Top Ways to Measure Progress (and the WORST)! | Mind Pump 2773

Key Takeaway

Stop obsessing over the scale—it only measures body mass, not progress. Focus instead on performance improvements, life quality metrics (energy, sleep, mood), and body composition over 45-90 day periods. A client can lose zero pounds while dropping body fat and gaining muscle, looking dramatically different despite identical weight. Track what truly matters: Are you stronger? Sleeping better? More energetic? These indicators reveal real progress.

Episode Overview

This episode challenges the common practice of using the scale to measure fitness progress, explaining why it's misleading and often counterproductive. The hosts share personal experiences of gaining weight while getting leaner, and discuss how inflammation, water retention, and muscle gain can make the scale move in unexpected directions. They advocate for focusing on performance improvements, life quality metrics, and periodic body composition measurements instead of daily weigh-ins.

Full Transcript

Transcript of Top Ways to Measure Progress (and the WORST)! | Mind Pump 2773 from Mind Pump Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

You started training, you changed your diet, you're tracking the scale to see if you're progressing. Look, it's a huge mistake. Terrible mistake. Now, the question that people ask is, "Well, how do I measure my progress?" We're going to tell you the best ways to measure your progress that will show you going in the right direction. We'll talk about the worst ways as well. And doing this will make a huge impact on your fitness in a way that you will love. Let's get to it. to it.

to it. Should we flip it? M talk about what's terrible first and then go the other way or or or I mean I kind of did already a little bit with one of them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which is the scale which is the number one. It's a terrible way to measure progress. That's the most common by the way. Uh I don't need to tell you guys that. that. that. Go too. Go too. Go too. This is how everybody measures their progress, right? They start working out, they start eating right and and then they just start weighing themselves.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's see what's happening. Do you know that? Um, I I kind of always knew that or not I wish I say always knew that as as I got better as a trainer. I I realized that and and coached to it. I don't think I became as uh passionate about it and and if you've been listening, I apologize if you've been listening for a long time because you've heard me tell this. I haven't talked about in a long time, but the process where I had to like track every single day when I was getting ready for shows and stuff and uh when I saw the amount of water fluctuation and I noticed the difference of like, you know, sometimes I ate something that just didn't agree with me, the how much it would hold and then the way it make you look the and then the way it make you look and then how many how many pounds would go on the scale.

And I in my life up until that point even as a trainer I had never never never that diligently tracked you know even though I kind of knew oh it's not a good you know and I would generally speak you controlled everything else. Yes. Yes. Yes. So now you see the scale move and you're like it can't possibly be fat gain. It can't possibly Yeah. No, I knew for sure. But yet, but what what where I'm going at with this was was was I knew uh that I I was doing like I I was doing exactly what I was supposed to do, but the the number on the scale and the other one that you're going to use or talk about uh would mess with me psychologically.

And I and it was at that time that I realized like, oh wow, this cuz I never I never really cared enough. You know what I'm saying? Like this is where Justin and I really relate to it. Even though I admittedly I'm the aesthetic guy cuz when we started the podcast I was doing those things like I didn't care. I maintained myself at probably 10 to 12% body fat most of my trainer career. Never was a weighing, measuring, tracking guy. It wasn't until I set that as some sort of a goal.

And then when I did it and I was hyperfocused on it and I was having to watch and measure all that and and I saw how much it messed with my head, I went, "Oh my god, how many of our clients go through this where you're coaching them and you're telling the diet and they're telling you I'm following it and then they get on the scale and they see this fluctuation where in the past I probably thought there's probably a little bit of lying or not." You know what I'm saying?

versus really being able to communicate to them what's probably going and why this is such a terrible way to measure your progress. It I didn't become that passionate about it until I saw what it did to me. Psychologist Psychologist Psychologist misleading. Yeah, misleading. Yeah, misleading. Yeah, 100%. Um, you know, my my one of my favorite, in fact, I have coached our coaches. So, we have coaches and trainers that work for us here at Mind Pump. Um, we started this last year who, you know, so they work with clients.

And one thing that I've taught our trainers to use is something that I used to use as a trainer. It was so powerful. So back in the day, and it's easy now. You can go you can go online and look this up, but back in the day, I don't remember what book I got it out of, but uh there was a picture, it was an illustration of a man that weighed the same in both pictures, but the difference was one picture was a 6- foot tall, uh I'll say 190 lb, uh 20% body fat guy.

The other picture, same body weight, same height, 10% body fat. So, they weigh exactly the same. Yeah, they look radically different. One guy looks like he's overweight. He's got a belly. Doesn't look very fit. The other guy's small waist, tight, you can see abs, muscle definition. Very different. The scale says exactly the same. You could do this for women as well. could find an illustration of a 150lb woman at, you know, I don't know, 40% body fat and a 150lb woman at 20% body fat and you would same height, same weight and it would look radically radically different.

All this scale measures is body mass. It doesn't measure body fat percentage, muscle, performance, ability through any of that. that. that. None of it. Now you might be None of it. Now you might be asking well why do we use asking well why do we use weight uh why you know why do we use BMI right BMI is a very general measurement that the medical community has used we but there's a lot of um problems with it and and the reason why it kind of works generally speaking is because most people are generally out of shape.

So most people who weigh this much, who are this tall, are going to be overweight or obese. And so this is a very general thing. But if you're working out and you're trying to improve your fitness, not only is a scale a terrible way to measure progress, it's actually in many cases a great way to reverse progress or stop progress or plateau because it totally messes with your head completely. Like I said, imagine if you were in this scenario. Imagine if you're a woman and you hire a trainer and let's say you're 160 pounds and you're like, "Yeah, I I got to lose weight." To your in your mind, you're like, "I need to lose 20 pounds." Okay.

So then you work with a trainer and for some miraculous reason, reason, reason, this trainer has figured out the absolute perfect diet and workout for you and you're just dialed with it and you sleep good and your hormones are balanced. Basically, all the stars have aligned. aligned. aligned. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so through this process, you're building muscle and losing body fat at the same time. Okay. So, you're with them for six months. months. months. You drop a lot of body fat and you build a lot of muscle.

But then you step on the scale and it hasn't moved. hasn't moved. hasn't moved. It messes with your head. Oh, yeah. What's going on? I I feel like I'm changing. The scale has But the scale hasn't changed at all. You This is You're a terrible trainer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got to do something else. I got to eat less. I got to starve myself. I got to totally change gears. That work seems for not. That's right. Uh, you know, the the other example I would give to somebody to illustrate this, this isn't a silly one, but someone would say, "I need to lose I want to lose 15 pounds real fast, but cut your leg off." And my it was just for me, it was just a way to illustrate like all it's measuring is body mass.

It doesn't measure anything else. It'll fluctuate up and down. In reality, in real life, when you're doing things right, and let's say your goal is to lose weight and you're doing this the right way, so you're trying to build muscle to boost the metabolism to set up fat loss later on, you might actually get heavier at first. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Your body fat, your weight might actually go up a few pounds at first, even though you're leaner and you feel better and you're stronger, and you might even be smaller because remember, body fat takes up more space than muscle on a pound-for-pound basis.

It also looks different, right? You add muscle, you got shape. Add body fat tends to go places you don't want. So, imagine that scenario uh with yourself and how frustrating or confusing it could be because the scale isn't going in a direction you think it should. Uh and if you do it right, the weight actually goes up at first or doesn't move at all. I used to love uh when I would have clients who I would convince to not weigh themselves uh and they actually listen to me because often times they wouldn't and they'd come see me, you know, two months or three months into our training and they'd say, "Oh, I'm I'm so curious." I'd say, "Why?

My co-workers keep commenting on how much weight I've lost." Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. You know, I I've asking me if I've lost 15 pounds or 10 pounds. And uh I would wait for this to be a consistent thing with them and then I'd have them step on the scale just to illustrate a point. They step on the scale and it went down three pounds. three pounds. three pounds. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. What? Or stayed the same. They're like, "Yeah, you got leaner. You built some muscle.

You look very different." So the scale uh terrible way to measure progress. Also sale 50% off four maps workout programs. Maps starter, maps transform, maps anabolic, maps performance. Half off. Go to mapsjanuary.com. Use the code new year50 for the discount. Back to the show. show. show. All right, real quick. If you love us like we love you, why not show it by rocking one of our shirts, hats, mugs, or training gear over at mypumpstore.com. mypumpstore.com. mypumpstore.com. I'm talking right now. Hit pause. Head on over to mypumpstore.com.

