The Fitness Skills You Stop Using First (And Regret Later) | Mind Pump 2823

Key Takeaway

Your body loses abilities you don't practice—not from aging, but from neglect. Six fundamental movement patterns are critical to maintain: overhead pressing, squatting, hinging, running, jumping, and throwing. The key insight: practice these skills regularly at low intensity before they deteriorate. Don't wait until you're fatigued or injured to regain what you've lost. Simple daily habits like putting on socks while balancing on one leg can preserve abilities that prevent falls, pain, and mobility loss as you age.

Episode Overview

This episode explores six critical physical abilities that people lose through neglect rather than aging: overhead pressing, squatting, hinging, running, jumping, and throwing. The hosts discuss how neural pathways weaken when movement patterns aren't practiced, leading to downstream issues like neck tension, shoulder problems, knee pain, and low back pain. They emphasize that even fit people who work out regularly can lose these abilities if they don't specifically practice them. The conversation includes practical strategies for maintaining these skills, such as using PVC pipes to teach proper hinging, balancing on one leg while putting on socks, and incorporating these movements into daily routines at low intensity.

Full Transcript

Transcript of The Fitness Skills You Stop Using First (And Regret Later) | Mind Pump 2823 from Mind Pump Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

Here's Here's a fact. What you don't train, what you don't practice, you lose. You actually lose. In fact, there are six skills you don't want to lose. You don't want to lose these abilities. Let's see if the guys can guess what they are. Don't use it. You lose it. Just throw one out. one out. one out. Okay. Well, first one I'm going to say is to press over your head. Yeah, that's definitely one of them. So just to just to paint some context uh when you don't uh practice a particular movement pattern or use it often uh the brain actually adapts same way muscle does.

So if you don't use your biceps your muscles atrophy and they shrink. When you don't practice a movement pattern the uh neural pathways that control that movement pattern weaken uh and in essence atrophy. So you actually lose that ability. You lose the ability ability ability and then gaining it back is a whole process. And there are certain abilities, just to loosely uh name them, that you really don't want to lose because if you lose these abilities, there's a lot of downstream negative effects that come from them.

And you're right, that's one of them. Uh is is being able to lift your arms directly above your head. So, I have a theory on why that is so bad today in comparison to say 50 years ago. ago. ago. What is it? Monkey bars. Monkey bars. Monkey bars. That might not be Listen, listen. Hear me out. Hear me out. Like other than that, there's not a lot of things that a a young kid or even an adult would have fundamentally done on a regular basis overhead.

overhead. overhead. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. Like it's not a normal movement like the hinge the squat full extension. Yes. Yeah. In full extension being connected all the way from hands to all should like where where else are you doing that uh in regular life for the average person? We just I think and well not a lot. lot. lot. Climbing is a big part of it. And and we organize our homes and our lives so we don't have to do that movement. Do you guys remember the first time you had a client?

client? client? Yes. Yes. Yes. When you actually realize like you can't reach directly and and what it looks like typically is is a person's they can't straighten their arms out and they can't do this and they end up leaning back to try to straighten their arms out overhead. overhead. overhead. So one of one of my go-to actually I don't think we've ever talked about this. One of my go-to moves on a uh we talk about the assessment, right? And how we used to break it down and everybody uh or not everybody, but a lot of people know that's what our prime is, our maps prime is how we would assess a client, right?

client, right? client, right? One of the things that we don't have in there that I actually used to do and a lot of it was to just point out how alarming this was was I would take a client, put them against flat against the wall the wall the wall and then I'd have them ra try and raise their arms all the way up to show like how how how their hips come off the wall. Oh yeah. how how much they would arch their back to get their hands above there and I'd be like, "We should be able to stay flat right here and be able to come all the way back and touch the wall and they would be so like blown away how they can't do that." I remember the first time I saw this as a trainer and it was alarming because it wasn't uh somebody who was in advance.

No, that's what I was going to say. This was something I did like on people in their 30s and 40s. Yes. Yes. Yes. Like this is they look normal. They just weren't working out. They were just seditary and they couldn't lock out and they had have to overarchch and do and I remember putting the weight down. Maybe it's too heavy. We'd go lighter and they still couldn't. And I had I grabbed his wrists and I pulled them straight up. Yeah. And then I said, "Okay, now try and hold him there." And he would contort.

And this was common. This was not uncommon. No, it was so common. So part of the spiel that I would do is it's like everybody comes in because especially 30s and 40s because they want to lose body fat or build muscle or look a certain way and I would like easily break that down real quick. I'm following our macros and doing these things like I that's the easy part. I'm like but I'm also going to get you to move better and feel better. Oh, I feel fine that.

And then I would do some of the stuff and be like look at this. You can't even Yeah, you've lost this and you're only this old right now. Like imagine if you continue down this pathway at 50, 60, 70 like and then I do the whole analogy or like or metaphor of like somebody using a cane. I'm like that person didn't wake up, you know, one day and then all a sudden had to use a walker. It was at 30 years old you couldn't do this or you couldn't do that and then it just got worse worse worse worse and the next thing you know you're you're you're I mean you can't you can't help but for what you brought up like think of all the fundamental movement patterns like squatting you know those are other ones.

I mean, so I think immediately of like when the starretes were here and they're talking about what they implemented in the book where it's like you got to balance and then tie your shoe and it's like the bending over, you know, tying your shoes like people I mean you get it becomes a lot harder like if you don't actually have the ability to hold yourself in place and then also hinge. Yeah. Well, there's this is balance one of them. No, I didn't put that on. Oh, interesting.

So there, so that's definitely one of them, but all the ones that I listed are ones that I was able to find data supporting that lead to a lot of the stuff that we're talking about. So like for example, losing the ability to to really extend your arm up above your head, you start to lose the connection between how the scapula and the humorris move together and that thoracic stability, which is that upper midback stability. And and what ends up happening over time, you start to develop neck issues.

It starts, it starts out with neck tension. Yeah. Then it looks like tension across the shoulder girdle. Then it's shoulder problems. problems. problems. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that then contributes to lots of other things. By the way, uh because again this is not just older people. This is actually quite common. We had a guy who came in and I won't say too much to without calling him out, but he was a physique he was a physique competitor. This guy's like jacked in his 20s. Couldn't do this basic movement because he never trained with that full extension.

Actually lost it. Yeah. in his 20s, which is limited by Yeah, I would I would assume too is rotation on there because like trunk rotation, any kind of rotation where that's pretty limited. I would say even the most egregious one I see a lot is with the neck. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh because, you know, you end up turning your whole body one direction. Uh and this is one of those where I see like injuries or like a lot of pain with a lot of clients because they can't actually turn their neck.

Well, one thing too that's that we got to uh communicate that's important is you don't lose these abilities because you get older. You lose them because you stopped doing it. Yes. So, this is not a result of age. So, a lot of the ones we're going to say neglect. neglect. neglect. You'll notice that older people can't do them, but it's not because they're older. It's because they stopped doing them. You mentioned two others. So, we'll go back to those squat and hinge. Yes. Yes. Yes. Very important.

So, squatting, if you have a toddler, you notice how natural squatting is. Like this is our bodies are actually made. This is actually a rest position for humans. Uh it's a natural rest position and scientists will notice that uh hunter gatherer societies this is how they often sit and rest. Uh and it's because it's a rest. It's good on the body. It's actually good for the digestive system. You decompress. You decompress. You decompress. It's good. It decompresses the spine. It's also a ready position. So even though you fully rested, you could move very easily.

Um and you lose that ability at the result. Now, that's an easy one because most people who don't work out work out work out can't even do a normal squat without all kinds of work. And and then what does that lead to? Uh well, it leads to knee pain, hip pain, and low back pain and low back pain. So, also important. Then hinging. This is an important one. important one. important one. Hinging is the ability to bend over without having too much flexion in the spine.

spine. spine. Loading the hips instead of the back. That's right. This one is so crazy that all trainers know this. All trainers who've been training for longer than just a few months know this. can't do that. That's why I didn't deadlift. They just can't do it. You tell someone to bend over and it's all lumbar flexion and there's no hinging at the hips which is and and we you know we learned this right. People will say lift with your legs or you know try it's like we we we then you try to do and you can't do it.

You lost that ability and that is low back pain. This is why one and we did this a long time ago. It's in our it's in our programs. You see I love I love seeing all of our trainers use this tool. Um I and this was an unlock for me. didn't happen till god I want to say year six or seven uh when I went to some seminar one of my national searchs I don't remember which one but the guy training us uh pulled out a PVC pipe PVC pipe PVC pipe and uh would put it put it on the back of their nodule their yeah their back yeah on their their upper back and then their on their hips and you had to keep all three points of those contact and that feedback to teach someone how to hinge was better than any cue that I had been doing for years and just carrying a little light pipe like that that became a thing staple in my gym that we would do to teach.

So cuz teaching a hinge to somebody who's lost the ability is a really it's tough to keep. keep. keep. It's like you're speaking a different language. language. language. It is it's a it's a very tough cue. The best queue I ever used which sounds funny. funny. funny. Stick your ass out. Stick your butt out. I know. Which I which by the way I remember when we first started this podcast the wall with your ass. The trainers that the trainer there was there's a there was a a movement for a while there.

