6 Fitness Truths That 95% of People Still Get Dead Wrong & They're Quietly Sabotaging Your Results

Key Takeaway

Treat strength training as a high-value stressor, not a daily obligation: schedule three focused lifting sessions this week, then use the other days for walking, easy mobility, or restorative movement. Track how your energy, soreness, and performance respond for two to four weeks. If you have been stuck, achy, or plateaued while training five or six days weekly, reducing volume may be the stimulus your body needs to recover, adapt, and progress.

Episode Overview

Mind Pump challenges six persistent fitness myths: that more gym days produce better results, cardio is best for fat loss, metabolism can be “broken,” protein timing matters more than total intake, flexibility alone fixes tightness, and supplements are the key to longevity. The hosts consistently argue for strength training, sufficient food and protein, daily low-stress movement, and recovery as the foundations of better body composition, mobility, and long-term health.

Full Transcript

Transcript of 6 Fitness Truths That 95% of People Still Get Dead Wrong & They're Quietly Sabotaging Your Results from Mind Pump Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

There are six fitness truths that 95% of people get dead wrong. And listen, they're quietly sabotaging your results. We're going to talk about them right now. Let's get to it. Dead wrong. Dead wrong. Dead wrong. So, these are the the top six fitness truths. Uh or should I say myths, right? We're going to talk about what the truth is, but these are the myths that people still believe still believe still believe that really messes them up. And I'll start with the first one, uh, which is, um, you don't need to train five or six days a week to get to build muscle or get jacked or get strong.

Not only do you not need to do that, but most people doing that would get worse results than if they strength trained maybe three days a week or two two days a week. Yeah. So, this is still a common thought, I guess. It's just the more is better. And I mean, we're always talking about um you know, like overtraining is is one of those things. And two, we kind of have a little bit of a bias because of the type of person that's listening to the podcast already that's an avid lifter.

lifter. lifter. Sure. Sure. Sure. So, you know, but like the common sense like I've talked to a few of my friends even still and they think that six days a week is is going to get you to move the needle the most. It's the confusion around what you can tolerate versus what is ideal, right? And it I always talk about how why this is so difficult is because it's really the only thing I can think of that we deal with that more doesn't serve us. Mhm.

Mhm. Mhm. You know, the the more you study for a test, uh the the more you work hard at your job, the more you you push your education, like rewards us for doing for doing more. And unfortunately, when it comes to body composition change, losing body fat, building muscle, uh more is not there's there's a there's a right dose. There's an optimal dose, there's a less optimal dose, and then there's a bad dose. bad dose. bad dose. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And it's a spectrum and unfortunately more people more people tend to go at the ends of the spectrum.

They either do nothing, nothing, nothing, right? and then they decide to do something and they do so they do everything they can tolerate or handle thinking that that's that's going to get them to their goal faster when in reality they land somewhere in the middle of that spectrum is what would be optimal or ideal and for most people that's about three times a week. Yeah. At most for most people so people get confused with uh the difference between working out and being active. So I think that's part of it.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. We're told that we need to be active on a daily basis which is true. You need to move on a daily basis. uh if you work out two or three days a week, that doesn't mean that you're not trying to move on the other days. Uh and you could accomplish that through walking or other types of activity. Basically, just don't be sitting for most of the day, which is what most people um these days uh tend to do. So, that's number one.

So, what we're talking about is a workout. We're talking about training. We're talking about strength training. And strength training is all of it. All it's doing is it's sending a signal that tell that's telling your body to adapt. But part of that signal is sent or a lot of that signal is sent because of the stress that the exercise or the workout is u applying on your body. And your body has a limited capacity for adaptation and for healing. And so and by the way they're both although there's a crossover there part of the healing process from damage uh for lack of better term from exercise is adapting.

But adapting is also separate. In other words, you can work out and heal and work out and heal, but never give your body the ability or chance to adapt. You're not going to progress, right? Adapting is getting stronger. Adapting is building muscle. Now, the data on this is very interesting. Okay? On healthy college-aged males, that's what these 99% of these studies are done on healthy college-aged males, here's what they find. Three days a week of strength training will give you 85% of every possible result you could ever wish to accomplish from strength training.

In other words, think of the peak strength, peak muscle building benefits or end result you could accomplish. 85% of that could be accomplished with just three days a week, week, week, which by the way is normally way beyond what most people even want. It's way beyond it. And it doesn't mean you get there slower. That's the potential. It doesn't mean you get there 85% slower. It just means that's your ultimate potential. But here's the other problem we're looking at, when you look at studies like this, healthy college-aged males.

Yeah. Most people who start strength training, number one, they're not healthy. They're out of shape. They're starting to work out. Number two, they're not college alsor. And so, uh, two or three days a week becomes ideal. And more than that doesn't get them more results. It actually takes away from the in fact 90% of the time when we talk to people listeners of the show or callers or we work with clients who come who are like hey I've been working out 5 days a week in the gym and I'm struggling we cut them down to three days a week they all get better results.

Yeah. It like every time it's so crazy to me even when we put them on like uh less volume like 15inute protocol it blows their mind because it's there's just this thought again to your point of like everything else works that way. you put more work in, you get more return from that. Uh but we just don't account for recovery as being the like a massive lever in this entire process. And so to to space that out and allow your body to really not just heal because then what we're not making any progress, we're kind of at the same spot, but now adapt.

And so to to have that, it's it's really a a science to it that people disregard. Well, and and if you're listening and you're already somebody who's training six days a week also, and Sal said this, but I just want to reiterate this that when we when we move people from six days a week down to three day, it's not like we say those other three days sit on your couch and do nothing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like be active. Yeah. Be active. In fact, what normally we end up doing to someone who's already been training five, six days, it's like we just replace that hour of of training in the gym with walking.

It's like go walk. Go walk. Be active. Walk. Do mobility. Yeah. Do some do do stuff to be active. We're not encourage we're not telling somebody who's already got momentum and in the gym six days a week and it's like oh you need to stop training and and eliminate three days and do nothing. It's uh that's more than enough of a stress signal from weightlifting to build muscle and to lose body fat. You don't need anymore. So let's do this three days a week and then the other two or three days a week let's do this other thing that's more recuperative.

Mobility or Mobility or Mobility or mobility, walking, things like that. maybe yoga depending on the person, right? Um those types of practices will probably better serve 90 plus percent of the population that is trying to get in shape. shape. shape. That's right. Next, uh this is another fitness truth. Cardio is not the best way to lose fat and especially not the best way to lose fat long term. As a form of exercise, cardiovascular activity is healthy. It boosts endurance and stamina. does those things very very well, but it is actually not an effective way to lose fat, especially when you compare it to another form of exercise known as strength training.

So, in the data, and they've compared them head-to-head, everybody, okay, so it's not like this is us guessing or just based off our experience. When you look at the data, when people are on a a a cal a restricted calorie diet, one that induces weight loss, and they combine it with exercise, strength training results in all fat loss, cardio results in fat and muscle loss. So the weight on the scale actually is similar. So the weight loss looks similar. Cardio will h will actually help induce muscle loss which your body wants to do when you're in a subcalorie diet.

Strength training keeps the muscle. So to say it differently, the best form of exercise for fat loss, just pure fat loss, strength training. A lot of people think it's cardio because cardio makes you sweat and it does indeed burn a lot of calories. It shrinks your overall mass down to that point. So, that's misleading for a lot of people because they get excited about the weight on the scale, right? Uh, but however, we haven't teased out how much fat and actual muscle you've lost as well.

Do you guys think I mean, I feel like this is is getting better, the messaging around this like we're getting there. Yeah, I remember when we first came out, we did this. In fact, this was some of our first viral clips and episodes that we did, you know, almost 10 years ago that where we said things like cardio sucks for fat loss and oh boy, we would just rile everybody up. So many people would be in the comments. Oh yeah, that one used to piss everybody off and then we'd have to go and explain what we're talking about.

Um I do feel like I see more fitness influencers uh preaching this message now, which it wasn't until just not that long ago that I think you heard this. think it was still known as a a good strategy for this. this. this. The best evidence for this for what because I've observed the same thing, Adam, but you're like, "Okay, where are the objective uh is it is this objectively true or is this just us uh noticing what we're noticing?" The best uh evidence of this is uh the footprint of big box gyms now is changing.

So, changing. So, changing. So, so the number one goal that somebody has when they sign up at a gym is fat loss. That's everybody's goal, weight loss, fat loss, right? Everybody wants to do that. And so now the big box gyms, uh, what the footprint used to look like was a majority of the space was dedicated to cardio equipment because everybody wanted weight loss, everybody want fat loss, so it's lots of cardio. Uh, the footprints are changing. They're swapping out cardio space for strength training space.

So yes, the message is starting to come out. That's a good point. And the data does support it. Next up, uh, your metabolism isn't broken. broken. broken. It has more to do with your habits. Now, I do want to say this, like you can have a metabolic rate that's making it more difficult. Your metabolism adapts to your behaviors, uh, but it's not broken. A broken metabolism literally would mean that you die. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It would mean that your body doesn't work. So, metabolism is a word that encompasses a a lot of complex processes in the body.

And to put it very simply, it's how your body takes uh food and turns it into usable energy and what it does uh with that energy. Okay? And that's a very super ultra simplified definition, but it's very very complex. And your metabolism can adapt in different directions. You can encourage your metabolism to speed up, to burn more calories. You can encourage your metabolism to slow down or to burn less calories. Um, and unfortunately, a lot of people's attempts at weight loss uh really don't take this into consideration.

And what they experience is a metabolism that adapt adapts downward which results in a really frustrating plateau. And it typically looks like this. Like I want to lose 20 pounds or 30 lbs. I lose 10 pounds because I'm doing all this activity. I'm doing all this cardio. I'm cutting my calories and I've lost 10, but now I'm stuck. And so then let me what do I do now? I know let me do more activity and let me eat even less. And then they lose another five pounds.

And then they're in this place where they're like, okay, I I I don't want to work out even more and I can't eat even less. I'm already eating so little. How can I maintain this? My metabolism must be broken. No, it's not broken. The things you did encouraged it to and pushed it to adapt downward. And now you're in a situation where you're fighting a very efficient metabolism, which is very, very difficult. We also have a brand new MAPS program, MAPS or lower. It's a 4-day muscle building split.

We have a male and female version. There's workout v videos in there, exercise demos, coaching videos, and if you sign up during the launch period, you get it for 40% off, plus you get some live coaching with our personal trainer, Cole, here at Mindpump. Go sign up. Go to mapsupper.com. Use the code launch for the 40% off. All right, real quick. If you love us like we love you, why not show it by rocking one of our shirts, hats, mugs, or training gear over at mypumpstore.com.

I'm talking right now. Hit pause. Head on over to myposttore.com. That's it. Enjoy the rest of the show. Yeah, I don't like this one because it implies like there's something wrong with you when in fact your metabolism is working great. It's doing exactly with what doing exactly what you told it to do. do. do. And I think that's so important to distinguish the difference between that because because because you want to be at a place you want to be at a place where you you take responsibility for what it's doing.

Otherwise, you won't learn from your mistakes, from what you've previously done. It's like, yeah, your metabolism is really slow, not because you genetically have a slow metabolism or it's broken. It's because for a period of time, you have continued to undereat calories, overtrain the body, and so it's adapted in a manner that is going to survive and it's it's actually working really well to do that by slowing the metabolism down. The exciting thing is you can absolutely change that by creating different behaviors which would be things like strength training, feeding the body properly and building muscle and change that.

So, it's a really positive thing and it's your metabolism working incredibly well, but I do think that a lot of people I don't know if that's a like a a victim mindset that we tend to have where it's like you want to defer the responsibility of like I'm I'm overweight because it's a confusion, you know, too. And it's because things aren't working out, but like you're not pointing to the fact that what you're presenting your body environment wise is what it's responding to. And so, you know, if I'm burning an excess amount of calories, I'm not, you know, eating enough.

Um, it it, you know, if I'm not strength training and and then eating uh protein, like, you know, I'm not sending that anabolic signal. I'm not telling, you know, my body I need to, you know, build up muscle to resist this force that I'm constantly facing. And this is like a habitual thing. I'm facing this. So, now I'm facing the opposite, which is like now I'm in uh a bit of famine. So now my body has to store this energy and it's and preserve it and it's doing what it's supposed to do.

No, well said. It's it's uh it's I get why people say this because I think it's confusing. Uh because to them all the evidence points in the direction of I've got a metabolism doesn't work because before I was doing no exercise and before I was eating like all kinds of food. food. food. Now I'm doing cardio four days a week for 45 minutes. Yeah. And I've cut my calories really low. I'm like eating, you know, frozen meals or I'm eating on this plan and I've lost this weight, but I've plateaued and it's like, why can't I lose this last 15 pounds or this last 20 pounds?

Something must be broken. And and not only that, but does that mean I got to keep doing this for the rest? I got to eat this little and move this much to keep it off. My metabolism must be broken. And it's not. So, you can you can move in the other direction. The other direction looks like this. Building strength, building muscle, eating uh a high protein diet. Okay, those things move the metabolic rate in the other direction or at the very least prevent some of the downward adaptation that comes uh from a subcalorie diet.

All right, next up, uh protein timing matters way less than total daily intake. intake. intake. So sometimes there's a lot of emphas emphasis and I think this is supplement companies do this and this was especially true back in the day on when you needed to eat your protein and how important it was that you ate it maybe around your workout and whatever. This makes a little difference, like a tiny difference. difference. difference. The total protein you eat for the day is what makes the big difference.