That's it. Enjoy the rest of the show. I would go as far to say as almost always it's a bad indicator. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, that's how that's how and and more so in the in the short period than long. Like you just gave some examples of like how this could happen over 3 months, but why it's so early on there's so much going on uh with hydration, reverse dieting, building muscle that it could really it could really skew one way or the other. And most people don't even have the discipline to to not get on the scale for 30 days.

So to to at least allow some some physical like visible change to happen or strength change to to result from all the strength training and they course correct before they ever even get there. Yep. Yep. Yep. So this is not realizing before get to a trend. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. They're not course correcting. They're actually going off the right course because because here's what normally happens is not only uh I see I see this you're doing everything like you said. Let's give that analogy. Perfect. But they don't even wait long enough to actually build substantial amount of muscle and then the scale just goes up.

Well, you know, so what? You have a little bit of extra water. Maybe you did build half a pound of muscle. You're you're versed dieting or whatever. And they and and they they visually look at themselves and they don't feel like they've changed very much. Or if anything, they feel like they're let their clothes are fitting tighter. And before we can even get to week three or four, they're already course correcting or not listening what you say or they're cutting or they're starting to run on the treadmill like crazy and obsessing over the scale and then they completely course correct when they shouldn't have done that.

done that. done that. Yeah, that's the truth. Obsessing over the scale is the right way to say it. You start to worship the number to the point where if you're trying to lose weight, you know what I'm talking about. You go weigh yourself. Do you weigh yourself with clothes on? Do you weigh yourself with your cell phone in your pocket or your shoes on? You know those things are weight that is not part of your body. And yet we're like, "Take everything off. I got this get this number as low as possible because that number means so much to you when it actually doesn't mean uh much at all.

Another bad way to to measure your progress is the mirror. Now I know the way you look can can say a lot. I just gave you an example of it. 200 lb guy 20% body fat versus 10% body. I get that. But the way we view ourselves and the the the mind games we can create with ourselves with the mirror. I mean in extreme cases you everybody knows this. I'll give an example that most people can can relate to. If you're if you're in your 40s and you're trying to get in shape and you look at a picture of yourself in your 20s and you're like, "Man, I I look so good." And then you remember how you used to think that you look back then.

It's the opposite. You probably in your 20s like, "Okay, I can't believe how fat I look." And now you look back and I wish I look like that. You just didn't see the mirror accurately. You still don't, everybody. You still don't. If you look at yourself in the mirror to study your body, what you're going to notice are and create are imperfections. Yeah. And it's going to completely mess up. It's It's It's just the natural tendencies. You're going to look for faults. I also want to comment on the people that do see something that is real that but they just don't understand what they're looking at.

So, and this is again where I became very uh you know obsessed about communicating this to my clients when I saw it in myself when because not only did I see the scale go up in in the scenario that I painted when we first started talking, but I also looked puffier. I looked quote unquote fatter, but I knew I wasn't I couldn't I couldn't be because we're but I was holding water. I had some I start holding a little bit. I mean, I know I'm lifting weight, so I was I was drinking lots of water at that time.

I ate something that wasn't the most agreeable with me. It wasn't super high calorie or way out of balance. It just wasn't something that agreed with me. And so, my body was inflamed a little bit. It was holding on to a little bit more. And in the mirror, inflammation looks like fat. fat. fat. It just confirms the three pounds. So, and then it confirms this. Oh my god, I went up six pounds and I look it. And that is really, really difficult for the average person to wrap their brain around, especially if they're already, thank God I was in competitor shape.

And it was like, you know, it wasn't like I wasn't going like, oh, I'm fat, but I'm like, I'm going the wrong way. I'm definitely going the wrong way because I put weight on the scale and I look this way. But it was like and and what I I remember like diving in and like research how is this possible and trying to figure all this out and our body when it gets inflamed like that and and you can correct me if you if you have studies or you know that you're better at this than I do, but I remember reading that, you know, it it could hold on to water weight like that from inflammation for like 72 hours.

And so, and I would watch this. And so, what I what I had to train myself to do is like, okay, I must be I must have did something either stressed, didn't get good sleep, ate something to disrupt my gut. And so, I'm holding on to this extra water. Adam, just give it 3 days. And as sure as [ __ ] about day three or four, I would see the inflammation come down and it would now it looked like I lost all kinds of body fat. I didn't lose a bunch of body fat.

The water just got released. got released. got released. And this can happen. It take longer if it's hormonally uh affected. If you're a woman and you and you already know this, you know, at different you know this, you know, at different different times in your cycle, you're going to hold more water. But then we connect it to my program's failing even though predictably go up three or four pounds pounds pounds and or if you're if you're continuing to eat this offender. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now, luckily poor sleep will do it too by the way.

Yeah. Luckily during this time I again I was so meticulously measuring and stuff like that, I could start to pinpoint like oh these foods must not be that agreeable with me. Let me get that out of the diet for a little bit. Again, water would release and then I'd see it. And again, I'm not changing calories. I was just getting rid of things that I thought might not be agreeable with me that was probably affecting my my my gut a little bit. Tolerance too or something.

Yes. And that was just holding a little water. And it wasn't it wasn't fat that was fluctuating. But in the mirror and on the scale, it could look like it'll mess you up. Meanwhile, you're totally ignoring that you're getting stronger, you're getting better sleep, you're energetic, all these other factors. It's such a great segue, Justin. Let's talk about the great ways, the best ways to measure progress. Number one is performance. performance. performance. As a trainer, when I'm training my clients, if I see their performance improve, you're stronger, you move better, uh you've got less pain, range of motion is better, your stamina is going up, we're moving in the right direction.

right direction. right direction. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Because here's the deal with performance. Uh when you when your performance consistently improves, it means you're doing a lot of things right. In fact, it's hard to improve your performance when your sleep is off and your diet is crap and your workout's not good and you hit a wall. That's right. So, performance is great. In fact, for the most part, okay, generally speaking, if you see nice consistent progress, you know, month after month, year after year, the mirror will reflect it.

Body fat percentage reflects it, everything reflects it. Performance is a wonderful measure. Now, it's not perfect. You can get obsessed with this as well. Probably 99% of people here, I wouldn't worry about that. You know, powerlifters, maybe Olympic weightlifters, this might be an issue, issue, issue, but for most people, if your performance is improving, you're moving in the right direction. Ignore everything else. You're doing great. I I also think that when when we're talking about all these things that we consider terrible, we went over the terrible ways.

Scale the scale on the mirror. Those are the two terrible ways. We're going over all the good things. Even as we go over these these good things, I think it's important too um because the other mistake that I see even with the good ways of measuring is this uh in these small dayto day versus like like like that's why I say consistently, right? Over a month. Yes. Right. Like cuz I I might have I might I mean I had a day the other day I lifted and and I'm I'm on my kick and I'm tracking it's like I just felt weaker today.

Didn't have the best of sleep the day before, you know, wasn't didn't get my earlier meals. I But it tells you a lot. Right. Right. And but I'm not going like, "Oh god, I'm doing something wrong. Need to course correct." It's just that like, "Hey, let's Yeah, let's let's wait till the end of the 30 days." And then let's talk about all those lifts and and am I am I stronger? Am I performing better 30 days later than I was? Like cuz some people can do that too on the good ways is they they they freak out over one bad workout or they they one bad lift that day or you had to go back a tiny bit.

Like that's that's not how the body works. That's right. There's so many other variables, but generally speaking, performance is good, but then also giving yourself windows that are that are larger than a week to to to gauge like, oh, well, last week everything. Yeah. It's like, okay, my my bench press last week, maybe it didn't go up or maybe it even dipped a tiny bit, but then when I look back 30 days, where's it at? Oh, well, yeah, 30 days, I'm definitely much better. Look at the trends.

All right, the next one. This is my favorite, which is life quality. This one's my favorite because this is the one that will lead to you wanting to do this for the rest of your life, okay? Because at some point performance ends. You're not going to just keep improving performance. I wish that were the case, but it doesn't work that way. that way. that way. But life quality is a wonderful one. It also develops a really nice complete healthy relationship with fitness. Yeah. Because this is the right way to look at uh your workouts and your diet.

