Why That Pesky Last 10 Pounds Won’t Come Off | Mind Pump 2829

Key Takeaway

Stuck on the last 10 pounds? You might be cutting too hard. When you've been restricting calories and ramping up cardio for months, your metabolism adapts—burning less and shedding muscle instead of fat. The counterintuitive solution: reverse diet. Increase calories, focus on building strength, and let your body recover. You don't cut your way out of a plateau—you build your way out.

Episode Overview

This episode tackles one of the most frustrating challenges in fat loss: the last stubborn 10 pounds. The hosts explain why traditional methods (eating less, moving more) stop working when you hit a metabolic plateau. They reveal the science behind metabolic adaptation, share real-world examples from training elite fitness professionals, and provide a step-by-step strategy for breaking through plateaus by reversing the diet and focusing on muscle building instead of further restriction.

Full Transcript

Transcript of Why That Pesky Last 10 Pounds Won’t Come Off | Mind Pump 2829 from Mind Pump Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

One of the most frustrating things that people can suffer through when trying to lose weight is that last stubborn 10 pounds. You're losing weight, doing great, then you get about 10 pounds away from your goal. It won't budge no matter what you do. So, what do you do? We have the answer. Check it out. What do you do? All right, let's talk about this. Why does this so stubborn? Why is it that this? Because this is common. We often you often hear about this. that last 10 15 pounds just won't come off my body.

body. body. My body's job. I was going to say you got to argue there's a there's evolutionary reason for this, right? I mean, your body has got to be the leaner you get, um, um, um, the harder it gets to get leaner. Yeah. The harder it gets to get leaner. It's not. You you would think, I guess common common thought would be, as I get in my rhythm and I'm consistent with my training and my diet, it should get easier and easier, but it's actually the opposite.

opposite. opposite. It gets harder and harder the leaner you get. I mean, I think the initial weight loss or body fat drop for somebody who's say north of 30% body fat is relatively easy, but as you get closer and closer to that uh either for men, singledigit body fat, for women, low 20s, uh it becomes really difficult every percent to get lower. Yeah. But you know what? You also hear this from people who aren't even trying to get that low. Um, you'll just hear people who are like women who are trying to get like 26% body fat or guys who are trying to get to 16 or 17% and then they're 10 lbs away from their goal uh and then suddenly everything stops.

And um what what's what's happening often times cuz uh now if this if you're just doing things wrong and you're eating more suddenly and stuff like that, that's different. But let's say you're doing everything consistently and then suddenly you get stuck. you've hit a metabolic wall metabolic wall metabolic wall is what happened. Um, and so to to put it in a simple terms, and of course it's more complicated than this, but simp simply speaking, speaking, speaking, when you're losing body fat, you have to be in what's known as a calorie uh deficit.

Uh, you have to be burning more than you're taking in, okay? Or taking in less than you're than you're consuming. And your body doesn't like to be in this place. Uh, your body doesn't like to burn more calories than you're taking in. it has to borrow to make up the difference. And it borrows energy from uh hopefully body fat. Just like if you were spending more money than you were making, at some point you look at your bank account and you go, "Yeah, we got to figure out how to spend less." And so your metabolism adapts.

You actually your body starts to burn less calories. And and one of the ways it does this is it it'll pair muscle down. And in my experience, this is where this happens is where a person's losing weight, and they're eating less, eating less, moving more, moving more, and then they get in this place where they're like, I got to eat even less. I don't feel like I'm eating that much at all. I'm really hungry. I'm already working out a lot. Uh I don't think it's realistic knowing what my schedule is like and my uh consistency behaviors are like to add more exercise.

Uh is that what I got to do? I gotta just I gotta cut even more my calories and exercise even more. even more. even more. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And um and a lot of coaches and a lot of trainers would say, "Yeah, that's what you got to do because that's the easy answer." But it's not actually the best answer. When you get stuck in this place where you hit that metabolic wall, what you often need to do to get that last 10 pounds off your body is to change gears and try to boost uh metabolism or try to make your metabolism learn or want to uh burn more calories.

And so often times when I'm working with someone and they're stuck on those last 10 pounds, we do a reverse diet and start focusing on building muscle so that we can get the 10 pounds off, start giving them resources. I mean, it's literally like you're signaling your body your demand for calories is very high because of that amount of activity you're producing, but the resources are very low. And so your body's like, well, now we need to adjust for this and maintain whatever resources we can hold on to.

Totally. So, it's it's just like it we're trying to go against our our natural mechanisms there. And you just inevitably hit a wall. So, reversing out is is pretty much the answer. I'd say this is pretty obvious when obvious when obvious when you you know the calorie intake for both whether it be for the female or male. Like so typically if if someone's hit this wall um and they're a female uh they're they're they're under 2,000 calories they're eating and so it's like very obvious. It's like we usually around 15.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. But any but anything under 2,000 if they hit this wall I'm going back the other way for sure. um you're already at that low like for me under 2,000 for a female and anything really under 2500 for a male uh would be the same thing. Same thing guy a guy who's eating you know 2400 something calories and that he's hit that wall. So I think that has a lot to do with it cuz if someone came to me and they're like oh I hit this wall I can't lose the last 10 lbs and she's eating 2600 calories.

Well, we still have we still have room. That's right. Yeah. We still have room to cut and still be in a a healthy place. And a guy comes to me and he says, "Oh, I've hit the wall. I I can't lose the last 10 pounds. Well, how would your calories at? Oh, I'm 3,400 calories. Oh, okay. Well, easy. Yeah, easy. We have room. But typically, this happens when somebody has already played the cutting cutting and moving more game and they have now found themselves exercising, you know, four to six times a week, uh, plus maybe even cardio or lots of steps and activity.

And their calories are now in the low 200s or under 2,000 calories. And it's like where do we go from here? And it's you're in which is why I think so many people put all the weight back on because it's just not sustainable. It's not a sustainable place to be for probably 95% of the population unless you are obsessed with exercise. It's just not a a good place to be. And so yeah, it's almost always a reverse diet. Yeah. And you and um this is so common that you even see this uh in people who use a GLP uh medication.

Oh yeah. Yeah. which are powerful. These are powerful medications that that just like really crush your appetite because appetite because appetite because we we saw we saw people like this. We worked worked worked personally we worked with a group of 50 50 plus people and there were people on there who had lost significant weight on a GLP. So they were uh they were they they had to lose I think it was close to north of 80 pounds initially. They'd gotten something like 60 lbs off. There was another 30 lbs left.

They were at this plateau. There was one person in particular I can remember she was at this plateau for like 6 months and we were asking her okay well let's let's look at what you're eating and she was eating 1,200 calories or less a day some days it was 1,000 and she's got 30 more pounds not to get shredded but just to get into like a normal healthy place uh she had 30 more pounds to go and she was eating like I said 1,000 to 1200 calories sometimes even less she said and um that's a tough but your your metabolic rate has just some remarkable ability to adapt.

And it's crazy. We got good studies on this where there's a few ways your body will do this. Some of them are more mysterious than others, but the the obvious ones that we can measure, and they've done this really well, where they'll they'll put trackers on people and measure daily activity. And as a person ramps up their exercise and cuts their calories, their body will start to make up for it with reduced activity throughout the day. So without them realizing they're sitting more, they're walking slower, uh they're doing less movement throughout the day, uh because they're trying their body's trying to make up for it.

Another obvious one uh is lethargic purposely. Yeah, totally. Another one another obvious one is muscle loss. Uh so um when you look at a just a calorie deficit with activity minus strength training so no protective exercise uh when it comes to muscle um you know you look at 30% to 45% of the weight coming from muscle and it's not the body's not that the person's body is burning muscle away because it needs to burn muscle for energy but rather it's trying to reduce its uh demands by taking this tissue that's kind of expensive uh from a caloric standpoint um and bringing it down.

And then there's mysterious uh ways that the body uh slows its metabolism down. Um you know, you could have the same lean body mass and have a metabolism that decides to burn more or less calories. And this has to do probably with mitochondrial function um and other mechanisms. Hormone changes can also affect this as well. So the body just starts to stress stress to overall health. I mean look at the challenge that uh Karen and I are having currently right now like with just her body not responding uh the way we would want it to and it's it can be very uh stressful and frustrating for somebody who feels like they're eating really well, training and doing all things.

And so it I don't know this is the part about personal training I think is so valuable and why I think think tools like AI will never replace a good coach who can help somebody through this process because I've trained enough people to see anomalies like this all the time where it's just like this doesn't make sense, you know, and the body sometimes just rebelss and the math just doesn't math. It's like this, hey, based off of the amount of activity we're doing and based off of my macros and what I'm eating, this is what should be happening.

Yet, it's it's not because of all these variables. Yeah. What I used to do back in the day, even before I fully understood uh reverse dieting, um like even because there was a point there where I really understood the the concept of uh reverse dieting. Even before that, when I'd get a client like this and we're doing the traditional, you know, we're doing some strength training, adding some activity, we're tracking calories and macros and we're cutting calories and then they get stuck, you know, 10 15 pound plateau away from their goal.

And it would be for a while and I would give them a good month or two before I decide it was a plateau because you don't see this consistent fat loss. It's typically it's like you'll get a little bit and then it'll stop for a few weeks and it goes down again. But once I established like, "Oh, this is a plateau." Before I even understood what uh reverse dieting was, I just knew this person needed a mental break. break. break. So, they'd come to me and that we would talk like, "Okay, we're plateauing here." I say, "You know what we're going to do for a little while?

We're going to try to stop losing that last 15 pounds. We're just going to focus on getting strong for a little while. We're just going to focus on getting you stronger in the gym for a little while. It's a different focus. It feels good. And what tends to happen when we start to get stronger is then the fat loss starts to happen. I here's what everybody wants to do when they're stuck with that last 10 pounds. They want to increase their activity and cut their calories more harder.

harder. harder. Here's what most people need to do. Build their way out of this plateau. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You don't want to cut your way out of this plateau. You want to build your way out of this plateau. Far more successful strategy. I can almost always uh break through this kind of a plateau through a uh a really structured let's get stronger phase which typically includes uh an increase in calories, hitting protein targets, changing the structure of my workouts a little bit. Oftentimes I even reduce the volume uh and I'm looking at look let's just put some let's see if we can get more weight on the bar and then that's the plateau buster.

Uh whereas a lot of people are like, "No, no, I got to run more. I got to eat less. Let me cut even more." Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. The reason why it feels so stubborn is because your old methods stop working. And then to make it worse, especially if your calories are already low, here's where it's really frustrating because I talked about the person who's like, I don't want to cut anymore and I don't want to move anymore. You oftenimes even get the person who's like, fine, I'm going down lower.

I was at 1,600 calories. I'm going down to 1,200 calories calories calories and then I'm gonna add an extra day of cardio and they got 10 more pounds to lose. And then this is where it gets really crazy and I've seen this more than a handful of times. You'll see You'll see You'll see you shoot them up. See, they'll see their weight shoot up sometimes. Oh, this is what this is what's what's more common. I've seen that too, which is that people are just like, I don't understand what's going on.

But I've seen this is more common. We'll see like three pounds down on the scale, plateau again. again. again. Then we'll do a body composition test and we're like, uh, looks like your body fat percentage went up. went up. went up. How is that possible? I lost three lbs. It was muscle. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. You lost three pounds of muscle. Our our nutrient intake was too low. Deceiving like that. And uh, yeah, you're smaller. Uh, but you lost muscle. Um, so your body fat percentage actually went up.

Uh, boy, is that really My favorite story around this, Adam, is when you talk about what you did with your trainers. I love that story because uh you have a bunch of trainers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That experienced this. I mean, you've told it before. I would love to hear that story again because you're not talking about a bunch of everyday people who don't know actually. These are all trainers. Yeah. That went through. through. through. No, I mean it's uh it was a competition that Justin was a part of this and uh I used to do this uh you know on the fair fairly regular basis uh annually with my trainers where we'd have fun.

We used to have the the hydrostatic way. I had a relationship with that company and they used to bring the truck. So, we had an outside source. This was like what was great about it was that it was very controlled, right? So, it wasn't like just a mirror. Yeah. It wasn't a mirror. It wasn't a bunch of people that were randomly like different trainers. different trainers. different trainers. They weren't doing their own calipers. Yeah. They weren't doing their own calipers. It was an outside source that was scheduled.

Yeah. Third party and real accurate, too. So, um you know, and we would we would test and then the goal was to, you know, who could have the greatest body composition change. change. change. How long was it for, by the way? Uh 3 months I think is what we used to do. Yeah. About 3 months is what we would do. do. do. So 90 days is who could lose the most? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Body fat. Body fat. Body fat. Yeah. It was it was it was three or four months that we would do it for.

Um and by the way, what was the prize? Was it bragging rights? Would you guys We used to put money in the pot. Oh wow. Everyone was real money. Yeah. Everybody everybody put money in the pot and then of course bragging rights. rights. rights. Yeah. Bragging rights. I'm even though there was money involved, I think the I think it was just just just Yeah. When you're in the gym, you want to be the guy that Yeah. And this was also too, by the way, this is like um this staff I'm talking about with Justin was my elite staff.

There was there was a period of time where I had trainers that I've I've shared before um where I had got it down to about 15 trainers and they were all master level. So these aren't a bunch of like newbie trainers, rookie. These are all all all multiple certifications. multiple certifications. multiple certifications. Yeah. Multiple CSS. Yeah. Master trainers. Everyone's really good at what they do. And everybody was really fit, too. It was just taking your your fitness to another level. Um, and man, the amount, including myself of uh trainers that were just like, "This thing doesn't work.

