages Mind Pump Media. We picked four and we answered them, but this was after the intro.

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Enjoy the rest of the show. Do you weigh yourself often? Congratulations. You're totally sabotaging yourself. Ooh. That's a bold statement right there. Sabotage. Yeah, you know, it depends, right?

It depends on who we're talking about because I weigh myself, right? Am I sabotaging myself right now because I'm weighing myself? Or is it most people that do that end up sabotaging themselves? I'd say, there's a self-selection bias. If you weigh yourself daily, you're probably the one that's sabotaging yourself. If you're constantly checking the scale, every day. If you're obsessed with the scale for sure. That's right.

Even if you're not right, what do you think are the percentage of people that can read that data, as simple as we make it sound? and interpret it correctly. That's what makes a really good argument, or to your point, is that maybe you're not even obsessed, Justin, with the scale, but you regularly weigh yourself. You have to ask yourself, are you even informed enough or understand what you're actually reading?

Dessern, like, what kind of muscle, like ratio versus fat, like you consist of... Versus water versus water. Right, right. Yeah. I would even reward it like this. I'd say, does what the scale say dictate your mood and how you feel for the rest of the day? Yeah. Well, that to me is, whether you're winning or losing. That to me is a clear indicator that you're not qualified to interpret that data.

That's right. Because it shouldn't like, again, I weigh myself daily. It's feedback. And it's like, oh, interesting. This might be going on. And then I also won't wear. But it doesn't make me go like, oh, my God, I'm so sad. Like, oh, I'm going the wrong way.

Freak out. Like, it's just like, oh, interesting. This could be going on. This might be like, it's a lot. So, uh, I bet you're right. I bet, uh, a large percentage of people that do use the scale and get on it. What it says and, and this is a great exercise for anybody who's listening right now who just may disagree with this, your statement is pretend it's 10 pounds up or 10 pounds down.

Does that change your emotional state? And if it would. We're not even telling you what. that 10 pounds. That's right. That's what I'm saying. Just 10 pounds up, say, pretend you got on there today, and it was 10 pounds higher than you expected or 10 pounds less than you expected. And does that change your emotional state? And if the answer, if you can be honest with yourself and you would say, oh my God, yeah, that would make me either really happy or yeah, that would make me really frustrated, then that says you probably shouldn't be doing it. I have two great stories around this. And then I'll and then I'll talk. about myself because this is, you know, this is, was a constant struggle for me and it can still be even now so many years later. But I remember the first time this really struck me, I was a relatively new trainer. And I had this woman that I trained. And at this point, I had become privy to the fact that frequent weighing would often get in the way. Okay. And what I mean by that

is like if I had a client and we're building muscle and this person's interested in losing weight or body fat, you know, God forbid the scale go up a pound. Like it was just so hard. You'd have to deal with that with the client. There's lots of conversations and talking around it, essentially talking them off the ledge type of deal. So I had this, at this point, I had kind of seen this. And I had this woman, she wanted to lose weight. I don't remember how much it was.

I was like probably 15 pounds, something like that. And I had convinced her to not weigh herself. We have this big conversation. She's like, okay, I won't do it. So I'm training her, and she's getting stronger. And she's getting visibly leaner. What I mean by that is like, there was more definition, more definition of arms. Her lower body was shaping.

And then she was coming to me and she was telling me all the compliments and comments she was getting from work and from her husband. So she'd come in. And so this was over like a three-month peer or something. She'd come in and be like, oh, another person I haven't seen it a long time, came up to me and said, oh my God, you've lost so much weight. She's like, this is like the third person. People come up to her and say, oh, my God, how much weight have you lost?

And she'd say, well, I don't know. I'm not allowed to weigh myself type of deal. Yeah. And so this just kept happening. Her husband was like, oh, my God, you look amazing. He looks so good. This people worker, you know, coworkers would compliment on how much weight she was losing. Meanwhile, she's getting stronger and I'm seeing more definition.

Well, anyway, we finally hop on the scale a few months later. And the scale had barely budged. I think it went down like a pound or two. She was devastated. Totally devastated. Crushed. This isn't working. Yeah.

This is the abandoned ship. Yes. And I remember, we had to sit down. I went, I remember I sat down with her. I said, your strength went up, you know, 30 pounds here, 15 pounds there. Everybody's not saying to you, you look different. They're saying to you, oh, my God, how did you lose so much weight? Your husband's saying it.

You've been commenting on this. I see, do realize you've lost body fat and fat. built muscle, which means you're smaller and more defined. But at that point, it had crushed her. And there was like this long period after that. That number just really got. I had to rebuild trust. I had to like rebuild her trust in the process because of that.

And then on the other hand, I have another story of a client who had gotten really sick. They got really sick and came in after a while. Like they got really sick. Came in. And I remember they came in. They were depleted. You could tell they were really sick. They probably, they lost.

muscle. It was like one of those illnesses where it was like, you know, throwing up the whole deal. Yeah. And then fever. Okay. She came in, gets on the scale and she's like, oh, well, at least I lost 10 pounds. This is great. And like she was happy about it, even though like you obviously just got over a major illness. It was like four weeks long. And so these are great examples of how this could really mess you up. And if you're the kind of person that weighs yourself daily, this is dictating your joy. and it's also dictating what you do in the gym and with your diet to the point where it's moving you in the wrong direction. Now I'll speak to myself. As a kid, I just want to get big.

And that could still struggle with this as a grown man. But definitely as a kid. As a kid, it was like the scale was everything. If I went up, I don't care what I gain. I just want to gain weight on the scale. And I would actually veer towards inflammatory foods because they'd make me hold water. Like pizza was great because. I'd gain a few pounds on the scale.

And I'd never weigh myself in the morning, because I knew I'd be heaviest at night. And I'd weigh myself after a heavy meal. God forbid, I weigh myself before I ate. Even though I know logically that was like dumb, it was totally moving me in this terrible direction. So if you're looking at the scale constantly and weighing yourself daily,

you're sabotaging yourself. There are far better metrics to measure, like strength, energy, your overall performance and fitness. your digestion, your sleep, you could use body fat tests, even though, but those can get also carried away, but that's a better measurement. The scale just tells you total mass, tells you nothing about body composition. It doesn't say water retention or not or dehydrate or not. It's just the, it literally is just a number, everybody, without any further investigation

or understanding, I think weighing yourself daily for most people, you're totally sabotaging yourself. It's funny because most people it's for a look anyways. And like, so your point earlier of like, everybody's giving positive feedback, you know, and receiving that. And, you know, to be hung up on just the number of the scale, like this is, I've had many clients that that was the main determiner. And they come in and they just had to lose the weight, you know. And to lose the weight and by any means necessary, feel fatigued, you know, but they're still

happy about it because they got to that result. It doesn't make any sense to me. I mean, of all three of us, I'm for sure the guy that probably tracks these types of metrics the most and more regularly than everybody, right? Everything from the scale to Dexa scans to my or. Well, the competitor, this was your game. Right, right. And even before that, I've always been fascinated with that data. I still love that data.

