Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 474: Arya Saffaie Lifetime Natural Men's Physique 2X Olympia Athlete

Episode Date: March 16, 2017

Arya Saffaie is a lifetime natural IFBB PRO and two time Olympian who is also a fan of Mind Pump. In this episode Sal, Adam & Justin discuss Arya's journey and training. Get our newest program, Kettlebells 4 Aesthetics (KB4A), which provides full expert workout programming to sculpt and shape your body using kettlebells. Only $7 at www.mindpumpmedia.com! Get MAPS Prime, MAPS Anywhere, MAPS Anabolic, MAPS Performance, MAPS Aesthetic, the Butt Builder Blueprint, the Sexy Athlete Mod AND KB4A (The MAPS Super Bundle) packaged together at a substantial DISCOUNT at www.mindpumpmedia.com. Make EVERY workout better with MAPS Prime, the only pre-workout you need… it is now available at mindpumpmedia.com Have Sal, Adam & Justin personally train you via video instruction on our YouTube channel, Mind Pump TV. Be sure to Subscribe for updates. Get your Kimera Koffee, Mind Pump's first official sponsor, at www.kimerakoffee.com, code "mindpump" for 10% off! Add to the incredible brain enhancing effect of Kimera Koffee with www.brain.fm/mindpump 10 Free sessions! Music for the brain for incredible focus, sleep and naps! Please subscribe, rate and review this show! Each week our favorite reviewers are announced on the show and sent Mind Pump T-shirts! Bee/Scorpion talk (1:01) Intro of Arya (7:58) When did Arya first get into Men’s physique? / His early days. (12:02) How did Arya stay a natural athlete? What was his motivation? (14:52) Building his business / getting money once you become a pro / Misconceptions / Supplement use (21:06) Injuries he has had during his journey. How it has affected his nutrition? Relationships? Mindfulness? (27:39) Has his training/programming changed with the injuries he has had? (40:52) Intensity / Frequency and to know when to stop. Dogma/Group discussion. (549:14) Favorite things about bodybuilding/least favorite things. (59:29) Related Links: Instagram - @arya_ifbbpro Mind Pump 30 days of coaching (free) People Mentioned: Steve Cook – Instagram - @stevecook Anderson Silva

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If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind, pop, mind, pop with your hosts. Salda Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. Wait a second, wait a second. The air is different. Wait a second, there's a mosquito in here is different. Wait a second, there's a mosquito in here. Wait, wait, no there's two and bit my ass. And one's fucking the other one.

What does it sound like when mosquitoes fuck? Oh no. I was waiting for you to do it. I think that's what it sounds like. In reality, when a mosquito bites you, isn't it kind of fucking you a little bit? It is. It puts it in.

It's injecting in you. It puts it in. I don't wanna think about that. Doesn't a mosquito gets to do that? And it leaves you with herpes. Isn't a mosquito just like a bee? It does that one time that it's done, right? Or is it good?

What? No, that's it's food. You know a bee, a bee sting is you as done. Yeah, I know. A bee sting is you, he's fucking, that's done bro, you're done. There's a difference between, so a bee does it for self-defense,

a mosquito eats that when it sucks your blood out. So why would it, why? Sucks your blood out that it dies. That's it dude. That's a horrible, that's a horrible evolutionary process. Yeah. God made a mosquito,

it's like, what the fuck? It's a fruit flyer. And it's only a bee though, right? Cause it does a wasp, does it wasp and a bumblebee die after they sting you no they don't right? Just like fucking hate wasp will fuck you Right those thing you come back sting you get go get a friend and have your friends thing you have you ever seen videos Gang bang of wasp have you I've never seen that but have you ever seen a video?

Sounds like how bees fight wasps. Did you guys know their mortal enemies? Yeah. Did you know that, Adam? I love, you know that. And I'm on team B all day. Oh yeah, fuck wasps. So they hate each other, right? They're like rival gangs and when a wasp,

because what the wasps will do is they'll go in and they'll kill the bees and take their honey. Yeah. They are nature's assholes. So what they'll do is if a wasp shows up, the bees, no, he can't, if he leaves, they're fuck, cuz he's gonna tell everybody. So what they do is they go on the wasp and they pile on top of them and create this massive pile of bees and they move so rapidly that they actually overheat the wasp and kill it

like that. That's gangster. And meanwhile, the wasp is just killing bees left away, but they sacrifice themselves. They sacrifice themselves for the queen. That's it. You know what I'm saying? They produce, they make honey, dude.

What the fuck does a wasp do? I don't know what they do. She irritates everybody. Just piss people off of us. Yeah, it doesn't do shit. I've been stung so many times. Fire wasp? Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Jack is an wasp. Well, you know why? Because your country boy You grew up in the you know saying like and I've messed with them too. So it's not all like one sided Fucking blew up, you know some of them with you know Firecrackers the gasoline and you know, you deserve it

Those things I've I we used to have a scorpion problem and where I grew up and. Rock me like a hurricane. Here I am. Sorry. That sounds like a scorpion problem. Yeah. Is rock me like a hurricane? That's not scorpion, is it? Come on, come on, come on.

Oh, that's good. That was a good one. That was a good one. Good job there. Good job, buddy. I get one every once in a while. So you had a scorpion problem at your place? Yeah, I know.

I remember God on there forget my dad telling me the first time he got one, he got it, it was embedded in his towel that was hanging up and he got done showering. And a scorpion was just chilling on his chest. Right after it was, you hear my dad scream like a girl from a city. I'm like, your dad was going on there

and the scorpion right on his chest. Did it sting? I climbed into bed and laid on one in bed. Did it sting you? Yeah, it stings. But it's like a bee sting. It's about the same thing. It's about the cute little pincher arms. No, there's poisonous ones.

This one wasn't poisonous. No, these are, I don't, I think that's only a pretty creepy. That's in like other countries, not here. God, scorpions are like spiders. Maybe actually in text, I think text is fine. No, you know what, Arizona, they have the ones that are like, yeah, when you go at night, they glow. If you shine like lights on them,

they're transparent. I think they live in those palm trees. I love when we talk about stuff, we don't know that much. So we just fall on her head. You know what mother fucker? So you know what's funny? The fact that I said about bees fighting wasps,

I think it's true. I'm pretty sure it is. You said it confidently. I said about bees fighting wasps. I think it's true I'm pretty sure it is you said it confidently. I'm pretty sure it's true. I believe it could be completely You know the beauty about this show now the size it is now and never fails you know what somebody will correct us Yeah, somebody will see I think we I think it's gonna be fascinated that we're right in the way that we delivered it You know, I mean like that that was pretty accurate But I know it's delivery sell absolutely was pretty accurate, but I saw he's delivering Sal absolutely wrong. Yeah, absolutely wrong.

So anyway, listen, you're about to hear us talk to Aria Safai. Great guy. He's a lifetime natural, IFBB pro physique competitor on the Olympia stage. He competes at a very high level. Adam, how rare is it for someone to compete at that high of a level to be natural, by the way?

On it to be completely honest, up until him, I didn't believe that anybody was. Okay, wow. It's that, and on the Olympia stage, I know there's about three other guys that claim it. I know two of the three for sure are not. And then most of them just avoid talking about it or like semi-denyat.

Bottom line is it's majority of everybody that competes at that level is, especially if they're, if you made it to IFBB and you're all natural, you're the fucking Ilnana. I believe that Arya was what Men's physique was created originally for. He's got that class, he's got the look that they're looking for.

Well, and I believe that the purpose was because, you know, they were smart, right? IFBB, MPC was smart, they saw the direction of what bodybuilding was getting so out of control that people went, that's just not realistic for me. And nor do most people want to look at it. Now that's not to say some people don't and I'm not knocking anybody that does because fuck yeah if it's your goal is go after get it man be a monster.

But most people could not relate to that and most people are like I don't have the time to get that big so. When men's physique came around I think the idea of men's physique was hey we want to we want to see what the elite of elite guys look like if you were natural and you actually died and trained your ass off, but you still had a life, you know, I'm saying. But it progressed very quickly. It did. These guys are looking real huge and muscular, but you know, Arya's got this real, because you're the one that showed me him on Instagram first time, and he's got a very aesthetic, symmetrical physique. He comes in crazy condition when he competes. And we talked to him about all the stuff.

We talked to him about nutrition. We talked to him about exercise. He's actually modified his training pretty significantly since listening to Mind Pump. He's actually a Mind Pump fan. And he's noticed some changes in his body and his strength as he's prepping for competition coming up, which is I believe in Culver City,

is that where he'll be competing? So without any further ado, here we are talking to Arya Safai. Oh, by the way, you can find him on Instagram at Arya underscore, IFBB pro. I wanna get back to Arya talking about, you know, your experience competing and stuff. When did you first like get the bug that this was men's physique?

