Stop Adding Weight to the Bar — 5 Times It's Actually Hurting You | Mind Pump 2866

Key Takeaway

Don't add weight to the bar if your form isn't perfect—especially when lifting heavy. When you're holding weight, leverage creates exponentially more tension at your joints than what's on the bar. Adding 50 lbs to the bar might add 100+ lbs of stress to your spine. With imperfect form, that exponential stress leads straight to injury. Perfect your technique before chasing PRs.

Episode Overview

The hosts discuss critical scenarios when you should NOT add weight to the bar during strength training: when you're a mature lifter, when your form isn't perfect, when you feel any joint discomfort, after poor sleep, or when you're in a calorie deficit. They emphasize that strength gains correlate with muscle growth primarily in the first 2-4 years of training, but beyond that point—or once you're already very strong—adding weight often increases injury risk without meaningful muscle gains.

Full Transcript

Transcript of Stop Adding Weight to the Bar — 5 Times It's Actually Hurting You | Mind Pump 2866 from Mind Pump Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

Getting stronger through strength training is awesome. We love it and it produces great results and it adds to longevity, helps with fat loss. But believe it or not, there are times, there are definite times you should not try to get stronger. In fact, if you do, you're going to cause problems. So, don't add weight to the bar if this is you. We're going to get to it right now. Oh, let's hear it. Yeah. So, uh I'm going to just preface uh with why this conversation is coming up because um you know I experienced this uh myself um in the first few and and this is going to be confusing for some people because we advocate for getting stronger so often and it's it is very important especially the first few years of training but there are times when adding weight to the bar becomes a problem.

it actually will reduce your ability to get great results andor dramatically increase your risk of injury. And I see this with myself. Um for me at this point in my, you know, lifting career or journey or whatever, getting stronger doesn't produce great results. Um it just means I'm lifting heavier. heavier. heavier. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um and the risk is too high for the reward or the reward is actually quite little and the risk is quite high. So it doesn't make any sense at all for me to Yeah, I would think this would apply more towards mature lifters.

Yeah, because of that fact. It's like it's not a a linear progression, you know, at a certain point like um you know, you have to assess different different types of strength and different ways to reinforce your body uh besides just loading the weight. weight. weight. What so what is a mature lifter look like? Like is it years? Is it a certain level of development in the physique? Like how would you because I agree. Yeah. um uh and and much of my lifting looks like that today.

It's just like there's no it doesn't make sense for me to push to the limits of or chase a PR or like it doesn't make sense at all. Now, I'll tell you what that justification for me is I built the physique that I wanted and enough muscle and so it's really easy for me not to. It's just like I don't I don't need to. Sure, I'd like 10 more pounds of muscle, but it's not that big of a deal to me. like it was when I was say 22 say 22 say 22 and I was like on this mission to build so much more muscle.

So it's really easy for me to be like I I don't need to push those limits like it was less it was so more of that than it was like a years that I've been lifting or No, totally. So that's actually the third point. So we'll fast forward to there and then we'll touch the other ones. Uh so for the first so strength is very closely correlated to muscle gain. Okay. And strength is the best correlate for longevity. When we're looking at uh physical performance, it's not muscle uh it's strength.

So when we look at like muscle mass, what we're really trying to look at is how strong you are. This is why a grip test is a better predictor of mortality than just muscle. It's the strength that produces um longevity. It's the strength that builds muscle. Uh but this is mostly true for the first few years of training. So to put it differently, you don't get stronger. If that were the case, every guy in this room, we've been working out forever, we'd all be able to bench press 5',000 lb club, dude.

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. It just doesn't work that way. Um, so for the first few years of training, this is important. So, like the best results that you could possibly get through strength training for probably your first, I don't know, two to four years and and and this could change depending on your age and all that stuff, but the first few years, I would say, generally speaking, of training will come from getting stronger. So, you should try to get stronger for the first few years at least.

After that, uh it doesn't make uh much sense. This is true if you're already super strong, which we'll get to in a second, and also true if you're just very experienced. Now, this doesn't mean you can't build more muscle because the strength to muscle coralate actually starts to weaken the stronger you get. In other words, uh to go, you know, let's say I'm I'm a I'm a regular dude. I'm in the gym. Uh, I'm trying to build my chest and I can do 10 reps with 135 pounds.

To go from 135 to 225 pounds on the bench, I'm going to see a lot of muscle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. On my body. Yeah. To go from 225 to 315, I'll see some muscle. To go from 315 to 405, I'm not going to see that much more muscle. I'm just going to get stronger, but I'm not going to see this huge gain uh in muscle mass. This is true for every single lift. So, if you're already really strong, um, then getting stronger is just getting stronger.

It's interesting because I I see this like so clearly with powerlifting and and the pursuit of just like, you know, being able to to achieve these um, you know, these PR lifts like continuously and like you do get strong and you do get like that specificity of really focusing on that like you'll build up to the point where you get really strong those lifts. However, now it's taken away uh functionality. Now it's taken away joint health. Now it's taking away like there's a tradeoff to that like uh past a certain tipping point.

And so it's like yeah, even if you can get stronger, you know, now you have other things to contend with. And it's like is it is the juice worth the squeeze in that regard? There's got to be a a good graph or formula for this, you know. you just you did a good job in my opinion of of describing that cuz I would agree with uh but is that more uh close to our us maybe that's why it resonated with me when you said it. I'm like, "Yeah, that that feels, you're right." Like the difference of I mean, just getting to a 135 bench, wa what a big difference that was just to put the two wheels on.

I remember like the development of like my chest. And then I remember getting up to 225. Huge leap. 135, 225, huge leap. Difference at 220, 225, 315 definitely starting to get there. Anything beyond that, it's like you don't see any. And and now it's like that's when I started hitting over 300 lb was this is when aches and pains and started noticing lifting more. lifting more. lifting more. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So, and I thought that's my journey, right? Maybe. So, I thought heavily about this because this is so different from person to person, person, person, right?

It is very low. Because some people are just based on their leverage, uh, just how their CNS is, is, is, their morphology. their morphology. their morphology. Now, I know what my numbers are, so I can give you my numbers. In fact, I was having a conversation with my cousins this morning because I just there are certain numbers that when I get close to them, uh, I just end up feeling my joints. Uh, like for bench press, when I get around 300 lb, it makes no difference.

Now, I'm just wasting time. I'm just starting to hurt. When I get my deadlift close to 550, 570, it's like, what am I doing here? I'm just starting to increase my risk of injury. My squat, when I get it closer to 400, it just and those seem to be my numbers. They just seem to be my numbers. If I go beyond those, I can lift more weight. I get no more gains. I just hurt more. Yeah. And so, it is different from person to person. But I think you'll know this for yourself.

Like, you've been working out for a while. You're like, "Yeah, this is this is really strong for me." Pushing beyond that, you're just lifting more weight at that point. As far as experience is concerned, unless you're a kid, you know, I said around three years. Well, if you're 16, you know, you probably want to get stronger till you're in your mid20s, right? But if you're an adult, you're not going to actualize your true potential for a while. If you're if you're an adult, like the first few years you're training, get strong.

That'll give you the best results. After that, you could still get great results, better results by not focusing so much on getting stronger, by focusing on things like technique, range of motion, different angles, uh different styles of training is where you're going to get your gains. It's not as recruitment. as recruitment. as recruitment. It's not the straightforward like let's just get started. Now you you said two to four. The number that came in my two to four years. The number came to mind was 3 to five for me right away.

And I guess uh the way I thought about it is and like okay so why why someone at two years versus someone at 5 years. I think it has to do with how consistent you truly are. Totally right. Like right. Like right. Like like two years dedicated. Yeah. Exactly. But that to me and the reason why three to five years came to my mind is because like very few people are I don't miss a workout for two years, you know, and diet and they're dialed. Right.

So, it's like, you know, if you're super crazy dialed, you could start to get to those peak PR numbers or reach potential. You know what I'm saying? Diet and training for two, three years in a row. But most people, you'll probably be able to focus on this for a good four or five years being relatively consistent. Yeah. Because most people aren't that crazy dialed in for that that many years. So, that was why I thought like three to five. five. five. 100%. Now, now here's another time you don't add weight to the bar.

It's when your form isn't perfect. Okay. Not good, but perfect. So, what people need to understand is that uh when you're holding a a weight, the joint that's moving, there's a it's a lever. Okay? In other words, if I'm doing a curl, the elbow joint is moving, the dumbbell is in my hand. So, there's a lever there. Meaning that the weight that is being the tension at the elbow is actually higher than the weight that's in my hand. So, a good example of this would be like picking up a broomstick.

If you pick it up in the middle, it's kind of easy. you pick it up at the very end, you try to lift it so that the end comes off the floor. Suddenly, it's it feels a lot more difficult. There's a lot of there's leverage uh that's happening there and it's a disadvantage. So, let's talk about a barbell squat. If I have 200 lb on my neck or my bar on my back, I should say, the the tension at my spine, especially my lumbar spine, is actually a lot more.

And if I add 50 lbs to the bar, I'm probably adding more like 100 lbs to my lumbar spine. And if my form is off by a little bit now that extra 100 pounds uh becomes exponential. So I don't know if you guys have ever seen those diagrams chiropractors will have them where like forward head and they talk about how much weight is on the neck every time the the face moves forward by the average what the head weighs like average eight pounds or something like that and it's like you're putting 30 lbs of stress.

Yes. So it's like that. So it's like uh you know you need to have good form when you work out. When you get to heavy weight you need to have perfect form. your risk of injury goes through the roof uh as your strength goes up. And so if your form isn't perfect, you have no business adding any weight uh to the bar. Just don't wait until your form is absolutely perfect. That's when it's safe. And if you sacrifice form for weight on the bar, you're playing a game of Russian roulette.

This is this is why if you ever meet an experienced lifter, you ever meet that guy in the gym that walks up to you and he's in his mid-40s or 50s and he tells he says stories like this like I used to squat 400 lb. I used but now I can't anymore. I can't do that anymore. You know why? It's because he did what I'm talking about where and I did this as a kid too. did this I did this as a kid too. This is why wrist wraps are a problem.

Yeah. And so I I find now it's like I have certain little nagging areas and I know why I have those. just because I compromised my form even by a little bit uh as a kid to try to add, you know, weight on the I mean, I love that tip because it feeds into my hypertrophy tip that I'm always giving people, which is slowing down your tempo. Yeah. Because very because most people that are chasing PRs are rarely doing a a 4 second negative, you know, cuz they're so concerned about putting more weight on.

Yeah. Throwing the weight up and so they're using momentum or and so it's like like like teaching someone have perfect form, slow it down. And and then that has such great hypertrophy benefits, you know. So if you're always train, you're adding attention by the way by doing that. doing that. doing that. Yes. Right. And so I I like that for not only safety and what you're talking about, but then it feeds fuels right into the benefits of hypertrophy training, which I think a lot of people neglect when you are chasing strength so much.

When you're so focused on strength, we tend to speed up the repetition. So we could just put up more weight. And there's tremendous benefits, not just for safety reasons, but for hypertrophy reasons for slowing the tempo down tempo down tempo down 100%. The next one is if you feel anything that isn't good. Uh so you're squatting, you're deadlifting, you're like, "Uh, I feel a little bit in my back or my knee hurts just that." And it's nothing bad. Feel like you hurt yourself, yourself, yourself, but you kind of feel it.

Here's what you should do instead. Try using the weight that you're normally using and and try to do it in a way to make it harder. Make it hard and your knee stops hurting or your back stops bothering you. What you don't want to do is go past it by adding weight on the bar because again you're asking for issues. So this happened to me this morning. So the reason why this conversation come up is once I get around 300 lbs on my bench press, I start to notice certain issues.

And one of them it's just like this repeating issue. I start to feel like my pec insertion, my left pec insertion. And it's not injured. I just kind of feel it a little bit. Now I could ignore it. Yeah. And I could go up in weight and but you know what? I'm playing with a torn pec if if I start pushing it. And so I'm backing down. So the next three, four weeks, I'm gonna go light and make the weight feel heavier. Now, in the past, I've done this to myself where I feel a little bit of something.

I'm like, well, it's not bad. It just feels let me just stretch it. Let me just do a little mobility and then go back to adding weight to the bar and then boom, end up hurting myself. Like if you don't feel great, you have no no business adding weight. This is such the conundrum for like strength athletes or just athletes in general because any of those little like um indications and signals your body's uh sending itself. It's like, you know, you're kind of like programmed and and and this this happens when you're like performing, right?

It's like, well, we need to ignore that because we need to keep performing. Uh but it in reality when you're training, you have to listen and you have to stop and you have to slow down. And so to your earlier point of like slowing your reps and like you're not going to pay attention to that if you're just focused on getting through the movement and getting up with the weight. And so to to kind of slow it down, really pay attention to like how your body is like signaling.

Uh you can make those little micro adjustments and save yourself a lot of pain. Let me ask you guys this. I already know the answer, but let me ask you guys this. Think of the last, you know, four times you've you've kind of injured yourself working out. I bet you every single time after you hurt yourself, you said this to yourself. I should have known more. It it it was there. Yeah. I should have known better. Telling me. It was yelling at me. That's my fault.

Why That's my fault. Why did I do that? Oh, every every single time. Every every single time. We also have a sale. Buy any MAPS 15 style workout program. You can get any other MAPS 15 style program for free. So, it's buy one get one free happening right now. Go to maps15bogo.com. Back to the show. All right. Next up, uh is you have if you've had bad sleep the night before. This is a This is actually quite cra like Yeah, like Yeah, like Yeah, this is wild.

The data on It's the number one predictor of injury, isn't it? isn't it? isn't it? That's it. It's It's more It's worse than warming up. It's worse than poor form. It's bad. It's like the risk of injury goes through the roof if you had a bad night of sleep the night before. You know why this one is so confusing? It's good to know. Here's what can happen. This happens to me. If I have one bad night of sleep because I'm stressed sometimes the next day my stress hormones make me feel like I can push myself.