I haven't heard this in a long time, but it was it was really popular. And maybe when it was during that time when we were talking about that queue, uh, a lot of uh, you know, biomechanic dorks would get on there and be like, "That's a ter that's a bad queue." Then then you get an overx. It's like if you don't cue that to the average person, they don't know what to do. And so you had a lot of people that were trying to counter that.

I was like, "No, that was the best cue I had until I had the It just got the person to kind of go, "Oh, okay. This is what I need." Yeah. Yeah. That that made sense to them. You know what I'm saying? like telling someone to give them an anterior I need you to do anterly pil tilt your pelvis the hips yeah it's like yeah and yeah slide your hips back like those are cues are tough for the average person to to grasp until they can feel it or see it it it karate chop those hips that's I mean that was one of the better ones to queue too for sure stick your ass out karate chop your hips was before PVC pipe that was for sure my go-to that as well all right the the next one uh this is actually a personal one for me uh because uh I'm I I need to start practicing this cuz I'm losing this ability uh and that's just to run.

Just run. So I had a conversation over the weekend with some friends of mine and we were talking about fitness. The conversation went to fitness and uh I you know I were having fun and so I asked them a trivia question. I said what's the what's one of the physical things that humans can do better than almost any other animal? And so everybody's always like I don't know, right? right? right? Yeah. Run for distance. Yeah, we're actually made if we're if we're made to do anything physically, there's another one, but one of them is to run.

We have these big knee joints. We have these huge glutes. We're on we're on two legs. And they actually used to do this contest. There used to be a contest that they stopped a while ago. But it used to be a man versus horse and it was a long distance run. And about 50% of the time or so, the human would win. And you think to yourself, how does a human beat a horse? Well, it wasn't for speed, it was for distance. Yeah. And a fit human can out trekk or outd distance run pretty much any other animal.

We're actually really really good at running which sounds crazy cuz the average person would say no we're not. Look around. We've all lost the skill. skill. skill. We also have a brand new workout program bundle map symmetry maps prime and the advanced training techniques guide. All together over 50% off. Head over to mapsarch.com. mapsarch.com. mapsarch.com. Back to the show. Well, most hunting it's like Yeah, you you might have been successful in actually like spearing or never falls down right there. Never falls down. You got to track them for miles.

Yeah. They bleed out and they're normally I mean we've now with uh you know we've evolved weaponry to where like like like that's come on. The first bow and arrow was probably barely got in. You know what I'm saying? Was like enough to break the hide for a while. Yeah. They had to bleed out and they probably the the animals probably got pretty far before and they're faster than we are. Yeah. Before you tracked them down. And this is it's a personal one for me because, you know, we were laughing at this earlier uh like was it a couple weeks ago, but I was running cuz my wife uh was burning some taco shells and I heard her say fire and I ran and I'm running slow, dude.

And running and I'm running slow, dude. And I'm like, man, I got to practice. I got it. it. it. Feels fast though, right? Yeah. It's not, dude. That's how that's how my mind and I was like, I'm oh crap, I'm losing the skill of running. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I should practice running. It's a it's a fundamental human movement. That doesn't mean you got to go run like a really deceptive one, too, because in your mind you feel like you maintain these abilities and even though it's been like decade or so since you've done it and then go apply it, you know, and it's like uh it's you're you're talking to a foreign uh like it's a foreign language to your body now.

Totally. Totally. You know, I uh talking about stuff like that. When whenever we go to the truck, he always ride the bikes and stuff like that. And I remember for a long time as a kid, uh I would ride my bike all day long with not using my hands. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I don't know if you guys have tried that. It's way harder than I thought it like it was like, wow, this is so crazy. Like I I can't do this. Like I would do that forever.

I would ride around on my on my bike and not use the handlebars and pedal it for 15 minutes straight. No big deal. deal. deal. And I can't do that. Like it's wild how how quickly your body just adapts. You don't need the skill. You don't want to lose a skill. You just got to keep practicing. I I worked with this really good physical therapist years ago and she had clients that she would work with who were an advanced age and they'd come to her for you know very specific issues and I would hear and I heard this more than once where where one of her clients says hey should I start using a cane or a walker and she's like we won't use that until it's absolutely necessary cuz the second you start using that regularly your ability to walk without it goes totally goes away you know this was the in my opinion when I think of the best thing that CrossFit did was was this was even though the way it was programmed, but the the the philosophy of being able to do I get the philosophy.

Uh yeah, cuz they they they incorporated throwing they obviously running and every movement pattern you're going to cover was part of it. Now, the unfortunate part was you put that in a a competition setting, which is not the ideal way to do that, cuz then you get a bunch of middle-aged people that are trying as hard as they can to do it, which is like you'd be better off if you just did all that stuff. I'm so glad you said that because I'm referring these to these as abilities and skills and skills and skills because there's a way to do it where it's where it works.

If you don't if you lost the skill because you stop running or you stop doing these things and signing up for a ultramarathon is not a good idea. good idea. good idea. No, because fatigue throws skill out the window. Anything under fatigue, your skill goes down no matter what. So the idea is to practice and regain the skill before you ever try doing it uh to fatigue. Under low intensity and work your way up, you know, progressively. Yeah. So I I mean jumping has to be in there.

Jumping there. Jumping is one of them. And it's funny, dude. You got listen, this is a real skill. And and by the way, you take the typical deconditioned 60-year-old and they can barely jump. Yep. Yep. Yep. Many of them can't jump. 60. Take your typical deconditioned 40-year-old. 40-year-old. 40-year-old. Well, they can at least get off the ground. ground. ground. I I mean, yeah. I mean, yeah, but like, you know, give them a little stand. I mean, maybe this thing right in front of us and watch them try stare at that to jump at it.

You know, it's a good test of that, by the way. If if someone's listening right now and they're middle age like I could jump off of something that's kind of and land you'll know that you'll know your skill is gone cuz it feels like you can land. land. land. Well, I mean I shared that that was a couple years ago on the podcast when uh I had just gone probably a few years of not training that way. Uh in fact pio boxes were uh pretty regularly in my routine u that I would or intermittently I should say but I would never go 6 months and not plyoo box something right and I hadn't for a couple years probably 3 four years straight and I remember jumping out of I have a lifted truck and I remember just jumping out like just and I thought my knees were gonna explode.

Yeah. And it's just like that is that I mean that's a skill that I I had and was just Yeah. And I did. I was like, "Oh my god, like I lost that. I lost that skill." My that. I lost that skill." My brain didn't though. Like I I felt like I'd done that a million times. I should be able to do it. But it's like I hadn't adapted to that. And it's like, yeah, if you don't you don't you don't slowly retrain it back. Um you will absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, you know, what skill I totally lost.

Like like it's not good at all. In fact, it's makes me really upset because uh you know, I'll go to events like for my kids. My son just started playing soccer. Sitting comfortably on the ground. It's I don't have it. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You make me sit on the ground. Hard one for me too. You make me sit on the ground and five 10 minutes in I'm like this hurts. I'm I'm even scared. Like 9090s. Like 9090s. Like 9090s. This is uh my personal like when I think of like the last decade that I'm most proud of was the work I put into mobility because I'll sit in a squat.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of times when I when Max and I You did that with your son? Oh, your son was a big motivation. Yeah. And that that has been and so a lot of times when we're like we're sitting on a lawn or doing something like that I'll I'll do it in a squatted position for half the time you know like just because that's become comfortable which is crazy to think because I remember how uncomfortable that was just you know seven eight years ago.

Oh yeah here's another one. This is not one of the ones that makes a list but it's just one that I noticed with clients. Being able to lay on a flat surface on your back. This sounds crazy, but a lot of people their head they have a tough time with their head laying fully back. In fact, with clients, we would often have to put towels or something under their head because laying on a flat surface or their head would be cocked like this and be very how forward head they forward.

And that's worse today than it's ever been iPhones and stuff like that. That's right. That's right. All right. The last one is throwing. Uh this is the other ability. So running and throwing are two things that humans do better than any other animal, especially throwing. We throw with incredible accuracy. And if you don't practice throwing regularly, your ability to do this without hurting yourself goes away and eventually you can't do it. Now, you might think to yourself, why do I need to practice throwing if I'm not going to throw?

It's really good for shoulder health. health. health. It's very good for shoulder health. Just the momentum, the slowing down the momentum, the relationship between the prime movers and the stabilizers, the way the scapula, T-spine rotation necessary, like yeah, everything. And I mean, you know, some way to kind of build that up, too. And this is why we emphasized windmills so much because like you know a lot of the body's ability to do it's a pretty complex movement if you break down a throw uh what all has to transpond from there.

So, it's like, you know, working on something like that really helps your body to understand like, okay, we're going to need all down the kinetic chain to work in unison with this uh in order to now add velocity to and think of all the things that are happening together that are beneficial for the body. When you lose the ability to throw, uh it's not just that you can't throw. There's a lot of things there that you miss out as a result. So, I want I want to fight for I want I want to fight for Justin's that he said because I I could make a case for it getting getting above some of the ones that you said, which is the balance.

the balance. the balance. I think balance has to be Hey, my my mother-in-law uh just happened just happened last weekend. Um and she was down and out for 3 days, bruised this big on her hip. She was out in her and she's very active and strength trains. Uh but her her stability and balance isn't really there. And she was pushing down soil in a a pot. She took her foot and she was stomping down and the balance lost her balance and just went unbalance. So balance is the balance is very important.

