Fitness Experts Debunk: What Exercises Are Dangerous? | Mind Pump 2849

Key Takeaway

Exercises don't hurt you—your inability to do them properly does. Rather than avoiding movements like deadlifts due to injury risk, treat all exercises as skills that require proper technique, progressive loading, and respect. A 180-pound person going from a 100-pound to 200-pound deadlift gains far more quality of life improvement than going from 450 to 500 pounds. Start light, master the movement pattern, and never chase PRs at the expense of form.

Episode Overview

This episode challenges the common narrative that certain exercises like deadlifts are inherently dangerous. The hosts argue that movements aren't risky—poor technique, inadequate preparation, and treating workouts as ways to get tired rather than skills to master are the real problems. They emphasize that fundamental human movements like hinging should be practiced and strengthened, not avoided.

Full Transcript

Transcript of Fitness Experts Debunk: What Exercises Are Dangerous? | Mind Pump 2849 from Mind Pump Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

There's often a lot of controversy in the strength training world with certain exercises. These are deemed dangerous or risky exercises. Should you skip them or are they valuable? Often times some of these exercises are listed as some of the best. But then you hear experts say don't do them. They're bad for you. Who's right? What's going on? Do them or not do them. Let's talk about them. Did you hear the interview not that long ago? Uh, who was interviewing Robert Oberus? Oberus? Oberus? Uh, Rogan, right?

No, no, no. That's what he originally said. said. said. He originally said it on So, he originally said it on Rogan, but then then somebody Oh, I want to say it's uh was it Eddie Hall? It was Eddie Hall. Yeah. His buddy Eddie Hall, who's another uh strongman, and and they were kind of like going back and forth uh on live or FaceTime or whatever. Yes. whatever. Yes. whatever. Yes. But yeah, so he Yeah. And that one's pretty nuanced, but it's, you know, he was trying to make the case that the risk really wasn't worth the squeeze uh for your average person to do deadlifts.

Yeah. So, it's interesting your guys brought up deadlift because that's the exercise I just I'll pull up what I read most that got me to There's a lot of exercises that there's even there's exercises trainers say don't even do these at least deadlifts. Some people will do them. Um uh that's the exercise that prompted um you know this topic because so there was a uh a narrative review that was published in the journal of sports and it was a 2026 one and it was titled beyond the neutral spine and it really reignited this kind of heated debate around uh the deadlift and the research cited in the sports medicine publications confirms that approximately 73% which by the way I don't know how they got number, but anyway, 73% of recreational gymgoers demonstrate notable lumbar flexion when deadlifting under load.

Uh, and the conventional deadlift places compressive forces on the lumbar spine that can reach 8 to 10 times body weight at peak load. Sounds really scary. really scary. really scary. Then you got people like Dr. Stuart McIll. Uh, he's a spine biomechanics researcher and he argues that the deadlift requires nearperfect technique to be for be performed safely by Jen Pop. And so he's like, "Let's avoid it uh or let's try um other exercises." And of course then they then they talk about how lower back injuries account for roughly 25% of all resistance uh training um uh injuries.

So uh I want to start by saying this uh that exercises don't hurt you. Okay? What hurts you is your inability to do them uh properly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. So, anything you do that hurts you, anything, uh, what ends up getting you hurt is that you just couldn't do it. Your body couldn't do what you asked it to do. Couldn't generate force where you needed to generate force. It didn't have the ability to generate the force properly, to stabilize properly. You lacked the mobility, the extensibility.

you just you were doing something whether because it was too much weight for what you could do or you didn't have the uh technique, you didn't have the skill, you didn't have the coordination, coordination, coordination, you didn't have the mobility. Uh it's you that hurt you, it's not the exercise. Um and I don't know if taking that position though strengthens the argument to deadlift or not more. Well, I don't think that's the angle or the position I would take on this. I think that think that think that what happens is and where I could get behind Robert and Eddie when they were having that discussion is that I I don't think at the level that they're they're lifting uh it's worth it unless you're going to going to going to from their perspective I can kind of see I mean the extremity of it yeah they're so strong.

so strong. so strong. Yeah. And their and their whole and their whole programming is designed to adding and lifting more and more and more competitive more competitive more competitive and chasing a PR. I I think uh I would say it um there's a way to lift and never do less than five reps in the deadlift and never even attempt a PR and see tremendous see tremendous see tremendous Yep. Yep. Yep. and and then and then the the risk factor changes dramatically. If you're moving a weight you can move five times, uh the likelihood that you're going to really injure yourself doing something.

Even if your technique isn't perfect, it dramatically goes down. Now you try to do singles and you don't and you know go after a PR of of a weight that you can only pull off the ground one time and you don't have perfect technique that you're talking about a huge difference in in risk. See, I I think it's important to talk about uh the the potential risk of exercises so that people treat them the way that they're supposed to be treated. Here's the problem. Here's the real problem.

The real problem isn't the the exercise or whatever. It's that people view workouts in general as a way to get tired, sweaty, and sore. Yeah, I agree. Nobody views or very few people, I should say, view exercises, movements as skills. skills. skills. Cycling is a skill. Running is a skill. Jumping is a skill. Throwing is a skill. Squatting, deadlifting, Squatting, deadlifting, Squatting, deadlifting, squatting, deadlifting, a barbell curl, they're all skills. But if I don't respect it as a skill and if I just look at an exercise and go, "That's legs, that's back, that's shoulders, I'm just going to get those body parts tired." Uh, I completely disrespect the fact that it's a skill and I just do it to get tired.

By the way, I'm just going to be very clear here. Do you know what activity leads to statistically the most injuries? What exercise type leads to the most injuries? Running. Running. Do you also want to know something else crazy? Humans were designed or evolved, whatever you believe, to run. Yeah. We're actually made to run exceptionally well. We have big knee joints. We're on two legs. Uh we have uh this really thick Achilles tendon. We have lots of muscle on the bottom of our foot. And when a human can run, when they possess the skill, they really possess the this the skill to run, humans can outlast almost any animal.

It's actually one of the physical things we could do better than most animals. In fact, there used to be this race uh that they stopped doing a long time ago, but maybe Doug, you could look this up where it would be a human versus a horse. horse. horse. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it wasn't for speed, it was for distance. Yeah. distance. Yeah. distance. Yeah. 50% of the time or something like that, the human would win. We'd outendure the horse. Yeah. Because we're really good at that.

And yet it's the highest injury risk uh of all. It's the one exercise like just from the couch people are comfortable with like just getting up and then just stepping into a run because they feel like this is just an innate skill that we we we So I love I love you coming at it from that position because then then with that argument it's you know if you're going to throw out the deadlift you may as well throw out running then too. Throw any you could throw a barbell curl is a skill too.

The difference is it doesn't require doesn't require doesn't require No, it doesn't require Okay. We could cuz that doesn't that doesn't I know what you mean. Yeah. that doesn't connect, right? Or that doesn't track. But running is arguably as technical or more technical than the deadlift. Yet, we encourage all kinds of people to do that. So, that. So, that. So, that's right. that's right. that's right. So, if if you you can't say deadlifting isn't isn't worth qualify it like ahead of time. Like, we're not like you need to work with a coach.

you need to uh make sure you have the proper mechanics like the right form that like there's no like prerequisites like that are pushed as opposed to like a lot of these like um compound lifts. There's another angle too which is this is a very basic human uh movement that we should all be able to do a hinge to hinge properly hinge properly hinge properly something off off the floor. Yeah. To hinge properly is a skill. We face it every day. we should all want to be figure out how to do to practice and and if if all the all these studies that come out or these arguments for the the the deadlift is high risk, it's like that that's not like a reason to not do it.

It's a it's a man that's sad that we've gotten to a place where hinging is so difficult for us. I'll put it. It's a reason to resp. It's a reason to respect Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. that it's a skill. We also have a brand new sale this month. It's buy one get one free of any Maps 15 style program. So we have many MAPS 15 style programs. These are programs where you work out just 15 to 20 minutes a day. You can buy one and get one free right now.

Go to maps15 bogo b.com bogo b.com bogo b.com to get yourself set up. Here comes the show. show. show. Look, if we're going to base what exercises and movements we should do based off of the data on injury risk, then we would throw running out number one. one. one. So, that's my whole point uh with the I remember I remember this hitting me like a ton of bricks years I've told this story before. I haven't told it in a long time, but years ago, this was a long time ago.

I don't know. It was 15 17 years ago, something like that. I was hiking in the foothills uh uh down in South San Jose and I'm up there hiking and uh in the foothills uh people will either hike or run. So it's not like a crazy trail. It's like a flat trail. So you'll see people running or hiking and I was getting passed up by all these joggers. Now I'm a trainer and as a trainer I can't help but notice biomechanics. Okay? So I'm watching people run and in my mind I'm like, "Oh my god, foot pronation.

Oh gosh, that person's knees are going to hurt. Oh my god, excessive anterior pelvic." And I just watch everybody running by and every single running person running by I'm like, "Oh god, that looks horrible. That looks horri." And they're just, you know, these are people trying to lose weight or whatever and they're just running to fatigue. And then out of nowhere, nowhere, nowhere, this guy runs by and he's like a gazelle. Like he was this, you could he could tell he's been practicing the skill of running.

He's competitive. He's good at it. And he just coasted by. And I'm watching him and I'm realizing how beautiful his technique was. And then I'm thinking to myself like, you know, hunter gatherers, this is how we killed this is how we killed animals. We we didn't we didn't weren't faster than animals. We throw something at them and then we run after them till they bleed out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh we're made to run. Why is it that this guy and I'm like, "Oh, I know why." Here's what happens.

Somebody hits the age of 35. Oh my god, I got to lose weight. Go buy some running shoes and I'm go run till I'm tired. Yeah. And they're flatfooted. And nobody treats any other skill this way. If I don't if I want to learn how to play golf, I don't go out, grab a golf club, and swing as hard as I can until I'm tired. I'll hire a coach. I'll figure out my technique. Uh, and I I know that it's a skill. Exercise is a skill.

Strength training is a skill. It's not just a way to get tired. And if you respect it as such, here's what happens to to your point, Adam. If you don't practice a skill and strengthen a skill, you lose it. Yeah. So, if so, right now, if you're listening right now and you haven't run a lot since you were 12, which is most people, your running is going to suck. You're going to not run. Your technique is going to be terrible. If you haven't thrown a baseball since you were in little league, go throw a ball really hard, see how your shoulder feels right afterwards, you've lost the skill.