No. This I'm glad you said that because I actually think it's really common that people that get a bad night's sleep and they'll say things like, you know, I just got to get going. I break that first sweat and then I had this great workout and it was a terrible night's sleep. And so they try and make this case for case for case for they've got all this cortisol, these stress hormones. Yeah. Pumping through their body. their body. their body. Yes. But you're at You have no idea what high risk you are at in that situation.

It's just this the squeeze isn't worth it. it. it. No. And it's well studied. So, I don't think I've ever shared this before, but the very first time I pulled 600 lb was the poor night of sleep. No. Well, it was the day after we initi I initiated my divorce uh with my ex-wife. my ex-wife. my ex-wife. It was the day after and I was in such a high state of stress that I was in this kind of like stress hormones, you know, like I got to go, I got to, you know, figure this out type of deal.

And I went and I pulled 600 lb. And looking back, I'm like, yeah, that was all stress yeah, that was all stress hormones. hormones. hormones. And lucky you didn't get hurt. very lucky I didn't get hurt. Yeah, that was that was a blessing. Uh last lastly, it's uh you're in a cut. So, So, So, this one is my favorite to talk about because it was so crazy to watch this at the professional level. Um again, I think it was one of the things that gave me an advantage of being in a you know, kind of fish out of water in a space that I wasn't familiar with, didn't have coach or that.

But I saw this and I was like the the amount of pros that were ramping up intensity and and volume when their nutrients were low when they're in a cut for a show. They're in a 8week cut doing cardio doing this thing and then they're also ramping up intensity inside the gym and I'm going like what are you doing right now? Like talk about a not only a recipe for possibly pairing down and losing muscle but also injury. Like and I saw it all the time.

Saw guys get hurt getting ready for a show like and and a lot of it had to do with this that just start with the like just being anxious that they didn't you know do enough like leading into competition trying to like last minute thinking they're either going to make gains coming into the last bit which I thought was always ridiculous. It's like at this point you're not building any muscle. You're just revealing what what you what you've done or increasing that intensity and so that thinking that they're going to burn more calories which will help them get lean and shredded.

And so I think the the two of those is what fed that way of training and going like, "Dude, this is cruise control time." Like you did the work to build muscle. Like now it's all about reducing body fat and keeping the muscle. And you talk about the studies all the time about how little we have to do to keep the muscle. So train I'm training every day. So I definitely don't need to be training super hard. Like if you train once a week or once every other week, it'll hold hold a lot of muscle.

So you don't need to do that. So the this idea of pushing really hard while you're also in a cut is just counterproductive. counterproductive. counterproductive. Yeah. So the question that people have is well what if I feel strong? Like I'm in a cut and I feel strong. Uh well you are if you're gen if you're genuinely in a calorie deficit you're in a stress uh place anyway, right? Your body has is intaking less nutrients than it's burning. And so here's what you do if you feel strong.

you still go into your workout uh with moderate intensity. So, so long if you can add weight to the bar and not hammer yourself, then that's totally fine. But oftentimes what people do is they hammer themselves. And you're better off this way. You're better off this way because the biggest challenge with being in a cut with your workouts is that the workouts your body can't recover from very well. That's the biggest challenge. So, volume needs to go down. Intensity needs to go down when you're in a cut, not up.

This is what people have the flip. They think if they're in a cut, they need to ramp things up. It's actually the opposite. Um, and that causes so many problems for people. Like you said, it's not just competitors, Adam. It's like, I'm, oh, I'm on this diet. I'm going to burn this off. I'm going to ram. It's like you're you're burning the candle at both ends. It literally is what you're doing to your body. your body. your body. So, um, I'm smiling and laughing because something happened to me this this weekend that feeds right into what you're talking about right now.

So, uh, I had my my big Hampton group thing, right? We're in Miami Beach and one of the guys has his company is really cool. It does all these corporate events um called Boom Pop. Awesome company. It's I think it's the largest corporate event planning uh company in the world. And uh Blake is shout out to Blake. He's awesome. And he always plans our whole trip and they're they all everybody I go with are they're into working out and fitness stuff like that. And uh he plans all this stuff.

And one of the things that he had planned was this like group boxing class. And yeah. And so did you do this? So listen. So listen to the boxy trailer. And so uh you know I'm I'm I'm I'm on a trip, right? So one of the things I do when I'm on vacation like this is I'm not getting all my meals. So I already know that I'm like lower calorie, lower protein, um protein, um protein, um difference. difference. difference. Yeah. Yeah. And didn't get good sleep at all.

And so I went in and I got my lift in the morning and and followed that up with a good breakfast and a protein shake. So, I at least get some protein. My lifting was very moderate. Like, I wasn't just all the points we're talking about right now. I know I'm not sle slept well. I know that I'm undercalored and stuff like that. And so, and then the second day there's this boxing class and I'm just like, yeah, I'm not going to that, you know. Yeah.

I'm not And I don't want like want like want like And you're the fitness guy. Yeah. And I'm the fitness guy. And so, there is a part of me that's just like, you know, you should probably run it by me and ask me some questions cuz I'll tell you why none of you should probably go to this place, right? That's bad for all of you. Yeah. this is not good for cuz I know what everyone's goals are and I'm like this is not a good idea if you want to you know what I'm saying?

So, but I don't I just like I I want to bow out and then like he like made me feel guilty cuz he paid for it ahead of time and so like I I just I don't I don't show up and I I Venmo Venmo him money for not going like that. But I could tell he was a little frustrated and upset that I didn't go and I and I and I feel bad cuz I also don't want to be that guy lecturing everybody on the thing.

But the but the logic that that's going through my head is exactly that. It's like why would I? My goal is to be muscle sparing on a trip like that, right? And and or build. I'm not in like lean out, get smaller guy version right now. I'm in smaller me already. So, I'm already trying to preserve what I got. And I and I had already trained that morning. So, I already kind of know like what I should or shouldn't be doing for the rest of the day.

And then there's this highintensity boxing class and I'm like, "Yeah, no, there's I'm not going to tell all of you you shouldn't, even though I don't think you should either. I'm gonna whatever, but I'm definitely not going." And so it was pretty funny that, you know, I was that guy, you know what I'm saying? And I'm like, but I don't want to preach too, you know? you know? you know? Yeah, dude. I think I feel like so I'm caught in like this predicament. I feel like fitness uh professionals, I trainers, coach, whatever.

Like uh I think often we're in a situation like this where families like we're all going to do this like fitness and they all look to the fitness guy and you know your eyes roll like oh god this isn't the way to do this. No, I don't want to do that. And I know and I know I know you're all going to watch me cuz I'm the fitness guy and all. And I'm sure the way they think and I'm sure somebody who's who's listening thinks too like oh come on I'm like one class you're not and it's not like I know I'm not going to lose 5 lbs of muscle in one class.

It's not that either. It's like it doesn't even sound like fun to me. It doesn't sound like fun and it's not good for me. So I'm like yeah I'm probably not going to do that thing. You know what I'm saying? So, so that's where I feel like bad and I'm like h just I opted not to like lecture everybody on like all their goals and what they're doing. I had a good conver similar I I had a good conver similar I had a real good conversation.

I do this uh um I volunteer at our church and I was at this table and they served dinner and so we all had dinner and then I had uh like a couple bags of chips cuz I barely had any dinner cuz I had eaten before. They had potato chips there and so I had a couple bags and of and I'm not even thinking about it. I'm just like whatever. It's too small bag. Who cares, right? cares, right? cares, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not even thinking about it.

And of course, one of the guys looks at me and he goes, "I feel so much better now that I see a fitness guy like you eating two bags of chips." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm like, you know, I said, so we had a nice conversation about nutrition. I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I almost never eat this. I said, but also, uh, I have the ability to eat stuff like this. It's not that big of a deal because of these. And so, we had this wonderful conversation.

People think that fitness, uh, like being fitnessminded means that you're like this crazy, rigid robot. Yeah. Like perfect. I'm like, "That sucks." Does anybody really want to live that way? That's not how That's not what I preach. We're so aligned right now in stories. I So, listen. So, they see you. Listen. So, so now I'm in the Now I'm in the airport. I'm This is me getting ready to fly back. So, I'm getting ready to fly back. I'm uh I'm I'm where you go to get on the plane, right?

Uh waiting. It's like 10 minutes till we're boarding. And uh I'm leaning against the wall. My my my head's kind of down. I'm like looking at my phone. So that and I'm holding a bag of Doritos because I had just got a chicken sandwich and it came with chips chips also. So I'm holding this bag of Doritos and I'm just I'm just sitting there protein and this and I'm right on a corner of a wall and so this this couple comes up and they're in the corner of my eye and my my head's down and they're like, "Is the plane boarding or not?" And I look up and the both the couple goes and they they point at me they're like mind pump mind pump mind pump and I'm like yeah.

So I Yeah. introduced myself and hey while we're talking I could see them like looking down at me holding this bag of Doritos you know say the whole time we're all talking they were super friendly talked to him for a long time actually the guy uh is it was so great the the wife turned him on to the show he was a pilot and so they were looking to see they could jump on the plane and they're I forgot where they were going hiking somewhere uh and they were just making a stop along the way great great couple and uh he's a pilot super in good shape and he helps other pilots stay in shape.

Takes a lot of the information and stuff that he's learned from the show and applies it to the clients and things that uh that he helps out, but he specializes in helping other pilots stay fit and get in shape. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. Yeah. Know, I invited him to come down and I said, "Hey, you guys should come for a live recording." He had emailed me already, so I'll set up a time, so hopefully you guys get a chance to meet him. But I thought it was so funny that like just so random like that.

And and I had I did end up eating them, but I was like even on the fence of like throwing them away. I'm like, I shouldn't throw these away. I'm going to snack on them. I can see I don't have a lot of stories like you guys but you know cuz my physique's a little different but shut but I do get all the time it's really annoying like when I go to buy energy drinks I get a lecture from like the gas station guys like you these really aren't good for you you know like you all these things you've read a terrible entrepreneur I'm buying it from your store your store your store well I was going to say that if the the person be pissed the person who owns that gas station would be pissed he'd be That's how they make their money.

They don't make no money on gas. Exactly. Yeah. It's just It's bizarre, dude. Like, I've gotten so much grief every time I drink an energy drink. And I'm just like, that's interesting, dude. That's hilar. This is not the same. This is not the same at all. But it does remind me of this one. I used to have this client [snorts] who was an oncologist, so cancer doctor, right? And great guy, super great guy, obviously a stressful job. It's like I can't I can't imagine a more stressful uh doctor job that you could do, right?

Um, and I'll never forget, uh, we were scheduled to train. My my first the client that I had before him didn't show up. So, I go for a walk and I walk by him and he's out like nearby smoking a cigarette. He's a cancer doctor. And I'm, oh my god. Yeah. Dude, I'm like, "Oh my god." I remember thinking to myself like, "How could you? could you? could you? Scratching your head." Yeah. So, he came in and we're we started working out and I knew the guy.

I was really I was friends with him. I've been training for years. I'm like, "Dude, I got to tell you, bro." So, I walked by you. I saw you smoking a cigarette, dude. said, "Aren't you like you know the stats, right?" I'm like, "Aren't you a cancer doctor?" And he [clears throat] goes, "Yeah, that's why I smoke." And I remember I remember my heart broke and I was like, "Oh yeah, dude. dude. dude. Of course you smoke, bro. You see people die outside. You're so stressed." Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, "It's actually outlet." And then I told him like, "I'm you know what? what? what? Oh my god, you're I said I'm surprised you don't do more than smoke cigarettes." He's like, "Yeah, too." I'm like, "Good job, dude. Let's work out, bro." No, I would not put that on the same category, though. Yeah. Definitely not. Definitely not the same as a as a a trainer who eats a eats a high calorie. We're not stressed out. That's not why we eat Doritos. You know what it's like podcasting?

I got to eat these Doritos. Make yourself feel better. feel better. feel better. Sneaks in there every now and then. No. Anyway, so um I was I got to uh talk about So I finally did I know you guys did too. I think you guys did, right? I did my first appointment with our partners at MP. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Just finished that. Yep. that. Yep. that. Yep. I mean their service is great. So fast by the way, very good. Listen, 2 days later's amazing.

later's amazing. later's amazing. 2 days later I got my stuff at my door. So I I had an hour call with a So I I had an hour call with a medical professional. Yeah. An hour. We went over every everything in my very thorough. Yeah. thorough. Yeah. thorough. Yeah. Anyway, so I want to tell you guys, so first off, they they definitely like the reviews. Their service is great. Super fast, which is crazy. Our our old partners, it would take me like two weeks, three weeks to get my stuff.

I know know know it was two days was at my door. But anyway, they set me up with a peptide called five amino. I know it sounds like this long, whatever. It's a capsule. Wow. So what it does is uh it inhibits an enzyme called NMNT. By doing so, it increases NAD in your cells. Uh it's a fat loss peptide, but that's not why the guy recommended to me. He said it's good for energy. [snorts] [snorts] [snorts] And I'm going to tell you guys, this is day three of me taking it, and it's phenomenal.

phenomenal. phenomenal. So explain to me h how is this better than just taking straight NAD? Because this prevents this raises NAD way more effectively than taking NAD will because it prevents the breakdown of NAD or the conversion of NAD to something that's not usable. not usable. not usable. So you already have NAD. It's like comparing arganine versus what? what? what? Citrine. Citrine. Citrine. Yeah. Great job, dude. That's right. Absolutely. That's right. Nitric oxide more than you doing the injectable CEX, too. I know it's I just I'm so happy.

Did you get that? Yeah, I got that and NAD. Yeah, I do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's like um Yeah, it's crazy. crazy. crazy. Yeah. Well, the fi the five amino mq. This is day three or four and uh like crazy stamina working out. Sat in the sauna. Normally it's a 200° 20 25 minutes and I'm like I got to get out of here. here. here. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, it was 25 minutes. 200 degrees. I had to get out cuz otherwise I was going to be late for work.

