The Best Strategies for Getting a Crazy Pump (That Actually Work) | Mind Pump 2869

Key Takeaway

Want the best muscle pump of your life? Skip the expensive pre-workout supplements. Instead, drink half a gallon of water before your workout, add 1,000-2,000mg of sodium, consume 75+ grams of carbohydrates 1-2 hours before training, and focus on full range of motion with 12-20 reps. This combination creates dramatically better pumps than any supplement - and it's based on simple physiology: your muscles are mostly water and glycogen.

Episode Overview

A comprehensive guide to maximizing muscle pump during workouts, explaining why hydration, sodium, and carbohydrates matter far more than supplements. The hosts share practical strategies including pre-workout hydration protocols, optimal rep ranges, supersets, and the psychological benefits of getting a good pump while training.

Full Transcript

Transcript of The Best Strategies for Getting a Crazy Pump (That Actually Work) | Mind Pump 2869 from Mind Pump Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

One of the best feelings you can get from a good strength training workout is the pump. It's been compared to other awesome. awesome. awesome. I won't mention it right now, but it's amazing. It's fun. It feels good. It gives you a preview of what you could look like with a little bit more muscle. So, what we're going to do is talk about ways you can give yourself an incredible crazy pump for your workouts. These are tips and tricks. Let's go. Do you remember uh the first time I got a pump?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember the first time I got a pump in my back because that was like a crazy That was a big deal. That was way later in my lifting career. That was for me. I was 15 or 16. Way later for me. Yeah. Yeah. Way later for me. And it was because I did uh dumbbell pullover superset to pull up and I stood and then I felt my lats. Deadlift to lat pull down was the first. That was the first time you got pump.

Oh, it's the first time I I mean I could I I like I did rows and uh in fact I used to really like hammer strength rows and I could feel kind of a pump, but not like this. The first time I deadlift to a lat pull down down down was the first time I felt like my entire back like I felt like it was it felt so different. Yeah. And any anybody's experienced that uh there is a big difference between getting a little bit of a lat pump or you know feeling your romboids a little bit versus like feeling your whole back pumped up.

Yeah. So the pump itself um doesn't necessarily trigger or signal muscle growth. But I I do I strongly believe it's associated with muscle growth because uh it tells us uh quite a few good things that are happen to your body. Um like you know if you don't get good sleep you probably don't get a good pump. Nutrition's off. you're not going to get a good pump. Uh if an exercise isn't connecting well to a muscle, it's hard to get a good pump. You're connected. You're connected.

You're connected. But I also, even if it didn't trigger muscle growth, it definitely doesn't take away from it. But one thing is for sure, psychologically, it's awesome. And I don't want to uh ever downplay that because um people work out consistently years and years and years because they enjoy it. And the pump is part of it. The pump is when there's more blood and fluid in a muscle than there normally is. So it feels big and tight and you can see and look in the mirror and kind of get an idea of what that muscle would look like if it was more developed.

So if you're like trying to build your butt and you get a but a pump in your butt like suddenly you could see like wow this is what it would look like being more round. If your arms if you want your arms to be bigger and you get a good pump now you can look and see like oh gosh this is what it would look like if I gained a half an inch on my arms. So I don't want to downplay that psychological uh component. I don't even think I pay attention to it till way later.

Uh, I mean I know that like so my arms got pumped and that I would, you know, you'd always kind of like measure like your bicep and all that to your buddies, but that was about it until like I worked out with Adam one time and we did supersets the first time. I' never done it before and my chest like blew up and I was like, "Oh my god." Like I like this is what you guys are talking about. about. about. It was wild. It's awesome.

One thing I have a question for you S in regards to the the the science on that. Um, is there a lot of really good research that says that it doesn't contribute to like I mean do we not um is there not a possibility that it actually does play a role in building muscle and we just don't have the the the there's some theories around it. It's hard to control for, right? Because uh if someone's wellfed, well hydrated, and they're having a good workout and recovered, recovered, recovered, then they're going to get a good pump and we're going to see more muscle growth.

But is it the pump or is it really really really all the other things? So, it's like how do you separate the two, right? two, right? two, right? Uh I guess you could restrict uh blood. Uh but that wouldn't be a good thing either. So, it's really hard to parse it out. One thing is for sure, I'll say this. Look, uh as a trainer, for sure, when a client had a body part that that was hard for them to develop, the beginning stages of me knowing this is going to build was always the pump.

It was like, "Oh, I never feel my back or my chest doesn't respond." And when we finally got that pump, I'm like, "Okay, it's going to start to build now." And I don't know if that was the pump or more of that they were able to connect to the muscle more. But I always noticed that that was like the beginning stage of now we could feel the muscle now it's going to develop, you know, type of thing type of deal. One thing's for sure, we're going to go through this list.

What you won't see on this list is anything in your pre-workout, okay? Because they don't make that big of a difference when it comes to the pump. What we're going to talk about makes the biggest difference. And you could test this out yourself and see how big of a difference this makes. So you're not going to see citrine or arganine or, you know, blood, you know, these natural vaso dilators type of deal. Um, those might help a little bit, but they pale in comparison to what we're about to talk about.

And, uh, I know this firsthand. I know some clients I've trained. Um, I know you, Adam, have experienced this as well. I, this was mind-blowing for me. Yes. Yes. Yes. This because I was I was drawn to all the because I love the pump. I was absolutely drawn to the the supplement pump market, right? Like I just I bought all of them and I absolutely used to take them all the time and I swore by them like that they just this is totally working. And not that they're not, it's just that way later when I got into competing and I become very dialed with my nutrition and now I'm really paying attention to hydration and carbohydrates and all these things like that and I went, "Oh my god, I don't even have a pump supplement right now and I'm having the best pumps in my life.

It has very little to do with that supplement. Has way more to do with these other things that you're talking about." And not to go too far in a segue, but that market, those those preworkout pump inducing supplements, they sold so well because the marketing was brilliant. Uh what they used to do in the magazines, this was I remember this. Show the before and after. And it was it was a before and after of the same workout. It was like before pump after pump. And I'm going to tell you this right now.

You get a good pump, it's dramatic. dramatic. dramatic. And I remember and if you look at that, you're like, "Oh my god, that's incredible. I want to try that." And and people like them. And yeah, some of the ingredients may help performance and there's some studies that support it, but it's the stimulant effect that people, I think, like the most. I mean, this is why the the stimulant free, you know, pre-workouts are not nearly as po popular as the ones with caffeine. So, we'll start with the first one.

Most important thing, important thing, important thing, be very well hydrated and have some sodium. sodium. sodium. Yeah, give that a little. This makes a huge difference. And I first pieced this together as a kid when I would have some food the day before that would cause me to hold water. So, it was like a high sodium, you know, pizza or French fries or something like that. And I'd wake up and I could kind of feel I was kind of like holding a little water, a little stiff.

Then I go work out this crazy pump. And I I started to piece together. It's like, oh, I'm I've just got more water in my muscles. I got water in my body. And that's and that's what that's most of what your muscle is. That's what the pump is. It's fluid. Sodium helps you retain the water in the muscles and in your body. And then you need the water. So, be very well hydrated and have some sodium. the the bigger you are, the more water you could handle before and during this process.

Again, uh most of these actually I learned not until I really competed cuz never once had I tracked water so diligently either. And because I was trying to at one point during this this journey get two to three gallons of water in like I had to be really methodical about like how much I got by a certain time. And so what became really common for me was to get a half gallon in before I got to my workout and then during my workout I would crush another half gallon.

That would make a huge difference. Oh my god. Putting a half gallon of water in my system before I worked out and then drinking while I did was the craziest difference of pumps. And I've tried every pump supplement you can think of. Doesn't come close. It doesn't come close to that. And that was so eye opening for me was like here I am. I don't have any of these. I don't have any special supplements in me to induce this. And I have got the most unbelievable pumps right now.

And it's just because I just drink a lot of water. water. water. So I work out in the morning uh like pretty early. So typically like 6:45. Um so I don't have any food, but I make sure to have like a quarter gallon of water with a,000 or 2,000 milligrams of sodium. Yeah. sodium. Yeah. sodium. Yeah. So I'll have like a packet element or sometimes more. sometimes more. sometimes more. Which by the way s is is and I remember when I put this it's was kind of a duh aha aha aha I know I know I know moment for me, right?

Like being a young kid, of course, wanting to buy the supplemental thing, but it's just like a majority of what's in our muscle is water. That's right. And so it makes and everybody and anybody also knows or most people know this too. When you wake up in the morning from not drinking any water for 8 n hours while you were sleeping through the whole night, you look flat and you you look like you lost weight. Everybody say, "Oh, I look leaner and I lost weight." That's all that's all the water that's come out of your system, right?

And so rehydrating and refilling that all back makes logical sense that the muscle bellies are going to be able to fill up with that more. And so it was it was kind of a duh aha moment for me, but I had never been intentional with it. I never like said, you know what? And so if you're listening to this and you've never like made an aggressive goal to drink significantly more water than you usually do before you get into your workout even and then during your workout, I just urge you to do that.

Like just try just try that with the like with salt and sodium. Yeah, add some salt in there for sure. Uh and watch what a difference your pumps are. pumps are. pumps are. The next one is to have carbs. So carbo glycogen uh does uh your muscles do store glycogen like your liver and if you don't have enough carbohydrates, your glycogen is a bit depleted which will make your muscles feel flat. That's the term bodybuilders use when they diet uh for a show. They just feel flat.

So have some carbohydrates. Now, I've had I've been in a calorie surplus on a ketogenic diet, and I've also been in a calorie surplus in a diet with carbohydrates. The difference in the pump is night and day. It is hard to get a pump on a ketogenic diet. It doesn't come close to when I have carbohydrates. Well, this is one of the things why I never liked low carb diets that much. And I know they're great for fat loss. They're great for curbing the appetite. I did I did appreciate it for all those things, but the pumps suck.

And again, another thing that I learned during competing, I mean, I had this down to a science. I had exact amount of grams of carbohydrates I need to have before a workout. workout. workout. What was it? 75. Yep. 75 grams before and I would have this in incredible. And if I did more, it would only be better, right? It was I needed a minimum of that, I should say. Right. So, I should be make that clear because I've talked about this before and I don't think I've ever made that clear.

It's like that was all as long as I got to that before I would see a a huge difference. But again, another duh aha moment. your muscle bellies are all water and glycogen. So, of course, loading it up with carbohydrates and loading it with water would make would fill would give you the most potential to fill those up those muscle bellies up. And so, it was another one of those mindblowing yet duh moments uh for me when I actually tracked and went after. And you can have the carbohydrates an hour or two before your workout.

That's enough time for them to get into uh to to get some glycogen in your muscles. Uh next up, uh really want to focus on a full range of motion. Stretch the muscle. Squeeze the muscle. Stretch. Squeeze. You are pumping fluid in and out of the muscle and you're feeling the muscle. So, to get a really good pump, you really want to target the muscle you're trying to get a pump in. And so, when you're doing a back exercise, uh yeah, you could do rows and your back is working, but if you focus on stretching and squeezing and going through that full range of motion, you're going to get more blood into that muscle.

It's like a sponge, right? Yeah. being able to ring it all the way out and absorb a lot more and and make room for that. that. that. Have they have they done any like good studies where they show like how much blood and fluid is getting pumped into the muscle in a full range versus like a shortened range? No. No. No. I mean that'd be interesting to see. I mean it's pretty obvious like the the you can feel a difference and it and it seems pretty logical.

