Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2874: The Best Variations to Explode Your Squat, Deadlift and Bench Press

Episode Date: June 6, 2026

In this episode the guys break down the best squat, deadlift and bench press variations and accessories to explode your strength — box squats, belt squats, front squats, split stance squats, trap bar deadlifts, zercher squats, suitcase carries, reverse hypers, dips, incline press, and bands and chains. They also get into a study showing married young adults are significantly happier than their single peers, astaxanthin as an internal sunscreen supplement, the spike in strokes among people in their 20s and 30s, alpha-gal syndrome increasing 3000% in some states, and Justin's family trip to Yellowstone. Then they coach live callers submitted through mplivecaller.com — Aaron from Indiana on body composition after strongman, Derek from California on a slow bulk and rising body fat, Nick from Alberta on low testosterone after multiple concussions, and Kathy from Florida on building muscle and bone density with MS and osteoporosis.   MAPS Summer Sale — https://mapsfitnessproducts.com Code: SUMMER40 — 40% off everything (programs, bundles & mods) — June 1–14 only   SPONSORS Caldera Lab — https://calderalab.com/mindpump Code: MINDPUMP20 — 20% off first order.    Kion — https://getkion.com/mindpump 20% off — automatically applied at checkout.    Butcher Box — https://butcherbox.com/mindpump No code needed — Choose your free for life offer + $20 off: free sirloin tips for life, free chicken wings for life, or free ground beef for life. Grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, crate-free pork, wild-caught seafood delivered to your door.   Mind Pump Fitness Coaching — https://mindpumpfitnesscoaching.com 1.9 NASM CEUs   LINKS Submit a live caller question: https://mplivecaller.com  Mind Pump Store: https://mindpumpstore.com  Maps Fitness Products: https://mapsfitnessproducts.com  Instagram: @mindpumpmedia 0:00 - Intro 2:07 - Squat, deadlift and bench press hacks to explode your strength 3:43 - Squat hacks: box squat, belt squat, front squat & split stance squat 17:16 - Deadlift hacks: trap bar deadlift, zercher squat, suitcase carries & reverse hyper 23:28 - Bench press hacks: weighted dips, incline press, bands & chains 27:50 - Astaxanthin as internal sunscreen — Justin's Palm Desert experiment 38:24 - Study: Married 22–35 year olds are dramatically happier than single peers 50:58 - Strokes spiking in people in their 20s and 30s — what's going on? 52:24 - Alpha-gal syndrome up 3,000% in some states — bioterrorism investigation 56:50 - Kion amino acids — why 40% leucine is the trigger for muscle protein synthesis 1:00:36 - Caller: Aaron (Indiana) — strongman background, 29% body fat, bulk vs. cut cycles 1:09:21 - Caller: Derek (California) — slow bulk, rising body fat, strength doubled in 18 months 1:19:33 - Caller: Nick (Alberta) — low testosterone, 5 concussions, hormone questions 1:31:06 - Caller: Kathy (Florida) — MS, osteoporosis, overtraining on Maps Esthetic, gets a coach

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pump store.com I'm talking right now hit pause head on over to mind pump store.com That's it. Enjoy the rest of the show. All right, look, we're going to talk about hacks that will explode your strength. The squat, the deadlift, and the bench press. We've got five of them. We're going to cover them right now. Let's get to it.

Ooh, the main ones. Yes. First, we should cover why they're so, it's so great to get strong at those lifts. Yeah. They are the power lifts. They're not perfect by themselves. I want to be clear. It's good to do lots of other things as well.

But if you get really strong on the squat, deadlift and bench press and you have some good programming with other exercise. Like you've got really good overall general strength. You've got a lot of things covered there. Well, it's the foundation of pretty much all pursuits in fitness. Even athletic, aesthetic, health, longevity, no matter what your pursuit is, you get strong in those lists. That lays a very solid foundation for whatever the thing you're going to pursue for the rest of

You're like, or whatever you're going to move in and out of if you decide to change your mind through it. Like laying this foundation is the best way to build a long term. Now, when I train people, when I train clients, my goal was always generally to get them stronger. But the lifts that I would oftentimes look at the most for strength gains were the squat, the deadlift, and the bench rest. And here's the interesting part. I didn't train power lifters. I actually never trained a power lifter. trained with power lifters, but most of my, all of my clients were regular people who just wanted

to improve their fitness, get leaner, build some muscle, have better mobility, better quality life. And the payback, the return that I always saw, that my clients always saw with getting stronger generally, but specifically with the squat, deadlift, and the bench press was always phenomenal. In other words, when they would get stronger at the squat, the deadlift, and the bench press, There was just so much more carryover than when I would pick other big care of exercises. Yeah, and it's one of those things, too. Like there's been controversy over the years.

I follow, like, you know, a lot of strength conditioning coaches. Some of them, like, deter their athletes away from these types of lifts. But at the end of the day, I always brought my clients to these lifts, specifically for that foundational strength. They can maximize their effort, generating as much force as possible. There's really not a lot of exercises that you could hyperfocus and gain all the benefits from. Even the brilliant coaches that you're referring to, like the Mike Boyles and stuff like that that are like heavier on the Bulgarians and lunges and things like that, I still would make an argument for laying a foundation in the squat first. Absolutely. Right? Like, I totally can

get behind everything and his philosophy for training athletes and one of the most... Longivity-wise, yeah. Yeah, one of the most great. Like, it makes sense. Yeah. But they're also a high level already. Yeah, exactly. They've already built that foundation straight. So this is why it makes sense for me always we start here. Agreed. I 100% agree. And I mean, even applied to my, I had even older clients in their 60s, 70s, and even 80s, when I would get them

and of course, I want to be clear, like all strength training exercises, you have to have really good technique. And these are technical exercises, meaning they're higher on the skill required to do them properly than other exercises. So a good example would be like there's a lot of skill required

to perform a squat properly in comparison to like a curl, right? Not much skill involved with the curl, so you're probably going to do it right the third time you try it with a squat. It's going to take lots of time, lots of practice to really get good at it, which, by the way, that skill acquisition is one of the reasons why there's so much carryover to the rest of your life. But my older clients, like these were the lifts we would focus on when I could get them to be able to perform them, because oftentimes they couldn't do them at first, but we would get to the point to where we could do them. And it was remarkable to see the difference in their lives from getting, adding 10 pounds to the squat or being

able to deadlift off the ground versus just off the rack as an example. So let's start with the squat, okay? So aside from doing more squats, so that's always the best way to get better at squats. So aside from doing more squats, there are squat variations that have a lot of carryover to the squat. And I'll start with the first one. And this one was popularized by strength athletes. It's the box squat. Is this Louis Simmons who's responsible for this? Is he, is he? I would say West Side, I believe West Side, they were the ones that really popular.

Because I mean, I wasn't familiar with it until seeing like West Side Barbell type stuff. Before that, I don't remember too many people communicating or talking about it. And then I feel like they popularized it for sure. Yeah. So the box squat is, so a lot of times people do this wrong. A box squat is not putting a bench under your butt or a box under your butt and tapping it and coming back up. Okay, that's not a box squat. A box squat is you love.

lower slowly, you actually sit down. You end your momentum. You end the momentum, then you stand up. So you're actually sitting on the box for, you know, a second and a half, two seconds, three seconds, and then you stand back up. Yeah. Now, why is that such a great way to improve your squat? It breaks up the eccentric from the concentric.

So eccentric is lowering the weight. Concentric is lifting the weight, both two different types of muscle contractions. That transition from one to the other can oftentimes make things more difficult for people, or increased risk of injury. Why was a couple of reasons. One, you're changing directions. Two, that slight change in directions temporarily makes the weight heavier. So if I'm lowering with 135 and I squat up the 135,

that changing directions actually because the momentum actually makes the weight more. What is the, I've seen the formula before for the physics breakdown on that. Like it's significantly more, like if you're depending on the speed. Yeah. So if, yeah, if you're dropping down in a lowering in a. squat 150 pounds like you're saying. Like it's for that moment of changing direction, your body is feeling like two or three times the weight.

I don't remember what it was. Maybe Doug can look that up. It depends on how fast you're moving the weight because that momentum makes a big difference. A lot more force on the joints to contend with it. It is. And I'll be straight up. Box squats I did probably as often with my clients as traditional barbell squats, probably as often. In fact, I will say this, and there might be a little controversy around this, it's the one

exercise, I would say, is interchangeable with the squat, meaning you want the benefits of a squat, you want to do a safer version of it? Yeah, it's lowered risk factor. Way lowered risk factor. Now, from a strength perspective, I'm going to say this right out the gates. Like, when I implemented box squats into my routine, I added, it was a big number. It was like 30 pounds to my barbell squat over time from doing the box squat. Just the ability to sit, pause, stay tight, come back up. I saw immediate improvement in my traditional squat from doing that. Now, recommendation, for height of a box because the limiting factor

of a box squat is the potential range of motion. So if you take a standard kind of box that you see in the gym or like that west side barbell squats that you see very different than the range of motion that somebody who has a full range of motion for a squat can do. Well, you want it exactly where you want to generate

the most force for that bottom position. So wherever that range is for you specifically that you're trying to optimize. Like I guess for some people, You could go a little lower, like you're trying for a fuller range of motion. You can work on that with the same, you know, just lowered position with the box. But, you know, for athletes, it's going to look different because. Right.

They care about squatting. They care about where you're generating the force primarily. I think that's why I bring this up because I think it's an important conversation. Because if you just looked at like what side barbell is doing, they are training to compete in powerlifting. And they only have to hit parallel. Yeah, they have to break parallel. Just break parallel. Just slightly break parallel.

So that's your target. And come back up. So that's where they put the box. And so that's where they put the box. That's right. We recommend that people learn to take a fuller range of motion squat. And so if you already have the ability to say go six inches deeper than that box, get a lower box. That's right.

Because you use like an aerobic step I've used before with clients. And what's cool about what you're saying, Adam, is let's say you're working on your depth. Yeah. Let's say you could squat to parallel. But once you go below parallel, you're like, my technique's a little off. I feel my knees shift that just doesn't feel as comfortable. You can get a box that's an inch or two lower than your normal squat.

But because you're lowering it slowly, sitting, pausing, and then standing up, it actually offers a safer alternative to challenging your range of motion. To your point about what we're bringing up about changing direction and how much more force that is on the joints to change those directions. This is how I got my squat a lot lower than parallel than what I could do before, was by getting a lower box, lightening the weight, going down slowly, sitting on it,

pausing, and then coming back up. It actually trained me to be able to get a deeper range of motion. Then you have belt squats. I love belt squats. We didn't have access. I haven't done enough of them because it's rare to find. Yeah, exactly.

There's not a lot of gym. Do you see more of them now? But they were really uncommon. No, they're in every gym I've been in nowadays. Really? Yeah. Every gym I go to now,

we'll have a belt squat. They're really popular. Wow. And you can buy attachments for your home gyms now They have like flywheel setups for that as well, which is cool. So a belt squat, it's a belt that goes around your waist with a cable that goes down, and it's pulling you at your hips. So if you have back issues, core stability issues,

or you want to just train your squat more but not overload your spine and your back, you can add in belt squats. Because a traditional barbell squat, I mean, yeah, it's a lower body exercise, but it's really a full body exercise, especially when you've got that weight on your back. But you use a belt squat and it's all at the lower body. body. This is also great for working on range of motion. A belt squat will pull you down into a perfect squat. And that's one of my favorite ways. And I love the ones that have like kind

of the bar in front of you so they can assist assist the bar to keep your chest upright and then slowly drop. If I had access to a belt squat, well, my clients, this would have been my primary way of helping them train them. Yeah, we never had. I never had it in any of the gyms I trained in. I don't even, I didn't know if they even existed. They did. They've been around for a long time. They just were, they weren't popular. Yeah. You just didn't. I never saw one. Were they in like physical therapy clinics? No, power lifters have had access to them for a long time. I never saw a belt squad.