I was like I could sit in here for another 10 minutes. This is wild. So that stuff Yeah. I was thinking Doug would be should probably use I was trying to but it's order everything. It's in capsule form. If you look at the reviews, people like the fat loss. That's not why I'm taking it. I could care less. But the energy part is, you know, made me excited. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, Anyway, Anyway, how crazy did you get? Cuz I was, you know, it's funny. They were asking me like, "Are you sure you don't want any?" And I'm like, "Oh, I just want my basic." basic." basic." No, I just got a couple things.

Okay. Okay. Okay. I did that. I said, "Wait for your call with S." I said, "Don't said, "Don't said, "Don't I was thinking S brain." I was like, "I'm I'm in a kid in a candy store." I'm like, "Give me everything." I'm trying to get as much stuff as I can think. think. think. No, I I should try the CMAX though. I haven't done that in a long time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is it also Is it nasal? Injectable Injectable Injectable version. And uh and I finally got some good dexa again, so I'm happy.

Oh, yeah. You like that stuff? He loves that stuff. Now, you've had you've had you've had the the nasal and the injectable Zmax, right? Do you prefer one or the other? Um Well, so far I like the injectable. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Over as far as feeling the difference. Yeah, I definitely feel a little bit different. Awesome. All right, I got a cool study for you guys on um on exercise and exercise variety. I'm going to pull it up [clears throat] because uh I think it's pretty interesting.

So, they studied people who did uh different forms of exercise and single forms of exercise. And here's what they found. the people who did the most different types of exercise. Okay. So, people who did like cardio, strength training, you know, stretching, like the people had the most variety. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh had the best all cause mortality. Uh and it had nothing to do with doing more exercise. It had everything to do with more variety of exercise. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, which is kind of cool.

So, people who who kind of do this kind of like of like of like makes sense, makes sense, makes sense, you know, it does make sense. Yeah. Um so doing a variety of exercise uh is for mortality and longevity is better. better. better. Well this I mean this is what uh which I would have guessed. I would have guess guess guess I would guess that too. I mean this is the the thing that I think I've talked about with you guys like early years how I used to every workout I said didn't I never repeated itself.

Lots of benefits of like I could see of just overall health like joint health mobility like I felt good but I wasn't really strong. I wasn't really buff, but I was a little bit of all that. all that. all that. You responded well. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and so for somebody who somebody who somebody who could care less about getting much bigger, building a bunch of muscle or could care less about getting that much stronger and they just want to be relatively strong to their body weight and they want to feel good and beat longevity.

It's a pretty good way to train. So, you know why I was so I was thinking about this a lot because I I read this study uh last week and I've been thinking about this because there's a couple things we need to um we have to kind of tackle as coaches. Uh and and this one of them is more important than the other. Yes. Variety of exercise. Uh and this makes sense as a good idea, but the main thing you need to tackle is that is is what are people going to do consistently?

This is just just the number one factor. Yeah, that too. And so, uh, in my experience, and I think most coaches would agree, getting somebody to exercise, uh, to do a structured form of exercise twice a week is a win. Period. End of story. So, at the top of the list is what they like. Uh, and if they like a few different things, but they want to get the most bang for their buck and they're not going to do a lot of variety, strength training seems to be the best.

That being said, if you like to exercise and you don't mind the versions or types of exercise you do, I think the reason why this shows that it's so protective is because there's checks and balances with different forms of exercise. In other words, if I chase just building muscle, at some point I go beyond benefit and I start to sacrifice health benefits and go into just getting as big as possible. But if I'm running at the same time, it's going to prevent me from pushing that too much.

If I only run, lots of benefit from getting endurance. But at some point if I push too much endurance I'm sacrificing longevity. Strength training counters that a little bit flexibility all the all these things are kind of checks and balances because you could go too extreme in one pursuit and start sacrificing longevity and each one of these is kind of a that's all the different stimulus is going to help you know cognition the brain and that connectivity there. So I yeah and I just think your your body overall as a whole like it you know you express all these different types of movements I think it's healthy.

I think I think it's it's very important though that you you know what you want, right? So because this takes me back to the conversation I with the this group that I was with too because you know they they like they may like to train classes and do all this stuff like that for these reasons of longevity and helping but then when you're also sitting down you're going like man I want to build about 10 15 more pounds of muscle. muscle. muscle. Now we're talking specifics.

Yes. And so I I think that's the important thing because you'll have people will say like well I like the variety and I like the training. I go this stuff with that, but then I want to lose, you know, 10, you know, 10 lbs or I want to build five. It's like, okay, well, there's a better way to go at that than this like all these random exercises all the time. Like, okay, that might benefit you longevity and it may you might it might be entertaining for you and you may not get a lot of joint pain from it because you're not hyperfocused on something, but it is not the fastest best way to build muscle or to lose body fat.

There is a meth. And so, I think that's people hear hear one one part of that and they go, "Oh, well, that's what I want to do." It's like, "Yeah, but then they follow it right up with,"Yeah, but I want to, you know, I'd like to put, you know, 10 pounds or I want my chest to look this or my shoulders to look like that." It's like, "Okay, well, now we're talking about something different now." So, it's like being very clear with what what you want to get out of it is important.

No, 100%. Because now, why is that important? important? important? Because uh results uh make somebody uh more consistent. It's just a factor. It's not the factor, but it's one of the factors. And so if somebody does all these varieties of exercise, but they really want to see like a change in the way that their I don't know their arms look, they want to build a little muscle, it could become very disheartening and uh unmotivating suddenly. suddenly. suddenly. Well, this is how I used to Well, this is how I used to talk to my Orange Theory people is, you know, they come to me after like a class and and they tell me how much they love the class.

Like, listen, I'm never going to tell somebody who shows up to this thing 3, four days a week and loves it and loves everything about it, but then you're like, "Hey, I'm having such a hard time. I can't do this. I can't do that. I'm like, you're starting to feel disheartened. Yeah, exactly. It's like, well, if you know, if you're if you're okay with how you look, how you feel from from showing up to this class all the time, then keep going for it. Keep doing it.

But if you don't like the way you look or feel and you're doing this, there's a better way. And so, like getting them to understand that like and and every case is going to be different. be different. be different. Totally. Totally. Doug, how what's your Have you been using the TMG from Yeah, I've started to use it. Yeah. Okay. So, I'm reading more about it. What is that? So, betane is another name for um TMG. Uh TMG. You brought that up once before, but I don't remember.

don't remember. don't remember. Yes. So, I I have some studies here because I I because Doug was kind of talking about it. What's your How long have you been taking it now, Doug? Just for about a week now. Okay. Are you noticing anything with your workouts yet? Uh not specifically. No. What it says in the data is it does increase maximum strength and vertical jump. So, it's athletic performance. Uh wait, wait a second. it the studies show that that that's it helps just that uh basically strength power is what you're going to see in the studies from supplementing with it.

So you'll see it in some in some in some I'm going to take now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So sometimes they put it in uh pre-workouts you'll see it um now row has it liposomaal uh so the dose is get more of it's going to get absorbed um in your body because it's protected by these kind of like these little lipid molecules. molecules. molecules. What what mechanism is what what is it doing? methylation increases ATP production. Uh your body really like creatine. So paired with creatine creatine creatine paired with creatine is amazing.

That's the best that's the best. Oh, I wonder if a lot of creatine supplements carry it then in it. It's probably be popular. Some do. Some will include betane or TMG. Uh but but if you're already taking creatine, take it. If you don't, take it also. It's got all these athletic uh performance benefits. Interesting. That's why I was wondering. Yes. You know, Thomas Dauer has been talking a lot about it on uh Instagram, so I've been seeing his stuff come up, and one of the things that was interesting to me is the body recmp aspect of it.

Um losing body fat. It helps with uh I'm just looking at their website now, normal liver fat metabolism. So, that's interesting. interesting. interesting. We should link up with He's local. He's local. local. local. Yeah, we we haven't seen it's been like two years. two years. two years. Really smart guy. You know what? I got to say this. So, the most common side effect of creatine is gastro distress. Um, and so some people will have to take smaller doses throughout the day. It's very common, by the way.

You take a big enough dose of creatine, everyone's going to get that. So, um, like if you're taking creatine for brain health, you got to probably take closer to 10, 15, maybe 20 grams a day. You take that all at once, you're going to have some some stomach issues. Um I'm we're getting messages from people who are using rose creatine and they're saying that they don't get gastro distress liposoma might be because so they're trying the bigger doses with the with row and they're like I have no issues issues issues didn't even think about that and I have and I didn't notice anything if I do the gummies I have to break it up which is not not not you take too many at once then but I can drink a big dose interest I didn't even think of that.

Yeah. So, I've gotten a few messages from people who are like, "Hey, I've tried the larger doses with the row and it doesn't bother my gut." And I think it's because it's liposomaal. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, [snorts] which makes sense. Which kind of makes sense. It's still the same. Still creatine monohydrate. Yeah. You're not going to It's not like it's going to give you Yeah. But that's good to know because there's there's there's times where I'm I'm taking it and I'm thinking like, okay, I want to boost it, you okay, I want to boost it, you know, especially after like a poor night's sleep, right?

So, that'd be a time I'd want to do kind of a mega dose. Um, Um, Um, that would be a better way to do it. I didn't even think of that. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. Cool. Huh. So I I read something the other day that I wasn't fully familiar with. So do you guys know who Pope John Paul was? You guys You guys You guys when we were kids, he was Okay. So he was he was famous for a few different reason. different reason. different reason.

Pope mobile. Pope mobile. Pope mobile. Yes. Yes. Yes. After you get That's right. So uh a couple things he did that were really interesting. One was he gave a speech in Poland I believe that they that that people believe historians believe was one of the contributing factors to the fall of the Soviet Union of the Soviet Union. uh in Poland in communist uh you know territory he had people pre um chanting um like millions of people chanting we want freedom we want freedom which is like like you say that in the communist country and uh but anyway so there's that very brave guy brave guy brave guy so he there was an assassin assassination attempt uh on him in 1982 maybe Doug you can confirm this so he got shot dude in the crowd pulled out a gun there's a picture of this guy holding gun Like you could see when the guy shot him, he gets shot.

Was it 1981? Uh, let me see here. Uh, 45 years ago. So, let me just see. It said it earlier when you were in the in the It was 19. Yeah, 1981. Yeah. So, he gets shot. They rush him to the hospital, like straight in the chest. The surgeon pulls out the bullet and he said that the bullet went straight for his artery and went around it. So, it went for the artery and then went around it. He's like, "I've never seen anything like this. It's so wild.

this should have totally killed you. So, of course, the pope's like, "It's a miracle." And he's got this famous quote where he says, "One hand pulled the bullet, pulled the trigger, and another hand guided the bullet," which is kind of cool. cool. cool. So, anyway, there's a picture of him with the guy that tried to shoot him. He met He met He met Wait, wait, that's a picture of him with the guy who tried to shoot him. That's right. That's right. That's right. He didn't try to shoot him.

He actually did. So, he didn't shoot him. He He visited the guy in prison. So, the guy that tried to kill him and he talked to him and was basically like, "I forgive you." Right? And he's like like like talking to this guy in this in prison. prison. prison. The man finally gets released later converts becomes a Christian. No way. No way. No way. There's a famous I didn't know that. There's a famous uh picture of the guy at uh the the funeral of Pope John Paul and he's basically like you know this horrible thing that I did.

Um and it what got me to become Wow. There's all kinds of pictures of him meeting with him right there. Huh. Isn't that wild? That is wild. Isn't that crazy? Such a crazy story of redemption. Uh, you know, it's like the guy tried to kill you and then you visit him genuinely. him genuinely. him genuinely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it changes the man. It's sad we don't hear more stories like that anymore. that anymore. that anymore. I didn't know. Did you know that story already? already?

already? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you already knew. I didn't know that story. story. story. There's another crazy story. You could watch the video. People can look this up. You can you can hear these guys get interviewed. You guys know who Billy Graham was? Graham was? Graham was? Yeah. Like like greatest uh evangelists of of the of modern times. There were these three men. I don't know where they were. They have an English accent cuz I watched the video of these guys. They went to one of his I don't what do you call it when he gets he when he's speaking to like huge stadiums.

What is it like a big like alter call or I don't know what it's like evangelist event or something. He would do these all over the world, right? right? right? These guys showed up with a gun and they're like when he does the call so at the end of these at the end of him preaching. preaching. preaching. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What Billy Graham would do that's the video right there. What uh what Billy Graham would do is he'd call people up to accept Christ, right? He'd say come up and whatever.

So they're like, "We were going to wait till he did that. We were going to walk up and shoot him. We hated him. We wanted to kill him." So they sat in this in the lawn waiting, listened to the whole thing. Listening and converted and converted. and converted. and converted. And they went up there and got baptized. Dude, Dude, Dude, that's wild. that's wild. that's wild. Isn't that wild? Yeah, it's cool. Such a crazy story. Watch that whole video right there. Wow. Oh, is that it right there?

Yeah, that guy right there, dude. Oh, was he one of the ones that was plotting to kill him? He was one of the guys that wanted to kill him. kill him. kill him. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Yeah, I guess there were gangsters or something that were Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Yeah, dude. I know. That's wild. Such crazy such crazy stories. Anyway, I'm going to change uh topics here a little bit. Uh want to talk about a strategy. I don't think it's a long-term strategy, but it is a strategy that people can use to help them uh with fat loss.

Um and I don't like talking about it too much because people can get carried away with it, but it is a strategy and it can be used especially initially when you're trying to get things kind of under control. and that is to replace one of your meals with a meal replacement shake. Now, people have gone too far with this in the past, but I could definitely I I've definitely seen this be a successful strategy to to uh with some of my clients and I've gotten them to move from there to whole natural foods, but just as as a way to get them to get things under control.

