The 4 Fitness Traps That Are Sabotaging Your Results in 2026 | Mind Pump 2876

Key Takeaway

Stop chasing the scale and start chasing strength. The biggest fitness trap of 2025 is letting wearables, GLP-1s, and aesthetics distract you from what actually works: progressive strength training, adequate protein, and improving how you feel. Your body composition will follow when you prioritize performance over appearance. Focus on getting stronger, eating enough protein, and listening to your body—the aesthetics are just a side effect of doing the fundamentals right.

Episode Overview

This episode breaks down the major fitness traps of 2025 that are sabotaging people's results, including over-reliance on wearables and tracking devices, misuse of GLP-1 medications leading to muscle loss, chasing longevity fads while ignoring basics, and prioritizing aesthetics over health and performance. The hosts emphasize that sustainable fitness comes from focusing on fundamentals like strength training, adequate protein intake, and how you feel—not from obsessing over data points or quick fixes.

Full Transcript

Transcript of The 4 Fitness Traps That Are Sabotaging Your Results in 2026 | Mind Pump 2876 from Mind Pump Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

All right, everybody. We're going to get into the fitness traps of 2026 that are sabotaging your results and then we'll talk about what actually works. Let's get to it. I like these. Did you Okay, so what what inspired this? this? this? Well, um Well, um Well, um I'm looking at what you got ahead of us here and I'm like, "Oh, this is interesting." interesting." interesting." There there are things that we talk about that get into people's way. Um and then I think there are things that are more timely uh you know, with kind of what's happening right now uh with fitness trends.

fitness trends. fitness trends. Yeah. U like for example the first thing is the over reliance on wearables and tech. This this was not a thing when we were training clients. Wearables were not a thing. Just emerging but yeah not towards the end uh they were starting to come up becoming but now wearables and tech things that track your sleep and your heart rate and your steps and all this the tracking wearable devices are becoming a big thing and they can totally become a trap. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Obsession. I like the way you frame this and I like the things that you chose because I feel like this is the theme that they all have in common. They all have uh validity. Yeah, they all value. They they all could be a tool, but I do think that they've become a trap. I think that they be every one of these ones that you've listed, people have fallen uh prey to the marketing and advertising around them and now it's the end all be all or they're dependent on these things um to get to the results.

And I couldn't agree more like as much and I I think out of all of us I I'm the most pro probably tech. I think I use to the tech stuff for tracking uh the most. I think I think they can it can be a wonderful tool. But I do think that a lot of people get hung up on the data that it's giving you and it becomes this driver and almost a stress. Yeah, that's okay. So, I'm so glad you said that. Um, so when we say traps, that doesn't mean they're not valuable.

It means they can become traps because we either overvalue them or we don't recognize the potential pitfalls. So, let's start with wearables. We're talking about wearables. Um, and I remember the first time uh I heard somebody say this, it was actually Doug. Doug talked about how the the sleep tracking devices were causing him to have worse sleep because he was stressing over the data. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wanted to improve his numbers. He was getting competitive with it. He kept looking at it trying to improve it it it and it actually something he had to put away uh to get asleep to be uh better.

After I heard that from Doug, I've now heard several callers call in and talk. Now remember back when we trained clients, this wasn't a thing. So, I didn't have experience with clients wearing these, but I've now heard enough people on the show say, "Oh, I had to stop tracking my sleep because it actually made my sleep worse." The fact that I was uh tracking it. The other part is uh you could start to ignore how you feel and rely entirely on what your device says, which is not good.

This is not a good thing cuz how you may feel may differ from what the data says. Uh but how you feel, yes, I know it's your perception. Uh but that actually is your re reality. Not only to not to mention that's how you develop the relationship you have with fitness. One of the things that uh we do as trainers uh that helps our clients achieve long-term success is help them to connect the dots. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Help them to connect how they feel, how they perceive how they feel to how they're going to uh change or modify their workouts to how they're going to change or modify their diet.

And if a wearable says one thing, but my client comes to me and says, "But I feel like this, you know what I'm going to go with?" Yeah, with?" Yeah, with?" Yeah, I'm gonna go with what the client says. Go with what you feel. I know this was kind of one of those things, too. And I was optimistic about HRV training and was really like excited and geeking out on it. Um, when I was trained athletes specifically, too, because they'd come in and I'm like, "Okay, what's your score?" And we would see trends, but rarely would it line up with how they actually felt uh before the workout.

And so it was like, you know, it it was nice to have kind of see like the progression of that, but at the same time just how they felt and like if they had a good night of sleep and their stress levels were down and and they they kind of inherently knew that was that was what we led with. Yeah. I think you you said it best with it it's really good for trends. Mhm. So I I I and I think if you just take it with a grain of salt and you go like this is just another data point that I'm using with many other data points that are so important and probably how you feel being how you feel and strength results probably the most important.

The other part of the wearables that I see happen to people a lot is u is the overcorrection with calories. calories. calories. Yeah. is super common uh because they get told, "Oh, this is what my BMR is. I should be and based off my activity level, this is where my calories should be at in order for me to lose weight." So then they start doing that and then maybe they have a day that's stressful. they didn't get very good sleep or something. Uh or just something going on at work or they just had extra sodium or they just just drank some extra water and all of a sudden their body holds two or three extra pounds of water and the scale goes up and because they're tracking so diligently they know like man I was eating 1,900 calories and I still went up on the scale.

I must need to go lower. So now I'm going to go down to 17. And so they all a sudden course correct because they're using this data. They care so much about the scale going down and they're they're show man I'm tracking my calories and my calories are saying this and my scale what a great example example example my my c my weight went up I need to go harder and go down. I see that all the time. time. time. This is a great example because a scale is actually tech.

Now it's not considered tech today but at one point it was tech and we have a lot of experience with our clients where the scale screwed them up completely. It's misleading. Yeah. The the problem with tech is it doesn't have perfect information. perfect information would consider every possible variable including the subjective experience uh of the client. So the question is how do you use tech then as a as a as a trainer? Well, here's how I would use it. I would look at someone's HRV. I would look at someone's sleep score and then I'd ask them how they feel and then I might not even tell them how I'm adjusting the workout because they they need to know that how they feel matters not to me but to them so they can start connecting uh the dots.

Then we got the GLP1 uh scenario. This one's wild. Uh GLP uh peptides, GLP ones are the first ones. Now we have twos, threes, probably fours coming up or something like that. So these G GLPs, this is the first time we've ever had a medical intervention that is so reliable for weight loss. Like if you use a GLP, you're probably going to lose a lot of weight. Okay, period. End of story. But here's the problem. The problem is uh the severe reduction in calories that comes from just not eating.

This can blind you to what might really be happening. One of the main things is muscle loss. And we see this in the data. It's very very clear. Uh if you go on a GLP and you don't strength train and you don't eat adequate calories and you definitely don't eat uh enough protein, 35 40% of the weight loss will come from muscle. Um and that's not good. Uh that's actually not setting you up for longevity. It's making you weaker, more frail. Um it's causing metabolic adaptation in a direction you don't want.

eventually you can plateau and then you're stuck in this position where the low calories you're eating are not even low enough to cause any more weight loss. Um, and it's uh kind of a smokeokc screen. And the reason why this is a a trap is somebody who's always struggled with weight uh who goes on a GLP and doesn't do all the other stuff that we're talking about. They see the scale going down and they're like, "This is great. great. great. I'm moving in the right direction.

Everything's positive. Everything's positive. This is great. I'm losing weight. Whatever. I don't care. I've struggled my way for so long. And it's a trap because they're not looking deeper. They're not It's not addressing the root cause. That's right. That's right. That's right. It's like a a drug that's masking uh the real reason why they got to where they're at, which means you are now subject to taking this for the rest of your life or if you don't solve that. And and of course, what most people are saying is, "Who cares?

Just want to get down there. Then I'll figure it out from there." there." there." This is uh God this has become way bigger than I thought it was as far as a problem. problem. problem. I again I this weekend I was at a a graduation part all the graduations are happening right now right and so I was at a a big graduation party and um and um and um every conversation I had really really really every conversation I had was around GLP once. It was insane to me and I'm not at a this wasn't like my my fitness friends right there's no personal trainers here.

There are no personal trainers there, okay? Zero personal trainers. It's not my fitness bubble that I'm at. And we're all This is like normal people. Nobody's like, there's people that are working out that are there. There's a huge party, right? But I mean, this is not a a fitness gathering. And every person wanted to talk to me about GLP once. It was really annoying. Like I cuz I did not want to talk about it. And they're all so excited about it. And I also didn't want to be this guy at the party that's like [ __ ] all over everybody's ideas and like it was like I just was listening and just taking it all in going like wow this has gone so and bro kids parents that are there because they're hearing so many of the positive things about it about it about it that are letting their high school kids take GLP once high school kids that don't need to lose 100 pounds of weight that just want to lose 10 or 15 pounds before the graduation dress.

That's what's going on. That's how that's how bad this has got. Yeah, JLPs have tremendous potential uh value. Uh but they become a trap when people go on them. They kill their appetite and they just essentially starve themselves uh to lose a bunch of weight. weight. weight. That's it. That's it. That's it. And they don't realize that they're they're trading one problem for another. Obesity is a problem. Uh so is being undermuscled. undermuscled. undermuscled. So frailty is a real problem. In fact, when it comes to longevity, um, frailty is a bigger problem in many cases than, uh, obesity.

Um, and it can cause lots of different issues. And it's a trap because people don't realize what's happening. They just know that they're smaller. They are ignoring the signs of the fact that they're fatigued and weak. They don't feel as good. Uh, but hey, the weight's going down, so this must be uh, totally amazing. GOP GOP's used properly can be phenomenal. But I wonder what percentage of people are using GLPs alongside working with a good fitness coach because that's what you need. By the way, what you need when you're in a GLP is a good fitness coach.

First off, yes, you need to strength train, but you don't just strength train. Strength training needs to be done appropriately. And when you're in a a subcalorie diet, it's even more important that the strength training is done appropriately. Number two, strategies around diet switch. They change. They used to be how do I prevent myself from overeating? Now they're how can I eat adequate calories and adequate protein when when I have no appetite, right? right? right? And coaches, good coaches know the strategies to work around this.

And then number three, can I learn to uh modify behaviors in a way to where this isn't a permanent thing? I don't have to stay on this uh for the rest of my life. And so I see this totally becoming for a lot of people becoming a big trap. Yeah. They're leapfrogging a lot of the disciplines that are required with knowing how to navigate through, you know, body composition. And it's like it's it's tough because it's almost like, okay, well, you know, when's the pill for just like now I don't have to work out.

I have to, you know, I can just take this and then I have these fake muscles. fake muscles. fake muscles. Oh, the anti muscle loss, right? It's like it's it's it's just the same type of mentality. It's like let's remove the work and let's but it doesn't it doesn't play out that way and your body doesn't um you know react the way people are are expecting. Speaking of the pill, the pill version is out too. It's full-on marketed on the GLP pill. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's full for and which I can't imagine how many people I think a majority of Americans will be on uh GLP.

You called that and I you know admittedly I've I've 100% flip-flopped my stance on on it. And I I can say that too while also still saying it it can be amazing for the right person, the right client with like you said coaching and support. We have a lot of clients, okay? Um, you know, we service a lot of clients uh here and there's a there's a large percentage of them that use GLP1s. So I I do want to make that clear that I'm not flip-flopping of becoming pro to anti- it.

