Deadlifts Won’t Break You—Weakness Will: Why Lifting Isn’t Optional After 40

0:00If you love to travel, Capital One has a rewards credit card that's perfect for you. With the Capital One Venture X card, you earn unlimited double miles on everything you buy. Plus, you get premium benefits at a collection of luxury hotels when you book on Capital One travel. And with Venture X, you get access to over 1 ,000 airport lounges worldwide. Open up a world of travel possibilities with the Capital One Venture X card. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. Lounge access is subject to change. See CapitalOne.com for details. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the show. You thought Christmas was over and here I am giving you another present.

0:39This tremendous conversation with Jordan Syatt, one of my absolute favorite go-to fitness thought leaders. First caught Jordan's work when he was the personal trainer to Gary Vaynerchuk. Jordan has since gone off on his own and just the way that he delivers content speaks to me personally. it is no nonsense, no bullshit, straight down the middle content that is going to hit you right in the face if you are looking for easy comfort, but not in that like influencer way, not in that like look at how amazing I am way. It is real world, real talk from a guy who has a real family, who really works out, who really was a weightlifting champion, but is, as he says, I think He says he's like 5 '8".

1:30I mean, so this isn't some like Adonis, you know, gifted by God individual who then tells you all these things you should be doing. This is a real guy doing the work, training real people and delivering that message in a real way. And it absolutely resonates with me. And I know it will resonate with you. So with all that being said, I give you your last Christmas present, Jordan Syed.

2:11you can curse you can tell stories get contextual all good there's no art rails on a conversation amazing awesome awesome i also really like that uh i like your jacket man that's like that's like something i would wear like i really like that a lot that's awesome straight instagram purchase it really just dude was late night it's like instagram fucking knows when i've had like a beer too and i'm sitting on the couch by myself it's like it knows i smell it on me and it's like he's just enough like his inhibitions are down just enough that if we serve this ad he's gonna hit purchase right yeah i honestly i bet they do do that on purpose like all right this time of night that honestly makes total sense i i'm not even a clothes guy like all my stuff hand-me-downs but like i love like that's nice i really like it a lot bro i've had this for two years i wear it so um i live in albany new york so an upstate okay and yeah it's cold as shit and i my office is in my basement and there's no heat like not you know it's not real hot down here and this thing is beautiful and you throw it throw it on all the time and um but here's the here's this is the crazy part so i got divorced three years ago and like you you maybe i don't know what your relationship is like but my ex-wife like she had her hands in my in my clothing purchases a lot so like since since i've been divorced i gotta make all these decisions on my own right okay grown man so i can do that i have found and i shit you not the clothes i love the most and i'm not a big clothes guy either i buy off instagram flux shoes i found flux shoes on instagram fucking love them don't buy another shoes they're my favorite shoe other than i have a pair of uh nobles that I wear for lifting, but like other than that, flat bottom, so like zero drop, wide sole.

4:01Yeah. Dude, find them on Instagram. This sweatshirt, this is like$45 on Instagram. Like it just, Instagram's got my like, me so dialed in. It's unbelievable. I just, I just looked up Flux because I need, I'm in the market for new shoes. That's perfect. Yeah. Their trainers are nice, but these, dude, These just zero drop fucking kick around shoes are awesome. I like that. Yeah. Perfect. Thank you, man. Hey, who knew this was going to be a big, big ad for the Instagram shop. All right. With all that being said, dude, I want to, I want to talk about something. I want to start in a place and you, you take this or wherever you want, but like, I'm going to hit you with a scenario.

4:52that I know a lot of dudes, so I'm 43, a lot of dudes my age are dealing with. And here's a scenario. Last January, it's cold as shit in upstate. We don't see the sun for like six months. You still live in New York or where are you now? No, we're in Dallas. Dallas, okay. So screw you, but good for you. I know you used to be in New York when you were with gear. So you understand the weather in the winter. Yeah, I grew up in Buckingham. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm used to that like winter drag. Completely used to it. Last January, it's like I hit a brick wall. I just, it was like, I'm like, dude, I'm in shape.