This this is inaccurate." Comments were crazy. Oh, yeah. This Oh, that [ __ ] doesn't work. And them getting online and like looking for all the air in it. And it's just like, "Oh, I don't think I let enough air out when I went under." And you talk about extreme methods, too. You get guys doing like burpees in the sauna. Oh, yeah. Like all kinds of stuff to lose weight to to lose to lose weight rapidly. and and to cut as hard as they could. Like so they were doing things like that and because you have a bunch of trainers who probably are in very healthy metabolic places too.

You keep that in consideration too. It's just like these are they're coming from a healthy metabolic place. You're talking about some situations that could have people that aren't healthy, have hormone issues. These are all very balanced. This is a bias of fit people. Yeah. So so if if anybody should have an easy time of shredding down, it should be these guys and girls. And uh Oh, yeah. At least half. um you know would come back and be incredibly frustrated and you had situations where trainers body fat percentage actually went up cuz they would lose weight on the scale.

They're like super encouraged. I'm winning. winning. winning. Yes. Yes. Yes. I lost 10 lbs. Yes. But they did it through too much calorie restriction, too much cardio. And and that's exactly what happened. And what like I said, like it would have resulted in is a bunch of pissed-off trainers. It was such an that I I talk about that time in my career and I want to I'm trying to remember what year I'm at Santa Teresa. So I'm about eight nine years into my career at that time u maybe a little bit further along and so I consider myself a relatively experienced towards the the good part of being what I consider myself good.

That was a very eyeopening moment for me that time. And then of course when I got into competing and took that to a whole another level on a on a on on consistency and and also being presenting myself and even lower really just opened my eyes to uh how how easily people can dip into that how how the body works. Yeah, exactly. And how how how that can fluctuate. And I mean just you know I hope I hope Karen I'll ask her today. I know she listens because she's she's heard us talking about her.

I hope she's okay and comfortable with me continuing to share, but I think she's such a great example because she's brilliant. Um she uh she knows what to do. She's great at coaching clients that are string this, but even herself is is challenged with this. And we have these moments where we just had a week where I gave her a diet break and we have a diet break and uh I cut her like 500 calories a day. 500 calories a day. her steps were like at 10,000 which is increased from 8,000 steps so where she's no cardio but just increased activity reduced calories and so really was more about the diet break uh and every Sunday we have a check-in photos weight I get all her stats and everything like that uh and we're up 2 and a2 pounds on the scale post period too by the way so so last we things of that we're in the thick of period holding water all things so that so logically logically logically You know, as trainers, you go, "Okay, there's no way she's gaining fat in this week." week." week." Mhm.

Mhm. Mhm. But her her body weight on the scale is up two or three pounds in a calorie reduction like that. And so, you know, the body we we we expect it to work on this perfect 24-hour clock cuz that's what we've decided a day is, right? right? right? But it doesn't work that way. Your your hormones and are fluctuating, your, you know, sodium intake and the way your body is storing water. it, you know, it's just there's so many things that can can manipulate it that the time you decided to get on the scale that day and hop on it and measure it and could be really discouraging and I think the common mistake is the course correction when you're you're doing a lot of the right things and so it's it's super common.

Trainers are not mu immune to it. They they they battle with it uh just as much. But again the the big lessons that that I have learned uh through that is to uh is to trust the process and to continue to stay the course because what I have found is in a lot of times like what I what what I'll expect to happen from like with Karen is continuing down the path we're going and then all of a sudden the it seems like the body catches up and and the analogy I kind of give is the way we talk about how children grow.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know yeah in these weird spurts. It's not like you feed when you you feed your kid predictable when your kid rest and and and and they they grow over years. We all know that. Everybody knows this, right? Um and what we used to think uh what scientists used to think back in the days it was just this real incremental slow gradual all the time type of growth. And what we've learned is that it's not like that at all. In fact, they could look flatlined for a period of time and then all a sudden boom boom boom this like spurt happens.

And a lot of times in the muscle building game and the fat loss game, uh, that your body responds that way. You doing all the right things and stuff like that and it's just like no results, no results. This sucks. I'm not seeing the results. Maybe even see a little bit of negative results. And then boom, one week you have and it's like you you look like you lost a percent or two of body fat. And so this this makes this difficult for people. people. people.

It does. I I remember for myself uh one of the first times I allowed myself I say allowed because my challenge was uh you know I always wanted to gain weight uh but the first time I actually stuck through a a diet where I was trying to get myself down to like below 10%. I remember it got kind of hard towards 9% body fat. Uh you know appetite goes up the whole deal. But I got there and then I bumped my calories. I'm like cool I got here.

Let me just eat more and bump my calories. Now, at this time, I had been doing regular uh caliber testing, okay? So, body fat testing. I had somebody test me, and I remember I bumped my calories, was eating more. Of course, you feel great, more energy, I'm stronger in the gym. And two weeks later, I'm just out of curiosity, let me see where my body fat percentage is. I went up on the scale. I remember how many pounds, like four or five pounds, and I was down to uh just below 8%.

And I remember being like, what? How how did this how how is it that I ate more and I got leaner. I built I built into it. You know, body fat percentage. This is a percentage of your body that's body fat. So, what that means is if you're listening right now and I snap my fingers and you gain 10 pounds of just muscle, just muscle. So, you're 10 pounds heavier on the scale, your body fat percentage went down. Even if you don't lose a single pound of body fat.

So, I think uh what a lot of people need to do in this situation here where they've been losing, losing, losing, they've been doing the what they think is the right thing, cutting their calories and doing more activity. Now, they're stuck with that plateau, that stubborn last whatever 10 lbs, 15 pounds. Build your way out of it. Watch what happens. It's this is when the magic starts to happen. We're working with your body. I will add to to to that though as you um to to mentally prepare you psychologically because the most difficult part is there there's an there's an uncomfortable phase of that and I think that's why it gets so difficult which we we we've all whether you're the person who is obsessed with getting big getting big getting big and so the cutting part or or vice versa you're afraid to get big um there there'll come a time there'll come a time where you're you're doing the right things and it'll feel uncomfortable or it won't feel right And and I can't stress enough the advice you're giving is right is just to keep building the direction in and what I have found so long as you're eating whole foods hitting your protein intake right and and and feeding the body that way um you will be you won't you won't put on a bunch of body fat.

All mess up real quick. Yeah. If you reverse diet and you're basically calling uh your reverse diet a reverse diet, but what you're really doing is just allowing yourself to eat whatever you want whenever you want and you're hungry. Like that's where healthy food. healthy food. healthy food. Yeah. But if you if you do this where you're like you're saying is reverse diet out when you're hungry feed feed a whole whole natural meal type of deal and leave with protein. I can't I I don't think I've ever seen anybody not have have success.

They will probably go through a little bit of a uncomfortable phase. If you're really low calorie and you have someone bump three 300 to 500 calories, calories, calories, that could be a third of their day. You're gain some water. Yeah, you're going to gain some water weight uh that you're going to hold on to a little bit, which will make you feel like, "Oh my god, I got fatter." But trust me, uh 500 calories didn't put a pound of fat on you. Even if it put two or three lbs on the scale, it didn't put a pound of fat on you.

um and just keep going that direction and you will you will eventually uh speed that metabolism up. You will build your way out of that that body fat reduction you want. And then kind of what we talked about the other day so many times too and this is a this is a recent lesson for myself I the last body fat test that uh discouraged or upset me. But then which I thought was so this is the opposite of situation I've had. I felt like I look pretty good.

Wives compliment me. I'm feeling pretty good. I'm back to the walking around naked in the house brushing my teeth. Get a body fat test that came back went that's not good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that and it messed with my head and because I'm like it wasn't the number that I expected. I'm really good at being able to guess that. But the truth is I just have I have more muscle under the body fat that that I have this time. And when I actually think about it, I'm like, you know what?

I I like that. I don't mind. I don't. And so a lot of people are stuck on this scale number or body fat percentage number. But if they would just put more muscle on their body. body. body. So funny. A woman at 24% body fat who gains muscle and even stays the same body fat. So she gains some body fat with it. So 24 24 more muscle you look leaner. You have more shape on your body. You've got more sculpt. Same thing for a man. Uh so yeah, more muscle at looks better at higher body fat percentage and less muscle does.

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I I had a a question for you guys. Is there recently have either one of you guys almost got into a street fight? It wasn't a street fight or like a field fight. I've been holding on. I've been dying to ass, dude. Oh, man. I know. I text right away cuz it was so shocking, you know, like I I think um you hear a lot of stories of like little league games and and you know, where parents go crazy and like just too interactive and they just don't let the refs heated and really like what's crazy about it.

So I I left the studio and I was like wasn't sure if I was going to make the game cuz it's pretty far to get there from here. from here. from here. This is uh Everett's flag football. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So he's having a flag football game. So he's in the playoffs now. So Oh, Oh, Oh, there's an extra bit of intensity, you know, and know, and know, and so um I left and and I got there a little bit before the half. So I kind of didn't get a lot of the context of like how the game's been going.

Like Courtney wasn't like keeping me updated. I get in there and it's like just you could feel the tension like already as I got very good game like and so we were actually behind by like two touchdowns uh when I got there and then we started making all this progress like right when I got there and I'm just like yeah like you know yelling they're all looking back at me like and um it was like the coaches were close to us the the spectators are on one side um our team's on the other side and so uh there was a lot of like engagement between their kind.

So you're on the visitor So you're on the visitor side. side. side. We're on the visitor side with this. So, I think that's kind of where, you know, some of the conflict when you get into the intensity of like, you know, that's my son out there and you're not making a call. Like it there was a lot of um talking with their coach was very very uh overstepping with the the referees and he was like, you know, he's flagg guarding, he's doing this like like every single thing.

How much time they going to have on the field to figure this out? and he's like counting down the seconds they had in between plays and like saying like they're going over and it was like just overkill, you know, and uh and I'm just kind of like just trying to acclimate and get there and see what's going on and um you know Courtney's trying to update me with this and um and then there was like a lot of this chatter from one of the moms on our side and their coach specifically and it was like was like was like so she's in the stand and she's barking at him and he's down in the field.

Yeah. So they there's no stands. It was all field. So it was like a soccer field. field. field. Ah, got it. Yeah. And so we were like I was like in the shade. So it was a hot day. So there was like a whole bunch of parents like in the shade and there was parents that were like right there on the field right next to behind their team. Okay. team. Okay. team. Okay. Uh and the other part was funny cuz I was showing up knowing that it's the team that like I grew up at this school.

Uh, and they so every time we play them, there's this like added bit like I kind of know the the their kids and I kind of know the mentality like it's really funny coming back to sports now as an adult and you see kind of like the culture of different schools and like kind of the the vibe and like so we grew up and our fans were like really engaged and like very like uh you know vocal. Yeah. Uh, and my dad still kind of has that energy and I'm always like calming him down like, "Hey, dad, you know, like let's let the the game play, let the kids have fun, let the refs call the game, you know, and so nobody was like checking the fans and, you know, regulating this." And so it just kept getting more intense and more intense.

We started coming back. Um, and you know, the kids were were feeling a lot of this and uh then they started to kind of like scuffle and like it was getting a little bit violent. Like one of the kids like were grabbing for the um for the flag and then ends up tackling the kid and then then the parents get all crazy. So anyway, it turns out like we ended up winning the game and so you guys came back and won. Came back won and it was like it was it was epic.

like we got like a safety and then like so we just won by like I think it was like two points or maybe maybe four. I think they missed like some extra point conversions along the way but um super close and it was like a great game. Like I wish it was just the game, you know, with the kids and that was it, right? And we all like, yeah, good game, good game, you know, good sportsmanship, but it was like it just got kind of it escalated after the game.

the coaches kind of came over and they were like barking at uh some of the parents and one of the coaches, this is where I kind of got triggered because um so one of the moms like was kind of still yelling because of one of the calls and um even after she won. So this was like this like yeah right like right at the end and she said something and then one of their coaches was like who let this lady out out of the house AND LIKE GET BACK IN THE KITCHEN you know.

Oh said that yeah dude like super derog derogatory and I was just like I was like hey watch your I was like hey watch your mouth you know. I'm like I yelled back at their coach cuz I just was like dude that's not cool you know. And uh and so they're all just and he turns around and just kind of like looks back and uh he sees Justin. Well, so I'll be quiet. So we we have another uh parent who's he's this big jacked like Asian guy and he's um one of his kids like plays.

I've seen him at basketball games, but he just like calmly kind of walks over uh to to their coaches after the game and he's just like trying to like, "Hey man, like what why like why are you guys engaging?" so much, you know, with let's just let the kids play. And he was trying to be kind of like check them and be a little bit diplomatic about it. But then the coaches like kind of went off the hinges on him, start yelling at him, getting in his face.

What? What? What? And then like this other coach was kind of swarming over to the side of him and then some other people were coming this way. And so I was just like, you know, talking to Courtney and I saw this all kind of forming. You know how when when they start swarming and trying to kind of like zone in on one person? I was like, "No, dude." So, I just I walked right up right up right up uh to them and I kind of tapped one of the coaches on his shoulder.

I was like, "What's going on over here?" And he just kind of looks over me. He's like, "Oh, no, no, no, no. We're a good boss." Goosebump boss. Goosebump boss. Goosebump boss. And then and he's like yelling and he like grabs the coach. No, no, we got to go. go. go. Yeah, cuz Justin came over. It was so funny, dude, cuz it was like literally on the brink of And you felt it like, you know, it's in the air. Like I felt like they were going to like attack this guy, you know?