Like right now, I'm tracking sleep a lot. Like, I pay attention all stuff. But I think the problem with the scale is, in its simplicity that we make it seem so simple yet it's probably one of the more sophisticated pieces of data that you could get

meaning like how difficult it is to interpret what it's giving you like it's not like body fat test is actually really clear what moved it like if you go take a body fat test say you've been following a plan for two months you get a body fat test

there's your body composition yeah it's pretty clear there's still cases where that can definitely mislead you. An example I gave was recently with what we had been going through with Corinne. It didn't give a great result back for us, but it's still the direction I want to go and I want to take her. And so some people can misinterpret even that. But for the most part, it's a pretty good indicator and it's pretty clear, right? Like, oh, look, I gain fat.

I lost fat. I gained muscle. That's right. I'm moving in the right direction or not moving at all, whatever the case may be. but the scale is actually much harder to interpret. Very, very difficult. I mean, even for somebody who's been doing this for a very long time and is tracking all these other metrics,

I mean, I'll get on the scale and I'll still go, hmm, it's not like, oh, I definitely this is happening. I'm going, okay, this, I'm recounting, well, I've been doing this, I've been doing that. Hmm, this could be going on right now. This could be, like, I even question that. And yet we, so many people take that data and go, oh and they right away go to a conclusion it's like that's crazy like as much as i track and as

much as i'm really good at all these things when i look at the scale weight of all the things that i track it's the least clear answer for me it's i i still go like hmm it could be these things i might be do this maybe i'll try this one variable like i definitely do not allow it to go like oh no i'm off the rails or oh no this is or yeah this is perfect it's like that's so vague of all the metrics that we can use you know it's why The most vague. You know, it's wild about metrics. Very subjective.

And I know this is true for you guys. I guarantee it's true for most really experienced trainers, except for the context of, let's say, where you're training competitors, right? These are people who are getting on stage and that's different. But the average person, early days trainer or early days trainer me, I used to do body fat tests and scale measurements relatively frequently my clients. And I test body often. Every two weeks, probably.

Often. Every two weeks, I'm testing, I'm testing a body. composition. I'm looking at their body fat percentage, gain muscle, lose muscle, gain body fat, lose body fat. Later version of myself, I almost did no metrics ever. And I bet you that's true for you guys. Well, yeah, remember I admitted I failed Corinne on this journey that we just went on. And we waited still six to eight weeks. I can't remember what it was between tests. And it was still too early. Yeah. You know, because I know, I know we're on the right path. Exactly. I know we're on the right path of what we're doing. Too much information for a client.

is bad often. Yeah, I used to just like, I would take all those metrics at the very beginning. And so I would try and like get as much data as possible on the client. And then I would just store it away. And then we would literally only revisit it

when they felt like they made immense progress and they're pumped. Like, well, let's see kind of where we landed. Yep. You know, let's look at this. That, you know, such a, so it was so funny too. I was like, I was actually trying to figure out, how can I do this when I went to get her test?

or when she would go to take her test because she goes and does it and it's all at her data system her email and everything but in a perfect world I only get it she doesn't get it like all you would say to her

is we're moving in the right direction I would like literally I wouldn't report back to her what is being what is being read by the test because I am very confident in what I'm doing like we've done this enough times I was aware of what was the potential where we need to be

and even she knows logically I would have protected her from the mental games that it plays if I could have and I should have like figured out a way like you know what let's I should have said that from day one was like you know what let's have your test email just to me

and I'll interpret the data I don't want you to say and I'll change your training yeah yeah I should have I should have done that and I so I look back now like this was a mistake as coach Adam on this part I should have done that because then she'd still be because she's seeing all she's seeing PRs damn near every other week

people are complimenting every you know what I'm saying but then the data comes back and it's not ideal, right? Or it doesn't say this awesome. But you know you're moving in the right direction. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, it's funny. I used to ask,

typically female clients, I'd ask them this just to kind of prove a point and say, okay, let's say, let's say your weight on the scale never changed. Let's say you're still going to weigh, whatever, 160 pounds, whatever it is, but I got you to lose 10% body fat, so you gained muscle.

But the weight is the same on the scale. You know what they used to say to me? I don't care. I just want to get smaller. Yes, I know. You do realize you'd be smaller, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I just want to be. Yeah.

It's like, oh, and then I'd do the famous, like, we want me to cut your leg off, you lose weight on the scale. Will that make you happy? Just kind of illustrate the silliness of the whole thing. And it does. It really does mess people up. This is my performance. So you may be hearing this and thinking, oh, well, you didn't track anything for your clients.

No, no, no. I used to look at their energy, their strength, their performance, their pain. I could tell if they were gaining a lot of body fat. I could tell. And so then that would adjust my training. But performance is a far better metric. It's not perfect, but it's better. Drives them to better habits.

Listen, if you dramatically increase your fitness, the side effect of that is you're probably going to get leaner and build muscle. Probably. Health-wise, you're way better. And quality of life-wise, you're way better. Performance is actually a better. If I had to pick any metrics that I could only ever use, they'd be performance-based for the most part.

Well, yeah, because I would say the second worst metric and most commonly used is the mirror. Yeah, oh, God. Oh, yeah. Because that can be so deceiving. Oh, my God. Also. Oh, gosh.

It's so subjective. That really was highlighted personally for me. I mean, I piece that together later in my career as a trainer. But because I had to become so hyper-focused on it in the bodybuilding world, and it was now become part of like my job. I'm totally looking at all these things. I realize, wow, how much that can fluctuate and change within 24 to 4. 48 hours and also give you a feedback of, oh, my God, this doesn't look right.

Totally. But I know, because I was tracking so detailed, that was my favorite part of the whole experience of competing aside from manipulating myself, was the coaching level up I got from it was, oh, wow, like, if I know for a fact what's going on based off of all the macros, things I'm doing, that I know I'm doing the right things, but then I'm looking, I'm looking in the mirror right now, and I don't like what I see compared to what I saw just two days ago. Oh, this is crazy. Like, this is totally what my clients have felt and expressed to me so many times before when they're like, I know, I look this way.

And they're like, how do you argue that? I had a client once. It's like one of those breakthrough moments as a trainer. And then I would use this as an example later. But I had a client who was in her late 30s, it's like 38, 39. And she said, this is what I want to look like. And she brought a picture of herself when she was in her. her mid-20s. She was like at the beach or whatever. She said, this is what I want to look like.

So I looked at it and, you know, of course, she was younger, more fit the whole deal. And I said, how did you feel about the way you looked when you were 25? And she's like, wow, she goes, wow, let me think about that. She goes, yeah, I wasn't happy with myself. So isn't that interesting? I said, I think the way you feel about yourself is largely subjective. And it really dawned on her like, yeah, when I was in my mid-20s, even though I looked like that, I was so insecure about the way I looked. Had you asked me then, I would have been like, Oh, no. I got too much flab here. I don't look good there and whatever. And studying yourself in the mirror, you're setting yourself up for terrible failure. Well, and like you said, I mean, before we were on the podcast today, I was talking to you openly. Man, I can tell right now I have systemic inflammation right now going on. And my diet's dialed right now. And so there's a couple things I know for sure that happens with it. I'm puffier, for sure. So I hold, I'm holding water all over the body, which in the reflection of the mirror looks like body fat. It also reflects on the scale. holds an extra two to four pounds for me on the scale,

yet I know I'm like dialed nutritionally. And so it's more like, oh, what else is going on in my life that's causing this inflammation? I can feel it. I can see it. I notice it's really easy for me my aura ring the way it slides on and off. I'm like I know when I'm holding extra water.

