How to Build Bulletproof Joints (So You Can Train for the Rest of Your Life) | Mind Pump 2903

Key Takeaway

Your joints aren't like door hinges that wear down with use—they actually adapt and strengthen through proper training. The key is unilateral training (one limb at a time), which forces your body to reveal and correct imbalances that cause pain. Dedicate 2-3 months to exercises like single-arm presses and single-leg squats, letting your weaker side dictate the weight. You won't lose muscle; you'll actually build it while bulletproofing your joints for life.

Episode Overview

This episode explores how to strengthen and "bulletproof" your joints through proper training techniques. The hosts discuss how joints adapt and strengthen like muscles, emphasizing unilateral training, mobility work, proper hydration, and recovery strategies to eliminate joint pain and improve long-term movement quality.

Full Transcript

Transcript of How to Build Bulletproof Joints (So You Can Train for the Rest of Your Life) | Mind Pump 2903 from Mind Pump Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

So, you probably know you can build muscle, you can strengthen muscle, but did you know you could build your joints? Today, we're going to talk about how you can bulletproof your joints so they don't hurt and you can work out for the rest of your life. Build your joints? Bulletproof Bulletproof Bulletproof That is correct. Like like grow them? Oh, yeah. So, I'm glad I'm glad you said that, Adam. So, It sounds really weird. You can Yeah, yeah. So, uh we'll start with the first thing that has been shown to actually build and strengthen the joints.

A lot of people think of the joints joints joints as these uh like these these parts of your body that get worn down Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. uh just through use, right? Like it's a hinge on a door. Like you got a hinge on a door and if you keep opening and closing the door over years and years and years, it wears down the [clears throat] hinge uh and it starts to become a problem. That's actually not how your joints work. Your joints, like the rest of your body, like much of the rest of your body, adapt and strengthen.

Now, I do want to say this cuz someone's going to say, I know this for sure. Someone's thinking or yelling right now at their uh at their phone, and they're thinking, "Yeah, but I'm a lot older now. That's not true. Like my joints don't feel like they used to." There is, like there is in the rest of the body, as you get older, your uh your body does start to decline in terms of its ability to adapt and and functionality and all that stuff. So, obviously, an 80-year-old uh with healthy joints is not going to have the same kind of joints that he had uh when he was 20.

That being said, an 80-year-old with healthy joints uh has far better joints than the typical 80-year-old. And how they got those healthy joints healthy joints healthy joints is through a lot of things that we're going to be talking about uh today. Now, is that the same similar correlation as like with muscle for some of the comparison, right? So, someone could say that cuz that oh, of course, uh you know, when I was 20 and healthy and fit, it's not the same as when I was 80.

But, with clients, I've had somebody who's never trained until they were 50. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And at 55, they had the most muscle they've ever had on their body. Yep. Yep. Yep. And so, is the same true with bones? Like, can can you at say 55 or 60 [clears throat] [clears throat] [clears throat] have the healthiest joints you've ever had that late in your life? You can. You can. You can. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you can. And the data on this is is clear. So, this is not like speculative.

This is like the data shows this. this. this. Strength training in particular strengthens your joints. The cartilage gets thicker. gets thicker. gets thicker. The [clears throat] joint moves better uh through proper strength training. Uh now, it's im- The important part here is proper because again, someone's listening to say, "Well, I worked out for a long time and I hurt my my knees bother me because I used to squat so much or because uh you know, my back bothers me cuz I deadlift so much." The problem that a lot of very consistent lifters run into, myself included, and I think everybody in this room, is we tend to push the performance beyond what is considered appropriate.

And so, we're not moving optimally and we're sacrificing that for the sake of lifting more weight, in which case you do wear down your joints and can cause issues. But, proper strength training, the data's great on this. It builds your joints just like it builds your muscles. Yeah, to support that, even on like more of these isometric training studies, they've shown that they can actually help increase, you know, the size and the strength of of ligaments. And tendons. Yeah. Which is rad. I mean, people just don't think about that, I think, because it's the support system.

It's like, "Yeah, well, you know, let's do some stretches to make sure we can keep lifting heavy, but uh if you're really like ahead of this and you know, building that up alongside with your strength training habits, like you're going to be in a good place." good place." good place." Is there Is there any good studies to show like the the ra- the the ratio or relation between like adding 5 to 10 pounds of muscle to like bone and joint like is like You know what I'm saying?

Like we can it's much easier for us to measure the average person to go to a go on a DEXA scan and measure oh I added 10 pounds of lean tissue or lean mass. Uh you know what percentage of that was actual joint or bone versus muscle? Is there do we have any good step? step? step? to build muscle uh is much higher and it happens much faster than how your body strengthens tendons, ligaments, joints. ligaments, joints. ligaments, joints. So gaining 10 pounds of muscle will strengthen things like bone and joints.

But you ain't going to gain you know you gain 10 pounds of muscle you're not getting 10 pounds of bone. Yeah, of course. So it happens slower. Uh in fact sometimes athletes will get injured because uh because uh because uh Well, I just experienced this. Not that long ago, right? Remember when I put on the 20 something pounds Yes. Yes. Yes. in a month you know of muscle it was you know the worst part about that whole scenario. It sounds amazing when you hear that, right?

Because and it sounds like unbelievable but when you have carried as much muscle as I have and then I lost all of it to gain it back is relatively quick and easy. easy. easy. Uh what I failed to do was to scale properly and not actually cuz what happened was I got really strong really fast. fast. fast. Yeah. Yep. You get the rapid gains. all that muscle so I'm thinking oh no problem and I've I've deadlifted 500 pounds so 400 should be no problem and pop.

There goes the I've always thought of it as a big problem problem problem uh you know even growing up like in in some of my friends that were experimenting with steroids and you know seeing these great gains and like they came on so fast and and you know inevitably we were you know playing football and like they were the first ones getting injured and like a lot of times like falling out because of ligament and joint issues. Yeah, strength training proper strength training. So, proper means it's appropriate.

You're training within ranges of motion that you own. You're picking exercises that your body needs to do to do to do to give you better movement. Um when you're doing that properly and right, your joints become healthier. There's less wear and tear on them. So, wear and tear on the joints isn't because you're moving the joint a lot. Now, it can happen from moving the joint a lot if you overtrain yourself. So, if you go if you do so much movement that your body just can't repair and adapt, then yeah, you can wear things down.

But, a lot of the times people have joint pain just cuz they don't move in an optimal way. And so, then you're you're you're you're stressing the the hinge in ways that it's not meant to be stressed, and that's what causes problems. This is why, you guys know this, we trained people for years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When I got good at this First off, uh majority of my clients were middle-age. Okay, that's just the kind of people that can afford training. It's also the kind of people that tend to hire trainers.

So, majority of my clients were middle-age or older. Um all of them had some kind of joint pain. It Yeah, some more severe than others, but everybody had some kind of joint pain. joint pain. joint pain. Everybody reliably had far less joint pain through strength training. And in many, many cases, none. I had many I had one I'll I'll I remember one woman I trained, she was a surgeon, very intelligent, very educated, obviously not educated with fitness, but just a smart woman. And I remember when she hired me, she said, "Okay, uh here's my limitations.

Uh I can't squat to parallel, and I can't do any lunges. I have bad knees." This is what she said. "I have bad knees. I've had my my friend who's a doctor look at my knees. I got chondromalacia under my kneecap." And she's giving me all the medical terminology for how why her knees bother her. And if you did imaging, which she did, you could see all the issues. And I told her, I said, "Let's see. I said, I'm not going to train you to the point where you're going to hurt your knees, but I've had enough experience to know that oftentimes we correct movement pattern issue, we get stronger, people feel much better." Two years later, no knee pain.

Not just less knee pain, she had no knee pain. That's just one example one example one example of what this will do. So, proper strength training is number one. Yeah, I had uh it was it was cool cuz, you know, sometimes like the staff, like are curious about like some of these other things I'm into, like Indian clubs, mace bell training, like some unconventional things. And you know, the reason I really like gravitated towards it was because it was addressing something you just don't bring into the gym.