That's exactly what I pictured when you when you texted us. I'm like, "Oh, I know what happened." They started getting loud at each other and then Justin walked over and they thought, "It's probably not a good idea. If we we should probably chill out. Well, I was telling S when you were out in the bathroom. I said Justin has when these moments happen, Justin has that look on his face that's like that's like that's like I want to use that shoulder press strike. strike. strike. I'm looking for an I'm looking for an excuse.

He's got all this bearing. I've been bearing this [ __ ] Let it out. I have some moves I want to use, you guys. Like I I've never like really kick somebody hard. I've always wanted to do that. that. that. I want to uppercut like Oh my god. I was thinking about these things. I was like, it just it's like a switch though cuz like I'm like well he disrespected you know I'm like I'm not okay with that. Like if they do anything like they're done and it just you know what's the funny you know the funny thing about this is that I if all four of us were put in situations like this the most likely to fight would be Justin and then Doug and then you or I which I think is so opposite of what people would think.

I don't know you if someone got disrespected in right away. Okay. I'm quick what I'm quick about. So if someone was messing with defending it was for me. Yeah. Yeah. If one of you guys I would definitely be the first person if it was my wife. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. And and she didn't have like her husband wasn't there or anything. She was and they were kind of like verbally attacking her and like and I was just like no dude. Anyways, it was one of those things wasn't okay with it.

it. it. You know it just reminds me of that video you guys showed me. Was it you that showed me from that actor from Jack Reacher? Reacher? Reacher? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. What's the actor's name? Does anybody know? anybody know? anybody know? I don't actually know. Everybody knows him by Jack Reacher. Yeah. He got a body cam on and he's riding his motorcycle with his kids with his kids. And his kids have like mo motorbikes and they look young, bro. They look like they're seven, eight, maybe nine, maybe.

I don't know, like little kids, right? Alan Richson. Alan Richson. Alan Richson. Okay. And they're riding around a neighborhood and his body cam, you can watch the video online, and one of his neighbors stands in front of him to the point where he has to dump his bike. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's like, "YOU'RE RIDING AROUND THIS NEIGHBORHOOD." HE'S LIKE yelling at him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he's like, "Yo, man. Are you like are you drunk? Like what's going on. And so they go back and forth a little bit, gets on his bike again, and he's obviously irritated, so he revs it.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The neighbor gets right in front of him again, and then that's when he snaps and punches the guy. But I'm like, what a what a terrible situation to be in because your kids are there, there, there, you know? It's like part of me is like, I don't want to get violent in front of my kids, but then part of me is also I mean, I think he handled I mean, I think he handled it. I think he handled it right. Yeah. Like I mean, I think that like goes through your mind in the I think he did it.

I think uh He he eventually pushed the guy down. Yeah, I mean he eventually pushed the guy down and pummeled his ass, but I mean he first tried to diffuse it or was like, "What are you doing?" You know what I'm saying? And the guy was still, you know, berating him. It wasn't like It would be different if he hopped off his bike and just started whooping the dude's ass, right? That's a different story. different story. different story. But he jumped in front of him, which is not that's like dangerous.

Yeah. You know, he had to dump his bike as a result. But that's it's like the last thing you want to do as a parent cuz listen, you might think it's like you get in a situation like that, lose your temper. It's It's a terrifying for your kids to see their dad do that. Remember, you shared this story a long time ago about a kid who threw a basketball at the back seat. Yeah, dude. He threw a ball at I was driving my my This is when my older kids were little and we're driving.

There's a teenage kids playing basketball. And as we drove by, one of them thought it would be funny to throw the basketball at the car and it bounced off the back window. My daughter, who at the time was little, she was a little, she was like three or four maybe. And uh I I'm I'm already feeling the fumes because they hit the ball off and I was going to keep driving but then I looked at rearview mir looked terrified and that was it. I snapped. snapped.

snapped. That's when I pulled over. They all ran inside and I tore their basketball hoop off their thing. My kids never forgot that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh you know that whole thing and I regret, you know, losing my temper like that or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But man, But man, But man, did I did I share with you guys the the like I told you when the whole thing happened with my car the the M8 getting like totaled, right? like the like I was like trying to what is the lesson that I'm supposed to get from all this?

I tell you one of the things that like came up for me that was really interesting. I shared with Katrina she's like oh my god I've never heard you tell that story before and I'm like well I hadn't I said I hadn't thought about it hadn't came up cuz I was like really trying to figure out like what what is this supposed to be about? It's supposed to be like detachment from material things like whatever and not care and you know I I don't know you guys weren't around.

I think Doug saw a little bit, but I was like really just so calm about the whole thing and concerned about the guy who did hit it and everything like that. Inside my heart was broken, but um really tried to handle it with like, okay, what's the what's my lesson here? And so when I was 16, the first real materialistic thing that I ever obsessed over or loved was my Acura Integra. It was the first car. It was the first thing I ever got that was worth more than $1,000.

Um and I love that car. every dollar that every paycheck went into that thing. And so, I don't know if you know this or but I right after I had it for like maybe six months, I'm I'm I'm in the middle lane to to turn into a grocery store to go left and it's just pouring down rain. It's that kind of rain where your windshield wipers going as fast as possible and they still can't clear the rain off fast enough if it's raining like that. And uh a lady drifts over and clips me.

And when I I'm in the rain and and I'm in that and it slides, I in my head think it's like a little bump and I get out and I see my car and it's actually smashed in the exact same spot. Looks exactly the same as the M8. And I go I go apeshit. I'm a stupid 16 and a half, 17 year old kid, you know, and someone just broke my toy and I'm screaming and yelling and I'm all I rate out in the middle of the road with night raining down and I'm going and it was an old lady that was in the car and she was so scared she wouldn't get out of the car car car until the cops came.

The cops finally came and were there was when she finally would open her door and come out because here's this teenage boy who's Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, scared. Yes. like and I don't I can't see who she is at, you know, mad. mad. mad. I'm just mad. But I was cussing and swearing and swinging my arms and just like so pissed when I saw it. And I thought, "Oh, that's so crazy." Because that was I mean, I walked up on that situation with that guy and it was the total opposite.

It was like I didn't do that at all. I was more concerned about I was like, "Bro, we should probably get out of the car cuz he's in the middle of the street the middle of the street still." And he was totally kind of out of it. of it. of it. But I had forgot about that memory completely about that part of that at least at that part of that moment. I was like, "Oh, that's right. I forgot that when you saw the old lady, did you say sorry or were you still No, totally not.

I was You're still No, totally. I was so in my own my own moment. I was And I'm a young dumb 17-year-old kid. I still was mad at her. You know what I'm saying? Like I didn't The only reason I only thought about that now. I was like, "Oh, that's right. I forgot that I I She was so scared that she stayed in her car. her car. her car. I had someone scare me in my car like terrify the hell out of me." When I was 16 years old, I was driving this when I had a u I bought my first car that was mine was a Toyota pickup truck and I put rims on.

It was just a Ford banger. Like there's I didn't even have AC or power steering, but you know, it's my own car. But you had rims. I had rims of them rims. I had rims on it and I and I and I thought it was fast, which it wasn't. It was like 160 horsepower, you know, four four-cylinder. But I was driving and there was a truck next to me and I thought I'd race them because that's what I did all the time. And I took off at the light, went in front of him, put my hazards on because that's what you do when you beat someone, right?

To show them. them. them. And then I break checked him a little bit like, "Oh, yeah. I beat you." Well, it turned out to be the biggest human being I've ever seen in my life. He pulled up next to me and he was so mad and yelling at me and he was huge. He was the big He was jacked and huge and somebody that is and I I and I kept and I was looking at him and I kept saying to him, "I'm just a kid.

I'm just kid." a kid. I'm just kid." And then I got I had to stop at a stoplight and I stopped and he got out of his car and he was just as big as I thought he was and he tried to rip my side view mirror off and I kept telling him I was just a kid and he got in his car and took off and I remember being like, "Oh man, that was really scary." And years later, so now I'm 18. I'm the fitness manager at 24-hour fitness in Hillsdale.

One of my trainers was a competitive bodybuilder. Brought in his friend Mr. San Jose. It was that guy. He didn't recognize me. Yeah. He walks in. I'm like, I know who you're talking about. Big white dude. Yes. Massive white dude. Gold's gym. Yeah. I know exactly. Huge white dude. This is back in 97 or 98. 98. 98. I used to call him Troy cuz So, you can look him up if you want. He looks like that guy from Troy. But he walked in. He didn't recognize me, of course, but I looked like Oh [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] Oh no, dude.

There he is, bro. Wow. Wow. Wow. I had something like that happen. I was like in college and I was like pulling out of campus and there was this guy like, you know, I could see him in my rearview mirror like just like tailgating everybody behind and like swerving, going all crazy. Uh, and then he finally got to me and so I decided like, oh, I'm just screw this guy. I'm going to break check him. And I just kept breaking him. And the guy I can see the guy raging and going crazy.

And then we get to the stoplight and I'm here and he's next to me and he's like yelling and I'm rolling down my window. I was like, "What are you going to do?" And he literally takes his gun out of the center console. He's got it like this. And I and I just immediately was like, "Ah." And it turned right and just sped out to the right like right as like I I still think about that today. Like that's all been a huge deterrent for me to ever like get in the road rage stuff.

And it's like why why like why did I even get involved? Obviously he was like running from the cops or like something like he was not you never know. You don't want to mess with people now. It's like so hard to get me like in that space now like someone's doing something or whatever. I'm like whatever. It's not a big deal. And I Yeah. I've even had the thought like I've even had this thought where like someone's racing and trying to get around me or whatever.

I'm like what if it's like an emergency? Like what if the dude is trying to get somewhere or something like that? You never know. You know what I mean? Katrina is the master at that. She always has the ability like in those moments to like think of, yeah, well, what if this? And it's like, oh god, okay, what make me feel terrible? You know what I'm saying? Like that's like you never, you don't know, you have no idea what that person is, you know what it was going through or on their way to.

Yeah. So when I told this story, some horrible happened to them. I just remembered now I I told this story story story maybe a couple years later, so I'm 19 or 20. Told the exact story I just said to a friend of mine who then told me, this is a madeup story, and he's like, you know, he's like, this is let me tell you a story that'll help you. And he's like, "A dad gets on his on on a bus with his two kids and they're just acting up and they're just screaming and climbing the seats and throwing things and everybody's looking at this dad like, "Why don't you do something about it?

Why don't you?" Finally, one of the kids spits and it hits this woman and she stands up and screams to the dad, "What kind of father are you? Why aren't you, you know, helping your kids?" And he looks at her goes, "I'm sorry. Their mother just passed away and they don't know how to handle it." And I remember when I heard that it crushed me and I like, you know what, you don't know what people are going through. They could very well be massive jerks, but they could also be going through something.

Who knows? Anyway, uh I was uh uh some more studies are coming out on the best form of exercise for skin form of exercise for skin. For skin like what form of exercise improves the way skin looks the best? I'm going to ask not cardio. not cardio. not cardio. Yeah. I'm You guys know the answer to this. Yeah. this. Yeah. this. Yeah. You know this when you've seen fitness fanatics and the kind of exercise they do, there's a difference in their skin. There is. There is.

There is. Here's what they found in the study. strength training by far was the best because it increases collagen production systemically. systemically. systemically. So when you lift weights, uh obviously if you're building muscle, uh you're getting lots of protein synthesis. Part of this is collagen production. Okay. I was thinking oxidative stress was probably like well that's the other part with too much of any exercise. Sure. Sure. Sure. But it was the only form of exercise to really really boost collagen production in the skin. So it's like the best form of exercise with good-look skin.

Does that is is that like um like every time you're working out, you get this boost from it or is it like a sustained thing by carrying more lean body mass? You get it? Both. Both. Both. Yeah. Yeah. You get this you get this uh signal that says boost protein synthesis and then over time your body carries more uh collagen uh matrixes more more just muscle fibers larger muscle fibers. So it's literally, you know, you think of strength training as muscle building, it's protein building, uh, and which includes collagen, which is a protein.

So speaking of skin, by the way, uh, so Calera Lab, right, one of our partners, uh, they, one of the reasons why they're so good at what they do, they have a term called biomimetics. Um, biometics, biometics, biometics, biomimedics. And essentially what their theory or their their their methodology is is they want to they are trying to find and work with natural ingredients that act like skin. So uh do our formulas mimic and I'm reading off their website the skin's natural pathways. Uh in other words is this how the body the skin naturally moisturizes naturally boosts collagen production naturally reduces damage uh from UV rays.

Uh, and that's their that's the the the foundation of where they look at their their compounds and their formulations. Interesting. So, they're not trying to like like like uh because there's different ways to look at this. You could look at it from like a let's figure out what chemicals do this that the other or you could say how does the skin work and what helps the skin work with the skin? How do you enhance and measure something like that? like that? like that? I don't know, dude.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, obviously there's a way to do it because we we've used people have used pharmaceuticals to clear skin and do things like that, right? They're that's normally like some they're killing the bacteria or killing something. something. something. Yeah. It's kind of taking over the job. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's a good point. Like you want to get rid of a bunch of bacteria. Uh we could either antibiotic the hell out of you or we could figure out a way to improve the microbiome of whatever we're looking at, looking at, looking at, right?

And that's and that's got to be the difference, right? Like most your your chemical face products are designed to like kill and like start over on it, right? Like a like an antibiotic where this is doing something more like a probiotic, right? I don't know if that's a way to No, no, that's a good example. Totally. Doug, that picture you pulled up before, by the way, that was not Mr. San Jose. That was Mike Modarazzo, who was a Yeah, I couldn't find your Mr. San Jose.