And yet I know it's not a problem with my training and my diet. And so that's where this would throw a client way off. And I get it because objectively, you look, your image is subjective, and there is a subjective part, but there's a very objective part of it. I'm for sure fluffier. Like there's no, there's like, it's, it's very clear. So it makes it extra hard because there's a subjective element to it.

And then there's actually a true objective element to it that, yeah, you can easily be holding an extra two or four pounds of water for a period of a couple days because you ate something, you had extra stress, you had a really rough night or two of sleep, you, uh, overtrained. You've got a small injury like that, which is probably what my kid. cases right now like you like there's a lot of there's a whole host of things that could have happened that it does not reflect you're not dieting right and you're not training right I just had this conversation uh with my wife because she was taking creatine and she's like I stopped taking it so why she goes I just feel bigger I'm like you know what's happening with crate team like it's your muscles she's like I know but in the muscles and she knows she knows we're having this conversation about this and she's she used to be a trainer she's still it'll just

mess with your head. And creatine doesn't make you cold water in a way that looks like bloat. It makes your muscles fuller. If anything, it makes you look more sculpted. And you will go up a couple pounds on the scale from it because you're more hydrated. But people are like,

this is why creatine's been hard to sell the women for so long, by the way. Although more women are using it now because I think they're finally figuring it out. But initially, this is why you had this whole category of creatine supplements that were, like, creatine for women, no bloat. because women would take creatine, their muscles will feel fuller, but to them feel bigger. A lot of people don't know how to discern the difference between the two.

They look and feel totally different. So what I have right now, systemic inflammation, looks different than water retention from the muscle. In the muscle. It's very, very different. One looks like sculpted tone and shape. The other one looks like water around over there. Yeah, yeah. Totally different.

Yeah. Yeah. So we've been getting message. I want to cover something because we've been getting some messages from people who've been using dose, the liver support supplement they have. And they're reporting back like energy, like energy boost. Like I have way more energy. It's like what's in it that's giving me more energy.

So, so I, what I did is I pulled up common symptoms of, you know, I looked up elevated liver enzymes. Or let's just say your liver is being a little bit too stressed. Okay. And by the way, there's, there are supplements out there that will say that they'll help with liver health, but very few of them actually have clinical data. Dose actually has real studies on their product and is shown a majority of people that have an improvement in liver function.

So you'll see this in the data. So if you go get your blood test, you'll see an improvement. Most people see an improvement in their liver enzyme markers. But here are some of the symptoms, some of the common symptoms that your liver enzymes are a bit elevated, loss of appetite, itchy skin. This is one where you kind of feel itchy skin. fatigue and bloat. And so people are reporting back and they're like,

is this an energy supplement? I'm like, well, if you needed it, it's an energy supplement, you'll feel better from that. Interesting. Yeah. What are the different flavors they have, done?

Do you know what they all are? I have to look it up there. I know they have a few of them, right? Yeah, well, the products, I don't think they're different flavors of each product. I think it's like liver. The one is for liver and it's a specific, because you drink, what, two ounces of it?

Yeah, yeah. Remember I thought you had a whole bottle? Thank God. Yeah. Bro, you ahead. Yeah. I don't do that. No, it's like a two-ounce serving the bottle lesson for a little while.

That's a pretty common one, though, and you get the blood markers back, right? Yeah. You'll see a little bit of elevated liver enzymes. Especially if you had a hard workout. Yeah. Yeah, really hard workout. Or elevated, uh, CK levels.

You have a lot of muscle mass. Um, and doctors who are not familiar with athletes. Yeah. I've had people come back and be like, my doctor said, that's how I always know. I take,

I take stuff my liberal time. That's how you always know when you got a good, like, doctor who's like, like, strength trains and understands. Is that is they'll normally, when they go over their blood, they'll say, oh, this is a little elevated, but I can tell you lift weights. And so that's probably a little bit from there. Exactly. Because I've had both sides.

I've had someone who's like, hey, this is a little hot? Yeah. And I'm like, really? Is that a problem? What do you got, Doug? So, I mean, there's just one flavor for each variety. So that's the liver one that. And it tastes like, kind of tastes like carrot juice almost.

I think it's a combination of a variety of different juices. There's some ginger in it, some orange. I believe. They have another product too? Turmeric. Oh, yeah, they have, obviously, the cholesterol. They have one for cholesterol too.

Yeah, they have one for skin. And now, I think we've shared this before about their problem, which is cool, is that they have like really good test and stuff where people have actually done blood work,

taking just that, and they've done that. Actual studies. Yeah, that's cool. Which is great, because supplements typically don't come with studies. Right, especially something like that.

Now, all right, I got a new thing that's going on in the world that is interesting. There's a new... A new category of... I don't know what you would call it, identity.

So you guys know what Therians are? Justin probably knows. I've heard this. What's a Therians? Doug, look up Therians. Sounds very star-tracky. Yeah, are these... I'll pull up the article, dude.

So... Wait, is this like a little breakaway society people? Look at these guys. Yeah, dude. They're kind of like furries, but different, huh? So Therians are people who... There's even a thing that says, how do you know the difference between a Therian and a furry?

No. So a Therian is someone who identifies psychologically, so mentally, physically, spiritually, with a non-human entity or an animal. So these are people actually identify... It's not either one. Yeah, so this is like, I am a dog. That's just how I identify.

And they'll walk on all fours. So we just, we don't call these people crazy. crazy anymore. Probably had no trauma or anything growing up at all. That's sad, but dude. I mean, you know what this, you know, I was thinking about this. Why can't, why is that so taboo to talk about that, by the way? I don't know why.

Because the percentage on this stuff is like ridiculous when you see it. I think what's happening, I'll try to keep it like secular because I have a different worldview now, but I think what's happening is there's such a lack. There's simultaneously a lack of meaning. Yeah. And it's combined with this idea that you, you create your own destiny and you can be whatever you want. And that combined when you have a lack of meaning with the I can be whatever I want, and you're

like, well, I don't want to be this. And so now I want to be this other thing. And it feels good to be this other thing. Therefore, that's probably, that's what I know. You're going to get really unique attention, which, you know, some people are starving for. So, you know, you're going to do weird things. Yeah. And so they meet.

This is actually a big phenomenon in some countries where you get like these groups and they meet together and they yeah and so a furry is someone who likes to be in the costume, but these people believe. They believe it and they're they're walking around like animals. Yeah, dude. You see the picture. I mean, you see them get together. Like all the time or is it just like, you know, when they hang out. This is what they are. This is what happens to because of the internet and the fact that. Yeah, you get more of these ideas. There's probably only a few. hundred or maybe a few thousand of these people in the entire world, but they can all find each other. Yeah. And it looks like a movement. It looks like some sort of a... I feel like we've hit every category. No, no. Nope.

I bet you there's more, dude. No. I watched that show, uh, I love taboo. I love strange addictions. Like, that's my jam. Dude, I love weird people. Yeah. Uh, and I feel like they've gone everywhere with it.