It's just that I thought and I remember arguing with you when we first talked about this. It would be a net positive. Even with I I knew some of this was coming, right? There's no This is not like a surprise. What's a surprise is the percentage of it. It's like I thought, you know what? Of course there's going to be a bunch of people abuse everything, right? There's of course there's always going to be the abusers and people that shouldn't take it that are going to do it.

I knew that. But I still thought because obesity is such a large percentage of our population that it would still be a net positive for us. I I don't know. No, the problem with that is when it's interesting when you look at the data, um people who are overweight, people who are fit and overweight. Now, we're not talking about severe obesity like like just tons and tons of uh of uh pounds overweight, but typical overweight, okay? When someone's fit and overweight, if they're strong and overweight, they have better uh longevity than somebody who is weak and underweight.

Okay? So, uh this is what's happening. What's happening is people are losing lots of weight and becoming frail. Yeah. I have a friend of mine who has a family member member member who went on a GLP to lose weight and he came back and he's we're talking about this and he's like, I could see the boness in his shoulders. I can see what's happening and I'm trying to communicate to him like I know you're losing a lot of weight, dude, but I think half of it is muscle.

And the guy responded and said, yeah, I do feel weak. weak. weak. I do feel like I don't have any strength. Yeah. strength. Yeah. strength. Yeah. Uh but again, it becomes a trap because we like to see the scale uh move down. It's almost what I wish they required coaching and you know proper nutrition plan with it you know in combination that but yeah for just people to have access without that type of what we're seeing are better we're seeing better lipid numbers we're seeing uh better you know like blood measurements but we're also seeing sarcopenia sarcopenia sarcopenia uh we're starting to see um osteopenia so bone weakening muscle weakening and we haven't been on them long enough to start to see uh the falls the breaks um the immobility type of stuff, but that that's coming.

that's coming. that's coming. Then you have people who are chasing longevity fads and ignoring the basics. Oh, this is the uh the Brian Johnson effect. effect. effect. That's what I'm calling that right now. Yeah, totally. It's totally turning. I saw actually this why I saw this on your list. I thought, "Oh, this is cool. I wanted to talk about this anyways because because because I'd seen a few people pop up in my feed uh that are taking some pretty strong stances." Uh cuz I don't know.

I think I felt like we were celebrating a lot of the things that he was doing for so long. And uh one of the things the person was uh asking is like man I would love to see like they talk all about his blood markers and his sleep score and he's getting all these crazy things. It's like I'd like to hear about like his mental health, his relationships with his his you know family and friends and what he does on his free time and like it's like this thing has consumed your life all chasing this idea of adding 20 more years potentially to your life.

And I know I made the kind of joke the other day tongue and cheek about, you know, you didn't get hit by a bus at 75 and it's just like what was that all for? You know what I'm saying? Like so you have to ask yourself like you spend that much of your life dedicated to try and chase this longevity thing of living forever when you potentially may not live any longer. longer. longer. Well, he's the he's the extreme, but I think the trap that a lot of people will fall into because Brian Johnson does everything.

He does everything everything which is dysfunctional. Let's be honest. It's kind of orthorexic, right? Oh yeah, but I think the average person falls into the trap uh into this trap because they don't focus on the basics and they focus on the longevity fad part believing that the fad is going to give them the biggest bang for their buck. So a good example here, I'll give you a simple stupid analogy. It'd be like someone going to the grocery store and buying uh super organic, you know, locally sourced uh candy, but they're not getting the chicken, the rice, potatoes, the vegetables, right?

They're just like they're eating food that is not healthy, but they're getting and making sure that it's like super organic, super clean. It's got the all these, you know, different things that I've read that are supposed to be good, but it's candy. It's still candy. It's still potato chips. You're not eating uh you're not focusing on the basics. Um so this can happen with things like and these things have real value, right? Like red lie, uh sauna, like all these things have like real value. Um all the compounds you could take that uh work on your mitochondria.

That's I was just going to say that's a better example for me is the all the peptides that are out for mitochondrial health, for increasing telomeres, for doing all these things, right? And then you're you're you're driving through Taco Bell and or and then and you're doing you're you're drinking till 2 in the morning. Blood transfusions when you just needs to work out. Yeah. There's we're doing these and this was uh this was a conversation I had with uh Shelene Johnson when she interviewed me when I was in Florida.

A lot of it was around all these like longevity peptides and all these things I think about. I'm just like, listen, they are amazing. They're all It's all great stuff. Red light therapy, amazing. All these things are amazing. But it's like the amount of people that are are putting that in front of the basics, the basics, the basics, hitting their protein intake consistently or getting good nights rest. It's just like th and and those things like the analogy I gave her is like listen you could take all of these crazy peptides do all the light red light therapy you can do all the stuff with that with that with that and if I can get a client to improve their sleep by 20% it trumps all that stuff I don't they don't have to have perfect just improve it by 20% that one thing will move the needle than more than all of all of those things so you have to attack it that way it's like now granted if you're the person who's checking all the boxes is then yeah, why not?

Cool. Add that stuff. But it's like we're we're so focused on these these quick hacks. quick hacks. quick hacks. I'm in a text thread with family members. I won't out who this person was, but they sent a picture of a product. It was like a mushroom drink product. So, it had all the like medicinal, medicinal, medicinal, you know, mushrooms that have all the health benefits and stuff. Hey, should I Cortiseps and Cortiseps and all this like like you know, all these lions mane right now. right now.

right now. And it was a good product, right? I saw all the ingredients. I saw the doses. Look like a good product. like, "Hey, what do you think of this?" Now, I know this guy. I know him cuz I'm related to him. So, he sends it. I'm like, "Bro, you're putting a spoiler on a 1991 Civic." Civic." Civic." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, let's let's let's let's do let's do the stuff that's going to move the needle. Let's let's exercise and eat right before drinking this mushroom drink drink drink because it's not going to make that big of a difference.

Totally. Totally. Totally. Then we have uh the you know, chasing aesthetics over everything. So rather than focusing on the things that cause the aesthetics, the end result uh or the side effect, we're focusing on the side effect. So the snatched waist, the you know, I want to look this particular way. I want to and they're chasing that through diet and exercise and ignoring performance, ignoring energy, ignoring strength, ignoring stamina, uh ignoring how they feel uh in pursuit of a look. Um and this is backwards. This is a backwards formula.

The truth is, if you focus on improving your fitness and your health, the aesthetics always always follow. You always look better when you improve your health and you become stronger and you improve your stamina. It always follows. What doesn't always follow is when I chase the aesthetics that I get everything else. I don't always get the health. I don't always get the performance. And oftentimes I get nothing. I get neither because I'm chasing the wrong thing. We've talked about this. Well, I mean, I think this is the entire fitness space.

fitness space. fitness space. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that this is uh and it's and I think this is why it's this kind of perpetual cycle perpetual cycle perpetual cycle is because the people that are communicating the message largely are still uh cursed by this um you know driven by our insecurities. Still the cell. Yeah. Yeah. Driven by our insecurities of whether we were the overweight kid or the skinny kid that didn't have muscle. Um but we're driven by the way we look. Um, and we were so obsessed with that that we got to a place where we now have the aesthetics.

We look awesome. And then now we communicate health and fitness through that lens to the masses. And so we're just breeding visual side effects. effects. effects. Yeah. So we are now just breeding this whole generation of people coming up thinking that this is the pursuit of health and fitness. Someone who is really fit and someone who is really healthy. So someone's really fit and healthy, they probably look pretty darn good. Okay. Somebody who chases the look uh often times sacrifices health uh sacrifices their fitness and the aesthetics don't follow.

In fact, in fact, the aesthetics tend to drop because they become less healthy. Uh they lose their performance in pursuit of this look and they get none of it. Uh so it's a total uh complete trap. It reminds me of other things we tend to look at and we know this by the way. We know know know that there's more value in what's creating the side effect than the effect itself. So, for example, um I don't I don't think it's a mystery that um a man who has high net worth is more attractive to a woman.

But if you took two men with the same net worth and you and you actually told the women what they did, this guy got it cuz he's a trust fund baby. This guy over here built his business and created it. Who do you think becomes far more valuable? We know because it's really not the the money that that is valuable. It's really the the the It's the character that we get that's built through. built through. built through. I got the segue here a little I got the segue here a little bit.

I got the most interesting, strangest like compliment or conversation starter ever. I was out with my kids hanging out and this dude also in his mid-40s probably your glutes. glutes. glutes. No. No. Why is it always coming from a dude? dude? dude? That's what first of all I mean that's how that's always have I mean I know I know I know how many you could we could probably all in this room count on one hand how many times a woman come one time one time girl said I had nice arms.

Exactly. I'll never forget it. Yeah. That's actually start working out. No, I'm out I'm out at the park with my kids. We're hanging out and there's another guy and he's got his kids there and he's in his 40s and he's like, "Hey, man." And I thought like he's Oh, he must listen to the show, you know? Hey, dude. He goes, "Where'd you get your uh your joggers?" I'm like, "Oh, these are your Yeah, these are Vori joggers." He's like like, "What's the name?" I'm like, "Sunday joggers." He's like, "I've been He's like, "Those look so good, dude." He's like, like, like, he kept telling me how good Hey, he kept telling me how good they look, you know?

Then I got a little uncomfortable. I was like, "Whoa, bro. Hold your package. He's like, I've been looking. Not that far. far. far. I've been looking for jog. He's like, I've been looking for joggers that do that. That really He's like, dude, what? What are you talking about? What's happening? Hug my glutes like that. that. that. But he literally like, give me the name. Give me the brand. And I'm like, well, we're, you know, we're sponsored by them. them. them. Yeah. They're not like baggy. This like form fits you.

Yeah. I gave them our discount code and everything. So, it was pretty funny. But I've never had a man like It's amazing how much they have they have taken over the space. I don't know when the last time Doug checked an update. I'd be curious to see where they come from. come from. come from. I see them everywhere now. Everywhere. Everywhere. In fact, I would say nine times out of 10 if I see a dude wearing joggers or athleisure wear almost always. almost always. almost always.

The Sunday joggers. Is that one of their top sellers? It has to be. I think so. I think it's definitely still core shorts. I think it's still my favorite. I like the seaside one. That's the other one, right? right? right? That's the sweats. Yeah. I like them, but they're so hot. They're warm. They're really magical. But now that it's warming up, I'll I wear them all the time. I'm the I you know I Sunday joggers were which is funny because I have probably 10 pairs of those were my original favorite and then I the Meta joggers I moved that's what I wear now more.

Really? Really? Really? Yeah. They're just a little like I see they're a little thinner. Yeah. Yeah. They're so they're stretchy. They're both I'd say they're both breathable though and comfortable. What uh what I like about these is they I feel a little more dressed up than I feel in those. Those I feel a little more athletic workout in. More comfy. I worked out this morning this way. Yeah. And so this I feel like I can kind of style up a little bit more, but both are fired for sure.

I got to tell you about work. So I don't know if this is going to happen or not, but this this might be exciting. So I was hanging out I was with my daughter yesterday and uh her lacrosse is over. School's done and she's I did a workout. I trained her in the garage and she hadn't lifted in a little while because during lacrosse she couldn't lift that much of her practicing so much. And then she took a little break, trained her and she's commenting on how she feels weak.

You know how it is when you get back to working out. you don't feel stable. So, we're talking. I'm like, and so then an idea came to me and I I'm like, this would be such a great and we'll see. I'm not going to push her, but this would be such a great bonding experience, but also what I found is that I have so much more influence with my daughter when I'm training her. It just opens up conversation. I think she submits to my authority because she knows I know fitness, which opens up other doors of advice, I guess.