This is the best way. Okay. Uh it's not the only way. Of course, if you're an athlete, there's other measures, but for most people, your workouts and your diet should improve the quality of your life because that's what's important. Okay? You're not a professional athlete. It's not the thing that's paying the bills. You probably have a job, maybe have kids. So if if your fitness if your fitness routine and your diet is making you better at all those wonderful important things, if you've got more energy, you're less irritable, you sleep better, oh my god, my, you know, sex with my wife is so much better.

I got a better libido. You I got less pain. Uh like if that's all moving in the right direction and I'm actually paying attention to those things, I'm going to want to do this for the rest of my life. And in fact, when you ask people who've been working out for 20, 30, 40 years, you know, the people that really figure this out, this is what they pay attention to. attention to. attention to. Yeah. Has a lot more gravity, a lot more staying power. That's right.

Uh because you can always point and attribute uh to when your life was going well and when things were, you know, uh benefiting you with your relationships, with everything else, uh going on with work, with uh the way you feel, the way you sleep. Uh all of those things matter so much more than just like your physique changing on a day-to-day basis. day-to-day basis. day-to-day basis. I mean I this is the most important. Y Y Y this is we we coach our trainers on this is that no matter who the client is, no matter what the goal is, this is the ultimate place we want to take them.

We ultimately want to get them to connect this dot and do that because this is what will make them do it for the rest of their life. Now I do find since we're talking about this it do you guys think that there is a there's an age cut off that this this tends to resonate better or or worse with in other words uh talking to a 25year-old course like when you're 40 this actually yeah like like like definitely 40 I was thinking like 35 plus was the number that kind of came to my mind like I feel like when I communicate this to somebody who's north of 35 this resonates it is because at that point you start noticing decreas increases in quality of life in some areas.

And so then that becomes the becomes the becomes the more responsibility, see how it plays out. out. out. But I I'll speak to the 20-year-old right now. Uh maybe you got lots of energy, you're having fun, all that stuff. It just it's going to make all that better. that better. that better. You're going to be more creative. You'll be more productive. You're going to be more resilient. You'll be better in relationships. You'll have a better sense of purpose. You'll do better at school, better at work.

work. work. Uh so it's going to improve the quality. The overall outlook is just let me put it to you this way. healthy, fit version of you, not so healthy, not so fit version of you. Which one has a better life quality? That's what I'm talking about. But you have to pay attention to this, by the way, everybody. everybody. everybody. Because if you only pay attention to how you look, that's all you're going to notice. You'll actually miss all this stuff. And it sounds silly, but it's a psychological fact, you guys, that you only see what you focus on.

It's a fact. This is a fact of psychology. So, you have to actually pay attention and be like, "Wait a minute. How is my energy? Holy cow, I've got great energy. Or how is my mood? You know what? I am like not annoyed like I normally am. That guy cut me off and I kind of don't care. And what's different? Oh, I'm more fit. That's what's different. And it makes your workouts so much more valuable. It's almost Yeah. I always love how we attribute a lot of our analogies to cars, but it's like it's almost like just appreciating the bumper sticker on a car, a car, a car, you know?

Like, oh, look how cool that looks, you know? There's so much more going on. Yeah, totally. Yeah, totally. Yeah, totally. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, totally. Uh, next up is body fat percentage or body composition measurements. Of course, body composition measurements are great because they show you what's happening. Building muscle, burning body fat, uh, am I moving in the right direction? But I'll say this, it's not as good as life quality and performance. No. Okay. But it's a part of this formula. It's still a part of this formula.

You can get obsessed with composition. Uh but it's still a part of the formula. It's way better than the scale. That's for sure. Uh scale can go let me put it this way. You can lose weight on the scale and your body fat percentage went up. up. up. You could uh you so but so body fat percentage and and measurements, DEXA scans, you know, calipers. This is what trainers tend to use along with performance and life quality to measure whether or not. It's a better health metric.

That's right. Well, it's it's a um I was trying to think of a good analogy like when I think because this is obviously all of our coaches utilize this tool. I utilize this tool uh tool, but it's something that like um I I I set the other things as like the main focus. This is why I do this the life quality. I'm looking at performance things like that. And then I have these periodic every I don't know depending on how serious I am about something 45 to 90 day check-ins with the body fat percentage to make sure that that I am trending in the right direction especially if I'm making I'm glad you said that you're not doing your body fat percentage every week.

No, no, no, no. I just want like what the way I look at is like like right now uh the we you and I were talking about going to get a Dexter scam and I like to do it when I'm at the very beginning of a process right now of getting back into consistency with everything and so I have a starting point. So that's kind of like okay and I don't care where the number is like I really give like when we go do that it could be 5% north or south of what I like or don't like and it doesn't matter.

It's like just it's where I'm at now. And then now I have a plan of how I'm eating, how I'm training and I'm gonna do that consistently and I'm gonna watch performance and live and all those things. And then I'm gonna check back in in 45 to 90 days and I'm going to check it. And what I want to see is I want to see overall improvement in the building of muscle and the losing of body fat. Now, what I have done in the past is when I've made too drastic of course corrections, like, "Oh, I want to go on a cut now and I cut really hard and I go check up on body fat and I lost a lot of muscle and I go, oh, it looks like I I cut too hard or I was over overtraining and so I need to tweak and adjust and it's not the end of the world or this program's failing me." It's like I use it like that and I think that and that's how a good coach is using that thermometer.

Yes. Yeah. There you go. That I think of a good analogy of like I'm just checking the temperature of the room. Are we running too hot? Are we running too cold? No, there's a perfect temperature that we're trying to keep it at. And that and it's not that something's broken wrong, but it happens a lot. A lot of times people are in a in a training program or diet and they're doing all the things consistently and then the results come back. It's not the end of the world when the body fat percentage doesn't come back as great as you thought it was.

What it is is it's a it's a great way to indicate that, oh, maybe those tweaks I made were a little too drastic or not. And then you make adjustments. And then finally, circumference. Circumference measurement is the least, you know, best ways of all the ones we measured, uh, besides the bad ways. But circumference is great. I remember, you know, years ago, I had a male client uh, and and he would measure I measured his waist in the beginning and then I measured it later and it was I'm so glad I I had a waist measurement because his he was trying to lose weight.

The scale weighed up a little bit. I don't remember what it was, like a minor amount. It was like two or three pounds and he was kind of like, I thought I'm losing weight. I'm like, well, you're stronger. I'm talking about muscle this and that. He's like, "Yeah, but the scale's going up. It's messing with my head." I said, "Let's measure your waist." And his waist went down a half an inch. And I said, "Cool. Looks like you lost body fat and you built some muscle." And that did it for him.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That sold him because he's like, "You're, oh, okay. If my waist went down, down, down, even though I gained weight on the scale, everything you're saying is true and it's making sense." And so, you could do this with uh circumference. Waist measurements, right? One word of caution, measure your if you're going to do waist measurements, do it at the same time every day, typically in the morning, because people with digestive issues or if you have bloat, boy, that could throw it off by an inch or two.

So, we don't want to do is, you know, go out to eat and then come home and then, oh, suddenly my waist went up a couple inches. You could just be bloated or need to go poop. So, measure in the morning. morning. morning. This is you, Doug, right? Doug, you're big on you were always big on the cucumber. I did that for boy probably 2 or 3 years every day measuring my waist and honestly it really did track well with what was going on with my body.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz like you said, you could easily fluctuate go up, you know, in weight on the scale and it's like my waistline is staying the same or even possibly going down. I'm I know I'm doing I'm doing a good job. I like what you say though, like I would even encourage people to have a really a long as long of a window as you can of not eating when you do it. So you have so you're really really empty that way. Yeah. Because your your digestion can throw this off.

Oh, especially for women. By the way, I'll just let women know depending on when you're on your cycle and women tend to uh if they have digestive issues, it tends to trend towards bloating and constipation. And so that could really throw measurements off as well. Yeah. Like like in a perfect window, it's like I shut down eating the night before, you know, really early or earlier than usual. So I just not and then I wait till the morning time and I do it and then and I'm checking like that.

