Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 426: How to Improve Bench Press, Rogue One, Reliance on Cannabis & MORE

Episode Date: December 28, 2016

Kimera-Quah! iTunes Review Winner! In this episode of Quah, sponsored by Kimera Koffee (kimerakoffee.com, code "mindpump" for 10% off), Sal, Adam & Justin answer Pump Head questions about their thoughts on Rogue One, using cannabis to medicate in lieu of lifestyles changes, the teenage years and how to improve bench press. MAPS Prime the only pre-workout you need is now available at mindpumpmedia.com Have Sal, Adam & Justin personally train you with a new video every day on our new YouTube channel, Mind Pump TV. Be sure to Subscribe for updates. Get MAPS Anabolic, MAPS Performance, MAPS Aesthetic and the Butt Builder Blueprint (The RGB Super Bundle) packaged together at a substantial DISCOUNT at www.mindpumpmedia.com. Please subscribe, rate and review this show! Each week our favorite reviewers are announced on the show and sent Mind Pump T-shirts! Have questions for Mind Pump? Each Monday on Instagram (@mindpumpradio) look for the QUAH post and input your question there. (Sal, Adam & Justin will answer as many questions as they can)

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I was listening to our last Q&A on the way over here. Man, I miss, I miss us talking when we don't talk for three or four days. You miss us talking? Yeah, miss us talking. I do. It just, it throws my, I get really, I don't do so well with days off, I think as you guys do, I don't talking to you. I do. It just, it throws my, I get really, I don't do so well

with days off, I think as you guys do. I don't do so well. I get really irritable and my girl's like, what's wrong with you? I'm like, I need to work. You might be the worst. You might be a little bit. You might be addicted to us.

Yeah, I think so. A little bit. A lot of what we see out of it happens. So much, there's a lot of what. Which I don't blame you. A lot of what we do is therapeutic though for me. A lot of it is like I get it off. I realize this is another some more self-awareness here.

You know, I hold a lot of stuff in. Like I, and that's, it goes all the way back to childhood bullshit where I bury the stuff in and then I wait, I wait, I wait, and then, and I have, I feel like I'm- When you let it out. Yeah, I feel like I have a long fuse, but then, you know, once somebody-

I don't know, like millions of people know. Yeah. Yeah. I guess I I have a long fuse, but then you know once somebody No, I'll let millions of people know Let's let them all know well, and when we do this I feel like I it lets me release a lot of that So I seem pretty calm and collected, but give us a few days off. I think that's why I get so irritable Like you ever noticed like after we've been had a few days off all said my text messages are more like an asshole when I text to all Your extra onry I mean, I don't know if I agree with that. I think your texts are consistently No, I miss I haven't tried to go get you know time. I definitely miss getting on the bike Definitely, but I will say that for the past year for me

Taking time off has saved my life. I don't have the ability to grind, like I normally could, just because of all the shit that I was going through, and I really had to acknowledge that taking time off for me is just, it stresses me out, but it also saves me in other ways. Aside from you guys and aside from Jessica,

it's just been essential to keep me functioning if anything, but I did have a very nice Christmas holiday. I don't know about how just good. How was yours? It was good. I stayed around here, we didn't go anywhere. We stayed, and normally I do. Normally I take off and I kinda do my rounds.

My family's so dysfunctional, none of them speak to each other, except for, I'm the only one who speaks to all of them. So I gotta head out to all the different. So you're theators. Yeah, but I what I did this year and I put the function in dysfunction I do What I did this year was I I started that in Thanksgiving So I kind of made my rounds starting Thanksgiving to everybody so for this for Christmas day We actually stayed home and stay with Katrina. Now Katrina's family is extremely tight.

Everybody comes to her mom's house and we all get together and it's tradition that the night before we all crash at our house or there are her house so when everyone's piled in on couches and and blow up mattresses and they party all day and then the next day we party again and we eat. So I have the most, oh, I have the biggest food hangover. And I had so much cake, dude. Oh, I remember eating a lot of these. Just cake? Just lots of cake, dude. That's just so much cake.

I mean, I just imagine like a table and there's all these desserts, but there's like cake. And then Adam's like, that's cake eating cake and then Adam's like that is cake eating content And Adam's like fuck all the other dessert. I'm just I'm just gonna eat cake. I don't want Turkey. I don't any it's tradition for us to watch the Mattia's I watch Jim Carrey's Christmas Carol

animated Movie you guys know what I'm talking about the one where he's scrooge I did a movie, you guys know what I'm talking about. The one where he's Scrooge. And he's in Kerry. Oh, great. No, no, not the Grinch. So there's. Oh, I know what you're talking about.

A Christmas Carol. Yeah, Christmas Carol. Yeah, I know what you're talking about. And he's all the ghosts. Yeah, and it's all CGI. It's definitely great. I remember watching it every year. Yeah, it's our tradition to watch it.

We went and saw the theater way back when we first started dating. And it's been kind of a tradition that we always watch it. And we're sitting there watching it a night before last. And Katrina's looking at me and I'm just like stuffing my face with this cake. And she's like, she's like, are you are you still hungry? I'm like, no, but I'm still I can't stop eating this cake because it's here. You know, we have to get it all out of the house. Like everything is like, is this the last it's here, you know, we have to get it all out of the house like everything is like Is this the last piece like no there's more downstairs go get it go get it? We're gonna finish all this stuff right now

And I remember like eating it and I'm like my stomach is hurting. Why me but it's so good as I'm going down and then all night Last night you know when it's bad dude like in this only happens But you have the cake shit. Yes at three o'clock in the morning Like yeah, when you know when you're so bad, you have to get up and take a poop in the middle of the night. Like that's, so here's, it wakes you up. I just wanted to, and it burns.

There's nothing worse to wake it up to poop. Yes, anyone who's listening to this, if you shit on a regular basis on that, you need to fix your fucking diet. Like if you have to get up at two or three in the morning and take a middle of the night shit, like your diet's fucked up, dude. Like fix your diet.

Another name for an indie band, middle of the night shit. Middle of the night shit, like your diet's fucked up, dude, like fix your diet. Another name for an indie band, middle of the night shit. Middle of the night shit, or anything. So what happens to me, because I'm extremely, because I was in Nevada, I was in Vegas, visiting Jessica's family for over the holiday. Great people. Now, those are your first time over there, right?

My first time, yeah, hanging out with them. It was great. You survived, I see. Yeah, great people, very close with each other. She has a niece and nephew, which I'm totally in love with. These kids are great, played with them half the time. We had good food, good times.

But yeah, when you eat like that, man, like I'm super regular, right? I know I poop at the exact same times every day. I know exactly when it's gonna happen. Activate, yeah. It's just perfect, right? But it totally throws at the exact same times every day. I know exactly when it's gonna happen. Activie. Yeah. It's just perfect, right? Yeah. But it totally throws me off and then I don't. And then the next time I do, it's bad. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. It sticks. Yeah. You know what I'm talking about the stick one? Well Justin knows because he sticks. Come on, man. Oh, he's always bus checking me. I had the Justin poop habits.

I actually had the poops that were like, you know, like a car crash. Which is embarrassing when you're toilet. You when you're at someone else's house. Yeah. You got to go down there and you got to like, you got to kind of maneuver the toilet paper on it so that it catches on the sticky part of the water. And it flushes sinking.

