Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 977: Five Ways to Get a Smaller Waist

Episode Date: February 28, 2019

In this episode, Sal, Adam and Justin break down five concrete ways someone can get a smaller, sexier waist.

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mite, op, mite, op with your hosts. Salda Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. In this, what's probably going to be one of our more popular episodes? Mm, of Mined Pomp. Before we get into the fitness talk, we do our introductory, you know, conversation stuff. We talk about the differences between steam and sauna, we talk about Adam's new swimming protocol. He's coming after Greenfield, he thinks he's going to beat him, and then a swimming competition.

He's mad. I talked about a study on a new, on a supplement that's popular in pre-workout supplements, and they're finding that it's actually bad for your brain. So if you take pre-workouts, you might want to hit that part. And then we get into the fitness part of the episode. And really what we talked about the entire time, and this is why I think this is going to be a popular episode, is five ways that you can get a smaller waist or five ways you can make your midsection look more sexy and attractive.

So it's all about core training, all about the function of the core, all about getting a smaller, tighter midsection. All the stuff that people, I guess a lot of people are interested in. I mean, the midsection really is a focal point of the body. It kind of tells us a lot about whether or not someone's healthy and fit or whether they're not. about whether or not someone's healthy and fit or whether they're not. And of course, most people, men and women, when they're pulled, the midsection is among the top body parts that they find attractive.

So this is probably gonna be a popular episode, so you're gonna enjoy it. Also, when I remind everybody, there's only 24 hours left. You only have one day left for our 50% off MAP's performance sale. I remember Maps performance was designed to train people in all kinds of different aspects of athletic performance, everything from strength to agility to power, even endurance. You will develop a balanced looking athletic body

by following this program and having a good diet. So here's what you do. Go to mapsfitinistproducts.com, use the code green50GRE and 50 for 50% off. If you're listening to this one, this episode drops, you have 24 hours left, and after that, the promotion will be gone. You're swimming, how many is a week now? At least three. So I mean, I'm only a weekend. I knocked out three last week.

We're starting another new week this week. And how long is the swim session last? Oh, not very long at all. It's not, I'm doing like sprints in the pool, right? So it's there and back. So it's... Is it the Silver Creek Compact? Yeah, it's a bit of a new dirt.

Okay. That's the place we all remember when we first filmed our first day. Yeah. Two days. And they've done more money in that place. It's so fucking nice. Really?

I love their steam room. The only problem with the steam room is that, that's the steam room, remember those are the, those legendary battles I had with the old man. Right, right. And I'd like to go back and see if he's there. Still, you probably never even left the steam room. Motherfucker.

But anyway, the steam room used to be where they had the little temperature gauge. Yeah. And you could pour, they had a little hose in there and you could spray it with cold water and just get the steam to go forever. Yeah. And kill everyone. Now they eliminated the, nah, it's better now. Can you turn up the steam? Yeah. How? So there's a thermometer on the top and you can't be like a five, five guy and reach it. You got to be a taller guy. So the short people, you think you got to be able to fuck. They're fucked. Yeah. They're fucked.

I got a step on somebody. And you don't have to be that tall. I mean, any of you could even Doug could reach it. It's not that like crazy. But barely on his tiptoes. It's a little like a thermometer and you just walk in. You put your finger on it because the room's obviously really cool. Your finger's colder than that. And then seconds it'll, and you,

So somebody figured out a new hack. Yeah. So I go in there. Now are you swimming and then doing steam and sauna? Okay, so my routine, right? So there was a great study that I read a while ago and was cyclist. So you might like this,

because a lot of what you're doing, even though you're sprinting, it's still a lot of stamina. Right. Way more stamina than lifting, right? Is that they had cyclists in the, they compared cyclists who trained versus cyclists who trained and did sauna post workout.

Oh, interesting. And the sauna post workout plus training, there was a significant improvement in time to fatigue. People, they built their stamina, much higher levels. Oh, that's it. I'll tell you what. But it's the sauna though it's not steam because the problem with steam is it's the surface of your skin gets really hot so

it's good for your skin and it's good for respiratory and some heat acclimation but sauna just cooks you. That's pretty straight you quite as much as sauna. Yeah you want penetration. Yeah you do. So wait a second how does it how does a steam do that? Though I feel like the steam heats your core temperature up just because it's so because it's wet and so hot that you can't you can't get it hot as hot as you can with a dry sauna because your skin will scald. It'll burn your skin. Okay. So I'm sure if you stay in there long enough, you'll get some of that. Yeah, I would think you still get some of the bit.

Cause I just enjoyed this steam. I like it, especially with I love breathing it. Yeah, my allergies, you still get some of the best because I just enjoyed this team. I like it especially with the I love breathing it. Yeah, my allergies, right? So I'm always congested and stuffy and so man. And there, that's another reason why I like club sport is they put that. What is it? The not Alabama, but the what's you can look. Yeah, you've lived this inside there and that just feel putting that in there now.

Yeah. Damn it. It's so nice. I want to go back. It's no, it's I forgot like how much I liked training there. So now it's a little headache because I'm a little bit further away. I used to live right around the corner from there.

So I got to drive across town, but it's so worth it, man. They just, it's so clean and nice. And they now have that that, you know, kind of crossfit area. So there's lots of squat racks in an area for me to lift. And then they have that the whole juice bar area that's I like this too. I love gyms that have really good juice bars that you can order a, you know, gorilla shake afterwards. If I just like that, I like being able to do my workout, do the steam, take a nice shower, come out, get a nice smoothie for the drive home. So what I was doing for a while

before I put the gym in my garage is we were going there. Now the reason why I canceled was because when I have my kids, it's almost impossible to make it over there because I'd have to wake up at like 4 a.m. leave the kids at home. I'm not what it's going to do that. But what I was doing before when I went there was,

I would go there, I'd work out, I would do the steam, and then I'd have some time, and I'd have my computer there, and I'd sit in that little lounge area, and I'd work, because I had the free Wi-Fi there. So, part of this goal, and I normally don't like talking about stuff like this until I've created the habit,

like I didn't even announce that I was swimming until I actually swam. My goal is to create this new routine and become this morning workout guy, because I just think it's going to be more advantageous with Maximus coming. So I think that I'd like to get up, you know, five or six, go there, swim some laps, do the steam, and then do exactly what you said, sit in the lobby, knock out any of my DMs and emails, and then get off to work.

And I just, I feel like if I can create that habit, I'll feel amazing every day. It's just, I've never been a morning work out person, but the swimming is different. The swimming is very therapeutic for me. I don't feel like it's, I'm not breathing super, super hard. I allow myself a rest between the laps that I swim. So total amount of time, what are you doing?

Like 15, 20 minutes in the pool. I haven't really watched the clock. So that when I started off, I did 10 laps the very first time that I did 15 laps. And now I'm doing 20 laps, which is 50 meters. One lap is there and back. No, I'm counting there, there is 25. So it's 25 meters, one way, 25 meters back.

And now, and I don't know how much more than 20 I'll do, we'll see. That takes me, I would guess, I haven't really looked at the clock, but I'd guess it's only taken me like 15, 20 minutes to do that. And then I kind of mess around with doing, you know, different strokes and kind of waiting around the pool and just kind of hanging out. But I want to start it because I'm going for speed. I'm not trying to, I'm not working on endurance with this. I don't want to be in the pool for an hour. It's not my goal at all. I'd rather, I don't want to probably spend more, more than ever, 30 minutes in there. Like in a perfect world, I can get to a point where I could swim for like 20, 30 minutes straight, but be done, but I don't want to be any longer than that. I don't want to be in there for an hour and an hour.

Now, are you doing this fasted? I guess not right now, because you're not doing it in the morning yet, right? So you've already eaten during the day. Yeah, I haven't done a morning one yet. I wonder if you do it in the morning if it'll be better fasted or if you're probably going to want something.

