Every Lifter Should Do This at Least Once — The Case for Powerlifting | Mind Pump 2868

Key Takeaway

Focus on getting stronger, not leaner. Powerlifting-style training teaches you to perfect fundamental movements like squats, deadlifts, and bench press. This skill-based approach builds more muscle than bodybuilding routines because better technique = better results. Track strength gains instead of mirror changes—it's objective, encouraging, and forces you to do everything right: sleep well, eat enough protein, and recover properly. For most people, a simple program of 3-5 basic lifts will build a better physique than complex routines with 6-7 exercises per workout.

Episode Overview

The hosts discuss why powerlifting-style training is beneficial for everyone, not just competitive powerlifters. They explain how focusing on technique and strength in fundamental movements (squat, bench press, deadlift) produces better muscle-building results than traditional bodybuilding approaches, while also providing objective progress metrics and reducing body image obsession.

Full Transcript

Transcript of Every Lifter Should Do This at Least Once — The Case for Powerlifting | Mind Pump 2868 from Mind Pump Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

Powerlifting, it's a form of strength training and it's something almost everybody should do occasionally. It gives you great results, builds great muscle. We're going to go into why almost everybody should powerlift. Let's go. go. go. Hear, hear. Now, I wish I heard this earlier in my life. Totally. Totally. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. It's It's a very It's a specific form of strength training. It's somewhat unique to other forms of strength training. But people will think, oh, powerlifting, this is for people who compete in powerlifting competitions.

competitions. competitions. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So this doesn't apply to me. My goal is to build muscle. My goal is to look better. better. better. My goal is to burn body fat. Why would I train like these athletes who are competing in this specific sport? That's oftentimes the objection that people will give Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. around powerlifting. around powerlifting. around powerlifting. And the truth is the benefits are far-reaching. far-reaching. far-reaching. And most people most people except for maybe those where it's an inappropriate form of exercise either due to injury or whatever.

whatever. whatever. Most people would benefit tremendously. I don't care what your goal is from doing a cycle of this style Yeah, it's hard for me to think of somebody who wouldn't benefit. But yeah, you're right. Maybe if you have limitations limitations limitations only it'd have to be a like a like a a special case. special case. special case. That's right. Right. They have some sort of condition that doesn't allow them to do such do such do such Injury or anything. Yeah, yeah. But to your point, all goals, you know, for sure.

Totally. This took me a while to figure out, but when I started to apply it to myself and then to my clients and the vast majority just to be clear, the vast majority of my clients were everyday people. So it's like 99% of them were just everyday regular people. So I'm not talking about like strength athletes or competitors. These are just people that wanted to look better. better. better. When I would put them through these cycles of powerlifting style programming it was it was oftentimes the best results they got Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. was through this. So one of the reasons why why why powerlifting style training is so great is because it's technique focused. focused. focused. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's about skill. So, when you typically when people do strength training, what they're thinking of is the muscles that they're working. In fact, if you look at workouts, typical strength training workouts, they're broken down in terms of body parts. It's back or shoulders or glutes or legs or calves or biceps or triceps. Powerlifters uh don't Powerlifting programming doesn't look at it that way at all.

There's There is no leg day. There is no chest day. It's This is the It's movement-based. It's skill-based. We're going to bench, we're going to squat, we're going to uh we're going to overhead press. Uh we're going to do movements that help strengthen those particular movements. It's about getting really strong at these particular movements. And now, why is this so beneficial to the average person? person? person? Because people don't realize that strength training uh is skill-based. And the better you perform an exercise, the better the results, regardless of what your goal is.

If you could perform a squat better, you're going to get better results for your quads and your hams and your glutes. If you could do a bench press better, you're going to get better results for your pecs and your shoulders and your triceps. simplicity of it, I think, can't be overlooked. Uh with these movements, it's it's it's it the skill of it is difficult like in terms of learning the skill and like really mastering it, but the movement itself is pretty straightforward. And to be able to organize your body in such a way where you can recruit maximal amount of muscle fibers that you're going to include uh and and really train your central nervous system to ramp up to its fullest degree.

Like you you you you can't really do that with the uh other styles of training as effectively as you can with powerlifting. Now, you both uh you know, were introduced to training this way early. In fact, I think that's how you both really started, right? I mean, you shared your story of the guys that you met inside the gym relatively [clears throat] early on your journey. I know you were training for sport, and this is basically uh more about yours, Justin, cuz I think I've I've heard your story less.

When you first were doing like this for sport, uh was there cuz I remember what it was like for me in high school in in the weightlifting routine was pretty pretty whack. It was like this There was no real programming. It was like we all went in there, and every Some guys were trying to max out on their squats, some guys So So, was it like that, or did you Were you taught like really good technique and programming and stuff early? Like, when did that happen?

I was actually lucky. It was high school, and um we we did have a really good weightlifting teacher. And I took I was actually in a weightlifting class adjacent to also being on the team, and so I was working on on on uh form with a lot of like your basic lifts, but uh when we'd actually train as a team, we only focused on bench, uh we we focused on like power clean and then squat. Those were our main three, so it wasn't deadlift, but pretty much power clean from the floor.

I was emulating that. Um and then, you know, maybe overhead press, but like it was all about how to increase numbers there. And so, we would all work in groups, groups, groups, um you know, with guys that were like in similar strength ability. And it was like just this constant um you know, overloading and trying to figure out like where our capacity lies. Yeah. I I learned the lifts, but I didn't learn powerlifting programming till later. But I was taught the power lifts, uh which was already by itself a huge uh bonus.

I think with technique, uh uh uh and I'm going to say something that some people may may think is controversial, but it's not. The safest The safest The safest uh strength sport in terms of how they apply their technique is powerlifting. Powerlifters have the best technique for the major lifts. Now, someone may be like, "What are you talking about? Powerlifters get hurt all the time." Well, that's not because their technique is bad. That's because They're redlining. They're pushing they're trying to maximize performance to crazy levels.

But you have to use the safest, most biomechanically advantageous technique to lift the most weight. So, if you're going to bench press in a way that's going to minimize uh shoulder injury pain. pain. pain. or squat in a way that's going to minimize back injury or knee injury or deadlift in a way that's going to minimize back injury, you look to powerlifters. powerlifters. powerlifters. Yep. Yep. Yep. Because they're kings and queens of biomechanics and technique. The carryover of this for the average person is tremendous. You're looking at like three the three power lifts, the deadlift, the squat, and the bench press, which uh are easily I could easily make the the argument that are three of the most effective exercises in terms of building muscle and strength and building a physique.

That doesn't mean you should only do those lifts, but if I had to pick three like top exercises or five, they're going to definitely make uh that list. But they're very technical. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Like the bench press, I think a lot of people look at that as a technical lift. It's a very technical lift. Uh they're all very technical lifts. And so like learning any technique, the better you get at it, the more you get out of it. And powerlifting style training is is it's all technique focused.

It's like, "How do I maximize my leverage? my leverage? my leverage? How do I allow my depth to feel better? How do I activate the most uh strength through this lift?" Uh and you position yourself and you learn you learn how to how to really do those lifts really, really well. really well. really well. you you said it's less than ideal to uh just but you would just focus on those three lifts, but God, I would make the case for case for case for most young lifters uh that if all they did was practice getting good at those lifts, it would carry it would serve them so well.

They'd build way more muscle. They'd get so much They'd get in so much better shape. They would get just just doing that, which that that's a bit controversial because I think people oh, well, you need to this and you need to do that. And it's like, no, don't." Like, if you just focus on those lifts and try to get good at those lifts technique-wise and strength-wise, your foundation. Yeah. Man, Man, Man, you can go so many places once you establish that. establish that. establish that. Yeah, exactly.