Why did these, why did these things bother us as we get older? I feel like I did all that. That's, I mean, I ate like that all the time as a kid growing up and it does, the shits and all those things was just, I think it was, I feel like I did all that. That's, I mean, I ate like that all the time as a kid growing up and the shits and all those things was just, I think it was, I thought that was normal. Yeah, you just like dealt with it. Yeah, I don't think I ever knew it was like to like poop nice.

You know, like this is enjoyable. And this is, oh, that was so bad this time. Yeah, yeah. Well, I think once you know what it's like, you know, I mean, once you have one of those, you know, those holy poops, right, where you just, you sit down, you go, you get up, you're wiping the like, through the whole thing, you know what I mean, once you have one of those, you know, those holy poops, right, where you just, you sit down, you go, you get up, you wipe, and they're like, through the thing there.

When it's a good one, you almost don't even need to wipe. You don't need to do it so. It's so, yeah, it's such a clean break, it comes right out, and it's like, how did he, I use like one square? I mean, those are the moments of life. It's a went square pooper. Yeah, you're just like, yeah.

Where are those been? Yeah, you know, and then I, It's how it should be. Oh, and I worked out, so I worked out in Vegas over at the Las Vegas Athletic Club. Oh, was that your first time in there? It was, and it was, it was God, man, I haven't been in a gym like that in a long time. There's not a whole new, it's like a meat market in a gym.

It is on another level. There is time. And are you talking about that? Yeah, yes. There is, to me, I don't think I've ever been in a gym that it's this crazy. You know what I'm reminding me of? It reminded me of strippers. Oh, everybody, I guess, I don't think I've ever been in a gym that it's this crazy. You know what I'm reminding me of? It reminds me of strippers.

Oh, everybody, I guess. It reminds me of strippers. It's not just that. It's the equipment, the design of the place. It's very bright. Oh, everything's all bright and vibrant colors. Yeah, it's like cutting edge 90s gym. Like bodybuilder gym.

Sweet. So cutting edge bodybuilder 90s. So you'll see like equipment and there's galore. And then there's signs above the equipment that says, like shoulders, arms, quads, hands, so like they actually break everything up into body. And like fluorescent colors too, it's hot off. Like this bright pink color,

it's right in the past. Yeah, lots of machines, every guy in there, every guy in there, wearing a belt, and they were doing non belt required exercises, like curals, some ch cable like some back how about everybody's outfits right everybody is like it was like I was in bodybuilding heaven of the 90s yes everybody is everybody everybody's gonna go there on sombal as well but it

was a completely done so check this out massive gym right massive tops what well hold on so it's a huge it's a huge facility right big big fucking yeah it's a huge it's a huge facility. Right? It's a big big fucking Yeah, it's actually a pretty bad. That's right. There were I think two two cages and the whole jam But that's how it was remember that's how it was back in the day like who used to cage back then you wanted benches You wanted you had to have your legs extension you wanted dumbbells and you wanted a bunch of cables And that was it. And the girls are just like, done up, bro.

Done up, makeup, hair, oh, hair, like sexy outfits, like matching all the way down their sneakers. Completely distracting. Hair tie goes with the whole sneakers. Everything's all put together like, yeah, no, they look, it is definitely. So you're there for tending to work out. Totally. Totally. That's actually what we do when we go to Vegas We go get our pump on at another

Somewhere else we go there we go like a dungeon type like a serious workout Then we're like let's go over to you know, what is it LVAC? Yeah, so there's that makes sense So there's a few of them right in Las Vegas. I think there's two right I went we were taken to the one that was not The one that you went to yeah, the one that you went to That's what they said. They said listen, do you guys want to go to the I don't remember what location it was? Do you want to go to the location where like all the people are there? It's super packed and you know everybody looks at each other. Do you want to go to the one that's a little slower? So we're like, let's go to the slower one, but I kind of regret not going to the one that you're talking about Adam because I feel like That was something I should have experienced.

I must have seen at least 10 Instagram stars there. No. Oh yeah, absolutely. I remember walking in and I was with, well, I've been in there a couple of times and I was in there the first time with one of my buddies that I competed with as well as out there for. And I was like, oh, there's, you know, everybody's Instagram handle. There's so and so and there's so and so. And there's Instagram.

Oh, and they're all setting their phones up, doing their thing. And I'm like, There's monster blaster, four, five, six. Yeah. Yeah. Monster blaster. Yeah.

You know, it's funny. Yeah, and I'm just gonna say this to people because I just want people to know that I try my best to respond to anybody who posts things on social media. But I just want to say, if I try my best to respond to anybody who posts things on social media But I just want to say if you have a ridiculously stupid long and hard to remember and spell fucking Instagram handle like you're the hardest to respond to because I try like two or three times And if I miss a letter and I have to go back and then I'm like fuck it

I'm like a response to this person. It's too hard. I love I am Too hard for me to scroll back read read what you how you wrote it how many underscores and like hyphens and other Shit that you have in your name that I'm like fuck out. I was trying to be cool and like respond to everybody on here But because you made a stupid name. I can't just get back to you make something as easy easy to spell and easy to Reply to Justin. Do you or don't get mad that I don't respond to it? Do you eat crazy, but I read your shit. Did you eat a lot of crazy stuff too? I, cookies, man, like, ah, that's my, cookie monster.

Dude, my vice, I'm monster. There's like, I think I might have told you about these, like, really fluffy, like, this is like, like a sugar cookie almost, but it's really flaky. It's kind of like the consistency of pie crust. And then in the middle, it has this like frosting and then the other side's like another one of those little,

oh my god Oh, it's like I'm it's like this I haven't it's like those French cookies. They look colorful and shit Yeah, well they like colored icing. They're like little trees. It couldn't get less manly looking but delicious I made sure nobody watched me eat it. Yeah, they're really good Doug. How was your diet Doug over the over the A lot of those oh wait a fuck up duck working over there Dugs over here multitasking and working on dammit, Doug He's not on way to go Wait a good raise it raise it over here. I ain't he's over here working

Dilligently and then South decides to throw a curve ball before guy Hey, Doug case you weren't paying attention stop what you're doing and answer is no Don't worry about it. I still question it was good. It was just it was the cookies That got me and I had some whiskey every dude What is like everybody got me whiskey this year? Can you remind could remind since you brought that up? Yeah, ever it made these homemade whiskey sours that were fucking Bomb with a whiskey sour well. I'm gonna have to give him over my house So I got a ton of whiskey to do he whiskey. I don't know what he mixed it Would you know what whiskey sours mix with but you use egg yolk? Oh, it's a do. He, whiskey, I don't know what he mixed it. Do you know what whiskey soures mixed with? But you use egg yolk.

Oh, it's a drink. Yeah, it's a drink. I was thinking of candy. And you'd froth up the egg yolk and it makes this like, and it definitely tastes like whiskey and it has just a little sour bite to it. Like, I don't know what you mean. I am trying to remember what that is.

I don't know if you use lemon juice or some shit in there or whatever, but boy, they were good and they were ass kickers, man. You know what I, yeah, say I ate, I would eat the desserts and then some candies and then fuck man, the addictive properties of these foods is ridiculous. Oh, it's crazy. Bro, you have? Yes, I ate, I would eat the desserts and then some candies and then fuck man, the addictive properties of these foods is ridiculous. Oh, it's crazy.

