The Best Variations to Explode Your Squat, Deadlift and Bench Press | Mind Pump 2874

Key Takeaway

Box squats are a game-changer for breaking through squat plateaus. Lower slowly onto a box, sit completely to eliminate momentum, pause for 2-3 seconds, then stand. This breaks up eccentric and concentric contractions, strengthening the transition point where most injuries occur. You can add 30+ pounds to your regular squat by mastering this variation, which also allows safer depth progression by controlling range of motion without the risky momentum of changing direction.

Episode Overview

This episode breaks down five training hacks to dramatically improve strength in the squat, deadlift, and bench press. The hosts discuss underutilized exercise variations like box squats, belt squats, and Bulgarian split squats, explaining the biomechanical reasons these movements create carryover to the main lifts while reducing injury risk.

Full Transcript

Transcript of The Best Variations to Explode Your Squat, Deadlift and Bench Press | Mind Pump 2874 from Mind Pump Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

All right, look. We're going to talk about hacks that will explode your strength and the squat, the deadlift, and the bench press. We got five of them. We're going to cover them right now. Let's get to it. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. The main ones. Yes. Uh first, we should cover uh why they're so it's so great to get strong at those lifts. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, they are uh they are the power lifts. They're not perfect by themselves. I want to be clear. It's good to do lots of other things as well.

But if you get really strong on the squat, deadlift, and bench press, and you have some good uh programming with other exercises, like you've got really good overall general strength, you've got a lot of things covered there. Well, it's the foundation of pretty much all pursuits in fitness, athletic, aesthetic, uh health, longevity, longevity, longevity, um no matter what your pursuit is, you get strong in those lifts. that lays a very solid foundation for whatever the thing you're going to pursue for the rest of your life or whatever you're going to move in and out of if you decide to change your mind through it.

Like laying this foundation is the is the best way to to build a long-term health. Now when I train people uh when I train clients um I was always my goal was always generally to get them stronger. stronger. stronger. Um but the lifts that I would often times look at the most for strength gains were the squat, the deadlift, and the bench press. And here's the the interesting part. I didn't train powerlifters. powerlifters. powerlifters. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. I actually never trained a powerlifter. I trained with powerlifters, but most of my cl all of my clients were regular people who just wanted to improve their fitness, get leaner, build some muscle, uh have better mobility, better quality of life.

And the payback, the return that I always saw, that my clients always saw with getting stronger generally, but specifically with the squat, deadlift, and the bench press was always phenomenal. In other words, when they would get stronger at the squat, the deadlift, and the bench press, there was just so much more carryover than when I would pick other exercises. Yeah. And it's it's one of those things, too, like there's been controversy over the years. I' I follow like, you know, a lot of strength conditioning coaches.

some of them like deter their athletes away from these types of lifts. But at the end of the day, I've I always brought my clients uh to these lifts specifically for that foundational strength. They can maximize their effort generating as much force as possible. There's really not a lot of exercises that you could hyperfocus and gain all the benefits from. Even even the brilliant coaches that you're referring to like the Mike Boils and stuff like that that are like heavier on the Bulgarians and lunges and things like that.

I still would make an argument for laying a foundation in the squat first. squat first. squat first. Absolutely Absolutely Absolutely right. Like I totally can get behind everything and his philosophy for training athletes and one of the most longevity wise. Yeah. Like it makes sense but but they're also high level already. Yeah. Exactly. They've already built that foundation straight. So this is why it it makes sense for me always we start here. here. here. Agreed. 100% agreed. And I mean even even applied to my I had even older clients uh in their 60s7s and even 80s uh when I would get them and of course I want to be clear like all strength training exercises uh you have to have really good technique and these are technical exercises meaning uh they're higher on the skill required to do them properly than other exercises.

So a good example would be like there's a lot of skill required to perform a squat properly in comparison to like a curl, right? Not much skill involved with a curl. So, you're probably going to do it right the third time you try it with a squat. It's going to take lots of time, lots of practice to really get good at it. Which, by the way, that skill acquisition is one of the reasons why there's so much carryover uh to the rest of your life. But my older clients, uh, like these were the lifts we would focus on when I could get them to be able to perform them.

Um, because often times they couldn't do them at first, but we would get to the point to where we could do them. And it would just it was remarkable to see the difference in their lives from getting adding 10 pounds to the squat or being able to deadlift off the ground versus just off the rack as an example. So let's start with the squat. Okay. So aside from doing more squats, so that's always the best way to get better at squats. So aside from doing more squats, there are squat variations that have a lot of carryover to the squat.

And I'll start with the first one. And this uh one was popularized by strength athletes. It's the box squat. Was it Is this Louis Simmons who's responsible for this? Is he I would say Westside component of it. I believe Westside was they were the ones that really popular. I mean it I wasn't familiar with it until seeing like Westside barbell type stuff like that. Before that I don't remember too many people communicating or talking about it and then I feel like they popularized it for sure.

Yeah. I So the box squat is so a lot of times people do this wrong. A box squat is not putting a bench under your butt or a box under your butt and tapping it and coming back up. Okay. That's not a box squat. A box squat is you lower slowly. You actually sit down, you end your momentum. You end the momentum, then you stand up. So, you're actually sitting on the box for, you know, a second and a half, two seconds, 3 seconds, and then you stand back up.

back up. back up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, now, why is that such a great way to improve your squat? It breaks up the eccentric from the concentric. So, eccentric is lowering the weight, concentric is lifting the weight. Both two different types of muscle contractions. that transition from one to the other uh can oftenimes make things more difficult for people or increased risk of injury. Um why was a couple reasons. One, you're changing directions. Two, that slight change in directions temporarily makes the weight heavier. So if I'm lowering with 135 and I squat up the 135, that changing directions actually because of the momentum actually makes the weight more.

more. more. Yeah. What is I've seen the formula before for the the physics breakdown on that. like it's it's significantly more uh like if like depending on the speed of the squat. So if yeah if you're dropping down in a lowering in a squat at 150 lbs like you're saying like it's for that moment of changing direction your body is feeling like two or three times the weight. I don't remember what it was. Maybe Doug can look that up. Like it depends on how fast you're moving the weight because that momentum makes a big difference.

difference. difference. A lot more force on the joints to contend with. contend with. contend with. It is. Um and I'll I'll be straight up. box squats uh I did probably as often with my clients as traditional barbell squats. Probably as often in fact uh I will say this and there might be a little controversy around this. It's the one exercise I would say is interchangeable with a squat. Meaning you want the benefits of a squat. You want to do a safer version of it. Yeah. Lowered risk factor.

Way lowered risk factor. Now from a strength perspective, I'm going to say this right out the gates. Like when I implemented box squats into my routine, I added it was a big number. I was like 30 lbs to my barbell squat over time from doing the box squat. Just the ability to sit, pause, stay tight, come back up. I saw immediate uh improvement in my traditional squat from doing that. Every single MAPS program is 40% off right now. Go to mapsfitnessproducts.com, mapsfitnessproducts.com, mapsfitnessproducts.com, use the code summer40, and get 40% off.

All right, real quick. If you love us like we love you, why not show up by rocking one of our shirts, hats, mugs, or training gear over at mypumpstore.com? mypumpstore.com? mypumpstore.com? I'm talking right now. Hit pause. Head on over to myposttore.com. That's it. Enjoy the rest of the show. Now, recommendation for height of a box because that because the limiting factor of a box squat is the potential range of motion. know if you take a a standard kind of box that you see in the gym or like the west west west west west westside barbell squats that you see um very different than the range of motion that somebody who has a full range of motion for a squat can can do well you want it exactly where you want to generate the most force for that bottom position so wherever that range is for you specifically like that you're trying to optimize like I guess for some people you know you could go a little lower like you're you're trying for a full a fuller range of motion you can work on that uh with the same, you know, just lowered position with the box.

But, you know, for athletes, it's going to look different because, different because, different because, right, they care about squatting. They care about where you're generating the force primarily. I think that's why this did I bring this up because I think it's an important conversation because if you just looked at like what Westside barbell is doing, they are they are training to compete in powerlifting and they only have to hit parallel. parallel. parallel. They have to break parallel. Just break just slightly break parallel. So, that's your target and come back up.

So, that's where they put the box. And so that's where they put the box. We recommend that people learn to take a fuller range of motion squat. And so if you already have the ability to say go six inches deeper than that box, get a lower box. Get a lower box. That's right. Because like an aerobic step, I' I've used before with clients. Um and what's cool about what you're saying, Adam, is let's say you're working on your depth. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's say you could squat to parallel, but you once you go below parallel, like ah my my technique is a little off.

I feel my knees shift. that just doesn't feel as comfortable. You can get a box that's an inch or two lower than your normal squat. But because you're lowering it slowly, sitting, pausing, and then standing up, it actually offers a safer alternative to challenging your range of motion. Well, yeah. To your point about the ch what we're bringing up about changing direction, how much more force that is on the joints to change those directions. This is how I got my squat uh a lot lower than parallel than what I could do before was by getting a lower box, lightening the weight, going down slowly, sitting on it, pausing, and then coming back up.

It actually trained me to be able to get a a deeper range of motion. Then you have belt squats. I love belt squats. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. We didn't have did enough of them cuz it's Yeah, exactly. There's not a lot of gym. You see more of them now, but they were really uncommon. No, they're in every gym I've been in nowadays. nowadays. nowadays. Really? Really? Really? Yeah. Every gym I go to now will have a box will have a belt squat. They're really popular.

Wow. Uh, and you can buy um attachments for your home gyms now that are they have like flywheel setups for that as well, which is cool. So, a belt squat, it's a belt that goes around your waist with a cable that goes down and it's pulling you at your hips. So, if you have back issues, core stability issues, or you want to just train your squat more, but not overload your spine and your your back, um, you can add in belt squats cuz a traditional barbell squat, I mean, yeah, it's a lower body exercise, but it's really a full body exercise, especially when you're you you got that weight on your back, but you use a belt squat and it's all at the at the lower body.

This is also great for ch for working on range of motion. A belt squat will pull you down into a perfect squat, and that's one of my favorite ways. And I love the ones that have like kind of the the bar in front of you so you can they can hold on assist the bar to keep your chest upright and then slowly drop. If I had access to a belt squat with my clients, this would have been my primary way of helping them train their Yeah, we never had I never had it in any of the gyms I trained in.

I don't even I didn't know if they even existed. existed. existed. They did. They've been around for a long time. They just weren't they weren't popular. You just didn't I never saw one in like physical therapy uh clinics. Powerlifters have had access to them for a long time. I never saw a belt squat. such it was such a big machine. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, it was such a big machine that you you got to have the space in the gym to do it and then and justify like okay well people use this and so I think that's what why and I imagine they were probably pretty expensive when they first came out.

Um but I didn't realize that you've seen that many. I still don't see every gym I go to now. But I'm also not in I'm rarely in commercial gyms so I'm not the one to talk talk talk and I mean I went to one that's got like a lot of strength training equipment then I go to the other one that's more of the country club. They have a bell squad as well. Wow. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Yep. Uh then we have the front squat. Uh which I will right I'll say it right here.

right here. right here. Super underutilized. Okay. Oh yeah. The front squat is the barbell squat of 20 years ago. Like 20 years ago nobody barbell squatted. Today I never see you. You got to program that in. I was going to say the front squat is the incline bench press to bench press. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's just It's just It's just it's so complimentary. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's such a great movement that nobody wants to do cuz you're so much weaker than the traditional. That's true. It's like like nobody wants to do incline bench press.