5:27At that time, I was lifting a lot. Like, I'm in great shape. I'm like, I shouldn't feel this way. And I hear one of the gurus, Huberman or someone, talk about testosterone and these at-home tests you can do. So I'm like, fuck it. Like, I'm out of options. And I go get it. And my testosterone is 70, which puts me in the sixth percentile of all men my age. That's wild. I don't think I've ever heard of someone's being that low. Bro, high protein diet, workout constantly, like eat good. I do all the things. Like for the most part. Sleep good. Above average, healthy 40-year-old guy. Like way above average.

6:12In all other areas, 70. So I started taking oral, I use a company called Maximus. I don't know, there's a bunch of companies out there, it doesn't matter. So I wanted to start our conversation around, one, the role that testosterone plays, particularly in men's lives. and outside of like taking a supplement like I do now, it's a natural, it increases the natural production of testosterone in the body before you go TRT. It's like a pre-TRT thing. Like what can we be doing? Because when I shared this with some of my other buddies that like coach youth sports because I coach my kids and stuff, dude, two or three other women got tested and they were all super low.

7:03and not as low as me, but they were lower than they should be. So, like, what are we not doing? Like, what are the things that guys my age, you know, 830s, early 40s, mid-40s can be doing to kind of, like, it's changed my whole life, man. I'm a completely different dude today than I was a year ago because I figured that out. Where's your test at now? 700. 700? Holy shit. You 10X'd it? That's crazy. that's and it's what are you taking i could go up and get the bottle no it's okay it's okay no it's like it's okay and it start it's like inclinamide enc something okay okay yeah yeah it goes so it's an every day i put it under my tongue and you know it's just like a little tablet or whatever just take one a day and i've been doing it since march and the last time i got tested was August and I was at 700.

8:00That's amazing. I mean, that's incredible. I mean, so just for context, like generally, and whoever, whatever doctor you talk to is going to give you a different number. And I'm not a doctor, but generally like under 200 or 250 is, is low. Um, and, uh, so to be 70 is very, very, very low. Um, so I'm glad that you, you got tested and you got on something. And as long as you're continuing to be monitored by a doctor or a medical professional, that's the most important thing. The major thing is a lot of people, what a lot of guys will do is they'll just say, I've got low testosterone in the same way that often women will say, I've got a slow metabolism, but they don't actually get checked for it.

8:45And so what you did is you did the right thing. You got tested and that's what you need. That's like the first step. You have to go get tested. Because a lot of people are very quick to go the TRT route and I don't have anything wrong with TRT inherently, but that shouldn't be your first step. Like first, let's look at number one is your sleep. Actually, before you even sleep, how's your body fat? Yeah. Like if you have excess body fat, that's one of the major, nevermind the major risks of dying early, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, so many other health issues from having excess body fat.

9:15But if you have high body fat, your testosterone is going to be at risk of being significantly lower. On top of that, drinking a lot of alcohol. Now, some in moderation is fine, But if you're drinking a lot week to week, that's a major problem. And with that often comes poor sleep and often will also come excess body fat. So higher body fat, minimal sleep, too much alcohol, smoking. These are all things that just wreck your testosterone and your health as well, but especially your testosterone. And they go hand in hand. Not lifting weights. And a lot of dudes for some reason hate on cardio, but good cardiovascular health will improve your testosterone as well.

9:52So they all go hand in hand. But the major controllable factors are body fat, sleep, alcohol, biggest ones by far. From there, get that under control. And for you, like clearly you're you're lean, you're strong, you're muscular. it sounds like everything was already taken care of there might have been some either lifestyle whether it was the stress from who knows the divorce stress from whatever was going on in your life because stress can have a major impact on as well combined with I mean if sleep was an issue as well that also could have severely impacted it but the major controllable factors you want to get those taken care of first for you since you clearly were like in such good shape already, it was probably like, what the fuck?