That's a good question. It'll be interesting to see. Right now, it's not hard for me. It's not pushing, it's just like anything else that I approach. I think this is, a lot of people are like, oh my God, it's swimming so hard. I'm not making it very hard. I'm not training yourself appropriately.

Yeah, I'm just, I'm making it a little more challenging each time. And if anything, I'm working on technique and speed. So I've been watching tons of YouTube stuff. I ordered all the books. Like, you know, so I'm working on my technique when I swim So I've been watching tons of YouTube stuff. I ordered all the books. So I'm working on my technique when I swim and trying to improve how many strokes I do to get across the pool and back.

And so I'm trying to minimize that. People don't realize that's the biggest aspect in how fast you swim as your technique. People think it's all about the power and how much you're generating. I'll tell you something. It's your skill. I'll tell you something I've learned already.

This is what I'm excited to kind of do this. about the power and how much you're generating. I'll tell you something, it's your skill man. I'll tell you something I've learned already that, you know, this is what I'm excited to kind of do this. I naturally have always been a decent swimmer. I've never in my life tried to apply myself and learn the skill of it and get good at it. And so now that I've been diving into stuff and reading and watching videos, I was blown away that kicking with your legs

is like not good at all. So you, your legs really are just there to transition your body and torso and your arms are doing all the work. And a big mistake that people make is they kick so hard with their legs, your legs start to sink down and they create drag. And they say, I think I forget where I read this. It was, I want to say it was 3%, it was like less than 10% of your leg drive contributes to the speed of your, your, your, your swim. Wow. Everything is coming from the, the, the, you just want them to glide more than anything.

Yeah, you drive that's why small legs is so beneficial. Yes. Yes. Yes. You look at, well, you look at Michael Phelps. He's, how tall is he? 64, 65? He's all torso. And his legs would, would, would,

or would be normal for someone who's like five, nine, or five, 10. He's got these little tiny short legs. Right. And it's a little bit of drag. Like, Justin, you'd have a lot of drag. Yeah, it's your butt. I, I love drag. No, that's, I mean, and it's true that this is, uh,

this is where, this is where the, the speed really comes in. Which again, explains why I was kind of naturally good at it right out the gates is because I do. I have very narrow hips. I don't have super long legs for as tall as I am. I have a much longer wingspan. And so if I can just master staying buoyant and not letting my legs sink and drag

and staying more on top of the water a little bit, how's your breathing going? Like as you turn over and all that has become more natural? Yeah, and more stuff that I've learned on there, like the technique of doing that better. So. This is all from YouTube. Yeah.

God, what a great time. I know, it's awesome. How would you get this shit before? You'd have to go on a book. You'd have to read the book. I've ordered the books too, but I've already learned a ton of just watching YouTube videos. Because the same guys that have the books,

the runs I was recommended, what Ben recommended, swims smooth, and then total immersion is the other one. I've been going through and I've been reading on all that. What's that? The dimensions of Michael Phelps. Wow. He's six four, his wingspan is six seven.

So his arms are four, his arms are longer than the body. Then his height, yeah. What did he say to you about his legs there, Doug? His short legs and long torso decreases resistance in the water. I bet you in a stragg. In real life, he would look, he probably looks weird.

Yeah, yeah, you look a little odd. When you've seen someone like that, they had the real long torso. I guess, I'm like a orangutan with this big long arm. Well, you know what they say? They say that swimmers are like the best, best swimmers in the world, which obviously have incredible performance, lots of training, lots of dedication,

but also genetically are built to be great swimmers at extreme levels that they're terrible on land because the things that make you super good, like Michael, like Michael fell up six, he's six four, right? But he's got the legs of someone's like five, 10, that would make him a terrible runner. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Yeah, if you look at like runners, for example, or sprinters, they've got long legs. Long legs and short arms, they can pump. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I, you know, that's why I was probably never a great sprinter. You know, I was never great at that. I was, I was better at endurance.

So I posted the, I've talked on the podcast a long time ago about the time where we all went out on the pool, right? Yeah. So those that have seen this video and I should explain what happened. I mean, we were all at a club sport or Bay Club, whatever it's called. It was a Bay Club. And Justin, Sal, Doug and I met our buddies Ben Zorn and Craig Capurso over there. They were launching something. I don't remember what it was, but it was a big party. And we all got drunk. We were drinking and

that led to shit talking. And I believe I was talking shit to Craig. I think it was Craig that I was talking the shit to or Ben Zorn about swimming about swimming. And we decided that we would get in the pool and we'd race. Well, next to us, next the cabana, next to us, these two guys overheard and they wanted to know why they did that right? Well, after the fact, I knew why I didn't know why when we originally got in, right? So they say, yeah, they wanted a race too. As fuck it, we're doing it anyways, let's go. So we went five lanes deep, it's Craig, Benzorn, myself, and then these two, these two swimmers. And I was cheering.

Yeah, yeah, I was too. And I lost and, you know, not like I race people in the pool all the time, but I've never been beaten by somebody in the pool until that day, and I got beat by both the guys, and I was like, fuck. I was like, damn, those guys were fast. We'll come to find out when we get out.

They're both collegiate level swimmers and currently swimming for Arizona State. And I was like, okay. But do you know why they challenged us? And do you guys remember who they were hanging out with? I don't remember. They had a whole group. And they had, yes.

And we're all a bunch of, everybody was all shredded at the time. Craig's a frickin' bodybuilder. Ben Zorn is like the handsome guy in the world. He had Adam. We frickin' you know, bodybuilders, Ben Zorn is like the handsome of Sky in the world, you had Adam, you know, we're all, you know, doing our, and the girls is kept looking over, I think they wanted to assert themselves. Yeah, well they did, I mean, I got beat for sure.

Yeah, but I post, I think I got him late. Yeah, I posted the video and already, and I'm talking shit to Ben, right? I already see him backpedaling on me already I Think the video scared him a little I do I do I do because he came back with 50 meters ha ha ha come come see me when you're ready to swim across the lake

I told you he's gonna put all these other parameters You know do it the way that you know we have we have it set up. He's talking shit. I would never race band across a lake. First of all, he's probably gonna pick a lake with alligators of some weird shit and it'll be like, free, it'd be like 30 below. Yeah, it'll be in the snow. Forget that.

Actually, it wouldn't be alligators. I'd say it would be polar bear or alligators in the lake. So, what's in the lake, crocodile? No, neither one of those. There's a swaps of that are more like a pond. I think there's alligators in lakes. Right? Never glades, right?

I'm looking at Doug, Doug saying yes. Yes, there are alligators in Florida and lakes. There you go. Those lakes are those swamps. Yeah, it's kind of a smurzer. Swampy lakes. Swampy lakes. Swampy lakes.

We'll say ever glades. Anyway, I was asking you about, you know, if you were going to work out fast, it reminded me of a study that I just read. Did you guys see that there was a scientific American just put out an article talking about L-Norveline? The amino acids. I saw you post that on your story. Yeah, so, so you know, valine, one of the amino acids and of the branch, you know, acids, well, Norveline is a version of that. It's got an extra hydrogen molecule attached to it.

So it's not the branch of Chimino acids of Vailene. So it's something different, but a lot of supplement companies are put nor Vailene in their pre-workouts because it reduces the enzyme that degrades nitric oxide. So it's supposed to help you get a better pump. Well, this fucking article comes out and I'll read you guys a title of it because it was kind of, it says bodybuilding supplement, it's in science news, that's what it was.

Bodybuilding supplement could be bad for the brain. And what they're saying is that this compound has been linked now to neurodegenerative diseases and they did some studies on human cells and it's suggesting that norvailing may also cause, will cause damage to these cells in the brain. There you go. Another bodybuilding supplement there we got a,

but you get a good pump. You just won't remember it. Risk versus reward, right? Yeah. Is it a common one? Is it a lot of pre workouts? Is it? It is in a lot of pre workouts? Is it? It is in a lot of pre workouts.