Like, it doesn't mean that you do that for the rest of your life, but as far as laying the foundation for your first couple years, if that's if that's all you did. do other exercises I wish that's what I did. I wish going back and what Like, more muscle do you think you would have built if this is what you you focused on for the first year? Like, you know, what I what I for sure would have done. What I don't know is cuz I obviously I've reached peak levels of building muscle, right?

And being a men's physique pro, right? Like, obviously. obviously. obviously. Uh but that was in my 30s. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I think I would have reached uh closer to that physique at a much earlier age had I done that. So, that's the that's what I think back. Like, it what what I saw in my early 30s uh was, you know, a decade and a half of strength training, you know, a lot of wrong way and then eventually the right way to finally reach that peak physique.

I might have reached that peak physique a lot sooner had I laid a foundation of powerlifting first. And that would be what I'd be most interested in is like, would I look more like that at 25, 26 than 32, 33? Which is years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Here's the other thing, uh powerlifting, so all strength training uh programs involve what's known as programming. Uh and programming is the workout. And what is a workout? Well, it's the exercises, the sets, the reps, the order of the exercises, the way that the week is laid out, the way that the weeks are laid out, the way that the months are laid out, how you alternate intensity.

There's lots of variables that create a a good program or that go into good programming. And really good trainers and coaches and strength coaches understand this, right? Otherwise, you just slap exercises together together together and you get the same results, but we know that that's not true. Some of the best workout programming or strength training program programming in the world is powerlifting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Powerlifters have way better of an understanding of programming than people who lift weights to bodybuild or people who lift weights for CrossFit or anything else.

They have some of the best. Same thing with Olympic lifters, by the way. Why? Cuz they're competitive sports. sports. sports. You're going in there, you're trying to be the best at moving the most weight. And so what ended up happening over the years is they figured out the best programming. Why? Cuz you got this school over here and this school over here and this It's so subjective, yeah. And oh wow, that method seems to produce eight out of 10, you know, bench press records. What are they doing with their bench press?

And this school over here, this squat programming, they're they have like the 10 top squatters are keep coming out of that school. What are they doing with that programming? So ever since the '60s, when powerlifting started to grow, what we've developed over time is incredible powerlifting programming. If you went online and got an established powerlifting kind of programming schedule, schedule, schedule, 99% of the time you're going to have better strength training programming than if you went on and looked up what's a good strength training program to develop a great physique or whatever or what's a bodybuilding routine.

Nine out of 10 times a powerlifting programming is going to give you way better results. Even if your goal is just develop your body, not even get stronger, it's just develop your body. Would you Would you say that if you had to make two or three buckets that um um um then you had to categorize everybody who's lifting weights into two or three buckets, you think that bodybuilding obviously be one, powerlifting one, and then maybe endurance type of weight lifting The strength training? Just in general.

Like like think if you had to bucket everybody of like what they most identify cuz what I'm what I'm trying to do is like I think everybody identifies with a a look or a type of lifter. Like you know what I'm saying? And so like what what kept me from powerlifting is cuz I so strongly identified with what bodybuilders look like. like. like. So let me address that. I know exactly where you're going. So here's the problem with looking at the best of each sport is what you're looking at are people who train hard, eat right, they're dedicated, but you're also looking at polymorphisms that work really well for that particular sport.

So, here's what I mean by that. If I look at the best basketball players in the world, one of the things they're all going to have in common is they're all really tall. Now, does that mean playing basketball all the time is going to make me tall? No. That means that tall people who are also gifted and practice a lot are most likely going to be the best basketball players. players. players. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If I look at the best bench pressers in the world, what you're going to see a really round-looking upper bodies Barrel-chested, short arms.

short arms. Does that mean if I get really good at bench press, that's what's going to happen to my body? No. So, So, So, so and this is the mistake is people look at bodybuilders who do a really good job of getting shredded and also get awarded for what's known as aesthetics and they think in order to get the best aesthetic look, I got to train like a bodybuilder. When the truth is for everybody listening, the best aesthetic look comes from building a lot that's balanced on your body and getting lean.

And for a lot of people, for most people, doing cycles of powerlifting will get you there faster than if you don't. don't. don't. Yeah, that's exactly the direction I was going with that is that I think that's the biggest misconception is that we look at a type of athlete or lifter and we go like, oh, I'm more of a runner, so I fall in I should train the way they do. Yeah, or I want to look better, so I'm going to look at what the bodybuilders are doing or you know, there are people that I just want to be strong and care about performance so I like Justin's and so they kind of lean towards that powerlifter.

But it's unfortunate because because because the the the powerlifting foundation is probably it's like how we talk about kids, right? That your sport may be basketball, football, or baseball, but the best sport to start every kid in is gymnastics. gymnastics. gymnastics. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, that you don't have like so it's like like like so I but I bet a lot of baseball player kids don't go like, oh, I should be I should do gymnastics. They go like, I need to do more of that. to do with this the top baseball player do?

do? do? Exactly. And it's like, no, what actually will serve your body the best towards that goal is actually a different thing. different thing. different thing. examples of that and I'll never forget, there was a picture of Michael Phelps next to the world's top marathon runner. And they were standing next to each other and here's what was crazy, Michael Phelps Phelps Phelps was a lot taller. I don't know how much taller he was, but he was a lot taller. But his legs were a lot shorter than the top runner and they had them standing next to each other and you could see the extreme physiques.

The top marathon runner looked like a grasshopper. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Short top short body, long legs. Michael Phelps looked like a canoe with legs, like short legs. Does that mean swimming or running's going to turn you into that? No, that's just because at the top level you have these poly these poly these poly Well, what's great too is that if you take those two who are premier athletes right right right and and and their sport their sport their sport They will suck. Michael Phelps a terrible runner, I guarantee you.

Yes. Yes. Yes. That's so that just shows you how much that plays a role in that. The next thing is that strength is objective. The mirror is not. I know as much as we like to think the mirror is objective, [clears throat] we're so distorted and twisted on what we see in the mirror. It's really easy to focus on the imperfections. It's hard to see the improvements when we're just focused on our love handles or I need to look this particular way or even the scale which can scare people a lot.

They might be building muscle, getting leaner but because the scale didn't go down, uh-oh, I'm failing. Do you know what is black and white? Strength. Did you lift more weight? Yes, good. Here's what's also good about that. You have to do a lot of things right to get stronger. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Can you have poor sleep and get stronger? No. Is your can you have really low protein and get stronger? It's going to make it tough. Can you overtrain and get stronger? No. So like getting stronger, I'll tell you this as a trainer, a trainer, a trainer, the number one metric that I paid attention cuz I I paid attention to lots of metrics with my clients, but the number one I paid paid attention to was strength.

If my clients were getting stronger, high fives across the board. If they weren't getting stronger, okay, I got to look and see what's going on. the byproduct itself is going to really like produce a lot of those benefits that they're looking for anyway. So, it's like, "Okay, let's focus on this cuz we know objectively like things are moving forward." moving forward." moving forward." I didn't get that. I didn't understand that as a kid. I just didn't I just I cared nothing about strength. Yeah. Like, I really didn't know.

realize how strongly correlated it was. Yeah, yeah, I know. I was like I so and it can be misleading to to not focus on that and you actually get results from not focusing on it. And I think that's what happened is it was like it confirmed my own bias. Right? I was like, "Oh, I want to be a bodybuilder. They're slow. They're all about tension, tempo. They don't care about No nobodybuilder is touting my bench press numbers, my squat numbers." And so, I trained that way.

And being an early lifter and novelty and beginner gains, like I got gains, you know? It's hard to realize what you're leaving on the table because you don't know. Exactly. And I think, "Oh, I'm I'm progressing. I'm building muscle. I'm I'm on my way of looking like these guys." when it's like, "Man, if I would have actually just focused on the strength thing first like so many things would have taken Yeah, it would have I would have it would have accelerated everything." everything." everything." It's also in it's phenomenal for reverse dieting.