10:41Oh, you know, another thing is vitamin D, right? So if you're not getting sunlight, that can be a major component of it as well. And you know, you're in Albany, so you were just coming out of winter when you got checked as well. That also probably had a major component, assuming you weren't already supplementing with vitamin D3. Either way, most dudes need to get their basics in check before they start taking anything extra. and this goes for everything like this isn't just for testosterone or TRT this goes for every supplement like creatine for some reason as soon as someone wants to get healthy and fit the first place they go is GNC or vitamin shop or whatever supplement store it's the first thing they do it's like how about you go to the gym at least three times a week how about you get eight hours of sleep every night how about you get at least try and get one gram of protein per pound of your body weight like do that for a year before you go to the supplement store because you're going to drop hundreds of dollars at the supplement store and then you're not going to fucking use it and it's in the name like a supplement it's supplemental it supplements an already good diet it supplements an already good sleep schedule it supplements an already good workout program if you're taking these supplements and you're not doing the right thing then you're not going to make a difference and before you get the fat burners and that nonsense those don't work if they did everyone would take them if those worked then glp1s and we go via no zempic wouldn't be a fucking thing right now if the fat burners work stop buying that shit it's a waste of money no one ever was like you know what got me that six pack is the fucking green tea fat burner that i took from like stop it get your stuff in order before you go the supplement route and then once you've been consistent at least a year at least and usually like to say three to five years then you can start uh doing this other stuff you're different because you're already in shape you're already fit so i'm glad that you got checked but first get checked and then get everything all the controllables under under control and then from there you can see what else you need to do yeah i i have a feeling that it was stress because that winter uh i had founded a company and i exited from it in november of 2023 so maybe like three or four months before that and there was just a lot of tumult i i think it had to do with stress but it could have been vitamin d dude we get 66 days of sun here and i probably wasn't taking enough vitamin d but man i was shocked when i saw that number, I was like, holy shit.

12:58And for, for those, for guys for listening, like I'm a different human today than I was a year ago, like just in the way that I feel it's, it's insane. And then you talk about like that negative and I'd love for you to comment on this. Like, it's like, it's, it's such a negative cycle, right? So like, I'm, I'm, my testosterone's not there. I'm feeling down. So I'm not, I start, I stop working out as much as I want to because I don't have that natural energy and I'm questioning things. And then, then you don't start sleeping well. And then, like you said, then you start grasping for solutions. And I hate that.

13:36Like I hate going anything that isn't like natural first, you know, that's tends to be my way. And, but you do, it's so easy to start going, well, maybe it's this supplement or maybe I just need, you know, maybe it's, uh, because I'm not taking uh what's that greens athletic greens if i was taking athletic greens everything would be fine you know like yeah it's it's not so easy to go down that rabbit hole yeah i mean the reality is like it's it's much easier to take a pill than it is to work out and it is to put your fucking phone down and go to bed and it is to stay hydrated and to get your steps in it's much easier to take a pill um a lot of people like to point to individual ingredients like seed oils or whatever there's these major problems it's like you know what the major problem is compared to any other time in history is that right now it's like you've got uber eats on your phone you you can you barely get any movement in before we had to hunt for our food uh now you don't even have to go to the grocery store if you don't want you can order your groceries directly to your door you don't have to move you can sit down in front of your blue light phone and look at it all day all night and you don't move you don't lift you don't do anything physical whatsoever it's like it's not the seed oils.

14:47That's your problem. It's like you don't move. You don't lift. You don't train. You don't sleep like you. You are a sloth. That's the problem. Get up. Do something. Stop looking for the most convenient thing and start looking for the most effective thing, which is movement. Yeah. So you were you hold a bunch of power lifting records and have been a power lifter for a while. I would love for you to talk about the impact of moving weight. I was played sports, but only I always lifted in connection to what I needed to do for that sport. Right. I never was a power lifter. I just never got into it until COVID hit.

15:24And I heard Tim, he was Kobe Bryant's trainer, Michael Jordan's trainer, Tim, fuck, he's got two great books, Relentless and Winning, and I can't remember his last name. That's going to kill me. That's all right. I'll like, I'll awkwardly wedge it in in post-production. But I heard him on an interview one time go, So somebody asked him a question and he said, guys need to move weight. And like he just stopped. And like I think that was like it was so point blank the way he lifted. So I said, fuck it. I'll start deadlifting. So I've gotten really into deadlifting. And I try to explain to my friends the impact that it has on my body in a positive way.

16:09And I can't do it justice. So I would love for you to talk about your journey with powerlifting, why you got into it, what it's been like, and then maybe help some of the people listening who maybe just, their exercise, though any exercise, as you said, is good, right? Their exercise is maybe just cardio or they're taking like a HIIT class. And why pushing weight or pulling weight, whatever, is such an important part. You've finally broken loose from work. Three friends, one tea time, and then the text. Honey, there's water in the basement. Not exactly how you pictured your Saturday. That's when you call us, Cincinnati Insurance.