They just, they were such, it was such a big machine. Yeah. It was such a big machine that you, you got to have the space in the gym to do it. And then justify like, okay, well, people use this. And so I think that's why. And I imagine they were probably pretty expensive when they first came out. But I didn't realize that you've seen that many. I still don't see.

Yeah, every gym I go to now. But I'm also not in, I'm rarely in commercial gym. so I'm not throwing it off. And I mean, I went to one that's got like a lot of strength training equipment. Then I go to the other one that's more of the country club. They have a belt squat as well. Wow. Yeah.

Yep. Then we have the front squat, which I will, right, I'll say it right here. Super underutilized. Okay. Oh, yeah. The front squat is the barbell squad of 20 years ago. Like 20 years ago, nobody barbell squatted. Today, I never see.

You got to program that in. I was going to say the front squat is the incline bench press to bench press. Yeah. It's just. It's so complimentary. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, Such a great movement that nobody wants to do because you're so much weaker than the traditional. That's true.

It's like nobody wants to do incline bench. Uncomfortable, yeah. Because you're so much better at flat bench and you can put more weight up so you neglect incline bench press. Yet it's so good for developing your chest and getting a strong bench press. I think the front squat is so good for developing your legs and so good for getting better at your back squat. But because you're so much weaker at your front squat, you never do it. You just do back squat. I feel like it's so similar.

It forces you be more upright, a little bit more quad-focused. It's very complimentary to a back squat. A lot of core strength to do. If you're stuck at your back squat for a long time, I mean, you could swap it out for front squats for like a month. Go back to back squats and then watch what ends up happening. You'll see something. I went on a kick.

I remember this when I, because again, also like everybody, neglected front squat and like I was with the incline bench squats. I'm like, I'm going to try and get my front squat up to my back squat. And I never passed what my max, but I got my front squad over 315, which was a lot for me, kind of because I think I started at like 135. I had to start really low. And boy, going back to my back squat after I could front squat 315. Like I had never felt so comfortable with 405 on my back as I did after getting strong on my front squat.

Same here. Well, I noticed it even really helped a lot of my overhead press because it's just holding the weight and then, you know, really getting comfortable in that racked position. And plus it's such a transitionary move. So it's like anything you want to do for Olympic lifting. Like we have to get solid with front squats. Then you have the split stand squat. This looks like a lunge. But essentially you're splitting your stance in a lunch position.

You just go up and down before you switch your stance. But it places a different torsion on the pelvis and the core. And if you never do these, you will be shocked at how weak you are in comparison to your squat. This is how you know. This is how you know you need to do these. You could squat 315, suddenly you get in a split stance, and you're like 105. I still have a vivid memory of the, like, first day of training Bulgarian split squats. And I remember, and I remember, like, seeing actually a girl in the gym doing it.

And I remember, like, and I know logically the benefits of it. I'm like, I need to train that. I never train that. And I remember going to do it. And I remember I couldn't hold on the dumbbells heavier than what she was holding on to. And I remember I was just roasted from the, oh, my God. I'm so weak here. And then, of course, right after that experience,

avoided it for a really long time because embarrassed that I was so weak in it. And then, again, later on, coming back, being like, setting a goal, I'm going to get strong at that. Talk about, again, carrying over to your squat to the whole point in this conversation. Man, when I got to the point, when I could Bulgarian split squat some serious weight,

getting back over to the barbell back squat, holy crap, I felt so stable and strong. Do the reinforcement of control, stability, like what that provides? your hips when you go back to you know, bilaterally squatting was, it was phenomenal. And it, yeah, it was very humbling,

very humbling exercise to just jump into that after being good at squatting. But I actually, yeah, it took me a while, but then I finally really like intentionally tried to get stronger in that and then started using like a barbell with it. Yes, yes. And it's like, oh, my God, my potential for squat

went crazy. Oh, and I know this, that's not the point of this conversation, but the leg development and glute development I got from that. Of course. The instability of being in a split stance like that and getting really strong all those stabilizer muscles having to come up.

I mean, that's what contributes obviously to the bilateral squatting, which is the point of the conversation. But for somebody who was aesthetically motivated like I was, man, I had incredible leg development by focusing over on that. All right, let's get to the deadlift, and I'll start with the trap bar deadlift.

I think the trap bar deadlift is exceptional. I think it's a wonderful supplement and or replacement. So deadlifts with a straight bar, great, love them. Practice them, get good at them. Ripett. But if you're really, if you're really afraid of the deadlift,

if you're like, man, my skill around it, I'm not sure. Like a trap bar, the skill required to do a proper trap bar deadlift is much less than a traditional barbell deadlift. And there is some carryover. It is a different lift. And I know some people argue the difference. But I'll tell you what, it's lifting something off the ground while you're holding it. the weight is more to the side of your body on either side.

So it's a little bit less of the hip hinge, but it's still a hip hinge lift. Athletically speaking, athletes do more trap bar deadlifts than they do traditional deadlift. Well, I mean, I can get behind the rip-a-toe type of camp from that thing. It's just the conventional deadlift covers all that end,

unless you're an athlete because then I can see the carry over that. But I use the truth is with clients, I use the trap bar far more than I use a conventional lift. So it's like the reality is, even though I can agree with someone like Ripato that the conventional deadlift is the king and the place we want to get to, the reality is the average person who comes into the gym that hired me as a coach, we couldn't get there without trap bar deadlifting first. And so there's tremendous benefit for for sure beginner. And then to your point, if you're somebody who's been stuck at, let's say, a 400 deadlift for a very long time, you might get comfortable with being able to do a trap bar at like 450, 500 and then go back over.

to that NC CAR. And so there is, but there is, there is benefit there. So I don't think it's one of those things where it's just like, it's a, oh, it's terrible. It's horrible. You shouldn't do it. There's useless. No, there's lots of application for it. I still think conventional deadlift is the king. But if you're stuck in a plateau and you can't break through that. Totally. And you're scared to feel what 500 pounds with. It's like go over there and trap bar dead left that. You'll be able to do that. 100%. Then we have Zerter squats. The Zerter squats is a kind of a front loaded squat. I know it's helping you the deadlift that says squat. But it's kind of, it's Kind of a in-between exercise.

You have a short lever in front of you because it's on your elbows. You're squatting down. There's some hip-hinging involved. And I've noticed with myself and with people I've trained that this has a nice carryover. Actually, more carry-over to a deadlift

than a squat. Yeah. It's a surter squat. I think it really highlights the importance of, like, your core involving... 100%. Yeah, with the deadlift and the hinge. Like, it really just lights up your core.

So you went this direction. I was going to go with the huge benefits that I got. from this was the core was bracing. Such a big piece of both getting a stronger squat and deadlift is learning how to brace really well. Totally. If you get, in order to get strong in a zercher, you have to brace your core.

Just to do one. Yeah, I know. Yeah, it forces you to do that. And so as you progress and get stronger to zer, you get really good at bracing. Then you go over back to a deadlift or a squat and you really learn how to lock in that. that core and all of a sudden you see your weight go up in that squad or that deadlift. This was the big notice that I got from the search was there because I think the average person will scratch their head.

Even the average trainer that understands biomechanics would be like, how is that really helping that much that you can't even load that much? But the amount that you have to learn how to brace and because it still is a hinge pattern, it's like the carryover is actually far better than you would imagine. And then we got a couple movements that really help prevent injury. The suitcase carries is the first one. So suitcase carry out a heavy dumbbell at one side. I'm walking nice, good, tight, controlled form.

And I got, like I said, there's just a heavy dumbbell on one side. What it's doing is it's strengthening the opposite side QL muscle and the lateral stabilizing muscles of the other side. So why is that important? Well, when you're deadlifting, especially when you get really strong, you get really strong moving in one direction. Those lateral stabilizers, although they're active, can fall behind. And this is where you often see back injuries.

Yep. One of the more common back injuries with the deadlift is not because of a herniated disc or something like that. It's because a QL got pulled. Yeah. Shifting weight. Yes. It's like the weight came up and it came up a little faster on one side. It was a little twist.

Boom. QL gets hurt. And what that feels like is a lot of low back pain on one side. I love that you brought this up for bulletproofing that because it is one. I actually got injured from that, you know, deadlifting. And it became one of my staples. And two, just the walking patterns with weight, I think really like highlights an emphasis. emphasizes a lot of those like opposing forces pulling you left,

pulling you into rotation, you know, and to be able to stay fixed and concentrated and get your body to really respond just in that vertical line, I think it's, it really tests that. 100%. Then we have reverse hyper. Reverse hyper is we're popularized,

I think, by West Side Barbell again. Very interesting movement. And you look at it and you go, how does this help me deadlift? It bulletproofs your low back. Oh, your low back. It really does bulletproof.

And more than a traditional hyper extension, reverse hyper is where you're lifting your legs up. And I don't even need a lot of weight to do this. And what I notice with this when I do these is it's hard to get my lumbar spine to move through because it wants to stay tight. And so it just improves my lower back mobility. And I've seen recently carryover to my deadlift. Yeah, that's another one that you see the more, like you don't see them in a lot of gyms. CrossFit gyms have them.

Yeah. But you don't see them in a lot of. The two gyms I go to have them. Wow, you're going to. Powerlifting gyms have them. Powerlifting gyms will have them. But I think, you know, as, you know, just side note, as strength training becomes more common in mainstream, you're seeing more strength, like really good strength training machines in gyms. And I just think, like squat racks, for example, now squat racks are in every gym, whereas they weren't, you know, 20 years ago.

It's kind of, it's, I mean, it's a interesting point. I mean, the fact that a reverse hyper and a belt squat are in two of the commercial gyms that you go to is such. And that we've all, we've talked for a long time, like what we've seen the transition in the, you know, squat rack. the deadlift platforms, like that's been insane. Like to see reverse hypers and belt squats and gyms, it's kind of a cool time for, you see bumper plates. You see, you know, squat racks. You're seeing people do all these lifts that normally you have to be a hardcore. You see hip thrust machines too, which never.

Yeah, I never saw that before. So kind of cool. Yeah, yeah. All right, let's get to the bench press. So here's an exercise that will give you some carry over that. I don't see a lot of people doing, especially not with weight added, which is dips. Oh, oh. You can get really strong with dips, everybody.

If you practice dibs, you get really, let me tell you, you get really strong of dibs, your bench press will go up. For sure. And I almost never see anybody doing weighted dips. I'll see people doing dips. I don't see people challenging range of motion on dips often. Definitely don't see people. I love deep range of motion and even an isometric contraction down at the bottom, you know, a pause rep to really emphasize that. But yeah, so much carryover to that when you go back to the bench press in terms of that.

Especially at the bottom. Yeah, the bottom position power that you can out. That's how I start them. I always start them with an isometric. So it's just a great way for me to prime and kind of warm up before I even get into. I get in that as deep as I possibly can. Yeah. And then just do a couple of isometrics in that position.