I just noticed you and I are wearing the same pants by the way. Which which what are the names of these? Seaside broair. Seaside broair. Seaside broair. I do. I have a pair of those and the uh sweatshirt that goes with it. These I I love the Sunday joggers from Viori. I like these better. These are my favorites. favorites. favorites. Well, it's like it's they're thick and soft. It's it's so comfy. Sweatpant season. season. season. I know. I mean, I wore I wore the other ones.

So, I have their I have three of them. So, I have their I don't know if it's their navy blue. Maybe Doug can correct. I'm always the colors. It's a blue. They're blue and then they're kind of like sand color, the the brown or tan ones. And then I have these black ones. And And And And you got the you got a vest. What is that? Is that I've had this for I've actually had this vest for a long time. I don't know if this is still in in their uh in their cycle or not, but I love this line.

Yeah, they have ones like that still. Oh, they do. They do. Oh, I didn't know if they still had had that. I love I love this vest. Um but the the Seaside line is is newer. It's one of their newer lines they they dropped this winter. And I'm picky about my sweatpants. I mean, we're we're trainers, right? So, we wear sweatpants most of our life. And so, finding a good pair of like thick material like sweats that are comfy and Oh, man. That is another seaside is is off the chain.

So, I like the whole Yeah. All right. We were talking about diet earlier. Do you know what I found that I couldn't believe that I had to confirm that is crazy? Have you guys ever seen what Babe Ruth's diet was like? Have you guys ever seen this? I know he's a big cigarette smoker and he he he ate a lot of candy bars, right? A lot of saturated. Is that Did the name come from that? I'm pretty sure it came from the I don't think he ate those candy bars.

So Babe Ruth, right? One of the greatest baseball. baseball. baseball. He was a big drinker smoker. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's worse than you think. This is This is confirmed. Okay. Now, Babe Ruth, I, you know, I've heard, you know, people people have beat his records and stuff, but, you know, people say the era when he did it, like how good he was, like there's there's no one ever been just as good uh of as he was, especially considering the era and all that stuff. Remarkable athlete, incredible athlete.

This is how he started his day, bro. He would start the day off with a porter house steak, between four to 18 eggs, a pile of fried potatoes, toast, a full pot of coffee, and then my favorite part, a pint of bourbon mixed with ginger ale. ginger ale. ginger ale. That for breakfast or whiskey? Yeah. Or whiskey. This was every morning. every morning. every morning. This was breakfast, dog. That's a man meal. A pint of bourbon mixed with ginger ale or whiskey. This is what he had in the morning.

morning. morning. And then a lumberjack slam on top of it. And then midm morning snack. two to four hot dogs washed down with a Coca-Cas or sodas like a hot dog. Which, by the way, he would do multiple times a day, sometimes consuming up to a dozen hot dogs total in a day. Lunch, two steaks, sometimes raw. Wow. Wow. Wow. Sometimes raw. Two orders of potatoes, a head of lettuce with uh blue cheese dressing. dressing. dressing. Now, do you believe all this was wellfed? wellfed? wellfed?

Yes, because it's confirmed. It's There were multiple people that wrote about it. His he had co he had uh coaches that would like when they travel they would try to get him to stop. Do you guys know he was hospitalized for indigestion? Nobody was eating like that though. Like he must have been like like king level because of how he was eating at the time. He was wealthy and famous, right? Yeah. right? Yeah. right? Yeah. And then dinner was money. Dinner again, two porter house steaks.

Again, raw sometimes, not cooked. He would eat them raw. Uh apple pile of mode, mode, mode, chocolate ice cream. Makes me want to read his biography. Makes me want to read more deeper into into him. Like I I don't have Yeah. And he was look, Doug, confirm this cuz I I saw this as well. He got hospitalized for indigestion. He had such bad indigestion at the hospital. hospital. hospital. I mean, the most impressive gas. gas. gas. The most impressive and impressive by I think just the amount of calories I've ever seen is what Michael Phelps used to eat.

eat. eat. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Michael Phelps's regimen was That's untouchable. That's untouchable. That's untouchable. But he had to because he was burning so many. many. many. Well, you got to think Babe Ruth played baseball. Babe Ruth played both ways though. Yeah, he was pitching and he was hitting. This is what makes him so famous was that that's why he was he was a great pitcher and he was a great hitter. We haven't seen that until uh uh Sani or whatever now like that that didn't happen like you didn't see a guy who hit home runs and also struck people out.

Wow. Wow. Wow. So part of that is that so I mean he was probably still moving dude. Wow. Look at this. Yeah. He was hospitalized from a severe stomach ache uh in April 1925. They dubbed it the belly ache heard around the world and uh he had a serious intestinal abscess requiring surgery requiring surgery requiring surgery side sidelining him for months and leading to intense media speculation. Brutal. Brutal. Brutal. Yeah, dude. I mean crazy that he was and he was so good at what he did.

Imagine if he ate healthy. You know, I hope that the evolution of this podcast as your son gets into sports turns into more of this. I always like this stuff. Well, you that's all What do you mean this? this? this? No, this stuff's cool. Like I like learning about like, you know, like some of these crazy athletes, how they trained, how they ate, and just I think that's cool. I like the physics of sports like a a fast ball. The deeper you go, the more you find all this stuff.

I mean, this How about the psychology? I love like you like you like Yeah. You like strategy. strategy. strategy. Yes. You love strategy. You love psychology. Like there's so much of that in in sports. Your dream is It is. Well, you know why? Cuz I know I know how obsessed you get. And so I'm like, I'm going to learn some [ __ ] about something I already love. I'm like, I'm tuned in today. You know what I'm saying? You've been talking about fitness for 20. You know what I'm saying?

I'm like, all right, that's cool. Yeah, I know that. You know what's funny about that, too? Cuz I'm not like a fantasy football guy or anything. And like I'm on this thread with a lot of my friends from Chicago cuz like the Bears are doing well this year and whatnot. I cannot believe like how many dumb like stats that they just like post. Like they have so many things you can just grab that are just like so irrelevant and they just geek out on it. Everybody's like, "Well, this, you know, those are my best friends right there." I'm like, "Dude, how do you guys have time to look at all this shit?" this shit?" this shit?" They don't.

They don't. You know, at one point in your life, uh, at less. If you are an entrepreneur, which all of us in here are, at some point, especially if you're going to have any sort of success as an entrepreneur, you become you you get into that the same way. So, you know, and and I watched that happen to myself as I transitioned from that. Like there was a and I remember my buddy convert more energy to Well, yeah. I remember my buddy was kind of a mentor of mine when I was still gaming and I was still watching all sports like I was the twice a day ESPN plus I'm watching the games, you know, and and that was just so much time was because I loved it.

I had a passion around it. I enjoyed it. All my friends, we were all geeked out on the stats. Yeah. And but I also simultaneously had these big dreams to be this successful entrepreneur. And I remember my good friend who was about six, seven years older than me was just like, "Hey, you know, you're going to have to like you you have these goals. Stop playing video games." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like so adamant about No, I'm not. I'm going to do both. You know what I'm saying?

And then you have Elon. Keep it up. Elon is the greatest entrepreneur of all time. He's like the best video game player. player. player. Yeah. But that and that and so but he's also probably not very involved with this kid. Well, you you but you also put that what a great example, right? And that's what silly, you know, 20-year-old me was thinking is like there's these examples of somebody who has, but that's like comparing yourself to Ronnie Coleman and getting like me looking at Babe Ruth's diet and being like, I'm like that there are these outliers.

There's these outliers and genetic anomalies that have been able to do that. And so, you you compare or you use your example. Just just think imagine right now cuz it's such a great I'm so glad I said what I said about Babe Ruth because that's a great example. Someone listening right now who's really struggling with their health and their weight is like wait I eat like that. How come I'm not? What's going on dude? I'm just obese and I have heart disease. Like why is this why isn't this working for me?

It's like the Hall of Fame baseball. There are those there are I wonder when you So I wonder if uh the tradition of a hot dog at a ball game came from him then. No, I think they were before. were before. were before. Or he just ate them at the ball, you know, at at the coliseum. You know what? Did they sell them back then? At the That's what I'm wondering. I'm wondering if that became When did they start selling hot dogs at baseball game? It's an easy food to to to sell at a game, right?