Uncomfortable. Yeah. Uncomfortable. Yeah. Uncomfortable. Yeah. Because you're so much better at flat bench and you can put more weight up. So you you neglect incline bench press. Yet it's so good for developing your chest and getting a strong bench press. I think the front squat is so good for developing your legs and so good for getting better at your back squat. But because you're so much weaker at your front squat, you never do it. You just do back squat. I feel like it's so similar. similar.

similar. It's it forces you to be more upright, a little bit more quad focused. It's very complimentary to a back squat. a lot of core strength. core strength. core strength. If you're stuck at your back squat for a long time, I mean, you could swap it out for front squats for like a month, go back to back squats, and then watch what ends up happening. You'll see. Well, this I went on a a kick. I remember this when I cuz again also like everybody neglected front squat and like I was with the incline bench press.

I'm like, I'm going to try and get my front squat up to my back squat. And I never passed what my my max, but I got my front squat over 315, which was a lot for me because I think I started at like 135. I mean, I had to start really low. And boy, going back to my back squat after I could front squat 315. Like I had never felt so comfortable with 405 on my back as I did after getting strong on my front squat like that.

Same here. Well, yeah. I noticed it even really helped a lot with my overhead press because it just holding the weight and then you know really getting comfortable uh in that racked position. Uh plus it's it's such a transitionary uh move. So it's like anything you want to do for Olympic lifting like we we have to get solid with front squats. Then you have the split stance squat. This looks like a lunge but essentially you're splitting your stance in a lunge position. You just go up and down before you switch your stance.

But it places a different torsion on the pelvis and this and the core. And if you never do these, you will be shocked at how weak you are uh in comparison to your squat. This is how you know this is how you know you need to do these. You could squat 315, suddenly you get in a split stance and you're like 105. I still I still I still have a a vivid memory of the like first day of of of training Bulgarian split squats. And uh and I remember like and I remember like seeing actually a a girl in the gym doing it and I remember like and I know and like I I know logically the benefits of it.

I'm like I need to train that. I never train that. And I remember going to do it and I remember I couldn't hold on to dumbbells heavier than what she was holding on to. And I remember I was just roasting like oh my god I'm so weak here. And then of course right after that experience avoided it for a really long time cuz embarrassed that I was so weak in it. And then again later on coming back being like setting a goal. I'm gonna get strong at that.

Talk about again carrying over to your squat to the whole point of this conversation. Man, when I got to the point when I could Bulgarian split squat some serious weight getting back over to the barbell back squat. Holy crap. I felt so reinforcement of control stability like what that provides your hips when you go back to, you know, bilaterally squatting was it it was phenomenal. And it yeah it it was very humbling very humbling exercise to just jump into that after being good at squatting. But uh I actually yeah I it took me a while but then I finally really like intentionally tried to get stronger in that and then started using like a barbell with it and it's like oh my god my my potential for squat went crazy.

Oh, and the and I know this is not the point of this conversation, but the leg development and glute development I got from that. The instability of being in a split stance like that and getting really strong, all those stabilizer muscles having to come up. I mean, that's what contributes obviously to the bilateral squatting, which is the point of the conversation. But for somebody who was aesthetically motivated like I was, man, I had incredible leg development by focusing over on that. Totally. All right, let's get to the deadlift.

And I'll start with the trap bar deadlift. I think the trap bar deadlift is exceptional. I think it's a wonderful supplement and or replacement. So, deadlifts with a straight bar, great. Love them. Practice them. Get good at them. Rip it or hate some. But if you're really if you're really afraid uh of of the deadlift, if you're like, man, my skill around it, I'm not sure like a trap bar, the skill required to do a proper trap bar deadlift is uh much less than a traditional barbell deadlift.

And there is some carryover. It is a different lift. And I know some people argue the difference, but I'll tell you what, it's lifting something off the ground while you're holding it. The weight is more to the side of your body on either side. So, it's a little bit less of the hip hinge, but it's still a hip hinging lift. Uh, athletically speaking, it's athletes do more trap bar deadlifts than they do traditional deadlifts. deadlifts. deadlifts. Well, I mean, I can I can get behind the riptoe type of camp from that that I just the conventional deadlift covers all that and some unless you're an athlete because then I can see the carryover that.

carryover that. carryover that. I use the the truth is with clients I use the trap bar far more than I use conventional deadlift. conventional deadlift. conventional deadlift. So it's like the the reality is even though I can agree with someone like Ripto that the conventional deadlift is the king and the place we want to get to, the reality is the average person who comes into the gym that hired me as a coach, we couldn't get there without trap bar deadlifting first. deadlifting first. deadlifting first. And so there's tremendous benefit for for sure the beginner.

And then to your point, if you're somebody who's been stuck at, let's say, a 400 deadlift for a very long time, you might get comfortable with being able to do a trap bar at like 450 500 and then go back over to that and see. And so there is there is there is benefit there. So I don't think it's one of those things where it's just like it's a oh it's terrible, it's horri, you shouldn't do it, there's useless. No, there's lots of application for it.

I still think conventional deadlift is the king. But if you're stuck in a plateau and you can't break through that and you're scared to feel what 500 lbs with, it's like go over there and trap bar deadlift that and you'll be able to do that 100%. Then we have zer squats. So zer squats is a kind of a front-loaded squat. I know it's helping you the deadlift. It says squat, but it's kind of a in between exercise. Uh you have a short lever in front of you because it's in on your elbows.

You're squatting down. There's some hip hinging involved. Um, and I've noticed with myself and with people I've trained that this has a nice carryover. Actually, more carryover to a deadlift than a squat. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is a zertra squat. I think it really highlights the importance of like your core involving 100%. Yeah. With the lift and the hinge. Like it really just lights up your core. I So, you went this direction I was going to go with the huge benefits that I got from this was the c was bracing.

Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Uh such a big piece of both uh getting a stronger squat and deadlift is learning how to brace really well. Totally. Totally. Totally. If you get in order to get strong in a zer, you have to brace your core just to do one. Yeah. It forces you to do that. And so as you progress and get stronger at a zer, you get really good at bracing. Then you go over back to a deadlift or a squat and you really learn how to lock in that core and all of a sudden you see your weight go up in that squat or that deadlift.

I this is was the big notice that I got from the zer because I think the average person will scratch their head even the average trainer that understands biomechanics be like how is that really helping that much that you can't even load that much is but the amount that you have to learn how to brace and because it still is a hinge pattern it's like the carryover is actually far better than you would you imagine. And then we got a couple movements that really help prevent injury.

Uh the suitcase carries is the first one. So suitcase carry, I got a heavy dumbbell on one side. I'm walking nice, good, tight, controlled form. And I got, like I said, there's just a heavy dumbbell on one side. What it's doing is it's strengthening strengthening strengthening the the opposite side QL muscle and the lateral stabilizing muscles of the other side. So why is that important? Well, when you're deadlifting, especially when you get really strong, you get really strong moving in one direction. Those lateral stabilizers, although they're active, can fall behind.

And this is where you often see back injuries. Yep. Yep. Yep. One of the more common back injuries with a deadlift, is not because of a herniated disc or something like that. It's because a QL got pulled. Yeah. Shifting weight. Yes. It's like the weight came up and it came up a little faster on one side. It was a little twist. Boom. QL gets hurt. And what that feels like is a lot of low back pain on one side. I love that you brought this up for bulletproofing that because it's it is one of I actually got injured from that uh you know deadlifting and it it became one of my staples and two that just the walking patterns with weight I think really like highlights and emphasizes a lot of those like opposing forces pulling you left pulling you into rotation you know and to be able to stay fixed and concentrated and your get your body to really respond just in that vertical line uh I think it's it really tests that that that 100%.

And then we have reverse hyper. Uh reverse hypers were popularized I think by Westside barbell. Again, um very interesting movement and you look at it and you go, "How does this help me deadlift?" Uh it bulletproofs your low back. back. back. Oh, your low back. Yeah, it really does bulletproof. And more than a traditional uh hyperextension. Reverse hypers is where you're lifting your legs up. And I don't even need a lot of weight to do this. And what I noticed with this when I do these is it's hard to get my lumbar spine to move through because it wants to stay tight.

And so it just improves my lower back mobility and I've seen recently carry over to my deadlift. Yeah, that's another one that you see the more like you don't see them in a lot of gyms. You CrossFit gyms have them. them. them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you don't see them in a lot of the two gyms I go to have them. Wow. You're going powerlifting. Powerlifting gyms will have them. But I think you know as you know just side note as strength training becomes more common and mainstream, you're seeing more strength like really good strength training machines in gyms.

And I just think like squat racks for example. Now squat racks are in every gym whereas they weren't, you know, 20 years ago. It's kind of it's I mean it's a interesting point. I mean the fact that a a reverse hyper and a belt squat are in two of the commercial gyms that you go to is such and then and that we've all we've talked for a long time like what we've seen the transition in the the you know squat rack and the deadlift platforms like that's been insane like to see reverse hypers and belt squats and gyms.

It's kind of a cool time for Well, you see bumper plates, you see uh, you know, squat racks, you're seeing people do all these lifts that normally you have hip thrust machines, too, which everywhere. Yeah. I never saw that before. So, kind of cool. Yeah. Yeah. All right, let's get to the bench press. Uh, so here's an exercise that will give you some carryover that I don't see a lot of people doing, especially not with weight added, which is dips. You can get really strong with dips, everybody.

If you practice dips, you can get really, let me tell you, you get really strong at dips, your bench press will go up. And I almost never see anybody doing weighted dips. I'll see people doing dips. I don't see people challenging range of motion on dips often. Definitely don't see people. see people. see people. I love deep range of motion and even an isometric contraction down at the bottom, you know, a pause rep to to really, you know, emphasize that. But yeah, so much carryover to that when you go back to the bench press, uh, in terms of that, of that, of that, especially at the bottom, yeah, the bottom bottom position power that you can now, that's how I start them.

I always start them with an isometric. So, it's just a great way for me to prime and kind of warm up before I even get into it. Get in that as deep as I possibly can. Yeah. And then just do a couple isometrics in that position. That's kind of like my first set. And then I'll get into like loading it and going. It's a great way to start those. And man, get it teaches you how to dig out of a bench press. One of the one of the sticking points on uh being able to increase your bench press is obviously the dig.

Getting it out of the bottom position. And it's kind of like deficit deads, right, for deadlifts. It's like that that ability to get deep out of it like that and get strong in that position. And you're right, it's not one of those movements you see a lot of people grabbing the belt chain and loading it. It's normally something you see body weight reps and rarely as deep as they can go, but getting deep and doing single, double, triples loaded on that will you want to see your bench press, that'll do it.

Totally. And then we have the incline press which uh you know people typically treat this as like a you know kind of a secondary lift but one thing that I did and I know lots of people have done is they kind of abandon the bench press for a little while and just saw how strong they can get on the incline. Then they went back to bench press and suddenly they were able to bench press uh more weight. Um and a because people treat the incline presses kind of as a secondary exercise.

A lot of people don't realize their full potential in the incline press. But I'll tell you this much right now. Focus on the incline. Make that your primary pressing movement. Get really strong at it. There's carryover to the bench press for sure. for sure. for sure. Uh and then we'll get to a couple things you can add to all these things. Bands and chains. This just adds what's called progressive resistance. Uh bands added to the bar makes the weight heavier where you're strongest and it lighter where you're weakest.

So when I'm bench pressing with bands added to the bar, it's lightest at the bottom. As I push up and the band stretches, it's heaviest at the top. Well, I just so happen to be strongest at the top. So now I'm training my strength curve. Chains do the same thing. As I lower the weight, chains hit the ground. It's lighter. As I lift, chains come up. This is a powerlifting tool, but the carryover for people want to build muscle strength who just want to look better.

Like, I love using bands and chains. I love using and alleviating a lot of that needless stress around the joints, too. It's kind of nice to to apply that technique and, you know, really focus on some like either the lockout or or digging yourself out of the hole. And I and I know we've talked about this before, uh, but you you just described how the strength curve is the same on the two things, but they feel different. And so they're both different tools. Bands versus chains.

