2673: Eight Bro-science Hacks that Actually Work & More (Listener Coaching)

17:52Sal Di Stefano:I move slow. And then it's not even until probably like noon here do I feel like we go for our walk and like, okay, now caffeine's in me. Now like I just move at a different pace. When I would get up and start the day and break a little bit of a sweat doing like a fasted cardio, the rest of the day I'm already moving. It sets the stage. Yes.

18:11Adam Schafer:It does set the stage. And if something's going to get in the way of any kind of structured workout, cardio, strength training, whatever, it tends to not happen first thing in the morning. Now, if I leave this for later in the day, especially after work, things get in the way. I'm a little later at work. I got some stuff going. I got to put out some fires. I got to go pick up the kids. If I wake up early to do cardio and I've decided that's what I'm going to do, I'll almost never miss it. So long as I wake up, I'm not going to miss it. It's uninterrupted, yeah. And then, again, it's extra activity.

18:40Adam Schafer:When people did fasted cardio versus cardio later in the day, now all things being equal doesn't really make a difference, but it typically doesn't work out that way in the real world. The fasted cardio turned out to be extra activity. So this is why it works. Now, if you need to get better sleep, more important, right? So don't get crappy sleep so you can do fasted cardio. It's not a good trade. But if you get good sleep, you go to bed early, and you're doing fasted cardio behavior-wise, activity-wise, it tends to be beneficial. Next up, the bros love what some people will label as junk volume or finisher sets.

19:13Adam Schafer:So when you watch a bodybuilder workout, what they'll tend to do is they'll tend to do like one or two like big gross motor movement, effective exercises. Then they'll do like three other exercises. And the deeper they get in the workout, the more these exercises become kind of isolation, easy exercises, pumping blood. Yeah. And they'll say, I'm trying to squeeze as much blood into the muscle. Now, here's why that can be beneficial. Again, now we're not talking about like, don't replace your big gross motor movement exercises. These can't replace that. But here's why this is beneficial for a lot of people.

19:44Adam Schafer:It adds extra volume and very little stress. Yeah. And now when it comes to volume, there is a sweet spot of where you're going to get like 85 to 90 % of the results. But to get the extra 5, 10 % is extra volume. But what happens here is you're trading recovery for volume. Now you're playing this dancing game. How do I squeeze out an extra 5 or 10 %? out of my workouts, but don't compromise my recovery so much that it screws everything over. Well, I know how. While I'm doing my pecs today, I did the big exercises. I'm going to go do a single arm cable squeeze or sit sideways on this machine and squeeze this upper part of my chest or whatever.

20:21Adam Schafer:It gives you the extra volume and it doesn't cause much damage at all. And so you can squeeze out that extra five or 10 % of results.

20:28Sal Di Stefano:In other words, if they were in the gym for the same amount of time and they did the same amount of exercises, but they switched the exercises out from these finisher type exercises and replace them with barbell, bench press, deadlifts, squatting. They'd be over-trained.

20:42Adam Schafer:They'd be burnt.

20:43Sal Di Stefano:And so if you're going to spend this much time in the gym, let's say you're the type of person who likes to train five, seven days a week, an hour to two hours in the gym, this is where this type of training has tremendous benefits. That's right. Because what it does is it manages the intensity. Totally. It does not over-train you the same way that it would be if you were doing all these barbell lifts. And so here's another example of, we didn't explain it the best way, but somebody who's doing that high a volume of training needs to have exercises that don't do as much damage or else you will absolutely overtrain the body.

21:16Adam Schafer:Totally. All right, next up is supplements. Lots of supplements. Now, most supplements actually have very little value when it comes to building muscle and burning body fat. Some have some value, but not a lot. But yet, bodybuilders just take a ton. Now, part of that is because bodybuilders take everything. They'll do anything that they think is going to work, But here's what we find in the data. When people structure their supplements, it tends to contribute to better behaviors with diet and exercise. And especially if the supplements are scheduled throughout the day, it tends to remind them that they're on this disciplined path of fitness.

21:51Adam Schafer:So it's like I got my AM supplements, my afternoon supplements, my evening supplements. My evening supplements are for sleep. You know what tends to happen if I have supplements for sleep? I tend to go to bed on time, tend to think about it. My afternoon ones, you know, it's hard to eat a garbage meal after I took this supplement that it cost me$90 this month. So I'm going to take that. So it tends to contribute to behaviors that really are what move the needle. It's an immovable routine that they built and established. That's right. Supplements are definitely a part of that.

22:15Sal Di Stefano:I actually think a large portion of the success that people report from supplements is due to these reasons. Totally. We know what the research says about how much it actually moves the needles in the pursuit of building muscle or burning body fat. but where and i remember i know you guys remember this especially it's a little bit different now in my life because everybody sends shit for free to me so i have all i have it all at my disposal but when i was a kid and i went spent half of my paycheck 150 bucks you know yeah on a lot of money yeah you're not missing i'm not missing my workout i'm not missing my diet i'm not gonna be wasting this it really it really kept me on track because especially when i got a new supplement that i was trying because i was i was like i gotta see if this works and i spent 150 i better not just waste it by the male version women would go get a trainer that's a way better i mean i think even for like i mean switch it over to fat loss supplements for women or like sleep supplements like you're saying i think it's just a placebo effect for both sexes that if you are spending this money on this thing you're just more aware of it and you're more and because you're more aware of it it's going to create better habits for that reason and this is why still to this day when I talk about some of those people say, listen, if you have it in your budget, I'm all for it.

23:30Sal Di Stefano:I mean, like spend the money on it. Cause it's, cause even if it's only a one or 5 % help towards the goal, what it does behaviorally for a lot of people, we know how much, how beneficial that is. So, and I think that actually is probably a large portion of the results that come from it.

23:45Adam Schafer:That's right. Now here's another one. And this one, you know, I don't recommend even labeling at this, but I can see why there's some value with this. So these are the cheat meals or cheat days that they would have. Now, this is a psychological break. It's a break, and I don't mean it in a negative sense. I mean, it gives them a break on the ultra discipline that they're on throughout the week and allows them to get back into the routine. So instead of eating super perfect all the time, oh, Saturday, Saturday, I have a cheat meal and I'm looking forward to that. And they move towards that and they stay consistent because they know they're looking forward to that.

24:18Adam Schafer:Is there some physiological benefit? There is. There is a benefit to injecting higher calorie meals into your diet, especially if you're in a calorie deficit, it seems to help with performance. It seems to help with muscle preservation and some fat loss. Now, here's where I don't like it. This can definitely turn into a restrict binge behavior where it's like I restrict all the time and then Saturday comes along or whatever, and then I just eat until I make myself sick.

24:44Sal Di Stefano:So I wanted to put this point in here because I wanted to talk about this because what I find, and you kind of touched on it right there, and I think this is the main takeaway from this. It's less about the cheat day or cheat meal. And it's more about the benefits of undulating your calories. We know what the research says about that and the benefits of doing that. And one of the things that people tend to do when they get on diets is they get to, they have a strict protocol and they follow it just consistently all the time. And it's one of the ways that they have success is just like, this is what I eat every single day.