If you don't practice the skill of hinging or squatting or pressing or rowing, you'll lose it. Even the behind the neck exercises that even some certifications say don't do. Yeah. Super dangerous. Behind the neck press, behind the neck pull down. pull down. pull down. Your ability to articulate your shoulders in that position with the mobility and strength in order to control that. If you stop practicing that, you'll really lose it. So, it's actually a good idea to practice and learn all these different skills and treat them with respect.

And what will happen is you won't hurt yourself. I mean, this is a slippery slope towards Wall-E, you know, like it's like we we agree like, oh, all the studies are showing the high risk of injury through deadlifting, so let's just eliminate that. Then what comes next? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And then what comes next? I mean, if we if we use that to steer us in what we should or shouldn't be doing as far as movements, sooner or later, all the all the studies will continue to point to this movement hurts us, this movement hurts us.

And it's like, it's not a lack of that we shouldn't be doing that movement. It's a lack of we should be practicing that movement so it doesn't hurt us. So this idea that you know deadlifts are bad for you or the I mean listen I admittedly I didn't train them for a very long time and I didn't train clients on them but it was because I was fearful of the skill. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I didn't I didn't feel I could coach it properly and so I didn't teach my clients to do it.

I was uh too embarrassed as a trainer to do it in the gym because I didn't think I had good technique. And at that time in my life, I didn't value enough to go hire someone to te coach me and teach me to do it. It wasn't as popular as it is today where you could probably tap someone on the shoulder in the gym today and find someone. Nobody deadlifted. Nobody did in the gym. Like you if you worked at a gym like we did 20 something years ago.

years ago. years ago. Yeah. Nobody was deadlift. I'd have members stop me and tell me, "What are you doing? That's my own gym." So it was, you know, so I understand why a lot of people avoid it. I was I did. Uh but let me tell you somebody who did and then and then see the value of learning how to do it. Oh my god it's such important movement. Yeah. Properly progressively overloading. I mean it prevents back pain. It prevents like a lot of these chronic pain and arthritises and issues down the road.

So to you know like generalize generalize generalize everybody to steer away from something where people go to the extreme in excess uh just like anything else. I mean, it's that's what pisses me off about our space is we we we need clicks and we need views and we need things that are shocking and they're all generalizations and it just steers people different directions uh that are harmful because you know we're implementing these specific types of exercises that are going to work well as a skill for your life.

And it's like there's a way to do that and introduce it with the proper amount of load where you know your body can withstand that. It's supposed to withstand that. We have muscles for this. Like we we have the the gear, the equipment. We we're made for this. You just have to load it properly. You have to build the skill up and the strength uh to produce it and to generate force. And so yeah, you literally could go down the list. I mean, unless you're like slamming weights like on your neck or something like I, you know, there there might be some value there.

There's some of my favorite uh videos uh that were just for me as a trainer uh paradigm shattering were these old you can find them on YouTube, old Soviet era uh wrestlers. So, these were Greor Roman uh wrestlers um who were doing uh weight training exercises and they were doing exercises I'd never seen before. So, I'm looking at it and I'm like, "Oh my god, what are they doing? This is crazy." And then I'm like, "Wait a minute. These are like the winniest athletes of all time back then." Uh, this is when I learned about the Jefferson deadlift.

Listen, you want to watch something so much controversy that makes you cringe? Like, what are you doing? Like, the way you're not supposed to do a Jefferson deadlift. Jefferson curl. Jefferson curl. Jefferson curl. Jeff. Yeah, Jefferson curl. Now, these guys were doing this because when you're a wrestler, a wrestler, a wrestler, you're picking someone off the floor. Uh, you're not in this proper looking perfect whatever. You're very rounded. Whatever. So, they had to strengthen that position to prevent injury during compos competition and you're moving moving weight.

Yes. Yes. Yes. It's not a barbell. It's not stationary. It's a guy that's like resisting you. That's That's right. And you're in that precarious position like tell me, you know, tell tell me like that's like not valuable for the risk of injury goes up uh when the when the demands start to get close to your limits of what you can handle. That's right. That's right. That's right. This is why uh you know the the risk starts to the risk versus here's where risk versus reward becomes an issue.

You're really freaking strong. Okay. So, if you're a guy Yes. and you're deadlifting and you've been training for 5 years and you weigh 180 lbs and you you're like at a 450 lb deadlift, which is like you're really strong dude. If you're 180 lbs, you're pulling 450 off the floor. You're a very strong guy. Yeah. Now, at that point, you're like, "Okay, is adding 50 more pounds to my deadlift going to do much more for my quality of life or building muscle? Is it worth going up 50 lbs?" No, it's not.

But you get a 180 lb guy who can deadlift 100 lb and you get him to go up to 200 lb, the reward is phenomenal. Quality of life goes through the roof. Stability around his spine is incredible. He notices it every day, far more than the guy who went for 450, 500. Well, not to mention, too, there's there's several ways. I mean, we did a whole episode, I think, that we I think the nine ways to progressively overload the body. And there's you don't have to just do more weight on the bar, too.

You can make it harder by You can slow down the tempo. You can do isometrics and pauses. Like, there's there's so many things that you can do variations where I do a sumo deadlift and then I do a conventional like single leg. leg. leg. Yeah. Or single. There's so many things that we can do to challenge and progressively overload the body to see continued progression in that movement and get better at the skill before we increase the risk by going, hey, let's slap 250, 300, 400 on the bar.

It's like, how about I stay at 135, but now I'll do single leg or I'll pause or I'll do an isometric hold. Like so many things you can do. Here's the proper um comparison cuz then if we go down the rationale of like dangerous exercises then the rationale logically with that rationale would lead you to machines. Okay, slippery soap post. If I if I follow that rationale, then what I'm going to do is go I'm going to say, "Okay, well, I'm only going to do machines.

It's controlled. It's on a track. It ain't going to get out of place." But I'm going to give you here's a proper comparison. If you took two people, identical situations, both of them training properly, okay? So, good technique, doing what their body can handle, good mobility, good stability, one person's doing the quote unquote dangerous exercises, and the other person is doing the quote unquote safe machine exercises, and you have them live their life for their whole life. The person with the higher rate of injury in life is the machine person.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're less strong in ways that you need to protect yourself in everyday life. Cuz here's what happens in every life. life. life. Translate. I'm walking and my foot goes off the curb or my kid jumps over here and I got to reach and grab him or I got to twist and grab this thing or my 5-year-old jumps on my neck when I'm sitting on the couch a particular way. Like Like Like you want you want you want So you're carrying shifts and there's a there's a joint stabil stability component to lifting free weights.

Yep. weights. Yep. weights. Yep. That you you don't get with the machine. That's right. That's right. That's right. It's on a track. It's stabilized for you. you. you. That's right. And so there's tremendous value to a weight on a barbell or a dumbbell that can move freely and all those stabilizer joint or all those stabilizer muscles have to stabilize that movement that is incredibly valuable that you you miss out on if you do that. Yeah. No, it's a it's a really slippery slope to go down and eliminate a movement, especially a movement like that.

It's like we could do without bicep curls. You could 100% do without bicep curls. bicep curls. bicep curls. That's so funny. You know what I'm saying? Like you guys both look at me right then. No, it's I mean it's true. You knew you I still do them every now. You can you but you can you can literally never do a bicep curl if you're doing pull-ups and deadlifts and everything like that. You're you're fine. You can never do a bicep. We could do without certain exercises, but there's certain ones we just lose.

An overhead press, overhead press, overhead press, a barbell squat, a barbell deadlift, the row, these movements are so important for everyday life. Yes. For the way we we will move throughout the rest of our life, for the rest of our life. And to eliminate one of those uh because of the risk factor is just ridiculous. You know what my favorite example of this is? And we have the person here who can confirm this. Doug hired me because of back pain. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Doug went to a chiropractor.

I have so many stories of clients that had low back pain and then deadlifting is what made them not have Well, let me let me tell the story. He had repeated back injuries. It just kept going out and he goes and his chiropractor who I had started working with was like, "Go see this trainer. He knows what he's doing. So Doug, who had back problems where his back kept going out, started training with me and we trained properly and appropriately. Eventually got him to do a 405 lb deadlift at a body weight of what, probably 153 or five.

That's an incredible strength to weight ratio. Does your back go out anymore? Uh, has been a very long time. Knock on wood, but no, it doesn't. It used to go out all the time. time. time. And that's an example. Well, I've I've shared on the podcast I've shared on the podcast before deadlifting and barbell squatting, I had chronic low back pain. That's what got rid of it. I mean, the irony of that, right? Like my as as a young man, by the way, like I I would I had low back chronic pain, like chronic low back pain.

And learning how to squat and deadlift. Well, you were strong everywhere else, too. too. too. That's right. That's right. That's right. Yeah. It wasn't like you weren't working out. out. out. You susceptible. And that's that's the You were a muscular bodybuilder. Yes. And I and it wasn't until I started doing that. I mean, the listen too, the the core strength required to stabilize uh the barbell when you're doing a deadlifter is so incredibly important and valuable, too. So, and and getting good at that skill forces you to do that.

And that was that alone right there. And as long as I maintain that and I notice a difference when I have these spells where I'll go on a kick for a while and I won't deadlift or squat for a little while. And uh the that very first thing that always motivates me to get back lifting is I'll start to notice low back fatigue. I'll sit on a plane for an hour and it's like oh my god my low back I'll drive somewhere I'll be like and I always know it's like god damn it I haven't been squatting or deadlifting and if I'm if I'm if that's consistently in my routine I don't have chronic you know what it is.

You know what this conversation is? It's it's lazy. This is the conversation. Hey we're not even attempt to teach you or talk about why. We're just say don't do it. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Cuz we're too lazy to explain it to you. We're too lazy to communicate it properly. And and and to be quite honest, we think you're too lazy to do it the right way. So just avoid it, you guys. Just just skip it. Just put caution tape around it and move on. on. on. Yeah.

Move on. And it's like, no, that's not the proper that's not the proper. It's just I I think it frustrates me because I would be okay with that with a lot. There's probably a hundred exercises you could convince me that you could do without. It's one of the ones that are the most. Yeah. It's a It's one of the ones if there's only a handful. There's less than a handful Yeah. of movements that like I feel like don't lose this skill. Yeah. Exactly. Do not lose this skill to be able to do this.