Like people don't move, you know, with these types of rotational movements. Uh there's no machines that are like, you know, obvious like to do that. And that. And that. And uh and he had like really crazy problems with his shoulder. And so, we just kind of worked through some mobility moves and I was showing him some stuff. And then I'm like, you know, you might want to try just this one swing I do with the um the Indian club. And start really low uh weight and make sure, you know, this is like a progressive thing that you're going to do to to build up that strength in that movement pattern.

And he was just doing this over the a few weeks. And he's like just tripping out how that pain completely gone. gone. gone. But it's a strength Yeah, like issue. So, there's a there's a you know, a weakness there. Well, I want to point to something because I say strength train properly, the next point I'm going to make is related to correctional exercise. So, you'll hear trainers talk about correctional exercise often, good trainers. You'll hear us on the show talk about correctional exercise often. often. often.

But correctional exercise is Workouts tend to be specific, correctional exercise even more specific. It's very specific to the individual. So, when I give correctional exercise on the show, general correctional exercise advice can be difficult. be difficult. be difficult. But I will say this, this is a hack. And I knew this was a hack, but I really didn't give it as much respect as I should have. Ever since we created MAPS Symmetry, uh we've had so many people follow MAPS Symmetry, not [clears throat] do any specific correctional exercise, and solve their their pain problems.

So, what's What's special about MAPS Symmetry? It's mostly a unilateral training program. training program. training program. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. So, unilateral training is one arm at a time, one leg at a time. So, instead of doing two arms at the same time to do a press, I'm doing one arm. Instead of doing one, you know, both legs for a squat or whatever, I'm doing one leg at a time. a time. a time. So, unilateral training, like dedicated unilateral training, meaning this is how you're training for the next 2 months or 3 months, 3 months, 3 months, it naturally corrects issues Mhm.

Mhm. Mhm. because you're on one leg or one arm and you see the issue, you correct it, and you try to adjust your form. So, I'm going to add that as number two. To bulletproof your joints, if you want to do correctional exercise, but you don't have experience with it and you're not going to work with someone that understands it, just do unilateral training for a while. That's what what what a lot of times it's so elusive cuz you're you're doing these movements that require, you know, both limbs and you know, these these slight compensations that happen and you kind of favor a side.

You don't realize it until you really take that time out to isolate one. one. one. That's right. That's right. That's right. I I feel like this is extremely common, especially if you're you're not aware of this, right? Cuz I think I mean, nobody is perfectly symmetrical left to right. No. No. No. And most people have a a pretty glaring difference when they first get into weight training. There's uh you have a dominant side or a dominant hand, a dominant leg, dominant arm. Um and if you do barbell lifting, which we encourage and a lot of trainers encourage and a lot of trainers encourage people to do, you're you're using both hands, both legs, and you you can easily be compensating on the stronger side.

And as you and you progress, you get stronger and so you get excited cuz you see more weight go on the bar and you're building muscle and maybe body composition is changing, but that discrepancy is getting greater and greater. and greater. and greater. Uh and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, you start to feel this this pain. And so, this was super common uh with clients and many times, to your point, uh just simply running a cycle of unilateral training would solve a lot of it.

I mean, as much as great as correctional exercise is and and all the things that we teach and talk about, sometimes it would be just simply that. It was created by that. I I mean 100%. I have I I can distinctly remember a few cases where I couldn't quite figure out what the issue was. We did the correction. I couldn't really figure it out. Still a little bit of an issue. issue. issue. We just went to unilateral training. And it became more obvious or it still wasn't obvious, but it corrected itself.

So, unilateral training focus it it forces you to be stable in your joint. It forces technique to be even better. You can't By the way, the body's designed to compensate. Supposed to compensate. You're saying push this off my body. One arm is a little more stable than the other. It's going to do more work because you're trying to get something off your body. This becomes more obvious with unilateral training. And the way unilateral training gets utilized in fitness circles is either A because I'm isolating a muscle for bodybuilding purposes or B I don't.

And so, it tends to get thrown in at the end of a workout. So, it's like, "Yeah, I do unilateral training." Oh, when? You know, after I do my first few sets of these exercises. But have you done 2 months of only unilateral training? And so, so, so, so and it's so good for solving joint issues. So good. part of this I think that is challenging, I remember distinctly going through this both personally and with clients, is the psychological part because especially if you've been strength training for a while.

Not so much somebody who's brand new convincing them how to do this properly, but somebody who's been strength training for a while and let's say has progressed their bench press or their squat or their overhead press to a good amount of weight and then they start to notice this chronic pain or this discrepancy and so they go, oh, they take the advice, they go unilateral. And then all of a sudden they realize when they do a single dumbbell shoulder press, one arm could do 60-lb dumbbell and the only one the other one can only do 40.

Or they like, I can get 15 reps with this one only 10 with the other one. They see this huge discrepancy, which is a good sign cuz that means that's this probably where this is issue coming from. The challenging part, the psychological part where I think a lot of people mess up, is allowing your your your weaker side to catch up by letting it dictate the workout. That's right. That's right. That's right. Because you feel you feel like, "Oh my god, now all of a sudden I'm doing nothing." And it also there's fear of, "I'm going to lose all this muscle that I built on my on my shoulders because I'm now where I could do I'm now where I could do 60, I'm now coming down to 40 to allow the weaker side to to guide No, the opposite happens.

You don't lose any muscle, you actually build. It's funny, I love the DEXA scans people write in with. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. These are like experienced people, they do MAPS Symmetry, and they gain and they you know, DEXA scans are cool cuz it shows you right to left lean body mass, upper lower. upper lower. upper lower. see it like visibly as well. building muscle to the point. So yeah, unilateral training is a great way to bulletproof your joints. And if you've never done it, dedicate 2 months to it or follow something like MAPS Symmetry.

Uh next up, static stretching post workout. So here's why this helps bulletproof your joints. If you have any instability issue, which you probably do, all of us do in some way, shape, or form, and then you do proper strength training, here's what the CNS does af- during the workout and after the workout. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. During During the workout, the CNS is allowing you to move, but it's tightening things up to help protect whatever issue it thinks is there. Post workout, that remains. That tightness will stay there for a while, sometimes for days, usually for that day.

So that means is like if I do my unilateral stuff, and it's my left hip, let's say. let's say. let's say. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The muscles around my left hip, my CNS is going to say, "Stay tight, protect that left that joint." Now I'm going to walk around and be like, "Man, I just did the workout, but I feel kind of tight, doesn't feel good." I don't need my CNS unless I'm going to do another workout, unless I'm going to do something athletic. I don't need to mis- my CNS to stay turned on.

In fact, I it would be better if I had my CNS turn off a little bit, allow recovery to happen, go parasympathetic instead of staying tight. Static stretching does this. Every time you hold a stretch for 2 minutes, minutes, minutes, the CNS gets a signal that says, "Relax." "Relax." "Relax." Release. Release. Release. And that's why when you hold a stretch after 30 seconds, you suddenly can go deeper. The CNS is So, static stretch post workout in those areas, you know, tend to bother you. So, this may be shoulder or pec or lat stretches, maybe stretches for the wrists or the hands, maybe hips, maybe hips, maybe hips, maybe twisting stretches, but at the end of your workout is the best time to do he says, overall puts you in better parasympathetic state.

So, it's like that could be a limiting factor of like your progress of being able to recover faster as well. So, By the way, this this can show up in in unique ways. Uh what I mean by that, this is uh conversation I I I shared with you guys that I just recently had with my buddy. Uh that we we're I was talking to him about his hip mobility cuz I told you he was having his groin and and quad and stuff going on that he was noticing.

Uh when he works out, he feels fine. And he doesn't really notice it until he gets gets to bed at night. So, a lot of times what will happen is we to your point is you'll feel the body the body will tighten up to protect itself. And it's not to the point where you like you feel locked up and stiff, you can't move right away or anything like that. You go about your day, but it's enough of that locked up that there's overcompensating that happens all day long.