25:12Sal Di Stefano:And I think there's a lot of value in interrupting that, in interrupting both psychologically and physiologically. So I think that part is the part of the quote unquote cheat day that has value. I don't like labeling it a cheat day. Because it's your diet. It's just part of your diet. I would teach clients or I would insert these as like just high calorie days. I'd say, hey, Friday, we're going to have a high calorie day. Add that extra meal or do that. You could do that without the crazy highly processed foods. Right. That's where it gets crazy. And that's why I don't like where I think the bro science or the bodybuilding community went wrong with it is labeling it a cheat.

25:47Sal Di Stefano:cheating because just the connotation that comes with that is not healthy and good. You're better off just having some interruptions in any diet with a high calorie day. One high calorie day is not going to put pounds of body fat on you.

25:59Adam Schafer:No, if anything, it'll give you energy and strength for your workout. Exactly.

26:02Sal Di Stefano:And so I think there's lots of benefit to anybody who is dieting to briefly interrupting that every other week or every week with this meal or meals in a day where you have a high calorie day to interrupt that both psychologically and physiologically. That's right.

26:16Adam Schafer:Last, flexing. A bodybuilder will flex muscles all the time. Now, here's the value of it. Now, here's what they'll say. They'll say that flexing sharpens the muscles and causes and creates more definition or a harder look. Here's why that's probably true. I don't think it's necessarily, unless they're flexing really hard, I don't think there's really a physiological benefit necessarily. Aside from the fact that no athlete on earth can activate a muscle like a bodybuilder. no athlete on earth can activate the right lat or their left rhomboid or the right rear delt or their quad or their inner thigh or the outer glute like a bodybuilder and part of this is because they flex they sit in the mirror and they flex in fact i think they've refined that

26:59Sal Di Stefano:neural network i think that's a and we talk so much about the better how often we talk about the benefits of the cns and you are practicing that communication between the brain and that muscle you can't tell me that's not beneficial and tell me the carryover right when you go do

27:12Adam Schafer:an exercise i want this is a back exercise and i part of the muscle recruitment process in my back and i can feel this in my chest versus my shoulders or my glutes versus my quads that has to do with learning how to connect to these muscles because look you take the average person who works out who doesn't flex they probably can't even do a lat spread you add you tell them to activate their lats without using a machine or weights and they can't do it bodybuilders they can activate any you could point to a muscle not even touch it and they'll be able to activate it and it's from flexing well take away the mirror it's just isometric poses and it's very valuable i mean

27:44Sal Di Stefano:all resistance training is is flexion of the muscles with some sort of resistance that's all it is so i mean i used to use that line and explain it to clients it's like listen that's all we're doing is flexing the muscles with some sort of resistance whether it be bands weights i spent whatever but that's what you're doing and so the the foundation of that is learning to flex that muscle and if you can't do that very well you're we know that too like the the you will not get as much of an exercise than the person who can actually flex that muscle somebody you take two people doing the same exact exercise same all the all things equal one of them knows how to flex that muscle one of them doesn't know how to flex that results you'll get better results

28:20Adam Schafer:yeah i remember i had a client once they weren't a bodybuilder but they they had issues with scapular winging which is not a super common issue but if you train people for five years you'll run into it and i taught i taught them how to do a front lat spread because it taught them how to and get the scapula to flatten out and to spread out. So we literally sat in front of the mirror and practiced this compulsory bodybuilding pose, but it helped with controlling the scapula when we were doing certain exercises so they didn't get that winging, which was pretty cool. Anyway, you guys are familiar with the Mind Pump ButcherBox box?

28:54Adam Schafer:Yeah, our box that we have on the website. It's amazing. So if people aren't familiar, you could go to ButcherBox.

28:58Sal Di Stefano:It's all of our favorite stuff they put in there.

28:59Adam Schafer:We curated it. This is the best cuts that we like the most. So if you go to ButcherBox and you go to the Mind Pump one, you'll see our box. It's got ribeyes. It's got bone-in chicken thighs, steak tips, baby back ribs, the gluten-free chicken nuggets, and the flat iron steaks. That's what we have all the time. I like the gluten-free chicken nuggets, by the way. I eat so many of those. Do you guys still eat them a lot?

29:23Sal Di Stefano:The adults do. I fight my youngest all the time for them. It's a staple at our house. Oh, bro.

29:26Adam Schafer:That's my family members. Everybody's like - It's a bit of a cheat, I feel like, because it's such an easy go-to for Katrina and I,

29:32Sal Di Stefano:for max like all else fails that's a just throw them in there yeah it takes 12 minutes in the oven to heat them up like that i love it i but i've got become addicted to them because they taste so good it's for comparison if you've never done it somebody you have to eat a mcdonald's chicken nugget and eat that back to back you know i tell you what it'll ruin ever eating a chicken nugget from somewhere else after that because it tastes like a total different thing oh totally i got to

29:56Adam Schafer:tell you guys about so i got some comments remember what i said on a previous podcast i'm gonna try and stop cursing. And I challenge you guys.

30:03Sal Di Stefano:Oh, I forgot to ask. I never saw what happened in the comment section.

30:06Adam Schafer:So people are now like paying attention. Like if I said a bad word or whatever and everybody's like, why don't they contribute or do the swear jar? You guys don't want to do it. That's fine. Because that was my idea was - Oh, they're trying to peer pressure us. Yeah, which is worse. I mean, listen, audience, let me tell you this. We'll go the opposite. If you listen to our show, the last way you'll get Adam, Justin, or Doug, especially Adam or Justin, do anything is by pressuring them. They'll go in the opposite direction. I'm very similar. But anyway, I have a new way of doing this. That's what I'm going to do.

30:33Adam Schafer:And I'm going to say it on air. If you guys want to edit this out, that's fine. But if I get caught saying a bad word ever on the podcast, comment underneath on YouTube, do a timestamp on it, and we'll give you whatever program you want for free. I'll send it to you.

30:47Sal Di Stefano:Okay.

30:48Adam Schafer:For everybody or for the first person? For the first person. First person. First person that calls it out gets a free thing, Doug. Doug's over there. So if you hear me say a bad word, You just timestamp it. You're the first person in there. I'll send you free program. We'll have someone's son. That's fun.

31:02Sal Di Stefano:Is that all right? Yeah, yeah, it's fun. All right. I'm trying to think since you brought that up. Well, what qualifies? Because some people have a distorted perception of bad words. It's got to be a real curse word, guys. Yeah.

31:14Adam Schafer:It can't be like damn or something. Come on, guy. It's got to be one you get in trouble with. Like your mom would put soap in your mouth over it. Oh, I would have gotten soap with that word. With damn? Oh, yeah, absolutely.

31:23Sal Di Stefano:Really? Yeah.

31:24Adam Schafer:Doug was leave it to Beaver, dude.

31:25Sal Di Stefano:I mean, I had a really strict upbringing too, but damn wasn't one of them. What about another language like scheissen? What does that mean?

31:32Adam Schafer:Shit. In what, German? Yeah, German. No, I don't think that counts. It has to be in English. I'm going to pass you on it.

31:38Sal Di Stefano:Since you said that, which was like a week ago or what, I'm trying to think. Have you caught yourself or have you noticed?

31:43Adam Schafer:I think I have. I'm pretty sure I have. So this is a contest.

31:46Sal Di Stefano:Because I know you've been actively trying to not. Really trying. You know what's funny? You're really bad off air. I know, and I catch myself.