So, it's just a really good like communic like time to bond. Yeah. So, I'm like, I wonder if she would be down to work out with me in the morning right now. I know you're thinking early morning in the mornings on summer, right? No school weekend. Yeah. Yeah. It's a big ass. But I know my daughter, she's But I know my daughter, she's kind of got a similar personality to me. It's like she gets that kind of like Yeah. She's obsessed with it. She'll do it.

it. it. Well, she's like she's kind of a killer, right? right? right? So, I go in her room, she's she's chilling and I'm like, "Hey." I'm like, "So, how jacked do you want to get this summer?" She go she looks at me, she goes, "Real Jack." I said, "All right, real jacked." I said, "If you want to get real jacked," I said, "Um, I'll let I said I don't ever do this." I said, "Nobody I don't do this with anybody." I said, "But I'll let you work out with me in the morning, but you got to meet me at the gym about 6:45 and do the thing." She's like, "All right, I'll do it." Really?

Really? Really? Yeah. We'll see though. We'll see. We'll see if she I'd be really impressed. It's summer time, bro. She have to wake up. up. up. Yeah. That's not That's like uh That's crazy. crazy. crazy. Cuz I told her that. I'm like, "It's early." She's like, "I'll just go home and go back to sleep." I'm like, "Okay, that's fair. That's fair. That's fair. But it'll be rad. I got a problem with that. Is uh is next year into high school? She's a junior next year. A jun a junior?

Yeah. You didn't know that? No. She's 16, bro. Oh my god. She's the same grade as either. either. either. God, bro. I feel like it's been so long since I've been with your daughter then, dude. I've never been around her in a long time. Not since she's had her life since then. since then. since then. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can't believe she going to be a junior in high school. Oh my god. And then yours are what grades right now? Yeah. So, same. junior and then um eighth grade will be next year for Everett.

Everett. Everett. Oh, Everett's going Oh, I thought he was going into high school then. He's not going. He's got one more. One more. Yeah. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. So, he'll be they'll be in high school for one year together. Senior and freshman. freshman. freshman. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Oh, that'll be interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think they'll talk to each other? I mean, kind of. They're already have interactions somewhat on campus, but like it's funny cuz um like some of Everett's friends like they this one kid knows Ethan and doesn't like him.

He's like, "Oh, that's your brother." like, "Oh, wow." "Oh, wow." "Oh, wow." So, we're getting all this intel, you know, like it's funny cuz like I think he had some weird interaction with him and doesn't like him and but yeah, it's he's he still looks up to him a lot. Like ever looks up to Ethan a lot and and so it'll be interesting to see uh him having to drive him to school and all that and then like you know the crossover of friends doesn't really mesh but uh he does have like one or two friends that like Now both you guys were in school with your siblings too, right?

In high school. I was for Yeah. My sister I believe was a freshman when I was a senior and yours is two years. So mine was my sister and I were two grades apart also. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now my poor sister I act like I didn't know him though. My sister and I did not talk. I would say hi to my sister. We didn't hang out together but I would say hi to her and stuff like that. But my poor sister, if you talk to her now, she thought my sister was beautiful.

Uh very she very very pretty girl in high school especially. And she thought she she's like, "No boys were interested in her." But it's because I made sure nobody talked to her. You're scaring them off. All of them. Oh, that's funny. Nobody dared talk to my sister, dude. I was so overprotective. My sister was like we we hung out with different clicks for sure. So my sister was My sister was like the anti- cheerleader jock group. Skaters, stoners, like that and talk [ __ ] about the jocks and the and the cheerleaders.

And I I was thick into all that, you know? So I that was the the group that I hung out even though I hung out with everybody and I had stoner friends, scare friends. She was particularly part of the group that was like super like super like super ant. I was kind of in the every group but like mainly jocks but then my brother was like super nerd and so I I'd hang out with a lot of nerds as a result just to try to like you know relate somewhat to my brother.

Oh man. You're trying to improve your DEI score out with the nerds. That's That's That's the nerds. the nerds. the nerds. Just so I liked a lot of the same thing. I just didn't hang out in those like conventions. conventions. conventions. Do you know what kids are doing right now? Like crazy. When our staff is doing even hackysack like crazy. It's everywhere. everywhere. everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I saw some kids the other day wearing big ass pants. I'll do that now with my kids. And I'm like I'm looking at them hacking.

It was outside of church. I saw some kids hit the hacky sack like dude. Are you guys kidding me right now? You guys think you're I'm actually kind of curious to see how stupid. I used to be pretty good at it. I don't know how good I'd be. See, I never did. I'm so mad. I would have loved if I knew how to hack to jump in. This was like how was this takes me back to like not having any money as a kid, right? Like we started to make your own hacky sack.

No, listen to this. We started with ice. So at at You hacky sack ice? Yeah. Yeah. So, in 8th grade and in in our my freshman year in high school, you we would at lunchtime go get like a a a cup of, you know, we'd go get like a drink drink drink and then you'd have the ice cubes in there and a guy that's you'd start the circle, circle, circle, kick it out and then we would we'd hack ice around until we make our way to I feel so bad.

I just made fun of him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's like, That's like, That's like, guys, we had a rock. We pretended. No, I mean eventually somebody some kid shows up and they they had a hacky sack. But that was like the go-to move was we'd hacky sack ice until until someone had a a hacky sack. That's funny. funny. funny. Hacky sacks. How much they cost? Not very much. Three bucks. Ice was the Remember those big blocks you could get at like 7-Eleven? Uh and we would take those and we go ice blocking on uh golf cart or golf courses.

courses. courses. What is that? You don't know what that is? No. We used to do that too in high school. school. school. Yeah. Yeah. We'd sit on it, put like a, you know, like an old t-shirt or something over the top of it, but you could like slide uh on top of it. You'd sit on it or you'd like lay on it. Yeah. First time I was arrested was doing that. that. that. Wait a minute. First time. I don't know. First of all, you were arrested, let alone more than Well, I mean, okay.

I shouldn't I wasn't booked. You say I was handcuffed. You got arrest. You got arrested. I got handcuffed and thrown in the back of a cop car and then they just Yeah. Scare a bunch of high school kids cuz we would do that trespassing. Yeah. We'd be out. We'd be out on the golf course and we and that was a thing to do. You go out there. Now, we were also drinking too, which we weren't supposed to be doing. So, we you bring a case of beer out there.

I forget what hole was. hole was. hole was. How old were you? Sophomore, junior. No, no, not I didn't really start drinking till junior year. So, junior junior and senior year high school. Yeah. Yeah. Junior, senior year high school. high school. high school. So, you're out there drinking beers and So, we had a So, one of our close friends uh had a house on the golf course and his parents used to travel and be gone all the time. So his house was the house we all met at.

That's where you we'd show up with the case of beer and the blocks of ice and then he was it was not that far of a hike to what hole I remember what hole it was. Hole five or something like that that had the good steep hill. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh that you go to and then we would just you plop the case of beers down and you just take turns on racing the ice blocks of ice down and it would be it was a blast.

blast. blast. You know what's so funny about that? As a dad now, as a middle-aged dad, if you saw some 16-year-old kids doing that, drinking and sliding down ice, you'd be like, "Well, you know why?" I'm going to kick those kids. Well, cuz you pay the HOAs on the house the other day. You say that's like your lawn. You say when you when you have a house on the golf course, that's like your lawn that and you pay top dollar for HOA. for HOA. for HOA.

GET OFF MY LAWN, KID. I'm in this weird conundrum now though cuz like you know I don't want the kids on devices and I don't want them in the house and they're exploring and they're going doing stuff with their friends and so now I'm like I'm actually giving them ideas that are like you know kind of suspect a little bit like I'm like okay so here's this one spot where you can get underneath the fence for this Corey and you guys can sandboard now all you do telling them that and I'm like dude we used to do it all the time Justin I think that's so my buddy Mike and I talk about this a lot too cuz he's got a his kid is like early years of high school right now too and uh his kid he knows that his kids were like addicted to tech and he goes and I couldn't get my kid to come out in the cars with me couldn't get them to do anything and he finally is into like those electric u you know dirt bikes that are cool and he's like he's got a little crew and they mob around all over those things are supposed to be on the street they get busted they've been busted by the cop and so on he's like you know he's torn on this like get cracking down on his kid and really being hard on him for doing that.

He doesn't want to ground him. At the same time, too, he's not supposed to do certain things on that, but he's like, "Man, I I so rather him get in trouble, even with the cops who are like busting him for driving on the road when he's not supposed to, than him being cooped up in the house and just being on text." And I agree. I told him, they're like at the point now where they want to sleep out in the forest and this and that. And like Courtney's like, "Ah, freak." I'm like, "Yes, let them do that." Like they need to do they need to explore.

like they need to have like these like adventures. It's true, dude. You I know this this is not connected to what you guys are saying, but you reminded me of Do you guys hear about the Lostat mom that got No, it just got like was it 40 years or something? They call her the Was that the one that was partying with all the the Lost party? That's been going on for a minute. Yeah, she they just came down on her like she was been in court and I think she got a big jail.

She got a big jail sentence. She did. I saw where that case first came up and so she got she got she got It's in our neighbor. It's right in our backyard. And I guess she was hosting parties with kids, high school kids. She would let them drink and let them do things that were a bit provocative. I guess a few girls felt like they were sexually harassed or That's why she got in trouble with that part, right? part, right? part, right? Well, also you're serving kids alcohol who are underage.

None of the parents knew. knew. knew. Yeah. But see, I'm I'm torn on that, right? Cuz I had I don't know if you guys had a like my one of my buddies, Kenny, his parents were cool like that. We that they they were home. I think it was the sex stuff. That's what I think too because No, that's the part that really got her in. in. in. That's what I think so too. And that that's obviously not that's way not appropriate. But I'm also I thought his parents were so cool like that.

We we never [ __ ] up and got in trouble stupid because we were so appreciative that they allowed us to come to the house and do that. They would take all of our keys. You couldn't drive anywhere and stuff like You also got to understand like if you if someone lets their kid stay at your house and the parent doesn't know that you're letting them drink, you're even if they don't get in a car accident or anything, it doesn't matter. You get big trouble. Well, I so I have a buddy and I Well, I so I have a buddy and I won't be pissed.

I won't sell them out. But they a lot of times are the house that allows to do that. But they also talk to all the parents before they do that. Like, hey, your son's sitting right then. We know there's an agreement. Yeah. It's different because if I sent my kid to a house and and and I didn't know that their parents were Oh my god. I'd be Oh, I know. I know. I know. I'd be Did you find out what her prison sentence was, Doug? Oh, yeah.

35 years. In 10 months, had been sexual stuff. Oh, definitely. She was like getting them super drunk and then they're having them perform, them perform, them perform, right? She was encouraging them to I think I remember reading the article like she would get them drunk and then she would you should kiss you should kiss him. And what is it with this wave of women that are doing this? All these female teachers that are doing stuff with kids and all these like it used to. I don't think it's a wave.