That's kind of like my first set. And then I'll get into like loading it and going. It's a great way to start those. And man, it teaches you how to dig out of a bench press. One of the sticking points on being able to increase your bench press is obviously the dig, getting it out of the bottom position. And it's kind of like deficit deads, right? dead lifts. It's like that ability to get deep out of it like that and get strong in that position.

And you're right. It's not one of those movements. You see a lot of people grabbing the belt chain and loading it. It's normally something you see body weight reps and rarely as deep as they can go. But getting deep and doing single double triples loaded on that, well, you want to see your bench press to want that'll do it. And then we have the incline press, which, you know, people typically treat this as like a, you know, kind of a secondary lift. But one thing that I did, and I know lots of people who've done is so they kind of abandoned the bench press for a little while and just saw how strong they can get on the incline. Then they went back to bench press and suddenly they were able to bench press more weight. And because people treat the incline press as kind of as a secondary

exercise, a lot of people don't realize their full potential in the incline press. But I'll tell you this much right now. Focus on the incline. Make that your primary pressing movement. Get really strong at it. There's carry over to the bench press for sure. And then we'll get to a couple things you can add to all these things, bands and chains. This just adds what's called progressive resistance. Bands added to the bar makes the weight heavier where you're strongest and it lighter where you're weakest. So when I'm bench pressing with bands added to the bar, it's the lightest at the bottom.

As I push up and the band stretches, it's heaviest at the top. Well, I just so happen to be strongest at the top. So now I'm training my strength curve. Chains do the same thing. As I lower the weight, chains at the ground. It's lighter as I lift. Chains come up. This is a powerlifting tool.

but the carryover for people want to build muscle, strength, you just want to look better. Like, I love using bands and chains. And I love using... And alleviating a lot of that needless stress around the joints, too. It's kind of nice to apply that technique and, you know, really focus on some, like, either the lockout or digging yourself out of the whole.

And I know we've talked about this before, but you just described how the strength curve is the same on the two things, but they feel different. And so they're both different tools. Bands versus chains, yeah. Even though they match the strength curve, right? Very different. They feel different doing it.

And so... Chains take more out of you. There's a value to you doing both of these, both of these to help you with this. They're a great tool. And I'd say most gyms have the ability to set up chains or bands. And bands are easy to carry them with you. Chains are a little bit more ridiculous to carry in your gym.

Bands are easy. You're right. You walk into a gym with your chains. You're hardcore, dude. That is like that's... That is like the junkyard dog. Yeah. Yeah.

A guy in the wrestler. Junkard dog, dude. That actually would be like a funny reel to do, you know what I'm saying? Come and show up. You're Mr. T, dude. I used to use chains on dips. I used to be used to do.

Yeah. Just bring some big old gold chains and, like, throw on the bench. That's so awesome. That would be a move. Justin, you look nice and tan, which is weird. You do. I'm glad you noticed. You do.

You do. You look like gray. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? A little bit of a mauve. No, you do look tan. No, you went to... You were down in Palm Springs or Palm Desert.

A little more freckles. And usually you come back, sunburned. Usually. But you came back, uh, tan. What are you doing? Yeah. So, well, I'm trying this out. Like my, um, sister-in-law, like, we used to, uh, Fourth of July, we'd go to, like,

quarter lane and, um, and they're just as fair-skinned as us. And so it was like, they're out on the boat, like, all summer. And, um, you know, some of their kids are, like, very fair skin, but they weren't putting on sunblock. We were, like, passing around. Like, no, no, we're good. We don't have any sunblock. And she's telling us about Astazanthin.

They've been taking the supplement to help. What is that? Which I don't even know how to describe this. Like, so don't rely on me for that. I feel like I've heard you, Sal, bring it up before, but I don't know what it is. I believe you find it in certain seafood. It's a pill? Oh, you know what?

It's from flamingos. Yes. Yeah. What? I think algae is another way they get it. Yeah. Well, the flamingos eat it. No, no, no. Look up as to xanthin and sunburns, Doug.

Okay. So you can, if you take this. Justin, is it a powder or a pill that you're taking? It's a pill. Yeah. And it's a precursor to vitamin A, right? Is that what that is? It's an antioxidant internal sunscreen.

Yeah, dude, you take it before, during, and after you're in the sun. Yeah. And like, your skin is way more resilient to the UV rays. Yeah. And they did not know that. I was like, I don't know. It's a risk, you know, like, with me because it's like, I'm going to leave and if I don't put anything on like usually I'll get to the point where it's going to blister if I have like that

much exposure uh but I was like you know around the pool and I kind of started taking it a week before we went to the Palm Desert and uh I was like okay I got a little bit red you know and I was hot but then I kind of went back you know inside and I was fine the next day and so then we spent a lot more time like at this water park and like all day long you know you're at a water park there's no shade like it was constant I didn't have anything on. I was nervous, dude. And I came out. I was like hot and red. And then like once we, I cooled down, I was like, fine. And, and there was no,

it wasn't even like you could, uh, like I didn't have any like, like heat at night. Normally, like, even my, my skin would be hot when I'm trying to sleep. Uh, so yeah, it was, it was wild. It's so weird. Interesting. Whenever I hear Justin talk about, like, him and his kids and wife in the same. You guys didn't have to worry about this. I've never thought of that. It's never been a thought for me when I go on the sun, like, oh, crap. Yeah.

I'm going to somber. Yeah. I'll put, if I put sunscreen on, it's day one for a little bit, one time. Yeah. And the rest of the time there, I never in my life, do I, am I worried about it? Dude, I'm always looking for alternatives, though, because I hate it. There's so many chemicals. And, like, I just, you know, and it's a whole process.

And, yeah, I'm always jealous because, like, you know, guys are just, let's go. And then there's no big deal. I'm just like, you know, that dad. put it all in my nose and the place I missed, you know, I look like a total dork. It's okay. You have great calves. Yeah. So, I mean, I'm probably, I've probably changed the skin complexion for the calves, you know what I'm saying? Yeah.

So, yeah, dude, I mean, it was nice. Like, I was like, oh, this might be a thing, you know, I'm going to try it again and see if it. So Doug had it pulled up. So it says, ideally, you load it for a couple weeks. You do it for like a week before? Yeah. Yeah. A week or so.

So it's something they. I'm assuming it's healthy for you to take on our regular basis. Yeah, it's good for you to take anyway. Yeah. Yeah, we were reading up on it. So, and Courtney's kind of like particular about sourcing. And so she found a good like mom and pop kind of place that does it, you know, in house. And so we're like, okay, we'll try this.

But yeah, I mean, now it's like, you know, the whole dryness and all that. I'm like, I got to keep it if like, you know, if I'm getting dark or is just going to peel off. The Calderaer Lab hydro layer to keep you all. Yeah. Yeah. all the moisturizer, all the serum on my face, and, like, mainly my face because, like, you know, like, I'd never keep a tan on my face. I use, I use their sunscreen on Max. So it's 30.

Oh, yeah. It's 30 SPF. And it's all, it's all. And it's not chemical. It's all natural. So that's, I use that for him. Yeah, that's a great option. So, yeah, they have, they have a great, because it's hard to find these sunscreens that don't have all the shit in it.

I know. And that was, like, one of the biggest fights with Katrina and I was because she's, as soon as Max would go outside, she'd, like, loud. I'm like, let him be out for at least 15, 20 minutes out there and get a little bit of a base. And then I'm okay with you put on it. But you go lather him up with this chemical shit right away before he goes out there. And so that's why we switched over to that. And I know it's like a kind of a smaller ball. I don't care.

That's what I use on him. And it's 30. So it's all natural. So that's a way to go. I have a friend of mine. So I'm training my buddy. And we've been working out together now for about, I don't know, five or six weeks. And it's so funny.

He's like, he comes over, you know, to work out, train him on my girlfriend. garage. He's like, hey, he's like, does that Caldera lab stuff really work? I start laughing. I'm like, you see one of my commercials? He's like, yeah, I did. And I'm like, it really, dude, it really works. We had this whole conversation about it. And he's like, I've never really used anything. He's a guy, right? So he never really used anything. And then he gave me a compliment. He's like, your skin looks really good. I thought babies because you were Sicilian. I said, well, I also use their stuff, but it really does. In fact, Doug, show me the, so I was looking at this earlier at some of the ingredients to, oh, by the way, hydro layer one, best moisture.

and Men's Health and Esquire. Oh, yeah. They got first place in both of them. Yeah, they're killing it. Yeah, and they have compounds in their hydro layer that holds up to 5,000 times its weight in water. So it attracts. So there are two. As far as, like, keeping you hydrated?

That's right. Your skin hydrated? Yes. So 5,000 times it's weight in water. It's polyglutamic acid and hierolonic acid. So those are two primary ingredients in their hydro layer. So it keeps your skin. So basically you rub it in and it gets absorbed in your skin and then it holds the water.

That's right. Almost like what creatine does in the muscles. Me? Oh, yeah. Kind of. Interesting. Yeah, kind of. Interesting.

It's got exosomes in there. They're patent pending too, 20 times more active in the skin. So, yeah, so I was telling him all this stuff. He's a doctor, so he likes the science. So we're kind of going to go out. Yeah, now he's going to use it. Which is kind of cool. What did everybody do on the memorial?

I mean, I know I was laid up sick and did absolutely nothing. So you went down. Yeah, it's a lot. It's the long drive, man. And it's funny because every time... You drove? Yeah, every time we do now. Well, because, dude, flights right now are so dumb.

And it's like, dude, it takes forever to get through security and, like, there's delays and, like, all over the place. I don't know if you guys noticed. Like, you've obviously just, like... Why are there delays everywhere? I don't know. It's just, it's like... Because all the, they had all the, all the, uh, protesting and stuff. Yeah.

With the, again, we went through that whole thing with, uh, what are they, the, what are they called? They worked there. Okay. Oh, the TSA. TSA. TSA. Why are you protesting? Protesting or striking?

Whatever. That's what I meant. That's what I meant. Strike. Yeah. Same thing. They went through that whole process again. You didn't know that just happened again?

No. Yeah, that happened again. So there was, so yeah. We're avoiding all that. Yeah. So we just, so you drove for 12 hours. Yeah.

Basically. No, it's not that wrong. What is it? Is it eight hours? Yeah. Oh, that's a long drive. Yeah. Well, I mean, we cut it to like seven.

Five's like my limit. Yeah. We took ways like, Ways has taken us on so many. I've gone, like, I want to say at least six different ways down there now. Like, and it's all through, like, Central Valley Desert and like all that, like, so it's been, it's been weird, you know, like finding all these new paths to get there. But, yeah, we went down there and then just hung out. And I actually took the boys to the gym.

And I think I might have brought this up on another podcast. But yeah, we got to work out. So I got them, that was like my first time of having like a real in-jim. session with them, like two times, and it was awesome. Did you guys go up there the whole time, or did you guys, were you here for a few days, then went down there? We were here for a couple days, and then we left because we're in the process of, like, trying to sell my house.

So we're kind of in and out with, like, people coming to show the place and then wanted to look at it. We got to hurry up and leave, grab the dogs and everything, and it's been kind of stressful, but it's, have you, have you transferred a bunch of stuff to the other house yet? You have. Oh, you already have moved some stuff. Lots of stuff there, yeah. Oh.