But it's crazy like any exercise there's any exercise I do and there's you know there's benefits to doing things a little faster uh maybe heavier there's benefits to that but if I know I want to get a pump I'm going through a real long full range of motion big contraction big contraction big contraction and I am getting a stretch and I'm getting a squeeze and I am emphasizing both of those and I can make the pump happen so much faster when I'm doing those two things right there.

there. there. Uh next up, higher reps. Uh higher reps uh is uh much easier to get a pump than lower reps. Not saying you can't get a pump with low reps, but if I really want to feel the muscle inflate, yeah, I'm going to go 12 to 20 reps. Uh, in fact, sometimes I'll avoid higher reps because the pump can get so uh painful, it can actually restrict me. Like this can happen in my legs. Like if I go 20 reps, it's like two or three sets and I'm like, I can't do too much more.

more. more. Stiff. Yeah. At that point. Yeah. I mean, when I think of this, I think of like the analogy of like pumping up a tire and the difference of if I got five pumps versus I get 20 pumps. I don't care how hard I pump that five. Like the tire will pump up way more after 20 pumps in that that tire. And so it's the same your muscle belly is the same way too. And it doesn't mean that there's not benefit to there's tremendous benefit to the low rep.

But if I'm chasing a pump, I'm going to do things like high rep or superset like Justin's experience with me is like that's the the best way. Totally. And again like this is it's so effect what we're saying here is so effective. Like do you guys have body parts maybe Adam because I know Justin you don't chase this too much but did you have body parts that got so pumped? Yeah. that they would hurt and you'd almost be limited. Yeah. Yeah. Delts can get me too.

Yeah. Yeah. So, me too. So, in fact, sometimes I'll avoid doing some of the stuff for my delts because it just gets so they get so full, it's hard to move. But other times it's fun and I know if I'm going 20 reps and I'm going slow in the movement and squeezing and I'm hydrated, have the carbs, uh it's going to be balloon time better with those muscles for sure. Next up, supersets. You brought this up uh earlier, Justin, that you did this. Y. Y. Y.

So, supersets are just two exercises back to back for the target muscle. And you can either do two compound lifts, but if you really want to get a crazy pump, do an isolation exercise first. Go right into the compound lift. Compound. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Holy cow. Does this make things a monster? monster? monster? Oh, yeah. So, like an example of this for like I t I talked about it for my back is I would I did dumbbell pullovers, which is somewhat of an isolation exercise for lats to pull-ups.

For chest, an example would be flies to bench press. For shoulders it would be laterals to shoulder press. For quads it would be leg extension straight to squats. So you're isolating the muscle you want to get a pump in. Then you go to the compound lift. Let the other muscles kind of help out and they it inflates you. It's crazy. It's crazy. And then lastly flexing between sets. Uh now there's definitely bodybuilders that do this cuz they want to see themselves in the mirror, but there's also uh you know old school bodybuilders did this cuz it helped get more blood uh into the muscle.

And so when you're resting, you could literally sit there and squeeze the muscle um and hold some contractions. There's an isometric benefit as well, but this definitely ramps up. Well, is there there's some aren't there some pretty recent studies that show the the benefits I mean to intra uh what do they call it? Intraet stretching or or deep stretching, squeezing. Yeah. Don't I mean is isn't that similar to that like the the in the stretching is creating like this isometric tension on it is similar to that?

Would you get the same type of benefit? Yeah. So that's like where you hold a weight in a stretch position. You know what's wild about that by the way is you can get a pump with really deep stretching. I don't know if you guys have ever experienced that where you stretch a muscle really and then suddenly you have more blood in there. So that's another thing. Flexing is one. The other one is in between sets. Now this is going to lower your force output. So this isn't necessarily what you want to do when you're trying to like lift heavy.

It's not like a performance benefit. No, but it's a feel thing. Uh and there's some bodybuilders that swear by this. I've experienced with that with like a stretch of a fly like just holding it there with weights and then like oh my god like the amount of blood that would just like pump through there was crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. One of the downsides of the pump is that it's pretty disappointing when it goes away. It definitely it's it I mean you know when you get really well it's not functional.

No. And when you get really good at this uh you can definitely see whoa this is what is my potential. I could potentially look like this. And it's it could be quite dramatic. But if you do all this and you do it well, um you can make yourself look very different uh 30 minutes into your workout than you did when you when you first started. I feel like all your fitness influencers that everybody that everybody that everybody right before they take pictures. Oh, nobody takes pictures every time.

Yeah. Why would you? I didn't even know that, dude. Forever. I seriously thought everybody was just I remember so I remember in the in when again back at the my bodybuilding days uh because I was already doing socials by then and uh man I'd see my competitors I'm like dude they look crazy you know and then I'd be like oh that's because they're always like best lighting best pump best everything you see them in real life see them in you see them in real life and size them up like oh okay is that impressive impressive impressive regular regular regular pull magic pull magic pull magic trick you know what's you know speaking of competitor comptors.

Uh, so often times, so competitors who compete on stage, right? They're trying to show themselves off as lean as possible and dehydrated. They're actually trying to be dehydrated to an extent to give them the the illusion of being even more shredded. shredded. shredded. And you talk to competitors and ask them, "How hard is it to get a pump on stage? How hard is it to get a pump when you're trying to pose in front of people because hydrated? You're not hydrated. You're depleted. You tried carb loading, but you maybe you didn't as as well as you could.

Your sodium was low. you're had been in a calorie deficit forever. You're tired and you'll hear bodybuilders say like I couldn't I can't even get the muscles. That's like the art of it at the end, right? Is right? Is right? Is Yeah. I mean, I took a this is something that, you know, I talked uh many times about the things that I saw as opportunity for me, right? Like I definitely do not think that I've got a a great bodybuilding physique whatsoever. And but I I had some advantages with my programming knowledge, my nutrition knowledge.

This was one of the things too that I thought was like a huge advantage for me was like, "Oh, these guys were like like having no water, zero water, and then trying to use just carbohydrates." Like most of your muscle bellies are water. Like you want to pull the Like you want to pull the water between your skin and your muscle, but not all. You don't want to pull all of your water out. Pulling all of your water out of your muscle bellies is like you're going to make it almost impossible to get a deflated balloon.

Yeah. So you so I would I was I still on actual day of competing drink a quarter gallon of water which in context of like competitors that's a ton. Some of them are spitting throughout the day the water out of their system. So I would I would I would drink a quarter gallon in in on on day on game day getting up there on stage. So, because I knew I needed that water, so to to pair with the carb and but you do still lose the pump really fast because your body uses it up really quick when you when you're so low calorie, you're so depleted that you you do these little rubber band pumps and you're trying to time when you're going to go up on stage.

And a lot of times I remember I would go thinking that I'm it's about my turn to go out and then it would something would happen, the show would get delayed and then you would you would like oh no. Yeah. You would flat out. You know, this is kind of off subject, but I found this really interesting like and and maybe s you understand the science even better than me, but uh I uh found that if I different um carbohydrates and or pairing with fats, uh it when I would intake food would allow my body to be able to stay pumped up longer.

Yeah. I don't know what the science is with that, but everybody says that. Everybody has their like Yeah. So, I had I had So, like one I remember one show uh I got ready for and uh this was the first time that I used uh sweet potato with my my chicken um to like get ready for like to show and same amount of grams of carbohydrates as measured out as my my white rice and everything like that. Um but something to do with like how my body process those carbohydrates versus then if I would have rice and then and and then versus rice.

I notice the difference. And then versus when I'd have rice and avocado. avocado. avocado. So the best combination was rice, avocado, and the chicken. And something to do with and what then the difference was how long I could hold a pump. Interesting. Interesting. Interesting. All of them had a difference. The the longest pump that I could hold and fill myself out with was the rice comboed with the fat comboed with the bread. My my the food that I'll eat that will always give me a crazy pump if I have it like a few hours before is French fries.

Now, it's not because French fries are good for you. Sodium in the carbs. It's a It's hella high sodium and it's carbohydrates. It's the sodium and the carbs. Period. End of End of End of story. By the way, this is also why to you at that point, this is why so many bodybuilders swear by like the the pancakes and all and the and the or the burger and fries before the sodium carbohydrates. carbohydrates. carbohydrates. Yeah, it's the sodium and the carbohydrates. It's just that you're loading up on a ton of sodium and carbohydrates that you've depleted your body up for so long.

Do you guys have exercises that you know like, oh, this for if I want to get a pump, this is the exercise. This is going to get me to just blow the heck up. up. up. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. upright rows for shoulders. For me, if I do upright rows, it's it's gonna within four reps, my shoulders. That's why I love those rear delt cable fire so much. Oh, that's good. I mean, yeah. If I all I have to where you're bent over the full two exercises.

If I do a I obviously I'll do something for the full full shoulder, right? Like a like a a military shoulder press or whatever, right? A dumbbell press and those rear flies and my shoulders are blown out. Just those two movements like for sure. For back, for me, it's a supernated grip, close grip, pull downs, and I go all the way up, get a real deep stretch, all the way down, get a good squeeze. It's like half a set, four, set, four, set, four, four sets of heavy deadlifts, over the latap pull downs.

I don't think there's I don't think it's possible to get a back more pump than that. Justin, do you even care? Just listening to you guys. I don't even know. know. know. I don't I don't want to inject in this. That's one of those things. It's like, oh, this happened to me. You know, that's kind of how I look at it. You know what's crazy about this is as an athlete, the last thing you want is a pump when you're on the field because you can't move.

Especially Yeah. It was always the forearms. Like when I would get a pump in the forearms, I would be like, "Oh no." Like I'd be panic mode, dude. I had a guy hire me who raced motocross and I like, "Okay, so what are your fitness goals?" And he dude, he confused the hell out of me. He goes, "Um, I want I don't want to get a pump in my forearms anymore." And I'd never heard anybody not want to get a pump before. And I remember being like, "Oh crap, what do I do?" You know, we we we just had Phil Heath here and uh he talked about something and I wish we would have gotten more into it and we've talked about this and speculated on this a long time ago and uh and I I wish there was some good science just to support this theory um that I have or that we have cuz I think we've agreed and shared this it it where the pump can be bad where you only chase the pump which I was that kid for a very long time.

long time. long time. Yeah. heavy low rep strength training with long rest periods doesn't produce a pump and so you'll avoid it. Yeah. And avoid this great way to build muscle and and so and it just what happened to me was I train the pump forever and I remember for years like man looking at if I could just look like that and I then I would deflate down and feel like now I don't even look like I work out years I felt this way. It wasn't until I really started to heavy and and and train and load and so that and the biggest difference was when I worked out like that I didn't have the impressive pump.

pump. pump. But then what I Exactly. But what I look like is I look like I had muscle on me all the time. It didn't matter if I was pumped up or not. And then and now what I see as I've gotten older because I've built so much of that muscle too is like man I touch a little bit of weights and get pumped up and it's like even if I feel like man I'm really deflated. I haven't trained in a while. Oh man, let me get in the gym real quick.

I'll get a pump in and I'll look like a guy who works out all the time. Like it's so it's it's wild how that heavy training, I don't know what it is. We talked about it's more, you know, uh granite like Well, they all they all build muscle, but if you avoid it for a long time and then you finally do it, boom, you're going to build tons of muscle. I had the same experience when I would lift heavy. I had to get disconnected from the fact that I wasn't going to get a pump.

It's like, okay, cool. I'm just going to lift heavy. But each time I built muscle. They both can build muscle, but if you stick to one for too long, like we talk about all the time, you're missing the benefit, uh, of the other one. Yeah. Big difference for me, for sure. So, uh, uh, I want to bring up this, uh, peptide stack that I just got, uh, from our partners at MP Hormones. Have you guys heard of the Clo stack? Oh, Katrina got that. Phil sent that to her, Phil sent that.