So, all day long you have this subtle hitch in your walk that you don't even realize that you have, or you sit down in a car a certain way and that side's all locked. And then you notice when you go to bed or you lay down or you sit down on the couch later night or you're driving in your car home from work or something. And and you have this low back pain or this IT stuff that Oh, or just just out of nowhere and you're like trying to figure out, "Where did this come from?

I felt fine when I worked out earlier today." But because your your CNS is still got you locked up all day, and then all day you went about your day, now you feel that overcompensating show up later and many times show up somewhere not exactly where the issue is. Like the like his situation, like I'm explaining to him that he has weakness in his and in mobility and weakness and instability in his hip. That shows up in his back problem. And right. And so it'll show up in low back, show up in his groin, and it'll show up in other areas.

And so a lot of people are like, "It doesn't make sense. I didn't do anything to my groin or I didn't What did I do today to hurt my low back?" It's like, "Well, no, it's the weakness and instability in the hip. You went and strength trained, the body was trying to protect the joint, and so it was it was tightening up, and then it stayed tightened up after your workout, and then it's been locked up all day long throughout your day. You went about your day doing no just normal movements.

You lie in bed finally at night, and you're like, "Oh my god, my low back is killing me." killing me." killing me." And then then people translate that into I have bad back. That's right. That's right. That's right. You know, and it's like, "Oh, no, you've We have a solvable issue. We have a solvable issue. Um and, you know, your point of static stretching after workout one of the great ways to address it." Totally. Uh next up mobility drills, and you kind of covered this a little bit, Justin, with Indian clubs.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mobility drills uh essentially, and there's there are specific mobility drills or mobility movements, and you can look them up. We have a lot of these uh in like MAPS Prime or MAPS Prime Pro, for example. But mobility drill or performance performance performance Mobility drills essentially, what you're doing is you're moving and challenging ranges of motion uh and you're trying to own those ranges of motion that you're challenging. So I'm moving my arm or my shoulder. You know, let's say I'm doing a wall circle.

That's an easy one I can communicate here, you know, I'm I'm standing up against the wall, shoulder against the wall, hand palm on the floor, and I'm trying to go all the way around without moving away from the wall and slight and rotating my hand. And I'm just challenging the range of motion, trying to stay connected to it, and I'm doing these drills throughout the day. Now, what this is doing is it's it's letting my body feel comfortable with these different ranges of motion and connecting to these different ranges of motion.

It's giving me better movement patterns or contributing better movement patterns, which then allow my joints to get stronger. get stronger. get stronger. Yeah, I look at this as as you're expressing these these different ranges of motion and placing your body in positions you probably aren't in very often throughout the day. You're trying to increase the ability to recruit muscle to support that. And so, to be able to able to able to add tension, be able to have access, to have strength in there where normally it's pretty passive.

Like I can only get there by just kind of placing my arm in place, but I can't move out of it. This works on the ability to actually, you know, have access to that. So, now, you know, you have less chances of, you know, injury or less chances of, like, you know, this instability and pain as a result. result. result. Yeah, totally. Yeah, totally. Yeah, totally. This is so good because you get so many other benefits. I mean, obviously we're talking about the bulletproofing the joints, but you know, moving like this and having an isometric component to it like that is a great way to facilitate recovery, which is also a great way to build muscle.

So, while you're getting the benefits of bulletproofing the joints, you're also getting the benefits Totally. Totally. Totally. getting stronger and building muscle, moving better, which is why we're so pro, I think you hear us talk about mobility drills and priming and things like that so much is cuz there's so many added benefits. I know we're talking about bulletproofing the joints, but so much more you get out of that by including that in your routine. Totally. Next up, drink lots of water and eat a high protein diet.

So, first off, dry joints hurt. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I'll say dry joints cuz I think it communicates it well. The lubrication in your joints is a lot of it is water. And drinking when you're thirsty will prevent you from getting really dehydrated, but there is something called there is optimal fluid intake, which is typically more. So, I can't tell you how many times, and I don't learn this till much later, but when I figured this out, it was pretty amazing how many times I had clients increase their water intake and notice less joint pain.

pain. pain. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And better movement. By the way, muscles contract better contract better contract better when you're hydrated when you're well hydrated. hydrated. hydrated. And people don't know that. know that. know that. Everything works better. And so here's what happens. If I if my muscles are not like optimally hydrated, they're not going to move as well as they can. My movement patterns aren't going to be as good. My exercise techniques aren't not going to be as good. Will that affect my joints?

Yes. joints? Yes. joints? Yes. And so water uh makes a big difference. And then protein, here's the deal. Uh connective tissue, ligaments, tendons, muscle, cartilage, protein. And it's all protein. Crazy, isn't it? I mean, this is how This is why like collagen protein got so popular, right? popular, right? popular, right? That's was for this this exact reason. And we've talked about this before. If you're eating adequate protein, then the difference between collagen or whey protein is negligible. And so But it got so much marketing behind it and popularity because of the benefits of just having more protein.

Yes. Yes. Yes. For sure. For sure. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, protein makes a big difference. By the way, your skin is protein. So eating a higher protein diet probably give you better skin as well, better hair. Don't eat your skin. Disgusting. Disgusting. Disgusting. And then lastly, get good sleep. So uh the number one recovery adaptation uh you know, hack or thing that you do is your sleep. And so getting uh good sleep on a regular basis will make the adaptation process work well. The opposite is also true.

Getting uh inconsistent good sleep will make adaptation very difficult. And your body will be not so resilient against the stress of exercise. And then you can start to notice issues from that. So that. So that. So Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I just read this cool study on um carbohydrate intake and endurance athletes. Uh and also electrolytes. I'm going to pull it up. Hm. Hm. Hm. It's actually pretty cool. I just saw speaking of that, I just saw your video, your reaction video to the uh uh uh the guy that was kind of like slamming the the the uh electrolytes.

There's a big movement right now in the uh the space because of how popular they've become. Anytime something gets popular, there has to be a like It's so funny because I feel like it it's it's it's the the swing back and forth, right? I mean, even we were guilty of right? What do what do we like we had we had talked trash long before about electrolytes cuz most everything out there with the Gatorades that were out there were just sugar water. It was just a bunch of [ __ ] Most people didn't need that.

It wasn't helping anybody. It was all marketing. Yeah, and so so even when we got sent you know even when Element T was sent to us, it sat in our our studio for probably 6 months, maybe longer before even looked at the packaging, I remember. There's there's so many things to consider. You take the average person that eats a heavily processed diet, they probably won't benefit from electrolytes. They're probably getting plenty of sodium. And you're not you're not really fixing much with that person just by doing that.

But there's so much that happens behaviorally behaviorally behaviorally from electrolyte intake that also improves water intake. Here's what I found, okay? And I didn't I should have considered this cuz I was coach I coach people forever. But there's often these downstream effects downstream effects downstream effects that aren't necessarily you know, you're not getting benefit necessarily from the thing you're doing, but you're getting the benefit from the downstream things that are happening. So I'll give you an example. I know so Element you you mentioned Element. So that's an electrolyte powder, no sugar, no artificial sweeteners.

You put it in water, but it tastes good. It's hyperpalatable. You know what I found with my family? They drink way more water because of Element. So do they need the electrolytes? Not sure. Some of them work out and they'll benefit from it. Do they benefit from the more water cuz they like the way it tastes? Yes. tastes? Yes. tastes? Yes. And it's not a bunch of sugar. So there's also that. I think the biggest thing I think of is our audience. I mean, I don't know what percentage of them are like this, but if any of them are even remotely like most of us, which are probably and what we preach about all day, which is eating primarily a whole food diet, I don't I don't get a ton of sodium in my diet anymore.

you salt your food. Yes. And it's it's so obvious to me. I don't even have to train train hard in the gym, but because of the my sauna and jacuzzi use, if there's a day that goes by and I've been consistent eating my whole foods, I didn't eat out, let's say, the last day or two, and I go in there and I use the jacuzzi or the hot tub and or the hot tub or the sauna, and I forget to take an element, it's not just I didn't I I have a pounding headache.