I want to get into this. Like when did that start for you? Yeah, man. Well, for me, it was funny because my brother, what I did mentioning that's early, he's also an IFB pro. Oh, sure. I think we're the only two brothers in the IFB

in men's physique at least. Oh, that was cool. So he did it. And to be honest, man, when I was my 20s, I always had a good physique, but I lived in like a Rosa Beach, and I had my time having fun. Wasn't really too dialed on the diet stuff,

drinking alcohol here and there. And one day I was like, you know what, dude, I'm gonna fucking, I'm gonna do a show one day and see what happens. So one day I just snapped and I was like six and a half weeks from this one show, and I didn't even know anything about it. Like tell me where this is at in like the era of men's physique is this like right when it first started like Steve Cook's

Tartan and those guys little bit after the 2013 okay things kind of started picking up 2012 Yeah, yeah, yeah, and really even 2013 was early y'all for sure So I was like it to me. I was like you know, I'm gonna turn 30 and my goal was to create the best Body I've ever had when I'm 30. Kind of take away the 30 out of 30. Like if I could look good at that age, then, you know, I'm doing well. Doesn't make 30 sound so bad.

So that was kind of what I was gonna do. And I was like, you know, let me just do a show. It was like six and a half weeks. Never knew nothing about a show, no coach, or nothing. I just knew what I knew. And ended up dieting down. And I saw myself get leaner than I've ever got my life.

It was like shit. So I did the first show. It was NPC. Didn't even know what that meant. I was like, all right, it's the close one of my house. My brother did it. It was just let's do it. And I ended up getting first. Oh wow, first show. It's a shit first show. This is kind of cool. I like this, you know. So then I ended up going against Jeremy for the Badina for the overall. But oh, wow. And I didn't know shit, man. I don't know the guy that told me to my back pose. He said literally, like just,

he was like a bodybuilder, old bodybuilder. And he's, at the day of the show, he's like, don't pose at all. Just literally stand there and like, almost slouch. And I was like, I'm gonna open my wings a little bit. He's like, don't do anything at all.

They're gonna knock you down. I was like, all right. So I just did a little bit. He's like, don't do anything at all. They're gonna knock you down. I was like, all right, so I just did that, but it was good enough to win my class, but not take me overall. But either way, Jeremy looks sick, so I'm not saying I would have, but I look at my posing of that video and now I'm like, God, what the hell was I doing?

I, my very first show I fucked up and actually retracted and squeezed. And everybody went, oh, you heard, you heard like, I heard everybody was there supporting me. You're like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, me. You're like, oh. And there were so much weirder back then about it. You know, it's like you can get away with much. Now you see a lot more going on and it's okay. But back then it was more basic, hand-to-the-west waste and that's pretty much it.

So yeah, I got first there and I was like, dude, I got the bug, I want to get the overall sword. So too much later, I did another show and I ended up taking first and the overall. So I was like, wow. This is so far so good. And then a week later was the USA's for the championship. I do, again, I do nothing about it, because I'm super novice, don't know anything.

And, but at that level, people that don't know this, that's like the fucking, the main event, you know, I'm saying. It doesn't get bigger than that as far as like a notoriety going through the USA's for sure. Yeah, and I didn't even realize that. And the ladies interviewing me, she's like, dude, this is the prestigious LA championships. You just won the overall. You got first in your last show. You're going to do the next, like the USA championship next week,

like people that get first here, they tend to go and compro. And I was like, I don't even know, maybe, you know, maybe I will. She's like, come on, what are you talking about, maybe? You got to do it. I was like, yeah, and I was like, I don't even know, maybe, you know, maybe I will. She's like, come on, what are you talking about, maybe? So you got to do it. I was like, yeah, and I was being interviewed, but I remember I was considering going, but I would have to call out sick and at work. I was a manager of a bank at the time.

It's like, oh, just in case you're listening, I'm not gonna say it. That's a little that I was thinking. And then I ended up doing a fuck, you know, fuck that, I'm calling out sick, dude. So, call out sick, went to Vegas, got dead center, got first place again. Wow. Three shows, three months, I was a pro. I sick dude, so. Call out sick, went to Vegas, got dead center, got first place again.

Wow. Three shows, three months, I was a pro. I was like, wow. That has to be one of the fastest ever. It was up there, I couldn't even what I heard, but I really didn't post my Instagram, I was like, talking about that. I was like, you know, I've been training since I was 15.

I've been doing that shit my whole life. So I stepped on stage and I got pro-carned three months, but those, those are shitload of work going on behind that. In high school, I started lifting weights hardcore when I was like 15, but I was doing pushups and situps since I was a kid. My dad had 14 kids. He had all of us like soldiers.

I mean, how many? 14. Yeah, so you have 13 siblings? Yeah, four, four, four, you? I'm the youngest son. There's nine girls, five boys. I mean, he has four different women, you know. He's a middle eastern guy, so they do their thing. I'm a little bit more Americanized, but when I was growing up,

I was like, I don't know, a bunch of fucking kids, I guess this is like, I don't know. You know, but we are all like, it was like a clan. I mean, so we'd have to run six days a week, straight to fuck up, like everything is, you know, equipment is garage, I was gonna push it up, pull up. I remember one six days a week straight to fuck up. Like everything is, you know, equipment is garage. I was gonna push it up, pull up. I remember one time I was like six or seven.

We'd run at least like four miles to, four to six miles every day. And it was like 12 in the morning, two in the morning. We didn't go running that day because he had to go do something, but he told us make sure you run. We didn't run for whatever reason I remember, but whenever he got home around one in two in the morning,

I had to wake up to go to second grade, and like, you know, at seven a.m. to wake up to go to school, found out we didn't run, woke us all up, he said, go fucking run, you know? So four in the morning, I were going to the high school, I had to go run fucking the four miles, but dude, I was digging it, I was like, can I love this shit?

I was like, fuck it, let's do it, you know? So how to go run 16 laps around the track, come home, go to sleep, wake up, go to school, you know? Now, did that, now it obviously affected you positively, did it affect any of your siblings negatively? Or is everybody like you? Not, you know, I mean, my whole family, like if you look, we're all pretty, pretty in good shape.

We love fitnesses our life. One of my brothers kind of hated it for a bit, but he's now in the best shape of his life. Everybody's, you know, an athlete for the most part, especially my mom and my dad at five kids, and those are the ones all of it in LA. We take it very serious. My brother's almost a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu.

He changed to Anderson Silva at his facility there. My sister, she does Jiu-Jitsu. She's super into fitness. I mean, my whole family is pretty much all about fitness. And it just makes it easy. It's just what we do. So when I got into like high school, I was saying I started benching. I just took off. I mean, I was 120 pounds benching 135 at the beginning of sophomore year. And by the time I was done with sophomore year, I was benching 235 at the

end of junior year. I was benching 285 at the end of senior year, I was benching 285, at the end of senior year, I wrestled at 140 and I'd benched 340 in high school. 17 years old, so I was just like, everyone's since then, all year I stay at Roy's, man, there's no way. I was like, dude, this is just what I've been doing forever. And just, you know, so I started getting into, you know, that forever, so once I started competing,

it just really, it just kind of took off for me. And that's kind of where I landed. And then I always had these shoulder-paved lingering in me. So that kind of pushed off for me and that's kind of where I landed and I always had these shoulder-paid lingering in me So that kind of pushed me back a little bit, but so far I can't complain man from competing So a lot of- Well, here's something that's crazy is and part of why we were really excited to have you out here because you know I'm a men's physique pro also, but I'm not natural and You've been on the Olympia stage and I know most of. So probably about 75% of the guys that have been on that stage and half of those guys I know like really well.

So I'm and I could tell you that 95 maybe 98% of those guys, none of them are natural. Even the ones that claim they are, you're one of the few that are actually natural and have made it that far. That's a huge fucking accomplishment. I mean, how was it, how did you, oh, why, why, exactly, like, how did you not, like for me, it wasn't even like, for me, I knew that I'm gonna be competing against

all these guys at this level that are gonna be taking testosterone. I'm going to take testosterone. I already do not have the genetics to be in this goddamn sport. I don't belong in a pool swimming somewhere. I don going to take testosterone. I already do not have the genetics to be in this goddamn sport. I don't belong in a pool swimming somewhere. I really look great by the way. That's how you're pictures, but.