But the reason why it's not on the list is if you maintain the ability to run and jump, balance is typically there along with strength. You typically won't find somebody that can jump well and run well with terrible balance. balance. balance. Yeah. It's a prerequisite to both, right? But but now here's the deal. Like at her at her level, you're going to focus on balance before that. You're going to have to. I'm not I'm not jump boxing with I'm not jump boxing with her and having her run yet.

So, she'll and and that's where I got a lot of clients. In fact, there was a a real a standard balance on one leg and then you have them forward, side, back, right? So, that like I'd have a client do that 10 times times times and working up to doing 10 without losing your balance was very difficult. In fact, I bet a lot of people listening right now, I bet you you can't you cannot stand on one leg and balance and swing your leg forward, swing your leg back, swing your leg out 10 times without losing your balance to do that.

And then I'd add rotation. So, you'd have to actually look, you know, so I so I uh I love talking about stuff like this too is just because the fact that we're getting older uh and I think about this stuff. Um I always not a week goes by that I don't put my socks on standing on one leg with that in mind. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like I if I I cuz I don't want to lose that that that and so I will get my socks out of my drawer and I will balance on one leg when I put and and it it gets to a point where sometimes it's a struggle.

It's not like it used to be when I was 20. And And And oh my right hip flexor fights me. Yes. I have to I I have to work to do it. And so I refuse to put my socks on sitting down. I I refuse to do the old man cross your leg over, put your sock on thing. Not going to do it. Yeah. No, bro. But it's I I we we talk a lot, right, about how we we build uh this is also again when you have a really good trainer, I feel like a little this is these are the types of conversations that we would have with clients and I would I would give these little tips to my my my clients like hey try putting your socks on one foot always.

Yeah. Balancing on one foot and just that habit is a great habit. Well, I I want to be clear, too, cuz someone who's like fit right now and works out like I do is listening to this be like, "Well, I'm fit and I work out." You lose these skill. I don't care how fit you are. I don't care. If you don't practice these skills, your 9% body fat, the running, the jumping part, too. A lot of people running, jumping, balance, all that. I have I've never stopped working out.

I I've been working out since I was 14. I'm very consistent with working out. I've got low body fat percentage, got muscle, whole deal. and I'm losing the ability to run well and jump because I never practice them. I've already lost the ability to sit on the floor comfortably and that's somebody who works out all the time. So, if you're listening, you're a fit person. Typically, these are people who are focused on the aesthetic or simply focused on one style of exercise. That's their favorite style.

You'll lose this ability no matter how much you go to the gym if you don't practice them. So, anyway, that's it's it's hard, right? Because what you just hit briefly right there is that mo this is what motivates most people to to work towards Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. that the health journey is like I want to look better. Yep. Yep. Yep. You know. You know. You know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or I'm carrying this this gut. I don't like it and so let's get rid of it type of deal.

of deal. of deal. Um I'm trying to think of like what percentage of my cl very few clients I think there was a percentage maybe 10 uh that came in that like had that kind of holistic mindset to start. But it's usually because it's been it's so far down. down. down. Exactly. They've normally something's happened uh that they're they're forced in that direction. It's like the like five engineers restricted. restricted. restricted. Yeah. And it's like now now we want to like repair. Yeah. Yeah. But it's uh but yeah.

No, I can't I can't stress uh some of those those skills and any way that you can, you can, you can, you know, find it in your routine. I'm sure Justin's really good about this with all the rotational stuff. Like I try to be good about things like that where I just intentionally do it. You know, I love too uh the new one for me cuz I've never it's it's been a long time since I was a kid that I've had a pool and so like like swimming and like like like like I'll literally do swim a few freestyle laps and breast stroke and things like that.

It's just I'm trying to regain that one. I sink man. And that's such a good that's a good easy like it doesn't provide it provides a little bit of resistance. It's safe uh to do that and you express your whole body. Yes. And so it's such a Do you you go swimming in a speedo? Like Adam does. Do you really go in there naked? Oh yeah, we naked swim all the time. Do you really? Yeah. You can't see in my backyard. Would you not naked swim if you I mean we've done it.

That's how we broke our pool open. Yeah, bro. Yeah, bro. Yeah, bro. Wait, you just all jump in? You got kids? kids? kids? No, just me and my wife. Your teenage boys. We had to close the gates. We've done it so much. Well, we've done it so much. So yesterday we were f swimming as a family yesterday and we're doing some backyard work right now and so we have construction guys there coming in and out and they had already left for the day but I get home and I had already set the pool to where it was be a little bit warmer than in the freezing cold.

Right. So I I I come in and I I told Katrina I said, "Hey, tell Max that I I heated the pool up for us so we can hang out in the backyard and swim today." And she's like, "Oh, he's going to be excited." And I come I was I walked out the door and here comes my son down the stairs. Mind you, he's almost seven now, right? He's ass naked, you know? I'm like, "Hey, hey, buddy. I see is a bird. Today's a short day, you know, we're swimming in shorts cuz And then we have He's like, "Wow, come on." Like, "Oh, man." man." man." Yeah.

We have people coming that might be contractors coming in the backyard. So, and so he puts his shorts. I'm the worst because I can't There's nothing I'm sure I don't know if you I'm sure you guys are like this, too. There's nothing I can do with my wife like swim naked or whatever where we're naked and then I'm not immediately I'm not going in that direction. You're not going to take advantage. Yeah. You can't we can't enjoy the swimming cuz now I'm like oh well now all I'm thinking about is I wonder is that like dude dude dude if my wife calls me in the bathroom she's taking a shower and she has something important to tell me and she calls me in there Mhm.

Mhm. Mhm. I'm like I look I'm looking down like this. She's like why won't you look at my you know why because if I notice then for for for I have to imagine that's the difference between uh cuz I feel like I Katrina I have very high sex. I think it has something to do with one kid and four kids, kids, kids, right? like you guys have less opportunity and so if that you're in a situation like that, I'm going to test that out. I'm going to tell my wife, "Be naked in front of me every day.

Let's see how long it takes for me to not Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know, bro. I don't know. You think that's what cuz I I feel like uh I wonder why that why that is that that I can handle that. You know what I'm saying? And maybe because it's like I we we're not ever short of opportunity where I think if I had multiple kids, I could see where you guys would guys would guys would maybe I'm sure that plays a role, right? Yeah. Right.

you guys have less less you guys are playing defense more than I am. Yeah. So I so I pulled up so I'm going to change something. I pulled up uh some numbers on red light therapy because we talk about red light therapy its benefit and I'm like what do the studies show in terms of the the type of red light the wavelength wavelength wavelength uh uh you know that it uses the I looked this up. So check this out. First off it's like half the time.

Well, check this. No, dude. It's worse. It's Yeah. So the studies on red light. So red light therapy has been shown in studies just for people who aren't familiar with this. This is a wavelength of light that when you put it on any b any cell it accelerates the production of energy of the mitochondria. So you put it on your scalp. Now the the cells in your scalp are more likely to grow hair. So it regrows hair. Put it on your skin, your skin rejuvenates. You put it on muscles, they recover faster, probably build uh build even more.

In fact, there's some studies that compare like right arm to left arm. the the one with the red light therapy actually got more muscle. Um, you could shine it on areas that produce testosterone. You'll produce more tes. So, it sounds crazy, but there's so much studies around it. It's been around for decades. We've known this uh for a long time. So, it's not like uh woo. This is actual real stuff. But I looked up and I said, "Okay, what are this? What wavelengths are they using the studies?" Well, there's red light, which is 630 to 660 nanometers, and near infrared, which is 810 to 850 plus nanometers.

If it's outside of that, it does nothing. Oh, if it's outside, it does nothing. It's ineffective. The studies show it's ineffective. ineffective. ineffective. Oh, interesting. Oh, interesting. Oh, interesting. So, if you're buying red light Oh, see, so I thought it was So, I did this. So, I had I've had family, right, that oh, hey, I was looking I was looking up JWV and you know, I found this other one for like half the price or whatever like that. And I go, okay, well, what's the nanometers on the on the red light and it was like half the wavelength.

I'm like, well, okay. I just logically went like, well, if it's half of what it is, you're probably going to have to sit in front of it for double time. And what the recommendation is on all the studies, studies, studies, no, it's more like a waste of time. Wow. Yeah. And so, here's the deal with red light panels. They used to be cuz again we have this the studies go all the way back to the '60s I think and uh up until relatively recently red light panels were so expensive the ones that produced these nanometers they were so expensive like 15,000 $20,000 that the only place you would get them would be really expensive uh like skin care and spa type places.