I Well, I'll tell you a way I've done it as a strategy where I like it is post reverse diet. So, what I'll do, and I've done before with somebody, is slowly increasing their calories through Whole Foods, like we all talk about, get them up to a place, let's say I like say I have a female client that hires me and she's at 1,800 calories. And over the next 6 months, I get her all the way up to like 26, 2,700 calories, and she's like, "This is this is so much food." And like a good place to go because it's so much food and I still want a pro say a protein is I'll take one of those meals and replace it with like a ready to drink or or a shake, some sort of a drink.

drink. drink. I've never done that. Oh yeah, that's great. That's a great way to cut cut the calories back, still get protein intake in, easier for them to digest so they're not force feeding themselves more food and then it's a nice way for us to start to lean out. It's a perfect way after a reverse diet. Here's how I've done it with clients. So I've done it with like clients that really struggle with nutrition and then what the conversation typically looks like like this. So, I'll say, "Okay, which meal is the most difficult for you?" you?" you?" And typically, it's uh breakfast or lunch.

Sometimes it's later, but typically it's like breakfast. I'm I'm I'm coming out of the house. I don't eat anything. Then I overeat later or I grab this really fast garbage food or it's lunch. I don't pack a a meal. I terrible at meal prepping. Lunchtime, I end up ordering out or whatever. So, with these clients, what I've done is I've said, "Okay, here's what we're going to do. We're going to do a meal replacement shake in the morning." Or for lunch, you're just going to have a meal replacement shake.

And it it worked for a lot of these people. And what I mean by worked is it was a good bridge. Yeah. It was a good starting point and then we moved to uh different behaviors. Now, here's the key with this uh is protein shakes are okay, but they're not a meal. So, protein shakes are just protein. And what you want if you have a meal replacement is some carbs and some fiber and a little bit of fats with your protein. It's going to produce more satiety and it's a more complete meal.

It's not just pure protein. Yeah, cuz sometimes people use just protein. Yeah. Uh Yeah. Uh Yeah. Uh well you explain the difference you people have heard us talk about. So example of that would be like hule replacement actual meal replacement. Then you've heard us talk about things like whey protein powder which is just protein protein protein just just protein. And so this is different and then so you have to explain the difference. What's the benefit? Why why would I want meal replacement? Because I'm going to get some carbohydrates.

I'm going to get a little bit of fats. Uh I'm going to get some fiber. And so it's going to give me more satiety and it's more of a legit meal because it's more complete. Like you would never have a meal that was was was like a boiled plain chicken breast. You know, it would always include some other some other some other macros in there. And so Hule is much more of an appropriate That's a good example. Much more of an appropriate way to do this.

What is their mac? Could What is their mac? Could you pull up their site, Doug, real quick? What is their their macro breakdown? I know they're high protein. 35 to 40 g. Yeah. 35 gram of protein. Seven grams of fiber. fiber. fiber. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And look up. They're complete macros, Doug, if you can because there's also a little bit of fat, some car. There you go. What do we got? And let me pull it up. It's uh pretty small here. Oops. I just made it smaller.

smaller. smaller. So, one bottle is 400 calories, which is a meal. a meal. a meal. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, versus a 160 calorie, you know, just protein, nothing else. Yeah. Clients on the go, that was always like hard, you know, when they make bad decisions. So, to have a replacement was always a good option. This is also vegan, too. So, yeah. Can you read that now? Yeah. So, uh, so they you want all the macros in? macros in? macros in? Yeah. Protein, fats, carbs. So, yeah.

So, uh, fats 17 gram. Um, carbohydrates, it looks like 30 grams and protein is 35 gram. Plus, there's some other micronutrients. What's their what's their protein blend? What are they using? Pa protein is one of the main. So, P fab bean. Uh yeah, pea faba beans looks like the pea protein's got a pretty good amino acid profile for for vegan uh protein and it tastes really good which is which is is important. They do taste good. It's important. Yeah, they do taste good. good. good. People need to eat something.

They have a you guys they have a they have a coffee one that have you did you finally get a chance to try? I've never tried the coffee but you know I've just been avoiding the caffeine probably is the real reason that it's not a lot of caffeine is it? I'll try it maybe uh after this. I actually didn't even check the amount of caffeine to be honest with you. That's that's That's that's That's that's just our immune. Yeah, I Well, I know I knew it wasn't no high caffeine, so I don't even I to me I don't count under 50 grams, dude.

It's got to be at least 100 at least for me to even count it. Uh but it's the flavor I like. I like coffee flavored stuff. So, the uh the iced coffee one is is bomb. is bomb. is bomb. Have you uh have you guys ever used Maybe Justin, you have We've used bands uh uh to to add resistance to, you know, the bar. the bar. the bar. Have you done reverse bands? Reverse bands? Reverse bands? Reverse bands? Yeah. Where it helps you assist you? Oh, yeah.

I saw you doing your video. I made fun of one time because I posted a video about that when I was uh doing bench and I was just like I was inside the rack and I had it set up. Yeah. So I could could could and I was just experimenting with it because I had seen powerlifters do that before. before. before. You know what's weird? So you would think it doesn't matter. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If I put bands as to add resistance or if I put bands totally different.

It feels way different. [clears throat] But here's why I would think it's the same. Because if it's pulling up, I'm going to get it's going to pull up the hardest at the bottom. So, it's going to make it heaviest at the bottom, lightest at the top. If I'm doing it to add weight, it's also easiest at the bottom. The opposite happens. You can load you can load more when it's assisting. Yeah, it is. But then the weight would be the same because the band mentally and now I can feel uh heavier uh weight uh of real weight.

In other words, like so I like it for actually squatting is awesome in the cage with assistance. So I used when I was getting used to moving 405 like when that when I was getting to that place I started with getting assisted with the bands when that would be like a single PR but I could put some heavy bands on the 405 and get like three reps out. So getting three reps out of that feeling that spotter spotter spotter feeling that 405 Yes. 405 on my back but I've got the Yeah, but you would think if you added enough band resistance it would be the same weight.

[snorts] So I'm trying it is but it's a different feel now. Now I have 315 on my back and I'm adding bands. Yeah. So, sure, at the top they they both feel the same, but that's not what I I want to feel what 405 free weight feels on my back. So, when I unrackck it, I'm feeling like, oh my where that So, we're at the top where you're re-rackcking and stuff. You're if you're if it's heavy at the top. the top. the top. Yeah, it's it feels different.

Feels way different. different. different. I I think maybe I been thinking about this cuz I'm like I'm doing the math in my head. my head. my head. It doesn't feel I'm doing the math in my It does feel different. It feels way different. So, I'm doing the math. I I think it might have more to do with the fact that fact that fact that from a tension in a resistance place, those studies would show it's the same. It's the same. Yeah. I think it has more to do with where the band is anchored because it's it it's pulling me in a direction versus pulling me in a direction.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I think it has more to do with the anchor. But here's a here's a funny thing. thing. thing. Band assisted does not cause as much stress on my body as band resistance. Yeah. It lifts a lot of that tension in the joint. the joint. the joint. It's weird. It's like I could do more volume with band assistance. Even if I add add add That's what I felt when I was benching. It was like it sometimes I'll get a little bit of a tweak in my shoulder like at a certain point, a certain weight, and it was just like it wasn't there.

Uh cuz it just had that little bit of extra bit of elasticity. It's why it's like my favorite my favorite way to get stronger fast is to use bands. use bands. use bands. Yeah. That and then like using them fast like for faster yet to do that. When you when you reverse the the direction is when the most stress is on the joints. And so now that's being assisted by the band versus the opposite. Yeah. opposite. Yeah. opposite. Yeah. So, think about that for a second.

At the bottom of your bench, when you're when you're coming down your bench, the the most the most stress is right here when you when you reverse direction, and you now have assist there. When you have band the opposite way, the most amount is at the very top. When you're at the bottom, it's not. Yeah. And so, what I mean is it's it's the same strength curve. It's easiest the bottom, hardest the top. Whether the bands are on the bottom or on the top, it's the same.

But, it definitely feels less stressful uh on the body. And I'm really trying to think about why, but I don't know 100%. I think there's something what you're saying maybe it has to do with where the bands are direct. So that's I think that's one and then the other thing again that I find I find beneficial when you're trying to get because most time you're using these bands because you're trying to get through a a a plateau, right? You want to get get stronger. Uh there's something about feeling that weight that you wouldn't do by yourself on your back or on your chest knowing that you have these bands to assist it to get get it off.

Psychological lift. Psychological lift. Psychological lift. Yeah. Like it's psychological. It's just like I just feel getting go me getting used to that. I remember I've told this story before uh back in the days when I was just like a 20-year-old kid and those uh guys that were at this time I could barely do a plate squatting and they put like three plates on me. Yeah. Just like I'm like I can't even do two plates. Why I got three on here? I applied that same principle when I was like starting to approach the you know overhead press.

It was like I just need to feel the weight for a while and I just had to like hold it and I'm like oh my god it felt like lead weight dude like the first like few weeks and then you start adapting you start responding and like you're like okay it it starts to really kind of like my body produces so I love the way band assisted feels. It works great for pressing and squatting. Deadlifting I don't I'm like where would I attach this for the deadlift?

It doesn't make any sense. But I thought of an idea. So, you know, out there we have that platform where the bands go across and you could put the bar underneath it and pull up. Imagine if those attachments were higher. You put bands across it and put the bar on top of it. Now, you get a little bit of assistance. Couldn't you do it um inside the cage, put it on your back? [clears throat] You could, but it's going to pull it straight up and and when you're trying to deadlift it, the bar is going to want to move away from you or towards you because the way the bar when you deadlift, your bar path is straight straight straight a little bit.

I mean, I haven't experimented with it, so I don't know. Yeah, I bet you could make Yeah, I bet you could make that inside the cage. You could do that. This be an interesting experiment. Yeah, but it works really well. The challenge about inside the cage that I'm thinking about right now is that there's there's a the the bar goes across. across. across. So, I don't know if it would if you can't if the plates don't hit the ground. ground. ground. Yeah, that would probably be the the challenge.

I challenge. I challenge. I can you guys imagine what I'm thinking? Like higher higher attachments, bands across, you put the bar on top of it. Yeah. I've never done band assisted deadlifts before. Squatting and bench press is my favorite. I've done band resisted uh deadlifts. I do those all the time. You know what I haven't done with it to your what you uh did you ever try that actually with shoulder pressing? It would be kind of cool to shoulder press with it. with it. with it.

Yes, it feels great. Yeah, that would be I haven't done I had never done it with shoulder press before. before. before. It feels really good. Band assisted anything anything anything feels really good on my body. Shoulder press would be cool. I want to do that now. I never thought to do that with shoulder press. Yeah. Oh, the land mine. I'll do, you know, some of those presses where I actually stand on a rubber band and then have um you know, have the um the bar. the bar.

the bar. The bar. Yeah. And just like do some like shoulder presses like single arm and then so you get this like cool dynamic of you could do speed reps with it or you could just do um like it adds to the resistance but it's smoother and so yeah, it's a totally different feel. But I've I've experimented with that. Yeah. You know what's cool about what we're saying? So, somebody listening right now has a home gym, uh, and you want more variety, bands are phenomenal and they're cheap.

You can go on Amazon and get yourself a thick pair of like weightlifting bands and with your cage, you can do all we also sell them, too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do we have just the bands or do we have the ones with the handles? No, just bands. No, go on our site. Yeah. No, no. Go on our site. Yeah, we got the best ones. We do sell them. Uh or you can go on Amazon if you want. Element is an electrolyte powder that you can add to your water.

No artificial sweeteners, no sugar, and it's got enough sodium to actually make a difference. So, this is great for eliminating headaches, muscle cramps, fatigue, or other symptoms of electrolyte deficiency. So, who could benefit from this? Well, if you have a low carb diet, if you eat a lot of whole natural foods, you don't eat a lot of processed foods. If you sweat a lot, you work out a lot, uh, this can make a difference. And again, no calories in it at all. It's just electrolytes with 1,000 milligrams of sodium.

Go through our link and get yourself set up. Go to drinklement.com/mpump. drinklement.com/mpump. drinklement.com/mpump. That link, you'll get a free sample pack of their most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase. Back to the show. Our first caller is Sarah Beth from Mississippi. Mississippi. Mississippi. Hi, Sarah. Hi, Sarah. Hi, Sarah. How you doing, Sarah? Hi, guys. How are y'all doing? It is so cool to meet you. Yeah. Awesome. Thanks. Thanks for calling in. calling in. calling in. This is awesome. So, before I start, I do have to say I have to be mama bear for just a minute and let y'all know how absolutely proud I am of y'all as men and fathers and husbands just for being so open and vulnerable about your lives and your struggles and your accomplishments and all those things and like putting that out there publicly.

I think that is so important for other men to see and I just thank y'all for being a space for that. that is doing so much good work out there. If you ever whatever you do with Mind Pump in the future, please don't ever change that. So, So, So, thank you, sir. Okay, so my question is, what does a good appropriate cut, maintenance, and bulk look like for a very short female? So, I know that like being a woman, I am already at a lower metabolic rate than a man obviously, but being I'm 5 foot tall like on a good day.

So, that puts me at like the lowest of the low when it comes to metabolic rates. And I feel like all the fitness content out there is geared towards like the average male or the average female. So, I feel like whenever I hear these goals and numbers and everything to reach, I almost have to like filter it of like, okay, like that's a good thing, but like it doesn't completely apply to me. So, that's kind of my question and I wanted to give you a little background information on myself just so you can know kind of where I'm coming from um from a psychological standpoint with my question.

So, I'm 34. Um I was overweight my whole life. Um, my heaviest point was in 2020, about a year after I had my daughter. I got all the way up to 248 pounds, which is insane to even say. I sent Doug pictures for y'all to see because it was just, it was insane. And I really got to a point where I was like, "This is not healthy." Like, I've got to do something. So, I didn't really know where to start. And I picked up a book about processed foods, and it scared the crap out of me.