Yeah, I would love to see a picture of this guy. Trying to remember six foot tall white dude. Flat top. Oh, flat top. Bald. The one I'm thinking. thinking. thinking. Uh, maybe he was bald. He was 6 foot. He was a tall dude for a bodybuilder. He obviously huge. obviously huge. obviously huge. Jacked. Yeah, Jacked. Yeah, Jacked. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I know who it is. I know. I feel like I know. That's why I want to see a picture. Isn't he still personal training? I believe I have no idea.

I think he's still personal training. White dude. Like straight up white dude. His face was red when he was yelling at me. me. me. I remember that part. Just veins in the forehead. I remember that part. Yeah. Yeah. I feel I feel like we have to know. I mean, the chances that we don't know him would be the higher. Did Did you guys see what happened with um uh Facebook, Instagram with Meta? No. Okay. So, they just I'll pull it up. Oh, wait. So, did they just pull a lot of their VR?

Um I I heard that they downsized uh because that was like a huge miss for them. I know that they they're cutting on that, but that's not the article that I article shows LA jury uh came out with a verdict that finds Instagram, YouTube, and in Instagram and YouTube, sorry, YouTube, sorry, YouTube, sorry, were designed specifically to addict kids. kids. kids. Yeah. No [ __ ] So they had to prove this in court, which uh that's not good for them at all. Mhm. all. Mhm. all. Mhm. That's not a good ruling because if you are found specifically and here's what my question is.

How do they prove this in the in the court? We're trying to make kids like it versus make it addicting. addicting. addicting. Yeah. Not only that, but like what's the difference? And then does that open the door for the all the gaming companies that do the same exact thing. If this kind of verdict sticks and starts to spread, you're right. And I'm going to say this as a parent, uh, you know, you make, if you use addictive science for children, I think that should be heavily regulated.

I do. I really do because of the way it affects the brain and development. Um, I think it's a problem. Addictive things for adults, I'm not a fan of either, but at least you're an adult and you can make your own decisions. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, Um, Um, you can Yeah. You can actually discern whether or not like you are addicted. Like it's like they Yeah. They're just susceptible to it. But, you know, I used to be like this huge like give people choices, make their own decisions, and I'm largely still that way, but more and more I'm realizing that um people just uh uh uh humans need help ourselves, dude.

Humans need or some sort of a moral foundation. foundation. foundation. Well, that for sure. Have you guys watched um that documentary? It's about plastics. plastics. plastics. I saw that, but I didn't see I didn't watch it. how pervasive it is has become over the last like decade or so. But yeah, it's got I forget her name, but she was on Joe Rogan before like hilarious lady. She talks about phalates and like she did the study with the taints and all that and the size and like reproduction.

like reproduction. like reproduction. That's right. Remember that study? The study that what about taints? Oh, she measured the taints. Oh, you brought one of you brought that up for a long time. long time. long time. They're getting shorter. Yeah, they get smaller and smaller. The area between the the the the front and the back. Yeah. shrinking related to these chemicals. She's showing all these petrochemicals like you know what I'm going to measure taints. I have this weird suspicion that they're shrinking. shrinking. shrinking. I have a hunch.

Yeah. Like like how do you come up with that? that? that? I have a hunch about your hunch. How do you you you How many t How many taints do you have to see before they're smaller? Before you have some sort of correlation, right, to draw to I don't know, man. These tanks are looking smaller than the ones I remember. I don't I don't know what websites you go to for that, but um yeah, so she I mean she was a big part of this uh movement and try you know trying to kind of check um a lot of these prochemicals that are just everywhere and there's there's literally there's so many regulations that you would hope like you know lead back in the day as an example, right?

like we found out that this everybody's IQ was dropping like a few points and then and crime went down when we crime went down. down. down. So there's all benefits once we started removing that, you know, from uh from gas and from like toys and all this kind of stuff. And it's like why wouldn't we look at like all these other chemicals that are literally in your everyday life and are not beneficial to you, in fact are harming. She actually took a bunch her uh experiment in this was with couples in fertility which I thought was it was really interesting to watch like um the it was like maybe six or seven different couples and they couldn't you know conceive and so they were literally trying out like to live a life without any of this exposure and everyday contact with um what did that look phalates it it was they just had to literally replace everything like there's a lot of companies out now that actually are trying really hard like clothing wise with you know drinking bottles like everything else like to to start removing a lot of the plastics and and a lot of these phalates.

But um so what was cool though was and it was really like oh man tugged on your heart a bit cuz like they have their story of how many times they've tried how it's been like 10 years for you know some of these couples and then and then you see them going through a year of this process and it was like I think maybe five out of the seven couples or whatever like were able to have a kid. Wow. Wow. Wow. And it was remarkable and you're like wow this is crazy.

And then of course, you know, there's, you know, there were some stipulations with the other ones why it didn't uh work for them, but like five out of seven is not bad for people who are infertile or having those. Yeah, it was pretty remarkable. But it just made me think about that like how how crazy like uh inundated we are. Clothes, bed sheets, medicine, medicine, medicine, things we drink from medicine. Yeah. I was going to say what are what do you think are the probably the top five offenders?

offenders? offenders? You know, you got to here's the deal with prochemicals. with prochemicals. with prochemicals. uh you can directly pills everything pills everything pills everything you can directly connect uh the use of uh petroleum and petroleum based chemicals and the growth of the world's population population population they are directly related sure sure sure and we're so dependent on them that uh this is a way bigger problem than we got to get rid of them so so my point is though like if if someone was trying to to like minimize their exposure their exposure their exposure would what would be the first five things that you go to?

Your house would be wood, glass, alum, aluminum. You have all cotton bed. Yeah. Yeah. But that's unrealistic, S. So, go back to what I'm saying. Like you're going to the things are I think of you lay in your bed for 8 hours, right? So, that's got to be one of the places you drink out of a bottle or something like that. So, probably avoiding plastic. avoiding plastic. avoiding plastic. Cosmetics is a big one. Yep. Yep. Yep. Cosmetics. Cosmetics. Cosmetics. Big one. Big one. Big one. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Beauty products. Beauty products. Beauty products. What do you got for top five, Doug? Uh yeah, major sources soft vinyl toys, vinyl flooring, cosmetics. Yeah, but that's what that Okay, so that's fits are commonly found. That's what they're found in. I would think of what like uh like my son's toys aren't affecting me as much like what what's affecting each individual like unless you he's sucking on it, putting it on your mouth. your mouth. your mouth. I know. You think even PVC like the drinking water and all that you got to replace the like copper and uh Yeah, it's there.

It's just there's so many things that's like, yeah, where do you start? Uh, she kind of outlines like a good outline for that. You absorb it through your skin. So, it's not like, you know, you play with it a toy like that. I know. But, okay. But, so then something on your skin, like I said, like sheets or something like that all night long would be something more than something you just touch for 5 minutes, right? right? right? Yeah. Cosmetics, I'd say, is probably one of the worst, I would imagine.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because you're literally putting it on your skin all day long. Yeah. I would think drinking drinking out of a water bottle too would probably be be be well that's the microplastics which is which is a really big one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did you see that? Oh that doesn't fall in the same category. category. category. So nanoplastics I don't care what kind of plastic it is. Nanoplastics just get stored in your your organs. So it could be phalate free So it could be phalate free nanoplastics but it doesn't matter.

They accumulate. accumulate. accumulate. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There was that one right that one study with people with Alzheimer's? They found like a teaspoon worth of nano particles in their brain. That's a lot. Yeah dude. That's a lot for inside the brain. Yeah, it is like a teaspoon. That's what freaked me out. I started taking psyllium husk as a result of that. Yeah. that. Yeah. that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is that a supplement to help with that? So, they we think so. Things that bind. So, psyllium husk might help.

Um, you know what else they found that helps? Uh, probiotics. Uh, probiotics. Uh, probiotics. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I was saving this for a commercial, but I'll talk about later. There's a freebie there. Yeah. Yeah. No, no. Probiotics uh probiotics are shown to um because because your gut microbiome can get rid of a lot of nano nanoplastics. nanoplastics. nanoplastics. Yeah. And so there are strains of of bacteria that do it quite a bit. They actually tested it like specifically. Yeah. And I mean if you look too like a lot of it was I don't know dude it it the documentary kind of has this bias right.

It's like kind of anti- capitalist on some level right because it's trying to really pressure the the companies responsible. But you start looking at it too like um they were misleading the consumer by saying like all these things were recyclable which there was this big movement there and then it it it boosted sales and it lasted for another decade of like really inundating us with more plastic. You know it's one of my favorite examples further. examples further. examples further. You know it's one of my favorite examples of like a we made we did we made a bad stupid decision.

Playgrounds right the floor on the playgrounds. What is it made of? Yeah. rubber. The rubber tires, bro. That's rubber shredded, bro. Just giving off. All the All the high school football fields, too. fields, too. fields, too. The heat, The heat, The heat, the gases it, bro. We used to play on wood. It was It was tambar. All the all the high school football fields are out of that, too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All the astroturf is the same thing. Yeah. It's all little tiny. I hate that cuz I slide and get so asturf like the that's the all the high school football fields now that are all nice and pretty and they're perfect and they don't have to be watered and that the what they're using is tiny little particles of recubs.

recubs. recubs. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Doug, look up how much uh like what kind of chemical exposure say chemical exposure from playground flooring. I'd like to see uh what that says because um you can smell it if it's hot. Oh yeah. You know, and it's all bouncy. I guess it's safe. But meanwhile, my kids getting, you know, feminized or something. I don't know. I do. It's like turning, you know, take zero estrogen to my kids. Like playground surface. What does that say? Hold on. Made from recycled tire crumb poured in place rubber and artificial turf contain toxic chemicals.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Including lead. Including lead. Including lead. Oh my god. Wow. Are you serious? And endo endocrine disruptors that can pose risk to children via inhalation, ingestion, or skin cut. So, no one's going to eat the flooring. I'm sure some people people people Yeah. Well, you think about the kids but skin contact and breathing. They talked about the kids on playing football. Think about you getting tackled and it comes flying up. It's like all these tiny little black dots. I got my eyes and like I was always like uh uh uh so for sure it gets ingested and get in your mouth and getting tackled on a football field.

football field. football field. What was wrong? What was wrong with Tambark? Why don't we switch it out? Is there something wrong with Tambar? I think that was money. Yeah, it's Yeah, it's Yeah, it's it can't be more dude. I think the bounciness of it. billions of tires that just get thrown away. They found a way to reuse a material. I think Justin's right. I may be wrong. I bet you tambar is cheaper, but parents like the bouncy safety. I'll bet that all day long. Tambark is not cheaper than the recycled rubber tire.

tire. tire. Is artificial uh not artificial turbact is r is the I don't know. Put down say is the rubberized uh playground flooring cheaper than tambar. Let's see what that says. I think tambar's cheap, dude. That's like No, it's it's No, it's not. You don't think so? No. Have you ever used you ever put tan bark in? I mean, I did it for my house. It's not. It's I mean, it's cheap. It's not like crazy expensive. It's not like laying tile, but it's certainly recycled tires that are thrown away have to be cheaper.

cheaper. cheaper. Uh, no. Rubber playground flooring is not cheaper than told you in terms of cost. Done googling, bro. I don't Hey, hey, I'm just going to tell you this. I am now typing in exactly what sounds. what sounds. what sounds. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. No, no, no, no. Scroll down. Scroll down. Okay. Open that. Open that part right there. Tambark wood mulch. Initial cost low. It's the most budget friendly often costing about $150. The problem is you have to keep replacing it. replacing it. replacing it.

That's I I don't think that's why they did it. I think it's cuz they thought it was safer to have kids. I also Okay. I also want to look up like Yeah, the port in place one's definitely I also I'm curious how we're looking from a retail perspective too. Just because people are charging $6 to $10 doesn't mean that that that they're not getting it for looking at cost. Yeah. I think you would like that doesn't mean that just because we're getting that's the retail prices right now.

right now. right now. I I hope somebody retail for sure. I would bet money I'll bet you 50 bucks that the reason why they use the rubber poured in stuff or the rubber is because people requested quote unquote safer flooring. flooring. flooring. I think you're right. Not because it's it's cheaper. Because tan bark is cheap as hell. Now over time I could see how the rubber stuff might be cheaper because you don't have to replace it like you do tanark. Well, it's a feature. Schools like to highlight like even my old elementary did that and then they replace the the playgrounds and then as they replace it they have the rubber coating everywhere and it looks it it's the perception of it is definitely like oh it's safer this way.

way. way. Yeah. See there you go. Rubber playground flooring is used over tambar primarily for superior safety, lower long-term maintenance, and increased durability. durability. durability. It provides better shock absorption to prevent injuries, does not rot or require annual replacement like wood mulch, and is accessibility friendly. Oh, Oh, Oh, cuz you could roll in cuz you could roll in with a wheelchair or something like that probably. probably. probably. Oh, Oh, Oh, yeah. yeah. yeah. That's that's That's that's That's that's I didn't think about that. Yeah. So, but I think it's this it's the whole selling it like oh look Timmy could fall down and not you know uh uh uh plus we used to throw tan bark you know which which which used to throw it at people.

I find that really interesting because you would think that stuff that is getting thrown away would be much cheaper. cheaper. cheaper. Tire tires are getting thrown away. Yeah, you still got to process it. You still got to process it and turn it into something else. something else. something else. No, you had to process the tan bark that's that was a tree before. Yeah, but tan bark is wood that is cheap and easy to process. It's not like build anything off of tan bark. Like what do you use tanark for?