31:52Adam Schafer:I told my wife. gee shoot yeah so my wife is in on it with me right so i'm like let's try let's try this together and she's worse now dude she's like a sailor because you're aware of it because she's just yeah like left and right in front of the kid like what's going on babe she's like you shouldn't have

32:08Sal Di Stefano:told me now now i'm even worse anyway i'm really see i'm really uh i'm really good with max but i have when i'm with the boys which is what i feel like i am in this situation it's the only time i get it that we have all kinds of other people listening but that's not how this is the show was built on getting to peer in on a conversation as if you weren't in the room with us. Yeah, if I was in the car with you on the way to school with your kids, I'm not going to literally say these words. I'm definitely not that guy, for sure. But I understand, yeah, if you want to put yourself there. This is different.

32:41We're in a conversation.

32:42Sal Di Stefano:Half of the dynamic of this. You guys are trying to sell me. No, I'm not. I'm all for you. I'm just justifying it myself. Half of the dynamic of this was always like this. you're getting to peer into a real conversation with me and my buddies about fitness. Well, I'm trying to do this off-air. I'm filtered.

32:56Adam Schafer:I'm trying to do this off-air too, though. This isn't just for the show. That's what I mean. I think it's a good thing that you're trying to do. That's better.

33:01Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, that you're trying to go that route, especially if you think you do it quite a bit like that.

33:05Adam Schafer:Next level will be, I'll let you guys punch me in the arm if I say that. I'm not going to do that yet because you guys are going to wail on me. I know Justin will come out of nowhere and just blast me or whatever. Anyway, I looked up, are you guys familiar with Bill Pearl? He was one of the strongest bodybuilders in the 60s, I want to say. Do you guys know who he is? Yeah. Okay, you know who he is. You don't know who he is? Yeah, I think so. I know the name. I'm just trying to picture him. So he was like, Arnold was like a huge fan of Bill Pearl. And he was known back then for being one of the strongest bodybuilders ever.

33:34Adam Schafer:And this was in the 60s. Did they use steroids back then? Yes and no. Some did, some didn't. But the amount of steroids they used back then. So minimal. Wouldn't even be, there he is right there. I mean, you can see just the physique that he built. and that's like early 60s, I want to say. I mean, he was the Arnold before Arnold, right?

33:53Sal Di Stefano:I mean, he was the first big guy like that. Bro, the genetics - It looks achievable.

33:57Adam Schafer:Oh, it's insane. And again, if you want to talk about steroids, they didn't even use, the steroids that they used back then wouldn't even qualify as TRT today, just so people understand. Like five milligrams of D-ball was what they were taking a day if they did take anything at all. But I have some of his lifts, which is pretty insane. saying he benched 450 and i believe this was in 1962 which was insane 460 he did a 605 pound squat so you do reps with 65 and a 310 pound seated uh shoulder press behind the neck wow insane he's not

34:31Sal Di Stefano:doing finisher exercises no no you want to know what his workout look like yeah tell me what his

34:35Adam Schafer:workout look like here's what his split look like it's crazy he had a body parts he did he did a split but it's a he was the first bodybuilder one of the first bodybuilders to because back then prior to the 60s every every bodybuilder worked out full body it was always full body full body you know three days a week four days or whatever yeah he was the first one to combine that with like a split so what he would do on monday would be full body then tuesday chest and back then wednesday full body then thursday legs and shoulders then friday full body body then saturday arms and we would rest on Sunday.

35:09Sal Di Stefano:That's a lot.

35:10Adam Schafer:Isn't that insane? He would do 18 to 20 sets per muscle per body per body part in each of those workouts.

35:16Sal Di Stefano:That's crazy. In each workout? In each workout. Oh my God. That's a lot of volume. Yeah. That's a lot of volume.

35:21Adam Schafer:It's crazy when you get like you get people with those kinds of genetics. They just ramp up and for whatever reason their bodies can handle this insane. You know to that point

35:29Sal Di Stefano:Sal that's probably one of the probably one of the more challenging things for us to talk about is that there's such a wide range of what people can handle. And most of the good information, and I'm saying good information that's even out there, came from these bodybuilders or people that were already anomalies. Yeah. And it just didn't work with your clients. No.

35:54Adam Schafer:I don't know very many. That would crush me. Yeah, none of my clients.

35:58Sal Di Stefano:Just to the audience, this is how I knew before we all met and you sent me anabolic over how I knew how on point it was because I just really figured that out with my clients. Like, this is it. Like, just a handful of movements, two, three days a week.

36:17Adam Schafer:99 % of people will do best at that.

36:19Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, they're going to do it. And which, when you look at it, remember when we used to, the critiques we used to always get, this is not enough. You know, we get people that thought it was enough. And then, I mean, this whole thing, this whole movement was built off of the results that we gave people from MAPS Anabolic. It blew people's minds. It blew their minds on the results. And frankly, the fitness fanatics were just doing way too much.

36:42Adam Schafer:They were. And the genetics of some of these people, like Serge Nubre, he was in the Pumping Iron series. He was the French black bodybuilder with everybody says like the best aesthetics of all time. He was known for doing up to 70 sets per body part in training. Now, was that excessive? Probably. But the fact that he recovered and he looked the way he did from that, it just points to how insanely different genetics can be at that level. Yeah. 76 is just - To be able to tolerate that, that's amazing. It's crazy. You guys want to hear a crazy story that I just read? Yeah. It's one of the craziest stories I've ever read.

37:18Adam Schafer:Really? Uh-huh. And it's true. I don't know when this happened, but I read it today and it was just insane. So in rural Mexico, there was a woman, Inez Ramirez Perez. She was in labor, 12 hours of labor with no access to medical care, no means of transport, and she had lost a previous child to a complicated delivery. So she's in this remote area trying to give birth. She was in a one-room shack in Osaka's mountains, no electricity, running water, basic sanitation. She's a 40-year-old mother. She had six kids already. She's trying to give birth. The closest clinic was 50 miles away. So you know what she did?

37:57Adam Schafer:Because she was having this, the baby wasn't coming out. She had three glasses of strong liquor. She took a six-inch kitchen knife and she gave herself a C-section. Oh my God, bro. And she relied on her knowledge from butchering livestock. Shut your face. So she made three vertical cuts. She consciously was doing this. On her own. On her own. She made three vertical cuts totaling 17 centimeters. And she squatted down. And this actually would get the baby to kind of move in a position that was safer. And she used a faint light, lasted over an hour, and she was able to get the baby out. She survived?

38:32Adam Schafer:How did she not bleed out? Hours later, so her six-year-old son went to look for help. Six-year-old son? Six-year-old son went to go find help. Hours later, village health assistant Leon Cruz arrived, found the mother and baby alive with her conscious, attending to the child. Oh, my God. And so that he used a simple needle and cotton thread stitched up her extensive wound. After an arduous eight-hour trip to the nearest hospital, they were astonished to find no infection, minimal blood loss, and a fully intact uterus. Wow. Wow. This was documented in the international - Somebody's looking out for her.

39:06Adam Schafer:And this is documented in the International Journal of Gynecology and Upstreet. That's amazing. What year? What year? I don't know when this happened. We should find out. But could you imagine?

39:16Sal Di Stefano:How do you not pass out?

39:18Adam Schafer:Like, that's - It's a miracle. This is miraculous. I mean, she's got six kids. Just think of the love you have for this child and for your other children, where you're like, I'm going to do this. I have to do this to survive. And the fact that she didn't hurt herself or the baby during this process.

39:34Sal Di Stefano:It happened in 2000. Whoa, year 2000?

39:37Adam Schafer:Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

39:39Sal Di Stefano:That's crazy.