So, I immediately was like, "All right, no more processed foods." That's insane. We're going to go all to Whole Foods. And that's the only thing I did. And over the next three years, I lost about 70 pounds just doing that alone. Then I got on Ozmpic for one year. I gave myself the deadline of just one year. And in that one year of still not really changing anything else, still doing Whole Foods, I lost an additional 60 pounds. Well, when I got off of the Ozic, immediately, of course, my hunger came back and it kind of hit me.

I was like, "Oh, if I don't like for real make like some lifestyle changes here, like all of this weight is going to come right back." Like, I've got to actually change something here. So, that's when I dove into the fitness space for the first time. And I immediately like fell in love with it. I was like, "This is how have I never discovered this before? This is amazing." So, I started integrating kind of one thing at a time. I started by hitting, you know, my goal weight and protein and then I got my steps up and then just kind of incorporating other, you know, movement type of things and then it eventually led me to strength training.

That's always the last thing for women is strength training. Um, so about it was about seven months ago that I started like a real structured strength training program for the first time and I am type a overachiever goes way too hard when I do things. So of course that's exactly what I did and I overdid it and I went I was going to the gym four days a week doing an upper lower body split. um each session was an hour or longer and then I would follow each session by 20 to 30 minutes of cardio.

I was getting 15 to 20,000 steps a day. And uh the kicker is that because of my height, I would use, you know, tde calculators and combined with my complete fear of gaining any weight. I would not let myself go above about 13 or 1400 calories while doing all of this activity. So, as you can imagine, that very quickly took its toll on my body. And after about five months of doing all of that, I am super consistent. I don't miss a workout. I don't miss anything.

Don't miss my steps. Five months of doing that, I wake up one morning and of course, my body is exhausted. I'm underfueled. I'm, you know, just completely worn out. I got out of bed and standing up too quickly, I passed out and fell face first. hit the floor and some other things on the way down to the floor. Had to go to the emergency room. A huge deep gash on my forehead they had to sew together. They took a CT scan. Thank God there were no broken bones or internal bleeding.

Um but I had a very very nasty concussion. And the doctor who um you know treated me after asking me like how did this happen? And I told her that little history of what I had been doing. She kind of looked me dead in the face and was like, "I'm going to need you to go home and get in your bed and recover from this concussion, and then I'm going to need you to eat." And at that point, I had only been listening to you guys for about a month.

So, I was just dipping my toes in the water. And you know, I had been hearing you telling people about reverse dieting and about, you know, underfueling their bodies and how, you know, you can try all you want to build muscle, but if you're not giving it enough calories, it's just it's not going to happen and you're going to put yourself in in some real risky situations here. And after that accident, when I came home, it was like it hit me in the face. I was like, "Oh my gosh, they were talking to me." Like I always put myself out of these categories because I'm like, "Oh, I'm a short woman.

and it doesn't count for me. But no, it it totally did. And I put my body in some real danger doing that. So, um I really and at this point I'm listening to you guys 24/7. So, I'm just so I'm like a sponge. I'm soaking it all up. So, after I healed from my concussion, I completely revamped my strategy and my goals and everything here. I went down to three days a week in the gym doing full body workouts that only lasted 30, 40 minutes tops.

I cut out all extra cardio, brought my steps down to about 10 to 12,000 steps, and I started my first ever reverse diet, which was terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. But I looked at, you know, what had just happened and I was like, you got to do better. You're you're not you're not treating your body with respect and well, and you're you're going to just keep driving yourself into the ground if you don't do something different here. So, I um very incrementally worked my way up and I am proud to say that as of this week, I am at like between 1900 and 2,000 calories and I'm still going.

We're still still pushing. Um and just like you guys said, I saw all the things that you talk about all the time. My energy skyrocketed. My mood skyrocketed. I thought I felt great beforehand. I'd realized I didn't know what great felt like. Um my period normalized. My sleep got better. Um, my strength. Oh, I'm not kidding y'all. During this reverse at some point, I I can remember there was one week where I went to go do my hip thrust and I added a couple of pounds and I was like, I can go more.

I literally added 20 pounds to my hip thrust in one week and then another, you know, 15, 20 pounds to some of my other compound lifts in the week or so after that. Crazy. Crazy. So, here's where my question comes in. I believe it. I'm a believer. Reverse diet is the way to go. It's amazing. But I am still a 5- foot tall woman. And I listen to you guys advise women all the time and, you know, um advising some women to push all the way up to almost like 3,000 calories or more in a reverse.

And I'm looking at myself and what I'm eating now at 2,000 and I'm like, there ain't no freaking way that I could push myself, you know, up to that point. And since, like I said, there's not a lot of content out there geared towards petite women, I just wanted to hear your thoughts on, you know, as I'm doing this reverse, how far do I go? And then really from my health standpoint, when I do eventually want to go back into a cut to reveal all this muscle that I know that I'm building right now, what what does that look like?

How like in a healthy way? Because I obviously did not do it correctly first time around and I don't want to make that mistake again. So, any advice you guys have, I would really appreciate it. Well, great question and uh great job. Yeah, really really you're doing a really good job. It's really hard to get out of that the fear of gaining weight. And now you see like okay that fear was uh it was it was just that it was a fear. It's not [clears throat] happening like I thought it would.

In fact, the opposite's happening. I'm stronger. I feel better. feel better. feel better. So here's the here's the context with um reverse diet and then I'll get to kind of your question. The reason why we often recommend that women get up to 27, 28, maybe even 3,000 calories is because often times women are interested in uh losing body fat. And so we just want to give them runway. So, right, So, right, So, right, it's [clears throat] probably not a maintenance, maintenance, maintenance, but it's going to give you a nice uh runway to go back down and to end in a nice comfortable place.

Okay. Number two, uh there's such a wide individual variance with uh someone's let's say metabolism with activity. Um and yes, does does your size play a role? It does. Uh but uh it's it's pretty amazing how high somebody can get their meta metabolic rate who strength trains, is active, uh and is is petite like you are. Like I've had women I've trained women like you who've gotten their calories above 3,000 um and and it wasn't an issue. You wasn't and it wasn't an issue. You actually have a healthy metabolism.

The fact that you've already reversed and you're seeing great results uh tells me that you're going to respond really well cuz sometimes it's more challenging. challenging. challenging. Sometimes a reverse takes a long time to get the body the person's body to not be so afraid to build muscle and it still wants to store body fat, you know, type of deal. So, where do you stop? Well, there's a there's a couple things to consider. One, I don't like a fit, active woman who's working out ever to be at a maintenance that's below 1,800 calories.

It's just it's too low. If if you were walking around at 1,600 calories, strength training three days a week, hitting 10 to 12,000 steps a day, uh you know, if you have you uh you know, if you have you got kids and a life, that is too low to maintain. What you'll almost always run into is at some point burnout, at some point hormone issues, at some point it's just too low. So I 1,800 is like that's like that's kind of like the limit where else have somebody maintain with who's active and strengthened and do all the things that you're doing.

Um so now here's the other side of it. You're going to reverse diet to a place where you're going to be like this is so much food I feel like I'm just overdoing it. then that's a good place to cut from because where you'll fall at is going to be at this comfortable place. place. place. Considering your activity level, your strength training, uh the fact that you're a mom, all that stuff, I'd like to see you at a maintenance that looks like 2,000 2100. So, if you want to cut, we got to get above that so we could cut at 2,000.

Like, 1900 that you're at right now, 1,900 2,000 now. I'm not going to put you in a cut. If I put you in a cut right now, you'll see a little bit of fat loss. you'll also see strength loss. You'll feel that crap. You'll plateau and then you'll be back kind of to where you were before. So, I wouldn't I'd have you reverse out. Now, here's the other part of it. If you reverse properly, especially if you see strength gains, uh often times you see yourself get leaner through this process.

process. process. Like, if I put 10 pounds of muscle on you you you and you gained [clears throat] no body fat, your body fat percentage went down. You actually got leaner, right? And you're going to look at Well, and that's yeah, that that's one thing I was kind of going to ask too is I you obviously I'm gaining muscle because my strength has gone through the roof. I went to go throw a baseball the other day and way overshot my target. Like I know I'm getting stronger, but I I can kind of feel and tell in my body I know that I am putting on a little body fat, too, which I know comes along with it.

So, um, kind of what you mentioned earlier, I feel like I I may need to move a little slowly through this because I was at so low calories for such a long time kind of thing. So, you know, here's the deal. If I was coaching you, it would be based off of uh how well I could coach you through this process because you're you're do you know what your body fat percentage is? I you look like you're in the I don't. I don't. I don't. Okay.

I don't. If you're in the low to mid20s, keep going. That's a good healthy body fat percentage to be at. You look good. It's all good. It's fit. You Everything's fine. Keep going. Now, I would if I'm coaching you and you're just like, "Sh this is too uncomfortable. I I used to be overweight. I'm really scared." Then I might slow it down. But if I could get you to uh relinquish control and trust the process, I don't care if I get your body fat up to 25 26%.

because I'm gonna set you up for a nice cut later that's gonna have you sit around 21% 20% with a maintenance at 21 2200 calories. Now you live your life and it's like it's no big deal. And that's the goal honestly. I think I wrote in my question my like honestly my my fainting thing was kind of a big scare for me. So it's like my goal at this point is I just want to be healthy. Like I want to be here for the long run.

I want to be independent as I get older. And you know, if it means body fat goes up a little bit in order to maintain that, like so be it. I'm not going to lie, at one point it was, let's get as tiny as possible. But, you know, I kind of got scared out of that, honestly. How How many weeks have you been at the calories you're at right now? Um, here I've been probably three weeks. So, taking it. But, you know, at the same time, because I restricted calories for so long, and this is kind of like a, oh, I get more calories.

I have kind of made the mistake of like, all right, my goal this week is 1,900 calories, but I can have the extra cookie or two, but I can have the extra. So, you know, in reality, if I average out my week, I'm probably I've probably gone above a little bit. So, you know, and and how during that three weeks, is your scale weight kind of maintaining? It's fluctuating up and down a few pounds. What's it looking like? It's It's maintaining. Honestly, if I do have a night where I'm like, "Oh, let's go get pizza." Of course, it'll spike up the next morning, but within two or three days, it's right back.

And so, it's it's it's so I would say it's maintaining. So, that's okay. So, kind of a good rule of thumb when I'm reverse dieting someone like you is that I want I want to increase you by about 200 calories, give or take, uh, whenever we get to a place like this. When you are holding weight, scale weight like you say you are right now that you're and you're feeling good in the gym, it's like, okay, let's go up another 200 calories. Then I'm going to hold there again.

And you might see a scale go up one or two pounds. I'm looking for it to level off again and hold again. And so I want to see it hold for like a week or two and then I'm going to go up again. I'm just going to keep stair stairstepping you up with your weight kind of maintaining. I like we're ready for the next bump. And just keep doing that until you get to a place place place that S's talking about. And really, it's less about your height because I've seen really, really petite, short women eating 3,000 plus calories, and I've seen people that are tall and lanky barely be able to eat 2500 calories.

So, it's has everything to do with your muscle mass, your training volume. Like, it's it's unique to each person. And so, getting it to a place where you are like, "This is a lot of calories." Cuz what we know now is like you feel great at where you're at right now. So this would be the ideal place to cut back down to. So if you know if you if this feels like a good amount of food, you have nice flexibility with the food, like you can enjoy a cookie every once in a while, like you can do things like that, like then this should be a good goal of like this is where we want to end up.

But if we're going to end up here, that means we need to take it up a little bit higher so that we can come back down to this point. this point. this point. And Sarah, let me ask you this. So you said you you really want to be healthy, have energy, have energy, have energy, feel good. Um, if we look at the whole context of all of that right now, what's happening with you, your your energy, your strength, how you can perform at home for your kids, the amount of food that you're able to eat, the way you look.

Would you would would this be a great place for you to be forever? Would you be happy? Um, I mean, yeah. I would I would like maybe a little bit less body fat. Like I said, I feel like I've I've added just kind of a little more body fat in the past several weeks, but it was just probably just fluctuations. But I mean, overall, like, yeah, like I say that, but then I go out with girlfriends this past weekend and every single person is complimenting like, "Oh my gosh, you look so good.

That fits you so well, you know?" So, I know a lot of that is a mental thing for me. It So, the reason why I'm It So, the reason why I'm saying that is um you [clears throat] know 25% body fat for a woman with more muscle objectively looks better than a woman with less m muscle at 22%. So that's number one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But number two, you really want to have a complete relationship with this. Not a one, not a narrow, a narrow relationship is the mirror, the scale, body fat percent.

A complete relationship is like my energy, how I feel with my husband, what I'm able to do in the gym. [clears throat] [clears throat] [clears throat] Do I feel like I'm overstressed with my food or I kind of feel like it's kind of relaxed? So that's the that's the complete relation. And if you're feeling like, you know what, I feel kind of good. If even if you just went on this path, you're going to kind of have this nice body recmp. May be slow, but over time it's probably going to happen, right?

right? right? The other side is this is this. If you want someone to guide you through this process, uh because that makes a big difference to outsource it, then I would say work with a coach. And we have coaches that are really, really good. And then you don't got to think about this. this. this. You give it to your coach and your coach does the reverse for you. Your coach asks you the questions. Your coach is monitoring all this stuff and working with you when you're having the uh oh, am I gaining weight?

What am I doing? What I And they'll just take you through this process. And considering where you're at, um, you're probably six months, it's probably a six-month process, which includes a reverse and a cut. six months will give you the the reverse and the cut and then you'll have you you'll kind of be where you're where you want to be, but you're kind of getting there. I think your relationship to it sounds like you're getting in the right place. So, if you want to coach, I can have somebody call you and they could just take for the next six months, you have them do it.