That would be that's one of them. So, it's like get rid of There's a lot of [ __ ] that we can get rid of that is like eh, you know, not a big deal if you don't do that or uh if we do this, it gets it takes care of that. Like there's not a lot of stuff There's not a lot of stuff that replaces the the deadlift. And I'm okay with variations. Like if you're not if the skill isn't there to do a barbell deadlift, then we trap bar deadlift.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And we work towards that. You know, or if or we do single leg like you said. I had my 70 plus year old clients deadlifting all of them. Every single one. We didn't start deadlifting. Yeah. But it was like You probably started with a single leg toe touch, which is where I started. And I would start them off on a rack and it was barely bending over. And eventually I got them to do full-on deadlifts and every single one of them was like, I can't believe how good my back feels.

This is incredible. Anyway, we're going to change subjects off air. Adam, that's just I love I love the things that Adam gets passionate about. You talking about my soap? Yeah, dude. Hey. Hey, listen. First of all, first of all, are you still doing like three showers a day or I mean, I always have been that guy, but I So, we had we had Caldera Lab today and the and we just raving about we talk about all the stuff that other stuff is great, but their skin stuff there.

Yeah, it's amazing. But their soap is one of my like once I converted over to using soap, I've never used I don't know how many years now it's been. I've never used another soap. It's the the best bar soap ever. And I just can't believe you guys haven't got on board as as because it's a it's a it's a it's the lather you keep raving about. It's just this really thick like and I know your argument back and I know your argument back to that is like you know that the lather has nothing to do with it's the experience.

It is. It is. It is. You're such an experienced guy with your bath bing. bath bing. bath bing. There is There is There is I and and I'm very aware of the I'm aware of the shampoo game. I'm aware of the soap game. I'm aware of the toothpaste game. toothpaste game. toothpaste game. Are you smiling when you take a shower? Are you like Yes. Yes. Yes. I to to to lather up and see myself, you know, you know, make a nice little like bubble hat. You like little kids.

You know what would be like the ultimate like if you could sell Justin cuz I for sure I guarantee you Justin uses dish soap. I guarantee I guarantee I guarantee he does use diesel. He does fuel or whatever that whatever's there. You steal from Courtney. Courtney. Courtney. What whatever that like shop soap is that you use to get grease off. That's Oh, yeah. The orange uh soap and it's like sandpapery. I'm totally used to that. that. that. Well, I' I've so I've before Calera Lab, I've I've purchased like your you know, organic goods like homemade soaps and stuff like that.

And I and I like I like those. In fact, we used to although they're ridiculously expensive when you buy like that, which is just crazy. I I've like but the one thing I've never liked about them is I feel like I'm scrubbing on my skin and I can't see any lather whatsoever. So, I've always wanted the best of both worlds. And I know that a lot of the cra the crappy stuff that's got all the chemicals and the [ __ ] to make the lather. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Is that No, Caldera Lab. So, here's a question I want to ask you because you're also you also have sensitive skin because you have psoriasis. Uh, and I know Calera Lab like does it dry me out. I was just going to say because one of the things that they like what they focus on is does this work with your skin? Does it balance out the microbiome or does it just strip your body or whatever? So, you you you said no. It doesn't make it No. Okay.

No, it does not dry me out at all. all. all. All right. Good. I know it's like dermatologist tested and they're it's all plant-based and so it's all natural, but that's what blows my mind is I've for the first time I've tried all kinds of natural soaps. Like I said, I've never had one that lathers the way that does and it lathers better than any chemical soap that I tried in the past. And so to me, it's like I don't know how that doesn't doesn't fire you guys up the same way.

Well, we're off and I'm like, what do you use, S? Like what? I'm like what? I mean, I've never even heard you talk about what you What do you do you do you Well, I don't I First of all, I know I don't think you wash your body. I don't think you wash your body. I don't I don't think you wash your body. I don't I'm convinced you're That's why you're oily. That's silly. I'm supposed to be oily. My skin makes natural. You use that. I think you use that as like a pull the race card.

I just pulled the race card. Here's why I don't talk about it. I've never been in a convers You're the only man I've ever met in my entire life who in full-on conversation with dudes is like, "Yeah, I took a bath yesterday." The soap like, and I'm like, part of me is kind of like, I'm getting this is weird. Like, what are we talking about here? It's a bold move. Yeah. So, that's why I never brought it up. Yeah, I use soap, dude. dude. dude. But I'll get some of the caldera lavender.

lavender. lavender. Anyway, I'm going to change directions again. Dude, there's a study that's going viral right now. I'm going to bring it up on uh male versus female concussion. concussion. concussion. Have you heard of that? Have you heard of this? Okay, I have you. Okay, so this is crazy. So, um, so here's what the what the article says. As long as we win. Cool. Cool. Cool. To throw that in there. Women or girls are up to twice as likely to suffer concussions as their male counterparts when playing the same sports under the same rules.

Various various studies show because we have thick skulls. By the way, by the way, the reason why this is crazy is because the force at which men hit each other or or hit the soccer ball or whatever is so much higher. much higher. much higher. So, you would expect men to have higher rates or what? No. Uh it's because uh that the way that our brains uh work and the way they handle um impact and the way they handle inflammation, it seems to be a lot better uh in men than it is uh in women.

And so they're finding that there's those differences those differences those differences uh make a big difference. Well, I wouldn't even think that I said that, but I don't even think the thick skull would would help because it's really just shakes the brain. Yeah. Your brain your brain's slamming to the inside of your skull anyways. No, it's neck muscles, brain uh micro architecture, and the menstrual cycle. You know what's funny about this? It's like we evolved to battle and wars. Yeah. Here's the deal. It's not neck muscles.

muscles. muscles. Some biology there. Although strong necks definitely can help. Um you know when you have two professional uh soccer player men hitting the ball or running into each other or any other sport or boxers the force at which we hit each other is so much higher much higher much higher that it doesn't make up the difference. It's it's it's the brain micro architecture and so they're like you know know know probably because uh we evolved uh with more getting blasted just being a little more resilient to physical.

Yeah. This is important to know though with uh sports. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh it's funny because my my daughter plays um lacrosse. Is that the one she plays? Lacrosse. plays? Lacrosse. plays? Lacrosse. And uh I know in in women's lacrosse they're not allowed to hit each other. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like men's lacrosse. No. No. No. And um and I think some people would look at that be like, "What's the difference? Let them I think it's I didn't know that. They have different rules." Yeah. They're not allowed to like physically.

physically. physically. So in men's lacrosse, what is the What are the rules? How can you guys It's like hockey. Yeah. It's just like hockey. I mean, and you could stick check, but it it's like Yeah. You can't actively like hit above the head. And can you run into each other? Oh, yeah. You could sit. You could check. You can use fighting. You can use your stick. Yeah. See, the girls aren't allowed to do that. do that. do that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you start doing that, they'll they'll you shoulder in.

I mean, they're wearing pads, so it's you know, it's all fair game, but yeah, I don't think the women wear um like shoulder pads. shoulder pads. shoulder pads. No, they wear uh So, yeah, it's just helmet and and maybe like glove pads. Oh, they don't? Huh? Yeah, cuz they can they can check at the stick where the hands are, but they can't like body check. check. check. So, I can get the ball I can get the ball out of your stick with my stick unless I'm doing this wild swing.

I think it is like this overhead, then they'll call it. Yeah. But if you check each other, cuz I've seen this, my daughter plays and they'll sometimes run into each other. They'll blow the whistle. I dig it. And they won't let them. Oh, interesting. Yeah. I was I was under the impression it was the exact same uh rules as hockey. No. And hockey allows the shoulder full. You can do a check. You can do you can what you can do is check in the back in hockey.

Hockey you cannot have a guy guy guy guy guy turn around simar and check him in his back but squared up you you can check him him him the high yeah if you're like a tomahawk and you can't you can't lift a stick above their head and come down so that that that' be high. So this brings up another question is that because there was this there was this article that everybody it's so funny when I every time I saw this article posted I read the comments I'm like thank god nobody's buying this crap.

It was the one that said that gender differences don't matter if a man transitions and then he plays sports with women. The performance of They're trying to make this crazy argument that nobody believed and none of the data actually supports. actually supports. actually supports. We've moved on from that, haven't we? Uh there there's still this goes against biological science. And I'm like, you know what? If different brain architecture, uh, okay, so now we're all playing the same sport. We're boxing and I'm a dude, but I transition.

We're going to punch each other in the head. There's a difference. There's a difference with uh with how that affects us. Safety. There's a safety difference. safety difference. safety difference. Yeah. You bring up boxing. So interesting. I uh just last night my uncle was brought this up to me. Did you uh when Muhammad Ali died, did you know who did his eulogy? No. No. No. Billy Crystal. Billy Crystal. Billy Crystal. Oh, Oh, Oh, I didn't know they were like super close friends. friends. friends. Oh, weird.

Oh, weird. Oh, weird. Yeah, I had no idea. I watched it on YouTube. It's actually really good. If you ever had time to wa look up uh Billy Crystal does uh Muhammad Ali's eulogy. Yeah. Totally random. I had no idea. So I like he got his big break from Muhammad Ali. Another comedian couldn't come through. They were doing some uh awards ceremony or something for Muhammad Ali. It was when and Billy Crystal was like an unknown. Wow. Really? Wow. Really? Wow. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Unknown. Somebody fell through.

He happened to have a bit that he used to do. Even though he was unknown like and so he's like, "Hey, this someone recommended." Muhammad Ali is one of my favorite I I love old I don't watch boxing anymore, but I like old boxing. He's one of my favorites of all. He does this great thing. So, I watched this first, then I went down the rabbit hole a little bit. Then the next thing I watched was he does a uh he did this tribute uh when he was being I think inducted to the Hall of Fame or something.

He was still alive and it was called 15 rounds. So Billy, if you look up Billy Crystal, 15 rounds of Muhammad Ali and he does a full-on impression and it's 15 rounds long and it's his life. It's really good. And he plays he he and he he uh he imitates uh a famous uh uh um sports cer and Muhammad Ali. And so he does both the voices and it's a story of his his life and his fights. Have you ever seen the interview where Mike Tyson is on Arsenial Hall?

