2874: The Best Variations to Explode Your Squat, Deadlift and Bench Press

15:44Adam Schafer:Then you have the split stance squat. This looks like a lunge, but essentially you're splitting your stance in a lunge position. and you just go up and down before you switch your stance. But it places a different torsion on the pelvis and the core. And if you never do these, you will be shocked at how weak you are in comparison to your squat. This is how you know. This is how you know you need to do these. You can squat 315, suddenly you get in a split stance, and you're like 105.

16:07Sal Di Stefano:I still have a vivid memory of the first day of training Bulgarian split squats. and uh and i remember and i remember like seeing actually a girl in the gym doing it yeah like and i know and like i know logically the benefits of it i'm like i need to train that i never trained that and i remember going to do it and i remember i couldn't hold on the dumbbells heavier than what she was holding on to and i remember i was just roasted from the oh my god i'm so weak here and then of course right after that experience avoided it for a really long time because embarrassed that I was so weak in it. And then, again, later on, coming back, being like, setting a goal.

16:45Sal Di Stefano:I'm going to get strong at that. Talk about, again, carrying over to your squat to the whole point of this conversation. Man, when I got to the point when I could Bulgarian split squat some serious weight, getting back over to the barbell back squat, holy crap, I felt so stable and strong. The reinforcement of control, stability, like what that provides your hips when you go back to bilaterally squatting. It was phenomenal. And it, yeah, it was very humbling, very humbling exercise to just jump into that after being good at squatting. But I actually, yeah, it took me a while, but then I finally really like intentionally tried to get stronger in that and then started using like a barbell with it.

17:27Yes. And it's like, oh my God, my, my potential for squat went crazy.

17:30Sal Di Stefano:And I know this is not the point of this conversation, but the leg development and glute development I got from that. Of course. The instability of being in a split stance like that and getting really strong, all those stabilizer muscles having to come up, I mean, that's what contributes, obviously, to the bilateral squatting, which is the point of the conversation. But for somebody who was aesthetically motivated like I was, man, I had incredible leg development by focusing over on that. Totally.

17:55Adam Schafer:All right, let's get to the deadlift, and I'll start with the trap bar deadlift. I think the trap bar deadlift is exceptional. I think it's a wonderful supplement and or replacement. So deadlifts with a straight bar, great. Love them. Practice them. Get good at them. Rippito hates them. But if you're really afraid of the deadlift, if you're like, man, my skill around it, I'm not sure. Like a trap bar, the skill required to do a proper trap bar deadlift is much less than a traditional barbell deadlift. And there is some carryover. It is a different lift. And I know some people argue the difference.

18:30Adam Schafer:But I'll tell you what. It's lifting something off the ground while you're holding it. the weight is more to the side of your body on either side so it's a little bit less of the hip hinge but it's still a hip hinging lift uh athletically speaking it's a bit athletes do more trap bar deadlifts than they do traditional dead well i mean i can i can get behind the rip

18:46Sal Di Stefano:a toe type of camp from that thing i just the conventional deadlift covers all that and some unless you're an athlete because then i can see the carry over that but i use the truth is with clients, I use the trap bar far more than I use conventional deadlift. So it's like the reality is even though I can agree with someone like Ripito that the conventional deadlift is the king and the place we want to get to, the reality is the average person who comes into the gym that hired me as a coach, we couldn't get there without trap bar deadlifting first. And so there's tremendous benefit for, for sure, the beginner.

19:21Sal Di Stefano:And then to your point, if you're somebody who's been stuck at let's say a 400 deadlift for a very long time you might get comfortable with being able to do a trap bar at like 450 500 and then go back over to that and see care and so there is but there is there is benefit there so i don't think it's one of those things where it's just like it's a oh it's terrible it's horrible you shouldn't do it there's useless no there's lots of application for it i still think conventional deadlift is the king but if you're stuck in a plateau and you can't break through that totally and you're scared to feel what 500 pounds with it's like go over there and trap bar deadlift that and you'll be able to do that 100 then we have zurcher squats zurcher

19:55Adam Schafer:squats is a kind of a front loaded squat i know it's helping you the deadlift it says squat but it's kind of a in-between exercise uh you have a short lever in front of you because it's on your elbows you're squatting down there's some hip hinging involved um and i've noticed with myself and with people i've trained that this has a nice carryover actually more carryover to a deadlift than a squat yeah this is urchin i think it really highlights the importance of like your core involving 100 yeah with the hundred left and the hinge like it really just lights up your

20:27Sal Di Stefano:core i so you went this direction i was going to go with the huge benefits that i got from this was the core was bracing uh such a big piece of both uh getting a stronger squat and deadlift

20:40Adam Schafer:is learning how to brace really well totally if you get in order to get strong in a zurcher