Phil sent that to her, dude. So, I'm going to look this up. Okay. So, Okay. So, Okay. So, so supposedly it's like, bro, this is the the best stack. He told her that he said this is cuz she Okay. She's always taken like uh you know uh skin face like type peptide and and supplements that we could get our hands on. And she would tell she told Phil when we all first met what he was saying. He's like, "Oh, wait till I send you what we have.

We have the the the best." So I I looked up reviews. First of all, I'm very familiar with these peptides. So I know like, "Oh, this combination is amazing." But you also look up reviews and it's like, "So it's got GHKCU." got GHKCU." got GHKCU." So GHKCU So GHKCU So GHKCU really increases collagen production. So, it's good for gut health, but it's really good for the skin, okay? And everybody knows that. Then you have BPC157. Everybody knows that one. Gut healing, neuroprotective, joint recovery, but it also helps with collagen and protein synthesis and those types of things.

Then you have TB500. This is a uh thymus um peptide. This is good for hair growth. It's also got some benefits for skin. It's good for recovery. Uh it's good for healing. And then you have KPV. KPV is anti-inflammatory. anti-inflammatory. anti-inflammatory. It's also good for gut health. But when you combine them, the synergistic effects for the skin because I've done GHKCU, BPC, and uh and TB500. I've done that that trio before. And you definitely notice. My wife's done it. Definitely notice. We've never never had added the KPV, but I know KPV is another peptide that's good for stack that and sit in front of the red light, man.

That's like the That's what she's doing. My wife's doing that right now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's the that's the four peptide stack. And so what used to and what's cool about our partners at MP Hormones is it comes in one vial. So it used to be if you wanted all four of those, you get four vials. Yeah. You'd have to do four injections, mix it. mix it. mix it. No, it's all it's all in one. It's like a tiny bit, 20 units. So that doesn't include the cream also.

So there's another thing. You can also go You can also She uses a cream too. You can also apply peptide to your face and it's more direct. direct. direct. She has the injectable and then she also has these the the cream that she's doing. doing. doing. Bro, the before. So, if you're listening right now, look up close stack before and after and you'll see people 30-day before and afters and it's like, did they get a facelift? It's pretty wild. Yeah. I mean, this is Katrina and I talk about this a lot.

We've talked about this a while ago on the podcast where we kind of all are at with, you know, anti-aging and all the the the things out there and Botox and face and plastic surgery and like I'm so pro doing things that are like natural and and the using the using all those tools to do everything you can to reduce aging. Not a fan of like like you know injecting Botox or plastic surgery. So peptides for people listening these are these are signalers that the in the body that uh your body knows what to do with uh many of them exist already in the body like BPC does thyosin uh or or TB500 uh is a a a piece of thyus and beta this thing already exists in the body so it's not a pharmaceutical drug it's a peptide that your body already has has has signaling it signaling it signaling it and so you're signaling just tissue repair collagen repair skin repair is what's happening and all many of these pep these peptides that you have in your body decrease with age.

Yeah. You're not injecting a foreign thing in there to to to kill nerves so you don't have wrinkles to do. By the way, have you guys paralyzed your skin? skin? skin? No, the data on Botox is wild. That's what it does, right? So, the science of what Botox does is it kills the Right. It basically paralyzes the nerves that make Yeah. that make your your your your frowns or smiles or all those things like that. Which is why did you know that that there's data that shows that people with Botox uh experience less uh happiness?

I'm of course because they don't they can't express as well. Oh yeah. And so there's this feedback signal, right? So your brain tells you to be happy, but then your your brain also receives a signal from your face expressions that you're happy. And so and so what they So these these studies show that Botox uh can reduce the Isn't that crazy? Cuz it's like h Yeah. You're worried about these wrinkles when you're smiling. Yeah. Exactly. Immediately like it's it affects your mood. Yeah, Doug, look that up.

Look up how Botox affects uh happiness. Uh um I'd love to see those studies. I remember reading them a while ago and uh it's it's pretty it's pretty wild. Super common. Super common. Uh you're there people are using Botox at um such young disrupting the brain's emotional feedback loop. feedback loop. feedback loop. Paralyzing specific facial muscles prevents you from making expressions like frowning which can subtly dampen negative emotions and boost mood. However, this effect varies by treatment. So you you you basically can narrow your emotional like I'm less happy.

happy. happy. You know, there's a way there's a there's a hack into the reverse of this for on the positive side, too. By the way, if you've never tried this, like it actually takes like you have to be very intentional and practice like the next time you're angry. It's like force yourself to smile and it's you will feel a difference. So I know like you will feel a a a difference like Well, here try this fake laugh and try not to real laugh. You're good on real laugh.

laugh. laugh. Yeah. Have you seen that video where this lady starts doing that and she goes like haha and then they the guy that she's doing was goes haha and then they keep going back and forth escalates and it's real you know and then you're you even just watching it I start laughing it's like it's it's fake and then all of a sudden it's real that's what I mean like you could you fake smile when you're angry and you will literally start to feel better. I mean, it may not get rid of the problem that you're angry about or what like that, but it will dramatically shift how you feel about.

We also think like a smile has to do with the mouth, and it does, but it's the whole face. So, one of the most uh disturbing images that they've actually tracked this is a face that's smiling without the rest of the face smiling. So, it's a it's a a mouth smile. You had Doug pull this up years ago without the eyes smiling. And it just looks unnerving. looks unnerving. looks unnerving. Creepy. You had Doug pull this up a long time ago. It looks creepy. It looks super creepy.

marketing for that that um one horror movie where they're smiling often times crazy like like the like when they display a killer they have a smile but the rest of their body look at that does look creepy dude dude dude dude cuz your brain can't register what's going on and so they look crazy that's a creepy that's so creepy you know what I watch whenever I feel like oh I'm like depressed or whatever like there's this one video it was from I think it was in u in the UK K where they had this this this talk show and they brought in people with like unique laughs and I've seen this.

Oh my god, I die every time I watch it. It's like Oh, it's so funny. It's a bunch of weird laughs. You're like, You're like, You're like, you know, everybody has like the most bizarre laugh you've ever heard. It's so contagious. contagious. contagious. Where where do you think that? Why do Why do we all have That's an interesting Why do we all laugh? No. No. Why do we all have different laughs? laughs? laughs? Oh, I don't know. I think it changes too based on who you hang out with.

You know, when I was a kid, I thought weird, but When I was a real young kid, I thought people laughed in different languages. languages. languages. What? What? What? I was real young. Oh, people people in the countries laugh in different languages. languages. languages. No. Stop. Sorry. Sorry. I was trying to think of you think about how uh how unique that is. He's So that's an interesting thought you said, Justin. So you think that it changes based off who you hang out with? I do. Like much like our slang our slang does, right?

I also start using slang when I'm hanging around. Well, you know, it's weird cuz I was thinking about that even with myself cuz I've you know, you listen to yourself on the podcast or you listen just how you interact with different people and u I was I was with like an old group of friends that I hadn't hung out with in a long time and then I heard one of my friends laugh and I was like dude that's my laugh you know and then I was like ew you probably infected me with your laugh and then I picked that up and then you know so I and then too Courtney it's funny cuz like the longer hang out with somebody kind of mold into that person and like and like and like she has certain expressions that I've known I've picked up on.

She same with her and me and like she kind of laughs a little bit like me sometimes and I call her out on it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's weird. It's weird. It's weird. Do you notice that? Do you do you notice that? that? that? Uh I don't I'm trying to think about I don't know. That's don't know. I don't know. That's interesting. interesting. interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I like um I like I like it when people laugh heartily. laugh heartily. laugh heartily. You know what I mean?

Like they're really letting themselves laugh like a good belly laugh. Like like you don't care. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. It's like one of my favorite things when you're with a group of friends or you're, you know. I mean, I never knew I did the the the Windex one that they make fun of me about. about. about. But I I think I only do that on podcast for some reason. I feel like I It might be a fake laugh. No, but I think it Yeah, it's like Well, no, it's not a Chissy laugh.

What it is is like cuz I know we're being recorded, so subconsciously I'm aware of that. You're filtering it. I'm I'm filtering it. So, instead of a bell laughing like you're talking, so he's saying something. I don't want to like laugh. like laugh. like laugh. You'll overpower it. Yeah. Yeah. So, I think I think I only do that on the podcast. I don't think I do that in real life. Unless and unless you guys hear me do it in real life, tell me because I don't think I do.

I don't think I have. Yeah. Yeah. I think I've only done it on the podcast. And I didn't know I was doing that until the staff made fun of you. I'm like, I don't do that. I don't staff. You don't remember when they made fun of you? Oh, yeah. Yeah. They made like a whole like little Yeah. A little Windex bottle. Yeah. Do you guys you guys remember in school when you and your friend would get would start laughing, but the teacher's like, "You can't talk." And you guys just couldn't even look at each other.

You explode. Oh, explode. Oh, explode. Oh, try to hold it in possible. That was the best. You know what happened in public? I don't care where I am, by the way. It could be the most depressing place. I could be at a funeral. So, I hear somebody fart. Forget it. I'm gone. I'm gone. I have to leave or I'm going to laugh. I know. I I laugh. I'm going to laugh. I know. I I don't do well in like serious environments. environments. environments. Oh, because you're nervous, maybe.

Yeah. It's a It's a weird tech. Yeah. I just I I Yeah, I can't help myself. That's terrible. I'm going to come to you with bad news. and my son has a I'm going to be dying for you. I bet you are [ __ ] I'm just kidding. See, that's how I'm dealing. I have to make a joke out of it, you know? It's just how it goes. My son is uh like super uh uh courtesy, right, with his uh his fart. Like he'll the other last night I'm like laying with him and it's like but like we're it's bedtime, right?

The night the lights are out. We already read. We're laying down there. And I normally I lay with him for like 5 or 10 minutes before I go. And uh like he does this every once in a while like all a sudden he pops up and he gets up and I'm like what what are you doing? And I got to fart, daddy. And he gets out so he doesn't fart on me. Then he comes back and cleans opposite of my house. Opposite opposite. My son was right on top of me.

Oh bro, he did this to So I think I think why this has happened is because when he used to do Come on, buddy. buddy. buddy. Come on. Don't fart on me like that. Like I think I've So now he's trying to be Yeah. Like so I think he I've called him out on that before and so like like now he'll go, "Daddy, I I have to fart. Is that okay?" Like, "Yeah, dude. Go ahead, buddy. It's all good." No. No. Aelius will. One time Jessica was laying down on the couch and he climbs up on the couch, sits on like on her head, and just And now, hey, you know why?

Cuz she probably belly laugh over. How can you not laugh? I would die. Bro, how can you not just like I reinforce my sons and go, "Hey buddy, don't fart on me." Oh no, dude. You've now trade yours because he's like daddy thinks it's hilarious. Of course, she got upset, right? She's like, "Oh my, what are you do?" And I'm just like, "This is the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. What are you doing, dude?" dude?" dude?" Yeah, right. Yeah, right. Yeah, right. She sat on her head like, "God, that's the worst, bro.

That's a bold move." All right, I got I got a post I want to talk about. Actually, you sent this to me, Adam, a couple weeks ago. We haven't br I never brought it up. Which one? Which one? Which one? Thought it was a really good post. So, somebody on social media did a post. I think they're a trainer. Uh I'm not sure. They might be just a fitness um uh expert or whatever. Let me see. Yeah, they're a personal trainer. And the post says, "Why young people usually suck at training older people." Do you remember this?

Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Okay, so here's some of the reasons they say why young people suck at training older people. And I want to see if we agree with this because Yeah, let me hear it. I don't I and I did read these earlier and I would have disagreed as a younger trainer, but I think I agree with some of these now. So number one, they can't wrap their heads around how important controlling systemic inflammation and improving mitochondrial health is for health and performance.