It's really just like the, the stuff. stuff we have on display for show and, you know, a few clothing items. I'm like, literally like rotating like, I don't know, maybe like 10 or 12 different outfits. So I do. Yeah. Now, is the other house done enough for you like to have your master bedroom and be able to put some in there? Or like, it's, it's got walls. We got lighting upstairs now, which is great.

Okay. And I've not seen any updates. We've painted a lot. You haven't shared any updates with us. Like, you've, I haven't seen any updates in your place at all. It's, I mean, like, we're getting there. Like, it's, like, it's not like your car. I was just going to say it.

I know it exists. I've seen it. I've seen it. I've been there. I know it's for real. I drove my car once, so I know that it does exist. Which, this is great. Once I finally get it, I'm going to, yeah, reveal it.

Everybody's going like, whoa, you have this. You actually have it for a long time. It's going on like two, almost two years. Two years. Almost, yeah. That sucks. Probably not going to. a recommendation

for anybody else. You know, it's like, it's so tough because everybody I know, everybody I have that's done a build. It's just, it's just, it's just part of the process.

Classic cars. Yeah, and it's, it is one of those things where I was like very, I mean, not to say I'm naive, but like I knew it was going to take a while, but not this long.

I didn't, you know, I was just like, come on. Yeah. Like what, but then again, it's,

it's tough because like, too, I know the guy and like, he's downsized. He had like a whole, full staff working for him. Now he's just, just him. Like, the last year, it's been just him. And so it's like, you know, I'm like, what's crazy is you chose to build a classic car and

build a house at the same time. That was not intentional, dude, at all. Just a less stress. Yeah. I really do. Like, I'm like, I'm not, you know, I don't like, you know, I don't like, he's like, I don't have enough stress about. You should buy a puppy and have a kid.

Another puppy on top of you. We already got two cats, like, in the mix. Like, Courtney snuck those ones in. What? Well, yeah, I told you. Yeah. I mean, they've been rad because they're actually productive and they kill things. So I'm cool with them.

And they're pretty low maintenance. Did you guys keep your chickens or do you bail on the chickens thing? You bailed on them. We actually gave them to one of our friends. You didn't eat them. Yeah, she started one. They're good egg producers. So, you know, they're happy to take them.

Dude, I got a, I got a chart I want to talk to you guys about, switch directions a little bit. I just read this today. It was a study on young adults. So 22 to 35 year olds, their happiness has dropped significantly, but not all of them. You guys ready to hear this? It's pretty wild. So this chart, this study starts in 1980, and it goes all the way to a little bit past

2020. So young adults were 83% of them in 1980 said they were pretty or very happy. Today it's 68%. But there's one segment, so that's a huge drop from 83 to 68%. But there's one segment of young adults who's happy. has barely changed or not changed at all. Married young adults. So the young adults who are single,

their happiness plummeted. All the married ones, same. 91% 1980, 90% today. You're so pro-young marriage. Well, let's sell marriage. This is data. This is data. These are 22 to 35-year-old.

I mean, this is data of what they report, right? I mean, how many married guys are sitting next to their wife? And he was like, are you happy? Yeah, I'm happy. No. You're happy too? Yeah, mark it. She's all over your shoulder.

She's looking at it like this like that. Yeah, yeah, I'm happy. We're real happy. Just so you know, just you know these surveys aren't done together. They're done individual. And you don't think she goes like this? How did you answer? How did you answer?

Hey, I'll tell you what. There's no change since 1980. Why would you be happy? The other one plummeted. Listen, this is good to bring up. And these are 22 to 35 year olds, Adam. This isn't like 19-year-olds. Yeah, yeah.

But what's the divorce rate between people that get, married between the ages of 20 and 25 versus 25 and 30. 22 and 33. No, no, no. What I'm saying is I'm not talking about that. Yeah, that's one study. I'd like to see what's the report say on people who get married between the ages of, say, 18 to 23 and then 23 to 27 and then 30 and 35.

But if you, but the older you get married, the divorce rate goes up typically. But that's typically because it's second and third marriages. So when you look at people who get married. Yeah, I like to see first marriages between all those ages and what the, what the divorce rate is like. I don't know. So that would be interesting to me to see. Teen marriages have extremely high risk with nearly 48% being divorced. So the ideal zone is 25 to 29 where the divorce rate is the lowest.

This is the lowest. That's your sweet spot. This is statistically one of the most stable brackets boasting a divorce risk of only 10% ages 30 to the 34, Sal. Yeah. So as you get older. It gets worse. No, 10%. The odds of divorce actually increased by roughly 5% for each additional year you wait.

This is age 32 and older. That's 32 and older. Between 30 and 34, statistic. is the best time. Yes, but 25 to 29 is also, is also very good. Anyway, my point is, 23 and 26. My point is that the data from 22 to 35 year olds, there's a huge discrepancy from married and not married, huge. Why is this such a big deal? Because everything would have you believe otherwise. They would have you believe the happiest people in that age group are not married. Not true. And this is data. This isn't my opinion. I'm just pulling up.

It's kind of your opinion. I mean, you're using that to make your opinion. It's like just because they report less. Just because they report that. I mean, there's so many other variables that could be going on there. Just not like it's not that clear. I mean, you can make up things that you think. Because then you just look, because when you read, when you read that, when you read those right there, then if they're not getting divorced, their divorce rates the lowest at 30 to 34.

This goes from 22 to 35 years. So that falls within this. Right. So again, that, that, that the better. could be say 30 34 and it's not really getting married at 22 to my point to your counter your point is I'm not pro getting married between 20 and 23 years old and you're so pro you're getting young and it comes off that way when you say that so I'm coming back the other direction being like okay I understand that married people are happy and I agree that we've sold this dream of or we've told people

that oh be single make all this money bang lots of girls and the peter pan syndrome and I don't agree with that. But I also think that people getting married at a really young age is not always a good idea. Yeah, I'm not saying that. It can come off that way when you read it, when you read what you just read. I'm reading exactly what the data says, which is that the happiness rate from 22 to 35 year olds has plummeted among those who are unmarried. Right, right. Whereas those who are married has stayed the same. Yeah. Which would account for even divorce and all that stuff, which is what you're looking at. I know, but when you report a study like that and you give a range like that, it could be interpreted to somebody who's 21 years old that, hey, it's a good idea for me to get married right now.

Do you know how many people or how many women who are childless are childless and it was not intentional? You can look that up, significant percentage. Yeah, because that is, I agree with that. So when you look at it, so when you think of it this way, okay, especially if you're a woman and you're looking at this, you know, I'm going to wait until I'm 33. Now you're 33, like I got to get married and have a kid right away. Yeah. And the odds that you're going to remain childless. I think the conversation is different.

for men and women, in my opinion. So I would encourage a woman to get married to younger age. I would encourage a man to get married at an older age. I think a 25-year-old woman is totally different maturity-wise than a 25-year-old boy. Yes. You want to know what's interesting about that? Young men placed getting married today, which is really weird. It was never like this before.

Young men place marriage and having children higher than women do these days. Yeah. And I think that's because of the stupid narrative that we've pushed on women for the last. Yeah. But again, that's a, I think that women are far more mature at middle 20s than men are. And so I think in an ideal world, it's like guys are waiting until they're closer to 30. Especially when you're probably around 25. Yeah, especially when you look at the age difference when people get married, it typically is like two to three years.

Yeah. So a guy will typically be two to three years older. Yeah. But again, I think that there's, I know there's in this narrative, which is don't even think about it until you're in your 30s. and just enjoy your life. And here's what's happening. They're not enjoying their life. They're less happy. Yeah.

They're far less happy. I think the commentary that I want to bring to that conversation is because I don't want to happen what I feel like we always do in society, which is swing from one extreme to the other extreme. Oh, don't get married. Don't know, no, no, go this way. Oh, get married right away. It's like there's actually somewhere, there's some logic. Well, do you think people were less happy when it was in the other direction? Because it was in the past.

When they were really young. Yeah. Do you think they were less happy 40 years ago? when the narrative was get married early and have kids. No, I know they weren't. I mean, you're bringing up the studies that proved the opposite of that. But I also think that 30, 40 years ago, there were a lot of the things. 30 years ago, a family, a single, a family could have one person working and they could survive in a single home.

We talked about this. The data on that's not true. Well, because we live in bigger houses and things like that. People, what we do? Well, well below. Yeah, I'll tell you what right now. I had this conversation with my cousins. They're like, oh, no, no, my grandfather.

He was able to buy a house and support. And I'm like, okay, let's do apples to apples. Yeah. He didn't have internet, so cut that cost out. Yeah. He only had one car, so cut the other one out. He didn't have TVs, so cut that out. He didn't eat out, so cut that out.

He didn't buy clothes all the time. So if we actually do apples to apples. Sure, that's a logical argument. Problem is perception is reality. And this young generation perceives it this way. That's why it's important to me. So I don't disagree with the logic that you make, but the average person who's 20 years old doesn't see it that way.

And if that's their perception, that's the reality, which then will cause them to be depressed, sad. And I can't afford both me and my wife have to work. No, 100%. That's why it's important to talk about. And there are many places. I know we don't live in one of these places. Well, we live is one of the most expensive in the world. But there are many places in America, which is very affordable.

Yeah. And a lot of the issue, like I have family members that are friends. I have friends like this who both husband and wife work. They work like crazy. And it's like, if you just moved, you're so stressed out. You're both working crazy hours. Your kid is going to daycare. If you just moved, you'd be okay.

Like, I don't want to leave the area. It's like there are options. They're definitely options. No, I think there is, I think great advice is for a young man to build himself, grow, learn, educate, build skills, get mature, wait until you're 25 to 28. And then you find a girl who's three years younger than you, and you live somewhere in the middle of the country. And you absolutely be disciplined and happy already. I'll even know you can be confident. I'll even add to that.

If you're in that age group, I think you should date to marry. Not because I'm just, I need to get married, but. Yeah, with an objective. Like, hey, I'm going to date, but I'm going to date

because I'm looking for somebody I want to be with, not just some, you know, whatever. And it's the opposite. And people are less happy. People are way less happy living that life. And when I saw that data, first of all,

I expected everybody to be less happy because that's what you keep seeing the data. Yeah. But people who were married stayed the same. Well, I believe the dating process is part of what I, when I'm, when I alluded to,

you should grow, learn. I mean, that's part of that. Like, the, the best experience for dating for me in my 20s was not, like, oh, just because I was trying to have fun. It was like, I was learning about myself. Like, that whole process was, I mean, when I, when you're, I mean, this is why I'm not a fan of a 21 or 22 year old young man getting married just because at 22, you think you know what you want.

And most men don't. But by the time you're 30, you get a little bit better. idea of what you want. Probably 35, you really realize, oh shit, this is what I value. You know, you know, it's interesting. I was just at a wedding, a young couple. They're in their, I want to say, early to mid-20s. It was the most Christian marriage ever, a wedding I ever been at. So I never been at a wedding that was that, like both, but the support and the families that they had around them and how they talked about marriage at the wedding, I was like, man, they have such a high odds of success because they're going to definitely change. There's going to be challenges.

Of course. If you're with someone long enough, there's going to be massive challenges. But they have all these people around them. The way they were communicating marriage was incredible. And they have all their parents around them and grandparents and this culture. And I think that's another big part of it. I think a lot of us don't grow up in that culture. That's a huge part of it. I mean, and also a great argument. I mean, imagine having people to talk to that you know that you've grown up with. Even just having a, I mean, it's unfortunate, but we don't have a lot of people don't have, don't come from a family.