20:46Sal Di Stefano:you have to brace your core just to do one just yeah it forces you to do that around and so as you progress and get stronger at a zurcher you get really good at bracing then you go over back to a deadlift or a squat and you really learn how to lock in that core and all of a sudden you see your weight go up in that squat or that deadlift this is was the big notice that i got from the zurcher because i think the average person will scratch their head even the average trainer that understands biomechanics be like how is that really helping that much that you can't even load that much is not but the amount that you have to learn how to brace and because it still is a hinge pattern it's like the carryover is actually far better than you would imagine and

21:25Adam Schafer:then we got a couple movements that really help prevent injury uh the suitcase carries is the first one so suitcase carry got a heavy dumbbell on one side i'm walking nice good tight controlled form and i got like i said there's just a heavy dumbbell on one side what it's doing is it's opposite side QL muscle and the lateral stabilizing muscles of the other side. So why is that important? Well, when you're deadlifting, especially when you get really strong, you get really strong moving in one direction. Those lateral stabilizers, although they're active, can fall behind. And this is where you often see back injuries.

22:01Adam Schafer:One of the more common back injuries with a deadlift is not because of a herniated disc or something like that. It's because a QL got pulled. Yeah, shifting weight. Yes, it's like the weight came up and it came up a little faster on one side. It was a little twist. Boom. QL gets hurt. And what that feels like is a lot of low back pain on one side. I love that you brought this up for bulletproofing that because it is one. I actually got injured from that deadlifting, and it became one of my staples. And two, just the walking patterns with weight, I think, really highlights and emphasizes a lot of those opposing forces pulling you left, pulling you into rotation.

22:36and to be able to stay fixed and concentrated and get your body to really respond just in that vertical line, I think it really tests that.

22:45Adam Schafer:100%. Then we have reverse hyper. Reverse hypers were popularized, I think, by Westside Barbell again. Very interesting movement. And you look at it and you go, how does this help me deadlift? It bulletproofs your low back. Your low back, yeah. It really does bulletproof. And more than a traditional hyperextension. Reverse hypers is where you're lifting your legs up. and I don't even need a lot of weight to do this. And what I noticed with this when I do these is it's hard to get my lumbar spine to move through because it wants to stay tight. And so it just improves my lower back mobility. And I've seen recently carry over to my deadlift.

23:19Adam Schafer:Yeah, that's another one that you see the more,

23:21Sal Di Stefano:like you don't see them in a lot of gyms. CrossFit gyms have them.

23:24Adam Schafer:Yeah.

23:24Sal Di Stefano:But you don't see them in a lot of - The two gyms I go to have them.

23:27Adam Schafer:Wow, you're going to - Powerlifting gyms have them a lot. Powerlifting gyms will have them. But I think, you know, as, you know, just side note, as strength training becomes more common in mainstream, you're seeing more strength like really good strength training machines in gyms and i just think like squat racks for example now squat racks are in every gym whereas they weren't you know 20

23:44Sal Di Stefano:years ago it's kind of it's i mean it's an interesting point i mean the fact that a reverse hyper and a belt squat are in two of the commercial gyms that you go to is such and that we've all we've talked for a long time like what we've seen the transition in the the you know squat rack and the deadlift platforms like that's been insane like to see reverse hypers and belt squats and

24:05Adam Schafer:gyms it's kind of a cool time well you see bumper plates you see uh you know squat racks you're seeing people do all these lifts that normally you see hip thrust machines too which everywhere

24:15Sal Di Stefano:yeah i never saw that before so kind of cool yeah yeah all right let's get to the bench press uh so

24:19Adam Schafer:here's an exercise that will give you some carry over that i don't see a lot of people doing especially not with weight added which is dips oh you can get really strong with dips everybody if you practice dips you get really let me tell you you get really strong dibs your bench press will go up for sure and i almost never see anybody doing weighted dips i'll see people doing dips i don't see people challenging range of motion on dips often definitely don't see people i love deep range of motion and even an isometric contraction down at the bottom you know a pause rep to to really you know emphasize that but yeah so much carryover to that when you go back to the bench press uh in terms of especially at the bottom yeah the bottom bottom position

24:57Sal Di Stefano:power that you can now that's how i start them i always start them with an isometric so it's just a great way for me to prime and kind of warm up before i even get into i get in that as deep as i possibly can yeah and then just do a couple isometrics in that position that's kind of like my first set and then i'll get into like loading it and going it's a great way to start those and man it teaches you how to dig out of a bench press one of the sticking points on uh being able to increase your bench press is obviously the dig getting it out of the bottom out of the bottom position and it's kind of like deficit deads right for deadlifts it's like that ability to get deep out of it like that and get strong in that position.

25:32Sal Di Stefano:And you're right. It's not one of those movements you see a lot of people grabbing the belt chain and loading it. It's normally something you see body weight reps and rarely as deep as they can go. But getting deep and doing single, double, triples loaded on that, well, you want to see your bench press. Totally, totally.