So like if you went treat treat treat Yeah. So, like in the year 2000 or whatever, you could go to some place in Beverly Hills and you'd pay, you know, 300 bucks to be in front of this panel that probably cost them 15 grand or something like that. Well, now like JWV, which by the way, JW is affordable, but it's not as cheap as the stuff you get on Amazon. JW has panels that produce these wavelengths like the ones you find in studies. studies. studies. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. If you find panels that are like cheap or the the ones that we put on the baseball cap or the face mask, what waste of time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're wasting your money. It's not in the It's not producing the nanometers that are have been shown in studies to have. have. have. Hey, you just you made me think we're talking about JW right now and Dylan I hope this is possible. I know he's in the back right now. We're working on we're working on a whole new system right here where we have the switcher system.

switcher system. switcher system. If will it be possible for like right now as we were just talking about Juv Justin's commercial like running up as like in a in a square box in a corner. Oh, the one he did with the aliens. Yes. At least the alien pop up the head eventually. Anything's possible, but it's a tremendous amount of work to set all these things up to have it uh with the once you have it set up on the switcher as a as a be saved there.

Yeah, that's right, though. Yeah. No, I think it's possible for sure. sure. sure. Yeah. I think like I mean that that's I want I I personally want that when we talk about some of the brands that he's done commercials for. I just You know what we could do? We could repost it on Instagram and point to it. Yeah. Well, I mean for now for for now that's cool, but I think it would be way cooler like right now while everyone was talking up. You have a little the the actually you can see Justin's ad that he did.

did. did. We have to bring some of those back. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That was exciting. You did. I mean they were brilliant. They were just How long did the juvo take you? How long did Juvon take you to shoot? Do you remember? I think that was like two days. Yeah. We You did like a major production for Yeah. Well, we did it was like non-stop. It's one of those things. I don't know, dude. I get in this weird mode where it's like, "Okay, then this, then this, and I don't really pay attention to what time it is or like if I've eaten food.

Yeah, it's just like pure creative like let's just get it out, you know, of my of my mind. And uh yeah, I I know we've we've done really long, you know, I have I have a little bit of a like a dream that one day I can like do something like that cuz I I also can get very creative with storytelling, not with like like you're on we'll combine it at some point. Well, I feel like Adam would have to loosen his the the first string a little bit.

I was going to say it's like is it I feel like in the in the perfect scenario where we don't have other much more important things to be doing way more important more important more important it's always been the hitch you know it's like it's just not how much money is it going to bring in how does it cost us to do more fun hey speaking of exciting stuff uh I haven't had as much fun writing a program as I've had uh I did recently with you guys so it's not coming it has not out yet it's going to be out in like what a month or two the new ppl program.

Yeah. Yeah. So, the the most like frequently requested type of maps program is one that's a ppl split. split. split. Isn't it weird we have we've avoided it, but it's like such a popular Everybody knows pushpull lakes that's just kind of like a staple in the gym. Yeah. Oh, it's Well, it's a it's a bodybuilding favorite. bodybuilding favorite. bodybuilding favorite. It's a it's a very very popular if you're if you don't do a traditional single body part type, it's PL. Yeah. Well, we've been trying so hard to uh you know tell people about like you know training the entire body like total body workouts and I think like that's just one of those we haven't visited that you know.

know. know. So a lot of people that would love this and by the way this will be the first time we did a male and female version. So for people as as far as splits ppl and upper lower have always been my favorite. Yeah. Yeah. I just I that's all that's like kind of what I'll fall back to if I'm doing a doing a doing a if your volume's high. Yeah. If I'm doing a split, uh, right right now I'm more way more maps 15 type of protocol, but like if I'm running that kind of volume, I love an upper lower or a pushpull leg type of split is like my personal go-to.

Same. So, uh, so I this morning I was, uh, thinking and read I had time. This is my cardio week. So, this is the time when I can like listen to books and Oh, yeah. What are we all Oh, yeah. What are we all This is like the third or fourth week of cardio. cardio. cardio. The fourth, uh, cardio week. So, it's got to be So, it's uh what has it been a month, two months already? Has it been two? No, it can't be that long that I've been I posted about that today with Arnold had this one interaction with some guy.

I don't know who it was, but he was making him do all these like calisthenic cardio moves. No, I'm walk. I was going to say, have you made it over three? Are you not even at I'm not trying. You know what it is? I'm really enjoying listening to books. Bro, you go any slower, you'll go back in time. in time. in time. Three. I thought it was a few. Three is not even walking, dog. I don't even think you could call it walking. Yeah, I don't think I think you have to be at three to call it walking.

If you're under three, that is not you're like you're basically kind of not standing still, dude. You're not standing still. standing still. standing still. Stroll. Stroll. Stroll. But I'm listening to books and I'm having great thoughts. I'm thinking a lot about stuff we communicate. And there was this one study that got me into this spiral of of thought. So, I'm going to back up and just for you guys, cuz this is this is wisdom that we've learned through practice when it comes to training clients. So, when you become an early trainer, a lot of what you do is tell your clients, don't do this, don't do that, don't do that.

Then you realize later on it's way more effective if you stop saying that and you tell them to do this. Yeah. So, in other words, uh I could tell, you know, you know, don't eat that, don't eat this. Or I could say, eat your body weight in grams of protein, eat it first, and then don't worry about the rest. Why? Because it takes care of so many other things. But also, psychologically, not doing something doesn't make sense. Doing something makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And so, I was thinking a lot. It's really got me down the spiral. So, I read this study on teenagers and anxiety and depression. Jonathan Hate talks about this quite a bit uh about this research. So, for the first time ever, this younger generation has had worse anxiety and depression older generations. This has never really happened before. Typically, that's the generation where they're like having a good time and that that the anxiety and depression doesn't kick in till middle age when you got kids and Morgan, the whole deal.

And yet, we're seeing these kids just go through this terrible like, I know where you're going. And so, he he was going through the studies and he's like, what is the best protection against this? Like, what is it that's happening? I have a theory. And what's going on? what is it? So I you know I think what you're highlighting right now is less to do with uh it's it's how it's human behavior and leadership which is it's a far better strategy in leading a team. It's a far better strategy in raising a kid.

It's a far better strategy of clients and that is telling them to go do something versus don't do something. Totally. So here's what they found. Okay. Uh Okay. Uh Okay. Uh tell a kid to get into a thing or kid like like like Well, so here's what they find a study. So the study starts out with like each uh you know additional hour of social media use was linked to lower overall flourishing and well beinging. So that's connection between social media use and just worse and worse anxiety, depression.

And so what we do is we point to social media. It's constantly bombarding them with images of perfect bodies. It's constantly showing them the news, a bunch of anxiety stuff, you know, scaring kids. So stay off social media. Stay off social media. Well, here's what they found in the data. Forget the social media. kids that were really actively religiously participate participants. In other words, they were part of a strong church community. And I'll I'll I'll expand off that. It was like the best protection regardless of how much social media they used.

If they were part of a very strong community, it almost had no effect. Now, uh aside from the supernatural component, so if you're not religious, we could cut that out for a second. You'll find data that supports any strong together community. I was just going to say I I would I would imagine you would see similar data in belonging to a club sport team and like anything that you that that keeps you occupied doing something in the real world with other accountability built in with other people with growth and like in mind in mind in mind it's so it's it's not the same.

So the religious community stuff was the best probably because it points in a really great direction. But you're right, kids who are active in clubs and sports and activities with other people, it's a great protection. So it's less about the dangers of these bad things and more about what it's pulling us away from. Right. Right. Right. So it's really the isolation. That's right. So like like uh for example, sitting or resting, people like don't sit too much. It's bad for you. Oh my god, the more you sit, it's not the sitting that's bad.

that it's taking you away from moving. Yep. Yep. Yep. Right. Uh it's not that processed foods are so bad for you. They are, but it's rather it's taking you away from whole natural foods natural foods natural foods that actually have uh they're better with their nutrients. They have natural breaks uh which make you not eat as much. much. much. So, it's less about all this bad stuff. It's more about what is it pulling me away from? And one of the big away from? And one of the big things that just kept coming up, the wolf that you're feeding, right?

It's an old analogy. Wow. Great one. That's great. Yeah. So, what kept coming up for me, what kept coming up for me was uh what we lost a lot of is uh real community. Real community. And so, I had this call with my wife and I'm like, man, uh we have to continue to pursue community and friendships even outside of our comfort zone, like pursue it. Cuz people don't pursue it anymore. It's not natural like it used to be where people come knock on your door.

It's just the way you do that. But, now it's so unnatural that you have to kind of pursue it. And I told her, I said, "This is the best." Rather, because she's really good about managing tech, managing TV. I said, "Honey, if we're just around people a lot, lot, lot, that's not going to be a problem. Takes up time. Regulating. It's like going after your protein." Totally. It takes care of the rest of the stuff. You know, it's a way better strategy than telling your kids, "Don't do this thing or limit this." It's like, "Let's go do this thing." That's right.

Yeah. Let's go do this thing or let's go meet up with these people or let's go play. Like we're already so prone to like recognizing negative things. And so if we keep reinforcing like don't do this, don't like then it's it's almost like hitting the golf ball and don't hit the golf ball in the in the pond and you're going to hit like thinking in the pond you end up doing. doing. doing. But if you have a kid that's at home all day after school and they're just on their phones and you're like get off your phone, your phone, get off your phone, right?

right? right? A way better strategy is like let's we let's do something and or you got to be friends. friends. friends. Or you can even say something like this. I don't care if you're on your phone. So long as you do this and you do that, you're part of this community, you're part of that group, then I don't mind so much. And it's a it's the most powerful protector protector protector against uh all these things. And I was think about all this stuff like we talk about processed food.

