2839: Stop Cutting. Build Instead. The Science of Getting Lean the Right Way.

22:26Adam Schafer:So Rho uses a medical technology called liposomal technology. So these are basically little tiny molecules of fat that they'll put around the ingredient, which protects it. And you get more bioavailability. So your body actually absorbs it. So you just use glutathione. If you took glutathione that wasn't liposomal, it's basically a waste of money. Like you'll get no rise in your glutathione. In fact, back in the day. You just don't absorb it? Nothing. It just goes through your body. Back in the day, the only way to get glutathione was if you want to see your blood. It was IV, right? Yeah, you'd have to do injection.

22:59Adam Schafer:That would be the only way we would see a rise in blood glutathione until liposomal. And if you take liposomal glutathione, you will predictably see a rise.

23:07Sal Di Stefano:Is that relatively new technology?

23:10Adam Schafer:No, it's not super new, but it is a technology. And it was first. I want to say pharmaceutical companies were the first one. Maybe you can look that up, Doug. Who invented – Because I feel like I don't remember hearing about that in our early years as a personal trainer.

23:24Sal Di Stefano:No. And then I feel like –

23:25Adam Schafer:But I don't think the science is super new. But supplements using it, I think that's kind of a newer – relatively newer thing. Yeah, probably medical grade supplements for a while.

23:36Sal Di Stefano:That's so interesting. I don't remember. It's interesting that that – Oh, 1961.

23:40Adam Schafer:Oh, yeah.

23:40Sal Di Stefano:The science has been around that long, and yet supplement companies – is it maybe because –

23:44Adam Schafer:The 1970s is when they started using liposomes as drug delivery systems. But it was first discovered in 1961.

23:53Sal Di Stefano:And then why, is it expensive? Like why haven't more supplements used that as a way to transport nutrients?

24:00Adam Schafer:It usually is more expensive.

24:02Sal Di Stefano:That's why. Yeah.

24:03Adam Schafer:And because it was a new technology, like where are you going to find the place to make, to use this unless you're a pharma company type of deal. But Rose specializes in it.

24:13Sal Di Stefano:And is there a reason why, for example, things like NAD, glutathione, I would use that that way, but not a creatine that way?

24:22Adam Schafer:So theoretically, anything that's liposomal will have increased bioavailability. However, some things have great bioavailability without a liposomal technology. Got it. So not necessary. But some things, like glutathione, you waste your time if you take it any other way, unless you inject it.

24:42Sal Di Stefano:I wonder if NAD is like that also. Is NAD like that?

24:44Adam Schafer:It makes a big difference with the absorption. You can absorb some orally, but it's got poor bioavailability in comparison to liposomal technology.

24:51Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, I felt like, because I remember I had tried the oral forms before, never noticed anything. It wasn't until I did either the IV or the liposomal that I noticed a difference.

25:01Adam Schafer:Exactly.

25:01Sal Di Stefano:Something like that.

25:02Adam Schafer:All right, let's talk about the earthquake last night. Yeah.

25:06Sal Di Stefano:Did everybody feel it? Did you even feel it? Oh, yeah. You were like in the epicenter, dude.

25:09Adam Schafer:Oh, so it got you more. Yeah, it was like in Boulder Creek area, which was just a couple miles away from us. It was a what, 4.6, Doug? Was that the earthquake? I believe it was 4.6, yeah.

25:20Sal Di Stefano:And you were center, so you got it the most. So then you felt it the most. You probably felt it second and third, and I was probably the least. It was one of those shifting ones, too. Yeah, it shook my house good. And on the furthest. Wow. Like, laterally. And I mean, I was dead sleep, like just completely out. And it jolted me up. and the boys, you know, obviously woke them up, the whole house. So it was, I mean, I was just kind of joking about it. And then I was like, ah, look, just wait for the aftershocks. And then I scared the boys. Oh, great.

25:51Adam Schafer:Why did I say that? Yeah. It was at 1.41, there it was, 1.41 a.m. It woke us up. My wife, if she's any perceived threat for the kids, she turns into a monster. Like, I don't care. There could be a dinosaur in there and she'll tackle them. She's like ready to run downstairs. And I'm like, no, no, not why there's an earthquake. She's going to fall.

26:11Sal Di Stefano:I don't want you to fall on the stairs or something like that.

26:14Adam Schafer:But she gets up. Maybe that's what it is.

26:16Sal Di Stefano:It's a mama bear thing or not. I was telling you guys on the walk that sometimes I take for granted. I have a wife that is just so tough. She doesn't complain. There's so many traits about her that I think I take for granted sometimes. But every once in a while, I see the side of her that I don't ever get to see, where she's very scared. She doesn't get scared. I don't see anything like that. earthquakes do that we've been through enough with each other and you know she was max is sick so her and max were sleeping in the other room and she comes storming in carrying him you know yeah holding him in the arm like you know where should what should we do and i'm like huh i was like yeah i was like i could go to sleep i just roll over i'm like half awake i felt it woke me up it was a good one you know i'm saying it shook me but it's like it's just i think i've in so many earthquakes that i'm like it's not that big of a deal it's like when things start falling off the wall then you might catch me get up in a doorway right i'm saying like that's how you're supposed to stand in a doorway you know so i might go like do something like that but if if like picture frames are flying off because we've been in we've been in over a seven right so one of the since we've all been in that was 89 yeah yeah that was like a 7.1 7.1 and that one that one threw stuff off the wall yeah and like and so something like that is enough to but i mean i've been in ones where i was at the gym at santa theresa and the windows were flexing you know it's like i mean there's not much you could really no you're gonna write it out dude you

27:45Adam Schafer:know what's weird is that earthquakes have never they don't scare me they never have not the 89 i was 10 i was on the couch watching the world series and it threw me off the couch and i just got back on just never i fell i was in the shower you can do nothing i know they're scary they're supposed to be scary but they don't necessarily like i'm i'm way more terrified of like the ocean or wind but earthquakes for some reason don't but a lot of people are really scared by them doug wasn't you were in a big one in japan right yeah back in i believe it's 95 how big was that

28:16Sal Di Stefano:one 7.2 maybe i'm guessing over seven yeah it was over seven it hit kobe and i was living in osak at the time and i felt my room going back and forth and my girlfriend at the time was living in Kobe. And so I tried to call her. I couldn't get through. The phones were down. And then I couldn't, I finally got through to her and she was okay. Her family house was damaged. Not, not destroyed, but in Kobe, there was like 10 ,000 people who died because of fires. Yeah. Because of a lot of wood construction and then gas lines, things like that. Yeah. So about 10 ,000 people died. And I couldn't see her for like two months after that because trains were running.

29:00How long? Two months.

29:02Sal Di Stefano:Look up the death. The 89 caused deaths, like with the bridge and everything like that. That was crazy, right? If you were somebody who was...

29:11Adam Schafer:89. Look at the pictures of San Francisco in 89.

29:13Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, San Francisco had some building damages. You had bridges collapse. It's the Loma Prieta. Yeah.

29:19Adam Schafer:And so... Yeah. So, yeah. So, you had some buildings fall down in San Francisco. The Bay Bridge collapsing was crazy. Bay Bridge is crazy. Oh, yeah. That was way crazy. I was at the Oakland Coliseum. are you with the game yeah the day before though oh yeah i was up in the nosebleeds too i was like oh man that would be crazy what look at kobe that's the kobe earthquake see what terrifies me more than all those videos is although that is scary or like tsunamis like if i like tsunami

29:44Sal Di Stefano:videos oh no i'm with you i would be more terrified of that the earth because i mean first of all the the likelihood of that and then you have those structures that you see are like Those are vulnerable structures. Like my house, we'd have to go through probably something crazy for my house to collapse. An earthquake would have to be something we've never seen before. So when we get shook -

30:07Adam Schafer:Yeah, because a lot of the buildings in California, a lot of the houses - Oh, they're up to code.

30:10Sal Di Stefano:Yeah. Except for like old cities. Yeah, old San Francisco. It's all brick. Nothing's made of brick here anymore. Yeah, yeah. So your house today, I don't know what the number is that we'd have to be to, the magnitude of it. But I mean, so, so when it happens, I'm just kind of like, I roll right back to you. Go back to sleep. Speaking of natural disasters and stuff.

30:31Adam Schafer:When do you guys remember the documentary with Al Gore? The inconvenient truth. Oh yeah. When was that made? How accurate was that? I don't remember that. Two or one. I want you. Listen, this brought the entire scare with like, um, polar bears. Like, it like, Oh no. Like they're not going to have any. 2006. It was 2006. Now this documentary, this was 20 years ago. Now this documentary is what kicked off the climate change fear. This is the green movement. This was huge. And this documentary got lots of publicity. Lots of people saw it. It was in like movie theaters. And it scared the hell out of people.

31:10Adam Schafer:It changed public policy. It created this political. You still hear people like reciting it. That's right. This is the political term, climate change. I call it political term because it's used in that way, right? and the fears and greenhouse gas.

31:23Sal Di Stefano:Well, because technically climate's been changing forever.

31:25Adam Schafer:Well, hold on. When's the last time you guys - Stop being logical. Stop it, stop it. When's the last time you guys watched it? I don't think I ever saw it. I don't even know if I've seen it. Listen, like since forever ago. This movie did not stand the test of time. It made a lot of predictions. Yeah, by this time. None of them came true. Zero. Bro, he was showing pictures of like, oh, this is what's going to happen to Greenland and then this is what's going to happen and then here's what Florida's going to look like. Remember, this was made in 2006. So he's like in 10 years. So he's got 10 years to like make a prediction.

31:54Adam Schafer:Like in 10 years, this is what's going to happen. None of it. None of it. So right now people are posting clips right now showing these predictions that they made, you know, based off their whatever, their science. It's all. It was all. It's also convenient that there's different climate spots all over the world. So you have one climate in this, you know, part of the hemisphere. You have one in the southern part of the hemisphere. Like they're all different climates. They're all changing at different paces. Yeah. But that's too inconvenient. We need a global scary. I should show you the clips because the way he says it, the way he talks, obviously he's a politician, so he can communicate very effectively.

32:33Adam Schafer:And he's like, oh, this is going to happen. If we don't dramatically reverse course, this is what Florida is going to look like. And I have a picture of Florida and half of it is covered in water. This is what the Bay Area is going to look like. San Francisco is covered in water. And yet all the billionaires still have all beachfront right there. Meanwhile, the politicians were still buying beachfront property. You guys don't believe this yourself. They don't believe it. Yeah, why should we believe it? Where did you see all that stuff pop up? Were you just here recently? There are people who are posting out on X.

33:01Adam Schafer:And they're like, boy, this looks pretty bad, dude. Would you make predictions like that? Oh, yeah. Dude, I had something crazy.