Thank you. Well, yeah, that was testosterone enhanced too. So I mean, I didn't, I don't have my natural body type is this tall, lanky basketball player swimmer. That's what I do well at that. But I also wanted to prove that you could shape and build the body to hang with even the athletes out there in men's physique.

Like I did. But for you to do it and do it completely natural is unreal. What motivated you to do that? Well, I mean, I've always kind of been against it, not morally, man. I'm not going to stem sitting here in my angel and I haven't done, you know, certain share drugs here in my past. It's just when I was younger, like I was mentioning in high school, everybody thought I was on steer.

I mean, everybody. So I just kind of, I feel like this is just me thinking. I feel like I developed more like, like, nah, fuck that dude. I'm not. And I started almost getting a hate towards it. Not towards people that do it or. Well, you don't want to prove him right. It was just like, yeah, it's like dude And I started almost getting a hate towards it. Not towards people that do it or. Well, you don't want to prove them right. It was just like, yeah, it's like dude.

I fucking, I don't do that straight up. I never did. And then you get so used to getting frustrated and combating it against these people that are kind of just ignorant because they didn't put any of the work in that you've done. And those are the guys that would be the ones to say it. You know what I mean? A lot of them.

So I feel like. Which is the irony, right? It's really the guys that take the stairs and give a shit, you know what I mean a lot of them So I which is the irony right it's really the guys that take the stairs to give a shit You know what I'm saying? Yeah, it's the kids that want to believe that you can't do that Yeah, you can't you can't there's no way cuz they we could I've been doing this for for two years and I don't look like two two come You can't fucking do that right so I Think that's what started it and then I just I just started doing really well really quickly right? I mean not a lot of people, like you mentioned, just, you know, with the three shows

and three months at your own pro, so I said, dude, I'm doing fine without it. And then I figured, you know what, I may never be the best in the world at this sport, meaning be the Mr. Olympia champ, but at the same time, if I can kind of have my own little angle and be natural and do as well as I can, and kind of give hope to a lot of those guys

like because I get messages every day from people like Manu inspired me, you make me feel like this, you make me feel like that. So it feels good to do that. And honest, I wouldn't even know the first place to start. And after listening to some of the stuff you guys, I know people can easily screw this body up. I don't even want to take the chance of that. You know, like I don't want to.

Now what do you think though about those? Okay, so, you know, the top five guys and here you are. And I know you're getting ready to get after a show and hopefully qualify for Olympia, then get on there again. In your head, do you feel like when you look at the top five that you even have the possibility of cracking that top five, uh, knowing the, the look that the judges are kind of going for on that stage. What's your thoughts on that?

I feel like my symmetry and my condition is for sure spot on. Absolutely. I don't think I have the weakness that I have is really just the fullness in the size. I mean, my back developments there, every single like piece is there if you break it down piece by piece, I just need to get a little bigger, but it's like, you know, let's say I do start taking something and I still don't become top five or when and then it's like, ah, what the fuck

is all that for? You know, I feel like almost like, you know what, just keep riding your wave, keep doing you, keep kind of just paving the own, you know, paving that you're on and go that route. But I mean, well, the other thing to consider too is, is your goal just to win an Olympia, or is your goal to build a business around this? Because if it's to build a business, it can be very marketable to always be natural. Well, fuck, it's the reason why you're on the show right now.

Yeah, appreciate that. We didn't invite anybody else in the Olympia down here. I mean, we've had Johnny who's a good buddy of ours and so that because we actually work together and our friends, but I mean, you're it because we were looking for somebody like that that has honestly stayed with it like that. And I really believe that when Minsf is Eek first started,

that your body type, your exact look we're at, is what they intended it to be like. Yeah. It's just evolving out of control, just like body building has. Yeah, yeah. It's like, don't you feel like it's following the exact same? Well, it's pretty well, because they have classic physique. And a lot of the guys that are MN's physique

don't fit the weight class or classic physique. Isn't that ironic? It's pretty well. They think they make an adjustment and I think they upped the class of the Z-weight to kind of help make it a little bit make more sense, but it is what it is, man. And I still feel like I got hope. I mean, for me, I had a couple of rough seasons. I had a shoulder injuries. I think I think this season's going to be the best package I've ever brought because it was the first time I was able to have a small offseason just a few months, but healthy.

Every time I've ever took a break, it's because of an injury. I lost muscle and then I just started dieting and competing back into it. And I was able to win two shows as a pro and qualified two-time Olympia. This time, I feel like I'm gonna do better. And I've made waves and people were spent before what I'm doing. So right now, I'm happy, man. I mean, and there is some business aspects that I'm actually really pursuing. I've been working on something for a couple of years

that is gonna be launching fairly soon actually. And I know just kind of building a base and putting myself out there, marketing myself the way I am. I think it's gonna only help that. Are you sponsored by any supplement companies or anything like that? I'm not, I'm not. Oh, I love that you said that.

We don't even need to go any further. Well, no, no, on that, I do want you to shed some light because it's something that I talk about. It's been a while since I've talked about this on the show. Is the misconception out there of, you know, once you become a pro and once you get on the look, that just the money comes in and that's, you've now made it or you will.

It'll be that easy. You'll just, you know, get that big or you'll be that awesome of a Zeke, and then you'll easily be able to build this business around it. Could you shed a little bit of light on our listeners what that process was like for you? Yeah, it's definitely not like, hell, you're a pro, now you're gonna get money, that's for sure, right? I mean, you gotta really, you gotta have

so many more elements to yourself and just getting that pro card in order to really be able to make a business out of it. A, you either got to be a top, top guy. B, you got to have a good message to certain followers. They read what you put. They know who you are. I mean, depends what kind of business you want to look at.

Do you want to be a successful online trainer? You better have good content. You can't just be a guy that looks good and placed well because there's a lot of guys that look good and placed well, but they don't really put it out to the online trainer or nothing like that. So there's that aspect. But to really make a business out of this man, I mean, you have to have a lot of brains really.

Yeah, what is it? What has it taught you? You know, what have you learned about yourself going through this process? For me, it's just really about kind of building a brand with a direction that you feel that you can offer your own niche market. You know what I'm saying? You have to be able to separate yourself. I mean, maybe back in the day when bodybuilding was, I mean, it's a lot harder to get a bodybuilding

pro card, right? And if you win a bodybuilding show, it's probably easier to get endorsements that are going to be more financial prosperous for yourself. But I think now that men's physique's there, I mean they're handing them out a lot easier than the bodybuilding pro cards. And it's going to be more than just a pro card that's going to help you do that. You have to have a niche market. You have to have a solid business plan. You have to have direction. You have to make sure everything you do with posts, with your, you know, every aspect of what you're doing has to be going in that direction. You can't just think you're a pro and do a couple of shows and expect money.

It just will not happen. And social media has changed a lot of that. There's fitness professionals who make a shit ton more money because they have a lot of followers on social media, but they don't ever really place very well or maybe they even stop competing altogether. True, I understand. I mean, it's really changed the market quite a bit, whereas before you had to have your supplements, sponsors,

and that was pretty much it. Yeah, and supplements, sponsors are cool, but. Yeah, why don't you, no, they're not. Fucking fine, don't be fucking like, I know you, I know you fucking know, I mean, they're cool because like, he wants them to be nice, because he wants to make sure some of us you ready

I already yeah, yeah, he's like I don't want to make same mistake Adam to talk shit about all of this I'm gonna offer you a lot of money in the future. You're cool. No, but it's just no man To be honest, dude, I've kind of had entertainment with that route somewhat and I just I fucking hate the idea of Posts in a picture with me holding a bottle and some hand, and my hand a-a-pilled, and oh, I take this at night because it's like, I fuck, I just, you know, I've tried it before I fuck that, I don't wanna do that shit, just not me.

And I don't even believe in 9 out of 10 of supplements, man, straight up. I was on a live Instagram video yesterday going through the supplements that I have. What was I do? Like supplements are not the answer, like straight up. It's not the answer, like you guys said, more than anything, it's the programming,

obviously the diet and the programming and people haven't asked backwards. It's like all the questions you get that I get about supplements, I'm dude, it's like, you go to the store, right? And you wanna build a nice cake, okay? You gotta get all the ingredients from the store and you know you're gonna need flour,

you're gonna need eggs, you're gonna need chocolate, whatever you're gonna do. And it's almost like people go into the store say, hey, where's the cherries? Because they wanna put a fucking cherry on top. So I do fucking focus on what the cake is. The cherry comes at the end if you have all the cake ingredients down

and they're in the oven and they're come out, just right? Then we can maybe go get you a cherry and place on top. That's the subject. It's completely different. It's just spree-quals. You have a job aside from this?