Yeah. I don't know what's left. Well, that, what's that, what's that, the, what's that, the, what's that, what's that the, what's that thing where you see a group of people dancing and then you'll come that study. You know what I'm talking about? So it's, because of the internet, you have that. Where these would be all over the world, they wouldn't be able,

they wouldn't be able to collectively. Yeah, collectively get together. So all it takes is one person who sees this collective group and now goes like, oh, okay, I could, you know what I'm saying? Who's like, to your point? Lost, no identity, no purpose. And it's like, I can relate to this person. I like animals.

By the thing is. My worldview is different now because I would have explained this like, I guess, psychologically, but now I have a different worldview, which is, I guess you get, well, definitely you could say more biblical. But this is really an extension of this idea that you determine what your identity is. And now that doesn't sound bad on the surface, but let me just paint a picture, okay? If my identity is a podcaster, this is what I am. This is my identity. This is everything.

And then I lose my voice. What am I now? Or my identity is as a father. and then my kids move out. Or my identity as a construction worker or a singer or I'm an athlete and then I get older and I can't be an athlete. Yeah, but those are all like based in reality. Like this is like fantasy land.

Well, what my point is, yes. That's the secular side. There's a big difference. Yes. And it's, you know. But it's just an extension and it goes to crazy levels. Sure, but there's no like feedback they're accepting. Yeah.

You know, like, there's no like checks and balances with their friend groups. I know someone. Everybody's leaning into the fantasy and not like this don't want to face reality. Dude. And I think social pressure needs to be back a little bit. Well, that's the thing. There needs to be quality control amongst your peers, you know? And I mean, I'm sorry, but like it needs to come back with force because, you know, this is the reason why we have friends.

This is the reason why we have friends. To tell you you're stupid. Yeah. Stop doing stupid shit. You're saying like it's cool to play. And, you know, you can you can do larping and all that stuff, which is great. But, like, that's for play, right? This isn't like your identity.

Careful, to make your fan base angry. I'm telling him that you have for play. I'm there with you. I'll larp with you. He's got a huge larping fan. I'm not going to put a free costume on, but you know what I'm saying? Somebody sent this larpie so on for justice. For whatever reason.

I got a question for you, Sal then. So a part of you, do you, is there no longer a part of you that identifies as a podcaster or a father? I think that my identity is in who I belong to, which would be God. So whatever that is, then that's where I'll go. And that feels so much more grounded and secure. As crazy as that may sound as somebody who doesn't have a faith like that, I think it's very secure because all the stuff here is fleeting.

Everything here, now that doesn't mean I don't want to be a great dad or I don't want to do a good job. Yeah, you don't think that you can, you don't think that you can identify as a father and also be able to disconnect from that too. Not make that the ultimate identity. That's my point. If that's your ultimate identity. Yeah, I think that's what you have to make clear. Yes. I think there's, if someone were to ask me, I absolutely identify as a father, as a leader, as, you know, those things I identify.

But that's not your thing that you worship. Well, yeah, no, of course. And at any time those things could change, right? So I think there's a part of the ability to identify as something without like losing yourself. Yeah. Because in Evilly, all that can be stripped from you. Yeah. I know somebody, by the way, who.

Right. Because being a father could be stripped from me. Totally. And if that's all I identify with and that was. Well, even if I couldn't disconnect from that. Even if there wasn't a travesty that happened. I mean, how many times, probably more common from moms? Oh, super common.

When kids move out, that's why you see relationships, the percentage of them that, you In a divorce. They're lost. Yeah. Because they did, they identified only as a dad or a mom or a parent. Yeah. And that was their whole thing. And then all of a sudden, the kid goes to that phase, right?

Like most kids do when they turn 18 to say 25 where they actually want to disconnect from mom and dad a little bit and go do their own thing. And it's like, oh, my God, I'm no longer. I know someone whose kid went to a school who the school had to have a litter box for a kid that identified as a, I'm serious. Yeah, I know. The school literally, this is happening in a local school. Maybe it's the same school.

Yeah. So you know about this? I have heard about it. Yeah. Well, they actually set a litter box. They actually did it? They did it, yeah. This is the height of like, you know.

We are at the height. We're at the height. We're definitely coming back. I mean, are we still there? I feel like it's coming back. We're coming back. We're coming back. We're coming back.

And I remember when you guys were sounding the alarms five years ago or what like that. And I'm like, dude, this is how it works. Penelum swings so hard this direction. we want to be really nice. We've hit peak stupidity, and we're on our way back. Like that's just,

it's, and of course, we'll probably extremely swing the other way. You know, over the, we'll go, yeah, now you have AI,

you're going to have AI, you know, relationship. I just watched another clip of this woman who's got this, she used to be married and everything. She had actual relationships. Now she's like,

has this relationship with her AI boyfriend, and she's like, it's the best relationship I've ever ever had. I'm like, oh, no. That's not real. And I think, and I said,

I think, I think, Unfortunately, they'll people that will worship it. There'll be people that marry it. There'll be people that all the things with it. And then we'll run through a period, probably a decade, maybe two of that extreme side like that. But once we have enough thousands of idiots to do it and realize where that path ends, I think humans tend to correct and come back the other direction.

I think that's, I think one of the biggest keys, I think somebody navigating through this world, world is, is actually to remain, I mean, this is one of the things I love about my wife. Sometimes I think she's crazy how, how disconnected she can be to some stuff and like, unaware of what's going on. It's probably better. But it is. She has such a healthy relationship with it. And it's just like, it's all, it's all noise to her.

You know, it's all, it's like, it's in it. It's like we, we focus on what we can control in our house and our child and our families. What you actually have the most influence? That's right. It's like, we do not have this influence over, even. millions of idiots doing extreme weird things and worshipping weird things and doing like it's just and if any and allowing it to affect your daily emotion uh is is giving up your your your power your control and what you can truly affect anxiety inducing yeah very anxiety inducing you know and if you

the more you feed into it uh uh the the more it just elevates dude yeah i had a good quote as duncan Trussell. This is like perfect with like, you know, Katrina's mentality. It's like, he says, some poor phoneless fool is probably sitting next to a waterfall somewhere, totally unaware of how angry and scared he's supposed to be. Yeah. Dude, that's so Katrina. That's so true. That is what I always thought there's a brilliant quote. 100% that like has. I need to know what's happening though in the world. Well, why? What are you going to do? Why? What are you going to do about it? What are you doing? Yeah. Well, I can't do anything about it. Even when I'm trying to inform her on something, She says, I don't even want to hear it.

Okay. Well, my wife's got... My wife's a lot like that, too. Really? So my wife's kind of like that too. She turns off, routinely will turn off social media or her whole phone. In fact, right now she's going through where she turns off her phone throughout the day. And if I want to get a hold of her, there's other ways I get a hold of her.

In fact, you know what we're doing? She ordered a phone that you can connect to your cell phone, that you turn your cell phone off or basically brick it. But if you get a call, it'll go through this basic phone. Yeah, yeah. So if I want to call her, she gets a call, but she doesn't pick up her normal phone with everything on it. I mean, you've known,

Katrina's never had any of that, ever, ever. Well, she's, you know what she told him? You know what my wife says to me? She goes, if you think I need to know something, tell me. So I'm like, all right. And you know what? There's almost nothing that I feel like, something happens.

I'm like, do I need to tell her this? Like, no, it's not going to change anything. Right. Speaking of extremes, I've been seeing these reports of gas prices in California. Have you seen? So is this happening? I haven't got gas yet.