16:51We always answer the call. Because real protection means showing up, even when things are in the rough. Cincinnati Insurance. Let us make your bad day better. Find an agent at cinfin.com. of the mix of really kind of hitting that, hitting your performance and just being healthy in general? Yeah, I mean, I got into it. I wrestled from when I was eight years old. So I started, and I did a bunch of different sports, soccer, wrestling, baseball, but wrestling was the one that I really, I loved the most. And I started lifting because of that.

17:26Listen, it's really important to do cardio as well. That's important. But if you're not lifting, it's a big problem. It's a big, big, big, big, big problem. If I had to rank the most important first, I would say the most important for health and longevity is going to be walking, it's steps, it's movement. That's by far the most important. If we look at the longest living people in the world, it's not powerlifters, it's not CrossFitters, it's not people who do HIIT or burn boot camp or Orange Theory. It's the people who walk the most. And we see this in Italy, we see this in France, we see this in Japan, we see this in Switzerland.

18:02the people who walk the most live the longest and healthiest lives. Now, from there, when most of you have that base covered, it's like, okay, so it's not just about how long we live. It's also about the quality of those years. And the quality of those years, a lot of it comes down to how much strength we have, right? So if we want to not just elongate our life, but also live a better quality of life, one of the major things is bone density. And as soon as I start talking about that, people are like, oh, dude, they just, they tune out. They want to hear about how to get jacked and how to get ripped.

18:30But it's like, if you have anyone in your life, 60s, 70s, 80s or older, one of the leading causes of death is they fall. And it's just a regular fall. But they fall and then maybe they can't get back up. They break a hip. And over 70 % of people who break a hip or break a bone when they fall after they're like 60 or 70 years old, they die. Because what it takes for their body to recover from that is astronomical. So in terms of the quality of your life, you absolutely need to lift in order to maintain that quality. Never mind the metabolic effects of adding more muscle, which is going to burn more calories, so it'll be easier for you to stay leaner year-round.

19:07You'll be able to eat more food without gaining body fat, all these things that people like to hear from the aesthetic perspective. But just purely from a, as an individual, as a human, if you want to actually, if you don't want to have someone living with you or being in a nursing home, like, you got to fucking lift weights. if you if you want to be able to compete with your kids compete with your grandkids if you want to be able to it's funny in the research that they call them ADL activities of daily living something as simple as opening up a jar something as simple as like if you were to fall and you need to grab on to something do you have the grip strength to do that it's these simple things that when you're younger and 40s I still consider younger but I bet by the time you get to your 30s and 40s you start seeing kids you grew up with who are adults now like like damn dude like what the fuck like fucking dad do anything dad but it's dad bod is like the least of it i mean like like they've got real problems like they they've got getting up a flight of stairs is a problem whole like doing anything and in their mind they still think that when they're a high school football player high school wrestler high school baseball across they that's how they think they are but they're not and it takes a big life-changing situation for them to realize it so um if you want to live longer move if you want to live longer and better move and lift i uh i get a ton of shit from people for deadlifting they're like you're you're 40 years old now what do you need to deadlift for you're gonna get hurt and i'm like i look at them i'm like i'm not gonna get hurt because of deadlift like just correct just you know so you understand where mom coming i hear you but understand my perspective is when we're out on the field fucking around with the kids you know in the outfield you know i coach baseball um for my sons and like i'm like the reason i can run around and shag fly still is because i do this shit like and it's such a struggle to get through to people and i i'm not a fitness expert it's not my job i just love it and unfortunately i can't stop talking because i have massive adhd so i have to tell everyone everything I'm doing and thinking at every moment of every day that's why I have a podcast it's like a therapy essentially so you know like I try to explain to these dudes and they're all awesome guys all former athletes but like they're all carrying 20 to 40 extra pounds and they can't move they get to the end of practice and they're like exhausted and I'm like I could have gone for another two hours and that's not me bragging it's it's the truth it's I don't want to be hunched over, you know, going and having to get fucking dialysis when I'm 60 years old.

21:45You know, I want to still be, I want to be popping with my grandkids. Like I'm going to be out there helping my grandkids learn how to hit a baseball. Like that's, you know, and I don't, it's so hard to get through to people. And it's, and it's one of the reasons I was so excited to have you on the show. I know there's so many guys that listen that are in similar life positions as me and And they're not prioritizing this. And so with all the work you do, all the people that you work with, like when you're trying to just crack, get your foot in the door with them, right? Like obviously maybe they've reached out so they have an interest, but they're still hesitant.