I do, I work with my buddy, it's kind of part of time because right now I'm doing a lot of online training, it's really been working out for me. Oh, cool. That's really what I've been doing a lot of. And that's the software that I'm developing, I've been doing for two years, is gonna be all based around online training.

Oh, cool. But I'm not gonna go too deep into it now, but it's not based for myself. It's for trainers to have all the tools they need to create and connect with their clients. So I'm not going to be selling to clients to be trained. I'm going to sell, if you're a trainer, how do you do your business? If it's online with emails, it's like, yeah, that's difficult.

I'm going to have a whole platform, tools to everything else. So that's where my bread and butter is. And I'm building tours after two years. I've built so much stuff and spreadsheets and all the stuff to give to my coder. And he's been working on it relentlessly. So the entrepreneur route, that's the route I want to go. Because I mean, most people that are good trainers,

you say, oh, here are good trainers. OK, now put it in a email format and make it to the point where the customer across the world can understand it Follow and get results and it's gonna be not too good a lot of lot of trainers know how to do that So I want to be basically to create a bridge to that gap to make it so damn easy You can click from your phone create dies create programs create schedules edit them when they do live Workouts you can see whether at see where they miss get and analysis things when do your updates, all that stuff is going to be all dialed in. I'm about a month or two from launching it too, so it should be pretty cool.

Excellent. And that's kind of where my heart is right now. Now, are you been around the circuit longer than I have and around more guys than I have? Are there certain dudes that you've connected with on the pro circuit that you really like or have hit it off or anybody that's rubbed you the wrong way during this year whole process? Rubbed the wrong way, not really, man. I kind of get along with everybody. I've been there since the earlier times.

You know, the second, I was at the second Olympia. There's only 14 guys there. I had a pretty cool comeback story after my surgeries and I think that gained a lot of respect from people. There's a lot of people that don't think I'm natural but there's a lot of people that do. And then when they saw my whole story, because I put it out there, man,

when I don't look the best, I like to show people, so they can see my progress, see what it takes. I try to be descriptive in my comments, my captions so they can read what I'm going through. I give a lot of free advice. And so far I've rubbed labels, nobody's the wrong way, man. I like and respect everybody. That's the one thing about competing,

which you would know is you get a lot of good, like. Good culture. Yeah, right away man, because I may not know you and you may not know me, but I know what you went through. We know we went through and for that, we got an immediate bond right there, you know. Let's talk about your injuries,

because it was hard for you. I mean, we talked about for about five minutes before we got on air here and you talked a little bit about what happened with that. Let's go into that. So you had shoulder surgeries. What was wrong with your shoulders? What was like afterwards and the whole thing? Well, they started actually right after when I was getting my pro card. I remember working out backstage even for the LA championships before that. And I was doing these pump up things. I was doing my shoulders hurting. It's hurting bad. This is in 2013 and it was just flaring up all the time and then I was like, all right, well, I need a break but USA is next week.

So I'll do it again. I was pumping up backstage that whole week. I had to go light and it was hurting. So after I got my pro card, I had to take an immediate three, four months off onto the doctor. He's a crazy person. You know, you have bones, burrs that are just digging into your burrs, which is a little sack that kind of helps almost cushion your rotator cuffs. And you need to take some time off. I said, so I took a three, four months off. Lost then your muscles, not loyal. You turn around for a second. This should just go away, dude It's a great way yeah, right? It's a great way to say that dude you fucking do turn your back on your muscle and you turn back Or anything what you go dude gone?

You get all so you self-conscious, you know Still had a overall good body compared to regular people, but you wouldn't catch me a shirt off or I didn't take up anywhere You know so that was the first problem, but I didn't get surgery. Um, but I used that post, you know, injury body to try to make a run for the 2014 Olympia. And I had a pretty hell of a transformation to the best I could. I had limited. I couldn't do any shoulder presses, incline her. I couldn't go heavy. I was extremely limited, but I was able to pull it off and make it to the Olympia, and I was

super happy with that. So after that, I was like, there's no fucking way I can keep doing this. Went to the doctor again, and I said, you know, where am I headed? He's like, look, you don't necessarily need it, but you're pretty much headed toward the bone spurt. You have them both your shoulders are going to eventually take your rotator cuff, so you can either wait, or take it easy. And I was like, you know us, we're not going take it easy. And I was like, you know what,

we're not gonna take it easy. I was like, you know what, fuck it, let's do it. Let's get the surgery. So I scheduled it for after my show. So the last like three, four months of prepping training, I was in the gym knowing I'm getting surgery. And you know, you have these bones first that are just digging into your rotator cuff

and you have pain. It's like training is the hardest thing to do. I'm under a bench, I'm like, you know, two, 75 or whatever I'm doing, I'm like, fuck is it gonna break now? It's gonna snap now. I never knew. It was really mentally challenging. Major mind fucked. Major mind. You can't go your hardest because you're scared just gonna something's gonna happen. So one week after my second show in Sacramento, I ended up going on the surgery bed, and I'm around woke up and I was driving home. I videoed it. I even posted a video a long time ago. Just talking about this surgery starts, healing starts today. I was like, hopefully, you know, at the end of this day, at the end of this, I'll have a good story.

And we'll see. And then I started taking pictures almost every single day, watch my body dwindle with the therapy to about eight months off. And again, I was drinking, binging. I mean, I was telling you earlier, I could not believe the eating disorder because getting to the Olympia was about a year of prepping. After that, I was doing all these shows and then I did two shows after the Olympia.

So almost died in for a year. After that, I had to basically go straight to surgery and I had no shows, no dieting, no shit. I didn't even have to go to work. All my responsibility was gone. All I had to do was rest and eat whatever I want. So for the first few days, I was like, I was like, sigh, I was like, yeah, hell yeah, eat this,

eat that, you know, binge watching Game of Thrones, catching up on all those things, and all these breaking bad, I was watching everything man. So, and just eating. And then, like months would go by and I couldn't, I was so surprised on how the eating disorder, I wanna call it, it just wasn't going away. So you were aware of it as it was going on.

You're like, what the fuck? Dude, I can't stop it. It was like fucking six months later and I was telling you, I'll go to bed at night, literally like planning the next morning, I'm gonna wake up, I'm gonna get donut, I'm gonna go to season six of this show, and I'm gonna come back and push positive,

mix and food, I mean, it was weird. This was the night before, and bed, literally, thinking about that. And I was like, do something's fucking wrong. This has been too long. Like the craving should be gone after a week or two. Like, all right, I have my fun. Let me go back to some healthy. It was,

it was, and I realized then and there, like, do you better get a grip on this shit otherwise, like, this is a life problem. Now how was your emotional state during this period of time? It was shit, man. I mean, I've been a shit my whole life. And I, well, I'm actually started getting like, from a tit for starting to sag, I was like, oh my god, like, what? This is not me. you know? Body was going to, she was drinking alcohol too. I mean, not like, you know, an alcoholic, but more than I should have been. And it was just like, man,

cause the pain was just lingering. It took, it was supposed to heal quick, the right one healed quick, the second one, it took like seven, eight months. I didn't work out for eight months, eight and drink like shit, my muscle was gone, dude. So, the shoulder injury just killed me and then I remember thinking alright

You know, I finally was starting to heal and I started taking pictures and the idea of taking pictures is like one day I'm gonna show every week of my progress and I'm gonna fucking make it back to that stage I just was so goddamn driven, you know if I was ever to be tempted to take some shit It was around then cuz I look like crap and I had a huge goal I'm like I just picture myself staring at the bottom of Mount Everest like dude, you know, if I was ever to be tempted to take some shit, it was around then, cause I looked like crap and I had a huge goal. I'm like, I just picked my stuff staring at the bottom of Mount Everest. Like dude, you know, what it's gonna take to get up there?

Like this is fucking, the whole year is gonna just be crazy. Social life, out of the window, all my friends, out of the window, fights with my girlfriend, and you think, not because she was an amazing, she's my girlfriend's like, you know, she's definitely been the huge supporter.

She changed her life with me, never complained about things, but it's a boring life, I feel bad for it. We can't go out to eat, we can't do shit. Hey, what are you gonna do with it, dude? You know what I'm doing next Thursday at 12? My life is so goddamn loud right now. There is no, we can't do anything, you know?

So I just work my ass off every day every day and first show and I came back I got fourth place and I wasn't ready condition-wise. I was good enough to get fourth place and right after I had like One day of binging I started dieting for the next show three weeks later and my condition just hit a new level I never been in the second show ended up getting first place and qualifying for the Olympia. So for me, man, that was like, yeah, it was emotional as hell, dude. What did that do for you as a trainer now, like with your clients going through that process? I've shared a little bit about when I fell out of shape and then went through it.