That's all you like that. Having an example of a mother and father that stuck together and did it and worked through things and uncles and aunts that did it and like, you know, if you had this big family that you, that... I just imagine like them having straw, I was watching this. I was thinking about this. Imagine them have big, big challenges

and he goes to his buddies who also are in this kind of culture. His buddies are not going to say, dude, just leave her. They're going to say things like, no man, you got to stick it. Let's work it out. Let's figure this out. Let's get you guys together. We're all going to... And when you look at success families and marriages. They have a lot of that,

but a lot of people don't grow up in that, like you said, which makes it very, very difficult. Yeah, no, agreed. Agreed. I mean, that's all part of the growing process. It's just wild to me when you start to look at the data. Objectively speaking, we should be happier today by the things that we tend to measure, which is material success, access to health care,

you know, education, and freedom. And we have more of those things, but so many people are less, less happy. There's something missing. Oh, I mean, I think it's one of the greatest analogies to that or examples is when you talk about, like, what kings and queens had. Yeah. I mean, like, somebody who is in, like, poverty has more luxury than somebody.

And yet, I mean, so think about that for a second. Like, that's wild. That's like, and that wasn't that long ago. I'm not talking about, like, you're only talking about a couple hundred years ago. They have, you know, friggin' like door dash. Oh, it's, yeah, no, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, I, I mean, I catch myself all the time. Oh, you got a sword throw up. Oh, he's probably going to die. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I, the convenience that we have in, in everything and convenience and luxury in our daily lives is, is wild just compared to, say, 20, 30 years ago. It's, and so we're right. We have. And it's only accelerating with, uh, 3D printing and AI robots to come do everything for you. Like, I mean, it's, we're only going to have more. And the. And the. It's, it's, it's, we're only going to have more. And the. And the. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. It's, it's, it's, irony of that is we're only going to get more depressed and sad and lonely and all those things because we keep thinking. Strong creates meaning and we're, you know, eliminating it. That's crazy. I'm speaking

some more good news for young people. Dude, this, this is crazy. I'm not going to say the elephant in the room, but I know you guys are going to think the same thing. So there was, there's some data coming out showing, and I'll pull it up here, showing how strokes, so the instance of strokes is spiking in young people. So doctors are now seeing people in their 20s, 30s, 30s and 40s who are getting suddenly, they're seeing a spike in these young patients getting strokes.

And they're confused as to what could possibly be confused. A couple years back if we go back in time. Dude, I keep seeing like data like this and the comments underneath. Everybody posts a little emoji of a shot. Really? Really? Dude, it's of course we're going to inevitably hit this

reality and face this reality, you know, of what we all went through and endured. And it's like, it's, it's hard because you just can't talk about it, you know, like we can't talk about like this might have had an impact. I know. Well, you know, meanwhile, we're trying again, right? What's the, what's the one going around right now?

Oh, it's already dying. It's not going anywhere. What was that called? Hanta, Hantavirus. Yeah, Hantavirus. Yeah, I mean, they felt like they kind of rolled it out. Like, let's see if we can do a part two. No, dude.

And just like every part two normally flopped. It's just like, oh, didn't work. evidence like in terms of benefit you know it's just it if you go back and look at benefit versus you know us like saving people like I would love to see like real statistics it's wild though to see no it's not good it's not good it's no like overwhelmingly not good yeah yeah dude and then that one there's that one tick disease that's exploded over a thousand percent they're now starting to investigate it as bioterrorism i brought that up and i was like ah this is like freaking super conspiratorial but you What is it called gal something?

Like you get bit by this tick. And then you don't want to eat meat? You can't eat red meat. Yeah. What's it called? Some kind of enzyme that it, it, it's, I mean, what's the, what it, what's the, what's the, what's the, um, the stats on people that are. It's called alpha gal syndrome that are allergic.

Yeah. What's, what's the, what's the, what's the, what's the allergy increase to red meat in the last decade, do we know? Oh, a lot. Is it a lot? Yeah, because of alpha gal mainly alpha. So, so it's gone up a thousand percent recently. Whoa.

thousand percent no that's crazy yeah Doug look up alpha gal there's like there's like a heat map over the US of like where they're they're getting reports of it it's like increase pretty alarming yeah look at this scroll down Doug because you can see

the last there's massive spikes and positive test results for alpha gal antibodies over the last decade but I read in an article that was something like a thousand percent increase so it's like suddenly exploded that's crazy numbers yeah so there's They're now trying to potentially look at it as a bioterrorism. Yeah.

Yeah, like maybe someone did that. Yeah, there you go. Alpha-gal on the rise, the alarming growth. Oh, there you go. 3,000 percent. Adults 25 to 49 have increased succeeding 3,000 percent. That doesn't sound like a natural occurrence. 3,000 percent, dude.

Yeah, yeah. So weird, right? Well, so weird. What state's most common? It's not coming. It hasn't been in California yet, right? No. It doesn't need to.

It's on its way. It's on its way. It can be, it doesn't make you a big explain. Well, this is the lone start ticks. I don't know if it is start in Texas or like the Midwest. It's all the south where all the meat is you need. Conveniently hitting the south first.

I'm going to be going to Yellowstone. I mean you be careful? Not really. Oh, when are you going to Yellowstone? When we're all taking that time. Oh, that's where you're going? Yeah. Oh, how fun.

Are you staying in Yellowstone the whole time? We're going to stay like 30 minutes outside of it. I got like an Airbnb. And so we're going to stay there. Wow, I'm surprised you're doing something like that. Why? I've been to Yellowstone before. I know.

It was so not like you to do anything. What? I mean, that's like an adventure, like to actually go out into nature and do that for a whole. It's a national park. I'm really like going on. I'm going to go where I'm supposed to. I'm not going to see some people like going too close to those buffalo. Why do you do that?

You know, come on. It's a freaking huge, like, wild animals. Is it just you and the kids or are you doing it out there? Me and the kids, my niece and my mother-in-law and my brother-in-law and son-in-law. Oh, cool. So we're all going to get a place and you all fit in? We all have one big place. Oh, cool.

Yeah, yeah. Have you ever seen, by the way, like a buffalo, one of those buffalo? Yeah. Yeah. Or a moose is crazier. Bro, it looks like a dinosaur. Dude. They're like one of the scary.

It's funny because they look all like cute and whatever. We're dumb? Yeah, like, do you think of like bullwinkle or something? And you're like, no, dude. It was terrifying. It was so big. It had to be like over a ton. Yeah.

And so I was like canoeing, actually. This was in Minnesota like at the boundary waters. And I was there with the football team. We all like had this like canoe trip that we did together. And I'm like just canoeing. And all of a sudden it just came out of the woods down this hill. We're in the water. It goes in the water.

It says walking in the water and it like submerges completely. And then we lost it. We were like, it was like walking on the bottom of the lake. And we're getting like, you're getting like, get the hell out of here. I'm scary. I got video of one as close as me and you when I was up at, what you would call it? Yeah.

With Jackson Hole. When I was in Jackson Hole, there was one walking around where we were all staying and stuff. They get pissed. They'll come after you. Oh, yeah. Especially they have their baby with them or whatever, too. They just look, they just look cartoonishly big. Yeah.

You look at you, wait a minute. That's way bigger in real life. It's insane. It makes a cow look tiny. Yeah. Or like a horse. It makes a horse look little. Tiny, tiny, for sure.

Anyway, I want to talk about, essential amino acid supplements because, so we work with Keon, so this is for our listeners. They need to know this, that essential amino acid supplements, when you look at the data on how effective they are, the thing you have to look at is how much of it is coming from leucine. So leucine is one of the branch of amino acids, but leucine is considered a trigger for muscle protein synthesis. Makes a massive difference.

So if you see an essential amino acid supplement, that's not 40% leucine, it almost does nothing in comparison to the ones with so is it uh is it more expensive of the things because that's typically what you'll see with supplement brands if they're going to try and cut corners it'll be the that's a good question yeah like so like because it makes sense uh it doesn't make sense to cut it out unless it saves the supplement company a bunch of money to cut it out and to claim they're still an ea yeah and then do that so it'd be interesting to see if the the leucine is one of the more expensive parts but when you look at the studies like there was that one study that was done on women where they took just the central amino acid supplement compared it to a scoop of weight protein

and how they got higher. It is typically a bit more expensive per serving. It makes sense. So talk about, I didn't know this. So it's the primary, it's the primary driver for muscle protein synthesis. So muscle protein synthesis is what we measured if you're building muscle or building tissue. It's the leucine that triggers it. Now you want the other amino acids in there because when it's triggered, then it uses those

amino acids to do what it needs to do. But it's the leucine that basically is. It pulls the trigger. Synthesize. But leave it to shady supplement companies to skimp on that because they can save from the margins. That's right. Because they're expensive. No, totally.

I mean, like the margins are so slim in the supplement industry and the fact that they're not regulated, then a company can easily put 10% in there. Yeah. Save money and charge a premium like that, even though it's less. So Keynes is 40%. 40% is from loosing. And then the rest of the amino acids are in there. So this will make a difference. So if you've tried essential amino acids before, you're like, didn't do much.

Try theirs and see what happens. And that's the one that we started taking. Yeah, yeah, I know. Because we had the interview with the founder. It made a big difference. Oh, yeah. What is Butcher Box? Well, Butcher Box delivers better meat for better you at low prices.

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So what you do is you go there, you sign up, they deliver the meat to your door. Now you get high quality, healthy protein at incredible prices. And if you sign up now and choose, you can choose, sorry, $20 off. And you can also get either free sirloing tips for life, free chicken wings for life, or free ground beef for life included in your box for the life of your membership. Just go to butcherbox.com forward slash mind pump. Back to the show. Our first caller is Aaron from Indiana.

What's up, Aaron? How are you doing, Aaron? How's going to going, guys? Good. Good. How can we help you? So I guess my question is, should I do a bulk cycle and cut cycle like every six months to achieve the body fat percentage I'm looking for? For reference, I'm currently 510 and 260 at about 29% body fat. I would consider myself an advanced lifter.

I competed in a strong man for several years. and then life happened. I got away from me, and now I'm trying to get back down to my original size. What's the original size? What were you before? When I was competing, I was 220. Okay, okay.

Now, what was different about your lifestyle when you were 220? And what are you weighing right now? Sorry? 260. So what's the difference in lifestyle, would you say, that accounts for the 40 pounds extra? Life really happened.

advancements in careers. I got married, had a kid. So time got away. I wasn't working out twice a day. It's only working out once a day. It says you came from 300 something right now, too. How long that take you to get down to that? That was about 12 years ago. So 12 years ago is when you were at your highest at 360. Yeah. Now, Aaron, was the only difference when you were 220 versus 260 working out twice a day versus once a day or are there changes in diet as well? Yeah, my diet was way better when I was competing as well. What are the differences, would you say, the big differences in diet back then versus now? Now I've got it dialed back in, but that's just recently.

And what does that mean specifically? Yeah, are you tracking it all? Do you know calories and protein and what you can? Yeah, so, yeah, I'm currently like 260 grams of protein a day and about 28 to 2,900 calories a day. Okay. And where were you before? So what were the things, what were the knobs that you had to turn? What were the things you had to change?

