How to Build 5 Pounds of Muscle in 30 Days (Step by Step) | Mind Pump 2853

Key Takeaway

Start your muscle-building phase with a deload week—cut volume and intensity in half or follow a structured recovery protocol. Studies show trained individuals who incorporate deload weeks gain 29% more strength and significantly more muscle than those who don't. This counterintuitive step resets your body and prepares it for aggressive growth by allowing full recovery from accumulated training stress.

Episode Overview

This episode provides a science-backed roadmap for building 5 pounds of muscle in 30 days for experienced lifters. The hosts discuss the importance of strategic deloading, aggressive calorie increases, optimal sleep, training variation, and accepting some body fat gain to maximize muscle growth in a short timeframe.

Full Transcript

Transcript of How to Build 5 Pounds of Muscle in 30 Days (Step by Step) | Mind Pump 2853 from Mind Pump Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

All right, you have 30 days. You want to build muscle. Is it possible? Can you build five pounds of muscle in 30 days? It might be. We're going to give you the steps. Let's get to it. 5 lbs in 30 days. Yeah. Yeah. That's a That's actually a really good I mean, first off, let's not act like it's easy. 5 pounds of muscle in 30 days is is that's a really good that's kind of an aggressive goal. Yeah. But you could do it. Yeah. You got everything have everything lined up and be super dialed in for sure.

But you can do I think it's I think it's aggressive and it's difficult in the context of somebody who's been consistently training already and has already built quite a bit of muscle. Oh yeah, beginner will do this all day long. long. long. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And or somebody who's fallen off the wagon for a while and then getting back muscle memory might take a drastic change, but you know, it could happen. The most difficult person this would be for is if you're listening to this and you've beenist, you've been consistent for the last two years and you've built already a good amount of muscle and you're trying to add five more pounds of muscle.

That is difficult. Well, I'm glad you said that cuz that's who we're talking to. So, for the beginner to build 5 lbs of muscle in a week, uh, not that hard. Just follow a good program, follow a MAPS program, eat properly. Um, often times you see people gain 5 lbs of muscle in the first month or two. Um, if you have muscle memory, even easier. If you used to have all this muscle, you lost it, then you get back into working out. Muscle memory is crazy.

Especially when you feed yourself properly and you train properly, it is incredibly wild how quickly you gain muscle back. I remember uh when you did your YouTube series, Adam, and uh I I knew muscle memory was crazy. I've experienced it. I've seen it firsthand, but to see what happened to your body in the first 30 days, it still blew me. It blew my mind. And so many people thought you were lying. Oh, I know. Yeah. They thought you were making up your DEXA scans. DEXA scans.

DEXA scans. Well, the thing that probably was the most surprising for myself uh was how little I actually had to do to get that back. to that that was what was really interesting to me was that I I mean I was only doing two lifts a day. Yep. Yep. Yep. So to think that you could build that much muscle back I mean just show highlight highlight highlight now just to not to go off on a tangent but just a little context here. First off you gained how much muscle in the first month?

20 23 lbs. 23 lbs. 23 lbs. 23 pounds of muscle. 23 or 22 as verified by a DEXA scan by two DEXA scans. But here's the context. He was gaining back uh I think 40 or 50. He was still a good 30 lbs He was still a good 30 lbs away from his most muscular size. Oh, more than that. Okay. So, you were deep in muscle memory. You didn't gain back all the muscle you never had. You still had way room to go. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I I mean I I think I think I calculated like um I was 50 lbs from peak, you know, bodybuilding. So, you you didn't even get halfway to muscle. That's why I was so confident in that. Like I I called it before I did it. Um, and I felt really confident that I could get halfway there pretty fast. I I figured the back half would be way more difficult to get back to that. And just so people understand like muscle memory is well documented.

Um, and [snorts] when you first build muscle, it it's a slower process. If you lose it and gain it back, it's much faster. And the best uh way to explain this, I guess the best analogy is like um you you have to build muscle. Imagine you have a construction site. And so you're going to build a building. So you need machinery, you need plans, you need workers, and then you need the materials. And they build this building all the way up. Now imagine that building is torn down, but you have the remaining machinery, the remaining plans, and the same workers that built it the first time.

Would they be able to build it faster the second time around? Yes. You don't have to get anything else. You just got to go. And so that's the best way to explain it. Of course, uh physiologically, it's much more complex than that. We're going to speak to people uh who are consistent. And so the first step that you need to take in order to do this is to start with a de lo week. I love that. I love that as advice because we're speaking to the person who is been really consistent and maybe plateaued or already gained a bunch of muscle.

It's like how do I get out of five more often? We just talked about this recently on the podcast. uh one of the last ones we did where uh how many times all of us have been in this kind of training uh routine and consistency and consistency and consistency and then we took a vacation for a week or got sick or and then you come back and you're stronger and it's just always this like oh wow my body really just needed some time off and I hadn't I hadn't done that cuz you you you strive so you most of us strive so much to be consistent and to continually progressively overload and that's hard as it is.

Um, rarely do you think like, oh, what I need to do is actually scale back or take a week off. It's still so counterintuitive. People that are working that hard and yeah, the their entire effort and emphasis has been on trying to be as consistent as possible and like keep achieving progress to to then peel back and then allow your body to really fully recover uh is transformative. Yeah. This is and the reason for this, there's a reason for this, and I'll get to some data here in a second, but if you're really consistent, what tends to happen almost always with anybody who's really consistent with their training is that they start to veer away from what's ideal and they start to move slowly towards what they could tolerate and they start tipping into this like where they're hitting this line and they're slightly crossing it.

So, they're doing what they could tolerate, which is more than what's ideal. So what's ideal will build the most muscle, most strength, give you the best results. More than that actually slows down the progress. You could tolerate it, but it slows down your progress because there's more recovery involved. But we tend to move in that direction. You know, you know who you are. Like you've been working out for a while. Your workouts have slowly over time got a little harder. Uh you're adding more weight, which is volume.

Maybe you've added more sets, that kind of stuff. So you're already playing that that that game already. So taking a a D lo week resets you gets you ready to gain that 5 pounds of muscle. Number two, here's what the there's a recent study that I just read or I just recently read where they actually compared two groups of well-trained uh people and they had them follow uh the same routine, but one group had a D load week every I don't remember it was every 5 weeks or something like that.

The other group didn't. And so a de lo week for people aren't familiar is essentially a week where the where the intensity and the volume is dramatically reduced. Not a little bit like a lot reduced. It's like a super easy almost like you're going to the gym going through the motions type of week. You're like practicing lifting. That's right. The group that did the D load week every so often gained 29% uh more strength and significantly more muscle. So, you just build more muscle. I mean, I like the other study even better that showed the two groups that went through and every month one group took an entire week off.

That's way more than what's normally recommended. recommended. recommended. Yes. And that group saw the same results as the group took no weeks off in those 3 months. That to me that is enough for me to like for everybody to at least consider doing this. Even if you think, oh no, I don't think I am overtrained or I don't think I need a dload week. It's just like well have you been training consistently for 3 to 6 months and not taking a full week off yet? Like maybe try it and see what happens because what the research shows is that you definitely you won't go backwards.

That's for damn sure. and there's a great possibility you'll see as much of results or more results by doing that. And so I think there's a lot of value in uh everybody uh starting with this. So I love that you use this as like your first two ways to approach this. One way is is you go into the week and you cut your volume in half and your intensity in half. So it literally feels like you're wasting your time in the gym. That's a that'd be a general way to do a D load week.

There's another way you can do this which is we have a free guide. In fact, I'll point to it. It's the 7day overtraining rescue guide. It's free. It's at mindpumpfree.com. You get this guide and just follow the seven-day layout and it's literally designed to take somebody and get them fully ready to go in seven days. Okay? So follow that and then you're ready to go. So dude a week is what you start with. Then you get back into it. Uh we'll start with diet first because you need the nutrients and you need the extra calories to make this happen.

You're not going to build 5 pounds of muscle out of thin air. uh get your protein above one gram uh per pound of target body weight. So if you're already doing well with this, if you're a 130 lb female and you're eating 130 grams of protein, I say add 30 grams to that. Add 40 grams that guys add 50 to 60 grams to what you're doing. So bump your protein even higher than where you have it. Um the data suggests that this will in combination with other things contribute to to more muscle gain when you're in in a period of time where your body's actually trying to build uh the extra muscle.

Yeah. When you're anabolic, you need the materials there to help. Doesn't it show up to 1.5? Isn't that what the kind of the upper limits are? Like once anything beyond that doesn't there hasn't been shown any of So So it depends on who you're looking at. If you're looking at like like well-trained people who've already got good strength and muscle, uh they seem to do uh in some cases better when they bump it up a little higher. Also depends on the rest of your calories. Um I'm saying I'm recommending this because I know generally speaking most people are going to benefit from this.