33:08Sal Di Stefano:So this weekend, I'm sitting outside in the morning. I'm having a cup of coffee. my mother-in-law sends me a song to listen to she knows that like i i like jazz music and it's like my easy listening stuff right so she sends me this uh new artist that i hadn't heard of and i listened to it i'm like oh my god this is really good and i sent back to her i'm like this is i said this is really good i'm going down like all i'm listening to like his his playlist right now and she's like i know doesn't he just like speaks to you right i'm like yeah i know it's real good so i'm listening i'm like going through like all his songs and i'm like dude how have i i've never heard this guy so i pull i go to his his spotify and uh you know the the picture of him he's like this older black guy and he's got like an old retro kind of mic he's singing into and like all his songs are in 2026 and i'm like so of course i start google searching so i sent i find out this dude is completely ai generated i send back to her and she's like no way it's this morning it's all over the news right now so he broke the charts he's got two number one he's got two number one songs this is terrible and it sounds like new music it is it's new lyrics it's a different voice it's so brilliant it's already pulling up I'll give it to you I've got it right here it's all over the news but if you were hoping to see Eddie Dalton live don't hold your breath old school soul and blues musician is not real he's entirely ai generated that's right eddie dalton is generated by artificial intelligence wow what in the heck

34:50Adam Schafer:dude wow by the way you know what's funny about this eddie eddie dalton you know what's crazy oh he's got three of the top yeah you know what's crazy about this so there's like a organization now of uh we're cooked well so artists are getting together uh hollywood actors and musicians and they're trying to like fight this but you know what the problem is is that nobody sympathizes with them i know nobody cares nobody sympathize you're a hollywood actor you always give me your opinion about everything you're so whatever and now you're like please help me keep my job and everybody's like nah yeah i don't really care about you losing your job well i mean the only positive that i've seen so far with this there's one band that just kind of emerged out of nowhere and i've been meaning to tell you guys about this and i know you guys won't be into it because it's like so out there uh but i think it's a they're from quebec it's like french canadian but their name's like andre andrean de portuin i don't even know how to pronounce it but it's like these two guys and they wear the most ridiculous outfits so one of them has this huge like hat and they're polka dotted and they have this huge nose and they play he plays like microtone so it's like half notes so the the fretboard for like the guitar itself is like he's playing kind of like notes in between notes and so as a musician you're sitting there and you're like you just get sucked in hypnotized because it's like nothing i've ever heard before it's like so weird it's like a weird music but it's like sometimes they hit these grooves and and it just pulls you in.

36:25But I'm not the only one, dude. There's like, look at how many millions of views they get. It's like it became like a viral sensation overnight. And it's like kind of jazz. It's kind of like, what do they call that type of a rock? But it's like really unique kind of rock music. But it's like the counter to AI. So they're going so off script that they're kind of inventing a new thing, which I think is pretty rad.

36:54Sal Di Stefano:I like artists too right now that I see that are emerging that are doing kind of in that same kind of vein, like creative stuff that's never been done before. And you see, like, there's a couple of these, like, you know, duos that I watch that will, they'll string a couple, they'll be playing like six different instruments and they'll overlay all of them and they'll make really cool music. Like, I think that's. Yeah, like he does like the foot pedals and so does like delayed loops and all that. Yeah, but also plays like a bass. so it's a bass neck and a guitar neck. So it does the bass parts, then does the guitar parts, and then the drums is like so clean.

37:28Adam Schafer:I have a prediction for what genre of music will be protected the most by AI. What's that? Worship music. Because the audience, you could very much say you want the Holy Spirit in it, you want people singing it, and I think that'll protect worship music more than other music. I think it's already there. Yeah, it's already happening. It's already happening.

37:48Sal Di Stefano:I'll send you something by the end. Yeah, I know. I've already seen it.

37:50Adam Schafer:they'll be the most protected because what protects any other music do people really care what that's so that's so left field to say that what are you talking about what i mean is i don't

37:59Sal Di Stefano:think you're talking to someone who likes music like there's like there's no like part of what why my mother said that to me why my mother said that to me is like man his music just speaks to you like that's like there's something about music that uh that what i mean is uh by protected is i

38:14Adam Schafer:think the consumer uh you give it 15 years isn't going to care if it's ar they're just going to like the music that's what i'm gonna say they're gonna have to fully disclose i'm surprised that

38:23Sal Di Stefano:that's not super visible so that's so for him that should be a lawsuit well what's this is so every bit of ai that i've listened to before because i've i listened to some ai stations and it's disclosed as ai and i've also seen a lot of ai stuff get taken down so if it's like uh were they like youtube doesn't mess with it like they'll they'll take down like somebody who takes uh i've seen there's a lot of viral stuff of like a tupac done in jazz or something like that and That stuff gets taken down. It don't last because you're ripping his song and you're making it. But what they did with this artist is it's completely new.

38:55Adam Schafer:It's brand new.

38:56Sal Di Stefano:It's a brand new person. It's brand new music. It's brand new lyrics. It's kind of gray. Yeah.

39:02Adam Schafer:That's what I mean. I feel like in 15 years, what genre are people going to demand real people make?

39:10Sal Di Stefano:Well, your argument is weird, though. Why would people that are - Because I don't know if people will drive it necessarily. Artists will kind of find a way to reach the audience. I think there'll be a split. If you're just a general casual music person, you're not even going to know the difference. No one's going to care. No one's going to care. But people that are into music and they want live performance and they want the distinctions. Because it does. You can feel emotion through somebody playing it. And I mean, I'm sure we'll be tricked. you know like hey i will be able to find a way to kind of put the right type of uh emphasis in there to add and emote it a little bit further but it's like you know to visually see it and then hear it i think is going to be a different experience well you'll see more of like the band you talked about what i talked about the duo another guy that i love well have you guys seen this the spanish kid he's got long hair and he plays the guitar and he and he does all kinds of oh yeah the percussive stuff on his acoustic bro insane i think the live performances it's gonna have to be a lot of yeah there's what what i don't like they're they're both here to stay yeah there's uh i mean i have to admit like i mean if i knew it was ai i didn't stop listening to it it still evokes the words the lyrics the sound the tones it's all still really good now i wouldn't i mean i wouldn't go uh pay to go listen to an ai guest concert or anything like that and so i'd want to see a real artist i would never like so i'd pay yeah this kid right here so have you seen

40:42Adam Schafer:him doug before i have yeah you've shown him he's so i mean if you guys don't i mean i like playing garages and stuff like car garage you know what sounds so rad you know what's interesting is that the prediction was that art and music would be the last things that ai and it's a further scene from that some of the art that you see is so cool where they've melded things and so they're getting way better so i have another theory too with education because uh if indeed it goes in this direction where we have AI and it's able to do so much work for us, as long as you direct it or whatever, let's say, but let's say it does all this.

41:16Adam Schafer:I feel like education is going to move towards the arts or the areas that we thought weren't valuable, like philosophy, morality, theology, because if science, technology, math, engineering, if that's largely AI just kind of

41:35Sal Di Stefano:being directed i mean that's a really uh optimistic i thought i think that's cool it would be very cool if we start moving into philosophical conversations where else would you get educated right oh it's a good point i mean what what do you think if you think about it as a lot of the ai stuff and where we're going technology wise are just supercomputers yeah for a lot of things that we masters of data like it's so like what so what we have that all outsourced so what we should spend our time thinking about other things that are deeper like philosophical psychological things, that would actually be, I mean, that's a very optimistic, actually, view of where this could go.

42:09Adam Schafer:It's just a theory. I mean, who knows, right?

42:10Sal Di Stefano:I mean, so it's not a bad theory.

42:12Adam Schafer:But I was thinking to myself, like, okay, like, let's say my youngest, you know, she's three. So she'd be getting into higher education in what? Is that 16 years, maybe? Okay, if this goes in the direction where you have AI doing all the engineering, all the science and technology using the math building things all the stuff that we for a long time have thought that was this is what you need to learn what would humans uh want to or or what would they value education in it'd be like philosophy theology uh well i mean morality that's kind of

42:48Sal Di Stefano:i mean it's your points being proven right now with the rise of people interested in christian music and church and that's all that's all in the right i bet stoicism i bet stoicism's on the rise also that's true i wonder if it is i bet it is i bet all all these things that i think that it's forcing people into that direction which is i mean that's all good stuff i mean that's a that's a very positive thing again this is this goes back to my theory of like the pendulum swinging thing it's like it's going to get a little ugly and nasty for a little bit for us all to learn and then i think it wakes everybody up and then you start to move in that direction and so i think it's a very optimistic way to look at it for sure.

43:26Adam Schafer:Speaking of science, so I, so trip off this. So you guys know Z-Biotics and their, their product that they have that converts sugars into fiber. We talked about this, right? So yeah, it's crazy. So, okay. This sounds crazy, right? But here's what it is. Uh, this is a, it's a probiotic. So Z-Biotics makes it, this is a company that specializes and taking bacteria, beneficial bacteria, modifying this bacteria to do something interesting. So like their flagship product is a probiotic drink that you drink before you go have alcohol. And what it does is these bacteria, when you drink them, they go in your gut and they break down acetaldehyde, which is what some of the breakdown from alcohol turns into acetaldehyde.

44:13Adam Schafer:Now your liver detoxifies it, but some of it's released in your gut. And when that happens, it goes in your bloodstream, makes you feel like garbage, okay? So this little bacteria breaks down to acetaldehyde in your gut. So that's their flagship. Then they came out with this sugar-to-fiber probiotic drink. And so what this is is you take it once a day. It's a little packet of powder. You take it once a day, and it sits in your gut, and it breaks down. It takes sugar, individual sugar molecules, and it connects them into long chains of fiber, soluble fiber. So I was on their website, and I'm like, how much fiber?

44:49Adam Schafer:Where's the limit on there? Yeah. Like what is this, like how much, how much of it does it do? So in 30 days, if you use it every day for 30 days, it would convert 300 grams of sugar. So 10 grams of sugar a day, essentially into 300 grams of fiber. It'd be like eating 94 pounds of almonds. So if you took this every single day over the course of a month you would essentially create 300 grams of cellular soluble fiber interesting

45:19Sal Di Stefano:that's crazy i can't i'm gonna i want to try bro this is wild i know yeah i'm glad you're i'm glad you're gonna take it now because i've been so curious about it this is crazy science i know how crazy their other stuff was remember when we first met them they they they did the alcohol one first because they knew that would be the most market it wasn't what they were most excited about and that's blowing me away right so i i mean we've talked about zbiotic forever and how crazy and they had way bigger plans for other stuff. It was just they knew that was low-hanging fruit that the general pop would be all about.

45:51Adam Schafer:Well, someone might be wondering what is the benefit of this? Why would I want to? I heard fiber is good for me. What's the benefit? Better digestion, lower inflammation, reduced appetite. Like fiber produces more satiety. You should get better blood sugar because of the fiber. I would think, yeah. You should have more consistent energy instead of ups and downs because that's what soluble fiber. Better stool. Better poops. Yeah, yeah. So Doug's the only one that's used it consistently. He says that he has better gut health. Yeah, I'm super.