It is a phenomenal form of strength training for reverse dieting. Why? Why? Why? Because in a reverse diet you're trying to build muscle, boost your metabolism. The last thing you want to focus on is how you look and how much you weigh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What's great is just to get strong. Because it's it's encouraging. Cuz on a reverse diet you're bumping your calories, your protein is high, and you're strength training properly, you're following good powerlifting programming, you're getting stronger. clear metric. clear metric. clear metric.

It's wonderful. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. It's a very clear metric where the the mirror, the scale, even body fat is not as clear. as clear. as clear. Um so, you could be doing a lot of the right things, but in the mirror you don't think you look really good, you know? Or you see the scale not move in the direction you want, but that's just because you're holding more or less water that day or not, or you're inflamed and get good sleep. I mean, a million things could happen.

some muscle. some muscle. some muscle. Right. And like I mean, there's so many so many variables when you are using those as a measurement of your success, where strength is is a very clear metric. Like if you you're not going to probably get stronger if your your sleep sucks and you're not hitting macros and not doing those things. It's like And when you're reverse dieting, the last thing you want to do is focus on the mirror. What you want to do is focus on boosting my metabolism and what can I look at?

What's positive that I can look at through the scary process of bumping my calories? Oh, strength. This is awesome. I love it. Which takes us to the next point, which is it's one of the best ways to take the focus off the aesthetics. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. One of my one of my I I I learned this uh and I'll never forget when this first clicked for me. It was actually early on. It was such a such a gift. I had it I've talked about this particular client before because it was one of the the the like the pivotal moments moments moments as a trainer.

I had some clients who then eventually trusted me enough to train their daughter. And their daughter was a recovering anorexic. Like she had been hospitalized, the whole deal. And so they're like, "Hey, we want you to train our daughter. She's in recovery uh and she needs to start strength training to build back her strength and bone, you know, all the issues that come from starving herself. And so I actually consulted uh with an expert. And I said, "Okay, what do I do?" And the expert said, "Don't weigh her.

Don't focus on how she looks. Don't focus on any of these metrics." Now, I'm an early trainer. I'm like, that's all I focus on. focus on. focus on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm like, "Oh, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to get her strong." And that's what we did. And eventually, she started to really like getting stronger. And it And it And it cured these issues with her. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She focused on performance. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Everything else followed. She stopped caring so much about the mirror.

Stopped caring so much about the scale. She was excited to come to the gym cuz she was getting stronger. It built so much confidence. Getting stronger is a wonderful segue away from body dysmorphia. Now, strength itself can become obsessive as well, but if you if you're like if you know you got body dysmorphic issues and you're the mirror and the scale is like ah and I'm so scared of gaining an ounce of body fat, what's going on? Powerlifting, get stronger. Watch what happens over the next 3 months.

You're going to feel like you're in such a so much of a healthier place. place. place. hacks that, you know, we just kind of came across and that this is a little bit bit later in my career as well, you know, when you have that real hyperfocus of aesthetics and mirror and scale and uh to to really just draw all that attention into just getting strong and recovering the energy and like all the other metrics other metrics other metrics um cuz you can still get excited about that.

It's still something that, you know, will drive the client, but if you can maintain that focus long enough, it's like it's amazing what the turnaround turnaround turnaround Totally. 100%. You know what this reminds me of is that post you shared from Bret Contreras? Oh, yeah, yeah. So, Bret So, Bret So, Bret Great great great post. So, Bret Contreras is one of my favorite people on social media. trainer. trainer. trainer. He's a real trainer. He's been training people for 30 years. 30 35 years as a trainer, I think 15 years as a a scientist.

I mean, he's But he's got lots of experience training people. His His post said um you know, basic workout programming versus uh what was it advanced or complex? complex? complex? gave two examples and what you can clearly see one side's got all Yeah, like six or seven yeah, different exercises. There's like some, you know, uh supersets and drop sets in this one and like all these and the other one's got like three exercises. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, three or four exercises. And he's like he's saying And just basic block.

He's like the basic one's going to going to build a way better physique than the advanced one. And experienced trainers know this. It's 100% true. I I didn't figure this out till Very experienced trainers know knows that. I think I want to make that clear because there's a lot of trainer I mean, myself included for a long time. I mean, I I was still you know, I was probably 8 years in, still, you know, writing so I mean, part of how we met was because that light bulb had finally clicked for me uh when around the time that you wrote Maps and Anatomy of a Ball Mhm.

Mhm. Mhm. So, I'm I'm I'm almost 10 years in by that time. So, for 10 years, I'm still doing stupid stuff like that. Trying to appease clients, thinking that you know, unique movements and all this stuff is more more more When you razzle-dazzle them. Yeah, let me and it's like it was really around that time in my career I was like, you know what? Like, it's the stupid basic four or five movements that if I just practice those and then that's when we met and I saw the promo thing that you did with Doug for Maps and Anatomy of a Ball and I went this is exactly what I was just figuring out.

That's part of why we we connected. And I So, I think there's a lot of trainers that have been trainers for quite a while that still don't get this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's And I And I think it's I think there's a lot of factors there. It's not just simply because they're not knowledgeable and they don't get it. It's that they're juggling maybe what they think or know or like they might know and like what they're also being pushed by the client and they haven't figured that part out, too.

Like, how do I I I Also, like they they're trying really hard to hard to hard to get them to do what's optimal a lot of times and it's it tends to be overwhelming and it tends to be just too much for them to focus on so it's less effective. So, it's like, you're going to have the most perfect detailed exercise protocol, warm-up, you know, cool down, like yada yada yada, go through the whole list and it's like, well, if we just focus on maybe these three major movers, like, how much further we get?

Well, as an early trainer, you know, part of my like challenge or what I would think about would be like, okay, what different exercises I'm going to show and then the workout looked like, do this, do that. Okay, this is a different way of doing that. And every time they came in I'd have to kind of think of this. Later on, when I was a way more successful trainer, I mean, as defined by my clients they got way better results, they were more consistent, more muscle, more fat loss, they loved to show up, I had more clients.

My workouts, if you saw them, sometimes it was two lifts. Sometimes clients would show up and be like, "Oh, we're going to do five sets of deadlifts, five sets of overhead press. I'm going to focus on your technique, we'll do a little mobility in in between if we see these issues." And these were clients I'd trained for years, and they got exceptional results. Every kind of result you can think of, and the workout itself, if you saw it on paper, you're like, "That's it?" It's like, "Yeah." Well, look at I mean, look at what we're even experiencing uh in in this business right now.

Uh I mean, our programs that we're getting incredible feedback are the 15. the 15. the 15. I know. I know. I know. Our 15 program. Two lifts a day. Low volume program. Yeah, it's the most minimalist thing that we have, and it's because of so many people that that serves them so well, is to just simplify that these are probably the two best things that you could do today, and just do those two things, and get really good at those two things. And look at the results that that people are having.

Now, sure, uh optimal, they'd have this mobility routine and this other thing that they do, and like, sure, you know, optimal, they could they their body could potentially overload and handle a little bit more over time like, but it's like, ac- if you just did that, you'll get amazing results. And most people have lack the discipline to do even the bare minimum, so just giving them more stuff that they're not going to do is is not serving. not serving. not serving. I'll give you guys some details and so like, what happened to me when I was a kid with this.

So, when so at 14, I had dislocated my kneecap, I had this big long injury. long injury. long injury. I couldn't get my knee stable, and then I figured out, "Oh, if I strength train, it gets more stable." And so, at this point, I'm like 15 and a half, maybe 16, and my leg routine, like, I know it. Like, I literally know it cuz I used to write it down. It was leg press, hack squat, leg extension, leg curls. All good exercises. I didn't pick a bunch of cra- Those are all good exercises, and I did those.

did those. did those. Then I met those powerlifters in the gym who taught me how to squat. And all I did that summer for legs was get strong at squatting. That's all I did. And I gained I don't know, I think 13 lb of muscle, which is a lot of muscle to gain. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I remember I came to school and the kids were like, "What happened to you?" And I remember some girls were like, "Dude, your butt got big. Like, what's going on?" going on?" going on?" And I'm like, I just I stopped doing everything else.