39:40Adam Schafer:Yeah, I was reading it, getting emotional, just thinking about this poor woman by herself with no electricity, just figuring it out.

39:45Sal Di Stefano:Talk about the brilliance for her to be able to know where to start to do that.

39:50Adam Schafer:I think it's miraculous. And now, here's the other side of it. That kid can never act up.

39:58Sal Di Stefano:My mom brought up.

39:59Adam Schafer:She brings up what she delivered me. She had a hospital. You got no equity at all. This kid is, yeah, never. Nothing. You know what I did to some kid to bring you to this world, buddy? Yeah, yeah.

40:09Sal Di Stefano:You better not act up.

40:09Adam Schafer:That's in 2000s.

40:10Sal Di Stefano:The kid's 20-something years. It'll be interesting to see where the kid's at today. That kid better be a millionaire. Something. That kid better be doing something special. Yeah, I would love that. That's true. He better be something, dude. He's 25, 26 years old now. I'd love to know what he is, or is it boy, girl? I didn't say. Be interested to know about the kid. I would love to hear about the kid now.

40:28Adam Schafer:God, stories like that, man. When you read stuff like that, it's just - That's intense. You feel like a wuss.

40:33Sal Di Stefano:Oh, huge. On yourself?

40:36Adam Schafer:I don't know if I, I mean, I for sure could do that. I found that to be just so incredible.

40:41Sal Di Stefano:You guys see the story on the golfer who overdosed on a great team? That's so silly. That's so silly. I saw Justin brought it up well he didn't bring it up on the show but he brought it up in his notes he didn't talk about it

40:52Adam Schafer:he blamed taking too much creatine on his loss

40:54Sal Di Stefano:and I basically I didn't listen to it but I got a bunch of text messages from my friends that of course they were like is this possible no

41:03Adam Schafer:you know what happens when you have too much creatine diarrhea yeah diarrhea that's what happens what happened was he was dehydrated

41:08Sal Di Stefano:what happened he choked he choked his game he psychologically messed with himself yes that's a hundred the fat I'm sure he's getting roasted uh roasted by it too because most people that know about creatine are going like yeah no that doesn't uh that doesn't know it doesn't happen he was saying he was shaky and stuff

41:26Adam Schafer:probably from dehydration i'm surprised you're in a pro golf tournament i mean that would probably be also possible you know when to like i don't know when you take a a sip of something and it's like a clump and it's like you know you're expecting it to be like liquid yeah and it kind of throws you off in your rhythms a little bit like i've had that happen before and it kind of throws you off a bit but it's not like it's because you eat so i mean even if i do okay even if all that was

41:53Sal Di Stefano:like true that something like that happened do you bring that up i know blames it on the creatine yeah what do you do like you just take it on the chin you're like yeah if i got beat today like i might tell my caddy i was all in my head yeah i might tell my caddy or my wife or someone close to me like i think it was i had that creatine it was sitting in my stomach and it that gave me this, but I am not in an interview going like, blaming it on the guarantee.

42:16Adam Schafer:Meanwhile, half these pro leagues are like sponsored by Taco Bell. That'll mess it way worse than a too much crazy fan. Or at least blame it on some better drugs. You know,

42:25Sal Di Stefano:we were talking about genetics earlier about bodybuilding genetics. I just find it so fascinating that the pro athletes that can eat the way they eat

42:32Adam Schafer:and look the way they do.

42:33Sal Di Stefano:Yeah.

42:34Adam Schafer:Who's that football player? I bought him up before. Metcalf. DJ Metcalf. He eats candy.

42:39Sal Di Stefano:He eats candy all day long. So you know that, okay, so. All day. dude this is this is who popularized this sugar diet now so that that his thing was such a phenomenon like i don't know how many years ago that interview went live maybe we can look up dj metcalf interview about sugar or candy it was a couple years ago that that and that so it's been this like everyone controversial like no way you really he literally like eats a couple bags of candy a day like that's his diet and he's like wait i mean if you haven't seen him you look at him he's like a freak of nature yeah yeah and supposedly it's been recorded documented and proved that that is exactly how he eats which remember just recently our boy over uh mark bell was doing the sugar diet and now there's doctors coming out talking about the benefits of the sugar diet i never really looked into that but i was like yeah because i was like curiously why would i you promote this here's what i know i already it doesn't even i don't even care what the science says of the potential benefits of it i know the addictive properties of the sugar and

43:37Adam Schafer:stuff like that and what a trap that i have never in my life ever worked with a client where we dramatically increased their sugar and it made it things better it's never happened well you have

43:49Sal Di Stefano:to eliminate everything else you know it's it's like uh he eats one meal a day and three bags of

43:54Adam Schafer:candy a day yeah that's crazy isn't that wild it's it's the real look at this especially if you're not like crazy cardiovascular show a picture of him doug yeah he's like ripped it's yeah oh i said DJ, not DK. I've told you guys. DK Metcalf. I've told you guys. I've had a guy that worked for me. He was a - We have a picture of him. Yeah, I know. He looks crazy. I had a porter that worked for me, and he had the gnarliest looking arms. I'll never forget, like huge triceps. Just looked jacked all the time. And I was interested. I was like, what does this guy do? And I asked him, I'm like, what do you do for, like, what do you eat?

44:28Adam Schafer:I mean, his workout was kind of normal, so there was nothing special there. I'm like, well, what do you eat all day long? And I remember he told me his diet. And I believed him because he didn't make much money. In fact, I know he didn't make much money because he was a porter. I know how much he made. And so he says, I can't afford much, but I have, it was a breakfast sandwich in the morning. He'd have like a Pop-Tart or something for lunch. And then for dinner, he might have like ramen. And this guy was crazy.

44:51Sal Di Stefano:Justin and I worked with a guy like that. Justin and I worked with a trainer like that. He literally skipped breakfast, had Taco Bell for lunch, and I forgot what his dinner was. McDonald's. Yeah, it was trash. Because I would drive him home and give him rides all the time. and he'd be like, pull rear to McDonald's. I'm like, McDonald's? Yeah. I don't know. He's just shredded. Yeah. Shredded. Strong, jacked, you know? And he was older, too. He was like a young cat. He was like somebody in this strong. Strong dude, yeah. He was in his 30s back then when we were, this was when we were in our 20s and just genetics, dude.

45:20Sal Di Stefano:Crazy.

45:20Adam Schafer:There are, listen. Everything working for him. Speaking of which, like, I do think, you know, when you look at general obesity, people will say, oh, it's, you know, it's genetics. No, it's not. It's so common and it happens so quickly. There's no like crazy change in our genetics. But when you look at extreme obesity, there is a genetic factor. There is a genetic factor. When you're looking at someone who's weighs 500 pounds, 400 pounds, 600 pounds, there is something going on there that is different than the average person. Of course. If you offered me a billion dollars or to make it even harder.

45:53Adam Schafer:You couldn't even get to 350 if you tried. Right, even worse. If you said everyone you love is going to die if you don't get up to 400 pounds. Yeah. I couldn't. You'd struggle. It just wouldn't work. My body wouldn't absorb all that food. It just wouldn't happen. It's like an epigenetic potential, right? Like you could unlock. Their body just captures energy and stores it. And there's just like the genetic freaks we're talking about who are shredded eating candy. There are those people that for whatever reason, they just, and yes, they may eat a lot of food, but a lot of people can eat that much food and they'd be overweight.