46:25Sal Di Stefano:Well, let's all make a commitment to be consistent with it and see what happens, see what we all report back. Be cool to experiment. I've been very curious, so I'm glad we've got it now. Hey, did you see Doug pulled up the stoicism? Yeah, it was on the road. Increased by 400%.

46:39Adam Schafer:On some platforms, but I want to know what the time frame is. Since when? Because I remember it was definitely on the rise about six or seven years ago. When was it that we had, what's his name on the show?

46:50Sal Di Stefano:Oh, Ryan Holiday? Ryan Holiday. Was it Ryan Holiday? Yeah, Ryan Holiday.

46:54Adam Schafer:He kind of jumped the shark during COVID, didn't he? He did. Yeah, a little bit. It was prior to that, yeah. Yeah, so I think it was before that when we saw the rise. So I'm wondering if it's still happening that way. But yeah, it's interesting. We'll see.

47:06Sal Di Stefano:But I mean, I actually hadn't thought about what you said. And, you know, I tend to try to be as optimistic as I possibly can. And I think that's a very optimistic way to look at our future with where things are going. Because I know there's a lot of fear mongering going on with.

47:21Adam Schafer:Well, if your thinking doesn't need to go so directly to pragmatic skills. Yeah.

47:28Sal Di Stefano:We have a calculator for everything now. That's the greatest way to think of it, in my opinion. It's just like you have a calculator for almost everything now.

47:34Adam Schafer:Yeah, so now I can do more like deep thinking type stuff that isn't so pragmatic because all that pragmatic stuff is taken care of by my AI that I tell to do this, that, and the other. Yeah. Which might actually be a good thing. Yeah. Might actually make people better. I mean, ideally, you'd want those both to coexist, right? So you get a bit of more breaks with the detriment to it. But maybe we don't get there and then that's the optimism where it's like, okay, well, now we can just focus on why. you know instead of can we like should we well i also think if you if you start going deep down the

48:09Sal Di Stefano:theological and philosophical rabbit hole you people will choose to do things hard do hard things and choose even though they have the resources and the tools and it'll make better people yeah like exactly it's just like oh i know i could outsource this thing but i'm gonna choose to go do this thing because i know the value fills me yeah right i know the value of it meaning will feel a lot more powerful it'll be yeah that's a kind of a cool interesting thought about that i

48:37Adam Schafer:have a um did i tell you guys the florida man i love that isn't florida man is it don't use articles all you gotta do is look up yeah an article that like where whatever date uh like is your birthday i heard somebody talk about florida man and florida man and then there'll

48:52Sal Di Stefano:be some crazy something happened what what say florida man and then your birthday your birthday Oh, that's hilarious. Just look it up and see what happened on that day. Let's do all of ours. Do everybody's birthday, Florida man, and then all of our birthdays and see what happens.

49:06Adam Schafer:Doug, do yours. And then, is it bad to say your birthday on air? Well, you don't have to say the whole year. Is it just the day? Just the month. Is it just the month and day? Yeah, just the month and day. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so here's Doug, Florida man, June 23rd. involved a 29-year-old who was arrested and charged with simple assault for punching Philadelphia Eagles tight.

49:30Sal Di Stefano:Philadelphia Eagles tight end. That's hilarious. Try it with that, Adams. November. November 16th. Florida man, November 16th. This is hilarious. I've never heard of this. Let's see. Several Florida man incidents have occurred. Several. November 16th.

49:47Adam Schafer:Where a man fired a gun during an argument about chicken eggs.

49:52Sal Di Stefano:2023 an arrest an unauthorized massage at a rehab center unauthorized massage 2017 an arrest for harming a dog with a firecracker you got some good ones dude do mine Doug February 4

50:05Adam Schafer:let's do what mine says Florida man February 4 so far I think Adams is the better one Florida man dressed in Dalmatian onesie outruns troopers

50:14Sal Di Stefano:oh that's the best one that's the best one Florida man dressed in a Dalmatian onesie outruns troopers. That is epic. That's good.

50:24Adam Schafer:Dude, January 26th. Dude, Justin's. So my birthday. Yeah, you're winning so far. His 76-year-old Jacksonville man was arrested to 60 years in prison for sexual exploitation. Oh, that's terrible. I went down a dark path. Damn, Justin.

50:38Sal Di Stefano:This is terrible. A man was pointed, after pointing a laser at a Manatee County Sheriff Office helicopter.

50:45Adam Schafer:I guess mine was the best one. Yeah, bro. Dalmatian onesie outran straight two places. So read this story. This story was... Kobe died on my birthday. That was kind of a problem. Oh, is that true? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. So this was... This is funny. I'm going to read this story to you. A Florida Mound was found sunburned and disoriented on a causeway, claiming he was kidnapped by dolphins and forced to build an underwater city. What? How much acid was he on? Yeah, yeah. How much acid? Hey, listen. Lee County Sheriff's deputies responded to the Sanibel Causeway early Monday after a motorist reported a man standing on the shoulder, soaking wet and drawing blueprints in the sand.

51:29Adam Schafer:According to the police report, Ricky James, Hollowell, 33, was found barefoot, severely sunburned, and wearing only swim trucks. He told deputies that he had been taken against his will by a pod of dolphins three days ago and forced to work on what he called an underwater construction project. He claims the dolphins approached him while he was swimming off Fort Myers beach and escorted him to a site approximately 40 feet below the service where they needed help building structures. He said that the dolphins communicated through a series of clicks that he eventually learned to interpret. And the project foreman was a dolphin.

52:01Adam Schafer:Hey, all this while he's holding his breath. I was going to say, all this while he's holding his breath. Hey, listen, listen. He grew a blowhole at the same time? Hey, the project foreman was a dolphin that was called Gerald.

52:11Sal Di Stefano:The project foreman?

52:13Adam Schafer:He says, hey, listen, when he asked, how did you breathe underwater for three days? He said, Gerald handled that. I didn't ask questions. You don't question Gerald.

52:19Sal Di Stefano:You don't question Gerald? Bro. Dude, come on. I take it back.

52:24Adam Schafer:It had to be meth. Hey, listen. It was meth, right? He had drawn an elaborate blueprint in the sand. The deputy said, was detailed enough to be concerted. There was condos, a town square, a recreation center. Wow. Bro, look at the guy's picture, dude. Oh, my God. You see what he's like, all sunburned. What if he's selling the truth? Never question Gerald. What if he's telling the truth? You know what I mean? Nobody ever believes me. I don't even know, dude. He was actually under there. Yeah. His whole life. Did I tell the humans? Nobody believes me. The humans won't believe me. No, tell the humans.

52:56Adam Schafer:Oh, my God. That's so good. I got a sun exposure study. Let's see if I can find it. I don't know if you guys saw this on X. It's making its rounds, but it was a study on, I got to find it.

53:07Sal Di Stefano:I hope it's good for us. I've been doing a lot of it. No, it's really good. I got to look it up.

53:12Adam Schafer:Give me a second because I'm going to find this. But let me see. Sun exposure. Well, it sucks. Can't find it, can I? Well, I'll tell you what I think the study said. Women who got more sun exposure were less likely to die of all-cause mortality in this particular study. Why just women? Because it was a study done on women. Don, look up the study. Oh, there it is. 2014 study of 29 ,518 Swedish women. Good job, Doug. Found that avoiding sun exposure is a risk factor for all cause mortality. Yeah. So mortality rates doubled in those who avoided the sun compared to those who had the highest exposure.

53:56Adam Schafer:Active sunbathers lived longer and had lower risks of cardiovascular disease and non-cancer deaths. Isn't that crazy? I feel like we've been scared away from the sun, you know, just with all this like cancer and melanoma.

54:09Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, dude. Which is so weird. I think, at least for me personally, it's like I feel a huge difference when I get out. I feel like I'm charged up. I feel so different, dude. I sleep better. I have more energy throughout that day. I feel so much better.

54:24Adam Schafer:Now, part of this is like, did they control for people who were maybe ill, who weren't out in the sun or whatever? I'd like to see.

54:33Sal Di Stefano:Remember during COVID when they told us not to get out in the sun? I remember. What a weird. Well, when I had COVID, all I did was go out on my porch and sit. I'm outside. Sit in the chair.

54:41Adam Schafer:Like, if you're sick, stay inside. Don't even go outside by yourself. Yeah. What? The biggest offender was the guy, like, out on his surfboard away from everybody. And they arrested him. Hey! They arrested him. That's what I knew. Everything was nonsense. Yeah. Do you guys think that that whole period of time, I have a theory, because it was so crazy, COVID, was so crazy. The advice and what they told us was so, obviously, everybody can look back now and go, that was all crazy. Everything they said was crazy. Rational people can do that. I think most people now. I don't know, bro. Hey, they just, listen, did you guys know that the - Dude, I see a lot of massacres still.

55:16Adam Schafer:They just halted. I still see some people with massacres. I do too. I know. We're in the Bay Area, though. I just saw that they're stopping the COVID vaccine for their studies because they couldn't get enough participants. Nobody wants to take the COVID jab. So I think I have a theory. Word got out. is a conspiracy theory, okay? So everybody calm down. Which just means truth. Maybe. Lately, we're like 10 and 0 right now. I was going to say,

55:45Sal Di Stefano:that's how you guys got me on the team.

55:47Adam Schafer:I feel like that whole period of time was not to see who they could control and all that stuff. That's what people thought at the time. I wonder if it was just for them to cause later on complete distrust in all establishment. Oh, I don't disagree with that. Or it's practice for energy lockdowns.

56:04Sal Di Stefano:I mean, I look at this stuff that I just can't I can't wrap my brain around what has happened with the Epstein files and how much we just. I don't think there's anything more evil, bad, and egregious than that whole mess. Are we still talking about this? I'm so mad when Trump said that. I mean, what would get us to rally together? We're too comfortable. I mean, yeah. People are too comfortable. What could be more evil than that? Yeah, what's more evil than harming children like that?

56:45Adam Schafer:Doug, look up the term bread and circus. Do you guys know where that comes from? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's an old term. You got to keep them entertained and fed. And fed. Yeah. This refers to the Roman political strategy of pacifying populace. It's what the Colosseum was all about. With free food and entertainment to ensure loyalty. Right?

57:03Sal Di Stefano:That's why the Colosseum was built, was to do exactly that. The UFC fighting at the White House.

57:08Adam Schafer:This was coined by the poet Juvenal around AD 100. It describes how citizens traded their political freedoms for sustenance and spectacles. Yep. Isn't that weird? It was so true then. Still. So true now.

57:24Sal Di Stefano:I just want to point out, too, though, because I know we've avoided a lot of political talk on this thing, though, that a lot of people used to think that we were this conservative type of podcast. And I don't think anybody in here is pro-Trump at all anymore. I think everybody knows he's compromised, and I'm not a fan of any of that stuff. So, you know, for all the libtards that used to think that we were just these hard— That'll do it, Adam. Good job. Yeah, yeah. They're like, yeah.