Bro, to the point where I got back yesterday, right, we're at the airport and yesterday I'm already like, I'm like, I'm done. I need to eat clean, like I'm not feeling good, right? Yeah. But you're like at the airport so I'm like, hmm, I'm gonna get some food here at the airport. So driven to get these kinds of foods

that the very last thing I ate was chocolate. Well do you at the airport when you eat this shit? Do you feel like kink or sore thing like little like soars happening like in my gums? I was like oh god every time I like eat like the chocolate flares up your herpes. Yeah, that is crazy You had it how did you obtain your chocolate? I mean that was her name. Yeah, you're not. You want this shot? What does it happen to you guys? You like to shoot your mouth?

Get all fucking sore. I don't think that was frosting. No, what happens to me is I can feel my like I still feel like shit today. Like today I don't even want to eat it. I'm listening to fat thing. I'm gonna fast all day long. I just not eat today. All I'm gonna have is coffee and just fucking get it all out of my system, because I do not like the way

my stomachs go. So it blows my mind how people just like ignore those signs. Well, so check this out. I get like ignoring it for the day, but like continuing on. Well, so they did. So this prompted me to look up the addictive properties

of foods, because we're all well aware of that, right? There was actually a study done about a year ago was published, and I believe the person in charge of the study was Dr. Nicole, what was her last name? Avina, I think her last name was, and they ranked foods in order of addictive properties, and lo and behold, they found that the more processed

the food was, the more addictive it was. And she said, I listened to her in an interview because then I looked her up that food isn't addictive, some foods are and some ingredients are, but food itself isn't addictive. And the more processed things are, the more they tend to be addicted. Is that just because it's engineered in there

or it's everything else? Yes, think about it this way. Like here you are, you're a food company, you've got millions of dollars, you want to design something that hits on all the frickin' levels. That's what they turn me into brain, and that's what they do.

They say that the science behind that is this like McDonald's french fries dipped into tomato, the ketchup is like the ultimate thing for the brain and the taste buds, like the salt and the sweet together. That supposedly that has been engineered like to perfection as far as to hit that, like the most addictive properties.

Which makes sense because I don't care who you are, you gotta like McDonald's french fries. They're the best. You can't. Well, that's what all the best chefs figure out. Science, that pallet of like, you know, the sweet, the sour combo. Yeah.

They can master that, then like each one of their dishes are like amazing. Well, it's also the mouth feel, you know, it's mouth feel, that's color, it's smell, it's the packaging, how the food is packaged, where it's placed in the grocery store. Yeah. Then there's all the emotional components. Like, when was the last time you saw a Coca-Cola ad

that talked about how good Coke tastes? I know. There are none. It's all about like, I'm at a game. I'm at a game. Yeah, or I'm with my friends, and we're at a celebration. Yeah, I fell in love with this girl, or hey, I'm watching a movie, or look at these,

these color bears, it's Christmas time. It's all that association stuff. So you combine all that stuff and the highly processed foods are extremely expensive. They should think about, you know, they've nailed that fact alone that associations are what drives you to make those types of decisions.

Right now, as we speak, talking about all these bad, all these foods that we ate. Somebody's ordering because we said it. Well, not even that. Who tells fries? Not even forgot about this. Dude, not even that.

I literally right now have a small craving for some of the shit. I'm talking about it, how bad I felt, how my poop was sticky, and how I still, right now, if you had M&M's in front of me, it'd be very difficult to not eat an M&M. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? That's true. Dear God, save us all. The bird.

Look how fat the bird is. Yeah. Shhh. We call the Eagle and the Lamb. S-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H- Get MindPumpMedia.com and input the discount code MindPumpA Checkout for 10% off! It's the motherfucking car! The eagle has landed! Quee-qua-wee? First question is from Iron Barbell Training.

Justin, your thoughts on Rogue One? Oh man, I was actually impressed, man. I was really pumped on that movie. And the more I thought about it, like initially I was kind of like, didn't have very many expectations going into it because it's like, I mean, it's really, it's like a filler movie, you know, it's like, right, wait, wait, you didn't have any expectations. I studied the fuck out of it before you went to a watch find, maybe I did a lot of this. He's like, I did it back in the day.

He's like, I had no expectations. I'm trying to downplay it. Yeah, it's fucking guys. Because if it turned into her out, nerding me, if it was anything like the other one, the I had no expectations. I'm trying to downplay it. Yeah, it's fucking guys. Because if it turned into your out-nerding me, if it was anything like the other one, the ones in the middle, you would have totally been pissed. Some of a bitch.

So yes, you did have. Fine, I did, but... Okay, so let's... What did it at the bare minimum? What did this movie have to deliver for it to be? At least on your good level, and then where was like the great meter for you? Did it surpass that? What did it have fallen?

Yeah, I think I needed like, what did it have? I needed the story and the characters to matter, you know, and so for me, like I think that's where they really screwed up with the new ones or the prequels. I mean, the new one was great. This one, I was like, at least if they have like a compelling

story, something drives me like emotionally or something that like, you something that made sense in this world, because the thing is, what was cool about it is there's a big nostalgia factor to it, because it was back in that setting, like right before the very first Star Wars, the episode four. And they did a good job of throwing in,

throwbacks to that, right? Yeah, there was that one scene when they're walking, and they bump into those two characters that were at the bar. Yep. When Luke goes in, and Obi wants, yeah, it's like, do you remember that? Yeah, in the walrus guys,

like, woo, yeah. That was kind of funny that they referenced them. Yeah, I liked that. I think, okay, so I loved like how, well, I don't want to give too many spoilers or anything, but, oh, fuck it, get spoilers. Yeah, whatever. If they haven't watched it by now, they're not real fans.

Yeah, yeah, screw you anyway. But what was I talking about? Oh, yeah. So like going into the whole idea of the Death Star, I was actually like, okay, how are they going to answer like how, like why, you you know we see another fucking star and the newest movie and I feel like they did a good job of like describing that oh they left this you know they actually engineered it to fail and I'm like that was a really compelling idea I like that direction they went

and then also the Oppenheimer thing and like the the fact that everybody in this movie wasn't wasn't all good or all bad, it was like a lot of greats, like, you know, it was more real. It was like, what do you get the great reference to the Oppenheimer? Yeah, what do you mean by that? Explain that a little bit deeper. What I mean is like, so there's this like, so there's this this knowledge that exists now and a scientist kind of discover something that could like benefit the human race

or could, you know, in turn also like destroy it. Oh, you talking about the crystals or whatever, yeah. Okay. So Oppenheimer was what a lead scientist that in the development of the atomic bomb. And so they were able to harness the power of the atom, you know, nuclear power, which has the ability to power a ton of, you know, homes.

Yeah, to generate incredible power to do all these amazing things, but also has power to destroy the world. Got a great reference. And that's the up and higher, you know, just like them, they were able to discover this energy that they could harness to create this Death Star, but then also. Did you read Death Summars that year? No, I think I might read that somewhere I won't take credit for that fair enough. That was still good. Yeah, I was still much

Yeah, I was great. I was great. I'm glad South had the fall up there I was not scared. That was very and that was awesome. Yeah, so it yeah Cool, which I mean somebody else enjoyed that Yeah, I can't be the only idiot that I like the all that. I really did. Yeah, I liked the vibe of the movie. It was like, it made sense to with how basically both parties, so the Sith kind of got ultimate power. And they're taking off and they're trying to dominate all parts of the universe. Well, the Jedi is like, there was only what,

two left, right? And so, like, there's this whole, like, disconnect with the force. And so what's left? Like, this world that was left are these people that, like, you know, they don't have any association with the force on that level anymore. And then there's like, one or two people that are like, no, the force, it's still a thing. It exists. And then you see it with this blind guy kind of going through. Yeah, what did you think about that? That guy that was like pretending like he had the force, but didn't really have the force, but kind of had the force.