This is like 99% Yeah. of what you're going to get for protein. Now, protein timing matters in the sense that what helps you get your total protein intake to where it needs to. That's when timing matters. How you can digest it, synthesize it, all that. all that. all that. I would make the case to what it where it makes it matters. And what we speak to is um like for example it's ob you're timing it when you decide to eat it first in your meal. Exactly.

Exactly. Exactly. And so if it changes good behaviors. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Right. And so that's where this makes a difference. Uh timing it around a workout to hit the anabolic window to get the best muscle building effect from it is was where this marketing. Yeah. This doesn't matter. This is splitting hair is the difference on this. But learning to target protein to start your day off with a good high protein meal, it's not doing anything magical other than it's going to almost certainly set you up for success with hitting your protein versus you not like you skipping a meal or not hitting protein in the morning.

Makes it difficult for that. So, it's more behavioral based. behavioral based. behavioral based. Totally. Totally. Totally. Than it is what it's doing to your body scientifically. scientifically. scientifically. That's right. 100%. Uh, next up, flexibility work is useless if you're weak. uh you don't want to be weak and flexible. That causes problems. That's a risk a high risk of injury. So mobility is a term that some people confuse mobility with flexibility. But the way we define mobility is uh having strength and control within a particular range of motion or a ideal range of motion.

Flexibility without strength is loose uh and injury-prone. Think of a think of a one-year-old. Like a one-year-old and you can bend them in all kinds of different directions, very weak. Uh put some weight on a one-year-old, they hurt themselves. themselves. themselves. Um hyper mobility, uh which is a term that describes people with lots of flexibility without good strength. Uh they're some of the most injuryprone uh people on the planet. And so if you're like, man, I'm tight. I need to go focus on being flexible. Your best bet is to do strength training in good ranges of motion and challenge ranges of motion.

increase those range of motion with strength because strength is what gives you stability. The flexibility component without strength is instability. Yeah. And to be fair like mobility is considered strength training which um you know it's active flexibility is so active passive flexibility and um and I think those two like some people don't know the difference between the two and um to really have that ownership and be able to recruit within certain ranges of motion uh and have it be useful. So, you know, I can take myself out of these uh positions and, you know, be active in in uh recruiting these muscles in that position.

Um, you know, that's valuable. And then, you know, that's pretty much the precursor to then loading it. And then we're going to load it and we're going to get stronger in that position. Uh, which is, you know, that's all the value. But flexibility itself, if you're if you're not addressing that you're weak, you're leaving yourself vulnerable. I think the the most important point to be made uh to this right here is the the person that I think of that still falls in this trap is somebody who has decided that they are going to make a change, get healthier, get fit and they're mid midlife um they have some chronic pain and tightness and stiffness and so their logic is oh I'm before I start to I I know I need to strength training but before I do that I I think I'm going to take yoga classes and stretch and really work on my flexibility uh before I go lift weights because I already my hips already bother me, my low back already bothers me.

Uh but what they don't realize is a lot of that chronic pain is due to weakness and instability. And one of the best things to to combat that would be to strength train. Strength training is going to build that that that strength, that stability, that resiliency. And so I think there is this myth that they need to go stretch and loosen up because they feel tight, stiff and chronic pain first. No, here's the truth. So, a lot of people don't know this. Um, the reason why your body gets tight, the reason why your shoulder gets tight or your your hamstrings get tight or your hips feel tight is not because you have muscles that are like rubber bands that are cold that need to be stretched.

That's not what's happening. Your central nervous system controls the flexibility of the muscles. If I ripped a muscle off your body and placed it on a table, it would be I'd be able to move it no problem. your CNS, your central nervous system is telling those muscles to stay tight to create stability. Y So when you're weak and you have instability because your muscles aren't strong enough to support particular ranges of motion, the CNS tightens the muscles up around those areas activates activates activates and it keeps them tight.

It doesn't let them move much and that's where the tightness comes from. So tightness comes from weakness from weakness from weakness and that's also where a lot of the chronic pain comes from is because that that tightness ends up being tightness and it's pulling on the hips, it's pulling on the back, it's pulling on the knee knee knee and then you can't move right. Yeah. And so then you have this chronic pain. And most people interpret that as, "Oh, I have all these tight muscles and I and I'm I have chronic pain." And so they sign up for yoga because that seems like the logical thing to do in that situation.

When in reality, what you're saying is no, it's because you're weak and instable that you feel this way. And the best thing that we could possibly do is not sign up for a yoga class. It actually be go get strong lifting weights and that will solve most of these problems. these problems. these problems. That's right. And last, the real fountain of youth is not in a pill or a shake or a supplement. It's in the weight room. So all exercise done properly uh improves longevity and improves quality of life.

And all the data supports this. So as you get older, if you stay active and you exercise uh versus your peers who maybe don't do those things, your quality of life is significantly higher. But among all of the forms of exercise, one of them really makes a big difference with this and it's strength training. If we had to label a form of exercise as the fountain of youth, it's strength training. What happens as you get older? You lose muscle mass, you lose strength, you lose bone mass, you lose mobility and stability.

You see people falling, you also get what's called insulin resistance uh because so higher rates of things like diabetes, metabolic health starts to go down. One form of exercise directly combats that. Now, other forms of exercise help with all of that, but strength training directly combats that. How? It makes you stronger. So, your muscles get stronger and they get a little bigger. Your bones get stronger as a result. You have improved insulin sensitivity because muscles are very insulin sensitive. You're less likely to fall because now you're stronger.

And if you do fall, you're less likely to break something because things are much stronger. So, strength training is the fountain of youth. if we had to label a form of exercise. Well, muscle is the organ of longevity, right? That's right. I love that. I love that because I think that's exactly what that represents. And so, yeah, lift weights. Don't focus so much on all the supplements and pills and shakes and the latest fad that's out there. Go to the gym two, three times a week.

Get strong and you'll live longer. That's right. So, Adam, I was gonna ask you because you've been you were just talking off air. How are you using uh we did a commercial a few weeks ago on Caldera Labs Hydro Layer? Yeah. I so I I didn't realize I always feel guilty. So that I wasn't using that. I was using the base layer which they come in a similar uh bottle and they're but they're different. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um Um Um so the hydro layer is literally to to improve moisture for the skin.

Yes. Really like it. I love still love the base layer too, but it's like a thicker cream. thicker cream. thicker cream. Yeah. Um, Yeah. Um, Yeah. Um, it's more like a like a it's like a not a paste, but it's kind of like a creamy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Whereas the hydro layer is like I know it's so funny listening to us try and talk about men's face cream and stuff like that. Like you can tell I mean you can tell how genuine it is cuz we like seriously know nothing.

nothing. nothing. Just know that I like it or works. And you know like I I couldn't even tell you the the the scientific difference between the base layer and the hydro layer. I can tell you the difference of the texture of it and how it feels. And it's uh the hydro layer is much more like moisturizing or like makes me makes my sk my skin feels really good especially with my dry skin, my psoriasis and stuff that I'm always constantly battling and dealing with. Um and I just started using that.

So I've added that now to the rotation. Um the hydro layer was not part of it and I really like it. And I don't know if you've done it, Doug, if you were already on the Yeah. No, I just started. I just got my first uh jar of it probably a week ago. Oh, you too then? Okay, cool. So I don't feel so bad that I was the only That's the one that that's my wife's favorite one of all their products. Yeah, it does hydrate. So sometimes you put things on your skin and they make it feel more dry.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This actually like really makes it feel Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I actually I rub it all over my face and head. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it feel it feels really good. So I'm a I'm a big fan of that, too. too. too. Put things on my head soon. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was out in the sun the other day. Started buffing it. And I'm like now I'm starting to have to put a hat on, dude. Cuz I'll start I'll get a sunburn on my head, which I've never done before.

Oh god. Oh, I'm close, dude. I'm close. I see videos of myself, you know, when I'm doing like So, especially Oh, that's the hardest thing to Well, see here on camera here, you see me from the front, so I can't tell. But I do, you know, I have this series I do uh called to his kingdom with uh Dylan. And that one you see me from all angles cuz I'm working out and there's times when I'm like doing like a bent over fly or a row or I'm like got and he's like and I see it and I'm like, "Oh, wow.

"Oh, wow. "Oh, wow. That's what that looks." There's no hiding that at all. I'm balding big time. That was it for me, dude. That was all it took was the the team shooting video of me and I had I cuz like you said like I see this stuff right and you know I was like oh I'm fine and then it was a shot like that that it doesn't help too a lot of times they're shooting you with under lights and things like that too that camera just like oh man I remember getting mad at everybody for not telling me really yeah cuz I don't feel like anybody was telling me back then I wasn't teasing you back then no it wasn't until I think it was after I started admitting talking about it then then it was like you knew it was fair game fair game fair game yeah then it was fair game lay into me But I'm like that was mad that nobody said I was really mad at my wife.

I'm was like you let me walk around like that like it's fine you know Justin's not losing a single nothing. I mean it's short now but like that was intentional. Makes me so mad he covers it all. Yeah, I know. Such a blast. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. Blasphemy, bro. Blasphemy, bro. Blasphemy, bro. Jeez. I mean I'll I go through periods like I'll probably go through a period where I'll do my hair a lot more but I'm waiting for it to just turn completely white.

That's my goal. I don't think it will. I think it's just going to stay kind of gray like that. It's pretty gray, dude. gray, dude. gray, dude. My dad's kind of, you know, it's Is it white? Yeah. It's like It shifted. Yeah. Oh, wow. Like like full on, but that didn't white doesn't shift till quite a bit later. I've imag Yeah. You're going to be gray silver for a long time before you go all all white. You know who I just saw in in a show?

Well, I just saw a show with him is Richard Gear. And he's all white now. And I've never seen him all white. He was always gray. Yeah. He's always been gray. Like he's always been He's got to be in his 70s now, right? Yeah. So, and I think like [clears throat] wizard status, dude. I'm like I'm looking forward to it. it. it. Yeah. See? Yeah. See what he looks like now. Like he was always gray, right? He always had like good good gray hair. He was like that gray.

Look at him in Pretty Woman. So Pretty Woman. That's why I see Justin's hair is like that. Like he's got that that good salt pepper mix, you know? Yeah. It's it's it's peppery. Yeah. But he's white. It's white now. But it took all the way till now till I seen him like this where he How old is he, Doug? 70. Uh maybe more. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. He's somewhere somewhere around there, right? there, right? there, right? Uh he is 76. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Oh, wow.

Wow. Still doing shows, too. I just saw I saw a new show that he All of the people we we grew All of the people we we grew up watching, up watching, up watching, you know, they're all in their 70s, dude. dude. dude. It's crazy. What's Sylvester Sloan now? He's in his 70s, right? He might be 80. No, no, no, no. He's not. He's not. He's not. No, he can't be. Is he Is he mid to late 70s? I think he's 79, bro. Oh my god.

807s, my boy. my boy. my boy. I know. I listen everybody. Not going to jinx. Okay. But she's got got man when that that cuz he's like a hero of mine, dude. Something happens to Arnold. Arnold 78. So Arnold's almost 80. 80. 80. Dang. Dang. Dang. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Arnold was a hero of mine for a long time. time. time. Uh and I still think he's like the epitome of the American dream. Literally like immigrant success, all that stuff. Yeah, his story is great. But he said some stupid stuff.

He really ruined it during co and is he not do you do you follow him enough to know if he backpedalled from that? that? that? No, he never he didn't double down, did he? really came back. I get a vibe that he just kind of says what he thinks he's supposed to sometimes. sometimes. sometimes. Uh Schwarzenegger. Uh Schwarzenegger. Uh Schwarzenegger. He's in with the, you know, the politicians. politicians. politicians. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's he Yeah. He'll he'll just say things that'll things that'll things that'll Now he can't because he's a first generation immigrant.

He can't he can only go so far in the politicians. Yeah. He can He was governor. That was about it. about it. about it. That's as high as you can get. Yeah. He can't be I don't think he could be No, he can't be president. No, he definitely can't be. I don't think you can run in Congress either. I think I think you can. Yeah. Congress. Can you? I don't know how high you get. I think it's just president. It is only a president. Oh, okay.

Yeah. So, maybe he'll do that. Maybe that's what he's what he's what he's N he's done, dude. You think so? Yeah, I think he's done. I remember when his his workout partner Columbo died. Remember that? Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. You know, he died. He died. He drowned. Oh, he drowned. Yeah, he went out swimming like super far. far. far. Really? Really? Really? And then he ended up drowning. Something happened. happened. happened. That's weird. I know. That's not That's super sad. Yeah, that is sad. Was it How old was it?

Do you remember? I want to say he was 76 or 75. when he died. Yeah. Uh let's maybe we'll find out here and see. Uh 78. 78. 78. He was 78 and he died by drought, right? Suffering a medical emergency while swimming on the coast of of Sardinia. Oh, was he doing like a legit swim and then had like a heart attack or something? something? something? Something like that. I mean 78 and swimming is like on a like a legit swim. Yeah, it was really sad to hear Arnold talk about Franco after he passed away.

That'd be really sad doing like exercising like that, you know, doing something like that to go like that. like that. like that. Hey, what did you think of um I sent you over a list? Oh, pull it up, Doug. The five luxury purchases worth the Yeah. So, Sam Parr has a group that I've been a part of for several years now. If you've been listening long enough, you've probably heard me talk about it. The Hampton Group, which is just a collection of all founders and CEOs, and he's done some really cool stuff.