Absolutely. And they'll just throw it in because they know it's supposed to help with the palm. So, they're just shitting their pants right now, right? Yeah, what they'll typically do is they'll either first they'll defend it and say, oh, and the doses that we recommend and then, you know, the way we recommend you use it, the risk is actually not there, whatever. And then if it keeps pushing, then they'll reformulate their product and change it.

It's funny, I messaged Mike Matthews yesterday, and I sent that to him. I'm like, do you put this in your supplements? He goes, no, I didn't put it in. He goes, it's not studied enough. Of course, I didn't put it in. Like, that motherfucker did a good job again. He always does.

Yeah, he does a great job. Great integrity. But anyway, so with your swimming, most important muscles you think you need to train. I have trained swimmers, not to swim, but I've trained triathletes and athletes. The feedback I used to get from them used to trip me out all the time. One in particular, I used to train this woman who would compete in triathlon events. She was actually quite successful and After my lifting with her on some days she would go off and train for her events

So whether she'd go cycling or running or swimming and It wasn't often but if we were training it depends on her it depended on her schedule But so sometimes we lifted first and then she go train and If it was a leg day or an arm day or we're hitting back or chest, she's like, you know, I'm a little tired, she goes, but it doesn't really affect me. But if you hammer my core, she's like, I'm fucked. You hammer my core, my swimming, my running, I'm screwed. Totally everything's thrown off, I can't perform nearly as well.

Are you noticing anything with your core? So that was one of the coolest things that I noticed the very first time I swam was, my core had never felt sore like it was sore from this. And that was fascinating to me because of course I've done every core exercise under the sun and felt my core sore in different places. Never have I felt it, like I felt this. I mean, it felt deep inside, it felt on the sides, it felt up top on the butt, like my entire core area felt totally sore from that.

And it wasn't like, I think God I didn't do it for a very long time, I did it just for the short stint, so it wasn't debilitating where I couldn't do anything else. But that was out of everything. My lads weren't really sore, my shoulders weren't sore, my legs weren't sore, my core was really sore. How wild is that? Yeah, it felt good though. It was a really good sore. It just felt like I had worked deep muscles that I hadn't really worked in a long time. And so that was kind of what made me go get excited. I was like, oh, this is, this is going to be good. And I've been walking around the last week. And we know that

I've talked about, you know, if I ever have any issues, it's low back stuff. And it's because I have that anterior pelvic tilt. And ever since I've worked really good, worked really hard on the deep squat, it's eliminated a lot of that. If there's an area that I neglect, I openly discuss this on the podcast a lot, is I don't do enough core and ab work and I know I should to help support that. And I feel that. I feel really good right now.

Well, let's talk about this because there's a lot of myths that surround core training. So maybe we can talk about how to like develop, like a sexy midsection, but also shrink your waist and create some good function. Like, what, how would you structure this? What would it look like? And, you know, here's something that I'm thinking about as you're talking about your, your swim and how you felt it so deep. There's a lot of muscles that stabilize that, that mid part of your body, your core.

And the problem with a lot of people is that they over rely on certain muscles to stabilize their core, and that's why they either can't perform well or they develop like back or hip problems. And the main ones, in my opinion, are like the hip flexors. Because when you're swimming, you're so as, for example, that's helping to stabilize your core as well. But if it was dominant, if that did most of the stabilization, at some point, you definitely have lower performance, but you would have probably developed problems.

I think the key to developing a sexy midsection or a strong core, great abs period, the number one thing is getting connected well to it. I mean, like knowing how to activate them. Yeah, how to do it. The proper function of it and then how to probably disengage things like your hip flexor because when I looked at all the clients that I train and we talk about the core of the abs, the number one issue with people developing abs is the ability to actually work them properly.

It's really easy to allow other muscles to take over the movement. Many people don't really understand the function of the core and the abs and all the different purposes that it serves and then how to train it correctly. I think getting really well connected to it is the very first thing. It's one of the number one videos that you did on YouTube, Sal, that has gone viral, which is the hip flex or deactivation exercise. And it's interesting to see like the same thing. A lot of times you just point things out like where they need to be feeling this,

and so you'll add in, like I'll sort of like touch certain areas and have them draw in, and then just that external feedback will a lot of times prompt them to, oh wow, I can actually feel this, or have them actually twist and resist forces, like just these little like tricks or also having like the camel and cat and cow maneuver

of how to draw in properly is like mind blown for a lot of people just because it's a conscious effort now to connect to those muscles. That's where we got to start. Yeah, a lot of the confusion is people will think, okay, I want to work my abs. So what my abs do is they fold my body in half. Kind of, they kind of do, but they don't fold you at the hips. They fold you at your spine.

And then people will think, oh, the oblique, that just helps me twist my body. Yeah, kind of, but it twists you at your lumbar, at your spine. So it's not just twisting your whole body, it's twisting you in a particular way if you're just looking at the specific action of those muscles. So it's important to understand how to do that. And you would be surprised, I was surprised as a trainer at how many people couldn't do that.

I used to get clients all the time, I'm sure you guys did too, where they, do you guys remember that? It was like a crunch machine, but it wasn't plate load or anything. It was just like, you laid down on it, you put your arms like this, and you're able to do like, sit ups or whatever, and it would support your head and neck. That's okay, you guys know what I'm talking about?

And they would do a trillion reps. And so I get clients that come up to me and be like, oh, I'd be like, okay, what is your workout look like? And it's okay, today we're gonna work on your core and let's start out with some ab work. me and be like, oh, I'd be like, okay, what is your workout look like? And it's okay, today we're gonna work on your core and let's start out with some ab work. And I'm like, oh, I do, I can do 100 reps on that thing. And immediately, I know you are not really, really fully activating your abs.

They're just kind of stabilizing while you're using your hip flexors. And so I'll get them to, you know, you brought up cat and cow, but even before that, I'd have them do, like, lie on the, lie on the floor and be able to press their low back into the floor. That to me is the first. That's the, the furthest regression in my period. Yeah.

I think because you have gravity helping you and then you also to Justin's point, you have the floor for feedback. And so I almost take anybody who has a hard time feeling things in their abs, any of the avics, I just in their abs, I get them right down on the floor, laying on their back and I teach them the back presses, just teaching them how to. And basically it's a, it's a, you're tilting your pelvis is what you're doing because when you're laying on the floor and it, I'll explain it on the podcast so people can understand, when you're laying on your back, your butt is touching

the floor and your back is on the floor And there's a little space under your lower back that natural curve So if you're laying down your whole back isn't flat. You have this natural curve All you're gonna do without taking your butt off the floor or anything else is just take that low back space and press it down into the floor and that is in order to do that you have to articulate your spine and you have to activate the muscles of your core in order to do that. And that is, it used to blow me away how difficult that simple movement was. And it was, you know, I had an experience like this when we did windmills long time. Well, the first time Justin showed me how to

do windmill, I couldn't do it because I couldn't connect to the movement. It was almost like I was telling my body to do something. It didn something. It would be like telling my body had a fly. I don't know what I'm, I don't know how to fly. I've never done that before. So when you're doing these back presses, you're literally, you start to understand and connect to the pelvic tilt and the articulation of the spine.

Oh, that's what my abs do. That's like step one. So I used to take that like when I'm trying to teach and I would start with a very Basic ab crunch where you're laying down in that position and that would be the cue every time before I allowed them to crunch I'll start there. Yeah, it's a back press now crunch back press now crunch and that getting them to start that Movement like that gets them moving in the right direction using the proper muscles to do this small little thing in it World of a difference, once you, and that's where I think everybody has to kind of,

or should start. So they really understand the mechanics of the movement because like the point you made, so it's with the body sees the folding. And so what the brain does is just say like, okay, fold, make it more efficient. Yeah, just fold over, just whatever. But you know, when you're trying to train out. We're trying to get out. We're trying to get out. We're trying to get out. Yeah, just fold over, just whatever.