46:22Adam Schafer:They'd be obese, but they wouldn't be 600, 700 pounds. I just found the heaviest man in history. You guys want to take a guess? Like up to current date? Yes.

46:33Sal Di Stefano:Like the heaviest man. The record was over 1 ,000 pounds. Yeah. Mills Darden. Mills Darden. Look him up, Doug. Was that the one they had to like literally chainsaw the walls and everything to remove him from his house? I don't know.

46:43Adam Schafer:You know how much he, when they weighed him, how much he weighed? What? 1 ,119 pounds.

46:51Sal Di Stefano:That's great. How long did he live till?

46:53Adam Schafer:I don't know. That's a good question. Maybe you can find him, Doug.

46:55Sal Di Stefano:but what i want to know somebody that that's that overweight how long they ever like what's the record someone who's lived who's over 500 pounds lived they they typically don't make it past their 40s yeah of course not yeah he actually was born in 1799 and died in 1857 how long wait so that's

47:12Adam Schafer:like 58 years that's not bad not too bad at all do you know that sumo wrestlers well doug what birthday is it they have a big celebration for sumo wrestlers because a lot of them live don't

47:22Sal Di Stefano:live very long i don't know is it 40 like they celebrate like it's like there's like an age that's like they make a big deal about it now you gotta understand he was also seven foot six inches tall well yeah seven six yeah what a massive what year could you imagine a seven foot six one thousand pound human walk you know what's crazy year was this how old this is back in the like 1800s how the hell do you get that many calories yeah nobody ate that much food back Where was he getting it from?

47:49Adam Schafer:Who was feeding them, dude? That's crazy. He'd be drinking oil. That's wild. There he is. Look at the size of the guy. Whoa. He was a genuine giant. He's standing up right. I get next to Andre the Giant next to him. Oh, wow.

48:03Sal Di Stefano:They put a picture of Andre the Giant.

48:04Adam Schafer:7 '6", yeah. Yeah, because he was a big. He was a legit giant. That's a big dude. You know what's crazy about that? He probably had giantism, right?

48:12Sal Di Stefano:He probably grew to that from that disease. Pituitary. Had to. That's what Andre the Giant had. that like to be that size you have to have like some sort of disorder right yeah yeah that's crazy that's insane what's crazy too is that he lived that long today you would still it would be insane

48:26Adam Schafer:to see that today but imagine what that looked like back then when the average man was 160

48:31Sal Di Stefano:something pounds i know i mean we talk about this all the time crazy you unless you go to basketball games you never see somebody over seven foot tall so you've seen somebody seven foot tall is wild

48:41Adam Schafer:well the tallest man in history uh was in the was it the early 1900s i forgot his name eight foot 11 eight foot eleven no one's come close to that doesn't even seem possible foot tall almost nine foot tall look look up his name uh and let's see how he's in the wax museum i've seen him before right there yeah robert wadlow oh yeah he's in the wax museum yeah you guys ever been to the wax museum before down in la they have him in london too no no insane right that's crazy anyway

49:09Sal Di Stefano:I just saw a picture somebody had. There's a famous female swimmer, right? Not swimmer, runner. And they had her next to a male swimmer. Oh, the leg difference? Yes. And she's on the ground like this with her legs up, and her legs are almost the full length of his entire body. Yeah, yeah. It's wild, dude.

49:31Adam Schafer:Have you ever seen when they compare Michael Phelps to a world? I don't remember who it was. A runner?

49:39Sal Di Stefano:yeah a world record marathon runner the opposite they were both all torso same height but then

49:44Adam Schafer:both tall but phelps's legs because at that level genetically you're gonna have short legs and a long torso and then of course at the marathon level you have long legs and legs and it was such a wild disparity michael phelps must look interesting in person right because he's how tall is michael phelps and how long are his legs though he must look interesting yeah because i remember when i saw this picture i was like whoa that looks it looks weird he's like six six is that right six in the six foot something six foot i want to say he's the most winningest uh olympian oh yeah most decorated six four six six four how long were his legs what was his in scene it's like

50:18Sal Di Stefano:30 yeah something like that yeah that would be funny if it was like it was kind of funny i was i was just watching this clip and uh it was a podcast talking about this one actor and i'm sure you guys have you know who it is like even like step brothers he was the guy that was like uh the annoying brother that was you know the kind of the asshole severance in the rage yeah he's also the severance he's the main guy so i had no idea he grew up in santa cruz oh really yeah and so and i looked into it he actually went to my rival school harbor high and uh it's just funny that um he was like talking about all these like local stories and everything but i was like I wonder if I can somehow convince him to tell Wally to put this freaking video out oh the one that you made I'm going to start hitting him up

51:11Adam Schafer:everybody needs to see that

51:13Sal Di Stefano:it was a 30 inch inseam

51:14Adam Schafer:I'm going to keep bringing it up

51:16Sal Di Stefano:that's wild for a 6 '4

51:18Adam Schafer:because the average guy with a 30 inch inseam is what 5 '10 I'm a 34 and I'm 6 '3 what's yours Doug? Probably 30, I'm guessing. I mean, if you buy jeans, I get 30, 32s. That's so weird. Yeah, that's what I'm showing that, Doug. Yep. Ha, ha, ha. It's youth, Doug. Yeah, I am young. Hey. We save a lot of money that way, though. You know, swimmers, top, top level swimmers are the only athletes at that level. So at the top level of athletics, athletes are generally good at most, they're generally good at just athletics. Like you get an NFL player, he's going to be better at basketball than most people.

51:59Adam Schafer:Yeah. Top basketball player, he's going to be better at sprinting. Yeah, it doesn't translate to these other sports. Swimmers, terrible at everything else. Yeah, it's not going to work. They typically are not good at last sports.

52:08Sal Di Stefano:I mean, that makes sense because that big old long torso only works well in the water.

52:11Adam Schafer:Imagine Michael Phelps running. He's 6 '4 with a 30. He's slow.

52:15Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, dude. He would be slow. I mean, I would think he could throw a baseball decently. Oh, I bet. Yeah, I bet he could throw. He could whip a ball. Yeah, I bet he could whip a ball. It would be like, you ever been to one of those baseball games where they have the mascots racing each other? Yeah. And they're like really long.

52:31Adam Schafer:Yeah. That's what he'd be like. Adam, I was going to ask you, a long time ago, you had a very unique way of using Brain.FM. Do you remember?

52:43Sal Di Stefano:Oh, are you talking about sex? Yeah. Have you done it? I haven't in a long time, but we used to do that all the time. It was such a - What was it, Focus? Just locked in. Just locked in. listen you're not thinking about the business we have not talked about this for a long so you know that when you play that to do work right and this is it makes you hyper present you don't get distracted part of intimacy is that like one of the one of the I think in my opinion in my opinion a massive marriage hack I just I mean listen if you start this first put your phones down yeah like i i've already connected don't check your phone while having sex no even even not even right before that like i like like a mistake i've learned i've made in the past is uh like it's like a rule that i've i've had to teach myself like when we come into my bedroom i just put my phone away from me because i've had times where say katrina's showering or that it's bedtime with that and i'm like messing around my phone it literally takes me away from her and us of course that it ruins the intimacy and i really have to like get back in the moment to like even be aware of like what's in front of me and so i think that it it helps you hack into that so if i i literally challenge anybody who uh wants to improve intimacy in their relationship the brain fm hack of like focus in the background in the bedroom is is this i mean start with get the phone out right like that's the first thing is don't get on your social media when you're about to lay in bed with your wife or whatever.