Like, what was that all about? Was that like, yeah. No, I feel like I really liked it because I feel like it was, he was kind of conflicted. He was the one that was trying to convince his friend that we should still believe in this, even though it failed us. We all got destroyed. And he's still on faith and he's still believed in something. So you see that play out.

He's going through and he's like, he's crazy moves and he's walking through all these lasers that shooting right past his head. And it's like, he just, you know, he led with faith and then it showed that like how, you know, he was able to do that thing he was made to do. And then, you know, obviously, nobody makes it, but, you know, it was like, I don't know, I thought it was powerful. But it's still more because it's real though, right?

It was more real. Yeah, it was like, I don't know. It's kind of like how I feel about Batman versus Superman. You know what I mean? Batman, you know, you can believe that he can do that shit. Cause he's like, he's, he's teaching himself how to improve and he's buying like technology and shit where, you know, fucking Superman, like he has all that shit. You know, who cares about Superman?

Man, he just, he just nerded out like way hard I love it though. He's just like Batman is realistic Superman though stupid stupid nobody is flying all around the world like that He's the worst character ever so for me. I'm a I'm a fan, but I'm not a mega fan Like yeah, I just enjoy it. Okay. I just enjoy exactly But from a good now. No, I'll let out my geek. You know you guys you guys ask me I mean, you know, I, but from a consumer. Every now and then I'll let out my geek. You know, you guys, you guys ask me a question, you know, it's what I was gonna say from a consumer standpoint. I think they did an excellent job because they catered to their hardcore fans, but they also built a new fans

for sure. They built some new fans, but they catered to the hardcore fans because they answered some questions that I know the hardcore fans cringed like okay There's a fucking you know a port that you could fire one You know torpedo in a blows up the whole fucking you know like that's ridiculous Yeah, and everybody kind of cringes at that will they answer that and that's it I mean yeah, so that's the part that I like I like that they were able to get it

They tied up loose ends. Yeah, no, I like that I also like that they had that last scene with Darth Vader, he just fucking, he's showing like his power for once, you know, it's like, oh yeah. Like this is how you would shred through a bunch of guys at once, you know, that was awesome. The only thing I didn't like was his stupid ass line where he's just like, which one was that?

The one where he's just like, don't choke on your aspirations or something like that. And I was like, well, are you Arnold now? What is this? No, they were so cheesy. Impossible to please. Damn it. Can't just be happy to.

Overall, it was solid. I'm telling you though, that's stupid. The next question is from the Holy Grailing. Do any of you still Medicaid using cannabis or have your lifestyle changes allowed you to progress past the point of needing it for that purpose? Wow, I love the way that's worded. I did too, and that's why I chose this,

because I think this is, I love the way that was worded. This is something that I have been recently working on. Now, I think I probably talked the most about marijuana in here, although we all use it. And something that I found from cannabis that helped me a lot was settling me down at the end of the night.

So for quite some time now, it's been a pretty much a ritual for me that on a regular basis, I come home from a long days worth of work and once I'm settled in, that's I light up a joint, I take a few hits off of it I don't even finish a half of a joint so that just so everybody has an idea those that are out there

Judging me right now so pull the plank out of your own eye before you pull the sliver out of mine So fuck off. It's a viable reference boom I like that I'm so Jesus says Moe Jesus That's right So

That definitely has been something that's been- I don't know if I read that. It's helped me settle my brain down for a long time. Now that being said, it's been a personal goal of mine, just recently in the last few months, to utilize meditation, to utilize the blue blocker and the lights and try and settle down with the computer usage at night, the phone.

So I'm trying to create this same idea or settling my brain down naturally and intrinsically without utilizing cannabis. This means that I've completely eliminated it because I still enjoy it for multiple reasons. But I also don't ever want to be somebody who feels addicted or feel like I need something to get something from. So I don't want to feel like in order for me to relax, I have to have marijuana, which I don't think I'm someone like that, but I'm also self-aware enough to know that I can also get in a pattern where it becomes something every single night. And I always used to kind of like take these weak long breaks sporadically, but now I want to get to a point where I can still get that

same feeling if I can do that through natural ways, like I said, with the computer, with meditation, with getting rid of the phones and things like that, a couple hours before I'm trying to rest, the blue blockers. So I'm trying to implement a lot of these things. So I love the question. I think it's a good thing to talk about because we do reference cannabis a lot. I am a fan of cannabis thing to talk about because we do reference cannabis a lot I am a fan of cannabis for many reasons, but I also think just like anything else that it can also take over It could take over your life your personality and I think that it should be utilized as a tool Like anything else and I think it can be a good word for it. Yeah, even then I

It can be a good word for it. Yeah, even then, I'm the least advocate, like the use, but at the same time, you know, over the years, I've really come to the idea of, like, you know, my whole association with it has changed completely. And I started experimenting a little bit more with edibles and tended to to resonate with me better and it worked with me better and just like Adam like I have like my brain goes a mile a minute and this is places where I really feel like it does help to sort of dampen that signal there. I'm so amped and I'm always on and I love to use it for that specific purpose where I can kind of like I could chill down and I don't like to have alcohol was another one

of those things for me, but I don't like drinking and I don't like doing it too often. I do like doing it for celebratory reasons or whatever, but I don't want to use that either to like, after work, I got to come home and have a drink to kind of settle the nerves or whatever the excuses. It's all those things. You know, it's all how you like, you got to notice the rituals and the patterns that you establish.

And maybe there's a place for each one of those things, but use intermittently and try to be dependent on it. Yeah, I like that they said, allowed you to progress past the point of needing it. Because number one, needing something is not a good place to be. Or at least that's not the place you want to end up. You don't want to be in a situation where you need something in order to be at your best. You want to be in a position where you don't need anything

to be at your best. So that's number one, but you guys said it well. It's a tool. My personal experience or use with cannabis was, I barely ever tried it growing up and I was reintroduced to it later on as an adult and I found that it really did a good job of emeliorating my symptoms from having my gut issues.

And it did a very good job at helping me with, you know, the autoimmune issues I have with dealing with food. But I did notice some side effects. And this is the thing, when you have a tool, the benefit should outweigh the side effects or should outweigh the negatives always. When the negatives start to outweigh the benefits, well then you have a tool, the benefit should outweigh the side effects, or should outweigh the negatives always. When the negatives start to outweigh the benefits, well then you have a problem. And what I notice with myself, with cannabis,

is if I use it too often, too frequently or too heavily, I do notice loss of short-term memory. My short-term memory is in his crisp. It's not as effective. I notice that I can become more introspective. It can increase anxiety. It can increase a little bit of paranoid thinking. It can make me feel, get the physical feeling of depression.