What was that like for you as far as that, making you a trainer? And now what would you would you notice? I noticed a lot, man. Obviously, the basic stuff, the consistency, the dedication, all you need to be there. But there was so many phases where I was like, man, I'm in pretty good shape right now. And the main thing that can connect with people

and I shared a post with this was I took a picture when I was like seven weeks away, but I looked amazing already in my eyes and in most people's eyes. But a lot of people get to that point and then they kind of feel like this is what it ends, but you gotta just keep digging. What's the answer? The answer? Yeah, there can be some manipulations, some refeed, certain things you do to kind of keep

remember to have them ramped up, but the true answer is you gotta just keep fucking digging. It will come. You'll get to the level you're looking for, but you cannot stop. You cannot stop, man. A lot of people get stuck at plateaus and they just throw the towel. I had a few plateaus during that process. I had to come from a long way. And if when you keep digging, like it's going to happen. And that's one message that, you know, I drive

home to a lot of people because it's huge. Now, going through that process and being aware of how extreme or the at least the effects of the extreme lifestyle of competing, right? Like being so regimented with your diet, knowing exactly, you know, how many grams of proteins, carbohydrates? Like being so regimented with your diet, knowing exactly, you know, how many grams of proteins, carbohydrates, and fast eating, and when you're eating, and the kinds of foods you're eating, and then shoulder surgery. Now, I don't have to train for anything, and I can't work out, and you go way off the deep end, you go crazy, like you said, with the binging, and you start to identify how both ends of the spectrum are, or did you, did you identify that both sides

are eating disorders, one side? Yeah, is it disorderly other sides of the opposite end of that? Yeah, yeah, that's another thing too. 100% of the answer to your question directly, 100%, and that's another thing that I also implement with my coaching style, and you guys said it the best. It's a simple phrase, creating a healthy relationship with food.

Like I've been using that. I kind of stole some of your guys' stuff. That is huge, man. Like, I'm gonna help you die for your show or just to get in shape. But most importantly, you need to create a healthy relationship with food. You cannot just go strict, strict, strict, strict, strict,

because guess what's gonna happen when this goal of yours is over. You're gonna turn to shit and you may even get worse than ever. And you may even ever bounce back. There may be a certain part of your brain. And as I've looked into it, there's some studies that there's a certain part that certain eating disorders can become permanent. So a certain degree. So it's scary, man. You don't want to just completely deprive yourself all the way through to make a certain goal, not be mindful while you're doing it about, you know,

what you're doing and how strict you're being and the ultimately poor relationship you have with food, even when you're eating healthy, you're looking great. You may be developing the worst habits and a bad relationship with food because once that drive has gone and the goal is away, you could be screwed, man. So you really need to implement that style of education and create that help them create relationship with food as you're coaching them to really be a successful coach and not just get results,

but leave them in a better place to where they can actually move on and maintain a healthy relationship and stay in shape. Yeah, the big difference between the two is the motivation behind it. If people who tend to be successful long, long term, they found ways to enjoy the process. People who are very successful, but in the short term, they have an external motivation.

So it's either a contest. We see, look, I see this with clients, forget physique and bodybuilding and bikini and all that. I had clients that would sign up for half marathon, after half marathon, after event, after event, because if they didn't have those events, they just couldn't be motivated to work out. Or I'd get clients who were ex-athletes. I was a collegiate level soccer player or whatever.

And now they're super obese because their relationship with food and exercise was to win this particular sport and competition. Well, what happens when that's gone? You lose it, you lose it, and then you don't have that intrinsic internal, you know, gauge that motivation, that enjoying the process, that's going on,

that keeps things going long term. And what you went through might have been a blessing, right? Cause at some point you're gonna stop competing. They just taught me, and I was scared. I was scared going into a couple of them, like, fuck, man, I know, and this is over. Like, I really got a little bit freaked out. After I kind of went into a couple of them, like, fuck, man, I know this is over, like, I really got a little bit freaked out

after I kind of went to a crazy cut, and then I went on, you know, many off season, I know I'm about to do a show again, I was a little bit worried, I was like, dude, how are you gonna be able to, like, and one thing for me, shitties and I like the way I look, man, I like two, and I'm okay with a mating look. Just, if you wanna make sure you just always look good,

this has to be a part of it. So I wanna make sure I look good at all times. I don't have to be like competition ready, but I wanna be in shape. That's what I've been my whole life. So, I have to be very mindful of that. I have to be very mindful about what I'm putting in my body. And you gotta find everyone's difference.

You gotta find your own reasons that are realistic that you can implement in your daily lifestyle. And why you feel like this is worth it to keep going and avoid that meal and skip this one and whatever it may be, because if you don't have that reason, not like a goal for a show or something, but just a daily reason on why you have to have self-discipline while you got to get up and do the work

or maybe avoid those cheat meals. If you don't create that reason that you can implement into your daily lifestyle, you will never be able to man a healthy physique because it's gonna be very difficult for a lot of people. I mean, I'm not gonna say never, but it's gonna be very difficult to really maintain a certain level of body fat. I mean, I really, I've told you guys earlier, I got spreadsheets for all my calories and stuff and like, man, the calorie budget, if everyone knew the actual calorie budget that they were allowed to have before they get into the place where they're adding fat to their body.

And then you add that with learning what calories are when you eat them, most people know what the hell they're eating. You tell them, you know, how much is a slice of pizza? And they'll say like a couple hundred calories when it can be 500 calories. Who knows? It's like, it's so goddamn easy to go over your budget and get fat. It's just and people don't realize that. So to be very consciously aware, so you can just kind of like you guys always say, just intuitively eat, but also keep it in the right place, that is huge. You need to get to that level in order to maintain a good physique,

whether you have some health show or some goal ahead of you. That seems like the only way you can have longevity with it. Now, let's talk training for a second. You've obviously been working out for a very, very long time, but then you had shoulder issues. Likely the result of the years of training or maybe the abuse on your body, right? Totally. You seem to be very motivated by how much you could lift,

how strong you are, how you looked. Has your training changed at all now or you focused more on things like mobility and range of motion to avoid future issues? Or are you going back to? No, 100%. I gotta be honest, I could be better at it, but I do have a rehab,

like a sports medicine therapist that I go to, you know, and I pay him at it, but I do have a rehab, like a sports medicine therapist that I go to, you know, and I, and I pay him for it. It's worth it. I encourage all my clients to stretching mobility exercises. I mean, nothing, I mean, I, especially listen to you guys, I got to, I mean, I'm like, fuck, I gotta do more of this, you know, because we all, we all feel like our life's so busy and you spend a couple hours in the gym or hour and a half and you want, you want to leave. It's like, do you got gotta stay there and do the proper,

you know, cool down stuff. And yeah, that's huge. I've definitely altered certain things. I always think about my risk and reward, you know? Like, you know, what is this extra work I'm gonna do, or this type of work I'm gonna do? That's gonna benefit you versus the risk you're taking, things like that.

I don't go as heavy as I used to, I used to bench four plates, I was 168 pounds. Yeah. And that was like my passion, you know, growing up. I to, I used to bench four plates. I was 168 pounds. Down. And that was like my passion, you know, growing up. I was like, I want to bench four plates. My brother did four plates and he was always, my brother has the high school he benched to 335. And I wanted to beat the record.

I ended up benching 340. So we were right there. I mean, if his record was 345, I probably would have tried to get that. So we were always into that, That's what started me off. Just had a weird passion for benching. But now it's not like that. Now it's more like, you know, what's going to keep me healthy.

And the mobility aspect of it is huge. And all my clients and friends on my dude, if you don't stretch, if you don't do, like, if you even priming yourself, like you guys mentioned before your workouts, it's going to just affect your entire workout altogether. It's going to eventually take you out of the game. And you're not going to just affect your entire workout altogether. It's going to eventually take you out of the game and you're not going to be able to do this. So the approach I have now is definitely shifted towards making sure longevity. Well, I would love to. You do a compound lifts and you know, backloaded squats and deadlifts as well and your routine. I do. I do, generally, the way I do mine is the first workout of every muscle group I do.

It's kind of a weird split. It took a long time for me to get away from seven-day-week split because it feels so comfortable right? Monday's chest, Tuesday's this, it's easy. So now I do actually mine in nine days. It takes nine days for me to go around my chiro split. So it's always different. But I'll add of those nine days. I'm doing chests, for example, chest and shoulders areas. I will only bring up. I do it three times within nine days. So every 72 hours, I'm hitting that. One of those nine, one of those of days will be focused on the heaviest one of all.