Yes. Even though even though they they this they match the strength curve, right, of which they feel different doing it. And so, uh, so, uh, so, uh, chains take more out of you. There's a there's a value to you doing both of these both of these, uh, to help you with this. I just they're a great tool. Uh, and I'd say most gyms have the ability to to set up chains or bands. Uh, and bands are easy to carry them with you. You chains are a little bit more ridiculous to carry in your gym.

Bands are easy. You're right. You walk into a gym with your chains. You're hardcore, dude. hardcore, dude. hardcore, dude. That is your neck. That is like the junkyard dog. That guy, the wrestler, wrestler, wrestler, the junkyard dog, dude. That actually would be like a funny reel to do. You know what I'm saying? Come show up and you're Mr. T, dude. Bring it back. I used to use chains on dips. place to be just be just be just bring some big old gold chains and like throw it on the bench.

It's so awesome. That'd be a move. Justin, you look uh nice and tan, which is weird. is weird. is weird. You do. I'm glad you noticed. You do. You look like uh gray. You know what I'm saying? Little bit of a mauve. No, you do look. No, you went outside when you were down in Palm Springs or Palm Desert. Desert. Desert. I have more freckles. And usually you come back sunburned usually, usually, usually, but you came back uh tan. What are you doing? doing? doing? Yeah.

So, well, I'm trying this out. Like my um sister-in-law, like we used to uh Fourth of July, we'd go to like Quarter Lane and um and they're just as fair skinned as us. And so it was like they're out on the boat like all summer and um you know, some of their kids are like very fair skinned, but they weren't putting on sunblock. We were like passing around like no, we're good. We don't have any sunblock. and she was telling us about aazanthin is this they've been taking the supplement um to help uh which I don't even know how to describe this like so don't rely on me for that I feel like I've heard you s bring it up before but I don't know what it is find it in certain uh seafood it's a it's a pill oh you know what it's from um flamingos what's the algae is another way they get it it it yeah well the flamingos eat it no no look up asanthin and sunburns dog so you If you take Justin, is it a a powder or a pill that you're taking?

you're taking? you're taking? It's a pill. Yeah. And it's a precursor to vitamin A, right? Is that what that is? It's an antioxidant uh internal sunscreen. Yeah, dude. You take it before, during, and after you're in the sun. Yeah. sun. Yeah. sun. Yeah. And like your sun is your skin is way more resilient to the UV rays. Yeah. And I was like, I don't know. It's it's a risk, you know, like with me because it's like I'm going to leave and if I don't put anything on, like usually I'll get to the point where it's going to blister if I have like that much exposure.

Uh but I was like, you know, around the pool and I kind of started taking it a week before we went to Palm Desert and uh I was like, okay, I got a little bit red, you know, and I was hot, but then I kind of went back, you know, inside and I was fine the next day. And so then we spent a lot more time like at this water park and like all day long. You know, you're at a water park, there's no shade. Like it was constant.

I didn't have anything on. I was nervous, dude. nervous, dude. nervous, dude. And I I came out. I was like hot and uh red. And then like once we I cooled down, I was like fine. and and there was no it it wasn't even like you could uh like I I didn't have any like like heat at night normally like even my my skin would be hot when I'm trying to sleep. Uh so yeah, it was it was wild. It's so weird whenever I hear Justin talk about like him and his kids and wife in the sun.

You guys don't have to worry about I've never never had I've never thought of that. It's never been a thought for me when I go out in the sun like oh crap. crap. crap. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I'm going to sunburn. I I'll put if I put sunscreen on it's day one for a little bit one time. Yeah. And the rest of the time there never in my life do I am I worried about something. something. something. I'm always looking for alternatives though because I hate it.

It's so many chemicals and like I just you know it's a whole process and yeah I'm always jealous cuz like you know guys like you just let's go and no big deal. I'm just like you know that dad put all in my nose and they got place I missed you know look like a dork. It's okay. You have great calves. Yeah. So I mean I' probably I've changed the the skin complexion for the calves. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, dude. I mean it was nice.

Like I was like, "Oh, this might be a thing." You know, I'm going to try it again and and see if it So Doug had it pulled up. It So it says uh ideally you you you load it for a couple weeks. couple weeks. couple weeks. You do it for like a week before there. A week or so. So it's something that I I'm assuming it's healthy for you to take on a regular basis. Yeah. It's good for you to take anyway. Yeah, I Yeah, we were reading up on it and it so and Courtney's kind of like particular about sourcing and so she found a good like mom and pop kind of place that does it, you know, in house and so we're like, "Okay, we'll try this." Um, but yeah, I mean I now it's like, you know, the whole dryness and all that.

I'm like, "Ah, maybe I got to keep it if like, you know, if I'm getting dark or it's just Are you doing the hydro layer, the Caldera Lab hydro layer to keep you all?" all?" all?" Yeah. Yeah. all the moisturizer, all the uh serum on my face and like mainly my face cuz like you know like I never keep a tan on my face. I use I use their um sunscreen on Max so it's 30 it's 30 SPF and it's all chemical stuff and it's not chemicals.

It's all natural. So that's I use that for him. Yeah, that's a great option. So yeah, they have they have a great cuz it's hard to find these sunscreens that don't have all the [ __ ] in it, dude. And and that that was like one of the biggest fights with Katrina and I was because she's as soon as Max would go outside, she'd like lather him like let him be out for at least 15 20 minutes out there and get a little bit of a base and then I'm okay with you putting it.

But you go lather him up with this chemical [ __ ] right away before he goes out there and so that's why we switched over to that. And I know it's like a a kind of a smaller bottle. I don't care. I like that's what I use on him and it's 30 so it's and it's all natural. So that's a way to go. I have a friend of mine, so I'm training my my buddy and um we've been working out together now for about I don't know five five or six weeks and it's so funny.

He's like he comes over, you know, to work out train him on my garage and he's like, "Hey," he's like, "Does that Calera Lab stuff really work?" I start laughing. I'm like, "Did you see one of my commercials?" He's like, "Yeah, I did." And I'm like, "It really, dude, it really works." We had this whole conversation about it. And he's like, "I've never really used anything." He's a guy, right? So, I've never really used anything. anything. anything. And then he gave me a compliment. He's like, "You your skin looks really good.

I thought maybe cuz you were Sicilian. I said, "Well, I also use their stuff." But it really does. In fact, Doug, show me the So, I was looking at this earlier at some of the ingredients to uh Oh, by the way, hydrolayer 1, best moisturizer in men's health and esquire. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They got first place uh in both of them. They're killing it. Yeah. And they they have compounds in their hydro layer that holds up to 5,000 times its weight in water.

So, it attracts. So there are two as far as like keeping you hydrated, your skin hydrated. Yes. So 5,000 times its weight in water. It's uh polyglutamic acid and hyrolonic acid. So those are two primary ingredients in their hydro layer. So it keeps your skin. So basically basically you rub it in and it gets absorbed in your skin and then it holds the water in there almost like what creatine does in the muscles. Me. Oh yeah, kind of. Kind of interesting. interesting. interesting. It's got exoomes in there.

They're patent pending too. 20 times more uh active in the skin. So yeah. So I was telling him all the stuff. He's a doctor, so he likes the science. So we're kind of going through it and uh geeking out. geeking out. geeking out. Yeah. Now he's going to use it, which is kind of cool. What did everybody do on the memorial? I I mean I know I was laid up sick and did absolutely nothing. You So you went down? down? down? I drove down. Yeah. So we Yeah.

It's a long drive, man. And it's funny cuz every time every time every time Yeah. Every time we do now Well, cuz dude, flights right now are so dumb and it's like, dude, it takes forever uh to get through security and like there's delays and like all over the place. I don't know if you guys noticed like you've obviously just like why are there delays everywhere? I don't know. It's just it's like cuz all the they had all the all the whatchamacalling whatchamacalling whatchamacalling and stuff with the with the the again we went through that whole thing with uh what are they the what are they called that work there.

Okay. Oh the TSA TSA the old TSA protesting the protesting or striking whatever that's whatever that's whatever that's what I meant. Strike. Yeah. I don't the same same thing. They went through that whole process again. You didn't know that just happened again? No. No. No. Yeah. So there was So yeah, we were avoiding all that. Yeah. So we just just just So you drove for 12 hours? Basically, Basically, Basically, dude, but is it eight hours? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's a long drive. Yeah. Well, I mean, we cut it to like seven.

seven. seven. Five is like my limit. Yeah, we took ways like ways has taken us on so many I've gone like I want to say at least six different ways down there now. like and it all through like central valley desert and like all like so it's been it's been weird, you know, like finding all these new paths to get there. But uh yeah, we we went down there and then just just hung out and I actually took the boys to the gym. Uh and I think I might have brought this up on another podcast, but yeah, we got to work out.

So I got them that was like my first time of having like a real in gym session with them like two times and it was awesome. Did you guys go up there the the whole time or did you guys get were you here for a few days then went down there? down there? down there? We were here for a couple days and then we left cuz we're we're in the process of like trying to sell my house. So, we're kind of in and out with like people coming to show the place and then wanted to look at it.

We got to hurry up and leave, grab the dogs and everything and it's been kind of stressful, but it's Have you have you uh transferred a bunch of stuff to the other house yet? You have. Oh, you already have moved some stuff. some stuff. some stuff. Lots of stuff there. Yeah. Oh, it's really just like the stuff we have on display for show and you know a few clothing items. I'm like literally like rotating like I don't know maybe like 10 or 12 different outfits now.

Is the other house done enough for you like to have your master bedroom and be able to put stuff there or or like where it's it's it's got walls and it's got we got lighting upstairs now which is great. Okay. Um and Um and Um and I've not seen any updates. painted a lot. lot. lot. You haven't shared any updates with us. Like you've I haven't seen any updates in your place at all. It's I mean like we're getting there. Like it's it's not like your car cuz I know I know I know it exists.

I've seen it. I've been there. I've been there. So I know it's for real. I drove my car once so I know that it does exist. does exist. does exist. Uh which this is great. Once I finally get it, I'm going to Yeah. reveal it. Everybody's going to be like, "Wow, you have this. Had it for a long time. It's going on like two two almost two years. two years almost. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, that sucks. that sucks. that sucks. Probably not going to get a recommendation recommendation recommendation for everybody else.

You know, it's like it's so tough because everybody I know, everybody I have that's done a build, it's just it's just just just forever. Yeah. forever. Yeah. forever. Yeah. It's just part of the process. Classic cars. Yeah. And it's it is one of those things where I was like very I mean not to say I'm naive, but like I knew it was going to take a while, but not this long. I didn't like come on. Like like what? But then again, it's it's tough because like too, I know the guy and like he's downsized.

He had like a full staff working for him. Now he's just just him. Like the last year it was been just him. And so it's like, you know, I'm like What's crazy is you chose to build a classic car and build a house at the same time. same time. same time. That was not intentional, dude. At all. Just enough stress. Yeah, I really do. Like I'm like I'm not, you know, I don't like chilling. He's like I don't have enough stress in my should. You should buy a puppy and have a kid, right?

Another puppy on top of Dude, we already got two cats like in the mix. Like Courtney snuck those ones in. in. in. What? What? What? Well, yeah, I told you. Yeah. I mean, they've been rad because they're actually productive and they kill things. things. things. Uh, so I'm cool with them, but And they're pretty low maintenance, but Yeah. but Yeah. but Yeah. Did you guys keep your Did you guys keep your chickens or did you bail on the chickens? chickens? chickens? We bailed on them. We actually gave them to one of our friends like started.

Yes, she started one. They were good egg producers, so you know, they're happy to to take them. Dude, I got a uh I to take them. Dude, I got a uh I got a a chart I want to talk to you guys about just to switch directions a little bit. I just read this today. It was a study on young adults. So, 22 to 35 year olds. They their happiness has dropped significantly, but not all of them. You guys ready to hear this? It's pretty wild.