You definitely won't go backwards from doing this. Yeah. this. Yeah. this. Yeah. Uh and it's more likely uh than not going to contribute to the more muscle. So aim for more than a gram of protein per pound of body weight. I'd go like 1.2 to 1.5. Yeah, you know, something like that. Next up, bump your calories aggressively. aggressively. aggressively. So, ladies, you're going to gain 5 pounds of muscle. This is not a 100 to 200 calorie increase. You're looking at 600 calorie increase, fellas. More like 800 calorie or 900 calories above what you're currently eating.

If you're going to try and gain 5 lbs in 30 days of muscle, you're going to have to go on a four-week bulk. four-week bulk. four-week bulk. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Not a controlled slow reverse diet, but a bulk. add those calories. Now, I will say this, don't let it be garbage. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh uh because that quickly turns into 1500 calories above. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And uh and then you'll be you'll be left with, you know, more muscle, but a lot more body fat. Fat will go with that.

Yeah. So, it's it's going to be an aggressive. It's going to be aggressive. It's going to be like a 400 400 calorie 500 calorie bump for women, 700 to 900 calorie bump for men. You're doing for four weeks, so go for it. Get those calories up there. Doesn't matter if it comes from carbs or fats so long as you're eating the essential fats. So, I know that's the next question. People like, "What should it be? Carbs or fats?" Make it a mix. Doesn't matter if you're eating enough fat.

Don't care if it's more it's more fat. Don't care if it's more muscle. In my experience, people tend to build muscle more when the carbs go up a little bit. Isn't that true for everybody? So, you know who you are. You know how you feel. Yeah. It's normally not true in the case of somebody who doesn't eat enough pro enough fat. Yeah. So, in the case you're a little deficient. Yeah. But once you if you're if you're a female, you're north of 60 grams of fat.

you're hitting adequate. If you're a man, you're eating over 80, uh, then you're fine. You can get it all carbs. If you're under those, then I would bump fat first. fat first. fat first. Totally. Next up, sleep amazingly. Okay. What does that mean? Every day. Every day. Weekends, Friday nights. If you really want to gain five pounds of muscle in 30 days, if you're like, for the next 30 days, my goal is to add a half an inch on my arms or half an inch on my glutes, which will five pounds will translate to uh if I want to see visible change, if I really want to gain 5 lbs of lean body mass, your sleep needs to be great every single night.

Hit that circadian rhythm. Yeah. Sun up, sun down. sun down. sun down. No going out with your friends, no staying up late playing video games. It's the same time every night you're going to bed. same time every morning you're waking up Friday, Saturday included, Sunday included. Uh have a sleep routine. Um and make this a priority. The difference that good sleep makes to like okay sleep when it comes to muscle is silly. It's huge. It's huge. It's huge. When you when you finally connect the dots that you don't build muscle in the gym, gym, gym, you build muscle when you eat and sleep.

Yeah, I know. That is when you build muscle. So when you re when you really understand that that it's not the extra set in the gym, it's not what exactly what you it's what you do when you rest and you eat, then the resting part becomes a huge piece of that. And if you unlock that by putting a focus for 30 days of like, okay, I'm going to create a night routine and I'm going to be consistent for 30 days. Watch what happens. Everything else you're doing is trying to stimulate that growth.

You're not going to grow unless you add those components and that emphasis into sleep and eating. Yeah, totally. I remember just funny story. Uh I've told this before, but there was a year and I don't remember how old I was. I want to say I was 15 was 15 was 15 and my parents went to Italy for 45 days. So they would long trip. My my dad's got family there. And so it was the first time they'd left us kids for that long. So we stay with my grandmother.

Okay. So this is my Italian grandmother. And my it Italian grandmother, like many Italian grandmothers, her favorite thing to do is feed you. It's like her favorite favorite thing to do. And so I got really good sleep at my grandma's house because she let me sleep in. Uh there wasn't much to do at night. They didn't have all the cable channels or whatever. Um and she literally my grandmother was like, "What do you like to eat?" Steak. Steak. Steak. And I said, "Uh I don't know.

Steak." Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My non-na made me steak and pasta and other stuff. But like all all the meals like I would wake up and I go out downstairs, big ass steak waiting for me. And I gained so much muscle in that 45 days. days. days. Grandma's hooking it up. And I thought there was something magical about red meat. I just didn't realize I wasn't hitting my protein and getting asleep like like I was at my grandma's house. grandma's house. grandma's house. So, it was uh it was pretty funny.

All right. Uh next up, lift differently. This is the time you change the stimulus. stimulus. stimulus. Also love this. Yes. So, for many of you, if you're doing a split, go to three days full uh full body. Uh is is will do it for you. If you're training in the low rep ranges, raise the reps a bit. you know, if if you're always at five reps, go up to, you know, 10 to 12. If you're always 10 to 12, go down to five. Uh, long rest periods are probably going to be good, uh, regardless.

Um, but change your plan up a little bit. Uh, you're always doing hypertrophy, try a powerlifting. powerlifting. powerlifting. Don't overlook this. I think this is one of my favorite go-to moves with uh, clients was to to switch when they when they got stuck in a plateau. One of the best plateau breakers was just getting them out of their routine. And I mean I high I instead of the advice that you just gave, I recommend getting a program that is different than what you would get because get because get because typ one people tend to gravitate towards the things they already like.

Changing it up for them many times is changing it back to something they just did not right before that. And so it's not it's not novel enough. Right? The more novel you go here tends to get the best results. And so I love to look at how somebody trains and go and kind of Justin was point is like have you ever trained like power living? I'm like no I've never Okay, cool. That's what we're doing. It's like you ever trained something like performance or unilateral stuff, multi-planers?

Uh no, never done it. Okay, we're going that direction. So something that is so different than how you would normally train uh tends to uh send a great muscle building signal with that in conjunction with the increased calories and sleep and everything else you're giving as advice. I mean, that is just a recipe for building muscle. The five programs off the top of my head that we have that are really good for most people for building muscle because all the programs are great, but the five that tend to be the most appropriate for most people listening if they're going to do this would be like MAPS anabolic, MAPS ppl, MAPS ppl, MAPS ppl, MAP Strong, Muscle Mommy, and MAP power lift.

Powerlift. I think those would be the the five that I'd say for most people if you're relatively well trained, well rested, wellfed, like uh and pick the one that's different. The crazy the one that's most different than what you would normally do. Totally. Totally. Totally. Last, be okay with fat gain. If you're scared of gaining an ounce of body fat, you have no business trying to gain 5 pounds of muscle. That's it. I mean, there so many people are so afraid. Definitely not in 30 days.

No. No. No. If you're going to if you're going to gain that aggressively, you're going to put some body fat. Yeah. So, you got to be okay. You got to be okay with it. You got to be okay with it. If you gained five pounds of muscle and two pounds of body fat, you did great. That's a win. That's a huge win. Even if it was five and three, you did a phenomenal job. If you're a hard gainer, if you're like super super lean all the time and you gain five and five, that's a win, too.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I just want people to understand that you got to be okay gaining some body fat. The people that are have the most difficult time with building muscle are the people that are most afraid of gaining body fat. Those are the hardest people. people. people. That's true. to get to any muscle cuz they're so afraid of any pound going on the scale. Um, actually, supplements is I'm sure people are going to ask what kind of supplements. By the way, supplements don't play a huge role, but we should list uh like mass like the best supplements for gaining muscle mass.

mass. mass. I mean, they're helpful in this category, especially when you're trying to get in surplus. Yeah, I would say so. Legion is a great company. We're sponsored by them. They have so many good products. Creatine protein powder uh is up there. Uh their essential amino acids uh would be good. What else would you guys say? Does Mike have does Mike have an actual mascer? Do you know if he has like Look up Legion Doug and see if he's got like a meal replacement with some calories calories calories really.

And even if if he doesn't then all all I do is you you add a banana or scoops of peanut butter to a shake, right? So that's like I prefer to make my own mask gainers um with the like a a peanut butter, whole milk, two tablespoons of peanut and like a tablespoon of Nutella or something. And it's like you want a good thousand calorie shake. There you go. What'd you find there, Doug? Yeah, I don't think they have an official mass gainer. I would say do their whey protein, their creatine, and their amino acid supplements.

Uh you can throw in a multivitamin there, and that would be your mass gain stack over the next 30 days. And banana and two tablespoons of peanut butter inside on your gut inside inside that that whey protein by yes. Or the egg. Either one of those would be good if good if good if Oh, that Thank you. Thank you, Adam. I don't do whey. I can't do dairy, but their egg protein, that's what I do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's right up there. Yeah. So, if you can't do whey, do their egg.

Their egg's amazing. And then, like I said, add the banana and two tablespoons of peanut butter. And now you've got yourself a nice, you know, I I actually prefer. So, so my wife can have she can have whey or she can have egg. We prefer the egg. The taste taste taste flavor-wise, it's so good. It's frothier. frothier. frothier. Yeah. The the the vanilla and the chocolate is really I She prefers it. I like both. I go back and I like both. I go back and forth between the two.