But, you know, when you're trying to train specific muscles, and the body has all the secondary muscles that also assist in what you see, it's hard to separate the two of them. And so, a great way to start that is to do the back presses for... Yeah, the biggest offenders of, you know, some of the problems we're talking about also happens to be one of the better exercises for abs, but it's the one that nobody does right, which are leg raises, hanging leg raises

or supported leg raises, or the worst ones are when people do bicycles when they're hanging. And what ends up happening is they are bending at their body, but it's all hip flexor, it's all hip flexor. And the abs are just kind of holding the body steady. So people say, oh, I feel at my abs, but you're working the hip flexor. It's all hip flexor. And the abs are just kind of holding the body steady. So people say, oh, I feel it my abs. But you're working the hip flexor.

And what ends up happening is you train your body to be really strong in this back arched position with hip flexors constantly working, which is there's nothing inherently wrong about that, except when that becomes the only position you're strong in. Now you're fucked. Now you're walking, you're sitting, you're doing anything. You've got this arched body,

hip flexors that are getting overworked, hip flexors attach at your spine, and some of them do. That causes low back pain. Now you become those people who get back pain when they work out their core. That's the opposite of what should happen. You work out your core unless you have something really bad wrong with your back.

You shouldn't feel soreness in your back. You should feel great. You should feel immediately. I used to love doing that with clients too, is I would blow them away. They come in with some back problems and they'd say, okay, we're gonna work on your core and they'd be like, oh no, I can't.

Every time I work my core hurts my back. It hurts my back, right? And then I'd have them do like back presses and bird dogs and all these different kind of movements. So now you take that from the floor, you assess too, like one of our tests where we're trying to flatten out your back against the wall. So another like flat structure.

Next level, right? But now we're looking at to that rib flare. And that rib flare is gonna tell us a lot about like how connected you are to that TVA, so that muscle there that's helping you to pull everything in, and so that sort of vacuum maneuver that you've also taught on YouTube. Yeah, we got to talk about the TVA, and why that's such an important muscle.

That's like the bodies. So TVA is a transverse abdominis, and it's a... It's the most important muscle in your body besides your heart. It's the body important muscle in your body besides your heart. Yeah, it's the body's weight belt. It is literally, when you wear a weight belt on your, it's literally what a weight belt does in essence. When you, when you're at the beach and you're walking around and you see some attractive and you suck your stomach in to make your waist looks smaller, the muscle

that you activated to suck in your stomach is the TVA. That's what that muscle does. Now, you don't want to have to walk around constantly sucking in all the time, you wanna be able to breathe, but you also wanna really strong TVA for two reasons. One, if your TVA muscles are lax and weak, you will develop or you can develop kind of this lower abdominal pooch.

And you see this, especially in post pregnancy, because women will have a baby, and when the baby's growing, it stretches out the muscles of the core, in particular, the TVA. The muscle has to atrophy and weaken to make space. Then they have the baby, then they go to the gym, and they do abs and obliques and all these other things. But the TVA's never sped strengthened. And that's what makes it, that's why they come to me and they say, you know, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs,

I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs,

I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs, I've been doing abs,, I one of the compulsory poses in some bodybuilding competitions, was the vacuum pose.

This is where they stand up and they put their hands behind their head, like they're going to flex their abs, and then they suck in their midsection to show how small they get all the way. They see their ribs more pronounced by how effective they are at sucking in their abs with that. And it's definitely, that's one of those that's very, it's a very hard concept initially to get, especially I've had a lot of women, clients who've had,

you know, the pregnancy and then they come back and it's really hard time, you know, connecting again to their abdominals. It's so weird, right? Yeah, yeah. But it makes a lot of sense. I mean, like you said, the body naturally has to allow that to stretch in order to make room. So I actually measured the difference once. I had a female client. She was lean. And it was post pregnancy. It was like seven

months after she had her baby, but she was already pretty active. She wasn't a like a fitness professional, but she was an enthusiast. So she came to me and she was already pretty lean. She's already done a phenomenal job. She just couldn't understand fitness professional, but she was an enthusiast. So she came to me and she was already pretty lean. She'd already done a phenomenal job. She just couldn't understand why her lower abdominal area would pooch out or whatever. She's like, my waist is just not as small as it used to be as it just permanently stretched out. Like, what do I do?

And so we did lots of TVA exercises, like one of which is called a vacuum. And you can do the standing where you're just standing up tall and you just suck in your belly button, suck in your stomach like you're trying to make your ribs stick out. And that activates it, but I added a little extra resistance. And so what I had to do is go in our hands and knees. So she's like in that quadruped position. And then I had her suck in her belly button up to her spine

and squeeze and hold that. And the funny thing is when we first did that, she couldn't connect to it. So I'm like, second your stomach and she's like, I am. I'm like, no, you're not. I'm like, try second, she's like, I am. So I had to put my finger on her belly button and push it up into her spine. And then she started kind of feeling it and started squeezing it. Anyhow, doing these exercises, she trained with me for a short period of time

But she did a lot of them on her own she lost two inches around her waist. She didn't lose any weight She didn't get any leaner. It was all because she was able to strengthen the muscles that tightened up her Midsection and gave her that smaller waist and so this is an exercise I still love telling this to people like I can get your waist smaller without getting you leaner. And it was, let's tighten up your TVA. Right, because you see all these products that are now like making their way into the market that are old, you know, like the old corset sort of techniques and like now you're seeing them as squeams.

Or I mean, even with the weight belt like you'd mentioned, this is like a natural way to kind of promote that that support and stability with your muscles. So like we're in a weight belt itself too is a different technique to lift, but you know, you see a lot of times the guys in the gym will wear that to kind of help support and keep their midsection in tight.

Yeah, that's a good point. When you wear a weight belt, you're teaching your core to do the opposite of what it does without a weight belt to stabilize. So when you have, when you're stabilizing without a weight belt, it braces and it draws in a little bit and tightens up. When you wear a weight belt, you train your body to push out.

Because the belt creates stability. That's why. That's the real drawback of wearing that all the time. I try to tell my buddies that wear it all the time in the gym. It's like, well, if you're gonna wear it all the time in the gym, you may as well start wearing it all the time, fucking outside too. Because you're now training yourself to utilize your core in the opposite way that it's designed to support your spine naturally. So that's the worst part about somebody who uses that as a safety mechanism. You know, another thing that's really great about the training the TVA is also it's support in all their movements. Now, I know we're talking about building a sexy midsection and a strong core as shrinking your waist, but man, the value of having a very strong core

and it's carry over into all the other aspects of training is that's the first. Before I do any movement, the very first thing that happens is that core tightens up. And that's, I can always tell somebody who has a really good understanding of their core or their transverse abdominis is, you can see it with beautiful mechanics. Because if you have the ability to draw in and really tighten up the core around the spine to support it and keep it rigid,

then even if you have a couple hundred pounds on your back or you're doing these multi-planetier movements, they, you still see these see this really fluid, beautiful. There's no breakdown. There's no breakdown. Where if you have a very weak core and you don't connect well to it and you can't stabilize there well

and you do movements, you see lots of movement and breakdown through the kinetic chain. And so learning to train the core, especially very important for the beginners as they come into lifting because you are setting yourself up for better mechanics and all other movements

that you do. Well, look, any movement that you do that involves both the arms and legs, and I don't mean they have to be moving. I mean, even if you're just standing, but it's involving the legs because you're standing, any and you're just using your arms, any movement that involves the top

and the bottom half of your body, which is pretty much everything, requires a very strong, stable, and communicative, effectively communicative core. It requires a core that can connect the two halves of your body. So here's a great example for people listening who are like, uh, doesn't make any sense. When you watch, go, if you're listening to the podcast right now, and it's in your ears, and you can walk, try walking and try moving your arms the same way you move your legs and look and notice how awkward you are. So you step forward to your left leg, rather than moving with your right arm, step, move your left arm forward. So now

your left arm and your left leg move at the same time and your right arm or right leg move at the same time. And you gonna look like a like a weirdo Because the body doesn't move that way the way the body moves There's lots of control lateral rotation and counter rotation stuff going on where if I'm running My ability for my upper my core to twist and and transfer that energy and me to use my arms along with that is Imperative now that's walking and running which are basic human and transfer that energy and me to use my arms along with that is imperative. Now, that's walking and running, which are basic human movements. I'm talking about, not anything else.