This will date me a little bit. His old talk show and Arsenial Hall I think is this when he he gets Mike says something to him about being close to him or something like that. No, that's a different No, that was with that P. Diddy was sitting next to him. PD picked up his hand and moved it over. He was like trying to put his hand on his his his No, but he asked Muhammad Ali um sorry he asked Mike Tyson, "How would you do if you fought Muhammad Ali?" and the reverence he had for Muhammad Ali and Tyson doesn't like you ask him we fight anybody especially back then he'd be like I'll kill him yeah but he was like oh he's the greatest of all time he had such a reverence he was there he he was there at that that event too you see him in the crowd when they do it but uh yeah it was a worthwhile watch I thought it was really uh uh uh you know what Muhammad Ali uh kind of pioneered in boxing or in all fight sports do you guys know you know what he pioneered because obviously he was a great boxer great boxer great boxer talking of course nobody did ultimate hype man nobody did it before he was the greatest I mean that's He backed it up.

That's the thing. You can't like have that bravado and not back it up. Otherwise, that was his strategy against Sunny Liston. You know that, right? So, Sunny Liston was dangerous and scary and Muhammad Ali knew that if he got in his head that he would just mess with him, psychological war psychological war psychological war and he just pissed them off so bad that Sunny Liston was was off. Yeah. Do yourself a favor and watch that. It's It's only like a It's like maybe 10 minutes or so.

It's a short little watch, but super worth it. Uh it was so well. I had no idea about that. I that. I that. I You know, we missed this prime, right? Muham we all, we never got to see the best of Muhammad Ali ever. I know. He was in three years. He was in prison prison prison in Yeah, cuz he would go to I mean, you could argue that about Tyson, too, right? Both him and Tyson spent their some of their prime years of boxing in prison.

Well, Tyson did something. Well, I know I'm not saying one of them was a little less. Yeah. I'm saying that we missed out two of the greatest fighters of all time. We missed out on some of their their greatest years of of of boxing. If you're a boxing, if you if you you never watched his Frasier fights, man, that is a war. Just watch those fights. They're super awesome. All right, I got this other uh study that's really interesting. Uh so, there was a study that was done uh asking women uh questions about attractiveness.

So, um here's what the the the title of the study says. Cues of upper body strength account for most of the variance in men's bodily attractiveness. In other words, perceived strength accounted for or explained over 70% of the variance in male bodily attractiveness. What do you mean by that? that? that? So when they're looking at bodies, which one's more attractive? Yeah, that was the the the 70 70% of it was perceived strength, which which which that's like the vast majority of it, right? right? right? It wasn't anything else.

It was like for the most part, not just your good-looking face. It was just literally like he looks stronger, so he's more attractive. where the where the the the beach muscle training come from too where guys just said check chest and arms. Yeah. They're like like like they're going all in on that. That's it. You know what I'm saying? She ain't seen my back. You know what I'm saying? She don't know what a what a strong back looks like. looks like. looks like. Legs are just chest and arms.

So go lift some weights if you want to increase your attractiveness level and make more money. That's the other one. I don't think they talked about that. I mean, you know, you know me. I used to joke about that all the time about being all show and no go, right? just uh no no girl has ever asked me how much I bench press if I took my shirt off and just as long as I look like I bench press is what matter. what matter. what matter.

So it's like I was I was watching this I don't remember how I got it was like on my algorithm and this woman was sharing how uh how unattractive it was. She was on a she was with this guy and I forgot I should have showed my wife this because I'm like is this true? She's like, she was talking about how she was with this guy and she saw him do something that every man in her life that she knew was good at, but she saw him and he was bad at it and it immediately made her like not attracted to him.

What was that? I feel like you said, did you share this before? No, but I was thinking about this like if you grew up with like like uh like dudes that could like fix things around the house like dad is good at it, my brother's good at it, then you get with this guy and then you see him swing a hammer and he's just like doesn't know what he's doing. You can just imagine that that would make you go. I thought I thought that I thought I saw something like that, but it was like uh That's why I won't do housework.

Oh, you know what it was? I shared this a long time ago. There was a funny clip. Okay. There's this great clip. I shared this on social media. Someone made this this. It's a It's a guy and a girl and they're walking on the on the uh sidewalk together and they're holding hands and you know and she's like looking at them and it's like you could tell that they're in love and stuff like that and it's like had some funny music going or whatever and all of a sudden uh a ball like some two guys were like throwing a football in the street and a wind is and and it lands at his feet.

Yeah. And and uh and the guys like they make they do like a head nod like that throw at us. Yeah. Like throw it and he looks and he picks it up and he's like cuz it's his left hand. Yeah. And she's like like instant cuz his right hand was holding her hand. I saw that. saw that. saw that. Yeah. And he like he throws it. It's like this. Don't do that. Terrible throw. And the chick's like kick it, dude. Like at that moment, bro. Just let go of her hand and throw the ball way better.

That's the real move than trying to throw with your left. Yeah. Yeah. It was such a great I was talking to I won't say too much. I won't call him out, but a f a a family member and she was talking about how um she started dating uh this kid, this guy. So, they're younger and uh she told me this like huge green flag. So, they were walking. were walking. were walking. It's a green flag. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, they were walking and she goes, "And we were walking on the sidewalk and I was on the outside towards the road.

He was on the inside and he switched. He made me go on the inside." Oh, yeah. I went to and I'm like that's that's good. that's good. that's good. Old school chivalry right there. Yeah, dude. I'm like he knew that. He knew that. That's great. Appreciate it. Anyway, um I want to talk about ashwagandha because um it's the one of the main ingredients in Organifies green juice. I have a friend of mine who has a high stress valuable job. Uh does this does saves lives basically and um it's just his job.

He tries to do everything he can to manage his stress, but he's often tired and stuff just because of the the nature of his job. He does emergency work and so it's just it's a stressful job. He's been doing it for a long time. He's good at it. And so he was like asking me like, "What are things I can do that'll help?" So, of course, we talked about, you know, diet, exercise, uh we talked about sleep, and those are things that he's aware of, and he's like, "Are there supplements uh that can help?" And I'm like, the one with all the data uh is Ashwagandha.

And so he's a he's a smart guy. So he looked up the data. He comes back. He's like, I I can't believe I'm not from I wasn't familiar with this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So he started using it uh regularly. Um and a couple weeks later, he's like, I can't believe nobody can't believe I can't believe nobody told me about uh Ashwagandha. He's like, it feels it feels it feels uh g like life-changing for me. Do you think that's the main thing in the green juice that people comment because it gets obviously I mean, it was or for the longest time.

I don't even know if it still is or not, but for the longest time, it's been Organifi's flagship product. I mean, that's what put them on the map. Um, I remember our first experience with it. Up to that point, every green juice I tasted tasted like crap. It tasted amazing. Oh, yeah. Felt good. Normal green juices tastes like uh like if you mowed the lawn and and then juiced it. juiced it. juiced it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Disgusting. Disgusting. Disgusting. And so, yeah, you know, it's obviously gotten tremendous reviews for such a long time.

Do you think it's a the Ashwagandha that is the main It has a lot it has a lot of good things in it. So it's better than just taking ashwagandha because ashwagandha is great. It's one of the main ingredients. Uh but it also has um the micro greens in there, things like chlorella, spirulina, and other things that when you grind them up enough and you make them bioavailable, they just have all these benefits. They have all these digestive health benefits, anti-inflammatory benefits. anti-inflammatory benefits. anti-inflammatory benefits.

They help with digestion. Uh it just feels good. So, it's like one of those like can I improve is there a supplement I can take that will improve my body's ability to handle stress that's also good for me. Um, and of course this is a supplement so it doesn't replace diet, sleep, and exercise. It's like yeah, green juice. Green juice. Take that regularly. regularly. regularly. Yeah. I always thought it was a deficiency thing but I think it is too. It's the the calming of it like with the the stress management of it.

For sure. Totally. That's when I notice it the most. most. most. Yeah. When I like to use green juice the most is when I'm uh traveling cuz I just travel messes me up if I'm traveling for the show. Yeah. My sleep is off. Airplanes I have like I get motion sickness easy. So I'll get off the plane. I always feel kind of kind of weird. And if I do the green juice uh you know makes a big difference. You have any flights coming up? Are you flying anywhere anytime soon?

Uh we were talking about one. Well yeah we are going to Arizona. When is that in June? That's in June. I fly before that. I got Miami Miami Miami dude. That'll be the big That'll be the the the biggest talk I've done for Mind Pump Pump Pump for in terms of length and amount of people. people. people. So last year when you did So last year when you did talk it wasn't the main stage? stage? stage? It was not the main stage last year. I thought it was last year my second time talking.

Okay. So I was on the main stage. stage. stage. Yeah. Cuz the first year you weren't You had such great feedback. They got such great feedback that he put you on. Now the difference between this year now you're the opener. So you a new place. Yeah. So you you were you were already though on the main stage. I mean last year the crowd was was big. Yeah. But this was this is a longer talk and again it's Is it longer? Yes. They want me to speak for 35 minutes I think.

Which that's not really I'm not worried about that. I could talk for a long time. time. time. 35 days. 35 days. 35 days. Yes. We're confident cuz the last talk was 20 minutes. I remember be like oh man I got to make sure I cover this. And as I'm talking there's a timer. And I started realizing like I'm going to run out of time. I better get through my slides type of deal. So, deal. So, deal. So, I'm excited. I'm excited for that that event. I I mean, the fact that uh they they rented like a whole place now, right?

So, they have it's huge. Bigger than the Vegas one they had, which that was huge. was huge. was huge. The the whole peptide space is getting crazy right now. It's insane. It's insane. It's insane. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. It's getting so crazy. It's so interesting. interesting. interesting. Um, everybody there is a practitioner, most people. So, people who use peptides in their practice. Mh. So you're looking at like doctors, nurse practitioners, wellness practitioners. Um, so a lot of the talks are really technical on like newest peptides, combinations, how you can identify which ones your your patients need.

Uh, you know, that kind of deal. Um, but of course I'm not talking I'm not speaking to that. I'm going to speak to Did you watch that clip I sent you last night? night? night? Which one? Which one? Which one? You didn't know. It's the only one I sent you. sent you. sent you. Which one? It's the only one I sent you. I did. What was it? Oh, I want you to look at that. And I don't want to bring it up until you watch it cuz I want I want you to I want you to comment on it.

It was uh it was our buddies Jordy and his buddy. They were interviewing a pharma guy and a and a peptide bro. I was going to watch that. I forgot. I want you to It's short. It's only like minutes. minutes. minutes. It's not a long commitment. So you know what happens if I open a text and then I it doesn't for me then you go. He's trying. He's trying. He's trying to tell me to work more. No, that's not what it is. is that if I open it, my ADD is so bad, right?