I have both of them and I use both of them. Dude, I got to tell you about a funny conversation we had the other night. I didn't I didn't think about it until afterwards and I'm like, "What's going on?" So, you guys know how we did I don't remember I don't know what you call it, but uh there's this thing on social media. Our team had us do it and so I don't know if it's been up it's up yet as of the airing of this episode, but you're with your friends, you take a gulp of water, you hold it in your mouth, and then each person pull out like a random object they brought from home, and the goal is to make everybody laugh.

Yeah. Okay. So, we did that. So, you you took that home with you, huh? huh? huh? Well, no. So, I took I brought three random objects from home. Yeah. I brought a diaper. I got little kids, so I figured you guys will laugh cuz we always talk about, you know, have kids or whatever. or whatever. or whatever. I brought a diaper. I bought a potato. Put a Snicker bar in there, though. I did. I'm telling you, I almost did. Made it look like poop. Oh, yeah.

And then eat it afterwards. Freak you guys out. out. out. Big time. Big time. Big time. So, I brought a diaper. I brought a potato cuz a potato's random as heck. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then I brought a baseball because you guys make fun of me that I don't play any sports. So, I thought you guys laugh, right? So, a potato, a diaper, and a baseball. So, I come home and and my wife's like, "Oh, did you did you bring everything back home?" I'm like, "No." A potato, a diaper, and a baseball that I'm pretty sure you annoy me.

What are you are you are you like, "You want me to take those back home?" She's like, "Yeah, I want you bring home." Like, okay, whatever, dude. So, now I'm thinking about like, does she just want to tell me what to do? Like, who brings a potato and a diaper back home and a baseball that nobody knew we even had? I had to go look for it. Maybe the diaper's still useful. It wasn't here. I saw it cuz I used the baseball. baseball. baseball. Yeah, I left it on the counter.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Did you get it? Did you get it or No. Yeah, I got them. Oh, okay. Cuz they were here yesterday. They were They were They were No, that's why they're not there anymore. But as I'm getting I'm like, really? You want me to take home a diaper and a potato and a baseball? Nobody knew we had a baseball, by the way. way. way. Did you even know you had it or you just looking for stuff? I was like, I'm going to bring a ball, some kind of a sport, you know, uh ball to work cuz they're going to laugh.

And the baseball was easiest to carry. I didn't even know we had it. So, I'm like, I'll just take that. It could have been a football, too. football, too. football, too. That was the best one. I thought you did cuz that one got me. I I almost I almost spit the water out on that one because he's like, "Okay, that's that's ironic." Yeah. Adam's elephant trunks definitely got me, dude. Bro, that's disgusting. I was I just glad I didn't have to touch him. No, I know.

I never wore him live. She threw them on your face. Katrina, my Katrina, my Katrina, my my all these images. I can I can pick up peanuts. Check it out, guys. My uh my oils failed too. Nobody read them. They would have been funny if you guys would have read. So, what was the oil? What was written on them? on them? on them? They Oh, I can't even remember, but they were like really funny sexual names for each type of oil and they were funny and so if you would have read them, but you know, we all have water in our mouth so I can't say like read it.

And I just thought I thought I what I thought would happen was I'd put it out there and Justin kind of Justin did grab it and do this for a second but no one like and I thought that's why I would go down would be like one guy would grab it and actually read it and then start dying laughing then start and then start dying laughing and then everybody else would read it and that didn't it didn't play out. I like how Doug pulls out a gun.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What are you doing Doug? He went hard. You know it's funny he did that cuz Katrina suggest that she you should bring one of your guns. I'm like what? Why would I bring one of my guns? Like she told you to? Yeah. Yeah. You told me to do that and cuz we're trying to think where I'm I'm like, "Man, you got to help me random think of three things that are like super super super Well, it matches Doug cuz we always tease him about his his uh his anger, you know, that he's Well, the shiv would have got me.

Yeah, bro. Yeah, bro. Yeah, bro. If you brought like a If you brought a shark, shark, shark, I was actually going to get a toothbrush. toothbrush. toothbrush. If you would if you would have shaved out, I would have lost tape one end or something like that. Considering we haven't said that in a long time, like that used to be like an ongoing joke on the podcast. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But we haven't talked about that forever. And so to pull that out, that would have been like, dude, you just reminded me.

Speaking of which, so my my wife's probably going to volunteer volunteer volunteer uh with this there's this group that that um that you can go and meet with prisoners and you become what's called a chaplain and you meet with them and you meet with them on a regular basis and kind of give them hope and help them type of deal. So she's going to volunteer for that. But I went to the training with her and they had a list of things that were prohibited. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Uh Post-it notes. Post-it notes. What do they use that for? They were hiding drugs in the in the plastic. And not the plastic, the the you know the glue on the back of a post-it note. They were able to figure out how to put fentanel in there. Line it in there. Yeah. Like it looks like the the the It looks like the glue, but then they would peel it off, I guess, and use it as I know. There's got to be a book. So crafty.

So crafty. So crafty. There's got to be a book that has They're brilliant. They're brilliant. They're brilliant. There has to be a book that has like all the all the crafty things that like prisoners make. prisoners make. prisoners make. I know. There has to be. There's like so many. There's so many that like I've heard some I'm like, "What? They can do that?" Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No way. No way. No way. So inventive and Yeah. Their ingenuities. ingenuities. ingenuities. Yeah. Dude, that's what I was going to say.

say. say. Hey, you know, it just highlights when when the human mind is like put at like rest. rest. rest. When you're bored, you got nothing to do but think about ways to do things. Is there a book, Doug? I know there's there is actually called Prisoners Inventions. Inventions. Inventions. Yes. Yes. Yes. Incarcerated artist named Angelo. Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, wow. Um, [clears throat] yeah. Documents ingenious often contraband objects and methods created by p prisoners to make lifear bearable. You know that they know how to communicate to each other through the toilets in some of these prisons.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you like flush it, I guess, or empty the water out. You could speak into the toilet and then the person down there can hear. can hear. can hear. Yeah, dude. They can send messages. There's currencies. There's currencies. There's currencies. There's all kinds of way all kinds of crazy crazy crazy It's wild It's wild It's wild ways that they get to do. You know, they make like sex things in prison. things like toys. like toys. like toys. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah, dude. Yeah.

I I was I was This got me down a rabbit hole and there's this one guy that interviews people who are like inmates and and they're talking about like the way the things that they do and they create in there. I'm like, man, like again, if you're bored. bored. bored. Yeah. Well, I mean Doug found a whole book on it. There's a whole book on it. So, I'm sure there's hundreds if not more inventions inside there. Like, what happened to today's jello? Yeah. Yeah. There's all kinds of uh I took it.

Who made Are you looking at looking at stuff or what? or what? or what? Making Making Making Yeah, there's a bunch of stuff here. I don't know pictures. It looks interesting. Anyway, interesting. Anyway, interesting. Anyway, you know what pruno is? Pruno? Is that It's like a wine, right? Yes. Yes. Yes. With just rotten fruit. Yeah, rotten fruit and socks, right? Don't they use I don't know how they make it. They use like socks and but they literally make alcohol with rotten fruit. They ferment it and then they get hammered.

They call prun, dude. I mean, I mean, I mean, I know. Super wild. Whatever you can do. All right. Uh, diet. Speaking of diet, have you guys seen this trend on social media called the boring diet trend? The boring diet trend. Well, I saw remember the video they did of they've calling the uh you know what they call dog food or boys food. Boy kibble. Boy kibble. Oh, Oh, Oh, you saw that? Which is the stuff that we eat ground beef and rice. Oh, like boy meals and girl meals.

No, they just called it boy kibble. It was on the news. They were talking about like, you know, boy kibble sweeps the nation is this like way of eating or like that. And they were like, they were [ __ ] on it. It's like, man, that's is such a good meal. is such a good meal. Ground beef, rice. Yes. Just ground beef and rice, you know. know. know. Boy, they were calling it boy kibble. Why are they trying to make everybody unhealthy by making the alternative? It's such a good That's I mean that's like my go-to.

That is a It tastes good. Throw some salsa or some guac on. I mean, I saute guac on. I mean, I saute onions and mushrooms and make it real good and and and it's but it's a staple weekly meal that I prep because you can do it in bulk and then it goes so good with eggs and I like it for with eggs and I like it for doesn't matter morning, afternoon or night. It's like so good. You know what I do? This is such a this is such a bodybuilder thing.

I take a potato potato potato I wrap it in a wet paper towel and I microwave the hell out of it. You know, you can bake a potato like that and then I take it out and I, you know, put butter on it and then I put my ground beef on top of it and then two sunny side up eggs and I throw on top of it, mix it together. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's really, really good. I bet that's pretty good. pretty good.

pretty good. Yeah. Anyway, by the way, you reminded me there's like another trend where it's like boy meals and girl meals and they'll show a picture like a girl meal is like a tomato, a cracker, like you know, like like nice looking random cheese and like some like vegetable. vegetable. vegetable. Yeah, dude. So anyway, mo the boring diet trend. So this guy writes and he says, "If you follow this diet, you're guaranteed to lose weight." He goes, "You're only allowed to eat uh sweet potato, chicken breast, and broccoli.