Think of pornography. Pornography definitely has its its negatives, but what it's taking away what it's taking us away from is intimacy. intimacy. intimacy. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And that's the negative issue. That's the real negative thing is it's taking us away from uh from those things. So just a totally different way to communicate these things and have a different understanding. understanding. understanding. So now it's like as I talk with my wife, it's like it's like it's like yeah, it's a lot more effective. Yeah. I'm like, you know what?

We're just going to instead of like trying to manage stuff all the time, which we do, instead let's just let's be busy with pursuing relationships and friendships and let's just let people in our home and who cares how messy it is and whatever. whatever. whatever. Well, this this goes back to what we were talking about just the other day, too, about the it's just unfortunate the area that we're at. There's less neighborhood stuff. It was so common in my neighborhood. In fact, my my son just uh two days ago got introduced to um street hockey.

So, his his best friend who's like the who's the sports fanatic, his dad for his birthday, which was just last weekend, last weekend, last weekend, got him a hockey stick and a little, you know, ball and a net. And Max spent the day over there with them the other day and uh was all into it with them. And so it's like that was like you would walk outside my house on a regular Tuesday at 4:00 in the afternoon and there's kids out there would be doing that.

My neighbors would be doing that. You couldn't wait to run out there and go do that. There was there was community built in a lot with those things. And so totally and even and cuz I remember one of the things my best friend and I were like, you know, we had video games. It was different. But it was you guys played it together. Yeah. You hung out at each other's house. It it it didn't the the first of all the science the science wasn't there on the the way they could make it with like the open loop theory.

It got bored. It got boring. You would only we we'd only do it for a while. Try and beat a level. Then you get frustrated. Things are a lot harder. You die. You were like over it for a while. I get tired of it. My mom never had to come in. My mom never had to come in and say, "Stop playing those video games. Get outside and play." Y Y Y like in fact it was it the other way around. Like hey, make sure you're back by the time that sun comes down.

If you don't, you know what I'm saying? You're in trouble. in trouble. in trouble. you wanted to go outside because there was at and then we had a park around the corner that you could walk to. Uh there was always kids there. There was it was never empty. It's like man parks are empty, streets are empty. It's like you just don't just don't just don't Everybody is isolated like that. So it's like you have to as a parent, you've got to foster that. Yeah. You have to you have to go uh with intent.

And by the way, to foster it, the best way to foster it is not telling your kids or even doing it with your kids, although that's great. Do stuff with your kids. It's you yourself pursue community and relationships yourself so that people are over so that you're over other people's houses. And often times, and this is just the reality, like this is the conversation I had my wife, it's not so natural these days. So often times you just got to be the host and you have to pursue.

Now, I would think you would have So, um, because I'm I'm interested to see how this continues to play out with Max as he gets older. Uh, and I always talk about how your your family is similar to Katrina's with a lot of things. We're we're with them a lot. Are you not with your family a lot? So, they're they're more spread out, so it's not as natur. It's not as easy. So, like my parents are are only about 13 minutes away. Yeah. But my brother's like 35 minutes away.

My other sister's 40 minutes away. Uh, so and my cousins are all kind of spread out now. So we get together for like birthdays and holidays, but we're not all like next to each other or we're close. Yeah. close. Yeah. close. Yeah. Now we have like a great church community and so uh at least a couple days a week we're with people but and my wife's done this thing where she says Sundays are open house for us and we tell all of our friends after church everybody come over.

It doesn't matter just hang out. Yeah. And it's like you got to kind of make it happen. But man, you want to talk about protecting or or defending yourselves and your kids against uh just uh the what happens when you don't have that community? Just you just got to be in it. You just got to be in it as much as possible. You know, which is work. Yeah. I was going to say it's it can be a lot of work for uh the way we've structured society is the opposite.

It's that it's so it's your schedule is off. The house isn't always so clean. What about this? What about that? Can't you know? It's like it is work, but it's so worth it. the and the default is is so easy to default to which is just the the TV and the I mean the way we have stuff streaming that's entertainment all the time like none of that stuff was there so you kind of had to figure to figure to figure it was too boring it was it was too being in the house watching television if you didn't catch that few hours right after school or the the on the week the first thing in the morning on the weekend it's like the rest of the time was like lame I tried explaining that to my 5-year-old I was like you know when we watch TV if it show wasn't on it just wasn't on he it couldn't process it.

He's like, "What do you mean?" I'm like, I was trying to explain. So, there's a central place that would do what's called a broadcast. And the only time you could watch that show was when they were broadcasting. So, you had to watch it. And if it wasn't on, wasn't on, wasn't on, then you couldn't watch it. See, I feel like we can as parents kind of, and again, again, you knew we were going to kind of swing this way. Hopefully, we get back and more or more like this.

But even though it's available all the time, you can still get back to like creating that. Like there's nothing that stops us as parents from going like cartoons are only Saturday mornings for sure. We've done this window. So we've kind of So like Friday night at our house is movie night. It's the one night where we don't sit as a family on the dinner table and eat. We can we can watch movies late into the night. Max gets to stay up past his bedtime. It's a treat.

It's a and he looks forward to it. It's Friday night. That's not every every night doesn't look like that. Every night there the TV isn't on. We're not doing that. we're doing other things there in the morning time on Saturday mornings is the times where he's allowed to get up and go down and watch cartoons in the morning. It allows Katrina and I to kind of like slowly get up and start the day and he knows he gets like an hour or two in the morning where you so it's like I feel like you can still even though it's accessible, it's the discipline as the parent to not make it accessible all the time.

And it's like oh and so it's not weird that uh after that morning block we don't do that anymore. That's all we do that. Yeah. The default again is that points to this is what I said to my friends too. I said you know the default I I understood this for fitness like the default if you just live and allow yourself to live the way everybody else does. You're going to be unhealthy. You're also going to be unhealthy mentally and spiritually not just physically. So you will your odds of being obese or having uh you know metabolic issues are very high if you just if you don't structure things and you don't have some kind of discipline.

It's also very high for psychological issues and spiritual uh issues if you don't again do the same thing. You have to like it's you almost have to be a rebel. You can't live like everybody else otherwise you'll be like everyone else. You know it it the the the the positive side is that if if we discipline ourselves to do it for enough long enough period of time like it becomes it becomes a yes just like bad habits become bad good habits become good habits. My we were when we were over at my family's my brother went to the the liquor store we're all there with the family and stuff like that and he came back and uh he he brought me like a diet coke he brought a drink or something and he's like oh I was going to bring the the baby an ice cream but I know he doesn't eat sugar.

I said you could have brought him one. I don't that's done. I already did the work. Like he like you could bring him something right now and like I know my son now and that he'll eat it. You take Yeah. He'll take a couple bites of it and then he'll give give me the rest of it. Like get easier like that. I see. It's it's like it's it was a lot of work at the beginning. I was a bad guy and weird and all the things, you know, cuz that's just it.

That's you have to go through the uncomfortable bit of being not normal and intent and and having an intention of setting those schedules and those boundaries and going and meeting with people and getting out of your comfort zone. But then you do it for an extended parent just like working out or anything else it becomes a part of you and it's habit and it's like then you don't have to like reinforce that and I feel like that's I've felt like the things that we did a good job of doing that I look back now after six seven years and go like oh it's not hard to men and it doesn't mean there's not times where he's like oh I want to do more like of course he he's a kid of course he but it's like no you know that and and Katrina like we don't do that you know we don't do that and then it's like okay you know of course he's going to try but that's it we just then we shift him to another thing onto Totally.

Totally. Adam, I was going to ask you cuz you're the most consistent consumer of the Hule uh meal replacements. Yeah. How you still liking them? Love them. Uh the mocha flavor, the coffee one's my favorite and strawberry banana. banana. banana. So, they're they're non uh they're vegan protein. protein. protein. They digest so really easy. really easy. really easy. Easy. Easy. Easy. And and I was looking at the protein sources. Pe is the most uh that's the most predominant protein source. Pa protein is one of the highest uh branch amino acid sources of vegan protein.

So, it's like considered one of the more anabolic Yeah. anabolic Yeah. anabolic Yeah. proteins. I was looking at the back, you know, the back of it. I just I mean I I love that it's it's ready to drink, you know, so it's it's easy. Um I shoot I can't tell you the last. last. last. They're really palatable. We don't talk about their energy drinks as much. I I started drinking some of those. Yeah, the pineapple one is really good. good. good. How much caffeine's in one of them?

It was like 200, I believe. Is it 200 or 150? 200. No, it's 200. Yeah, it's 200. Yeah. Yeah. So, we have like five of them. It's a good supplement like the watermelon one. I didn't like the watermelon one. It was a little sweet, but I haven't tried the pineapple one. I'll try the pineapple one. Yeah, it was tasty. I liked it. So, I was just like curious. Yeah, I had this there was this fitness guy that posted this GLP protocol and I thought it was so good.

Yeah, I saw the post. I'm going to pull it up as far as uh working outwise, like what you do when you Okay, you're going to use this GLP1 or a GLP. Uh here's what here's what you need to do. Okay, so uh and he he talks about how it works. It's actually qu it's actually quite um coach Wesnowski I don't know about his other comment content but this was pretty good. So he talks about how it works. He came up with something and I think it's his it's actually quite smart.