54:19Sal Di Stefano:But focus while having sex was badass. Just have a good boombox like, hey, babe. Yeah. What did that sound wrong? What's it doing to me? I mean, there are a lot of people I was never this person, but I know a lot of people like to have music on in the background when they have sex anyways. There's probably something. Yeah, I wonder what the percentage is. Look at the research on that.

54:39Adam Schafer:The worst person. How many people like. Hey, who would be the worst person in this room would pick the worst music for sex? For sure, Justin, bro. Death metal? This gets me in the mood. You guys have great taste. Yeah.

54:56You got Enya playing and shit, dude. Romantic sounding. Country western? I don't think so, dude.

55:03Adam Schafer:Death metal? I don't know, bro. I would play death metal to get my wheelbarrow on, if you will. Whoa.

55:12Sal Di Stefano:what percentage of people like that's a great I bet that's a common question like music on during sex 47 % so half the people like that and is there any research it's like all R &B right found that 68 % of those who do listen to music during sex say it helps reduce performance anxiety oh that's interesting oh that's what you have yeah performance anxiety oh no it helps you focus no do you guys I actually have a playlist so you have one like specifically for just in case yeah just in case dude yeah It's almost like stripper music. I'll be honest. I have a lot of like... Sade. You do Sade? Yeah, a lot of Sade type stuff.

55:49Really? Yeah, yeah.

55:50Sal Di Stefano:Remember that type of music? I do. I don't play any music. That's total love making music for sure. I like the sounds that we're making. Not the sounds of music. Heavy on the bass. The sounds of silence. No, I've never been like a real... Yeah, I don't bust that out. Yeah, that's not a typical move of mine. But I remember when we were playing around with Brain.fm back in the day, and I was like, oh, this is like a kind of a cool. I remember we used to talk about it a lot. It is a hack. I've tried. It's great. It is. It is a hack. I mean, I know this shouldn't go with the commercial, but a little bit of cannabis with that, it's like the ultimate blend.

56:26Adam Schafer:You know what I'm saying? I got an update for you guys. You know how I was doing that like every other hour? I would pause and think about. Yeah, yeah. Man, I had this. Such a great practice. I had a great experience the other morning. I woke up and my son wakes up early, so I can't do what I'm normally going to do. But because of that practice, I pause and I pray and thank God for whatever blessings are happening. And I was just like, oh man, I get to spend more time with my son. Then later in the morning, my daughter wants me to drop her off at school. And normally I would drop her off at this one stop that a bus picks her up.

57:01Adam Schafer:She's like, can you take me all the way to school? I said, is it the same amount of time? She's like, yes, it is. Well, it turned out to be hella traffic and not. but while we're in there, I was getting annoyed for a second and then I did the thing where I paused and I'm like, oh wait, I'm in the car with my daughter and we had this great conversation. It changes your outlook on things. I felt so blessed to spend the extra time with my teenage daughter and the extra time with my son because I paused to pray about what I feel, what I'm grateful for and I saw the blessing, which I normally would have missed.

57:33Sal Di Stefano:I totally, I think you appreciate that tip or you sharing that because I've actually applied it since we've talked about it quite a bit and have found the same thing. It's crazy. Yeah, and what it really hacks into that I think is different than the traditional way that you hear people talk about gratitude where it's like this end of the night type of deal is that it interrupts the day and you become grateful for a lot of the other very small things that you would miss. You would miss. Totally. Had you not tried to practice it through the day. I'll add to that another thing that I've been trying to do.

58:03Sal Di Stefano:So forget, I think it was Arthur Brooks that was talking about it on our podcast or another podcast or whatever I'm talking about. And like one of the keys to happiness is learning to want less, right? And so -

58:17Adam Schafer:It's not about getting more, it's about wanting less.

58:19Sal Di Stefano:Yes, exactly. That's like the ultimate hack to happiness. And so another practice I've been trying to do is that, and it could be as silly as this. I want a pair of new sneakers or there's this new car I like. It doesn't matter. when I find myself wanting a thing or a new whatever I in that moment I try and go like stop and then be grateful the things that I that I have and just practicing that reminds you just reminds me that and it's just another kind of gratitude practice and I think it's just a such an important thing that at some point you get to that level in your life when you start to appreciate what you have versus always reaching and what I'm wrestling with because I was sharing this with some of my family members that we were talking about this.

59:02Sal Di Stefano:And one of the things that I was telling them was just that, have you ever looked at what percentage of the, well, first of all, what the percent, I don't know what the average of, this would be a cool stat. Doug, what percentage are most people's gross income that goes to their living expenses, their house?

59:21Adam Schafer:You mean just living expenses or just their home? Their home.

59:23Sal Di Stefano:So they say you should keep it around 30%. So that's like a good advice is to - 30 % of your gross income,

59:31Adam Schafer:more than that should not go to your cost.

59:33Sal Di Stefano:But I think the average is like 80. It's like something really, really high. And so a good like Dave Ramsey type of advice would be 30 % of your gross income should be allocated towards your living expense, i.e. rent - That's like the limit or whatever. Rent or whatever. And so what does it say? So this is on housing costs. You want something else besides that? That's what I wanted was housing costs.

59:55Adam Schafer:30 it says they says on average that's what they spend is 30 wow i would not think that the average

1:00:01Sal Di Stefano:i don't think that's what the average person is i think that's a lot though dude that's a lot 30 of income is a lot for well think about what think of most families on gross income or net

1:00:11Adam Schafer:income that's a good question that's on gross that's the 30 rule yeah suggests okay yes that's

1:00:16Sal Di Stefano:a that's a good rule to live by that's not what i i don't know if that's right right there average American spends around that, at least not in my circle, almost every family or friend I know, their rent or their mortgage is more than half. I know.

1:00:30Adam Schafer:That number, I think it's giving you what the guideline is, what the advice is, not what actually happens.

1:00:34Sal Di Stefano:I mean, so my point is I was talking about this with my family of how low of that percentage I've gotten down. In fact, the last two places I've moved, I've downsized my places and I feel happier today than I did any other time. And if you would have asked me in my twenties, the vision would have been this crazy, bigger, bigger, more, more, more. And I think as I've gotten older, I've gotten happier with less. And I think in return, I've been happier because of that. And it's not something that just happens overnight. It's a practice. You have to actually make an effort to doing that.

1:01:09Adam Schafer:My dad used to tell me this all the time. He grew up poor, a poor Sicilian. And he talked about how happy they were being together all the time and we didn't have these huge bedrooms to be in and we would go outside and everybody would be together and the you know the neighborhood was together and he would talk about how um you know how unhappy people are with all this stuff because he saw when he came here it was like man people have so much stuff but why are people unhappy i

1:01:35Sal Di Stefano:know it's crazy yeah see doug's pulling these now i'm reading more stats you're pulling up there this is for california oh okay so it's definitely higher in california okay yeah i was gonna say I was like, most of the people I know, they're spending a good chunk, like half of their money that they make is going towards their living expenses, which of course, because our housing prices. But I mean, I've significantly reduced that and was explaining to my family member how low I have that, but way, way below 30%. And it's like, I'm happier there. And I said, I recognize too, the freedom that that causes.