Is it here? Or is this in Synguarez? I think it's increased, but like, I mean, some areas. Close to six. Bro, we're close to six right now? I heard reports of like eight somewhere. There's some places in California where it's like almost $8. No way.

Really? I know. It was two days ago. That was hard to believe. I don't know if it's California for it. No, someone was doing, people were screenshoting. And I don't know, it might be in places like Tahoe. It might be, uh, no, we're normally the highest.

The area is normally higher than remote. No, remote places are normally. I thought remote places are normally cheaper. No, no, no, no, no. Remote places are normally cheaper. Look up. We're normally like one of the peak places for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Is it almost six or five? Because they have way more control and power on us. Yeah. We need it. Gavin Newsom is a great negotiator. You know, like, he's been killing it. More than half of that is not even the gas. It's a bunch of taxes.

Yeah, yeah, the gas stations don't make a ton of money. No. Gas stations, you know, gas stations don't make money on gas. They almost break even on gas. They make it on the concessions. They make it on the concessions. that's how a gas station makes money. It is not on gas.

So when you think like, I know, somebody owned this guy's gouging me, it's like, no, he's making like pennies. He's making pennies on, one of our friends he's to own a shell station. They make it all on,

you know, when people come in and buy. drinks and snacks and all that crap. That's, which is why have you ever noticed how much those have evolved in the last decade. Yeah.

Now a lot of gas stations are like almost like a little shopping centers. Yeah, little grocery stores. So I found a gas station in Mendocino is charging almost $10 a gallon. But that's not standard. This is just weird.

How are you charging $10? Hey, that's taking advantage of the marijuana market. Maybe, maybe. You know, all these drug dealers, you got to go out there, go pick up their weed, dude. Oh, and they're like, damn, I got to ship me in a 400 pounds. They know you got to cash like all this. Yeah, I'm going to make a ton of cash. They're like, I got to get back here with all this.

So, I don't know the gas insurance. Like, oh, perfect. I got you. I like the New York Times. It said U.S. gasoline prices rising again hit $3. $0.48 a gallon. Yeah, that would be so low, dude, in California.

That would be, by the way, they're going to start charging now for miles. You guys know that? Is that going to go? I believe they passed that. Maybe look that up, Doug, in California. So however many miles you drive, now you're going to pay a tax. How do they, how are they going to know that? You just report it?

I don't know. We're going to start turning back our odometer. Do the, the, is that we got to do? Old school style. When you do the math on the income that is tax, times the sales tax, times the gas tax times that like, your money gets taxed. More than that, dude.

More than that. Like, it's a, it's a form of slavery at this point, dude. Well, we got a property taxed just for having a property. Yeah. Yeah, so they don't actually have this, you know,

implemented at this time. They're studying a road charge program. These are lawmakers, by the way, who are studying, to replace the declining gas tax. So I don't know where they're. Oh, so they're going to lower tax. This is what they do.

Like, we're going to lower taxes. We'll make it up somewhere else. Yeah. We're going to get it on the back side. Didn't we just get a bunch of oil places? Well, but there's also... But where's it going? They're also bombing oil refineries, though, all over in the Middle East.

So I don't know if we're... Our oil supplies and going down. I think it's still causing... It doesn't go to NGOs or anything. You know, it caused oil prices to... I actually... Is that mean it's a good time to buy stock oil? No. Oil is...

On speculation, yes. So on... speculation oil already spiked. It would have been smart for you to buy it, say, two months ago. Two months ago, you would have made a little bit. Is it going to be a good investment, Adam, to buy a horse because of all this? What do you think? I mean, you know, I'm the guy who's banking on all these gas engines. I'm all in on that. How do you, how do you, how do you tax my mileage on my horse? I mean, no, hey, here's a thing that I, like, I'm going to go full Calablaid, I'm all in on that theory that even if whatever, we get all this gas, we do all

this stuff like that, like, they're the, what they're doing on regulations, if you guys I haven't paid attention to like every generation of car, even if even if it's a company that still is making gas power car, it's like the restrictions they put on the exhaust and all things like that. It's just like you have all these cars that are going down to, you know, six cylinder, four cylinder, hybrid, everything. The high, the high output ones will be collectors. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, like my 68, like things like that, like a real old school engine that's like, yeah, No, that I think is going to be like a thoroughbred horse. You know what I'm saying? Like your best horse that you would pay. Which, by the way, like ridiculous horses with like... Aren't they like hundreds of thousands or more? Yeah. People spend millions on like thoroughbred horses.

I was just talking to my daughter, my niece. They were talking about gas prices, you know, because they're just, they're young kids. So now they're realizing how expensive things are. And I'm like, you know how much it used to cost me to fill my tank in the 90s? It was like 20 bucks. I have my furthest memory back of pumping the cheapest gas I ever had. I have the memory of the gas station, the day, everything. How funny is that?

98 cents. I bet Doug has better stories. 98 cents a gallon. 98 cents a gallon. It cost me, I think, 11. Obviously, I was close to all the way E. The light was on, I believe. In my Accure Integrate, it cost me $11 in something since to fill up the entire tank.

Doug used to use steam engines, though. Yeah, yeah. No, my dad used to talk about like five cents a gallon gasoline and things. like that back in the day. Five cents a gallon, bro. That's crazy. I mean, if you would have, think about that,

at that rate, if you would have, if you would have just put a tanker away, right? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, gas doesn't last. Oh, it doesn't? No.

How long does gas? I mean, it degrades quickly. Very quickly. Oh. I did not know that. You can't, like, stockpile it. Yeah, I thought you could. I wasn't aware of that.

I mean, there's additives you can put in it to extend the life, but I don't know how long you can keep it. But for example, if you have like a generator, you know, you don't want to keep gasoline in it. For too long, for too long, yeah. Really?

Yeah. Don't they have solar power generators? They do. Mm-hmm. Okay. I mean, Tesla. Oh, speaking to Tesla, I sent Adam... Batteries for your house are cool.

I sent some to Adam. Let me pull it up, you guys. It's really cool. I sent it to Adam because it's so... Chimoth who did the breakdown, right? This is so something Adam would be into, so I'm going to pull up. Totally. It's wild.

As much as I'm anti-electric cars and hate electric cars, I would do this. So this guy, and analyze. So you know how Tesla has these robo taxis soon come, right? So you can literally buy one and then allow it to be used. And he said, have it make money for you. Yes, dude. He said, your car prostitute. He said, car pimp? Yeah. You'd be a car pimp. Yeah. So one robo taxi theoretically, this guy did all the math, right? After you do all the cost of the car, uptake all that stuff, would make you roughly $30,000 a year. That's crazy. So he's like, if you owned 34 robotaxes you make a million dollars a year. Yeah. That's kind of cool. That is cool.

What sucks though about that, Sal, I'll tell you right now, is that that will last for a very short period of time because then it'll become a race to the bottom. Yeah. And it'll, which... And then the insurance companies will catch wind and... Yeah, I mean, even that will be, that won't be that bad because it's probably not going to be a high payout for those cars and stuff like that. Plus, insurance is probably going to be cheap because they're not going to get many accidents. They're really good. Yeah, you'll have, you'll have big umbrella insurance policies where you'll basically pay a thousand or something else, but you'll have 10, 20 cars underneath the fleet or whatever, because the likelihood of all of them getting crashes so unlikely.