I like So, I follow his podcast So, I follow his podcast and some of his content still and talk to good stuff. And yeah, I do. I like a lot of the stuff he's done. and he's now I mean he's got this massive Hampton is huge right um it's worldwide um and it's got uh he so he he's got this great tons of data of and everybody that's in there are very successful entrepreneurs so he's got all this this collection of all these very very successful founders and so he he gathers a lot of good data from all these different owners and founders and companies and one of the things he recently ran was like he ran this basically this article five luxury purchases that are actually worth the money money money so it says he interviewed 80 over 80 founders ranging from and they're worth from 10 million to 4 billion.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And here's what they said about what they uh regret or don't regret. Yeah. Basically, it's it's what what their top what the top five ways of using their money. And I So, he had an even deeper This is this is a piece of a I read the whole thing. It's actually really cool. He he like he had interviewed all of them. So, I actually went through and he he showed me when he was doing this. He actually had me look at it before he posted it and shared it publicly.

And it was really cool. I got to go through like each individual one of these millionaire and billionaires and they had a breakdown of their total money expenses and they shared with him like what they spended on and all all the and so that's he's collected all that and then he's distilled this this post down to the five things that's actually worth their money. But the way he got to this was actually very thorough. It was like a very detailed personal report from every single one of these founders how they spend their monthly money and it's ranging from people their net worth is from as 4 million all the way to 10 billion.

billion. billion. Well, let's see what it says. So, number one is buying back your time. So, every hour spent doing stuff you hate is an hour not doing spent time with your kids or building the next thing. So, one founder said hiring a private chef changes life because he stopped thinking about meals three times a day. So, this could be a housekeeper or personal assistant. Okay. So, this makes a lot of sense. Uh, so like an example of this would be uh doing uh like your like mowing your lawn, right?

Landscaping, right? Landscaping, right? Landscaping, like landscaping. So, you may think like, well, you know, I'm going to spend money on hiring someone to do that. But the the real way to look at the value is what else would I do with that time if that's if that's four hours every Saturday? Saturday? Saturday? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Are there things I could do that are more valuable? So, let's say you're building a business. maybe that I could spend four hours building my business instead of doing my yard work or maybe I could spend four four hours with my kids or whatever.

So, just an example of that. that. that. Yeah. No, I I I really like this and I wanted to hear you guys' opinion and take on all of it because what what you'll find and I mean again these are like uber wealthy people and this is like things that they consider luxury things that you spend your money on and what you'll find interesting is cars, watches, things. None of those didn't make the list whatsoever. And number one is buying back your time. And I would have to agree with that.

I would agree that, you know, one of the things that I have valued the most about making more money is the ability to make that decision. Not everybody has that luxury, right? It's a luxury to be able to have the decision of like, I don't want to mow my lawn. Like some people have to mow their lawn in order to do that. And and and and making a decision of, oh, I have an extra income or I' I'm starting to make more money. Oh, I could go buy a fancy luxury car or I could drive a drive a modest car and actually have somebody now do my lawn.

And I think that's the good takeaway from this is you don't have to be uber rich where you're in a position where you make a choice to not drive the BMW or Lexus or whatever and maybe you drive the Toyota or the Honda, but now you cover somebody to handle your landscaping. And I think that's the cool take away from this is like like like because I know some people might look at this and be like, well, I can't connect and relate to somebody who's worth 10 million or$4 billion.

But it's like no, we all make trades and decisions as you whether you're somebody who makes, you know, under six figures beyond that or millions of dollars, you're constantly trading your time, money, and all those things. And so it's like how many people do you know uh still might be mowing their lawn or doing things, but then they're driving a car that's really expensive and it's not a good not Yeah. And I think that's the good takeaway from this is that hey, as you as you climb the ladder financially, as you get older and mature and better at skilled at whatever it is that you do, um you'll be faced with this decision.

Hey, I can now drive that fancy car. But here's here hear it from all these people that have been there, done that, and they're telling you like, listen, this is a better place to invest your money. your money. your money. Number two, personal trainer. Agreed. I think this is I thought this was really interesting that this made the list. Yeah. Well, it should. Listen, we know this. We trained lots of clients. We do. But I thought this was fascinating coming fascinating coming fascinating coming this, but I'm surprised.

Me, too. That I thought this was really interesting coming from just a bunch of millionaire billionaires out of a a list. These aren't like this isn't uh isolated to health and fitness people or anything related to us. This is just like like like and so I think this is actually a really this show this is different. 20 years ago, this does not make the list. No. No. No. 20 years ago. So they this isn't getting highlighted. highlighted. highlighted. No, but here's the thing. Like we talk about this all the time on the show.

Uh better health and fitness makes everything else better. So investing in in ways to improve your health will make the rest of your life uh much better and save you money. Here's the thing. Being fit and healthy saves you money. If you look at things like medical cost, loss of productivity, loss of quality of life, and what that could potentially cost you, cost you, cost you, um it's a wise uh it's a wise investment and people are figuring this out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The next one is a dream house.

Uh now they said they like their dream house because it helps with dinners, reunions, and holiday. So basically have your h design your home for connection. Yeah. So you're bringing everybody to you. you. you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you heard me talk about that, which I I subscribe. This this one like super resonates with me because me because me because rather than just being in your big house by yourself. by yourself. by yourself. And I love and I love that. So it says number three, dream home.

And then in parenthesis it says not but not for the reasons you think. And I think that's so true because if you would have asked me in my 20s what my dream home looks like, it doesn't look like the home that I live in. Um it the one I would have drew drew a picture of in my early 20s would have been this massive over-the-top type of place. Um and really when I look at what I've distilled down to what now is my dream home, it's for those exact reasons right there.

It's it's been designed in a way it's been curated on hosting my family and friends and barbecues and hanging out outside inside and music like I've thought about a lot of that stuff and not neighbors on top of me and like that stuff wasn't things that I thought about when I was 20 going oh draw your dream house or describe your dream house. It looked a lot a house that promotes uh connection and social interaction makes a lot of sense when you look at how uh valuable it is for quality life.

Well, and too to have it be the destination for my kids' friends to want to really hang out and connect and I get to know their friends really well that way. Their parents, we have them over um you know, so there's a lot of value in that for me. Like back to the first point of it where like you know, buying your time back and all that, that one I wrestle with a little bit. Um, I I I totally subscribe to it and I like, you know, having the flexibility and being able to like have people do the remedial stuff or the tasks I don't want to do, but also I I because of where my kids are at in terms of their age, I find a lot more value in having them do hard work.

work. work. Oh, no. That's But it's like you have to actually manufacture that. manufacture that. manufacture that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which is rough. Like it's it's like one of those things like I you know So, I want to just like have landscapers, but I'm like, well, this is an opportunity I need to go out there and do it with them to instill this in them and like and that's not everybody's cup of tea, but like I've just found like it's it it makes the household energy much better and everything else and it's too is teaching them, you know, some some life lessons at the same time.

So I I juggle with that though cuz I'm like you know sometimes obviously we all want a break and and and all that too but and it's valuable to me. So I I I think there's a there's a there's a middle ground to the point you're making or a way to kind of have your cake and eat it too. Um so what I do um in that example. [clears throat] So not only do we have people that take care of the cars but I also have landscapers but I also still do both of those things.

those things. those things. Yeah. Yeah. So, there's times where I will opt out of not having a car washed and I will take outside and it's a weekend. I know the car needs to get cleaned and it's like, of course, I could have someone go take care of it for me like I do sometimes on the sometimes, but today is a day where like, oh, this will be a good opportunity for me to do that. I have landscapers that are on a schedule, but then there's times where I'm like, you know what?

I need to power wash the backyard and clean and oh, I noticed those shrubs are overgrown. I'm going to go trim them myself. And go I'm going to go trim them myself. And so I think the luxury of having it outsourced that I can choose to do that time and I can choose to do it with my son or not. So it's like I don't have the stress and the pressure of to keep upkeep all of it all the time, but then I can also dip in and out because I think what you're saying is extremely valuable to show your kids that work to do it yourself.

And then we've talked about this before too like I even think about from a movement perspective. I make that decision sometimes. Sometimes it's actually not even about my kids instead of cardio. Yeah, I tend to enjoy that more anyway. There's like I don't, you know, I don't want to get in my car, go to the gym, just go walk on a treadmill for an hour. Why don't I just go wash the car for an hour? I'll burn just There's a lot more examples of mundane stuff that you get like a house cleaner and, you know, there's all kinds of stuff that you can do that like you really don't want to do.

Like that's nice to, you know, buy back your time that way. that way. that way. But the personal training one, I I just just to stay there for a minute. I'm just I'm so impressed that that's made the list. I think that's such a cool thing to to highlight that this we've we've now come to a place where even because wouldn't you guys say that when you were training people in your 20s and you because we trained very wealthy people when we were young um a lot of times that they didn't have trainers.

I mean they we had a few clients that were like that but they were the anomaly right like [snorts] a lot of them had you thought it took away from them being productive productive productive yeah there was a very small percentage of CEOs and founders and people that were higher where it seems like it's very in vogue or trendy or they're more aware yeah they're more aware of the ROI on oh I'm way more productive when I do that that that oh all the clients I had the back half the last you know I don't know 13 years of my training career were very successful people and they would tell me this is in my budget.

I budget this in uh my monthly budget because it brings me so much value. They would tell me this all the time. It makes me better at work. work. work. Uh keeps me healthy. Um I it makes me feel better. Um and it was just a part of their like Yeah. There's so many benefits to Now the cool part is if you're somebody who's already a health and fitness person and you don't need any motivation or discipline or accountability this you can you can have add another fifth to this list because you don't have to pay for a trainer to do [clears throat] that.

But if you're somebody who needs it, the accountability, it pays itself. I think most people would value from working with a coach for at least 6 months. Then it says experiences. I agree with this 100%. I think the memories you make with experiences are so much more valuable than things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, going on trips or adventures or experiences where you're learning something. Uh I think that's so valuable. valuable. valuable. Memories last so much longer. They do, dude. They do. They did they did like this uh uh I don't know if it was a survey or a study they did on this but like our even the way our brain uh remembers things uh like these things they stick like I think I saw this thing and it was about kids like the most memorable things that a kid could do is like going on a camping trip like it'll trump the the expensive toy you bought them for their like they won't remember that but they'll they'll remember the the summer camp thing that they did in third grade or something crazy like And so I don't I forget what the like I said if it was a survey or a study they did on it, but I remember reading it and I was like, "Oh, that's interesting." Like I and then I I thought I did the exercise myself.

I thought, "Oh, you know what? That's so true. I definitely remember like almost every memorable camping trip or camp that I went to, but asked me what I got on my seventh birthday, you know?" I'm like, "I have no idea." I remember like one gift like Yeah. It was like my first Jordans. Mine was Nintendo. That was it. Oh, yeah. Nintendo. only because I cried because I didn't get it. it. it. Yeah, that was a big one though. Can I tell you why? Let me let me tell you why I remember it.

I remember it because I thought I was going to get it for my birthday. I didn't get it. And I didn't say anything to my parents. I respected my parents. My my dad worked real hard. I knew, you know, it's like but I quietly and silently was sad. And I remember my my mom came like, "What's the matter? Why are you so sad? Why are you so sad?" And I kind of got tearary, you know, and I was like, and I let her I kind of told her, I don't want anybody to know.

And like I thought I was going to get a Nintendo. And like 30 minutes later, my dad comes up and he's like, "Let's go. We're going in the car." I'm like, "Why?" He's like, "I'm going to take you to get a Nintendo." And I just never forget that. It wasn't the Nintendo. It was that my dad did that. that. that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What's number five, Doug? Yeah. Number five is uh flying private or business class. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what. I can get down with this.

You guys know where I stand. We're going to lose the audience. I feel like I I converted you guys. I'm going to sell Listen, I'm going to give Listen, I'm going to give you I'm going to give everybody uh a story because flying can be it can suck. It can be stressful. It's all stress. It can be stressful. It's tough. Whatever. And I get it. You know, you want to go somewhere. It's it's it's how you get places. I totally get it. We got invited uh when did we go to London?

2023. 2023. 2023. We got invited in 2023 to be at this like really big event. And uh we splurged and I had never done a first class flight and I'd flown international before. before. before. That was my first as well. I never international can be brutal. Like you're sitting in that chair the whole time. I'm not a young kid anymore. So hard to sleep. I that changed my life. I was like this is if I could travel ruined ruined it. Now I'm not going to be traveling like that all the time, but I can see why this made the list because it changes the experience.

the experience. the experience. Well, it it context matters here too, right? I think uh any of us could tough out a you know regular flight. Sure. Sure. Sure. But what I think of what you find in a list like this that's really volume. Exactly. The volume of flying most these people the volume of flying that all of us do now. If I had to fly to Europe like three times a year and I and I had a big company that would be an expense for sure.

sure. sure. Yes. And so I think that matters, right? Because you're right. A lot of people get lost on this and not connect to this. It's like and let me tell you, if uh we flew one time a year, I would give two shits about toughing out one flight. But the and we've had different years where we're our flight volume is very high and then it's like but it's we fly a lot compared to what I'm sure all of us flew the rest of our life life life and so when it's a regular thing of your life and you have to do it a lot you just encounter a lot of everybody's probably in their life encountered a shitty airport experience when your volume is high you experience that a lot a lot of them and so it's like man and and then also when you're when you're flying for business uh it's an expense on the company.