And then like, for example, the first chest day, I go the heaviest there, and I'll do some low reps under bench press. The second one, I do shoulders first, I'll do a heavier on the military press, and then my secondary is chest that day, so I'll do a little bit lighter weight on the chest workout. And then on the third day, I go back to chest, because again, that's the muscle,

men's physique, they really want you to bring that out. But again, that's a nine day across nine days. And then I focus on like, you know, chest again on the decline. I do flat bench on the second one, incline bench on the third chest day, decline bench to all three. I like to start all my work as a compounds. And then I move forward to different things. Everything starts with the compound.

You'll notice this with the guys who've been lifting naturally for a long time. Is they understand the programming on a much deeper level. More connected to that. He just don't get away with it. He's trying to get it. It's a very smart strategy, and it's, we'll have to, when you leave here,

we'll have to shoot black over for you, so you have it because it's... Match the static. Yeah, match the static was inspired by how I get ready for a show, and it's the way you're overloading the body is similar, and it's actually built in for you to have. The way I did it was I was like, okay, like every time I would go to a show and it's the way you're overloading the body is similar. And it's actually built in for you to have the way I did it was I was like, okay, like every time I would go to a show, I would get feedback, right? From judges or my peers, I'd be like, hey, you know, Adam, you could bring your chest up.

Up a chest. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, right. They would give me my, so then when I go back to my programming, I would actually program the weak body parts into my system. And so we actually, maps black actually teaches people how to do that. So like if you have lagging body parts, it teaches you how to, you either pick one or two. So we allow you to pick one or two at a time

to really focus on, develop, and then you can build on top of that later on, but it teaches people how to pro. Yeah, I want to pick more of you guys' brain with that, because just listen to you guys and the programming is so huge and I feel like everyone has that so wrong and your guys' approach on focusing on programming and proper programming is probably one of the biggest

missed opportunity areas that I think most people are not taking advantage of today. And the fact that you guys are going after that, I mean, that's when I was really getting hooked on you guys and I even altered it a little bit. I was doing a little bit less frequency across the board of alma workouts until I started listening to you guys and that kind of manipulated a lot of what I'm doing

based upon literally listening to you guys. And I've been doing this for a long time. So that was a difference already just by taking a little bit of that. 100% and I have a few buddies And I've been I've been doing this for a long time. So that was a difference already just by taking a little bit of 100% 100% and I have a few buddies that that I've okay, you know, these are kind of like more workout partners. Everybody's noticing gains difference. Yeah, everybody makes it huge difference. No, it makes a massive. I can't see. Here's what I want to see. I have been waiting for an opportunity. I cannot wait to see someone like yourself with your kind of genetics who competes at your level, who's in tune with his body, how much better they can look and move by implementing

proper priming and mobility. Because those are two areas that people completely dismiss. And they think, and when they think in terms of mobility, they think in terms of injury prevention. But there's so much more to that. Yeah, you do definitely prevent injury, but that's the least it does. Like, if you prime and utilize mobility properly, but that's the least it does. If you prime and utilize mobility properly, what you'll notice is better aesthetics.

Your body will develop differently and better. Posh will look different, you'll move differently, your lips will feel different, you'll get more out of your compound lips, so while you're benching and deadlifting and squatting and overhead pressing, all of a sudden, you'll feel connected differently. It makes a difference on the aesthetic tip as well.

So I can't wait to see. Even you guys mentioned doing some, like, if you're gonna go to do bench and you wanna get the retracted to go do some rows first. Yes, right. Very basic. You just, Rubber band just to get your kind of central nervous system

going right, I've implemented that stuff. And right away, man, I feel right away. I mean, you can just get into that position in the bench press after you've done a few rows, just on a cable row, whatever it may be, just to kind of get your back kind of keeping you in that perfect posture,

so around when you get to the bench, I mean, right away, I was able to notice that, you know, I just go straight into my lifts with so much more structure and power, and it definitely, I can see the connection on how it's gonna lead to a better lift, which is ultimately to a better workout, which will ultimately lead to better aesthetics.

And that's just one small piece that I'm taking. I mean, yeah, man, so that's why right away, I mean, when I listen to you guys, I was like, dude, these guys are the real deal. And that's why I'm gonna reach out to you. I was like, man, I gotta tell you, I've been working out for a long-ass time. And at my level, not to be like,

I was my level, I'm not trying to be whatever, but it's just like, you're in your own business. Yeah, but guys at my level, not to be like always my level, I'm not trying to be whatever it is. Yeah, but guys at your level don't get to see big differences in our work. Exactly. We've already manipulated so much that it's rare that you're gonna meet someone and say, hey bro, go try this exercise and then you come back

next week and you're like, holy shit, my chest is gone. It doesn't happen anymore. And I feel like I'm reaching my damn ceiling naturally. So I'm like, man, I'm implemented this stuff for just, you know, a few weeks and I'm totally noticing a difference. I love my workouts better. I'm not leaving source shit every time.

And my buddies, I don't want to go off the other top of my buddies are like, ah, we should do a little more as they grow. Look, these guys came in the morning and I'm gonna go with it. The fucking hardest thing to do. And I want to do a little bit more. Of course, of course. I want to do a little more, I they grow. Look, these guys came in the morning and I'm gonna go with it. The fucking hardest thing to do and I want to do a little bit more. Of course. Of course. I want to do a little more. I want to do another set and another workout I get at. I don't feel as crazy as burn right now. So I do just fucking, you got to learn to walk away from that. You don't have to kill yourself every fucking time. The signal has been sent.

The security. The signal has been sent. The wine liners. The signal has been sent and that's good enough. You're going to be back here doing it again shortly because we upped a frequency. Don't worry about killing yourself every time because it's going to take away from the next one anyways. Let's talk about that though because this is why, you know, when I get on here, I speak so passionately. It's not because I'm pointing fingers at people, it's because I fucking know how hard it was for me. Dude, we all were like that.

Yeah, all of us were stuck in that boat. And this is where I blame the industry. This is where I blame the fucking industry. I know I pick on them all the time, but it's like, we this beast mode and everything that was taught to us. I remember being a trainer for so many years, you know, so intensity driven.

And when I would look at somebody, even as a trainer and think why this guy and this guy couldn't quite get as far as this guy It was because he didn't they didn't want it enough They didn't work hard enough. They didn't put enough discipline enough hard work in and that was always my mentality But you equated intensity hard work. Yes. It was always that or even discipline at all matter that right everything was connected to Intensity and that feeling because it just made sense to me. Because in my head, it was always about this breaking down process of muscle like we break down. And if I could break down more,

that means I could potentially build more muscle. And so that's the way we think and to get out of that. Even when you start to know better. It's so hard to get out, right? It's so fucking hard to get out. And I've been having to tell one of my friends, Alex, when I was gonna be listening, he keeps wanting to do more of my dude.

You don't need to do more bro, like we've done enough. I mean, I already do a lot to be honest with you man. I mean, I was doing like, when I was getting up to my bench as high as it was, I literally be benching for like, I mean, there's a lot of rest, but like over an hour, just benching. And I would do like over 10 sets, 15 sets of bench,

and then I go do my chest workout. I don't do that anymore, I'm not trying to do what I was, but the amount of sets and volume that you need to do per week, like you guys said, just dividing it and having more frequency. I mean, it just makes more sense. And what I actually like more about it

is because I was doing a little bit more strength lifting on my short little off season that you try to develop strength. And I actually feel like there's a much better place even for when you start going on a calorie deficit and dieting, I feel like that's when it really can help because the key, right, as you guys mentioned all the time, is to try and keep your body in an anabolic state

as much as possible, right? It's very important to make sure you're always anabolic at a high level as much as possible. So, yeah, you get the power lifting done out of the way. If you're in an off season, a lot of people do that, and I got some strength back, but now that I'm about to drop to a calorie deficit, and I know I'm going to be in a, you know, my body's going to probably, you know, be in protein synthesis a little bit less because it shuts down quicker when you're not even giving the food that needs, things like that. You know, my body's gonna probably, you know, be in protein synthesis a little bit less because it shuts down quicker

when you're not even giving it the food that it needs, things like that. I feel like the frequency change during prep more so even is even more important because now that you're making it more difficult by being in a calorie deficit, by default, it's gonna be much more difficult to have an anabolic state body. There's other things that you need to do in order

to continuously send signals to be in have anabolic state body. There's other things that you need to do in order to continuously send signals to be anabolic state. And I think frequency is probably one of the major manipulators you can do. Oh my God. It's one of the key ones. I mean, look, I'll tell you something. I learned this as a trainer when I train so many people,

and I get anybody, decondition, someone decondition would come and see me. Totally out of shape. If I train them really hard in one hour, I could really fuck them up. I could really hurt somebody, but I can have them do a little bit of something today and I could do that every day with them.