I think it's just people are now talking. I think more back in the days you if out in the open. Yeah. Like like it was underground I think a lot more back in the day. the day. the day. I just don't think it would be common cuz I know percentage wise it's typically like men are the predators in that case that case that case but I keep seeing reports of like female teachers and like moms. What are you guys doing? Nobody's safe. I think with the with phones, it's so much easier to get caught up with proof that stuff like that is happening and sharing and talking and all that stuff like that is now documented versus word of mouth of like, hey, you know, Miss Johnson had a party last like that's how it would be in the past where now it's like textes and photos and videos and videos and videos and Well, it's thinking back though, it's like I knew at least two or three dudes that like had, you know, relations with a teacher.

a teacher. a teacher. No way. No way. No way. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Karate Chris, dude. Karate. Chris, Karate. Chris, Karate. Chris, one of the best. One of the best nicknames for Karate Chris. How did he end up with throw? Nobody knows who I know who karate Chris. I know cuz I had Karate Chris that went to my school was the kid at recess was like practicing karate by you know what I'm saying? Like you know older guy shadow boxing. boxing. boxing. My my brother knew him.

That's all I'm going to say. But he he's the guy that would like go buy like nunchucks and all this and he was like really into weapons. So I I nicknamed him Cry Chris and you find out later, you know, like him and this like science teacher and I'm like what dude this is crazy but he he was like that kid that kind of matured a little early had like a beard in sixth grade and just like you know so I think you know that whatever it was but yeah it happened.

So that's the thing. It's like it was sort of like not talked about, but I think now now now well I had my buddy when I we were we were 16 were 16 were 16 16 and 17 when I got him a job at the dairy and dairy and dairy and Oh yeah, Oh yeah, Oh yeah, he was sleeping with the boss's wife. Oh my god. How old was he? She she was 30 and he was 16. That's horrible. That's horrible. That's horrible. And that was like that's horrible.

that's horrible. that's horrible. You know, You know, You know, God, that's horrible. What what was Imagine the husband Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. finding out Oh god. It's like there's like levels to it. I don't even know if he ever did or not to be honest. I know they divorced. Well, I mean I mean if they know who you are and they listen to this episode bro. bro. I mean it's old. You know what I'm saying? If you had a long divorce, remarried and stuff like that. I wouldn't put that stuff out there.

That was a long time ago. 30 years ago, dude. My brother's going to call me after this. You bet you crying, Chris. That's my buddy. Terrible. How did he work this out? Was it his moves? But like and but you're that kid celebrated just like my boy my buddy was. He's not That's not like, "Oh my god, she took his hand." It's still Yeah, you guys you guys understand understand understand like he was like he had he had he used to keep the letters that she used to write him write him write him and bring him.

This is making me so uncomfortable. uncomfortable. uncomfortable. It's It's wild. You know why? You know what's crazy about this? Cuz I know and I definitely think there's a difference between uh a girl a girl and a boy in that situation. I do think there's a difference. I think so too. so too. so too. But it's very damaging still for boys. Well, there's there's a huge difference because a six my buddy Okay. even though he's only 16 17 was squatting 300 lb could bench press 225 if he wanted to throw her off he absolutely could I but even that's a huge difference a 30-year-old man with a that young of a girl girl girl there's there is a difference we all know this instinctively we know this but it's still damaging like imag like you have a 16-year-old son imag here's the problem the problem is as grown men we can't put ourselves into the mind of a 16-year-old because we think of ourselves now but imagine if like your 16-year-old you found out one of your friends one of his friends moms was hooking up with your kid, you'd be furious.

be furious. be furious. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You'd be furious cuz she's a grown ass adult. Like, what are you doing to my kid? kid? kid? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it does cause it still causes damage. Still illegal. So, God. So, God. So, God. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. God, those sports events will be different. So uncomfortable. Hey, I wanted to finish the Hey, I wanted to finish the the GLP1 talk. I didn't want to you know you're on your fitness talk, but uh meant to tell you something else that was a part of this like talking to everybody.

You know, the other thing that I found out that's like happening like crazy, and I don't know why, of course, I should have thought of this. I talk a lot about how similar the peptide space is to the c how it was the canvas space. So many parallels. Yeah, dude. One of the other crazy parallels that I remember was the clubs because of all the taxes and all things like that like they the prices that we had to run cannabis for were so high that it also drove the black market.

Sure. Right. And so the black market and peptides is reaching the average person now. Like now. Like now. Like is it gray market or black market? Well, so what they're doing it's gray. Well, Well, Well, is it research chemicals? So it's I think it's black cuz you're buying from a gray and then you're reselling like not legitimately which make you black market. market. market. So what's so what's happening are these average people that are not like legit big com companies pharma regulations. regulations. regulations. Yeah. People hustling that have got lots of friends that are asking the embod ones.

They have got connections and they're buying in bulk off the gray market. market. market. Oh from China. Yes. From China. And they're getting these GLP1s for say hundred and something dollars a vial. turning around and selling them for four or $500 a vial because because Monero stuff is like a thousand dollars for so right right right and people are are buying it up like crazy crazy crazy and so these people are making you know thousands of dollars on the side hustling to their friends uh GLP1s that and that how hard it is to buy bulk research peptide from China not hard not hard people I was people I was talking to weren't wasn't wasn't wasn't and what are they doing they're buying it and they're parsing it out and No, I think they're getting it ready to go in the bottles and everything like that.

They just have to they just have to send it right over to the people. What's crazy about that is you're injecting I mean I understand taking a a pill off the gray market injecting yourself with something. I know. I know. I know. Both are scary to me. So sketchy. Both are sketchy. Both Yeah. Still both are sketchy. That's wild. That's wild. That's wild. Yeah, it is. And so that's So that's that's growing. Oh, big time. Big time. Big time. And that was that was some of those conversations were that were like there was a third party I can't remember I got to find the link that did that tested a bunch of research chemical companies that sold peptides.

peptides. peptides. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. 92% of them came back as legit. as legit. as legit. 92% came back as legit. Oh Oh Oh now they showed this as a success. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm like 8% still came back as something else. Like that's kind of crazy crazy crazy cuz you know FDA regulates 100%. 100%. But it's still better than I thought it would be. Now, I would imagine now Phil went and did the same thing and he said like more than half came up. That's what he said.

I'd like to see though. though. though. He went Yeah. I mean, you can access it. He told He said, "I'll show it to you." So, he's got he's got a bunch and he went through a lot of the like most reputable gray ones, too. It's not like he just did I mean, these are like random Joe Smos that are just getting from China. This is we're not even talking about like people that have like become built brands online and actually probably have a legal team and some things in place.

Like we're talking about friends that are just like hustling it. Like this is black market. This is buying from gray market in bulk, turning around selling to your family and friends for a a 4x multiplier and hustling it all day long. Damn. Damn. Damn. Yes. That's good margin. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. Crazy. That's crazy. I got a study on resistance training I want to talk. It's a it's a more recent study and I like this one because they compared resistance training to aerobic exercise and then they compared it to um no exercise.

So here's what they did. They took uh 304 adults, okay, between 20 to 74 who followed a low calorie diet. So these people ate uh in a calorie deficit and some of them did resistance training, some of them did aerobics uh exercise and some of them did no exercise but they were all in in a calorie deficit. Here's what they found. This was a long study by the way. It was uh this was done for let me see they checked it at 5 months. So so it's a long study.

long study. long study. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Resistance training produced the greatest reduction in fat mass. So, similar weight loss. In other words, the people who did aerobic training and the people who did resistance training, similar weight loss on the scale, but resistance training lost more body fat and gained a little bit of muscle, whereas aerobics training lost muscle with body fat. So, now we have another study comparing head-to-head strength train to cardio for fat loss. And we've said this before, uh, now that bunnies, both are valuable.

Uh, so I'm not going to say they're not valuable. Both are valuable. If you want stamina and endurance, aerobic exercise is phenomenal. phenomenal. phenomenal. Sure. Sure. Sure. If you want if you have to just pick one and your goal is fat loss. The right tool though. Resist resistance training is the best. That's why it's it for what? For fat loss. It's terrible. That's why I stand by what we've said for day since day one is like cardio is terrible for fat loss. Great for cardiovascular health and endurance and stamina and like and so it has its benefits, but it's like it's the wrong tool.

wrong tool. wrong tool. If you want fat loss, you want to get shredded. You want to look good. That's your goal. which by the way is like the goal of like 90% of the people that listen and that buy programs or get a personal trainer is I want to look better. If that's the case, it's a terrible tool. Yep. tool. Yep. tool. Yep. And so it's wild how how that's be still the the button that has a large stud. It's just these nerd trainers that they can't let it go.

Our trainers are just trainer not our trainers but I mean no ones that are Yeah. I I was in my It's like so hard for me to work out and watch this happen cuz I just you I'm I'm in the gym and I'm working out and you know a 20 person class comes in and it is a massive they are doing these side shuffles to the next station which is walking lunges to the next station which is farmer carries to the next station which is uh burpees which is the next station which is lap pull down with it And it's just a 20 minute non-stop busting 20 people through all of it.

I'm going like circuit of madness. Oh my god. Like the these if these people only knew they could have spent 10 minutes doing two really good exercises like squats and and and traditional strength training better results results results rest way. rest way. rest way. Or if that's all you want to get, you could have not signed up for the class and just done jumping jacks the whole time. time. time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you got you'll get the same results. Just just hard hard to watch.

hard hard to watch and see all these people in there going like, man, they would just benefit from doing a doing two good compound lifts with rest periods, spend half the time in the gym, and get triple the results from from what they're doing. I know. All right. Uh, I want to talk about we had a uh somebody write in and talk about one of the benefits they got from improving their liver enzymes. I didn't realize uh well, I did realize, but when they talked about it, I looked it up.

Uh, you know what? One of the number one signs that your liver is a little overloaded is skin changes, itchy skin, acne, dark patches on your skin. skin. skin. Um, so uh I recommended of course dose uh or they use dose I should say got their liver enzymes uh better and saw improvements in their skin. But I I you know I knew this about liver enzymes when they're elevated you can get itchy skin but I realized contribute to things like acne and dark patches. I just recommend a dose to two of my friends this weekend.

So, I can't wait to hear. I have two friends I'd consider healthy. One guy looks like lean and I would have never guessed he had high cholesterol. cholesterol. cholesterol. And then another one, you have them with the cholesterol version. version. version. Yes. Yes. Yes. Both of them are both healthy guys. Both healthy, active guys, but one of them I know run genetic runs in their family high cholesterol. Both his parent on both sides. And so he's like, "Man, I just got the shitty gene pool or what like that." uh but a good eater, you know, has has he's a he's a wine drinker, not crazy, but like, you know, healthy, fit, active.

Uh and then the other one uh doesn't run in his family and he's lean. And I was super surprised that he he had that also. So, both of them uh give him a couple recommendations on the diet um as far as like what you back off a little bit of the red meat. Well, we're we're now How many weeks in are we into your experiment, Doug? I think I'm about 10 days to 14 days in. And you're going to do 30 days or 60 days? days?

days? I think it's 24 doses. Uh I'm doing four uh three bottles and I think eight doses per bottle. per bottle. per bottle. You did your blood test. You're going to do it again and we'll see the improvement. improvement. improvement. I'll follow up with my two buddies, too, to see if they got it. I still have about almost a bottle and a half. So, I must be about halfway through this. through this. through this. Oh, good. And then you're going to do the blood test and we'll see the difference.

difference. difference. Yeah. I'm going to do it as soon as I get through the uh the protocol here. That's awesome. That's awesome. That's awesome. Don't let me forget. I'll follow up with my guy cuz I literally two people I recommended with this this weekend and so I'm curious if they bought it already and I want to know if that if that makes a difference just doing that with some diet changes. diet changes. diet changes. All right. I got some investment stuff Adam that I think you you would find pretty cool.

pretty cool. pretty cool. Okay. Let's hear. So cuz you know we talk about off air. We're not an investment podcast but off air we like to talk about stuff like this. this. this. Yeah. We don't act like we know what we're doing. we're doing. we're doing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz normally we don't. Yeah. Let's be honest. I'm not going to give advice. We say things. I remember when we were more open. Sorry to cut you off. This just reminds me of like when we were talking a little bit more about that like how many people were asking me for like stock picks on my do not listen to me about stock picks.