And so when you're an entrepreneur or a founder, u that's an expense that comes off the top end like you whether you fly coach or first class, it's like you you're no matter what it's getting expensed on the company. It brings your taxable income down, which is how I mean I think I remember really getting you guys to like convert over that direction. It's like listen, you're if the difference of out of your pocket when you really think about it because you're going to end up paying some of that over to the government tax- wise.

So then this is why this ends up making a lot of sense is it runs an expense on the business. If you have a high volume of it then oh yeah it makes it a lot yeah it makes it a lot better. So better. So better. So can you pull up Keon's uh all their different products because we've talked a lot about their essential amino acids which I would say is probably one of their best products because uh and I've I've said this in past podcasts for essential amino acids to really work they have to be high in lucine.

Leucine is the trigger that sets muscle protein synthesis in motion. That's the muscle building uh that you get from essential amino acids. And you need your essential amino acids to be at least 40% leucine, which Keons is. They list everything, but they have other products too. They have uh creatine uh is one of them. And I believe they have a really high quality fish oil as well. Um so if people are interested in like really really good supplements, Keon is like uh super super high quality.

They they do have good omegas. Yeah, I use those. Yeah. So, I actually I actually use those. those. those. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, that's I'm I'm I'm big on their omegas. I like their omegas. What else does it say? They have uh protein. Yep. Yep. Yep. Oh, good. Um and they have the amino acids, essential amino acids, both powder and caps. I like the capsules. Um just because it's it's it's You just throw five in there. Yep. Yeah. So, I'm a I'm a big fan.

I don't know if what's more popular for them if they sell more of the powder or not, not, not, but I like I like the capsules. It just I find it easier to to carry with me and then I could I could just with water throw them in my mouth and then or whatever I'm drink. I could be drinking anything and I I like them when people are in a cut. I think when you're in a cut, it makes a much it makes a really big impact to help preserve muscle.

Oh yeah. Well, that and then because GLP1s are so popular, I think it becomes I mean when you look Oh, that's a necessary. Yeah. people that we coach on GLPs were like, "You're going to use essentials." A tool in your tool box. Yes. Minimize that muscle loss. Totally. Uh did you guys know I got a fact for you guys. Did you guys know that there was a strongman competitor that got banned? banned? banned? He got banned from strong from from competing because he was too dominant.

Yes, it is. It is true. Bill Casmire. I remember Bill Casmire. Yeah. Bill Casmire. I knew he was banned. Bill Casmier was banned because he just he destroyed the competition too much. Anyway else looks silly. Now I got to say this my opinion I think that was a stupid decision because they would I think it's when you have somebody that dominant it only gets more views. I think they had the wrong idea but that's literally why they banned him is he was too good. What are examples of can you is it the ' 80s or '9s?

It was 1982. Yeah. He was 29 years old. This was like at the peak of his career. By the way, I'm going to tell you guys just how this guy's just a machine, right? He held world records in powerlifting along with strongman competitions. strongman competitions. strongman competitions. He was 6'2, 300 or something, 340 lb. He was a Do you know how strong he was in powerlifting? By the way, this is before double ply, triple ply shirts. This is like single ply powerlifting. Do you guys want to know what his left his lifts were?

No way. No way. No way. 660 lb bench, 900 lb squat, 880lb deadlift. deadlift. deadlift. That's great. That's great. That's great. That guy right there. Just a moose. Wellrounded. Just just in the hospital a month ago. How's he doing? Was he really? Yeah. See that over the right says that one month ago Bill was That doesn't say Does it say that sucks? I'm pulling it up. He's 72 years old. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's 6'2. Yeah. Was he see what like half right though? How many is it?

He he deadlifted a thousand something pounds in the competition with one of those like Was it the one with the coins? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, so did I ever tell you guys when I met him? So let's see. He's 72 now. So, this must have been have been have been I was uh let's see about maybe 12 or 13 years ago. This is right maybe a a couple years before we started Mind Pump. So, let's see. 72. So, that would have made him how old?

Uh 60. So, he's about 60 years old. I went to the uh Arnold Classic event. This is the bodybuilding show, but they also have the big fitness event where you're for people don't know like you there's like a huge convention center and they have like arm wrestling and uh powerlifting comp like all it's like this huge strength uh event type of deal and um there were two things that stood out to me. One of them was this I never I forgot the guy's name. Don't remember him.

Skinny black dude had an arm wrestling table and a line of people lined up and he might have weighed 160 pounds and he was just beating everybody in arm wrestling. He just kept going through everybody. It was pretty crazy, pretty crazy, pretty crazy, huh? huh? huh? Then I remember there was a booth with Bill Casmire, 60-year-old Bill Casmire, and people were taking pictures with him, and then he was taking frying pans, and you could hold the frying like a legit frying pan, curling them like with one hand.

He would grab it like this and roll it up, dude. dude. dude. 60-year-old man with his fingers. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy. So, I I'm just baffled by the fact that they kicked him out of the sport that he was dominating. was dominating. was dominating. That doesn't make any sense. When does that happen in any other sport? Well, I was going to bring up what you don't see is someone getting kicked out, but what you do see in sports, they change the rules.

rules. rules. Yes, they change the rules. And I was trying to think like where where what are some things I know I know Formula 1's done it. I know like race sports have done that where they've changed like okay, you guys can't have an engine bigger than this or you guys can't do this with the I mean I think it was Wilt Chamberlain when goending came around because that wasn't a thing before that. I believe I think that was what his was was. I think we we started doing that.

I know that. So there's in basketball there's been many things that they've had to change because of a a guy comes in and then just oh my god that's too good. Yeah. Like he's just standing at the hoop and he's knocking the ball. Is Is Is that what goalending is? Yeah. Yeah. Goalending mean so when a when a ball is on the downward part of the arch you can't hit it out of the air. air. air. Otherwise Otherwise these seven foot guys would just stay right at the rim and just and just and just Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. volley it out. Yep. Yep. Yep. So that's what he was doing. Yes. So is it is it Yeah. It was 1961 to stop him. Yeah, because he could stand effortlessly c effortlessly catching and tipping. Yes. Because he was so tall and long that he could just stand in front of the hoop when the right before the ball got just just take it out of the air. And so now you can't you you can you can get on the way up, but you can't get on the way down.

He was he Okay. Was he for his time in comparison to other Was he the most dominant basketball player of all time? Well, he's he's the only one that's ever scored 100 points in a game. That's what I mean. So, like obviously because people do this with sports, they'll take a pass person and try and place him in a modern game. That's not fair. fair. fair. That's not Yeah. But while he was playing Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Was he the most dominant that we ever Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Like, nobody's ever been that dominant in basketball. in basketball. in basketball. In that era, yeah. I don't know who would be comparable in that era with No, no, no, no. Yeah. No, no, not not in that era. That I mean 100 that if if we define that by point scoring that that's it. No one's ever scored it. No one's ever scored 100 points. You've had some get close with 70s and 60s. That's so crazy. But 100 points in a game is just is What does that say right there?

Uh Doug, what are you looking at? Is that that was was was so Will Chamber era said that this is Will Chamberlain on Mike Michael Jordan. The difference between you and me is that they had to change the rules so I couldn't dominate. They changed the rules for you so that you could dominate. What did they do? What do they do with Oh, you're hitting Adam in the heart right now. Oh, Jordan's boy. That's a That's a That's Is that really a a a Apparently that's Will Chamber Will Chamberling.

That must I bet that's a tongue and cheek type of comment like that. I don't think I don't even think that will You got to love Hey, you know what I love about those old like 1960s7s basketball guys? The Why are the shorts so small? They were shorts like things were hanging out, bro. bro. bro. Like don't be jumping on their Chuck Taylor shoes and everything is is wild with these. with these. with these. Remember have I did I remember did you me tell the story you guys about?

So in high school we had those like we had like shorts that were from like the 50s and 60s. So our old high school it was like oh yeah I mean you know some somebody who went to school when we went to school has I'm sure has experienced this where you had a school that didn't have a lot a lot of money and budget and so our basketball jerseys and shorts were from like the 50s and 60s and they were like tight. So they were skin tight and super short and so and then when the school got a little bit of money the first the first team varsity got the the nice stuff and so when you were a freshman and sophomore keep the tiny.

Yeah. So listen to this though. So this is what happens to me. So freshman sophomore year we get this then we get to JV and and we get to then we get to JV and and varsity and we're finally going to get the the new awesome uniforms, right? And so we've already been wearing the Daisy Dukes. this up comes this freshman. I'll never forget his kid. This kid's name was Derek Schaefer and he was like 66 300 lb as a freshman. And so because he couldn't fit in any of those clothes, they gave him they gave the freshman class our varsity jerseys and we had to go back to the shitty jersey.

shitty jersey. shitty jersey. Oh my god, bro. I remember I remember being angry for a year. I mean, my my buddies and I that all play, we were so looking forward to find we were so ready for like the cool long, you know, I just picture you in high school with a tiny cuz you probably skinny kid some skinny little skinny little skinny little Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. No, I was I was super skinny. I was short, too, until junior senior year. So, I was I wasn't I was skinny and small.

I was only I was 53 and about 10. And how long were you 53 for freshman year? And then I was like five six five six five eight uh sophomore year. Junior summer is when I when I sprouted all the way to six foot. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And then I grew even after high school. So I kept growing until I was out even out of high school. Um but yeah, I was I was was was I was 6 foot as tall as I am now in uh nth grade.

Boom. Done. Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow. Yeah. I got tall and that was it. Done. Yeah. Like ending. Oh yeah. No, I was I was short. Yeah. I was I was short. When did you like Yeah, I was like 510 and then it was junior. Yeah. Summer, same where I sprouted six and then it just So my brother was like you. My brother we thought was going to be a little guy and uh then suddenly he's a giant. It just But just But just But yeah, you would have thought I was going to be very little because I was short and skinny.

So I look like I was going to be super small which I look back now which is I always tell stories of like I was never like this gifted athlete. Always had to work really hard. I mean I was small too. So I was like I got bullied around in sports and but it was really good for me because it it made me have to I always and I was I'm also young for my class too. So that adds another layer. So I'm young for my class.

I was small for my class but then by by the time I got older then I really like sprouted and grow grew and then later I filled out but it took me a long time. long time. long time. High school's funny like that. Like you'll see your buddy come back after summer he's got like a mustache. What happened? You know, that's with my youngest right now and his friends. He was like he just all of a sudden sprouted up and he's got this little stash and really hey guys, you know, like all his friends like, "Hey, we haven't seen you forever." forever." forever." I'm like, "Oh my god, I forget that he's like a young kid." Yeah, your boys I Your boys have really grown and changed in the last year or two.

I they I've seen them really really grow. Yeah, they look they look so different to me than just a couple years ago. I mean they it's funny to see too when they grow like their feet and hands will get big first and then just look awkward as hell because things don't grow evenly grow evenly grow evenly you know. Oh my god. How are how are you with them? Because they are they're turning into little men now. Like uh challenging you and all that like are Yeah, they they Yeah, it's like I'll I'll still wrestle and we we'll pick fights and and just to get some energy out, but yeah, they're I think what what's new with that is more of like um I'll say something and then they'll try and make fun of me.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Which is new. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I I I'll clap back, you know, and like I'm like, "Okay, you want to go down that road?" And then we start getting into it. But it's funny, they're just trying to like, you know, press the line and like make jokes at my expense. And, you know, that's new cuz it's cuz it's cuz it's um um um You're used to being cool dad. You used to be the cool dad. Now it's like, you know, they're trying to kind of of of Yeah.

Yeah. Shake me a bit. I get teased constantly, but that's cuz I have a 16-year-old daughter and 18-year-old niece, and so they're like teenage girls, and I think this is, you know, they like to do that with dad. They like to tease. And it's fine cuz I don't tease them back. They can't take it if I did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I let them, you know, so they tease and they'll joke around. Yeah. I feel like from the girls it come. It's like Yeah. It's it's cute, sweet, it's funny.

Where with you, I feel like it's a part of manhood. It's a part of like there is a part of feeling out, you know, like I'm becoming my own man. And so does it ever do you? Well, it's it's it shows up like this. Like I'll be, you know, sitting on the couch. I'm like, "Hey, hey, pal, before you go to your room, like, can you, you know, take the dishes and put them in the dishwasher and this?" He's like, "Oh, yeah, because you're, you know, something about me being lazy on the couch and like I can't I I should do it myself kind of a thing." And I'm like, and I just get up like, "What' you say?" Like, they like end up going to do it, you know?

But so I'm just like, "Excuse me?" you know, like, oh, end you. you. you. But it's I know it's like, you know, they're just trying to press me and see what they're doing. It's I It has to be that that's just uh Are they Are they Are there any mood? Because obviously I have teenage teenage girls and mood swings are just come with the territory. Do they have Because boys can get that a little too. They have big moods. I guess like uh usually it's it it comes with a struggle of like either something at school they're not performing well in or something you know like for their sport uh that they overcome.

It's not just random. Yeah. It's very much much much nothing happens predictable. What's happening? happening? happening? Yeah. Do they do they both your kids a question for both of you like that? Cuz I you know I'm still young right? So we're still turning seven years old right now. So the the one thing that my son is uh I mean he's he's been such a saint. He's so easy. But there's for sure uh if he is tired, hungry, or he has come from his his his grandma's house or like can get in like a mood.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And sensitive and if he doesn't get his way like he then that like you can see this side of him that you just he's it's so I'm so used to this kid being so consistent that those three things throw off the consistency. He's the perfect storm. It is. It's just and it and what it shows up like is like emotional over just the dumbest of things for no reason. It's just like what why what do you like it's it's like ridiculous what and it's like and I always have to reme remind myself oh that's right like he was over at Nana's house last night.