I just started I just focused on getting really strong at squats and I got these crazy gains, you know, from doing that. Anyway, speaking of butts and stuff, uh My So, my wife my wife owns both My wife owns both uh she has um Lululemon leggings that she's always had. And now she also owns the Vuori uh all the feels, I think it's called. The the the I tell her this all the time. The Vuori ones look way better. Like the shape that they create and the material and everything else.

I know Courtney's actually had uh some of the Lululemons where the the what do you call that? The sheen or whatever when you you you a certain light hits it and you can like see see see underwear. underwear. underwear. Didn't they get sued for that? Weren't there like a big lawsuit or something that happened over that? I thought there was like a big I think there was and they had to adjust their material because of that. But yeah, it was it's never been a problem, but yeah, I I always get like feedback from Courtney that it's the most comfortable, especially like But they from my husband's perspective, they look the best.

When she puts on the Vuoris, I'm like, "Dude, I" And they don't pill. You know, uh you know how the the other the Lululemon's will will do the pilling where you get like the little the little what are those little balls of fabric, whatever? Yeah, the Vuori ones don't do that. Yeah, when we when Katrina and I first met, um met, um met, um I used to bring her home Lulu almost every week and uh she completely converted everything. converted everything. converted everything. Yeah. They look way better.

Yeah, once she once she once she got introduced to Vuori and and they've really scaled their line for women in that time. I mean, so we're talking we've been with them for almost God, has it been almost 10 years? they're so male-focused or not or something. something. something. Yeah, yeah. Eight or eight or nine years now. And when they they did a reverse model of Lou, I don't know if you really realize or not. They went men and then women. Yeah, they really addressed the athletes to wear for men originally and then then really as they grew grew the the women side.

Now the the women side's crazy. Precious. Precious. Precious. Yeah, yeah. It used to not be like that. It used to be flip flop. It used to be more of more of more of You know what's crazy about this? Cuz we're old enough to know this. Do you remember when leggings were not a thing? Yeah, of course. And now they're not just the thing They still were not they were for more of our Well, okay. So there were there were When did you see women wearing leggings So So So leggings leggings and and That's like an 80's thing for for Yeah, but it was aerobics classes.

Yes, yes. No, no, not just that. It was like spandex and the Who was it who Who was it Is it Is it Cyndi Lauper or who made it popular where girls wear leggings and then they big sweaters that used to hang down? Do you remember that look? look? look? That was super popular. Leggings leggings leggings leggings That was like an 80's thing. It was an 80's thing. Yeah, yeah, no, we're I'm taking us back to like You know what I'm remembering that that worked great for me.

You know what I'm remembering now in the 80's that they used to do with leggings? Remember they used to wear leggings with thong like on top of it. Over it. Over it. Over it. That was like the Jazzercise. Yeah, so it's like it's like you're it's like you're wearing a thong but with leggings. That was like an 80's thing. Cuz sometimes I'm like, what are they wearing these days? I'm like, oh, they did worse than the 80's sometimes. They used to wear. What does it say?

Oh, yeah. Flashdance. Oh, Flashdance. Oh, that's what came up. I couldn't remember where it came from, but I know it was iconic and I was I was watching some old ladies watching I was watching some old ladies movies. movies. movies. Did you guys watch Flashdance? Have you seen that? seen that? seen that? Yeah, I've seen Yeah, it's been a long time since I've seen it. seen it. seen it. Yeah, yeah, not in a million years. It's been a long time since I've seen it. it. it.

Remember that iconic scene where she like dances like dances like dances I think that's coming back in style. with dirty dancing a lot of times. movie. Yeah, I think that's coming back in style though again. I think that that the leggings and then the big sweaters I think I've seen that already coming. Everything's coming around, dude. Uh what like double sock thing that Katrina, you see Katrina wears leg warmers all the time now. I bought her all kinds of leg warmers. Dude, can I can I Have you ever guys It's like you they're they're in style again.

I like them. Every every once in a while, it's not common, but every once in a while there's a dude in the gym wearing leggings and working out. Don't. Don't. Don't. Yeah. You can't wear Nobody wants to see that. that. that. You can do a shorts over them. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about straight up leggings while you're working out. Like I don't need to see that, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they're deadlifting. I just like like 180 out of the gym. I'm I'm out.

It's not my day, I'm out. It's not my day, What's going on, bro? I don't need to see that. see that. see that. or circumcised or not. That's disgusting, dude. I got to tell you guys about a conversation I had with my cousins. It's It was cracking me up. So, we always we always talk crap to each other, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is this in person or over text? Text. Text. Text. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, it's it's our love language, right? And so, they the conversation they were talking about exercise, and then I was telling them like I was like, "Oh man, you know what sucks is like I have these like strength limits that I know that once I get to them, my body starts to hurt." So, I'm kind of telling them like, "You know, I can't If once I get up to this number, no matter what, my body starts to talk to me.

So, I don't think it's like a good idea to even push myself." So, we're having this conversation. My cousin Alex gets on there and he's like, "Well, yeah, you work out a lot and you know, Justin's still way stronger than you." than you." than you." He saw some of our videos on there. Yeah. And I'm like I tried to educate them like he's stronger than most people. You guys realize that, right? Really strong guy, So, I told them what your your split stance overhead press was, and I don't think they they knew that you did that.

Oh, really? Oh, really? Oh, really? Yeah, dude. And they're like, "315?" I'm like, "Yeah, 315 lbs, bro." Over his head. head. head. Oh, really? Oh, really? Oh, really? We probably That's a lot, dude. We probably should highlight the all the series that we did. ones we never aired, Justin. Well, like that's my fault, dude. That's my fault, bro. I have the circus lifts that I can do sometimes. And he just crushes our grip. But I was like giving them like some of your numbers, and they were just like, "What?" "What?" "What?" I'm like averaging everything.

So, I hate all those things that we do. It's so It's so It's so so not fun for me. Captain America of superheroes. You're not like Hulk. It's like Not like Spider-Man. I'm the guy who's like immediately said like I was all all show no go for like 90% of my lifting career and so it's like let's do all these like challenges. Let's see how strong you are. Yeah, no. You guys are both could be really strong at your top. But what sucks about being in our space is you just go through the fitness space.

even I don't even highlight it cuz it's like I'll get buried by like everybody. I was never strong. I was relatively strong for a 6'3 lanky guy. You know what I'm saying? Like so but I was I've never been really [clears throat] [clears throat] [clears throat] strong anyway. strong anyway. strong anyway. so when we were having this conversation about you, Justin, I was like, you know, pumping your tires and stuff. Just kind of like again like you're comparing me to somebody super strong. My dad, I'll never forget this.

I've told you guys about like his strength. Uh back in the day, so I was probably 10. So this is like 37 years ago. Kettlebell story? Kettlebell story? Kettlebell story? No, no, no, no. This is like 37 years ago. So he's like younger, okay? He had a helper that worked for him who was into bodybuilding. And my dad knew nothing about lifting weights at all. He didn't know he was a Sicilian immigrant, you know, he did judo as a kid. That's he didn't know about lifting weights.

And this guy kept talking to him about his bench press. And I could bench press 315 lbs. So this is the reason why I had a weight set. My dad, because of his helper, bought a old school free weight set because this guy kept talking about it. My dad wanted to like, "Okay, I'll try doing this." doing this." doing this." So my dad had no He didn't know what the hell he was doing. I can't I I remember vividly he would go out in the backyard.