So, in this is this chart this study starts in 1980 and it goes all the way to a little bit past uh 2020. So young adults were 83% of them in 1980 said they were pretty or very happy. Today it's 68%. But there's one segment. So that's a huge drop from 83 to 68%. But there's one segment of young adults whose happiness has barely changed or not changed at all. Married young adults. So the young adults who are single, their happiness plummeted. All the married ones same.

91% 1980 90 90% today. today. today. You're so pro young marriage. Well, well, let's sell marriage. This is data. These are 22 This is data. These are 22 to 30. to 30. to 30. This is data of what they report, right? I mean, how many how many married guys are sitting next to their wife and he was like, "Are you happy?" "Yeah, I'm happy." You happy, too? Yeah. The market. She's like over your shoulder. Yeah. He's like this. She's looking at her like this. Like that.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm happy. We're real happy. Just so you know, just so you know, these surveys aren't done together. They're done individually. Okay. But And you don't think she goes like this? What? How did you answer? How did you answer? you answer? you answer? Hey, I'll tell you what. If there's there's no change since 1980, the other one plummeted. I mean, listen, this is good to bring up. And these are 22 to 35 year olds, Adam. This isn't like 19 year olds. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But But But what's what's the what's the divorce rate between people that get married between the ages of 20 and 25 versus 25?

22 and 33. 35. No, no. What I'm saying is I'm not talking about that. That's one study. I'm I'd like to see what's the report say on people who get married between the ages of say 18 to 23 and then 23 to 27 and then third I don't know but if you but the older you get married the divorce rate goes up typically but that's typically because it's second and third marriages so when you look at people who get married yeah that's I like to see first marriages between all those ages and what the what the divorce rate is I don't I don't know so that would be interesting to me to see teen marriages are extremely high risk with nearly 48% so the ideal zone is 25 to 29 where the divorce right is the is the lowest is the lowest.

That's your sweet spot. This is statistically one of the most stable brackets boasting a divorce risk of only 10% ages 30 to 34. S yeah. yeah. yeah. So as you get older it gets high. It gets worse. No 10%. No 10%. No 10%. The odds of divorce actually increase by roughly 5% for each additional year you wait. wait. wait. This is age 32 and older. That's 32 and older. Between 30 and 34 statistically is the best time. Yes. But 22 25 to 29 is also uh is also very good.

Anyway, my point is 23 and 26. 26. 26. My point is, yeah, yeah, yeah, that the data from 22 to 35 year olds, there's a huge discrepancy from married and not married. Huge. Why is this such a big deal? Because the because everything would have you believe otherwise. They would have you believe the happiest people in that age group are not married. Not true. And this is data. This isn't my opinion. I'm just pulling up. I mean, it's kind of your opinion. I mean, it's not I mean, you're using that to to make your your opinion.

It's like just that they report less just because they report that. I mean, there's so many other variables that could be going on there. It's just not like it's not that clear. that clear. that clear. You can make up things that you think because then you just look because when you read that when you you read when you read that when you read those right there, then if they're not getting divorced, their divorce rates the lowest at 30 to 34. This goes from 22 to 35 years.

So that falls within this, right? So again, that that the better age could be say 30 34 and it's not really getting married at 22. My point to your to counter your point is I'm not pro getting married between 20 and 23 years old years old years old and you're so pro you getting young and it comes off that way when you say that. So, I'm coming back the other direction being like, okay, I understand that married people are happy and I agree that we've sold this dream of or we've told people that, oh, be single, make all this money, bang lots of girls, and the Peter Pan syndrome.

And I don't agree with that. But I also think that uh people getting married at a really young age is not always a good idea. Yeah, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying saying saying well it can come off that way when you read it when you read what you just I'm reading exactly what the data says uh which is that the happiness rate from 22 to 35 year olds has plummeted among those who are unmarried. Right. Right. Right. Whereas those who are married has stayed the same.

the same. the same. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which would account for even divorce and all that stuff which is what you're looking at. looking at. looking at. I know. But when you report a study like that and you give a range like that it could be interpreted to somebody who's 21 years old that hey it's a good idea for me to get married right now. Do you know how many people or how many women who are childless are childless uh and it was not intentional? You can look that up.

Significant percent. percent. percent. Yeah. Because there that is that I and I agree with that. I mean so when you look at so when you think of it this way, okay, especially if you're a woman and you're looking at this, you know, I'm going to wait till I'm 33. Uh now you're 33 like I got to get married and have a kid right away. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the odds that you're going to remain I think I think the conversation is different for men and women in my opinion.

So, I would encourage a woman to get married at a younger age. I would encourage a man to get married at an older age. older age. older age. I think a 25year-old woman is totally different maturity-wise than a 25-year-old boy. 25-year-old boy. 25-year-old boy. Yes. You want to know what's interesting about that? Young men place getting today, which is really weird. It was never like this before. Young men place marriage and having children higher Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. than women do these days. Yeah. And I think that's because of the stupid narrative that we've pushed on women for.

Yeah. And I agree with that. But again, that's a I think that that women are far more mature at middle 20s than men are. And so I think in an ideal world, it's like guys are waiting till they're closer to 30. Girls are probably around 25. around 25. around 25. Yeah. Especially when you look at the age uh difference uh when people get married, it typically be is like 2 to three years. three years. three years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So a guy will typically be two to three years older.

years older. years older. But again, I think that there's I know there's this narrative which is don't even think about it until you're in your 30s. and just enjoy your life. And here's what's happening. They're not enjoying their life. They're less happy. They're far less happy. I think the the the commentary that I want to bring to that conversation is because I don't want to happen what I feel like we always do as society, which is swing from one extreme to the other extreme. Oh, we don't get married.

Go this way. Oh, get married right away. It's like there's actually somewhere there's some logic. Well, do you think people were less happy when it was in the other direction? Because it was in the past when they were really young. Yeah. Do you think they were less happy 40 years ago when the narrative was get married early and have kids? No, I know they weren't. I mean, you you're bringing up the studies that prove the opposite of that. But I also think that 30 40 years ago, there were a lot of other things.

30 years ago, a family a single a family could have one person working and they could survive in a single home. Oo, we've talked about this. The the data on that's not true. Well, there because we have live in bigger houses and things like that and live well below. I'll tell you what right now. I had this conversation with my cousins. They're like, "Oh, no, no. My grandfather, he was able to buy a house and support." And I'm like, "Okay, let's do apples to apples." Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. He didn't have internet, so cut that cost out. Yeah. He didn't he only had one car, so cut the other one out. He didn't have TVs, so cut that out. He didn't eat out, so cut that out. He didn't buy clothes all the time, so if we actually do apples to apples, sure, that's that's a logical argument. Problem is perception is reality. And these young and this young generation perceives it this way. I don't disagree with the logic that you make but the average person who's 20 years old doesn't see it that way and if that's their perception that's the reality which then will cause them to be depressed sad and yes I can't afford both me and my wife have to work to work to work no 100% that's why it's important to talk about and there are many places I know we don't live in one of these places where we live is one of the most expensive in the world but there are many places in America which very affordable yeah and a lot of the issue like I have family members or friends I have friends like this who both couple you know both husband and wife work they work like crazy.

And it's like, if you just moved, you're so stressed out. You're both working crazy hours. Your kid is going to daycare. If you just moved, you'd be okay. Like, I don't want to leave the area. It's like, there are options. There definitely options. options. options. No, I think there is a I No, I think there is a I think uh I think great advice is for a young man to uh build himself, grow, learn, educate, build skills, get mature. uh wait till you're 25 to 28 and then you find a girl who's 3 years younger than you and you live somewhere in the middle of the country and you absolutely absolutely absolutely be disciplined and happy already.

Finally, you can be confident. I'll even add to that. Espe if you're in that age group, I think you should date to marry. Not because I'm just I need to get married, but yeah, with an objective like, hey, I'm going to date, but I'm going to date because I'm looking for somebody I want to be with, not just some, you know, whatever. And it's the opposite. And people are less happy. people are way less happy living that life. And when I saw that data, I first of all, I expected everybody to be less happy because that's what you keep seeing the data.

Yeah. But people who are married stayed the same. I believe the dating process is part of what I when I'm when I allude to you should grow, learn, and like I mean that's part of that like the the the best experience for dating for me in my 20s was not uh like oh just because I was trying to have fun. It was like I was learning about myself like that like that whole process was I mean when I when you're I mean this is why I'm not a fan of a 21 or 22 year old young man getting married is cuz at 22 you think you know what you want and most men don't.

By the time you're 30 you get a little bit better idea of what you want. Probably 35 you really realize, oh [ __ ] this is what I value. This is what I want. That's want. That's want. That's You know what's interesting? I was just at a wedding young couple. they're in their I want to say early to mid20s. It was the most uh Christian marriage ever uh wedding I've ever been at. So I never been at a wedding that was that like both but the support and the families that they had around them and how they talked about talked about talked about marriage at the wedding.

I was like man they have such a high odds of success because they're going to definitely change. There's going to be challenges. Of course if you're with someone long enough there going to be massive challenges but they have all these people around them. The way they were communicating marriage was incredible. and they have all their grandparents and this culture and I think that's another big part of it. I think a lot of us don't grow that's a huge part of it. I mean also a great I mean imagine having people to talk to that you know even even just having a I mean it's unfortunate but we don't have a lot of people don't have that don't come from a family that's all together like that.

having an example of a mother and father that stuck together and did it and worked through things and uncles and aunts that did it and like you know if you had this big family that you that I just imagine like them having strong I was watching this I was thinking about this like imagine have big big challenges and he goes to his buddies who also are in this kind of culture his buddies are not going to say dude just leave her leave her leave her they're going to say things like no man you got to stick let's work it out let's figure this out let's get you guys together we're all going to and uh when you look at successful um families and marriages they have a lot of that but a lot of people don't grow up in that like you said which makes it very very difficult.

difficult. difficult. Yeah. No agreed agreed. I mean that's all part of the growing process that I it's just wild to me when you look at when you start to look at the data objectively speaking we should be happier today by the things that we tend to measure which is uh material success to health care um you know education and freedom and we have more of those things but so many people are less less happy. There's something missing. Oh, I mean I think it's one of the greatest analogies to that or examples is when you talk about like what kings and queens had.

queens had. queens had. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean like somebody who is in like poverty poverty poverty has has more luxury than somebody and yet they this I mean so think about that for a second. Like that's that's that's wild. That's like and that wasn't that long ago. We're not talking about like you're you're only talking about a couple hundred years carrier pigeons and we have you know freaking like Door Dash. So Oh, it's Yeah. No, it's it's it's I I mean I catch myself got a sore throat.

Oh, he's probably going to die. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, man. He's going to die, you know. Yeah. Well, I mean I the convenience that we have in in everything and convenience and luxury in our daily lives is is wild just compared to say 20 30 years ago. It's and so you're right. We have and it's only accelerating with 3D printing and AI robots to come do everything for you. Like I mean it's we're only going to have more. And the irony of that is we're only gonna get more depressed and sad and lonely and all those things because we keep creates meaning and we're, you know, eliminating it.

eliminating it. eliminating it. That's crazy. All right. Speaking more good news for young people. Dude, this this is crazy. And I'm not going to say the elephant in the room, but I know you guys are going to think the same thing. So, there was there there's some stud some data coming out showing and I'll pull it up here showing how strokes so the instance of strokes is spiking in young people. So doctors are now seeing people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who are getting suddenly they're seeing a spike in these young patients getting strokes strokes strokes and they're confused as to what could possibly possibly possibly a couple years back if we like go back in time.

in time. in time. Dude, I keep seeing like data like this in the comments underneath. Everybody posts a little emoji of a of a shot. Really, dude. Dude, it's of course we're going to inevitably hit this reality and face this reality, you know, of what we all went through and endured. It's like ah it's it's it's hard because you you just can't talk about it, you know, like we can't talk about like this might have had an impact. I know. I know. I know. Well, you know, meanwhile we're we're trying again, right?