I'll just be telling you right now I have no idea no idea what I'm doing. doing. doing. So if 5 years ago you bought the average house in San Jose. So this area very expensive you know the real estate market here is always high appreciation everything. So 5 years ago you bought the average house here or you took that money and bought an index fund fund fund uh in the stock market just an index fund. fund. fund. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What's the difference? Uh about 22% on the index fund on the housing market probably 12 to 15.

Correct. With the house 100% increase on the index fund. You would double your money. Oh you definitely chose the date. It was perfect. So perfect. So perfect. So you would have doubled your money if you just bought this. Why? Now, why this infuriates me, which other people who probably invest also, is because I try to pick stock and all of them perform worse than if I just buy a freaking index. So, you know what I did today? So, I literally did this today and I did it in my son's portfolio because I could I still could be better about that.

And then I'm going to follow mine um after I talked to my tax guy with some stuff. Uh I sold off all my [ __ ] picks. Sold everything off your bed. I sold all my all of it off my son's Yes. All the all of them. sold them all off literally today. So, I'll I'll check the account. I think it'll be I'll be it'll be available for me to move tomorrow and then I've already it's all going straight in. No, it's Yeah, but I mean, no, no, this is my son's that I'm doing this in.

I figure I'd start with his first and then I'm going to I'm going to move all of it into an index fund and I'm just going to auto I'm not going to look anymore. I'm not going to pick anymore. I'm just going to leave it for this exact conversation. What's your I was just wondering if they specified which index. Was it a single index? QQQ was the one I did, which is a little tech tech tech heavy. They all they all though, I've looked at all of them.

They're all right around the same. You know, if you think the economy is going to grow, then index funds are pretty much a good, you know, a good a good deal. good deal. good deal. The argument for against them, I get it. Is cuz what what you just did, too, by the way. So, the I know I picked the last five years. Well, you also we also you probably picked buying at the lowest 5 years ago that whatever date you chose. 2021 would have been. Yeah.

Yeah. So whatever it was was when it was at the peak low if you bought and then you rode it to right now which is one of the highs it has that but if you bought say uh say maybe two years before that when it was at the top right before it crashed you it you wouldn't have 100% retain. So it does so that a lot of those things can be skewed a little bit like to to make we should look up like 20 years ago 30 years ago the differences.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Timing is everything. Timing is huge like that. So part of what like I'm a little nervous about doing this and I'm just like whatever this is a long place for my son that's why I'm starting with it. It's like am I buying the index at towards the top right now and then I'm we're going to go on a nice little two three year dip and then I'm like it's like in 2008 I think the S&P 500 went down 40%. I mean no ma Exactly.

No matter what and so right if you bought right before that if you went all in like I'm doing right now now now about right after that you did really well. well. well. Yeah. Then you look like then you look brilliant and get 100% returns with that. that. that. Such a psychological thing. Do you know who why I knew those stats before you said them even though I was wrong on the stock one that's supposed to be 20% is like what the what the last couple year I think or last year it was um Graham Stefen is a kid that I watch he's not a kid anymore but been watching him for years that it talks investment and he was a he started his real estate first and he has a bunch of real estate properties last year he's he sold or he's in the middle still of selling all of his real estate portfolio and going all into index funds and he's his is uh one all of his real estate's in California California California and he's trying to do some ADU stuff.

He's got rent control issues. So, he's got all these things and he goes between all those headaches and he bought early. So, he he's made good equity. He's like even with all the equity that I've made and cash flow on rental income, he goes the amount of headaches that I've dealt with and the percentage that I've actually made, he goes that same money in in index cuz he's done both. He goes, "Just destroyed it." destroyed it." destroyed it." He goes, "So, why am I putting up with all those headaches that makes sense when I can park it in there?" Now, I have a different opinion and why I fought for us so much on the real estate side is like I like having tangible assets for especially all of us with family.

Totally. And kids, like if [ __ ] got really bad, you can't your kid can't go live in your Google stock. No. You know what I'm saying? But your kid could go live in one of our properties. You have to kick someone out. That might be hard. Well, not the states that we're in. So, you know what I'm saying? So, like there there there is that part is like I I value having the tangible, but you're you're right. I mean, the the index fund is just done. But like an idiot, I've treated it like gambling.

You know, that was my my logic was two years ago, I said, "Okay, enough of the sports gambling. I've been doing so much." I'm going to do what Stocks and I'm going to do what Stocks said. I'm pretty sure I'm better at sports picking bets. I got better. I think I got better returns buying gambling on sports than I did on stock. So, uh, another learning lesson. lesson. lesson. Have you got insider information? You have, which by the way, Trump does that all the time. He'll give you insight.

You guys should buy IBM and then the day after what are you doing, bro? Does it? By the way, do you guys see the alien.gov website? alien.gov website? alien.gov website? Uh, what now? I think Did you see what they have up on there? Let me see if it's still there. We'll see if it's still there. Doug, look it up and then there's a video. We'll confirm if it's real because I saw this um I saw this on X a couple days ago. ago. ago. Post P post it up to I'm sure that had like a video of No, no.

Watch. Don't say it. Okay. Okay. Okay. Don't say it. I want you I want Adam to see it. see it. see it. Let me see. I think cuz I think you might have seen it just it just it just I may have seen it. Yeah. I'm trying to This is the government alien This is the government alien like they own alien.gov. So So So no, this is there's nothing coming up there there there unfortunately. Yeah. unfortunately. Yeah. unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no problem. They're constructing the narrative as we speak.

speak. speak. Yeah. Yeah, dude. Cuz they're going to be releasing more more stuff. Sure. Sure. Sure. Way more. Way more. Way more. Well, the So, the disclosure movie with Stephen Spielberg, I guess, is coming out soon. out soon. out soon. I'm going to watch that. Which Yeah, is interesting. Why are they linking that up to the disclosures? They're trying to say something like something like something like I don't know if he's like revealing something within that movie. Maybe. So, here it is. Let's see. It almost came up, Doug.

It came up for a second then. Oh, you got on the other TV. There we go. go. go. The walk. This is on the alien.gov. Yeah. You for 60 years, the US government has kept a closely guarded secret. There's a video, right? Can't you just play? No. So, No. So, No. So, they're trying to say like there's always been hybrids. No. No, dude. There's supposed to be a video on there. Why does that look so analog? They do. Oh, no. No. Scroll up. Scroll up. up.

up. Okay. So, you got to read this. For 60 years, they've kept a secret. Aliens have been walking among us, living in our neighborhoods, and interacting with us in our daily lives. They've shopped in the same stores. Can you scroll down? Yeah. also attended the same classes as our children and live seemingly normal human existence. With one exception, they do not belong here. Millions arrived under the cover of darkness and embedded themselves directly into countless presidents, congressmen, and senior officials knew exactly what was happening. Instead of protecting American citizens, they chose to cover it up and even accelerate the invasion until one man finally had the courage to tell the truth.

Donald J. Trump. So, hold on. Hold on. Scroll down. One man. One man. One man. There's supposed to be a video, Doug. If you scroll down, let me see if I can tell this. tell this. tell this. How much did money did this cost? Tell me this was not set the state. You remember I called this on the podcast. Oh, it's not going to show. Can I'll just give you the I'll give you the cliffhanger. cliffhanger. cliffhanger. So, you read all that? Yeah. And it's a it looks like it's like a person silhouette and then they an alien spaceship picks it up and then puts it over a wall and drops it off.

Bro, they're talking about aliens like illegal aliens. This is not illegal. This is not like that, that, that, bro. This is not real, bro. What are they doing, dude? This is white house.gov/ This is our own government is making jokes like this, dude. Dude, like the spaceship picks up like a dude and puts it back over the wall. I saw that and I was like, what the like, dude, our government put that out. What is happening? What's happening to this? It's a movie, dude. It's a troll.

Yeah, we're we're being Hey, that's what happens when we elect a reality star. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, next next is The Rock. So, just get ready for that. It's going to be WWE is going to be Aren't they going to have a UFC on the on the White House confirmation? That's in a couple weeks. On the White House lawn, they're going to have a UFC. Yeah, it's a couple weeks, dude. Yeah, I know. Oh my gosh. Cool. We're in I I I I I I'm starting to believe that when they did the Large Hydron Collider, Hydron Collider, Hydron Collider, they turned it on and they flipped us into an alternate reality.

And now we're in some crazy weird alternate reality. Things are just weird now. now. now. I agree. I agree. I agree. We're just We're all getting massively trolled, dude. all every day. Yeah. They weren't little green men. These aliens are the millions of illegals who invaded our country. It's obsessed. I mean they you got to give it to them. They have done a brilliant job of just sweeping the Epstein files under the rug and just moving on. We just forgot about that. Just we're on to the new thing, you know, like that's just crazy.

Don't mind this. Cool. Cool. Cool. Fatty 15 is a supplement that has a fatty acid called 715, which has been shown to have incredible health benefits. So, you've heard of omega-3s, but you probably haven't heard of C15. So, C15 has been shown to strengthen your cells. It has anti-aging properties. It slows biological aging. This is what the data is showing. It reduces inflammation and makes you healthier. actually has been shown to have three times more cellular benefits than omega3s. So, this is a new fatty acid.

It's one that's found in dairy. You don't get nearly enough of it. And when you take it, you have health improvements. I've been using it. I have less inflammation. I feel like I can move better and my sleep has improved. So, go check out Fatty 15. Go to fatty5.com/mindpump. If you use the code mindpump, you'll get an additional 15% off. Our first caller is Aiden from Kansas. What's up, Aiden? What's happening, dude? dude? dude? Hey, how you guys doing? Good, man. How can I help you?

Uh, so, uh, I initially submitted a question a couple months ago, but, uh, quite a bit. I guess it's changed with the, uh, issue since then. So, I kind of, uh, rewrote it a little bit so I could, uh, make sure I, uh, touch on everything. everything. everything. Yeah, let's go. Uh, so, a little bit about me. Um I was a college athlete uh and I retired from competing uh a little over a year ago. Um after I finished I began pursuing uh heavy lifting uh in in about 6 months I increased uh all my numbers substantially on all my big lifts.

Um I was honestly I was moving more weight than I had ever done before. Um so yeah I was doing really good uh until last August I got really sick uh put me out for a few weeks. Um once I started getting better um then most of my like main symptoms uh ultimately resolved uh I began experiencing a lot of numbness uh and tingling and uh all of my limbs but about 90% of it was concentrated in my left arm. Uh so this was really strong for about a few days.

Uh and then after that it was just kind of on and off for a few weeks. Uh the numbness eventually resolved. I began trying to train again. Uh almost instantly I noticed a decrease in strength in pushing motions uh in tricep exercises specifically. Um it was like I lost over 100 pounds on my bench uh you know like within uh those three weeks and uh my left side just couldn't do like just wasn't able to do anything. Uh I was really super busy with uh school and work around this time.

So I didn't really think too hard about it. I just figured I was out of shape. Hadn't uh been doing it for a while. So, I just kind of uh brushed it off. Um so, for a couple months, I just kept lifting. Uh didn't really seem to be making any progress. Um especially, uh the left arm wasn't really able to make any progress there. Uh and then eventually I noticed there was definitely a size difference between the two arms. Um so, I just kind of started hammering away at the left arm uh cuz I didn't realize there was a true issue.