It's an acronym that he calls MARCH and he says you need to focus on mitochondria absorption resilience cycle and signal and hypertrophy. So what he says is says is says is does that totally make sense to you? Yeah. You have no idea. So uh so you need to make sure you have good mitochondrial health because otherwise the glucagon activation can actually cause more fatigue. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You need to make sure you have good gut health because it slows down gastric emptying. So if you already got bad gut health and then you want to GLP, you're going to have malabsorption issues.

issues. issues. Then he talks about resilience and cortisol. He's like, "Look, losing 20% body weight in 12 months is a physiological stress." I'm like, "It absolutely is." Yeah. So, users with poor sleep and high baseline cortisol already overwhelmed, not a good thing to go on. On top of that, go on a JLP on a GLP1. Then he says, uh, testosterone is a good idea for a lot of people who who go on a GLP to prevent the loss of muscle. And then he says, uh, resistance training plus high protein.

So, he says this is the order of operation for the people he works with is he rather than throwing people in a GLP, he's like, we got to get you address all these first. We're gonna address these things first to maximize its effect, minimize muscle. I thought this was the mo one of the most comprehensive. comprehensive. comprehensive. Well, that's the nerd in you that says that. That's so the uh that's so great for coaches. for coaches. for coaches. That's exactly what it's for. Yeah. Okay. I was going to say he's speaking to coaches.

Okay. Yeah. No, the average person is like, "What are you talking?" Yeah. I know. I mean, like you said that I'm like, "Yeah, no. That did not all those terms are just But for a train for a trainer as a protocol to follow like think of that." I like that. So he's like, "Fix your mitochondria, fix your gut, fix your stress response, optimize your hormones, treat and eat, train and eat for muscle, then add the compound order of and I'm like, "Oh my god, that's really really really really It's like the said principle for, you know, you use I mean, we know that, right?

What the said principle is, but you tell a client that, well, so what this would look like for the average person must go on a GLP, it's like, all right, we're gonna start before you go on the GLP, we're going to start with strength training. We're going to start with, you know, making sure we we get good sleep. We're going to look at your gut health. We're going to make sure your gut health is good. Maybe use a probiotic, but if you need to treat yourself for things like SIBO, we'll fix that.

Then we're going to look at your hormone profile. Get you healthy. Yeah. Let's look at your hormone profile. Oh, your testosterone is low. We're going to put you on testosterone if it doesn't raise through those other natural methods. Then we're going to really focus on hitting the grams of protein. Now, let's add the GLP and then boom, you get great results. Minimal muscle. I thought it was really really No. No. For coaches and trainers, that's that's Noski coaching is the name of his That's awesome. That's awesome.

That's awesome. Yeah, it's really He doesn't even have a ton of followers either. I thought it was really really good. So, how'd you come across that? You know, it showed up. It showed up in my in my feed and I'm rarely impressed by uh like coaches and trainers who post things on like JP. like JP. like JP. A lot of it's like, you know, young guy, older guy with you. He looks like a young dude. Yeah, it looks like a young dude. Uh I don't know his other stuff, so I don't know if his other content is great, but this particular post I was like really really good.

I'll give the guy a shout out. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Yeah, from a from a coaching perspective, I think that's f that's really good cuz you're always looking for acronyms like that to remember to remember to remember to and also for coaches. What a great way to understand how you're going to work with someone on GLP. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Paleo Valley makes the best meat sticks you'll have you'll find anywhere. This is fermented meat, meaning it's already broken down. It's not dry. It tastes delicious. It's great for your gut.

It's grass-fed meat. High in protein on the go. The best meat sticks on the planet are Paleo Valley. Head over to paleo valley.com/mindpump. valley.com/mindpump. valley.com/mindpump. That link will get you 15% off. Back to the show. the show. the show. This segment of the podcast is brought to you by Mindpump Fitness Coaching. This is the number one course that teaches trainers and coaches how to build sustainable sixf figureure plus businesses and careers in fitness. Look, it's roundt based. So you can hear Adam, Justin, and myself teaching you how to build a better business, get more leads, close more deals, close bigger deals, and be more effective trainers.

By the way, our course is nationally recognized. In fact, it gives you 1.9 CEUs with or for your NASM certification. Find out more at mindpunfitnesscoaching.com. Our Our first question is from Danielle Keepix. For walking lunges in your program, if we get to the point where grip is going before strength, is it better to stick with dumbbells or go to barbell back rack? rack? rack? Oh, this is when you go to the barbell. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. This is when you go to the barbell. Now, there's another option uh if you don't have a barbell um or you're afraid of the balance is you could use wrist wraps.

This is one place where I would use wrist straps for a client because they're so strong that they're trying to use heavy dumbbells and they can't hold on to them. And you know, the idea here is the lunges. So, this is when I'm like, let's go ahead and use I mean, if you had one really heavy weight that you could sort of hold like a zer if you're doing it as well, but yeah, I mean, that's probably going to be your best bet. But but barbell back uh rack walking lunges, one of my favorite exercises.

I I prefer that if I have the space, if I have this the space to do it, I like I like that. So, you can just focus on the lunging part of that, bro. It's one of the best lower body. I mean, if I want to do some grip strength for that, I I'll do just carries. You know what I'm saying? If I want to do something for that, uh but if if I'm training legs and I want to go I'm doing lunges, you know, popularized this was uh with the walking lunges with a barbell on your back was Ronnie Coleman.

Yeah, dude. There's yellow Spanish out in the He's in the parking lot in out in Texas in the sun. I do remember that. He's got 135 on his back and it's at the end of his workout, too. He's walking and you can see the veins through his pants in his legs, too. I I I think walking lunges are a really good exercise. Super functional. You actually don't It's a muscle builder. builder. builder. There's not a lot of room in a lot of gyms to do that, especially if you train at a really popular time.

So, that's the unfortunate part, but back step if you've got the ability to do walking lunges, uh I I think it's a it's an awesome thing to incorporate. And if you can put the barbell on, it just takes that takes a lot of room. Yep. Yep. Yep. You got a lot you got to have a lot of space. I mean, I used to do them in here all the time. Now that we have clients and stuff in here all the time, I don't do them do them do them because we have so many people in here walking back and forth.

You can do Yeah. like backstep lunges with barbells. with barbells. with barbells. Yeah. I like I like the locomotion of of of moving forward and and the weight. I think it's just so good cuz I I'll even extend my stride. I'll even throw a little bit of a balance between steps. Like it's such a great movement to play with. with. with. Next question is from Brad Ba Fitness. What is the biggest mistake that trainers make when they go into business for themselves and leave the company or business they are working for?

I that's I knew you picked the first one. This is the one you were saying. That's the one, bro. Go do your thing. Well, this was a this was so common, right? So, I mean, uh most of my career I trained trainers. So, at this point, it's been hundreds that have uh that have worked for me. And it's inevitable. Um once they got the experience, they got good and they realized, oh man, the company's only giving me 50% or 30% of what this train this client their clients love them.

Then they do the math. math. math. Yeah. How Yeah. and they do the math like, "Oh my god, I would be making this much." And they go and in and and listen, there's a and this I swear I've seen this play out as as a good rule of thumb. If you are not the number one or number two trainer in your local gym, okay, okay, okay, you have no business going, you have no business going and trying to build your own business and and you will make less money.

In fact, even some of my top guys and girls that were my number one trainer went out and they made it and they were making close to the same amount of money, but they had to work way harder and way more stress. Yeah. A lot more hours and just to make the same money they were making for me at the at the big box gym. And so and but and the only ones that I ever saw surpass what they were making inside the commercial gym were the the top train that you got to be if you can't prove to be number one with the muscle of the gym and the the the the carrying all the overhead and the stress of running a business and you got leads in your gym all over the place built in marketing everything.

That is the biggest mistake because and and to me that should be like if you want to do that I think it's a total good goal. You should prove to yourself you can be the top guy or girl in that facility before you make that leap. Otherwise you're setting yourself up for that's 100%. However hard you could go into a big 40,000 square foot big box gym as a brand new trainer and trying to become number one in that gym is a lot easier than doing your own business as a personal trainer outside of there.

It's a lot easier. And let me counter this argument before anybody who's already thinking in their head because I think this is unethical is you're going like, "Well, all of my clients said they'll leave and I can do that quick math. I'll instantly the next month make more money than I'm making right now. Inev the inevitable will happen. One year or two years down the road, all those clients won't be with you still. you still. you still. You're true. You're true. You're true. And you will have to go get your own business.

And so even if you the next month could for one month or two months because they all leave the the gym and they all come to you. That to me is unethical because you didn't build that business. They may love you and say they're there just for you, but they would have never met you had they not walked through that facility. and that therefore that that that would have not happened. So you have to go prove to yourself that you can do that first. Plus it's such a short-term vision.

I mean maybe they do come with you, maybe they do stay with you. What do you got a year or two and then what you still got to figure out how to build your and you haven't learned the skills of true lead generation, building a website, m like all that stuff. Now for people who are leaving their company that are not in fitness who want to become trainers, so somebody who's doing some other field, this is why we always say go to commercial box first. That's it.