Cuz you can walk around with it. You Yeah. But but but it be maybe because of one of the greatest players of all time to play the game had an obsession about eating them every single day, it became a thing. a thing. a thing. Peanuts and that was a thing. Cracker Jacks, right? Cracker Jack. Yeah. Cracker Jacks were great. Yes. It was Babe Ruth who popularized hot dogs at baseball games. Look at that. It wasn't because he invented them, but it was his legendary appetite, right?

Because that's what he ate all the time. So that became Would have missed out. Would have missed sponsorship by Bay. He could have been sponsored by hot dog companies. Been one of the of the of the ballpark dogs. ballpark dogs. ballpark dogs. By the way, he made it to 53 years old. Well, there you go. But how he die? Was it it it was cancer. was cancer. was cancer. Oh, okay. That's terrible. Terrible. All right. Speaking of food, new food pyramid just pyramid just pyramid just Oh, dude.

Oh, dude. Oh, dude. So cool. This is This is cool because the old food pyramid was garbage. A joke. A joke. A joke. It was garbage, everybody. Here's what's wild about the new food pyramid. Okay, it's the old food pyramid upside down. I know. I know. I know. They took it's it's almost it's not 100%. But it's very close to being the opposite of the old food p. This is how messed up we have. how awesome the government's been with advice. You know what's at the top of the new food pyramid?

Uh meats, dairy, healthy fats, fruits, and vegetables. Grains at the bottom. Grains are at the bottom, bro. bro. bro. Now, not to piss in your Cheerios. Uh oh. oh. oh. Okay. But Okay. But Okay. But we've known this forever. This probably makes zero difference in our society. All it really is is a like we told you so. so. so. Yeah. It's really all this. Well, unless they put it in all the schools. schools. schools. Oh, it will. It will. But did I mean you you you read the upside down pyramid.

Did that change? No. We're in a bubble. No. Right. No. Right. No. Right. Think about like the average person when you think so. It'll make a difference. It'll make a difference. difference. difference. Do you really do you really think that any of your clients that you train that were average people were like, "I've been following the food pyramid." pyramid." pyramid." People are are are definitely whatever is written is law. You go talk to the average person. Now, today might be a little different, but go back 20 years.

Take the average person. Well, I mean, I think Doug's a good person of this because I feel like that was heavily influenced back in his time. We our era we started to like piece this together and talk. Did that influence do you think that influenced the way your family ate or like I mean did they really look at the food? I do think there was some influence. Yes. Okay. Yes. Okay. Yes. Okay. Yeah. I think red meat's bad for you. Well, that was Yeah, but that was that's just purely just purely just purely No, it's also like uh like milk.

The old food pyramid changed milk where we had skim milk, fat-free milk became a thing. All the fat. Yeah, dude. Butter threw it out. Replace it with margarine. That was because of government guidelines. government guidelines. government guidelines. So, yes, it plays a role. Totally. It's going to have an influence. So, this is a good thing everybody. Oh, it's defin No, I'm not. By the way, I'm not playing that. The piston and the Cheerio thing is just like, does it make a difference in our does it really change?

I think people are privy. Yeah. It's like, oh, duh. Finally, you're catching up. I mean, I feel like it's just it's more of a like a we told you so. You know, it's more of a you know, we've been saying this forever. Every you know, anybody who's been in the health and fitness space has been kind of making this argument for a very long at least in my I mean, this is the first time in my life where I could point to the government and say, "Hey, some of the information they're giving out is correct.

I never did that before as a trainer." No. No. No. Usually as a trainer, I was like, "Don't listen to them. They're going to tell you terrible advice." That's fair. And I guess uh you know if it if it goes into schools and does it start to affect and and reflect like medical doctors? Yes, it will. Okay. And so that and dietitians are taught off this. This is how like actual dietitians learn off of these guidelines. So now again a lot of them have now moved.

Yeah. Curriculum is going to have to change. change. change. By the way, this is late. Hey, it's literally almost exactly flipped upside. Yeah. Almost exactly. They're talking about sugars and processed foods are the worst, which Yeah, of course. But now they're going to really, you know, talk about that and and say, "Hey, you guys should probably avoid this." Which is funny because the food companies, they've been putting out propaganda, which is hilarious, which is like it's processed food isn't the enemy. You're just overeating in their skew.

skew. skew. Everything's subsidized was like eating big mass quantities, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. They have on USDA, the myplate.gov site, you can actually get details about that. They have a new edition of their little book here you can pull off of the site. Isn't that great, you guys? You know, so before the after the original food py pyramid, they had my plate. Remember that one? No, no, no. The food pyramid was introduced in the early 90s if I'm not mistaken. Wasn't it was the original for a long time, but yeah, I don't know how long.

how long. how long. No, I think it was '90s if I'm not mistaken. Really? Yeah. The original food pyramid. When did that come out, Doug? Doug? Doug? I might look it up. I'm going to guess it was 91. I thought it was before then. I don't think it was the '8s. I I But I thought I remember in elementary school being taught this. I thought that was I thought it goes that way. 1974. 1974. 1974. Oh god. Well, no, it's not in the That was Sweden in 1992.

You're right. In the US. US. US. Hey, Hey, Hey, get another one. You get another one. Started Started Started out. out. out. We're still We started over. It's one to one. one. one. Just new year. It's new year, dude. New year. year. year. I got to tell you, I saw something. I confirmed it. It made me laugh so hard. So Justin's going to love this, but Justin, if if if I were to ask you, of all of the uh sea creatures, all of the animals that live in the ocean, Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. which ones are just the biggest jerks? Like, which ones are just mean? Oh, uh Oh, uh Oh, uh killer whales. killer whales. killer whales. Yeah. Orcas. Yeah. Orcas. Yeah. Orcas. Orcas. Orcas. Orcas. Yeah, but Okay. But but justifiably, usually. usually. usually. Yeah. Well, they're just they're just mean, bro. Like they they they they torture thing. They they mess with animals. They Yeah. They do horrible stuff. You know what? You know what they do? You know what some Well, they've been knocking over boats because they've been getting in their um Well, that's different migration.

But just the way that they mess with other animals and what they do and how they pass they're Yeah. They're they're affected. They're like wolves. Yeah. And how do them will pass around puffer fish and get high like they're weird. weird. weird. Do you know that's true? You know that, right? They'll have a puffer fish. I I'm ashamed that I didn't get or I'm mad at you. I didn't get to answer that. You went straight. I got it right and I got it right. You almost brought up dolphin.

But but the thing is dolphins have like a nice like qualities, but then they also like rape. rape. rape. Yeah, dude. You know that dolphins are like I do know dolphins crazy rapers. crazy rapers. crazy rapers. They do. Yeah, they're rapers. Other dolphins or other things? things? things? No, like people like animals. Yes, dude. Yes, dude. Yes, dude. Oh, do you guys remember you guys didn't hear about this? There was a I'll get back to back to back to or or or this woman There was this woman who got funding.

She was a scientist who got funding to to give dolphin I don't know how the hell you get funding. Okay. So, because they were losing attention, she was trying to communicate and the the whole like premise for this like study was like they were trying to be able to uh learn how they communicate and and teach them language and and then back and forth. And so, she was giving them she was losing attention from them. So, she would end up jerking them off. That's a scientific term, by the way.

She by the way, LSD was also going to say it say it say it they were also using LSD. They were using psychedelics to see if it would improve communication. And she ended up having sexual relationships with dolphins. That's true. You look it up. I think it was in the 70s. 70s. 70s. Yeah. Okay. If I'm not mistaken. Yeah. Dude, look at Adam. Adam. Adam. So, Adam's like Adam's like they're not even the hot animals. They're the least attractive. So, outside of this giving dolphin are they are they doing this behavior outside of giving them LSD and choking them off?

I mean, is that Yeah, dolphin dolphins have been known to rape other dolphins, fish to do weird seals, I'm sure. How do we determine as humans that that's rape? Well, I don't think there struggle the struggle. How do we know there wasn't consent? How are How are we so arrogant that we're like, "Oh, that's definitely right." right." right." I don't think I think they show distress, bro. I don't I don't What? What? What? I I think they fight and they often get killed, killed, killed, bro.

Sometimes. Sometimes. Yeah. I don't know. Think Think about if you were a seal and all of a sudden you had a dolphin behind you. Listen. No. Just go back. This is where I love Google. How do we know if how do we know if a seal is being raped? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love I love when science s and Justin go on these the studies and then then like nobody questions that like wait a second where where do we how do we determine as humans that this the seals are hanging out let's go hang out those dolphins.