Um and so I figured I just need a change uh in programming. I actually ran MAP strong because I was like, I just need something new. Wanted to uh push it a little bit. Uh but didn't really get any gains in the pushing. Uh so February started noticing tingling was returning in the arm. Finally, uh had enough after that. And so I went to the doctor. Uh doctor referred me to a neurologist. Um saw a PT, chiropractor. Uh PT and chiropractor couldn't figure it out. Uh finally went to the neurologist.

I got an EMG. Uh so revealed I have a pinch in my elbow and neck. Um and so the options I was given there were to uh just wait it out, do some PT, see what happens. I could do an MRI for more info or see a u uh see a surgeon for a possible nerve release in the elbow. Uh so I chose to just wait it out uh and see a PT cuz that seemed like the most affordable option honestly. Um, and so the new PT who I'm I'm seeing thinks that I have a uh it's discreated.

And so, uh, it's just been so many months now. I'm not really sure what to do exactly. Um, I feel like it's some days it's improving. Uh, I feel like maybe I have a little bit of contractability back, but I'm not really, um, sure what to do with my training right now. Um, I'm worried that I'm going to make it worse. Um, so PT doesn't want me to do anything crazy uh, like uh, to increase axial load right now. So, I'm not doing heavy squats, overhead work, or anything like that right now.

Um, just not really sure what my next move should be regards to training and in general because, um, I do have a pretty major strength and balance and pushing between the left and the right now and I can't seem to, uh, be just really not sure what to do about it. it. it. Okay. Um, all right, let's back up for a second. Uh, Aiden, so um, what was it that you had when you got really sick? Uh, actually got mono. Okay. And the numbness you had after the shortly after the mono symptoms started to subside.

to subside. to subside. Yeah, it um it was really strong. It was like my I started feeling good and then all of a sudden it hit um I almost went back to the doctor because um thought it might have been something more serious related to it. Uh but it kind of went away. away. away. Correlation with mono. Yeah. So and then when you had the numbness, I know a lot of it was concentrated on the left side, but you felt kind of all over. Yeah, I initially I did feel it u a good amount in my left leg, my right arm.

Um but like I said about 90% of it was just in this arm. Okay. And uh what sport did you play when you were in college? I was a swimmer. Okay. It's so so there's two possibilities here. Uh possibility one is that the nerve impingement is the issue. Possibility too is that the nerve impingement would have been there had they imaged you before you felt any symptoms because you're an athlete. It's actually not that uncommon. Same thing with disc issues. And what you're actually experiencing is an autoimmune response from the mono um infection.

Uh, and so I now I'm not a doctor doctor doctor and I'm not a doctor, but I'm I'm going to lean more in that direction because the symptoms occurred right after mono infection and they did occur bilaterally. occur bilaterally. occur bilaterally. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So although now it seems to be isolated to the left side, you kind of felt it all over initially. initially. initially. Yeah. So that's the that's the direction that I would look and what I would look uh so what can happen sometimes is if the viral load stays relatively high.

So so mono is an interesting um uh infection and uh you can get all kinds of weird uh effects from it. Um the the most common ones are the ones we know about like fatigue and general malaise, general malaise, general malaise, but you can't have kind of lingering issues uh with the virus that causes uh you know that with that virus. And so I would look at uh reducing viral load or looking at uh looking at that in a d in that direction. So you might want to meet with a uh verologist and bring this up to them because here's the thing with imaging especially with athletes.

If I put an athlete in an MRI or a scan, I'm almost always going to see something. see something. see something. Yep. Yep. Yep. And and and sometimes it causes symptoms and a lot of times it doesn't. Yeah. Like you said, uh so so that's that's that's where I would look. The other direction I would look would be at peptides that help modulate the immune system. So this would be things like thyosin alpha, BPC157, BPC157, BPC157, and maybe even thyosin beta. Okay. As far as training is concerned, I would definitely train uh at a moderate intensity at most.

Yeah. Moderate intensity like symmetry, right? right? right? Yeah. Because uh I think it's smart to train unilaterally. Like Adam just said, symmetry. We'll send you that program. I think that's smart. I don't think you should get after it because if I'm right, getting after it's going to make this worse. this worse. this worse. If they're right and it is in fact just impingement, it's also going to make it worse. worse. worse. Keep it. So, whichever way you look at it, I would go uh moderate intensity.

I would train unilaterally. Go see a urologist and then look into peptides. We'll send you a link to the people that we work with at npormones.com. npormones.com. npormones.com. Uh because uh you're going to see all kinds of places you can get peptides. A lot of them are what are called gray market. It's actually black market. It's uh you know or you can go through actual medical professionals and you're injecting yourself with like stuff that's made in FDA regulated uh pharmacy which is what I'm going to highly recommend uh that you do.

Um the other things you could do uh include sauna uh red light therapy uh make supplement with vitamin D uh get good sleep um and get sunlight. These are all things that can help with reducing uh immune response and helping with viral load. Right. Okay. Yeah, we actually have a Jew. So, I'll actually uh I'll get on that. that. that. Yes. So, and you can you can use it on the whole body. So, um now here's a here's a crazy thing with uh with uh the the um with mono and some of the lingering symptoms.

They can last a while. while. while. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For some people. So, um Yeah. So, but uh most most people it resolves uh most people it resolves within months. Some people get the weird like fatigue symptoms for a year. Yeah. A year. Now you had it for a few weeks. I actually know someone who had it for a year. They were exhausted for a year. So it can be weird. Yeah. I know. That's what the the neurologist also thought it could possibly be uh viral related as well.

Um Yeah. Um Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It's just crazy to think it's been like eight months now and it's still could be causing me issues. Yeah. It's not super crazy, dude. Look up mono. look up long like lingering mono online and you'll see there's a lot of people who have uh who've had that before like I said so it's not super crazy. Uh the good news is, you know, 99.9% of the time it'll resolve. But I definitely go to NP hormones, talk with them, and then say, "Look, uh I'd like I need I need I want to look at peptides to reduce inflammation and and to help my immune system uh because I think I may I may be having kind of some autoimmune issues related to a mono infection eight months ago." And then they'll be able to recommend the right ones.

Okay. Yeah. No, I can definitely do that. that. that. Yeah. And then uh I'd like to hear back from you, dude, because I I I don't like ending calls like this with mystery. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I want I want to see what happens. So, can we have you on in like a couple months again? months again? months again? Yeah. No, for sure. Cool. And I'm going to send you I'm going to send you Symmetry. Follow that program for now. Yeah. And just a moderate intensity training.

training. training. Moderate intensity, bro. Just go to the gym just to feel good. Don't Yeah. Don't go crazy. It's going to feel I know it's frustrating because you're you're you're an athlete and so you probably don't know what the hell it feels like to work out at moderate intensity, intensity, intensity, but just just chill for a second. Um, but we'll get to the bottom of this, too. too. too. Just build better recruitment patterns. So, really just be intentional with your mechanics and, you know, Yep. Yep.

Yep. Yeah. After that, and hit the sauna postworkout, after every workout. every workout. every workout. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Also, I do feel like it altered my recruitment pattern a little bit. Like, every time I go to hit anything like chest press wise, it feels like my delt wants to completely take over. Yeah. Yeah. So, let's address that. So if you have any kind of uh immune issue uh or you know related to the virus that's affecting your nervous system uh that's what it's going to feel like.

So just just so you know like you you may have in fact had this kind of impingement issue for a long time but because now things are inflamed it's concentrated in those areas. Does that make sense? So it's like you're susceptible there. susceptible there. susceptible there. This is this is my theory. But I think it's weird that this all happened when you had mono I think that that's a strange coincidence. Yeah. So that's why I'm sure that's why I would look in that direction. Okay. Yeah.

No, for sure. Yeah. All right, dude. All right. Yeah. No, I'll do that stuff. Yeah. Thanks, guys. We'll see you in 60 days, dude. All right, man. Yeah, this has been awesome. Thank you. You got it. Yeah, that's uh to me it's like uh the big clues are it happened when I had mono. Yeah. And I felt it all over and then it got concentrated to this other area. other area. other area. I think it's a valid theory, dude. Like it's especially I've known people with mono and it has taken about a year for them to fully recover.

It's crazy dude. Well, it it probably doesn't help too when you have these bouts where all a sudden you start to feel good and then you push it really which you know is what he's done, right? Like he starts to feel a little good and then he probably hits it hard and then it comes back and bothers him again. And so I'm sure that exacerb exacerb exacerb uh he had all these weird symptoms of pain. pain. pain. He thought it was from jiu-jitsu. Couldn't figure it out.

going to PT and he got worse. He's like, "I can't sleep. This is wild. What's going on? I can't I can't Did I actually hurt myself this bad?" And it was like in random places, areas he was susceptible, but still it was like all over. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And uh we were talking and uh it's he was telling me about how his daughters were real sick and then after that and I'm like, "Wait a minute. Did you start feeling this stuff right around after the and so I'm like, "What kind of illness did they have?" And I'm like, "Dude, it was that virus.

You probably it was that's a childhood disease. You didn't get it when you were a kid. And this is what it looks like in an adult." We looked it up. Sure enough. Yeah. That's what it was. And it took months. Took months and it went away. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Our next caller is Jamie from Oklahoma. Hi, Jamie. Hi, Jamie. Hi, Jamie. How you doing, Jamie? Hi. Oh my gosh, I'm so nervous. So's Justin. So's Justin. So's Justin. This is so exciting. Um, don't worry. don't worry.

don't worry. I have to tell you that I found you originally on Facebook and I was getting these like 30 second to a minute, you know, videos and I noticed y'all were sitting in front of microphones and I thought, I wonder if they're actually recording a podcast. And lo and behold, I found hours and hours and years and years that I can lots and lots that I can binge listen to now. So, I'm so excited. so excited. so excited. Thank you so much for taking my call.

Yeah, you got it. How can I help you? So, I'll just read my email. I made a little bit um of some updates in it, too. But, hi, Mind Punk team. My name is Jamie and I'm a 42-year-old wife, mom, and longtime fitness enthusiast. I recently found your podcast and I'm completely obsessed and listen voraciously whenever I get a chance. Some backstory, I'm just shy of 5'11 and I'm about 131 lbs. I've been a group fitness instructor for 14 years. I teach a class just once per week and it's a dance strength class.

I used to be an avid runner averaging about 40 miles per week, which I know is too much, but I was using running as a way to purge calories. I struggled for about 10 years with anorexia and overex exercise. I even was diagnosed with osteopenia a few years ago, but have come back out of that by focusing on my diet and a good calcium supplement. calcium supplement. calcium supplement. A running injury plus the osteopenia diagnosis finally woke me up that what I was doing wasn't healthy.

I currently eat about 1,900 calories a day and I know I probably need more than that to properly fuel my body, but I'm scared of weight gain on the scale. I consistently eat 150 to 200 gram of protein per day and I have for about 18 months. I started really focusing on strength training about 6 months ago. My goal is to build muscle and look sculpted and toned. I'm currently strength training about 5 days per week with two of those days being about 15 minutes and the other three about 45 minute sessions.

I use the elliptical machine three days a week and I teach my strength dance class once per week. I consistently get at least 10 to 12,000 or more steps per day on average. I would really like to grow my glutes, but I've been struggling with inner thigh pain that never goes away. Even when I take more days off my leg workouts, it's like my inner thighs never recover. I know this pain's holding me back from progressing in my lifts, as I feel the pain doing squats, deadlifts, and even hip thrusts.