If I use it too heavily. And you also got to look at it from a chemical point of view. You are providing your body with, you know, cannabinoids, phyto cannabinoids from the plant, you know, marijuana. Your body does produce its own cannabinoids, known as endocannabinoids. And we don't know 100% if this is true or not,

but most of the body systems have a feedback loop where if I provide my body with an external source of a particular molecule or chemical that either mimics or is identical to the one that my body produces, my body will adjust and adapt by producing less. So if I take something that increases dopamine, then my brain will naturally produce less dopamine and will down-regulate dopamine receptors. If I take testosterone, my body will produce less testosterone, and maybe the testosterone receptors will start to down-regulate.

This is true for almost anything that the body produces. So using a heavy doses of cannabis or too regularly, I think theoretically, and I don't have evidence for this, but I would bet money on it, would cause your brain and your body to produce less of its own cannabinoids and or down-regulate its receptors cannabinoids. And there's the evidence that's all there. You do build up a tolerance to cannabis, and that's all the evidence I need. I mean, you can use a little bit of cannabis and over time need more and more to get the

same effect. And so for me, that right there is a red flag. But that being said, it is a tool that has some incredible benefits, both medicinal and for longevity. But there may be better ways of using it, there's definitely better ways of using it than smoking it. And there may be ways of using it that are better than using it regularly. Now, for me, like I said, my gut issues,

I'm finding now that I need less and less and less of it to be able to help me. I don't need to use it daily, like I used to. I have to use it every single night. Now, I'd say probably once or twice a week is plenty for me. And I would like to get to the point where I use it on an as-need basis,

like if I have issues, then I'll use it. And then if I don't have issues, I don't need it. But other than that, I mean, I advocate using all the tools that you're disposal to improve the quality of your life. Sometimes that includes cannabis, sometimes that includes alcohol, and might be medications that your doctor recommends you You know your diet all these things. These are all tools. They can all be used

You know to benefit you and they can all use to your to your to your detriment And they can all be abused and cannabis is not it's not you know immune to being abused for sure So well, I feel like almost everything is like this where the less often you use it the more awesome it is, the more often you use it the less awesome it is. Well, it's like with anything. Yes. And like you're like you what you say this about exercise all time, you know, you want to do the least amount necessary to elicit the best results. That's true for anything, especially for substances. Like, if I'm using a painkiller or, you know, antibiotic or anything, the goal is to use the minimum effective dose. Because anything beyond that only increases the side effects of the negatives.

It's not going to increase the benefits, right? So, with cannabis, it's true as well. Like, use the minimum effective dose. Now, it's cannabis fun. It can be. It can be very fun. You can definitely have a good time with it. And I way prefer having a good time and partying with cannabis,

and I do to any other substance. Yeah, because I know it's way less negative. Like if I go out with you guys and get hammered, we have a good time. I feel really crappy for a few days. We're worthless the next day. If we go and have a bunch of cannabis and have a good time, I don't really notice

the negatives nearly as bad. So, it's a great point. Yeah. Tony Stedics, what were you guys like as teens? Were you always interested in fitness? Teenage? Yeah. Take you back to your teens here. What was going down? You know what it comes to mind right away when I think you lot of jerk enough. Yeah. That that that's obviously that hasn't changed. No, never mind. It's very. I was into that was a magazine's change. Fast and the furious time, right, man, I was into I was into my little rice rocket. I had a accurate and tagger 98 accurate

tagger that I had all, you know, geared up. I mean, I had all the all this stuff on the engine. It was super fast and I was all into it. Well, super fast for back then. These cars would, they would get eaten up nowadays. Oh, no, that was a, it was a, it was a fucking fast car. Oh, yeah, no, no, no, no. Did you go test it on the car? No, I, I used to race it. I didn't go formally get a quarter mile. Would you be in a horsepower? Yeah, it was about, I mean, 300 horsepower. But for a car that weighs like a third of what, like my Camaro weighs. So I mean, it's, it's all relative to the weight.

I mean, I think would, I mean, I would chew up and spit out freaking 5.0 Mustangs, dude. It was a fast car. I had everything done to it, except for four stairs. So it had, you know, pull these cams, cam gears that's that before stairs. Yeah. It had everything else though. I mean, every bolt on you could think of and It was it was fucking fast. It was really fast. You put the high acting gas in it. Oh, I'll came booster

That is coffee can't it that didn't matter that much, but I mean when only D lights you when you used when you start messing with The internal stuff like the cams and cam gears I mean that was the biggest thing that probably made a difference on those cars But anyways, I remember I was really into that and I was into going down and racing all the time and doing stuff. I wasn't into working out and fitness until probably my late teens,

like getting into 18, 19, 20, did fitness become something I was really into. And I was always a skinny kid who couldn't put on size. And if I worked out in my teens, it was more related to sport because I was an athlete. I played basketball and soccer. So it was more geared towards, you know, getting my vertical up.

And even then I was doing everything wrong. Now were you like super involved with your high school? Did you like party a lot with people? Were you? Yeah, I would. Yeah, okay, so that's okay. There you go. So that's, that was a big deal for me.

So I played, I was played sports, I hung out with all the jocks. In high school for me, the thing that was so cool to do was every Friday, you were going down to watch your football team play and then we were going to the after party afterwards. And I think in high school, at least for me and my generation, it was always about where could you get the beer and where were you going to drink it and sometimes that met like on some grassy field, some out in the middle of nowhere by some canal or somebody's parents that were out of town for that weekend.

And that was really like a good majority. It's knockout all your schoolwork homework so you made sure that you could place boards, you carried your 3.0, keep your parents off you, and then really it was about where can I drink beer on the weekends with my friends and party and have a good time. Now I was only, but I wasn't, I say party,

because I really didn't, I didn't smoke marijuana, I didn't do any drugs, I didn't do any of that shit. In high school. What are the sex? I didn't, I was a virgin, I was a virgin in high school, I didn't do any drugs, I didn't do any of that shit. In high school. I didn't, I was a virgin. I was a virgin in high school. I didn't do drugs, but I did, I did drink beer. I think somebody introduced me to beer my sophomore year in high school, and then it was the coolest thing ever to get drunk.

And then we went on this kick for quite some time as a kid, which I think is the dumbest thing ever, thinking back now, but it was me and my couple of buddies that were really tight friends growing up. And it was like, if you didn't throw up, you didn't get drunk. So that was the most fun.

And so the mentality was like, it was like a race to like, who puked first kids? And you just, I mean, we would do so. The shit we would do, I think, and it's so funny because now as an adult, your, if you puke now, everybody looks at you like, man, you're in fucking idiot. Why don't you go that far?

Well, just roll yourself. It's exactly what I mean. Like your, your goal as an adult is to be able to drink and not ever feel sick afterwards. You know, you got to mask it. Like, you're not even drunk. Good. Everybody talk shit.

Yeah. So it's, it's really funny how that mentality shifts as you get older. So I was really into sports. I was really into girls. So girls in sports and drinking beer was like my teens for sure. I mean, that was it for me. I was into cars, was into girls, and was into playing. If I was not playing basketball, I was at a, you know, local party somewhere.