He'd load the bar up and try things, okay? okay? okay? And my dad at 180 lbs he and I think he practiced for like a couple months bench 315. Are you serious? swear on everything. Wow. Wow. Wow. And I know this cuz I spotted him. I'm like 11 By the way, don't have your 11-year-old spot you do 315. On 315. On 315. On 315. Bro, I was terrified. But he loaded up the bar and he didn't have three plates cuz he had bought the set that came with 315.

315. 315. Like those sandy with the weights or like like like they were metal. No, they were iron, but it was like, you know, like a 45, a 35, a 25, 10s, 10s, 10s, you know, a bunch of like little weights. weights. weights. All the way out to the very end. And he he hit 315 at 180 lbs. Yeah, he's he's got For someone who doesn't lift? He's got crazy. Took me damn near half my life to get up to that. to that. to that. he's he's he's he had the kind I swear if my dad trained properly in his youth, dude, he would have been your brother I think your brother's a good example of that.

Your brother's a moose. moose. moose. strong, but he's big. And he but he never lifts. He doesn't lift. lift. lift. Yeah, so for I mean, the fact that he comes in and it grabs weights and does stuff with stuff with stuff with It's it's wild. favorite never I this is my one of my favorite stories. I was managing uh the 24 Fitness in Sunnyvale. Uh no, I was the assistant manager, so I was 20, maybe? 19 or 20? 19. I was 19 years old. So, my brother was uh 13.

uh 13. uh 13. My brother comes in with my dad to work out and one of my big tra I had this trainer that used to work for me. Uh his name was Lamont. Big black dude, jacked, bodybuilder-looking guy. bodybuilder-looking guy. bodybuilder-looking guy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, my brother comes in and my my this Lamont's like, "Oh, is that your brother?" He said, I said, "Yeah, dude, he'll beat you in arm wrestling." And Lamont's like, "Uh-huh, no way." I'm like, "I bet you he'll beat you in arm wrestling." So, the whole staff got together.

I paged my brother up to the front desk and my 13-year-old brother beat him in arm wrestling. Oh my god. Yeah, it was so funny. great, dude. great, dude. great, dude. he was like a skinny 13-year-old. Yeah, he's he has my dad's Do you guys have that much of a gap? How many years? many years? many years? So, I'm 4 years older than my sister, 2 years older and she's 2 years, so 6 years. years. years. I didn't realize you guys had that much of a gap.

I thought he was closer to you than that. than that. than that. No, no, no, 6-year difference. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. It's funny cuz yeah, my brother has no interest. He never had any interest in lifting weights. I mean, he played sports and he was really good at basketball and volleyball and he was like all-American volleyball, but Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Yeah, he had like no interest in lifting weights or getting big and I was always like drinking protein shakes and cuz it was like I I was always wrestling my dad and my dad's 6'7" and huge and I was always like, "Dude, like I I think I just had this target of like I have to I'm not tall like my brother's 6'3", my dad's 6'7", I'm like I got to get up something, you know?" So, I was like, "At least I can get strong." strong." strong." Bro, your son that just pulled 315?

Uh three 300. Oh, 300 lbs? deadlift. deadlift. deadlift. Bro, 300 lbs? 16 years old, he's he's he's he's he's he's he's You didn't you couldn't do that, could you? you? you? I don't think so. Yeah, that's like I know that I for sure I didn't do that. benched how much? Yeah, so he benched 185 and we're we're working on that next to get him up to 205. 205. 205. So, I was 20 before I got the wheels on there. there. there. Yeah, but keep in mind he's not he's not focused on lifting weights.

He does gymnastics. Yeah, exactly. This is this is him just at school they have a sports performance class and uh he's just been learning technique, which is great. And I'm like, "Oh, this is perfect." And and so he's just been chipping away at it. And then they tested him out and he was like, "Oh, dad, I did like 185." I'm like, "What?" "What?" "What?" Really? Really? Really? I'm like, "Go show me." Does he Does he Does he have a girlfriend right now? No, he doesn't. Yeah.

Bro, all he has to do is He's focused, bro. He's I want to keep him there. him there. him there. He'll be He'll be cool if he gets his shirt one day. I don't tell don't He won't listen to this. Does he listen to this? Uh he only if I told him to. Okay, don't tell him to listen to this. But if you went to a pool party with a bunch All he had to do is take his shirt off. Oh my god. He'd get all Especially nowadays like nobody works out anymore.

Yeah, just his back's filling out. It's kind of tripping me out watching No, I saw a picture of both of them the other day. They're both going to be little little little It's funny to watch. But that's crazy. I had no idea that he I knew he was messing around with the weights a little bit, but I don't I mean that's that's ridiculous to Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he'll be He'll be pulling If he If he dedicate I mean he'll pull 500 lbs in high school.

high school. high school. That'd be crazy. That'd be crazy cuz like we haven't even dedicated uh any like real programming around it. Right, cuz gymnastics is the focus, right? So, I I imagine that's like 90% of the the time he spends is on training for that. for that. for that. Yeah, and he's so explosive with that and like he's very, you know, obviously body awareness and everything. So, it's like it's just a natural Yeah, the gymnastics is for sure getting stronger. stronger. stronger. What Okay, so what happens next for him in that journey?

Like he he did nationals like uh He's highly ranked. Are you guys in an Are you guys in an off-season yet or is he still in season um and so he made he qualified for nationals already. So, he went through that process and then they think it's like in a in a couple weeks. Um I think it's in June where he actually goes to nationals and competes, but he from there he can actually try out for the national team. And so they have like a national team um like once he gets a certain rank of like a level nine, level 10.

Um and then they would travel and compete and so then um you know, from there go to the Olympics. So, it's like kind of like a stepping stone towards the Olympics. Now, has he expressed to you, "Dad, I'd like to be in the Olympics?" You know, he's he's kind of like back and forth I get like hot and cold with him with that. Yeah. Yeah, I mean as a dad do you ask that or do you just let him come to Oh, I ask it of course.

Oh, you you did. You have asked like, "Hey, are you cuz cuz cuz the thing is like if that's your goal, you have to be laser focused. Yeah, and he as much as he trains now, he'd have to like ramp it up to a you know, whole 'nother level. you you feel him kind of back and forth like there's a part of him that goes like, "I want to." But then it's like knowing that there's a lot of sacrifice is he's friend and school focused too and so that's the part of like his childhood I'm not I'm not trying to rob him of that.

bro. I I was just going to say that. Good job because when you hear interviews from Olympians uh it's a it's a massive sacrifice because you have no you don't have you don't build lots of friendships. that's what I sleep in in What what what made me stop sports was working, making money, and girls. Like having a social life. I wanted I wanted wanted wanted Which is important. Yeah. And it's like you know everybody, you know, I was I knew I wasn't that good naturally, so I had to work a lot.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, So, So, It's a bit of a conundrum cuz It's a bit of a conundrum cuz it's like it's like it's like It is a conundrum. I see the potential. I'm like I'm like ah I could be like the Tiger Woods dad that's like ah, you know, but I don't think he would he's not the personality that would even respond well to that to begin with. And then also it's like yeah, he has to really want that himself. himself. himself. Right, or else you you risk him resenting you for robbing him of his social life and Or what happens sometimes is after they reach whatever their top level is and then they're done uh they flip in such a crazy direction.

crazy direction. crazy direction. Yeah. Oh, I missed out on all identity identity's wrapped in it. Yeah, and I missed all the partying. Let me go crazy. Let me do all this stuff. And yeah, the other thing too with with him is he if he just got to a high level like he's already there there there are some pretty cool job opportunities for things like Cirque du Soleil. And I I only know this cuz my wife worked for them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And And And Yeah, it does translate well to that.

if he did that cuz they're always looking for people. If he did that like that's a great like they travel the world, he makes a ton of money, they pay for his room and board and and food, and he just collects money and travels for like 3 years. I know. Yeah, it'd be cool. I'm selfishly interested in in seeing him do another sport because he's got such a good foundation with same but same but same but Like jiu jitsu. You know, I I you know, that's that's me.