57:50Adam Schafer:Oh, not me.

57:52Sal Di Stefano:He's got insulted. That thought, where are these hardcore conservatives? No, no. Logical thinkers have always been that way, always called it as it is. And I think what we've seen Trump do in the last year and a half or so is— A lot of things are true. Yeah, just check whoever's in power, man. And it's sure, yeah, there is no left or right. It's literally like it's all one. It's the same bullshit. And the Epstein thing makes that so clear and obvious. And it's crazy that I'm just blown away that that wasn't. I mean, I think that's a bigger deal than COVID was. COVID was crazy and scared a lot of people.

58:27Sal Di Stefano:And there was a lot of uncertainty. And they did gaslight all of us. But it's like Epstein is just pure evil and bad. And it's like, we're not throwing anybody in prison. We're not up in arms about that. Like, we're not pissed off at our entire government. We're all still paying our taxes and showing up.

58:41Adam Schafer:That's because people are comfortable.

58:43Sal Di Stefano:I mean, what level? It's brutal. What level?

58:46Adam Schafer:What else has to? Triple the cost of gas. You'll see people. I'm serious. You make gas go up three or four times. It's pissing a war to distract us all. You make everybody broke, and then you'll see people up in arms. I mean, they're already heading that way. Yeah, but you make it, like, bad, like people are broke, broke, then you'll see people really pissed off. That's crazy, dude. ButcherBox is a company that delivers grass-fed meat, heritage pork, wild-caught fish to your door at great prices. So you can save money, get really high-quality sources of protein that are healthy and clean, sustainably raised.

59:22Adam Schafer:Grass-fed meat, better fatty acid profile, wild-caught fish, lower amounts of toxins. Heritage pork, it just tastes a lot better, and it's raised in a better way. By the way, if you go to butcherbox.com forward slash mind pump, right now until the 18th of May, new users will get your choice between chicken breast for a year included in your box for free, tarp sirloin for a year, or ground beef included for the life of your membership, plus$20 off. Go to butcherbox.com forward slash mind pump. Back to the show. Our first caller is Amelia from Colorado. Hi, Amelia. Hi, Amelia. How you doing? Hi.

59:59Good to see you guys again. How are you guys? How you been? Pretty good. Thank you guys for taking my question.

1:00:08Adam Schafer:Yeah, cool. How can we help you? Of course. Update us. I'm just going to read what I wrote because I tend to ramble. So 22-year-old dancer, I've had to take a gap year off from college to heal from Lyme disease and want to use this time off to build muscle. I attempted to bulk and stop dancing in August of 2025 with a coach, but I didn't make any progress. And I think it's due to some underlying fears and maybe even the health issues themselves. I'm not sure if you guys have worked with any Lyme patients. I need to bulk for health reasons. I think my low body fat percentage is contributing to a lack of period, hypothyroidism, and possibly exacerbating the Lyme disease symptoms.

1:00:50I want to bulk, but I feel like I need a professional to validate what I'm doing and guide me making sure that I'm headed in the right direction. And I know that I need to gain body fat, but I also want to put a substantial amount of muscle on considering I think I have a missing button that my stomach kind of looks distended. And I've been in a cut or maintenance ever since I started lifting five years ago. And I've tried chasing strength, but I tend to add too much weight to the bar and break form, especially with my hypermobility. I've learned that I shouldn't be going full range of motion.

1:01:24Those were like more my immediate goals, but long-term goals are to be more intuitive when it comes to my body's needs. Switching training and nutrition, depending on what phase I'm light, what phase of life I'm in. Cause right now I have a rigid schedule where like, first thing when I wake up, I go to the gym because if I don't throughout the day, there's this like nagging voice in my head. That's like, you need to go to the gym. you need to go to the gym and like I've had doctors kind of tell me that maybe I should work out later in the day because first thing in the morning might be too much for my nervous system and then I want to have a good amount of muscle and perform with strength and power in the gym as well as in dance since that's what I love to do and want to do for a living.

1:02:07I want to be able to use tracking as a tool to meet my goals and not a vice. I'm scared to stop tracking because I don't ever feel fullness cues and I want a healthy relationship with food and exercise, which is somewhat difficult considering the job of a dancer is to look good. I have fears around sitting still and getting fat and becoming the unhealthy classic American, so I walk an unsustainable amount, like it's a lot, and I want to continue to walk but not in a neurotic controlling fashion if you couldn't tell the theme of all of this. and currently I'm running MAPS Muscle Mommy 15. I'm doing each phase six to eight weeks to acclimate to the exercises.

1:02:49I'm currently in phase two week four. I walk for one hour in the morning after breakfast, one hour in the afternoon after lunch and according to my ordering I get anywhere from 10 ,000 to 20 ,000 steps a day, seven hours of sleep, I ate 3 ,000 calories around 30 % protein, 40 % carbs and 30 % fat. So that was my entire essay. And yeah. All right.

1:03:15Adam Schafer:Amelia, you eat 3000 calories every day. Yeah. And you're sitting at 10 % body fat. According to this DEXA scan. Yeah. I'm looking at your picture. You are, uh, yes, you are super lean 3000 calories, a decent amount. Yeah. That's not, that's not bad. I think it's because I walk so much because I'm like scared to be sedentary or do you think the walking isn't? Okay, so on the surface, that's not a problem. You have a healthy metabolism. The issue, yeah, yeah. It's not a problem on the surface. The issue is the root of where it's coming from. So if you were just like, hey, I'm walking and it's great and it's leisure and I enjoy it.

1:03:55Adam Schafer:It's not an issue. But you said a couple things that were red flags. Like I walk neurotically. I can't sit still. I have to work out or I'm thinking about it all the time.

1:04:06Sal Di Stefano:Yeah. So on paper, you're not doing anything wrong.

1:04:10Adam Schafer:You're eating enough food. You're following good strength training. Your steps are fine. You're getting good sleep. But what's behind all of that is what we need to work on. And, I mean, your best bet, honestly, through this process is going to be, step one is going to be to outsource control. and that's going to be the step towards not having not feeling like you need to control so much uh i mean i could tell you what this looks like but i think you need to work with a coach for like six months so you can outsource it and get used to letting go of control in other words you're going to be like you do what i you i'll do what you tell me and i'm just going to do that so that's like a that's an easier step to take than just letting go of control because you probably don't know how to do that uh without first outsourcing it um and so you're going to get comfortable with outsourcing it first and then after that then you'll find a little bit of freedom in that and then that'll kind of change the approach or why you're doing what you do

1:05:14Sal Di Stefano:remind me the difference of what you're doing now versus what you were in back in april 2020 i just saw the the pictures the difference of the three stages um so i think back then i was running okay I think it was like maps muscle mommy or something like, like I've always stuck with your guys's programming. So I did, I had a coach for a bit who did like similar programming. Cause they, they did listen to your show. So similar programming, but I just like, yeah, I, I, that's why I was like, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Like, obviously there's the sector of the control issues and that stuff but i was like i'm i had a coach who listened to you guys so i know that they were not leading me in the wrong direction um so no i'm asking because i think you look way healthier and better right now than you did back in april that's the difference i'm trying to get to is like are you eating more now yeah are you eating more calories now or what are you doing different no um do you see yourself as better now because i think you look way better and healthier yeah oh i feel like i just look the same oh no throughout oh no no no everything yeah zoom it for the guy so they can see yeah sure go to the top that's that's her then now

1:06:36Adam Schafer:she'll go to the top go to the top yeah you're fit and healthy hun go to the go to the top i'm

1:06:40Sal Di Stefano:trying to, Adam.

1:06:41Adam Schafer:Yeah. Yeah. I see. You're okay. So, so let me give you some tips on what might help with some of this. Okay. Um, I think it's a good idea to have some structured time where you're sitting and doing nothing and it's probably going to be really scary for you. So it's sorry, something to add to the, like sitting and not doing anything. I don't know if this is related, but if I sit for too long, my back, like I'll get severe pain or like being still, I get severe pain. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're probably sitting in an anxious way or not breathing fully. So do you know what a full diaphragmatic breath feels like?

1:07:29Adam Schafer:Yeah, I've been like working on breathing with my diaphragm and whatnot. So that might be a good place to start. yeah so you could set your timer on your phone put an alarm for 10 minutes and then sit for 10 minutes and just breathe into your belly where you feel your belly rise before your chest full diaphragmatic breathing while you're sitting so uh what can happen for some people it's not it's not common but people are like i don't like to sit still is when they're sitting they're tense and their chest breathing. Restrictive. And so then they start to feel back pain as a result of it. So that might be a good practice for you to sit for 10 minutes or five minutes if 10 minutes is too long because that's a long time for someone who doesn't like to sit.

1:08:17Adam Schafer:I'm going to tell you right now, 10 minutes of diaphragmatic breathing, you're going to want to pull your hair out. So you sit there and you diaphragmatically breathe. And then the next step would be finding things that you enjoy that you can do while you're sitting down that don't relate to a specific goal that you have. Because sometimes people will be like, oh, cool, I'm going to sit down and I'm going to map out my diet or I'm going to do this class that I need to do or I'm going to better myself with this book that's going to make me so smart. So you want to think of something that's like leisure that you could do while sitting.

1:08:49Sal Di Stefano:Have you ever tried to paint, puzzle, Legos? I was going to say, I do painting. Yeah, yeah. I still get the pain, though, and I'll have to take breaks. I don't know if it has to do with the hypermobility. Like, I also know my hip flexors. Like, I've seen various PT people, and they've had me do the Thomas test, which I'm sure you're familiar with, like laying back. And my leg is literally like this.

1:09:17Adam Schafer:How are you painting? How are you sitting? um i tend to like sit on the floor or i'll sit in a chair with my legs up okay all right so so okay so hypermobile people will sit in some of the most interesting contorted positions yeah so you know what you're gonna do you're gonna sit in a regular chair yeah oh yeah just a regular old chair back supported yeah you don't want to rest into it you don't want to rest in and ranges of motion because of your hypermobility. So you want to sit like an old guy in a chair and, yeah. And then just paint and do the diaphragmatic breathing like that. That'll help.

1:09:57Okay. Yeah. I'll try. I've been doing some of that, I guess just like not long enough, but yeah, I don't know. I, I, you say I probably look healthier in the photos. I'm just like, I feel like I haven't put on any muscle or...

1:10:16Adam Schafer:You look like you did. Done anything. You look healthier. You've got good muscle on your body, hon. Your top picture looks the healthiest of all the three. I think some of the stuff that you're feeling is the internal high level of anxiety that's kind of below the surface. And that is a stress. That is a stress on the body. Again, if I looked at all the stuff you're doing on paper, I'm like, man, she's doing all the right stuff. It's distorting your perception for sure. But what's underneath it, I heard this example given before, like a swan. Like a swan on water looks like they're just cruising real nice.