Eat as much as you want." And everybody's like, "This is brilliant." I'm like, "Oh my god, dude. Of course." Of course." Of course." Do they not know who bodybuilders are? Well, what this points to is that when you keep when you make things unpalatable, you eat less. Yeah. And boredom, eating the same thing over and over again is actually a great way to hack your appetite. If you have like cravings all the time, novelty triggers the heck out of out of cravings, cravings, cravings, right? right?

right? So, if you're one of those people, it's like, man, I get really stuck and I just keep overeating. [snorts] Something you can do with yourself is eat the same kind of foods all the time and it'll actually tamp it down. That's what whole foods are good for. The hardest part is the the window at which you start to get hungry. That's why that's why I always like you know I remember we used to talk one of the first things that we came out when we first started this you know 11 years ago was the the frequency meals myth and I've always been a fan of the frequency meals like small meals yeah small meals throughout the day because not only my personal experience but with clients also what I found is when a client gets busy at work or four or five hours stretch between meals and they start to get hungry Then come the craving.

Your choices aren't great. Oh, it's just and and and I remember I I know what it's like to feel like this when you let that happen. You're like, "God, this sounds good." Like all these cravings start kicking in and then it's like, "Oh, but I have sweet potato and ground beef in the in the refrigerator." Right? refrigerator." Right? refrigerator." Right? And I and the the discipline it takes to go do it. Now, what I've learned is that when I have those moments and I just go microwave it and I start eating, I'm fine.

But the decision to go do that when you when you let those cravings kick in is really difficult for a lot of people to handle. And so I had a lot of success by just having my clients break up three big big normal meals to six small meals and just train them that few hours. Yeah. Every couple even when you're not hungry, get that next one in and get that next one in. It's such a small meal. It's easy for them to eat and digest and it's like and they never allow themselves to get that.

No, you're right. And it just is bless. It automatically encourages meal prep automatically, right? Which is a huge uh benefit when you're trying to eat in a healthy way. Yeah. No, it makes it makes a lot of sense. I know when you go grocery shopping and you're hungry. you're hungry. you're hungry. Oh, yeah. The stuff you buy, bro. I'm a fitness guy. If I'm hungry at the grocery store, I'm going to buy candy. candy. candy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like cheap crappy candy, too. I'm going to have to have to have Nerds or something like that at the grocery store.

grocery store. grocery store. I could eat boring though. I feel I feel like there could be like three like steak, cheese, and chicken nuggets like like I'm done, bro. You have the pallet. I'm fine. Hey. Hey. The chicken nuggets from Butcherice. Butcherice. Butcherice. The gluten-free chicken nuggets from Butcher Box. Butcher Box. Butcher Box. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is a problem. It is. I didn't realize that that the chicken strips and the chicken nuggets were different like that. One of them's gluten like one of them's gluten-ree and one of them's not.

The gluten-free ones and the nuggets. The strips are not. Yeah. But in my I get four bags of it. So my butcher box comes I put four bags in those nuggets. Five. Yeah. My wife and I were kind of like having a fight over this and mainly because my youngest and I like we eat them almost immediately. So it's like it doesn't even last like a week in our house uh having five bags. So each time she's like well you realize like you have to trade some other meat out like so you know for me to keep like so she was always trying to argue that like yeah we just need like three bags.

I'm like no we need five bags like we're well especially if you and the boys are eating. I can competitive cuz we we get I think that's how many we get and but because it's a staple meal for Max and occasionally I'll I dip into it. So I'm maybe maybe maybe maybe once a week or every other week I eat them cuz I know that's like his meal, right? But if I start dipping into them like that where I'm The protein in them is pretty good.

Well, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'll crush 20 of those some You'll make 20 at a time. time. time. Yes. Yes. Yes. Wow, dude. Wow, dude. Wow, dude. Which puts a dent in the back. I could do a whole bag by yourself. Oh, yeah. Easy. That's a pile, dude. It's not not even How many servings is in a bag? I would say there's I think there's about 30 or 30 or so cuz I've done I've done 20 and 20 and me and Max could finish a bag in one almost one sitting.

So, I know that's only got to be 25 30 at most. at most. at most. I eat however many it takes to get 40 grams of protein, whatever that is. Oh, that's only like 12. Yeah, it's like Damn, you're eating 20 or 30. Uh, six of them are is 13 grams, I believe, of protein. Okay. So, so no, I'm eating I'm eating. I mean, I mean, I mean, so what? 14? No. No. No. Well, Well, Well, you you said six of them is how much? 13 g.

So, you're trying to go for 40 grams of party. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Protein. Protein. Protein. Yeah. Yeah. So, what am I doing? 18 18. That's not right. Six. Six is not 13 g. Is that what it says? No, it's No, it's not. Let me look it up. up. up. I guarantee it's not cuz I track this whole time. It's more like 12, like I said, is about where you're at. It's about 40. Yeah. You know, you think you've been arguing macros with macros with macros with I know.

I was like, what? Well, I mean, I've looked at it, too. All right. add macros [clears throat] with Adam. with Adam. with Adam. Yeah. Let me find that exact Yeah. Let me find that exact think about that logically for a second. It's more It's more than Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no. There's like uh I think I think if when I do 20 I just want to see how many calories 50 or 60 I want to see how many calories you're like 12. You're like 12. Okay.

So, I'm sorry. You're right. My my You're 10 g for three pieces. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I was off. You were way off. Okay. So, Okay. So, Okay. So, I stand corrected. Wow. You were right on the dot. 12. Well, no [ __ ] bro. some [ __ ] So why you think I got defensive? Like I was really going to see you're arguing with me over this like I've I've actually broke it down many times. How many are in a bag? Oh, so there's eight servings. So that'd be like 24 nuggets per bag.

per bag. per bag. So hold on. How many calories? There's 24 nuggets in a bag. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 20. That's exactly 170 calories per serving. 170 per How many nuggets? Three. Three. Three. And there's eight servings. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Damn, Justin, you're [clears throat] having 1,300 calories in nuggets, bro. Boom. Yeah. Boom. Yeah. Boom. Yeah. a solid like a big lunch. Hey, Hey, Hey, I do that sometimes on the weekend. I'm not even going to lie to you. I mean, but it's at least you're getting like 60 70 grams of protein in that one.

So, it's it's not like getting 80 g. I just I don't know. We burn a lot of calories lately, though. I just picture Justin with a like a pile of nuggets and he's watching cartoons. I'm not watching cartoons. It does feel like that though. Yeah. I mean, I'm with you, bro. I totally I totally get that. But that's why I can't if I eat them. I mean, I ain't doing less than know 12 to 16. I'm definitely like eating less than that's a waste of time in my opinion.

So, so I'm going to put a a big dent in them if I eat them a lot. So, that's like max is like I feel super weak right now that I only eat 12. eat 12. eat 12. I'm surprised that Yeah, you only do that cuz you're Mr. Meal over here, man. Bro, my meals are healthy, dude. You guys make fun of me all the time, but I'm eating good. That's healthy all the time. That's all. That's all. That's all. No, what I mean is I'm eating like, you know, I'm not I'm not going crazy.

You know, that was one of the biggest things that helped me use ch excuse me to change this conversation to be helpful for somebody like when I uh switched over my bad habits at night of like ice cream and just [ __ ] calories, you know, sweets and just like going and crushing 12 16 at least I'm 50. That's how I feel too. It does deter me from like eating cookies and it feels like a total treat, right? I'm getting chicken nuggets, right? Like stuff like that. Uh, magic spoon cereal.

I used to do that. Like those types of things like that where it feels like I'm getting somewhat of a treat, but I'm crushing 30, 40, 50 grams of protein. Are you Are you guys ketchup? You guys ketchup them? No. No. No. God, no. God, no. God, no. Just straight up. Barbecue sauce. Barbecue sauce. You know what I use, dude? Ketchup's best. Ketchup's best. Ketchup's best. No. No. No. What? Ranch. What? Ranch. What? Ranch. Mayonnaise. Mayonnaise. Mayonnaise. Mayonnaise? Mayonnaise? Mayonnaise? Mayonnaise on those? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

What? Are you from England? You like French fries and mayonnaise? Are you one of those? You do. That's your That's European. That's what they did. they did. they did. I know. I've tried it. It's It's too much. much. much. No, I'm not a mayonnaise guy at all. You're white. Stop it. You put mayonnaise. I can do crackers. I can do tart I can do tartar sauce on on fish chips. You do hot sauce. Shut up. All right, that's enough. That's enough. I'm just going racist. racist.

racist. I'm sorry, guys. All right, I'm going change subject. Do you guys know where the word goodbye came from? I just learned this the other day. day. day. Oh, I heard that, too. Did you? Did you, Doug? Goodbye. God be with you. Yeah. So, in the 1600s, people would say a parting like a like a like a parting thing to say is God be with ye. with ye. with ye. God be with you. And it got and it started to get shortened into goodbye. So, goodbye comes from God be with ye.