22:17They're still, how do you start to crack that door? What's the mindset? Is there like a, I don't want to call it a pitch, but like, you know, hey man, like it's time to get off your fucking ass. Like, let's go. Like how do we start to get through to those people to show them powerlifter. You don't need to be benching 400 pounds. That's not what we're talking about, but just get in the gym and move some weights once in a while. Yeah. So I'll, I'll talk about that in one second. Cause it's, it's super important. I will go back to like the people who are like, uh, you're going to get hurt deadlifting.

22:48Um, listen, injuries happen all the time. People get hurt stepping off a curb. People get hurt picking up a bag of groceries. Like it happens all the time. If you think it's, it's dangerous to deadlift, then you should see how dangerous it is to be weak. Being weak is way more dangerous than getting stronger in the gym. And yeah, absolutely, you could get injured deadlifting in the gym, and then you can ideally recover from that. But if you're training smart and intelligently, which is what we'll talk about in a second, your likelihood of getting injured is teeny tiny minuscule. You're way more likely to get injured doing something when you're weak, like trying to pick up a heavy grocery bag or trying to pick up some luggage or playing with your kids or all of a sudden you try and do a sprint or you change direction and being weak is a way bigger risk factor for injury than being certain than getting strong so um yeah could you get hurt deadlifting yeah especially if you're deadlifting like an idiot but let's not fucking deadlift like an idiot let's do it intelligently so like you were saying you don't need to be deadlifting 800 pounds you don't need to be bench pressing 400 pounds i'd like you to get in the gym two to three days a week um and if you want like if you are listening to this right now and you can't do 10 good push-ups from the floor you're fucking weak and that's not a a dig it's just like cool let's get you in the fucking gym like you could just start with your body weight let's get let's get you doing stuff let's get you using your body weight let's get some dumbbells in your hands you don't need a full full gym you just like have some dumbbells have your body weight master your body weight i mean realistically that's how we enter this two to three days a week master your body weight like get some good squats in there just bodyweight squats maybe holding holding put some weight into a backpack put some weight into a backpack hold the backpack squat do some romanian deadlifts do some push-ups do some bodyweight rows if you get a trx strap so you can do some rows that way like just move your body and get stronger you don't need to be doing uh 30 sets of an of exercises you don't need to be having 12 different exercises per workout two to three days a week three to five exercises and two to three sets of 8 to 12 reps per exercise you're good that's it like do that a couple days a week it could be 30 to 45 minutes per workout and you're set um one of the best things best piece of advice i was ever given i have a friend who does um spartan races and i was saying you know man i hate running i know i need to do it i don't do it enough a couple times a month probably but i just don't like it.

25:15I was like, but I do want to get out and move more. And he got, he, uh, sent me a link for a ruck vest. So I wear 20 pounds in the front and 20 pounds in the back. And when I take the dog for a walk, I just throw the stupid vest on and we go around the block a couple of times and you come back and just, just, just that simple. I mean, literally nothing. I'm not pushing anything. I'm not pulling anything. I'm just wearing this vest going for a couple of laps around the neighborhood with the dog i come back dude no ankle pain my foot pain's gone away i never feel like um like how many people do you know like they're like oh my back is tweaked my i was like i haven't had back pain in years this is probably three years ago that he said this i haven't back pain in years years no back pain sitting in chair all day i work in front of a computer you know what i mean like that's my no back pain and like these simple little things that you can add into your day can can over time like compound into crazy benefits for your body and we just like you said we don't prioritize it we're like fuck it i'll watch another show and doordash the dog can just be on the chain and it's like ah i just want to like shake people sometimes i'm like dude you're you you it's there for you like it's it's this easy like you can do it um but to the dead lifting point uh and i just want to go back to this because it's just on my brain and it's my podcast so I can do whatever the fuck I want.

26:38Um, you know, I'm, I'm like mad that I didn't learn about this exercise earlier in my life. I've never found an exercise and, and, and, you know, push back on me wherever this is wrong or, or right, whatever. But I've never found an exercise that you do not have to lift heavy, right? That doesn't have to be heavy, You just proper form, right? Work through the exercise with proper form. Your entire body. Like I get done. My grip is stronger. My shoulders are stronger. My back is stronger. My legs, my glutes, my hips, my abs, my quads, my hamstrings, my calves, my feet. Like all the way down. One exercise, right?