Yeah, that's where I'm at. Like what let's what does that look like It's size and again like you give him hand him over to me and I'll do some of his weight training programming and then we'll see where it goes. But it's like, you know, I'm I'm I'm kind of like waiting for that opportunity of like, "Well, Dad, I kind of you know, I'm feeling like I want to try something else." Like he isn't really expressing it yet. Okay, yeah, cuz I'm just like so I mean you put a kid like that on like a wakeboard and see him like I mean instantly will know how to do flips and do stuff like that that you know, he does it all the time now too like when they go to lakes or they go to like the river or anything like you know and his friends want him to do some kind of flip and stuff and he he does it all the time now.

Yeah, yeah because yeah. See, yeah. See, yeah. See, yeah. His body awareness is ridiculous. You and that I mean that's why it's that's why it is so foundational for all other pursuits of sports like he goes imagine him as a tight end. Like I could just imagine how good he would be as like a tight end. Like he would be good at anything. Anything that he has such great coordination and body awareness now and strength too. Like oh my god. Like that's a recipe for like anything he touches he's going to be pretty damn good.

good. good. what's cool too about it is you develop these foundational skills as a kid when your brain is developing uh you actually don't lose a lot of it. it's plastic. Yeah, he's Yeah, you've got this really good body awareness that stays with you for uh the rest of your life. Yeah, yeah. No, no. Super cool. Did you I haven't changed directions here. Um I Justin, you're familiar with the four types of aliens, right? What? We have four types of aliens? Okay, wait. Let me let me see what I'm doing.

doing. doing. Hold on. I'm going to pull them up because because because Wait. Wait. Wait. Cuz Fox News is reporting on this. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. I swear. I swear. I swear. This is where we're at right now. Dude, dude they're reporting on this. The Nordics, the Nordics? Nordics? Nordics? Okay, the uh the Reptilian Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay, the the Grays Yes. Yes. Yes. Uh Uh Uh One more. One more. One more. last one, dude? Mantis. Mantis. Mantis. Mantis. Oh, I was going to say ants.

So there's four types of aliens that are being that are reported and there's these four type of aliens now they're reporting the news that they're going to release that these are the four species of aliens that we know that exist. fun is this kid if this This is getting weird, dude. Four different four different planets these things are coming from. Bro, I just Yeah, so that's just one one set of aliens. aliens. aliens. demons. Anyway, Mantis is 6 to 7 ft tall, large compound eyes, highly agile, excellent eye sight eyesight sorry, telepathic abilities.

Then you got the Grays, those are the famous ones. They're short, 4-5 ft, large eyes, gray complexion, slender build, advanced technology. Then there's the Reptilians, 6 to 8 ft tall, highly intelligent, strong, resilient, advanced technology. Then the Nordics are 6 to 7 1/2 ft tall, human-like appearance, advanced intelligence, peaceful in nature, highly advanced uh society. How weird. How weird. How weird. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Why are we the least advanced, the dumbest, and the weakest? I mean, this is just like this sucks. Because they're all demons, that's why.

They're all demons or they're they're they're they're they're crossbred with you. off your demon theory, don't you think they would be messing with us in a bad way more if it was demons? Yeah, I think they already are, dude. You think so? I think so, bro. If they If they actually exist, and they've been in communication with our government or whatever, what do you think What do you think's happening? think's happening? think's happening? You think that they're just like just talking to us? Mhm. Mhm. Mhm.

Or maybe they're helping to control things, or there's a deal. These are some of the reports that come out is that they made deals with governments saying "You allow us to abduct people and to perform experiments." That's what That's what comes out. Yeah, it's I've heard so many theories, dude. It's just so weird to talk about, but yeah. It's just like all stuff you like I was into this like a couple years ago, you know? Now it's like, "Oh, this is a pop Fox News is reporting on it." Did you ever think this would happen?

No. No. No. I mean, it does It does why it's weird. It does feel like in our lifetime that we'll whether it's true or not true or whatever, we should find out. Doesn't it feel like that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It feels like that. It feels like uh it's it's ramped up to a level that like the the truth has to come out. Yeah, one of the theories was like there was this it there's like an alien base in the Pacific somewhere that that the Navy already knows about, and so like they all have this like agreement that they kind of maneuver away from it.

Uh but their sense is that uh a lot of it is like an AI. Like it's an AI, and it's it it it it's there to like build these UFOs and like send them out and and and do reconnaissance and whatnot. Yeah, so that was like one of the theory was that. And then, you know, that's why I've always been into like Antarctica, too, because there's like uh what do you call What do you call a person that draws up maps? Like a crow cartographer cartographer cartographer Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So, there's this like uh I don't know period where like all the cartographers were drawing it um Antarctica the Antarctica the Antarctica the um all of it the same and so like all of the the coastline was totally in alignment and it was like way more um way more land mass uh than than than is shown now. And like And and you're not allowed to go there. Nobody is. Nobody is. Nobody is. And nobody's allowed to go there and so it it's just like there's so much mystery surrounding it because of the fact and too certain islands I didn't know about that like they're they're talking about might actually be like a a gold reserve where they kind of moved all the money.

crazy things are turning out to be true? This is like crazy. Like there's too much now. What's next? Yeah, but then you look at operation like high jump and all this kind of stuff where they the whole US government sent like fleets of of uh you know, ships down there to investigate. with you. I used to nerd out on this stuff as a kid. I thought it was cool, but I know there was no not a single fiber in me that wanted to realize this was real.

Like there's a part of me that's like yeah, I'm cool this is fun to learn about, but I'm glad it's not. To me it was like a cool story that was like, you know, you kind of read crazy people online like come up and they contribute to it and you're like oh, this is fun. It was always fun to me. It wasn't like it was real. real. real. You know, and they're reporting it. reporting it. reporting it. All right. All right. All right. I wish I wish I knew like somebody who like, you know, there's obviously been all these story people that have whistleblowers that have come forward from government that have said like we've I've absolutely seen this or that.

Like I wish I had some sort of like cuz the hardest thing for us as viewers of that is like I don't know any about that guy. Like is that guy completely [ __ ] up and like crazy and just like and known for telling stories. You know what I'm saying? Whereas if it was like a direct like I feel like if one of you guys were that guy and you told me I'm like then I would be bought in. I'm bought in because it's like my boy who I trust who's like and I know isn't crazy.

trust the news? Exactly. I don't trust some random whistleblower that that the news network that the that the that the media agreed to be allowed on I mean there's so much stuff that they control and they police. I find it so interesting that they allow these people to be on there. Is it because these people can be disproven and discredit so much? Is it because they're totally gaslighting us like So part of the so so hard for me to believe. remember the Miami mall incident, right?

Where this was reported that there was these weird like beings that were flashing in and out and We we when did that happen cuz that was like during COVID years, wasn't it? it was like right around there. 3 years ago, 4 years ago maybe? Something like that. Anyway, maybe look it up. This was wild. But there was crazy reports, there's some videos. Remember they shut it out? Cops like hundreds of cop cars. And they blacked every it was a January 1st, 2024. They blacked everything out, cut off the communications, shut down the airport over there, remember?

And they're like, "Oh, it's just kids with fireworks." with fireworks." with fireworks." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And people in Reddit are like, "I was there. there. there. it's near the 4th of July, right? Cops were taking January, actually. Oh, never mind. People were taken away. Yeah, it says yeah, there were 8 to 10-ft tall extraterrestrial creatures is what they were saying. were saying. were saying. So there's this theory that says that the reason why they're releasing this is cuz they have no choice. That this is happening, so we got to let people know before this all comes out.

comes out. comes out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know? You know? You know? I kept looking cuz there was some people that were like trying to post the videos and then it got taken down. I was like, "Oh, I almost saw one of them." I just plus I was always like trying to like, you know, be on the inside. I know. I know. I know. I see I don't know what to believe. I mean I saw this thing and I don't I still don't know if it's true or not.