But what it'll do is that that's his current theory right now at the rate it is, but then people just undercut that. Yeah. Like what stops? Before you know it, they'll be competing. Oh, yeah, they'll be competing. And then they'll be a short window. Oh, very short window.

I mean, it's like everything, though, right? So here's a real question. Are you going to do it? I mean, I love stuff like this. I mean, I think that's what would interest me in marijuana when I can. got into it was not, I was totally not a marijuana guy. I saw it early. And I know that the best time to get in stuff like

that is on the front end when nobody wants to. They're scared. They're nervous. They don't know about it. And a bunch of people prove the model. Then everybody dives in. And then by the time you dive in, you're established. Yeah, yeah. And then get your fleet. It's like, oh, cool. So it'd be like a window of like when they first roll out by like two or three of them.

That's how, I mean, at the very least, that would be cool. At the very least, it would be cool to have one of those cars shuttle you around. Like, if, if our vehicles that we, we all commute in, that we all use, paid for itself. So like we drive it here at work. Yeah.

And then all four of them are out. I mean, I mean, how cool would that be? Here's how I would do it. And it would be like, it would not be for a business. How cool would it be that we could supply every one of our employees a vehicle

that pays for itself? And that's part of a perk for working here. And who cares? This is the business guy, bro. So we don't care. We don't care that it's making. It's so competitive. doesn't make $30,000 or everything.

But what it does at least do is it pays that vehicle. It's also a write off because the company owns it. That's right. It covers that. And guess what? All of our employees have a vehicle supplied by the company. And they can't be late. Then we wrap them.

We got your drive. We can see where you're at. You're still parked in front of your house, dog. I love that. No, no. So I could see that. That would totally be my motivation. Because it's like what would it, it's not big enough business for us to distract us

from the things that we do already, but if I could supply all of our employees with a car and it pay for itself, what a cool perk. Oh, yeah. Right? Oh, I love that. I love that. But I thought that was really.

Put that, write that down. Nonetheless, it's cool that we're kind of going, totally, going that direction. I got, okay, so I have, I'm going to change directions. I have the perfect skin stack from Caldera Lab. This is the stack right here. Like if you want. Like the order of it too?

Yes. So besides just the serum because I'm pretty sure that's like the best product. Love it. I just screw this up whenever I tell people, so I can't wait to hear the proper way. So they have a lot of different products, but just three products, and this is just a very effective stack. You'll see a difference using this for sure. So you get the base layer, the moisturizer, and the serum, and you put them on in that order. Base layer first, then moisturizer, then you add the serum and look great.

What's, Doug, could you look up? What's the name of the moisturizer? Because I, the base layer or the serum, I'm very familiar with the moisturizer. What's the name? It's called the... That's not the great, is it? They have the grate now. Again, I don't have any of the newer stuff here.

Where's the lufa fitting on this? I have it. I have, so the great I have in front of me right now, it's called the anti-aging, lightweight, facial serum, biomedical ex-homes, serum. This is the one that has the exomes in it. Yeah, exosomes. Would that be considered the moisture air?

No. I know what the base layer is. That's the one that comes in the screw top. So the base layer is like a moisturizer. Yes, but there's another one that you do want also. So there's one that is, looks like it's in a similar container, but it's called something. else. Can you name all the products for me?

I'm trying to get to them right now. So I'll tell you right now that what the serum is the good and the base layer is called base layer. So I know those two, what those two are. The moisturizer is the one that I might be the great. The great. I think it might be the great as well. I think it might be the great.

So base layer, the great and the good. That makes sense. And then you got it. You've got your combination. Okay. Do that and watch what you're, what people tell you. Base good, great. Yeah.

So me, I just got to add the moisturizer in there because I do the base layer and then I normally do the serum when I get here. So, I do, like, religiously. That's why I keep it here. Yep. It's like, and then the clean slate, of course, is the thing you use. You wash. That's in my shower.

Yeah. So I got a couple compliments on my skin. I've gotten more than a couple, but recently, a couple of my skin. Do you think that's because your skin looks so good or you have less hair? I have more face. Yeah. You have more face. You have more forehead.

You have more sleigh. You have more skin showing. Damn. This is. Oh, it's hard. You're saying. Hey, listen. Little by.

Like the chick who gets the breast compliments Because she just shown more of it You know what I'm saying? Yeah, maybe I said just show more face now He's got head cleavage Did I tell you guys? I wore a hat the other day for the first Uh, time.

You did? Yeah, so sunny outside. I would love to see this. It was really sunny. It was a nice. Was it a bray or something? Huh? A beret?

No, you would have to wear like a, What are the other ones? Just one of the other ones called the, like the kangled Kangle ones. Oh yeah, yeah. Those like bucket hats. Yeah. You put a bucket hats.

Yeah. No, no, no, I was outside. We bought like this teeter-tottle for the kids, so I was putting it together outside. It was warm. It was really nice outside. Dude, it's been so nice. Yeah, and so my wife is like...

We laid out. We laid out for... Did you? Yes. So my wife comes out such, like, saw, your head's getting sunburn. I'm like, oh, that happens now. Because they used to have hair,

and I never got sunburn on my head. So I had to put a hat on, dude. And I don't like the way I look in hats. I don't have a hat face. Well, what's your mold, right? Because there's different version. Me and Adam have very different hat. Yeah, yeah, I can't wear.

I wish I could wear those hats. I can't wear the hat. You have to have a big square head. If I wear, if I wear that hat, I have to wear it over my ears. You know my favorite thing? Like this. Hey. I'm serious.

I have a small head. So that's why I love dad hats. I get that, yeah. Because I wish I could wear those hats. Hey, you ever see Justin? So, you know, we do shoot sometimes. So Justin has to take off his luxurious hair, which I don't know why he ever shows it. Which makes me angry.

I almost did my hair today just so you guys would stop. Whatever. Whatever, bro. Anyway. So he's always covering his amazing. Because I care about myself. But he'll put his hat down, right? Because he's doing his hair.

Yeah. And bro, you know how you have the little snaps, right? It's like on the last one. Are you? No, he's not. No, he's not. Look, look, look.

Oh, my God. Let me see that. Turn around. Oh, my mel. He's got two or three. Oh, yeah, dude. If I put that on. Bro, you're almost needing...

Most of them are one, though. Oh, my God. Just realized that hat. That's the old school prodigy collab we did. I brought it back. Yeah. Wow. You still have that.

I still have it. And, you know, it's funny inside, it says Everett. Oh. Yeah, I kind of took it from him. But, yeah, because mine I wore, I remember I wore that to death. And it was just like, trashed. I, that, you guys probably don't remember that story. So I have several of these business stories behind the scenes that make me kind of chuckle inside sometimes of, like, people I try to do business with, like, collab with or do things that's an example of one.

Yeah, I know. I really wanted this one to work. Yeah, yeah. And I remember I really did too, way back when. And, you know, we've had some stuff with programs that we've done this. I won't throw people into the bus or say names of all the stuff. But it always cracks me up when, because we operate from a place. We talk about this all the time. The unfortunate part of the fitness space is there's such a scarcity mindset. And we're always about helping and elevate and other people. And these are examples of that. These are people like, like I was coming from a place of, oh, man, we could grow together. Let's do some stuff and collab and everything like that. And, and, that's one of many examples of somebody who was just like, oh, you know, it was competitive and thought that, like,

you know, they didn't want to do that because we'd be competing with each other. And like, we've had many times like this that, some I've shared with you guys, some I have it. And that's an example. It's a scarcity mindset.