Even if they're super deconditioned and they would get stronger and more fit. And so I realized that even like, hmm, here's some decondition individuals that respond very quickly to small bouts of frequency and I could easily kill them with one session. I wonder if this, and of course you could scale it to more advanced lifters. I wonder if this principle applies.

And if you look at all the systems of adaptation, they all work this way. You want to get a tan, you do better if you get a little bit of sun every day versus just getting fried one day. If you want to learn a subject, you're better reading some of it every single day versus just hammering it one day. You want to learn a new language, you immerse yourself in it, so you expose to it frequently. The body works this way. It's just the way it adapts. Here's what's going to happen. Here's what I'm excited for for you. Because talking to you, you're obviously an intelligent guy. You're a smart guy. You seem to be pretty self-aware and you're able to be objective.

You've already displayed that when you talked about when you had your shoulder surgery and how you identified like this is a food addiction. And now I'm bingeing and I can't control it. Most people don't even make that connection. They just think, oh, I'm off season and now I'm on season. So you've already understood that. What is crazy is how insidious some of these dogmas of fitness are in our mind. So insidious that even if you're self-aware, you'll realize how brainwash you are about

them until you finally break free from a few of them. So for example, right now you're noticing that, hold on a second, if I don't hammer myself and I train a little more frequently, my body's gonna respond more. You're gonna start questioning more shit now. Watch what happens with your, you're gonna start learning more shit now. Watch what happens with your, you're gonna start learning the rapesele. Oh, it becomes even more and more intuitive with your training to where you start to identify these things and you start to break all the rules,

where you start to look at things and say, wait a minute, eating seven times a day, if I just leave four, I seem to feel better. Or if I don't go to failure, I do better. My protein intake before was two grams per pound. Now I'm at one, and I'm feeling better, and I seem to be building more muscle, and my digestion's better.

You'll start to throw so many of the other things out, and really figure out what works well for your body because you realized that there was a dog with her. And that happened to all of us. It took me years, dude. I know, man. It took me the longest time. I feel bad, like you guys said, I feel bad,

because I've given some advice that it wasn't't bad advice especially compared to some of the clients I was dealing with but it wasn't the same advice I've given today and I was just you know as you grow you realize I'm telling that guy to kind of do the wrong shit We all did though. I mean I think that's you guys even feel more comfortable in knitting that yeah Well that to me. I think that to me, that's the most important part. And that's the part that also frustrates me. It's okay. I'm not here trying to say that I know way more than this guy

or I'm smarter than all these people. No, what I'm saying is I've learned a lot, man. I've learned a lot. I made a lot of mistakes. I sent probably a lot of people in the right direction. I probably sent a lot of people in the wrong direction. And what I do know is that, you know, I'm better today than I was yesterday. And I'm going to continue to grow and learn,

and I'm going to continue to share the information that I have, and I'm going to continue to present it as best I can. And I think we just, I think being honest like that and sharing that with people, I think that's the best we can do, right? Because there's a good chance in a year from now, more science involved exactly What we say today is wrong. Yeah, I mean we just I mean before you got here we were discussing You know, Al Della Al Della came in here and what we know about Fascia now in comparison to what we knew about it 10 years ago Even two even two years ago. Yeah as far as like for example as trainers

Like we've told so many people to foam roll over years and what it was doing and actually our terminology and what we talked about formally is completely wrong. It's not breaking up these adhesions and your like that. Like that mouth facial release. Yeah, so what we know, what we're learning about this and it's, so I think the point of me saying that is that, you know, that's going to happen. And when it does, you know, that, hey, I share it.

I didn't say this was the end all be all. This is the information that was presented to us at the time. This is how we are using it. Now we know better. We know more information about it. So, yeah, I think that's cool that you're somebody. There's not a lot of guys that are like that. Yeah, I mean, it's like that 100%.

I mean, like you said before, I mean, there's a lot of things that we're advising today. And it sounds solid, but who knows? And one year, there's a lot of things that we're advising today and it sounds solid But who knows and one year you may say hey, that was actually correct So but yeah, I mean just I wanted to finish going back to what I was saying with you guys earlier Just because it really gives a credit to you guys and and I just meant to find Somebody that could really give you guys give me Any kind of advice that is gonna allow me to notice Pretty good level a pretty good level, a pretty good level of gains at this stage of my fitness, you know,

I've been training for 20 years. It's so hard to find something that's gonna be like, man, now I notice a huge difference. But just listen to you guys, implementing with the frequency alone, a lot of the mobility, a lot of the priming, just the few of the things I put together, it's like, wow, man, this is like the kind of shit

that you can expect to get a jump in your results when you are early on in your training. You don't find that kind of stuff when you're 15, 10, 15, 20 years deep into training, but the message that you guys are delivering, and I've only seen certain things in your mask, but I've done a lot of looks, a lot of looking online,

just your message overall, I feel like the people that really follow your guys' program are just skipping so many years of steps and going straight to some pretty solid shit. That's why we have to add to it. I gotta give you guys props on that. That's why we have to put out things for that. It's hard to find, I mean, 20 years,

it's just, you don't find something that's gonna be like, oh, this is the new thing that's gonna give me a huge results. This is. Have you messed around with trigger sessions yet? Not as much as I'd like to. I wanted to pick your guys brains on that. Not as much as I'd like to. You know what, he know what I fucking feel

and miserably with you, your compass. Oh. How was it, my house? We designed it to happen. We do it shit. And I was like, can't keep the broomstick from falling and yeah I'm doing this. Oh my god damn it man. I brought it to my therapist. I'm an a do you need to help me with some of this shit Cuz he's like he's been working me for all my shoulders. So yeah, sir. Do's everything

He's not like a chiropractor that just cracks and racks you He does a lot of good stuff on my dude. I need to focus on this way more But yeah, you guys are inspiring me to do that more because I know I'm missing that compartment a little bit Yeah trigger trigger sessions I'd love to see how your body responds with just utilizing it a little bit because you're obviously already training quite a bit. You're doing more. And he's also programming pretty damn.

So I would throw it in here and there just to mess with it a little bit just to see how you're doing. I 100% want my goal is at the end. I want to talk more about trigger sessions with these guys and get a little more feedback because I'm going to take that to the lab right afterwards because yeah man you guys have some solid information dude I was a fan of you guys this stuff immediately just because like I said I've been in this industry for a long time not just the competing but just fitness myself and it's really hard to come across the genuine people that really know what they're talking about that are just

non bias just put out what works and you guys are killing it and that's part of it. Now, when you look at bodybuilding and competing and your whole experience with it, what are your favorite things about it and what are your least favorite things that you've had to deal with the whole process? Favorite things, man, I just love the idea that like, you know, you can always improve, man. I mean, I started off and I look at pictures when I thought it looked amazing back then, but the discipline level, the motivation level, the things that you acquire when you're competing really teach you a lot about yourself. Um, last year I got to the limpial, I was in the fourth call out group, which puts me like top 20 in the world for it.

Being on the actual less huge, but now I've got a goal. I'm on to get top 15, top 10. And just the passion, the motivation that you acquire from competing, I love that. I love it. The downside is, you know, I mean, this lifestyle change is pretty brutal, man. It ain't for everybody. You can't, I mean, I can't go out with my friends the same way I used to, especially because you know, they want to go drink or do this for I'm going to go somewhere six, seven hours. I'm not going to bring my food and pull it out. So

you got to kind of put that at bay. So there's a lot of things that you really got to just sacrifice in your lifestyle. And that's not the funnest part, but at the same time, the good side of that is when you do get the victory or even you just look at your best, you always feel good about it, but it's just not easy, dude. This stuff is, I remember, I always go through almost, not really, but a couple of days are like the pressure almost, a couple of days before I start prepping,

because I'm like, fuck, my life's about to change, dude. My life is about to change. Like, you know, I can't do anything anymore. Such as such a selfish sport, right? The war I feel bad for my girlfriend man. She's so supportive, awesome. I love her in every way. So I don't know she's been listening to this too.

So I gotta say that. I'm gonna shout out for her and give her a concert deal. She's the best man. Before Katrina and I were together, I did a girl who competed. And at this time, I had never competed in my life. And she went all the way to USA's. She stopped after that. So she never went pro, but she was getting into it.