If I wasn't doing that, I was racing around my race rocket. I was very similar. I was at a, you know, a local party somewhere. If I wasn't doing that, I was racing around my race rocket. Ice rocket. Very similar. Yours was? Yeah, but we were more into like hot rods, but we, yeah, I was building my truck. So you were like arch enemies, your cars versus that of a fucking race rocket. Well, you know what, though, like, so Mike, I had buddies that there was half of us jocks

that were into old schools, the other half of us were into, you know, what was up and coming now, which was the right, because that was our generation. I feel that that became popular. It did. It wasn't that wasn't cool before to try. Yeah, around just started. A Honda all souped up, but that the Mazda RX 7 with Adam Sartari and then those guys that were drag racing, those type of cars back then made it. In fact, so that was before Fastenferia. So really before Fastenferia, there was Turbo Magazine and what was the other one? Turbo Magazine and... It wasn't maximum.

In Port Wheels. No, it wasn't maximum. It was something that had a name like that. And you read it and it had all the European ones, all the Volkswagen's and the pujos and all that. But I mean, Justin was probably the... Our school's like, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah, we probably would have hung out in high school. Yeah That's right. I forgot a bunch of lumberjacks. I forgot when we saw your football fucking reunion thing.

You guys actually got together in the forest to get your pregame. That's the first time I've ever seen that. And it had a sermon. Yeah, exactly. One of the guys doing this long prayer thing for the beginning. Out in the middle of the forest. Yeah, no. I mean, we were in the kind of boonies, you know.

But it was interesting. It was a tight community and, you know, I didn't really party that much to be honest. Like, I barely at all. Oh, really? Yeah, my parents wouldn't even let me out of the house, man. It was like, I was like on lockdown. So, when I did get to go, I was like, yeah.

And then, like all my friends were professionals. And, you know, every time I went, I was just like, oh, I can't handle this stuff. But yeah, I still tried. I was always trying to get out in the house. I was like, oh, how can I work this out? Where I'm seeing it in my friend's house. I think we can go to this party.

But yeah, for the most part, I was doing sports. I mean, I was consumed by, I had to be like the best at every one of these sports. And if there was more sports for me to sign up for I would have done it But then I was like so into it So as far as like fitness is concerned like that was like whatever like if I was in the gym It was like okay. How is this can make me better football player? Yeah, I'm like it. Yeah, yeah You know

How you look it was like I was like, I have this killer six pack, this is one of those things where you're like, I was doing so much shit that my body was just ridiculous. I was just like, house. Were you into, I just remembered something too that I did a lot in my teens. We were really into pranks. It was a cool thing for,

if we weren't doing all those things I said before, we were out pranking the local cheerleaders house or something We were totally papering it or we were you know dying her pond a certain color or we we are taking two-liter bottles And we are chopping the top and then like ten of us guys would piss in it and then we'd knock on someone's door And then they would open it up and spill in their house like we are doing wow, but you fun funny guy Yeah, yeah, real funny dead fish fish and we hide it in someone's car Like that we were like hardcore pranksters in high school, too So that was something that we did you guys all me and the bottle of this was at the same time

Yeah, you know, we all the same time if it 10 dicks another 10 liter bottle Wow, you guys are close Real pressing that was probably I think that was probably the meanest prank that we ever did when we did that I remember there was there the meanest prank that we ever did when we did that. I remember there was, there was, there was like 10 of us guys, we had nothing to do. We knew that there was a underclassman was throwing a party down the street from my house. And we rested it up against her door.

We rang the doorbells. It was a girl who was even more a bully than me. It was a girl on top of it. Yeah, she opened the door and then, and she was in my math class. Oh no. Yeah, she was in my math class. And, no. Yeah, she was in my math class And I remember her crying and telling the story on Monday about her parents coming back and she was grounded forever because her house

Smell like piss and I'll know no, yeah, I was told told You know what though like I'm I share the story I probably wasn't even my idea the time. I was just one of the 10 guys there. You just were there Yeah, I don't know how many, I was the good kid, right? My, my, my, my, I threw acorns at a girl on time and growing up. What? Really bad.

Acorns? Yeah. Yeah. You guys are both jerks. No, listen, listen, because like my best friend was a girl, I saw her over Christmas and so we were like laughing because like, you know, this is when we were kids like, I was like, man, I was a dick sometimes.

You know, I told you about that story about like making a kid eat the poo sandwich. Yeah. So we were going out. We were always so competitive to get first in line for the bus. And you know, these kids, like they would like, you'd see him running from the corner of your eye, you know, down this other page. And you're like, no, I'm going to get there first.

And this one girl is just talking shit to me and my friends. She's just like, yeah, I'm going to get there first and this one girls is talking shit to me and my friends She's just like yeah, I'm gonna get there and so we saw like all these acorns had fell from the trees Oh And then I gave her yeah, but I apologize that was like So is that one of those ones where you just felt miserable after our boys immediately? So I had one that we case to check this out. And now she developed an eating disorder.

My soft, my soft more year in high school. Oh, hey, man. My buddy, my buddy Eric had his older brother who was a senior and they had this big suburban, like one of those big old, extra extended long old school suburban's. And they were driving around one of their friends had a paint ball gun. That's when paint ball guns became really popular, right? They had, you know, they were,

and they were going out and they were trying, it was just like on a Friday or Saturday night, late night, and anybody that was out on the streets at that time, they were driving by and shooting them with paint balls. And they would come back and tell, oh my god, we got these guys that were walking. It was so hilarious. And so they convinced all of us underclassmen to come in and ride with them and go do this with them. So now it's like midnight or so midnight one the morning and we're having a hard time finding people on the streets, it's fucking one o'clock in the morning, some small cow town. So there's nobody out and we're like, who are we going to do this? So okay, we come up with this bright idea. Let's go ring doorbells and then when someone answers

the door we'll blast them with fucking with the paintball. So what we would do is we'd send my buddy who was the running back for the team. So he was the fastest. So he would sprint to the door. He'd ring the doorbell, he'd run back. And then the guy in the passenger seat would be sitting there with the paintball gun pointing

at the front door until someone opened it and then we would blast the person open the front door. And so I won a clock in the morning. You are lucky someone didn't shoot you. I would have done that. I would have been like, oh, you're getting a dime. Remember this is fucking almost 20 years ago and it's in a cow town. So they're right back then like semi-automatic paintball gun was like the most dangerous thing

probably around there or a pitch fork. So that's probably was the scariest thing somebody would come chasing with that, but by that time we would speed off, right? So we were smart about it. We were strategic how we get away if somebody came after us. So we do this, and because we didn't want to just shoot random people, we were going to people's houses that we knew, well, this girl that we, the house we shot, she happened to go to church with my family and her older brother was in my class, actually was a class below me,

but it knew me. And the girl that we shot was in the same class as my little sister and she knew her and word got around that I was there. And then it got back to my parents. And so then, and then their parents. And so I had to go over and formally back to my parents. And so then, and then their parents. And so I had to go over and formally apologize to her parents and oh my God, was it the worst? This will go down as like one of the worst experiences

of my life of standing in. Now mind you, I was in the back, all the way in the back seat, fucking never once got out of the car, never once did anything, I was just there, you know, but I took the heat for this. Did you get a beat down for it? Oh, no, it was worse than that.