And then I don't have the thing that says uh you should read it very quickly. I forget that it's there. So what what I got to do and I do this sometimes is I'll remark it as unre that you saw it and didn't read it. So it. So it. So you're like you're like a kid. I got to hide the vegetables inside hide I got to hide the vegetables inside the I got to find ways to like lie pancakes. pancakes. pancakes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got to sneak the things I need him to read or listen to into something else.

So I got to figure it out. But I am excited to speak uh to um people who are using peptides because I think the the conversation around how to use uh GLPs is so important. So yeah, we can't remove the fitness and the nutrition elements that dude crucial. I'm seeing more and more people people people lose weight successfully because that's what they do on a GLP and come out with other problems. other problems. other problems. Oh, I mean look at look every our colors now. osteoporosis.

now. osteoporosis. now. osteoporosis. It's rare that we it's rare that we do a week of callers and not at least two or three of them are not uh used one of the GLP ones. GLP ones. GLP ones. I mean it's it's become now and and a lot of them had huge success like you said losing losing weight but so many people people people are losing a ton of muscle at the same time. And so I I mean this is really we've been having this this conversation for well over a year now almost two years when we f when we first started talking about it and uh I know I was really early on very pro in fact I used to argue for I think the net it's going to be net positive so it's going to be awesome.

I I'm I'm a back and forth now. Uh we've seen enough people it's entirely dependent on the person they're approaching. they're approaching. they're approaching. That's right. It's entirely dependent on what else you do with it. And unfortunately I don't have from what I'm seeing it I've I've lost faith in people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So when I started and I think this is recently for me when I started to see it uh you know penetrate the circles of friends I had that I would have never guessed would be using it.

Uh is when I went oh wow. So, it's it's just too cosmetic, their reasoning, and there really shouldn't be a reason to be on it and and I I was I was really hyped on it when I saw it with the people that were 300 lb and struggled their whole life to lose weight. And it's like this was a and these people have this was like a huge huge benefit to helping them quiet that noise and head in the that I mean, we've seen so many great success story success stories around that.

uh as I started to see it uh introduced and being used by people I would have never guessed and then how they were using I was like oh man this is turning quickly it's turning into anyone and everyone is like hey this is a quick way to lose 10 pounds of pounds of pounds of people's baseline now it's like well yeah I'm on this but I'm also doing this I'll predict this right now I predict we're going to uh come out of an obesity epidemic into a frailty epidemic I think I think you're right is what's gonna happen which brings me to another topic another topic another topic uh because what they're now doing this is just pharma does this right uh big pharma does this because this is what they know to do I don't necessarily think that there's uh bad intentions or evil although sometimes I think that's that's the case but what they do is they they they'll come out with an intervention then that intervention will cause other problems and then they come out their goal is to come out with intervention to solve the problems that the first one uh caused this is just what they do and so what you're seeing now is lots of money and research is beginning to pour into into into uh muscle building uh compounds and and the the direction they're going is myostatin inhibition.

So uh and we've known this for a long time like if when you take an animal and you genetically modify them so that they're you knock out the myostatin they just build tons of muscle like crazy amounts of muscle like it's silly how much muscle these animals uh build because they don't have this um this something called myostatin which is essentially the brakes on on muscle growth. So, what they're doing is they're trying to come out with uh interventions that will inhibit myostatin because they're like, "Cool, we can combine this with a GLP.

It'll solve the muscle issue uh because uh they lose muscle on there." But they won't because they're on this myostatin inhibitor. But I've been doing research on myostatin inhibitors uh interventions. So, knockout uh animals where they genetically modify them is a little different than what they would do with people. Obviously, they're not going to, you know, you've got your genetics. So they would have to they would have to inhibit it uh through um different means and I looked this up in the animal studies and here's some of the stuff that they end up finding in them which is interesting.

So when the animals build more muscle through myostatin inhibition through an intervention not genetically modified but through an intervention we see reduced muscle quality. Uh and one of the things they noticed is what's called lower mitochondrial density. In other words, uh to put it differently, there is not a proportional increase in athletic performance and strength to the hypertrophy that they see, right? Useless muscle. So, so they build all this more muscle and athletic performance doesn't catch up to it or doesn't match it. And so, they actually become less um less ath uh nonfunctional meat nonfunctional meat nonfunctional meat it to to an extent.

And I I would argue too that this is a um will end up compounding too because if you have somebody who cares just about aesthetics and this thing gives them the aesthetics that they want. Why should I go to the gym and lift any more weights? I've already I'm more and so you'll lose the good quality muscle from the little bit of whatever training you might have done during this time because now you have this intervention that gives you this kind of artificial looking muscle that's practically useless to you.

I mean this is a we predicted this again. have obese people. people. people. Yeah, exactly. Well over a year ago, we were predicting this and we talked to Dr. Seeds about it and I remember him saying that this is that would be looking weak people. Um but that's it's like it's like gaining 15 pounds of muscle but you're not strong. But when I look at the people that are taking it to my my point, those are the people that would want that who don't care. care.

care. Well, that would say a big segment of people. people. people. Yeah. It's like, oh, I look good. I mean, what a perfect look at like like plastic surgery. What a what a perfect segue how you start you you perceived strength is what is leg that's all people care is that I I look stronger and fitter and so I don't care if I have less or more mitochondrial health I don't care if I can overweight or not weight because I look like I can do you know what happens if you're heavier and you're not stronger you're worse worse worse yeah you're just heavier stress extra stress is going to add up yeah so my point with this is is less of what you're saying cuz that's important I'm not saying that's not important that's for sure important.

People are going to go down that path because they just look better even though they're not better. Uh but my point with this is it doesn't solve the problem which is you're still going to have to strength train. You're still going to have to work out. Yeah. You're on a myost inhibitor, go work out still because we need it to be strong muscle. We need it to be function. But what I'm saying is that that is that it's going to be so much worse because one of the signal one of the signals that motivates people to go to the gym, in fact, the loudest signal that motivates most clients that we all train is the mirror.

Is the mirror. Mhm. I don't look good. I don't like the way I look. I I would argue that 90% of those people that hired me wouldn't have hired me if they had this artificial signal that said, "I look pretty good, but I know I need to go to the gym. I know I need to go lift weights cuz that's healthy for me or better for me." Like, I don't give a look. Here, here's the real question. Would you trade health to look better? And the answer for most people is yes.

They do it all the time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or they would say no. But deep down they would. would. would. Well, their actions tell you the truth. Exact. That's you know, I think a lot of people would say no. Yeah. I mean, think look at all the rest the risky procedures and surgeries and things that people do totally in pursuit of looking better, which Yeah. So, Yeah. So, Yeah. So, they want to portray that they have all those qualities, but then that's where we get to test it.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I here's my prediction. Oh, less mitochondrial density here. Let's add this other thing that's going to increase mitochondrial density and let's figure out this other intervention. Now, you're on science. Yeah. And uh it's like just you got to work out, dude. You got to work out. Fatty 15 is a fatty acid supplement that contains the newest fatty acid that's being shown in studies to have tremendous health benefits. C15. There's over a 100 studies that show that C15 can slow down biological aging, reduce inflammation, make you healthier at the cellular level.

It's amazing. It's definitely something people are going to benefit from supplementing with. No, it's not fish oil. It's a totally different type of fatty acid. I've been taking it for a while. I noticed less inflammation myself and I'm already a healthy guy, so it definitely works. Go check them out. Go to fatty5.com/mindpump. You can get an additional 15% off your 90-day subscription starter kit. If you use the code mindpump, back to the show. Our first caller is Mike from Switzerland. Switzerland. Switzerland. What's up, Mike? How you doing, Mike?

What's happening? What's happening? What's happening? Hey, guys. How's it going? Good. Good. Good. Good. How can I help you? Yeah, well, I got to tell you guys have helped me out a ton listening to the podcast. Uh, it's been super helpful with everything. So, thanks for that for sure. Um, but yeah, a little background. I'm 43-year-old American living in Switzerland. Um, moved here about 10 years ago with my wife. We have two young kids and I've always been a bit overweight my whole life, even, you know, as a kid.

Um, I've been relatively active overall, but uh, never really worked out on a regular basis until about 18 months ago and started consuming information. Fell into your guys' podcast and started to kind of dial in my routine and diet based off the advice you guys give. And it's been really pretty fantastic. Uh, I lost lost about 50 lbs. So, I'm 5'7, I'm down to 165. Really feeling quite good. Couldn't be really more happy about the whole thing, but hasn't been without some challenges. And so what I want to ask you guys about was the first issue which about 6 months into this about a year ago.

I had a herniated disc in my cervical spine which resulted in some pain in my shoulder and arm. I worked on it with the physio and he said basically the doctor thought it was due to looking at a computer screen and bad posture. So we worked on that and uh after about 3 months got back into lifting again but my left tricep was really weak after all of that. And so I took your guys advice. I've been running math anabolic. I've done it a couple times basically as written and I basically just shifted everything to unilateral instead of bilateral and let that left arm dictate the work and I got to say it it definitely came back strong and my left arm is stronger than before the injury but the right arm I'm still a new lifter is also getting stronger so this is still a significant imbalance.

Um also my arms are kind of a stubborn body part. My calves are about 16 in and the arms are you know barely 13. Uh, and then the last piece to to throw on top before asking your advice is I fell off my bike and broke a couple hands to my bones in my hand the other day. So that's the same hand that the arm that has the problem. So now I'm going to be sidelined for another 3 months. So any advice um as far as dealing with the hand and overall just dealing with the imbalance I have with that arm and the nerve issue would be greatly appreciated.

So appreciated. So appreciated. So advice keep doing what you're doing. Uh so what you were doing is perfect and stay at it. I don't know how bad the nerve damage is. uh and if it's if there's going to be any lingering issues, but the way that you're training unilaterally and and starting with the weaker arm is exactly where the the right direction. Uh if you want to build uh or or develop a a lagging quote unquote lagging body part, the prescription is uh to build more muscle overall.

So, you're going to increase your calories, hit your protein, and then what you would do is you would move volume away from body parts that you feel like are pretty well developed and kind of add it towards the lagging body parts. So, if a if a program calls for, you know, nine total sets for biceps during the week and let's say you're very satisfied with your chest, uh, and you know, it's calling for 12 sets for the chest, you could take three sets off that and put it to the arms.