1:10:50Adam Schafer:But if you look under the water, their feet are like going crazy. Yeah. So if that resonates with you, it's what's underneath all the actions. And so practicing like letting go, breathing, like all the uncomfortable stuff for you, sitting in a normal chair and painting uh that you know those will be good practices for you um and outsourcing is always a good idea uh to do with a coach who can kind of move you through this whole process but your calories are good your activities i mean you're only doing maps uh our maps program and walking you're not doing any other exercise correct yeah i mean that's great

1:11:27Sal Di Stefano:yeah and 3 000 calories you're doing really good on all the all those things it just sounds like you need more things that really relax you that you like to do. And so I don't know if you've pursued different things other than just paint. Because I think painting would be great. I think painting is a great example of that, you know, and puzzling. I get it from driving. Like, I mean, things that where you can just be kind of focused on the thing and everything, all the other noise kind of goes away and you're just into it.

1:11:56Adam Schafer:Do you have a spiritual practice or do you meditate? Yeah, I'm Catholic. Oh, good. So, oh, yeah. Oh, sit and pray. Sit and pray. Nothing gets you out of your head better than doing that. Yeah, the sign that I think, like, I mean, I tend to pray on my walks, but I think the sign that I need to do it is that you saying, like, oh, sit down for a while. Like, car drives give me anxiety because I have to sit for a while. And, like, in the back of my head is, like, oh, this is so unhealthy because you're sitting and you're sedentary. No. So. No, no, no. One of the hallmarks of anxiety is self-focus.

1:12:34Adam Schafer:So one of the best, just the data shows this, one of the best ways to combat that is a spiritual practice because the focus is not on you.

1:12:43Sal Di Stefano:Or find a way to go serve others. Yes, serve others.

1:12:45Adam Schafer:Serving others. I mean, that's just the same thing.

1:12:47Sal Di Stefano:Volunteer and do stuff like that. Yeah, you just need something that gets you out of your own head of self-focused, you know? So keep pursuing practice like that. I love the painting. Just we don't want to do it in a crazy sit-in.

1:13:01Adam Schafer:yeah yeah i mean you're doing everything like really well yeah you look super healthy yeah you're following the right instructions you're doing the right actions it's just what's underneath it um yeah and if you if you want to work with a coach we have great ones i could have someone

1:13:13Sal Di Stefano:reach out to you yeah it said you talked to corinne before right yeah i talked to corinne she is like so amazing she's so nice um yeah i think i'd be open to that i mean obviously it would depend on the price because like with the lime treatments it's gotten kind of expensive but um yeah i i just want peace honestly like obviously i'm like i want a butt because i feel like i don't have a butt and i want to be able to perform great because you know athleticism and

1:13:46Adam Schafer:dancing amelia you have a butt we saw the pictures yeah yeah you're doing fine yeah yeah i hope so But at the end of the day, I just want peace. So if what you're saying is going to.

1:13:58Sal Di Stefano:You would do really good at seeing just Corinne once a month even, just to check in with her, just to keep an eye on what you got going on and stuff like that.

1:14:06Adam Schafer:And I'll tell you, just to encourage you, at your age, with what you're talking about, you're so far ahead of where a lot of young ladies are. You're on the right path. And I think the struggle is just recognizing that you're not on the right, that you're like, that you need to move in a different direction. Uh, so just to encourage you, like you're, you're doing good. This is a tough time for you, but you're doing really well. Okay. Thank you so much. That's, uh, encouraging, but yeah, it's just kind of hard to get out of my head. I don't know if you have time for me to like semi side question.

1:14:44Adam Schafer:Yeah. Let's go. um i've had recent like shoulder pain under my scapula ish and it's exacerbated by holding the bar with rdls or rowing or like any scapular movements and i've been trying to figure out why that is and it sometimes when i bench it'll refer to the front of my collarbone so i i'm not sure what it is i also have hyper mobile shoulders like it can pop and stuff so do you know how to do scapular push-ups yeah uh yeah i do but like my shoulder blade i don't know if you could see like it's winging yes yeah so do you know how to do you know how to flatten it i try and it just keeps winging okay so practice try to practice flattening it uh watch bodybuilding videos on how to do a front lat spread.

1:15:41Okay.

1:15:42Adam Schafer:So like how to do a front lat spread. Cause that movement is scapula, uh, flattening out. And so that's what you want. That's what you want to work on. Yeah. I'm trying to do it right now and it just keeps winging. Yeah. Yeah. Practice it. You can put yourself up against the wall and relax and allow the wall to press your scapula into that flattened position and then see if you can tense and hold it there. Okay. I'll try that. Thank you. Yeah, you got it. You got it. No problem. Thanks for calling in again. If you want to call in again and have any other questions, let us know. But I think you're doing well, hon.

1:16:13Adam Schafer:It's focus on the things that get you out of the focus on yourself. So don't just say, I'm not going to focus on myself. It's impossible. But what can I focus on that's outside of myself? So prayer, serving others, painting, don't sit in crazy positions. I think that's a great place to start. okay I'll do that thank you guys so much and it's like I just needed the reinforcement from y 'all because I look up to you guys so much and it's like I don't know I had a feeling I was doing the right stuff but it like I said I just feel like I need people who are experienced to help encourage me you're doing great you're doing great just keep pursuing things that

1:16:51Sal Di Stefano:are other focused keep pursuing those types of things you know try try different stuff until until something hits that you really like. Mm-hmm. I will. I'll try it. All right. Good to see you again. Good to see you. Thank you guys so much. Bye-bye.

1:17:04Adam Schafer:All right. Yeah, sweetheart. That's tough. But it's great. She's eating 3 ,000 calories. Like, she's doing all the right stuff. Yeah. It's all her mental chatter. Totally, bro. She's, like, super anxious about it. And then I'm glad I asked her how she sits because I've had a couple clients with hypermobility. Yeah. And they will sit in what looks like a crazy stretch. I know. I laugh because I've seen the same thing. I'm like, what are you doing?

1:17:29Sal Di Stefano:But yeah, it's just a weird thing. She just needs to keep looking for those things, right? There's got to be something else out there. Like I said, the puzzling, the Lego thing, getting into something where just everything else fades away and you're hyper into that.

1:17:45Adam Schafer:You're not thinking of yourself.

1:17:47Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, yeah.

1:17:48Adam Schafer:Our next caller is Taylor from Ohio. Hi, Taylor. Hello. Hey guys. Oh my gosh, this is kind of surreal. Just to keep it simple, I'll go ahead and read right off my email. Hey guys, I've been an avid listener for six years. I listen to your podcast every chance I get during my lifts, all my runs, any free car audio time I get between song requests for my kids. I get so much value from your content, frequently send episodes to my family, friends, and clients. You've changed the game for me as a fitness professional, a mom in my own fitness journey. So thank you. I'm a 34 year old mom of three little boys, six and under.

1:18:18I've been strength training for years and run MAPS programs on and off between pregnancies and now after. Recently, I started running more consistently between two to three times per week, and I realized how much I love it, mostly from the mental health side of things. I'm currently training for a half marathon in April. I also still strength train two to three times a week and currently running anabolic. My runs consist of one easy run, about three to four miles, one tempo run, and one long run for some mileage building. I eat around 23 to 2400 calories. I hit my protein goal of anywhere from 150 to 170 daily.

1:18:50I feel relatively recovered and no overtraining symptoms, but I don't want to end up in that place long-term. My question is about balancing endurance training with maintaining muscle and strength. Strength training has always been a big part of my life, and I don't want to lose muscle mass as I start pursuing endurance goals. I'd really love to train for one, maybe two half marathons per year, one in the spring, one in the fall. I'm a former Division I athlete, and I really thrive and enjoy when I have a performance goal to chase. It helps me feel like myself, especially in this stage of life as a mom with little boys.

1:19:18And when I can prioritize my own health and fitness, I feel like my cup is full to pour into them and be a better mom, wife, and friend. Would love your advice for someone like me who wants to pursue endurance goals while still prioritizing strength, muscle, and long-term health. Would you suggest periodizing the training, like only running during a true running training block pre-race and then solely focusing on strength training outside of that? and are there any programs you'd recommend that would balance my load and goals yeah good so okay

1:19:45Adam Schafer:so um so there's a couple ways you could approach this by the way i think your calories are probably

1:19:50Sal Di Stefano:a little low i'm just gonna say the only thing i'd really change is that and maybe scaling back one day of training yeah because the three runs are not even an hour right yeah i mean well my long runs as they've gotten longer as i get closer to race day there can be up to two okay so but the other two what are the other two runs though the other two they're under an hour okay yes one's easy and one's like some interval training some speed work yeah so it's kind of mild yeah and you're training for a half marathon right now right yeah okay yeah so your calories are probably a

1:20:19Adam Schafer:little low uh for the kind of training that you're doing so i would increase those by about 300 and you should notice some performance improvements long term uh there's a couple ways you could approach this because it sounds like you love both sounds like you love the strength training but you also love running, which is great. So there's a couple of ways we could do this. One kind of general split for somebody, especially like yourself, athlete, athletic past, fit, healthy, probably, you know, obviously you've got some good athletic genetics. You have four days in the week that you can work out and you can use those for strength training or running.

1:20:53Adam Schafer:It's up to you how you split them. So that's one approach. So you could do one day of strength training, three days of running, three days of strength training, one day of running, or two and two. Totally up to you. But what you can't do is go five, six days a week type of deal. Most people just long-term, that's just too much, especially if you have a life outside of working out. The second option is to strength train one week and then do endurance training the other week. I've heard – you're doing that right now, aren't you? I've heard that. To an extent. Now, it's not athletic.

1:21:20Sal Di Stefano:I don't know if I'd call his cardio endurance training yet. He made the three today on the treadmill.

1:21:27Adam Schafer:mine is less mine is less about athletic performance more something else that being said when you look at the data around athletic performance it seems to be a great approach and for some people I can see why they would prefer that because this week I'm focusing on strength training next week I'm focusing on endurance and it makes it keeps it more fun psychologically too it's beneficial in that regard so those would be your two general approaches now you can mess that up in between you can do too much intensity on all of them or whatever but generally speaking that would be a really nice kind of long-term approach and then if you're approaching a contest like a marathon or half marathon then you change your training obviously to move more towards endurance and away from strength i really like his first uh suggestion

1:22:13Sal Di Stefano:which is like looking at your week is like you've got four days of training you know when you're in run mode and you're really getting close to you know your your half marathon or whatever you're You're scaling that mostly running and you're probably only weight training one day a week. When you're somewhere in the middle of that training block, you're probably split down the middle. When you're in the off season of running and you can pick up more higher volume of training, then you're maybe lifting weights three times a week and you only have a leisurely one run a week. And I think toggling back and using your experience and how well you probably know kind of your body and training, that's kind of your boundaries is four days a week of this type of training.