Otherwise, just to encourage you. Uh you. Uh you. Uh yeah, because I was going to say I was going to say too, I through this entire process, like I have never hired a coach. I've never talked to a nutritionist. I've never even owned a gym membership. I don't even have like friends and family who are into fitness. So, it's just like me and podcasts and chat GBT like we're all jogging it out here. And so, I'm like, you know, I'm figuring everything out on on my own here.

And I feel like I've done a pretty good job. Decent, you know, learning everything. learning everything. learning everything. You've done a great job. You've done a great job. great job. great job. But, yes, it's definitely it's definitely one of those things when you don't have someone to bounce the ideas off of directly, you get in your head and you overthink and you overanalyze and you second guess and all that. Honestly, you're like 6 months away from being in in a really good place with all of this.

Uh to where you you know, you'd have someone coach you, teach you, and then you're like, "Now I can do this and I can maintain this and I know what it feels like. I know how to go through the process. the process. the process. I know how to modify this. Uh I know how to improve the quality of my life through this process." Cuz what you want, Sarah, is for the rest of your life. You want to be comfortable with this, but you don't want to do you don't want this to be the stressful tracking, you know, like lifestyle forever.

That's not going to work. um you're like six months away just based off of talking to you. If you want to coach, I'll have someone call you and I think you would do really well with them. But again, I'm going to encourage you. You're on the right path. Like you're really doing a good job. Thank you. All that is really encouraging to hear because like I said, doing it by yourself, you you kind of you're kind of shooting in the dark. You don't really know. So that's why I really wanted to talk to you guys and and hear your opinions because it's that's very encouraging everything that that you're telling me.

And I was going to say, you know, there was a day uh you know, six, eight months ago when I was in the 1300 calorie purgatory and working my butt off in the gym where I thought to myself like, "Oh my gosh, I'm gonna have to do this every day for the rest of my life in order to maintain." And so, like, finding you guys and hearing everything that you have to say and everything that you tell people. It I know you hear it all the time, but it has literally changed my life and made me realize like, no, you don't have to do that.

you can actually enjoy it and enjoy your life and have energy to play with your six-year-old when she wants to and all that kind of stuff. So, I really really appreciate it. You have to get to a place where you enjoy it cuz I promise you if you hate this there you're not going to do this forever. There's no way. You're doing great, sir. Yeah, you're doing really good. If would you want somebody to call you? Do cuz uh we have really good coaches. I trust them.

Okay. I'll have somebody reach out to you to you to you and uh let them know that, you know, based on our idea, we think probably six months will be good, but they're going to ask you more questions and probably get a little more individualized. At the very least, we'll send you a free program. Are you following any of our programs? programs? programs? I'm not. No. Okay. All right. I'm going to uh I'll leave it up to the coach to which one we should send you, but you get a free program regardless.

So, thank you guys so much. Y'all are amazing. Can I say one more thing to you before I go? Yeah. So, I want each of you to do me a favor when you go home tonight and give your wives a big hug. For me, my husband also owns and operates his own business. So, I see how much work and dedication and time and stress and all the things that it takes to do that successfully. And I know that you guys have seen all the success that you have seen because you have someone at home to love and support you through that and take care of all the other things so that y'all can do it.

So, I I really appreciate everything y'all do, which means that I really really appreciate everything that they do at home for y'all to make this possible. So, possible. So, possible. So, if y'all could do that for me, I would appreciate it. appreciate it. appreciate it. Love that. Got you. You got it. Good. Good. Good. Thank you guys so much. You got it. Yeah. She got a great attitude and she did a great job so far. Great job. It is scary reverse dieting when you're, you know, we're we're she lost over 13.

She lo 130 pounds. pounds. pounds. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, she lost. Uh, but she had that little wakeup call, which was obviously a blessing. She's feeling the benefits. She has no idea how much better she's going to feel. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. When she keeps moving this record. I mean, I think she's doing really good. I think the fact that she can even recognize that in this reverse diet, yeah, I put on a little bit of body fat, but I don't care. She knows and she's okay with it.

Says a lot about how well she's doing. So, I think 6 months is going to give her time to continue to reverse and then cut with a coach. She's very coachable. Yeah. She's very receptive to information. I think she's going to do well going. Best use of a raw dog I've heard yet. So, So, So, I did catch that. Doug doesn't know what that means. That's good. That's good. That's good. I've heard it before. Our next caller is Chelsea from Australia. Hi, Chelsea. Hi, Chelsea. Hi.

How are you? How can we help you? Um, first of all, just the um usual thank you as everyone else does for everything you guys have done. You guys have helped me through a lot. um from like training to even like eating disorders. It's been crazy. So, thank you guys. Um second of all, so I September, October around last year, I was about 76 kilos, super fit, had quite a lot of muscle on me for a female. Um dabbled in some reddit tide, lost about 6 kilos, pretty much all muscle cuz I didn't hit my protein.

couldn't train cuz it just it killed my drive. I knew better, but I still did it. And um yeah, kind of paying the consequences of that. Ended up quite like skinny fat. Um around January, found out I was pregnant. [clears throat] And then from about January, obviously came off everything. January to April, wasn't training, wasn't really eating, kind of lost my motivation for the gym. Um, I'm now 18 weeks pregnant and I hate the way that I look and I hate going to the gym. I have absolutely no motivation.

I have been going now a little bit. Um maybe like once or twice a week if I can. But from being like the really strong girl to, you know, I did 30 kilo back squats the other day and that just absolutely took it out of me whereas I'm used to being able to do like 80 kilos and yeah, I just don't know where to go cuz like I want to train for health but I am still kind of chasing that aesthetics but I know it's kind of probably pretty far away in reach.

Yeah. Be careful, Chelsea. Like, this [clears throat] is uh your goal has to be totally different. You're growing a baby. You're growing a baby right now. How how you look, aesthetics, and even strength goals are not important anymore. Just not right now. I got I got to say this too, Chelsea. Um, not enough is communicated to women on just how challenging uh this process is, especially if you're if you identify with being a fit or a fitness fanatic beforehand. It is very challenging because uh a lot of our identity, especially if you're a fitness fanatic, fitness fanatic, fitness fanatic, um was probably wrapped into how you looked and how you could perform.

Maybe uh if you don't mind me saying a little body dysmorphia, which is probably what led to the retatride. Super common. Super common with fitness fanatics. Um I'm raising my hand cuz I'm one of them. And so now it feels like your body is not yours. not yours. not yours. It's doing things that It's not yours. It's doing things that you you none of your old tricks work. You probably don't want to eat anything except for hyper palatable food. It's probably the only thing you keep down because you otherwise you want to throw up.

you're tired when you do work out. All your stamina and strength is like where'd it go? Uh and you're you're injuryprone on top of it. And your hormones are totally different. And so it's this radical like who am I? What am I? That's out of control. And a and a big re a big challenge that people that fitness fanatics have is a sense of control. So often times one of the reasons why we are so fanatical about our fitness, it makes us feel like we got things under control.

I got my schedule. I got my eating. I got my supplements. I got my workout. And now it feels like you have no control. So it's extremely challenging, but it's also a blessing. And I'll tell you this. I'll tell you why. Uh besides the fact that you're going to have uh you know bring a human into this life, into the world, it's a blessing because uh it's going to help you face some of the biggest challenges that you probably had that you maybe didn't want to face before.

you're just kind of forced. So, [clears throat] here's what it looks like. And I'm going to ask you [snorts] this, okay? I'm going to ask you a question. Uh, are you someone who is worthy of being taken care of? care of? care of? Yeah, of course. Well, okay. But really, what's the answer? Really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do you feel that or do you just know that in your head? Um, Um, Um, no I do feel it. I just no I do feel it. I just don't relay that into like gym and fitness, but I relay it into the real world and other in other like aspects.

Definitely. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. So, that's going to lead you. So, if you can tap into that, uh, like if you had a best friend or a sister that is going through exactly what you're going through, you would probably advise them and com and and comfort them and give them empathy them empathy them empathy in ways that you probably don't give to yourself. yourself. yourself. And so, And so, And so, yeah, definitely yeah, definitely yeah, definitely that if you let that guide you, your fitness and nutrition is going to be exactly what you need.

And so what it might look like your first trimester or you're you're kind of uh in that space a lot of nausea probably. You feeling that right? Okay. right? Okay. right? Okay. Yeah, I'm I've just gone into the second so the nausea's finally disappeared and the energy's come back a little bit. Um but yeah, the first trimester was like I couldn't all I did was sleep and vomit basically. vomit basically. vomit basically. Yes. So, so taking care of yourself during the first trimester probably look like sleeping and the only thing I can keep down is pizza or the only thing I can keep down is, you know, Lucky Charm cereal or weird like I know this.

My wife went through it with my daughter. She didn't have it so bad with my son, but with my daughter, she literally had to walk around with a a bucket cuz she was throwing up so often and she struggled with it. And I'm like, "Honey, right now taking care of yourself is like being able to hold down food. So, I don't care what it is. Let's eat it." But now that you're coming out of it, it might look a little different. So you might look, what's going to nourish me?

And then when you go to the gym, what you need to think is not what workout I need to do or what body parts I need to train. When you go there, you literally have this conversation with yourself and think, what's going to make me feel better? And and maybe that's walking on the treadmill, maybe that's stretching, maybe that is lifting weights. And so, how long were you working out for before you got pregnant? You're a fitness fanatic. You've been doing it for a while. while.

while. Um, five plus years. Okay. I don't care what your workout looks like if you guide it with what I said. So, when [clears throat] you get to the gym, all right, what does taking care of myself look like today? Is it skipping the gym? Is it walking? Is it yoga? Is it two exercises and get out? And and how do I know I'm taking care of myself? I feel better when I leave. like I I leave the gym feeling better than I did walking in.

Let that guide you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then and then let your body do what it's gonna do. Now, if you do that and you're and you're able to do that properly, your bounce back is going to be so much better than the average woman. But I'll also say this to you, it takes a lot longer than people realize, and this isn't communicated well on social media either. They like to tell you, oh, four months later, I mean, you'll definitely be better than the average uh woman or if you had never worked out, but give it it takes like a year or two before you're like, "Oh, I feel like my old self like completely." Okay.

So, it's all it's all about caring for yourself in the right way. And you're going to develop, if you do this right, you'll develop a relationship with fitness that's going to last you for the rest of your life. Yeah. I think the hard thing is seeing a lot of like on and I know I know better um but like social media I see like pregnant women and they're like this is my workout and they've got this big bump and they're like jumping around and I'm like how are you doing that right now?

Like and I thought that would be me just because I was so fit beforehand and it just just just most most it varies so much. A very big percentage of women feel like you. They're just not the ones posting about it. about it. about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They don't want to talk about it. go talk to pregnancy is different too. My wife had two separate complete pregnancies. One was like that she could work out and then the other one was like completely like bedritten. So you just never know.

never know. never know. Yeah. And and talk to other moms and be like, "Hey, how was it for you?" Cuz this is what I feel like. And I guarantee you, you're going to hear a lot of moms be like, "Oh my god, it was horrible. It was so hard. I felt so sick. It was so difficult." But I will say this, it's better than had you not been a fit per like however bad it's been. It'd be a lot worse if you went into it without your fitness background.

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, definitely. So that's the context. Um I'd like to sell you a program, excuse me, send you a program that has uh I think good workout programming for someone through pregnancy. So if you need some structure and some exercise uh tech, you know, exercises, I can send you one. Yeah, definitely. I've got anabolics, but that's probably not really appropriate right now. No, starter. No, starter. No, starter. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I'm going to send you starter. That's that's a great one for during and post uh partum.

uh partum. uh partum. Amazing. Thank you so much. Okay. And and this is going to be hard, especially for someone who's who's identifies so strongly with their fitness, fitness, fitness, but lead with like, okay, how can I take care of myself today? How can I take care of myself today? And that's going to just kind of help move you through this. And then talk with other women who've had kids because they're not the ones posting on social media. They're not the ones standing on a soap box.

If when you feel great, that's what you want to tell everybody. Nobody wants to talk about how hard it is. But when you sit down and actually talk to other moms, I I promise you, you're going to get a lot of women. They're like, "Oh my gosh, thank you for Yes, definitely. That was really difficult for me." for me." for me." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How does hearing all that make you feel? Um I guess I kind of knew some of it, but but but I I don't know.

I thought maybe they'd be like, "I'll just go three times a week. That's all you need to do or something like that." Um, like I've tried, you know, I put it in chat GBT and I'm like, "Tell me what do I need to eat? What?" Like I know the answer, but it's like there's got to be another way. There's got to be like a minimum criteria of what I just should be meeting. Um, but yeah, I guess kind of just resting up and utilizing this time to just train to feel good opposed to trying to still kind of kind of kind of I guess chase somewhat aesthetics.

No, No, No, listen to your body. Listen to it. And And I Listen to it. And And I I've trained I've trained pregnant women that that were like once a week this is all I could do. The rest of the week I could do a little bit of walking and then other pregnancies look totally different. So, if you're like, I feel like garbage and I do not I can't move. I think what I'm going to do is just go for a walk. That's your workout. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm studying fitness as well at the moment and should be qualified by the time the baby comes. So, wonderful. wonderful. wonderful. Utilize that towards other women. Good. Yeah. This will make you a good trainer for women through pregnancy, which is very, very needed in our space. Awesome. All righty. Thank you guys. I really appreciate your help. You got it, Chelsea. Thanks for calling in. in. in. No worries. Thanks. Byebye. Byebye. Byebye. That's tough. That's tough. That's tough. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, that's tough, dude.

I couldn't imagine getting pregnant and then being like, "Oh, "Oh, "Oh, I can't different now." Yeah, I can't get a read if she's going to listen or not. I think I think she knows I think maybe a confirmed it. And uh I'm hoping that starter will help her a little bit. But here's the deal. It she's she's got no choice. choice. choice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz she if she goes too far, her body's going to shut down. She's going to go to bed. Not going to do her any any uh favors.