Yeah, but there's there's there's like just tires that just get thrown away that nobody that nobody that nobody Yeah, you got to process it, bro. That's why it's so expensive. Process it and turn it. It's I'm telling you this whole like we got to make things safer. Oh, by the way, saves water. water. water. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I I could see that that's definitely the selling point. I mean, I'm sure that's how they closed everybody on it. I just feel like that it it seems like tires that would be given away.

given away. given away. Not to mention, I wonder if the plastic playgrounds do the same thing now that I think about it. What? What? What? All the playgrounds are plastic. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. The slides. Yep. Everything's plastic. Is that doing the same thing? same thing? same thing? Especially getting in the heat like it's the plastic slide that your kid slides down instead of the old giving up. That's why I'm like the old metal one that used to burn you at 2:00 in the afternoon. We got burned.

Hey, listen. We might have got burned, but our taints are large. Yeah, we got we got really wide taints. taints. taints. We got big tanks, dude. Big taint energy. Shout out to Metal Slides. Yeah, metal bte. I got to talk about my ketone uh IQ regimen. It's three a day right now. You guys got to get in. I'm No, I'm okay. So, I was going to tell you, are you sold? So, yeah. No, what I like is that I can drink my normal caffeine drinks and then I can have the one that's non-caffeinated and still get that like mental clarity sharpen.

sharpen. sharpen. Are So, you're using them regularly? I do. Well, I wouldn't say regular. I'm not as I don't think I do not as I'm not as I don't think I do anything as regular as you do. Although my supplement regime has been I saw you today pouring a bunch of Yeah. No, ever since that I've been pretty good with that. I haven't made my keto that consistent, but I make it when we we podcast. So yeah, I do it first thing in the morning uh before our first episode.

Then I do it at lunch uh before our second episode and then I do a third one. You don't do as like a pre-workout before I jump before. So I'm using Well, I mean I've tried it pre-workout but I like it for like cognitive stuff. So I'll tell you how I use it. So, we've now done two podcasts basically right now and then we have a full day left of content shooting. I'll go I'll take one after this. after this. after this. Yeah, busy days I'm definitely taking because after about three podcasts or say four or five hours of content, whether it's podcasting or we're shooting out there, that's where I start to get mental fatigue.

And so, I'll I'll use it now because I've already drank my caffeine early and I'm fine right now, but I know that we've got hours ahead of us. us. us. Feel sharp. Feel sharp. Feel sharp. Yeah, I'll feel sharp. Feel sharp. Doug, uh, when does, uh, does this, when this episode released, we're still has time before. Two days. Two days. In two days, Maps Pushpull Legs comes out. out. out. Pushpull Legs. Pushpull Legs. Pushpull Legs. Top Five. Justin Co. Crown Pleaser. Crown Pleaser. Crown Pleaser. Men's version, women's version.

Well, yeah. I hope people prove me right. right. right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It'll be it'll be fun. And I I'm excited about this one just because it's a fun program. People want it. So, we did it. did it. did it. And that Wednesday, Cole will be coaching for it for the first three days. days. days. You'll get it for free. Yep. Yep. Yep. There's a new fatty acid that's making waves. It's called C15. So, this isn't fish oil. This is a fatty acid that's found in dairy.

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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 round table based. So you can hear Adam, Justin, and myself teaching you how to build a better business, get more leads, close more deals, close bigger deals, and be more effective trainers. By the way, our course is nationally recognized. In fact, it gives you 1.9 CEUs with or for your NASM certification. Find out more at mindpunfitnesscoaching.com. Our first caller is Kristen from Oklahoma.

Oklahoma. Oklahoma. Hi, Kristen. How you doing? Hi. Thank you for having me on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How can we help you? I'm just going to go ahead and get to my question. I clearly did not proofread before I sent it, but um okay. I recently stopped working with a personal trainer. I was with her for about three years. I learned a lot, but it was a lot of pressure and stress. I kind of decided it was time to move on. Now I'm trying to navigate moving forward.

I meal prep the four days I work. I still have some disordered eating habits such as binging mostly with sweets. So, I did increase my calories to about 1,900. Um, I've considered micro doing a GLP1 to see if I could help combat the binge eating, mostly sweets, is my biggest issue. I'm currently about 140 lbs and I'm 5'7. I work as a nurse. I have a four and a 5-year-old. I'm at the point now with my kids getting older that I can work out consistently. I typically allow 30 minutes a day working out.

My brother created me an exercise plan that I shoot for for about 4 days a week. Um, I do about a 6 minute cardio circuit just for heart health. I hit about 8 to 10k steps a day. My current macros are 155 gram of protein, 175 gram of carbs, 64 gram of fat. I would like to gain muscle, but not sure if I'm getting enough time in the gym for that. I was looking into anabolic for my next program and have been in this program my brother made me for about 3 months.

I'm just looking for overall health at this point, maintaining and being able to gain strength to be the healthiest I can be. I feel like I would be leaps and bound ahead if I w if it wasn't for the binge eating cycle. You're way under. Yeah. Let's pause. Way way under eating. But let's pause for a second, Kristen. I'm going to just I'm going to sum this all up. So, really Okay. Uh you were with a trainer, but you stopped because of the pressure that you that you that you uh you um meal prep, work out, uh but you you feel like you binge too much on sweets.

So, you're considering a GLP1. You want to get strong strong and be healthy. healthy. healthy. Yeah. Um, Yeah. Um, Yeah. Um, so that's your main thing, but then also you're not making progress or at least the kind of progress you think you want to see. to see. to see. So I need let's get specific. What do we want? Do we want health, health, health, less pressure, less pressure, less pressure, get leaner, get leaner, get leaner, stronger? Which which one do we want? So obviously I'm like any woman.

My husband rolls eyes, but I want obviously the tone look. But I've kind of realized going through all this process that if I want to have a more muscular look, I obviously need to gain muscle and I would have to probably gain some weight with that. So I've kind of decided to shift my mindset and be okay with gaining some weight. Okay. Okay. Okay. To get some muscle and then maybe do I mean nothing like not an aggressive cut because I don't want to I want to be able to eat with my family and you know good good good not be super restrictive.

Okay. You're you're already in an aggressive cut. Just so you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You going up to 1,900 calories would be considered an aggressive cut for a 5'7 140 lb woman who does 8 to 10,000 steps and is training 3 to 4 days a week. That's a that's a massive cut. Right now Karen, who I'm training right now, okay, is uh 106 lbs eating 2700 calories, only getting 8,000 steps into it. Okay. She's like, "Okay, you need way way more calories." Now, we work our way up to that.

that. that. Yeah. So, it's not like I want you to all a sudden eat 2700 calories tomorrow. But the reason why part of one of the reasons why you're binging is your body is telling you we need more fuel. You're we need way and then and you feel like you're white knuckling it trying to be good. And then what does it want? It wants it wants the fastest source of carbohydrates and fuel as possible because you're depriving it. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, if we were in a more balanced well-fed diet, it would also help out with the binging.

it would you. So instead of going to something like a GLP-1 and crushing your appetite even more than where you're at, we need to do a proper reverse diet. Focus on getting strong and building muscle. Not weigh yourself because if you're already in that mindset of I'm okay with a little like don't focus on the weight the weight the weight slowly incre focus on the strength in the gym and feeling good and that's where our mindset should be and to get our calories our calories our calories significantly up.

Like I would want you to be all eventually get up to 2700 plus calories to be able to come back down to say 2200 calories and that's an aggressive cut and you lean out and you're more fed than you are now. Yeah. I obviously don't have any problem eating a lot of food or a lot of protein. My biggest fear was if I were to increase my calories if I would still have those habits and then I would just be eating I don't know how many calories, you know, at that point.

No. No. But let's let's pause here for a second cuz Adam just gave you all the right answers. But I have a feeling you knew that. knew that. knew that. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I kind I knew that's where it was going. I'm just scared to do it, I think. Right. So, we got to speak to that. So, cuz I don't think you need the answers. I think you know the answers. I just Yeah. I mean, I just wanted some reassurance, I guess, that to increase the calories that high.

But I'm just scared that I'll be like, "Oh, there's the chocolate cake and I want to eat half of it." You know what I mean? And then I'm eating like 3500 calories. Yeah. Let's talk about that. because you're like, I want to get stronger and build muscle, but I want to micro do GLP-1. Do do you I know it's like an oxymoron. Well, not just that, but do you see the the the conflict that's happening there? So, let's speak to that for a second. Okay. Okay.

Okay. You want to build muscle because you know that's the right answer. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. But that but you're scared. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because you feel like you're going to go off the rails. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, I'm going to help Okay. So, I'm going to help you here. Okay. Cuz you're probably not going to go off the rails. Yeah, you might a little bit at first because you might be, and correct me if I'm wrong, Kristen, but you might be the kind of person that keeps yourself in check check check with lots of pressure and shame.

Probably. Yeah, cuz I feel guilty about it and then I'm like, "Oh, I'm not going to eat as much tomorrow." And then I just eat the same amount of food. And so that's been your MMO uh for a little while. And so what happens is you're like, "If I let go of that, what's going to happen?" Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I'll tell you what's going to happen. You might go off a little bit. You might test it a little bit. Uh but then you're gonna find that it's actually quite freeing.

And what you've And part of the reason why you binge, there's the physiological reason, which is what Adam said, and we'll get there. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. But the other part of reason why you binge is because if you live in that place where you're putting a lot of pre like you got kids, right? You're tyrannizing yourself. Okay. So, and your kids your your kids are young, I'm assuming. Yeah, they're four and five. Okay. But you've been around teenagers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And you're pretty young.

Remember when you were a teenager? What happens when mom and dad put so much pressure on you? What do you do at some point? Or what do you want to do at some point? You want to what? You want to rebel. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So, what you're doing is you're rebelling against your own pressure. That's what the bing that's part of the reason why you're binging is it's it's a release release release of pressure. It's like, "Oh god, I live under this tyranny all the time.

Let me just let go for a second." And then you do and then, oh, right back on the pressure. No. No. That's truly how I feel. I'm like, "Oh, this is great. I'm just eating all this." And I was like, "I know I'm going to regret this later." That's right. That's right. Then the guilt sets in. That's right. So So part of it is you're you're physiologically hungry. And then the other part of it is you got to get out of that that like you got to be okay with Yeah.

You got to stop beating yourself up. Like you got to you got to stop that this relationship. If you keep it going, you're always going to be this way. Let me also tell you like more back to like what's happening too. Like so let's say let's say like to to more to South's point like uh let's say I was coaching you. First thing I do is I move you up to to to 22 22 2300 calories and I we're strength training three days a week. You're doing great.

You're feeling good, feeling strong. And then all a sudden you have a day where you you hit you do everything. You eat everything normal and then all a sudden you also eat a big bowl of ice cream too. Guess what's going to happen? Pretty much nothing. You're not going to put a pound of fat on. The next day you'll probably be holding some water. So psychologically you'll look in the mirror and go, "Oh my god, I g No, you didn't. You added 500 calories. 500 calories is not a pound of fat.

It's not even a half a pound, not even a quarter of a pound of fat. What you'll probably do is end up fueling our strength training workout the next day and you're going to feel strong and have a lot of energy and and we get right back on the horse and we keep going and we try versus oh, I can't believe I did that and then the next day trying to restrict more or whatever like that or punish yourself like so like so like so that and some of this this is where I think I feel like a lot of our clients uh that we work with this is the hardest.

It's like you get you know logically what you're supposed to do, do, do, but having somebody who's there who's kind of reminding you like and just coaching you talking and giving you the tools to handle it. If if I were to bump your calories, the place I would bump it is fats. 64 is probably too low and your protein's great, carbs are great. Uh I bet you if you went up to you added 20 grams of fat, maybe a little carbs to get your calories up 200 calories, I bet you would feel physiologically better.

physiologically better. physiologically better. Okay? And if you have a binge, here's what you do. Okay? If you have the binge, uh, or that moment or whatever, after you're done, this is what you say to yourself. Of course, you did that. You're under a lot of pressure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Of course you did. It's okay. It's all right. We'll try again. And that's not letting yourself off the hook. hook. hook. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's not letting yourself off the hook. What you're doing afterwards, what you're typically probably doing is like, you idiot, that's it.

Tomorrow we're going to really clamp down. That's what's causing more of them. I know. I know. I know. So, so you got to and I want you to say what I'm saying because it's not natural. You're going to feel like it's silly and awkward, but you literally say uh out loud by yourself. You can even write it down. That's another way you can do it. Be like, "Of course you did this. this. this. You're under a lot of pressure. You got kids. You got a job.

And I just beat you up all the time. And so, of course, you wanted to escape a little bit. I totally get it. We're just going to try again." You got to say that to yourself. Bump the calories. Do what I said. I think Maps Anabolic will be a great program for you. for you. for you. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. And and and I think you're going to get great results. great results. great results. Follow it the way it's laid out. Okay. Okay. Okay.

More is not better. Uh if you do anything else, walk. Yeah. You want you want to do more more stuff, you want to be active or I'm all pro walking. That's good. But follow the program the way it's laid out. out. out. And then and then here's the other thing. I'll just ask you a couple questions before I give you this advice. How's your husband with all this? Does he does he tell you you look good? Is he encouraging? encouraging? encouraging? Oh, yeah. And I I feel like I look great.

Like I have no concerns about how I look. It's I feel like a lot of it is mental. Like I read the Dopamine Nation and I was like, I have to figure this out. Like why am I doing this? But he's super supportive. He's like, "Stop. Just enjoy it." I'm like, "I'm just going to feel guilty the next day." Like, Like, Like, so so cuz Okay, you got your husband. You love them. You trust them. You father your children. I want you to lean on him a little bit.