I just learned that the other day. In the 1600s. I had no idea. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. That's interesting. That's interesting. Isn't that cool? Did you see the same clip I did? I probably did. Yeah. Our algorithms are a little similar. Yeah. Adam's algorithm is all cars. Yeah, it's all stuff. If you looked at But you Everyone should do this right now. I want to see what everybody's everybody's everybody's Justin's like. Justin's like. Justin's like. Mine's all butts. Just to get your back, Justin. Mine used to be like that.

I had to change it cuz it was there's too much lux. There's too much butts on my explore page like this. Yeah, I know. If we If we look at That's all Dachens now, you know. Look at hot rods. Look at Let me see. Yeah, look at that. It's all cars, dude. Wow. Wow. Wow. That's crazy. What does mine look like? All cars are, you know, I'm barely I'm barely ever on Instagram, honestly. Instagram, honestly. Instagram, honestly. In fact, I had a friend of mine. Let's see what mine looks like.

Oh, so here's mine. Mine's Yeah, mine's like just a bunch of randomish kind of stuff. stuff. stuff. Jesus stuff. Jesus stuff. Jesus stuff. Yeah. So, I I had I had somebody message I saw a friend and they were like, "Uh, oh, dude, I DM'd you. I sent you this link." I'm like, "Uh, I don't check any of that stuff." Okay. my my team pinches and chooses that I got I got kicked out of my social media by by my partners. So, I mean anyway, that's hilarious.

All right. Uh uh I got some dehydration stats for you guys that are kind of interesting. What do you mean by that? So, I saw this and I thought it was really interesting. I'm going to pull it up up up in [snorts] terms of like effects of dehydration. So in young women. So the study the study the title of it this was in journal of nutrition mild dehydration affects mood in healthy young women. So trip off this. In young women just 1.36% dehydration. dehydration. dehydration. Mhm.

Mhm. Mhm. Just a little bit. Just a little dehydration makes tasks feel 58% harder. Concentration 45% harder. Fatigue 17% worse. And headaches are twice as likely. Just 1.36%. How do they get it down to a How do they get it down to a Why do you always ask questions? I don't have the answer. You mean good questions. How do I ask good questions to challenge these studies? studies? studies? How are they feeling? Okay. How Yeah. How are like what what what are they using to measure like, oh, she's two she's 2% dehydrated right now.

Do they give them like a specific cup that to use for this? I don't know what they did, you guys. Well, do you have a guess? Do you have a science educated guess for me? Cuz I'm like I'm trying to figure out how you get a Okay, in any study there's 30 40 50 in a group. So you got 40 50 ladies in this group. I think what they're doing is they're looking at probably their urine and they're probably looking at the concentration of concentration of concentration of okay uh electrolytes in the urine and there's something that's deemed um hydrated and there's something that's deemed like dehydrated.

That's what I was looking for. So I'm like I can't even wrap my brain around like how how do you get to like oh she's 5% hydrated. 5% hydrated. 5% hydrated. Depends how salty it tastes. I'm sorry. You got to have somebody in there. there. there. So I so I Okay. So I get what they probably did. They say they probably samples gave them all a certain amount of water and then and then asked like how's your do you have any headache? How's your energy feel?

How did this test? surveyed and then they tested and saw like oh wow I know this so that I I used to I had this belief as a trainer that your thirst was a good indicator of no isn't when by the time you're thirsty you're already deh dehydration has already kicked in I thought for sports like primarily like primarily like primarily not necessarily but what I learned was is there's like you you'll drink as much water as you need okay so 1% dehydration you're okay you're not going to die you're fine except you're going to not feel as good you just might not know uh what's going on, but your thirst will get you enough water.

It's not like people are walking around dying of not having enough water, but there's what's uh what's minimally required and then there's what's optimal. And so I remember I had this this woman I worked with in my studio when I used my studio and I would hear her and she was not a bodybuilder. So this wasn't like bodybuilding advice cuz that's why I discredit it. I'm like, "Oh, bodybuilders, they say that they must not know what they're talking about." She was not a bodybuilder. She was correctional exercise specialist.

She was a wellness expert. And she was telling her clients, her female clients, like drink a half a gallon of water a day, sometimes more to her male clients. And she would say, "You'll have less pain. You'll have more energy and less cravings." cravings." cravings." Yep. Yep. Yep. And so I started to and and then they'd come back and be like, "I can't believe it. My back pain is lower." And you're right. I have more energy. I don't understand. So I started recommending it. And my everyday clients who could care less about gaining tons of muscle and whatever, and whatever, and whatever, they all noticed the same thing by drinking just more water.

Yeah. So Yeah. So Yeah. So that became a big focus for me too in training clients. And mainly it was energy, it was headaches, and it was pain. Yeah. So like any of those that like came up when I'm fielding questions about, you know, their experience or their background or anything. It was like if any of that showed up, we was like, "Okay, the focus is here. Let's like focus on your hydration." Yeah. I mean, I shared that on the podcast a long time ago that it was Justin who I remember hearing talk to his clients about that.

Uh and I was like, "Really?" for like that wasn't on my my list of when I asked somebody how their energy levels and I'd heard him repeatedly go you know how much water are you drinking and then recommend that and then noticing how many people that that was solving it was like oh wow interesting how many people are just that low on water and then what a difference it makes on their interview how did you where did you learn did you learn that from someone just or is it all just from yourself self like experience but like it was a lot of um like in college and and also in high school too like So there was a lot of um sports um athletic uh trainers that would kind of like reiterate this especially too when I was in the Midwest and there was um humidity was a big factor to that like it was always stressed like you know you're behind or like you know all these symptoms and they kept reiterating the symptoms and I felt like the extreme version of that when I went to St.

Louis and I played in this game where it was like 90° and it was like, you know, almost uh 100% humidity. It was like crazy. So I Yeah, I lost like 10 lbs almost like on my way to the game. Uh so it just it started clicking to me that that was like something to address even when I would before practice was like and and they would weigh us and everything and and it was real like systematic and so you just knew the importance of it and then you communicated that to your clients.

Yeah. Yeah. That's great. That's great. It It makes a big difference just that little bit. And I mean that again that study kind of confirms it that um a little Is that a new study? That's an interesting stud. interesting stud. interesting stud. Yeah. Yeah. It just came out and it's for and they had young women so um I I would imagine that the older you get, the more sensitive you are to slight uh you know, slight dehydration. I would imagine. Where does where does the there's a like there's been a movement in our space with the the water fasting and the the idea that we we drink too much water and have you seen have you seen content like that?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just heard um where does that come from? What's the what is the basis of that? I've only heard Andy Galpin talk about that like as just like another way to stress like and get that kind of hermetic effect. But yeah, maybe. But you know what? You add stress on stress on stress. Like there's things that communicate like exercise and then there's things that like it's not that important. Like I'm not going to communicate water fasting to anybody. I don't know. Can you remember a person you worked with?

Well, it kind of reminds me of why we don't talk a lot about uh protein fasting. And there's benefits to that, right? So, there's benefits to going Can you think of a client that would have benefited that except for maybe the bodybuilders you train? No, exactly. That's my That's my point. My point is that so many people under consume that that even though there's research to support a a yeah occasional protein fast that has lots of benefits, but it's like all my clients struggle getting that.

So why would I do that? You know what I'm saying? So it's same thing. I feel the same thing with water. It's like I don't have a lot of clients that were like over consuming water that I'm like, "Hey, we should go a whole day with no water and do a water fast." It's like no, I was constantly I don't think I'd ever like see a reason to to promote that. No, I mean that to me that's that this is the difference of somebody who's [clears throat] like a a a deep, you know, study research person and somebody who's coached a lot of people.

It's just like it's I I'm familiar with the research that has that points to both those having benefits, but it's like in the real world, real world, real world, who do I apply that to? Yeah. It just it doesn't it doesn't make sense for most of the people. They're going to get detrimental effects. effects. effects. Yeah. And so, and fasting in general, its roots are in uh religion. It's it's all its roots are all in religion. The benefits of all fasting was spiritual. And what we do with anything spiritual uh is we take it and we turn it into something that's uh aesthetic aesthetic aesthetic or optimize this or that.

Uh but the benefit it was all spirit. People didn't fast back in the day because they wanted to increase cell autophagy or you know improve my mitochondrial function. No, they were like I'm going to fast weaken the flesh so I can spray more. You know, you know what would be a fun a fun episode for us to do that we need your help to do? But you're just thinking about this right now of like uh worthless studies. So like a whole episode on like you know what what we think are the top five worthless studies.

studies. studies. So studies that have been in particular like ones that you've heard shared in our space as using this as a reason to do this do this do this like chocolate burns body fat. Yeah. Yeah. Stuff like that, right? like just or the antioxidants in wine, right? Some like all these different ones that have been promoted before. promoted before. promoted before. That's like okay. Yeah, that's what the science says. science says. science says. Stem machines to improve the um you know, the output of muscle contraction, you know, like on top of everything.