Y so what they hear is blah blah blah because you know when you're a kid you can drink like crazy, you could train like an idiot, you know, you could go to bed late. All right. Number two, they don't understand that some movement limitations are per permanent. permanent. permanent. Number three, they don't understand general adaptation syndrome and how life stress and physical stress accumulate. Number four, they don't truly listen to what their clients want. Uh, and then number five, to them everything is black and white.

Then there's risk management sounds soft to them. They can't accept the fact that full range of motion is subjective. subjective. subjective. What do you guys think about this? Incredible. That's why I sent it to you. I felt like this was this is every uh 23y old smarty pants trainer right here. Like that's what I mean that it it hit that button for me. It was just like you know all these things that when when you're young and and even if you're knowledgeable right and you understand the science uh you have this very narrow lens at which you see training through totally totally totally uh once you've been training for a decade or two or three and you've had hundreds and hundreds of clients and middle-aged people you start to realize like uh okay I need to understand the science that's very important right but then there's a ton of other variables that and that are individual to each person I'm going to train that I have to learn to balance and juggle.

And this is what makes really good coach. Yeah. I think the biggest thing that stands out for me with that is like young people, they want to assert that they they know what they're the right answer. They they know what to uh teach this person and they're not listening. They're they're not really receiving like feedback. Like I that's I see that all the time and I I was guilty of that too as a young trainer cuz like you're just you're so focused on trying to figure out the the solve like what's how can I like put together the best plan and and implement this with this person but I'm not really listening to their actual feedback and and well full confession like uh as an early trainer I dismissed uh often times what clients said.

uh you know we all when I had a mom that was you know stay at home mom two three kids or whatever and she's like I you know I have a real tough time finding time to to exercise I'm like time you got what are you talking about make the time you know you'll have more energy if you do and it's good for you and then you know I had kids uh in my mid20s and I was like oh yeah like this takes up a lot of time kids are really demanding I had to train a lot of people before I started to to listen uh the accumulated stress one I I I didn't get that in my early days as a trainer.

Like, what do you mean? We barely You're working out twice a week. That's not too much. And it wasn't until I had enough clients that would say the same thing, not get good results that I started to scale things down. I saw good results and I'm like, maybe I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Maybe I need to kind of listen to these people and uh change um how I approach some of the stuff. Yeah. And then I became a much better trainer. But I do agree that experience can play a big role in how you train people.

And young people are at a disadvantage. That doesn't mean you won't find a young trainer who hasn't been trained well. No, I mean, look at our team. Yeah, you can learn. Yes, we train the hell out of these people and our trainers and we teach them. them. them. I mean, I love I It blows my mind when I sit back and listen to some of these 23-year-old kids that we have working for us for us for us and listen to the way they communicate health and fitness.

I'm like, they're they're so far ahead of what Oh, it took me 10 years to understand what they what they've learned in six months. Go back read them over again cuz and then let's pick the one that was the most Yeah. What was the biggest like all right right right uh cuz we we we're guilty of probably all. all. all. Yeah. So the first one they can't wrap their hands around how important controlling systemic inflammation. Okay. Okay. Okay. Is that's kind of a big one. Uh they don't understand that some movement limitations are permanent.

That's a pretty big one. Um they don't understand general adaptation syndrome and how life stress and physical stress accumulates. I think for me that's the big one. That's the biggest one for me. Yeah. And they don't truly listen to what their clients want. That was probably another one cuz I'm like I know. I know. I know what's going on. Those two are bangers. Here's another one. Everything's black and white. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Young trainers, everything is black and white. white. white. I mean, I'm guilty of all of them, but I really I really didn't understand the stress bucket thing.

Same. Same. Same. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That that was a big I also didn't understand how much of how big of a role age played. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like it plays a role, everybody. Sure. Sure. Sure. Now, you can make a big difference with diet, exercise, and you could be in a different category from your peers. like you fit and healthy 50-year-old. You are not like the average 50-year-old, but you're not going to be like a like a fit and healthy 20-year-old version. Well, another way to say that is we all agree and every trainer listening right now agrees this the stress bucket thing is a real thing.

You you have a smaller bucket when you get older. Totally. Totally. Totally. I mean, that's like literally legit what it is. You have a smaller bucket with more [ __ ] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like Like Like like you have more responsibility. You know what I'm saying? Most likely have have kids, a business, job hour responsibility. It's like Yeah. That's the other thing with I didn't even realize realize realize and your bucket is smaller when you're young. You have this big giant bucket with hardly any [ __ ] and it's just like so you can get away with a bunch of stuff.

You can get away with poor nights of sleep and not maybe doing your mobility. I'll mobility. I'll mobility. I'll sleep in. sleep in. sleep in. Yeah. Yeah. And still see results. As you get older that that bum doesn't mean you still can't build tons of muscle. Doesn't mean you can't be in the best shape of your life. Doesn't mean a lot of the other rules in science doesn't apply to that person. It's just you're playing a different game. You have a you have a different and that you can't slip really.

I mean, you got to continuously make, you know, when I was right decision. When I was in my 20s, I didn't get that. Oh, no. Listen, when I was 22, I had a gym uh with my partner down in in a Palm Springs area. We had a gym down there. And I'm not even I'm not making this up. Like, we would work till 10, 11:00 at night. Now, the gym itself had a wine bar in there and beer, and sometimes we drink afterwards and we'd go to bed at 2:00 a.m.

I'd wake up at 7:00 a.m. I'd go work out after that. I would be wrecked if I did that right now. It would wreck me. And back then I could do that bartending. that bartending. that bartending. I do three, four days in a row, sleeping, go to bed early one night, boom, I'm back to normal. If I did something like that three days in a row, four days in a row, it would take me weeks. weeks. weeks. Pain and punishment. Yeah. I just didn't get it.

I just So, you hear people talk about stress when you're a kid and you're like, "Yeah, what are what are you talking about? You have no idea." But if you're well trained, it makes a big difference. But here's the thing. when I talk to my family members who are getting trainers uh outside of the state. So these I have family members outside of state so they can't they don't have access to our coaches and I always tell them okay talk to the fitness manager and try and find somebody who's uh who you feel like you can can connect with.

In other words, they're kind of your age group and they have experience training people like you because if you get some young kid and they're smart, they just don't have the experience to understand, you know, kind of what it's what it's all about. Yeah. Um, you want to hear some cool uh cool study on um women's breasts? I knew I knew I'd get you guys excited for that for that for that [ __ ] in the woods. No, this is a this is an interesting uh an interesting study.

I got to find this. Uh this was about Okay. So, this is an interesting study. So, the more a woman's breasts grow during pregnancy, the more likely it is that the fetus or the baby is a male. Really? Really? Really? What? What? What? Yeah. So, you know, there's there's all these like where they hold. Yeah. There's all these like uh like you know uh old what do they call them? Old wales or whatever like where you know do you hold it high? Do you hold it low?

Do you have more nausea? Do you have less nausea? nausea? nausea? They actually did a study and found in the wrong place. Did you guys Did you ever do the ring one where you put a ring around their belly button and the waist has to twirl around? around? around? Yeah. The way it spins. No, we did the Chinese birth calendar though. though. though. We did we did the Chinese birth calendar, too. So when the baby was conceived and the mother's age or something like that and it'll predict if it's a boy or girl.

Yeah. Type of deal. So I don't know. But this so this this says that this is due to the fact that male fetuses require more energy resources than female fetuses. So male fetuses grow faster of higher metabolism accumulate more body mass and generate more a greater metabolic and oxidative stress in the mother. So the mother's breasts because they contain how wild is that the body already knows what's coming and then starts producing milk at a higher rate. It's crazy and just wants to store more body fat in that area to do that.

What's cool to me the magic of that's so wild. What's cool to me is that that the like what they know about breast milk and how when the baby's mouth when the baby's mouth touches touches touches the nipple, the nipple, the nipple, the the woman's body receives a signal that the baby needs more uh immune factors. M the the breast milk is different at night than it is in the morning. So, like helps put you to sleep. sleep. sleep. Different nutrient Yeah. balance. Different nutrient balance.

Uh it's wild. And there's like a two-way street. Like the the the baby's saliva sends signals to the mom to produce different things in the breast milk. breast milk. breast milk. Yeah. Chat GBT doesn't know that. No, I bet it does. I bet it wants to. How much of a um how how much more are are kids on formula today than they were 30 years ago? I think it's going down. Yeah, I think it's trending down. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I think there's been a movement. Yeah.

So, so it was so there's like a bell curve then. So, we've seen we saw like Yeah, I think it was going up for a while and I think it's starting to trend down if I'm not mistaken. I don't know if Doug can look this up. Um, is formula is uh is formula use trending up or down? Okay. I was going to do breastfeeding, but either either one would probably work. work. work. I think it's I think it is going down. There was a big push at one point to that it was uh because breastfeeding rates have rates have rates have Oh, there was there was there was marketing around that it was better for your baby than it than the which is crazy.

crazy. crazy. And that it's it's more freeing, you know, don't breastfeed so you're more free to do the things you want type of deal. Yeah. It says it's been trending up uh over the over the last uh breastfeeding has been trending up over the last the last the last two years has been relatively stable and decliningly yet declining slightly due to to to I should go in the US. Oh that's due to failing birth rates though s though s though s yeah no no if you look at as a percentage Doug the last is not universally going down in the US is shifted due to a mix of supply chain.

Okay so Doug go back to the first thing you brought up because this is a bit misleading. misleading. misleading. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So breastfeeding rates have generally trended upward over the last two decades. So, it's definitely it's gone up up up a little bit. I think it's just better education. education. education. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, what does that say with national trends, Doug? Yeah. Let me pull that. The percentage of mothers who start breastfeeding has increased, rising from roughly 73% in 2004 to 86% recent.

That's a big jump. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. While many start, sustaining it remains a challenge. a challenge. a challenge. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of work. Oh, it's challenging for sure. I didn't even realize until you become a dad and you see like, oh, you see what they have to go through. It's crazy. You're feeding the baby, then you put the baby to sleep, and then oh, guess what? Baby's going to wake up and you got to feed him again. And this is happening all day long.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember my wife, they get teeth. I remember my mom I remember my wife was, was, was, you know, when she was became a new mom with uh with Aurelius. And I remember her being like, I can't even I don't even have time to pee. Like she was like feeding the baby. She had to pee real bad, but then she couldn't get off the toilet and the baby's and she's like, this is the wildest thing ever. And I'm like, poor lady. I mean, this is this is another one of those things I talk about Katrina, how much I fell in love with her, you know, D1 athlete mentality.

Like, she was like straight competitive with I mean, she had stored up so much breast milk, she was able to give it away and help others. others. others. Oh, that's so awesome. Give it to She had donated to people that needed it and stuff. So, she was like, not only did she breastfeed for a year, but she also was on the pump like pumping out as much as she had. We had a freezer just stacked of it in case like she we needed it. And so, then she was able to donate uh Did you ever try it?

I actually didn't. You never tried breast milk? No, I didn't. Justin, Justin, Justin, you missed this out. Did I was an experience? Hey. Hey. Do you remember too far? Look at Doug. I mean, you remember the remember the bodybuilding trend? bodybuilding trend? bodybuilding trend? Yeah, I do. What are they doing, dude? There's a huge I mean, listen ways. I mean, come on. We're sitting here talking right now about how how magical protein how magical it is. Hey, I could make a commercial that would sell the dude.

There's only one protein that doubles the weight of a human. I think it was an episode of Taboo that show I used to watch like they actually went through it because there was a problem because some of these bodybuilders are going to like these wet banks and they you know and it became an issue because it's like they're buying it up and now you know they're losing reserves. So yeah, it was but there was interest for sure. Bodybuilders are like, "This is the the way to get, you know, maximal gains." Yeah, Doug looked it up.