And then this and this is what you tell him. Hey honey, uh I need your encouragement. And if you feel like I need to rein things in, I want you to gently talk to me about it because I'm not gonna trust myself because I I don't I don't think I'm trustworthy with this for myself. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And lean on him a little bit. But but I'd go up in fat. Matt's metabolic. You're going to be totally fine. But Okay. And you think like 200 calories a week just increase?

Yep. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. And see how I do. Oh, you you you could go higher than that, but we'll start there. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Have you do you know that we have coaches that do this, too? Do you know that? Are you aware of that? Yeah, I just I had a good coach, but she doesn't have children and I feel like I was kind of like running in the ground and if it's going to take time away from my kids, then kids, then kids, then I'm not doing it to be honest.

So, you don't need another uh Christian training you. You you need something different. different. different. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, if you're open, we have coaches and I have someone I think would work well uh with what you're what you probably need. probably need. probably need. And if you want, I can have somebody reach out and call you. Um yeah, I mean, I would love to talk to somebody any more support I could get. So, only it's it's only a single call a month virtually. That's it.

It's and they they they Oh, yeah. That's super low key. I was doing like weekly check-ins. Oh, yeah. No, no, no, no. It's they you'll get you'll get plans sent to you and they're really their goal is to guide you and then that once a week when you guys get on the phone, check up on how the month went, the adjustments. And so, it's Yeah. No, we're we really try and empower our clients to to do this stuff. And we don't need to be talking to you every single week.

You'll get stuff that you can open up and read and valuable to you, but there's not this like accountability, you need to do this every day type of deal. yourself, measure yourself. Yeah. So, uh, we'll have someone call you and they can tell you this, but that what Sal laid out for you and we'll send you Maps Anabolic. That's the plan. If you f if you find yourself wanting more guidance and then and then get with one of the coaches, they'll take good care of you.

of you. of you. Okay. Well, thank you guys so much. It was nice to meet you. I enjoy your podcast. podcast. podcast. I too. Thank you. Okay. Record Okay. Record Okay. Record common. Very, very common situation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And uh you know, self tyranny. self tyranny. self tyranny. Oh yeah. Everybody does it. Everybody does it. And when you do it for so long that you're like, if I don't do this, what's going to happen? Oh my god. I'm going to go in the other direction.

direction. direction. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh when when it the reality is the reason why you have these little breaks of whatever you want to call it, discipline or discipline or discipline or is because you're trying to escape. Clamping. You're clamping down so hard. Yeah. It's like I need to get away from this, you know? It's like a relief, you know? know? know? I mean 5'7 140 lbs is good weight. No, she's fit, dude. Yeah, she is. She if she she just wants to lean tone, you know what?

Like she used used used uh she needs to build muscle. She ain't building no and she just went up to 1900 which tells me she was probably at real low. Yeah. low. Yeah. low. Yeah. Yeah. And and that much activity. Yeah. I know. And then that and then you're already doing the whole you know restricting on yourself and tyrannizing yourself and but you're what you're feeling is that your body needs it wants more. And the other part that we need to speak to is this GLP-1 uh situation where uh there are definitely situations where it's valuable and then there's situations where I don't think it's appropriate.

This is one of them. It's not appropriate and it may give short-term success but it is not going to solve the root issue. No, I mean she can take a GLP1 and drop down to 130 lbs and eat,00 calories a day. That's what it would do. Someone who's only eating 1,900 takes a GLP1. She'll be lucky to eat, 1100 calories and she'll drop 5 to 10 lbs, but she'll lose almost all muscle. She'll be terrible. terrible. terrible. Be good. Be good. Be good. Next caller is Adam from California.

What's up, man? How you doing? What's happening? What's happening? What's happening? Hey, thanks for having me on, guys. I I feel like uh I'm obligated to glaze you boys. boys. boys. Go ahead, brother. Go ahead. Let me get I know you guys hear it all the time, but uh as somebody who has been in business a long time now, like I truly do believe like what you guys do is the highest form of entrepreneurship um and really helping people solve like what are maybe the most serious problems, right?

And so just kudos to you, man. You deserve all your success and you know, I I pray for nothing but success for you guys in the future as well. Um, and then PSA to anybody that's listening, like you know, these guys know what they're talking about. I I was skeptical. I went to uh I finally got to a point where I was like, you know, I'm just going to prioritize protein. I'm just going to hit my 200 g of protein every day. I'm going to see what that does.

And like literally every aspect of my life is better. Like dropping fat, feeling I feel amazing. Uh, I usually, you know, I go to bed, I'm sore. I've been I've been usually just after a long walk through my hilly neighborhood with the dogs and my legs are killing me. I wake up every morning like I've been on vacation for a week. Like I feel amazing. That's great. That's great. That's great. And so, uh, just appreciate you guys. My question's not so much about me. I feel like I'm doing great.

And, um, it's about my son, uh, Ethan. He is going to be 14 here in July. Um, you know, he's he I was an athlete. He's an athlete. My daughter's an athlete. He He focuses on baseball. Um and he's a very skilled player. He's he's a late I was a late bloomer um developmentally. Um we think he's just started puberty like right now. So this is actually the first year he's he's on a a pretty good travel uh program right now. This is the first year baseball's been hard for him.

Like we're facing kids that 6 12 in taller than him. Uh jeez, on Sunday we faced a 280lb kid that was throwing like 80 mph. Crazy man. And uh his plan was cuz he's a young eighth grader right now. His plan was to do a holdback year. And he's such a social guy that as we got closer to having to make that decision. He was he was like, you know, I'm going to go to high school next year. I don't want to uh be away from my to I don't want to uh be away from my friends.

And so we kind of turned our focus to all right, man. You got to get more athletic. You got to get stronger. and and you kind of got to get after it, right? And he was down to do that. And so, let me tell you what we got him doing right now. Um, we got him. He's 5'4, 5'4, 5'4, 155 lbs. He's he's he's got some pudge on him, some baby fat and things like that that he's working through. Um, he definitely needs to get stronger, faster, leaner, um, more agile, just more athletic in general to be able to compete uh in in high school next year.

Um, and he's he's getting after it. So, right now we've got him at a our target is 150 g of protein a day. So, that may be a little high. That may be, you know, right around the ballpark. Um, he's doing uh, you know, for speed, he's doing hill sprints a few days a week. He he obviously practices, uh, all the time. Um, and then for strength, um, I've got him focused, uh, like trying to keep it simple. He's doing farmer carries. everything he's doing twice a week.

Farmer carries, he's doing deadlifts. Um for uh chest, he's doing, you know, one day we're doing flat bench, the next the next uh chest workout we're doing incline dumbbell press. Um we I've got him doing front raises for shoulders. I do have him doing military press. The shoulder stuff we're doing like once a week cuz he throws so much um for baseball. Um and then yeah, I'm just I'm looking for for guidance from you. I I I I would say that his I'm feeding him a lot of lean cuts right now and so I I am worried that he's underfeeding.

Um he's probably between 1,700 and 1900 calories every day. Um and I'm wondering if if we should boost that up by giving him fattier cuts of meat um primarily. And then, you know, my thought is because he's young, he's able to recover so quickly, uh, that as long as we keep the weight relatively light and focus on his form that he should be able to crush volume. He should be recovering pretty quickly. Um, but again, you know, I I didn't start lifting until, you know, I started playing football in high school.

It was a it was a different world. It was a ton of volume, a ton of, you know, just heavy lifting. Uh my focus right now, one is everything we do, I want to make sure it's safe. I I don't want to cause any problems for him, of course. Um and then two, you know, I want to maximize, you know, his ability to to get more athletic and and be able to compete with confidence as he uh kind of reaches the next stage of his athletic career.

career. career. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So, I I I'm want to hear you guys out. Uh I know you guys are all athletes. Uh Justin, I know you you fellow fellow college football player um would love to hear your perspectives. That's really good. So there's really good data now that we didn't have uh back in the day on uh young athletes and what uh contributes to their performance later on the most. It's really really good data. Uh but before I talk about that, is he enjoying all this stuff?

He is. He's really getting into it, man. Like his YouTube algorithm now when I check it, it's all fitness stuff. It's all exercise stuff. It's rad. Cuz that's number one. Number one, he's so young, you know, you want to make sure he uh he he's developing a good relationship with it. He likes it. Otherwise, you'll run into the like, you know, scenario where the kid gets pushed and then later on they're like, I don't want to do this anymore type of deal. The second thing, and this is the most important thing to focus on with a young athlete, especially one whose body is going to be changing rapidly, uh is body awareness and kinesthetic ability.

more important than anything because so the the the brain is extremely plastic at younger ages. So a good example of this is like learning new languages. Like if you and I learn a new language right now, no matter how well we learn it, we're always going to have an American accent no matter what. But you teach a kid four different languages when they're young, they'll be able to speak all four of them as adults fluently. And that's because the brain has an ability when you're younger that you essentially lose when you're older.

It's this this this plasticity. And this also extends to body awareness and kinesthetic ability. So what you learn when you're younger uh with body awareness will last and improve your athletic performance later. So here's what the data shows. Let's say you got a kid that's really gifted at baseball, okay? And let's say we could like duplicate that kid and and on one end we take them and we just focus on baseball because they're good at it and that's where we place all of our time and energy.

and then they get to college and then and then they, you know, play at that level. Let's say on the other hand, we take this kid who loves baseball. He still plays baseball, but we also have him run, do gymnastics, do swimming, play golf, soccer. So, he's just doing a lot of different things up until he's probably a sophomore in high school. Then he focuses on baseball. He's going to be better at baseball than the kid that focused all his time on baseball baseball baseball because of that that general body awareness.

Okay. So, that's the most it's even more important than getting him strong at a particular lift. It's more important than anything. So, variety is the name of the game. Uh when it comes to your kid, uh not getting him hurt, very, very important. As long as he loves it, it's great. Strength training is good for that. uh and and his body on top of that is changing so rapidly that body awareness becomes even more important because let's say he's really good at you know throwing a baseball right now and then in 3 months he gains an inch in height which could totally happen his body's totally different now his mechanics are off and it's going to be weird it's like when you see a puppy grow real quick kind of awkward awkward awkward and we've seen that he's and we've seen that he's grown an inch in the last two months and you know he he does pitch and his control has suffered through that process.

So, that makes a lot of sense. So, it's all about body awareness and variety. I love the carries. Uh, you know, the traditional exercise are good, too, but have him do lots of of different things and get used to his body. Body weight movements seem to be better at better at better at low suspension trainer. So, like what they call clos chain movements. So, like bench press is great, push-ups might be better, overhead press is good, shoulder uh, you know, handstand push-ups might be better. So, that So, you want to kind of look at that kind of stuff.

Suspension trainer is great. Gymnastic style exercises are good and kind of like these these like like full body type movements, multiplaner type stuff for sure. Uh, and honestly, honestly, honestly, um, you know, going through this with that type of a an age range for me, like exposing them at the compound lifts, it's got to be very minimal, uh, and hyperfocused. So, you know, their mechanics are are everything with that. So, you know, like our 15 program, so I was thinking like performance 15, you know, just taking that sort of protocol, but then, you know, the days in between where he does his skill sessions and he's working on speed.

One thing that's the one of the most uh important skills of basically any athlete is to is speed. Speed is going to carry them so much further than than most attributes. And you get speed by getting strong and then you know we apply acceleration to that. Uh and so to be able to have you know uh the ability of body control um you know move in different planes you know get exposure to those variables like S's talking about. It's like super important. So, you know, but light doses of compound lifts uh to really build up that baseline strength is going to be really important.

But like uh the mistake I made and mistake a lot of athletes I've worked with make are they overdo that and they they do really long sessions. They do hourong to two hour long or they do it like four or five times a week. Uh I would reduce that down to like maybe two to three but like only two to three like compound lifts on those days. Two exercises on those days and that's it. So it' be like a 15 protocol but just like twice a week.

Uh and then the rest of it is all just you know field work and and speed work. So that I mean that would be my suggestion. Yeah. I' I'd send over maps 15 performance to him. Uh you can use those first of all. Does he play does he is he in other sports too or is it just baseball he's into? You know he was he played basketball and soccer and then you know once he was done with his 12year-old seasons he really just wanted to focus on baseball.

So it was kind of his call. we kind of push him to do other things and and try to get him into flag. He's going to be huge, right? So, I'm like, you know, football is always there. Um, but, you know, he just he loves baseball and that's what he wants to focus on. We did a really cool interview years ago. Uh, it was Chad Wesley Smith. Yes, you'd love it. It's all about like talk about this. This is we we we go into deep the whole thing is about childhood like sports and sports development from beginning to end all the way to the professional level what the ideal kind of programming and volume and all that looks like.

Really really good. I'll have Doug look up what episode number it is and I'll give it to you. Um you'll you'll enjoy that conversation. But the the guys are right like um the the the amount of like strength training like traditional deadlift squatting like movements like that is is actually pretty minimal and and you're doing your mindset is right like mechanics is like just teaching him good form and strength and if he gets a little bit stronger in it great but uh just and don't fool yourself because he's so young and can recover well doesn't mean we want to do a bunch more with him as far as strength training is concerned.

he'd be far better off doing speed agility type of work and multi-planner stuff and working on being quicker and picking up a basketball still and playing basketball like those things will serve him in baseball actually even more than hyperfocusing on that that h and Chad Wesley Smith goes through this you do start to hyperfocus but not till later in his career early on diversity wins diversity in sports diversity in his movement patterns and that is like that's a lot of what you want going on. More of that the better.