Yeah. So, Yeah. So, Yeah. So, our next caller is Sandy from Connecticut. Connecticut. Connecticut. Hello again. Hello again. Hello again. Sandy, how you doing, Sandy? Sandy? Sandy? I'm good. How are you doing? Good. doing? Good. doing? Good. Welcome back. Welcome back. Welcome back. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Give us give us a little update on the last 30 days. What's up? What's up? What's up? Yeah. How's it been going? What's What's going on? going on? going on? Um, [clears throat] thank you so much for having me back.

Um, I I have to say that the uh what what you a month ago, you know, what I expected to hear was not what I heard, but I think it was exactly what I needed to hear. So, thank you. Um, I was really focused last time on all my failures and fears and my setbacks and things. So, uh, really turned things around. Your advice really turned things around for me. And uh um I spent this month, you know, just trying to change my thinking. Um I've gone from focusing on failures, feel fears, and setbacks, uh to just understanding this is my year for recovery.

So, all right. all right. all right. Um Um Um and I'm going to be okay. So, um just some updates. So, the as far as retirement stuff goes, um I'm just going to read my notes. Keep keep from babbling too much. Um, you know, we went from having no information for so long to being overwhelmed with information this past month. Uh, the person that's responsible was finally charged. Um, he did he did plead guilty. Wow. Wow. Wow. Um, every week this past month, I've gotten either an email or a letter or a phone call um with more information and next steps, um, what to expect, etc.

So [gasps and sighs] it, you know, that's that's been very stressful. I mean, I'm glad things are moving along and getting towards the end of this nightmare, but um just all that contact and all this information is just like the kick in the gut again and again and again. So there's there's no good news as far as getting any money back. Um but it seems to be wrapping up so we can move on with life. Um, I did repp prioritize my goals this past month as you suggested.

I made community and stress reduction number one. I did find a church that feels just right. Um, and you know, it's already brought me a sense of peace and and hope again. So, so that's been great. I need more time to really connect and, you know, form a community there. Um, but I've been going to to these services and it's been pretty great. Um, I do have a community of friends at the gym. I kind of made it sound last time I had nobody and you know they're for community, but they don't know everything going on.

I mean, it's my happy place and they just think I'm this happy golucky exercise freak. So, um, very few of my friends and family know what's going on. I don't like to burden people with my stuff. So, other than you guys, I'm kind of dumping all over you. Sorry. Um, Um, uh, so that's kind of what's going on there. Um, there. Um, there. Um, my coach changed my workout based on your um your advice. I now am doing one exercise in each set and 2 minute rest between each exercise and and and good.

good. good. Adam, I know you said closer to 5 minutes would be good, but I'm telling you 2 minutes was an eternity. It always feels that way. Um, you know, all the same people are at the gym at around the same time. So, you know, they bunch of all these guys were coming up and they were like, "What are you doing? I've never seen you stand around like usually you're flying around here." And so, people were calling me out on this two-minute thing. So, I didn't know what to do with myself, but I really really am seeing the benefit of that.

So, I I just can't stress enough. I I mean, you guys stress it a all the time the rest how important it is. And so somebody approached me and said, you know, what what's going on that you're I I started walking circles in the gym cuz I couldn't just stand there and wait for the to I literally was standing there watching the clock tick down. And so um actually the the other day I was dusting to during my two minutes so which they appreciate. stay. stay.

stay. So I told so this woman who walked up to me who you know said Sandy what is going on and I said listen you build muscle during recovery so you need to increase your rest time with all y so so so I said and you need to listen to mind pump and they're like what's that and so um um um so anyway that that's what's going on there just I really see improvement in my strength like already in 30 days It's It's pretty crazy. That's right.

That's right. That's right. Um Um Um I know, you know, my numbers aren't that impressive, but just to give you an example, I'm doing a a trap bar deadlift and I started at 115 lbs and yesterday I'm at 150. Whoa. That's a huge difference. Awesome. That's a big jump. That's huge. That's huge. Yeah, that's awesome. So, I'm pretty proud of that. So, you should be right on. I did do the uh any volt body scan at the gym and uh for a baseline. Um I didn't look at the numbers.

It's it's would wreck me if I did. So Greg didn't let me look. My coach he um he he has it. He has the print out. The plan is to repeat it in 90 days and then review it and look at it. Good. Smart. Good. Um Um Um so I'm dreading that to be honest. Um, so true confessions. I have not stopped going to my two classes. Um, it's you said the intensity was a bit much, but um, honestly, it's my crack. Uh, so Uh, so Uh, so they're my people.

It's it's I I'm still going. going. going. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um, I did miss one week and and and not you know, I I had to for work and my phone was blowing up. Where are you? where are you? Cuz that's nice. that's nice. that's nice. So So So that's nice. that's nice. that's nice. Um so I'm not ready to give that up. Um I did watch the video on the maps prime webinar. Um Doug, you're a beast. Holy cow. You're hard act to follow. Mhm.

Mhm. Mhm. Um Um Um I was a bit surprised. I failed miserably. Let me tell you, Justin, it was not good. It's okay. Everybody does in the beginning. beginning. beginning. So I like that you kept saying 90% of the people, you know, don't do great. I was surprised how hard it was to uh put my arms up straight on the wall. Um Um Um my back arches so much and my lower back pain is a huge problem. So um I I would say I was a good foot from the wall with my arm and yesterday I was about 3 in.

So I'm getting there. Wow. Progress. Wow. Progress. Wow. Progress. Um Um Um but I have not been doing practicing consistently at home like I should. So that's still a top priority uh to keep going with that. Have you noticed any reduction in pain a little bit or No, not yet. Pardon me. Pardon me. Pardon me. Have you noticed any reduction in pain yet? yet? yet? Yes, I have. Yeah, as a matter of fact, I have. Um in Yeah, that's amazing. Yep. Yep. Keep going. Um the squat I'm pretty happy with.

Uh, I can't keep that pole straight to for anything, but the fact I can squat. I mean, a year ago I couldn't squat because my knees were so bad and my new knees are wonderful. Um, so I'm squatting with a 50 lb kettle bell at the gym and very good and doing, you know, elbows to knee squat with it. So, I'm I'm I'm getting there. Uh, there. Uh, there. Uh, I'm back to planning me meals and prepping on Sundays. Um, I've been eating protein like it's my full-time job.

Uh, I I've consistently gotten about 160 gram. Um, and so that that feels good for the most part. I feel pretty good. I will admit I'm hungry a lot. Um, I am back to tracking and I eat a lot of the same things. So, but it just feels good to have some control. So, that's helping with that. I am walking with a friend a couple days a week. Um, I'm averaging about 10,000 steps a day. My sleep is better. It's not great, but it is better.

Um, I I've been sleeping. I've been going well, first, I did do I did tweak my evening routine a bit. I stopped checking emails after like 5 cuz I just want to avoid in case there's any triggers in there anymore any more news that I don't want to know about at bedtime. Um I did add the chamomile tea. Um Um Um I've been going to sleep pretty easily and sleeping 4 hours solid before I wake up. I may or may not go back to sleep after that.

Most of the time I do. So, if I had to guess, I'd say I don't wear anything to track the sleep, so I don't know for sure, but I would say 5 6 hours max. max. max. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um, and it's not solid, but so that's better. Um, not great. So, anyway, overall, I think I've made progress and, you know, I don't feel so hopeless anymore. Um, I'm trying really hard to see progress in other ways besides a scale in the mirror and that's I think it's too soon to see much.

I'm struggling seeing much. Um, I'm focusing on these numbers, the the weight the weights and stuff, the going up and those kind of things. Um, so I do have a couple questions. Um, do you think 90 days is too soon to redo the the body scan and look at look at results? Um, if and any other anything else I could do for my lower back pain. And just a reminder that's you know the pain is the degenerative scoliosis of arthritis in the spine and um lower lumbar disc disease.

The doctor there's absolutely no restrictions. He said the best thing I can do is keep working out and uh working with a trainer and strength training and things. So there's no restrictions. If it hurts, stop. That was the only thing he said. So um and then then then not not really a question but you know I understand focusing on stress reduction and you know sleep and building my spiritual community is still the most important part right now. Um it's also the hardest. I mean I am white knuckling it in that area.

So any any other advice or thoughts about that? I'd appreciate. So, well, thank you. First of all, Sandy, uh you're doing you're doing phenomenal in 30 days. 30 days remarkable. Seen progress and strength like that to see your upper mobility in your upper back and arms like getting to the closer to the wall is incredible. is incredible. is incredible. Uh noticing stress, building community. You got so many wins that are happening right now. The 90-day body fat test, that's not for you. That's for your coach.

So, don't I wouldn't want you to if you if I was coaching you, I do exactly what he did, which I I like. I like that he didn't let you see it. That's for me. It's for me to make sure if I need to tweak anything, it's not I'm not giving that to you to go, "Oh, this is what you did or didn't do." Like, you need to let that go. That's for that's his that's his compass to make sure that he's got the right plan for you.

So, you you don't dwell on what it does or doesn't say. you need to let that go and you need to focus on the things that you're what you already are focusing on and seeing great improvement. Uh continue to try and practice the zone one test in prime as much as you can because that's already showing you improvement. That's going to continue to make you feel better. Keep getting stronger in the gym like you're doing. you're doing. you're doing. You're walking. All those things are great.

I wouldn't take the uh you know the crack classes from you yet because I think that part of think that I think that part of community is valuable to you. So, I think but I would continue to point out to you, notice what happened when you gave yourself 2 minutes rest. Look how strong you got in 30 days. Keep leaning into that. You're going to see continued progress that way. But you're doing a hell of a job. Stacking wins right now. Yeah, you're doing a great job.

Doing so good. The the the So, so we're we saw you 30 days ago and you're very coachable and you're doing phenomenal. So, I think I can add a couple more coaching tips now moving for the next 30 days. So, one, uh, find something you enjoy to listen to or do for your rest periods when you're strength training. If you're sitting there watching the clock, you're going to hate it. So, if you have a book or a podcast or you like to read or write down notes or music or music or music or music, or music, or music, learn something learn something learn something or learn something in between sets, that's going to make that like feel productive and it's going to also make it enjoyable.

Okay? Otherwise, it's going to be very difficult for you. And what'll happen, Sandy, is you're going to eventually the two minutes will become one minute, go back to 30 seconds. seconds. seconds. So, find something you can do in that two-minute period where it's like, "Oh, now is my time to, you know, read or listen to this book or something you enjoy." enjoy." enjoy." Okay. So, I think that'll be a good practice for you. Here's the second part. Um, and I totally identify with this. Uh it's building community is super important but doing life with friends where they know all of you it that's that's community.

So what what what what tends to happen with a lot of us and I can be like this is we have what are called duty-free friendships. So duty-free friendships are like hey happy how you doing and then we go off on our own way and I don't let you in. I don't really let you in on what's going on and you don't let me in on what's going on. And so what what that means, Sandy, is that when you need somebody there with you the most, you don't have somebody.

You have someone there when you don't need them necessarily, which is when you're having a good time. But when you're really going through the tough stuff, that's when the value, the real true value of having relationships lies. And so that's a difficult one because I know I heard you say, "I don't want to dump on anyone. I don't want to scare them away." And so, you know, think of the people you know and the people you think that might be open and or maybe at your church and you tell someone, "Hey, look, I got some struggles and some challenges and I just need to talk to somebody and I'm really scared to do so." And you would be shocked at how loving people could be.

Yep. And that is so different than just, you know, having your gym friends, which is great, but you got to have those real relationships where you can let people because you're otherwise you're on your own. You're doing this by yourself. Well, I've always been the one that everybody else comes to to fix everything and everything and everything and help everybody. And being in this position is different. So, um, um, um, maybe, and forgive me for saying this, maybe it's because you feel like you're you're only lovable when you're a value, and when you're not of value, you maybe feel like a burden.

I think that's right. Okay. Well, just so you know, uh, people love the opportunity to love you. They love it. Love to help, too, just like you do. Just like if somebody came to you, you feel like it's, "Oh my god, let me help you." So, and you, like I said, you could try at your church or maybe the people you know already and see if you could pursue those kinds of relationships. When it comes to stress reduction, [snorts] nothing's more powerful than that. Nothing is more powerful than that.

Um, and so I would say, say, say, you know, maybe seek that out. And then also make peace with the fact that for the next year it none of your goals are aesthetic. aesthetic. aesthetic. For a whole year, you're not even going to f Now, I'm going to tell you this just to encourage you. Your aesthetics are going to change. You keep getting stronger, you keep doing this the right way, your body is going to look better and better, but your goal for a year is none of that.

My goal for the next year is I need to take care of myself. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Just make peace with that. Yeah. And that I think I wanted to I've already gone through two years of hell. I was like, I can't do another year of not getting reaching goals. So when you kind of stressed that last time, I was like, I can't do another year of this. And it's like, well, you have to. You have to, will you? And that's the recovery, I guess. Well, the goals are just different and and and and it's not going to feel like eating healthy and strong.

And and by the way, you might be ready. I know we didn't get into this cuz we didn't get into like calories and so like that. And I'm sure your coach is is monitoring that with you, but the fact that you're hitting protein as high as you are, you're seeing strength gains up and you're telling me you still have an appetite. Eat more. It's It might be time to eat more. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And that scares the hell out of me. I'm I'm sure it does.