Yeah, that company doesn't even exist anymore. You know what I'm saying? Like, never took off, never did anything. It's like, you idiot.

Like, you know what I'm saying? We could have gone places. Oh, yeah. You could have done something really great. But that, what an example of like,

like, like having a scarcity mindset, how crippling it can be in business. Totally. And, you know, I think I've seen this so much in my lifetime of people that I think could have been really successful because they're talented in whatever craft or thing that they do, but because they operate from a place like that. Everybody's going to take it from me. Yes.

Well, then you're never going anywhere. And so it, it just, it's so unfortunate when you see that because that was a very talented person who early on in our journey, I would have been. I mean, what a great person could have done our apparel for so many years. God knows what our apparel line is like. It would look a lot better than it does not. Yeah, yeah. Our apparel line's always been an afterthought to us.

And yet there's people in our space far smaller in their network that have massive apparel lines because that's their passion. Yeah, they focus on it. They love it. They love doing that. And, you know. Well, we're going to come out soon, right, with our own line. Like each of us is going to have our own team. Yeah, I think that's what we've.

I like the idea of it. Yeah. one of what which we thought would be it's more fun than it is for business is this you'll have one yeah we all have our own style and so it's like what i think we're gonna we're gonna move to this like where we each get to give you know uh whoever's running the apparel uh hey i here's a shirt pants and a hoodie or a hat that i like you know put i like to make one for myself selfishly and then people that uh you know like like it then cool yeah so we'll see i got speaking of companies i have to mention this uh the biggest shutdown or failure or whatever you want to call it in the gray market peptide space happened. Yeah. So peptide sciences. Well, catch me up with that.

Peptide sciences was the biggest research chemical, you know, what you would call gray market provider of peptides in the world. So they sold all the peptides. And the difference is, you know, with gray market, you're not going through a doctor. You're not going through FDA approved compounding pharmacies. you're getting what's called a research chemical, but people would, you know, get that anyway because you typically less expensive

and very accessible. Not typically. You mix it yourself. It's pretty significantly inexpensive, which is why it blew up so much. And also, you don't have to go through a doctor. You just go on their website. Yeah, that's right.

So peptide sciences was the biggest. They're gone. Gone. Wow. Just done. And there's speculationist why I have some inside, you know, scoop, I won't say on air. But yeah, dude.

that so that's and that's a huge vacuum yeah like they they were doing they were doing something like i think like 50 to 100 million dollars a month like insane amounts of revenue yeah monthly and they're gone i mean i feel i feel really confident about the decision that we made to go in the direction with with vita bella and their model yes i think that which by the way the regulations on peptides have been lifted so now when you go to mp hormones dot com all those older peptides that were weren't available through a doctor or now available again. So ibuporin, you know, old school BPC 157,

that's back. DSIP, like all the ones that that the compound pharmacies were told like you can't do this anymore, they can do it again. Well, the best part about it is that not only is it regulated, but the model that they built, I think the best example I have is like,

it's a Costco model where it's like you pay a monthly membership and, you know, if your guy... Which covers your testosterone. Yeah, it covers your testosterone. testosterone built it and your quarterly appointments with your medical professional. So you get a, you get basically quarterly with meetings with a medical professional who's going to go over your blood work, monitor all that so with you. Hormones are include, your testosterone is included.

If you're not a testosterone, if you're not using testosterone, then you can go the B vitamin route that way. B vitamin or enclomophene. Oh, or in chlomophene. And so, and then, and then if you want peptides, you're getting them at wholesale prices that are regulated. So, like, I mean, I do think it's the way that is like the future of the companies that will stay around and be like. And then also from a service point for us because that was the big, the big fix was trying to fix that part.

Like we've gone through the process of what it was like when we had incredible over the top service, but then couldn't service a lot of people. Then we got, oh, a company that could service a ton of people, but then the customer service dropped. And I think that the way Vita Bella is modeled is the best of both. Yeah, the best of both. And so, you know, if you don't know that, it's all set up. It's connected to our MPHormones.com link. You can go straight to it. But definitely, I think, the way the future is for this.

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mixed flavors with any purchase. back to the show. First question is from J.C. Trucking U.T. what would be a good program for blue-collar workers who work 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. How much should we be eating? So blue-collar workers are interesting because typically when you work with somebody, one of the strategies increase activity. Right.

Get them to move more. But they're already pretty active. They're pretty active. You're moving a lot. So, you know, having them track steps. I'm not going to do that. Not to mention the activity. so high that too much stress from a workout program, it's kind of easy to do.

So I actually, this was a challenge for me earlier on. I get blue-collar workers and I kind of had to figure out what was the appropriate amount of strength training to get them results. Well, it's actually very little. Well, especially considering that type of person tends to be like tough, right? And so they can handle. Yep. They can handle a lot.

And so you think that, okay, I'm going to throw. They expect an intense workout. Yes. Yep. And the opposite is kind of true. Like moderate intensity, a lower volume program tends to work much better. And so I think right away, like massive team protocol for them is probably the perfect balance. Or grade eight.

Grade eight would be great for something like this. Yeah, depending again on what you do for work, like how much heavy lifting you do and all that. Like you got a factor in. You know, when this first occurred to me, it wasn't because we weren't necessarily seeing results. it was because they'd come back to me and be like, Sal, I couldn't work that well the day after. I was too sore and it really made it hard for me to do my job. And so I had to scale it back so they could go back to work the next day.

Because your legs get real sore and you work a desk job. How do they recover? That's right back to it. So I would scale it way down and boom, we started seeing great results. Now, as far as eating is concerned, blue-collar workers' diets are notoriously bad. Now, most people's diets are pretty bad. But blue collar workers are really bad.

It's based on convenience, right? Convenience. It's what's easy, what's fast, there's food trucks. Literally, I would tell them, especially because they're active. I say, eat as much as you want, just stick to whole natural foods. And you're good. And that was always the recipe for success. I mean, we just had a blue collar worker this week that has struggled with weight loss

most of his lifting career. I'm very familiar with lifting. And that was like our advice was, and I took it a step further and talked about, you know, on your off day, prepping a lot of meat and rice. So you have that access to it. Because that's what happens is you, you're on the go. You're working hard. You haven't eaten in five, six hours.

You get a break finally. You don't have anything prepared. So it's like burrito truck or something, you know, something like that that's fast. Bring a cooler. So, yeah, being prepared. And again, like, you don't even have, I don't even have to take this person and go like, oh, you have to eat these types of meat. It's like, dude, try tip, ribi.

Ground beef, fish, chicken thighs, whatever you like with white rice and eat it when you're hungry. You don't have to overcomplicate this, but prepare that and have it ready for you and make those choices. And then the other thing is what they drank. Soda was super prevalent. Yeah. And soda or a beer, right? Yeah, so it's like just drink water, whole natural foods, eat as much as you want. Don't worry about increasing activity.