Um, and then just stay consistent and that's it. You look great, dude. Doug just pulled up uh your your transformation. You look great. great. great. Yeah, you did a great job. Doing a really good job. Where where your calories at? Just curious. You know, I don't get too crazy about all the tracking and things. I can tell you one thing. If I do try to actually track for a day and I'm in the like 2500 range, I'm like super hungry. So, I I got to guess I'm somewhere around 3,000 on average.

on average. on average. Oh, nice. Nice. No, you're doing good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I I you know, make sure that first couple meals of the day I try to get to at least 100 g of protein and I just don't get too crazy about the diet other than, you know, getting away from starches, focusing on protein, and focusing on fiber and veggies. Other than that, I don't get too crazy with it. I just kind of let let it kind of dictate where it's going to fall and and go from there.

You're healthy, dog. You just got to stay consistent. Yeah, you just stay consistent, dude. And follow our programs and and do the little little volume swap. Uh, so a little bit more arm work, a little less whatever you think is doing great work. Uh, so if it's with your legs or your back or your chest or whatever, and that's pretty much it. Just stay consistent and you'll see the things you'll see the lagging body parts start to develop. to develop. to develop. Yeah. Feed feed yourself.

If you're hungry, give yourself food, keep eating the way you are, but like don't deprive yourself. Continue to fuel the workouts and try and get strong and get stronger, you know? Uh maybe I mean maybe switch up the programming if he's ran anabolic that many times in a row. Uh maybe you have any of our other mass programs? No, I got that one, used it, I liked it, and then I've been kind of just tweaking it based off the overall advice that you guys give. Um but you know, I'd be open to trying something else if you thought that it would make sense.

What do you think about symmetry? Symmetry. Sounds like Yeah, you're making adjustments like that. So be good. good. good. Symmetry is right along the lines of what you need to do anyway, right? We'll send that to you. Okay. Okay. Okay. But you're doing good, dude. That's it, man. man. man. And obviously you got to let the hand recover. I mean, that's obvious, right? Oh, yeah. I just Do you have any advice on that as far obviously like grip strength's going to be kind of last, so I'm not going to be able to do any um deadlifts for a while.

Is there anything in that other than obviously I wait for the doctor to tell me I can do things, but do you have any advice generally about dealing with that? Do you use peptides? I don't. I'm generally not really interested in going crazy with with any of those kinds of items. I do use creatine regularly and I I focus on eating the protein, but other than that, I don't um subsid supplement with that. Yeah. I you know, keep exercising what you can uh because that'll actually help with the atrophy in your hand.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh and that's pretty much it. Then you just wait till it heals. Mhm. Okay. I know some people use like straps and things for grip and you guys generally say not to do that because it weakens your grip overall. Would you recommend just waiting till the hand can deal with it or would you say that in this case this case this case how extensive is the is the break? Like what are you able to do with that hand? Yeah. So it broke the um the fourth and fifth metacarpal and I had to have surgery and there's five screws and a plate on one bone and there's wires in the other bone.

So my guess is it's going to be 3 to four months and then after that it should be fine I think. So here's the risk obviously. So, the risk is if you use straps, uh you're going to have to really not use your grip. What you don't want to do is is cause any he any healing issues, especially with screws and wires. Uh if you move things out of place, you you'll be you'll be setting yourself for another surgery in the future. So, you got to be really careful.

I know it's a pain in the butt because you got to wait. Uh and straps take some of the load off, but not all of the load, you know. So, um, and now there are hooks. You could use hooks that pull at the wrist, but I don't know how much pressure that'll place on the metacarals even from here. So, I would just be really careful because you want the healing to be good. You don't want a screw to be poking out. You don't want the bone to be misaligned because then what'll happen is you'll be like, "Cool, I'm good." And then you're going to have all kinds of problems later on.

And that is a pain in the ass to to is a that is a pain in the ass to to have to continue to operate. Hands are just you don't want to operate. It's a short short phase of your life to to to to be down and then you'll be right back versus trying to wrist out. I mean, you could get creative with like ankle cuffs that you put around your wrist and do like cable machines and do things like that. But it's like I would just let yourself slow articulations and just isometric, you know, type of work is, you know, but but very gradually working your way back.

Yeah. back. Yeah. back. Yeah. Okay. So, you you'd basically suggest wait just wait it out. Yeah, that's right. And then and then and then go back to what it was doing before. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. Then you don't run the risk of reinjuring. Yep. reinjuring. Yep. reinjuring. Yep. Makes sense. Makes sense. Makes sense. Your body will bounce right back. I mean, that we we always worry about like, oh god, I'm going to lose all that muscle. You you'll bounce it'll bounce right back real fast.

Way faster than it was to get it. Sounds good. All right. Well, I appreciate the advice you guys and uh you know, I really enjoy the show and and everything. It's been uh super helpful. I before I started this 18 months ago, I never in my life thought I actually could, you know, get in shape. I was even in high school, I ran track and I was pretty flabby. Um, so understanding what you have to actually do to get in shape is it's just so easy once you know what to do.

It's amazing. So, So, So, thanks a lot. I appreciate it. You're in a great place, bro. Keep it up, Mike. up, Mike. up, Mike. All right. Have a good day. Thank you. I mean, pretty uh pretty simple, straightforward advice. Um, he's doing the right stuff. I think Symmetry would be a perfect program. You didn't want to push PPC over there, huh? huh? huh? He's He doesn't want to touch. Well, he's uninterested, but just lack of knowing what it is, though. People, you know why people think you're injecting like some sort of a hormone or something that's like, you know, he can also do oral BPC, but he's also in Switzerland.

Uh, and I don't I don't think they're available. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, look that up, Doug. What's What's the regulations? the regulations? the regulations? First of all, here it's kind of iffy. You can get a doctor prescription here, but it's still, you know, FDA tries to on and off. They just let it, you know, go through again. Yeah. Uh when you're talking about like socialized medicine, they're even more of a pain in the ass with that kind of stuff. stuff. stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh yeah, you can buy peptides in Switzerland, uh for research, laboratory, or pharmaceutical purposes.

Yeah. So, it's research purposes. So, he's going to have to go to the gray market. But he's like he right out the gates. I don't No, I know. I just I mean when you talk about something uh speeding up speeding up the healing process I mean if that's something you're open PPC thymus PPC thymus PPC thymus cut that time in half you know if it's 3 months you're talking about a month and a half yeah I mean so would I so that's why I brought it up but I don't want to push him on it but it's also I think a lot of times people just think it's something that more than what it really is you know our next caller is Mercedes from British Columbia.

Columbia. Columbia. Hi Mercedes Mercedes. Hi. Hi. Hi. How are you? I'm good. How are you guys? Good. How can we help you? Um, so I'll kind of go through my questions so that you guys can get a full gist of it. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, I'm 51. I'm about 102 lbs, 21% body fat. I've been stuck at this weight for a few years now. I train with your course, Muscle Mommy. Um, my lifts have all increased, but my actual gym body scans that I've been getting have said that I have not gained a single pound of muscle at all in the past about 3 years, but all of my lifts have gone up.

Um, I can do 12 unassisted pull-ups, but I still haven't gained any muscle somehow. Um, I strength train only. I don't do anything else. Uh, no cardio or anything like that. I'm sitting most of the day for my job and I eat 2,800 calories a day at least. Wow. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I'm getting like at least 140 grams of protein per day, like 95 grams of fats a day. Now I'm I've upped it to 3,000 calories a day, which is really pushing it for me.

Um, I don't really know how my future uh is going to be sustainable because the more muscle mass you put on, the more metabolism, you know? So, I'm just going to be eating more and more and more food. and I just I don't know if I can eat any more food at this point. Um, so I was just wondering what you guys thought that I could do to help with this. What do you What do first of all, what do you want? Cuz you're in such an amazing place right now.

That many calories, the body fat percentage you're at, the height, weight of strength. I mean, what do you want? What What do you What's What are your goals? I want to gain more muscle. I want to I want to get to like 110 one day, you know? know? know? Okay. Okay. Okay. Wow. Wow. Wow. You're so and you probably look you probably look like a little Jack Chick in the gym. Yeah, dude. You're doing well. I think you just got to be patient, hun. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Just stay patient cuz I could look you could force it. What What are your lifts at? Tell us about your lifts. You should do 12 pull-ups, bro. Oh, I know. I heard that. I can do like doing 5x5s. I can bench press about 75 pounds. That's solid. What's your deadlift squat look like? look like? look like? Uh oh. What's my deadlift? Uh, well, I usually do RDL's, so I can do like 150 150 for like 12. Wow. For RDL's. Wow. I I mean, you know, squats are pretty quad dominant, so I don't really usually squat too much.

Um, so I usually do like one leg or like hack squat or stuff like that, but the actual machine weighs like 135 and I'm putting like putting like putting like 245s on it. So my lifts are like pretty up there. up there. up there. Hell strong. Yeah, you're really strong. Yeah. Let's give muscle or something like I'm not a farmer. farmer. farmer. No, no, no, no. Listen, listen. You're doing well, hun. So, okay. So, what's uh um you're How deep into muscle army are you? you?

you? I've gone through it a few times, but I've changed a few of the exercises just because some of them I didn't really like. like. like. Okay. You want to follow mass powerlift? Yeah, I could definitely try that if you think that help. Yep, I do. Let me put you on maps powerlift. Now, look, you could try forcing this. forcing this. forcing this. And what that's going to look like is eating 3,200 calories, 3,300 calories, 3,500 calories. 3,500 calories. 3,500 calories. She already takes a mass gainer.

You're already taking a weight gainer. You're You're You're Yeah, you're petite. Uh, and and here's what'll happen. You're gonna start trading things like gut health for weight on the scale. And I don't think that's a good trade. Yeah. I definitely think you can swap your chicken breast for chicken thighs, though. So, do Yeah, I started doing that. Even though I kind of think chicken thighs are kind of disgusting. of disgusting. of disgusting. No, really. Oh my god, you're back. You're so backwards on You're so backwards on that.

Chicken thighs are so You like ground beef? Yeah. What about beef? beef? beef? Yeah, I eat all the time. Lots of ground beef. beef. beef. Okay. Yeah. En yeah, enjoy some ribe eyes and try tip. Like fattier cuts of meat will would be a way for you to creep the calories up without feeling like you're having to stuff yourself. You take creatine? Yeah, I do. Five grams a day. You're doing everything right. Yeah. Just stay Listen, just stay consistent. consistent. consistent. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Be patient.