Uh just like the rest periods did. But I'm I'm telling you, okay, I'm telling you that when my client tells me that she's hitting protein every single day, I'm seeing her hit numbers and lifts she's never done before 30 pounds. And she's and she's telling me she's hungry, I'm going to say, eat. Yep. Yep. Yep. You need to eat. Sandy, just that's your body telling you, I want to build muscle. So, if you want to see aesthetic change, you want to see body change, then let that body build some muscle.

muscle. muscle. Going to take over for the fat. And and let me just say this, like adding 30 lbs to a trap bar deadlift would be phenomenal for a year. You did that in 30 days. Like that's a crazy amount of strength to gain. And it's probably why the appetite's up. The appetite's up because the body is saying like, "Hey, we need some more fuel. You're ready to build." Yeah. So feed it. Eat what? More protein or like I a whole meal. A whole food meal.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Protein. Yeah. Something healthy. Something like what you were already eating. Just just eat another meal portion portion portion or add your or make your portions a little larger. That's all. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. But look, let me let me let me rephrase. Let me put something in a different context that will help you. If somebody reduces the amount of stress in their life or is able to reframe the stress to add meaning to it and then deepens the relationships with people, is that more enjoyable or less enjoyable?

Is that a better quality of life or a worse quality of life? Definitely better. Definitely better. Definitely better. So, you just went through hell. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The next year is not going to be hell. No, No, No, it's going to be enjoyable. It's going to be better. But you got to do those things that are scary, like let people in and take your eyes off of the aesthetics and it's going to feel so much better. It's going to be way better. better. better. Yeah. I mean, I still did freak out on about, you know, how to how to how to get through these years with with my nest egg gone, you know, but Well, it's it's really scary by yourself.

yourself. yourself. Yeah. Yeah, let let people want to help. Let some people in. Maybe one person or two people for the next 30 days if you can. Um and uh start deepening those relationships. You're very lovable. I barely know you and I I I like you. So, our audience loves you. By the way, you know how many you know how many emails we got after our first episode? episode? episode? Did are you Did you look at your episode to see the comments underneath on YouTube? YouTube?

YouTube? No. No. No. Okay. Go on YouTube, find your episode, go read the comments, your homework. So last week I was or a couple weeks ago I was driving to New Hampshire for a work meeting and it came on the radio. I was listen I always listen to you guys. You're always in the car with me like I told you. But I was listening and and it came on. I was like, "Oh my god." That was that was wild. And I I heard a lot of things I didn't hear the first time honestly cuz I was Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that was cool. But no, I didn't know. Yeah. Okay. Are you in our private forum? No. No. No. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Put her in there right now. We got people to talk. I got homework for you. Yep. Yep. Yep. Okay. So, three things. Find something to do that you like on your rest periods. Not dust. Not dust. Not dust. Actually, you could dust. Yeah. I'm sure I'm sure the owner of the gym appreciates that. If you're a psycho and you think and dusting is enjoyable, go for it.

I feel like you just want to be busy. But that's fine. Sure. if you want to, but find something enjoyable that that really feeds you uh on your in your rest periods. Try to deepen some of your relationships. And then here's your third uh assignment. This one I want you to do right after you get off here with us is I want you to go on the private forum. Doug's going to give you uh access to it. It's on Facebook. I want you to introduce yourself.

Hey, I'm Sandy. I'm the one that was on the episode where this happened and that happened. and just tell the tell the forum that I'm the one that I talk to the guys and they just let me in and I just want to meet everybody and that's it. I'm just going to let let the rest happen. happen. happen. Let them talk to you. Just watch what happens. Okay. Okay. Okay. Do you work out with headphones or no headphones? Are you headphones or no headphones? headphones? headphones?

Uh either or. Oh, you do both. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe play some gangster rap. I feel like that. like that. like that. I feel like Yeah. Do you little Tupac? Don't do that. The the wicked stressful days. I I'm listening to Pink Floyd. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. All right. All right. [clears throat] Thumbs up from There you go. I like that. I I I have to tell you a story that S. I know you'll you'll get something out of this. Um this. Um this.

Um it's pretty wild. Um Um Um sorry, I don't want to cry today. THAT WAS MY GOAL. UM, so I left church one day and I after after the service they always have a coffee hour to get to meet people and socialize and things and a couple people approach me. I you know it's a small church. This church is 250 years old. The floors are the wooden planks that are scratched up. The pews squeak when you sit down. The windows are drafties. You know it's small.

like maybe 40 50 people were there. So, it felt like home. It was great. Um the Um the Um the sermon was about hope and and I had the day before I know we weren't getting any money back, but [sighs] we got something that kind of confirmed that. that. that. So, I felt hopeless. So anyway, I go in the sermon's about hope and honestly it was like it you would have thought I sat with the pastor and told them everything and he was talking to me.

I was like holy cow this is like spot on pretty wild. wild. wild. I leave I'm in my car and I was thinking why why did I not go to the social thing? I I haven't done that yet and this is where I'm going to build my community. this was I'm failing, you know, and I you know, and I was like, I am white knuckling it through this this part, you know, um hanging on my steering wheel and that phrase white knuckling it came to mind.

I had on a rock station. I was listening to Bob Seager and Pink Floyd and all my stuff. Carrie Underwood came on the radio. I It's country on that station is unheard of. And she was playing and she sang, "Let Jesus take the wheel." Wow. Wow. Wow. I was like, "Okay, that that's a sign." Wow. Wow. Wow. Right. Right. I was like, "That's that's crazy." Yeah. Well, if if the guy if the guys don't get annoyed with me, I'll go I'm going to just preach to you a little bit.

Remember remember when Jesus was washing the feet of his disciples and one of them said, "No, I'm not going to let you wash my feet." And he said, "If you don't let me wash your feet, you'll have no part of me." That's the part of us that we don't want to let people in. It's the It's the dirtiest part. It's the part that's dark. We want to hide it. And so you let you let people in. Let people in. That's how you get those relationships. And that's how you're going to get some of this.

this. this. That's how you're going to feel supported. Sandy, you can't be by yourself. We're not made to be by ourselves. ourselves. ourselves. Yeah. I have a couple very, very close friends that, you know, they know everything. And everything. And everything. And but I I worry that I make them worry about me and they don't nobody needs to worry about me. I'm going to be fine, you know. I'm this this two shall pass and I'll and I'll and I'll I'll white knuckle it through, you know.

And I So I I'm careful what I share. Yeah. But you know what's more stressful? When people guess. Yeah, that's true. I I know with my kids when they don't tell me things, I'm more worried than what I know. So it's it's a myth. That's true. That's true. That's true. Go on the forum. Go post in there right now. tell them your whole story because I know a lot of people in there are looking for you. Yep. Yep. Yep. And uh and we're going to see you in 30 days.

days. days. Yep. Yep. Yep. All right. Thank you so much. See you, Sandy. Thanks. Take care. She's so much better than last time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Wow. No, huge progress, dude. [clears throat] 30 days progress. Keep pumping her up. I mean, I really I hope she realizes like what a win that was in just a 30-day period. 30-day period. 30-day period. 30 days. Yeah. And remember the people in the forum were like talking about her, so I was like, "Oh gosh, she's got to get in there cuz people are looking." Total good call.

Yeah. I think They they want I'm surprised we didn't do that the first time communicate. I I just for I guess we forgot. Yeah, we're just probably tied up in her conversation. Didn't think about it. But I can't wait to talk to her in 30 days. She's going to do all right, man. Our next caller is Parker from Georgia. What's up, Parker? How you doing, Parker? Parker? Parker? Hey guys, how's it going? Good. Good. Good. Good, man. How can we help you? I appreciate you having me on.

I am going to read my question to you. All right, so some background on me. I did not start lifting seriously until my senior year of college and I learned powerlifting style training from a friend ran programs like 5x5, 531, things like that. I was able to hit lifts of a 405 deadlift, 385 squat, and 250 bench, which is nothing special, but I enjoyed hitting those numbers. Then life happened. Uh, multiple kids, demanding job, inconsistent sleep, training, and diet. Over the past four years, I've inconsistently run some MAPS programs and just kind of tried to keep training as much as I can, but it's been highly inconsistent.

I'm in a much better season of life now. I can reliably train three days a week. I get good sleep. I'm working on improving my protein and movement. But my question is, as an inter intermediate lifter who still has okay strength, how should I approach progression? For example, I can still full pull 300 by five on a deadlift whenever I want to, but then it beats me up pretty significantly. So, I don't know if I should aggressively push my strength back up or intentionally undershoot. I don't want to spend 9 months getting my working weights back up to just 225 lbs cuz it feels like I'd be spinning my wheels, wasting my time.

Um, kind of reminds me of Jeff Goldblum's quote in Jurassic Park, though. They were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think whether they should. So, how would you guys structure progression for someone like me whose goal is building muscle, strength, and longevity? If you were me, which MAPS program would you run for the next year, and how would you progress the lifts? Yeah, great question. Number one, I see in your question here that you're not you're hitting only 100 to 120 grams of protein a day.

Yeah, typically when I track that's what I end up hitting. Okay, I right away change that. Yeah, get that up because that'll make a hu huge difference. Like [clears throat] 100 120 between the difference between that and 180 190 grams for guy your size is like uh 30 40% uh increase in recovery, strength gains, performance. So make that a priority. Uh I would say that's number one. Um I could set you up on a succession of MAPS programs that I think will be good. But the the thing you want to consider is you have muscle memory which is going to it's going to come back in a hurry especially if you're consistent.

The thing you need to be considerate about is mobility and injury. That's the thing that'll stop you because you're you're probably going to get strong real fast. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you're going to want to temper it even though you feel like you could go faster faster faster because injury risk is can be a bit high when somebody's strength because it's not like you're weak. You're still pulling 300 lb. So going from 300 to 330 to 370 like those are big jumps. Now you're playing with heavy weights and you want to be play you want to take it easy even if it takes you longer because injury risk starts to go up with when you start to move heavier weight.

I mean it's not a bad idea because of that to start them on something like more like a mass performance or symmetry symmetry first and then go to anabolic then would be exactly exactly exactly would be more ideal. So if you were to if I were to lay out like the full year for you, symmetry or performance would definitely be in that rotation. I'd probably start it with that since you are already I mean you're not not strong 300. If you're pulling 300 lb you're already moving good weighting you.

Yeah. So to to kind of rep prioritize it, do more unilateral work and you know more plane of motion focus. Um that's going to reinforce you know all these main lifts that you were already pretty strong in to begin with. So, I think it's a good break, you know, from that. from that. from that. Yeah. If you did sim if you did symmetry and you hit your protein targets, you could probably follow it up with powerlift as long as long as you're smart with your training and you'd be okay.

okay. okay. So, take take my for instance deadlift. Take it down to maybe 225, 240, something like that, and jump by 10, 15 pounds a week and see how it goes. Or is that we're going to switch you? We're going to switch you program. Follow just follow map symmetry. At the end of map symmetry, there's a 5x5 where we get to deadlift. Then go and pick your weight and go ahead and go for moderate to high intensity. intensity. intensity. Shift your focus completely. I think is a good time to do that.

Yeah. But go map symmetry and when it's done, then jump to mass powerlift. And then you got percentages and numbers in there that you can play with. Yep. Okay. And then after powerlift, how do I need to approach like if I'm running anabolic, how do I approach progressing those weights weekly, monthly? How how do you recommend approaching that? You want to go by feel, but don't ever I, you know, maxing out, like maxing maxing out. Uh, I would keep that super rare. Yeah, you should be fine if you're running fi if you're running reps of five, uh, where you get where where guys get in trouble when they start getting strong.

strong. strong. Yeah, they start testing ones and threes and so, and so, and so, and they're going 100%. And so, if that's if your goal is to stay healthy and we're not, you're not trying to do some match, right? you're not going to go compete and go do some [ __ ] like that, then there's no real reason for you to push ones and threes unless you feel amazing and you just want but I would avoid that if your main goal is health, longevity, and you're going that direction.

It's just stick with fives. If you're running 5x5 type of protocol, you're you're moving a weight that you you easily can do singles, doubles, and triples with. So, it's you should be okay. And and if you do a good job of doing programs like symmetry and performance, as long as you get those in you every year, you're going to going to you're going to bulletproof yourself. bulletproof yourself. bulletproof yourself. And just to add to that, you would do five reps with a weight. You could probably do eight reps with.

So that helps you judge the intensity. Okay. Okay. Okay. So you're not doing five with what you can max out with five. So that's that's where you start to get into trouble. Leave like tune the chamber. Yeah. Yep. So doing that plus the protein, I'll still build muscle or be just fine. Yes. I don't have to be ratcheting it up too much. Oh, dude. Your strength is going to go up. You're going to get stronger for sure. Yes. Yes. Yes. But it would be symmetry. Hit your protein targets.

Follow them with maps with maps. Powerlift. And I think you're going to be great. Excellent. Well, that was easy. Yeah, you got it. I'll send you symmetry, guys. symmetry, guys. symmetry, guys. We'll send you symmetry right now if you don't have it. I think I've actually already got it. Do you have power lift? Cool. Cool. Cool. I've I've got a lot. So, I may actually do performance instead of symmetry cuz I'm okay with that. Either one either one of those great. Yeah, both those either one of those would be great.

It's a good rule of thumb. I It's a good rule of thumb. I don't know if you've heard me talk about on the podcast is just once a year, one of the other one of the one of those programs should be in everybody's rotation in my opinion. I don't care what your goal is. I think running either symmetry or performance once a year should be in everybody's rotation. everybody's rotation. everybody's rotation. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yep. Yep. Yep. Well, that's good advice. I appreciate it, guys. it, guys.

it, guys. You got it, man. Thanks for your time. Thank you, man. Have a good one. [snorts] Yeah, that's good. It's the challenge just for people listening when you got muscle memory. Uh it's one thing to have muscle memory and and not be like really strong for your weight. He's pulling 300 still. still. still. Uh he'll be adding 30 40 lbs really quick if he's consistent his protein target and then you got to be careful with injury risk. Yeah. And you're running, you know, this program and and you're noticing these lifts and you're starting to feel restriction and pain and this is something to really pay attention to and this is where we need to kind of shift and alter our focus.

So, yeah, that's where like a symmetry or a performance comes in because it's going to address a lot of those um you know, variations that you need to address. Totally. 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. follow-up question. 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. Go you go up about