Barbell curls, the most simple, basic exercise. Your core has to communicate to the ground if you're standing. Now, if you're sitting down, there's a little bit less involvement. But there's still some, because your hips still attaches to your core. You just shorten the lever. But I don't care what exercise you because your hips still attaches to your core. You just shorten the lever, but I don't care what exercise you do, you need a well functioning core. Now, the side effect of that is a tight,

attractive looking waist. Now, I have to touch on something right here because this is the reason and you just explained really well why I used to teach a split stance in all these basic upper body exercises. It's because you take to teach a split stance and all these basic upper body exercises is because you take somebody in a split stance where they have to balance. It was an old school trainer trick of mine that I used to do with clients to get them to

understand that concept of keeping the core tight the entire time through a movement that doesn't really require a ton of it. You could still, you could have your core completely slouched over and you could perform a bicep curl, but it's gonna look sloppy, it's not gonna be controlled, you're not gonna get the most out of the movement, you're not protecting yourself, it's not safe. And so I would teach this split stance

to get them to be kind of off-kilter a little bit, which would force them to draw in their core and activate it, and now they're starting to get in that habit. It's an easy way for them to, you don't have to cue them to draw in their core and activate it. And now they've started to get in that habit. It's an easy way for them to, you don't have to cue them to now engage their glutes to draw in their core. Like it does that by default because you, I'm beating in that position forces them to be active there. Right. And yeah, so that, that, that's another issue. It's like, you could perform that same exercise. If you're in a bilateral position and I'm now curling, so I have both feet parallel to each other,

I could now be in a back arch position where now I rest and sit in that position and pull, but now all the forces get trapped. All these forces you're gonna feel now, get trapped right there where you're hinging into your back and this is where a lot of the problems are when the force doesn't get distributed all the way through to the ground, you're in trouble.

Well, a body that communicates well develops well. That's a fact. So if you are lacking the stability and the ability to communicate your two hemispheres your body or whatever you want, call them the upper and lower part or the right and left side, you're actually going to reduce your body's ability to adapt and build muscle. You know, back on the TVA, you know, the vacuum exercises really are the main specific exercises I would do for them. But the other thing I would do with the TVA is when they got better able to control

and they could connect to it, is I would have them activate their TVA when doing other traditional lab exercises. Like doing a crunch, but while doing the crunch, drawing in the TVA and squeezing that, changes the exercise. Now you're gonna get less work on the abdominals themselves, but you are gonna work the abdominals along with the drawing and motion of the TVA, and you're

going to get that waist-triking kind of thing. And for people who are maybe competitors and bodybuilders who really are looking for the aesthetic and are doing lots of exercises to develop their midsection, drawing your TVA while doing these exercises, and what it will do is A, it will teach your body to be tighter on stage. There's nothing more, for me, more annoying than seeing, you know, competitors on stage relaxing between poses and their guts hang out because they have terrible TVA control along with other things.

But so it helps you keep it all in. But also, we'll contribute to a smaller looking waist as it becomes much tighter. Some of my favorite exercises for core. I think we should talk about some of the best ones that we like to do with clients. Now, I know the crunch is a basic exercise and trainers like to start off by teaching people

at a crunch. In my opinion though, I had more luck teaching people to activate their abs properly with a basic flat bench legs tucked reverse crunch. It was always easier for me to get them to learn, properly with a basic flat bench legs tucked reverse crunch. It was always easier for me to get them to learn how to articulate the spine and squeeze their midsection, their abs, than doing a traditional crunch. And if they weren't strong enough to do one, I used to put my hands on their feet

with their legs bent and I'd push a little bit just to get them to learn. So lifting their hips would kind of help promote that lumbar flexion extension a little bit. Like help them understand it better. Yeah, and I keep them nice and talk. So legs tucked, everything's tucked. And I just teach them how to roll back. And they used to, you know, I'd have them anchor at the top of the bench with their arms. That was probably one of my favorite starting movements.

I could agree with that because if I wasn't going to do what I said, which was the, you know, back press into like a short crunch, because that's, if I'm doing a crunch, I'm most certainly not just teaching a crunch, like, because I think that- No, it becomes this- Yeah, I think it turns to be, like how many times if you guys had a client say they feel it in their neck?

I mean, that was like a super common thing as people are moving their head, and they're not actually- They're doing the chicken dance, or the chicken dance. Yeah, they're not rolling the spine up. So the back press into a short crunch, or the back press into the reverse crunch to me

is the staple first maneuver that I teach somebody who's trying to learn how to really work their abs properly. Again, that whole neck feeling the neck thing, that's your body. I mean, you're just trying, all it thinks of is I need to get to that destination. And so your body's just trying to help you get there by leaning forward with your head as far as possible.

So to be able to understand the intent of the exercise and really just focus in on what's going on there and drawing in and crunching forward and in the midsection is everything. Yeah, you know when I hear a trick I learned a long time ago and I can't remember why it works, but it actually does work when people's necks will get tired doing certain ab exercises. it works, but it actually does work when people's necks would get tired doing certain ad exercises.

Part of the reason, by the way, people's necks get tired is people have weak necks. We don't strengthen our necks at all. And that is definitely a contribution. Yeah, and so this is a trick that I learned from, and I can't remember what certification it was that I took, I learned this from the instructor said, have them close their mouth and press their tongue to the top of the roof of their mouth.

Yes, and it apparently activates other deep muscles in the neck or helps them with their recruitment pattern. So I would test that with clients and be like, oh, my neck's getting tired and I say, okay, close your mouth and push your tongue. That's an interesting. Yeah. And it would help. And it'd be like, oh, my neck's not as tired anymore.

Wow. I don't know if it's just... I had one one but mine was you would lay down back on their back And then you pretend like there is a string attached to your nose and it goes straight up to the ceiling Oh, so they're keeping your head up. Yes, so they're looking the because that's another thing is what ends up happening is that They they start rocking their head forward and back and then they lean back with their head Yeah, right. So this is like getting them to focus straight up on the ceiling while they just come up in the crunch. And so I would pretend, I say, you know, pretend like I'm taking a string and I'd stand over them.

So it actually be me, like I'm pulling your nose up with a string and that used to help. But I've never heard of the tongue pressing it. Yeah, and I had people try it. That's interesting. I'm actually, I'm over here trying to do it right here. I know, I'm like trying to feel the muscles involved with that. That's interesting.

Yeah, I don't remember who taught me that, but it actually worked. How did that not make the trainer trick conversation out of the day? I don't, yeah, just pop the knowledge. Just come, yeah. I don't think I talked about the string one either. That's why we have to do that.