They stayed up till 10:00 at night. So I'm getting a combo of both we're tired today and we just got done being being told never being told no all day long you know. So the fact that you're being told something or no, like all of a sudden you're getting like that's not like him to be that way. So do they have tells like that or and I I just thought of you know the main thing that I usually now now I'm learning that this is really the the core of it is that they're scared.

It's something that they're scared about like like like for Ethan like cuz I kept teasing him and pressing him on getting his license because like you know he hasn't been putting all the work in with driving the car. I'm try we're trying Courtney and I both are trying to get him to drive and get more reps and and you know and he and he just seems so like aloof about it and like ah you know like I know I know like all this like false confidence and he he his personality is very much more like you know like portrays all this confidence but inside he's really scared you know and and I've just started to pick up on that and I'm like okay so I just need to be a little more like hey bud let's go for a ride you know versus teasing.

versus teasing. versus teasing. Teasing them about Yeah, exactly. So, I've adjusted my strategy with that quite a bit. That's interesting. That's interesting. That's interesting. There's a surefire way to wake up ready to go to the gym feeling fresh after a night of drinking. It's with Ziotics pre-alcohol. So, this is a pre-alcohol probiotic drink that's the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. Now, it was invented by PhD scientists who wanted to tackle rough mornings after drinking. So, here's how it works. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut.

It's this byproduct, not dehydration, that's to blame for your rough next day. Pre-alcohol produces an enzyme and it breaks down this byproduct in the gut. So, remember to have Zbiotics before your first drink of the night. It lasts for about 18 to 24 hours. Drink responsibly. Watch how you feel the next day. Go to zbiotics.com. That's zb IoT tics.com/mindpump26. Use the code mindpump226. Get 15% off. Back to the show. This segment of the podcast is brought to you by Mindpump Fitness Coaching. This is the number one course that teaches trainers and coaches how to build sustainable sixf figureure plus businesses and careers in fitness.

Look, it's roundt based. So you can hear Adam, Justin, and myself teaching you how to build a better business, get more leads, close more deals, close bigger deals, and be more effective trainers. By the way, our course is nationally recognized. In fact, it gives you 1.9 CEUs with or for your NASM certification. Find out more at mindpunfitnesscoaching.com. Our first caller is Philip from Ontario. What's happening? What's happening? What's happening? How you doing, Phil? Hey guys, this is insane. Cool. How can we help you? I've been you guys for a long time.

So, uh, this this is this is really cool. How are you guys? Good, dude. How can we help you, dude? Right on. Right on. Right on. Um, so yeah, I'll just do like what everybody else does and just read my email. Uh, make it uh try and make it short and sweet. Um, so yeah. Um, name's Phil, 35, uh, from Ontario. I've been a listener. It says over two years, but I've actually been doing the math and it's been closer to five. Um, and I love the show.

Um, and you guys have changed the way I look at uh health the way I look at uh health and general fitness. So, um, I've always been a big guy, 6'2. Uh, at my heaviest I was 330 lb and at my lightest I was 185. Um, uh, when I was a little younger, obviously, but, uh, still. Um, just before I found you guys, I went from 330 to 225. Um, on all the wrong ways, fasting, uh, cardio, and I wish I knew now what I knew then.

Like, would have gotten so much better. Um, but anyway, uh, so I've been bouncing between 220 235 lbs. Uh, just recmping as I go. Um, but the reason why I'm writing into you guys has nothing to do with my metabolism. Uh, just to kind of give you some backdrop. basically. But uh two summers ago when I started figuring out um everything about metabolic health and and you know uh exercises that were were king for for for for that metabolic health. Um I knew that I had to start doing the bigger compound lifts and and getting into that.

So um went into the squat rack, started you know learning how to squat, deadlift and all that and um progressed pretty quickly. um got my deadlift eventually up to 405. Um my squat I was progressing rather quickly. I would say too quickly. I got up to 225 which is a lower number. But um I don't think I had the greatest of form. Uh but one day, this is again two summers ago, I uh went down to the squat and when I was in the hole, I felt a pop and on my way up, I thought, "Okay, I finished the rep and I was like, okay, I'm just not going to do anymore." Walk away.

By the time I walked over to the dumbbell uh rack, I couldn't walk. Um everything had seized up. It took me 4 days to feel like I could walk without looking like I was crippled. was crippled. was crippled. Um and it's never been the same since. So, I got an MRI after waiting for one year. uh yay Canadian healthcare. Uh and um so I uh found out I have a moderate bulging disc between L5 and S1 um with a severe narrowing of the left forum nerve um where I felt the pop.

So it's kind of like in the iliac crest area. Um now some days I don't notice pain at all. Like I'll wake up feel brighteyed and bushy tailed. Uh, and then other days it's like even you know how when you roll around in bed you engage your core that like this past Sunday it sucked kept me up all night like it just discomfort. discomfort. discomfort. Um, so I've done physio with somebody I trust. Uh, I see a pain specialist who does myofascial release um or a specific type of form of it.

Um, and I can still deadlift some days without any issues. Um, now I know a lot of people have bulging discs and never have an issue. um but or symptoms but I seem to do and um I know there's a weakness going on somewhere in my hips. I don't know where it is. Uh my physiootherapist has said that I have an amazing um external and internal hip rotation in terms of flexibility. I feel like it's tight, but he's saying that no, you you can move it really well.

Um I've tried to do 9090s, but I can't get my seatbones all the way down onto the floor, so I don't feel like I'm doing them correctly. Um, so in my email I've also stated like if the pain is in my hip, it's not in my lower back. And if it's in my lower back, it's not in my hip. I don't I've been sussing that out over the last little while, really paying attention. I don't think that's the case. [clears throat] Um, so, Um, so, Um, so, you know, I I've debated on hiring a coach to kind of go through some movement exercises.

And something I didn't really list in here is um I kind of have um a struggle uh because I was always the overweight guy. Um I've I've come to realize and and after listening for to you guys for so long like S I think I think you'll empathize um empathize with me on this is is the addiction of going to the gym, working out, lifting. Um, and I've, you know, had this this drive to to get jacked for for a while now. And, uh, it's a big goal of mine, but I think I really need to change my focus here this this summer.

What I want to plan on doing is going to like a three-day a week um almost like a full body routine within my limitations because I I try and avoid hip hinging movements because of my um my my hip and and that uh and that bulging disc, though I know it can be worked on. So, the idea would be to work out less. I'm currently working out six days a week. I would go work out three days a week and then the other three days still go to the gym and and basically become like the mobility guy, right?

Try and focus on mobility. So, that's kind of where I'm at right now. Um I want to see if if if strength training uh properly with with the right mobility techniques would would help this. Um but yeah, uh that's that's pretty much it. You're on the right track. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, you're on the right track. I think the the reason why you're still dealing with this issue is because you're doing a little too much uh with your workouts. So, you can have, you know, too much volume, too much intensity, frequency intensity, frequency intensity, frequency um in the short term, but it can also just be cumulative.

What that means is, you know, six days a week you do fine for a while and then suddenly you start to notice pain and issues. Um and that's because stress becomes cumulative uh over time. So, this is why athletes will do things like de load weeks or they'll do a whole cycle of lighter training. Uh, and it's not because the training was too much before, it's because the training becomes too much over time. Does that make sense? So, I think you're moving in the right direction.

I think the difference between the days you feel no pain and the days you do has has probably more to do with systemic inflammation. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. And that's where you're starting to see the issues. Now, could there be some uh movement issues or some imbalances there? Yeah, possibly. I think going to a physio is a good idea. Uh I think I would look at the pelvic floor. Uh this is an area that men often don't even look at for strengthening. I would also look at strengthening core, obliques with rotation.

I would look at strengthening the hip flexors. Those are all areas that support kind of where you're where you're talking. I think a great routine for you uh would be symmetry map symmetry and I and I think following map symmetry with by and skipping the last phase would be a good idea for a couple rounds and that's going to get you in the gym an appropriate amount. You're not going to be in the gym six days a week. It's an appropriate amount of exercise. I believe it's three days a week.

Um and then in between I like I like mobility and movement on the days in between, but you don't want to get carried away with like too much intensity on those days in between. That's why I would have put him towards performance. I liked I like cuz Matt performance is programmed out that way for him already. It's not as sim it's not as unilateral focused, but it's still got unilateral work and it's got a lot of things that there's two phases in performance I'd be I wouldn't want him in like phase one I think and maybe the last one.

Uh do you have what do you have for mobility, Phil? Do you have any structured mobility or none unfortunately? No. Um finances have been a bit I just bought my first house so Symmetry's got mobility. It has Yeah, it has uh the mobility sessions and I believe it's in phase two. two. two. There you go. So, Symmetry's got the mobility in there as well. So, Symmetry will give you a workout plus the mobility and it's going to be unilateral for I would say a couple cycles.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, the last phase of Symmetry is bilateral bilateral bilateral 5x5. Skip it. Skip it twice. Uh so, you'll be going through about four months of of pretty much all unilateral style training. Y modify if you need to, but I think you'll be okay. um and allow your body to rest uh and recover because I think it's tied to inflammation at this point. Yeah, I agree. Your thought process is correct though. I mean, this is what symmetry is going to be like for you.

It's going to be three days of like uh strength training and then the other two days of mobility type focus. And so that's what I would be doing. You know, two of the biggest coralates for chronic pain are no no no stress uh poor sleep. So my my sleep is locked. I get like n like 85s 90s on my sleep scores. um you know eight hours of sleep every night, sit bed same time, wake up same time, get blocked. get blocked. get blocked. My point with that wasn't to point to your sleep, but rather to point the effects of uh cumulative stress on the body.

So lack of sleep is a real clear one or poor sleep. Uh and I [clears throat] think six days a week, how long you been doing six days a week for? Uh about two or three years. Yeah. Yeah, Yeah. Yeah, Yeah. Yeah, you know, you know, six six days a week consistently is is like without taking lots of time off, without doing periods of time where you're doing two days a week, something that is too much for probably 90 something% of people. Yeah. And like I mean I'm probably wrong in stating this, but I do know that I spend a lot of time in the gym.

Um obviously six days a week, but I also take extremely long rest periods cuz I do um emphasize and focus on on on like the strength component of it. So everything is a minimum of three minute rest periods if not five if not more depending on the type of lift. Right? But even for like a simple a simple exercise like bicep curls, I'm doing a long hold of like three or four minutes. Um really focusing on getting stronger and I don't do too many reps or too many sets.

So um but you've been doing it for a long time. Well, you know what you're what you're describing too is incredible for building strength, but that does that does damage to the body, right? So if I lift heavier, if I give longer rest periods and I lift a heavier weight, I do more uh damage to the but it's good damage, right? Sends a signal to build muscle. So you're doing the the right thing. But when you talk about what Sal's talking about with the accumulative stress, that's not doing you any more or less favors.

I mean, it's still that's still considered a lot. Like that's not uh so let's say you, you know, you circuit trained where you never rested and you just went all the way through. You could argue that that's equally as much stress on the body or maybe even less than what you're doing because you're able to load more because you're giving your rest period. So the load that you're able to put on the body, even though you're giving the rest periods, you you can put a lot of load which puts a lot of stress on the body.

And again, Phil, think of it this way. It's cumulative. Yeah. So it it it's fine. You get away with it for a while, but now you're noticing like pain come back, you know, on and off. It could look like a little This is what it looks like for uh some for people with cumulative stress. progress stalls. I get a little stiffness. Some days feel better. Some days I'll feel worse. For most uh men your age, you know, good health, everything's good, typical guy, eating right, all that stuff.

Mo for most guys, three days a week is the is the fall back with strength training, appropriate strength training. And then you'll have sprints where you do more. But for most guys, about three days a week is is uh that's kind of where you're going to be at most the time. I mean the other the other option of uh programming is a 15 15 style symmetry and then the other the other rest of his hour is spent on mobility. That's the other option. So you do two lifts a day.

So every day you're still lifting weights but it's only two lifts and then you're doing mobility. mobility. mobility. You're doing 30 minutes of mobility which I I don't know which one you're matches Yeah. cadence a bit better. And probably And probably And probably go ahead. go ahead. go ahead. Yeah. Sorry. I think I think I'm going to lean more towards 15 symmetry because because the my the way my schedule works with work and I'm always driving into the city. I've got long commutes and stuff like that.

I'm I'm always near the gym. Um so yeah. And and then if I didn't want to work out on one day, I could just combine two of the 15minute routines on one day anyway. Right. anyway. Right. anyway. Right. You could or you could just start back up the when you're when you're you know where you where you where you No. So I think that so yeah I think 15 symmetry work and then focus a lot on the mobility so that I think that'll really serve you and that's so uh extreme the other direction right of really we're really reducing the volume there if you start feeling really good in the first few weeks that's like your clear indicator that you just you'll know pretty quickly you'll know within the first uh few weeks because you'll feel stronger you'll feel more energy you'll be like oh god thing things are starting to feel better probably by month one or two less pain okay this is not at all the route I I figured that you guys were going to say.

I was thinking something like uh Maps Prime or something like that. Like it's it's a movement issue. Um that's what I was just assuming. Here's why. There could very well be that also, but here's why I'm not going hard in that direction because I still think you should do mobility. [snorts] Uh but you're you saw a physio. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh so and they're experts at identifying movement pattern issues. Uh and they did say you got good, you know, external motion both ways. Yeah. So there's no glaring issue.