How old are you? 26. 26. 26. Yeah, you're young, too. So, just stay patient. Stay consistent. You're going to slowly continue to build muscle. You've already got a lot of muscle. You're obviously very strong. I'm so impressed that you do you are you getting uh activity outside of your lifts in because you're a truck driver. So So So So you're not you're you're you're somewhat sedentary. I mean you don't really really really Holy [ __ ] Holy [ __ ] Holy [ __ ] You have a crazy metabolism. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I seriously do. Yeah. No. Yeah. No. Yeah. No. Stay consistent and you're going to do great. You again you could force it. I don't think you're going to like the way it feels. You're probably already feeling like you're eating a ton. I've tried that. Like I've tried drinking masker before I go to bed or like eating late at night and then I wake up in the morning I'm so sick and I'm like is it worth it? No. Because I'm like throwing up or whatever.

So, So, So, uh can I go like over my like fat intake? intake? intake? Hell yeah. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. You throw olive oil on stuff. You can eat fattier cuts of meat. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, like let's say if I'm like 50, 30, 20, like for macros, like can I go like higher in my fats and like lower in carbs to help get more calories? I mean, if if you want or you can just keep everything the same the same and just bump your fats.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Bump my fats. Yeah. You can afford more calories, obviously. So, don't even drop your carbs. Keep your carbs where they're at. Just add more fat. You know what's easy to do? Oh, easy way to do that. You eat vegetables. Yeah. Sometimes. Yeah. Sometimes. Yeah. Sometimes. Yeah. You throw some olive oil on it. Okay. Really? Okay. Really? Okay. Really? Yeah. Olive oil, butter, peanut butter. Yeah. You eat you eat rice. Put some butter in your rice. Like that's the easy way to add a few hundred calories.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. And that make me like gain lots of fat or anything like that? No, obviously not. No. No. Where you're at, your metabolism is so on fire that you're it's you're Here's the deal. You have So, here's the deal. When you're hitting adequate protein, which you are, you're eating 1440 grams. You only weigh 100 pounds. Uh you can bumping calories at that point is fat and carbs. It doesn't matter. matter. matter. Yeah, it doesn't matter. It doesn't really matter. Uh so, yeah, go ahead.

Throw olive oil, throw some butter on there. Um, I'm gonna advise that you don't try to force this and just stay just stay consistent. Follow Mass Powerlift, get strong. Yeah. Have fun with it and you'll you'll you'll keep gaining muscle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, should I be like believing my scans that I've been getting at the gym or or or No, I would I wouldn't even You're this You've told me enough already with your macros, your strength numbers, everything like that that like you're you're doing perfect.

I wouldn't get hung up on what that [ __ ] says. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. just keep just keep getting stronger in the gym and and that's going to and keep pushing those calories comfortably. calories comfortably. calories comfortably. Uh and and that's going to serve you and and know this too. You're you are 26. You still have many years of gains ahead of you. of you. of you. So yeah. Yeah. I mean 30s to go. Yeah. I mean my best physique didn't happen until my 30s.

And so uh yeah. So you you still you still have gains ahead of you. So just be consistent. Keep doing the thing and you're going to continue to build. You will. You will. You will. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate it. Good job. Good job. Good job. Yeah. We'll send you a powerlift. Okay. Thank you. All right. Mercedes. Have a great day, guys. You too. You too. You too. Every once in a while. That's crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy. I guarantee you, bro. I guarantee you she's got to look jacked.

She probably looks like I want to see a picture of her, Doug. She probably looks like a gym. I couldn't find her now. She has to. She probably looks like one of those. She has to. You can't You cannot sit in a truck all day long. day long. day long. Yes. sitting Yes. sitting Yes. sitting and only be 51 and 100 lb and eat 3,000 calories and not like be like anomaly. That means she has got she says she has visible abs uh at 21% body fat, which tells me she's got good muscle.

Yes. So, and and here's the deal, like when you're and this doesn't happen that often. Typically, we're working with people who who are struggling getting leaner or women who are afraid to eat more. But when you're working with someone who's trying to build muscle and they're already eating a lot, I mean, you can definitely force it, but there comes a point where it's not worth it. No, that's I mean, that's how you and I both got gut issues. That's right. That's right. That's right. I mean, that's exactly how we got gut gut issues is was trying to push so hard of getting bigger in spite.

Yeah. I mean, that's exactly right. No, she just keep doing it. She's still young, 26. young, 26. young, 26. And I didn't we didn't ask her when she started lifting, but I mean, say she started in her She's she's gonna I mean, up until she's in her 30s, she's going to be building some muscle. Yeah. Our next caller is Jesse from Australia. Hey, what's up, man? How you doing, Jesse? Jesse? Jesse? Hey, how you doing, boys? How the [ __ ] are we? are we? are we? Good, brother.

How are you? Good. Good. [ __ ] I'm so excited. Sorry. I'm [ __ ] This is crazy. How do I help you? How can we help you, man? man? man? Uh [ __ ] Okay. Um like about 10 weeks ago, I agreed to fight uh boxing. I was doing it once a week. uh it's like a PT thing. I like the skill. Um and then to to get back into it, did it for about six months, fell off for about a year and a half. Waist was always consistent, but wanted to come back to it cuz I really enjoyed it.

Like the uh the uh I don't know, I guess progression every week and getting better. And um yeah, then my coach was like, "You should fight." And I was like, "Ah, I know." And he's like, "We got a fight night. You should do it." And I was like, "Ah [ __ ] okay." So agreed to it. That's when I sent the question. So that was about eightish about eightish about eightish weeks ago. So the fight is literally next Saturday. Not this Saturday, but next Saturday coming. Um Um Um yeah.

So it was more the question was more about like training for it and um I guess how I do everything else. At the time I thought I'd have to cut weight. I'm about 70 I was at the time like 71 72 kilos. Now I'm at 69. The cap weight was at 72. So, we're both good. Me and my opponent are both good. We both train at the same gym. We spoke to each other. So, um we're both good weight wise. Don't need a cut. All sweet.

Uh yeah. So, I don't know. So, I guess the the question sort of now gone to I don't know, how do I keep training weights wise if I want to also keep doing boxing? Cuz I really [ __ ] enjoy it. It might not be three days a week like I am now because I'm sparring a couple times a week and doing skills one-on-one and stuff like that. And I've dropped my weights down to uh twice a week and I'm doing maps, performance, and dance. And I'm in the second phase for more like speed, power, explosiveness, stuff like that.

And it's um you know, I just thought two days a week, don't go crazy, but keep it there. So I got the speed, I got the power. Everything else is cardio and boxing focused for boxing. Um, yeah. So, [ __ ] So, [ __ ] So, [ __ ] Don't change a thing, bro. You're killing it. killing it. killing it. How many days a week? Two days a week, right? You're you're going to keep boxing two days a week after. No, no, no. He's trained two days a week strength training, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, but Okay. Right. You're doing three days a week now leading up to the fight. What do you plan on doing after with boxing? Um, honestly, I don't know. I don't know cuz this is like a I wasn't really planning on fighting. So, this is like a I'm scared to do it. I should do it. One of those things, you know, like you should always do something that you don't want to [ __ ] do every now and then. Um, then. Um, then. Um, but uh but yeah, so I I I would like to keep going with it, but of course me and my body dysmorphia brain are like, "No, I need to be like as big as possible.

Uh, you know, I need to keep doing the weights." But I really enjoy it and you know like seeing like you know like S your uh your series and stuff and talking about like your um you know your issues with like you know the weights and trying to be as big as possible and all that kind of stuff. Like I was always like a lot skinnier than I am now. The start the photo of me holding a lightsaber is is proof. If you guys see that they might show you that.

Um that's when I was like 18 like barely touched the weight. So, um, and I have other photos, too. There's an SG in there for you, Justin. Um, Um, Um, nice. nice. nice. But, yeah, so it's it's good to challenge that as well. Like I, as well as, you know, um, being self-conscious about that kind of stuff can um, really [ __ ] with [ __ ] and uh, that's annoying. It also it's good for staying consistent and you know motivation is temporary but discipline is forever which is great but at the same time you know at some point you got to let go of that stuff and just [ __ ] do what makes you happy as well.

It's it's good to be strong and fit and all the other stuff but stuff but stuff but um um um well Jesse if you're if you're eating right you're getting good sleep you seem like you're fit healthy guy give yourself four days a week and then and then you could you could you could trade train those four days a week how you want. So, if it's two days boxing, it's two days lifting. If it's three days boxing, it's one day lifting. If it's three days lifting, it's one day boxing.

And then it's up to you what you want, what you enjoy doing, and that's what it'll look like. Cool. Awesome. Um, yeah. Sweet. I [ __ ] This is so cool. God damn. I I like the idea of you boxing it because of your self-awareness around um the body image stuff, which uh I can relate to. S can relate to, you guys can relate to that. uh keeping you focused on like a sport like that is a healthier relationship with exercise in my opinion and so I think is a good a good way to have checks and balances and you look badass bro I mean oh thanks so yeah no you're you look you look great so and you're and obviously if you're boxing you're moving well too so um you know I I regret losing basketball you know I that's something that I wish I was still playing right now and so if that's something that you can keep going and keep doing I I I'd keep I'd keep boxing.

Even if it's not at the uh level of fighting somebody, at least doing it cuz you love to do it uh for as long as you can. can. can. That's right. That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. No, I used to play Yeah. Yeah. No, I used to play Aussie footie and then that stopped because of co and all that kind of stuff. But I played from like literally I don't know maybe like Ozkick or like whatever it is for you guys like peewee football, football, football, you know, like as soon as you're like you know four, five years old all the way up until like you know maybe like I was 24 almost 25.

So that just got like too fatiguing. I just don't And also I go for a [ __ ] football team. We haven't won a premiership in like 30 years. So I'm just like, you know, just out of it. Don't go for don't go for carton if you go for a football team. Also, maybe please do. Please, we need more supporters. more supporters. more supporters. But yeah, so that but that was like a that was a Yeah, that was a big part of my life and then that's sort of gone.

But it's weird to just sort of like not have the passion anymore. But that was like, like, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, boxing is something else that I found it in. Um, in. Um, in. Um, lean into that. Lean into that. Boxing is a really good check and balance for for how you feel with strength training. It really is cuz you get too big and bulky, you'll feel it in the boxing. the boxing. the boxing. You know, boxing requires a nice level of stamina. Uh, I like the mix.