There's so many things that I don't come up right now because I'm not using them with a client, but once we start talking, they start popping on my hands. I always think that taught for years. I'm always trying to tell that to Taylor and Danny who are running the YouTube channel now is like, I mean, that we're the gold is that is in that. Like sometimes we can get cut up in all the minutia with all of our peers that are in academia with, you know, sounding smart and dropping awesome knowledge and ship. It's like, man, the things that I, when I think back to you, horizontal rotation of the one,

just twist your body. Right. You just say that. The thing, the things that I, I look back at like were game changers as far as like, taught a client, I'm a newver. It's like, they were these little tips

that were just so basic like that. Like, you know, pretend this, oh, shit. Now all of a sudden, I've been doing crunches for three years. My neck always gets sore and hurt. Now that one little cue, and I'm doing it correctly. Like I think sometimes as trainers,

we get caught up into speaking to our peers or sounding really smart to our peers that we forget about, you know, what we're really trying to do is get these clients or get these people to be able to use or apply this knowledge and get it done. Like who gives a shit how cool you sound or how smart you are.

It's like, if you can't get the client to properly move, then what's the whole point of fucking all the terminology that we're trying to throw at them? Yeah, another one, I love cable chops. I know we've incorporated those in a lot of our programs and just that twisting movement is crucial. That's another part of biomechanics that you wanna be able to teach

and be able to stabilize properly. And so the way that I like to start it off, though, is to be able to add in, just focus completely on the midsection with this. So I wanna make sure my hips are nice and stabilized. My legs are locked in place. So this requires you to really anchor yourself in place. And this is hard for people.

It's hard for people to rotate. Yeah, I would say of like all the ones that we're probably going over right now with like that we think are top. Like this is probably one of the more challenging ones. It doesn't look like it either. Like if you, if someone were to see a cable shop, like cool, I can do that.

Not the way we're talking about right now though. Right. And you're gonna, because the natural tendency too is to want to lean into it. And so you start to take your body in that direction. And so to really understand the process of drawing, and you went through that process first of being able to draw and activate

and be able to lock yourself in place, that's the first thing. So to even just to hold the cable a lot of times, if that hasn't been established, I'm just gonna have them hold and resist the forces that are pulling them towards the machine. And I just knocked my phone off. But yeah, just for them to feel that

and to be able to just anchor themselves in place, we start there. Well, to me, that's the money cue right there. So when I would teach a woodshop or any rotational move, I would get them locked in their base. So they're, their feet are planted. They've got good posture. I get them all in that position. I get them to extend their arms out straight and they're everything's tight-rigged. They have nothing in their hands yet. I don't even give them the cable yet. Like, I'm, here's your position. Now, what I do is I take my hand and I put it against it.

And I go, I'm gonna push against you and I want you to resist it, don't allow me to move you. And I just give them enough force that they have to engage. And they instantly feel right where they're supposed to feel. And I'm like, you feel that? That's the muscles that we're working right now. Now, you need to think about that

as we rotate through this movement. So a couple of things I know is too, a lot of cheats that people will immediately kind of hinge their hips back. So now they want to hit, hinge their hips back and they want to kind of push and leverage their body into it. So that's one thing that I have to kind of like address right away. And then also, yeah, like, I mean, that's, that's one of the main ones. The other one is their arms, like, kind of taking over and not becoming attached to their core. Yes.

So the way I used to communicate it, because it's hard for people, regular, everyday people to understand the articulation, the twisting of the lumbar, all they understand is turn my body. So here's the example I will give people. I, you guys remember the old Batman with Michael Keaton? Remember the original Batman costume? Where it was literally over his head and over shoulders. It didn't allow him to rotate his neck.

So whenever, if you ever watch the old Batman when he turned his head, he'd have to turn his whole body, right? So that's what people do when they're trying to work their obliques is they're turning the same difference that you're finding between my head and my shoulders. What you're wanting to do, what you need to do is don't be Batman, it's the difference between me turning my head and keeping my shoulders forward and me just turning my whole body. So what you're trying to do is you're trying to turn your upper body while your lower body stays exactly where it is. That's the twist that we're talking about. Not trying to get you to twist your whole body. I want your hips to face me and for you to twist your body using that middle part of your body, middle part of your core. So, and even you could go even further and regress this by having them

sit on a ball or just sit in a chair and then rotate. So, that way they understand that like they're differentiating between their legs, their legs are staying put and straight and their hips are locked out in front. Well, now I'm able to rotate across my body. Here's one of my favorite ways to do that. I would have people straddle a bench. So now the bench is in between their legs, their legs on the outside of the bench. And I tell them pinch the bench with your legs.

So squeeze the bench with your legs. Now rotate. So while squeezing, that would give squeeze the bench with your legs, now rotate. So while squeezing, that would give them the cue to keep their hips facing forward and then do the cable chops. And that would teach them to be able to twist their body. Then we could progress to standing. And cable chops done right,

boy they're great at developing the midsection. Cable chops done wrong, you're just learning how to twist your body. Now at some point, if you're training athletes, you just want them to learn how to twist. Yeah, we'll get to that. Yeah, we're teaching people how to activate the full function of the obliques. So that twisty must.

If I've got my mechanics down, I can definitely engage my core. I've even advanced it enough to where I can rotate. My ultimate favorite single exercise that I like to teach or I like to do personally is the perfect sit-up. You mean the right way to do a sit-up? Right, right.

Yeah, the perfect sit-up is, I think, the best thing, but it takes some strength and it does take some good connection. And all it is, it looks like an extremely slow crunch to a full set up. I like to call it a roll up. Yeah, a roll up. And that's exactly what you're doing. And I think it was brink or somebody who first,

it told me to cue it like this, where as you sit back into it and you open up, you're trying to lay each individual vertebrae down on the ground. So I'll start somebody from the sitting up position first. So they're sitting upright, their knees are bent up, 45 so like you're hugging your knees, like you're sitting up like that.

And then you're going to lay back. And when you lay back, your goal is to start thinking about your lower back and you're trying to let each vertebrae get laid down by itself and not just drop three or four vertebrae down on the ground. Such a great exercise. And if you can practice that, and most people can only do a couple. I mean, most people can only do like one to five.

They're a lot harder than they look. Oh, extreme. And to me, learning to articulate each vertebrae like that and be that well connected to your core while you do, oh man, you get good at that. I feel like everything else becomes so much easier. Makes a huge difference. What about planks? How how misused have planks been through the years of for I remember when that here's the funny thing about planks. It's one of those exercises that nobody did didn't exist and then all of

a sudden it became the greatest exercise of all time, literally overnight. I remember as a trainer, I then got back to the stage. Yeah, like, I don't, nobody did planks when I first became a personal trainer. Wasn't even an exercise, it just wasn't anything you did for your core. All of a sudden it became the exercise, and the goal was how long can you stay up on your toes

and on your forearms, and then now you're working your core. And I remember I would do it, and I would do it myself and be like, well, I kind of feel my core, but if I get real tired, I feel it my lower back and my shoulders get tired. And then I'd have clients do it,

and some of them would have their low backs would start to bother them. And then I started to break down what's going on. I'm like, oh, their back is arched, their hip flexors are to staying tight, and their low back is getting tight to stabilize them. What if I had them tuck their tailbone and do a little mini crunch and squeeze their abs

and change the focus? And boom, the plank became a hardcore ab and it's a complete different exercise. I'm sure it's the exercise at that point. It's the way, the first time I posted it on Instagram, people were losing their mind, they thought, oh my god, he's doing it wrong. Right.

Nope, try it this way and watch out. Oh my god, all the sharing forces. Oh yeah, another testament to giving solid cues, it really changed, fundamentally changed somebody versus getting caught up in the semantics with our peers. I remember when you posted that. I remember when we did a YouTube video.

I remember all the shit that we were getting from people being like, that's not a plank. A plank should look more level. It's like, yeah, but the problem is most people do not know how to get the Core engage in that position and they are just supporting it with their hip flexors in their low back. So exaggerating the opposite way is not going to do any harm whatsoever. And in fact all it really does is help the average person Really engage the core in that position and really turn it into a useful exercise.