I've seen some strength gains, but I am thinking you're going to tell me I'm not eating enough to keep growing muscle, which is why I've stalled out in progressing further. Should I switch to using dumbbells or a kettle bell for my squats since this would be a lighter weight? I would love your thoughts about this pain that's holding me back and what I should do diet training wise to really grow significant muscles and some advice on one of your programs that I should try as well.

Okay, let's start by saying uh you're doing a good job. you're moving in the right direction. Uh what what you came from uh where you're at and where you're going is obviously uh in the right direction, but I think uh your intuition is spot on. We're going to tell you not only do you need to feed more, you also need to reduce uh what we're probably doing, too. So, a combination of the two of them. Um okay. And um more than likely this this if you have the ability to outsource this where somebody else is kind of guiding you through it would highly recommend that just because we've got a lot of experience with helping people through this process.

And this is not like an X's and O's or just a formula numbers wise. It the psychology of it is the most difficult part. Uh it's like you're probably a very disciplined person. I'm sure you're intelligent. You understand health and fitness. you've been in it for a long time. You already knew what we're probably going to say to you. It's more of letting go and letting somebody else kind of guide you through that. That that would be my advice. Jamie, I just want to thank you for calling in uh cuz that's really tough.

And just uh talking a little bit about your past. Um so if if if it's okay, do you mind if I ask you some direct questions? questions? questions? That's just fine. Okay. And you're a mom? I'm a mom. Yes. For I have two kids. Two kids. Okay. So, I want you to pretend like you're you're as I'm talking to you like you're talking to your own child cuz that's what's going to help with this. Okay? Because of your background uh with anorexia, overtraining, overtraining, overtraining, over dieting, this process is going to be simple in terms of its prescription, but it's going to be really hard.

It's going to be so so hard when the scale uh and how you look or even control these are these are the big factors that tend to play a role in all of this. When those are elevated too high uh uh like it's something that you're worshiping uh a lot of sacrifices are made to that false god and the sacrifices look like health, they look like family. They look like sanity. They look like a lot of things that you're sacrificing on the altar of the scale.

uh and and maybe the mirror and and those types of things in control. Okay. Um and I'm sure that's resonating with you. It's really hard. It's really hard to break free from it. You probably do a really good job of taking care of everybody else. Uh but you can't do that very well if you're not taking care of yourself. I know the wakeup call was osteoporosis, but I'm I'm sure if you look back now that you're kind of seeing things a little differently, there was probably a lot of signs that led up to that that uh maybe weren't as jarring that you might may have ignored.

So, we're at a bit of a crossroads. Totally fixable. Totally fixable. But you're looking at about 6 months to a year of it's going to be really hard. really hard. really hard. Okay? You can't weigh yourself because I know what that'll do to you. You can't focus on the mirror. It's not about control. So what Adam said, the reason why what Adam said is so valuable is because part of this process is going to be letting go of the control. So it's like that's really hard.

Super hard. It's super anxietyinducing. It really sucks to let somebody else tell you what to do and then you just do it. Mhm. it. Mhm. it. Mhm. But it's within about 6 months to a year, what it's going to look like is this. At first, you're going to be like, "Cool, I'm going to do this." Then it's going to be like, "This is scary." Then it's be like, "I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to do this anymore." Okay, but I'm going to keep trying.

And then it's going to be like, "I'm wait a minute. I feel like more energy. Oh my god, I'm feeling more clarity. This is starting to change how my relationship is with these things." and then it's going to be like this is different and I like this and I don't think I ever want to go back. But that's the the typical process with a lot of bumps in the road along the way. Okay. So, um I think a coach would be super valuable for you. And here's what they're going to tell you to do.

Okay. You're going to drastically reduce uh your activity. Walking is fine. Probably no cardio. Strength training is going to look like half of what you're currently doing. And yes, your calories are going to have to go up. All those things are going to have to happen and and depending on on your comfort level and honesty. Yeah. It might be a little stepping process. process. process. Yeah. You got to be super honest with your coach. Like super honest. Like you can you got to say don't just go along with what they say because they're telling you if you know you're not going to do it.

So if they say to you, "We got to bump your calories, 400 calories, and cut your cardio." And you're making that face inside and you're like, "Yeah, I know you're saying that, but there's no way in hell I'm going to do that." You tell your coach, "Okay, I can do one of those, but I can't do both or whatever." And then if you mess up, because your messing up may look like this. It may look like, "I know they said I need to eat 2,300 calories, but today I'm going to bring it down to 1900 cuz I'm feeling a little puffy." Or, you know, I know they said no elliptical, but I'm going to get on there just cuz I feel good.

You're going to want to not tell your coach, but you should tell them. Uh, and our coaches are trained at uh very well at working through these things. And so you're just going to get a lot of grace and maybe some step step back and then moving forward. But it's going to be a tough process, but you're at the right place. You're you're calling in. You you're actually saying the right things. So I have a lot of hope for what this is going to look like for you moving forward.

The end of this, you're going to feel so much different, James. So much better. Energy, strength, ass, all those things. It's all It's all coming your way, Jamie. Jamie. Jamie. It's all coming your way. You got to You got to trust us, though. I think the pain in your inner thighs has less to do with muscle recruitment patterns and correctional exercise and more to do with overtraining and undereating. 100%. 100%. 100%. Okay. All that stuff's going to get better. better. better. Y to recover. I have been increasing my calories about 50 every week just because I'm so scared of like the huge jump.

Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Is that something I can keep doing? There's two Yes. So, here's what a coach will coach you through because there's there's two things we need to consider with that. with that. with that. What's optimal? And what is going to work for Jamie? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, optimal, I'd bump you 500 calories today. today. today. Uh, is that going to freak you out so much that you just don't want to call me back? Maybe. So, then we're going to back off because the goal is to get you there.

Is optimal is what's going to work for you to adhere to it. This is what this is what I meant too by this is not just simply like an X's and O's or a numbers thing. This is this is going to be a process. It's going to be a coach saying one thing one week and you have a great week, then you're going to have some tough weeks. And so I don't I don't know if you've been listening uh to current episodes or not where I've shared my journey with Karen, right?

So I don't know if you've heard those, but a little bit. Yes. You're talking about a experienced brilliant trainer and coach and this because this is a past history and I'm trying to take her uh up in calories. this is a lot of our conversations and it's and you know she'll be the first one to tell you it's not easy and even having all the answers and she knows what to do yet still leans on me all the time and there's a lot of times where I have to let I have to back off a little bit I push her and then I could tell she's having some issues struggling frustrated and some of that then I give her a diet break we break for a week or two then I get back at it again and so there's a lot of that talk back and forth and that it's not a whether she knows what to do or not it's just simply having someone to kind of guide her through that process.

process. process. And just so you know, JBI, what you're experiencing and your challenges are so common in the fitness industry. Very very common. It's actually the it's actually more common than not. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, so and you you working in the fitness industry is like, yeah, of course, like uh yeah, almost every trainer I talked to at one point uh had this kind of struggle. So, but it's it's solvable. Totally is solvable. Okay. I I also recently had a DEXA scan done and they put me at 20.9% body fat.

Is that something that I can stay at, do you think? Does it need to go higher? go higher? go higher? Yeah. No, you got to get out of that mentality right now. Yeah, it doesn't matter right now. There's two things that don't matter right now. The scale and your body fat percentage. Yeah. percentage. Yeah. percentage. Yeah. I don't care. I do not care. So, and I would tell you this as a coach, you're probably going to gain some body fat. That's what we want want want initially.

Yeah. you're you're probably gonna get and so I know if that's scary, I want you to make peace with it that that's probably gonna go up. But honestly, I wouldn't even let you Dexis scan. I don't care. I just want to see how strong you're getting. That's what I'm gonna pay attention to. That was one of the biggest mistakes I did with Karen is I I let her Dex scan and our body fat percentage went up and it it spun us out and put us and I'm like it I that bad coach on on my part.

I was so excited because I saw our strength going up so much that I I selfishly wanted to see the Dexus scan and what happened was our body fat percentage went up and that that spun her out and I should have known better not to do that. Jamie, you have two kids you said? Yes. And I homeschool. Okay. Oh, wonderful. Boy, girl, girl, two girls, two boys. A boy and a girl. 17 and 13. Okay. Who's the Who's the girl? 13. My 13-year-old. My 13-year-old. My 13-year-old.

So, when you get when this gets tough, Jamie, I want you to think, how would I talk to my daughter? And I I know that sounds silly, but it's going to snap you out of it. I promise. Because I know you love your daughter. I know you're a great mom. I can tell. So you just, okay, what would I say to my daughter right now? I got to take my own advice because we're way better with our kids and as trainers, way better with our clients and with with ourselves.

Also, let that be your motivation to stick through this, right? Is that you don't want her to have to struggle with with something. Yeah, 100%. Right. So, let that be your driving force to to stick it through and and go through it when it gets tough because it'll be tough. It is. It's definitely tough. Okay. Okay. Okay. But we'll help you through this. Totally. Yep. Totally. Yep. Totally. Yep. So, it's what the prescription is going to look like is way less exercise, more calories, more calories, more calories, uh, but we'll have somebody step walk with you through this process.

And you're looking at, uh, conservatively 6 months, realistically, close to a year of this kind of work. Okay. Thank you guys so much. You got it. I'll have somebody call you. Is that okay, Jamie? Yes, that's just fine. Thank you. Thank you for calling in. Excited for you. you. you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye. Thank you. Bye. Oh, poor lady. Yeah, that's tough, man. You know, like you said though, uh you know, and encouraging is uh where she's at. She's open enough to come on a podcast here where tons of people are going to see her and put herself out there, which means she's she's at a lot of people in the fitness space are suffering from this and not talking about it.

Not only not talking about it, they don't even want to address it. No. Yeah. No, they're leaning into it. And you know what's even worse about this, Adam? you know this uh being in the in the extreme space of bodybuilding in the fitness space you're surrounded by other people that are like this and so it seems like this oh yeah it's what we do well double down on it and when you're you know shredded body fat percentage on Instagram you're being celebrated for it and people who don't know it's so funny that happened to me last night last night I was at a I was serving at at the church this guy comes up to me and he's in his 60s and he you are so healthy and fit I need to be more like you and I'm like no Oh, no.

I'm I'm I'm I'm obsessed. It's extreme. No, no, it's great. It's good that you're disciplined. He has no idea. He just looks at me and thinks I'm And I'm like, "No, dude. You don't understand." That's what I mean, right? Like, if you if you're in denial about it, right? You obviously openly talk about it, but if you were in denial about it and you're getting told, "Oh, you look so amazing. I wish I was like, you help." You're like, "Yes, I am." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Discipline.

Discipline. Discipline. So crazy. So crazy. So crazy. Well, hopefully we help her. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Our next caller is Caleb from Pennsylvania. Caleb, what's happening? How you doing, Caleb? What's up, man? Oh, this is cool. How you guys doing? Good, man. How can we help you? Well, I'm just going to read like everybody else does from their phone. Um, uh, I didn't include much background in my email, but I did want to talk about, uh, my metabolism and reverse diet journey, uh, since listening to you guys because I think it'll be helpful to a lot of listeners.