Because you said you're dialed in now. So what was it that you had to change to get dialed in? Yeah. A lot of it was like I cut back on the beer drinking. Okay. And then really, I started eating whole foods again, not eating fast food and processed foods. Okay. You're good.

I was going to say, you don't have to do anything. You're probably in a sweet spot. I wouldn't want you to cut too much lower calorie, unless you're pretty sedentary. You have any idea, like what your step? count, like how much you move throughout the day? I make sure I get 10,000 steps a day. Oh, yeah. Okay, your size, moving that much, lifting, I'm sure, good weight. Here's the mistake.

I'm not sure I want you to go much lower calories than what you already are. And here's a mistake that you can make. Here's where I see the big challenge. And this is just based off of the fluctuations in your body weight, you know, at low, 220 up to as high as 360. It seems like it's like an all or nothing kind of thing. And so consistency. or sustainability is the main thing to consider.

And so you've already made a couple big changes. Cut down on the beer, probably substantially, based off of what you're saying, and change from eating, you know, processed food and eating out to eating whole natural foods. Those are two pretty big, damn big changes. I would not want to add on top of that chasing a calorie deficit. I think you're probably already in a deficit just from doing those things. I don't think you should chase a bulk or a cut. I think if you just focus on that, if you just did that consistently, as consistent as you could.

And when you fall off, jump back on and just focus on the whole food, protein, not having too much beer. I don't know what your limit looks like that right now with the beer, but just, you know, keep it limited. You're going to slowly get into a nice body fat percentage range. So if you're at 29, I think just doing that alone will get you down to probably 1817. Yeah, you'll probably get down to 18, 17%. just nice and consistent without these crazy drops and strength or all this hunger from going on a cut

I think that's just the way to go. If you get impatient, this is where you'll mess things up, dude, because then you'll go too far and you'll only be able to stick to it for so long before you swing in the other direction. How do you feel in the 28, 2,900 calories?

Like, do you feel hungry? Does your workouts feel, you know, fueled? Tell me about how that feels when you eat that amount of calories. So on the days that I do lift, I follow Maps aesthetic right now. So on the days I live, I'm a little hungry. Yeah.

But on the off days, it's okay. Okay. You're good, dude. Yeah, you're probably good. I mean, honestly, if you just stayed consistent with that, you're going to see some nice changes in your body. You'll probably still feel good, feel strong. Athleticism will improve, good recovery.

And you'll see yourself drop some body fat without any drastic changes or any more changes to your diet. What were you running before Maps aesthetic? Have you been on aesthetic for a while? What were you doing before? I ran Map Strong before then. Okay. Yeah, good.

How are your results on that? I saw a lot of gains. Oh, good. Some of my lifts I competed in when I was competing, came back. Oh, wow. Oh, shit. That's really good. And so were you eating about the same through Map Strong, too?

Or have you changed eating the way you are now? Or is that about the same? It's about the same. Yeah, I would just keep going, dude. You're good. Yeah, I think. I think you're at a good, a good calorie place. After aesthetic, I think symmetry would be good for you.

I think that'd be a good program to follow up with. Do you have that one? Yeah. Oh, good. Oh, you're all set, dude. And then just to get a little deeper into this, how, what was, how big of a change in the beer consumption was it? Because that's such a high calorie beverage. It really doesn't contribute to gains and all that stuff.

Was that a pretty big change for you? Yeah, I may do it like once a day now or once a week now. And what was it every? One, like once a week. Was it daily before? No, it's probably all weekend. Okay. Oh, good for you, dude.

Yeah. Burl, you got to do nothing else. I know. You're going to get nice changes. Keep chipping away. If you get impatient, this is where you're going to mess up, dude. And what it's going to look like is you'll get where you want and then you'll swing again. And you'll be stuck in this, like, this back and forth type of deal.

But if you want to maintain this, like, that's it. Do nothing else. Just stay consistent with those two things. I mean, I think you're in what we always talk about is a little Goldilocks area, which is tough psychologically, right? You want to see the quick moves down or the quick moves up. but I think you're at a really good intake that you're going to continually lean out. And as long as you have enough energy to get through those workouts and you're feeling good, I'd say you're okay on the calorie wise.

If you get really hungry, you just eat more whole foods. Yeah. That's the other thing, too. If you're like, man, I am starving. My energy's low. Throw on some whole natural foods. But stay in those parameters and you're good, dude. Yeah.

I agree. Awesome. Yeah, you're kicking ass, Aaron. You got it, man. I love to hear where you're at next three to four months after you get through this and get into symmetry. Okay. Yeah, sounds good. Yeah, check back with us.

Thanks for calling in, man. All right, thanks. You got it. Yeah, I mean, again, just... Just takes time. Well, it does. And also, like, when you're looking at... When you look at someone's history of these really dramatic swings...

Yeah, that's a 120, 130-pound difference. And he competed at one point. So he was obviously very fit with good athleticism. Strongman is very athletic strength sport. When you see that, like, the thing you want to really consider is like, Let's not go too crazy because I have a tendency to go all or nothing. In either way, by the way. In either way.

Like an extreme cut will cause him to see maybe leaning out for a little bit, but then inadvertently will have a bench that probably follows out. And a bulk, a quote-unquote bulk tends to turn into a dirty bulk or an excuse to eat outside of the boundaries or have a couple extra beers where he's eating in a place. And that's why I wanted to hear how he felt. If his workouts feel fueled, he's hitting numbers that were. like what he was hitting in Strongman. Yeah.

And he feels a little hungry on days that he lives, which is normal, right? Especially if you're in a deficit. And he intuitively, like, switched up his training. So it's like, you know, more hypertrophy, which I thought was smart. Yeah. Yeah. And I'll say this. Like, if he's going, if you went to one beer to drink in all weekend and went from

fast food and processed food to whole natural foods, his calories probably dropped 13, 400 calories on average. Oh, yeah. On average. I bet he was eating closer to 4,000 a day easily. Easy. You throw them beer calories and all that stuff. And then, you know, beer lowers your inhibition.

You eat more garbage and the whole deal. So he's already made some big changes. Just stay there. Our next caller is Derek from California. What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up in, Derek. Hey, guys.

Thank you for taking my question. You got it. How can we help you? So I'm 5-7, and I started weightlifting in January of last year. And at that time, I weighed 139. About a year and a half later, I'm now 158 pounds. I did gain four of those pounds just in April, but I also started taking crease.

then, so that might have helped. But prior to last month, I was gaining less than a pound a month on average, and I've been eating 3,400 calories. I tried to get enough protein. And my main goal with starting lifting was to build muscle and get stronger. And I have seen some progress through my lifts and a little bit aesthetically, but it's just been a little bit slower than I would have thought. And additionally, my body fat percentage has gone from 10.7% to 18%. And I'm actually glad to have more body fat overall, but it seems like it mostly goes to my stomach. And at some point, I would like to see my abs again. But I don't necessarily need to be back at 10% body fat, but I'm not sure at what point I would cut if my body fat percentage keeps getting higher. And my concern is that I

will lose too much weight if I do try to cut. And it'll be really hard to build this back up again later since I've been trying to bulk at 3,400 calories already. And it's been slow going. Do you guys have any thoughts about this? Yeah, let me do some math here real quick. So you started at, and by the way, how are you testing your body fat? What do you do? Well, I have a smart scale. I mean, I'm not sure how accurate it is, but it's just been, I've just been able to see the practice through that.

So you're just every time, that's what you use to test yourself? Yeah, yeah. Okay. By the way, those things can be really thrown off by hydration, but we're going to take the numbers at face value. How much did you, what was your body weight when you started 139? 139 to 153, 10.7% to 17%. So let me. Let me see here.

You had 125 pounds of lean body mass. I just want to see how much lean body mass you gained through this process. So let me see here. Minus 153. So your lean body mass didn't go up that much based off of the body fat percentage. Which could be true. It's most likely, here's the two things. One, really inconsistent with the training and or not really progressive overloading.

or two, you're focused just on eating that many calories and you're not really focused on your macros, i.e. protein consistently. Would you say that's true? How are you with your protein? So I'm shooting for like a pound or one gram per pound of body weight. So I might sometimes get like 140, 150, like so a little bit less. Okay. Are you consistent with that though? Do you consistently do that. So I consistently get it when I track, but I'm tracking maybe like 80% of the time. Okay. And then let's talk about your strength.

Give me an idea of some of your key lifts and if any changes in those through this process. So, well, I've been, I know you guys won't like this, but I've been just doing like an AI program. But I, it's kind of like, you know, upper body, low. body like splits. And so I've done some, like for squats. I mean, I haven't in my email, but I'm not really sure. Oh, I can see.

Yeah, it's right here. No, I can see it here. So your bench press went from 85 to 140. Your back squat went from 95 to 205. And your deadlift went from 105 to 220. Those are huge. Yeah, that's great. Jump and strength.

You got to be careful. So here's the thing. Without seeing a picture of you before and after and out. because you've got to be very careful with those stupid smart scales because they're really strange. And the more you build and the more hydrated you are, Crating will do this. The more it throws it off. And it's really not that. So it's very difficult.

The one objective metric that we have here is your strength. That's not something that there's no error there. You know you're stronger if you're lifting more. Your bench press, back squat, deadlift went through the roof. Yeah. Like your deadlift more than doubled. Right. Yeah.

So those are the things I would pay attention to more than anything else. You're not going to be building that strength without muscle supporting it. No. Now here's the other thing. Okay. So just for, you know, just to play devil's advocate, let's say you are around 17% body fat, a good, healthy, strong, fit, maintainable body fat percentage that's also going to give you good hormone profile is probably only two or three percent lower than where you're at. So most guys, 14, 15 percent.

it's kind of the best of all things. You're fit. You don't have like a belly. You're strong. Testosterone is good. It's maintainable for 95% or more of men going down to 10%. There's a lot of tradeoffs. Your performance, your strength, your testosterone, your energy, just plummet.

It's typically not an ideal body fat percentage. We like the way it looks in pictures, but it's just not great. It's not, you know, it's not as athletic. You're not as strong. it's just not as good. The only difference is, oh, cool, I have abs and 15% I kind of have abs, you know,

type of deal. How clean is your bulk? Like, is it all from Whole Foods? Are you incorporating? Yeah, it's pretty clean. Like, it's not of like meat, eggs, rice, avocado. Derek, what are you coming from?

Like you, meaning like, you were at 1.30 and 10%. What were you doing to be at that? Was that just low calorie eating? Were you a runner? Like, what was keeping you at 10%? Yeah, so I used to, be a runner. So I ran a few marathons and things like that. But yeah, at my lowest, I was like

1.25. But I was starting to get sick like running like long distances. And so I kind of just wasn't doing anything for a little bit. But that's why I got into lifting because I was like, oh, I wanted to do something still where I'm, you know, challenging myself and trying to, you know, get new PRs and that kind of thing. But something that wouldn't be maybe so hard on my body. Good. Okay. So I got more questions because I really want to get a full context here. Subjectively, any differences?

I know you're stronger and you're eating more, but any difference isn't how you feel from when you were 139 to 153, 153, 154. Energy, libido, sleep. Yeah. Do you feel subjectively better? Yeah, I feel good. I don't know if I feel necessarily better than I felt before. but yeah, but I've been feeling like healthy, feeling energized well and all that stuff. Okay.