Some bodybuilders buy and drink human breast milk. milk. milk. Have we done any There Have we done any There should be some good studies on this. It would be It'd be cool. I think none exists. I don't think people are I don't think people are promoting. promoting. promoting. Why wouldn't Why would Why wouldn't we like test this? I feel like there we we should test this. Doug, look up adults drinking breast milk studies. Let's see if any exist. Yeah. Not don't look on images because that'll be weird.

Breast milk studies. We don't need any Game of Thrones and then studies. Let's see if there's any studies to support it. Videos. Videos. Videos. Scientific studies show no proven clinical nutritional benefit from adults drinking human breast milk. While compounds like human milk oligosaccharides are currently being researched in labs for gut and immune health. Yeah, I've heard about that because I've heard people help cure their gut health issues from Well, I mean I mean you know what that does for you. I mean if you have a healthier gut, you're going to build more muscle.

Well, I mean, you've talked about what the our, you know, our partner seed the all the studies coming out with them with the benefit of that. Like, I mean, you would think if that helps that it's got to promote that. So, I want to see more studied. I want to see more research around it. I mean, I Let's If you had to take a guess, guess, guess, cow's milk versus breast milk. Heads up for adults. for adults. for adults. Yes. Yes. Yes. H, good question. Yeah.

It's like I mean, it's the same species. You'd think, you know, we'd be more receptive. more receptive. more receptive. I would think so, too. just just out of like dumb guy knowledge here. I think bre is there amino acid profile similar to to cow milk. milk. milk. Well, it says that breast milk is significantly lower in protein than cow's milk. Um, let me see about that. Well, here's the deal. Human milk is trying to build humans. Cow milk is building bowls. building bowls. building bowls. So, I don't know, bro.

I don't know, dude. dude. dude. You want to look like a bull like a bull? I remember when that guy look like a baby. a baby. a baby. I remember when that guy told me that. I can't remember Arnold's thing. I don't drink milk. I'm not a baby. drink milk. I'm not a baby. I drink beer. Speaking of whale milk. Speaking of experiments. Oh, wait. There's There's There's Isn't Doug doing what? He's doing experiment. Let me see what this say. What does it say? Let's kind of see.

Yeah, that's kind of not well organized for a quick reference. reference. reference. That's fine. So, Doug's doing experiment right now. Okay, here's what he's doing. He got his blood worked on and he's going to do a 30-day test with dose. Oh, cool. Oh, cool. Oh, cool. With their cholesterol with the cholesterol supplement. So, my cholesterol tends to come in high. This last time I had my numbers in front of me, I got 222. So, 222 and you're taking dose daily. So, you're doing the what is it like 3 ounces or something like that?

Two ounces. ounces. ounces. 2 ounces every single day. Now, go on the dose website because the the the studies on dose are amazing. Oh, no. I remember it was like it reduced it by more than like 50% or something. something. something. It was a pretty That's why I can't wait to This is great that Doug's doing this uh and actually did his blood work. It should definitely impact his his uh his cholesterol. Uh, but I want to see what their studies. Okay. Yeah. Dose for cholesterol is right here.

right here. right here. Read what this what read what their their data shows. Yeah. I remember last time we talked about them, you it had the percentages. There you go. What does that say right there, Doug? there, Doug? there, Doug? Yeah. So, LDL, let me get this popup out of the way. Uh, so 95% of participants reported a positive impact. Triglycerides, 90% again, same story with that. And then total cholesterol, again, 81% had a positive impact. So this is an actual clinical study that do was your LDL high or just your total cholesterol high?

cholesterol high? cholesterol high? Yeah, my LDL is at 146. It should be less than 100 uh according to them. My HDL is good. Uh triglycerides are good. So I'm really looking at the total cholesterol and the LDL. So we'll see what happens here. Yeah, it's interesting. Uh my my lipids like I can't I can't do anything to them that make them go bad. It's really wild. I'm like no matter what my he tries. I mean I I mean sometimes I'm scared. I get my report back.

I'm like, "Oh gosh, what is it?" Oh, everything looks amazing. Whoa, thanks. But but it is interesting how much how much genetics play a role uh in this. But you could definitely affect it through lifestyle uh for sure. Well, how much is your like Okay, someone like Doug who's lifts weights, super healthy, super healthy, super healthy, it's one factor, dude. So LDL is probably the strongest uh correlate to certain issues, but you look at all all of your cholesterol numbers. So your your total LDL, HDL, you can even break it down to look at the particle size, but then you got to look at other stuff.

Blood pressure, strength, body fat, you got to look at your triglyceride, like look at all the, you know, all these other metric. It's it's a part of a bigger uh picture. So by itself, unless it's extreme, yeah, it's not the best predictor. So, okay. So, is it common with people that have that do have issues if you with that are it would be more serious situation like Doug you're I'm assuming that most if he was your client right now you'd be like we're not really worried about it right now we're fine or whatever but what tends to come with that would high blood pressure be something that typically followed that for somebody who it's connected to unhealthy heart disease uh disease uh disease uh yeah so that's why I asked about blood pressure pressure pressure it's connected to well blood pressure for sure you don't want high blood pressure but here's the deal Doug uses dose and it improves improves his cholesterol numbers.

Okay, that's a good thing because dose is natural and so it's essentially improving his health. health. health. He takes a statin. A statin is it's it's reducing the production of cholesterol in his liver. Yeah. It's a blocker, right? And and and that doesn't necessarily mean you're healthier. Now, in some cases, it could be a good thing, but in other cases, like prescribing a statin to somebody like Doug, there's a lot of controversy around that. It's like, why would we do this? He's super healthy. It increases his risk of uh of brain fog, maybe even dementia.

Uh, so I don't know if it's a good idea and you'll hear you'll hear scientists talk about this. It's a little bit, but if you have like this like this dumper dumpster fire and the person already had a heart attack, then they'll throw then it makes sense. Then you'll see the data by all means. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, this will be cool. I mean, you're really good about being consistent with your stuff. So, I can't wait to see uh what a difference it'll be. be. be.

And you do it for 30 days, 90 days. Uh, so I have three bottles. There's eight servings per bottle. So, for 24 days days days and we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. All right. Cool. Right on. Cool. Yeah. Good to know. ButcherBox delivers high quality meat to your door. Look, if you like protein and you want grass-fed meat, wild caught fish, you want high quality chicken, heritage pork, and more, go to butcherbox.com/mpump. butcherbox.com/mpump. butcherbox.com/mpump. They deliver you a box every single month. Now you can meal prep.

Now you got healthy meat. You got good protein. And if you go on that site, butcherbox.com/mindpump, butcherbox.com/mindpump, butcherbox.com/mindpump, and you sign up, you can choose for free for the life of your order. You can plus $20 off. You can get free sirloin tips for life, free chicken wings for life, or free ground beef for life included in your box. your box. your box. Mindpump. Back to the show. This segment of the podcast is brought to you by Mindpump Fitness Coaching. This is the number one course that teaches trainers and coaches how to build sustainable sixf figureure plus businesses and careers in fitness.

Look, it's roundt based. So you can hear Adam, Justin, and myself teaching you how to build a better business, get more leads, close more deals, close bigger deals, and be more effective trainers. By the way, our course is nationally recognized. In fact, it gives you 1.9 CEUs with or for your NASM certification. Find out more at mindpunfitnesscoaching.com. Our first caller is Lindsay from Alberta. Alberta. Alberta. Hi Lindsay, Hi Lindsay, Hi Lindsay, how you doing Lindsay? Good morning. Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Good. How are you?

you? you? Good. Good. How can we help you? Good. Um I just had a question essentially about um building muscle. Um I've been working out consistently for about four years. Um the first two years of that were quite low calories, so I was trying to lose weight. I lost about 50 lbs. Um since then, I've been trying to grow muscle, but I'm currently in a cut. Obviously can't build muscle that way. I'm just wondering, do you think I should do like a straightup bulk? Should I do a body recmp?

because my main goal is to build my glutes and obviously that hasn't really worked and it's kind of getting frustrating cuz I got the workout part down pat. It's just mostly the nutrition and calories and stuff like that that's need to be dialed in. So, we need more information, but just right out the gates, if you're frustrated with your glute growth, then you would go into bulk. Yeah. Yeah. If you want to make it happen real slow, like imperceptibly slow, you could try playing the recmp game.

game. game. Okay. uh which is really uh it's like takes a long time to see and feel anything. anything. anything. Um and also considering your background, you said you lost a lot of weight with real low calories, but I do need more information. So I Let's start with your um your nutrition. What does it look like right now? Right now I'm about 16 to,700 calories. I try to get I focus on protein, so I'm about 140 grams. Um I try to focus on whole foods when I can.

I do track all of my food just cuz that's what I was doing with a trainer for so long. So, it's just kind of been ingrained in me to track it. Um, yeah. And you're And so, uh, how many grams of fat and and carbs you having? Uh, I don't really properly track that. If fat, I'd probably say about 50 60 carbs. carbs. carbs. Quite I I think a decent amount of carbs. carbs. carbs. Okay. That's why I thought your fat's probably really low, but you're definitely going to have to increase your calories.

your calories. your calories. Oh, yeah. We're not building an ass on, 1600 calories. 1600 calories. 1600 calories. Yeah, I know that. Yeah. The only thing is like when I look online on like a TD calculator, it varies like hundreds of calories depending on which one I look at. So, I don't really know what my actual maintenance is. Well, if you're if you're eating, what is it? 16,700. Okay. And you're not seeing anything happen right now, then that's probably become your maintenance. What does your workout look like?

like? like? Uh, I do four times a week. I do two upper body, two lower body, one focused on quads, one focused on glutes. Okay. And then your And then what is cardio and daily steps and all that stuff look like? Um I don't do any cardio at the moment. I might do a spin class here and there, but I I work as a waitress. So I get quite a bit of steps. Probably like 12 to 15,000 a day. So yeah, your calories really low. Way low.

Way low. Way low. Yeah. You're going to have to go up at least 300 calories. I'd like to put you on one of our programs, too. So I'd like to put you on a MAPS program and then bump your calories at least 300 calories right out the gates. Okay. And that's just a start. You're probably going to have to go up again after that, but that's a good like little bump to get you going. Um, and then I'd switch the program out. What do you muscle?

Muscle mommy. Do you have muscle mommy? Uh, no. I actually haven't tried one of your programs yet. I just didn't know which one to do. Oh, yeah. If you're if you want your glutes to grow. That one's glute focus. So, we'll send you muscle mommy. Follow that one. Sounds good. Increase your calories by 300. You need more fat more fat more fat in your diet. Uh, that's pretty low. You're like at the borderline. So, I'd get them up at at least 70. Okay. And then you can take the rest of the calories uh and throw them towards carbs.

Your protein's fine. Um and then follow Muscle Mommy. And if you're getting stronger, it's working. Yeah. Focus on the strength. If hold the 300 calories, uh hold the 300 calories for a couple weeks. Uh you should probably see the the weight might go up a pound or two on the scale, but then it'll level off. When it levels off and it's holding for at least a week or two, go up again and just keep playing that game. So, the goal is, can I add two or 300 calories and kind of maintain the scale weight around the same?

And as long as I'm doing that, I'm just going to keep bumping up those those those calories. And I'm not worried about seeing a fluctuation of 3 to 5 lbs up or down. Like, definitely at least go down when you got to push the calories harder, calories harder, calories harder, but I expect you to stay around the same or even go up three or five pounds on the scale. Not a big deal. What you'll notice is more energy and more strength is what you're going to notice right out the gates.

And then Justin had he made a comment earlier and that's so it was really actually uh I didn't even ask you this. Are you doing traditional strength training? Are you resting in between sets or are you doing like circuits and trying to move over the place? the place? the place? No, I rest quite a bit like three to four minutes in between each good. Yeah. Yeah. Do what we said. You're going to get right out the gates. You're going to see common. So that's good. Yeah.