I'm pretty sure the interecies thing is probably a good indication that it was non-conensual. non-conensual. non-conensual. Well that's fair. Well they're saying like other dolphins it's like I mean yeah I don't know. Yeah, that's because I think they they try to escape and get away and they get cornered and and Yeah. and Yeah. and Yeah. How do you get cornered in the ocean, bro? I'm not going to Also, it's it's infanticide. So, they actually kill babies. And so, the the thing is, I guess, with dolphins, like the the females are promiscuous because they're trying to like not have the other males know whose kid it is.

So, are the are the males more likely cuz I know some species the the mothers are more likely to eat the children. Are they It's the It's the fathers that are eating eating eating if they think it's not their young Yeah. They'll kill them. Then they'll kill them to Yeah. That's common though in the in the animal kingdom. kingdom. kingdom. Yeah. Yeah. Certain mammals. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, orcas like grizzly bears. You know what some orcas are doing? What? What? What? This is the funniest thing, dude.

Let's hear more science here. They're wearing dead salmon as hats. They're putting salmon on their head. Are you serious? Yes, bro. Look up salmon orca salmon. Wow. I did not know. They're coming up out of the water and they have a dead salmon on their head and they're like showing each other and it's like a it's literally scientists are like it's it seems to be a trend because other orcas start to copy them and they wear it on their head. What is that? I love that.

What is that? Look at the Nobody knows. Oh my god. I was reading articles on it cuz I saw a post. I'm like this not real. And it is real dude. real dude. real dude. Hey Bob, check this out. Yeah. See, look, dude. Salmon hats. Orca salmon hats refer to a bizarre yet documented behavior where southern resident killer wear dead salmon on their heads. They they had a little bit too much puffer fish or go down to what it says the scientists are debating about. Let me hear what meaning nothing.

The behavior the behavior often spreads through pods like a cultural trend. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Why? Maybe one did it and then he's the he's the cool worker or he ate it and it just like landed on his head and he's like thought it was hilarious. Why are they doing it became a thing? So it was first appearance was in 1987 and I think it disappeared and then it resurged again in 2024. So styles do repeat themselves. repeat themselves. repeat themselves. They call it a retro trend, bro.

I mean, I wonder if it's like the signal that there's a lot of salmon over in this area to fish or hunt or like you're telling your homies like, "Hey, there's lots of salmon over here." They don't They're guessing. They don't know why. They're literally saying wearing, look at the article, wearing salabid hat as hats is in vogue. So hot right now. What? What? What? So weird. So weird. So weird. That Hansel with the sand. Orcas are messed up, dude. You know what I mean? I mean?

I mean? Yeah, that's dark. I wouldn't wear dead Oh, wait a minute. That's what we do. We kind of do that, too. too. too. Raccoon hat. Raccoon hat. Raccoon hat. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Hey, I think you saw this. I don't know if you saw you carry it. Hey, is your is your son uh not into Legos? Uh yeah, he kind of is. It's not a big big thing, but he likes them. Oh, do you seen there's the new um smart Lego? Lego? Lego?

Smart tech. Smart tech. Smart tech. Smart Lego. Smart Lego. Smart Lego. So, they literally can Okay. So, have you seen the Mario collection at all? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And and they like they have like a sensor in it and then they make noises. Yeah. And you have like back. So, and I'm sure that's probably what started the trend because that I think how popular that that whole series went. Now all of them are going to become smart Lego Legos. They'll be able to charge and they'll all they'll be able to sense each other and create.

So your kid can build like a Lego train. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And now when he moves it, it'll make the sounds and then like other Legos that he builds will interact with that because it'll sense the Bluetooth. Yeah. It has different lights like proximity wise. It like turns different lights on and yeah, it's got all these like features. Did it have anything about like it being almost like a little motor too or was that No. So that's what that's the tech Lego. Yeah, the tech side of it is the these it'll be built in the Legos.

So what you in the Mario ones you used to have to put batteries in it and so this is going to be like a wireless charge type of situation and then it'll be it'll just automatically connect. just a new way to be creative and and uh figure things out. I mean, I've been I've been fascinated with Lego ever since my son got into them. Like I remember I told you I started I like I went right away went to go see if I could buy stock and that's when I found out that they were a private company and I'm like they're huge and they're partnerships with Are they Swedish?

Danish. Danish. Danish. Yeah, one of those. One of those. Not here. How about that? Not from Not from here. Do you guys want to hear the cutest thing that my 5-year-old did? the sweetest, cutest thing ever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, every time we come home, we don't wear shoes in the house, right? But he takes his socks off, too. Shoes and socks off every time. Socks off, socks off. off. off. And I'm always I thought he just like to be barefoot. So, I'm like, whatever. And uh I don't remember what it was.

I was, "Hey, keep your socks on cuz we're going to go back outside." And it was it became a thing. And so, I said, "Why do you take your socks off every time we come in the house?" And he goes, "It's for mama." And I said, "What?" And then it dawned on me. So, ever since he was little, my wife has loved playing with his feet. his feet. his feet. Oh, that's cute. And she calls his feet cute and they're so chubby and whatever. And he does it.

And so I said, "You're doing that for mom?" And he goes, "Yeah." So that she thinks I'm cute and then she comes and plays with me and and he told his mom and of course she got emotional. How cute is that? He just does it cuz he thinks his mom likes it. Isn't that the sweetest thing ever? Max does the same thing, but it's not for those reasons. I think it's funny. He like he's we have let Max since he was little uh you know we have a lot of privacy around our house and so if he's walking around his underwear or whatever it's like no who cares no big deal but he's gotten so comfortable with that that that that he'll it'll be like midday this was over the break he had two weeks off so we were obviously home a lot doing Legos and we'll be like in the middle of the day like at noon he'll be like dad can I take off my clothes it's like two in the afternoon we're building Legos like I don't even run the house that hot and he's just like I just I want I'm uncomfortable.

And I'm like, I don't care, bro. And stripped down to his underwear. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Then he play Legos with his underwear on. Yeah. It's like And he knows like we won't let when we have G like, "No, we have someone coming over, so you can't do that." But he's like, he likes to be down to just damn near anything and he's comfortable like that. He runs hot. He gets uncomfortable in clothes and stuff like that. But I think it's just so You just reminded me what happened yesterday.

I was in the I was in I I in the bathroom and I had to change my shirt cuz I was going to film out here yesterday. I did a lot of filming and so I I was going to the bathroom but I had my shirt hanging over the top. So Adam walks in. He's like, "Dang, bro." He's like, "You're getting too big. You have to take your shirt off to go to the bathroom." And we were cracking up. But I Dude, I used to know guys like this.

I used to do dudes that like bodybuilder types. types. types. They would go when they'd have to go to the bathroom. They have to take their shirt off. shirt off. shirt off. Yeah. They literally take the sh I shared an embarrassing story with S after he he shared that with me and I I was like, "Dude, I I'll never forget a time." I mean, everybody, we've all have moments where you like realize like, whoa, you know, like the get too far, right? right? right? I remember sweating being like I'm like 8% body fat, so I'm not like But you're big.

But I'm big. And I remember going to the bathroom uh was like so much effort that I would sweat. And the reason why it was was I was so big and strong in the sagittal plane that the rotation to turn to turn Yeah. to turn my body. And I remember like sweat coming down my brow one time going like, "Oh, wow." There's that time. I tell that story and I tell the other story is really loud. I remember I remember this similar time, right? This this was like, "Okay, this is enough, right?" Like I remember we were at uh near your house, the beach over there, and I forget what exit that is where they where the bathrooms are, and there's a roundabout where the I don't know what beach.

I forget what you You know what I'm talking about, Justin. Yeah. You drive to the beach, and there's a roundabout, and there's a restroom right there. Twin Lakes, huh? huh? huh? Twoon Lakes. Twoon Lakes. Twoon Lakes. Is that where it's Is that what it is? The exit? I don't remember, but it's it's over by you. And Cliff Yeah, I think it's Secliffe, actually. And it's a common area and we're we park there and we go then you got to walk. Yeah, you got to walk we walk out to the sand a little bit and and uh I'm we're eating, doing our thing.