1:22:53Sal Di Stefano:and you use it according to what's more important because you're getting ready for a run. And so, hey, you need more running? Then drop. Don't be afraid. I think the biggest thing with trainers and athletic people have been doing this for a long time is this fear that if you go down to this one day of strength training, that you're going to lose all these muscle gains. You won't. In fact, you're more likely to lose those muscle gains if you try and do all that running and also do two or three days of strength training because then that's just way too much. You're going to be constantly in this recovery state.

1:23:22Sal Di Stefano:you're not going to adapt and build your butt he's going to pare down that muscle and so you're more likely to save most of the muscle just kind of hitting it one time a week yeah i mean

1:23:31Adam Schafer:the things will change based on the performance adaptations you're looking for but how whatever that change looks like whether it's more muscle uh less endurance or more endurance less muscle you could switch it back in the other direction very easily yeah and quick if you did lose a few pounds of muscle because now you're going endurance focused you'd gain it back so fast back yeah it's not a big deal at all this is the hybrid approach pretty quick but i the big thing i would say for you is bump your calories by at least two or three two or three hundred and and you should notice and just increase in endurance stamina strength the whole deal awesome that sounds easy enough yeah i can do that yeah you think anabolic is a good place since i can do two days or three days with that and kind of undulate that as needed

1:24:13Sal Di Stefano:anabolic is good so it's performance performance and just picking one of the foundational days would be great.

1:24:19Adam Schafer:Even symmetry would be good at some point. Those three programs. Do you have all those programs that we mentioned? I don't have symmetry. Let's send it to you. Yeah.

1:24:27Sal Di Stefano:I really, what I love about performance though is that you pick a foundational day there. One, it's got a lot more multi-planar, unilateral type of work in there. And then in addition to that, you have, having the background that you have, listen to your body. If this is a week where you're just like, man, I'm feeling taxed, choose a mobility day and do mobility work. And so that's in that program already so just follow like that's how i if i was coaching myself through what you're trying to do i'd have this kind of blueprint of scaffolding like sal saying it's like all right i'm gonna train strength train two days a week i'm gonna run two days a week that's the plan reality is sometimes you're gonna be feeling under the weather sometimes you're not you're gonna feel like a little wore down because not the greatest of sleep you got kids you got stuff going on and then i'm gonna go you know what i'm gonna back off one of those strength train days i'm just gonna do a mobility day today and so i like that taylor i just i just caught something that i

1:25:15Adam Schafer:missed too by the way i mean you're a group fitness instructor how many classes do you teach a week so i'm putting that in there i'm not actually doing it with them i'm more like coaching them through it so i'm not that's not added okay good okay we're fine then yeah i still think you need to bump your calories yeah to adam's point earlier though about performance i think that living in phase two of that for the foundation days is going to benefit you better yeah phase two so you can really kind of reinforce yeah a lot of those supporting muscles and just so you know somebody like you fit healthy consistent working out whatever with that kind of working out in my experience when everything's working well they will typically consume closer to 27 2800 calories so i gave you a bump of two to three hundred but i think you'd still be able to bump it after that and get even better don't be afraid of it is what i'm saying don't be afraid of increasing the calories because i think right now you're probably eating just enough yeah and so it's probably holding back some your performance you're gonna feel a difference yeah would you put it towards carbohydrates or where would you your protein is great so what was your fat um i don't remember it's probably around 30 right now so what is that what is that grams someone like you i like your grams to be at over 70 so i don't know if you're at yeah okay so if you're not at 70 i'd bump fats

1:26:29Sal Di Stefano:otherwise otherwise go the carbohydrate and then and steer your carbs around the runs so i like it you know pre pre-hour before your run or what about that and then when you get done with it replenish that'll that'll that'll do good awesome well i appreciate you guys so much i've just you guys have just been awesome for lots of stages of life for me and i send all your stuff to my mom i've actually tried to get her to to put a put a question in and hop on with you guys too so she might be getting on soon and she was really excited that would be great i appreciate

1:26:58Adam Schafer:it quite an honor taylor does she follow any of our programs uh my mom yeah i've had i've tried to get her to do anabolic she's she's done it a couple times in the last couple years oh good Okay, good. Yeah. Perfect. All right, perfect. Thank you, Brian. Appreciate it. All right, Taylor. You got it. Have a good one. That was great.

1:27:15Sal Di Stefano:Yeah. Yeah, she's doing good. That's cool.

1:27:16Adam Schafer:Yeah, she's doing good. The calories is the big one.

1:27:17Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, she could handle more. That amount of training, she could easily be up in calories.

1:27:23Adam Schafer:It's remarkable how often people who exercise regularly, especially women, but this happens to guys too, they just don't eat enough for the performance they're looking for.

1:27:34Sal Di Stefano:Well, look, we just got off a call with a girl right before her. I think was 5 '7 or 5 '8. Similar height. Similar weight. Walking only. Not even running. Just 10 ,000 steps. And is eating 3 ,000 calories. 3 ,000, yeah. You know, so it's...

1:27:50Adam Schafer:But I mean, how many times have you had a client like this where all you do is increase their calories and boom. Oh, yeah. Makes a massive difference. Our next caller is Lauren from Arizona. Hey, Lauren. Hey, Lauren.

1:28:01Sal Di Stefano:Back-to-back days, we get to see you. I know. Long time no see. How can we help you? um well well thanks for having me on yeah of course i am just so i'm not like let's up and ramble on here i'm gonna pull up my email because of course i would just get to talking with you guys i love the reference that was good i know just it i knew you'd get it okay hi mind pump thanks for all you do you have changed my life in so many ways bringing many blessings to my family i wish i could express my gratitude and immense healing this show and your teachings have brought. I'm a married 35-year-old mom of two wild boys, a five-year-old and a soon-to-be two-year-old.

1:28:40I have been in the Muscle Mommy Movement crew since the beginning, and I am incredibly grateful for the amazing coaches, Corinne and Nicole. Also credit to Alyssa in the beginning too. The pod and this group of ladies have been truly so healing and made me realize I wanted to pursue a personal training career. I've been on my own health and fitness journey since March 2025, but this time I'm approaching it from a place of self-love, ditching long-distance running and starvation to properly feel my body and lift heavy shit. I've lost 62 pounds and gained significant muscle and a greater mindset.

1:29:14I'm working towards becoming a personal trainer, but I also feel my body isn't what it should be to teach others. I technically have 38 more pounds to lose if we are talking about the goal weight. I know I'm strong and capable, but the imposter syndrome other callers mentioned is very real. I guess I'm just fearful that if I show up to a big box gym, they will scoff at me because I'm overweight and don't fit the typical image of a personal trainer. Nicole Wolf reminded me that my journey and past history would be my strengths for better empathizing with and relating to clients. I guess I'm just scared they won't give me the opportunity.

1:29:50Should I continue my journey and lose more weight before going for it? or should I just take the plunge and hold my head up? I think I know the answer, but my ED brain seems to be very loud right now. Keep killing it. Love you guys. Thank you for your guidance. That was a bad ED day. Oof. Sorry. Wow. Haven't read that in a while. No, that's good. Yeah, that was rough. I do have some updates. Yes, let's go. All right. Let's go. Okay. So I did hold my head up and actually went for it. I wrote you guys like an hour after I passed my NASM CPT exam. Yeah, nice. Got certified that day and then was like, oh, shit, you did it.

1:30:30Oh, no, now you have to do it. Viraled, obviously, since I wrote you. So I applied to gyms. I applied to three gyms in my proximity and had two interviews. One, they offered me the job right there. The other one ghosted me. I felt like I was in my twenties dating again or something. It was funny. But so obviously a little bit different from when I first wrote you guys, but I did go for it. I did turn down that job offer. Oh, the gyms.

1:31:07Sal Di Stefano:Why did you turn it down? Honestly, it felt really sleazy. There were red flags. It was like danger. Will Robinson danger. Okay. A couple of times. We did the, like a mock pitch, a sales pitch, which was fine. I'm used to that. I was in sales or I am in sales, have been for a long time. So it was fine where he was basically potential new client, gave me the rundown like, oh, I'm brand new to this. So, and so on. So I went into it like, hey, I think it'd be good to start you off two to three days a week. I think that'd be a good way to start. And he's like, I'm going to stop you right there. We do five days here.

1:31:47like so zero to 60 i feel like that would inevitably lead to failure and he's like we do five days yeah like so that felt cringy the other one it felt like an amazing interview um but and i it was green flags everywhere and actually had mind pump like philosophies constantly sprinkled in there asked him if he knew you guys um was aware of the podcast and he didn't I'm like, shh, now you do. But yeah, so that's how that went.

1:32:16Adam Schafer:Okay. Well, good. Good job. Yeah. Getting out there. And I'm going to tell you something. So, and there's oftentimes what happens, well, let me ask you this question. This might help. You worked with Corinne Nicole and in early days, Alyssa, right? Correct. Yep. What made them good coaches for you? um I mean well I'll give you a great example for Nicole she's been there this entire time like with this process I even interviewed interviewed her back in October just because I wanted her story I know the logistics of becoming a trainer but she's been along with the process so and she's been invested in this and reaching out to me like hey how's it going so she takes the time out and it feels like she actually cares which makes a great coach trainer I've had bad ones where clearly you didn't matter to them at all and so all of those girls I feel like are so invested and yeah when you thought the aesthetics don't matter like I don't think about their bodies obviously it's our relationship you knew exactly where I was going yeah yeah yeah you didn't say anything about how they looked yep yeah so um it really doesn't matter now in the beginning it may to some people, uh, because when we think fitness, we think of how we look.

1:33:38Adam Schafer:So someone may look at someone and say, I want to look like that person. I'm going to work with them. Or this happens actually very often. They look at a trainer and they go, I think they might get me. Um, and then they end up working with them. So I've had trainers of all shapes and sizes, all of them, all of them value fitness. Obviously you can't be a trainer if it's not valuable to and I've had trainers who were shredded. I've had trainers who were bodybuilders. I've had trainers who recently lost a lot of weight, still kind of losing weight. I've had trainers who overcame a major injury and were rehabbing.

1:34:13Adam Schafer:And the average client wants to relate to somebody. Now, sometimes they look at a trainer and say, I want to look like that person. That happens as well. But more often than not, they go, I think that person's going to get me. And oftentimes it's like, she looks like a mom or he looks like a guy that's around my age or she looks like she's been, you know. And so it's not a hindrance at all. And oftentimes it's a superpower. Now the imposter syndrome, I'm just going to tell you, almost every new trainer feels it. Yep. So that's like super common. And I don't care what they look like. They all kind of feel it because it's like, okay, who am I to train these people?

1:34:52Adam Schafer:Who am I to like charge$100 an hour? It's a very normal thing. It's not a bad thing. I think it drives us to become better and to continue to pursue learning more, but it becomes a bad thing when it prevents you from doing this really, really cool thing, which is coach other people.