Um, you we didn't touch this, but you were I think you're already alluding to the right thing with his diet. Yeah. Uh, definitely bump fattier meats. Like he for sure can handle more for sure he for sure can handle more calories. Uh, and I would put and that's an easy way to do it. Let him enjoy tri tip and ribe eyes and and go go that, you know, chicken thighs. Go that direction. direction. direction. U for sure for more calories and higher fat. fat. fat. But uh yeah, 952 is the episode.

Yeah. So, episode wow, was that long ago? Yeah, definitely after like sophomore year, like really start like increasing that intensity and like adding that baseline foundation strength with compound list will be will be great. So, three sports that are really good at um kind of full body awareness and can kinesesthetic ability would be like wrestling. Uh Brazilian jiu-jitsu is another one. Rock climbing is another one. And so, and now this wouldn't be where he would spend his time like really trying to be the best. It would be fun.

be fun. be fun. Sure. Sure. Sure. So, wrestling might be difficult because if he goes and wrestles in school, you know, wrestling coaches are pretty damn intense. So, that's a difficult one. But, if like jiu-jitsu, he might go to Brazilian jiu-jitsu once or twice a week. Uh, that's really good for body awareness, awareness, awareness, rock climb. rock climb. rock climb. He's shown interest in that stuff. I think I think that's a that's a great idea and something that we can offer offer for him. Perfect. Perfect.

So, that would be great, right? because it's great for body awareness. body awareness. body awareness. It's athletic. It's different than baseball. You got to learn how to move and use your body differently. It's very similar to wrestling. A lot of hip power and rotation stuff, too. too. too. It's just really It's the body awareness, dude. That's everything. And then, and then rock climbing is the other one is if like, hey, you want to have fun, you want to try doing some rock climbing, whatever. But if he's interested in jiu-jitsu, I bet you, you know, you know, I don't know how much how much practice he's doing with baseball, but like one or two days a week of jiu-jitsu would just make him a better athlete.

better athlete. better athlete. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. You're doing good though, bro. Yeah, man. Yeah, man. Yeah, man. Yeah. Yeah, a lot of But we'll send over the the 15 performance. Maps 15 performance. So, you got that. Listen to that episode. 952. 952. 952. 952. Yeah. 952 with Chad Wesley Smith. And then uh and then Yeah. I think literally like if you could get him in jiu-jitsu once or twice a week, it would be rad. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Awesome, guys. Appreciate you so much, man. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yep. Yep. Yep. That that was a long time ago. that episode. episode. episode. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. First of all, when I talk about it, it makes perfect sense. But I didn't think that. that. that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, when he said that to me, it was like, you know, it's like one of those moments a light bulb goes off. It's like, of course. Well, yeah. Well, yeah. Well, yeah. Of course, that's the best thing.

It's funny. I just thought of him cuz um I was kind of constructing a bit of a plan for some some athletes, student athletes at my son's school. And you know, Chad Wesley Smith actually got involved, I think, in his uh kids school. He's like the head coach for their football team. And they're just crushing. Yeah. They're like breaking records and everything and he implemented like his entire uh protocol and workouts. and workouts. and workouts. I wonder I was wondering what he's been up to. We haven't talked to him in a long time.

Yeah. I mean juggernaut training which is a great So he still does that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I hadn't popped up in my feed in a long time. I wasn't sure if they were still doing it or it's so counterintuitive, right? You think, "Oh, my kid's gifted. I'm just going to focus all time in this one sport." sport." sport." And it's just not how the brain uh Well, and you hear examples of this, right? It's like you have uh you know a Tiger Woods you know, who's three years old and he's focused his whole life on that and he becomes this the one of the best golfers ever.

So, it seems logical like, oh, of course, the more time I spend doing this, the better I'm going to be. But uh it when he breaks it down for and this is our where our trainer brains goes like of course when it like and also you want studies are good because it's it's they're looking at large sample sizes general performance what seems to work best because obviously Tiger Woods Serena Williams and her sister those are like phenoms. Yeah. I mean Tiger Woods even had to change his entire swing because of the Yeah.

repetitive overuse injury. Well, and and who knows what if like because here what we see right now in professional sports is what is this playing out like a classic example is Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes was a superstar baseball player and football player. And if you watch the way he can he can contort his body and throw the ball like nobody before him has been able to. And so you're starting to see these kids that are that grew up understanding this philosophy and they have a total edge.

And so it's it's evolving sports, but we we we talk about players like Tiger Woods, like Michael Jordan. This science hadn't came up yet. And so it was like and so much exactly how much better would Michael Jordan have been or how much better would Tiger Woods have been if he actually diversified that younger. You know what I'm saying? But still kept playing golf but diversified it more. Who knows? He might even been even better what he was. Our next caller is Brandon from Oregon. Brandon, what's up, dude?

What's happening? What's happening? What's happening? Hey guys, how's it going? Good. How can we help you? Um, well, I'll I guess what I'll do is I'll probably just read my question that I sent in cuz if I don't, I'll either miss some details or I'll get long-winded and talk forever. Uh, so I sent in I said, "Hey guys, I'm looking for some guidance and clarification on my training and nutrition. nutrition. nutrition. Uh, I'm currently 34 years old, 6 foot, and I'm about 215 pounds. I don't know my exact body weight or uh body fat percentage, likely mid20s, but my goal is to get down around 15%.

Uh, for context, I've been lifting since I was about 14. I've mostly followed the traditional body building um or bro split split split uh where I'm doing, you know, one muscle group per day, 5 to six days a week. As I've gotten older, I've started to feel like this amount of volume might be too much. Um, and mentally, I started to struggle dialing it in or dialing it back. Um, as I feel like I'm not doing enough on a daily basis. I worked with a virtual coach for about 18 months and made solid progress going from about 230 lbs down to 200.

While uh while I was improving my body composition, I was lifting uh very high volume six to days six days a week, eight to nine exercises per session, usually four sets each muscle or four sets each lift. And I was doing 30 to 40 minutes of incline treadmill walking. I was eating around 2400 calories a day, extremely high protein, about 280 gram of protein a day, 64 gram of fat, and 180 uh grams of carbs. camera. After about a year, I burnt out. I struggled with adherence, especially with nutrition.

At night, I eventually fell off the plan. I've always had difficulty sticking to strict nutrition and tend to look for instant results. I struggle with body dysmorphia and being overly hard on myself, which makes consistency challenging. This has been my biggest hurdle for as long as I can remember. I never give myself enough credit and I'm probably the most uh impatient person I know. All this combined with an intense sweet tooth and bad habit of binge eating junk food in the evenings, especially ice cream, has made it incredibly hard for me to be where I'd like to be.

I struggle with all or nothing mentality where I feel like I have to be perfect or I'm failing. So, when I fall off the meal plan uh for even one meal or a day, um I tend to derail completely. Uh going back to my previous nutrition plan, I've wondered if my calories were too low and not balanced well enough, specifically my protein. I've also questioned whether undereating for my training volume contributed to burnout and nighttime overeating, or if this was more of a mental thing. Um, Um, Um, my mind tells me that it's a mental thing cuz it tends to be my sweet tooth that gets me in trouble in the evenings.

Right now, I'm coming off of a hernia repair, uh, which is get, you know, it's it's put me out of lifting for about a month, which I do feel like maybe has given me an opportunity to reset and rebuild smarter. rebuild smarter. rebuild smarter. Looking ahead, I'm hoping to join my local police department, hopefully, where I'll soon be working 12-hour shifts. that'll make gym sessions difficult. So, I'd like to transition to a more sustainable plan. Ideally, lifting four days a week uh with a good balance of strength training and mobility.

Uh mobility. Uh mobility. Uh in the past, I've really enjoyed uh lifting heavy, especially squats, deadlifts, and bench. However, my lack of recovery and mobility, I believe, has hindered my progress and led to some persistent tightness and discomfort throughout my body. I truly believe it was because I didn't and still don't do much mobility work in my routine. Um, so my main question is, while I do focus mostly on whole foods and hitting a protein target, I'd like to know what you guys recommend my caloric intake be regarding uh my training volume or an appropriate training volume, I should say.

And um I have not I mean I've listened to you guys for about 6 months, maybe a little more than that, and I've binged a ton of episodes. Um, I've heard all about all your guys' MAPS program, but I have not actually purchased one yet because I was like, I don't know exactly which program would be ideal for me specifically. So, I was hoping maybe some guidance on that. Um, something that maybe balances strength and mobility, uh, recovery and just, you know, long-term sustainability for me.

Yeah. Let's uh let's talk a little bit first about uh your 280 gram of protein and only 60 g of fat. You must be eating uh tilapia or tuna lean and chicken breast and ground lean turkey. Is that is that the diet or what? Pretty much. And I think that that's part of the reason why I struggled to adhere to it after a while. same same same boring bland food and I was like I tried to spice it up but you know it's it's hard to do that hey chicken thighs have some chicken thighs have some ri have some ribe eyes enjoy a try tip every now yeah your your protein would be better if you brought it down to like 230 added 50 gram of carbs and then added like 30 grams of fat your calories need to be up higher too you should be up to like 27 2800 all your int your intuition is on point by the way Everything that you're feeling is is because you've been overtrained and underfed.

and underfed. and underfed. Yep. Yep. Yep. And that includes your lack of mobility. You don't It's not like you need to do more. It's your body's stiff and overtrained. overtrained. overtrained. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, you got So, training wise, very easy. Maps anabolic would be a great place to go. Bump your calories. Your protein's really high. You It doesn't need to be that high. 220 grams, 230 grams would be plenty. plenty. plenty. Yeah. I've since dropped it since I was that high. Oh my god.

If you just if you just switch the meats out to the higher fat meats, it'll take care of both. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you literally get rid of the the ground turkey [ __ ] and the and the chicken breast and switch for chicken thighs and and and ribe eyes or ground beef, it'll bump the calories and it'll lower the protein, lower the it'll lower the protein, increase the fats. I It's so rare that I find a guy your size who can do well on anything less than 80 grams of fat.

It just doesn't work, dude. It feels like crap and it it causes binging. Yeah. Well, and I I I can't say that I've felt great throughout the entire I mean, there was days and weeks even where I'm like, I feel like I'm just dragging and I was like, I don't know if that's overall volume in the gym and I'm just overtrained or underfed or a combination of both. And then both, both, both, right? Yeah. And then the more I listen to you guys, I'm like, man, it's got to be a combination of both.

be it's got to be a combination of both. Yep. Bro, you'll feel so different in like two weeks if you bump your calories and your fats. Yep. do MAPS anabolic, that's your strength training three days a week, that's it. Nothing else. If you want to walk, if you want to do mobility in between, then go for it. Uh, and that's it. And your and your body composition is going to change. And be be patient. Uh, cuz going through that train, your your body has been used to getting beat up with that much volume and underfed that.

So, it'll take a second for you to kind of recalibrate. So, I always tell somebody when I switch this, it's like if if you trust us, trust the process. Um, but that that is the plan. The plan is a MAPS anabolic 3-day a week program. A great program to follow up that would be performance. It will address some of your mobility stuff that we're that you're talking about. Perfect for police academy too. So a great it goes maps anabolic then go to mass performance right after that.

Um and then and then the calor literally the way like I wouldn't even overthink the calories to be honest with you. It would literally be cut out all this extra lean meat and just switch it out for higher fat meats and it'll take care of bumping your calories and take care of your healthier fats and you'll be more satiated and you'll feel better. Your testosterone will probably go up too. too. too. Yeah. All those things like So that funny you brought that up. So I uh I just had my testosterone.

My total tea was down to 290. Yeah. Low fat. That's normal when you're underfed, overtrained, not enough fat. uh and I bet your sleep's probably crappy too because it's hard to sleep uh well um when you're underfed and overtrained probably. So, uh so yeah, your testosterone will will go way up uh just from doing those things. Yeah, I mean that so that like the things that I'm like if I'm coaching you through this process because it will take a time for your body to recalibrate. It's like how is your sleep, how's your libido, how's your recovery and those are our three first markers and then strength, right?

So, those are the four things that we're kind of like talking about. I'm not really tripping about weight. I'm not even really hyperfocusing on calories. It's like I'm switching out all those lean meats to higher fat meats, letting you enjoy yourself and be fed when you want. And when you're, if you're hungry, go eat, but just make good choices. Eat to, you know, go eat another serving of the ribeye and rice or whatever like that. Just that's your body probably telling you it needs more fuel because it's trying to build and trying to build strength.

And so, but those are the things that we're looking at. We're like, how's libido? How's energy? How's recovery? How's strength in the gym? Let those be your guide. Once you start checking off all those, saying, "Yeah, that feels good. Yeah, that feels good. Yeah, that feels" Then comes the composition, then all of a sudden muscle starts packing on, waistline starts coming in. But focus on those four as your guiding principles of like what you need to be focused on. And then the other [ __ ] follows right behind that.

If I and just again, just for the testosterone, cuz you're probably like, "What the heck, man?" You know, that's a scary thing. If I were to give a man three steps to crush his testosterone, here's what it would look like. Overtrain, undereat, too low fat, like guaranteed to destroy your testosterone. Yeah, you're hitting everything on the head. Like I don't sleep all that well. I mean, some days I go, you know, I'll go a week when I'm doing okay. Um, I track it and it's usually high 70s, low 80s.