Yeah. Pounding headache. And one of those solves that every time. So, you can't tell me that there's not some sort of a deficiency going on before I go in there and do that because my body has been at a point where it's taking all the sodium in, then all of a sudden I go on a clean whole food diet where I get a fraction of that, and then I go do something where I'm sweating for 20 minutes in temperatures at 100 like and and then I'm getting throbbing headache.

It's like and I it's happened to me so many times because I've just mindlessly forgot and got lazy and didn't go grab one before I did it, and then it's like, "Oh." "Oh." "Oh." Dude, speaking of of of headaches and stuff, look at the the data on using electrolytes for migraines. A lot of a lot of women A lot of women, too, but a lot of women in particular suffer from migraines. migraines. migraines. They bump their electrolyte intake, it makes a big difference. That's a big deal to somebody that has migraines.

If you're working out hard and you're sweating and you do a whole whole food diet, you know, here's how you know. First of all, try it. You'll know within the first couple times. Yes. You'll know. You'll drink it and you'll take and you'll be like, "Whoa, I feel I feel better." It's not a supplement that you need to wait to use. You'll know I When I had clients that needed electrolytes in the workout, and I know cuz I trained them, halfway through they're like, "Oh, I feel dizzy and light-headed." I'm like, "Okay, well, you know, ask them some questions." I'm like, "Wait a minute." I give them some salt, and 10 minutes later, like, "I feel way better." So, it's like, "You needed You needed some electrolytes in your system." So, anyway, I got some I got a cool study cool study cool study on on on uh this is good for endurance athletes.

So, they did this on cyclists who were doing a 3-hour ride, okay? Those who consumed 120 g of carbs per hour, that's a lot, per hour, so So, just drinking it while they're while they're racing. Yeah. Lost less than a third of the power they would have lost on water alone. Wow. Wow. Wow. That's a big difference. Yeah. That's a big difference for energy. So, uh so, carbohydrate intake while you're training, especially if it's hard training, makes a difference. gel packs, right? Is that it? Yes.

Yes. Yes. Makes it makes it different. or whatever it is. By the way, you know why people like to do it? do it? do it? one of those before. You know why they like to do it? It's just convenient. There's nothing special about the goo. It's just the goo it's just convenient carbs. carbs. carbs. Is it is it just sugar? Isn't it a bunch of sugar? What is it? I Yeah, they put they put carbohydrates in there. They probably put some complex carbs in there as well.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you just you don't need to have water with it. Have you had it before, Doug? I have. I have. I have. You have had it. Years and years ago. Yeah, you look like a goo guy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I did a lot of goo in the back in the day. day. day. Sucking down that goo. Okay. Okay. Okay. You guys see carbohydrates. So, maltodextrin, fructose, electrolytes, and then sometimes they throw BCAAs in there. there. there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, but yeah, no, it makes a difference.

Uh and then the element, uh you know, um so, this is By the way, this is what I've been doing with jiu-jitsu. So, I've been training been training been training uh jiu-jitsu and um it's only an hour, but for me it's a lot of endurance training cuz I don't have much time. How So, what is it what is is it um because it's kind of a class setting? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is it always the same routine like you you go there, probably do a little bit of warm-up drills, and you guys roll?

I mean, is it like the sports are given all the time? have a different breakdown, but this is a short one. It's only an hour. So, we do some drills. So, we'll do a technique, drill it, and then we go right into uh rolling with each other. So, does that mean So, what it Tell me, I have no idea what I'm asking. Normal class would have a longer warm-up workout in the beginning and maybe longer time spent in the in the technique and drills. Does that mean your instructor expects you to come in kind of warmed up and stretched out and ready to go or like how like how like how like Yeah, you probably should get there early and do a little bit of warm-up.

That's what I do. You guys should like a few drills together as like kind of warm up? Yeah, and the drills will look like, you know, know, know, It's like a technique? Yeah, so it'll be like uh don't let him pass your guard, but you can't use your hands. And then they'll switch places or get on mat, you know, side mount position. He's trying to escape. Your job is just trying to hold him down. And then they'll So, that's like a drill. Uh you know, or it could be And you'll do that for Oh, yeah, back and forth, which is also exhausting.

exhausting. exhausting. Uh do they Is he Is he like coordinating it where like, you know, he'll tell you to switch? Or do you Are you No, they have timer. Okay. Oh, they have Yeah, so the the timer goes off and then you switch sides and then you How's your neck I I know that like, you know, neck is For me, dude, when I when I was doing like Muay Thai, the clinch, the clinch, the clinch, I I remember my neck was stiff for like a week just because of all the like pulling and pulling and pulling and You know, what You know, what's the big realization for me?

I move better than I thought I would. It's not great, just better than I thought. Uh there's a couple things couple things couple things bar really low set for yourself. But there's a couple things like um that you know, come to mind. One is um well, this is a big one. And this is such a great thing for athletes to understand. Uh and just for people who aren't athletes. You have You can have general fitness. So, you can have endurance. You can have strength. You can have all these great these great these great Yeah, but it does not does not apply to what you're doing.

there's movement efficiency that you only get from being able to move well, okay? So, like I get way more exhausted than I should I know. What How much because I'm not moving efficiently because it's been 20 years. Don't you How much carryover do you think That'd be interesting. There's got to be studies on this. Like uh so, two people, examples, right? Um somebody who does no cardio and then uh the guy they go on a 1-hour kayak ride. How much cardio endurance does the guy does none?

Then the other guy runs every day. got to endurance, but he never kayaks. But he never kayaks, and he's got to kayak for an hour. I mean, both are going to get exhausted before that that that hour. that hour. that hour. General fitness will definitely contribute. contribute. contribute. Yeah, that's what I'm cu- Like, how much though? Not a lot. Not as much as you would think it would. Dude, you're just muscling things. You don't have good technique. It's like Well, that's why I use the That's why I use the example of kayaking.

That's something so simple is like cuz I feel like um like um like um if you were uh uh uh probably a great rower and then uh and like say for an hour and then you ask that person to go for a run for an hour, you probably actually have pretty decent carryover cuz there's less technique involved in running. So, the more technical a thing is uh the more specific I would think the cardio endurance would be for it, right? Yeah, there was this interesting show used to I don't remember what channel it was on, but they had I think Randy Couture was on it.

And they had him hold a choke for a long period of time and they had all these sensors on him to see what muscles were tensing and activating. And they were able to see how he switched was the science one. Sports science They were able to show They were able to show how the tension was getting moved to different muscle as his body was was efficient at holding this position uh versus the average person. the average person, yeah. Yeah, dude. Yeah, dude. Yeah, dude. Winding up all over the place.

Yeah, dude. I went against this today. I went against this kid. He's like 20 years old. Uh young kid, great kid. He's only been doing jiu-jitsu for a year. And we're going together and I'm I'm I'm putting him in positions that I should not be getting like I should not be so exhausted, but I'm so exhausted and I know why. It's because I'm not moving efficiently. I'm like holding myself there and like man, it was it's pretty disheartening. I mean, that it's going to You know what?

You're on what? Third Third time? third week. third week. third week. Yeah. So, it's like couple more weeks and I feel like it And you are only No, not a couple more weeks. Well, you're only going six months minimum. minimum. minimum. Well, you're only going twice, right? Yeah, that's why. I mean, if you That's what I mean. Bro, you got to You know this. You have I have to weigh my ability to I have to weigh my ability to recover recover recover Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. with how much I can do.

And I'll tell you the advantage I have now versus when I was younger, I'm way smarter. Oh. Oh. Oh. I'm patient. I'm patient. I'm patient. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to go easy and I'm going to let my body adapt. What I used to do when I was young You said that earlier. is I would just go and burn is I would just go and burn myself myself myself talk about how long it's taken me to do that? I mean, it's taken me that so long to become that guy in the gym.

Like when I think about how I train now, I catch myself sometimes like that now where I'm so different where in the past I there's times where I finish a set or decide not to go up in weight and it is so it still is difficult. It's not as difficult as it used to be. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it's like where it's like everything says I could totally add more right now, you know, but it's like but I I go why? Yeah, it's not going to benefit me.