1:35:09Sal Di Stefano:Own who you are, where you are, and where you've come from. And if you own that and you're confident in that, you're going to be just fine. If you are insecure about that, that will come off your head. And that does it. And this would be the same conversation I'd have to a trainer who is insecure about sales or doesn't think they're smart enough. So whatever, if you're if you are insecure about that, as you communicate to people, it will bleed into them and then it'll it'll just perpetuate and it'll make itself worse. But if you own who you are, where you are, where you came from and be proud of that, you're going to kill it.

1:35:48Sal Di Stefano:You'll kill it. I tell you, if you've been listening long enough, you've probably heard me tell my story. I was not the fittest trainer. I definitely wasn't the smartest. I was the least experienced. I was the youngest. So super came in. But I wore that. Hey, this is who I, but I'm passionate about what I do and I'm excited. And that came off when I talked to people. And I only knew a few things. I didn't know a lot. I didn't have a lot of experience. I didn't have a lot of occasions. So I talked to those few things. So those things that have changed your life radically and have helped you, go give that.

1:36:19Sal Di Stefano:And go lean into that. don't think about the things you don't know yet or don't think about the things you haven't got like don't worry about that shit go own what you do know what you came from who you are and be proud of that and go share that there are tens of thousands of other people that need that you'll you'll be just fine as long as you believe in that if you believe in that and you carry yourself that way you will absolutely crush it but if you allow yourself to nitpick yourself or think about all the things you don't know or think about the things you haven't learned yet or how your body isn't where you want it to be if you think about all that shit it'll come out in the way you communicate to people but if you're like fuck yeah i'm here then this is where i came from this is where i'm going like these are the things i know this is what's changed my life and you go get give that to people oh my god you'll kill it yeah you'll kill it yeah ability to ability to create

1:37:12Adam Schafer:relationship and trust is the most important thing a coach can have if they don't have that everything else doesn't matter. Yeah, I'm definitely confident in that. Plus, I mean, Nicole and I have talked about it just with my past in terms of like that cyclical with weight gain, weight loss, but also like being an athlete formerly and, you know, injuries and losing your identity, eating disorders. I feel like there's a lot of things I could relate to people on, but yeah, definitely to what you said, Adam. And I swear I didn't walk into the interviews, you know, like I was in that email, I was definitely very confident and I normally am very confident, but that was a, that was a rough day, I guess.

1:37:56Adam Schafer:Appreciate the vulnerability. Cause there's a lot of, a lot of trainers or potential trainers who need to hear this, uh, this conversation. Yeah. It's a major hurdle. Like they're saying for every new trainer. And I think that we can pick ourselves apart very easily. Uh, you know, I felt like I didn't communicate well enough or was really willing to put myself out there to the extent that I now can. But these are all steps that I just wanted to immerse myself in it and just explain, again, what I was confident in being able to do with them. So just stick with what you know. And you're going to, I was willing to show people like how much I cared through a lot of my professionalism and through a lot of my detailed organization.

1:38:43And so that was like what I leaned on in the beginning a lot was like, I'm going to be very structured and like, I'm gonna have this huge plan for each person. I put it together like two, three days ahead of time before I even met with them. And just, it was just one of those things where it just boosted up my, my own confidence. And then that kind of came out and then down the road, I keep, you know, with the repetition, it just became like automatic and, and just something that too, like you, you look back and you're like, wow, I know so much more than your average person coming in. Uh, and that's really what you have to give.

1:39:16And you can relate to them, uh, so much better than somebody that's like, uh, you know, knows how to just train themselves and isn't like looking at their needs. So if you're really looking at their needs and you care a lot, that's going to go so far in this industry.

1:39:30Adam Schafer:Are you in our course, Lauren, are you in our trainer group and course? No, not the Elite Trainer Academy. I do actually, I love listening to it though. Kyle's awesome. But I'm not actually in the course though. I didn't know just because I just got my cert. I just started my corrective exercise spec. So I wasn't sure if I was just too much of a newbie.

1:39:50Sal Di Stefano:No, no, no, no. You should absolutely be.

1:39:52Adam Schafer:By the way, good for you for going correctional exercise right out the gate. It's very valuable. Well, actually it's because of the article you wrote on how to become a successful personal trainer. Oh, awesome. To set myself apart. No, you're doing great. So our course is more focused on how to be a good coach, an effective coach, and build your business. So you're not going to get the correctional exercise stuff in there, biomechanics. It's all about being an effective coach. So it's the stuff we teach our trainers and coaches, how to be an effective coach and also how to build a business. That's what our course is all about.

1:40:24Adam Schafer:And we can have Ann reach out to you and answer questions and maybe give you some advice. She runs her education here. but I think that would be valuable for someone like you.

1:40:33Sal Di Stefano:I definitely think you should be in there. I also just sent Doug a clip that my body did on Instagram. Is that what your body? I don't know where that came from. Freudian slip. You're thinking of his body, dude. My buddy on Instagram did. It's a great clip for going for interviews. it's the high performer asking the high performer question. I think it's a really good clip. No, I saw that you posted that. I loved it. Yes. Okay. Okay. Well, I'm reset. I'll have Doug resend it to you. I just think that's such a good thing to listen to right before you walk into an interview. I thought he explained that so well.

1:41:16Sal Di Stefano:So that's really good, but yes, get in our elite trainer Academy. You'll get a ton of, if you're ever in the area,

1:41:23Adam Schafer:come visit. I don't know where you're located, but come, come hang out. I'm in Arizona. I've thought about it. My bestie is in Citrus Heights, which is far from you guys. Not too bad. But hey, worth the trip. Yeah.

1:41:34Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, yeah. Citrus Heights is not that bad at all.

1:41:35Adam Schafer:Hey, if you come out here, we'll schedule you to come listen to the podcast live, and we'll see if we can set you up with a workout. Come hang out with the girls for a day, too.

1:41:42Sal Di Stefano:Yep. That'd be awesome. Can I say one thing really quick? Sure. I don't know if I'd get the opportunity to. Thanks for all you do, of course. Love all of you. But Sal, I just wanted to say thank you to you in particular. You'll always have a special place in my heart. back in 2022, I had to go to like outpatient rehab for multiple eating disorders. And it was like seven weeks and I graduated and overnight, everything's gone. Right. And the next day, I was just terrified, even though I'd been in the real world the whole time. And I told myself, listen to Deloney, he's going to help you get through this.

1:42:17You're going to be okay. And turn him on. And it was you that day, Sal. And it was really helpful. Although I had just been sitting with these like-minded people um there's a lot of things you're not allowed to say because you don't want to trigger anybody and it just felt like everything you guys said i finally felt seen and not alone so thanks for that thank you a really dark time so thank you

1:42:40Adam Schafer:i appreciate that it's cool to see where you're at now it's gonna be great yeah yeah so much to me so thank you thank you all right take care guys appreciate it bye thank you bye That's a cool story. You know what's funny? It is cool. Okay, this is just a trend. It's just what I noticed, and I guarantee you guys have seen the same. Of all the trainers that have worked under you or that you've worked with, the most shredded, fit-looking, Instagram-ready-looking people typically are not the greatest trainers. Is that not a – Well, I think typically.

1:43:13Sal Di Stefano:Out of the three of us, I've probably managed the most trainers by far, and I have never had my most ripped buff trainer was never that. I always had one because there is a superficial client. Sure. That's what they'll, and it's a very small percentage. It's about 3 % of the clients that will come in and buy personal stuff. Give me the most jacked guy. I got him. Right. I got him. You know what I'm saying? So I have that guy for those people, but that was never. They were never good trainers. That was never my top trainer. My top trainer, a lot of times were healthy and fit, but they weren't. But they looked more like a typical, like an average stage ready.

1:43:57Sal Di Stefano:Because a majority of people, and since I filtered a lot of the clients before they got trainers, so I got to meet all of them, so thousands of people, most people were very scared to have a really, really fit trainer. And they preferred somebody that just looked healthy. That's right. just looked healthier than they were because they felt very insecure and they all they felt like they could not connect to that person as most people that go to the gym they just they're not looking to look amazing they think that they might say oh wow that's pretty cool uh no different than you or one of us look at uh michael jordan when he plays basketball but none of us go like every day go home go like we're gonna be like michael jordan it's just like you accept i'll probably never be that good and a lot of people think that way when they see super rib trainers like i'll never be that way but i need to be healthier i had a memory unlock while you were talking because

1:44:51Adam Schafer:you were saying how you weren't the most fit whatever as a trainer i mean i started at 18 i was working out uh and i guess yes for compared to the typical 18 year old i might look like a workout but i'll never forget this this was like month two uh i'm already the top trainer in the gym in terms of sales and there was a bodybuilder on staff and this guy i always looked at him like because I love bodybuilding. This guy's so jacked. And he came up to me. I'll never forget this. He came up to me and he goes, you didn't even look like you work out. And I remember being like, wow, dude. And then part of me was like, all right, I'll show you, you know, type of deal.

1:45:24Adam Schafer:But I think, you know, and I just forgot about that memory. It was totally a lot. Cause I wasn't the jacked this most. I was an 18 year old kid. Yeah. But it was, you know, I think, you know, I liked working with people. I liked training people. I was super hungry and passionate. Oh yeah. I was the permabolt guy. I got that comment a couple times. Permabulk? You're in the permabulk, dude?

1:45:45Sal Di Stefano:I'm pretty sure I was. I'm trying to remember my exact team that I was with, but I'm pretty sure I was the least fit. And fit as far as muscular, because I was just a skinny kid is what it was. And I was definitely the least experienced, and I knew the least for sure. But I knew a few things.

1:46:02Adam Schafer:You were just ravishly handsome.

1:46:04Sal Di Stefano:That's what we could do. No, I wasn't even that, bro. I had my bottom braces without the wire still stuck on my teeth. Yeah, bro, I was not. I was not that guy at all. But, you know, I liked people. I was passionate about helping others. I knew a few things, and I was excited about those few things. Those few things were revolutionary to me. It's the passion, and thank God I had a personality. That was it. You know what I'm saying? People feel that energy.

1:46:37Adam Schafer:Our next caller is Faith from Utah. Hi, Faith. How are you doing, Faith? Hey, doing well. How about you guys? Good. How can I help you? Hey. Yeah. So just before I read my question, just want to say thanks for all the episodes you guys put out and all of the great advice. I am new to Mind Pump, probably about a month that I've been listening to it. The trainer at my chiropractor suggested you guys. So, yeah, Jess at Foundation Chiropractic in Orem, Utah. So, shout out to Firsty's great. Yeah, that's awesome. Also, yeah, I just want to say thanks for the episode you did on, like, best sports for kids.

1:47:17I put my three-year-old into gymnastics, and he loves it. I would have never in a million years even had the idea to do that. Oh, cool.