I think it's great. Uh, and then it's up to you what your mix looks like throughout the week. You know, if it's once a week or two or three days a week with lifting. Um, and they they work well together. Yeah, they do. And throughout the year you can you can toggle the focus. So it's like uh some half the year you're heavy in the boxing and so it looks like three days a week of training in that only one day lifting and then you're like all right I've been boxing for a while kind of want to get big again.

And then you switch back to three days of lifting and only one day of boxing. Uh so I like that kind of rule of stay within this like four days of kind of intense type of training and be toggling between whatever your focus is. uh leaning that way and then if you want to balance, you split it down the middle. middle. middle. Totally. Totally. Totally. Yeah. Awesome. [ __ ] yeah. No, that's cool. That's so good. Um there's one one small other thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh cuz my sleep is usually uh decent.

I I put a lot of effort into my sleep routine, especially like blue light blocking glasses, all that kind of crap. Um and you know, like devices and all that [ __ ] But staying asleep is another thing cuz I'm a very light [ __ ] sleeper. Uh, I sleep with my MS in bed obviously, but we also have two dogs. Whenever they move, I'm up. If they get up in the middle of the night, I'm up. Um, is there anything you guys recommend on deep sleeping? I do have an eight sleep that I bought off a mate.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Which has been amazing for staying cool cuz I just [ __ ] run hot all the time. But But But in terms of actually staying in deep sleep, I even checked my sleep before. I got like got like got like 6 and 1 half hours but I woke up like five times during the night so it's like you could try Yeah. So you could try uh glycine theanine magnesium uh magnesium before bed and then white noise or earplugs. Okay. Okay. Okay. Some people do really well with that like like the white noise just keeps them asleep.

them asleep. them asleep. Uh or the soft earplugs that you put in your ear and then you're you're good. I do that. You do that? Yeah. Earplugs. Yeah. Earplugs. Yeah. Earplugs. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yeah. I think I might have to. Yeah, dude. It's cuz then your dogs moves and stuff and you don't you don't register it while you're sleeping. Yeah. Are you If you haven't tried Brain FM, mess with that, too, though. I think that's I'm more of a Brain FM guy than I am the earplug guy, so I like that.

I I I listen to Brain FM every night. Oh, cool. There you go. Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah. And then mess with like Sal said, the supplements. Um I do the same stack he just said and I sip on some chamomile tea. That's kind of my my routine before I wind down before bed. Helps out by the way. Sometimes waking up a lot in the middle of night means you're training a little too hard. Just just Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, just an FYI. So, another thing you experiment with is reducing the volume of your training and then if your sleep improves then you know that was the issue.

Yeah. [ __ ] Hey, good luck on your fight, dude. I know. know. know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. I appreciate it. I put a um a picture of they actually made like cards like fight posters as well, which I wasn't expecting. So, there's actually there's that as well. Um, picture of my dogs, picture of my misses. Um, I don't know. You guys have just been you've been such a a massive big [ __ ] part of my life obviously with the [ __ ] mind pump hat. Yeah, I appreciate that, man.

Uh, Uh, Uh, dude, like I just like I don't know. I found you guys like as soon as co hit, you had like clips and stuff recommended on like YouTube shorts and I was like, "Fuck, this is perfect." Like, you know, podcast only about fitness, but it's actual good [ __ ] and these guys are all jacked, too. Um, you know, so it makes sense. Yeah. sense. Yeah. sense. Yeah. Uh, yeah, you guys have changed like the way I think about everything. Like to all my friends, like I'm the fitness person obviously, but like they come to me for advice, but I feel like I can actually give proper advice because I've listened to almost every single old episode you guys have done and like almost every single new one.

Um, and listen to that many live calls. I feel like I can also just [ __ ] be like, "No, you should do this." And like focus on that and that's great. Body positivity, you know? So, appreciate that. appreciate that. appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you guys so much. Thank you so much. Appreciate the support, brother. Good luck, man. Go whoop his ass. Thanks, boys. Thanks, boys. Thanks, boys. All right, dude. That's cool. He's doing great. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, it might, you know, it might be that he's pushing the limit a little bit with his training.

Uh, and that's just a common thing if you're a young man or you know, you're fit and you get that kind of wake up throughout the middle of the night. the night. the night. Could be that. Could also be that you're a light sleeper. Some people's brains register noise and it brings them out. and earplugs. Is that you, too? It makes a difference. So, but he's doing good. Our next caller is Salvador from California. California. California. Hey, what's up, man? What's going dude? Hey, how's it going, guys?

Good. Good. All right. How can we help you? Uh, I'll just read the question. Uh, I got a little lost. All right. So, uh, said, "Hi, fairly new listener to the podcast. Um, looking into getting a workout program, but need a little help choosing. Uh, I did football and wrestling in high school. graduated uh 2015, graduated at 220 pounds. Uh after a couple years, I went up to 280 or 290. Uh 2018, I lost 60 lbs in about 6 to 8 months uh doing just like HIT workouts and like uh mile and a half runs.

And then uh during the pandemic, I kind of gained it all back. Uh I was getting free money and uh Postmates was was there. So, uh, in, uh, November 2025, I was at 282 again. Uh, and since I've dropped to, was it when I sent the email, I was at 258 around there. Uh, I'm currently at 248. Uh, but I kind of hit a plateau, like a really bad plateau around 255. I was stuck there for a couple months. Um, and I've been I've still been floating at that weight.

haven't really dropped too much. Uh my current my goal is to drop to 220 by July. Um I'm trying to compete in a 50 km mountain bike race in October and I want to be in that weight range. That way I can kind of ride the bike a little easier up hills and downhills. Uh at the moment I'm eating 180 grams of protein a day. Uh around 17 to 2,000 calories daily. Uh my workouts are like 30 minute cardio and then five minute jump rope and then I'll do like four compound workouts uh during my workouts and I'll do two to three times a week.

Yeah. You're starving you're starving yourself. You're eating too little. Way too little. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And how how um how dead set are we on this mountain bike challenge? bike challenge? bike challenge? Well, that's in October. No, it's it's in in in Yeah, it's in it's in October. It's October. It's October. It's October. Okay. Yeah, we're good because Yeah, I wouldn't even want you focusing on that right now. You need to you need to build we need to build build muscle right now. Um and you're not going to do that at 1,700 2,000 calories.

Here's the deal. If you want to get down to 220 by October and lose body fat, you're going to have to eat more now. Yes. Yes. Yes. You're not going to cut now. No. So, you could you could still train uh work out, do everything that you're doing, but build into a leaner physique uh because there's nowhere to go. Your calories are so low. If I cut you more, you're going to have just a to total decrease in performance. You're going to lose muscle. muscle. muscle.

I would immediately bump you up to about 2,400 calories. 2,400 calories. 2,400 calories. 25 at least. Right out the gates. Right. Right out the gates. 25. That's it. And just and just and just and keep working out. And what you're going to notice is more energy, more strength. You're going to start to feel better. And stay there for a little while. And then when everything feels good, you bump it up again. Well, what what what I'd want to hear from you and what we should see after you go to that 2500 is relatively quick, we should start to see your lifts in the gym go up.

Yep. Which also too, I want to give you a program uh of ours and I I want to make sure I tell this that you need to rest between. So, the way you've lost the weight in the past with hit training and running is the opposite philosophy of what you've probably heard us communicate and talk about. So when I give you maps anabolic to follow, you need to rest for a minimum of 2 and 1 half to 3 minutes between sets. So you got you got to sit still.

No doing [ __ ] like crazy or no like, oh, I'm ready to go and go right into it. You need to rest. And your goal is to put more weight on the bar. More weight on the bar over week over week. So the first thing that I should see is strengths go up significantly in all the big compound lifts that you've been doing. That should be the first thing we notice. Second thing we're going to notice is appetite increase and I want you to feed it. So if you're already at 2500 and you actually start to notice you're getting hungry and strength is going in the gym, I actually want you to go up in calories again.

That's your metabolism starting to kick up and your body wanting to build muscle and where you're at calorie-wise with the amount of activity and the size you are is not enough calories to build 10 pounds of muscle on your body. And we need to build 10 pounds of muscle. Yeah. Stick to clean food. Keep eating whole foods. Uh, and just feed yourself while you get stronger, bro. By the way, you're not just going to notice a jump in strength. Your endurance is going to go up, too, by bumping your calories.

Yeah. Everything. Yeah. Everything. Yeah. Everything. Yeah. You're you're not taking enough enough energy, uh, guy your size to do to have any kind of good athletic performance. What you're noticing right now is like your body surviving. That's why he doesn't want to lose any body fat. fat. fat. Yeah. That's why it's hit a plateau. It's hit a hard plateau cuz it's like we can't we can't go. So, if you go 24 2500 calories right now, you stay there for a while, you'll feel good. Then you go up another 200 calories and then then probably 3 months before October, before October, before October, you you'll probably get yourself up to about 3,32 3,300 calories by that point.

And then you want to do a cut. You go down to 2500 calories and you'll just lose. lose. lose. Call us back in 3 months. Do what we're telling you to do right now. We're going to give you anabolic. Bump to 2500. If you get hungry, go up to 2,700. Focus on getting strong. Get those long rest periods. And then in 3 months I we should we should have shown you a significant difference by that advice alone. And then we'll give you advice from there to get ready for your your your 50k uh mountain bike thing.

Got it. Got it. Got it. Does that sound cool? Does that sound cool? Yeah, sounds good. All right, let's do it. Let's do it. Thanks, man. Thanks, man. Thanks, man. All right, thank you guys. Yeah, I like what Justin said with the Just kidding. Just kidding. Just kidding. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, nice job. I mean, bro, he's way too low. No, bro. Your body is is holding on for dear life to every bit of stored energy when you're working out that much and your calories are that low and you're that big of a guy.

You know, he's two What' he say? He's at 200. 200. 200. He's 248. He's 248. He's 248. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's 248. He's 248. He's 248. He's a big dude. And he's doing cardio. He's doing a lot of working out. Uh he's eating enough to just to hold on to everything. Nothing's going to happen. So, So, So, yeah. Yeah. No, it's a lot. That's it. All right. I know you like that episode. If you did, check this one out. Stop doing three sets of 12 to build muscle and do this instead.

You guys want to guess? Stop doing the three sets of 12 and do this instead. Uh, with that intro, my guess is you're going to tell people to change the rep range up to Yeah. 5x5 or low rep range. Do you guys remember when you're going? Yeah. So, um, often times we get stuck in like a set count and a rep count or a range