What's the uh what's the one going around right now? Oh, it's already dying. It Yeah, it didn't go anywhere. What was that called? Ha. Ha. Yeah. Hirus. Yeah. Hirus. Yeah. Hirus. Yeah. I mean they that felt like they kind of rolled it out like let's see if we can do a part two. No dude and just like every part two nor it flopped. It's just like oh there's no evidence like in terms of benefit you know it's just it if you go back and look at benefit versus you know um us like saving people like I would love to see like real statistics on that.

that. that. It's wild though to see 20 year olds with strokes. with strokes. with strokes. It's not good. It's o like overwhelmingly not good. Yeah dude. And then that one there's that one uh tick disease that's exploded over a thousand%. They're now starting to investigate it as bioteterrorism. I brought that up and I was like ah this is like freaking super conspiratorial but you know it's what is it called? Gal something uh like you get bit by this tick and you don't want to eat meat.

You can't eat red meat. Yeah. What's it called? Some kind of enzyme that it it I mean what's the uh what it what's the um the stats on people that are It's called alphagin that are allergic. Yeah. What's What's the What's the allergy increase to red meat in the last decade? Do we know? Oh, a lot. And is it a lot? Yeah, because of Alpha Gal mainly. Alpha. So So it's gone up a thousand% recently. recently. recently. Whoa. Thousand%. Whoa. Thousand%. Whoa. Thousand%. Wow. That's crazy.

Yeah. Doug, look up Alpha Gal. Well, there's like there's like a heat map over the US of like where they're they're they're getting uh reports. So that pretty that pretty that pretty pretty alarming. pretty alarming. pretty alarming. Yeah. Look at this. Um, scroll down, Doug, cuz you can see the last there's massive spikes in positive test results for alpha gal antibodies over the last decade, but I read in an article that was something like a thousand% increase. So, it's like suddenly exploded. suddenly exploded. suddenly exploded.

That's crazy numbers. Yeah. So, they're there's they're they're now trying to potentially look at it as a um bioteterrorism. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like maybe maybe someone did that. Yeah. There you go. Alpha Gal on the rise with the alarming growth. Oh, there you go. 3,000%. Adults 25 to 49 had increase exceeding 3,000%. 3,000%. 3,000%. That doesn't sound like a natural occurrence. 3,000%. occurrence. 3,000%. occurrence. 3,000%. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So weird, right? Well, so weird. What uh what states most common? common? common? It's not coming.

It hasn't been in California yet, right? No, it doesn't need to. Already could be the low start tick. So, I don't know if it is start in Texas or like the Midwest. I think the South where all the meat is getting conveniently conveniently hitting the south first. I'm going to be going to I'm going to be going to Yellowstone and I need to be careful. Not really. I'm not Oh, when you go to Yellowstone? Uh when we're all taking that time. Oh, that's where you're going?

Oh, how fun. Are you Are you staying in Yellowstone the whole time? We're going to stay like 30 minutes outside of it. I got I got like an Airbnb. Airbnb. Airbnb. Oh. Oh. Oh. And so, we're going to stay there. Wow. I'm surprised you're doing something like that. Why? I've been to Yellowstone before. I know. You're so not like you to do anything. anything. anything. What? What? What? I mean, that's like an adventure like to actually go out into the nature and do that for a whole It's a national park.

I really like going going going I'm going to go where I'm supposed to. I'm not I'm not I'm not You still see some people like like going too close to those buffalo. It's a freaking huge like wild animal. Is it just you and the kids or you do it out? out? out? Me and the kids. uh my niece and uh my mother-in-law and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. sister-in-law. sister-in-law. Oh, cool. So, we're all going out. And you're all going to get a place you can all fit in.

We all have one big place. Oh, cool. Oh, cool. Oh, cool. Yeah. Yeah. Have you ever seen, by the way, like a buffalo? One of those buffalo. Yeah. buffalo. Yeah. buffalo. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or moose is crazier. It looks like, dude, there like one of the scare. It's funny cuz they look all like cute and whatever. Yeah. Like dumb. You think like bullwinkle or something and you're like, "No, dude." It was terrifying. It was so big. It was It had to be like over a ton.

Yeah. And so I was like canoeing. Actually, this was in Minnesota, like at the Boundary Waters, and I was there with the football team. We all like had uh this like canoe trip that we did together. And I'm like just canoeing and all of a sudden it just came out of the woods down this hill. We're in the water. It goes in the water. It starts walking in the water and it like submerges completely. And then we we lost it. or like dude, he was like walking on the bottom of the lake and we're getting like GET THE HELL OUT of here.

here. here. That was scary. I got video of one as close as me and you uh when I was up at uh uh whatchamacallit Jackson Hole. When I was in Jackson Hole, there was one walking around where we were all staying and stuff. stuff. stuff. They get pissed. They they'll go come after you, too. Oh yeah. Especially they have their baby with them or whatever, too. They just look they just look cartoonishly big. You look at you go, "Wait a minute. That's way bigger in real life." It's insane.

It makes a cow look tiny. Yeah. Yeah. Or like a horse to make makes a horse look really tiny. Tiny for sure. Anyway, I want to talk about um essential amino acid supplements because so we work with Keon. So this is for our listeners. They need to know this that essential amino acid supplements. When you look at the data on how effective they are, the thing you have to look at is how much of it is coming from leucine. So leucine is one of the branch amino acids, but leucine is considered a trigger for muscle protein synthesis.

Uh makes a massive difference. So if you see comp if you see an essential amino acid supplement that's not 40% leucine it almost does nothing in comparison to the ones with high so is it uh is it more expensive of the things because that's typically what you'll see with supplement brands if they're going to try and cut corners it'll be the that's a good question. Yeah. Like cuz so like because it makes sense uh it doesn't make sense to cut it out unless it saves the supplement company a bunch of money to cut it out and to claim they're still an EA and then do that.

Uh so it'd be interesting to see if the the leucine is one of the more expensive parts, but when you look at the studies, like there was that one study that was done on women where they took uh just the central amino acid supplement, compared it to a scoop of whey protein and how they got it is typically a bit more expensive per serving. It makes sense. So talk about I I didn't know this. This is is is so it's the primary driver for muscle protein synthesis.

So muscle protein synthesis is what we measured if you're building muscle or building tissue. It's the lucine that triggers it. Now, you want the other amino acids in there cuz when it's triggered, triggered, triggered, then it uses those amino acids to do what it needs to do. But it's the lucine that basically pulls the trigger. But leave it to shady supplement companies to skimp on that because they can save from the margin. Those are expensive. expensive. expensive. No, totally. I mean, like the margins are so slim in the supplement industry and the fact that they're not regulated that then a company can easily put 10% in there.

in there. in there. Save money. So they and and charge a premium like that even though it's less. So Keons is 40%. 40% is from is from leucine and then the rest of the amino acids are in there. So this will make a difference. So if you've tried essential amino acids before like didn't do much, try theirs and see what happens. And and that's the one we that we started taking because we had the interview with the founder. It made a big difference. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

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And if you sign up now and choose, you can choose, sorry, $20 off. And you can also get either free sirloin tips for life, free chicken wings for life, or free ground beef for life included in your box for the life of your membership. Just go to butcherbox.com/mindpump. 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 six figure plus businesses and careers in fitness. Look, it's round table 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 Aaron from Indiana. What's up, Aaron? How you doing, Aaron? How's it going, guys? Good, Good, Good, good. How can we help you? Uh, so I guess my question is, should I do a bulk cycle and cut cycle like every 6 months to achieve the body fat percentage I'm looking for?

Uh, for reference, I'm currently 510 and 260 at about 29% body fat. I would consider myself a advanced lifter. I competed in strongman for several years several years several years and then life happened. I got away from me and now I'm trying to get back down to my original size. What's the original size? What were you before? before? before? When I was competing, I was 220. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Now, what was different about your lifestyle when you were 220? And what are you weighing right now?

Sorry. 260. 260. 260. So, what's what's the difference in lifestyle? Uh, you would you say that accounts for the 40 lbs extra? Uh, life really happened. U advancements in careers. I got married, had a kid. So, time got away. I wasn't working out twice a day. It's only working out once a day. a day. a day. It says you came from 300 something right now, too. How long did that take you to get down to that? Uh, that was about 12 years ago. Okay. You So 12 years ago is when you were at your highest at 360.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now Aaron, was the only difference when you were 220 versus 260 working out twice a day versus once a day? Or are there changes in diet as well? Yeah, my diet was way better when I was competing as well. What's the What are the differences would you say the big differences in diet uh back then versus now? Uh, now I've got it dialed back in. Um, but that's just recently. And what does that mean specifically? Yeah. Are you tracking it all? Do you know calories and protein and what?

Yeah. So, I'm currently like 260 gram of protein a day and about 28 to 2,900 calories a day. Okay. And where were you before? So, what were the things? What were the knobs that you had to turn? What were the things you had to change? Cuz you said you're dialed in now. So, what was it that you had to change to get dialed in in in or what was Yeah. Yeah. A lot of it was like I cut back on the beer drinking. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Uh and then really why I started eating whole foods again, not eating fast food and processed foods. Okay. Perfect. Okay. Perfect. Okay. Perfect. You're good. You're good. You're good. I was going to say you don't have to do anything. You're probably in a sweet spot now. I wouldn't want you to cut too much lower cal unless you're pretty sedentary. What do you have any idea like what your what your step count like? How much you move throughout the day? day? day? Uh I make sure I get 10,000 steps a day.

Oh yeah. Okay. Your size moving that much lifting I'm sure good weight. I'm not sure I want you to go much lower calories than what you already are. Yeah. And here's a mistake that that you can make. Here's where I see the big uh the big challenge. Uh and this is just based off of the fluctuations in your body weight. Uh you know, at low 220 up to as high as 360. Um it seems like it's like an all or nothing kind of thing. And so consistency or sustainability is the main thing to consider.

And so you've already made a couple big changes. uh cut down on the beer uh probably substantially based off of what you're saying and changed from eating um you know processed food and eating out to eating whole natural foods. Those are two pretty big damn big changes. I would not want to add on top of that chasing a calorie deficit. I think you're probably already already already in a deficit just from doing those things. things. things. I don't think you should chase a bulk or a cut.

I think if you just focus on that, if you just did that consistently, as consistent as you could, and when you fall off, jump back on and just focus on the whole food protein, not having too much beer. I don't know what your limit looks like that uh right now with the beer, but just, you know, keep it limited. You're going to slowly get into a nice body fat percentage range. So, if you're at 29, I think just doing that alone will get you down to probably 18 shaving away.

Yeah, you'll probably get down to 18 17%. Just nice and consistent without all these crazy drops in strength or all this hunger from going on a cut. I think that's just the way to go. If you get impatient, this is where you'll mess things up, dude. Because then you'll go too far totally. And you'll only be able to stick to it for so long before you swing in the other direction. other direction. other direction. How how do you feel in the 28 How how do you feel in the 28 2900 calories?

Like uh do you feel hungry? Do how does your workouts feel, you know, fueled and like how tell me about how that feels when you eat that amount of calories? So, on the days that I do lift, like I follow mass aesthetic right now, so on the days I lift, I'm a little hungry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But on the off days, it's okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. You're good, dude. Yeah, you're probably good, right? I mean, honestly, if you just if you just stayed consistent with that, you're going to see some nice changes uh in your body.