1:02:09Sal Di Stefano:It allows, I mean, we've had challenges within the business and ups and downs. It's like when you keep that so low and you're so comfortable with that being so low, then those times don't become as stressful as they used to. I mean, that used to be something that when you need every paycheck to survive and get by like that.

1:02:25Adam Schafer:I know people that you have both husband and wife, they have kids, they're both working and they both have good jobs and they're both gone all the time because they have to live in this expensive area with this particular house and they have to pay for daycare. and it's like, man, and they're not doing well, and they're stressed out. It's like, it would be better off for you to find a place. Who cares about this? You have this expensive house when you're not with your family, and you're so stressed out anyway.

1:02:55Sal Di Stefano:Well, you brought that stat up the other day that I was really fascinated by, was just the size of the house that's on average today compared to what it was.

1:03:01Adam Schafer:It's more than double than what it used to be.

1:03:02Sal Di Stefano:I mean, people used to live and be just as happy as they were. The 11, 1200 square foot house was the average in the 1960s, and they had bigger families. Yeah, exactly. So it's like we had more kids, bigger families, and you lived in a, what, half? I think it was half is when you came up with the number. It was like half of what the size we are now.

1:03:21Adam Schafer:And then if you look at the footprint of a house and where people actually spend their time, it's like a lot of wasted space.

1:03:26Sal Di Stefano:Well, that's what Katrina and I agreed when we came this way because, again, going back to what I thought, you know, I thought was more, bigger, like, I want all these rooms, all this stuff. and we you know we had a pretty good size house the two houses ago that was at least the biggest house i ever lived in and i mean i'm talking about rooms that i mean nobody touched nobody touched dude i'm like what a waste yep what an absolute waste so when this place came around it was like hey let's really think about how we use a house and that's what we need let's and let's do our best to make it the way we want it so we we use it and nothing more than that and let's see what how and that's how the this place is right now it's like we use every room in the house, every room of that house on a weekly, even the guest, we have one guest room, but I've got family or someone over on a, on a weekly basis that are, and even us, we still use that thing every once in a while.

1:04:16Sal Di Stefano:And so, and it's a significantly less footprint. Yeah, there you go. 1500 to what was it back? That's the median. Yeah. That was back in 1960s. Yeah. And now it's like over 2000. It's over 2 ,200 square feet.

1:04:26Adam Schafer:Hey, real quick. We have another podcast hosted by our fitness manager for personal trainers only for a trainer or a coach and you want to become the best personal trainer and learn from the best trainers. It's called the Elite Trainer Podcast. Go check it out. The first episodes are with me or Adam or Justin or Doug, but there's more. Again, it's the Elite Trainer Podcast. Go find it on Spotify or YouTube or iTunes. Go check it out. First question is from Clo Clolifts. Should you train even if you're sore? What are the benefits or disadvantages of training when you're sore versus when you're not?

1:05:02Adam Schafer:you depends how sore you are like if you're really sore you probably take the day off but if you've got like normal soreness uh the kind that lasts like a day uh a really low intensity workout probably helps recover faster yeah blood blood flow helps yeah i was actually going to say

1:05:17Sal Di Stefano:no matter what you train you modify the intensity based off of how sore the soreness right so even if i'm really sore you go stretch yeah then it's like that's what the workout looks like the workout looks like mobility real light weight if anything and just kind of moving through getting getting the other blood work blood flow going and stuff like that to facilitate recovery if i'm mildly sore then it's like okay i'll get a little like a machine workout low lower intensity like if if it's even even more it's like so i think that's a good way to do it is that like you work out but you learn to modify the intensity off the level of the soreness and if you're if you're sore to the touch hitting a heavy workout again is not beneficial i remember when i was i want to say that's the mistake i used to make yes i would i would i can't touch i would be like sore to the chest and it's chest day again it's like we're hitting heavy hard chest again i was like that was no wonder i didn't see no process no i remember i was 15 and i really overdid it like i

1:06:11Adam Schafer:typically did at that age and my legs were so sore that i tried to stay home from school and i remember my mom came into my room we got in a big argument and she's like let me stretch your legs out and she wouldn't leave unless i let her do it and then she did and i stood up and it was like way better uh just for moving but yeah i've this you know trigger sessions uh the trigger sessions maps anabolic uh they facilitate recovery they're low intensity they're band workouts or mini workouts and they help speed up recovery so now if you're like always sore always stiff this is like chronic you're fatigued you probably should take some time you're over training you're

1:06:45Sal Di Stefano:over trained that's right yeah yeah if you're this is chronically happening then you that i mean this great conversation for that because again i think this was me like i think i was all i was chasing soreness so i mean that's how bad and over-trained i was was that like i was upset that if i wasn't sore to the touch which is such a backwards way to think of it but i think a lot of people

1:07:05Adam Schafer:fall into this trap some of my best gains were when i would have a light workout on a muscle that was sore and i had maybe overdone it i would just get better results but the workout was so light and so easy. Yeah. Next question is from Good Juju Gaines. I have clients who work out early in the morning. With all the studies being released on the negatives of women working out fasted, what would you recommend them eating beforehand? This is very individual, everybody. Like if you have a client that gets lightheaded, they just don't feel good. They seem to need something before they work out. Something light and easy beforehand.

1:07:42Adam Schafer:I mean, I've had clients where they would eat a banana with some peanut butter, you know, before they work out. And then I had many clients that just felt good. They felt good because they worked out so early. They felt better working out fasted. I don't work out. I don't work. I don't eat before my workout. I work out typically 7 a.m. or so, and I don't eat until afterwards. And I feel great doing it this way. So it's super individual. So when it comes to these studies, you got to be careful because the individual variance is pretty wide. I think what you're seeing with these studies is chronic, like women who are chronically fasting, it might be what you're seeing.

1:08:17Sal Di Stefano:And probably ignoring all the signals their body's already trying to give them. I mean, this is an example of like, the studies mean nothing to me here. It's like this. I've seen so many people. So does the sex. It doesn't matter if she's a woman. It doesn't matter if this is a man. It's like, I'm asking my client how they feel. And if my client works out fasted and feels great, worked out fasted, I ain't changing a damn thing. But if we're working out and they're complaining, fatigue, dizzy, low energy. Like, yeah, like that. We need to do it. We need to make, and what it might look, some clients it looks like scheduling a big dinner.

1:08:48Sal Di Stefano:Some clients it looks like a banana or a shake half hour on the way over there. Some clients they get up, like every client, the strategy has been different, but it's purely off of feedback. It's a hundred percent off of let's try this. How do you feel?

1:09:01Adam Schafer:Now I've had also had some clients that will have exhibit what seemed to be symptoms of needing to eat. And then what we did is we just had water with electrolytes. And really, that's what it was. They woke up and had no fluids. Just dehydrated. Nothing. Give them some water with electrolytes. And then they were suddenly feeling great. So it's super wide. So don't be one of those trainers where you read a study and then suddenly you apply it across all your clients. It's going to be a big mistake. Next question is from Megala Dodds. What are your suggestions for mitigating burnout as a trainer?

1:09:32what are some ways you've learned to refill your cup after pouring into others during the week

1:09:38Adam Schafer:oh wow this is a good one this is hard yeah this is a tough one um you know there's two strategies i used to train a lot i trained a lot of stage you're at too as a trainer i i trained a lot of clients i mean for years i would train this is what made me move up to management 50 you know 50 sessions a week and i did that for so long and there were definitely times i would feel burnout and there were two ways I would deal with this. One was just a mental shift. What did that look like? The conversations that I would have with my clients were ones that I found valuable to me. And in fact, this is just a hack for trainers in general.