It's like no, I know. So, I remember I had a client that was telling me about all the incredible benefits. Do you guys remember when um what was it called? Remember theai berry? There was like that company Monov Monov Monov my stepdad my stepdad my stepdad way back. Okay. This was like a it was a multi-level marketing thing and uh I remember I had this this gym. I was managing a gym and one of the people that come in was like trying to sell me on it.

It's like listen you got you you run this gym. You got trainers. You can make so much money and he's trying to sell me how like revolutionary this berry is. And I remember like I was listening to him and I was thinking about it. I'm like why hasn't everybody heard of the this berry before? And then I did a little research. I'm like, "Oh, it's like a super common berry in Brazil." It's like a blueberry but in Brazil. And then I looked up the antioxidants and blueberries and I showed them.

It's almost identical. I'm going to have blueberries, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like there's nothing special. I wanted to mention something though about fasting. So water fasting is when you're fasting but only drinking water. If you're not drinking water, it's called dry fasting. Just so that we dry fasting. Yeah, that feels that sounds absolutely terrible. Not excited for that. It's a thing though. It's a thing. It's a thing, but it doesn't sound very good. I mean, here it's a lot of very often to be fair. Warnings about it.

It's Do you guys want to do like You want to go in a controversial direction, Doug? What do you think? Should we go in? It really depends on what it is. I have a study, Doug. Let's hear it. I know Adam's all about it. Political. It is political, but it's not really political, but it is political. So, you get everything Everything is political. You can fast forward, right? So, this this was All right, let me pull it up here. This is uh the data is from the US general uh social survey.

Percentage of younger people diagnosed with a mental health problem. Okay. Look at so uh who do you think Put you guys on the spot. Who do you think these are young people has the highest percentage of reported mental health issues between the political parties? Like which Like which Like which which Sorry. which Sorry. which Sorry. Liberal women. Liberal women. Liberal women. Yeah. No. Yeah. No. Yeah. No. I mean, is it right? It's right. So, here's what it is. Someone who identifies as a strong Democrat, Democrat, Democrat, 56%.

56%. 56%. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Also have a reported mental not like a moderate like strong Democrat. strong Democrat. strong Democrat. Next is a weak Democrat. So, someone's like loosely 41%. Next is independent 35%. 35%. 35%. Next is a weak Republican at 30%. And the the the lowest rate of mental health reported mental health issues is a strong Republican at 15%. Jeez, Jeez, Jeez, these are these are younger people. Okay, that's a big difference. How do they determine that? That's my question. question. question. It's a survey.

How do you identify politically? Yeah. politically? Yeah. politically? Yeah. And then have you been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, are you on medication? That kind of deal. M so the difference between a strong Democrat and a strong Republican and younger people 50 what is that 56% to 15% to 15% to 15% 40% difference in mental health. So the a more interesting part of that conversation is why do you think that why why would that be the case? So my my theory would be somebody who is that you know is strongly left-leaning or in that direction right uh a lot of it is uh um less of personal responsibility more about uh relying on government more and like and that forces you to worry about all these outside where somebody who's like strongly right is very much so accountability accountability accountability I have personal control of my health I have control of my finances.

I'm like a very capital factor. So I think that that that says the most about about about because this is a big difference everybody. So I know some people are like getting mad or whatever like this is real. It was real data. It's a big difference. It's not a small difference. So there's two ways to look at it. One is do people with more mental health issues tend to lean towards a philosophy that says uh we'll take care of you and there's lots of scary things out there.

It's probably both. It's probably true. And then there's another side to it. So this guy wrote about it and I I can't disagree with some of some of the stuff he says. He says if if your ideology convinces you to avoid marriage and children children children for travel and career or because the climate is going to turn into hot lava and kill you, that probably is going to promote some little bit anxiety, depression. I agree with that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Another one. Another one. Another one.

It's always there. Well, what you the first thing you said that and then what I said I think are all true. Here's another one. [clears throat] Uh that strong Republicans are more likely to go to pastors and their church community for support, whereas people who are identified strong Democrat are more likely to go to therapists. And there's some interesting data around that on people have good relationships just in general do better. Wasn't the I mean this will piss a bunch of people off, but who cares?

Uh wasn't the original the Wasn't that's what therapy was designed to replace the church, wasn't it? what that originally was was was as people move got out of community they needed uh there was like a gap and so they started paying people for for that kind of stuff so that's another uh that's another big one um and then the fear kind of around you know things uncontrollable this kind of negative spin could kind of speak yeah that's what I mean it's like you're worried about everybody else and so versus versus versus but I think the avoiding marriage and children and focusing on just travel and career uh and I think uh the you know, um the less of people in this kind of strong faith-based community or strong community in general.

I think those are probably two of the biggest factors because when you look on the other side of that with the data, I'm not saying this cuz that's my opinion. I'm just when you look at the data, when people are married and have children and realize that that's an really value that their odds of depression, anxiety, and all stuff go way down. I mean, I'd be way more interested into seeing all the things that you just brought up versus just the left versus right leaning thing because within that in both of those, you're going to find those groups of people.

people. people. Sure. Sure. Sure. Right. There's going to be people that are that are Democrat that uh want to have kids have kids have kids and want to have family and don't and would and and doctrine's changed a lot over the years, too, in terms of what they're promoting and the tactics they're using to gain votes. And I just feel like it's it's the extremes have have definitely have definitely have definitely happened on both sides. But um yeah, especially the negativity in the campaigning and the mudslinging creates more.

more. more. That's why I think a a study like that's not very helpful to me because it just creates more divide and and and division on the left and I and both are horrible. I think it's helpful if you I think it's helpful if you look deeper. I think if you just look at it and go and like to point the finger then it's not well what would be more helpful is a study like you just said is like do people that want to have kids have this and that are they like that would be more helpful than do conservatives or democrats that's what I'm saying it's like family values you're looking deeper but the average person is going to go see left people have more mental issues yeah that's a that's a it's not a that's not a useful study it would be more useful because there there was a study that came out not that long ago and it was actually conducted by this person was secular.

I can't remember the name of the guy. Uh he did a study on adolescence and teenagers and depression anxiety. [clears throat] If I remember his name, you guys know what I'm talking about cuz he was all over the place not that long ago. And he was like, "Why are adolescence and teenagers experiencing anxiety and depression at rates we've never seen before?" Like never before, relatively recently was that age group more depressed and more anxious than people in midlife. That just doesn't throughout all the times we've been recording this.

Midlife is when you experience the highest rates of those things. When you're adolescent or teenagers, typically you're like having the time of your life, right? And yet they're the most anxious, most depressed. depressed. depressed. How much did we care about politics when we were teenagers? Not at all. That was the worst. Like, no. So, what he did is he looked at the data and he's [clears throat] like, "Is it social media? Is it like what is it? Is it the news? Is it this and that?" And he said, and he found the most protective thing.

You guys want to know what the most protective thing was? It wasn't [clears throat] how little you were on social media. It wasn't any of that stuff. It was the kids that were most active in a church community almost had no effect. In fact, they had almost no rise in anxiety and depression. So, the ones that were the most active like weekly and and twice a week and three days a week going and becoming in in their church community grounded in something else and being with other people, they were like, "No problem.

"No problem. "No problem. There's purpose elsewhere." And this guy's secular. I can't remember his name. Is name. Is name. Is it a guy or is it Jane Jean Twangi? No. No. Hi, Jen. No, I can't remember. I can't remember his name. You'll know if it's a book I read. I talk about all the time. time. time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You Why don't you do this, Doug? Say say uh say church uh protective with depression, anxiety among teenagers. Did she talk about that in that book?

I don't remember her talking about that, but but but uh uh uh that book is really You would really enjoy that book. The whole social media. social media. social media. That entire book is nothing but studies. Yeah. So, and and speaking of social media, I don't think it's social media that's damaging. I think the reason why it's damaging is what it's replacing. So, you don't have friends, you're not going out meeting with people, you're not connecting not connecting not connecting artificial connection. artificial connection. artificial connection.

That's right. So, that's what the issue is. It's less about social media. I'm not saying that doesn't have negative possibility. possibility. possibility. Yeah. I just say I don't I don't think it's separation. more about not with cuz again what they found in the study was kids that were at the church they still use less social media but even the ones that did that did that did it was like it didn't have that effect on them cuz they were with real people and they just need to care about school and sports and you know like they don't need to take on all the world's problems.

Yeah. problems. Yeah. problems. Yeah. Like let kids be kids man. I mean is it is it happening? I think not. Is it is it are we going back the other way? I mean are the is the younger generation less and less? Yes. Well, uh, you mean lower and lower rates of depression? Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I we don't have good recent data that shows, uh, that that might be reversing. There's suggestions that it's starting to flatten out. Uh, but this is more like, um, observations like it seems like maybe kids are moving away and maybe they're starting to do this kind of stuff, but we don't have good data.