The biggest mistake you can make is going off trying to build your own uh business or going to a small studio. I don't think that's a great starting point. Go to big box. It's training wheels. It's the best place. It's training wheels. You It's for a lot of great reasons. Not just because they're taking care of the lease. They're taking all the overhead, the electricity, the lead generation, which are massive. But then you're also in a community of 5, 10, 15, 20 other trainers that have been doing this longer than you that you can learn from, that you can ask questions from.

Like it's an incubator for growth. Otherwise, it's like really difficult. Think of it. It's like getting paid to go to school. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that and that and instead of what and this is such an employee mindset to go, oh, I only make this much and the company's making all this. Like you don't even know what it's like to run a multi-million dollar company. So get that's an employee mindset to think that way. You need to first learn to be the best in your facility before you go take on the next new challenge, which is now you get to learn what it's like to go build a business like that, which is very difficult to do.

Next question is from Alex Ewan. How come Mind Pump has changed its tune on cannabis? What information came to light that made you change your minds? So, this is I I picked this question because it is quite true. If you listen to early to early to early geared towards you particularly, it says particularly me. I think all of us changed our tune uh to an extent, right? I I think uh to an extent like you we're wiser uh and I think um well the data now is actually reflecting quite a bit.

So early days there wasn't a ton of data and a lot of and and there's there are especially the growing developing mind it's really detrimental. We what we now see with cannabis is regular luh use definitely contributes to anxiety disorders uh psychiatric issues. It it it really messes up the uh dopamineergic system of the brain to where it's that like the stoner the the stoner myth of the unmotivated stoner. It's actually kind of true. So whatever your natural inclination towards motivation is, it will generally lower over time if you use cannabis on a regular basis.

Now some people are like, "Well, when I smoke weed, I'm way more creative and whatever." Yeah. Yeah. Keep doing that long enough and you'll start to find that you lack it without using it. And then when you use it, you're also assess it the next day if it's really like brilliant. If it's really brilliant. So there's that. Uh it's also more addictive than uh was originally believed. Uh so it's not as addictive as other things, but it still is uh addictive. It does impair um your working memory.

It does impair uh or contribute to things like depression over time. Changes the structure of the brain. And I'm just going to tell pe people right now, I noticed with myself like I really started reducing my use. I didn't go off it completely until maybe the last couple years where I really don't ever use it. But even before that, I started reducing my use because I started noticing that I just wasn't on the podcast. My memory wasn't as good. I wasn't as sharp. And I noticed when I'd go off for a little while, suddenly I was sharper on the podcast.

I'm like, you know, and the podcast does challenge me more than everyday normal day-to-day stuff, but I'm like, you know, I don't want to be impaired. And what's really the benefit of this uh for me anyway? So, I do think there's some medicinal uses. I don't think it's as bad as as alcohol necessarily. Um, but I it's not I definitely change my mind on how I talk about it, for sure. So, I mean, my two cents, I'm still I'm still pro cannabis as much as I am pro glass of whiskey or pro glass of wine.

That's where it's it's been for me. Like occasional is what you're saying. Yeah. I I think that uh that's I've always looked it that way. And if you've listened to the podcast long enough, uh you remember before I had a kid and then once I had a kid, I always talked about the day that I would probably walk away from it because I don't want my son to smell it or see me do it. That what that transition looked like for me. The last previous years, uh I set it up to where it was outside.

So I, you know, as he's starting to get older, he's now at an age where he's like he's very aware of everything around him. He was a very smart, intelligent kid. And so it's been a half a year since I've had anything. And I haven't I didn't say I didn't announce that on the podcast and say I'm quitting forever like cuz I'm not anti- it. And in the right occasion with my friends and really wanting it in a mood like that. Um I would have it, but I just haven't had that.

I haven't had a situation where I was like So here's a question for this is I think someone might be thinking this. You're okay with having the occasional glass of wine or whiskey with Max around. Why not weed, weed, weed, right? I just I don't want him at a young age smoking weed and I don't want it to be normalized like that. He can't there's restrictions already in place for him with the alcohol. He can't have that till he's 21 years old. years old. years old.

And if I if I had to choose, I think that it's a slipperier slope with weed because of all the positive benefits that are that come with it. In other words, I watched my uh I've told this story before when I was in in in the thick of cannabis, which was in my late 20s. I have a younger brother who is uh 13 years younger than me. And so, he was just coming up in his teenage years, and he's got an older brother that is in the cannabis industry.

And I remember he started smoking at at a very young age. And his reasons behind it was, you know, he had a lot of anxiety and it would make him feel calm and normal. And I watched that slippery slope of it being like, I'm high all day long. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and I think that it was right in the height of all the positive sides of it. There's uh there's there's none of that information about alcohol. No one's coming out and being like, "Yeah, you drink and it helps with this and it's good for that." It's like, and so for the young brain, the young kid who hears all the positive benefits of cannabis and and then also his dad also smokes like that, I think that's just an easy gateway for him to also adopt it.

And it's more it's more it can become more of an acceptable thing. That's what I mean. That's what that's what I'm saying where like he still sees his dad occasionally have a glass of whiskey with his his his mom and now and I imagine there'll come an age where he'll want to try and taste it and I'll cross that bridge and I'm sure I will let him. And I think it I'll it'll be something we have a conversation about. But I didn't want him seeing me smoke and smelling the smoke and thinking that's a normal thing.

Like I don't think that uh I don't I I think that will be would be a harder challenge for me to convince him why he shouldn't especially when everybody's talking about all the health benefits and how it's not bad and it's all like I think that it would become something that he would start doing at a younger age that I'm more I'm more I'm more the other thing that I changed my mind on because now we have data that totally counters what I thought. So I thought if you legalized it and regulated it less people would use it, less kids would use it.

And my my theory was well if you know when it's kind of like taboo more people are going to want to use it and if it's regulated it's going to be safer. safer. safer. That's a hard argument though S. Well well here's what we see now in the data. data. data. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Everybody smokes. Everybody smokes. Everybody smokes. Yeah. But S but the data is not you can't you can't track something that was legal and nobody's going to admit it before to now where they're tracking data.

It's like oh no they've got they've got really good data good data good data and it's still early. So I don't know if you remember this but when we used to talk about this a long time ago and we talked about the kids way way long ago. I was the one that was pro- alcohol over I'd rather my kid get into the Friday night after football game drinking than finding out that he's smoking all the time. Like I I and you were like, "What? That's crazy.

It's way more dangerous to be drunk." And it's like I think the the weed thing is a slipperier slope than I'd rather handle the alcohol thing. And I still stand by that. I'm still in this I'm in the same I have not changed my opinion. my opinion. my opinion. No, they have Yeah. They have really good data though on use, on alcohol use, cannabis use, on drug use. And since legalization and regulation, uh, it's gone, it's exploded in its in its use. And you know what?

Shame on me. This follows almost every other trend when we because the American market is so powerful. The marketing system is so powerful. Yeah. that when we legalize things, regulate them, we make it uh people use it more um because of the power of our system, our marketing system, and because of the market and how um powerful it is and competitive it is, cannabis has just gotten stronger and stronger and stronger because now they can legally compete. And now it's like I mean, God, listen, I I mean, I was I was using cannabis, you know, 10 years ago when we started the podcast and I would go to the dispensary.

That's back when it was still legal for medicinal use. So, and it wasn't a big deal. And I'd go in there and I remember finding something 18 19% 20% THC was a lot. lot. lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You go into a dispensary now, try to find something under 24%. Yeah. Yeah. I know. They It's crazy. You know, they made it stronger and they've concentrated. It's again, it's a it's Well, too, to your point about alcohol, I think that um even still like you pay a price if you exceed.

Yes. Right. you have very like the alcohol poisoning, the blackouts, the you know the excessiveness of it like I think you know kids more uh the exposure of that if they're experimenting like that becomes a reality and it's like wow this is kind of like you know there's there's a line here whereas weed I feel like there's less of that that uh real rigid line of like this is really there's way to your point there is way more kids getting high and going to school than there are getting drunk and school.

This is my problem cuz I see this often with with uh vaping especially cuz it's just they can have it in their pocket and they just puff and and they're going about their day. Hit their red drops in their eyes and they're like you're there's no I mean there's always an exception to the rule. There's an overgeneralization for say there's no kids but there's no kids that are really getting drunk and going to school where there's kids getting high and going to school. But there's also this which is interesting.

This is which is interesting about cannabis. You can drink without getting buzzed and definitely without getting drunk. Like we could all hang out, have a glass of wine and I don't even feel buzzed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nobody smokes weed to not get high. Nobody's ever Oh, I like the taste. I'm not high. The the point of smoking weed is to get high. So it's like if every time you drank was to get buzzed or drunk would be a good comparison, right? comparison, right? comparison, right? And so And so And so that's what I mean by it's a slippery sober.

That's what I've always said that I would rather my kid in high school. Okay, have experimented with alcohol than be smoking weed. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. It's a way slipperier slope and then the next thing you know you're a pthead. You're high all the time and and you close yourself on I get more done when I'm high. No, you're high, bro. That's what makes you think you get more isolate yourself more too. And you get into the video games and you get into the self- entertainment. You don't leave your house.