Yeah, I'm I'm already getting benefits from doing what I'm doing right now. I know I am because I this is already been two and a half weeks since the last time I barbell back squatted and I can already feel like that was challenging enough but it's like my ego goes like yeah, but I want to put 315 on the bar, you know what I'm saying? And I know I can do it because I just moved 275 relatively easy, you know what I'm saying? But I'm going but why?

Like there's no there's like I'm already going to reap benefits from that 275 that I just moved. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's taken a long time to get there. Like I I think I think I think even just six years ago Well, I think I'd be really eager to put that 315 on the bar. the bar. the bar. tell you what, it's it would be and I'm just like you and we have wisdom now cuz we've been doing this a while. It's harder with strength training than it is with jiu-jitsu and I'll tell you why.

With strength training it's just me and the weights. the weights. the weights. In jiu-jitsu, I'm fighting a grown man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so I'm like if I'm not careful and I go too hard and I move the wrong way or I give the this guy he starts to go super hard and he catches me and it's like you just get hurt. So I'm like I'm going to go easy, dude. I'm going to go super chill. chill. chill. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's still hard for me.

Find your skill, dude. I still get exhausted, bro. I get that kind of exhaust I haven't felt that kind of a long time that you know that's where your stamina's like running out Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. and you just want to die. You just like bonking. Oh yeah, dude. I'm just like what is happening? happening? happening? You know, speaking of endurance and stuff like that, Doug, you once a year go rafting. You just got back from your your rafting. your rafting. your rafting. July last two years.

that like hardcore rafting? No, I mean it's class three top. That's There's Listen, Well, that's it's it's pretty tame, really. really. really. Well, you got a guide. Well, how how many classes are there? Well, the five I think is a top. Five is crazy. yeah. I think that's it. Four I've done three and four. Four is Yeah, well, I mean, for you it would be scary. scary. scary. Yeah, I'm terrified of that. Well, you can fly off. It's not that scary. You have a life vest on.

You know what I'm saying? You got a guide. You know what I'm saying? It's not that scary. You got a helmet. But it's not scary. But it But it it's a lot of work when you're in a eight, 10, you're in a when you're in a eight, 10, 12 person How many How many are in there? there? there? Uh yeah, there's uh there were six of us plus the guide. Where do they put you in the boat? Where are you at? I was up at the bow.

So, you're at the bow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so they put they put the stronger guy up in the front who's got and he's doing most of the steering. And so he's getting commands getting commands getting commands No, actually the guide's doing the steering. steering. steering. You're doing the Well, I mean, he's steering. Excuse me. Well, you're I mean, yes, he's ruddering it, but you're He's the He's the He's the Hard right, hard right, hard right. And then you're back left, back left. Like you you're you are He's doing a lot of the controlling.

You are controlling the boat. Yeah, largely lazy though. It's largely lazy. lazy. lazy. Is it actually Yeah, I mean, so there's there's moments So, there's moments where you're you're definitely, you know, digging in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And but they're typically very short. How long is the whole rafting like the thing experience? thing experience? thing experience? Oh, you start about 10:00 a.m. and you get done around between 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. p.m. p.m. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. The whole time you're on a raft, no?

no? no? Yeah. Uh well, You get no breaks? So, there's a lot of different companies. So, we were up on the American River out of Coloma, which is gold country um here in California. And uh there's a lot of different companies, but the one we go with always they they do so much more than any of the other compa- companies in that you get to swim a lot. You get to jump off rocks into the water. the water. the water. But how long are you on the raft?

I'll tell I'll tell you. Four at least four hours he is floating on a river. Of those four hours more than that. Okay, he said he said at least four hours he's floating on a raft. Of those four to 5 hours that he's floating on the raft, there are like intervals where for like a minute he's going to be really intense. Then he gets to cruise for a while. But I mean, think about that. Constantly like minute minute intense bouts for all day long. I'm going to tell you today is Tuesday right?

right? right? as [ __ ] as [ __ ] as [ __ ] I am. I'm still still recovering. Yeah, still recovering. Absolutely. What do you have What if you have to go to the bathroom when you're on this thing and then Oh well, so you do a lot of swimming and so as long as that's all you need to do, you can just pee out in the river. All right? right? right? Wow. Wow. Wow. Uh it's it's a lot of fun. so many calories, you're not you're not having to poop very much.

You you pee. That's about it. You're reabsorbing. You're reabsorbing. You're reabsorbing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You use that Yeah, fuel that he fueled up at 8:00 a.m. it's used up by 10:00. Are you Did you Were you wearing the Vuori wetsuit? Vuori wetsuit? Vuori wetsuit? So yeah, so this So this year So you jump in the river a lot. In fact, I I couldn't remember exactly when we started getting in the river. So this year what I did is I had bought two Vuori uh Vuori uh Vuori uh wetsuits last fall.

cool they carry that too. How did you know they had those? I didn't didn't didn't Well, I just I was on their site and I was doing shopping and I go, "Wow, they have wetsuits. I'm going to buy these things and I want to try it out in river rafting." But I was a little concerned about wearing them from the beginning of the day because it was going to be a 90° day and you know, you're wearing like a I think it was 2 mil millimeter mil millimeter mil millimeter thick thick thick material and I was afraid I was going to get way too hot.

So I wore a rash guard initially. initially. initially. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. We get out on the raft and 5 minutes in he goes, "All right, if you want to jump in the water, jump in the water." And I go, "Oh man, I probably should have put this thing on earlier." So I jump in the water, we all jump in the water and it's you know, it's up in the mountains and it's cold. early still too. And you do that multiple times. Sometimes you're floating down rapids on your back.

It's it's a lot of fun. I highly recommend it. But you're getting cold and then by the time we had lunch, I I had put the I have like a dry bag. I had put both of my wet suits in there, and and and and so at lunchtime, I took off the rash guard, put on one of the wet suits, and then Breonna's boyfriend, Thomas, I gave him the other one. He was cold, too. And the second half of the trip was so amazing. I I couldn't get enough of getting in that river.

Makes that big of a difference. It made that big of a difference. A really good one will like control your temp like that. It'll It'll keep it at a nice It'll be You won't get too hot, you won't get too cold in any temp. No, no, I never got too hot in it, even though it was 90° out. wear They have a long-sleeve one, and they have a short-sleeve one. Which one? Yes, I wore the short sleeve, Thomas wore the long sleeve. Next year, I'm buying buying one for Breonna.

They have a female one as well. So. That's Dude, they have so Justin and I were on their site earlier. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I was We were talking about the jackets, cuz that was like my last purchase was their jacket that I love. They have so many like lightweight, cool, stylish jackets. There's a lot of stuff on their website that you don't see in the store. That I for And you know, you know, we get sent stuff. So, I just assume all we go in the store, we do ads for them, we also like I'm seeing most of it.

I don't even We don't even see a fraction of how much cool stuff they have. they have. they have. It's funny, cuz like it's almost like you got to go there. I I was planning a trip out to Scotland and Iceland, and I was like, I wonder if they have like a rain jacket, you know? And then I just look, and there it was, and it was like perfect. The same thing. It was like super lightweight, and it just repelled water, and I was, you know, perfectly warm in it.

You guys You guys couldn't pay me to do rafting. rafting. rafting. Really? Really? Really? It's so crazy, because Especially if you gave me a little water wings. wings. wings. A three isn't that scary. So, here's the How many How many drops did you have that they consider Cuz the way they consider it is So, a three will have a certain amount of like drops or fast paces. Like, how many total do you think you had in a day? day? day? like class three ones, maybe I don't know, five?