Right. Within a week or two, you're going to just feel way more energy and way stronger and you know you're moving in the right direction. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Perfect. Thank you so much. You got it. Thanks for calling in. Okay. Thanks. Bye. It's so It's so interesting how so many people, especially women, uh come up with the idea that they're going to build muscle eating 1,600 calories a day. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's not going to happen. No, you need the food. You need the materials.

Yeah. materials. Yeah. materials. Yeah. No, no, it's not going to happen. I would say it's almost impossible. Uh unless you're complete beginner and you start at 1,000 calories, in which case you're super you're severely under muscled. But uh if you don't feed your body, I don't care what else you do. If you don't have the nutrients, nothing's going to happen. Wasting time. Well, we we were just somebody we think that uh the building process is in the gym. It's not. No, No, No, it's it's not in the gym.

It's the rest, recovery, and the eating that builds the muscle. And so, if you don't feed the body enough calories, you don't recover and rest properly. And that's the other thing, too, is like you also have to keep that in like someone who's training four times a week is also moving as much as Yeah. moving as much as she is. And then that low calories. So that's already that's low calories even if she was sedentary sedentary sedentary and and training once or twice a week. Uh that's super low calorie for somebody who's going four times a week training that high that much volume and then also moving as much.

It's just like yeah you're not going to build on that. that. that. And the thing to consider And the thing to consider too is uh you know um when you're doing something like this uh are you seeing strength gains in the gym? And if you're not uh something's wrong. Strength uh turns into muscle. It's the one of the strongest coralates to muscle growth. Our next caller is Alex from Florida. What's up, man? What's going on, Alex? What's happening? Hey, uh, I appreciate you guys taking the time to take my call.

Yeah, you got it, dude. How can I help you? you? you? Um, so I'm going to do what I pretty much heard everybody else do, and that is read my question, but I'm going to add in some stuff that's kind of happened since I uh uh I sent it in. So, overall context, I'm 41. I'm weighing about uh 245, 250. Um, I'm 71 in tall. I've had a BMI of about 35 to 34. Uh, and as of my last InBody, uh, two months ago, I had around 31% body fat.

Uh, which translates to roughly about 80 lbs. So, for the past 2 years, uh, I've been doing a bunch of barbell training, uh, lifting two to three days a week, and trying to get back into running shape after I had a foot surgery back in, uh, 2023. Uh to do that, uh I've been eating around 2300. So that breaks out to like 200 protein, 63 fat, 240 carb with about 35 to 40 gram of fiber. Uh which when I started that was told that that was like a 2 to 300 calorie deficit for what should have been my maintenance.

Uh for the two years prior to that, I was eating about 100 to 200 lower than that. And before that, so call that four or five years ago, I was eating at 1950 cuz that was a number I had. Um I believe that at the 1950 though, I was starving myself and I never like fully recovered from that. Um and over the course of this, um what I have figured out is I'm having some very crushing fatigue and I'm not seeing progress in the gym. To kind of make a long story short, uh I recently decided that the appropriate goal for me is to get into that 15 to 20% body fat range and not try and get to an actual scale number.

Uh I'm active duty military and they're changing uh fitness component to be a two-m run that for my body size right now to get a passing score I as I'm marrying my dirty laundry here would need about a 16 and 12 mile run. Uh I'm about a minute slower than that. Uh, all to be said, I don't feel like I'm making progress in the gym. I don't based on the energy crashes alone, I don't feel like I'm eating at the appropriate level for how I am training and I am looking for help because I realize that what I am doing is not working and it is beyond my skill set to solve.

solve. solve. Okay. All right. Good. Good question. Yeah, you're correct. You're you you you're on you're on track of like too low for sure. Are you is the tracking accurate? Are like you're giving us numbers. Is this consistent you track or are you guessing or are you like estimating? Uh when I am tracking I am fairly consistent. Uh I am using a scale. Um now I'm about 75 70 let's call it 70% consistent. Uh because obviously on the weekends is when I tend to fall off the track.

track. track. Okay. So, we actually have no idea what you're eating then. So, we need to know. We don't know because when people are Yeah. They've done a listen so many studies on this it's ridiculous. And even people who know know know uh are under uh just underestimate. It's impossible. So, if you're saying 70 75% um I can pretty reliably say your calories are higher than what you're reporting reporting reporting probably. So, probably. So, probably. So, that being said, knowing your background and your workouts and how long you've been training, I also think you're probably doing too much.

Now, it on the surface, on paper, it doesn't look like too much, but cumulatively over time, if it's been something that you've been pushing for a while and staying consistent, then it's probably time for less uh volume. So, so is the number one goal for you, because we need we also need to prioritize what the goals are. Is the number one goal to get that runtime or is it to get leaner or is it to build muscle? We got to pick one. Honestly, at this point, it's the get leaner.

And it's probably been that for about four years because I feel like if I can do that, the rest should flow from that, that, that, okay? okay? okay? Cuz I'll have in theory less less to push around. push around. push around. Okay. So, I would Okay, get real consistent with your food intake, including the weekends. So, real consistent. consistent. consistent. I'd start you off around 23 to 2400 calories. You you're going to need to bump your fat. you you're you put your grams of fat up there, it's pretty low.

Uh so I wouldn't want to see you have less than like 70 grams of fat in your diet. Um I think your strength training is okay if it's a couple days a week with running. Or you could try MAPS 15. Um and you can do and you could focus on getting your run time a little bit better, which would look like a couple runs a week. One would be one mile as fast as you can, another one will be a slow two-m slow two-m slow two-m and you pursue that.

But you got to be consistent with your tracking because I can't you can't reverse diet yourself unless you know what's really happening. Yeah, Alex, I'm going to take a I'm going to take a guess at what happens right here just because this is kind of common when somebody is really good about measuring and tracking during the week and then on the weekend they're not. And where you're telling us your calories are when you are tracking is low for what you're doing. So you undereat nutrients during the week when you're being good and then on the weekend you overconume in calories and probably still undereat on things like protein that you need.

Absolutely. I think that's absolutely the case. the case. the case. And so this is like a recipe for a hard plateau is that I'm doing all this work, but then what's happening is I'm underfeeding the body what it needs to build muscle and to see progress during the week. And then I go on the weekend, I overconume the stuff I shouldn't be eating. And I and then I still miss nutrients that I need like protein intake. And that is just like an absolute recipe for I'm not going to build muscle.

I'm going to hold body fat and getting stuck in that. And so I don't know if you've listened to the show for a long time, but you I've talked about this a lot about winning the weekend. the weekend. the weekend. Like if if that is your thing. Yeah. If that's that's that's that's where my battle is. Okay. So if that's your thing, I actually don't even to start this kickoff. focus on just those those two days more than anything else. Like the the the Monday through you've already proven that Monday through Friday you can measure track and you hit stuff.

It's like the new goal going forward if you're my client is we're going to crush Saturdays and Sundays. Saturdays and Sundays are going to be your best days. Like that's we need to go into if you really want to see this change, you want to be dialed in, then Saturdays and Sundays are become your best days. And then I know what will happen is the rest of your week will be pretty good too because it's that's already you've already proven that's easy for you. Meal prep for your weekend.

That's right. You got to be that's got to be a part of your your weekend is meal prepping. prepping. prepping. That's right. That's right. That's right. So, like make that a priority and make that a goal is that I'm going to track and dial my weekends in. And then I bet you if you do that, you'll start to see the rest of everything else come together. together. together. Totally. And then do you have do you drink on the weekend? Uh I don't drink at all. Oh, good.

Okay, good. That's it. We gave you you you because I got tired of feeling crappy after I did. No, good, dude. No, so it's it's what's hap Adam's right on point. Do that. Exactly. be consistent with it. Watch what happens. You'll start to see your body move in the right direction. Okay. Okay. Okay. What program you want to send them? Put them on. them on. them on. 15. 15. 15. 15. Okay. 15. Okay. 15. Okay. Yeah. Maps 15 with the running. It's going to seem like a little bit of strength training, but it's it's it's I think it'll be I was I was actually thinking about maps 15 performance.

Would that be something that was appropriate for what I'm trying to do? to do? to do? Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Any of them any of them would be great. So, let's send you that one then. Okay. Okay. Okay. And then I'm going to have Doug throw you in the the private forum if you're not in there already. So, I'll have Doug put you in there and so you can just kind of keep us posted. I'm I'm guessing if you uh you win these weekends for in the next two, three weeks in a row, you'll you'll start to see a big difference already.

difference already. difference already. Totally. Totally. Totally. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right, Alex. That's it, brother. Stay in touch with Much Appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah. Keep us updated inside the form. We'll do. We'll do. We'll do. All right, brother. So, um when people don't track uh consistently and they give you numbers, this is just coaches know this. It's It's under. It's under. It's under. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, it's always under. The weekends get a little loose. little loose. little loose. Here's what it looks like when they actually control this actually when they actually control this and they look at this.

You know, somebody eats 2100 calories Monday through Thursday, Friday, Saturday, maybe Sunday, they get a little looser. It actually looks more like 3,000 calories on s Friday. It's worse than so easy. It's worse than that, Sal, because not only do they do that, but then they, you know what they do? They eat 70 gram of protein, right? And they eat a fre [ __ ] ton of saturated fat and a bunch of extra calories. And so, and then you add it up and average it out and it's like you're way over on your food.

your food. your food. You're you're missing your your goal protein uh for building muscle. You're over consuming the calories for burning body fat. And so, you're in this like hard plateau of not seeing any results. At least he's not partying late at night on the weekend. Yeah, I had to ask that for two on top of it. But yeah, our next caller is Brianna from North Carolina. Carolina. Carolina. Hi, Brianna. Hello. Hi. Hi. Hi. How can we help you? Well, I'm so glad to be here.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question. Um, I'm just going to go ahead and read my email because I tend to talk a lot and I want to stay on time. So, no worries. no worries. no worries. Hi, Mind. My name is Brianna. I am a longtime listener since 2017 and have valued valued your podcast so much over the years. I've shared it with everyone I know and now my husband and I discuss the podcast daily since we listen separately on our drives to work.

I would describe myself as a fitness fanatic and while I do enjoy all fitness to include running, don't hate me. Um I especially enjoy weightlifting and have been lifting for about 14 years. My overall question is where do I go from here? I had a baby 17 months ago and although I quickly lost the weight, my body was still very soft and soggy, mostly around the midsection. I've been steadily gaining weight and I seems like nothing I do is helping. Um I'm almost back up to what I was when I gave birth after coming back down to my pre-preg weight and I'm confused as to how I got here.

Um some background and context cuz I have a complicated situation. Um so 2014 I had a hip pinning in my right hip because I fractured my femoral neck. Um I made a full recovery, got back to lifting and running, completed a half marathon in 2016. um began getting really strong in my lower body lifts, continued this for nearly a decade. Um I ran a full marathon in 2023. Um I lifted most of that training cycle because I didn't have a kid and any other responsibilities, so I had plenty of time on my hands.

Um I did is run into some knee and foot issues at the end of the training cycle and um probably overtraining now thinking back. Um, after that marathon, I decided that I would take a year off, get back to lifting, and then in 2025, I would run the 50th Marine Corps Marathon. Um, well, I found out I was pregnant in 2024, but I decided that I was still going to go forward with the marathon. Um, I gave birth in December of 2024, trained for and ran the full marathon in October of 2025 at 11 months postpartum.

I had a relatively easy and uncomplicated pregnancy. Um, I did anabolic at the beginning, switched to symmetry after after that was done. Um, and then following my birth, I slowly returned to lifting, doing kind of like what you guys say. I did bands only at about six weeks postpartum. Then I did a few weeks of traditional lifting with the stability ball, how you guys described starter, even though I don't have that program. Um, and then I switched over to Matt's 15, about two and a half months postpartum.