Like there's some kind bit of at least a social component to alcohol. But I'm not even promoting alcohol. I'm just, you know, in comparison, like I look at all those things of how they're interacting with their friends and, you know, how that affects like their community. I I think I think of as a parent, I try and put myself where you guys are with high school kids, right? Like if uh my son called me Friday at 11:00 at night because he got too drunk with his buddies and he's like, "Dad, I'm throwing up.

I'm sick." And I have to go pick him up. Like that's a conversation we're talking about. I'm super proud of him for calling me. Like I'm not even mad. uh I find out that he smoked weed at school. I'm [ __ ] living like that total different experience for me like that and I can see that happening in the scenar I'm sure a lot of parents that have high school kids have dealt with both those scenarios and they're two very different scenarios for me and so so again I'm still I'm consistent with how I felt about canvas now personally you see I haven't for half a year but that has a lot to do with one the cratom thing that I went through I was cleaning up I was like I'm getting everything out so I don't want no dependency or anything like that so that just happened.

I was like, "May as well kick this cuz it's always been easy for me to kick." And I've just stayed on that track this whole time. And Max is now getting to be 7 years old. So, it's like like like I think it's too it's also important to understand, this is just cuz I'm older. Uh anything that has the ability to affect uh your physiology in a way to where you uh it alters your state of mind. Anything is a slippery slope. Whether it's alcohol, weed, cratom, anything.

If you take something because you like this the mind shift or the it it it it it changes your perception and it makes you quote unquote high in a way. Slippery slope. Uh because that's very easy to start seeking that out and to start not wanting to be sober. Well, yeah. That's what I mean that was the the slippery slope for me, right? It it starts off as this this herbal thing that you justify and say it's no big deal and then before you know it's there's this dependency on something like that.

But yeah, I mean I I I at least personally I don't think that I've changed the tumor. I don't know if you feel like I know you have more. Yeah. Well, I've been on kind of a weird path with that because I really wasn't a big fan of it like coming into the podcast like I you know I all my friends were big stoners and like I like that. I don't know. I I prefer to be around people like that versus like, you know, alcoholics or something.

But I wasn't like super drawn to it other than it, you know, just made me paranoid the few times I tried it. Um, but I was, again, everybody did initially just to get really high. And so I was like, I wasn't interested in that. But then like realizing you could do like five milligrams and then it was a weird thing because I had the CBD kind of ratio to that and then taking it as an edible form like it was a weird combination for me because I actually felt like I was regaining a bit of memory and I it was like actually kind of benefiting me in a medicinal way.

And so then I started kind of justifying that. And so it got to a point where it became too frequent. And so then now this is kind of like a chronic thing that I'm associating with, you know, being able to relax, but also I'm like, well, it's kind of like it's good for me, you know, and so and then I had to like check myself. Uh because it was like a very much of, you know, my my thoughts around it were I'm just I'm doing this a lot now and I'm like I don't need to do this.

And and then being off of it, my started thinking more sharply and more clearly. So, it's just been kind of a wrestling pushpull thing for me. I still occasionally will use it um you know to to kind of relax. And And And who's used it last out of all of us? Uh boy, I don't know. I haven't done it in a long time. When was the last time you did? Probably me. Probably like a couple weeks ago. weeks ago. weeks ago. What the irony to that?

How funny is that? The guy who was like anti it never did it before the podcast like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mine was Mine's been six months, but it's not because I like That's when you went off grade on me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, um, and and I've like people that have asked me cuz I haven't really talked about it publicly. Uh, I'm not like coming out and been like, I'm never going to do this again. It was just like, yeah, I just it's easy for me not to do.

What's crazy for me is I love it for music, dude. I'm going to be honest. You see, I see like you just did a trip with all your buddies. Like, I would do that if I was with you guys up there and I was into that and we were jamming. Like, I would so you know what's crazy? I have zero. Uh, cannabis has no pull on me anymore. I actually don't want to do it. Yeah, I will still get the temptation. I haven't touched it and I won't won't won't but it'll still have a little bit of a temptation though like the occasional I'm tired, I'm stressed, whatever.

I'll have the occasional like temptation. Uh but weed has been it is gone from I don't in my opinion those aren't even in the same universe because my my body would way rather have an opiate feeling than a than a high I give a [ __ ] about the weed's always been easy for me to kick. It's never been a dependency. No big deal. That's why it's like not even right now it's not a big deal. I'm not like, "Oh, I'm proud I made six months." Like, that's not a big deal to me.

And I and I made tomorrow. It's like not that. But the opiate feeling is that's a different that's a that's a hard one. That's the one I'll still get the occasional temptation. I haven't done anything, thank God. But that's it. But weed, it's almost like almost like I don't want to feel that high. Have you two had to have the weed conversation with your kids yet? Uh yeah. So my oldest My oldest is not like he's not drawn to anything at all. Uh my daughter, we've had a couple conversations, only 16, but those conversations are going to start kicking up now.

Now that she's like playing sports and is more social, we'll talk about it a little bit. But what about you? Yeah. Yeah, I've had to have quite a few. Um and it's just because, you know, once you get through junior high, now he's in high school. It's like very prevalent. like all his friend groups. He has to like actively seek friends that are, you know, not really not users, you know, to to not have it around him all the time. And it's even he has friends that do use, but he doesn't, you know, and he he opts out and they're, and they're, and they're, you know, he's been pretty good about that.

But there's always the temptation cuz you're bored and uh, you know, like they're kind of pulling at them to to try things and that kind of stuff. And so it's a constant communication. I have to have because I know it's going to happen. happen. happen. I So, if you guys get a chance, you should talk to our mutual friend Jason who's got three daughters, all in high school and just now college and uh he's obviously like I I love the dynamic and the relationship that he has with his girls.

It's really cool. Uh just they're just so upfront. He's very open about all that. And Jay, he occasionally smokes so it's not like this hidden secret or anything like that. Yeah. that. Yeah. that. Yeah. And so he's talked to his the way he's talked to his daughters. And I I think the thing that the takeaway for me having a younger kid that I think is just the most important which is what you were just highlighting now is the communication communication communication is just the it's it's actually not that big of a deal if we talk about it like if it's something that I'm aware of dad knows we talk about and things like that and never losing that is cuz you can't control every single friend they have at it's going to be at parties.

is going to be they're they're probably going to try it whether you like you know what I'm saying and so I'd rather just be in the know of how his brain is thinking about it or if he's tried it or thinking about then to have him scared to death how I feel about it and then it's like and again I think modeling is the best possibility that's also why too he's he's never seen his dad drunk you know doesn't mean I haven't been drunk but he doesn't like I'll have a glass of whiskey but he's never seen me drunk he's never seen me high like I don't and I'm not anti any of that stuff I just don't want to model that.

So, it's it makes that step when kids are all doing it. Oh, my dad does it occasionally, too. So, why not? Where it's like I feel like he's more likely to be like I don't see my dad do this like he's so I that's the way I think and then just having that open conversation, you know. Next question is from Rich Art Zone. Uh how does bumping fats help fix sleep disturbances? disturbances? disturbances? So, there's a couple ways. One is if you're not intaking enough fat, uh in other words, you're not hitting your essential fats, you're going to have more than sleep disturbances, you'll have hormone issues, uh cellular function issues.

Fat is essential. You have to have a certain amount of fat. Now, with with Now, I know what the FD the RDA will say, but in my experience with my male clients, I never like them to go below 70 grams of fat, and I never like my female clients go below 60. Oh, 60 and 80 for me. Okay. So, 60. Yep. Yep. So, so and I just found that this lower than that we would start to notice uh issues. Uh the other thing is that for some people um they need more than that because it helps regulate uh their their blood sugar.

And if you get a spike of blood sugar in the middle of the night, it'll wake you up. And so sometimes having those fats before bed for some people is is helps them with their sleep totally. But this is one of the first things you'll notice if your fat intake along with like skin, hair issues, uh hormone issues is you'll notice your sleep will be a little what's the science on uh why why we carbed babies up before bed? Like so one of the things that they would do with serotonin.

serotonin. serotonin. Is that what it is? Yeah. So yeah. So So that's another one too. Some people carbohydrates before bed will get them to sleep really well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it depends on the I think I'm like a baby. I think that's Me too. Yeah. If you carve me up, carve me up before bed, I I'll I'll be Oh, I'm going to sleep. Yeah, but I It has to do with like ser like too low carbs, you start to mess with uh uh neur some neurotransmitter uh you know um production.

But yeah, fats are interesting. You don't see this as much today, I think. But when we were trainers, this was a thing cuz we we were in the '9s. Everything was low fat. It's still I'd say I don't know if this is a male or female asking this, but with females, it it still is pretty common. I I still will look at uh a woman's diet. Sometimes they'll ask me, "Hey, what do you think of what I'm eating right now?" And I'm like, "Oh, I bump your fats a little bit." It's still a go-to move, chicken breast, and fish, and go really lean and stuff.

And a lot of times, um, throw some fat in there. They're like, "Oh my god, amazing." Yeah. And they cut things like people think still think butter and whole milk and all those things are bad. And so there still is a little bit, uh, and egg whites like, and so I'll see I'll see some diets sometimes where I'm like, "Hey, bump your fats." And so it's still it's not as prevalent as it was when we were young trainers, but it's it still is. is. is. All right, I know you like that episode.

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