I go back to the bathroom and I remember walking back again. I'm buff. I'm in shape. I look good. But I remember my shins were burning. And I was like I had to like stop to take a breath. And I'm like, "Okay, this is like too much, dude." Yeah, too much. This is way too much. Like, this this is extreme. I need to go the other direction. All right, I'm going to change direction. So, um, the Caldera Lab product, the great that. So, I was using the serum.

I've been using the great. It's so good. And I had Doug look up what they put in there. So, they use exoomes in there. Do you guys know what exosomes are? exosomes are? exosomes are? So, these are like baby stem cells, aren't they? aren't they? aren't they? They're Okay. So I I I pulled up kind of I pulled up related to stem cells somehow. Yes. So I pulled up Oh, shoot. I lost it. Doug, pull up their uh Oh, here we go. These are plant these are exosome like nano particles.

They come from the plants. They're similar in structure and function to animal derived exoomes but originate from sources like fruits, vegetables, herbs or plants. So these plant exoomes. They're very very small and they play a role in intracellular communication. communication. communication. Interesting. So when you use them, they they promote cellular repair, collagen synthesis, they strengthen the skin barrier, uh wound healing, they reduce inflammation, they help regeneration of the skin, and they're how many exosomes? They actually have a number. It's in the billions. Um that's a lot.

So So So yeah, 150 billion exoomes per application. application. application. So this is like a new technology for skinincare and their their product, the great has it, and that's the only one I use now. So that so this is interesting how we've evolved and I notice a difference. difference. difference. We've evolved with with skincare cuz the old school way was like got bleaching killing or oil over top of you like and now we're getting to this place where we're using nano particle of like plants to go in and actually repair and make your cells healthier or bring down inflammation.

inflammation. inflammation. Y Y Y such a such a healthier way to do it's cool and and you know their products also promote a really healthy skin microbiome. So, what a lot of people also report is less acne, which a lot of skin care products, especially moisturizing ones, tend to promote acne for people. This is like anti because it balances out your microbiome. microbiome. microbiome. You know, Katrina and I had this uh I don't know if you guys' wives talk about it like uh she has a lot of girlfriends who have we're we're getting that age now where I think uh it's more common to uh you know, a lot of injectable stuff, a lot of plastic surgery, a lot of stuff like that.

And Katrina's never done any of that. And she's she's talked about, you know, at one point, you know, at I get to an age I wanna I want to do that. I'm like, honey, you don't do that. I am so for all the things like to promote longevity. The the red light, the calera labs, the exoomes, the stem cells. Like that's that stuff is like a natural way to keep youthful and looking young. the the plastic fake way that we I really think that's going to fall out of favor in the next decade or two because it doesn't look good.

You think it looks good. It looks this everybody looks the same. It looks fake. It's not a good look. look. look. Look, you could go on their website. I know I'm going to piss people off. No, no, listen. I got a story. So, first off, you can go on Caler Lab website. They have before and afters and they run studies. So, they actually do studies that are that are controlled and all that stuff and you can see the difference. I we were I won't say too much uh but we were out and this woman's walking towards me and she's like S oh my god how you been I don't know who you are we start talking and then it dawns on me oh my god done plastic surgery she worked out in my gym not with me but with my one of my trainers but I saw her all the time for years I knew her husband I knew her son I didn't recognize her and it was because Her face didn't move.

She had uh injections in her lips and all that stuff. She didn't I didn't recognize her, bro. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know who she was. That perception drift thing that I brought up is crazy. It's a real thing. And I feel so bad cuz I know she felt that I didn't recognize her because we were talking and I was like, you know, and I I'm sure I offended her because she'd worked out in my gym for probably seven years. It was not like a somebody I kind of knew.

I knew her well. Just hadn't seen her for probably 15 years. Yeah. And I looked at who is this person? Then when she left, I was like thinking and I'm like, "Oh my god, that's so and so." God, they did so much that you can't even recognize this crazy. I mean, you did your eyes you guys wives talk about it all or like where they stand on it. Like I the fact that Katrina even brings it up and I explain like I talk to her about like cuz it's always uh I just a little bit or I'm just and I go that's where it starts.

I said that's where the perception drift starts. A little and then it's a little more and it's a little more. By the way, no different than what I just admitted about the the Big Jack bodybuilder guy. You know what I'm saying? Like when when I first started, it's not like I woke up one day and I was this guy who could couldn't go to the bathroom without sweating or walking across the beach. It was a little bit It was like, oh, I could be a little more jacked.

A little more jacked. And then it's like, oh my god. Yeah, exactly. Same concept. So, I get it. I admit it. I feel bad, too. Especially this 10 thing for them, you know? It is. It's and it does like make a difference like so and Courtney thankfully has been around enough of her friends that do these Botox parties and they do like a lot of those things and she's seen like you know the where it's like oh there's some benefit and then you see like a dramatic difference like oh my god that does not look good and I don't want to get to that level and so she's actually gone back and forth with it but uh has you know pulled more of her attention into like creating her own uh moisturizers and and like doing things with like all these like natural like remedies and options for it and using red light, using caldera, using all the things like possible to, you know, help benefit her skin.

But, uh, yeah, like a lot of her friends like can get like she she used to go to a lot of those like parties and and it gets excessive like it's it's a lot. Look, I get it as somebody who's, you know, tried to manipulate how he looked for most of my life. Like, I get it. I I totally get it. But it's, you know, you just take it big picture. We make youth uh we place youth so high like it's the most valuable thing that we've completely completely completely devalued uh the true value of wisdom and getting older and to the point where it's like it's like the worst possible thing that could happen to you is you look like you're getting a little bit older.

older. older. And for women in particular, it's like oh my value is my beauty. That's my value. That's a terrible place to be because uh at some point um you know you get older if you're lucky by the way not everybody ages some people die uh but so and you got to face that you got to face that that that inevitable so but I get it you know I totally so you've seen a trend actually though in Hollywood even like with Pam Anderson and like uh even recently in um Stranger Things what was the the lady's name that was in Terminator Sarah Condra so full rink ankles like she's like her age and like didn't do anything.

Looks great. Looks great. And and but the thing is she's like I earned these and like there's like a kind of a a badge of honor movement with it which that's what I think. I think we I think we're just in this weird time of like when the the the Botox plastic surgery got got to the point where they got pretty good at it and got better. And I think we're going to see a trend go the other way, especially as all natural products and things like red light therapy and things like that come in that because that stuff it it helps you look younger longer through health.

through health. through health. Through health and and natural it looks good. It looks it looks better. Yes. And that's a good look. And and so and I think that we've gotten so far we've come so far with the science there that I I believe Justin I think you're on that that that is going to become the trend. I think we're in this weird I don't know if you guys are familiar with the studies on on Botox uh these are kind of scary studies but your ability to emote you kill you go in and you kill the nerves nerves nerves well well besides that your ability to emote right like your your facial emotions reflect your inner feelings but it's not a one-way street your facial expressions also communicate to your inside to your brain how you feel right right right so when you change how your face emotes you actually start to become more numb and you start to feel less.

And there's studies on this. There are studies. So, you do enough stuff to your face, you don't feel like you used to. And because it's a slow process, 5 years later, you don't realize where you're at. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you just kind of like uh things are not the same. A little numb. I feel a little bit like if you have a hard time smiling, that's a big problem. Yeah, dude. Cuz it's not again, it's not a one-way street. It's a two-way. So, it's just like when they've done it where they force people to smile and they actually start to feel different through the outside.

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Element is the best. Go to drinklementnt.com/mindpump. On that link, you'll get a free sample pack of their most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase. Back to the show. show. show. First question is from I am the Muppet. M M M how should a female train who has osteoporosis? osteoporosis? osteoporosis? Oh, good question. Strength training, very important. Not a lot of it. You're looking at one or two days a week, very controlled, moderate intensity, probably with a trainer, high protein, high protein, high protein, and feed yourself periods.

Not not just high protein, but enough calories because you can strength train perfectly, but if you don't feed yourself enough, this isn't going to reverse. reverse. reverse. You have to build muscle. building muscle builds the bone and that's what causes uh this to move uh in the right direction. direction. direction. Can't stress enough the the surplus because especially with the people that listen to this podcast, we have we have uh a lot of women that have struggled with this where they're like, I train, I lift weights, lift weights, lift weights, weights, we're constantly dieting.