But this is also when I had to start getting into running so I could train for that marathon. Didn't have time with a brand new baby to do both. Um, my husband was also training for the same marathon. So, we're just passing baby back and forth, coming and going. Um, so I had to prioritize the running. Didn't lift as much as I should have and I think that led to some imbalances in my muscles. Um, following the marathon, I had some hip issues again. Went got it checked out.

Um, there was beginning stages of another stress injury. So, I was put into physical therapy, restricted from any impact activity and any lower body lifting. I had begun match 15 again. But with the restrictions on lower body lifting, it felt like I was doing hardly anything. So, I switched to Maps Muscle Mommy to where I had a little bit more volume that I could actually accomplish in a workout. Um, sometimes I don't get to do a whole workout in a day. I would do a couple exercises one day, finish that workout the next day.

Um, I kind of do, like you guys say, don't look at it as a 7 day week, but just pick up where I left off when I have time. Um, I've been tracking my protein. I get about 145 to 175 grams daily. I was assuming I'm probably around 2,00 to 2200 calories a day. Um, I've been doing that for the past 4ish months now. Um, I eat all full natural foods. I do protein powder. Um, and then at my gym has an inbody scanner, so I've been doing that once a month just to see if I'm going in the right direction.

Other than that, I don't really step on the scale. I usually do 8 to 10,000 steps a day. Um, I previously was cleared to do a walk to run program because my job does require a fitness test twice a year. Um, after meeting with the doctor, he said, "Hold off on that. Nix the impact." Um, I'm still clear to do lower body lift. Really have to listen to my body. Um, not overdo it to not exacerbate the issue while I'm still healing. Um, but it's been over four months.

um of of all this strenuous tracking now that I've stopped breastfeeding and you know my baby's mostly sleeping better through the night and I'm not seeing any weight change and on the InBody scanner I'm not really seeing any composition change as well. Um I wouldn't really care about the number on the scale if I was seeing that composition change but I'm not really seeing any of that either. Um I'm not sure if the inability to do any lower body lifts is affecting my ability to see progress but I feel like I'm spinning my wheels and nothing is helping.

I don't know where to go from here or how to make meaningful changes. I used to be really jacked and muscular and now I feel like I'm a bust a can of biscuits. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Please help. Rihanna, thank you so much for calling in. in. in. Great description. Great description. Great description. I know you've been listening to us for a long time. You probably know what we're going to say. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Well, my husband asked me the same question and I was like, "No, I don't." Because usually when callers call in, I'm like, "Oh, you know, I'm already pegging like what you're going to tell them and them and them and I really don't know." Um, but for you, we assume that S, you're going to say, "Give it grace.

Wait for at least two years to start feeling like myself." But other than that, I don't really know. Well, okay. So, let's back up, right? So, you had you had uh you you had to a hip pinning. hip pinning. hip pinning. You had a foot injury. You had another stress related injury. You run marathons and you continue to run a marathon through pregnancy while doing maps anabolic and map symmetry. No, so that was postpartum. I gave birth in December of 2024. I trained for the marathon and ran that in 2025.

Okay. Okay. So, do you feel like you tend to overdo it? Maybe a little bit. Yeah. Okay. Give me a better answer. It's okay. Listen, it's okay to say yes, but not be ready to tackle. I mean, you had a hip issue. You had a hip issue and you decided to go still go run a marathon. Like, that wasn't enough for you to be like, "Maybe I shouldn't run a marathon." marathon." marathon." Maybe that Yeah. I mean, I was so close. I was like, after all of this, I was like, You might as well send it.

No, no, no. Listen, I know I feel you. Send that's the attitude right there. I totally I feel healing in and recovery is boring for you. 100%. I feel you 100%. So, I totally understand. But you got to be honest. Like, do you think you're over Do do you think that you have a history of overdoing it? overdoing it? overdoing it? Probably in the past. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think you I think I think that's your button your button your button is to go go go.

Uh and I think your body stopped responding uh after it sent you a bunch of injuries. of injuries. of injuries. Lots of signals there. Yeah. There's a lot of signals right now that your body's like you're just going too hard. You're pushing your just like the second you get clearance and you feel okay, you get after it again. Um and and and unless an injury stops you you you is is a little bit of the pattern. And so you're just you're just overdoing it, hun. Let me ask you this.

Are you ready to let go of this or are you do you still want to keep your arms tightly wrapped around this even though it's producing no results in injury? Can we take we take we take Well, I have um like decided to give up running for the time being. For the time. Um I still want to be able to lift because that's what I really enjoy. Um however, with my job, I don't know how much I can give it up completely just cuz that would um end my career, which career, which career, which what do you do for work?

I'm in the military, so we do have to do fitness tests. Um, there is sometimes hikes or you name it, whatever might come up that we have to That's easy. That's easy. That's easy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no, no. That's that's easy for you. you. you. No problem with that. No, you're lying to yourself. Super easy for you, Brianna. You're training well above and beyond what you need for passing those tests. You know that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can pass those tests no problem. You can train for that easy.

There's not a there's not a military marathon test, is there? No. Okay. I didn't think so. And you definitely can't do it if you keep keep keep They're normally like a mile or two type test. And you definitely can't do it if you keep hurting yourself. Yeah, that's the thing. Yeah. And it's it's really hard to let go of. Uh but you're going to have to I So I know what the answer is for you. I don't know if you're going to want to hear it.

hear it. hear it. Um and I don't think you can do it on your own because you've been doing this for so long. I think it's real uncomfortable for you to stop doing some things uh because you're forced like you just said for the time being. time being. time being. So your way your way of letting go of it is actually controlling it, right? Okay, fine. I won't do it for now. Yeah. I'm going to wait till I feel better and I'm going to get after it again and then I'm going to hurt myself and if I do then I'll stop until the doctor says I can and I'm going to tell you right it's just going to get worse Bri it's going to get worse and worse and worse for you and you have a kid now which adds more responsibility and stress and you're you're you're still young but as you get older it's going to your body's going to rebel in ways that are going to suck like really suck um and I don't want you to hit that just out of curiosity have you checked your hormones your hormones your hormones Um, so I had done a full panel probably 2023.

I did a course um, SER where we weren't allowed to eat for like eight days and we were running through the forest and stuff. Um, that really wrecked me. I went to a functional medicine doctor. She did a ton of tests. There were no like glaring red flags, but a lot of things just kind of off. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and she did put me on a protocol that kind of helped my body get kind of back to normal. Um, and I've started doing some of those things again, taking some of the supplements.

Um, but I haven't gotten them checked post pregnancy. Yeah, I would definitely I would definitely do that. Um, just because a lot of the stuff, as much as you've been beaten up on your body, um, and after having a kid too, this is sometimes where you start to see that start to come. come. come. It's not, listen, uh, it's not going to help you, though, unless you change, uh, kind of where this is all coming from. I the Here's the answer. You're you should you need to work with a coach.

You got to let go of it. If I give this to you, you're I know what you're going to do with it. I can give you advice right now. I know what you're going to take do and take I know how you're going to take my advice and how you're going to play. I've just trained a lot of people and so I know uh what it's going to look like. Um and you're going to let you might do it until you start to feel good and then go back to your old ways.

Um and I'm just letting you know it's going to get way worse and way harder if you stay on this path. This is not a physical challenge for you. It's a psychological challenge. You got to let this not this is not a thing that you can muscle your way through and and overcome it like you have with everything else in your life. This is going to be a psychological I'm going to encourage you. Okay. Let me encourage you a little bit. Okay. Um you're really coachable.

I know you're really coachable cuz you're in the military. You know how to take orders. Okay. So you you would work well with a coach. Here's what'll happen when you work with a coach. It's going to be scary and then you're going to start to feel really good. And then the psychological part is you're going to want to do more but you're going to feel really good. Yeah. So, so I think sometimes the fear of letting go of all of this is, "Oh, cool. Now I'm going to gain 50 lbs of body fat and I'm really going to get out of shape because I got to like rest." That's not how it works.

What it's going to feel like is like, "Huh, I'm starting to feel better. Hey, what's going on? I got more energy." And then suddenly you're then suddenly And then suddenly you're like, "My body's responding. This is weird. I don't feel like I I'm doing anything to make my body respond. At least not compared to how I used to train." train." train." That's right. That's right. That's right. So, So, So, I have worked with a coach previously for probably about two years. um up until I got pregnant and then it was like I couldn't eat anything and half the time I was too tired to go to the gym so I just felt like it was a good time to like sever um and I don't even think she coaches anymore.

Um but she had gotten me to like a really good place. I was eating probably close to 3500 calories. I was probably really lean probably leaner than I should have been. Um so I know that like a coach is probably a good idea. Um just don't know how to find a good one because Are you kidding me? We got them social media. media. media. No, no, no, no. We got them. We have coaches. We got coaches now. We have coaches that we hire, train, and develop.

develop. develop. So, uh, I'll send you somebody to call you and if it works for you, work with one of our coaches. I'm going to give you just I'm going to be straight up with the timeline. This is going to take a year. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Okay. Now, that doesn't mean it's a year of no results. It's going to be a year of results, but it's going to be a year uh probably a year of working with no setbacks where you're going to at the end of it, you're going to be like, I can do this.

Like I could totally do this on my own. I see how this progress. I totally understand how I was before. I don't just know it in my head, but I feel it in my heart. And this is going to be totally different relationship of all this. Your performance is going to explode. You're going to build muscle. You're going to be stronger. You're going to get lean without feeling like you're beating yourself up. And you're not going to hurt yourself. That's what it's going to be like.

But you probably have about a year of this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I think part of it is like I know what to do, but doing it for myself is a lot harder. And so having somebody else take else take else take out of it makes it so much easier because I just can do what they say and then I'm like, "Okay, that's great self-awareness." Great. Great self-awareness. self-awareness. self-awareness. 100%. 100%. You You're going to be a great client. great client. great client. I know it.

So, is there any like I'm about to finish up Muscle Mommy and I just don't know if there's anything that any program I should do next. Um especially with the limitations that I have or if coach will coach will modify it all for you. you. you. Yeah. That's their job. That's their job. Their job is to continue to inquire much deeper than we've inquired and listen to incorporate our programming in there too and they modify it on the way. So it's what you're going to follow is maps Bana is what you're going to follow.

Yeah. So the coach is going to individualize it and as you work with them they'll modify it as you go along cuz you're working with a coach way better than any of our gener our programs are written for the masses. As well as we can write a program it'll never it'll never be better than a coach working with you and and individualizing it. So, you're going to get Maps Brianna is what you're going to get. And then as far as diet, like I used to track like every single piece of anything that went into my mouth.

But now that I have a daughter, it's a lot harder just cuz I don't like being on my phone to like track everything and I don't have time to like weigh everything out. I just kind of like have to go with the flow. Is there a way to do this with having to track every single thing? Yes, we have strategies. We definitely have strategies around that. 100%. You're you're you're actually the majority. Most people hate tracking and too long. It just feels like too much. I used to like doing it because it gave me like me like me like Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. All the facts, all the data was right there. Yeah. there. Yeah. there. Yeah. Um Um Um but now I just like I don't have the time. time. time. Yep. Yep. Yep. Energy. Energy. Energy. Oh, 100%. No, this will be great. And I'm going to You'll see us too because we like to pop in with our coaches and our clients. our clients. our clients. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Thank you for calling in. You're going to do great. Thank you so much. I've definitely taken so much value from you guys over the almost 10 years I've listening to you.