27:21Once a week, you know, because I'm not trying to be trying to break any records, right? Once a week, I do this exercise. Once a week is all you need. Once a week, it's all you need. more than the mat and you're more likely to be injured. Yeah, and I've never come across an exercise. And like you said, you can do RDLs. You can just do the exercise with no weight. Like you said, just use your body. And I just try to push my friends to say, guys, it's not where you start. I'm not advocating in any way not being a fitness professional. This is where you start. But don't knock it till you tried it.

27:56Because it changes. like all of a sudden you walk into a room and your shoulders are pulled back for the first time in 20 years because you have the back strength and the posture to actually do that. Now people look at you differently. They talk to you differently. You find people more, you know, just your entire way that you operate when you have that full body strength, you start to notice how people interact with you because you're not slumped over. You're not wearing clothes that are three sizes too big because you're trying to hide something that you don't like, right? You're just in this better position, which then equates down to the way you speak to your spouse, the way you speak to your kids, the way you handle situations.

28:38Like, I just can't advocate for this enough, guys. And so I guess what are other exercises that we can be doing once we get past body weight when we're getting started that these guys can get started with? there are things deadlifting I think is a little more advanced probably but like what are some of the lifting isn't more advanced man it's all about it's all about the variation that you use and where you start like when I'm working with someone who's brand new like I'll often just I'll put it this way what is a deadlift like what is it like in the most basic form what is a deadlift just pulling weight standing up pick something up you pick something up off the ground it is the most functional exercise in the entire world because all you're doing is picking something up.

29:25That's it. How much weight can you pick up? That's what a deadlift is. So I think everybody is, I would hope everybody listening is advanced enough to be able to pick something up off the ground. And it doesn't have to be a barbell with 400 pounds. It could be a 10 pound, 15 pound, 20 pound kettlebell, right? It could be dumbbells. It could be, you could be doing an RDL with a reduced range of motion rather than starting on the ground you start at your hips either way you could do an elevated deadlift so it's a shorter range of motion but pick something up like let's pick shit up that's important because you're gonna pick stuff up in everyday life so i'd rather you learn how to do it properly and get strong in that range of motion um so i would say it's starting with a kettlebell deadlift or dumbbell romanian deadlifts really really great starting point for people who don't know how to deadlift and haven't done and don't feel confident yet so if you don't know what those are fucking google youtube kettlebell deadlift dumbbell romanian deadlift like you're gonna figure it out really quick from there i would say goblet squats another dumbbell or kettlebell exercise um i mean if we're talking about you're talking about the confidence you get from deadlifting um i there isn't a single exercise that i've found increases people's confidence more than deadlifting when you hit a deadlift personal record and you you lift more weight you feel like you are on top of the world and you could beat john jones in a fight like it's just like you feel like you could just be an absolute demolition monster um which transfers into your everyday life i mean when you pick something up that you've never lifted before you hit a pr it's just like it's one of the greatest feelings ever um and it will carry over into your everyday life mentally physically and emotionally uh another great one is any type of squat and the sort of the the analogy or the metaphor here is like squats are very much like life and that when life gets you down you got to stand the fuck back up you got to carry the load and stand back up with that weight you can't just let it crush you and so yeah you could do it with a barbell or just hold a dumbbell or a kettlebell right in front of your chest and do squats like it's a great starting point lunges are an amazing thing Bulgarian split squats are amazing they're a little bit more advanced but reverse lunges static lunges forward lunges these are all amazing those are the major your lower body exercises I recommend.

31:35Deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, squats, and lunges. Those are the major ones. There are many other exercises, but those are the priority, especially when you're beginning. And even as an advanced, like those are your compound, those are the major lifts that you do. Upper body push-ups, I think everyone, everyone, men and women should be able to do 10 push-ups relatively easily. I think there's just like everyone should be able to do that. from there we can do like dumbbell bench press if you want to do barbell bench press you're welcome to overhead press barbell dumbbell whatever dumbbell rows lat pulldowns I think I would like it if everyone is able to do chin-ups obviously that's a little bit more advanced I will say I think the two greatest moves for confidence deadlifts and chin-ups like when you can strap some weight around yourself or when you get your first ever chin-up like oh my gosh you feel on top of the world.

32:28So chin ups or weighted chin ups, lat pull downs, dumbbell rows, barbell rows, seated cable rows. These are all like, and these are the exercises you'll use your entire life. Like they're really great strength training is very boring over a lot. You do the same shit. You just try and get stronger with it over time. So you do the same things over and over and over and over again. You have to be ruthlessly consistent with the basics nonstop. I think one of the major reasons people struggle either to get started or to stay consistent is because they have this idea that they're supposed to look like a bodybuilder or look look amazing or or look or be like a professional athlete within a week two weeks a month and this is why we see huge numbers of people going to the gym in January and then by January 16th they're gone and that's not a made-up date like there are one of the cool things about fitness trackers that we have now is we can track when people start being consistent with their exercise and when they fall off and January 16th is like the fall off date for the vast majority of people.

33:29They and it's because they're like, I'm gonna do it every day. I'm gonna work out seven days a week. And I'm not gonna have a fucking carb ever again. And after two weeks of January, they're like, Alright, I can't do this anymore. It's like, Okay, well, what if instead of doing every single day, you went two to three days a week, and you did that for five years straight, like you'd be better off than 98 % of the people in the world. So stop trying to go seven days a week, stop trying to go as hard as you possibly can, just go a couple days and be consistent. and that ruthless consistency will yield tremendous results.

33:58So I go to this absolute steakhead gym. It's my favorite gym I've ever been to. It's called ABC Fitness. Shout out if anyone's listening locally here in the Albany area. And it's filled with 22-year-old steakheads, just steakheads everywhere. That's all it is. There's like two chicks and 200 steakheads, and they're just flexing in the mirror, and I love it because I'm like the old guy there and I'm surrounded by all this energy because they're all slamming weights and slapping fives and flexing and shit. I love her. I think it's great. I'm 100 % in. That's why your test went up because you're around all that.

34:34Just osmosis. Like that's it. So it's like there's sweat and testosterone in. I was just 100 % up and you're around all these 22 year olds who are just like their test is going crazy. That's why your test went up. So I hit my personal deadlift goal or my post-traumatic deadlift PR 465 nice pull it so happy took him two years to get there you know bam just felt fucking amazing oh bam put it down great lift solid felt amazing and uh and the kid behind me comes up because it's it's it got like uh six deadlift platforms kind of all near each other comes up slap like dude great lift was that a pr's like yeah it's like awesome work turns around he's got he's got uh uh 505 pounds and 10 for 10 like this right just rips 10 like just blows me and i turn around i look at him i'm like bro you couldn't have waited like five a minute like you just couldn't have given me like five minutes before you just like threw my shin you know we're laughing or whatever it's the worst just leaps out way more than your p.i.

35:35yeah it's the worst and i was like oh humility that's what that feels like gotcha right now just my my daily dose um i want to transition to sleep because you mentioned it a couple times. And about six months ago, I started wearing a whoop strap. I usually like this stuff because I find sometimes you over-index on the numbers and less on the accurate beats. However, I have found by being diligent in the journaling feature of what I do and how it impacts my sleep, it's been insane what I've figured out impacts and doesn't impact my sleep. and then it's it has helped me i was getting on average when i started like five and a half six hours of sleep and now i'm getting like 7 15 say now that i start really makes it a difference i feel great and and frankly my body like 7 7 15 is really just where my body's like hey you're up right it's not yeah like i'm not trying to get more but talk maybe talk to me about just how sleep impacts our overall fitness and our energy and all these different things, because I do not think there is enough conversation outside of the fitness and wellness world about, I think people are like, oh, I get six hours sleep.

36:54I'm just one of those people. And I'm like, no, you're fucking not. Like the number of people from my research that are actually can live off five, five and a half, six hours sleep consistently and be successful, I think is very small versus the people who try to pretend like they can live off that and they just get used to this constant state of tired yeah and then they're always over caffeinating and and what a lot of people don't understand is that many of these people who say that they only sleep four or five or even six hours a night like okay are they taking adderall are they taking vivense are they on methamphetamines like there's like if you're prescribed that that's fine but people are prescribed testosterone and you'd probably want to know if someone was taking testosterone to see like what's going on from a muscular growth perspective.