Would you trade your current body strength, size feeling for what you were at 139 or are you like long? If I had to pick one or the other, I'd pick this. Yeah, I would pick this. Okay, good. This helps a lot. This helps me a lot with the kind of advice I'm going to give you. So if you want to get a little leaner, you're at 3,400 calories at your size. A small cut in calories will get you there slowly and nicely.

but we don't want to sacrifice your quality of life, your strength. You know, you were kind of overtrained before getting sick, like you said. So you could go from 34 to 2,900 calories and stay there. Yeah. And you'll see nice, slow, consistent fat loss without these crazy drops and strength. In fact, if you change your programming, your workout programming, if I put you on a Maps program, I bet you I could get you even more strength gains, even at 2,900 calories versus 3,400. Okay, which one would you recommend?

Now, you're working out what, four or five days a week? Yeah. Okay, let's put you on Maps and a Bullet. And I want you to do the three-day-a-week version. I want you to keep your steps high every day. Do you track those? Yeah, and I usually get on average like $5,000. Okay, let's double your steps to $10,000.

Follow Maps and a Ballet, cut to 2,900 calories. And I bet you get stronger while getting leaner on a protocol like that. I don't even think you need to go that high on steps. I think you just go up, you add 2,000 steps and you cut those calories like that and you put them in a ball. So 7,000. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's more enough.

Let's do that. 7,000 steps a day. Good place to start. Yeah. Maps anabolic. Yep. Maps Anabolic. Keep the rest periods long because we're in a little bit of a deficit.

And let's see what happens. And then what I want, Derek, because I want you back on in about two months. And we're going to get you back on and hear what's happening. All right. Thank you. You got it, man. All right, Derek. Yeah, thanks for calling in.

Yeah, thanks. Got it. Body fat tests are just, I mean, they're okay, but sometimes they're not good. Yeah, but especially those homescale. What's your intuition tell you what went on here? I think the scale is off by quite a bit. I also think some of the strength gains came from energy and rest. So you don't have to gain a bunch of muscle to get a lot of strength.

You can also just have more rest than energy. But I also think he gained more than one pound of muscle during that period of time, which if those body fat percentages are accurate, it says he only gained a pound of muscle. I doubt it. When you double your strength in a lot of those lifts, I doubt it's just one pound. But that's quite a just,

even if you're right, like let's say he gained five pounds. It's still a lot of body fat. It is. Right. So my, hearing only 5,000 steps, he was only 139 pounds.

We just got off the call with a 260 pound strong lifter eating 2,900 calories. So his, and 10,000 steps, right? So too much of a bulk. Wait, yeah, too much of a ball. Wait, yeah, too much of a lift. a bulk, even if it was clean, which the next question I'd have. And he said, too, when he tracks,

he's close to those numbers, which is 80% of the time he tracks. In my experience, the 20% of time that people don't track is the weekends. That's when they miss their process. And that's when they, and if you're already kind of a like not a big stepper and mover, a sedentary, you're even more sedentary, typically on the weekends when we don't work. And then you also overconsume. So I have a feeling that he's just been really overconsuming on his calories. I think a better program, like you put them on, I think even just bump with those steps a little bit and cutting those calories, watch what happens. And here's the other thing, too, this is why I asked those questions.

Part of those for him. The other part of us for people listening, we don't, we tend to ignore quality of life in favor of metrics in the mirror. Yeah. But he doubled his strength. He's eating way more food. He said he feels energized. Even if those numbers are correct, who cares?

You're better off. We get so caught up with numbers and aesthetics that it's like we think, oh, I'm going to be happier. leaner, even though I feel more like garbage. It's almost always never the case. But again, I think if he does a little bit of a cut, does what you said, Adam, where bumps the steps a little bit, and follows a better program

because I'm pretty sure Maps on a Bollic will be more appropriate for him. I think we'll see some good progress. Our next caller is Nick from Alberta. What's up, Nick? How you doing? How are you doing? How's it going? Good, man. How are you?

Good. Basically, I'm just going to jump right in my question here. I'm 27 years old. I'm 300 pounds and I've been having issues with my energy and libido. I went to a doctor, got blood work done, found out I have a total testosterone of 325 and free testosterone is 305. I'm worried about having issues with fertility and stuff because of such low numbers. So I've started taking some supplements and eating mostly whole foods. I'm kind of 90% right.

I've been listening to you guys for a little bit of time and just kind of going off what you guys say for that. I've always been into sports. I played a lot of hockey, lacrosse football, that kind of stuff growing up. I had my last pretty bad concussion when I was about 18, and that all kind of just stopped. And I sat in a dark, dark room for about three months. And then I've had a lot of obviously neck issues and such to go along with it,

so I was pretty inactive for a couple of years. and gained quite a bit of weight. At my biggest, I was 3.30, right? Right now, I'm down to about $2.95, so I'm doing a little bit of good there. Basically, my question is, what do you guys recommend for kind of going forward here? Right? I've always kind of, like, I've got into the gym a bit, right? But in the past, when I did it, I would try to cut calories and start working out more,

and it never really worked out. What I've been doing here for the last month, I've lost about 10 pounds in the last month. And what I've been doing is just trying to eat better quality food, not so much processed, and just trying to go to the gym four days a week sort of thing and just getting moving. It's basically what I've been doing so far.

I've been basically doing some squat, deadlift, like compound movements as opposed to just hitting one particular thing. So basically just wanted to do. see what you guys think I should do, how much, how much protein you think I should. Like, I don't know how much I'm supposed to wait, to be honest with you. You know what I mean? I've always just been big, right? So I don't know how many grams of protein I should aim for for my target body weight sort of thing, right?

Good questions. So I'll answer the protein one for you. How tall are you again? Six foot. I think 220 to 240 or 50 grams of protein is perfectly fine for a big guy like you. Yeah. I think that's a good target to start. I do have some more questions, though, if you don't mind me asking.

Yeah, for sure. When you're trying to eat whole foods, your strength training, you're kind of adjusting your lifestyle. Were you doing that when you got your testosterone checked, or were you doing, or did you start doing that after you got your testosterone? I've just started doing that after the last month. Okay. So I got my test done at the end of March, and that's kind of when I started doing all this.

So it's only been about a month. Okay. And what did your lifestyle look? like before when you went leading up to the hormone test? You know, we mainly ate kind of more processed stuff, you know, like chicken fingers, craft dinner, that kind of thing, right? So we've transitioned into a lot more roasted potatoes and some beef and chicken and mainly trying to eat as much whole foods as possible.

It was my birthday on Sunday, so I didn't have a great weekend when it came down to what I ate and drank, but that's all right. Now, were you exercising leading up to that? So processed food diet before and what was the activity and exercise like? It's very off and on again. Like I was never consistent. I've been, I've been quite consistent going at least four days a week for the last month. Okay. Right. But otherwise my activity is not great. And I work at a body shop, right? I only get probably 5,000 steps a day would be my guess. Right. So that's another thing I wanted to talk to you guys about because a lot of people say don't do cardio and and resistance training in the same day or same sort of thing. Right. So I wanted to talk to you guys if I should be hitting the treadmill for half an hour as well as doing my resistance training. Yeah, I think it's a good idea. And your phone does this, but you can also get a real cheap pedometer. Yeah, just getting steps. Track your steps and try to aim for like $7,000 to $8,000 a day. And if you need to walk on a treadmill to do it, I think you should. Just because. activity is good for you.

Get it through walking though. Don't get it through. Don't get on the treadmill and start trying to burn away, like running. Just move. Yeah, just getting your steps up. And if you could do that without getting on a treadmill, you know, like take a little walk at lunch, park a little further. Like little things like to actually add up.

If you can get seven to eight thousand steps just moving without having to get a treadmill, I would prefer that because the consistency and sustainability with that, in my experience is just way better than having to schedule walks. Since you've been doing these changes, it's only been three. 30 days, but have you noticed any changes in libido? Yeah, I mean, it's gone up a bit for sure. I noticed I'm a lot warmer now. Good.

Like, I feel like my metabolism was kind of kicking up a little bit, right? But. Good sign, dude. Because here's what I would want you to do. So going from an, listen, I'm just going to be generalized, right? You're going from an unhealthy, inconsistent activity lifestyle to a much more healthy, you know, more active, including strength training, right? Appropriate strength training lifestyle.

It's not unheard of to see a man's total testosterone double. I've seen this many, many times, okay? So I would, and since in libido isn't perfect, but it is a pretty strong for most men indicator of testosterone levels. So if you're noticing a little bit of a bump now, it could mean that your testosterone is going up. It could also mean you just feel better. But what I would want is 90 days of consistency.

consistency and then I'd want you to get retested. Now I'm going to go back to the concussion, okay? It sounds like it was a really bad concussion. Yeah, yeah. I've had, I think, five diagnosed concussions. Okay. And then, yeah, I've had some, some ones that I don't remember a whole lot about, right? Okay. So here's why it's so important, Nick, that you get retested in 90 days, okay?

There is a moderate association, depending on the, the severity of the concussion. It sounds like you had a bad one with concussions and low testosterone because of damage to the pituitary stock and the hypothalamus. So you see this with athletes across the board, especially athletes that really get after it and bang their heads, as you'll see this like correlation. And it's coming from just damage to those parts of the brain. But we don't know.

We don't know because your lifestyle wasn't healthy before, which is also very strongly correlated with low testosterone. So try to stay consistent. You're already 30 days in, 60 more days. Get your blood work done again. If it comes back and they're like, you know, it went up to 400 or barely changed. Then I would look into hormone replacement therapy. And they can maintain fertility with hormone replacement therapy.

So a lot of guys are afraid because they're like, oh, if I go on testosterone, I can't have kids. It's not true. They'll put you on something called HCG, which maintains fertility. I mean, my wife got pregnant while I was on hormone replant, no, Adam, same thing. So it's not an issue. They can just, like I said, they can put you on HCG at the same time. But there's no way of knowing until we do this consistently. So 60 more days, get retested.

If it comes back low, then it would be a good idea to talk to someone about hormone replacement therapy. And we have really good partners at nphormones.com. They're super great. It's probably the least expensive. just pure hormone replacement therapy place you'll go with and they're doctors so you're not dealing with salespeople. So you could go there and get retested and see what's going on. Okay. Workout wise is, are you following one of our programs?

You're doing your own thing? No, I haven't got one yet. I've just been kind of just doing, like typically, what I'm doing right now is I'm doing two leg days a week. And like when I say leg day, I mean like I'm doing like three. exercises, so I'll do squats. And like, once a day was squats for Romanian deadlift and cap raises. And then I go home. Okay.

Right. So I was only there for 30 minutes. Okay. I'm going to give you maps enabolic. Okay. Do the three-day-a-week version of it. Long rest periods in between sets. So you're only going to be at the gym three days a week.

You want to go back for an extra day. Just walk on the treadmill. And I think you'll get better results with that versus kind of what you're doing. 220 to 240 grams of protein, whole natural foods. Make sure you get good sleep. And let's see what happens in 60 days. In fact, let's get you back on in 60 days. And so we can get back on the phone and see what's happening.

Okay, sweet. Is there any supplements you guys, you recommend I take to help with this? Or just kind of stick to the whole foods and see what happens? Yeah, let's go multivitamin. Make sure you take separate vitamin D supplement and a zinc supplement. and you can take creatine on top of if you want. There's really nothing else. Unless you need protein powder to hit your protein targets, I think that's it.