Uh otherwise a physio will be like, "Oh yeah, here's your problem." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um and then based on how much you're working out, like this is super common with people who are really consistent with workouts who have like kind of an issue that can pop up. Sometimes it's a knee knee knee or a back. Uh you know, you don't have a like you said in your in your email, you don't have this massive bulging or slip disc. It was kind of minor, some narrowing of the nerve.

Uh but u it's just a constant. It's irritating. So So So and sometimes you're like, I don't feel any pain. And so that points to to you're just kind of you're redlining a little bit for too long. Maybe not hardcore redlinining, but you're just too consistently, you know, pushing the limit. limit. limit. Okay. So, on on the topic of of of uh symmetry, um there's no mobility stuff in symmetry, right? It's just the it's just the main exercises. So, are there mobility uh exercises that I should be doing for my hips that would would benefit?

benefit? benefit? There is. Yeah, there there's some Yeah, there's some in there. So, Symmetry actually like in between we have these frequency builders and so we did add in like uh trigger sessions from anabolic and also um the mobility sessions from performance. So what I would do is take you know pull from the from the performance mobility uh movements there and anything hip related you know hip flexor um you know anything you can pull from there I think would be very helpful for for for Yeah.

The other thing too is because symmetry is unilateral that in in and of itself is correctional. What are what what movements does the physio have you doing right now? Do they have you doing anything? anything? anything? So So So So I haven't seen that physio in a while. So I've been seeing the the pain specialists now because I'll be honest like the physio so I I uh tore uh my suppinatus suppinatus suppinatus I don't know 8 years ago. Uh and she helped me back from that injury amazingly and now I can push 200 lb overhead without any issues.

Um but um doing the hip uh rehabilitation just didn't really like we kept treating it. Uh but the movements and nothing was really working. So I kind of just stopped. Um shame on me but you know uh such is life. Um but the pain specialist was the one who said like yeah your your external and hip rotation is just amazing. Now, the one thing he did say was that the muscle I think it's the IT band, the one that um connects down to the outside of the knee.

Um is he said it is the tightest and hardest uh IT band he's ever seen in his career. I have zero discomfort from it. I don't even notice it. Um so I don't know if that's also an indication of something, but um it band tightness can come from instability or overwork. Over work. Yeah. So runners will get that that that probably. Yeah. And again, like I said, I think it's this I think so when somebody's doing a little too much for a little too long, like in your case, uh, and it starts to kind of compound, more work is not the not the solution.

So, more mobility work might be like the best thing for you, right? Yeah. I've seen people with like pain and they just, oh, I'm going to do more mobility, more mobility, and it gets worse. worse. worse. Uh, because they're actually they're doing more when they need to do less. Okay. That's why we'll know pretty quickly putting you on a 15 protocol with that. Yep. To use Justin's advice, take the stuff that's in there that's related to hips. Don't overdo it. Just every day and then in a couple weeks you should already start to feel better and like you're moving in the right direction.

That that'll be a really good sign that we're on the right path. [snorts] [snorts] [snorts] Okay. Okay. Cool. We'll send that over to you, Phil. I I much appreciate, guys. That's that's amazing. Thank you. Yeah. Check check back with us, too. I'd like to hear from you in like a give us like a month or two of you of doing this and let us know how you're doing. Yeah, maybe we'll have you back on to hear what's going on. Okay, cool. Yeah. How do I reach Do I just Same email.

Same Yep. Same Yep. Same same email. I'll just let her know. A guy said they wanted an update on how to get to us. Yeah, we'll reach out to you. We'll make a note. We'll see if we can have you back on at 60. Okay, cool. Cool. Yeah. Um, again like just before like at the end here, um, I I really really hope that the general population population population gets your message and it becomes it becomes the norm. Um, I I preach you guys all the time.

I think my wife is sick and tired of me bringing you up all the time. Um, she's always doing too much. Um, so she's working out, you know, same thing six days a week and she's uh she's going crazy, but she's she's loving it. So awesome. awesome. awesome. Um, but yeah. Um, okay. And I forget who the psychopath said that, you know, you put put put jam on the bread first and then peanut butter. butter. butter. Jam first. Jam first. Jam first. That's That's exact. That's the only way to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, bro.

is jam. Hey, he still he also pees sitting down. Remember? Yeah, that's nothing. nothing. nothing. Adam, I'm with you on that one. [screaming] [screaming] [screaming] That's worse, dude. Make your peanut butter. butter. butter. Yo, he's he's a happily married man. That's why. That's why. That's why. Whatever. They're going to clip that out and put you in a category. Right on, Phil. Hey, we apprec Hey, we appreciate the support, brother. Thank you so much, dude. Okay. Thank you. Thank you guys. Much appreciate it. Take it easy, brother.

All right. You too. You too. You know where a lot of the confusion comes from? When people hear peanut butter and jelly. No. No. No. When people hear uh you know the the value of activity, the value of daily movement, the val is they confuse daily activity with workout. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. So when you're lifting weights, you're working out. I'm in there to send a signal. signal. signal. But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't do daily activity, right? And people confuse the two. They're like, "What do you mean I I shouldn't lift weights six days a week?

I'm supposed to exercise every single day. No, no. Lifting weights is like that's a hard stress. hard stress. hard stress. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For most people, what it's going to look like for most of the time, uh, especially as you get into your 30s and beyond is you're going to be lifting about 3 days a week is what it's going to look like. It's ideal. It's ideal. It's ideal. That's what it's going to most of the time. And you have little sprints where you do more, but most of the times about 3 days a week.

That's where you're going to get the best results. That doesn't mean you're not active uh every day. You should definitely move every single day. And that could look like walking. It could look like stretching, could look like swimming, could look like lots of different things. But the lifting part, six days a week is too much for pretty much everybody. much everybody. much everybody. I feel like we should um like I'm trying to picture what it would look like right now if we if we designed this um like a almost like a one page printout and like the perfect routine.

Well, no, no, no. Like uh we showed like here's your stress bucket, right? And like uh a strength training workout is like a a rock this big. You know what I'm saying? That goes into that bucket, which it's a good rock, but it fills up this much of your bucket. Stress. Yeah. You only have so much. Yeah. Walking little tiny little pebble, right? Or and like I think walking takes the pebble out or or uh high stress at work. Big rock. You know what I'm saying?

Like and so we could give people this idea and like and once that bucket is full. I don't give a [ __ ] if if a lot of it's full of stuff that you would consider good, it's full. And anything over that is overstress. And then your body is going to start to rebel and do things like this. And so understanding how to to balance that out because even like when he was repeating back like no I I listen to you guys on how you you talk about strength training and so he's doing the right protocol for building muscle.

Absolutely. Giving yourself 3minut rest periods but then you also got to know that when you rest for 3 minutes that now allows you to load the bar a lot more which pushes the body more which is more stress which is good because that's what builds more muscle but that doesn't make the rock any smaller. the rock is as big if not the irony of what you caught was like he's trying to find another thing to add to solve the problem that's already a lot of things that we need to get rid of.

of. of. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you know by the way uh pro bodybuilders back in the day would take 3 months 4 months off a year. Yeah. Ronnie Coleman Ronnie Coleman Ronnie Coleman uh most people consider the greatest Mr. Olympia of all time after he'd win the Mr. Olympia did nothing for two months. No working out, no nothing at all for a full 60 days. the body fully recovered. He'll know he'll know we're on the right path when Cuz I'm glad we went to the 15 route because that's even been reducing his volume even more.

Yep. Yep. Yep. He should notice he should feel a couple weeks he'll feel better. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. And if you feel better after a couple weeks of us reducing that much volume, that's what you needed to go that direction. Our next caller is Fen from Ontario. from Ontario. from Ontario. Fen, how you doing? How you doing, Fen? I'm really good. How are you? Good. How can we help you? Good. Um, well, I feel like it's my turn for show and tell because I was on three months ago and um, I wrote on and was asking for your advice on how to build the lower body that I wanted and you guys recommended me to increase my calories, build the body I wanted through um, Muscle Mommy.

So, this is my check-in for um, I completed that. So, I can read off my stats and I'm really proud of what I accomplished. I had a lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then if it's okay, I want to share my biggest win with you, which is actually a little bit of a qualitative story. So, story. So, story. So, um, so when I called in at the end of March, my weight was 132 to 134. Um, and I was eating 2200 calories and I wanted to build my lower body.

So through increasing my calories, I went up to 2400 in April and May and got to 2550 2550 2550 to 2600 in this so far in June. Um my weight is now 135 to 136. I'm still eating 150 to 160 of protein. Um my waist stayed the same. Um and my hips increased an inch. My glutes got an inch bigger. So I was proud of myself for that. that. that. Um, and I had a lot of fun because I'd never done 5x5s before. I'd always trained like with a little bit lower weight and higher reps.

So, I got my squat from 80 in 3x5 to 100 by the end of phase 2 and then 135. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Nice. Nice. Nice. Yeah. And my deadlifts um RDL's went from 100 to 160 with my sumo squat or sorry, sumo deadlift. And I increased my hip threat thrust from 150 to 210. Wow. Wow. Wow. Look at you. Awesome. Yeah, it was really I was I had so much fun. Like I in the past have just been concerned about, you know, I don't know, the wrong stuff.

So, it was really fun to to work on getting stronger. Um, but the story I'm most kind of proud in a silly way to tell you is embarrassingly like over the last two years as I've been working on my fitness journey. Um, I felt like I would reach my goal when somebody told me I looked like I worked out. I just wanted somebody to tell me like, "Oh, you look like you work out." And two weeks ago, I was driving in the car with my kids.

I homeschool, so we drive around to different activities quite a lot. And I feel like we have our best conversations in the car. And my 10-year-old son is getting to the point where he doesn't quite think I'm I'm cool anymore. Um, but we were driving home from a birthday party and he got a bookmark in his loot bag and it had a picture of this woman superhero on it and he said, "Mom, this person looks like you." I was like, "Oh, like really?" And I looked at it and she looked like nothing like me at all.

He's like, "Yeah." I like, "Well, how so?" He said, "She's strong." That's wonderful. And so I finally realized that the positive feedback I was looking for was actually coming from my my 10-year-old son. son. son. So, um, anyways, so I'm writing back in because I wanted to ask you guys, um, I'm like so bought in and I'm so motivated to continue to work hard over the next six months and just get stronger and see my body continue to change. Um, so I wanted to ask you guys, um, if you were coaching me for the next six months, what would your road map look like for me?

Um, like what progression would you recommend after Muscle Mommy? Should I stay at my current calories or continue to increase? Um, what's like the highest leverage changes you think I could make or continue to do to just continue on the happy train that I'm on right now? because you um you mentioned that you really hadn't done any like 5x5 and that's like that was your real first experience. There's two things that come to mind right away. Either one, you could totally run Muscle Mommy again. I think you would be a great candidate for someone just to run it right back and probably even bump your calories another 100 200 more calories, keep going in the direction you're going.

Um or if you're interested in trying something like a powerlift, MAPS powerlift would be a really good program or MAPS Strong. Uh, a lot of our female clients love MAP strong. It's a lot of posterior chain focus. So, a lot of lot of glute, a lot of hamstring. So, if you like stuff like that and you want to devel continue to develop the lower body, um, those are two great options. But, you could totally just run back what you just did because that was so fresh and new for you.

That's the first time of really doing it in a calorie surplus. It's the first time running 5x5. The only other way I would push you in a different direction was if you gave me feedback of tightness or pain or anything going on with your body like that you have or imbalances. If you don't feel imbalanced, you don't feel any joint pain, you don't have any issues like that, then I would stay the course you're doing right now. So, so I'm going to encourage you uh by by telling you something that you could have done better.

And this is going to be encouraging. Okay. So, when I scroll Doug, if we scroll up to our stats again because I want to point something out here. So, your weight barely changed. So, 132, 134 to 135, 136, like it barely changed, but you gained an inch around your hips and your waist stayed the same. This tells me that you actually got leaner while you built some muscle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which tells me that your sur your calorie bump wasn't enough. Higher. You you would have got stronger and seen even more muscle gains where if your calories were closer to 2,700.

Okay, now this is encouraging, by the way, and I get it. you you know when people reverse diet go get it's a little apprehensive they don't want to go too fast I'm afraid if whatever and you made phenomenal progress but this is encouraging because I'm like oh my gosh we got some there's still room there yeah you're you're you're like at the beginning of the upward uh slope of progress like we bump your calories again go to maps powerlift you're going to see some crazy gains I mean your strength gains were amazing you're going to see that again y y y which is going to be even crazier because going from you know 80 to 135 squat going from 35 to 170 squat, you're going to see some crazy muscle gains uh in your lower body.

So, there's two ways we could approach this, and it really depends on how and you sound very motivated, which is why I'm going to present this to you. You could follow mass powerlift, bump your calories. Again, I'd go up to 2650, 2,700, and have some fun with it. Option two, if you really want to have a good time, would be to actually hire a coach who could take you through the whole six-month process and work with you every single month and modify and change as you go along.