Yeah. Not not so Not so many. They many. They many. They So only five times in the day will he have something that was like a probably a little drop-off or that it picks up the current around a corner in some rocks. And at three, it's not that four. Four, I remember we had a couple like I had I had to really get after it. I've never been higher than a four. Five is like crazy. You're a great swimmer. You both are good swimmers. Yeah, but we have a life vest and helmet on.

on. on. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, you don't even need to worry about it. it. it. You don't even need to worry about going into the water. We've never lost anybody with a good guide. I I told you the story. We've lost our guide before. So I've been on So a four is aggressive enough that you can hit some rapids and there's some boulders you got to maneuver around. And we we we hit a bump so bad that it hit a we hit a bump so bad that it launched him off the back.

And I was and I was doing the front and I didn't hear my commands anymore. And so And I'm like so into it trying not to hit the rock coming up and I'm paddling and I look back and there's my guide floating down and he's trying to And he's trying to yell come up. I mean eventually we get we hit a the eventually we get we hit a the the side. Boom! And the front of the boat got stuck and then he worked his floated his way and then climbed back in and then then we all pushed back off the rock and rock and rock and Just to let you know how easy it is though is uh Briana started when she was eight years old.

Okay. And uh You're just making me feel bad, but I'm not going to do it. I I feel like you we've I I feel like you we've especially we did like a three first you would There is more downtime and cruising than there is I see little children in rafts. Yeah, it's not that bad. Yeah, I'm I'm trying. Do you have a pic Pull up a picture of a class five rapids. Cuz I just want to see it. I just I I've thought about it. I've done one in a long You know what this makes you feel like?

One time I was on this hike, I'll never forget. It was this gnarly hike, dude. And I was going up and I was with my cousin and we were hot and we were like really trucking and we were doing it for a while. And this woman with a baby in a baby Bjorn just walks by us. by us. by us. Yeah, that's how I feel right now. So there's there's So I got a cool picture, Doug, of me in a kayak on on on a good So, I think uh we had one part I forget what it's like called the devil's mouth or something like that.

And you all you see is is white water going down and They're always They're always crazy names like that. That's crazy. Hey, dude, I got Speaking of kids, dude, did you guys watch the video I sent you of of Aurelius? Oh, getting emotional over the soccer game. game. game. I don't like You're so lucky, bro. Listen. Listen. And that's why sent it cuz I knew you guys would get a kick out of it. It's the irony though. Actually, there's six There's a level six. six. six.

Is six illegal though to to go on? Cuz I think one of them is like You have to be a pro. Yeah, I think you I think there's certain ones that you can't You're not even like it's illegal to go on. That's crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy. Yeah, that's crazy. So so So, we don't watch watch watch unrunnable unrunnable unrunnable unrunnable. Yeah, okay. That's a C6 is unrunnable. [snorts] unrunnable. [snorts] unrunnable. [snorts] So, we don't watch sports at home. You guys know that. I don't watch sports.

I never watch sports. I don't even have a subscription to watch sports. It's not a part of our life. It's not a big deal. We do other things. I never played really a lot of I played as a kid, but I didn't play in leagues and stuff like that. I did judo as a kid, wrestling, lifted weights, but no traditional So, it's just not a part of our family culture at all. Anytime something is on TV, football, soccer, it doesn't matter. I and I and part of me is like is it because he heard me, you know, make a comment on this?

The first time he did it, he loved it and I made a comment. You know, sometimes you say something your kid wants to impress you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But he loves it. So, I get the World Cup because USA is playing. The sucks that they lost, but they're playing. So, I'm like, "You know what? I'm going to pay for this month and I'm going to watch We'll watch the World Cup." So, I put it on. Immediately, Aurelius is like super into it. "Oh my god, thanks, papa.

Thank you. This is going to be so fun." Super into it. And I'm looking at Jessica and like, "Is he Is he faking it? Like what's going on? Which team is ours?" I'm like, "USA. USA is ours." is ours." is ours." So, we start doing USA. You know, we start chanting. start chanting. start chanting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Then they start to lose. Bro, he's crying. He's He's He's No, no, he's upset. He's mad. I had to like I had to turn it off. He got so upset that they were losing.

Why are we losing? We need to win. He's like crying and I'm like, is he for real? And at one point I was a little mean to him. I'm like, dude, I'm going to give you a award for acting. There's no way you're this sad. And Jessica looks at me with this angry look and she You think he's been faking it this whole time? He's like tears. And he's upset. Bro, it's in some What is in this kid? It is in kids some kids DNA, bro.

I We had We had all the kids over for Max's birthday. birthday. birthday. You know You know I have that big ping pong table, right? And my buddy his 3-year-old son. 3-year-old son. 3-year-old son. And we were the the three dads we were out there sitting out outside the barbecue so with that and his wife comes in and she goes, "You You need to go take care of your son. I have been playing ping pong with him for the last hour and he will not give me a break.

He's three." He's three." He's three." And he just like loves it. loves it. loves it. just wants to figure out but doesn't know what he's doing. He's just trying to figure it out and so determined at 3 years old. I can't bribe my son to play ping pong with me. Like I just I tried to try to bribe him with Legos to play ping pong with me for, you know, 10 minutes and then he's like, "I'm over it, Dad. Like I don't want to do it anymore." So, some kids are just part is crazy to me.

Yeah, but that that same that same kid will watch that same that same kid, his son, who's three, will watch watch football with him all day long and just He's got this like ultra competitive thing inside of him when it comes to that stuff. And he gets really Do you know if you were like that when you were little? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You were. You were. You were. 100%. [snorts] 100%. [snorts] 100%. [snorts] You can you you can draw back to Watch all every sport, played every sport, like ate, slept, and and breathed it, dude.

Yeah, I was crazy. It was like it's such an outlet for me, though. Like that was like the the main thing that got me out of the house. And so, yeah, anytime we'd hang out it was like we're playing basketball, we're throwing the football, we're bringing the soccer ball to the beach, like whatever. Like I don't That was the thing. Like people go and like the beaches and they just chill and like they lay out and all that. Never. Yeah. Never had like chill at My furthest My furthest memory is How old are you in third grade?

What are you in third grade? Seven. Seven. Seven. Third Third Third No, I was like five in kindergarten. Eight or nine. So, my my furthest back is eight or nine uh watching baseball and I instantly became uh like and it was our I'll never forget because it was our My family didn't watch sports, either. either. either. And it was our my my friend who was like few houses down, his dad was like a die hard Dodgers fan and would watch all the baseball games. We'd go over there and I was drawn to watching it and then became this big baseball nut and instantly started collecting cards, memorizing all the players.

the players. the players. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember my parents used to bring me out in the living room because they I mean they were not into sports at all. They thought it was so fascinating that their their friends could come over and they you could quiz me on who plays right field, right field, right field, Yeah, you Yeah, you Yeah, you and I knew I knew all that. What's his batting I knew all this all these stats cuz I had I had my hand full of cards and studied them and knew all knew all the the the really getting it, yeah.

Just into it. Yeah, some of them it was really going there like that really solidified it for me. So, like especially with baseball cuz cuz cuz So, So, So, uh growing up like behind my parents' house house house um the LeFevers, I don't know if you know Jim LeFever was like the third base coach for the A's at the time then he was like the general manager for Seattle and then also like the Cubs in Chicago. Um but we used to babysit his kids and so you know, we we we'd go to the games and we'd sit with the players' lives Oh, right.

Oh, right. Oh, right. and then like for the '89 uh series where the A's played the the Giants, like we actually got to go into the dugout and I got like Mark McGwire, like Jose Canseco, everybody to sign this ball and it was just like my eyes were like this big. Well, so what I'm thinking is uh I'm thinking about taking him uh it's like a bonding experience to go to like maybe a Sharks game or like a minor league 100% do it. and just go.

The only thing that I'm worried about is I'm I'm telling you guys like he got really upset. So I'm like like like You work through it, dude. That's the thing about it it's such a passionate experience. Like sports is like it's the microcosm. It's like everything intensified all at once and then you and then you work your way out of it. You're like bro like bro like bro What's wrong with them? Why can't they win? win? win? It's It's It's in you or it's not in you.