Okay. Perfect. With my creatine, doesn't matter if I take it all the ones. I've got like a big water bottle and I kind of just drink that water bottle throughout the days and I just put creatine in that in the morning, right? Or should I make a separate glass with creatine in it and just drink that? I don't want you to leave creatine in the water all day long. Yeah, my degraded.

Yeah. So what you do, how much are you taking a day? Just five grand. Okay, I want you to take... He could bump his... I want you to take 15 to 20 grams a day because it's going to be good for your brain. Cognition, yeah.

But don't take it all at once because you get diarrhea. So what you're going to do is you're going to take five grams with breakfast, five grams with lunch, five grams of dinner. So 15 grams a day, and you should notice some mental clarity and energy from that. I was going to say any neotropic, I mean, might be exploring. Yeah, let's just do that for now and see what happens. I'll have you back on in 60 days and let's get re-evaluated. Awesome, guys.

Thank you very much. You got it, brother. Thank you. A lot of people don't realize the correlate with head trauma and low testosterone. I've read up a whole lot. I mean, he had some serious ones. Five that are documented. He was in a dark room for three months.

Five documented? Yeah. And three months in a dark room. It's debilitating. Yeah. And I know a few of my buddies have had that. Is that the protocol if you have a really bad one is to keep you in a dark room like that? You can't handle light.

Yeah. It's his sense. I don't think I know anybody that's that's had a concussion. Yeah, it's brutal, dude. I don't know if I don't know anybody personally who's had one like that. You know what's crazy too about concussions is, and this is not recent data, but when they came out with this, everyone was shocked. Soccer players have a high rate of CT.

Yeah. And they're just heading the ball. They're not like playing football. Yeah, that even when it hits the chest too. Yeah. I mean, you're getting that kind of like impact and it's getting the brain to hit. Yeah. So it's not just the.

severe ones, those are obvious. It's also just the repeated banging. Yeah. And there's kind of long-term effects of that. Our next caller is Kathy from Florida. Hi, Kathy. How you doing, Kathy? Hey, guys. How can we help you? Thanks for having me on the show. You got it. Sure.

So should I just go right into my summary of my email? Yes, please. Okay. So I'm 55 years old, 5-3, 103 pounds, post my deposal. So I started my fitness journey after being diagnosed with M.I. about 23 years ago in 2003. I didn't have a lot of energy to train back in those days, but over the years I've become very consistent and I'm very disciplined gym person.

I also stopped working about years ago, which gives me more time to work on my health and my fitness. Then last October, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, which when I started watching your program. So my goal is to build as much muscles as possible for my health and bone density. And I train about five days a week. I stay very active, 12 to 15,000,000.

steps a day and my nutrition is very consistent. I'm currently eating about 1,800 to, no, 2,000 to 2,000 to 1,000 calories and my protein is about 100 to 120 a day. So my question is, based on my age, weight, activity level, do you think that I'm eating enough to build maximum muscle or am I just maintaining? And my next question is, if your goal was muscle gain and bone density at my stage, Would you prioritize first nutrition, training, or recovery? Yeah, great, great question. Can I ask a few more questions? Of course.

Okay, so tell me about your symptoms from MS. I know you got diagnosed 23 years ago, you said. Do you have a lot of symptoms now, or does it feel like it's pretty managed? I'm in remission. I've been in remission. I haven't had relapse in eight years. Wonderful. Awesome.

So there's a few things. But that is a strong consideration. And I've trained a few clients with MS. And as you probably already know, too much stress can definitely trigger, you know, a flare-up in the symptoms of MS. Now, the answer to your question is actually kind of easy. And I think it'll work well with what you're trying to do. And also with not pushing you into any kind of a flare-up. You're definitely overdoing it and under-eating for sure.

That's what's happening. Yeah. Yeah. So, and it said here you're following maps aesthetic. Yeah, not the program for you. I am. That is entirely the wrong program. It is way too much volume for most people, let alone a post-menopausal woman with osteoporosis eating, you know, 2,000 calories a day who also has MS.

That's like the absolute worst, one of the worst programs that you could follow. Now, the challenge is, I'm going to recommend something to you, but it's to be a lot less. And so I need your honest, I need your honest feedback here. Do you think you could do a lot less and stick to it? you know, it's going to be hard. And it's going to be hard to do a lot less. Yeah. Yeah.

But I call it because I want to get your opinion. Okay. I think the program you should follow. I would love it with one of our coaches. Yeah. So two pieces of advice here. I'd love to see you, and it's going to sound crazy.

Okay. So forgive me. But I'd like to see you follow a Maps 15 protocol. You can keep your steps as high as they are. That's a lot of steps, but that's fine. 12 to 15, okay, unless you're going crazy, you know, getting on a treadmill all the time. No. I won't take that away from you.

And I'd like to see you get your calories up by like three or 400. Okay. Now, when you're at the gym and you're done with your workout and you're like, what do I do now? I don't mind if you do mobility. I don't mind if you do stretching. I don't mind if you do like really low kind of stress type movement. But this is the protocol that will help you build muscle. and build bone.

Okay. Now here's the other piece of advice I have because this is going to be really hard for you. Like going from MAPS aesthetic to Mass 15 is going to feel like you went from working out to not working out. Even though you're going to see strength gains, even though you're going to be like, I'm losing my mind. Working with a coach, I think would be a really good idea to walk you through this and also to individualize the whole thing.

So what a coach will do is take, you know, MAPS 15 and turn it into MAPS, Kathy. and we'll just individualize it for you as you go through this process, coach you through the hurdles, which are going to be mental, and also encourage you in the right direction when you're seeing progress in the areas that we want to see progress, but you feel like you could or should be doing more, which is probably what's going to happen.

Okay, so that would be ideal. But I think MAPS 15 muscle mommy would be fine. Traditional MAPS 15 would be fine. Mass 15 power lift would be fine. All three of those would be. would be awesome. Okay. But definitely a bumping calories

and reduction overall training. Okay. That's, I mean, I can do that. Okay. All right. Okay. Would you want a coach to call you

to see if you'd want to work with a coach or do you want to go after it yourself and see what happens? I mean, I can, whatever you think. I mean. Okay. The odds of success are way better

if I have one of my coaches call you and work with you through this process. I just know, just from experience. psychological. Yeah, you're going to do this for like two weeks. And you're going to, yeah, I want to pull your hair out and it's like, oh, I'm eating too much. I'm not exercising enough.

What am I going to do? And having a coach work with you is going to be so valuable. Plus, they'll be able to individualize it, modify it as you go along. Okay. I want to question. So you definitely think that I'm overtraining. For sure. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Oh, no, no doubt. Because the aesthetics is what, I mean, it's your program, but I know I like it. I'm on, I have one more week left. I'm on phase three. now. It's inspired by what I did when I was bodybuilding. He was a pro physique competitor in his early 30s, and he was enhanced with performance

enhancing substances. So it's very different with the amount of volume. He's also, his life was dedicated to it. He didn't have it at the time that was his job. Right. Yeah. So I wouldn't train like that right now. It's just not appropriate for my lifestyle right now.

And I mean, I'm still fit and strong and all those things, but it's just too much. It's not necessary. You'll see better results with less. The reason why you're seeing bone density issues, even though you strength train and probably have been strength training for a while and even hitting your protein is it's too much. Yeah. So too much exercise combined with not enough nutrients.

I don't care how much strength training you do. You're going to see bone mass go down. I've seen it with girls in their 20s. And bumping the calories and reducing the training volume will send it the other direction. So that'll fix it. I mean, that's what we'll send us in the right direction. And if we see some really good strength gains and muscle gains,

bone is going to follow. It's just, it's very predictable. Okay. Okay. Do you think the scale is going to eventually go up or? Yes. It's not,

it's not too much. It's going to go up. Yeah. And to Justin's point, this is where the coaching really helps is because it's, this is the tough part psychologically is, you're going to see that, you're going to see the reduction in activity,

the increase on the scale. and it starts to be a bit of a mind-fought. So I'll give you what this would look like. It's going to sound shocking. But this would be a process, okay? You know, if you were my client, Kathy, and I'm working you through this, I'd want to see you gain 15 pounds on the scale,

10 of it being muscle, 5 of it being body fat. Totally. How much? 15. Easy. 15. 15, 15, 1-5. Yeah.

If I got you to gain 8 to 10 pounds of muscle, 5 to 7 pounds of body fat, we would be moving in a beautiful direction. It would look great. Okay, so. I like the skill to go to 10, at least one in 10. I'd be fine with that. Yeah, I think what you need to do is really not weigh yourself through this process.

It's going to mess with you. I'm just telling you that right now. But yeah, I really think working with a coach would be so valuable. You give it six months with the coach. You just do what they say, no matter what you, how you feel. And I think probably four or five months into it, you're going to be like, okay, this is, this is great. I feel good. Okay.

So you think that'll just, just get. I'll listen to you. It has to go up. Yeah. Absolutely. I'm not one of ways myself to see it, you know, go down. I want it to go up. I just keep an eye on it so I don't slip too much in the wrong direction.

I'm just going down. Okay. Oh, good. All right. That's good news. That's how I get on the scale because I see 101. I'm like, oh, go ahead. I need to be 103 or 104.

And it goes down to 101. I get nervous. I start eating a lot. And it goes back to one of three, one of four and it comes right back down. Oh, that's good. That's good. All right. I'm going to have a coach call you when we get off the phone here.

and they'll talk to you. And I'd love to see you in it. I'll probably pop in on some of the calls because now I've talked to you. But I think six months would be a nice start. All right, Kathy. We got this. We got it.

Oh, you guys. I love you guys. Thank you. Thank you. This will be great. We'll see you. Okay. Bye.

Bye. Bye. It's remarkable to me how many people follow the least appropriate programs that we have for most people. Yeah. Because they see how much is in it. Maybe the name.

I think it's, I think that's part of it. Yeah, it's the marketing. Yeah, it's the power of marketing. Yeah. We should put a warning label. We also, we also have, that wouldn't matter to make them want it more. We also have a bit of a bias.

I would, I would argue that a large percentage of the people that listen to a fitness podcast. Or the ones that call in. Both. Even more. Right. Yeah. So you're, I mean, these are avid listeners. These aren't just somebody who listen one time, right?

Most people that call in have been listening to us for quite some time. are fitness people. You're into it. You want to learn about it. You're in, you know what I'm saying? This is not something that you're not interested.

More on that fitness fanatic side. Yeah, exactly. And so you're going to have people that tend to teeter. Like, this is not your average client or average American. No. You're just trying to get them to move.

You're just trying to get them to move more. They're not doing anything. Show up to the gym consistently for a while. You know, very few are going to be attracted to this level of activity and training. But because we have this bias of people, that are already interested in fitness, we tend to see this more often

than I think is represents the normal views. The good news for people listening, like if you sound like this woman and you're able to do what we say, which is hard, so I'm not going to, you know, lighten that or diminish that. It's hard. But if you do what we say,

the changes are nothing short of dramatic. Big time. Yeah. Dramatic changes. It's just you got to go through that period of trusting the process. And it takes, half a year. It's a 180

from your mentality. And it's not a half a year of because you need to see results in a half year. It's a half a year of you trusting and letting go and then finally being like, oh wait a minute. Healing restoring the body. Totally. The body needs it. 100%. 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, check out our discounted RGB Superbundle at Mind Pumpmedia.com.

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

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