It was one of the best videos I think we ever did. And even still, I mean, it's a great exercise, but at that point, you're still just stabilizing. That movement is like really focused about stabilizing, but you can actually, you know, do it in a way where you create reps out of it. So now it's changes the exercise. Oh, active planks are normally active planks are hard, man. Those are literally your bringing your hips to the floor and you're coming up and you're doing this crunch

with a tremendous amount of resistance. It's an advanced exercise. So I would always start people off with a traditional plank and I'd have them start off on their knees, but believe it or not, planks on your knees for the average person with that tailbone tuck, they will definitely feel it in their out. Oh, 100%.

They will definitely feel it. Most everybody I. 100%. They will definitely feel it. Most everybody I start there. It's rare that I would take somebody. I feel like it's doing a normal plank. It requires somebody who's got pretty good conditioning, pretty good connection to their abs already to be able to cue that well. And it's funny, it's like the exercise

that trainers have every beginner do. Yeah. You know? Okay, get into a plank. Hold yourself up. You're doing a plank. No, you're not and that's what I meant by being bastardized It's probably one of the the number one misused exercises in the gym. Missed on yes done and miss you Yeah, every single time. Yeah, you see that a lot. So that video is great Well, you know talking about all the now challenging movements and for sure I think those are some of the best exercises. Then you start going into things that are a little more advanced,

like maybe a power type movement. And I know just like medicine ball tosses. Yeah, medicine ball tosses like chess passes, like lots of real explosive like getting up off of the ground, like you know, things that you have to do where, you know, your abs are very much involved, but to be able to do that with acceleration and control, obviously this is the pinnacle of what you've been building up towards.

Now, where would you guys program, you know, here's a thing real quick, you gotta have good control and good stability before you do these power exercises. But once you get to that point, and you can control your core, you know, to articulate the muscles and you got good stability. How would you guys program those power moves? I think you I think if you can perform five of those perfect sit-ups really well, you've got a pretty good understanding and good connection

to your core and you're probably pretty strong and you have a nice base. From there, I would start to teach power stuff, but not before. I think there's so much foundation to be laid before you do something explosive. It's like reminding me like jump boxes. We see people do jump boxes and they can't do a squat properly.

And so to me, you should be improving your squat well before you do something explosive and you jump from the squat. So I think the same thing with working the core, I agree that, you know, medicine ball tosses is the pinnacle is awesome. You get a ton of bang for your buck if you are doing it correctly. And so for me, I've laid the foundation with all the other movements that we were teaching first before I start to implement. Do you guys remember that machine? It was an ad machine.

Yeah. And you lay back with the ball behind your head and then you come up like ferociously and you throw it. Yes, but it was 24-hour fitness got it. This was towards, this was after I had left the company. And it was a basketball like hoop and a target and what you did is you set that. Yeah, and you made baskets

and they thought it was so smart and so brilliant and people loved it because it was fun. But I used to see people do that all the time wrong and see them, you just ham in the show, the hip flexors and I was like, oh boy, this is good. And I can feel good tomorrow. This is where the groundwork makes all the difference, right? Like is that, that could be a very short exercise,

like where I'm going through just a few reps, but I get maximal effort in all those reps. Where, for me, power is one of those things anyway. I'm not gonna prescribe a whole lot of reps when I'm doing a power movement, because it defeats the purpose. Yeah. So that's how I would, you know,

program in a lot of these, like, power type, even core exercises, would, you know, program in a lot of these, like, power type even core exercises, because, you know, I'm going to emulate certain movements that I may be doing out on the field where I'm rotating ferociously to one side, you know, I'm throwing a ball as hard as I can. All these things are going to, you know, affect the core and to be able to build upon that reservoir, like ramp up my capacity for being able to get that type of connection with my core at a high level. It's going to help now my athletics, it's going to help whatever,

it's going to trickle know, strength training as well. Yeah, when I would have people do power exercises, I would have them do it either on their own, or at the beginning of an app or core workout, I would never be at the end. I would do it when they're, you know, I'd warm them up and now they can generate power. And I would treat it like power exercises.

We're not doing it to fatigue, we're doing it for explosive power, rest in between each rep, develop that power, and then I'd move them into some of the exercises. And it's a totally different stimulus. So like for your muscles, we'll respond too. So if you're in sort of a plateau, like this is one of those I will throw in,

you know, if you've already laid down the groundwork, now we throw in a couple of power exercises, it gets all new stimulus. You bring that back into a new phase where you go back to strength and wow, you see like a totally different response out of your muscles. One thing that tripped me out

is when I started doing like heavy carries, how much that worked my core, like how I would feel it in my core to do, like the suitcase carries and the overhead, even some of the overhead carry exercises that you taught me, Justin. One of my favorites is a good old-fashioned farmer walk or a one-sided loaded walk where I have one dumbbell

or one kettlebell, maintaining a very stiff rigid body, articulating my feet as I walk. And man, I would get so much activation. Well, you know what I love about those is it, it just highlights, you know, where your body's natural tendency is to want to go towards, you know, whatever's pulling you in that direction. Like you just want to like make things

easier, more effective and efficient. But for me to resist what's pulling me in that direction is a whole nother part of the process of training your core. And so for me to be able to keep a straight line and keep my body stabilized all the way through that because that weight is substantial. That weight is dragging me down to that one side. It's making my hips want to rotate towards it. It's making my shoulder want to come towards it. I have to fight that natural tendency in an urge. And so this is a whole nother process of training the abs we call it anti rotation, but really it's the ability to resist those forces, but also now do whatever the movement is that I was set to do. I would even argue that the anti-rotational movements, I would do or train a client before power.

Absolutely. Absolutely. I know we talked about our favorite exercises and even address power before addressing anti-rotational, like we are right now. I think it's fundamental. It's far more fundamental. It is far more fundamental.

And I think it's easier to get them to understand that. And then the carry over into that when they're before they go into something explosive So you know we talked about the explosive stuff, but again, that's to me That's the pinnacle. That's the top you've been training core and abs for a long time You've got a great connection you'll understand anti-rotational movements You can you can fight forces pulling you in the opposite direction and you can keep yourself rigid and stable. You've got a great like good movements that are anti-rotational too that people don't think about it like a deadlift, right? Like when you go to do a deadlift, one of the cues that you give is the the bracing of the core before you pull up because the natural thing to do

is default at the core when you pull up and that's when you see these rounded backs. So somebody who I see in the gym and they're deadlifting and they have like a really rounded back, I know they don't have very good core activation either. They haven't put the prerequisites in to do a really good deadlift because their body can't even hold their spine rigid to do a deadlift. So I think of explosive movements. I'm going to teach these anti-rotational movements first. You know, Justin, you and I did a series, it was an anti-rotational series and we do what they call the pay-off press. Is that the one where

you're just extending your arms and not moving but fighting the resistance? Yeah, you're basically lengthening the lever and then shortening. You can be in a bilateral stance or you can basically be in a split stance as well to really enhance that even more because being in a split stance you're already sort of a little bit unstable But now as you're going to press so The idea is that the rubber band is is tied to let's say like the squat rack And I'm pulling it out right look at my chest looks like you're in the middle of doing a chop a cable chop Right, but now I'm just I'm just standing in place and I'm trying to resist my body from being pulled into the rack.

And so to the press part of it is just pressing my arms forward and then pulling them back into place. And so what you're doing by doing that is you're shortening the lever and lengthening the lever, which what it does your core is it decreases the resistance, increases the resistance. Yeah, no movement resistance. No movement though. No movement. So it's like you're maintaining your stable, you're being stable, you're stabilizing your body and then increasing the resistance, it's got to maintain stability, decreasing the resistance, take a little break, increase resistance, decrease and that's called anti-rotation.