Cuz what may happen, which is what I'm going to suspect if I was working with you, I think we got a lot of room in your metabolism. I think if we bump you up to 2650, probably within 3 weeks, I'm like, we're going up again. And then again, we're going up again. And you may be one of those people that gets up to 3,000 calories, doesn't really gain much body fat, and just builds crazy muscle and a metabolism that gives you ridiculous flexibility. flexibility. flexibility. So, those are the two routes that I would that I could I would go.

go. go. Um, so I've worked with a coach before. Um, we talked about it last time. She was actually really really great. Um, so I I did really enjoy the process and actually the only reason that I stopped working with her was that I decided to sign my kids up for uh like um a homeschool program that then I paid for instead of paying for coaching for myself. Um so it's a potential um but I think it would depend on uh what the cost is because my kids are thriving in the environment that they're in now.

So I can't pull them out just from my own personal um my own personal uh needs. But um I have a question about strong and about powerlift. So um when in phase three of muscle mommy when I was doing um the overhead push press the first week, I had never worked with so I only just started working barbell in February um and I had only been using it for lower body lifts. So, when I was using it for upper body, I noticed it's a skill I'm not used to.

And so, when I was doing the push press, um, I kind of tweaked my left shoulder a little bit. Um, and it was causing me some issues. So, I didn't push press for the rest of phase three. I just did regular dumbbell overhead presses because I felt like it was it was more comfortable on my shoulder. So, I think I'm a little bit hesitant to try to lift a lot of weight overhead overhead overhead um with a barbell. No, you don't have to. That's a that's a perfectly fine modification.

modification. modification. Uh you will be bench pressing in power lift. Okay, that was fine. Yeah, you're going to be bench pressing in powerlift. in powerlift. in powerlift. Yeah, overhead isn't a big uh you know, emphasis in that program. So, I mean, besides just uh your your regular, it's not going to be a push back press. I I really like uh even more now putting you in powerlift based off what you just told me too that this is your introduction to barbell lifting. It's the ultimate like if someone wanted to learn how to use the barbell it's powerlift is the the training program I'd put them on and uh it's it's going to get you good and proficient at that.

And you getting really proficient at those core lifts with the barbell is uh is going to get you really strong which is then going to carry over to the results that you want. How how long ago did you go up to 2550 with your calories? calories? calories? April, May. April, May. April, May. Um that was two weeks ago. It was around the beginning of June. They were trending up. Um but yeah, more consistently two weeks ago. weeks ago. weeks ago. Yeah. I like I like going up 150 a day.

It's not a ton, so nothing to worry about. 2700 about. 2700 about. 2700 maps powerlift. I think you're going to be blown away. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um so I have two more questions if that's okay. that's okay. that's okay. Sure. um if um like what strength benchmarks [clears throat] would you have in mind for me like to evaluate kind of whether the plan is working because I've because I'm new I've seen progression in all of my lifts every week and so I'm kind of used to that and I know that that will slow down.

So what any any strength gain is positive. Yeah. Don't get in the caught in the trap. trap. trap. Don't Yeah. Don't do that to yourself. would never give you a number like that and and potentially set you up for being let down for something that could be great still. Like getting stronger anywhere is positive. Yeah. So, so I would expect slower strength gains, but you've only been doing this for 90 days with the barbell. You've got yourself some some more consistent strength gains coming up. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So, you're still going to see some pretty good consistent strength gains. I I wouldn't expect a gain every week. That's that don't get caught up in that, but I think by the end of the program, you're going to see some clear number differences. And and we say don't expect it, but that could happen. It could. I mean, you're somebody who is not proficient in in barbell lifting and is just really getting good at it. That alone they will get. And then if you also give that person a calorie surplus, That's right.

That's right. That's right. and they're dialed in everywhere else. Oh my god. You absolutely could keep getting stronger like that. But I would, none of us would ever say that to you because if all sudden you had a week where you're like, "Hey, I didn't get stronger this week. Did I not am I not doing good?" It's like, no, that doesn't mean you're not doing good. You're doing great. You know, totally. And and I'm just like the reason why I said that and I think you're okay with this because of what you told me about your overhead press is if you get carried away with having to add uh weight to the bar and you start to ignore little nagging, you know, kind of pain and stuff.

Don't do that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like make sure your form and technique, but it sounds like you're you're really good with your technique and you pay close attention. close attention. close attention. Yeah. And this is part of the process, too. Like when you start really moving the weight fast, that's a whole another skill. And I think that this is a great process for you to then really adapt to barbell training, get strong, get um, you know, like consistent with that and be able to stabilize it properly and and and adjust.

And you know, from there then we can look at stuff like okay, we can get into like moving the barbell a little faster and what like some lifts uh that will complement that and then your body will respond at another level with that. So this is this is a great time for you to really just adapt to the barbell. Yeah, I I wouldn't be surprised if you gained a few pounds of of muscle by the end of mass powerlift. You know, like three three four pounds of muscle, I think would be uh I wouldn't be surprised if that happened.

Yeah, that sounds pretty exciting actually. actually. actually. Yeah, you're on you're on you're on a break. break. break. Okay, my Oh, can you still hear me a little bit? You're breaking up a little bit. We can hear you. Hello. Hello. Hello. Yep, we can hear you. Can you hear us? Okay. Um, so my Yeah, I can hear you. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um, Um, Um, we're [clears throat] delayed. That's what it is. Okay. My last question was just about Okay. Hello. Hello. We can hear you. We're just delayed.

Say it really fast. You want to reconnect? Maybe you can reconnect. Oh, reconnect. Oh, reconnect. Oh, okay. Okay. I will I'll just ask my question then and then I'll see um I'll listen to it when your answer comes through. My last question was um I've heard you guys talk about the concierge um coaching which would be like a once a month check-in thing um and I'm pretty uh dedicated. I'm really good at following through on plans. Do you think that that might be something that could benefit me um as I continue to progress through?

That's what I was I think that's what S was suggesting is that that's what would be perfect for you because you're already doing great on your own. Just having someone to check in and make modifications once a month would be perfect for you. That's right. Yep. Okay, great. I used to work as a nurse so I love data. I love seeing how the body responds and like tracking data and doing all of that stuff. So to have somebody coach me through the process like and then I can follow through for a month and check back in.

Yeah, sure. Yeah, sure. Yeah, sure. We'll we'll have somebody call you and set that up. That's ideal for you. That's what S was suggesting right there. That's perfect. Okay, perfect. Okay, thank you so much. I had so much fun and I would have never done this if you guys hadn't suggested it. I would have just kept spinning the hamster wheel and so I'm super happy and just yeah, my mood, my energy, my like outlook. I feel like I have so much more to give to the world now.

So, thank you so much. so much. so much. You got it. And I'm I'm just going to encourage you. It's going to get better. You're at the beginning. It's going to get continue to get better. Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited for you. Yeah. Excited for you and your coach. You guys are going to do great. Yeah. And I think that's one thing like you guys, but the coaches in general don't realize that what they're doing is that people who get stuck in this spot, they dedicate so much of their brain space um to focusing on fitness and like getting meeting their goals and how much they're eating and all this stuff.

And it's taking away from all of the gifts that were given to give the world. So you guys free up space for people when you get them in these these I don't know. I don't know if I'm making sense, but you've just freed up space for me to be a better person. That's that's you you actually summed it up really well. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. All right. Thanks, guys. You got it. Take care. Okay. Bye. Okay. Bye. Okay. Bye.

Yeah. When I looked at her stats, uh weight barely changed. waist didn't change. Hips went up an inch. She actually [clears throat] lost some body fat, built some muscle. Yeah. Yeah. She's in that perfect sweet spot. spot. spot. And just so people, this look at this is what women will freak out over this. But let's say you're in this process. You're trying to build and you do gain a little bit of body fat because you might uh through a surplus. And let's say your waist goes from 26 to 26 1/2, but your hips go from 38 and 1/2 to 40 or 40 and 1/2.

The ratio. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You look you actually look like you have a smaller waist cuz people freak out. Oh, my waist grew a little bit. That might happen a little bit in a surplus, especially if you're kind of lean. Yeah. But if you built more muscle, you you look better and you got more metabolic flexibility. flexibility. flexibility. Yeah. What it highlighted was she could have jumped right to where she's at now from from the jump and from from the jump and maybe we'd be up even higher calories.

Maybe we would but you know sometimes u some it worked out great because this is new to her and so just her yeah eased her eased her in nicely. Now she's bought in now. You could tell her go to 29 and she'd be like okay I trust you. So sometimes it's okay to take someone slow like this because it does it gets buy in and that trust and then now they're like, "Okay, I I get what we're doing." Yeah. doing." Yeah. doing." Yeah. Our next caller is Ben from New Hampshire.

Hampshire. Hampshire. What's up, Ben? What's happening, dude? How you doing, Ben? How's it doing? Good. How can we help you? Uh, first of all, I just want to say I love your show. I'm super consistent whenever I listen to you guys right here. Lee, I've been listening for about three years now, and you've helped me make some great gains. Um, thanks. thanks. thanks. Yeah. Yeah. So, to get into my question, um, you know, I've kind of always been that skinny kid. Um, growing up, went to college at I'm 6'2.

I was like 150 entering college. Um, really hit the gym, hit that unlimited meal plan, was bulking up. Um, made some really good gains, especially in the last couple years. I'm up to 230 now. And so, it's I'm thinking it's finally time for me to start cutting a bit. I've really never tried to do a dedicated cut in my life. So, before I really dove into it, I wanted uh your advice. How should I start? I want make sure I'm not losing too much weight and whatever your advice is.

advice is. advice is. Good. Start start with uh um so you've been listening to the podcast for a long time. time. time. Yep. Yep. Yep. Have you heard S and I talk about uh this this challenge because this was us, right? Skinny guy trying to gain weight our whole life and how the most challenging part for you will be the psychological part. Exactly. because being the because in your head you're still the skinny kid who's trying to get big and then when you start to cut to get shredded and you you're going to think you're losing muscle when you're probably not.

So I just want to start with that that before we get into like the like do this do that type of stuff is like know that there's going to be a period where you're going to be like I'm definitely losing muscle. This is not working and you're going to want to bail and I just want to encourage you to see it all the way through. You can always get it all back. It's real easy to put that weight once you've gotten to this point weight-wise. It's easy to get it back and so just see it all the way through.

I had to tell myself that I'm just committed to going this way. Even but I still believed I was losing muscle all the way there. Even though I knew better, I still believe that. And you just have to trust the process. I just want to start with that before. That's the big one. So So I'm reading the rest of your email. This is going to be kind of simple. Uh this will be a simple cut for you. you. you. Uh the hard parts with what Adam said, but what we're gonna what we can do is actually very simple and you'll see yourself lean out real nice.

You'll stay strong. You might even build some muscle uh through this process. And here's what it's going to look like because I see here that you eat out uh pretty regularly. And there may be some other habits there that you could probably clean up uh because you've you've never really worried about being too heavy. And literally, it just looks like this. Clean up your diet. And what does that look like specifically? Whole natural foods. foods. foods. Yeah. Prep your meals. That's it. Whole natural foods. Hit 220 grams of protein a day that you are getting from whole natural foods.

If you just do that, you'll get leaner. Yep. you'll get leaner consistently and still eat when you're hungry, but just make make the whole food choices. Done. Done. Done. Not not eating out because eating out will will mess up that signal and you'll overeat. But if you eat whole foods, I bet it'll naturally drop your calories 5 700 calories a day. Yeah. And you hit your protein, you know, like two 220 a day consistently, whole natural foods, you'll be great. By the way, if I when I do this, cuz I eat pretty healthy most of the time, but if I switch from eating out to eating what I make, I drop 2% without even trying.

Yeah. it just comes off. And I'm already sitting kind of lean. So, this is easy. So, I would get rid of like any liquid calories that you have, so sodas, anything like that. I'd get rid of uh like garbage, snacking, that kind of stuff, and eating out. And you just do that for like 2 or 3 months, and you'll see yourself get leaner. I would I would a good idea while you're doing this if you want to like continue going down this path because I think that'll take you easy the first four or 5%.

I think you'll get four or five% leaner just doing that, like relatively easy. And then if you're if you uh track the calories while you're doing that, so you kind of know where you're at, then to keep that progress going after a month or two and you start to slow down a little bit, you just reduce the calories by 500 or increase steps and activity and then I'll just keep it going another month or two. Yeah. Do you know how many grams of protein you're eating a day right now?

Do you track anything? Yeah, so that's the really the only thing I do track. Um and I I kind of do it more like mental math at the end of the day rather than entering something into an app. Um I just don't love tracking all the time. Um, but I usually make sure if I'm if I'm not at like 180 by the end of the day, I'll add in a protein shake. So, I make sure I'm usually always up to that like 220. I'm I'm going to make a little prediction here, Ben, because it's kind of loose with how you're doing it.

When you prep, you prep, you prep, it's very consistent because you know what you're making. You know what you're making. making. making. So, I I bet if you consistently just through your own prep, hit 220 grams of protein every single day, clean up your diet, I bet you you'll get I I bet you won't have to do anything else. Yeah, I bet you'll slowly Yeah, that's the formula. Yeah, a physique that looks more muscular muscular muscular just through getting leaner and you might even build. Yeah, the hard the hardest part will be staying consistent with it and then trusting that you're not losing muscle cuz what will happen is it'll put you in a calorie deficit right away.

Okay. And so that'll already put you but that'll also pull that glycogen out of that muscle which will make your muscles look a little bit flatter and smaller and that will mess with your head. But you didn't lose muscle. It's just they're depleted. they're depleted and now you're you're now you're cutting into fat storage which is where you want to be to lean out. So just get that out of your head that you you know you look worse or you don't like it like accept it uh and just keep going and then you'll see you're going to lean out just just to you're going to lean out just just fine just by simply making your meals.