She's got a great physique. And I remember being with her for those two years. And man, for a guy who was a trainer and into fitness, I couldn't believe what an asshole I was to her, you know, because I, because what it was doing to the relationship, because I was so annoyed that everywhere we went, you know, it was like, you know,

had to call the waiter over and make sure this, and like, I mean, literally sending food back all the time, be embarrassing, like, oh, friends want to go out to do something, it's like, I can't, because my girl, this fucking can't eat that. And I remember telling her that, I want to know like how much of these shows

you really want to do because the same me, I don't want to do this. And this was before I ever competed. Wow. So I remember what it did to our relationship and how irritable I was, not even being the one competing, just dealing with the one who was competing on the relationship

And I think the most she ever did was three shows in one in one year And I've actually done I think four in one year was the most I did and I I remember like that was really important that I went through that Because I know what I put Katrina through and I realized like what a rock solid girl she was to hang with me because it is, it's unbelievably selfish. And you do, you really deprive your partner of a normal life, especially if you're at the level you're at. Like when you're trying, like to just do a show

and say, prove to yourself, can I do a show? Like, okay, then we're not talking about that. We're talking about someone who has made this. Like a spreadsheet. Yeah, you know, your ounce is a water, you know. Oh, dude. How many grams of, you know, if you look, I'll show you guys before I leave.

I put a spreadsheet of like my amp, my weight in the morning, my weight at night. This is my posting car was fat. Cardio, I mean, I just dialed every little thing. I'm huge on spreadsheets, man. I just, I love data. Even my, I track my weight every day, and I'm tracking it, okay, when I was this much weight,

my waist was this much, my arms are still this many inches, and I did a body fat test too. I'm doing another one Tuesday and a water dunk. I know nothing's super accurate, but it is what it is. You can see the trends at least. I started off at 12% at the beginning of my prep, which I think is a good place to be, the top out at.

I didn't want to be heavier than 12%. I lost to 8% body fat. I think it was like six weeks or so, five, six weeks. And it was nine pounds total, but eight and a half pounds of the nine came directly from fat. That's not bad at all, man. The lady was like, that is dialed in.

That's the lady, that's the lady. That is dialed in. That's dialed in. That's dialed in from fat. But I was hoping, I was gonna, I was supposed to go yesterday, but I had to risk it. I do do that natural. That's just, can we pause for a second? I'm a little bit old. I was a little old. Everything from fat. But I was hoping, I was supposed to go yesterday but I risked a little bit. I did. Do that natural.

That's just, can we pause for a second? I'm a tracker. Let me tell you, I'm all into that. And I spread sheet guy, watch everything the same way. And I was using testosterone and stuff. So to be able to do that naturally and hang on to that muscle, give or take, who cares about that half a pound. But I was happy with that.

Yeah, that's pan at it. Almost 10. That's within the, that's within the margin of error. It could have been no. Yeah, you lost no muscle. Exactly. I mean, that, I mean, pat yourself on the back on that one because that's fucking, that's no joke right there to do that all naturally. And I feel like part of it, I swear, it was this fucking frequency shit, man, because I

feel like I, like you said, even though you're, you're not going to be as in an anabolic state consistently when you're in a deficit versus a surplus. Sure. Bottom line, right? But when you start going to deficit and it's a lot harder to kind of maintain an anabolic state, there's other things that you can do to kind of cater towards that and I for a fact feel like the frequency of my training. Somewhat of trigger sessions not the same way you guys do, but there's certain

things to do in between as well. I just know for a fact they just kept kept sending signals like hey, we need this keep keep growing keep growing keep growing That makes with obviously the proper diet a certain type of cardio that I'm doing I'm not doing too much crazy cardio It's all combined, but I know that has part to do with now Have you lost a lot of strength during this period or have you kept more of it than normal? Well, I was doing I never, too, too heavy this time around. Um, I was, I got to mention three plates four times at like 160, uh, 160. I was almost 170 at that point.

So 170. And then two 75 about 10 times right now, I'm, I like eight or nine times of two 75. That's my marker. I'm using two 75 as my marker. Like keep this thing at eight as you get down and you're good. So right now, I'm probably, you know, six, seven pounds away from my stageway

and I'm still able to do it. Probably on a good day and get 10, but eight to 10 times. Yeah, what a really good smart strategy to kind of keep yourself to keep your compound. Yeah, it's the problem. No, that's a great strategy. People should take something from that,

to pick something like that as a marker. Because you and I both know that a big mistake you see a lot of these competitors make is one extreme to the next, right? They're in bulk season, eat everything, train, hell of heavy and hard. Then they go to cut two hours a car to every day, supersetting everything, and then they drop. And then you have to cut two hours of cardio every day, supersetting everything and then they drop.

And then you have to know that they're losing a ton of muscle mass in time and over training way more than they need to. So using something like that as a marker to give yourself feedback on, oh, I'm probably cutting a little too hard, or I'm not cutting too much cardio, whatever it may be.

So there's the smart watch. There's the military press for shoulders. I do the straight barbell for biceps, school crushers for triceps, and obviously bench press for my chest. Those are all the main upper body and load muscle groups. Those are the markers that I track, and I track them during the off season,

they got high, and I said, dude, keep these fucking numbers. Just on the first workout, after that, you know, don't go lightweight, high rep, have fun, but just you don't have to be so tracking on everything. But the first compound, major workout that you feel you get the best strength and size results from, get those things as high as you can,

and once you start cutting, track the shit out of that and make sure you try your best to keep the weight at those ranges. And that's why sometimes when I'll implement Reefy Days, if I'm gonna find myself a little bit of flat, and I want to make sure tomorrow's chest day and I want to get a good chest day because I need the intensity to kind of keep myself entertaining those high levels of strength on at least the main compound of the chest workout, the bench workout, then I may do a reefy day for it if I feel like I need it and my condition can afford it. So

those are the kind of things that I do just to make sure that I'm keeping, because if I can get down, you know, five, below five percent body fat and keep close to my off-season strengths, which is obviously gonna be a little less, but as close as possible, you know you're doing your shit, right? You know, you're not just dropping away because you're doing low weight high reps, the worst thing anyone can do in the world

when they're trying to cut. Right? Everybody does. And I tell people, I'm like, dude, look, your body's trying to adapt, right? You're now giving it less calories than it wants. So all it's wants to do is find ways to burn shit off to be more efficient.

Muscle is in a hell of an expensive tissue to maintain. So now you're gonna just lighten the load. So what's the first thing your muscle's gonna think, well, fuck, we don't need that anymore. Let's get rid of it. That's what I'm supposed to create. I mean, just changing the adaptations, right? Just changing the way you train consistently so your body

continues to adapt. But, you know, people forget that strength is such a good measure of, you know, how effective your workout is going, especially when it's all about how you look. We forget about, you know, strength. 100%. But that's one of the factors, you know, that you have mobility, you have connectivity,

you have range of motion. Just like now, you've discovered frequency, and you've seen that this is like this amazing tool that you can manipulate and play with. You start looking at all these other things and you realize that how exercise programming can be so dialed in and make such a big difference. It's everything, man. It becomes everything. I mean, diet is obviously complicated for the fat loss aspect. You get help with that, but that's kind of like everyone knows that, but the programming is probably one of the biggest area of opportunities that I feel that most people are just completely missing the boat on.

I just saw a meme today on the way here. And it's like, oh, it's, it's, um, your legs are so sore from doing leg days and it's been so sore for six days and then you realize it's time to do legs again. I was like, why do you gotta wait six days before you do legs again, man? And why are you sore for a week? Why are you sore for a week? Is it your first day back after a year or a whole year, man? I wish that was so common. That's a culture. Yeah, it's just it's just a total wrong message to a lot of people, but you know, I guess that's what makes you guys have such a valuable podcast, right? Excellent, man.

We appreciate it. So thanks for coming, brother. Yeah, man. It's been a lot of fun. I think what we'll do after we'll turn these off, we'll go over some of those, you had some questions on trigger sessions and stuff. Hell yeah, I did totally. Vertical pleasure to be here, guys.

I'm, I'm, I'm, keep listening and, yeah, keep doing what you do, man. Thank you. Hey, listen, thanks for listening to Mind Pump. If you like our show, leave us a five star rating review on iTunes. If we like your review and we pick it, you'll get a free Mind Pump T-shirt. Also, go to YouTube, Mind Pump TV. We post a new video every single day. You can also find us on Instagram at Mind Pump radio.

You can find me at Mind Pump Sal. Adam at Mind Pump Adam and Justin is at Mind Pump Justin. 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 Pump Media.com. The RGB Superbundle includes maps and a ballac, maps performance, and maps aesthetic. Nine months of phased, expert exercise programming designed by Sal Adam and Justin to systematically

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