Uh, in early COVID, I lost about 80 pounds doing all the wrong things. Fasting, cardio, no lifting, no protein. Um, I found you guys like four years ago having lost a ton of muscle. Um, and my maintenance once I started tracking it was uh 1,500 calories. Wow. calories. Wow. calories. Wow. I later found through blood work that I tanked my thyroid starving myself during that weight loss. Um, I think a lot of listeners hear your callers um and how you can recommend people jump a couple hundred calories a week every couple weeks um and get discouraged like I did.

Um, because I had to take it so slow. Um, I did a complete 180. I hit my protein goals, used only your MAPS programs, changed sleep habits, and even still, it took me over 18 months of being absolutely dialed to get my maintenance from 1500 up to 2,000. Uh, many times I had to backtrack and stayed at a level for months. Wow. Wow. Wow. However, in 2025, everything changed. Using the scale to maintain my weight, my reverse diet saw me go from 2,000 all the way to 3,800 calories.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was constantly hitting PRs and literally every lift of your programs. And I straight up traded 19 pounds of fat for lean mass with no change on the scale. So this is what you guys call uh the Goldilock zone, I think. Yeah, dude. Yeah, dude. Yeah, dude. Yeah, that's sick. Um, fast forward now, and the reason why I wrote in, I'm regressing. Um, wrist and forearm are the causes. I've been doing physical therapy for significant forearm pain. Um, it's worse in things like hammer curls, um, pull-ups, um, and even limiting in with like pressure down on them with like dumbbell presses, just getting the weight down on, um, and in the forearm here.

Um, and then as for wrists, my grip I've found, uh, like my deadlift hasn't changed much in the last 6 months or so. I can do 335 for a few reps, but grip is the failure point, not anything else. Um, I could definitely go higher. So, I've never used straps or belts, and I haven't wanted to do that based on listening to you guys. Um, so wanted to see your thoughts on programming or, you know, where do I go from here? Um, I'm going to guess, you know, I sounds like I had a lot of newbie gains in the beginning.

So, you know, I do my tendons and stuff need to catch up, but wanted to see your thoughts on that. Tennis, hello. Tennis, hello. Tennis, hello. Yeah, bro. Great. First off, let me just reflect a little bit on what you experienced. I'm so glad you called in. in. in. Yeah. Yeah. Great example, great visual for people. And this is can be a bit mysterious. So somebody can lose a ton of weight, 80 pounds, a lot of weight. Um, and they can uh, you know, do it in the in the ways you said like starving yourself, you know, trying to burn tons of calories or cardio, whatever.

And it can place you in this position where now your resting metabolic rate is really low. And so you're like, okay, I got to reverse out of it. And sometimes it takes a while. So I've had a few clients uh, like you where it's like, oh my god, we got to it's going to take us a year or it took me a year with some of these people. I'm not quite sure why. uh heard some theories. One of them is that your body, maybe it's your central nervous system, kind of has a memor memory of that starvation period and just doesn't want to reverse gears with the metabolic rate until it feels and this is like non-scientific safe.

non-scientific safe. non-scientific safe. Yep. Yep. Yep. Which is kind of what happened. Like you had to do it for a while, do it for a while, and then boom, your body's like, "We're good now. We can start burning more calories." Um which is what you experienced. And so that can happen to some people. So I'm glad you called in because now we have an example of what that kind of looks like. But it definitely works. Now to the forearm pain. Can you point to where it hurts?

Yeah. So it's up in here. So hammer curls when that comes up. Um so tennis el well at least I I've gone to some doctors. They didn't think it was tennis elbow. Um but yeah, it's right up in here. Okay. So here you are and you're doing physical uh physical therapist. Uh physical therapy. physical therapy. physical therapy. Yeah. And they're having me do well wrist stuff too like you know the hammer stuff and you know. So I had uh I've had experience with this personally. um and a couple other clients.

Um so I got this uh and I got it when I was doing a lot of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and it was like it was mysterious. Couldn't figure out what was going on. I do the mobility stuff. I'd take a break and get a little better, come back and start hurting me again. Um and it wasn't until I had uh really painful deep uh tissue massage on my forearms, like literally the lady spent an hour on just my forearms. Um, and within a few weeks it got rid of it completely.

So, I don't know if you've had any experience with that. Um, but you want to look for a sports massage therapist, correctional massage therapist, and have them do that where you like you literally put your forearms on on something and they dig in and really work on those areas uh to bring that down because I think what's happening your CNS is just remaining a little activated in your forearms which is causing this chronic tightness protective. So the correctional exercise stuff is good. Uh but uh if it's not you're not able to dampen the CNS signal, it's going to kind of linger.

And so that's where I would look right out the gates is is somebody who who like I need to go to somebody release so you can go through those movements and correct that pattern. This this would be also a good time to move away from a lot of bilateral stuff for a while and actually get into things like symmetry I think would be a good good op al alternative for lifting right now. I don't know how long how have you been training kind of bilaterally for a long time or have you have you so I've been listening to you guys I've done symmetry three or four times actually my favorite program good okay good yeah that for words where during my physical therapy it was only my left forearm during the process my right is now having it so like I created the issue over here too so clearly you know I don't think it's a structural thing no I don't I don't either so static stretching will give you temporary uh uh relief.

relief. relief. So the top of the forearm would be arm extended with your with your hand flexed behind your body and really hold that stretch for a long time. Flips Flips Flips and yeah, rifle flips with a stick is another one you can look that up. And you would do that uh kind of before and in between sets. Uh keep your int your intensity moderate for now. find somebody who understands really deep tissue massage and they're going to work on forearms and maybe uh trap neck area because sometimes there's a connection there.

Spiraling sort of mobility practice for you to kind of get that arm and reaching out is really going to help to to unlock that. that. that. Yeah. But like if I was with you right now, what I would have you do is I'd put you in a deep stretch and then I'd work the hell out of your uh uh brachioraiialis muscle. Um and then I'd say, "Okay, do you feel better?" And if you see relief Yeah. within a few minutes like oh kind of pain dissipated a little bit like okay this is what we need to do let's move through it okay yeah and I I've been taking it easy and if I do nothing for a couple weeks it's I don't feel it at all the second start lifting again it's right back with some Indian clubs dude yo yeah yo yeah yo yeah that might be okay so here's the thing like he needs to like get them to chill before he does any loaded wise right that's why like a prime pro like I don't know if you have access to that or not but like some of those wrist cars and shoulder mobility just movements and and rotational additional movement, but like holding and static poses of it will really help to kind of like gain back that mobility and strength and that range of motion.

I mean, order of operation would look like what Sal's saying, deep tissue first. What Justin's saying with uh Prime Pro, the wrist cars and shoulder stuff, and then the third thing would be like Indian clubs. Like that's how I would if you were my client. Deep tissue, release all that, calm it down like S's saying. Then go to what Justin's saying, which is go to your your wrist cars, shoulder shoulder stuff, do all the mobility from Prime Pro. We'll send that to you if you don't have it.

And then the third thing is get a hold of like an Indian club and that would be the way I kind of prime before I get into any sort of working out at all. all. all. Honestly, four weeks, like four sessions with the person who's working on this. Uh if I'm right, you should see some pretty substantial um benefits from from doing that. It took me literally three weeks. I was a chronic issue for me for years. years. years. I've had it too. Three weeks gone uh for me.

And then I've had other clients that I pointed in this direction. It was the same thing. Am I still doing any programs during this or am I literally doing nothing? No. No. Can I would go moderate intensity though? intensity though? intensity though? Yeah. You keep So you know what makes you pain painful, you know what makes you hurt, just go easy on that kind of stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You still train your like legs, lunges, movements like that. This go prime ahead of time before your workouts is is the main thing.

Yep. Yep. Yep. Okay. I think I have Prime. I don't think I have Prime Pro. I'll send it to you. We'll send it to you. You got it, bro. We'll give it to you. Yep. Thank you. You got it, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What about uh so my wrists? I I feel like I have weak wrists and all. It's all connected. all connected. all connected. Yeah. Yeah. That's the prime proip that Justin was talking about. The that's probably the main issue. So the muscles that stabilize the wrist, the the meat of the muscles are up here uh at the top of the forearm.

So when these are tight and there's issues there, you're very common that you start feeling issues in the wrist. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yep. Yep. Yep. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, you got it, dude. So yeah, find somebody do that. I'm serious. Like three, four weeks of that. Um and if you see like some good relief, like we're in the right direction. Awesome. I didn't expect it to go this way. I feel like a lot of people say like I know exactly what they're going to say. I did not even think about like deep tissue massage and stuff for I mean when you have stuff like this it can be mysterious too, right?

I think we're all speaking from experience. I mean I think we've all suffered from this and this is and we're all given our personal like things that we've done. So ju just explain it so you can kind of get the like the science behind it. So when when your body um uh it senses some kind of instability which is is going to happen with somebody who gains strength very rapidly. So it's not uncommon. Okay. has a weakness in the wrist. So, it starts to sense some instability.

Could be in the wrist, could be in the shoulder area. shoulder area. shoulder area. Um, then what it does, the central nervous system tightens up the muscles to create some stability there because it senses instability. But then because the CNS is kind of firing a little bit all the time, which is that tightness, then you start to get inflammation. So, what what massage does, like if you have a tight, you probably felt this before in your neck where you're like, "Oh, my neck's kind of tight." and then somebody press on it for a while or your wife presses on it and then suddenly like, oh, that released.

It sends a signal back to the CNS that says relax. That's all that pressure does. And so it'll get the CNS to kind of calm down a little bit. Yeah. I was doing grassing after workouts for quite a while. Okay. And it felt good in the moment, but yeah, it didn't really do anything wrong. wrong. wrong. Yeah. No, no, no. Get somebody that's going to get in there with their elbow. The mobility and the strengthening afterward is going to help you to to get past it.

That's why I The order is what I sold you is get the get Yeah. get the deep tissue work done to it, then do the stuff that Justin's saying in Prime Pro, and then do like Indian clubs, and then train. Like those are kind of like the the formula for you to get back to Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Yep. Yep. Yep. Hey, I really appreciate it. I am uh living proof of what you guys preach every day on the podcast. Yeah. Great story. It took me a long time, but man, it's it's been nuts the last year.

That's amazing. Great. Way to stick with it, bro. Yeah. Great having you call in. You're going to help somebody else who's probably struggled with the same thing. So, that's awesome, dude. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you guys. You got it, man. I just did this yesterday. We were at my son's uh soccer practice and my dad shows up. My parents are watching and my dad's like, "Oh, S, my neck has been so tight. It's been tight for like four weeks. I don't know what's going on." Hold on a second, bro.

I went back there, pushing. First of all, it felt like wood. So, I'm like, "Oh, this is tight." And I was pressing on it. And within, I don't know, 5 minutes of me pressing on it, my dad's like, "Son of a bitch." He's like, "I feel so much better." He's like, "What did you do?" And so I'm trying to explain to him like, you know, what's happening. I'm like, I'm like, it's just I'm just pressing on telling CNS to calm down. I said, I think you there's some instability in your shoulder.

And I was kind of explaining that to him. And so I mean, that's what happens. Now, when you combine it with correctional exercise, that's when it gets that's when you get past the issue. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I know you like that episode. If you did, check this one out. Walking. It's one of the best things you could do for your health, bar none. But there's a better way to approach it. Yes, you can just walk, but if you follow the right protocol, it's far more effective.

Let's talk about talk about talk about walking. I can't wait to hear your walking protocol. walking protocol. walking protocol. Well, there is a Well, there is a protocol. So, and I'll start with the first thing, right? Because just first off, uh let me start with this. One of the reasons why walking um is such a great form of just activity is because it's low risk of injury. Now,