Did I was grounded for like a whole summer over that and the parents that this happened to, so the dad and the mom are standing there. The mom's telling me this story. The dad's telling the story and the mom's fucking bawling at a control because when we shot her with the paint balls, the paint balls didn't break. They hit her and they just bounced off

and they, you know, if you've been shot with a paint ball gun, they fucking sting, right? And imagine getting hit with like five of them, right? So the daughter who's like, she's like a freshman or sophomore in high school, falls to the ground at one o'clock in the morning screaming, crying that she's been shot. Mom and dad come running from downstairs

and see their daughter laying on the ground, screaming, crying, mom screaming, crying, dad screaming, everyone's crying, freaking out, before they realize that it was just paintballs so they're like telling me the story minute by minute how this went down oh my god hurts right now dude i felt so miserable and and i took i mean the dad just made me feel like i was a piece of shit you know in this whole time going like motherfucker i should never go in the car.

My parents grounded me for an entire summer. I'll never forget doing that. God damn it, I would have killed you if I was a brutal. School for me, as a team, school for me was so completely unmemorable. It's, I had, like, you guys did a lot of things with your school, right? You guys played sports, you were very connected to it.

I went to zero parties, I did, I didn't play any school sports. The people I hung out with, I had friends, but I was into working out real young. I started lifting weights at the age of maybe 13 or 14, and that was my favorite thing to do after school. After school, I'd go home and I'd read about it. About working out, I'd read about nutrition, or I'd read chemistry books about supplements,

and then I'd lift weights and come up with ideas and how to work out. And I actually even found recently, going through old boxes, I found workouts that I had typed out on my computer. Yeah, you shot it. And planned out. That's right.

I kept track of my measurements and my gains and my strength and what I would eat and how to mix this supplement with that supplement. So I was super into that stuff. Really young, though, I'd say junior high, because that's the age you try, you kind of try to, you want to fit in, right? You really want to fit in. So I hung out with some like gang bangers. Yeah, I know, right? So I hang out with myself. This was a jinko jeans day. This was jinko jeans day. I was hanging out with these, you know, fucking losers. And it was a kind of and it was a shitty time

because I really didn't fit in with them, but I thought it would be cool to hang out with them. And at some point, me and one of them didn't get along and then we got in this big old fight and I got jumped by them a bunch of times. And then after that, I was like, I was known for being like, don't fuck with Sal,

because you'll fight back, type of thing. And luckily they left me alone. To beat the nerd up, he's actually pretty strong. He's been working out. He'll fight you guys And then I like I said high school is super memorable and I started working really young so I was like 15 I think I was 15 years old when I got my first job and so then I just Save my money and work and work out and hang out. I was I didn't do any of that stuff

I didn't party I didn't drink it in the nest. I don't think I got I don't think I drank until I was probably Well, no, I know I drank until I was probably, well no, I know I drank when I was 18 because my general manager took me out and got me hammered. That was the first time I went to a bar when I was 18 and this one lady, it was like a bartender. She had no idea, I wasn't 21. I used to like the worst fake ID ever.

McLeven. It was worse than that, dude. It was like a guy that was like Indian. She probably knew, but you were probably the best customer. 100% new. That was like this liquor store we used to go to and like all the kids went to it.

And we all knew that he knew, but it was just like, dude, we were probably half his business. Bro, say like the whole high school went there. This lady used to be like a, what did they call those? The old bikini, like the Hawaiian tropics? Oh God, Hawaiian. She was like a Hawaiian tropic lady.

And we just like worshiped her. We'd go there. Like, and she would just get us like totally hammered, you know, because she loved the entertainment of it. I thought it was just dope and honored. Oh, yeah. Well, here's what I want to know. I see all the time now on, in the news,

all the time now, I see these attractive female teachers in their 30s, having sex with like their male students who are like 17 years old. What is up with that? Why not? I have it as. Never. I didn't see any of that in here.

Any of that? Never happened. And every single time when they get caught and they get busted it's because the dude bragged his friends. Yep. And part of me is like, okay, I was saying, I don't pissing people off. I know I'm pissing people off. Okay, yes, it's not right to do that. But part of me's like, okay, I was saying, I don't pissing people off. I know I'm pissing people off, okay, yes,

it's not right to do that. But part of me's like looking at the kid, like, you fucking should've kept that shit too strong. The fuck are you doing? As a young boy, you're not smart at all. Tell everybody. You're not smart enough to do that. Not only that, but that's the most exciting part

while it's happening, you're probably like, okay, we're to tell my friend. Oh, of course, that's half of it. You're probably awful, you're all over the place, but you're thinking in your head, you can't wait to tell your boys as Oh, of course, that's half of it. You're probably awful. You're all over the place, but you're thinking in your head, you can't wait to tell your boys. It's gonna be the best story of the week. Who's gonna top this?

I banged our English teacher. Yeah. Yeah. Cool story, bro. You say like that doesn't you can't top that. That's a memory miss Beverly. Yeah. Yeah.

I got something. Yeah. Something to tell you. Nine String Man, how would you guys go about improving your bench press? Oh. That's a good question. First off, you have to identify your individual issues with the bench press. So that being said, we can go into some general advice because the first thing I would do if someone came in and said, we can go into some general advice because the first thing I would do

if someone came in and said- Well, really, before you start being a trainer, were there moments in your personal journey that you made breakthroughs for building your chest or increasing your chest personally? Definitely. I know the trainer, I just want to stop you because I could hear the trainer

and you going right away and like how we coach and train someone. But I always feel like when we share our personal journeys and stuff like that and breakthroughs that we personally had, sometimes those are big tips for people. So do you remember that for yourself? Well, I remember so in the early,

when I would read bodybuilding magazines, of course a lot of the information and then was false, believe it or not. And one of the things that I read was if you want to build the outside of your packs or your outer packs to use a really wide grip on your bench press. Now I have a narrow frame, right?

I'm built kind of narrow and I identified this as a kid and so I said, oh, fuck, I want my chest to get wider. So I would always bench with this really wide grip. These magazines would also tell you that the wider your grip, the more you hit your chest and the closer grip, the less you hit your chest. And so I benched with a super wide grip for a long time. One of the game changers for me was learning that I actually benched better with a closer than that ultra wide grip. And that tucking my elbows a little bit gave me more strength and better leverage. And I learned that from watching power lifters. Because at some point I realized that I should probably study the people that are experts at maximizing mechanics

of a particular lift and nobody bench presses better or more efficiently and effectively in a power lifter. Because their job is to lift the most amount of weight. So they're gonna lift in a way that's gonna make them lift the most amount of weight and they're gonna lift in a way that's the safest lifting the most amount of, amount of weight, and they're gonna lift in a way that's the safest, lifting the most amount of weight. And so watching power lifters taught me a lot, taught me how to stick my chest out to have that strong arch on my back,

tuck my elbows a little bit, grip the bar real strong, and to drive my feet in the floor. Those were huge for me, those were huge for me in getting my bench press to increase and increasing the development from them. And then the second thing was learning how to use, how to pause the rep and just to work on different parts of the rep, especially the all parts that I was weakest because when I first started benching, I was weakest at the bottom part. Yeah, that's, I was going to actually mention that was mine, but I worked on that doing like super low dips

in contrast with that too. So I would hold like an isometric hold at the very bottom, too, and then have to dig my way out. And then I, that translated really well doing bench press and getting that recruitment, that strength when I needed it at the bottom of the lift. And then also, too, it increased my range of motion, and the control in my range of motion

and the strength in that. So, that was a big thing for me because my lockout was always really strong, but I would find myself as I got, increasing the weight quite significantly. It's that very first part. I had like no momentum. Nothing I could generate.