You'll probably still feel good, feel strong, athleticism will improve, good recovery, um, and you'll see yourself drop some body fat without any drastic changes or or any more changes to your diet. What were you running before MAPS aesthetic? Have you been on aesthetic for a while? What what were you doing before? before? before? Uh, I ran MAP strong. Okay. Before then? Before then? Before then? Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Good. Yeah. Good. Yeah. Good. How were your results on that? I saw a lot of gains. Oh, good.

Oh, good. Oh, good. Um, Um, Um, some of my lifts that I competed in when I was competing came back. Oh, wow. Oh [ __ ] that's really good. And are so were you uh eating about the same through Map Strong, too, or have you changed eating the way you are now? Or is that about the same? It's about the same. Yeah, I would just keep going, dude. You're good. You're good. You're good. Yeah, I I think I think you're at a good a good calorie place.

And after aesthetic, I think Symmetry would be good for you. I think that'd be a good program to follow up with. Do you have that one? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, good. Oh, you're all set, dude. And then just just to get a little deeper into this, how what was how big of a change in the beer consumption was it? because that's such a high calorie uh beverage and it really doesn't contribute to gains and all that stuff. Was that a pretty big change for you? Yeah, I maybe do it like once a day now or once a week now.

And what was it every one like once a week? Was it daily before? Uh no, probably all weekend. Okay. Oh, good for you, dude. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, bro. You got to do nothing else. You're going to get nice changes. Keep chipping away. chipping away. chipping away. If you get impatient, this is where you're going to mess up, dude. And then what it's going to look like is you'll get where you want and then you'll swing again again again and you'll be stuck in this like this this back and forth type of deal.

But if you want to maintain this like that's it. Do nothing else. Just stay consistent with those two things. I mean I think you're in what we always talk about as a little Goldilocks area which is is tough psychologically, right? You want to see the quick moves down or the quick moves up. But I think you're at a really good intake that you're going to continually lean out. And as long as you have enough energy to get through those workouts and you're feeling good, I'd say you're okay on the calorie.

calorie. calorie. If you get really hungry, you just eat more whole foods. Yeah, that's the other thing, too. If you're like, man, I am starving. My energy's low, throw on some whole natural foods, but stay stay in that those parameters and you're good, dude. Yeah, I agree. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, you're kicking ass, Aaron. You got it, man. Keep it up. I'd love to hear Keep it up. I'd love to hear where you're at in the next three to four months after you get through this and get into symmetry.

Okay. Yeah, sounds good. Yeah, check back with us. Thanks for calling in, man. All right. Thanks. I got it. Yeah, I mean, uh, again, just, um, just takes time. It Well, it does. And also, like when you're looking at when you look at someone's history of these these really dramatic swings, you know, that's 120 130 lb 130 lb 130 lb difference. Um, and he competed at one point. Um, so he was obviously very fit. Um, with good athleticism. Strongman is very athletic strength sport. When you see that, like the thing you want to really consider is like, okay, let's let's not go too crazy because I have a tendency to go all or nothing in either way.

By the way, in either way, like an extreme cut will cause him to see maybe leaning out for a little bit, but then inadvertently we'll have a bench that probably follows that. And a bulk, a quote unquote bulk tends to turn into a dirty bulk or an excuse to eat outside the boundaries or have a couple extra beers extra beers extra beers where he's eating at a place. And that's why I wanted to hear how he felt. If his workouts feel fueled, he's hitting numbers uh that were like what he was hitting strong man.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he has he feels a little hungry on days that he lifts, which is normal, right? And he intuitively like switched up his uh training. So it's like, you know, my more hypertrophy, which I thought was smart. Yeah. And and I'll say this, like if he's if he went to one beer to drinking all weekend and went from fast food and processed food to whole natural foods, his calories probably dropped 13,400 calories on average. Yeah, on average he's eating closer to 4,000 a day easily.

easily. easily. Easy. You throw them beer calories and all that stuff. And then, you know, beer lowers your inhibition. You eat more garbage, the whole deal. So, he's already made some big changes. Just stay there. stay there. stay there. Our next caller is Derek from California. California. California. What's up, man? How you doing, Derek? Hi, guys. Thank you for taking my question. question. question. You got it. How can we help you? Um, so I'm 5'7 and I started weightlifting in January of last year. And at that time, I weighed 139.

About a year and a half later, I'm now 158 pounds. I did gain four of those pounds just in April, but I also started taking creatine then, so that might have helped. But prior to last month, I was gaining less than a pound a month on average, and I've been eating 3,400 calories. I try to get enough protein. Um, and my main goal with starting lifting was to build muscle and get stronger. And I have seen some progress through my lifts and a little bit aesthetically, but it's just been a little bit slower than I would have thought.

Um, and additionally, my body fat percentage has gone from 10.7% to 18%. And I'm actually glad to have more body fat, um, overall, but it seems like it mostly goes to my stomach. And at some point, I would like to see my abs again. Um, but I don't necessarily need to be back at 10% body fat. But I'm not sure at what point I would cut if my body fat percentage keeps getting higher. And my concern is that I will lose too much weight if I do try to cut and it'll be really hard to build this back up again later since I've been trying to bulk at 3,400 calories already and it's, you know, been slow going.

Um, do you guys have any thoughts about this? this? this? Yeah, let me do some math here real quick. So, you started at and you were And by the way, how are you testing your body fat? What what are you um Well, I have a smart scale. I mean, I'm not sure how accurate it is, but it's just been I've just been able to see the prompt through that. So you just every time that's what you use to test yourself. yourself. yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

By the way, those things can be really thrown off by hydration, but we're going to take the numbers at face value. value. value. How much did you What was your body weight when you started 139? 139 to 153. 10.7% to 17%. So let me see here. You had 125 lbs of lean body mass. I just want to see how much lean body mass. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You gained uh um through this process. So let me see here. Minus 153. So, so your lean body mass didn't go up that much.

Uh, how based off of the body fat percentage, percentage, percentage, which could be true. It's most likely. Here's the two things. One, uh, really inconsistent with the training andor not really progressive overloading. Or two, you're focused just on e eating that many calories and you're not really focused on your macros, i.e. protein consistently. Would you say that's true? Or how are you with your protein? Um, so I'm shooting for like a pound um or one gram per pound of body weight. Yeah. Um, so I I sometimes get like 140 150 like so a little bit less.

Okay. Are you consistent with that though? Do you consistently do that? Um, so I I consistently get it when I track, but I'm tracking maybe like 80% of the time. Okay. Okay. And then and let's talk about your strength. Uh g give me an idea of some of your key lifts uh and if what any changes in those through this process. process. process. Um so well I've been I know you guys won't like this but I've been just doing like an AI program. Um but I've been it's kind of like um you know upper body lower body like splits.

And so I've done some some some um like like for squats I I mean I have it in my email but I'm not really sure. Oh yeah, it's right here. No, I can see here. So, your bench press went from 85 to 140. Your back squat went from 95 to 205 and your deadlift went from 105 to 220. Those are huge gains of strength. You got to be careful. So, here's the thing. Without a without seeing a picture of you before and after, all kinds. You got to be very careful with those stupid smart scales because they're really strange.

And the more you build and the more hydrated you are, creatine will do this, the more it throws it off. And it's it's really not that actual. It's very difficult. difficult. difficult. The the one objective metric that we have here is your strength. That's not something that there's no error there. You know, you're stronger if you're lifting more. Your bench press, back squat, deadlift went through the roof. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like your deadlift more than doubled, right? right? right? So, those are the things I I would pay attention to more uh than anything else.

You're not going to be building that strength without muscle supporting it. No. Now, here's the other thing. Okay. So just just for you know uh just to play devil's advocate let's say you are around 17% body fat a good healthy strong fit maintainable body fat percentage that's also going to give you good hormone profile is probably only 2 or 3% lower than where you're at. So most guys 14 15% it's kind of the best of all things. You're fit, you don't have like a belly. Um you're strong.

Testosterone is good. It's maintainable for 95% or more of men going down to 10% you're there's a lot of trade-offs. Your performance, your strength, your testosterone, your energy just plummet. It's typically not a an ideal body fat percentage. We like the way it looks in pictures, but it's just not great. It's not, you know, it's not as athletic. You're not as strong. It's just not as good. The only difference is, uh, cool, I have, uh, abs, and at 15% I kind of have abs, you know, type of deal.

How clean is your bulk? Like is it all from whole foods or are you incorporating? incorporating? incorporating? Yeah, it's pretty um pretty clean. Like it's not like meat, eggs, rice, um avocado. avocado. avocado. Derek, what are you coming from? Like you meaning like uh you were at 130 and 10%. What were you doing to be at that? Was that just uh low calorie eating? Were you a runner? Like what what what was keeping you at 10%. Yeah, so I used to be a runner. Um, so I ran a few marathons and things like that, but um, yeah, at my lowest I was like 125.

Okay. Um, but I was starting to get sick like running like long distances. Um, and so I kind of just wasn't doing anything for a little bit. But that's why I got into lifting cuz I was like, oh, I wanted to do something still where I'm, you know, challenging myself and trying to, you know, get new PRs and that kind of thing, but something that wouldn't be maybe so hard on my body. Good. Okay. So, so I got more questions cuz I really want to get a full context here.

here. here. Uh, subjectively, any differences? I know you're stronger and you're eating more, more, more, but any differences in how you feel uh from when you were 139 to Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 153, 153, 153, libido, sleep? libido, sleep? libido, sleep? Yeah. Do you feel subjectively better? Um, yeah. I I feel I feel good. I don't know if I feel necessarily better than I felt before, but um but yeah, but I've been feeling like healthy, feeling energized, well, all that stuff. So, okay. Would you trade your current body strength, size, feeling for what you were at 139?

Or are you like, if I had to pick one or the other, I'd pick this. Yeah, I would pick this. Okay, good. This helps a lot. This helps me a lot with with the kind of advice I'm going to give you. So, uh, if you want to get a little leaner, you're at 3,400 calories at your size, a small cut in calories will get you there slowly and nicely, but we don't want to sacrifice your quality of life, your strength, you know, you were kind of overtrained before, uh, getting sick, like you said.

So, you can go from 34 to 2,900 calories and stay there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you'll see nice slow, consistent fat loss without these crazy drops in strength. In fact, if you change your programming, your workout programming, uh, if I put you on a MAPS program, uh, I bet you I could get you even more strength gains, strength gains, strength gains, even at 2,900 calories versus 3,400. Okay. Which one would you recommend? Now, you're working out what, four or five days a week. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Let's put you on maps anabolic, and I want you to do the three-day a week version. Uh, I want you to keep your steps high every day. Do you track those? those? those? Yeah. and I usually get on average like 5,000. So, not okay, let's double your steps to 10,000, follow MAPS and a ballet, cut to 2,900 calories, and I bet you get stronger uh while getting leaner uh on a protocol like that. like that. like that. I don't even think you need to go that high in steps.

I think you just go, you add 2,000 steps and you cut those calories like that and you put them anabolic. anabolic. anabolic. So, 7,000. So, 7,000. So, 7,000. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's more than enough. enough. enough. Let's do that. 7,000 steps a day. Maps anabolic. anabolic. anabolic. Maps anabolic. uh long rest periods, even if they say short, keep the rest periods long because we're in a little bit of a deficit. And uh let's let's see what happens. And then what I want, Derek, is I want you back on in about two months, and we're going to get you back on and and hear what's happening.

All right. Thank you. Cool. You got it, man. Thanks for calling in. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. Thanks. Got it. Got it. Got it. Uh body fat tests are just um I mean, they're okay, but sometimes they're not good. good. good. Yeah. But especially those home scales. What's your what's your what's your uh intuition tell you? What what went on here? here? here? I think the scale is off by quite a bit. I also think some of the strength gains came from energy and rest. So, you don't have to gain a bunch of muscle to get a lot of strength.