Maybe Doug can dig do a little bit digging. So digging. So digging. So I one of the things I follow aside from sports and car stuff is also like to watch stuff that's going on and there's there was this big collaboration that happened with AP and Swatch, which AP is a really like it's a luxury brand watch and they're parting with kind of a lower end. It's like so it was like this all this controversy like is that a good idea, smart business? And so, I dropped day before yesterday.

So, look up uh Yeah, look up videos though, Doug, of uh people uh basically try So, what would you try There's tons of viral videos of people trying to go get the the when it got released. So, release do Yeah, viral video release of that and see what you get. And I've seen both I've seen videos, and it's just showing pandemonium of like people trying to Rushing to get in. Rushing to get in it and from all the cities, Miami, Los It says global chaos erupts.

There you go. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so what's Yeah, let's see. There you go. Always getting ads everywhere we go. You can skip it. Local chaos erupted in cities around the world over the weekend as hundreds of people queued for the launch of a new limited edition collaboration between Swatch and luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet. Now, the Royal Oak collection drew hundreds of hopeful buyers at peace stores worldwide. It also prompted pleas for calm. for calm. for calm. Oh my god. Whoa. Oh my god.

All right, Doug. Look. No, there's there's I I That's just one area. Like every city was was was What's wrong with people? When did this happen? This is like 2 days ago. So, it So, it just happened just happened just happened Bro, we need to know the time. So, I was I was I was following I've been following the the release of this because I was curious of the just the the move on it for the brand AP. And I like I didn't think it was a smart move.

Uh and I still don't know if it's a smart move or not cuz they you're talking about a a high-end luxury brand that It's like uh Rolls-Royce doing a collab with a Honda. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. You know? And it's a way lower price point. So, and I guess the theory is you get more people to know about that high-end brand by introducing a little But then, you're also those are the people that you're out-priced. really your customer. Yeah, yeah. So, it's like all of a sudden a Civic buyers could buy a Rolls-Royce lined car or something that for a little bit more than a Civic, but you'll never really I don't know.

I don't understand the the logic, so I'm so curious about that. That's why I'm following. But, my point of bringing it up is now I've seen all these uh influencers reporting on this, and then I've seen videos uh that they're manufacturing they're not. So, is this uh that like what we just saw? Oh, is it like hype? I so I assume people I've seen videos of people show me that footage, and there is no pandemonium. There's just people chilling waiting in line. just take clips from like Black Friday or something.

or something. or something. So, what that's So, that's what the what some of these clips are some of these clips are showing is that they're showing these viral clips of this people tackling each other trying to get in there, and then like the the same footage, but there's no there's no nothing. Oh. Oh. Oh. And so, did did did these guys put this out out out Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. to make it seem like there's this crazy frenzy for this this these these pop watches watches watches Uh-huh.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh. when there's really not that crazy. Interesting. Interesting. Interesting. I know. So, I don't even know what I'm like I'm trying to follow this, and I'm like I don't know what's true and what's not true to my point of like the media [ __ ] you know? So. Yeah, well. Uh speaking of things you can trust, I have some data uh from some trials on the sleep of the Eight Sleep. Oh, I love it. On Yeah, on what people have gotten from uh using the you know, their their product for their on their bed.

So, check this out. So, for people who don't know Eight Sleep, it's it goes on your bed under your top cover, and it warms or cools depending on what you want. And then it also tracks your sleep and adjusts itself in real time just to give you the best sleep ever. And it's like super it's like the best technology you can get to get the best sleep. It's the best. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, here's what the trial showed. 44% less time to fall asleep. So, cut the time you need to fall asleep in half.

34% more deep sleep cuz they track the deep sleep stages. So, 34% increase. Yeah. 23% fewer night wake ups. So you wake up 1/4 less time in the middle of the night. Did you guys not see the Did you guys not see the the Brian You know Brian Johnson is partners with Eight Sleep, right? know that. know that. know that. Oh, he is. He You know he holds the record for the most 100 scores in days in a row. Like 8 months worth. Yeah, did you see it?

Oh, yeah. I did. Look at this. This is So, 100 score Okay. Okay. Okay. I think three times I've scored like a That's crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy. Never have I scored 100 one time. I've never put back-to-back 90 days. Back-to-back 80 days is the most I can do. I've seen I've done consistently. He scored a perfect score. What's the What's the thing on it? Yeah, so Yeah, so Yeah, so he achieved a perfect 100% sleep score for eight consecutive months. Yes. Yes. Yes. Wow. Wow.

Wow. And he attributes that to That's a weird brag. I mean it's I sleep the best. It also says you're an absolute loser and you have nothing else going on in your life but focus on that. But I mean Are you depressed? Kind of kind of crazy impressive Great commercial for Eight Sleep. I know. Yeah. Well, I know that he cuz he that's obviously he does a lot of He does everything, right? So obviously Eight Sleep doesn't give everybody a 100 score, but the he does attribute a big portion of that consistency of his night's sleep.

night's sleep. night's sleep. He has his blueprint here. So he goes to sleep every night at 8:30 p.m. Works out wakes up at 5:00 a.m. Optimized temperature. He uses Eight Sleep to regulate your sleep temperature maintain maintaining deep sleep at 71° Fahrenheit. Fahrenheit. Fahrenheit. And REM at 73. So By the way, see what Eight Sleep does? Yes, it Yes, it Yes, it It changes just slightly to maximize the stages of sleep. People like this is crazy technology. crazy technology. crazy technology. And it learns your patterns to consistently adjust to it when you should be Yeah, it's crazy.

That's so awesome. Speaking of Brian Johnson, did you guys see the post he did about his his girlfriend's vagina? What? What? What? Ooh. Yeah, sorry. They they did they tested the microbiome. microbiome. microbiome. cycle, we'll cut the commercial right there. there. there. And clip. And clip. And clip. Doug, look this up. Bryan Johnson's It's good right there? Bryan Johnson's girlfriend's vaginal microbiome. microbiome. microbiome. Okay, I love doing research by the way. and she had and he bragged she has the best microbiome of anybody. Yeah, check this out.

I made bread with you. you. you. No, no. No, no. No, no. Okay, is there a part of you that thinks that he's like there's a there's a there's a a brilliant side to understanding the virology too? Look look look, this is her vaginal microbiome report. 100 out of 100 score, top 1% of all vaginas. Who brags about their wife's vagina? You know my wife has a the top 1% of vaginas, right? vaginas, right? vaginas, right? What do you mean by that? Her microbiome. The bacteria score in there's incredible.

there's incredible. there's incredible. What is that? No. No. No. What a flex. I know, this guy's weird. That is hilarious. He's weird, bro. He is he is weird. You know what? It's going to be what a letdown when he gets hit by a bus when he's Oh, come on. I know it's dark, but I mean I mean that's what happens in this situation. situation. situation. This dude so well. That's what that's what happens in this situation, right? Everybody's cliffhanger like waiting like is he going to make it to 150?

We're not wishing that on you, Bryan. No, I'm not. I'm not. This was I mean Was he going to walk outside a bubble? Like yeah, how's he going to maintain that? that? that? I just think it's hilarious that he did he posted this about his girlfriend's Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. vaginal microbiome report. Like you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's post this, honey. We got to we got to flex on this. Anything to brag about, right? [snorts] [snorts] [snorts] Paleo Valley makes paleo inspired products and supplements to improve your health, athletic performance, to support muscle gain, fat loss.

One of my favorite products from them are their protein snacks. These are meat sticks that are fermented, so they're not dry. They're very high quality, they're grass-fed, they taste great, high protein, on-the-go s snacks. If you want protein, you want it on the go, long shelf life, you don't like dry beef jerky, try the Paleo Valley meat sticks. They're delicious and they're good for your gut health. Go to paleovalley.com/mindpump and on that link, you'll get a discount. Here comes the show. First question is from Colonel FG82.