1:10:17Adam Schafer:Find your clients, find ways to find your clients interesting and find ways to learn from them while you're training them. And then it almost feels like you're getting the value out of the session. So I would train, everybody's interesting if you ask them enough questions. That's just one thing I found as a trainer. But I'd have clients that were surgeons and doctors or executives or stay-at-home parents. And I would just ask them questions and ask them more questions. And my older clients, it was always questions about wisdom or what was it like when, you know, you were selling houses in the 1960s in this area.

1:10:48Adam Schafer:What did it look like? Or, you know, with the surgeon, tell me about what happened yesterday. Did you have any crazy, you know, patients or procedures? And then it didn't feel, it felt like I was interested. I was having a good time. That helped quite a bit. And then the second thing is you take some time off. Yeah. You get pushed too hard. Schedule time off. You got to schedule time off. Yeah. And I think that's the part that we just, you know, we get kind of in that mode. I got to just work and I got to service all these people. But two, for me, I used to just schedule times where I could go to workshops and learn a new skill and learn something that I could bring back to my clients that would just spark a different conversation with them.

1:11:25um but you know going further into this is why i asked about like the stage they're at because maybe you're at the point now where you got to up the price point of your session good point and start moving towards reducing volume yeah uh which was huge for me because like opening up that extra bit of space i had more time to work on outside my business and really enjoy the the quality of these sessions with people that i enjoyed to train yeah a lot of thoughts here for

1:11:55Sal Di Stefano:me like one this is what made me move out of personal training like it was just a lot it was like uh i fell it's a lot of energy training it's a ton a ton especially if you if you're on and you're a chameleon and you really are giving it all to every client like that's that's a massive energy suck for sure and so i i enjoyed uh moving up but i used to toggle um sprint cruise sprint cruise sprint cruise so like uh i mean it was very common in a pay period i would service over 200 something sessions. So that's over 50 hours a week of clients. It's a lot. And so I would go through these, these sprints where I'd sprint really hard like that.

1:12:31Sal Di Stefano:And then I will cruise the next couple of weeks. And during the times I was cruising, that's when I might be working on a certification, wakeboarding, doing something that's like more selfish. So I had more time for myself. And so I rarely ever just was full throttle for months at a time. I would do these, these kind of, and because you're a trainer and you can, you can control a lot of your schedule. Sometimes that looks like 14 days in a row of work, but then I would take four days off or I would take, you know, then that next week would be like half the client load. So I would do things like that.

1:13:02Sal Di Stefano:Uh, I had to, otherwise I would get, you know, what else helped me a lot too is, uh,

1:13:06Adam Schafer:you know, if I was training 10 clients in a day, nine or 10 clients in a day is my workout would be in the middle of the day. Cause if I train, if I train, yeah, I was trained. That's how I became a middle of the day yeah because five about five clients in a row after that i'm starting to get a little fried and then if i worked out i was ready to go totally for another four or five

1:13:25Sal Di Stefano:clients i actually think that's i would guess most trainers train in the middle of the day like that i mean i my whole career that's why i became some people that train first thing in the morning and

1:13:32Adam Schafer:then they go eight clients straight by the time you're at the end after that yeah you're you have

1:13:36Sal Di Stefano:no energy yeah no i i found the midday workout was a it almost makes it feel like it's too too many days versus having one long day.

1:13:43Adam Schafer:You know, it's crazy about this too. Cause I know you guys are very similar when I was going, going, going, going sometimes one day off made me feel more burned out because I take that one day off.

1:13:53Sal Di Stefano:That's why I like to go sprint and then cruise because I'd rather go 14 days in a row and then have a week where it's really light.

1:13:59Adam Schafer:One day off was like, okay, I'm just thinking I got to get back into the grind. It was weird. It was almost better to just go straight.

1:14:06Sal Di Stefano:And then I think Justin's point about where you're at charging right now is such a good point because if you're training that many clients that you're getting, you can charge more. Yeah. You could probably charge more. And then, and then, yeah, inevitably you're going to lose a couple of clients, but you'll see.

1:14:20Adam Schafer:my challenge with that was is that, uh, because I, I, I could have, and I should have done that from a business perspective, but I had clients that I just felt so loyal to responsible and loyal to. It's hard. That it was like, okay. You know, it's funny.

1:14:32Sal Di Stefano:It's such a good, that's such a good conversation to have for the trainers that are listening right now. It is hard. And that is a common thing that you're going to feel, but you know what? most people respect and understand, especially if you position it that way. Like, man, I hate to do this to you, but I got to do this. And I understand if you can't, or you don't want to, but I'm moving up my sessions and it is what, you know what I'm saying? And so most people are, and the ones that can't afford or can't do it, we'll say they can't. And then the ones that understand will normally move up, but it is a good book for that.

1:14:59Sal Di Stefano:Crucial conversations. There's a, it's a tough conversation. It's hard to have, but if you're going to scale and build, you need to learn how to do it. Next question is from Kevin OG. How do you think you'd hold up in a apocalyptic situation? Do we get each other? What would be your first move? Do we get each other? Or are we alone?

1:15:17Adam Schafer:Because if we're alone, we're fucked. You know what's funny? As we were going, I saw this question and I thought, because I have no apocalyptic skills. I disagree with that. I have one skill and it's sales skills. and I think what I would do is I would somehow sell myself into okay well I'm going to help you guys do this thing

1:15:36Sal Di Stefano:so I'm a relationship builder so I'm going to go build some relationships so very similar you'd like assume a whole cult like ready to go well I guess you could put it that category and then I would be I'd be your deal maker I'd convince the other tribes to join us and make the deal on what they get create the structure meanwhile Justin would be actually building shelter yeah he would be the hunter shelter but the problem is I won't be doing it for anybody else like I'll be like gone I'll be out in the wilderness dude I'll be like face painted and everything like he's like

1:16:08Adam Schafer:you've never seen those like you know if you take like a farm pig but they go in the wilderness they quickly go feral and they turn into a boar yeah that's Justin if the apocalypse shark eyes are coming out yeah it would be a week before Justin would turn into a straight up caveman yeah I would die it'd be bad

1:16:23Sal Di Stefano:no we would not do we would not or I wouldn't I shouldn't speak I should speak for myself I would not do good whatsoever however i mean i'm pretty resourceful and i would i would probably i would do my best to figure it i wouldn't just definitely give up but um i am not you know ben greenfield been training myself to bow hunt and to do all these things these important skills in case we were in that situation but i i i think we would lean into our strengths our mouthpiece yeah i can make some deals you know i'm saying you could wheel and deal yeah i'm pretty i'm pretty good at relationship building and you know maybe maybe that would work some people give you some food yeah yeah what would you do doug what's your skill it's a good question i honestly don't know you're probably the most

1:17:02Adam Schafer:prepared i bet you have like yeah i'm pretty prepared actually he is hopefully it doesn't happen yeah no it's that's upcoming to your house that's why he would survive because he has the

1:17:09Sal Di Stefano:things he's got the guns he's got the food he's got the silver he's already been prepping this whole time he's a prepper yeah i'm a i'm slightly a prepper yes that is true i believe that look if

1:17:22Adam Schafer:you like the podcast come find us on instagram we'll see you at mind pump media i'll see you 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.

1:18:08The 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.

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