You can also just have more rest and energy. But I also think he gained more than one pound of muscle during that period of time, which if those body fat percentages are accurate and it says he only gained a pound of muscle, I doubt it. Uh when you double your strength in a lot of those lifts, I doubt it's just one pound. But that's a that's quite a even if even if you're right like let's say he gained 5 pound it's still a lot of body fat that he put right.

So my my hearing only 5,000 steps he's only 100 he was only 139 lbs. We just got off a call call call with a 260 lb strong lifter eating 2900 calories. So his and 10,000 steps, right? So too much of a bulk weight. Yeah. Too too much of a bulk. uh even if it was clean which then the next question I'd have and he said too when he tracks he's close to those numbers which is 80% of the time he tracks in my experience the 20% the 20% of time that people don't track is the weekends that's when they miss their and that's when they and if you're already kind of a like not a big stepper and mover sedentary you're even more sedentary typically on the weekends when we don't work and then you also over consume so I have a feeling that he's just been really over consuming uh on his calories I think a better program like you put him on I think even just bumping those steps a little bit and cutting those calories.

Watch what happens. happens. happens. And here's the other thing too, and this is why I asked those questions. Part of it was for him. The other part of it was for people listening. Um we don't we tend to ignore quality of life uh in favor of metrics in the mirror. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But he doubled his strength. He's eating way more food. He said he feels energized. energized. energized. Even if those numbers are correct, who cares? You're better off. Uh we get so caught up with numbers and aesthetics that it's like we think, "Oh, I'm going to be happier." Yeah, leaner.

Even though I feel more like garbage, that's almost always never the case. So, but again, I think if he if he does a little bit of a cut, does what you said, Adam, where bumps the steps a little bit and follows a better program because I I'm I'm pretty sure maps on a bolic will be more appropriate for him, I think we'll see some good progress. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. Our next caller is Nick from Alberta. What's up, Nick? What's happening, Nick? How you doing? Hey, how's it going?

Good, man. How are you? Good. Uh, basically, I'm just going to jump right into my question here. Um, I'm 27 years old. Uh, I'm 300 lb and I've been having issues with my energy and libido. Uh, I went to a doctor, got blood work done, found out I have a total testo testosterone of 325 and a free testosterone is 305. Um, I'm worried about having issues with fertility and stuff because of such low numbers. So, I've uh started taking some supplements and supplements and supplements and uh eating mostly whole foods, right?

I'm kind of 90%, right? I've been listening to you guys for a little bit of time and just kind of going off what you guys say for that. Um I've always been into sports. I played a lot of hockey, lacrosse, football, that kind of stuff growing up. Um, I had my last pretty bad concussion when I was about 18 and that all kind of just stopped and I sat in a dark dark room for about 3 months and then uh I've had a lot of obviously neck issues and such to go along with it.

So I was pretty inactive for a couple of years and uh gained quite a bit of weight. Um, at my biggest I was 330 right now I'm down to about 295 so I'm doing a little bit of good there. Um, basically my question is what do you guys recommend for kind of going going forward here, right? I've always kind of like I've got into the gym a bit, right? But but in the past when I did it, I would try to cut calories and start working out more and it never really worked out.

Uh, what I've been doing here for the last month, I've lost about 10 lbs in the last month. And what I've been doing is just trying to eat better quality food, not so much processed, and and just trying to go to the gym four day, four days a week sort of thing. And just just getting moving is basically what I've been doing so far. Uh I've been basically doing some squat, deadlift, like compound movements as opposed to just hitting one particular thing. So thing. So thing.

So basically just wanted to see what you guys think I should do, how much how much protein you think I should like. I don't know how much I'm supposed to weigh to be honest with you. You know what I mean? I've always just been big, right? So, I don't know how many grams of protein I should aim for for my target body weight sort of thing, right? So, So, So, good questions. So, I'll answer the protein one uh for you. Um how tall are you again?

you again? you again? 6 foot. 6 foot. 6 foot. I I think 220 to 240 or 50 grams of protein is perfectly fine for a big guy like you. Yeah, I think that's a good target to start with. Uh I do have some more questions. Um though um if you don't mind me asking. asking. asking. Yeah, for sure. When you you you're you're trying to eat whole foods, you're strength training, you're you're you're kind of adjusting your lifestyle. Were you doing that when you got your testosterone checked or were you doing or did you start doing that after you got I've just started doing that after the last month.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Right. So I got my test done at Right. So I got my test done at the end of March and that's kind of when I started doing all this. So it's only been about a month. Okay. Okay. What did your lifestyle look like before when you went leading up to the hormone test? Um, you know, we we mainly ate kind of more processed stuff, you know, like chicken fingers, craft dinner, that kind of thing, right? So, we we've transitioned into a lot more roasted potatoes and uh some beef and chicken and and mainly trying to eat as as much whole foods as possible.

It was my birthday on uh Sunday, so I didn't have a great weekend when it came down to what I ate and drank, but uh that's all right. Now, um uh were you exercising uh leading up to that? So, processed food diet before and and what was the activity and exercise like? Like I guess it it's very off and on again like I was never consistent. I've been I've been quite consistent going at least four days a week for the last month. Okay. month. Okay. month.

Okay. Right. Um, but otherwise my activity is not great. And and I I work at a body shop, right? Um, I only get probably 5,000 steps a day would be my guess. Okay. Okay. Okay. Right. So, that's another thing I wanted to talk to you guys about cuz a lot of people say don't do cardio and and resistance training in the same day or same sort of thing. Right. So, I wanted to talk to you guys if I should be hitting the treadmill for half an hour as well as doing my resistance training.

Yeah, I think it's a good idea. Uh, and sell your phone does this, but you can also get a real cheap pedometer. Yeah, just getting steps. Check track your steps and try to aim for like 7 to 8,000 a day. And if you need to walk on a treadmill to do it, I think you should just cuz activity is good for you. Okay. Get it through walking though. Don't get it through Don't get on the treadmill and start trying to burn away like running. Yeah. Just just getting your steps up.

steps up. steps up. And if you could do that without getting on a treadmill, uh, you know, like take a little walk at lunch. Uh, park a little further in the park. Like little things like actually add up. If you can get 7 to 8,000 steps just moving without having to get on a treadmill, I would prefer that because the consistency and sustainability with that in my experience is just way better than having to schedule walks since you've been doing these changes. It's only been 30 days, but um have you noticed any changes in libido?

Uh yeah, I mean it's gone up a bit for sure. Um sure. Um sure. Um I and I I uh I noticed I'm a lot warmer now. like I feel like my metabolism was kind of kicking up a little bit, right? But, uh, But, uh, But, uh, good sign, dude. Because here's what I would want you to do. So, um, going from an, listen, I'm just going to be generalized, right? You're going from an unhealthy, unhealthy, unhealthy, inconsistent activity lifestyle to a much more healthy act, you know, uh, more active, including strength training, right?

Appropriate strength training lifestyle, it's not unheard of to see a man's total testosterone double. double. double. Like, I've seen this many, many times. Okay. Um, so I would and and since and libido isn't perfect, but it is a pretty strong for most men indicator of testosterone levels. testosterone levels. testosterone levels. So if you're noticing a little bit of a bump now, bump now, bump now, uh, it could mean that your testosterone is going up. It could also mean you just feel better. feel better. feel better.

But what I would want is 90 days of consistency and then I'd want you to get retested. Now, I'm going to go back to the concussion. Okay. Uh, it was it sounds like it was a really bad concussion. One. Yeah. Three. Yeah. Yeah. I've had I think five diagnosed concussions. Okay. Um and then yeah, I've had some some ones that I don't remember a whole lot about. Right. about. Right. about. Right. Okay. So, here's why it's so important, Nick, that you get retested in 90 days.

Okay. There is a moderate association uh depending on the the the severity of the concussion. It sounds like you had a bad one with concussions and low testosterone because of damage to the pituitary stock and the hypothalamus. So you see this with athletes across the board, especially athletes that that really get after it and bang their heads is you'll see this like correlation and it's coming from uh just damage to those parts of the brain. But we don't know. We don't know because your lifestyle wasn't healthy before, which is also very strongly correlated with low testosterone.

testosterone. testosterone. So try to stay consistent. You're already at 30 days in 60 more days. Get your blood work done again. If it comes back and they're like, you know, it went up to 400, uh, or it barely changed, uh, then I would look into hormone replacement therapy. Um, and they can maintain fertility with hormone replacement therapy. So, a lot of guys are afraid because like, if I go on testosterone, I can't have kids. It's not true. Uh, they'll put you on something called hCG, which maintains fertility.

I mean, my wife got pregnant, you know, while I was on hormone platinum, Adam, same thing. Uh, so it's not an issue. uh they can just like I said they can put you on hCG at the same time but there's no way of knowing of knowing of knowing until we do this consistently. So 60 more days get retested. If it comes back low um then uh it would be a good idea uh to talk to uh someone about hormone replacement therapy and we have really good partners at np hormones.com.

They're super great. It's the probably the least expensive just pure hormone replacement therapy place you'll go with and they're doctors so you're not dealing with salespeople. So you can go there uh and get retested and see what's what's going on. Okay. Okay. Okay. Workoutwise is uh are you following one of our programs? You doing your own thing? thing? thing? Uh no, I I haven't got one yet. Um I I've just been kind of just doing like typically I I'm what I'm doing right now is I'm doing two leg days a week.

And like when I say leg day, I I mean like I'm doing like three exercises. So I'll do squats. Okay. And like yesterday was squats, Romanian deadlift, and calf raises. And then I go home, right? So I was only there for 30 minutes. minutes. minutes. Okay. I'm going to give you uh maps anabolic. anabolic. anabolic. Uh do the three day a week version of it. it. it. Long rest periods uh in between sets. So you're only going to be at the gym three days a week.

You want to go back for an extra day. Just walk on the treadmill. Um and I think you'll get better results uh with that versus kind of what you're doing. um 220 to 240 grams of protein, whole natural foods, make sure you get good sleep. Um and uh let's see what happens in 60 days. In fact, let's get you back on in 60 days and so we can get back on the phone and see what's happening. Okay, sweet. Um is there is there any supplements you guys you you recommend I take to help with this or just kind of stick to the whole foods and see what happens?

happens? happens? Yeah, let's go multivitamin. Make sure you take a separate vitamin D uh supplement uh and and a zinc supplement. Um, and you could take creatine on top of if you want. There's really nothing else unless you need protein powder for to hit your protein targets. I think that's it. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay, perfect. Um, with my creatine, does it matter if I take it all at once? I've got like a big water bottle and I kind of just drink that water bottle throughout the days and I just put creatine in that in the morning, right?

Or should I make a separate glass with creatine in it and just drink it out? I don't I don't want you to leave creatine in the water all day long. Yeah, it might degrade a bit. Yeah. So, what you do, how much are you taking a day? Just five gram. Okay. I want you to take he could bump head. head. head. I want you to take 15 to 20 grams a day because it's going to be good for your brain brain brain cognition. Yeah. cognition. Yeah.

cognition. Yeah. But don't take it all at once because you'll get diarrhea. So what you're going to do is you're going to take five grams grams grams with breakfast, five grams of dinner, with lunch, five grams of dinner. So 15 grams a day and you should notice some some mental clarity and energy. I was going to say any neutropic I mean might be worth exploring. Yeah, let's let's let's Yeah, let's just do that for now and see what happens. I'll have you back on in 60 days and let's get let's get reevaluated.

reevaluated. reevaluated. Awesome guys. Thank you very much. You got it, brother. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. A lot of people don't realize the the correlate with uh head trauma and low testosterone. I've read up all I mean he had some serious ones. Five that that that he was in a dark room for 3 months. Five documented. Five documented. Five documented. Yeah. And and and three months in a dark room. room. room. Debilitating. Yeah. And I know a few of my buddies have had that happen. Is that the protocol of if you have a really bad one is they keep you in a dark room like that.