MAPS programs consist of different phases which are 3 to 4 weeks. Do you lose the adaptation when going into a new phase? new phase? new phase? Okay, so it's a good question. So, when you switch from, let's say, low rep training to higher rep training, some of the strength gains that you got, uh you're going to lose a little bit for that specific rep range, okay? Because uh what you train There is a specificity that There is a specificity that happens with your adaptation. Like, you get good at five reps, you get really good at five reps.

Now, there's carryover into other rep ranges, but most of the gains come at the five rep. Now, when you go to train, let's say, 15 reps, reps, reps, you'll lose some of the ability and skill at the five rep range, but you're gaining them now in the 15 rep range. But, here's what's important to know. When we design MAPS programs, and this is the way most people should should train, they need to think in terms of long-term results. I want great results, but I want my results to continue going.

I want to minimize injury and I want to just progress and I want to have this great workout routine that I can do for years and years and years and years. And the best way to do that is to move in and out of different phases and there is crossover. So, like, getting stronger at one is going to give you a little bit of the other one. Not as much, but a little bit. And if you continue to do this throughout your career, you'll avoid injury more, you'll hit less plateaus, and you'll just get better results.

This is why it's so impressive when we have somebody who, and you hear this all the time, uh who's following a MAPS, like say MAPS anabolic, and they come back around the second time and when they start phase one again in phase one and they see strength gains right away, is incredible. Like, you don't expect to do that cuz you you know that they've lost some of that adaptation because they've been they've moved to two other phases since then before we're visiting. So I wouldn't I wouldn't expect or want even care to see the client see a a PR or strength gains until week three of that again, but a lot of times we see people right in phase one week one again already back to like PR numbers for them, which is so it just shows you the carryover potential that's there, but don't expect that because you you have you've been training in high rep or in superset.

So to go over to one to five reps, you know, that you're not going to probably be there until a couple weeks of training there back up to that strength or in above. Next question is from JT70374. For times when you only have access to lighter weights, is it better to slow down the tempo and do fewer reps or keep a normal normal tempo and do higher reps? reps? reps? They're both good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're both really really good. build muscle. build muscle. build muscle.

Here's the the caveat. If the high reps start to get into like the 25 plus rep range, then I would say definitely slow down and try and do less reps. And here's why cuz here's what the data shows for muscle growth. High reps, low reps, moderate reps, they all build the same amount of muscle so long as the intensity is the same. So close to failure. Here's the problem though with high reps for many exercises. Your cardiovascular uh endurance becomes a hindrance. In other words, if I'm doing barbell squats and I picked that for a reason because it's a good example.

If I'm doing barbell squats and I'm doing sets of 25, what's going to what the wall that I'm going to hit before muscle strength [clears throat] fatigue is cardiovascular fatigue. Yes. Yes. Yes. And so now I can't train at that same intensity to build muscle because I'm gassed out. And so this is the thing that you need to weigh out. But aside from that, it's they're both good. don't want to train bad patterns and there's like a tipping point to that. So that's kind of what I'd be conscious of, but I [clears throat] mean I usually tend to push people towards the slowing down in the tempo and mainly because uh the natural inclination is to do a lot of reps anyways.

Uh so to to shift it over into that and really focus on form technique and technique and technique and um you know, get get all the value out of that while performing it slow and making it heavy. I think there's, you know, there's a lot of value to that. There's a There's a bit of overthinking going on here because it's like for times when only have access to lighter weights. So what I think of is like your hotel and traveling or something like that and you only have access to this.

And so these are probably short windows this person has that and either one of these is going to be completely fine and that's that's the situation. to go slower. Well, I'll tell you so the way I coach this to somebody or myself is I actually ask myself or my client, well, what do you tend to normally gravitate to? Do the other one. Sure. Sure. Sure. So if you're somebody who when you're home and you have all your weights, you do cycles of high reps most of the time but you never really manipulate tempo.

Well, then here's a great time. You're in a hotel, you'll it only goes up to 30 40 lbs. Hey, maybe you'll do a bunch of tempo stuff this time. Or maybe you are somebody who's really good about manipulating tempo when you're back home and you have all access to all weights but you never really push high reps. Well, go push high reps. The truth is if it's a a short period of time that you're limited these weights, either one of these is not going to be the difference maker of you changing that big of a difference.

Um so it's not that serious but I would go do the thing that I don't do the most. most. most. Next question is from Skiddy Markson. I'm getting back into running just for the enjoyment and to run 5K's. What level of strength training should one incorporate in their weekly routine when running three times a week? I think you should try the alternate week approach. I think if if you like to run and you want to run 5K's, those aren't super long distance. I think you should have a week where you focus just on running and then a week where you focus just on strength training and alternate.

And what you'll probably find and there's limited data on this but there was one study I saw that pointed to this where people got better gains in both strength and endurance Mhm. when they alternated weeks versus doing them all in the same week and much better than when they did them all in the same workout. So, I love this approach uh for many people. You want You want the endurance from running and you want the strength training, alternate the weeks. I'm just doing strength training week and then next week I'm just doing running.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And watch what happens. You'll get better at both. Most people get better at both by doing it. Well, we just had a a live caller who we had just recently confirmed it. confirmed it. confirmed it. that we called back after we gave this exact like almost exact thing that she was trying to accomplish that and you gave this protocol to her. built more muscle and got faster in her runs. runs. runs. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, and lowered volume and intensity of running. So, less less running and less intensity of of running.

Stronger, more energetic. And and got stronger, lower body fat percent. I mean, all all things moved the needle. the needle. the needle. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Next question is from cognitive posture. In a recent episode, you were discussing the one set to failure programming. What rep range to failure? I'm assuming between between 6 to 12 reps. So, So, So, It would depend on the phase. Yeah, well, here. Technically, it doesn't matter, but here's why I push more towards the higher reps uh like around 12 and going to failure.

In my experience, the low reps to failure tend to be too little volume. Well, also higher risk, too. And then the risk is high. Going to failure with a really heavy weight uh can can can be uh a bit precarious. Um so, I I think like 10, 12, 13 reps to failure. I've gotten better results going to failure with the higher reps. Uh that's not high reps, right? But it's higher. Um and my clients uh typically did as well. And I think it has to do with like the volume is either too low with the low reps or the risk of injury and you're just handling a heavy weight, your form breaks down when you get, you know, to failure.

So, in my experience, the the the moderate range that like the like I said, around 12 seems to work well. well. well. I agree. I've gotten great results though from uh low rep failure, but it's I've also that's also when I think of injuries and nagging pains, that's when they happen. So, to your point, like I for most people, I think it it's in their best interest to to do failure training in the higher rep range. Stresses the hinges a lot. Yeah, yeah. I've definitely seen great results though from from doing that with, you know, singles, doubles, triples, and going that way, but I mean, that's also when my hips start talking to me and my knee or my low back.

It's like that's the risk you know. It's like super infrequent if you're going to do it, but yeah. If you are going to do it, you know, every now and then, I would definitely go more than that. that. that. never get that from like high reps. If I go if I'm doing 10, 12 reps and and I fail on the last one, like I don't at all. all. all. pain for that as much. For sure. For sure. For sure. 100%. 100%. 100%. All right, I know you like that episode.

If you did, check this one out. Shredded, ripped, defined, single-digit body fat. body fat. body fat. Yes. Yes. Yes. You want to get there? Let's talk about it. it. it. Difficult, and is it worth it? That's a That's a That's a follow-up question. follow-up question. follow-up question. off, we got to say that okay, so single-digit body fat, obviously body fat percentages uh, that can be represented by one digit like 3%, 5%, 6%, 9%. 6%, 9%. 6%, 9%. That's uh, That's uh, That's uh, ripped for men.

For women, add 10%. add 10%. add 10%. Yeah, don't yeah, exactly. Go you go up about