And this is just every my always in my car whenever I put the podcast on, I tell my daughter like, "Oh, Uncle S, Uncle Adam, and Uncle Justin are, you know, they're going to join us on our drive." And uh Yeah. Cuz that's all she hears is my bump in the car. That's so awesome. Thank you so much. God bless. Thank you so much. We'll see you in Thank you. Yeah, dude. Totally. She's going to be a great client. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, you see somebody in there to calm down.

Oh, when I asked her like, "Do you think you're doing too much?" It's like she need it. Cuz I know what she likes it. Cuz I know what it feels like. Admitting it means I always even with stuff like uh Yeah, I could do that for now. Yeah. It's always temporary. Even the healing, it's temporary. Yeah. I just had a I had a hip hip impingement and I decided to go run a marathon after that. Like while I was pregnant rational thought. rational thought. rational thought.

Yeah. Well, she's a killer though. You know what I'm saying? Like so that's how she's approached. she's approached. she's approached. We direct her in the right direction. Okay. Great. Okay. Great. Okay. Great. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Our next caller is Avery from Michigan. Hi Avery. How you doing Avery? Hello. Hey guys. Hey guys. Hey guys. What's happening? What's happening? What's happening? I'm doing good. Okay, so my question is about fat intake while cutting. I consistently find that fat is the hardest macro for me to hit, especially when my calories are lower.

Protein is usually no problem. Carbs are easy, but fats tend to fall short unless I really go out of my way to include them. So, I'm wondering when calories are limited, is fat intake something that can be slightly sacrificed in the short term, or is it necessary to consistently hit a minimum target of optimal fats even during a cut? Essentially, how strict should I be with my fat macros when calories are tight? And does the minimum number of fat stay the same, whether my calories are up or down?

Right now, my calories in this cut are around 17 to 800 or 1,700 to 1,800. My protein, I usually try to hit a gram of um protein per pound of body weight. So, I'm right around 130, but I usually go over that, more in the 15 140 150 range. Um my fats, I'm aiming for 60 g, but I tend to fall under that. And then I just fill the rest with carbs. So, real easy fix, Avery, would be to uh switch your meat choices to higher cut higher cuts or fat higher fat cuts.

So I when someone tells me they're eating that good a protein which that's which is great. is great. is great. You're probably doing things like chicken breast, fish, leaner cut meats. So just switch to chicken thighs and ribe eyes and enjoy a tri tip and go to fattier cuts. You'll be fine. You know, here's why though. Here's why that's so important. Okay, there's three macronutrients, right? Proteins, fats, and carbs. Only proteins and fats are essential. Carbohydrates are not essential. Okay, what that means is if you don't eat enough fat, your body will not function.

So, this is what it looks like in a female, when her fat intake starts to be uh chronically low. Hormone issues, skin issues, nail issues, mood issues, hair issues, you ain't building no muscle, no muscle, no muscle, so you need the fat. Okay? And I know we sell protein all the time, but sometimes what happens, uh, and this is more common in women than men, is they're like, "Cool, I'm going to eat chicken breast and tilapia and have protein shakes because I don't want the calories." But you really need fat.

You need it. I would, how, let me ask you this. How often are you strength training? What does your activity level look like? look like? look like? So, I'm currently I just restarted uh anabolic. Um, so I'm in the gym three days a week. Um the days that I'm not lifting, I usually am just I'll either go like walk for a little bit. I try to hit around 10,000 to 12,000 steps a day. Um and I can do that pretty easily um just from my daily my day at work and everything and walking the dogs.

But um yeah, so I'm strength training three days a week and then 10 to 12,000 steps a day. a day. a day. You'll feel better if you bump your fat and if if your calories need to be a certain number, cut the carbs and add the fats. I I want to ch I want to challenge you another way, Avery. I'm looking at your your height and your weight. You are tall. You're 5'7 and you're 135. Instead of trying to cut into the body you want, try and build into the body you want.

For I get clients that are at at this point like cuz at 5'7 I can have you shredded at 140 150 shredded to the bones like you. So you can be a heavier weight on the scale scale scale just with muscle with more muscle and you'll look the way you'll look 3% leaner. So you could easily go up to 145 and look like whatever it is you're probably trying to cut down to 130 120 whatever that number is. And it's just so tough to do that.

It's will be would be way easier to bump your calories to say 22, you know, 100 calories and let's get strong and let's build and then and not get attached to what the scale number says and watch what happens in a month or two and I bet you have the body that you're trying to cut into right now and you'll be eating more. more. more. Now, I know why this is scary cuz I'm reading your email. It says you lost 50 lbs. lbs. lbs. Yeah. How long?

So, two years ago. Yeah. So, it sounds scary cuz you're like, "Oh, great. I'm going to increase my calories, then the 50 lbs that come back on my body. It's not No, No, No, you're just going to get stronger and build muscle. build muscle. build muscle. But But But I'm definitely like I'm not I want to grow and I definitely want to put on more muscle mass. Um so I've been kind of like when I purchased Anabolic and ran it for the first time, I did have my calories um like slightly above maintenance.

So I was aiming for around like 24 to 2600, which like I can do easily. Um, and I like doing that and I like, you know, getting stronger. And I really do I want to like put on more muscle so that I can look the way I want to look with, you know, at my my weight and my height. I want to, you know, I'm not afraid of like gaining. I just I want to look good. And I know that that comes from like I need to build more muscle, but I'm also like right now I'm I'm getting married in July, so I do like want to look a certain way for my wedding and everything.

Yeah. You want to time it. What happened when you were doing the 2400 calories? Uh what happened on like on the scale in the gym? Like what what did you get out of that? of that? of that? Um I felt really good. I always feel great when my like calories are higher and I like, you know, seeing my lifts go up and everything. It's really encouraging. Um but then like once I hit that point where I'm like, okay, I need to bring it back a little bit to I need to bring it back a little bit so that I can, you know, look how I want to look for the summertime and especially for my wedding coming up.

So, I've been trying to like go back and forth between doing like 3 weeks with my calories higher and then I'll cut them back down for like another 3 weeks. And I've been trying to go back and forth and I don't know if that's like going to leave me stranded. Um, yeah. No, no, no, no. Let's back up for a second. Did you gain any weight when you were at 2400 calories? Um, no. No. I I've maintain I've been I've been sitting like really comfortably between like Oh, Avery.

Avery said Goldilocks. No, no, this is easy. Here, I'll give you a comfort cuz I know it's scary for you. You're getting married. Okay. You're at what are you at right now? 1,800. 1,800. 1,800. Yes. Yeah. And I just reversed that this week. So, I was I took two weeks um that I was sitting right around maintenance or slightly above. Okay. And which was what? Um around 24. Okay. Let's go happy medium. Stay around 22 23. Just stay there. Keep working out. out. out. You'll get you'll get you'll get you'll get a little leaner and you'll probably build a little bit of muscle.

Just stay there. Wedding's July. what uh July 10th. So, we have we have a lot of time. Yeah. So, but the thing too is like I already started um my dress alterations, so I'm not supposed to like uh fluctuate in weight at all. Um but I feel like with my calories right in that like Goldilock zone, I can maybe build a little bit of muscle and and stay like stay like stay like comfortable. Um and I definitely want to like put more emphasis on my upper body and specifically my shoulders.

So, can I take some like of the volume from the lower body and the anabolic and maybe put it towards muscle mommy? You should follow. We should give you muscle mommy. Muscle mommy's a nice shoulder and glute focus. focus. focus. Yeah. Shoulder and butt. That's what muscle mommy is. But here, so check this out. Okay, so you're getting married, which is stressful cuz you're planning it. You're doing all the all the stuff for it. You're getting your dress altered, which means you can't change too much because it needs to fit when you get married.

Uh cutting and bulking is also stressful. You're you're controlling everything. You're trying to watch this like what's happen. happen. happen. Just sit at like 2200 calories from now till then. Just chill. You'll you'll be great. That'll be your best bet. Stop going up. Stop trying to go down. Stop worrying about everything. Enjoy your workouts. Follow Maps Muscle Mommy. 2200 calories. We'll give you a nice little recmp by the time you get married. And you're not going to stress over cutting, bulking, 3 weeks here, 3 weeks there.

What's going on? Just enjoy. Enjoy now till then. Relax. And you're doing just fine. Have you uh I mean, have you considered uh getting coached through the process? the process? the process? Would you want someone to coach you to the wedding? the wedding? the wedding? No. And you know, there's there's so many things that go into the wedding and so many expenses. I don't really think it's like something that is in my timeline right now. Um Um Um but like what you guys were saying sounds great.

I feel like that I can easily easily easily eat that much and that would help like having that little wiggle room to be able to add in some fattier cuts of meat that will help me with my fat intake. Yeah, dude. No, I think if you stayed at 22, follow Muscle Mommy, and just enjoyed your workouts, you would get a nice little you get a nice little recmp by July. by July. by July. You're you're you're healthy and you're good, and you have plenty of time.

There's nothing for you to worry about. Just so you know, there's there's like a lot of different ways that we could go about this. about this. about this. A lot of Here's what happens. A lot of women in particular, guys do this too, but women in particular, before their wedding, they add way more stress with their workouts and diet. Way more. and they end up getting worse results because of or they rebound crazy afterwards. So, my advice is just chill, relax, enjoy your workouts, 2200 calories, just stay right there.

Don't worry about gaining, losing, and you'll get a little bit more definition and build a little bit of muscle by that time. That's it. I'm going to have Doug put I'm going to have Doug put you in the private forum uh so you have access to us. And then just as you, you know, keep update us like once every 3 to 4 weeks how that how you're feeling and where you're at cuz I think you could even end up pushing your calories more more more if you were already at 24 and you saw no weight gain on that cuz what what will serve you the most right now is building as much muscle and and cuz we can always like I could do with you like let's say we got crazy and we built up to 145 lbs and you put muscle on you're like oh my god I'm too big for my dress.

three weeks before the the wedding, we could cut hardly. cut hardly. cut hardly. I just don't want to add stress. If this if you're like if it sounds relieving to you to like not worry about this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Then do what I said. It definitely does. And like that's I don't want to have to add more stress in the process and stress my body out with like like like good good good trying to cut and go back and forth like it is. It has been something on my mind.

Um and I also don't want to like look a certain way on my wedding day that doesn't look like me. So, I feel really comfortable and I fall really comfortable around the weight that I'm at. And those cal that calorie range is really familiar to me. So, it does does feel like a little bit of relief. No, chill. Enjoy your workouts. 2200 calories. Have fun in your workouts. Enjoy your workouts. Don't even worry about it. You're going to be totally fine. totally fine. totally fine. Okay.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much, guys. I really appreciate your expertise and very helpful. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. All right. Thank you so much. You got it. It's a stress. That's the big That was the main thing I'm talking what you're saying, Adam. 100%. If she's working with a coach and she can let go of it. Yeah, dude. But she's I could tell right away we're talking about she like I got 3 weeks here weeks there on top of like managing all the wedding stuff like no no just relax autopilot autopilot autopilot stay 22 you're fine you'll be good I mean she's such a good place she's this is this is like in such an easy thing to do that we have lots of options you have plenty of time she's already at a good weight she's young like she I mean she's got she's already been at she's already seen what 2400 calories to 2600 calories does she's not overtraining yeah no she's in a good place yeah no she's in a good place overthinking it overthinking it overthinking it if you like mind Come find us on Instagram.

We'll see you there. All right. I know you like that episode. If you did, check this one out. 30% body fat. For men, this is way too high. This is actually a bit high for women as well. So, today's episode, we're talking about how you can go from 30 to 10. What is 10% body fat? This is when you have a visible six-pack. Can you go from 30 to 10%, yes, it's possible, but not if you guess along the way. So, we're going to talk about how you can do that today's episode.

Now, there's a huge range, right, of like body types.