You can't handle light. Yeah. It's his sensitivity. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like he's Like he's Like he's I don't think I know anybody that's that's had a concussion their back. Yeah. It's brutal, dude. Yeah. No, I don't know if I don't know anybody personally who's had one. You know what's crazy, too, about concussions, uh, is, uh, and this was this is not recent data, but when they came out with this, everybody was shocked. shocked. shocked. Soccer players have a high rate of CT and they're just hitting the ball.

They're not like playing football. Well, it's even Yeah, that even when it hits the chest, too. Like I mean, you're getting that kind of like impact and it's getting the brain to hit. Yeah. So, it's not just the severe ones. Those are obvious. It's also just the repeated banging. repeated banging. repeated banging. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and there's kind of long-term effects of that. Our next caller is Kathy from Florida. Hi, Kathy. Hi, Kathy. Hi, Kathy. How you doing, Kathy? Hey guys, Hey guys, Hey guys, how can we help you?

Thanks for having me on the show. You got it. Sure. Sure. Sure. So, should I just go right into my summary of my email? Yes, please. Yes, please. Yes, please. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I'm 55 years old, 5'3, 103 lbs, postmenopausal. postmenopausal. postmenopausal. So I started my fitness journey after being diagnosed with MS about 23 years ago in 2003. I didn't have a lot of energy to training back in those days, but over the years I've become very consistent and I'm very disciplined gym person.

I also stopped working about 8 years ago, which gives me more time to work on my health and my fitness. Then last October, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, which when I started watching your program. So, my goal is to build as much muscle as possible for my health and bone density. And I train about 5 days a week. I stay very active, 12 to 15,000 steps a day, and my nutrition is very consistent. I'm currently eating about 1,800 to no 2,00 to 2100 calories, and my protein is about 100 to 120 a day.

So my question is based on my age, weight, and activity level, do you think that I'm eating enough to build maximum muscle or am I just maintaining? And my next question is, if your goal was muscle gain and bone density at my stage, would you prioritize first nutrition, training, or recovery? recovery? recovery? Yeah, great, great question. Um, can I ask a few more questions? Of course. Of course. Of course. Okay, so tell me about your symptoms from MS. I know you got you got diagnosed 23 years ago, you said.

Do you have a lot do you have a lot of symptoms now or does it feel like it's pretty manageable? manageable? manageable? I'm in remission. I've been in remission. I haven't had a relapse in 8 years. years. years. Wonderful. Awesome. Awesome. So, there's a few things that So, that but that is a strong consideration and I've trained a few clients uh with MS and as you probably already know, uh too much stress can definitely trigger um you know, a flare up uh in the symptoms of MS.

Now, the answer to your question is actually kind of easy. Um, and I think it'll work well um, with what you're trying to do and also with not uh, pushing you into any kind of a flare up. You're definitely overdoing and undereating for sure. That's what's happening. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, and and it said here you're following MAPS aesthetic. Yeah. Not the program for you. I am. I am. I am. That is entirely the wrong program. That is way too much volume for most people, let alone a post-menopausal woman with osteoporosis eating uh, you know, 2,000 calories a day who also um has MS.

That's like the the absolute worst one of the worst programs that you could follow. Uh, now the challenge is I'm going to recommend something to you, but it's be a lot less. And so I need your honest uh feedback honest I need your honest uh feedback here. here. here. Do you think you could do a lot less and stick to it? You know, it's gonna be hard and it's gonna be hard to do a lot less. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I I called because I want to get your opinion.

So, okay. Uh I think the program you should follow um follow um follow um I would love it if one of our coaches too. too. too. Yeah. So, I'll two pieces of advice here. I'd love to see you, this is going to sound crazy, okay? So, forgive me, but I'd like to see you follow a MAPS 15 protocol. protocol. protocol. You can keep your steps as high as they are. That's a lot of steps, but that's fine. 12 to 15. Okay. Unless you're going crazy st, you know, getting on a treadmill all the time.

Um, no, I won't take that away from you. And I'd like to see you get your calories up by like three or 400. Okay. Okay. Okay. Now, when you're at the gym and you're done with your workout and you're like, "What do I do now?" I don't mind if you do mobility. I don't mind if you do stretching. I don't mind if you do like really low kind of uh stress type movement. But this is the protocol that'll help you build muscle and build bone. bone.

bone. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Now, here's the other piece of advice I have because this is going to be really hard for you. Like going from MAPS aesthetic to mass 15 is going to feel like you went from working out to not working out. Even though you're going to see strength gains, gains, gains, even though you're going to see you're going to be like, I'm losing my mind. Uh working with a coach, I think, would be a really good idea to walk you through this and also to individualize the whole thing.

So what a coach will do is take, you know, maps 15 and turn it into maps Kathy and we'll just individualize it for you as you go through this process, coach you through the hurdles, which are going to be mental, um, and also encourage you in the right direction when you're seeing progress in the areas that we want to see progress, but you feel like you could or should be doing more, which is probably what's going to happen. happen. happen. Okay. So, okay, that would be ideal.

Uh, but I think MAPS 15 muscle mommy would be fine. Traditional Mass 15 would be fine. Mass 15 powerlift would be fine. All three of those would be awesome. Okay. Okay. Okay. Uh, but definitely a bump in calories and reduction overall training. Okay, Okay, Okay, that's I mean I can do that. Okay. All right. Do you would you want a Do you would you want a coach to call you if you'd want to work with a coach or do you want to get go after it yourself and see what happens?

I mean I can whatever you think. I mean Okay. Uh I the odds of success are way better if I have one of my coaches call you and work with you through this process. I just know uh just from experience experience experience psychological. psychological. psychological. Yeah. You're going to do this for like two weeks and you're yeah want to pull your hair out and it's like oh I'm eating too much. I'm not exercising enough. What am I going to do? And having a coach work with you is going to be so valuable.

Plus they'll be able to individualize it, modify it as you go along. Okay. I question. So you definitely think that I'm overtraining for sure. Oh yeah. Oh, no, no doubt. I mean, I mean, I mean, because the aesthetics is what I mean, it's your program, but I know I like it. I'm on I have one more week left. I'm on phase three right now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My second Hammer. It's in It's inspired by what I did when I was bodybuilding. He was a pro physique competitor in his early 30s.

Uh, and he was enhanced with performance-enhancing substances. performance-enhancing substances. performance-enhancing substances. So, it's very different. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. With the amount of volume. He's also his life was dedicated to it. He didn't have at the time that was his job. Um, and yeah, so yeah, so yeah, so I wouldn't I wouldn't train like that right now. It's just not appropriate for my lifestyle right now. And I mean, I'm still fit and strong and all those things, but it's just too much. Just too It's not It's not necessary.

That's why you see better results options. Yeah. options. Yeah. options. Yeah. Yeah. The the reason why you're seeing bone density issues even though you strength train and probably have been strength training for a while and even hitting your protein is it's too much. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, too much exercise combined with not enough nutrients. I don't care how much strength training you do, you're going to see uh bone mass uh go down. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. I've seen that with I've seen it with girls in their 20s and bump bumping the calories and reducing the training volume will send it the other direction.

So that'll fix it. I mean that's what will send us in the right direction. And if we see some really good strength gains uh and muscle gains, bone is going to follow. It's just it's very predictable. predictable. predictable. Okay. Okay. Do you think the scale is going to eventually go up or Yes. So it's not it hasn't really gone too much. This is where the coaching it's going to go up. go up. go up. Yeah. And that's to Justin's point. This is where the coaching really helps is because it's this is the the tough parts psychologically is psychologically is psychologically is you're going to see that you're going to see the reduction in activity, the increase on the scale, and it starts to be a bit of a mind [ __ ] I So I just I'll give you what this would look like.

It's going to sound shocking. Uh but this would be a process, okay? Uh you know, if you were my client Kathy and I'm working you through this, I'd want to see you gain 15 pounds on the scale. 10 of it being muscle, five of it being body fat. Totally. Totally. Totally. How much? How much? How much? 15. Easy. 15. Easy. 15. Easy. 15. 15. 15. Easy. 155. You gain 10. If I got you to gain 8 to 10 pounds of muscle, 5 to seven pounds of body fat, we would be moving in the a beautiful direction.

direction. direction. Great. Great. Great. Okay. So, Okay. So, Okay. So, I like the scale to go to 107, at least 10. I'd be fine with that. Yeah. I think what you need to do is really not weigh yourself through this process. It's going to mess with you. I'll just tell you that right now. Uh, but yeah, I really think working with a coach would be so valuable. You give it six months with a coach, you just do what they say, no matter what you how you feel.

Um, and I think probably four or five months into it, you're going to be like, "Okay, this is this is great. I feel good." feel good." feel good." Okay. So, you think that'll just the scale go up? I don't listen to you. It's it has to go up. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, absolutely. absolutely. absolutely. I'm not one that weighs myself to see it, you know, go down. I want it to go up. I just keep an eye on it so I don't slip too much in the wrong direction, which is going down.

Yeah. Okay. Oh, good. All right. That's why I get on the scale because I see 101, I'm like, "Oh god, I need to be 103, 104." And it goes down to 101. I get nervous. I start eating a lot. And it goes back to 103, 104, and comes right back down. Yeah. Well, that's good. That's good. All right. I'm going to have a coach call you when we get off the phone here. Um, and they'll talk to you. Um, and uh, I'd love to see you in it.

I'll probably pop in on some of the calls because now I've talked to you. Uh, but I think six months would be a nice start. nice start. nice start. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right, Kathy. We got this. We got it. Oh, you guys. I love you guys. Thank you. Thank you. This will be great. We'll see you. Bye, guys. Bye. Bye. It's it's it's uh it's it's remarkable to me how many people follow the least appropriate programs that we have for most people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Because they see how much is in it. Maybe the name. Maybe because I think that's part of it. Yeah. Yeah. It's the power of marketing. It's I mean it's we should put a warning label. We also we we also have that wouldn't matter to make them want it more. it more. it more. We also have a bit of a bias. Uh I I would I would argue that a large percentage of the people that listen to a fitness podcast or the ones that call in both, right?

Yeah. So you're I mean these are avid listeners. These aren't just somebody who listen one time, right? Most people that call in have been listening to us for quite some time. time. time. Um are fitness people. You're into it. You want to learn about it. You're in, you know what I'm saying? This is not something that you're not interested in that fitness fanatic side. Yeah. Exactly. And so you're going to have people that tend to teeter like this is not your average client or average American.

Your average American, you're doing everything you can. You're you're you're you're just trying to get them to Yeah. get them to move more. They're not doing anything. Show up to the gym consistently for a while. while. while. You know, very few are going to be attracted to this level of activity and training. But because we have this bias of people that are already interested in fitness, we tend to see this more often than I think is is good. The good news for people listening, like if if you if you sound like this woman and you're able to do what we say, which is hard.

So I'm not, you know, I'm not going to uh, you know, lighten that or diminish that. It's hard. But if you do what we say, the changes are nothing short of dramatic. Big time. Yeah. Dramatic changes. It's just you got to go through that period of trusting the process and it takes like half a year. It's a 180 from Yeah. your mentality and it's not a half a year of because you need to see results in a half year. It's a half a year of you trusting and letting go and then finally being like, "Oh, wait a minute.

Healing and restoring the body. The body needs it needs it needs it 100%." All right. I know you like that episode. If you did, check this one out. Walking. It's one of the best things you could do for your health, bar none. But there's a better way to approach it. Yes, you can just walk, but if you follow the right protocol, it's far more effective. Let's talk about walking. I can't wait to hear a walking protocol. protocol. protocol. Well, there is a Well, there is a protocol.

So, and I'll start with the first thing, right? Because just first off, uh let me start with this. One of the reasons why walking um is such a great form of just activity is because it's low risk of injury. Now some