I couldn't generate enough power right there. So I had to address that. Did you guys, when you first start benching, did you use a thumbless grip? No, I've always used the thumb. I don't know, I don't know what point did I start breaking my wrist and doing stuff like that. Because I watched, I would look at like the bodybuilders lift

and they would do that with the thumbless grip, with the wrist break. And I got into a bad habit of benching that way for a long time and it took me a while to erase that. And the reason why I erased this, I realized that when I'd go heavy, I'd have to use wrist straps. Yeah, it did compromise on your wrist. And why am I having to use wrist straps?

I shouldn't have to use that and change my grip. That was another thing. There was a couple of things that come to mind that I think were were big for me. One I felt like Bench was one of those things One of those few things That I ever tested PR's on even young like I feel like bench presses one of those things that a lot of guys Max out on well, yeah, that's that's the test to strike what do you bench? What do you bench? Right like I think that was like a A common thing that you lifted one to six reps. A big breakthrough for me was breaking out of that, training super heavy and low reps

and introducing 15 reps and supersets for my chest. A lot of that is checking your ego too because obviously if you're wrapping out 15 reps or you're super setting a chest, two chest exercises, then the amount of weight that you can move is way less than what you're moving when you're going to max out. But that gave me some of the biggest gains was breaking those habits of being stuck in the low reps and trying to see, oh, my bench went from 200 to 215.

Oh my God, it's you like being so caught up in the PR of my bench and actually starting to venture out and Challenge my chest in other ways another big one was The frequency so this was also something that was when I remember when I first saw the development of maps I was like, oh this was this ring so true to me in my own journey of one that that frequency Lightball went off for me and instead of hammering my chest so hard on one day out of the week and then leaving it for next week, when I realized it was an area I was trying to develop

was starting to hit it more frequently. I was hitting it two and then three times a week. And I saw huge gains in my chest from that also. And the third and the most recent one was Incline was a very neglected area for me. Like, my incline was significantly weaker than my flat bench. I could flat bench dramatically more weight

than I could on the incline. And I hated doing the incline press because of that because I had to go put on half the weight and do it. So I avoided it forever. I'm now at a point in my lifting career where my incline is almost identical if not stronger than my flat bench. So I saw huge development in the upper part of my chest. So my whole upper part of my chest and shoulders really started to come together when I really put a lot of emphasis on incline.

And that just gave aside from overall strength, but even the look aesthetically because we know that's a lot of what I incline, and that just gave aside from overall strength, but even the look aesthetically, because we know that's a lot of what I've been focused on for some time. So those three things, I think, were big standout things that really, really helped me develop a chest and improve my bench. Let me ask you guys this,

because I kind of, sometimes I kind of feel like the bench press was chosen a little bit arbitrarily in terms of being one of like being the most functional horizontal based press. Oh, I think I think that overhead press would be a better should have been a better strength standard. Yeah, like we know when talks about the overhead press, like you talk about bench press. Yeah. And technically it is a more functional, better, uh, judge for everything overall strength, functionality. Like, well, maybe because like, yeah, chest was, was emphasized so much for men, you know, back in the days, like, you know, the more developed your chest was, that was like, you know, that was a big deal and so everybody really focused on, how do I, you know, build that up?

And maybe it's all just like bench-related, I became like popular some mouthies. Well, let's be honest too, like, you know, the man, the, you know, Jesus, when it comes to bodybuilding, Arnold Schwarzenegger, had like one of the most epic chest ever. So I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of that came from that, I mean.

Yeah, because, can, can, can, can, can, can, can, cuz you can see about it like in the old school lifters. It was the bent press Yeah, it was all over it. It was what you could lift off the ground It was like a just a strength. Yeah, it was it was it was the functional stuff and and when they said functional They meant stuff that translated to work. Yeah, like what can I do when I? And it was lifting things off the ground and putting things out of the head. Even before that it was rocks. Exactly. And when you look at athletes who don't lift weights, who are just functional through their sport, very rarely do you see a very well-developed chest that you just don't. And that's what that became, well-developed chest became the kind of the standard of what a bodybuilder look like because of all

the athletes bodybuilders are really the only ones I can think about that have really, really well developed packs. Well, it's just not necessary for a lot of sports. Maybe football with pushing off an ass baseball players do not want to develop chest. No, and even football players, you want strong triceps and shoulders, but you know, if we're talking horizontal pressing, because pressing horizontally, it is a fundamental function, right? Overhead is pushing, you know, vertically, right?

I would venture to say that an incline press might be more functional than a flat bench because you're getting closer to an overhead that way. Well, you are in between. Right. And in real life, if you are having to brace yourself up against something or push up against something, you're typically leaning forward to brace yourself up against something or push up against something, you're typically leaning forward to give yourself that kind of leverage against the ground.

And that would mimic more of an incline press. I can see that. So I could kind of see an argument for either one, for maybe the incline being more functional than a flat bench, if you were to pick your horizontal type press in terms of safety. I don't know which incline is way better. Probably safer, huh? Well, yeah, no, this is, and this in terms of safety. I don't know which line is way better. Probably safer.

Well, yeah. No, this is and this was why now like for me when I teach, I rarely ever teach a flat bench, dude. Really? I really, I think that an incline is, it's much more natural. So if you look, if you can imagine right now listening to this, while you're sitting on an incline bench and then imagining the straight bar above above you, it naturally is going to that angle.

It helps you. Depress is the scapula. Yes, depresses the scapula. So if you can retract and depress, it really helps that. When you're a horizontal, it takes a lot, that's why you have to really create that excessive arches. And it's relating to get there. Yeah, like that's why power lifters have to create that really excessive arches to create

that natural angle to retract and depress the shoulders where when you're on an incline bench, you're kind of naturally there. And so I find it very easy to teach somebody mechanically where you need to be to do a proper chest press. So I actually now teach on an incline before I teach a flat bench to a beginner. So I find it way more functional, way more beneficial, easier to teach mechanics.

So inclined for the win, man. So if you're not doing that, I would definitely make that a priority and try that. And that was what I did. Like the small goal for me was, okay, my goal is to catch my incline bench up to my flat. And so now it's become a more dominant way. I think to just even answers question, even more, I would say do cycles where you just do presses with dumbbells, flat bench with dumbbells,

that'll contribute a lot to your barbell press, learn how to pause your reps so you can come down to your chest and maintain tension and keep it on your chest for three to five seconds and then press it up Or do lockout benches if your lockout is an issue where you know you only go down Maybe you set the rack up so that you go down these rubber bands bands Chains these are all excellent techniques If you really want to just improve the weight of your bench press and how much you can lift on the bench press more than development

All those other things. And aesthetics, look to power lifters. They are the ones that are the experts at this, and they've really beat this up to death in terms of all the techniques. Most technical about those, because they're focused on like four or five lifts. That's it. Yeah, so listen, if you like Mind Pump, leave us a five star rating review on iTunes. And if we like your review and we pick it, you will get a free Mind Pump T-shirt.

Also, do not forget to check us out on Instagram. In fact, that's where you can ask us these questions that will answer in our Q&A episodes. You can find us on Instagram at Mind Pump Radio. You can find my personal page at Mind Pump Style. Adam has a personal page too. It's at Mind Pump Adam and Justin is at Mind Pump Justin. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump.

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