Yeah. But they're always in such a low calorie place and you can still get osteoporosis. Even if you strength train, if you are always in a calorie deficit and you don't allow yourself to build muscle, if you don't build muscle, you're not going to build bone. And so, um, I'm glad you, you know, corrected me with not just high protein, but high calories. So, high protein and enough calories. And you don't have to be crazy high, but you need to be in a surplus. Just eat enough to build muscle and and in a good two day a week traditional strength.

I have a lot of experience with this. At one point, um, because of the amount of doctors that I train, they would send me their patients. And at one point, uh, I trained a few women who were either osteoprenia or osteoporosis. And because they were in those categories, they would get their bone mass uh bone density tests done regularly and they all came back uh yeah positive where they were adding bone density. One of them in fact their doctor made her a case study because um because of the the reversal and it was just traditional strength training eating enough food.

Next question is from Morgan B. Peterson. How do women know if they need testosterone? Can they even get TRT? And what levels are normal for an athletic female aged 21? I don't know what the normal range of testosterone is for women. You'd have to look that up. Yeah. Well, you go get blood work and they'll tell you. Yeah. But the symptoms of low testosterone in women is exactly the same as the symptoms of low testosterone uh in men. So, there's a there's this myth myth myth uh or this this this incorrect belief that testosterone is the male hormone.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Estrogen is the female hormone. No, not true. true. true. No, the truth is estrogen and testosterone and progesterone are men and male and female hormones. We both have them. The difference is the ratios and the amounts, right? Men obviously have a lot more testosterone. Women have a lot less. Estrogen is different for women than it is for men. But if a woman's testosterone is low, she'll experience what a man will if his is low, which is like low libido, low drive, low motivation, depression, uh, aches and pains.

Yeah. he's not responding in the gym, body fat percentage starts to gain. Yeah, that kind of stuff. So, what you would do is you would get tested uh and I recommend going to a hormone uh you know, clinic, like a specialized clinic. And what they'll typically do is look at your testosterone levels plus talk to you about your symptoms because it's both. I I do want to comment though, most common in a 20-year-old or a young female, this is uh underfed and overtrained. if their testosterone is low.

100%. low. 100%. low. 100%. Yes. So, uh or or or birth control uh sometimes can mess things up. Oh, good point. Yeah. Uh but I'd say the most common thing when I had someone that was young that was this it was uh commonly found in a lot of like athletic a lot of my hardcore athletes lost her period, hasn't had it for a couple years, trains really hard. So, overtrained, underfed, uh is the more it's not the everything, but it's it tends to be the more common reason for this.

And so, sometimes before And and and I I I say this because I caution people to just go to a hormone place, find out, and then get put on go on TRT. You should first make sure you're not that person that needs to reduce the intensity and potential volume of training and reverse diet and increase calories because many times this will balance that out. Rarely will they put a 21-year-old female on hormone replacement therapy uh unless there's some other medical conditions or anything like that. Typically, it's lifestyle.

Typically, it's lifestyle. Hormone replacement therapy uh tends to be more appropriate for women who are parmenopause or menopause in age. Next question is from the great Cascadian ape. I've been able to improve all my big lifts and have steadily made progress with strength, but I still find push-ups aggravate my back and have more or less always been a struggle for me. What tips would you give to someone who wants to improve their push-ups? So, it depends what you're talking about your back. I'm going to assume it's your low back.

low back. low back. Yeah. If you're doing big lifts, it's your low back. And so the problem with this is you're not activating your core and tucking your tailbone enough in your push-up. So what's happening is you're going down to the push-up, your back is arching really strongly and you're pushing your upper body up, which is making the arch even stronger, and you're getting shearing in the low back. So what you would do is you would start at the top. You brace your core and tuck your tailbone a little bit.

And your whole body has to move like a board. The whole body has to move in a unit. There's not two sections. Sometimes people do a push-ups. It's like upper body comes up, lower body comes up. comes up. comes up. The whole thing moves together. The way you progress something like this is get a barbell, put it up on a rack that's higher. that's higher. that's higher. Start with your higher push-up and then as you get better, lower the bar till you get down to the floor.

In my experience, that's the best way. But yeah, and slow down and work on that bracing technique and squeeze the glutes, squeeze the abs. like make sure you don't break that at all as you go down and and get to the bottom of your rep and and press up. So you you try to maintain that tension consistently throughout the entire range of motion. Perfectly. I was going to say the exact same thing and that becomes the uh qualifier on do we do more reps is not that could you push up more reps.

It's can how long can you continue to brace the core by squeezing the abs and squeezing the glutes. As soon as you lose tension there and you can't do that anymore, I don't care if you feel like you can get five or 10 more push-ups, you're done with the reps right there. We need to progress the ability for you to stay rigid with the glutes engaged, the abs engaged while doing the push-ups before you move and do more push-ups or add weight or resistance to the push-up.

Next question is from Terry Jennings 113. How do I know if I should continue to train when I have an injury? I've had two knee revisions on the same knee and I think it's going out again. You know, when I hear someone ask me a question like this, I mean, I could give you some general answers, but because of where you're at, you've had two knee revisions, I'm assuming surgeries on the same knee, you feel like it's going out, you know how much time that that takes out of your life, how much it costs.

You know, the the the cost to your quality of life. Hire a good I'm so glad you went that trainer. Yes. like someone who understand an experienced trainer, one that understands correctional exercise, one that not not a trainer, not a not a group exercise trainer. Take out the guesswork and hire someone who understands correctional exercise. They will fix this for you. It'll prevent it'll it'll save you from having to get another knee surgery. surgery. surgery. It's not a knee problem. It's a movement problem. And that is one of the hardest things to comm and the hardest things to communicate to a client that has had multiple knee surgeries or issues with their knees is they've been told by doctors bad knee and so they come to you and they're like should I do squats or should I do these moves cuz I have a bad knee.

It's like, no, the reason why your knee knees feel bad is because of poor movement. And we need to get better at the movement. And we need to know a good coach or trainer or a good movement specialist knows how to regress you to a place that doesn't stress the knee that that teaches you how to move better and then hinge the knee properly and the hips and everything that's involved in this and get good at those movements and then progressively overload it and get strong in the muscles that support the knee.

You don't have bad knees, you have bad movement and just stopping the movement is not a good idea. But this is such an important investment. It's like the surgeries can't be cheap, the time out of work or the things you do. Yeah. And what's inhibiting that movement that you need to sacrifice the Christmas presents, sacrifice the things that you were going to spend money on, go invest in a movement specialist that helps you get to the bottom of this and teaches you how to move more properly or move better.

And then we then hopefully we don't have to do that. That's exactly why I I said that. Yes. I love that you went right to that drug drug drug because this because you'll save money. And I say that because when you look at the c when you need surgery, it seems like it's expensive, but oh, I have to do this because I have this injury. When you look at a coach before you get injured, it's like, h maybe I could, maybe I don't know. Is this money I want to spend?

to spend? to spend? You talk yourself out of it. It'll save you money. It'll save you surgeries. It'll save you time out from work. It'll save you recovery. It'll save you all these different things. And I I say that because a good coach or a good trainer is going to cost you, you know, around $100 an hour. The the the knee is like a a door hinge, okay? And imagine you had except way more complex. But listen, but no, listen. Okay. Yeah. Cuz it's floating and there's all kinds of But listen listen to the analogy.

It's like a door hinge and Justin is hanging on your door and you open and close that door every day. Eventually that hinge is going to wear, tear, and it's going to hurt. It's and then their doctor's going to tell you, "You need to replace the hinge." It's like, "No, get Justin off the [ __ ] door." That's the problem. And that's what it's not moving properly. It's not swinging properly. And then it wears and tears. And then you have to keep redoing it or or you never open the door again, which you don't want to do that either.

That you you want to be able to open and close the door again. Eventually, the door won't open. That's exactly right. And so that's why you want to solve the the root issue here. And it's not the bad knee. It's not just getting surgery again. Totally. All right. I know you like that episode. If you did, check this one out. Walking. It's one of the best things you could do for your health, bar none. But there's a better way to approach it. Yes, you can just walk, but if you follow the right protocol, it's far more effective.

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