Yeah. On this. I mean, it feels like it's, you know, it's funny how this whole uh like the AI stuff and all the all the I mean, already I mean, look how quickly our feeds change to a bunch of AI made content. It's going to naturally kind of force everybody out. I mean, I think everybody's going to be like, "Oh, this I mean, I already see it when somebody shares something now, like, oh, that's that's fake. That's fake. Oh, that's AI. That's not real." Like, real." Like, real." Like, it's already getting to that place and and like and like and like it feels fake.

And I and it still it still gets me, right? occasionally where I share something and I'm like, "Oh my god, I didn't even know." But sooner or later that's going to happen to me enough times where it's just like that's going to become my default is I don't care. It's I'm not interested and like you'd have to prove to me that it's real. If I like like like Have you seen lose interest? Yeah. I've noticed some people that I like loosely follow that uh are starting to replace their posts with just AI images and AI driven posts and you're like and then they'll just sprinkle them in.

like it's obvious, you know, and it's like it's weird to watch because it's like it's like it's like you're becoming less of a real person like in real time, you know, and like it's I could see people being like just abandon that. abandon that. abandon that. You got You got You got uh Dr. Tyler Vanderwhe, is that correct? It's somebody well known. It's all made it up. And uh and he was being interviewed left and right and you guys would totally recommen recognize who it was and I'm really frustrated.

Now, is he a a doctor or is he a He wrote a book on it or he's reporting on it, but he's not the one that conducted the study, and I can't remember uh who it was. Um [clears throat] that was I'm going to find the name, Doug, because I can search. search. search. You should read Ien. I think you would like it. like it. like it. Yeah, I know. Jonathan Hate. Oh, Jonathan. Oh, Jonathan. Oh, Jonathan. He's the one that talked about it all the time.

the time. the time. Yeah. He was going all over the place talking about it, how protective it was. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For these kids. So, you know, his story is really cool. you know that you know speaking since you went politics about that like him and then the other who co-authored Coddling of the American mind were like liberal teachers oh oh oh yeah yeah you know that oh yeah looked that up like look up the two the two authors of coddling the American mind it's it's it's Jonathan hate and then somebody else somebody else somebody else and one of them was like a really strong uh left left leading I think the other one was like a you pulling it up Doug yeah I'm pulling it up see who it is yeah He was Jonathan Haye, Greg Lucenoff.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um Um Um and I forget where they were professors. I read that one a long time ago. But if you you can watch interviews with Jonathan Hay. He breaks it down. He's like, "Look, I don't have a a dog in this race. I'm just reporting the data." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's like it was very protective uh for kids. kids. kids. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So just, you know, something to pay attention. And we've lost, look, kids used to have community. Uh definitely used to be in church, but also was just you went outside.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You went outside and that you were all your friends. You were with your friends all there was nothing to do at home. So you had no choice. But now it's like it's replaced with artificial relationship. So of course people are going to be depressed. Well, I mean you we you recently talked about and I don't disagree that we see the already the change in what's happening in the gym culture, right, with the community driven that way. I mean, and it will start with the adults and the parents and then maybe that'll eventually trickle down to the kids and maybe we will see this like pendulum swing back where it becomes cool again to go outside and play and do stuff besides sit on your phone all day long.

Yeah. I just there's actually a stud there's actually so there was a post the gym era is ending and what's replacing it will define I mean don't you think it really it really really really I I feel like we talk a lot about you know Gen Z and and and millennial and the like it it's really our fault like it never once have I gone outside to go jump in the pool or play outside and my son not want to go. Oh, it's But if if I let him, he would want to he would if if all day.

Yeah. He'd watch TV or sit on an iPad if I let him. But if I go I'm dad go get in the pool. It's like he's bolting with me. Well, kids that eat unhealthy is because their parents eat unhealthy, right? And so, so really who's to fault is the us adults who have had an iPhone for the last 15 plus years and we're okay sitting on the couch scroll doom scrolling or watching television. And it's like part of why these kids don't go outside anymore is cuz at some point the adults stopped.

You have to foster the environment. Yeah. If you don't foster the if you don't teach it and they don't see it, then they don't know, you know. And so and and then you you create an entire culture around everyone sitting on their phones and not interacting. And then that's what cuz I guarantee if if if my son saw outside, the whole neighborhood was always playing every time we came home from school and the kids like he'd want to stay out there. I wouldn't have to like go do it.

But because everybody has done this, it it does. You send them outside. Nobody's out there. there. there. Yeah. Yeah. What do I do? Go outside. D. I have been getting hope lately. I mean, there's been even with my kids like their friends, they want to go and it's kind of like unnerving. I know for Courtney especially it's a bit unnerving but like they want to go sleep out in the wilderness by themselves and they want to do that by uh so they have this kind of rope that they tie and there's like YouTube videos and stuff that that's kind of popular now where they they create these kind of um you know platforms uh that they they can lay on top of and like they string it all together.

I forget what it's called, but it's like it's really cool and it takes like hours for them to create it and then you know and they have their their own kind of little hangout fort and they pop up and and they were like trying to do it like near this beach but it's like all these trees and Courtney's like well that's somebody's property and they're going to call the cops and like let them like deal with that you know like maybe that's a consequence but like what are they going to do?

They're just going to unravel it and then cops move on. Yeah. always think about consequences. Yeah. Like like let's get back to like risking some things and and learning, you know, like and and working together towards something. And it's like things like that, like little projects or uh like fishing or, you know, camp. Camping I feel like is something that my kids have really been pulling me back uh to get into. So we're we're we're starting to kind of move in that direction. That's kind I mean that's probably that's probably one of the hardest challenges I have even with Katrina with with Max is like I'm always encouraging like him to do stuff that where he might get hurt or he might fall in or he might I'm like I'm here like he's not going to drown from me being like like he by the time he falls in I'll be there in three he's not drowning in 3 seconds like it's not happening.

It's like and you know what maybe I'll scare him and I'll teach him not to lean over the pool and do that again. Like that's it's okay. Like it's okay for him to take some of these risks and potentially fall or get hurt. They talk about that. That's that's a natural tension between moms and dads that that moms uh you know bring them in and dads kind of push them out and they're supposed to have that tension cuz too much of one or the other. Sure.

Like I think there I think if I was somebody who was like wanting him to do like really crazy dangerous stuff, I could see it. Yeah. Help control. But it's like man, we got to let him do some of these things where Yeah. It's it's okay. I know he's by the fire. Trust me, he'll if he get if he gets burned by it's going to hurt. He'll learn his lessons. He won't do it again. He's not going to die. [clears throat] He's not going to catch on fire.

You know what I'm saying? His hand, he's going to put his hand near it and it's go, "Oh shit." And he's going to cry and like that's hot. You got to be careful around around the stove. You got to be careful on those things like that. It's like, but always, oh, you know, moving them and doing it for them. It's like, no. I mean, that's how they that's how kids learn. And so, we have turned into I feel like a culture that that does a lot of that with our with our kids.

And I think that's part of the problem, too. Safety is way too high on the on the pedestal. pedestal. pedestal. Yeah, I'm with you. All right. What is dose for your liver? Now, check this out. This is a clinically backed liver health supplement. It's a liquid supplement. And by the way, in in trials, real trials, real studies, a majority of people, 90% of people who used dose saw improvements in their liver enzymes uh as tested by blood tests. Now, what does this do for you? Well, the liver, it processes everything you consume.

It performs so many daily functions 500 plus and what you expect when your liver becomes healthier is more energy, more sharpness, uh better results in the gym. This is a healthy supplement and it's backed by data. Go check it out. Go to dosedaily.cu. dosedaily.cu. dosedaily.cu. Sorry, dodaily.comind. Use the code mindpump. Get 25% off your first month subscription. Back to the show. show. show. First question is from Burke himself. How often do you each deadlift? Okay, so how often do we currently deadlift? My deadlift routine is pretty I'd say relatively inconsistent.

I probably deadlift probably deadlift probably deadlift once a month maybe. But the reason for that is um for me the deadlift is a lift that I'm really strong at and getting stronger at it the I don't get great returns. The the risk is really high now. So, at any given moment, I could probably pull 500 to 515 off the ground. When I start training deadlifts regularly, my deadlift strength goes up pretty quickly and I'll, you know, in a relatively short period of time get up to 560, 570, 580, and then my risk of injury is really high.

So, I always do some kind of hip hinging movement, but I don't deadlift regularly. Now, for most of my clients, uh, deadlifts were a relatively regular part of the routine, once a week or something like that, but for me, it's uh it's not a regular part of my routine anymore. The irony of this, cuz we promote it so much, and yet right now, we're all going to say we're not doing it very much. Uh, yeah, I'm I'm doing RDL's only right now. Uh, I've been dealing with a pain, forearm pain, and stuff that I can't get to the bottom of.