So, it's like it's not awful, but it's not not not optimal. I wake up every night like at 2:00 on the dot and I'm just awake for like an hour. Yeah. Stress, dude. It's too much too much too much stress on the body with the exercise, not enough eating and not enough fats. Your body's Yeah. hurting, dude. hurting, dude. hurting, dude. You're here's what you'll notice right out the gates. Uh more energy, better sleep, and you're stronger and recovery. and recovery. and recovery. And recovery. And then what Adam's saying, trust, and then stick with it because then you'll start to see the strength gains and then you'll start to see the body composition change, which takes a little longer.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Once all four of those are in line because you're doing all those things, then you'll see. You'll be good, dude. Yeah. Then then it's then we'll be rocking and rolling. But just trust the process. It is not a calorie thing, dude. Like obviously if you go and eat like an [ __ ] like I say, and you start binging 4,000 calories, that's not going to serve us. But if you if you're hungry and you eat and you natural it's whole natural foods and I don't care if it's a a fattier cut of meat meat meat with a with a good carbohydrate, rice, potato, sweet potato.

Yeah. Like stuff like that. like that. like that. Go for it. Eat it. Eat it because you're hungry. That means your body is it's it's rebounding. It's recovering. It's rebuilding. It's wanting to build muscle. Like you'll be fine. And it but just trust that process. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I'll do that. We'll send over Map's anabolic. And then, like I said, after anabolic, follow it up with performance. Okay. Perfect, guys. I think Thank you so much. I appreciate your time and and uh and everything you guys do.

It's great. Thank you. You got it, man. Ready. All right. All right. All right. I I swear, dude. I swear to God, bro. the the ultra low fat sources of protein. I I knew it was I was like 280 gram with only only only boiled chicken breast. That is That is chicken breast, extra lean ground turkey, tilapia. That's your Yeah. Yeah. And and and I'm going to say this right now, like those ultra lean, super lean cuts of meat, if that's when that should not be not even close to a predominant source of your of your animal sources of protein, unless you're a competitor and you're 12 weeks out and you're measuring everything.

If that's usually what you eat for your protein, oh my, your life sucks. You feel like crap. You're not able to recover. Your hormones are probably off. Like like just eat just eat the meat. Now, I'm not talking about going like, you know, you know, 60% ground beef or, you know, eating sausages all the time, but like you know, chicken thighs, uh, you know, regular ground beef, tri tip, ribeye ribeye ribeye sort of fat. Yeah, dude. You need it. Essential. Essential. Essential. Our next caller is Faren from Ontario.

Hi, Fen. Hi, Fen. Hi, Fen. How you doing, Fen? Hello. Hello. Hello. Hi. How are you guys? Good. How can we help you? Good. Sorry, I'm sitting on the floor because I was having issues using my computer, so I'm on my on my phone. So, that's all right. That works. Um, I'm gonna read my email. Um, I did shorten it a little bit just for sake of brevity, but um I think it has all the information that you'll need. So, uh, hello, my name is Faren.

I'm a 38-year-old stay-at-home mom. I have two little boys and um over the past three years I've lost more than 30 pounds through cardio, macro tracking and then eventually strength training. Along the way, I also fell into a cycle of overtraining restriction and body dysmorphia. But after working with a coach to rebuild a healthier relationship with food and training, I'm now in a much better place. But I'm unsure how to move forward with my goals. So, a little bit of background. I started my fitness journey in 2023 when I bought a popular spin bike and began doing classes at home every day.

My youngest son was utterly confused and kept asking why I was riding a bike and not going anywhere. And he was right because I lost 15 pounds and then stopped going anywhere. I plateaued really quickly. Uh that's when I found the carbon diet coach. I started tracking macros, dialed in on calories, started eating enough protein, and then the weight began to drop off again. So, at that time, I also started strength training, and I gradually built up a home gym. And by the fall of 2024, I had reached my lowest weight of 122 lbs and 19% body fat.

So, I looked slim, but I didn't have the physique I wanted. So, I kept pushing harder, strength training five days a week, doing cardio almost every day, and then fell into just a cycle of dysmorphia and restricting and binging. I felt awful and I knew something needed to change. So, I'd been listening to you guys for a little while and I decided to hire a coach. She helped me rebuild balance. She increased my calories from 1,800 to 2400, reduced my training to three days a week, and told me I could do cardio, but it was optional, not mandatory.

So, my weight went up and stabilized at 134 lbs, and I felt really great. So, at my request, we ran an 8week cut last fall so I could practice doing it in a more sustainable way. I reached 127 lbs, but I felt really crummy and I was really hungry, so I returned to maintenance. And that's where I've been ever since. So now, um, my weight has stayed the same. I'm probably about 22% body fat, 2200 calories a day, 130 to 140 gram of protein, three or four strength days.

I do one lower, one upper, and two full body days. I use the second full body day as optional, so I don't force myself to do it, but I do complete it most of the time. And I train at home with a home gym. I homeschool my kids, and I run our household. So, I'm pretty active during the day, but my main struggle now is uh my lower body. So, my upper body, oops, uh slims out really easily, and then I carry most of my body fat around my hips and glutes.

And I have cellulite, which I hate. Even at my lowest body weight, I still had cellulite. So, my coach explained that achie achieving the look I wanted would require a level of restriction that probably wasn't going to be sustainable for me long term. And I understand that, but at the same time, I do want to continue to improve my physique. So my question for you guys is, is it realistic for me to continue improving my lower body composition while eating maintenance, or would pursuing this goal likely require a deficit that risks pushing me back towards unhealth unhealthy habits?

How can I focus on building more muscle in my lower body through adjusting my training structure? Or is this mostly a matter of genetics and just false expectations for women? Um, the biggest win for me over the last year has been rebuilding a healthier relationship with food and training. So, protecting that progress is really important to me. Um, thank you for everything you do. I've learned a lot from your show and I would really value your perspective. your perspective. your perspective. First of all, uh, you look great.

You're doing a great job. You You look great and you're doing a great job. That's first and foremost. Um I'm curious to what do you know what your squat deadlift numbers are? How how strong are how strong is your lower body? Tell me. Yeah. So I have been gradually building my home gym. Um I just got the courage to buy a barbell and a squat stand for myself. myself. myself. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I get that at home. Okay. Um, yesterday I did my first round.

I squatted 120 lbs for eight reps. reps. reps. Okay. Mhm. Okay. Mhm. Okay. Mhm. So, I've been doing that and then like I'm still using the program that my my coach had me on. Um, so I'm doing uh like 8 and then 12. So, I can do 110 for 12. for 12. for 12. Fair. You're uh fair. You're doing great. Yeah. And your trainer was your coach did a good job. Yeah, it's actually rare that I hear someone on here tell me about a coach and I think they did well.

I think your coach did a really good job with you. with you. with you. I think you're doing you're doing great and you need to cut yourself some slack. I think you're too hard on yourself. Yeah, I know. But no no butt. You're you're doing really well. Body fat percentage is 20% 22%. I'm going to tell you right now, you're going to feel your best and be your healthiest between 22 to 25% for the rest of your life. That's where you're going to want to sit.

You're at the right body fat percentage. I think you'll obtain the look when we build more muscle in your legs. And I think that you're just now starting uh squatting. squatting. squatting. This is your first time barbell squatting. squatting. squatting. A year a year from now. A year from now, your lower body is going to look radically different after squatting and deadlifting for a year. You're fine. Yep. Yeah. You could get away with bumping your calories about 200 more calories, just so you know. I think it would be better.

So, I would I would feed you a little bit more and I would try and get strong in the squat and the deadlift like let's keep going and watch what your lower body ends up shaping up. And honestly, I want your body fat percentage about where it's at. I don't really want to get but it'll look different when we put 5 to 10 lbs of muscle on that body. It's going to look way different. That's right. So, I think the look that you're trying to achieve in the lower body will come from squatting for the next squatting and deadlifting for the next year and getting strong there and eating eating 200 more calories and kind of hovering where you're at doing what you're doing.

you're doing. you're doing. Your calories probably be about 24 to 2500 calories through this process and just get strong and I think four days a week of strength training is okay. You're better off doing three. Okay. So, um, that's I I'm not I don't want to get leaner in a sense that I want to like lose weight or even lose body fat. I'm I'm happy the way I am in that sense. I would just like more muscular muscular muscular I I heard that. I got that I I heard that.

I got that from the message. That's that's why I'm telling you that's the prescription. Bump your calories. Uh, do you know how many grams of uh I'm assuming you're hitting hitting hitting We'll get you there. I'm assuming you're hitting good protein. Do you know where your where your fats are at? Uh yeah. So I I have I religiously track which is another thing that my coach was getting me off of. So I have done times without tracking but I feel more comfortable tracking. Um my proteins yeah 130 to 140.

My fats are between 70 and 80 and then the rest are carbs. You got a good coach. Yeah. It's pretty rare I hear about a good coach. good coach. good coach. Where's the coach where's the coach from? from? from? Uh so she's now she works for Prime Revival. Um, but at the time she I actually found her through um searching on Spotify for a podcast on how to stop tracking macros. tracking macros. tracking macros. Okay. Okay. Okay. Going crazy with it. And I just started listening to her podcast and then I um I added her on Instagram and and she reached out to me and said, "Hey, how can I help you?" And it was just a beautiful kind of relationship that we built.

She got got me into a really good place. Yeah, she's great. Yeah. If you want to reach back out to her for a little short stint, probably be good. But I bump your calories to 24 2500 and let's get you strong. The fact that you just started barbell training, that's like that's like that's going to unlock a lot of gains for the next two years. You're going to see consistent progress and change in your in your lower body just from getting stronger. Just from that, just from that, I'm going to send you Maps Anabolic.

That's the program I want you to follow. It's three days a week. It's three days a week. Do that. Yeah, that was my question because um I'd like to just maintain my upper body, but I'm con I'm I guess I'm a little bit um I don't want to overtrain in volume if I want my focus to be on my lower body. Well, let's do let's do this muscle mommy. I'll give you muscle mommy. It's a little more it's more lower body focused. Very similar maps anabolic.

Follow that program. Bump your calories two to 300. Don't drop them down and let yourself build build into the look that you want. Don't Don't try to cut into the look that you want. Yeah. No, I'm done with that. It doesn't make me feel very good and it just gets me back into a bad place and and and listen to your body. There's a good chance that uh when you start really hitting strength, your appetite will go up. So, don't fight that. If you get hungry, eat, but go eat a good balanced meal.

Go have some steak and rice or whatever your favorite meat and rice or yam or sweet potato is. go have a balanced meal. Uh whatever whatever that is like feed it if it if cuz that that's what I'm like what I'm listening for if I'm coaching you is as we're going through this program you you're telling me like wow you're feeling strong and you're like Adam I'm getting hungry and I'm like yes feed that then we'll go up again. So if you're not then we're you'll be fine with a 200 calorie bump but even at 2400 calories if you start getting hungry from lifting this way that's a good sign that means you're you're trying to build muscle.

muscle. muscle. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, um, is this something that I should focus on for the next, well, I guess forever, but forever, but forever, but at least the next three months because the program's three months long. So, follow that lay the way it's laid out and with the advice we're giving with calories and just let the let the let the program do the work. And I'll tell you this, Faren, if if you just started barbell training, if you just focused on, you know, smart training and getting stronger for the next two years, Yeah.

That's the best focus for the next two years. Just try to get stronger. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Be smart about it, you know. Don't hurt yourself, but but just try to get stronger. Feed yourself to do so, and you'll get the look that you're looking for. for. for. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You got a really cool You got a really cool year ahead of you because you got you had good coaching that set you up well. You're in a good place right now. That program is going to be incredible for you.

And just like Sal said, just you know what? You want to get back on here after you're finished with Muscle Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Yeah, I'd love I'd love to hear where you're at 3 months. Yeah, that would be really cool. Okay, cool. We're going to send Yeah, we're going to send it to you and then and then reach back out and then we'll do a follow-up with you. Okay, perfect. So, Muscle Mommy is good. So, I at home I have dumbbells 5 to 50 lbs. I have a squat stand and barbell.

And I I have a cable tower, too, which I bought myself. bought myself. bought myself. You're covered. You got everything you need. need. need. You're covered. You're covered. You're covered. Yep. Yep. Yep. Okay. Okay. And no. So, I I've stopped doing cardio. I just don't That's fine. That's fine. Walk. If you want to do anything else, want If you want to do anything else, walk. But follow the program the way it's laid out. Any other activity? Walking. Walking. Walking. Yep. Yep. Yep. Just walking. Okay. Well, when it's -15 here, here, here, it's like the seven years of winter that won't end.

So, okay. okay. okay. Okay. Thank you so much. This has been I've been wanting to call in and talk to you guys for a few weeks and months probably and I finally mustered up the courage to do it and you've given me the reassurance that I hear you say all the time but it's really nice to hear it directly from you guys and to get positive feedback as well. Awesome. You're doing great. We'll see you in three months. Yeah. Can't wait. Keep it going. Yeah, for sure.

for sure. for sure. Thank you so much. Thanks. that that hey I'm that never happens where somebody talks about their co I'm almost always like this is going to suck. to suck. to suck. Their coach did a great job. Well, listen to how she found her. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That that even that that podcast episode is not a that's not a a com that's a that's a a obviously a coach who's been coaching for a long time to even have a podcast episode titled how to stop tracking macros.

tracking macros. tracking macros. Totally. You know, like send her an email. I'd love to get the name of the podcast and find out who this who this uh trainer is. That's great. Yeah, I know. I definitely maybe we'll come little we'll steal her and come work for That's what I was thinking. For sure. For sure. For sure. Um that's awesome. Yep. All right. I know you like that episode. If you did, check this one out. Stop doing three sets of 12 to build muscle and do this instead.

You guys want to guess? guess? guess? Stop doing the three sets of 12 and do this instead. Uh with that intro, my guess is you're going to tell people to change the rep range up to Yeah. five by five or low rep range. Do you guys remember when you're going? Yeah. So, um, often times we get stuck in like a set count and a rep count or a range