1:47:24Adam Schafer:That's great. Thanks for that. That's cool. That's great. How can I help you? Okay. So, yeah, I'll just get started. I'll read my question. and I've updated it a little bit. So I don't know if you guys are looking at the one I sent in. I just updated the numbers. No worries. So every episode I've listened to by Mind Pump about fat loss or body recomp has mentioned how important it is to not lose any muscle in the process. I think I might be an exception to this guidance, but wanted to ask the experts. I am a 188-pound, 5 '7 male, female, 5 '7 female at 25 % body fat with 141 pounds of lean body mass and 47 pounds of body fat.

1:48:06Also, just for context, about six months postpartum, but not currently nursing. I have been weightlifting for about two years. I would love to do a bikini competition eventually. And from my brief, very brief Googling, I think that bikini competitors at my height, usually their stage weight is about between 125 135 pounds. Since my lean body mass is already above the stage weight and I need to have at least some body fat, I think I need to lose about 30 pounds of muscle and around 30 pounds of fat. I just wanted to confirm with you guys, since I rarely hear you talking about losing muscle as a goal.

1:48:45And then just a little bit more context. I was on a cup for seven weeks and then I did a body fat scan test and I got really scared when I saw that nine of the 14 pounds that I lost was muscle. So decided to eat at maintenance for a week to hopefully give my metabolism a break before going back on the cut. I also started taking creatine during my maintenance week. And then the cut that I was doing before, and now I'm back on my cut, it's a 600 calorie deficit. And it's pretty, I think it's pretty manageable. I can probably count on one hand, the number of times I've actually been hungry in those seven weeks.

1:49:21So basically my questions are, do you agree that I need to lose about 30 pounds of muscle to be competitive on stage? And if so, is there a best way to go about it? Should I prioritize muscle loss first so that in my last cut leading up to competing, I can just focus on fat loss? Yeah, I'd love to get your advice on it.

1:49:42Sal Di Stefano:I would hate to see you do that, by the way.

1:49:45Adam Schafer:Yeah, so let's back up for a second. Let's back up for a second. How are you testing your body fat? Is it on a scale you just stand on it with your feet? or yeah with the uh the things you hold out on your side the i don't know what they're called get get a dexa scan just to get a more accurate rating uh first of all uh number two uh if you were to lose 20 to 30 pounds of muscle do you know what that is no illness yeah that's illness honey like like if you if you targeted that doing that what you would do to your health would be yeah catastrophic detrimental that's catastrophic muscle loss that's like if you're bedridden because you're super sick and you literally can't move for a month or longer.

1:50:27Adam Schafer:That's what that would look like. Okay, so that's catastrophic in terms of your health, so not a good idea. The real question I want to ask you is why do you want to do, tell me why you want to do a bikini contest, and tell me about your fitness background, athletic background. Like what have you done in the past, and then what's leading you to say I want to do a bikini contest? Sure. Sure. I was a runner for, I don't know, probably about 10 years, ran a few half marathons. And then really I picked up running like as a form of weight management. But then I, honestly, I stopped kind of caring a lot about my weight.

1:51:05So I was like, well, I don't care about my weight. Why am I running? So I stopped running and then kind of switched over to weightlifting. So yeah, been doing weightlifting for two years, but before the two years, yeah, I just kind of been running for most of my life. And then, you know, in high school, did lots of random sports. So, and then as far as why I wanted to be a bikini competitor, yeah, I guess when I was like six, yeah, six months, I was six months pregnant. And I was thinking, this is like terrible. I would like to be, I just decided to set this goal so that like it would be, I thought it would be fun to be like incredibly, like challenge my body, right?

1:51:42um like see how how lean i could get and i am totally planning on not staying that lean this is more like a bucket list kind of item you know check it off and then go back to like a healthy body fat percentage after that and just maintenance for the rest of my life okay bikini would be the

1:51:59Adam Schafer:worst thing that that you you could do uh in that pursuit um so bikini is in is massively body focused, body conscious, body obsessive. It's not a healthy pursuit. The only time that I'm okay with people doing it is when there's like their favorite sport in the world. And they also have a healthy, you know, body image and healthy relationship to food and all that stuff. Typically, if someone's like, hey, I just want to use it as a goal, then I would say, get rid of competing and just have the goal of improving your overall fitness. According to your body fat percentage scale, you carry a good amount of lean body mass.

1:52:40Adam Schafer:That's phenomenal. Like you want that. How many calories? Let's keep that. That's amazing. Do you know how many calories you're eating on a daily basis? In my cut? Yeah, I'm at 1 ,800. I think my maintenance is about 2 ,400. Okay. I would rather see you build into getting leaner than trying to cut into getting leaner. So focus on getting stronger. Focus on your strength training. Keep your calories probably around 24, 2500. And just let your body composition. You're only six months postpartum. How many kids do you have? Is this number one? Two kids. So you know that it takes a while to really fully feel like yourself after having a kid.

1:53:17Adam Schafer:So right now, I wouldn't even focus hardcore on any goal. I would just keep doing what you're doing and let your body composition start to change. But you've got some great lean body mass. I'm assuming you're pretty strong. uh well listening to some of the people that call into you i don't think i'm that strong tell me about your tell me about like your squat your deadlift your presses well yeah they all need work so uh i'm not a very good squatter i just started doing barbell squats because of you know since listening to you guys so like and really the only time i've squatted barbell squats is when i'm in a cut so like 60 pounds okay i'm squatting yeah oh yeah you you're you'll be way

1:53:56Sal Di Stefano:better served for us to really uh so in the weight lifting world then you're still kind of in your infancy and so there's so much more potential for your body to focus on building and sculpting that way versus trying to cut and carve down you'll get way more out of that and you where you're at lean body mass i'll tell you one of the reasons why you're even though i think sal's right with the dex can get something that's more accurate but why you saw the the muscle loss like that is the amount of lean body mass that you have on your body, your body needs more calories to sustain that muscle and putting yourself at 1 ,800 calories.

1:54:32Sal Di Stefano:And then also doing all this activity, your body's like, oh, we can't have all this muscle. So it pared it down. It needs more than that. Someone with as much lean body mass as you, we would probably be up in 3 ,000 calorie range. And so in order for you to get there without putting on a bunch of body fat, we need to get strong in the gym and start really pushing the weights. So getting strong in your squat, getting strong in your deadlift, getting strong in your rows, getting strong in your overhead press. That should be the main focus while being fed, while feeding yourself a good amount of calories.

1:55:02Sal Di Stefano:And I really don't care about the scale weight right now. It would be get strong and build your metabolism and build muscle. That will put you in a place. So if I was coaching you and this was our goal, even if I could convince you to not get on stage, but I said, hey, I'll build that bikini body you're going after, but let's do this the right way. And what that would look like is you and I not really worrying about where your weight on the scales right now. Let's go build your metabolism. Let's go get you to where you're eating 3 ,000, 3 ,200 calories. You're squatting 150 to 180 pounds. You're deadlifting 150, 180.

1:55:38Sal Di Stefano:Like then when, and you're sustaining that your, your weight is staying the same. You're eating 3 ,200 calories. You're strong as shit in the gym. Now I go, okay, now we can start to bring you down faith now i'm going to bring you down to 2800 calories and then watch what happens you just lean out and when you keep your muscle you just drop body fat from that place and we do that nice and slow that's how you get ready for that build that look that you're that a bikini competitor would have going from where you're at now leads you to a road of 1800 calories you might lose a couple pounds body plateaus then what do you do pick up more activity and drop calories to 1500 calories then you lose a couple more pounds and then you plateau and then it's like eventually you and i are eating 1100 calories and you're still you're working out like crazy yeah yeah and you're and you feel terrible yeah it's terrible but that's the only where we're coming from right now that's the only pathway to get down to that kind of weight and just to encourage you

1:56:37Adam Schafer:doing this the right way the look that you're looking for you're going to get yeah you're going to look sculpted you'll have good shape because you have good muscle on your body you're going to, you're going to be, you're going to look phenomenal. The scale is your enemy. So anytime I work with a woman who has really good muscle building genetics, the scale can mess with them because they look a particular way, but the scale says something else. Uh, and so, uh, cause lean body mass looks different than body fat. It looks sculpted. It looks firm. You look like you've got nice curve and great shape and the scale can look like, Oh, well, this looks like, in fact, people would guess you're a lot lighter than what the scale says.

1:57:14Adam Schafer:Uh, it's probably what's going to happen but you've got this roaring metabolism you're strong you're sculpted you know everything

1:57:20Sal Di Stefano:feels really good and so that's the direction you want to go if you're if your numbers are correct also i'll tell you uh not that i think you should compare yourself to anybody but uh you're you're built more like a figure competitor than you are a bikini competitor also i want yeah i was curious about that yeah oh yeah no i i know by your numbers yeah yeah no you're you're tall and you have a lot of muscle you're you're my my ex was is carried herself at five seven she was five seven walked around at 175 180 in the off season when she hit stage she was like 160 170 and for a figure yeah for figure yeah because she had a lot of lean body mass so so she had a she's tall and had a lot of lean body mass so you're built more yeah like she was than my bikini competitors yeah Yeah, it's an awesome gift.

1:58:07Sal Di Stefano:This is a great blessing. Yeah, yeah.

1:58:09Adam Schafer:Are you open to working with a coach, to hiring a coach? Oh, yeah. Yeah, that was a plan. I knew I was going to have to hire a coach sometime, right, to get it to meet my goals. Let me do this because we have really good coaches. They're going to keep you healthy, make sure you do the right things. So I'm going to have somebody reach out to you, and then you can work with them through this process, and you're probably going to start in a reverse style.

1:58:29Sal Di Stefano:That's what – they'll do what I told you first. Your first goal is to set – I tell competitors all the time, trained a ton of competitors the the you're you the season when you win the figure it's in the off season it's in the building the metabolism building the muscle building the body when you cut for the show that's just revealing all the hard work you did in the off season it's not like cut from here and then go get up on stage like no it's what your work you put into building muscle building your metabolism that's what will determine how how successful you are at this so and they'll do all that with you okay perfect and then i was i've been waiting to buy one of your programs until i talked to you so maybe is it maps anabolic is that where you guys they'll set you up on all that so if you work with the code they'll give that to you and they'll give

1:59:15Adam Schafer:you our programs and they'll individualize it it's like you can't get better than that yeah okay sweet well thanks guys you got it faith thanks for falling in all right take it easy yeah i mean imagine uh like she's like oh i gotta lose 20 pounds of muscle to get on stage oh my god oh no don't do that glad she called in for sure you had to make yourself sick to lose that much muscle you know uh essentially um but it would be a terrible approach yeah you don't want to do that no no no no no yeah no not at all but if her it's great that we got a hold of right

1:59:44Sal Di Stefano:if she has that if her numbers are even close to correct uh that she has a lot of lean body mass and if she's only doing things like 60 pound squats so much potential strength potentials oh Oh, yeah. She's got a lot. That should be the main. She's got noob gains. Oh, totally. Yeah, yeah. No, so that's the focus.

2:00:01Adam Schafer:If you like Mind Pump, come find us on Instagram, Mind Pump Media. 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.

2:00:46The 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.