Now you could increase that or progress that by adding movement. Yep. So you can now turn it into a, you know, pay-off press with a squat or a lunge to now you start to incorporate the lower body with that. So you talk about the benefits of the anti-rotational, you were talking earlier, Sal, about the upper body learning to communicate with the lower body and then being able to stay rigid. What a great way to progress this is, okay, now you understand how to stay rigid, what the band is pulling you in one direction. Okay, now can you do a squat with that,

okay, or can you do a reverse lunge or a forward lunge with that. So now you're getting the lower body to communicate and then also being able to keep that core rigid up top, like excellent, excellent moves to incorporate into your routine. Again, before you progress to some of these crazy type of exercises that are explosive. Yeah, I would say for the average person, during the week, I'd say you probably want to do

at least one or two direct exercises for the, you know, the abs and the oblique. So something that really works the abs, something that works the obliques, you wanna have some kind of a stabilization exercise, some kind of an anti-rotation type movement, and something for your TVA. And you're probably, I'd say that's probably gonna be pretty complete for a good core type workout. That's both gonna develop the muscles,

so you develop that nice shape, but it's also gonna shrink the muscles, so you develop that nice shape, but it's also gonna shrink the waist so that you have that aesthetic component of having the smaller waist. And then of course the function, well, that's the, that's the byproduct of doing all the right exercises. Well, not, now all of this,

none of it matters if we don't eat correctly in order to reduce the body fat in this area. So far, because you could have a big gut and have all great, strong, obvious elephant in the room. And we've seen that, right? We've seen, you've seen people with massive guts, but they have extremely strong cores and abs. So you don't necessarily have to have a strong core, but if you're trying to shrink your

waist or build a sexy midsection, the, the obvious and most important piece to all of this is the diet. It's to, and that's where the sayings like abs are made in the kitchen, right? Come from is that if you're not putting the work in on the nutritional side, you can do all these great ab exercises and may never even see your abs or shrink your asses away. Yeah, still to this day, people think that, you know, spot reduction is a viable, you know, way to sculpt your body. It really isn't like, you know, if you work out your abs and your core like crazy, you're not going to get leaner

in specifically in the core and the core and ab region because your body doesn't burn body fat. That way it's more, it's a systemic effect. Now you'll get leaner overall if your diet is good and you're working out, but you can't target specifically where you want to get leaner. Now, of course, you can create the illusion of having a smaller waist by strength in TVA and all that stuff, but what you're saying, Adam, is 100% correct. If you're overweight and you're like, oh, I want to get a smaller waist, I'm going to do all these core exercises, but my diet's going to be terrible. I'm gonna do all these core exercises, but my diet's gonna be terrible.

I'm gonna eat too many calories. You're not gonna get that, you're not gonna get many results. You're gonna get a stronger core, you'll get a greater function. That's for sure, which is great. There's nothing wrong with that. But you're not gonna get a smaller waist because it's gonna be surrounded by layers of body fat. You have to get leaner.

And we've talked, you know, ad nauseam about, you know, ways to do that. But at the end of the day, a couple of things you can't get around. You gotta have to eat less calories when you're burning. You wanna have some balance to your macro breakdown. High protein diet tends to work better for fat loss, for most people.

But here's a big one. You know, rather than talking specifically about how to lose weight and all that stuff, because that could be a whole another episode, I think it's important we talk about how to prevent gut distinction for meeting foods you're intolerant to. I love that you went here because you know what's funny,

everybody is experienced this. Everybody has gorged the night before and seen this massive belly and then woke up in the morning and their stomach looks like, oh my god, I feel fat. Right, and you see this a lot, and there's a couple things that are coming into play here when you look at somebody's stomach that's all distended like that.

A lot of the times is because the foods that you were eating are inflammatory, and so one of the common areas is, of course, your gut gets inflamed, so then it protrudes out even more, and then because of all the calories and the carbs that you probably consumed, your body retains a bunch of water, and then in the morning, we wake up and then we have this flat stomach. You're like, why am I, why is my stomach so flat in the morning? Well, those inflammatory markers have come down. You've lost some of the water.

Food is getting digested. Yeah, the food has been digested. And then we have this flat stomach. So there are some, some things to, to be aware of besides just staying in a calorie deficit. It's obvious if you want to have a leaner stomach or a sexy midsection or a smaller waist, is to be in a calorie restriction and lose body fat. I think that like you said, we don't want to go down that rabbit hole of talking diet nutrition because there's a million things. But there are little things that make a difference. And I think one that not a lot of people think about is the inflammatory foods, is foods that are going to inflame the gut retain a bunch of water that blow you.

You know, I've had clients, I had this one client who when she first hired me, she sent me pictures of her of her stomach. So it was like a side view. So she's in her sports bra, side view. This is what I look like in the morning and she was lean. So her body fat was 18% which is a healthy Athletic body fat percentage. She's like here. I am in the morning and here I am at night And I mean the difference in the size of her waist was Silly it looked like she went from flat stomach to being you know five six months pregnant

And it was because she was eating foods that she was intolerant to. And we identified what they were. And so we said, okay, so through this whole process we identified, here's the foods that blow you. Let's stay away from those, because that's causing inflammation. By the way, there's some side effects of this

that will actually reduce your body, your ability to develop a nice midsection. Because when your gut gets inflamed, first off, it stretches out your belly. And when your belly stretched out, those muscles that surround your gut now cannot fully contract and fully activate when you squeeze them. It's no different than me putting your bicep

in a stretch position and keeping it in the stretch position and asking you to try to activate. It's much more difficult. So that stretching out of those muscles because of the distended midsection now makes it harder to work out and connect to those muscles. So having no less inflammation, less blow actually helps you with your core workouts. Now in my personal experience, and this is different from personal person to person, but my personal experience working with clients, the biggest defenders for this bloat or distended gut are the common food intolerances.

Dairy, gluten, for some people nuts, for other people egg whites, but usually dairy and gluten, sugar, highly processed foods, and lots and lots of starches in any specific meal. So those are the ones that I'd say probably cover 75% of the people that I've worked with in terms of. Let's look at all these things. Let's cut your dairy out. Let's cut your gluten out.

When you eat your meal, reduce your starches, maybe split them up a little bit or cut them down altogether and replace them with fats or proteins. And they all tend to notice, not all, but I get, like I said, a good majority is tend to notice, much flatter mid but I get, like I said, a good majority is tend to notice, much flatter midsection, way less blow. And of course, it feels uncomfortable to have that blow to gut. So, if we were to recap this,

the five things that we kinda went over, the first one I think we all agree is like getting connected, right? Get connected. That would be the first one. Train the TVA. Make sure you train the muscles that shrink the midsection. Do the best exercises

We listed a few of our favorites. We said like reverse crunches We talked about cable chops. We talked about the the perfect setup which we like it planks and active planks Those are great. We talked about practicing anti-rotation the pay-off press you can look that up It's P-A-L-O-F-F press. And then if you go on our YouTube channel, MindPumpTV just look up anti-rotation exercises, Adam and Justin did a great job. Yeah, I'm sure that Jack will play them in the show now. Oh perfect. For sure. So include that.

And then of course, we got to dial in your diet. Like if your diet is terrible, then I don't care what you do. You can have a real hard time. You're not going to get a smaller way. So and with that, if you go to MindPumpFree.com, you can download some of our free guides. In fact, there's a guide there specifically that helps people get a flatter midsection. I wrote that one a little while ago. It's totally free. MindPumpFree.com also want to remind everybody there's only 24 hours left for the 50% off maps performance sale.

If you're interested, just go to mapsfitinistproducts.com, use the code green50GREN50. And also, if you want to find us individually on social media, you can find us on Instagram, Justin is at Mind Pump Justin. I'm at Mind Pump Sal and Adam is at Mind Pump Adam. 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 Superbumble at MindPumpMedia.com. The RGB Superbumble includes maps and a ballad, maps performance, and maps aesthetic.

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

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