I mean it's like it's it's in and it's He cares, dude. You know. I'm hoping that he gets into the stuff that I enjoy like wrestling, jiu-jitsu, that kind of stuff. I would I would be such a dream. I mean the way everything plays out I feel like it's just not how it works. He's going to love baseball. You mean the conventional sports? He can throw the ball with me. I don't know how to throw a ball. Under your arm. It's cool. It's cool. It's cool.

Call your uncle Adam. No, I'm super I'm super jealous cuz I mean you can just tell your son's that way. He throws a ball, he hits a ball that way, he shoots a gun already like that. I mean he's just he does all these things are and he's natural at it. I mean I mean I'm obviously you're a good dad, you do these things with him. But it's not like you've been training him to be to be to be Never. Never. Never. Like he just is into it.

Yeah and and and to Justin's point like you just automatically are passionate about it. It's weird. It's weird. It's weird. Bro, you that intensity that he had like that was our intensity even when I was in high school and college like those important games like you're just like it's everything. That's your whole world. world. world. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was it was really funny to watch and I was like what the And then Jessica's the one that recorded it. recorded it. recorded it. I mean I hope it turns you into someone who ends up really appreciating that.

I'll be into whatever he's into. Because I know how exactly I know how you get. You you don't do anything half-assed and you do get very obsessive and and so it's going to be cool to see when it like right now it's so early it's like it's more play but you know if your son really gets into it and like it pulls you in to hear you get into any sport like like I'll that'll be fun for us. Yeah. That'd fun for us. It'd be It'd be a nice evolution of Mind Pump, you know what I'm saying?

You get the finally talk talk sports, you know what I'm saying? It's so I So, when I think about cuz everybody always I always talk to my my other good friends, it's wild to me. I have best friends that go back 30, almost 40 years now that we go back. And it's always great to catch up and see them. But, I have now spent more time with you guys than anybody. than anybody. than anybody. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Even my friends that I say are 30-year plus friends, I you I would say you guys actually know me better.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, because you know all the stories of when I grew up, and then you know me now on a level on a daily level. So, it's like so wild. But, I have that part of with them that I don't share with us is that we're we're so big part of my life was sports, and so a lot of the conversation is is around that. And so, that's what we miss, the three of us. We don't talk a lot about that stuff here.

So, see you go down that direction would be like It'd be way cool. Oh, yeah. We got a lot to contribute. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, if and when. I got one more study to bring up, and just a short one, but it's pretty cool. And it I've talked about this on previous episodes, but I think probiotics are going to be the next performance-enhancing performance-enhancing performance-enhancing supplement trend, because more and more studies show studies show studies show that they help with performance. So, they did a study where they had groups of men of men of men taking protein powder versus groups of men that took protein powder with probiotics.

That's the only difference. difference. difference. So, is it the recovery like that they're finding is the biggest benefit to that? Like, what's the study they were stronger. They're stronger as a result. They got better strength results. Wow. Wow. Wow. The only difference was the probiotic. And there's studies that show it helps with fat loss, it helps with inflammation, it helps with strength. There's a study that shows that it contributes to maybe muscle growth. And it's good for you. It's like one of those That's a healthy supplement.

Like, probiotics, go for it. It's pretty wild. Did you uh I sent you a study um I I can't remember I think you've brought it up on the podcast. Yes. Have you brought that up on the podcast? I I I don't know I mean 5 g of creatine in uh postmenopausal women dramatically reduced anxiety. 95% 95% 95% saw reduction in anxiety. Yeah. 95% pretty much everybody saw a reduction in anxiety by you're not taking creatine I know. I know. I know. You need to take creatine.

Creatine monohydrate, you need to take creatine. It's so good for you. It's got so many benefits. benefits. benefits. I thought that was that was powerful. I I know I've I've know I've heard you for sure allude to that. I couldn't remember if you had actually addressed that study or not, but I thought wow that was that's a dramatic number. Yes. For a supplement that's like healthy? healthy? healthy? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's not a drug. It's like it doesn't matter your goal whether you want to build muscle or not or if that you should take that.

I mean Everybody. Everybody. Everybody. Yeah, cuz if 95% of women say that they have felt a reduction in anxiety just from 5 g a day Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. that's worth it. It's awesome. Yeah, it's awesome. Caldera Lab's Hydro Layer is amazing. What does it do? It visibly reduces lines and wrinkles. It firms and tightens your skin and it minimizes the appearance of pores. It also evens skin tone. It's all-day hydration. It's non-greasy. It absorbs instantly. Now, a lot of people like to use retinol, but that's aggressive and can cause peeling and skin irritation.

The Hydro Layer is different. It's anti-aging. It reinforces the skin's natural moisture barrier and it supports the microbiome on your skin. It works exceptionally well. In fact, they've done studies on people using Caldera Lab products and a majority vast majority 90% or more notice visible improvements in a very short period of time. Caldera Lab is the only skin care product we work with cuz they're natural and they really do work. They make your skin healthier. They don't just create healthier looking skin, it actually makes it a lot healthier.

Go check them out. Go to calderalab.com/mindpump. calderalab.com/mindpump. calderalab.com/mindpump. Use the code mindpump20 and get 20% off. Back to the show. Our first question is from MuazB95. Which training split is effective for natural lifters, training one muscle group once per week or twice per week? Ooh, twice. Ooh, twice. Ooh, twice. Yeah, twice. So, they they do they do great studies on this and training Now, I I want to say this. The volume The volume The volume is the same in in both examples. So, what I mean by that is what sometimes people do is they say, "Oh, cool.

I'm going to work out my let's say my chest twice a week." And so, they just double the workload. So, I already do my workout on Monday. I'm just going to do it again on Thursday. That's not how this works. The way that it works is you do the same volume, you just split it up. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Okay? And what they find in the data is people build more muscle and build more strength doing this. And part of the reason is it reduces fatigue. Fatigue influences subsequent sets within a workout, which means you're going to get less of that strength adaptation.

And the second reason is that muscle building signal is being sent more frequently. And muscle building really peaks after about 24 hours, stays elevated for two or three days, then goes back down. So, instead of doing 10 sets for chest on Monday, you're better off doing five on Monday and five on Thursday. You'll get better results out. Well, not only that, but you also even even though it's so the studies control volume. But in a real world, even when you make the equal amount of sets and reps reps reps Yeah, volume's higher.

volume naturally goes up. So, that just shows you how much better two times a week becomes because it already has this built-in progressive overload into it. In other words, to Sal's point, if you're somebody who always just did like like one day a week, you did the 10 or 12 sets of whatever muscle group, and you now split that over two. Still only doing 10. Don't go anymore because what will naturally happen is those five and five look different now. You're stronger. Just like the maybe the first five on Monday looks the same because you were fresh on Monday and you did five and then but the second five, which would have followed those first five, you're obviously weaker.

But when you put a day or two in rest in between and then you go up and do it again, you're going to be fresh again, so it's going to look like those first five and so what does that naturally allow you to do? Increase the weight. Increasing the weight increases the volume. So even in the studies that show volume controlled, it's better. We know that or just organically you're going to increase volume, which is going to increase muscle mass. muscle mass. muscle mass. 100% and I'll add this.

This can get extreme extreme extreme and it works even in extreme cases. So this doesn't work for most people cuz most people don't have a schedule that would allow anything like this, but you look at studies where they divide up the volume even more. Where instead of training a muscle group once a week, they train it five days a week and divide up the volume. Or they divide up even more, twice a day and they divide up the volume. So it's just more frequent, it's better.

I was going to bring up our 15-minute protocol. It's like a split. The you know, for a natural lifter too, to be able to have that kind of recovery and like eliminate fatigue completely, you're just skill training in a sense of practicing and like dude, watch how strong you get with that. Next question is from Annika AJ. What can cause muscle loss accompanying need with fat gain while in a calorie deficit and following a structured strength training program? training program? training program? So this is easy easy or I should say reliably what will happen if you're in too much of a deficit.

So deficit. So deficit. So whenever you're taking in less calories than you're burning, your body's goal is to match the energy intake with the energy output. In other words, it wants balance because if you stayed in a deficit forever, you would die. In other words, if you burn 2,000 calories a day and you ate 1,000 calories a day and your body always burned 2,000 calories a day and you always ate 1,000. At some point you're going to die because where you going to get that extra energy?