You're already doing plenty. You know, MAPS grade 8 or MAPS 15. and you're going to get great results. Next question is from Kathy Steinhild. You guys talk a lot about, you guys don't talk a lot about drop sets much. Why? It's a super advanced intensity technique.

Bodybuilders love drop sets. But for most people, it's just, not only isn't not necessary, it's actually counterproductive. It's, I was, so, you know,

I picked this question because I think it, it's good for us to have this discussion of like, because there's a lot of things. We don't talk about a lot of different techniques. We don't talk about partials and force reps. Yeah, it cluster sets a lot and things like that. It's like in the context of the things that really move the needle for 99% of the population, it's damn near irrelevant.

Like, it's just not, it's of all the levers I could pull to help somebody through a plateau or get them to see better results, it's just not there. Does it mean that I don't do drop sets? Yeah, I use drop sets. I can do trouble. It's just just, but I'm not doing drop sets thinking like, oh, this is going to, to get an extra inch on my biceps this week. I just do for fun. Yeah, it's literally it's a novelty for me.

It's like, oh, I haven't done this thing in a long time. I like doing it. I'm going to do it. But it's not how it gets sold in magazines and in the controlled study, right? So they like to take examples of something like this and they control it in a six-week study. And they go, oh, and group A that did traditional sets compared to group B who did some drop sets in there saw an increase in this. And it's just like that doesn't tell the whole story. of really how valuable it is.

It's really more the novelty stimulus of it that they get the most benefits. That wears off after four to six weeks of them doing it consistently. And so it's just a small thing. It is. And I'll say this. Even at my most consistent, best rested, best diet, best recovery, I would do a drop set once a month. Like this is what it would look like in my routine.

And it would be literally like, I think I'm going to do a drop set today. And I'll do it for laterals or curls or something else. By the way, a drop set is when you do as many reps as you can, take some weight off and then squeeze out some more reps and do it again and you repeat that like three or four times. Yeah. But even bodybuilders, they're not doing drop sets all the time. Bodybuilders are doing them like very infrequently as a way to introduce novelty

or spice things up a little bit. And they're also such a terrible example to use because of how many of us are enhanced. It's just, you can get away with that type of thing. of intensity. Yep. That and so if you're somebody who, like you said, is well fed, well rested, had a good, good balance of routine, volume, and you occasionally do the drop set, could be incredible for you.

But if you were like I was when I was in my, you know, late teens and early 20s and was introduced to this, it became like the thing I did in every workout. You know what I'm saying? And there's just overapplication. You would have got better results if you did it. Exactly. And so that's why you don't hear us talk that much about it. Next question is from Karan Singh 19.

What does strength maintenance while building endurance, stamina, and V-O-2 max look like once you focused on strength for two or three years? Okay, so the question is, essentially, I want to build my endurance, my stamina, my V-O-2 max, but I don't want to lose any strength. Well, here's a deal. You're probably going to lose some strength regardless. Okay. So maximum strength, maximal stamina. They tend to take away from each other. So maximal.

Now, some stamina, some strength, like, they're totally fine. But if you're like really pushing to gain endurance and stamina, you're going to see, you're going to see your strength go down. That being said, the amount of strength training required to try to maintain what you've built is very little. Very little. So especially if you're adding other training to your routine. So let's say typically you do three or four days a week of strength training. Now you're going to move more towards endurance.

One day a week of strength training will be enough to maintain what you're going to maintain by chasing those other things. Yeah, that's, I would say one and two days of straight training and then one to two days of you pushing stamina, endurance, V-O-2 max type stuff. And what's cool about VO2 max is you can manipulate that in a week. And so if you want to, meaning you can improve that within a week's time. So getting pretty good endurance, pretty good stamina. and improving VO2 max, you can get that relatively quick if you haven't trained for that.

And you could just, and the mistake that people make is a pilot on top of their strength training they've been doing for two or three years. So whatever that number was that you just mentioned. Like if you're training four days a week of strength training, like a full hour, I probably wouldn't recommend like really pushing the endurance stance. I'd scale back one to two days,

replace those one to two days now with training for endurance. And you'll get. the best of both worlds. You'll keep most of your muscle. You'll lose a little bit of strength, not a lot. You'll look awesome because you'll keep most of the muscle on your body, but you should predict that you're going to lose a little bit, but you'll

definitely gain that endurance. And then it happens so fast that you can course correct after two or three weeks. Two or three weeks of like stamina endurance training, you're going to get a lot in that short period of time. And if you don't like the way you look and you want to go back to going more focus on strength than you reduce you. You always go back to strength. Yeah, it's the thing. And you can undulate them too. So it's like one of those things

Whenever you feel like a deficit in something that you want to improve, you can focus on that, you know, for a few months. It's not going to completely hinder you and all those other metrics. Next question is from James Mullen Art. When I do front arms, sorry, when I do front squats with my arms crossed, by the time I'm done, my biceps feel like they're going to explode. Is that normal or is my form out of whack? It sounds to me like you're really squeezing and holding on the bar for dear, life to try to prevent the bar from sliding down. Should be resting up on your shoulder.

Yeah, so you probably need to lift your elbows higher. So as you squat, you want to lift your elbows as high as you can. So the bar doesn't want to roll forward. Sometimes people will drop their elbows as they squat down. Yeah, and it's like they're trying to hold it up with their hands. You shouldn't feel like you're having to hold it up with your hands. No, no. It should feel like you lift your elbows up and it sits over your delt.

It should be balancing on your upper chest and your anterior del. dealt. You should feel a balancing on your shoulder caps and that and that is from the elbows driving up. If it's coming down across your arms, the bar's not in the right place. You know, someone like this too, maybe a better way to do it than the arms crossed is the two, you know, towels. Or wrist wraps. Yeah, wrist straps or two towels wrapped around and then holding it like that. You're wrapping around. You can just make fist and hold it. Yeah, but really, I mean, I used to tell when I I used to train my clients with this, I would say, as you squat, lift your elbows. Because as you squat, your elbows might be in a nice position.

But when you squat, your upper body tends to bend forward a little bit. So you have to lift your elbows even higher. I used to say lead with your elbows. As you drive out of the squat, lead up with your elbows. Keeps your chest tall. Keeps your chest up high and then keeps those elbows from dipping because that's natural. They have a, there's this interesting piece of exercise. It's like a really inexpensive piece of exercise equipment.

I think it was called either a stingray or mantarray. One of them was for a back squat. Didn't like it. But one for the front squat is pretty cool. You put it on your shoulders. It sat across it. Yeah, it sort of sits in that. Yeah, and it was actually pretty cool.

I mean, I feel like the, what's the other one called with the big pads inside? That feels, like you hit it like. Oh, the squat with the safety spark? Yeah, yeah. Is that what it's not a farmer squat? What is, what are those, what are those call? We have one with the two, do you get the handles are right here. Oh, yeah, safety bar.

It is a safety bar. Yeah, so the big, the big safety bar hits like a front squat. Oh, yeah. Yeah, if you squat and if you ever. I like the yoke bar. So if you, if you, if you squat with that, that squat bar, it's like, so a lot of times when I want to do front squats, then I'm not in the mood to hold the bar across.

I'll just use that. And so it'll target your quads very similar to a front squat. Look, if you like the show, come find us on Instagram. It's Mind Pump Media. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy, and maximize your overall performance,

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