It's been an issue for a while. Um, and just heavy conventionals just lights it up. So, like me doing uh RDL's uh I'm not I'm only holding like 135 150 lbs and so it's not uh very stressful where I deadlift I deadlift 300 lb and so and that really strains it and so I haven't been doing that. Um I'll always squat. squat. squat. So that is something that I never I never not do is I always squat. Deadlifting moves in and out. I just I mean I just conventional deadlift though like maybe three weeks ago was the last time I did it, but I've been doing RDL's more regularly right now because of what I'm dealing with right now.

Yeah, I I kind of go back and forth. Um and mainly now if I do deadlifts, it's going to be trap bar deadlifts. Uh and I've scaled down my squatting a lot too. Uh mainly like you just mainly because of of of Well, you're like me with deadlifts. Squats for you are like me with deadlifts. You squat so much weight. So like and and it's been so many years that I've focused on squatting um that I think I was just trying to kind of give my body a bit of a break and and focus I'm I'm actually more focused on building up my core again and just my control of my body.

I feel like I've lost a little bit of that um on command. Like I can I can move a specific way. Like I feel like I've lost a little bit of that. And so um it it's definitely looks a lot more like, you know, power and speed training. And you know, if I do any hip hinging, it's definitely more like kettle bell work um and swings and um [clears throat] so I don't do a ton of heavy deadlifting anymore, but I do go through periods of it.

Like I'll maybe it's like two weeks or so and I'll I'll focus on just kind of building myself up again and then I'll I try and kind of get back to that. What's cool about some of these compound lifts is uh when you when you do them for a long time to get really good at them, you can do them intermittently and have and and maintain them. Yep. And the key is to never never do like you don't want to not do a hip. I feel like if I if like I could go pull 300 lb deadlifting.

I know I can like and so like which is is not impressive but it's also not weak. You know what I'm saying? So it's like they'll always remain enough in the routine to where like I still have that kind of like foundational strength in it. Squatting for me is the main one that I never let go because when I really worked on my mobility and my hips and my ankles. ankles. ankles. The thing that keeps that now is just good deep. I don't squat heavy hardly ever anymore.

Like I mean I rarely I I normally two plates is what I normally work I just work out with two plates but I go real deep and slow and control. like keep higher reps. Like that's typically how I I train all the time. And that and part of why that is is so important to me even more than the deadlift is is just I find that it keeps my hips, low back, and ankle stuff like in check big time. Next question is from Jessica Kilshot. How would you explain the importance of dedicated time in the gym to someone who's very active at work and doesn't see a need for it?

You know, I have a lot of bluecollar workers uh in my family. And so these people, these men uh are very active. Like their jobs are workouts all day long, but I uh strongly advise them to go to the gym for correctional exercise. So the injury rate with with with very active jobs like blue collar work, construction work, you know, welding, whatever. Like there's a high injury rate. Yeah. And the and that's because of repetitive movement, muscle imbalances. uh and you're not addressing the posterior chain really.

chain really. chain really. That's it. So, I would I'd have them go to the gym once a week, focus on certain lifts, correctional exercise, and it keeps them healthy. It keeps them injury-free. They can do their jobs better. And so, that's what it looks like. Now, the average person is so sedentary that I'm just trying to get them to move. But, you know, when you work with someone like this and you look at their eight hour day, it's like, "Oh, gez, you're like super active all the time." You don't need hard workouts.

What you need is correctional exercise. Yeah, I agree. And even more specifically, I'd be like, "Give me the the the job, right?" Like, "Are you are you a contractor or carpenter?" It's like, "Oh, you hammer on one with a hammer on your right hand all day long." It's like that's going to create some serious raising your arms. Yeah. Yeah. Like, so or a painter, right, that does one like so, you know, give me the job and I can probably point out the things that they probably have issues with and that we want to correct that and bal that imbalance out in in the training.

And that's what their training looks like is to support their work, right? So you're you're better at your job. You're not you don't suffer from chronic pain. And so the gym becomes super important. In fact, arguably more important for that person because when you do repetitive movements, it's just like like a lot of people think that like like some of my most dysfunctional people were ex- aathletes, aathletes, aathletes, you know. you know. you know. And it wasn't because they lacked being in shape or active. They were very active, but they threw a baseball with the same side.

Locked in positions. Yes. Thousands of times where they punched one on one with their lead punched and jabbed one. It's like so you have when you do things repetitively all the time all day every day, sure you're uh less likely to get fat because you move and you burn calories, but you're more likely to have imbalances and chronic pain. And so our training looks like supporting or correcting a lot of that. Um and you absolutely want to be inside the gym and arguably as important or more important.

It it it becomes less of a conversation about body fat percentage or calorie burn because they move. It becomes more about like protecting your body. Yes. Yes. Yes. Next question is from akumar. Can intermittent fasting be used to stay in a calorie deficit? Yes. Not ideal. Um you know people like to do this because it's so black and white. Um and so for them it's like don't eat and it can help them. But in my experience uh this just promotes uh really dysfunctional eating pattern. It looks like looks like looks like it's like restricting and then binge and then restrict and then binge.

Um, and it's just not a good uh long-term strategy. It can be a strategy and for some people who need something black and white like I'm shutting it off at this time, you know, type of deal. I could see it having potential benefit, but long term, you look at the data on fasting for calorie, the fail rate is just as high as with any other diet. Yeah, it to me it really depends on where this person is at. I'll tell you that um I use this a lot, but it's not a very good strategy for me to be in good shape.

It's a good strategy for me to not put on a bunch of body fat. So like like right now a lot of times I will not eat till noon or one. Um now the problem with that is I almost always can't hit protein that and so it's inevitable I'm going to lose some probably muscle on that. The benefit is I it's I don't need a lot of calories so my calories naturally come down but I'm not in good shape and if I want to get in better shape it's not a good strategy.

It's a so it's a decent strategy for me to manage calories like the questions being asked. It's not a good strategy for me to be in my best shape or get in shape. And so if you're somebody who's like, "Oh, I'm happy with where I'm at muscle-wise and like like so like where I am like I'm not trying to really make any major change. Um I'm very aware that I've been in way better shape, but I'm like I'm not trying to do anything special. So it's not a big deal that I don't eat till noon or 1.

Uh and I probably don't I don't build any muscle or I lose some muscles. Who cares?" But I know that I'm not going to overeat because now I've miss I'm behind 1,000 calories. But if you're somebody who is also trying to get in shape or be in better shape, I don't think it's a good strategy at all. Next question is from Josh with W Fitness. How realistic is it to want to work as a trainer part-time? I enjoy my Monday through Friday day job, but would love to help people and I am currently in the process of getting my NASMT.

In my experience, uh first off, personal training has a high turnover rate. Okay. Anyway, um uh and there's a lot of reasons for that. Mostly not good coaching and training from other trainers or fitness managers and stuff like that. Uh but there's already a high turnover rate. In my experience, people who start as part-time trainers, the fail rate is really high. Yeah. Okay. But if you're going to do it, the only way to do it is to go to a big box gym that's going to give you leads and clients.

Um, clients. Um, clients. Um, problem with that though, Sal is very few big box. Yeah, I never wanted a part-time trainer. It was like that was like I mean I I had to like love the person like like like the only way to do it part-time is if you have friends and family that want to pay you a little bit to train them uh then you can do something like that. Yeah. Your friends or somebody you know already. already. already. And if you have a full-time job and you don't need to make money and you can be okay with only training one or two people, then you totally can do this.

Yeah. You know, if it's like you're not trying to grow it to be your main gig and you have a job you like and you're like nothing there's nothing wrong with I guess having one or two clients at all times that you're kind of helping or training and that's the best way to start is probably with family and friends and and maybe you get a reputation because you're so good at it that the word of mouth they start telling their friends and family and other people about the help that you've given them and it becomes like this little side hustle that you have that you love doing.

In my experience, the only the only people that are interested in doing this are either students who are going to school, so they want to train people and then I also want to go to school, or people who are afraid to make the leap to uh fully committing to being personal trainers. So, it's kind of like I'm going to keep my day job so I can make money and then slowly learn how to become a personal trainer is a terrible strategy. terrible strategy. terrible strategy. Terrible strategy.

Terrible strategy. Terrible strategy. Better strategy is save your money, give yourself a few months cushion of savings, and then dive in head first. your odds of success are way higher doing it that way. The other way with kind of dipping your toe in the water, your fail rate's like I mean, you're probably going to fail. I don't even know if I know anybody that's been successful. I don't know either. All right, I know you like that episode. If you did, check this one out. Shredded, ripped, defined, singledigit body fat.

body fat. body fat. Yes. Yes. Yes. You want to get there? Let's talk about it. it. it. Difficult. And is it worth it? That's a follow-up question. Yeah. First off, we got to say, okay, so singledigit body fat, obviously body fat percentages, uh, that could be represented by one digit, like 3%, 5%, 6%, 9%. That's, uh, ripped for men. For women, women, women, add 10%. add 10%. add 10%. Yeah. Don't Yeah, exactly. You go you go up about