And your body's going to start pulling it from itself and all that stuff. But that's not what happens. What happens is your body learns to burn less calories to match the new caloric intake. And one of the ways it does this is it pairs muscle down because muscle costs a lot of energy. And so when you go in a deficit, uh I don't care if you're strength training, great. Usually what happens people overtrain with their strength training on top of it is your body's adapting and it's losing muscle cuz it's you're taking in too little calories.

So this will happen. This happens to people who are advanced who know what they're doing. They're going to deficit and they'll lose weight on the scale and then realize their body fat percentage went up cuz they lost muscle. Uh the name of the game with a calorie deficit is keep muscle. That's the name of the game. Can I preserve muscle? Uh and if you don't, uh then you better lose more body fat than you lose muscle. But the best thing is to not lose any muscle.

Well, and if you actually gained fat, you're technically not in a caloric deficit anymore. deficit anymore. deficit anymore. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what is what has happened is what you're alluding to right now, which is you what what used to be a calorie deficit for you. So let's see take the example of you uh used to eat 2,000 plus calories and then all of a sudden you decide to go on this really strict diet and cut yourself down to 1,200 calories. And so you're quote-unquote in a deficit initially.

And that's such a dramatic deficit paired with your exercise, you just start pairing muscle down like crazy. And what eventually happens is you pair down that muscle, metabolism slows down, and now your calorie intake is now maintenance. It's no longer a deficit. And so all it takes is you eating say 1,400 calories or a little bit up and you gain fat. Right. Right. Right. And that's what's hap- cuz you can't gain fat in a in a deficit. You're not you can't. You're You're technically if you're in a true deficit, you're catabolic, you're not going to build uh muscle or fat.

And so that but if you actually see on like let's say a DEXA scan or a body fat test that you that you that you added fat pounds then you're no longer in a deficit and that's what's happened. That being said, Adam, you can be in a deficit and go up in body fat percentage. Yes. percentage. Yes. percentage. Yes. That's different. That's because that means you lost let's say you could see 10 pounds go down on the scale and nine of it was muscle and one of it was was fat and your body fat percentage will go up.

Which somebody will interpret that is how is this possible? I'm in a calorie deficit and I gained fat. You didn't gain fat. You just lost so much muscle in relation to the fat that you went up in body fat percentage. Next question is from Matthew with faith. What are some exercises I can do at home to improve ankle mobility? You know, what my two favorites are the combat stretch and sitting in a deep squat and bringing my knees forward while I do it. Those are elevated squats, too.

I have not found anything to be more effective for me at least with ankle mobility. The combat stretch, dude. I'm such a It's so easy to do at home. Sitting on your floor, watching TV. your Sitting on your floor, watching TV. Yeah. And then and then once you get to a place because then after that it just becomes practicing sitting down in there. Like there. Like there. Like it took a long time for me to get here. But once I got to the place where I could comfortably rest in a deep squat, I just I mean when when my son is playing Legos on the floor, I often sit in a squat.

And I'll sit for 10, 15 minutes in that position and I'll play with him. And just doing that will keep that ankle mobility up. So, although I had to do a lot of combat stretching to get there and working on it, once I got to the place where I could get down in that and comfortably hold that, then it was just a matter of doing that to maintain that. And I now I never do combat stretch. I can't tell you the last time I did a combat stretch.

stretch. stretch. Now I just get down in a deep squat and and and do that and that maintains it. Next question is from Steven Harwood 91. In a recent episode, you guys mentioned doing tibialis raises for shin splints and making your lower leg look bigger, etc. It's an exercise I've never done or even thought about really, but I'm loving them. Just wondering what other body parts or exercises are commonly overlooked or certain muscles that rarely get trained that should be getting trained. Good question. I love this question.

Off the top of my head, internal and external rotation of the shoulder and internal external rotation of the hips. Yep. Yep. Yep. So, what does that mean? So, 100% dude. What's going on? So, if my arm is at my side, so if you're listening, my arm's at my side, elbow bent, and I rotate so that my my my the back of my hand goes back, right? So, I'm twisting my arm out or I twist it in, right? So, internal external rotation. The muscles that twist my upper arm, those muscles rarely get directly worked with strength training.

They they'll be in stabilized positions, but they rarely ever get really strengthened. strengthened. strengthened. Um and this causes shoulder problems when you get really strong and then the discrepancy between those muscles and the ones you're working uh or the movements you're working start to get too too big. Same thing with internal external rotation of the hips. Right. Right. Right. Um those two, I would say, and then and then maybe wrist extension. You really don't see lots of people strengthening that, so you'll see some wrist issues.

think you know, I'll just reinforce that just because like those are the two areas you're probably going to load the most, right? And the hips and the shoulders is carrying a lot of uh most carrying a lot of your workouts like in in a sense. And so, to to constantly have that top of mind of be able to, you know, include and incorporate eat whether it's in your warm-up, whether it's just like within your workout specifically in adding load to it, which I do suggest. I think we talk a lot about mobility a lot, but actually like, you know, like progressively overloading and and adding some load to that to strengthen it is going to take you even further than just the maintenance of it.

I love that you guys went so the opposite of what I was going with right now because you guys both went like health functional, what what people neglect and miss optimal joint health and mobility was totally not how I interpreted this. This person who asked about their lower leg looking bigger and we did tibialis. So, I went aesthetic right away. So, I'm thinking of things like rear delts are like totally neglected. And you want to sculpt great shoulders and and or you want great arms, just delts and period.

Like I think so many guys that want great arms focus so much on bi and tri workouts all day long. They neglect working their shoulders more and building your shoulders up more and rear delts being one of those main things you focus on. A lot of people don't do rear delt flies. Just laterals and presses. They avoid the rear delts. And then I'd say things like traps. Traps are neglected many times to make a back and just the way your shirt sits on you. Like I mean, a lot of functional reasons for that, too.

Such a great great exercises to make sure that get that that get neglected. Obliques are another one. People just they don't want a a bigger waist and so they don't train obliques, but get defined obliques or abs. You talk a lot about that and being able to see your abs at higher body fat percentage. You go on a on a a strength training journey of like trying to build strength in your abs cuz they always tend to be like a, you know, at the end of a workout if you ever do them.

Yeah, like an afterthought. Try going after like really building your abs and all of a sudden you can carry your body fat percentage two or three percent higher and see abs. Like so, that's where my brain went right away cuz this was more like an aesthetic question. The angle I was kind of going was more like just strengthening your feet Yes. And really focusing on that is just anchoring your entire uh kinetic chain. Like anything you're going to do like is going to start there in your feet even if you're anchoring yourself to a bench.

Uh so, to to be able to have dexterity and strength in your toes and uh be able to have good arch support and really be able to get up on your forefoot and not be so flat-footed. Like all these things will matter in force production. But, I'll say this. I'll just add this. Like I I it's happened so many times with me with either friends or clients who are experienced where all we do is do some targeted external rotation exercises for the shoulder, and suddenly they can overhead press and bench press more.

Yeah, it's like it's magic. Suddenly. Suddenly. Suddenly. Oh, I that that's how I have to start lbs heavier. lbs heavier. lbs heavier. I have to start every chest shoulder workout with that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That that that is and I have hurt myself so many times not doing that cuz I'm strong enough to load all those exercises now. I I have to prime with that, and priming with that, huge difference. Huge difference. It's a staple in every every chest and shoulder workout. workout. workout. Totally. Totally.

Totally. All right, I know you like that episode. If you did, check this one out. One of the keys to fat loss is protein. It's true. If you're not eating a high protein diet, you're not going to burn as much body fat as you can. So, in today's episode, we're going to talk about the smartest ways to use protein for fat burn and to build muscle. You got to watch this. I wish I understood this earlier in my career. I think it was probably almost 10 years in when I started to just focus on this with clients.

it was important, but I didn't know how important. important. important. Yeah, I also did I knew it was important, and I but I also did