25:50Adam Schafer:And then we have the incline press, which people typically treat this as like a secondary lift. But one thing that I did, and I know lots of people have done, is they kind of abandoned the bench press for a little while and just saw how strong they can get on the incline. Then they went back to bench press, and suddenly they were able to bench press more weight. And because people treat the incline press as kind of a secondary exercise, a lot of people don't realize their full potential in the incline press. But I'll tell you this much right now. Focus on the incline. Make that your primary pressing movement.

26:20Adam Schafer:Get really strong at it. There's carryover to the bench press for sure. And then we'll get to a couple things you can add to all these things, bands and chains. This just adds what's called progressive resistance. Bands added to the bar makes the weight heavier where you're strongest and lighter where you're weakest. So when I'm bench pressing with bands added to the bar, it's lightest at the bottom. As I push up and the band stretches, it's heaviest at the top. Well, I just so happen to be strongest at the top. So now I'm training my strength curve. Chains do the same thing. As I lower the weight, chains hit the ground.

26:50Adam Schafer:It's lighter. As I lift, chains come up. This is a powerlifting tool, but the carryover for people wanting to build muscle strength you just want to look better like i love using bands and chains and i love using and alleviating a lot of that needless stress around the joints too it's kind of nice to to apply that technique and you know really focus on some like either the lockout or digging yourself out of the hole and i and i know we've

27:14Sal Di Stefano:talked about this before uh but you you just described how the strength curve is the same on the two things but they feel different yeah so they're both different tools bands versus chains Even though they match the strength curve, right? Very different. They feel different doing it. Chains take more out of you. There's a value to you doing both of these to help you with this. They're a great tool. And I'd say most gyms have the ability to set up chains or bands, and bands are easy to carry them with you. Chains are a little bit more ridiculous to carry in your gym. Bands are easy. You're right.

27:50Adam Schafer:You walk into a gym with your chains, you're hardcore, dude. that is like all around your neck that is like the junkyard dog remember that guy in the wrestling junkyard dog dude that actually would be

27:59Sal Di Stefano:like a funny reel to do you know what I'm saying come and show up even Mr. T dude I used to use chains

28:07Adam Schafer:on dips I used to use bring some big old gold chains and like throw them on the bench it's so awesome that would be a move Justin you look nice and tan which is weird you do I'm glad you noticed you do you look like gray

28:18Sal Di Stefano:you know what I'm saying a little bit of a mauve no you do look tan No, you went to – Are you working outside?

28:24Adam Schafer:You were down in Palm Springs or Palm Desert. Oh, a couple more freckles. And usually you come back sunburned. Usually. But you came back tan. What are you doing? Yeah, so – well, I'm trying this out. Like, my sister-in-law, like, we used to – 4th of July, we'd go to, like, Coeur d 'Alene. And they're just as fair-skinned as us. And so it was like they were out on the boat, like, all summer. And, you know, some of their kids are, like, very fair-skinned. But they weren't putting on sunblock. and we were like passing around like no no we're good we don't have any sunblock and she's telling us about astaxanthin is this they've been taking the supplement um to help uh which i don't even know how to describe this like so don't rely on me for that i feel like i've heard you sal bring it up before but i don't know what it is in certain uh seafood it's a it's a pill oh you know what it's from um flamingos yes yeah yeah what algae is another way they get it yeah well the flamingos eat it.

29:22Adam Schafer:No, no, no. Look up astaxanthin and sunburns, Doug. So you can, if you take this...

29:27Sal Di Stefano:Justin, is it a powder or a pill that you're taking?

29:28Adam Schafer:It's a pill. It's a pill. It's a precursor to vitamin A, right? Is that what that is? It's an antioxidant internal sunscreen. Yeah, dude, you take it before, during, and after you're in the sun, and your skin is way more resilient to the UV rays. Yeah. I was like, I don't know. It's a risk with me, because it's like, I'm going to leave, and if If I don't put anything on, like usually I'll get to the point where it's going to blister if I have like that much exposure. But I was like, you know, around the pool and I kind of started taking it a week before we went to the Palm Desert. And I was like, OK, I got a little bit red, you know, and I was hot.

30:06But then I kind of went back, you know, inside and I was fine the next day. And so then we spent a lot more time like at this water park and like all day long. You know, you're at a water park. There's no shade like it was constant. I didn't have anything on. I was nervous, dude. And I came out. I was, like, hot and red. And then, like, once I cooled down, I was, like, fine. And there was no – it wasn't even like you could – like, I didn't have any, like, heat that night. Normally, even my skin would be hot when I'm trying to sleep. So, yeah, it was wild. It's so weird. Interesting.

30:46Adam Schafer:Whenever I hear Justin talk about, like, him and his kids and wife and the son. You guys don't have to worry about it. I've never thought of that. It's never been a thought for me when I go out in the sun like, oh, crap. Yeah. I'm going to sunburn. Yeah. If I put sunscreen on, it's day one for a little bit, one time. Yeah. And then the rest of the time there, never in my life am I worried about it. Dude, I'm always looking for alternatives, though, because I hate it. There's so many chemicals. And, like, I just, you know, and it's a whole process. And, yeah, I'm always jealous because, like, you know, guys are just, let's go.

31:17And then it's no big deal. I'm just like, you know, that dad that put it all on my nose, and they get a place I missed, you know, looking like a total dork.

31:25Sal Di Stefano:It's okay. You have great calves. Yeah. So, I mean, there's some benefits. I've changed the skin complexion for the calves, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. So, yeah, dude, I mean, it was nice. Like, I was like, oh, this might be a thing, you know. I'm going to try it again and see if it. So, Doug had it pulled up. So, it says ideally you load it for a couple weeks. Yes, you do it for like a week before. Yeah. a week or so. So it's something that I, I'm assuming it's healthy for you to take on a regular basis. Yeah. It's good for you to take anyway. Yeah. I, yeah, we were reading up on it and it, so in Courtney's kind of like particular about sourcing.

32:01And so she found a good like mom and pop kind of place that does it, you know, in house. And so we're like, okay, we'll try this. Um, but yeah, I mean, I, now it's like, you know, the whole dryness and all that. I'm like, ah, maybe I got to keep it. If like, you know, if I'm getting dark or are you doing the hydro layer, the caldera lab hydro layer to keep you all yeah yeah all the moisturizer all the uh serum on my face and like mainly my face because like you know like i never keep a tan on my face i use i use their

32:28Sal Di Stefano:um sunscreen on max so yeah it's 30 spf and it's all it's not chemical stuff it's not chemical it's all natural so that's i use that for him yeah that's a great option so yeah they have they have a great because it's hard to find these sunscreens that don't have all the shit in it i know dude and that was like one of the biggest fights with Katrina and I was because she's as soon as Max would go outside she'd like lather him like let him be out for at least 15 20 minutes out there and get a little bit of a base and then I'm okay with you put on it but you go lather him up with this chemical shit right away before he goes out there and so that's why we switched over to that and I know it's like a kind of a smaller ball I don't care I like that's what I use on him and it's 30 so it's and it's all natural so that's the way to go I have a friend of mine so I'm

33:10Adam Schafer:training my buddy and we've been working out together now for about, I don't know, five or six weeks. And it's so funny. He's like, he comes over, you know, to work out, training him in my garage. He's like, Hey, he's like, does that Caldera lab stuff really work? I started laughing. I'm like, did you see one of my commercials? He's like, yeah, I did. And I'm like, it really, dude, it really works. We had this whole conversation about it. And he's like, I've never really used anything. He's a guy, right? So he never really used anything. And then he gave me a compliment. He's like, your skin looks really good.

33:37Adam Schafer:I thought maybe it's because you were Sicilian. I said, well, I also use their stuff, but it really does. In fact, Doug, show me the... So I was looking at this earlier, at some of the ingredients to... Oh, by the way, Hydro Layer 1, Best Moisturizer in Men's Health and Esquire. Oh, yeah. They got first place in both of them. Yeah, they're killing it. Yeah, and they have compounds in their Hydro Layer that holds up to 5 ,000 times its weight in water. So it attracts... Explain that.

34:04Sal Di Stefano:So there are two... As far as keeping you hydrated? That's right. Your skin hydrated? Yes.

34:08Adam Schafer:So 5 ,000 times its weight in water. It's polyglutamic acid and hyaluronic acid. So those are two primary ingredients in their hydro layer. So it keeps your skin essentially moisturized.

34:18Sal Di Stefano:So basically you rub it in and it gets absorbed in your skin and then it holds the water in there. That's right. Almost like what creatine does in the muscles.

34:25Adam Schafer:Yeah, kind of. Interesting. Kind of. Interesting. It's got exosomes in there. They're patent pending too. 20 times more active in the skin. So yeah, so I was telling him all this stuff. He's a doctor, so he likes the science. so we're kind of going for it. Geeking out. Yeah, now he's going to use it. Which is kind of cool.

34:41Sal Di Stefano:What did everybody do on the memorial? I mean, I know I was laid up sick and did absolutely nothing. So you went down. Yeah, I drove down. Yeah. So we, yeah, it's a long drive, man. And it's funny because every time. You drove? Yeah, every time we do now. Well, because, dude, flights right now are so dumb. And it's like, dude, it takes forever to get through security and, like, there's delays and, like, all over the place. I don't know if you guys know this. Like, you've obviously just, like. Why are there delays everywhere? I don't know. It's just, it's like. Because they had all the, whatchamacallit, all the protesting and stuff.

35:11Sal Di Stefano:Yes. Again, we went through that whole thing with, what are they called that worked there? Okay. Oh, the TSA. TSA. They had all the TSA. Why are they protesting? Protesting or striking? Whatever. That's what I meant. Striking is what I meant. That's what I meant. Strike. Yeah. Same thing. They went through that whole process again. You didn't know that just happened again? No. Yeah, that happened again. So there was, so yeah. We were avoiding all that. Yeah. So we just. So you drove for 12 hours. Yeah. I mean, basically, it's like eight hours, dude. Is it eight hours? Yeah. Oh, that's a long drive.

35:42Yeah, well, I mean, we cut it to like seven. Five's like my limit. Yeah. We took Waze. Like, Waze has taken us on so many. I've gone, like, I want to say at least six different Waze down there now. And it's all through, like, Central Valley, desert, and, like, all that. So it's been weird, you know, like, finding all these new paths to get there. But, yeah, we went down there and then just hung out. and I actually took the boys to the gym. And I think I might have brought this up on another podcast. But yeah, we got to work out. So I got them. That was like my first time of having a real in-gym session with them two times, and it was awesome.

36:19Sal Di Stefano:Did you guys go up there the whole time? Or were you here for a few days and then went down there? We were here for a couple days, and then we left because we're in the process of trying to sell my house. So we're kind of in and out with people coming to show the place and then wanted to look at it. we got to hurry up and leave, grab the dogs and everything. And it's been kind of stressful, but it's, have you, have you transferred a bunch of stuff to the other house yet? You have. Oh, you already have moved some stuff. Lots of stuff there. Yeah. So it's really just like the stuff we have on display for show and, you know, a few clothing items.

36:51I'm like literally like rotating, like, I don't know, maybe like 10 or 12 different outfits.

36:58Sal Di Stefano:Is the other house done enough for you like to have your master bedroom and be able to put some there or like it's it's it's got walls and we got lighting upstairs now which is great okay um and i've not seen any updates you haven't painted a lot you haven't shared any updates with us like you've i haven't seen any updates in your place at all it's i mean like we're getting there like it's it's not your car because i know i know it exists i've seen it i've seen it i've been there so i know it's for real my car once so i know that it does exist which this is great once i finally get it i'm gonna yeah reveal it everybody's gonna be like whoa you have this i've had it for a long time it's going on like two almost two years two years almost yeah that sucks probably not gonna get a recommendation for anybody else you know it's like it's so tough because everybody i know everybody i have that's done a build it's just it's forever yeah it's just part of the process classic cars yeah and it's it is one of those things where i was like very i mean not to say i'm naive but like i knew it was gonna take a while but not this long i didn't not two years come on yeah like what but then again it's it's tough because like too i know the guy and like he's downsized he had like a whole full staff working for him now he's just just him like the last year has been just him and so it's like you know i'm like what's crazy is you chose to build a classic car and build a house at the same time that was not intentional dude at all just a lot of stress yeah i really do like i'm like i'm not you know i don't like chilling he's like i don't have enough stress about

38:36Adam Schafer:you should buy a puppy and have a kid another puppy on top of you we already got two cats like in the mix like courtney snuck those ones in what well yeah i told you yeah yeah i mean they've been rad because they're actually productive and they kill things uh so i'm cool with them but and And they're pretty low maintenance.

38:53Sal Di Stefano:Did you guys keep your chickens or did you bail on the chickens thing? We bailed on them. We actually gave them to one of our friends. You didn't eat them? Started.

39:01Adam Schafer:Oh, okay. Yes, she started one. They're good egg producers. So, you know, they're happy to take them. Dude, I got a chart I want to talk to you guys about. So switch directions a little bit. I just read this today. It was a study on young adults. So 22 to 35-year-olds. Their happiness has dropped significantly, but not all of them. You guys ready to hear this? It's pretty wild. So this chart, this study starts in 1980, and it goes all the way to a little bit past 2020. So young adults, 83 % of them in 1980 said they were pretty or very happy. Today it's 68%. But there's one segment, so that's a huge drop from 83 % to 68%.

39:42Adam Schafer:But there's one segment of young adults whose happiness has barely changed or not changed at all. Married young adults. so the young adults who are single their happiness plummeted all the married ones same 91 % 1980 90 % today you're so pro young marriage well let's sell marriage this is data this is data these are 22 to

40:05Sal Di Stefano:35 year olds I mean this is data of what they report right I mean how many married guys are sitting next to their wife and he was like are you happy yeah I'm happy you happy too yeah mark it she's like over your shoulder she's looking at her like this like that

40:19Adam Schafer:yeah yeah i'm happy we're real happy just so you know just so you know these surveys aren't done together they're done individually okay but and you don't think she goes like this what how did you answer yeah how did you answer hey i'll tell you what if there's all there's no change since 1980 the other one happy the other one plummeted i mean listen this is good to bring up and these are 22 to 35 year olds adam this isn't like 19 year olds yeah yeah yeah but what's what's it what's

40:43Sal Di Stefano:the divorce rate between people that get married between the ages of 20 and 25 versus 25 20 22 and

40:48Adam Schafer:33, 35.

40:49Sal Di Stefano:No, no, no. What I'm saying is I'm not talking about that. That's one study. I'd like to see what's the report say on people who get married between the ages of say 18 to 23 and then 23 to 27 and then 30 to 35.

41:00Adam Schafer:I don't know, but the older you get married, the divorce rate goes up typically, but that's typically because it's second and third marriages. So when you look at people who get married -

41:08Sal Di Stefano:I'd like to see first marriages between all those ages and what the divorce rate is like.

41:14Adam Schafer:I don't know.

41:14Sal Di Stefano:So that would be interesting to me to see. Teen marriages are extremely high risk with nearly 48 % in divorce.

41:19Adam Schafer:So the ideal zone is 25 to 29 where the divorce rate is the lowest. That's your sweet spot.

41:24Sal Di Stefano:This is statistically one of the most stable brackets boasting a divorce risk of only 10 % ages 30 to 34, Sal. Yeah. So as

41:32Adam Schafer:you get older. It gets worse. No, 10%. The odds of divorce actually increase by roughly 5 % for each additional year you wait. This is age 32 and older.

41:41Sal Di Stefano:That's 32 and older. Between 30 and 34 statistically is the best time.

41:45Adam Schafer:Yes, but 25 to 29 is also very good. Anyway, my point is that the data from 22 to 35-year-olds, there's a huge discrepancy from married and not married. Huge. Why is this such a big deal? Because everything would have you believe otherwise. They would have you believe the happiest people in that age group are not married. Not true. And this is data. This isn't my opinion. I'm just pulling up data. It's kind of your opinion.

42:13Sal Di Stefano:I mean, you're using that to make your opinion. That they report less happiness? Just because they report that. I mean, there's so many other variables that could be going on there. Just not like it's not that clear.

42:24Adam Schafer:I mean, you could make up things that you think.

42:25Sal Di Stefano:Because when you read those right there, then if they're not getting divorced, their divorce rate's the lowest at 30 to 34.

42:34Adam Schafer:This goes from 22 to 35 years. So that falls within this.

42:38Sal Di Stefano:Right. So again, the better age could be, say, 30, 34, and it's not really getting married at 22, 23. My point, to counter your point, is I'm not pro getting married between 20 and 23 years old. And you're so pro getting young, and it comes off that way when you say that. So I'm coming back the other direction being like, okay, I understand that married people are happy, and I agree that we've sold this dream of, or we've told people that, oh, be single, make all this money, bang lots of girls and the Peter Pan syndrome. And I don't agree with that. But I also think that people getting married at a really young age is not always a good idea.

43:16Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying - Well, it can come off that way when you read what you just read.

43:21Adam Schafer:I'm reading exactly what the data says, which is that the happiness rate from 22 to 35-year-olds has plummeted among those who are unmarried. Right, right. Whereas those who are married has stayed the same. Yeah. Which would account for even divorce and all that stuff, which is what you're looking at.

43:36Sal Di Stefano:I know, but when you report a study like that, and you give a range like that, it could be interpreted to somebody who's 21 years old that, hey, it's a good idea for me to get married right now.

43:43Adam Schafer:Do you know how many people or how many women who are childless are childless and it was not intentional? You can look that up. Significant percentage.

43:52Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, because that is, I agree with that.

43:54Adam Schafer:So when you think of it this way, okay, especially if you're a woman and you're looking at this, like, you know, I'm going to wait until I'm 33. Now you're 33, like I got to get married and have a kid right away. Yeah. And the odds that you're going to remain childless.

44:07Sal Di Stefano:I think the conversation is different for men and women, in my opinion. So I would encourage a woman to get married at a younger age. I would encourage a man to get married at an older age. I think a 25-year-old woman is totally different maturity-wise than a 25-year-old boy.

44:23Adam Schafer:Yes. You want to know what's interesting about that? Young men place getting married today, which is really weird. It was never like this before. Young men place marriage and having children higher than women do these days. Yeah.

44:34Sal Di Stefano:And I think that's because of the stupid narrative that we've pushed on women for the last - That's my point. Yeah. And I agree with that. But again, I think that women are far more mature at middle 20s than men are. And so I think in an ideal world, it's like guys are waiting until they're closer to 30. The girls are probably around 25.

44:54Adam Schafer:Yeah. Especially when you look at the age difference when people get married, it typically is like two to three years. Yeah. So a guy will typically be two to three years older. Yeah. But again, I think that there's, I know there's this narrative, which is don't even think about it until you're in your thirties and just enjoy your life. And here's what's happening. They're not enjoying their life. They're less happy. Yeah. They're far less happy.

45:14Sal Di Stefano:I think the commentary that I want to bring to that conversation is because I don't want it to happen when I feel like we always do in society, which is swing from one extreme to the other extreme. Oh, don't get married. Go this way. Oh, get married right away. It's like, there's actually somewhere, there's some logic.

45:28Adam Schafer:Do you think people were less happy when it was in the other direction?

45:32Sal Di Stefano:because it was in the past when they were really young yeah do you think they were less happy

45:36Adam Schafer:40 years ago when the narrative was get married early and have kids no i know they weren't i mean

45:42Sal Di Stefano:you're bringing up the studies that prove the opposite of that but i also think that 30 40 years ago there were a lot of the things 30 years ago a family a single a family could have

45:52Adam Schafer:one person working and they could survive in a single home we've talked about this the the data

45:58Sal Di Stefano:on that's not true well they're because we have lived in bigger houses and things like that and like well well below yeah i'll tell you what right now i had this conversation with my cousins they're

46:06Adam Schafer:like oh no no my grandfather he was able to buy a house and support and i'm like okay let's do apples to apples yeah he didn't have internet so cut that cost out yeah he didn't he only had one car so cut the other one out he didn't have tvs so cut that out he didn't eat out so cut that out he didn't buy clothes all the time so if we actually do apples to apples sure that's that's

46:23Sal Di Stefano:a logical argument problem is perception is reality and these young and this young generation perceives you're right it this way that's why i don't disagree with the logic that you make but the average person who's 20 years old doesn't see it that way and if that's their perception that's the reality which then will cause them to be depressed sad and yes i can't afford both me and my wife have to work no 100 that's why it's important to talk about and there are many places

46:47Adam Schafer:i know we don't live in one of these places where we live is one of the most expensive in the world but there are many places in America, which very affordable. Yeah. And a lot of the issue, like I have family members or friends, I have friends like this who both couple, you know, both husband and wife work, they work like crazy. And it's like, if you just moved, you're so stressed out. You're both working crazy hours. Your kid is going to daycare. If you just moved, you'd be okay. Like, I don't want to leave the area. That's like, there are options. There are definitely options.

47:12Sal Di Stefano:No, I think there, I think there is a, I think, I think great advice is for a young man to build himself, grow learn educate build skills get mature uh wait till you're 25 to 28 and then you find a girl who's three years younger than you and you live somewhere in the middle of the country and

47:31Adam Schafer:you absolutely be disciplined and happy already i'll even you can be confident i'll even add to that especially if you're in that age group i think you should date to marry not because i'm just i need to get married but yeah with an objective like hey i'm gonna date but i'm gonna date because i'm looking for somebody i want to be with not just some you know whatever and it's the opposite and people are less happy people are way less happy living that life and when i saw that data i first of all i expected everybody to be less happy because that's what you keep seeing the data yeah but people who are married stayed the same well i believe the dating process is part

48:04Sal Di Stefano:of what i when i'm when i allude to you should grow learn and like i mean that's part of that like the the best experience for dating for me in my 20s was not uh like oh just because i was trying to have fun it was like i was learning about myself like that was like that whole process was i mean when i when you're i mean this is why i'm not a fan of a 21 or 22 year old young man getting married is because at 22 you think you know what you want and most men don't but by the time you're 30 you get a little bit better idea of what you want probably 35 you really realize oh shit this is what i value you know what i want you know like that's you know it's interesting i

48:43Adam Schafer:I was just at a wedding, a young couple. They're in their, I want to say, early to mid-20s. It was the most Christian marriage wedding I've ever been at. So I'd never been at a wedding that was that. But the support and the families that they had around them and how they talked about marriage at the wedding, I was like, man, they have such high odds of success because they're going to definitely change. There's going to be challenges, of course. If you're with someone long enough, there's going to be massive challenges. But they have all these people around them. the way they were communicating marriage was incredible yeah and they have all their parents around them and grandparents and this culture and i think that's another big part of it i think a lot

49:20Sal Di Stefano:of us don't grow that's that's a huge part of it i mean and also a great i mean imagine having

49:26Adam Schafer:people to talk to that you know well even just even just having a i mean it's unfortunate but

49:30Sal Di Stefano:we don't have a lot of people don't have don't come from a family that's all you're like having an example of a mother and father that stuck together and didn't work through things and uncles and aunts that did it and like you know if you had this big family that you that i just

49:45Adam Schafer:imagine like them having straws watching this i was thinking about this like imagine have big big challenges and he goes to his buddies who also are in this kind of culture his buddies are not going to say dude just leave her they're going to say things like no man you got to stick it let's work it out let's figure this out let's get you guys together we're all going to and when you look at successful um families and marriages they have a lot of that but a lot of people don't grow up in that like you said which makes it very very difficult yeah no agreed agreed i mean that's all

50:10Sal Di Stefano:part of the growing process.

50:11Adam Schafer:It's just wild to me when you start to look at the data, objectively speaking, we should be happier today by the things that we tend to measure, which is material success, access to healthcare, education, freedom. And we have more of those things, but so many people are less happy. There's something missing.

50:34Sal Di Stefano:Oh, I mean, I think it's one of the greatest analogies to that or examples is when you talk about like what kings and queens had yeah i mean like somebody who is in like poverty has has more luxury i know than somebody and yet this i mean so think about that for a second like that's wild that's like and that wasn't that long ago i'm not talking about like you're only talking about a couple hundred carrier pigeons and we have you know freaking like door dash so oh it's yeah yeah no it's it's it's i mean i catch myself Oh, he's probably going to die. Yeah.

51:08Adam Schafer:Oh, man. Oh, man. He's going to die.

51:10Sal Di Stefano:Yeah. Well, I mean, the convenience that we have in everything, convenience and luxury in our daily lives is wild just compared to, say, 20, 30 years ago. And so you're right. We have. And it's only accelerating with 3D printing and AI robots to come do everything for you. I mean, we're only going to have more. and the irony of that is we're only going to get more depressed and sad and lonely and all those things because we keep thinking creates meaning and we're you know eliminating it that's crazy

51:40Adam Schafer:all right speaking some more good news for young people dude this this is crazy i'm not going to say the elephant in the room but i know you guys are going to think the same thing so there was there there's some stuff some data coming out showing i'll pull it up here showing how strokes so the instance of strokes is spiking in young people so doctors are now seeing people in their 20s 30s and 40s who are getting suddenly they're seeing a spike in these young patients getting strokes and they're confused as to what could possibly be a couple years back if we like go back in time dude i keep seeing like data like this and the comments underneath everybody will post a little emoji of a of a shot really dude dude it's of course we're gonna inevitably hit this reality and face this reality you know of what we all went through and endured it's like it's it's hard because you just can't talk about it you know like we can't talk about like this

52:37Sal Di Stefano:might have had an impact i know well you know you meanwhile we're we're trying again right what's the uh what's the one going around right now oh it's already dying what was that called henta hantavirus yeah hantavirus yeah yeah i mean they felt like they kind of rolled it out like let's see if we can do a part two and just like every part two normally flopped it's just like oh no evidence like in terms of benefit you know it's just it if you go back and look at benefit versus you know um us like saving people like i would love to see like real statistics it's wild though to see 20 year olds with strokes it's not good it's not good it's like overwhelmingly not

53:15Adam Schafer:good yeah yeah dude and then that one there's that one uh tick disease that's exploded over a thousand percent they're now starting to investigate it as bioterrorism i brought that up and i was like ah this is like freaking super conspiratorial but you know what it's what is it called gal something is uh like you get bit by this tick and then you don't want to eat meat you can't eat red meat yeah what's it called some kind of enzyme that it i mean what's the uh what it what's the um the stats on people that are called alpha gals that are allergic yeah what's what's the

53:47Sal Di Stefano:What's the allergy increase to red meat in the last decade? Do we know?

53:50Adam Schafer:Oh, a lot. Is it a lot? Yeah, because of alpha-gal mainly. So it's gone up 1 ,000 % recently. Whoa. 1 ,000%. Wow, that's crazy. Yeah, Doug, look up alpha-gal. Well, there's like a heat map over the U.S. of where they're getting reports of it. It's pretty alarming. Yeah, look at this. Scroll down, Doug, because you can see there's massive spikes and positive test results for alpha-gal antibodies over the last decade. But I read in an article that was something like 1 ,000 % increase. So it's like suddenly exploded. That's crazy numbers. Yeah. So they're now trying to potentially look at it as a bioterrorism.

54:33Yeah.

54:34Adam Schafer:Yeah, like maybe someone did that. Yeah, there you go. Alpha-gal on the rise, the alarming growth. Oh, there you go. 3 ,000%. Adults 25 to 49 have increased exceeding 3 ,000%. That doesn't sound like a natural occurrence. 3 ,000 % dude? Yeah. Yeah. So weird, right? Well, so weird. What state's most common? It's not coming. It hasn't been in California yet, right? No. It doesn't need to. It's on its way. It's on its weekends already. It's on its way around. It conveniently doesn't make you a big experience. Well, this is the low start ticks. I don't know if it is starting Texas or like the Midwest.

55:07It's all the south where all the meat is getting.

55:09Sal Di Stefano:Conveniently. Yeah.

55:10Adam Schafer:Conveniently hitting the south first. I'm going to be going to Yellowstone. and I need to be careful.

55:13Sal Di Stefano:Not really. Oh, when do you go to Yellowstone?

55:15Adam Schafer:When we're all taking that time. Oh, that's where you're going? Yeah. Oh, how fun. Are you staying in Yellowstone the whole time? We're going to stay like 30 minutes outside of it. I got like an Airbnb. And so we're going to stay there. Wow, I'm surprised you're doing something like that. Why? I haven't been to Yellowstone before.

55:28Sal Di Stefano:I know. It was so not like you to do anything.

55:30Adam Schafer:What?

55:32Sal Di Stefano:I mean, that's like an adventure, like to actually go out into nature and do that for a whole... It's a national park.

55:37Adam Schafer:I really like going out. I'm going to go where I'm supposed to. Yeah, but you still see some people going too close to those buffalo. Why do you do that? Come on. It's a freaking huge, wild animal. Is it just you and the kids or are you doing it out there? Me and the kids, my niece and my mother-in-law and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Oh, cool. So we're all going out there.

56:02Sal Di Stefano:And you're all going to get a place you can all fit in?

56:03Adam Schafer:We all have one big place. Oh, cool. Yeah, yeah. Have you ever seen, by the way, one of those buffalo? Buffaloes? Yeah. