2661: Nine Old Forgotten Training Methods That Can Make You Fit and Tough & More (Listener Live Coaching)

16:03I mean, my favorite use for it when I used to wear a weight vest was doing dips and pull ups. Of course. Just because it's like, it's awkward any other way too. Like you have that belt and you have a hanging weight. It's like, that actually makes sense to me. It does, it does.

16:16Adam Schafer:All right, next up, again, I don't know if this applies to people. Punching hard objects. Now, you know what's crazy about this, by the way? I approve. Here's a fun, this is a fun little science fact. Old school martial artists did this, Muay Thai fighters, karate fighters, and then boxers did this. They would punch hard objects to toughen their hands, their shins, their feet. Yeah. And we now have the science to support what they did. they would produce micro fractures in bone and the bone would heal back stronger so if you look at bone if you look closely at bone a cross section of bone there's like this kind of honeycomb uh like uh you know organization right there's there's spaces in between how the bone comes together where there's like air pockets almost that's where you create the the micro fractures and then what happens is those pockets of air get filled in with more bone that's got to be such art you know because it's got to be the right amount like of the condition they call it condition i remember doing this too for muay thai for for my shins and they called it like you know shin conditioning i'm just like conditioning i'm just beating the shit out of my shins but like yeah to be able to get it to a point where you can heal and then it can actually calcify and then it becomes harder but then it's like okay but am i gonna get arthritis this really bad later on in life.

17:36I don't know, but it did make sense, and I did get harder shins as a result.

17:41Sal Di Stefano:You know, this reminds me of LLS training for marijuana plants. So it's low-level stress training. Oh, yeah. You told me about this. Which you used to do, and it's very... You learned a lot through that whole thing. You've seen the geeky scientist. Every once in a while he applies it to fitness. It does make sense. It's what this is. You're making micro-fractures.

18:03Adam Schafer:So you're twisting it a little bit?

18:04Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, you take the stem. You've got to be very careful because you kill the plant if you break it. So you have to – just enough, and you can hear it kind of go and pop just a little bit. And then what happens is like a knuckle will form, and then the stem will get twice as strong and twice as thick and big. What's it called? Yeah, low-level stress training. Wow. Yeah, yeah. I believe that was the term. I'm pretty sure that's what it was.

18:24Adam Schafer:Well, I think the application here for the average person is just that doing things that are challenging – And this is a physiological example of it, but mentally this doesn't. It makes you more resilient. You become more resilient. Yeah. And that's a great physiological example. You can actually look at the bone and see that they become denser and harder through years and years of what they would call conditioning or whatever. But this is what happens to your mind. This is what happens to your body. This is what happens to your behavior, your tolerance for stress. If you're somebody that is easily overwhelmed with stress, you know, challenging yourself a little bit does have the, as long as you're not overwhelmed by it, does have the ability of strengthening you.

19:04Adam Schafer:Essentially making you tougher, making you tougher. All right, next up. This one's interesting because you see fitness people doing this one. And I know they do this for the views. But fighters had a real reason for doing this. and these are medicine ball drills you would get hit in the

19:21Sal Di Stefano:I hate this trend I hate this trend this is the trend of the kids punching each other in the abs while the guys do crunches this is not an ab workout

19:32Adam Schafer:everybody thinks it's an ab workout no it's not going to build your abs but you know what it does for fighters it trains them on how to take a blow because that's a skill

19:43Sal Di Stefano:and to be doing it while breathing and exercising and stuff like that, there's a technique to it. The reason why that annoys me so much is because it is very specific. So it's like, hey, if you're a fighter and you're doing that, I got no problems. No problems with that. But if you're just some kid trying to get abs, there's a stupid way to do it. Unless you work in a gym

20:02Adam Schafer:where someone's going to punch you.

20:03Sal Di Stefano:And I know that's 95 % of the Instagram viral videos that went that way. None of these guys were fighting. If you're fighting, it makes total sense. It makes total sense why to do that. But that's an example of one of those things that is a very you know it's like the also the other trend the trend where i remember when it became popular to wear the you know deprivation yeah deprivation mask while you get on the stairmaster it's like well i mean if you're a ufc fighter it makes a little sense when someone's going to have their your arm around your your mouth while they're tackling but all the rest of you fools yeah this is not not beneficial so yeah i think it's uh one of those that are very specific if you're going to use some of these three in the middle of the the i think they're like least amount yes out of i like

20:47Adam Schafer:all the all of them now number seven i think is really cool i think number seven is really cool yeah the fighters of that era they would actually go do uh heavy hard labor because it made them fit they would go do black blacksmithing or they'd go chop trees down or they go lay bricks now here's why i like this there's a lot of there's a lot of kids watching and listening to this right i say kids these are teenagers maybe early 20s and you need to get a job anyway yeah and you want to be fit you want to be fit and you want to and you need a job instead of getting a job working at the front desk at chipotle or whatever in over the summer you want to you want to get some fitness that you'll also get paid for that also make you tough go do some mixed concrete yeah that's it

21:31Sal Di Stefano:i mean i i apply this more now in in it was not till probably my mid-30s that i started doing this but it just dawned on me at one point that there's these times where i would leave my house and go to the gym to go walk on the treadmill for an hour or whatever and i was just like what am i doing like i may as well clean the house or wash a car or you know do pull weeds or yeah scrub the tile and like there was just so many things that i could always do at the house that was like manual labor that also made my house better cleaner or whatever it's like what am i doing Like if the desired outcome is like this kind of low level calorie burn that I would go do on the treadmill.

22:11Sal Di Stefano:Like, so that's how I am now. There's times where I know that I'm trying to create more activity in my day where I won't even go to the, I won't go to the gym. I'll find, intentionally find something that's labor around the house. So it's like, oh, I may as well do this thing right now because I'm trying to kick up. And I wish that was taught to me younger because as a kid, if I was playing in the middle of sports season, trying to get in shape, do those things. Because if my parents sold that right to me, they probably could have convinced me to do a lot of shit around the house. They definitely got that with me.

22:42Sal Di Stefano:Threw me out. Yeah. I mean, I had to do a lot of that labor too, but they weren't selling it to me like it was going to improve my game or else I would have.

22:50Adam Schafer:It is a paradigm shift. It's a massive paradigm shift. You're walking on a treadmill and you're going nowhere. You're doing it for exercise, but the point is you're not going to a destination. You're not accomplishing anything else. It's not productive. you could go do something around the house that you have to do anyway. Right. You should. Right. But the paradigm shift for somebody who's fitness minded suddenly will make it enjoyable. Yes. That's what happens. I remember when this happened to some of my clients. When the body bug first came out, this was one of the first movement trackers, calorie tracking, you know, how many calories you burn type of deal.

23:21Adam Schafer:It was one of the first devices to do it. I had clients that were like, oh my God, I'm doing more stuff around the house now because I can see now how beneficial the activity is. And it just was a paradigm shift. but this hard labor one or heavy labor one is a great one like if it's in summertime you're not going to school and you're like I need to get a summer job instead of working at the mall go mix some concrete or go build up that work capacity go find a local farm dude

23:48Sal Di Stefano:there's always work to be done and they're going to give you

23:50Adam Schafer:and you're going to get some skills that are valuable when I was in high school

23:53Sal Di Stefano:that was the thought process although I wasn't looking for it for exercise I just did I was like and my town was so small that's all it was you either worked at fast food which I was like there's no way I'm going to be in a fast food line where my friends are going to come mess with me every day. No way I'm doing that. I'd rather do the labor. And so you work at a farm. So everywhere there's, even if you live in a city right outside of your city is probably some farms. You can find a farm. There's probably somebody looking for work for sure.

24:18Adam Schafer:Next up. And I think this is just a great way to do cardio, especially hit cardio, uh, is a jumping rope. Jumping rope is a phenomenal workout now it is a skill if you've never done it you're not good at it start slow but it strengthens your feet your ankles of course it gives you great it's actually good for shoulder mobility people don't realize that for shoulder stability it's really good being able to hold the rope where it is just organizing your whole body to produce that one movement and clean and and you know having a really good form because every time you you you attempt it you get better you get more efficient at it so then it's like it kind of uh compiles from there so yeah i just started doing this again just to try and like keep some kind of like speed and snap you know with my feet yeah and i i have yet to see someone who does a lot of rope jumping who doesn't have

25:09Sal Di Stefano:great decent looking calves great calves i mean i have a couple buddies that they were big and they swear by the whole time yeah every time they see me training my calves like bro just jump rope Yeah. There's not a lot of things that I'm like really uncoordinated with. That's one of those things. Is it really? Yeah. I think part of it was because for the longest time, I had no idea that there was different rope sizes. And so I was probably using the rope. The short one? Yeah, the one that everybody else jumps with. You have the duck? On the six foot three guy. I'm hitting the back of my head all the time.

25:35Sal Di Stefano:I was like, this is stupid. I'm not doing this anymore. And then it was like years later, I figured out like, oh, there's rope sizes. They're not all just like standard. You did the leather rope without shoes and barefoot. Oh, yeah. So you pay for it when we fuck up.

25:48Adam Schafer:Yeah, but you got to build up to that. Every person goes barefoot with a leather rope. I'm saying there's levels, dude. You're talking plantar fasciitis city or whatever. All right, lastly, and this is an interesting one because there's a lot of value to it. I don't know if people do this a lot anymore. Athletes still do it. It's visualization. You know, it's funny. They've done studies.

26:06Sal Di Stefano:There's one of my favorite studies. It's a basketball study. Yes. It's a free throw study. Yes. It's such a cool study. And I don't remember what year they did that, but it's relatively new. It's not like an old, old study.

26:17Adam Schafer:It's a few decades old, isn't it? No, I don't think it's that old. It's less than that? Yeah, it's more like that. Oh, really?

26:21Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, it's relatively new. And they took three groups. They took a group that I forgot how many they shot. Maybe Doug can find the exact numbers here, but they shot a certain amount. And then they had another group that did, I think, significantly more than that. And then another group that just visualized it, didn't do any of it. They thought about doing the shots. Yes. And the one that shot about doing the shots ended up with as good of a percentage. Like an equal showing. Yes. Yes, it was fascinating. Are you looking it up, Doug? I am. Yeah, free throw visualization. Visualization. It was in the University of Chicago in 1996.

26:58Oh, see, I told you. No, you're right. Yeah, so there's three groups, it looks like. The first one, don't touch a basketball for 30 days. That's it. That's it. Nothing but visualize, right? No, no visualization. Nothing. The second group was told to practice shooting free throws for half an hour a day for 30 days. And the third group was to come to the gym for 30 days, spend a half hour with their eyes closed, simply visualizing hitting every free throw. So after 30 days, the first group, who did not practice at all, showed no improvement, as you would think. The second group had practiced every day and showed a 24 % improvement.

27:34The third group, who had simply visualized successful free throws, showed a 23 % improvement. So almost identical. Pretty much the same. Yeah, yeah.

27:44Sal Di Stefano:So that's amazing. I mean, it's as valuable as just practicing, which is crazy.

27:49Adam Schafer:Now, of course, you're not training the muscles, but you're training the central nervous system.

27:52Sal Di Stefano:Your brain doesn't know the difference. That's the part that's so fascinating, because you know that, obviously, practicing the repetitions because the muscle memory part of it is going to be beneficial. There was no doubt that second group was going to improve because they practiced it. What's fascinating is that the group that didn't practice at all actually gained that much benefit. Well, here's the application. Do both is the takeaway.

28:12Adam Schafer:I was just going to say, here's the application. Like there's a lot of exercises. There's a lot of exercises that are technical, you know, squatting, deadlifting, overhead pressing, uh, Olympic lifts, especially, uh, and you're going to go do them cause you're working out, right? You're going to go squat cause you want to develop your legs. You're going to go deadlift cause you want to get stronger in the posterior chain or whatever. But also visualizing will probably add to how fast you get good at that exercise. And what this looks like, what this would look like in my experience is you're going, you're on your way to the gym.

28:42Adam Schafer:you're gonna go or tomorrow's your workout just sit and think about getting that perfect rep and getting in the groove and knowing where your feet are and how you press off the floor and where the bar sits that is not hokey it actually works on the day that shows it or do that when you're supposed to be resting in between sets oh great point Justin you know I wonder I wonder how much of this

29:03Sal Di Stefano:because I guarantee anybody who is a pro bodybuilder that's listening to this this is your life so this is what you do 100 % it's the only time in my life I ever thought about working out that much and you you we're no one's really talking about the we talk all about their programming their diet all stuff like that like how much of their benefit is coming from just the thinking about lifting all the time like i can't imagine what it is if you know that the just thinking about the free throws made a difference i have a list if you guys oh yeah yeah yeah i gotta since we did since we're doing lists right now i uh i saw this and i thought oh this would be funny to ask the guy so these are the top 10 jobs gin alpha want to be when they grow up.

29:41Sal Di Stefano:And I think Gen Alpha, Doug, can you look at what the exact age? They're like adolescent to early teens. My son to maybe Everett somewhere around there, I would guess. Oh, so that young? I think so. Let me see. Let's ask Doug what Gen Alpha is. He'll tell you what year they were born. What do you guys think, while he's looking that up, what do you think, specific jobs too, okay? So when you think of it, don't think of a general job. Think of a very specific jobs. Are the top 10? I have all 10.

30:08Adam Schafer:I think a YouTuber wouldn't be in there.

30:10Sal Di Stefano:YouTuber is number one. Yeah, of course. Wow. Say what, Gen Alpha is what? 2010 to 2024.

30:16Adam Schafer:Okay.

30:17Sal Di Stefano:Okay. So someone could be 15 right now. Yeah. And they're Gen Alpha. Does that cover two, like, streaming video games? No, no, no. Just like, it's literally YouTuber. It's like its own thing. So you say streamer? Twitch streamer. Streamer is number eight. Okay. So YouTuber is number one. Streamer is number eight. Throw out some more you guys got. Ooh. I mean, you got to think. DoorDash? No. my son's like i can't wait to door just to give you a little bit of a hint there there are some traditional jobs on here not many but there are some like what a kid in the 80s would say too probably firefighter no okay astronaut social media influencer uh i thought i saw influencer on here um i'll give you i'll give you tiktok creator doug oh god that's the other real That's number two.

31:06Sal Di Stefano:YouTuber is one. TikTok creator is number two. You're missing number three and four and five and six and seven. Podcaster.

31:14Adam Schafer:No. Oh, yeah.

31:15Sal Di Stefano:They don't listen to podcasts. No, not yet.

31:17Adam Schafer:They're going to do it. I don't know, bro. Give me them.

31:19Sal Di Stefano:That's weird. So app game developer is four. Sure. Doctor and nurse is still number three. Okay. So that's still up there. Number five is still entrepreneur. Oh, good. Six is artist. Seven is professional athlete. eight Doug nailed online streamer. Nine is musician tennis teacher, but you have all of those like two are real options. The rest are just bullshit.

31:47Adam Schafer:That's true. Oh man. Like name the ones that are realistic in there. Entrepreneur. Yeah. Teacher. Teacher. That's about it. Uh,

31:55Sal Di Stefano:maybe app game developer is a realistic,

31:58Adam Schafer:like working as a developer.

31:59Sal Di Stefano:If you, if you,

32:00Adam Schafer:I mean, okay. So three out of 10. Yeah, I suppose.

32:02Sal Di Stefano:Yeah. The rest are YouTuber. YouTuber, yeah, right. Okay. TikToker, yeah, right. Artists, well, maybe if you're, you know, professional. I mean, those are some. You know what does that mean? Online streamer. Yeah, there's quite a few of them. Musician, quite a few of these are like. Whenever somebody tells me. Artist, musician, nah, dude.

32:17Adam Schafer:That's passion, but it's not like, oh, I'm going to be a career. If somebody ever says to you, like, hey, what do you do for a living? Oh, I'm an artist. You know what I hear? Unemployed. Broke. Yeah. Broke. Oh, you're unemployed. You have a job. I love it. I'm into it, but I know it leads to broke.

32:31Sal Di Stefano:It's pretty crazy to think that one, because I bet you in the 80s, you said firefighter. I bet you in the 80s it was. Astronaut was. Firefighter, astronaut. I wonder if that list is out there. Maybe look for in the 1980s top 10 jobs. That kids wanted. That kids wanted.

32:47Adam Schafer:Pro wrestler would have been in there. You think so? In the 80s? I mean, I definitely like your firefighter for sure.

32:52Sal Di Stefano:I like cop in there for sure. Those were two probably the 80s that were still.

32:56Adam Schafer:Pro wrestler's got to be in there. You think so? Bro, do you guys remember? Of course I do. I want to be like a Navy SEAL. I was a kid. Did you really? I didn't even know they existed when I was a kid. I knew Green Beret when I was a kid. Just because of Rambo. Rambo?

33:11Sal Di Stefano:Your entire education of the kid is sitting around Rocky and Rambo. That's where most of your knowledge comes from.

33:18Adam Schafer:In the 80s, popular dream jobs were athlete, doctor, teacher, and musician. All the same. Boys often aspired to be firefighters, engineers, and astronauts. There you go. While girls wanted to be doctors, teachers, scientists, or a chef or a baker. Other common ones.

33:36Sal Di Stefano:So what I was looking for is what replaced TikTok and YouTuber, right? Because that's one and two.

33:42Adam Schafer:Well, a movie, an actor, I guess, they would have said back then.

33:45Sal Di Stefano:They didn't say that, though. I know. That's funny, man.

33:49Adam Schafer:That's all right. Hollywood actors, nobody cares. Detective and investigator was a common one back then. That's interesting.

33:56Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, what was so popular in the 80s? Is there a show that we watched that was really - Inspector Gadget? Yes. I showed my kids that the other day.

34:02Adam Schafer:I think it's hilarious. Dude, I got to tell you guys, this just reminded me of something I did over the weekend. What? My wife got, she went - Where were you guys all this weekend? Did you go somewhere? Sorry. I was just taking care of Courtney all weekend. Oh, that's right. She had the appendix removed. How is she? How is she? She's good now. I mean, it's, yeah. You know, it is after a surgery. You think it's going to be no big deal. And it's like, you know, she couldn't even, like, it's all core related. Everything. everything hurts so it's just she's a lot it took my buddy two weeks go back to work yeah yeah it's yeah it was scary and then it's good because we got answers and then got we were able to do it that same day good uh and then come home but yeah it was like a lot of i was like putting my little nurse hat on are you a good caretaker or are you like horrible yeah you're like i'm like me i really like getting the way i really like was outside of my normal self to try and overcompensate for that fact that I'm not that nurturing personality.

34:58Sal Di Stefano:I mean, Katrina said she went and saw Courtney and she said, you know, Justin was like, he wouldn't even leave her side and didn't want to leave. He was going to sleep out in the parking lot. Her point of reference is you. He was

35:10Adam Schafer:smiling.

35:11Sal Di Stefano:He was there. Katrina's like, it's more like, I'm not there to make you things and fluff your pillow. I'm with you. I'm terrible. hey well the one thing though you're a terrible patient too yeah i am both just angry but katrina uh i mean we talk about this a lot right like uh yeah i'm i'm good if you ask me what i'm not good is to just to do it that i'm not like so she and she and i said that and i feel like in our relationship we've communicated that enough it's like hey that's fair like you just gotta and because what she's bad about too is my and i'm sure courtney's like this she's tough she's i I can handle it.

35:49Sal Di Stefano:Like, you know, my wife is, I got it. I'm good. Right. So she has that D1 mentality goes into everything she does. So she'll act like she's not really hurting or that sick until she gets snaps at me. And then I'm like, whoa, what's Courtney toughs it out a lot. And then she has a very specific way in an order of sequence of things. Because she's a nurse. So she has like, what are you doing? If I don't do one of those things in that sequence, it's like, I'm like,

36:13Adam Schafer:okay, well, figure it out. My wife, she's very good at telling me.

36:22Adam Schafer:Jessica's got like a list. She'll just tell me. Can you rub my feet? Not like that. Rub my feet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, all right. No, no, no. You're not doing a good job. She did say I did a good job, though. I came through. No, you guys worked it out. Listen, I'm all joking, bro. When your wife was really sick, you were there, bro. A lot of you actually said the whole thing. I was like, oh, my God, dude, because that was so long. And it was scary. Yeah, it's scary the whole time. You didn't have answers. I had seven days in Mexico, dog.

36:49Sal Di Stefano:Seven days. And it was a scary seven days. Seven days in Mexico with a language barrier. And you didn't know. I mean, it was scary. Oh, yeah. I didn't know anything. And all I'm hearing is that she could go septic and die. And to see she was not there. The first day and a half, she wasn't even coherent. So I can't even get feedback from her. I don't speak Spanish. So I'm trying to do that whole thing and figure it all out. Then I'm like texting you and all my doctor friends, like, what does this mean? Like, Oh my God. And then, yeah, dragged on for seven days. That was the thing. Cause I was trying really hard to like communicate to all her, she wanted me to communicate all her friends or family and like, and I had like, you know, 10 different threads going at the same time and was just like towards the end, got her home and everything settled.

37:34And then like, I kind of like stepped outside and I started getting like, you know, I don't know. It just was like, it all kind of rushed at once. Like what had happened? it kind of sunk in and then i i get like angry and like and so i had to like take it outside on

37:48Sal Di Stefano:my own and kind of vent out and like oh i snapped on the family i had to like i had to like get away from everybody i snapped at everybody like i told everyone like you know do not talk to me talk to somebody else about like nobody cares more than i care i'm here nobody's more connected to like medical professionals than i am in this family so i don't want anybody's like everyone was trying to give me opinion back home and i'm like dude i do not that's not what i need right now oh yeah I'll call you and act like I trust me I was calling my friends that I wanted their opinion on that stuff you got a call from me but the family that all started everyone and they care right so you I get it I understand why but in that moment I'm just like oh I couldn't handle

38:26Adam Schafer:that too caretaking uh is uh considered one of the most stressful things that people go through when they list the most stressful things you'll go through I believe it's long-term caretaking like taking care of it like an elderly parent yeah and they'll show like Katrina said when she

38:39Sal Di Stefano:came home she said she just looked like he ran a marathon she's like he i could just see how exhausted exhausted it's tough i had to keep going well it's physically and emotionally that's why

38:51Adam Schafer:you know i'm saying well if you care about the person it's not like you're just uh hired to help them you know it's like somebody you actually care about so i don't i mean i don't know if you

38:59Sal Di Stefano:where you felt this afterwards i i mean i the thing for katrina and i i get and because maybe it was so life or death situation uh boy the the connection that it gave us afterwards it was like and she she admits that up until that point she actually she just talked about this this weekend we were talking we're opening up and sharing some stories like this and she brought this up and she's just like you know i have to admit that before that day happened like i didn't think you loved me that much oh it wasn't until that moment that she realized like that's nice oh yeah no it was great i think that's why it it brought us on a deeper level well that's all i mean anytime you

39:34Adam Schafer:go through something really challenging with your partner at the other end of it um it can be

39:40Sal Di Stefano:incredible well especially if you're close especially if you're terrible like i am like i'm i'm terrible at expressing that stuff and showing saying that stuff and then but of course in the moment like of course i would take a bullet for her or do whatever right so so it took that for her to see it and feel it at the level so a lot of that's my bad right leading up to that i hadn't made her feel that way enough but that moment it gave her that though so we're now that she's checked that box like okay there's no question in my mind like would he be there for me type of deal because we went through that yeah we had a little bit of that i think the the silver lining uh really and i told you guys like kind of the state of where everett's at with um it's been a bit like confrontational a little bit of uh friction between courtney and him uh as he's going through puberty and like changing all this kind of pushing her away from being the little baby you just want to be known as a little baby and all this and uh so all this happened he was asleep I you know we were about to podcast and I took off and then went home and picked her up took her to the ER but uh Everett was still like in his room and was asleep and didn't know this was happening I was like leaning on uh Ethan to really kind of help get all the things and prepare her to help you know bring her to the car and so he found out as like we had gone and like we were at the hospital and he's like what mom's at the hospital and like he freaked him out and it was great because he went he came in after she kind of came home from the surgery and all this stuff and was just like broke down he's just like i'm so sorry i've been so hard on you and you know and it was like it was great because it's like you know puts in perspective it's like dude like you almost lost your mom like you know in your mind but right like it's so he he really took that to heart so that's wonderful so that ended up ended up being a good thing at the end

41:31Adam Schafer:of all of it it's always great to see how how god can turn tough hard things into he can turn it

41:36Sal Di Stefano:around into something really good we i totally hijacked your story sorry i was no no i was reminded of justin's thing so that was just thinking about that weekend so what so what

41:45Adam Schafer:happened well first so i we had a couple things so friday i filmed the the first of the series that I'm going to do. Oh, you filmed it? Yeah, I filmed it with Dylan. So let me ask you guys this. When was the last time you guys saw me get really visibly nervous to be on camera? Never, bro. You love the camera. Never. Yeah, yeah, never. It's never happening.

42:04Sal Di Stefano:If I ever see you, it's only to get on stage. Right, right.

42:08Adam Schafer:And even then, do you guys see me like shaking? No, no, no, no. I've never, okay, day one, when Doug filmed me for Maps Anabolic, this is when I knew that this is, oh, this is something I can do. He put me on camera and I felt very, right away, very comfortable. I don't know what it is, but it never bothered me whatsoever. Anything I do on camera. In fact, you put me in front of a crowd in front of a camera and I look at the camera, I won't even be nervous anymore. Don't know why. I have never, and my buddy Chuck, he's one of the pastors of the church I go to. Because, you know, the whole topic of the series is like, how do I gear, how do I do fitness for God's glory?

42:47Adam Schafer:Not for mine, not for anybody else. like it's always been for me right it's always been this kind of like back and forth dysfunctional thing and he warned me he goes bro he goes it's gonna be a lot harder than you think oh he goes it's it's gonna be a lot harder than you think and so sure enough dude first off morning of literally morning of dylan's supposed to meet me at my house at uh like 6 45 because we were gonna damn he made you get up at that time that's the time i work out bro you see what sal you're a He's a champ, bro. He was a champ. I'm sure he didn't question it. Three o 'clock, I'll see you.

43:17I know. He's a champ, dude.

43:19Adam Schafer:I'm so glad he's the one on the other side of the camera, by the way. But I was originally going to go to Santa Cruz Fitness, the Santa Cruz gym.

43:26Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, that was the plan, right?

43:27Adam Schafer:That was the plan. But I woke up in the morning, and the night before, I was just disturbed about it. I guess would be the word that I want to use. It was kind of consuming. I had it in the back of my mind, but it was consuming. Just didn't feel right? A little bit. It was just like, I'm going to do this thing. It's going to be hard or whatever. Wake up in the morning. The morning's going great. I don't remember what happened with Jessica, but she said something to me, and I just laid into her, which I'm like, what am I? And I just totally hammered her and started this big fight. And shortly after, I'm like, oh, my God, that was like, why am I such a, what's going on here?

44:01Adam Schafer:Try to repair that a little bit. Then I'm like, hey, Dylan, I want to go to the studio because I know the way I feel. And if I'm in a gym like that, it's going to be even worse. Take me to a place I feel like home. So we come here, and this is 100%. I'm being 100 % honest. We go out here, and I'm like, Dylan, I got to go to the bathroom. I'm in the bathroom for 20 minutes. I feel like I'm going to throw up. Oh, my God. Yeah, dude. Wow. I'm visibly shaking and nervous. I'm like, I don't know how to do this. I'm praying. OK, what is this going to look like? And we did it. And on the way here, he's filming me, and I'm talking in the car about what I'm trying to do.

44:37Adam Schafer:I don't know what this is going to look like. I'm going to try and submit and let go. And again, and so it was interesting. We did it and it was great when we did it. And Dylan is, like I said, he's the right guy for the job. But really weird, really, really weird that that happened. Never felt like that before. Do you feel like extra vulnerable with this? I mean, there's a few ways to look at it. I would explain. I would imagine there's a part of you that is wrestling with your old tendencies of what you'll want to do and what you're supposed to do.

45:11Sal Di Stefano:And then you're also being filmed while working that out. And you get to privately normally do that. And you get to publicly do that.

45:18Adam Schafer:That's part of it. That's part of it. I guess the secular side of me would say that. Although I can get vulnerable talking on here. And it doesn't bother me. the other that here's this here's a spiritual side so if you're not uh religious you can tune out or think it's silly those of us who are believe in this but there's also the spiritual side of it where when you get uh closer to uh to moving towards god or you're gonna maybe potentially even influence people in that direction that you become a target and it it was like i said i've never not only have i never felt that kind of nervousness in front of a camera i I think the last time I felt nervous like that ever.

45:56Adam Schafer:Jeez. It was really weird. That is strange. It was really, really weird.

45:59Sal Di Stefano:Now, did you get a sense of relief afterwards? The sense I have - Or did you just drag, God, I got to do this again?

46:06Adam Schafer:The sense I - There's two. I have a very strong sense of purpose behind it. Okay. But I also have this understanding that it's going to be a tough season. There's going to be a three-month period where it's going to suck. Yeah. And it's probably going to be all over the place. So I don't know.

46:20Sal Di Stefano:But it was interesting. When does it go live? When are you going live, Don?

46:23Adam Schafer:I think the first episode will be. This week? Yeah. This week? Oh, cool. So by the time this airs, it should be. It should be, by then. It should be up. Oh, okay. Yeah. And I'm going to, this is me thinking out loud a little bit, right? I'm going to include a few friends who've also had a relationship with fitness that I think will convey it well, like Dennis Roberts. Oh, nice. He's a world-class jujitsu fighter, fought in MMA because he's been so, and I've already asked these people permission uh because he's been so single-minded in the past he's injured his body and hurt himself in ways that yeah you know he says maybe could have been avoided yeah i'm gonna have johnny sebastian on pro bodybuilder uh also probably wrestles with the

47:07Sal Di Stefano:same thing as he did right now he is for sure i was gonna say he's definitely wrestling because

47:10Adam Schafer:he's in prep right now in fact for a competition i'm gonna have chuck who's uh one of my good uh mentors um you know christian mentors so we're gonna talk about he also likes to work out but really just from a theological standpoint, I can ask them these questions and then I'll probably have some with you guys where we're going to sit down for 20 minutes and I'm going to ask you guys what my problem is. And you guys can tell me. Oh, I can't wait for that one. I can't wait for that one. I sold it to you.

47:36Sal Di Stefano:I've already got a list. I've been actually working on it. It's funny you're going to do this.

47:40Adam Schafer:I've been writing a list off the whole like grocery list. That's literally what I'm going to ask you. What do you guys think my problem is? Cause I trust you guys and we get to film it. So anyways, So that's what's going on. What I was going to talk about. So that was your weekend. You did. No, then my uncle who passed away a few weeks ago, we put his ashes with my grandparents. So we also did that. So that was also on my mind. But it was really nice. I got to tell you guys. It was by my house where the cemetery is. And my wife very graciously offered up our home for the whole family. and my wife did such an amazing, she's so gifted at creating a space for people when they're going through difficult times.

48:27Adam Schafer:My family is so grateful and she did that, man. All I did was order the food that we had, but she organized the home and where people would sit and the music and the energy and the children can play over here. And my whole family was just like, man, you guys, and they're thanking me too. And I'm like, I did nothing. My wife did all of it, so you gotta thank her. so it was a very painful but also healing time it was like the final this is it, we're done with all that stuff but other than that that's it, that was this weekend I wanted to talk about Legion's egg protein I think I brought it up on an earlier podcast I love it, have you guys used it?

49:08Sal Di Stefano:I have not, it's relatively new they didn't have it before do we have some here?

49:14Adam Schafer:we did I did get it back I have one bag. I don't. Have you been using it, Doug? I have. I love it. It tastes good, too. It tastes super good. The amino acid profile on it is incredible. It's just as good as whey for building muscle recovery, all that stuff.

49:28Sal Di Stefano:How would you guys compare it? Because his whey tastes bomb. So how would you compare it? I think it's better than whey. Personally. So I used to get the old -

49:35Adam Schafer:It's got better mouthfeel.

49:37Sal Di Stefano:Yes. Way of thing. I used to intentionally pump egg whites into my shakes just for the mouth. Not because I was trying, oh, there's 20 more grams. No, it was more like - Gives you a little bit more of a creamy. It frosts the smoothie. It makes it even better. So I imagine it would have a taste like that. Yeah.

49:51Adam Schafer:So for people who can't digest dairy very well, and they want a high-quality muscle-building protein, that's a great alternative. I had a concern before I started taking it, though, was it's going to upset my stomach? No. No problem. Same here.

50:06Sal Di Stefano:Speaking of you, Doug, are you next on the fitness podcast? Yes. I think it's going live today, which is when we're recording this episode. so it's already up then. Elite Trainer Podcast. I don't think it's up yet. It's going up this afternoon. Well, it will be because by this airs - By the time this time this airs, yeah. Yeah, by the time this airs, it'll have already been up. I know Dylan's putting it up today or this afternoon or whatever, so you're next. I'm next. And I'm talking financial things. I'm talking about how to structure your business, whether you should form an entity or not form an entity, some tax things.

50:37I mean, for full disclosure, I'm not a CPA, but I do have a lot of experience, and that's what I'm sharing. You know your stuff.

50:43Sal Di Stefano:I really hope, I mean, I have high hopes for this podcast because obviously I don't expect it to be the size of Mind Pump because we're not going after the general population. We're going for very specific. For trainers and coaches. Helping trainers, coaches, and any health professionals that want to scale, build their business, or even start being a personal trainer. And the point of having all of us like that is to be very well-rounded. it'd be obviously there's many things that's uh not related to knowing personal training that requires this business go and and that's why i'm so glad he has doug doing that because there's so

51:17Adam Schafer:many things that he does that's a that's a blind spot for coaches and trainers big time oh yeah it is for a lot of entrepreneurs just yes exactly especially trainers yeah the trainers do not know any of that stuff i have never met a trainer who understood that very well ever i didn't at all so Yeah. Pretty crazy. I'm excited for it. I also got to talk about my brother's success in the new car he bought. Oh, you're sharing it. Yes. Yes. Well, so, okay. So, my brother, he cracks me up, right? Great father, good man. He's been doing really well at work. He's a financial advisor. And he's conservative with his money.

51:53Adam Schafer:Very much so. He does a good job. He takes care of his family.

51:55Sal Di Stefano:He could have bought that car a long time ago. Yes.

51:57Adam Schafer:He takes care of his family. He's not one to go just, like, be flash or whatever. But he, like you, Adam, he loves cars. Yes. Like he gets, he genuinely gets joy out of, you know, cool cars, fast cars, whatever. And he's been probably for the last year or two talking about the Corvette Z06.

52:14Sal Di Stefano:Oh, longer than that. I was talking to him two years, two or three years ago at the Christmas party and how bad he wanted that car.

52:20Adam Schafer:Yeah.

52:20Sal Di Stefano:And I knew he could go buy it then, but the market was crazy. Yeah. He found one for crazy.

52:26Adam Schafer:He got a steel.

52:27Sal Di Stefano:when he when he when he got that just to give some numbers of i i spec that exact car and i was gonna buy it and the reason why i didn't was after i did the whole thing so i got an allocation i got all excited because this dealer said i got one someone gave it up you can have it spec it out look identical to that everything he had on it i put on it so it was so crazy to see that's what he got and then at the very end the dealer hits me for a 25 000 markup on top of that and i'm like f off dude i'm not gonna i'm not gonna pay super car money it's it's not a ferrari or lamborghini it's an awesome in that caliber but i'm not gonna pay that because they won't they won't hold their value like a ferrari or lamborghini like i want to i want to pay what it's worth not pay over so and he got it for i think 60 000 less than what i was earmarked to get it for a steal just

53:15Adam Schafer:a steal for that he was he's so happy about it he keeps talking about it so yeah shares with everybody brings it to the house uh and uh that's the first time i've driven that caliber of a of like a race car i've been i've been he lets you drive it yeah yeah oh yeah he let all of us drive it right man that's scary fast yeah bro you hit that we're on the freeway and you hit it and it pulls and then it pulls harder and then it pulls harder and i'm like this is crazy bro this is a lot of fun i told him like you're there's no way you'll drive the speed limit in this because it's boring yeah how could you possibly drive the speed anyway it's pretty awesome didn't they release like three versions of it well yeah well the new ones that's so part of why uh he got a good deal

53:54Sal Di Stefano:finally is and this is what i was waiting for the same thing for this car is that once the new zr1 and the zr1x or whatever came out um which those are now because this is a 670 but naturally aspirated v8 yes it's naturally aspirated this is what was that they took uh ferrari's 458 engine and put it in a corvette so it's literally the same thing is it yeah same mid engine right it is The exact, that's what, and what an incredible pull for Corvette, Chevy to do this is they, that's what they did. They went out, which by the way is one of the most valuable Ferraris that will hold forever was the last naturally aspirated Ferrari was the 458.

54:33Sal Di Stefano:And that engine is known as one of the greatest V8s ever built. They, Chevy goes and takes it. They bought one, completely took it apart, reverse engineered it and built their version of it. But it's the same thing. I mean, horsepower, the way it puts it down, the way it feels, that's how badass that car is. So it's like you're getting a, I mean, other than the shell, you're getting a Ferrari type of car.

54:54Adam Schafer:I got to say, I'm so proud of my brother, though. He does such a good job. He's such a good dad, and he's done well, and now he's got one of his dream cars. But I will say this, too. It is funny, because he's a giant dude. He's a big dude. He's like 6 '2". Has he fitted in? Bro, seeing him get in, bro, I just laughed so hard. He's a big ass guy. Yeah, he's just, how does that go? Bro, it's on the floor. You need some serious mobility. Get super reclined to just roll in. Oh, yeah. It's hilarious. So the Porsche has more room. More room for your driver?

55:23Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, because mine, you sat in, it has the bucket seats, and there's nothing to the bucket seats. So if you get conventional seats, you lose some of that headroom. Yeah. So for certain cars, Lamborghinis like this. One of the things I don't like a Lamborghini, if you're as tall as I am, you're like this. The cockpit, the cockpit's so tight, your head's like this. They make it for a tie-in?

55:44Adam Schafer:Yeah. The little ones.

55:46Sal Di Stefano:Yeah. But I can't remember. The Corvette has a better room than most of those supercars, but similar.

55:54Adam Schafer:So I got to tell you guys about a challenge. Not a challenge. Something I'm going to try and do. And I'd like your guys' help. If you guys would like to join, which I doubt you would, we can make a bet on it, which I think will be fun. We'll let the audience try to influence everybody. I'm going to try to stop saying curse words. Wow. I'm going to try to stop using that kind of language moving forward. Fuck yeah.

56:16Sal Di Stefano:So Justin and I got to kick it up. As soon as I said that, you guys are impulsive. Bro, I live by that. I don't trust anybody who doesn't swear. Thank you. I don't trust anybody who doesn't swear. That's been my MO.

56:28Adam Schafer:I don't know if there's data to support that.

56:30Sal Di Stefano:I don't. I don't care about the data. Anecdotal evidence. Look at Doug's skeptical face. Very skeptical. I grew up around a lot of people who didn't swear. And they were some very trustworthy people. I don't know those are the ones that have the most skeletons I don't know about that I think it's more a moral code than that you know

56:50Adam Schafer:I mean there could be other reasons but I think you can make points and connections without it I agree I think you can filter yourself for sure and it's just look I was asking myself do I need to no I don't so let me try well anyway the challenge I would say to you guys if you guys want to put a jar on the show while we're recording and every time you say a bad word you gotta put 100 bucks in there

57:12Sal Di Stefano:I'm not going to play this game, but you can. All right. I don't have a desire not to. I like that part of me. You don't want to make that money? No, I like that part of me. Do you think you would lose that?

57:20Adam Schafer:Is that why?

57:21Sal Di Stefano:No, it's because I like that part of me. I keep saying to you. But to win a jar full of hundreds. I don't want to give that up. If it was something that I did. What if we put 500 every time? It wouldn't matter. Really? I'm not that motivated by that. No, no, no. Sorry, Doug. I mean, I'm competitive, all the things, but that's not. Yeah, if it's overdone, it's lame. I agree with that. I agree that, and I remember when we first started the podcast, I swore way more.

57:46Adam Schafer:We all did.

57:47Sal Di Stefano:And it was, admittedly, it was nerves. And that's, normally swearing is a sign of that, is less intelligent because you can't find the right words. You're not creative enough. But I don't feel that way anymore. This is so, I'm so comfortable doing what we do. If I swear, I swear. It's not because I'm nervous or can't find the word.

58:05Adam Schafer:So you're turning the competition down.

58:06Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, I'll hold you accountable if you want. I'll put a jar out there and every time I'll make sure you put it. Who's going to take the money? Are you going to give it to you guys? Maybe Doug because Doug seems to be pro it. Doug, you might as well. You took all our money for the driving machines. I'll be happy to take it back. Is it a good investment? Do you guys still stand by that?

58:24Adam Schafer:Forever. I still haven't used it. All right, all right. All right, but I'm going to try. I'm going to try to not say bad words. Were you a lot on here? What? On here? Do I say a lot? On the show? Yeah. Not a ton, but I'll throw them in. Yeah. I'll throw them in. Much better now.

58:39Sal Di Stefano:He had more vulgar stuff.

58:40Adam Schafer:Yes, back in the day.

58:41Sal Di Stefano:That's what he was more known for, was saying vulgar things. Oh, yeah. That, I think that's worse. Of course. Yeah. I feel like a good swear word in the right place to add humor. I like how you do this with your hand. Or exclamation. Like it's a dish. Like it's very small. Yes. Like it's a... It's the appeal to your Italian side. I mean, I guess there was... I know that I made a conscious effort when we had Max. So I don't swear around him. You don't? No. He never hears a bad word? No way. Oh, really? Yeah, I'm very aware of that. When we're at home, I don't swear. Oh, wow. But when I'm with my buddies, 100%.

59:15Sal Di Stefano:Oh, yeah. Yeah, 100%. I mean, that's part of my storytelling is that. You take that away from me, I might be a terrible storyteller. Do you want that?

59:23Adam Schafer:I'm a good storyteller, don't you think? Yeah, I don't know if you're bad. Am I a good storyteller? Yeah, you are. Okay, so. Yeah, but I don't know if the cussing is what makes it a good storytelling. It adds to it. Yeah. That's character. Well, if it's going to impede your ability to tell awesome stories, I agree. Keep saying. I like challenging the Ned Flanders out there. You know, that depiction of Ned Flanders is such an amazing job. It's so good. At painting people who are trying to be moral as terrible people. Morally virtuous people who stick their nose up at everybody else. And that's what I'm not about.

59:57So I will take down all the Ned Flanders. Meanwhile, you are a very good man. Yeah, I want that to speak for itself. Yeah, you don't want the self-righteous. And that's kind of where I'm at.

1:00:08Sal Di Stefano:Justin and I are a lot like here. There's an area where we're in common, and I think you do the same thing. When I'm around kids, I get really annoyed when people swear around kids. I'm just like, dude, there's a time and place. And when I'm with my buddies, and we've built this around this being with my buddies, you're Doug, and you probably would like it that way because it would probably reach a larger audience. Yeah. I mean if you want to we'd be very Ryan Seacrest and you'd be happy no we'll never be that look here's the deal

1:00:38Adam Schafer:100 % what you're saying if you really want to help people achieve health and fitness and you want to reach more people you would stop cussing if the love of helping people outweighs your urge to say bad words because I really want to reach as many people as possible to help them but that's alright I'd be curious about this conversation say three or four years ago. Yeah. Well, like how resistant we would be? Well, I mean, where you would be, Sal. Oh, I would be right where they are. Exactly. So it's a matter of timing. Oh, yeah. You see what I'm saying? Because I had this conversation 10 years ago.

1:01:15And guess what? I've been saying this. I was very patient. I don't know. And little by little.

1:01:19Sal Di Stefano:Justin and I found Jesus a long time ago. I'm not sure that's going to make a difference. That's why it's like, yeah.

1:01:24Adam Schafer:Doug's a good splinter for the Ninja Turtle world. He's patient. I'm very patient. Right now he's mad because I'm messing up his thing that he's doing. No, no, that's fine. It's good to have people on my team. Doug's like, you just messed it up, Sal. We were going there. Eventually they come around, Doug. They do. You plant your seeds and, you know, we get there. Yeah. There you go.

1:01:42Sal Di Stefano:I'm rooting for you, though. I appreciate it.

1:01:45Adam Schafer:How much on a scale of zero to F? Like a seven.

1:01:50Sal Di Stefano:I'm a seven rooting for you. Thanks, bro. I appreciate it. I am all for you. Love you guys. Yeah, working on it. Always being a better dude. That's a good thing. I like that. Just put your money right here when it happens. Figure out what we'll do with it. It's not a big deal. All right. Yeah, we'll have a pizza party. By the way, we need more trainers.

1:02:05Adam Schafer:Oh, Doug. We're hiring a lot more trainers. And can we talk about the distance ones? Are we going to talk about that too? Yes, we can bring that up. We're going to hire also trainers who want to coach people virtually. so you don't necessarily have to be here. But.

1:02:19Sal Di Stefano:Okay, I want to put a big but there. Massive but. Okay, yeah, one. Calm down. We want more in-house trainers. That's the number one focus is people that are.

1:02:29Adam Schafer:And there's perks to being in-house.

1:02:30Sal Di Stefano:Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it'll definitely be much better to work here than it will be remotely. But what we've recognized is what's happened as we've taken on all these applications is there's been a few trainers that, you know, Kyle and I will be talking to them like, man, he's really good or she is really good. It's such a bummer. They can't relocate. I hate to miss on an incredible employee just because of their constraint to move all the way across the country. And so that was kind of where we moved this. Okay, we're going to be even more picky for that, just so you know. Way more. So being in-house is one thing.

1:03:08Sal Di Stefano:To be remote, we have to really, really like that person. And so yes, we're accepting applications, but we're looking for somebody who is very much so bought into the brand, very good at what they do or going to be very good at what they do in order to get that. So, but yes, remote location and also in person.

1:03:26Adam Schafer:And it's mindpumpjobs.com. That's where you can apply. Correct. And that's for trainers only. It's not for other jobs here. Okay. No. Most multivitamins for kids are really just glorified candy. They're gummy candies, a lot of sugar, not enough nutrients to actually make a difference. Well, there's a company called Haya. This is the multivitamin that we give our kids. It's not candy in disguise, but it still tastes good. No artificial sweeteners. And it has the right amount of nutrients that will help your child thrive. Check them out. Go to HayaHealth.com. That's H-I-Y-A Health.com forward slash Mind Pump.

1:04:01Adam Schafer:On that link, if it's your first time, you'll get 50 % off. Back to the show. Our first caller is Sophie from Minnesota. Hi, Sophie. Hello. Hey, guys. How's it going? Good. How are you doing? Good. Good. Well, to avoid rambling, I'll just read off my question. I'm 28, and I've been lifting weights in some form for the last decade. I have been pretty consistent with strength training, though, for the last three years, about three to four days per week. And right now, I'm really trying to push the limit on my one rep max, so for squat, bench, and deadlift. So about 10 weeks ago, I started a 12-week cycle that ends in a one rep max test for each.

1:04:40And I want to do everything I can to maximize my results. I have no experience using lifting aids like belts or straps. And I just was wondering what your guys' opinion was on introducing those. So I'm curious if you thought that would be beneficial to introduce as part of my max test or if there's a certain body weight to barbell weight ratio where it becomes safer to lift with those aids. And then for reference, I'm 130 pounds, 5 '8", and my current maxes are 185 on the squat, 200 on the deadlift, and 90 on the bench press. And before you guys ask, yes, I am eating in a surplus and consistently hitting protein.

1:05:20Adam Schafer:Awesome. Nice. Thank you, Sophie. All right, so there's a myth that those aids increase the safety of a lift. Here's what happens. If you put on a weight belt, okay, you can lift more weight. So all it does is increase the weight that you can lift. Therefore, the safety is the same. So because of the stability that creates in your core. The only time I recommend those things to people are when they're going to compete in a competition that allows them. Okay, so if you're going to do a powerlifting meet, then I would say use the tools that they allow in the meet because you also have to learn how to use them properly and effectively because they do change the biomechanics a little bit, muscle recruitment patterns change.

1:06:04Adam Schafer:When you wear a belt, for example, your core pushes out against it to create stability. When you don't wear a belt, it's different. So that would be it. Now, if you're not going to compete in a sport that allows them, there's really no use in using them and yes you will lift more weight with them but it's those things are why you're lifting a little bit more weight so so it's not really it's not really

1:06:28Sal Di Stefano:somebody who hasn't already the fact that you haven't you uh you're strong you're already strong and you're not you're not going to get any benefit other than saying that oh you you left you lifted 10 more with the belt um if you were winning a trophy for it that'd be a different story but if you know you were my client i would i would encourage you not to start using it i mean i i look back at my journey and uh regret that it was something that i included because you get dependent on it you you get really strong i know what i can lift with a belt and so i can't lift that without a belt and so there's this part that psychologically i mess with and yet i don't compete so it's just like why did i ever do that so a lot of what you hear us communicating is because i think we, we feel like if we could go back and do it again, we would have done a different, like if I, when I, the day I was in your shoes, cause there was a time when I was in your shoes and I hadn't done it yet.

1:07:21Sal Di Stefano:I wish I wouldn't have done it. Cause it didn't serve. It didn't serve me at all. Right. Other than saying that I lifted this number. Um, you're, I think you are also, even if you lift less weight, I think you're stronger because you are, you can, you're doing that intrinsically yourself. You're not using an artificial tool in order to do that. And that mimics more realistically how you would lift something in real life too.

1:07:44Adam Schafer:Are you going to compete? Yeah. Or is this just, no, I have no plans. I've just, yeah, I think my progress on my maxes have been kind of slow. Like over the last three years, I've maybe increased them like 10 pounds on each. And I just wanted to see if there was something that could help me get that extra kind of push. Have you used any kind of variable resistance to add bands or chains to your lifts or any kind of like fractional weights? I haven't, not since college. I was a college tennis player and we used to do a lot of strength and conditioning playing with like speed squads, resistance band squads, that kind of a thing.

1:08:20But since then it's been pretty just traditional. I've done some tempo work like pause squats or like a slow decline.

1:08:27Adam Schafer:Yeah, that's the direction I would go. I agree. I think using like chains or bands in addition to the weight that you're using, um, really effective for breaking through plateaus. And then programming is where I'd always look right. Uh, are you following maps power lift or are you following your, like what kind of program are you following? Um, I've been following a stronger by the day by Meg squats. I'm not sure if you guys heard of her. Yeah. How long have you been following it? That's what I've been using the last three years. So she's pretty power lifting focused. Um, and then this cycle right now is just focused on one max testing for this 12 weeks.

1:09:02Adam Schafer:Okay. Let's send you maps power lift when you're done with that then follow it yeah try our version of it it'd be cool yeah usually for power lifting i mean there could be a lot of reasons why someone plateaus but um but programming sometimes is one of the reasons so we'll send you maps power lift and when you're done you can try our programming and see if it makes a difference okay yeah how uh just had a curiosity like how how much weight is normal to be gaining on your maxes like over time for an experienced weightlifter like should you be progressing you know 10 pounds in a year or that's impossible is there a normal that's impossible to answer right yeah like there's so many factors that can influence that sure uh but you know i think if you're following good you know at this point you've been lifting for a long time you know if you were to add you know in a three-month period you know 10 pounds to your lift that you're doing great tends to get amount yeah cool yeah well thanks you got it we'll send you mass power lift that way you got some different programming next time okay okay great well thanks guys thanks sophie yeah i'm gonna uh just kind of address what you touched on adam that uh if you use lifting aids like belts uh wrist wraps you know knee sleeves that kind of stuff knee wraps especially if you use them often, what'll happen is you'll start to train your body to fire its muscles and operate well, or should I say it's most familiar against resistance with those aids.

1:10:35Adam Schafer:So what happens is you change your recruitment patterns, you take them off in the real world, you go to lift something heavy, your body goes and it reverts to this pattern that you train all the time, but now you the belt on. Now you don't have the wraps on. Now you don't have the knee wraps on, and then you can cause problems. So it can actually cause issues. Bracing is completely different with the belt. Very different. Yeah, it's a completely different process. So it's almost like it competes with what you're doing without it. So therefore, it's like a completely different response that you're training, which isn't going to be beneficial for you to jump from one to the other.

1:11:14No.

1:11:14Adam Schafer:In fact, I would say it's detrimental for many people. It's a very tough habit to break. It's real hard to tell yourself, I'm going to go down 50 pounds in this lift because I'm not using a belt anymore. Our next caller is Jordan from Florida. Jordan, what's happening? How you doing, Jordan? Hey, guys. How you doing? Good, man. Good, man. What's happening? Not much, man. I'm very happy to be on here. I've been a longtime listener of you guys. It's very exciting. um and you know so just to jump into my question real quick because i know i got a short time and it kind of has a little bit of backstory um but essentially my question is uh what do you what qualifies a coach or trainer and specifically on degrees versus certifications um so a little bit about my backstory is you know i didn't finish college i you know i was kind of an idiot growing up, but even after, I just didn't like learning like that.

1:12:14And so when I moved to Florida, you know, my goal was to become an athlete performance coach. That was the only thing I was interested in. And so when I got here, I started looking into a lot of online certifications, got certified as a trainer, got a NASM certification, and then honestly following you guys and Joe DeFranco's podcast. I got stacks and stacks of books from you guys. You guys pushed me into the NCI, so I took a couple courses from them. I did some internships, interned at Elliot Holtz's gym here in Florida. Now I work at Overtime Athletes and train athletes full-time.

1:13:00Getting into that, that's just my background. And, you know, I feel very fortunate. I've been coaching here full time five years. And now we work with other coaches and I help other coaches learn about athlete performance programming. So what spurred my question is, you know, about a month or so ago, I was seeing I look I saw an Instagram reel and there was a coach who he had his Ph.D., multiple masters. But basically, he was just saying is, you know, all coaches need to have a degree, period. And, you know, he if if they don't, they're completely unqualified and all that. And all that, I just left a comment on there and was just like, hey, well, here's my experience.

1:13:44And, you know, we at our gym, we have interns. I've had I've been here long enough with OTA that, you know, I've had multiple coaches come through that had masters, had bachelors, and they didn't end up being good coaches. And that's all I was saying. And well, this guy just like proceeded to attack me in the comments and even start DMing me, attacking me, calling me unqualified, telling me I'm uneducated and all this stuff. So that I was actually kind of hilarious, but that's kind of what spurred my question. And I just want to kind of share that. That's the background of it. So I want to reach out to you guys and just kind of ask you, you know, what qualifies a coach?

1:14:27right you know degrees versus certifications and again like i said i've gotten a lot of information just from your podcast from the franco's podcast and certification and so yeah

1:14:38Adam Schafer:that was basically what my question was i would judge a coach's qualifications if i had to pick one thing by their experience and who mentored them way over anything else if you told me right now uh i got no certifications i got no formal education but i worked under joe defranco for five years i'd be like you're awesome i'd hire you over the guy with a phd and exercise science for sure so experience crushes all of it yeah now education is important as well this industry formal education for coaching and fitness training meh the roi and it sucks yeah you go get a four your degree and you you're going to get you're going to take away from that what you would get in a certification oftentimes uh and experience crushes all of it so the person you were talking to sounds like someone who's a little jealous of what you're doing insecure dude that's an insecure dude and they're trying to disqualify competitors because they're probably struggling getting clients because other trainers are outperforming them yeah and they're like but they're not a weak thing to do yeah but they don't have formal education that's yeah no you put uh you you

1:15:47Sal Di Stefano:you know, you compare a degree, a basic, say, you know, sports medicine degree to like going through Jordan shallow certification, you're going to get way more, uh, for training athletes than you would in that degree in four years of school compared to the guy who goes through the certification with Jordan. Uh, you would get way more, uh, you would get way more by just watching, listening and learning from a Ben Bruno, from a Joe DeFranco, from, uh, uh, Max Marzo from Corey Schlesinger. That's way worth so much more. Hopefully, you're following all those guys because I know all those guys. They're the best in the business.

1:16:26Sal Di Stefano:There's a reason why they've been on this podcast. We've known a lot of PhDs and it's not to say that all PhDs are shit, but those guys impress me way more. Some of them have their degrees and some of them don't. To be honest with you, I don't even know off the top of my head which ones do and don't because that's the last thing I'm paying attention to is their their formal education it's their experience and then also their results i mean look at like ben bruno who you know a lot of people talk shit about but look at the athletes that he's trained and the results that he's gotten these athletes and these athletes that continue to train with them there's a reason why that is is he's he's created a brand for himself without any of those other things you know i don't really yeah no and you know i mean i was insecure about that starting out for a while, you know, as I was trying to gain experience.

1:17:18But, you know, one of the internships I did, I interned under a guy who had his master's degree. And I think this is what kind of broke that for me was, yeah, I interned under him and not to like to my own horn, I was just so unimpressed with him as a coach that kind of, you know, broke, broke that for me. And then it wasn't until I interned at strength camp under Chris Barnard. That's Elliot Holtz's former partner and he's the owner of overtime athletes who I work for now and have been here for five years and now you know five years later you know we have our own coaches certification we work with a lot of athlete performance coaches around the world and I have dozens of online athletes I work with and guys from Georgia, Bama, Michigan State and I just sounded funny talking to that guy it's not like that guy hurt my feelings but i just you know after after that whole episode i was just like i could train like this for like 30 years but according to that guy i would still be unqualified i guess no direct path from college to to training i mean i can't even point you to a curriculum that is that dialed in in comparison to you know a certification that's more robust like your jordan shallows or something that's actually like very heavy with anatomy and physiology and function.

1:18:39And really that's all you're going to get anyways from the college experiences. Maybe a little bit more anatomical information and biomechanics. But even then, that's a lot of memorization. That's a lot of understanding of the human body. But the actual application is everything. And the actual working with personalities and human psychology, it way surpasses that kind of information so i've had both and i've i lean so much more on application and mentorships i just think it's it's way more valuable especially with pro athletes

1:19:16Sal Di Stefano:and athletes in general i mean they just they they break the mold so uh you know training general pop i have like certain things that i can say or that i found in common with training but then train an athlete and it's totally different like the rules get thrown out the out the window because it's different for them they're they're a different breed and they have different goals and when you're when you're training for high performance like that you you have different things that you're taking into consideration than the average jane or joe that wants to come in and lose 15 pounds so yeah no it's uh you're on the right track it sounds like you're following the right people you've been mentored by great people keep getting what i tell you and encourage you to do because what can happen okay so let's talk about the one thing that can happen to somebody like in your situation is you can get in your own little bubble of this is like how Elliot's team and they do everything and then it becomes dogmatic even for you like be open-minded to learn from all those guys that we talked about because there's something to take from all of them and I don't believe one of them has it all figured out I think they all bring something to the table and you being the person who's open-minded enough to learn from all of those guys boy you're going to be better than anybody that you currently work with right now if all those guys that you currently with only follow under OTA and their philosophy.

1:20:34Sal Di Stefano:It's like, yeah, you want to know that philosophy, but then you also want to know the Jordan Shallows, the Ben Brunos, the Max Marzos, and learn from, you know, PGA Performance. Like those guys are the best in the business. And if you haven't already, I'd lean into getting some courses from some of them because they all got great courses too. I'm actually looking at what Jordan Shallows pre-script, right? Yeah, no, I've been looking at that one. I've talked to a couple of their guys and that's definitely the next one on my list. I'm still trying to figure, because you guys pushed me a lot into NCI.

1:21:04We actually worked with Jason Phillips when we were building our online program. And I'm still trying to finish a lot of those programs I got. But you guys pushed me a lot into that.

1:21:14Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, they did really good with nutrition coaching. That's what really attracted us to Jason and his team is that and the business side. Yeah, they're really good at nutrition, really good on the business side, I feel like, as far as scaling and making money, that kind of deal. but as far as like education for athletes i mean i don't know if you if if have you trained more basketball football what but yeah i think mostly football baseball basketball but again i've worked with i work with athletes all around the world and you know i got like guy kids in ireland that played gaelic football and so some sports i haven't even heard of yeah yeah yeah paul favreitz has got incredible stuff too so if you haven't gone through for speed yeah it doesn't really yeah i can't think of anybody better so yeah dude you get you get tutelage or mentoring or courses from all those guys you're gonna blow away 99.9 percent of every phd out there in sports performance dude you will just clinical it's different keep doing that dude you know allow that because i i know what it's like i had the same insecurity when i was a trainer because i was the least educated least experienced uh was a great motivator for me to get great you know so So allow that to drive you to be great, you know, and to learn more.

1:22:26No, I'm, believe me, I'm constantly reading books and stuff. And yeah, I like, I'm trying to look up every sports performance coach in the business, even if I'm not doing a certification. So yeah, I know all those guys and no, I really appreciate it and appreciate you guys. Um, again, my wife did the couple of your programs after we had our kids and, um, you You know, your Match Prime Pro was a huge one. I really loved as well. Awesome. Thank you. But, well, last thing before we finish off, you know, first, for Sal, I just want to say praise God. I've followed you for a while and I've really loved, you know, everything you've been sharing the last couple years, man.

1:23:08Adam Schafer:Appreciate that. And, Adam, for you, last little thing, I just want to say peanut butter goes on the bread first. Yeah. Yeah, there you go. Big contention there. Only men do that. Oh, man. Only men. Oh, man.

1:23:23Sal Di Stefano:Hopefully your wife is the one doing all the cooking and stuff at the house. She agrees with me. Oh, God. Oh, God. Good woman. A lot of dishes over at that house. Right, dude. Yeah, you're right. But, hey, really, really glad. It was really exciting to jump on and great to talk to you guys and really appreciate it. Thanks, man. Keep it up, bro. Take it easy. Absolutely. Thank you.

1:23:49Adam Schafer:the irony is uh we often get uh messages from uh professors who use our content now to teach

1:23:55Sal Di Stefano:i love that's my favorite thing i know it's you know you know talk about full circle for us well

1:24:01Adam Schafer:definitely for you and i i don't know we have zero i can identify with that i mean that was a big

1:24:06Sal Di Stefano:insecurity for me that was uh um i you know i've i've talked probably a lot about my money insecurities i also had the the education insecurity those were two big ones for me for a big portion of my career. Yeah, I think too, for me going through that experience, like I would get so frustrated because it was just, they were just lecturing and so much of it was fluff and fat that I would just cut out. And I'm like, just teach me what's actually going to work and is usable. And it was never the case. And so I was just sitting there held hostage, it felt like, and I just didn't enjoy it. So, you know, again, I think it applies into like a really clinical setting.

1:24:43And like, if you're working in with like physicians and like, it's in that kind of facility setting, you know, there's, there's really good programs in that regard, but for general population and for sports performance, you're not going to get better than mentorships. Our next caller is Corey from Kansas. What's up, Corey? I'm well, how are you all? Very good. How can we help you? Good. Hey, yeah. So there's been a few episodes lately. You guys have talked about the importance of keeping track of weekly load. So my question comes in with that in relation to progressive overloading. So in optimizing strength or hypertrophy for a given lift, does progressive overload take precedence over total weekly training volume?

1:25:24For example, in the context of MAPS phase two or MAPS anabolic phase two and three, where the rep ranges are higher, I often hit the top end of the rep range and then increased load, which is typically five pounds per dumbbell. However, upon increasing the weight, I usually fall short of the previous week's rep count, resulting in a net decrease for weekly volume. While I'm achieving progressive overload through increased weight, overall volume drops. So from a programming standpoint, is it more beneficial to prioritize load progression or to maintain increased weekly volume for continued adaptation?

1:26:04Adam Schafer:Here's the problem with tracking total volume. It's not perfect. So if I squat, uh, 50 pounds for 200 reps, I've done more volume than if I did, you know, three reps with 500 pounds. Okay. So obviously we know which one's going to build more muscle. So I don't, I think you're overthinking a little bit. Uh, if you're,

1:26:27Sal Di Stefano:you're progressive overloading and you know, you are, so you're, you're, you're doing the right thing. Yeah.

1:26:31Adam Schafer:I, I would, I would base it off of feel. Uh, is it more important for me? Do I feel better going a little higher in the reps with better form or do I feel a little better going a little lower in the reps and going heavier? This is where, uh, it's not perfect. So this is where you kind of have to decide for yourself. Uh, we don't want to live and die by progressive overload because it's not perfect. It doesn't work perfect. And you can't always progressively overload your volume. I wish that linear progression would be amazing. Yeah, if that were the case, I'd be doing 1 ,000 sets per body part by now.

1:27:03Adam Schafer:I've been working out for so long. Just like kind of toggle between the two.

1:27:06Sal Di Stefano:You also have to factor in, even though we're thinking in a week snapshot of total volume, you also have to think of where you're at daily. So let's say today you're supposed to progressively overload, but that was a rough night of sleep last night of all the days that week. Like, you know, and you, so you're like, and the smart thing to do is to not overload the body on that day and probably step back and you'll actually take steps forward versus, Oh, today's the day I got to add volume or I got to progressively overload. Therefore I push anyways. And then you actually go five steps backwards.

1:27:37Sal Di Stefano:So it's like, there's also that factor that you have to consider in a, in a moment like that, right? Not just the total volume of the week. It's also how do I feel today? I mean, the, the generic way I did it just worked really well for me when I was competing was I was just tracking total volume of the week. And my goal actually was not always necessarily to increase. It was sometimes just to maintain. It's just like, I just don't want to go backwards. Cause what I found was when I tracked it without like trying to press, we were just watching my own behaviors. I did a lot of this so much where it was like, Oh, I wasn't even a lot of times I was going backwards in a week and I didn't realize.

1:28:09Sal Di Stefano:And so I just would set a goal like, Hey, then this week, I want to make sure I just accomplished the same amount of volume. And sometimes I might add a set, but I try and do it on the days that I feel best to do that. And then overall, look at the week and go like, hey, I accomplished the same amount of volume or more than the previous week I'm winning. And so I just didn't want to go backwards. But I would use the day that I was feeling best in that week to potentially increase that volume.

1:28:32Adam Schafer:Also keep in mind, this is Adam competing, peak shape. It's the only time I did this. Didn't have a job. Yeah, the results. And it doesn't work forever. And sometimes drop, oftentimes, oftentimes reducing volume and load results and better results. Oftentimes. Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's, that's a lot. What's kind of inspired this question, Adam, is you've kind of recapped over the last few months or referenced back to your series that you recently did. And one of those moments was talking about just keeping an eye on weekly volume. And I've had that exact same scenario where I look at it and be like, man, that was a great workout.

1:29:10And if I look at it from the totality of a week, it's like, oh, I fell short a little bit there. So, yeah.

1:29:15Adam Schafer:Yeah. You don't want to live and die by it. It's just one of many factors that you can pay attention to.

1:29:20Sal Di Stefano:Yeah. I actually think there's just a lot of benefit in paying attention like you're doing right now. I think there's a lot of value in just kind of tracking. And then things tend to make sense. It's like, oh, okay. Well, that's probably why I really didn't progress this month is I had two weeks where I actually went backwards in volume. You know what I'm saying? And like, so I think the awareness around it is, is probably the most valuable thing versus like, Oh, how important is it? Unless it was a full-time job for you. Like it was for me during that time. Like it was, it was that serious that I had to get on stage and be better than I was last time.

1:29:52Sal Di Stefano:Therefore I've got to do this thing. And so that's the only time in my life that I really, truly track volume like that because it was, you know, at that time, my job, you know, this process is both a science and an

1:30:04Adam Schafer:art. so you want objective measures you also want to base it off your feelings and you want to use both neither one is perfect so if you felt like you had a great workout you probably did you know you probably did but sometimes feelings are wrong too like oh my god I'm I can't I I'm not I'm going backwards then you look at your your workouts over the last month like actually I'm progressing yes so you want to you want to use both uh but don't live and die by either one yeah gotcha i

1:30:35Sal Di Stefano:do like yeah i do like the idea that you're you're peering into it though because i think it can be it can be very it was it was enlightening for me i had never really tracked like that and then it was like it was enlightening at the least and i think just kind of like tracking food someone who's never tracked food and so it's like just track it and see what happens i'm not saying you got to measure away everything for the rest of your life it's just like you know it's very enlightening because we assume or think a lot of times and we're off and we're wrong and so i think that part of you just doing that i think is valuable very good awesome all right man good cool question yeah yeah cool i appreciate you guys hey i think uh you guys get shout outs all the time for the great work you do obviously i want to acknowledge that but also comment on how i think the three of you together and and doug too you each bring a separate dynamic to the group and it makes this show just it just knocks it out of the park i can relate to each one of you throughout the course of a show, probably five times over.

1:31:27So I appreciate everything you guys do. Thank you, Corey, for sharing that.

1:31:29Sal Di Stefano:We were just thinking about firing Justin. So I'm glad you keep him. Keep Justin. Come on to Chop and Block. Yeah. Justin, we need your little daggings that you kind of throw in there. Everybody, I like those digs. I'll work on it, dude. Thanks, Corey. Thank you, guys. Have a good one. You got it.

1:31:47Adam Schafer:Yeah, Justin makes us likable. That's for sure. If it wasn't for Justin, we'd be annoying all the time. you know i'm glad he asked that question that's a good question it's a good question yeah because you can get so caught up in tracking uh that um like that becomes everything uh and then you start to you know like it's helpful at first like you said insight is is valuable but it's not per it really is listen if i did the volume for squatting 50 pounds uh 200 times do that five 50 times 200 that's a ton of volume versus 500 pounds for three reps now i know which one is going to make my make stronger build more muscle and it ain't the 50 pounds for 200 reps so it's not a perfect formula but it is one of many metrics that you can kind of pay attention to and watch how it trends over

1:32:32Sal Di Stefano:i literally i love it as a just peering in not as a to your point just the science of like oh whoops i need it i have to it's like no it's like just good to know if you've never done it i mean i think it's very similar to someone who's never tracked calories if you've never tracked before I think it's a good exercise. And I don't encourage you to do tracking calories for the rest of your life. I don't think that's a way to live. But I do think everybody at some point, barring you don't have some sort of eating disorder, it is very good for you to track and just see and get an idea. And I think that part of the exercise is the most valuable.

1:33:10Sal Di Stefano:To live and die by it as this is what I have to do today because I'm at this much volume, I don't think is a good strategy for 99 % of the people out there. but I think peering into that uh I mean it was very valuable to me I had been lifting a very long time and feel pretty confident in my program when I do it and then when I peered in on the volume I realized like oh wow I I have these patterns uh of how I train and I could see how that would do those patterns how do I interrupt yeah exactly and I could see how this could lead to a plateau for me so that would became this kind of little mini goal I gave myself okay just don't go backwards Adam on volume because that would already be different than my previous patterns.

1:33:49Sal Di Stefano:And that was enough for me to be able to bring a more muscular, better physique to every time I got on stage. Our next caller is Adam from Minnesota. What's up, Adam? What's up, dude? Hey, how's it going, guys? Good.

1:34:01Adam Schafer:How can we help you? So I'll just read off my question off of this email here. So I train at my college at the Wellness Center on campus. and I started working with a client who's got some, I'm not 100 % sure what it is, but it's some sort of disability. It's really hard to communicate with him. And he's super unstable, has a lot of imbalances. And so I've tried to use some of the things from Maps Prime and Prime Pro, but a lot of them are really difficult. And cuing him to getting, you know, moving how I want him to is hard. so, and some things that we have been able to do are like farmers carries overhead carries, um, just simple stuff like that.

1:34:50Um, so what would you guys recommend, you know, as far as, um, programming to get them to be able to progress, to do like squat bench deadlift, you know, the, the big, um, human exercises like that. And then, um, also be able to move him into being able to focus more on, um, losing the weight that he needs to.

1:35:10Sal Di Stefano:He may not be ready for that. We're unaware of his disability. Do you know what it is by any guess or anything? Yeah, I don't know for sure. Is he hypermobile at all? It's some form of autism, I think, because communication's hard. I'll have to tell him repeatedly four, five, six times to do something, and then he still might not do it. home. Yeah. And I have to break stuff down super specifically for him to do it.

1:35:41Adam Schafer:You're doing a good job. Yeah. Based on what you're saying, consider this. This is a hard client. Yeah. Based on what you're saying, you're, you're saying right now, uh, the most important thing to consider is that he has a good relationship with exercise. That's number one. So if he shows up and it looks like he wants to be there, big win, big win. Now this is going to sound oversimplified, but it's actually quite true. So long as you don't hurt him, you're doing great. Okay. So anything you do with him, a lunge, a elevated pushup, he could lift a - Even machines. He could lift an empty bar off of a rack.

1:36:19Adam Schafer:So it's only thigh high, uh, having him sit down on a bench and stand up as a squat, all fine, all totally fine. So you really can't go wrong except for hurting him and progressing him too quickly. The struggle is, it sounds like the struggle for you is you're questioning the whole thing. Um, but I think you're doing, I think you're doing it. How often have you been seeing him or how long? Well, so, um, we started in January, um, middle of January, and then, um, we went through, um, it would have been the middle of June or the beginning of June. And then we both moved back home. There was only my, both of our freshman year of college.

1:36:59So we We both moved back home. I'm going to start it up again with him. In about two or three weeks, I'm moving back.

1:37:04Adam Schafer:Has he been consistent that whole time? Yeah. How often was he seeing you? We're doing it twice a week. And he shows up to every session? Yeah. Oh, that's great. You're crushing it, bro. You're doing a good job. So you think he's got a form of autism because he's having a tough time communicating, understanding, making eye contact, the whole deal? Yeah. So he's probably incredibly uncomfortable, and yet he's showing up to see you. So that means he likes it and he values it. Huge win, Adam. Yeah. Great job. I think the struggle is, you know, our innate kind of nature of wanting to progress our clients and move them along to these, like, desired goals that you might have for them, like even to backload squat or to do these things.

1:37:49But really, like, meeting them where they're at and just staying there. And staying there, finding out what works, whether it's supported, like, you get into the squat rack, you have them hold on to things the whole time you're lifting. There's nothing wrong with that. And to progress just little bits of whether it's just with weight, control, balance, and that's really where you need to just focus on his comfort and ability to control himself and feel encouraged that he's making progress.

1:38:21Sal Di Stefano:This is a really good question for us to answer because I know that most people that listen to the podcast hear us talk about how good squatting is and dead lifting and overhead pressing. And we, and the goal is to always try and work towards that. But it's, I think it's good for you to hear that. There's a lot of my clients. We never got there. And, and I'd like to think I'm pretty good at what I do. There's just some people that that's so far from them that getting them to just do farmer carries and a great, huge win is going from farmer carries, holding dumbbells in both hands to also be able to do it one hand and keep their body stable like that's a for somebody like that that could be a massive win or can we walk across the room doing walking lunges without tipping over it could be like a massive win for somebody like that and so yeah you could potentially spend the rest of your college career training this person and they never get to squat it doesn't mean you failed as a trainer at all like it sounds like that he's got a lot of challenges with stability focus all the above and to sal's point the the best thing that you could possibly do is to get him to enjoy what you guys are doing and if you if he's enjoying it and you're helping him make it a part of his lifestyle that's a that's a big win that's 95

1:39:38Adam Schafer:of the whole thing yeah are there i'll give you some tips i've trained people like this is there a sled you know i i've had i've had clients uh that their workouts didn't change for a long time but it was such a win that they showed up and I've got a few uh clients I can think of like this where they just showed up and they were just there and I could see oh they were showing up they're consistent and they started to enjoy it and it took us years before they really were able to try to progress certain things I'll give you some tips are there things that you bring up that he then starts getting real verbal with and starts talking about are there subjects he like starts just piping up and wants to talk to you about oh yeah sometimes like talking to him about his classes he does um animal science good um ask him about stuff like that ask him about that oh dude

1:40:24Sal Di Stefano:if he likes animal science like have you looked into like some animal flow type of movements like where he's like crawling and doing stuff like animals if he's really like so that's where sal's going this is how i would try and go that's right find something he's he's excited about and is interested in if he loves animals you need to talk about it's like dude let's do some animal flow yeah

1:40:42Adam Schafer:this is called a bear crawl yeah you know this is a this is based off of a gorilla's movements but also while in between the exercises ask him about things that you know light him up and it just gets him more excited to show up and talk with you and then the side effect of that is exercising and he's showing up but the fact that just based off of how you described him the fact that he was two days a week consistent for six months huge win basically it's don't hurt him and see if you can get him to move in ways that are beneficial and that's it don't overthink it yep yep all right cool um trying to think of anything else um again just like everybody else says you know thank you guys um really enjoy the podcast i took your your course for my ceus that was really valuable awesome oh good awesome man yeah appreciate that thanks

1:41:33Sal Di Stefano:brother how'd you enjoy it yeah so you're in our forum too then right yeah yeah so like keep us posted as you're going through stuff like that there's a lot of other great trainers in there too that uh have probably had similar challenges and so you might get some ideas so use that forum dude use that forum to to to prod everybody else and see what they might have done but i love the idea of like uh finding an animal flow that he likes you know that could be fun for him uh and you might connect there and like sal said man you're getting him to show up consistently and move his body in beneficial ways he may never squat and deadlift that's okay that's okay that doesn't mean you failed as a trainer uh keep doing what you're doing i think you're doing a good job Got it.

1:42:13Sal Di Stefano:Cool. Right on, Adam. All right, man. Thank you. All right. Thanks, guys. You got it.

1:42:17Adam Schafer:I had a client once. Good question for us to talk about. Super good. Yeah. I had a client once. And new trainers, this is hard to understand because you're just like, he's got to get better. He's not getting stronger. We're not progressing. I'm failing.

1:42:28Sal Di Stefano:And you hear us communicate a lot. Right. We do push people to like, hey, the goal should be getting a squat. Of course.

1:42:34Adam Schafer:But you give me a different person like this, and it's going to be a different conversation. Yeah. Yeah. I had a client once that showed up, had a severe, I guess, to use, this doesn't 100 % describe it, but he had like a bit of a psychotic break and severe depression. And literally, when he showed up, we would find a time when no one else was there, and I had to turn the lights off, play no music. And it was like an eight-month period where we would go in the corner of the gym, and we would do like two exercises. And that was all he could handle at the time. and that was it, but he was showing up and it was a huge win.

1:43:10Adam Schafer:And then over the course of the following few years, he started to slowly progress and come out of it. But within that initial eight month or however long, I think it was about eight month period of time, like he would literally, it was quiet on the floor, like two exercises for the whole hour.

1:43:24Sal Di Stefano:I mean, I had clients like this, right? I didn't have a lot, but I had a few clients like this and sometimes it looks like there's one exercise they like doing and I just found ways to challenge that exercise. house yeah and so like if like let's say the farmer carries that there's a lot of different variations of farmer carries that he can do that if he likes doing it you can progress it slowly and and show him wins and get him excited about and that might be all you do it might be just all these cool i did that with step us i had a lady with ms and it was like just her i had to hold her and she had to hold on to me and that's how we started and then after that it was hold on to the squat rack.

1:44:05And then it was, I'm not holding onto it. And now it's like we increased the height. And it was like huge. That was like a year-long process to get there. And it's like, dude, it was massive progress.

1:44:17Adam Schafer:I had one kid like this who just had difficulty connecting, speaking. But when I asked him about Minecraft, he would go off. Every session, I would ask him about Minecraft. Oh, I mean, I love it. I'm so glad you asked that.

1:44:31Sal Di Stefano:Connection. Because, I mean, to me, right away, if he's fascinated with animals, animal flow would be such a fun, cool thing for him to learn and teach. And it may only be one or two different animal flows, and that's all we practice and we get good at and we have fun with it. That's right. Yeah, so don't overthink it. You're doing a good job, Adam. Not everybody is going to be able to barbell, back squat, and deadlift. It doesn't mean you're a failure as a trainer. Totally. Look, if you like the show, come find us on Instagram,

1:44:59Adam Schafer:at MindPumpMedia. We'll see you there. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy, and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Super Bundle at mindpumpmedia.com. The RGB Super Bundle includes MAPS Anabolic, MAPS Performance, and MAPS Aesthetic. Nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by Sal, Adam, and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels, and performs. With detailed workout blueprints and over 200 videos, the RGB Super Bundle is like having Sal, Adam, and Justin as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price.

1:45:42The RGB Super Bundle has a full 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can get it now plus other valuable free resources at mindpumpmedia.com. if you enjoy this show please share the love by leaving us a five-star rating and review on itunes and by introducing mind pump to your friends and family we thank you for your support and until next time this is mind pump