It's going to be all based on your own consistency with what we're saying. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Whether this goes fast or this takes you a long time will be how consistently you do what we're saying. Now, on the the psychology part and like for how fast uh should I be weighing myself, once a week, once a day? day? day? If you want, once a week. No, if you want, once a week, but honestly, if you're consistent with what we just said, I think if you don't weigh yourself, you're better.

You'll see it in the mirror, dude. You'll work out. You'll take your shirt off and be like, "What's um what's your daily activity? What do you do for work?" Uh work, I sit a lot. Um I do try to get outside. You know, I've already got three walks in today. Um, so I probably get around, you know, 7,000 8,000 steps a day. Um, I hike a lot, too. So sometimes on a weekend I'll, you know, I'll go do a 10 mile hike. Like it's nothing. Um, nothing.

Um, nothing. Um, so I'll ask another question. I usually typically eat more on days where I, you know, do a 10 mile hike. Do you suggest trying to keep those calories higher? Again, if the the advice is literally if you're making your meals and you're hungry, eat hungry, eat hungry, eat eat more of it. Yep. Eat more of those. Yeah. Don't do this because this is sometimes what happens when people do like a long hike is they'll do a long hike, then they'll go eat out and eat garbage.

garbage. garbage. Yeah. Don't do that. Which is which is probably what you do. Most people do that. So, absolutely. absolutely. absolutely. Yeah. If you cut that out and just it's a it's what you made and you just eat a big portion of it, you're fine. Yeah. You'll be fine that way. Another uh Are you Ben? Are you familiar with uh the Concier program that we do? No. No. No. You might be a great candidate for that. Uh is is you just you meet once a month with a with a coach.

And so they're making subtle tweaks and so like as you have questions through it like as you're going and then they'll just tweak the program or tweak the diet as you're going through. Um, if that's something that interests you, I can have somebody call you and they can talk to you about what that would look like because you sound like you kind of know what you're doing. You've been good. You've been track and so this is now the advice we're giving you is great. It's just having somebody who's going to going to customize it to you every single month.

Uh, if that's something you're interested in, I'll have somebody call you. That sounds perfect. Okay, cool. Yeah, that's uh you're you're going to do great, dude. Yeah. Thanks, guys. Yep. Appreciate it. Doing keep it up. All right, Ben. Appreciate it. Peace. When when I so I when I went from just eating as much as I could and a lot of it was garbage to tracking protein and going whole natural, I got leaner but I also built muscle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I was like eating a lot of calories.

My protein wasn't high enough. Well, that's always what happens. I still to this day I'm that way. It's just naturally when I I find it very rare that somebody who uh isn't like tracking or making their foods consistently hits protein. What they do is they they it's like what he said, he guesses and then he adds a shake. Yeah. Yeah. And so you're what ends up really happening when you start tracking, you realize like, oh [ __ ] I was undereating protein and I was over consuming these other foods and simply just making your meals and making sure you hit that protein kind of just balances everything out nicely.

Our next caller is Liz from New York. Hi Liz, Hi Liz, Hi Liz, how you doing Liz? Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. This is so cool. How can we help you? Um, okay. So, I am a very longtime listener of the show. I've been listening to you guys since 2017. So, All right. God bless you. I was there through it all. Yeah, you you hung in there. You're right on the journey. Um, after finding you guys in the middle of my fitness journey, you really gave me direction.

You helped with a lot of my form, um, and become really wellversed in a variety of exercises. So really appreciate everything I've learned through following you guys and all of your programs. Um so my question I'll start off with the general gist. Um I wrote in wondering how would Mind Pump coach a woman to work out to optimize their health and lower stress while trying to get pregnant. get pregnant. get pregnant. Um so I can delve into a little bit more about myself. Um I've was married to my husband in October.

Um, and we just decided that we want to start trying to start our family. Um, so to talk a little bit more about what I do, I'm 5'5, probably about 135, guessing on the body fat, might be like 26%. Um, I made a switch about 3 years ago from working out on my own. Um, I had run aesthetic and then strong, and then I started a HIT strength style class. Um, generally I would do about four to six HIT classes a week. um a couple cycling classes, ran about 20 to 24 miles.

Um and I average about 20,000 steps a day. Wow. Wow. Wow. Uh so very active. Yeah, you can. Um Um Um don't eat a lot during the day. Generally would have you could say kind of an OMAD diet. Do like a small breakfast and then one big meal. Um there's nothing outwardly off or anything in terms of hormones. you know, doctors and obviously my friends and family who are less into the fitness world just think it's all great. Um, but I'm curious what your thoughts are in terms of creating maybe a less optimal environment for trying to get pregnant.

Are are you are you are not that present? present? present? Are you still That's present. That's how That's how That's how So, uh, two weeks ago I got told I have a um I have hamstring tendinopathy. Okay. So, I've actually had to stop running. Um, good. And I had to stop the hit classes as well. Liz, what do you think we're Liz, what do you think we're gonna tell you? Yeah, you you've been listening to us for seven already and you know what we're going to say to you.

Yeah, but I want I want you to tell me what what do you think? Uh, stop the running. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, probably stop the cycling. Um, switch to some slower form of strength training. training. training. Uh, eat more. Yeah. Yeah, you're on point. I think that's the gist. We're done. Yeah. I'll talk to you later. Prescription. No. So, check it out. So, so, um, here's the deal, okay? It's much harder to get pregnant when there's a lot of stress being thrown at the body. It could be emotional stress.

It could be physical stress. stress. stress. And you're doing a lot. You're doing a lot. I doubt your body fat percentage is at 26%. By the way, yeah, you're probably in the low 20s, if not under. not under. not under. Um, and so you're going to actually have to gain some weight and you're going have to really reduce your exercise. And I'm also going to challenge you like this and just present this to you, Liz. Uh, pregnancy. First off, let me ask this. How important is this priority for you?

It's number one. Okay. Okay. Okay. Good. Because we're going to have to change a lot of things to make it happen. But I also want to let you know that during the pregnancy process, being pregnant, postpartum, for somebody that's so into fitness, it's very challenging. And so, this is a great time to start to kind of make peace with it because, uh, when you're pregnant, it's going to feel like your body's not yours. after you have your baby, what the hell? It's still not mine. And it's like two years later where you're like, I think I' I think I'm back type of deal.

And for somebody who's so into fitness and in their body and knows how to perform and what their body's capable of, it's very, very challenging. Okay? But if you let go of it, it's not so challenging. But if you try to hold on to it, you're going to be in for a really bumpy ride. So it's going to look like this. This is this would be the strategy. You're gonna need to gain weight and you're need to stop working out a lot. Like a lot. Yeah.

It should be like mass 15. Yeah. Basically, your body needs to be like this wonderful, pleasant like like ready to be to to host life uh environment. And uh and I'm talking to you, right? If I was talking to somebody else, uh that might be different advice, but for you it's maps 15, walking 10,000 steps a day, no more. Mhm. And you got the stress levels down and and your goal is to gain 10 pounds. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Before you get pregnant. Yep. Yep. Yep. So bumping the calories.

So going away from you know how many calories you're eating right now? Well, she's one meal a day. So you can't be higher than maybe 1,500 to,900 at the highest. highest. highest. No way. No way. No way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I would say probably the morning it's like I don't know a 250 snack maybe like something very small and then it's like it's just dinner. So probably I I would say probably around 1500 over. So you're going to eat you're going to eat a breakfast, you're going to eat a lunch, and then you're going to keep eating dinner, follow Maps 15, don't let yourself go more than 10,000 steps a day, and that's it.

Now, the beautiful part about this is if we if we reduce down to a MAPS 15 and you eat properly like that, she'll probably put some good muscle on, too. Like your body will probably respond. Yeah, but I'm just gain you'll gain good weight. That's definitely what's going to happen, but I'm I'm I'm setting you up for gaining weight, right? Doesn't matter what weight to be honest with you at this point. I've had a few female clients like you who are like a couple of them were ex-athletes or just fitness fanatics and um we we literally had to be like we're going to gain body fat.

That was Katrina was and by the way Katrina did not feel lean. That was the hardest part for her was she's like I don't feel like I'm lean at all. She had to purposely gain body fat and and the doctor's like you need to put on body fat and she's like this is so weird to me. this is not lean me at all. And so yeah, we the we had to stop a lot of the training and really reduce it and eating cheeseburgers and doing things to put on body fat.

And so that's what we had to do before she got pregnant. Uh and she did not feel lean at all. And being honest, like seeing her, I didn't look at her and go like, "Oh, she's way too lean." I even my even with all my experience, I didn't look at her and go, "Oh, she looks way lean." But that it's just to highlight the point you're making that you know it's it's amazing what uh what you have to allow your body to do to allow a life to come in there.

Like if you if you're going to grow a life in you, you have to be in this environment that is calm and not stressed and has a good amount of body fat on it. And then the baby will feel like I can grow in this optimum environment. And if it doesn't, if it's stress and all those things we're doing, hit running, cycling, those are all stresses, stresses, stresses, lots of steps. Yeah. and and then under and then doing it in in a low calorie environment, it just exacerbates all of it.

And so no baby's going to want to grow in that environment. So yeah. And and just and by the way, there's always of course there could be lots of different reasons why this is a challenge. But you did say cycle is regular, regular, regular, hormones look good. Uh and so this just seems this seems pretty clear. And the amount of working out you're doing, Liz, is crazy. Like you're doing a lot. Yeah. Like that's I knew that deep down. You guys tell me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

But and here's the deal. I'm I'm going to help you. I'm going to encourage you some more. G give what we're saying three months. three months. three months. Cuz here's what sometimes a person will do is they'll listen. They'll try it for a month. Didn't work. Yep. Yep. Yep. Give it three Give it a good three months before you go back to the fertility doctor and say, "Okay, let's look deeper because I cut all these things down. I increased my calories and now I want to see if there's another issue." But give it a good three months of a shot.

Well, I I would I don't know where you're where you're at uh personally and your financial situation, but I would really push you to get with one of our coaches just because just because of how difficult this can be. Um yeah, I'm I am worried about my adherence cuz I this is not [clears throat] easy. This is not easy. It's uh and it's not an X's and O's hard, right? Like you're I don't think it's like a you're you don't understand when I say do this or do that.

It's the psychological piece and having somebody remind you, Liz, you're doing great. stay stay the course. And so if you're open to that, I would like you to work with one of our coaches. Yeah, I would definitely love to, you know, at least talk. Okay. We'll have we'll have someone call you after we get off and then present to you what that would look like. But I think that would be if this is a serious priority to you and it is the number one priority. I think it'll be more than a worthwhile investment is to do this.

You don't need it forever. It's to get through this process, get you pregnant, and then you're good. Either way, you're going to get mass 15. Uh, and then if it works, will you please let us know and message us? Yeah. Yeah. We like you'll be you'll be the second to know. My husband. Awesome. Awesome. All right, Liz. We'll have someone We'll have someone call you. Looking forward to when you get pregnant. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. You got it. [snorts] Yes, that's a lot. She's doing a lot of stuff.

stuff. stuff. Yeah, that's a lot. Running, 20,000 steps, getting classes, lifting for real, dude. You know, it it it it highlights. No, that'll d that'll dam, by the way, that'll damage a man's fertility, too. It's just not as sensitive. A man's fertility is not as sensitive. Well, you know, it's tough when you take someone like that, especially when all her markers aren't showing it yet. You know, it shows you how resilient the body can be sometimes, you know, cuz But you think her hormones would be Yeah.

I mean, she's only 32. She's still young. She's still young and still resilient. You keep going down that path. I literally had a client, and this isn't necessarily the advice that I would give uh the people, but for this client, it was it was uh appropriate. She was getting her cycle, hormones look good, ex-athlete, good, ex-athlete, good, ex-athlete, uh we reduced her activity, you know, two months later, it's not happening. She's working with a fertility doctor. She's like, I don't want to do all the fertility stuff.

fertility stuff. fertility stuff. And I'm like, you got to get fat. She's like, what? I'm like, you got to start eating some burgers and stuff. I know. And so she did. She started eating because she just wasn't eating enough. She wasn't. And so she started eating more that kind of stuff. And what's what's crazy s is that you're saying that and I'm telling you this is what Katrina and what Katrina was not eating a a super low calorie. I didn't look at her and think she looked really lean like too lean.

She had to purposely go try to gain fat. we had to purposely go gain body fat and we had to go out and do that and really feel that reserve and and it you know it was such a good experience for me to see that firsthand in my wife because I can I can only imagine if you're somebody who doesn't feel feel feel like I'm not lean I don't feel lean you know and I'm I'm already eating good amount of calories I don't she and Christina doesn't train like that she's not overtrained and so it's like why but it's like you just need to be at a even higher body fat.

Your body has to sense that you're in this uh plenty that there's plenty and and and that there's it's a spectrum. Not everybody's the same. Some people need to be at an even higher body fat percentage than other people. Some people get pregnant at 20 or 21. Yeah. But some people need to be in the mid to high 20s for that to happen. That's usually my experience people. Yeah. All right. I know you like that episode. If you did, check this one out. How strong should you be?

Ever wonder if you're actually strong or at least compared to people like yourself? Today's episode, we're going to talk about that and we're going to help you determine how strong you should be and also talk about the steps to getting strong as fast as possible. In fact, we're going to talk about the fastest way to get bigger and stronger all at the same time. Say Adam look at night. I Yes, it does actually. And I know that you wrote a really complex episode here, but I think Justin's metric has been the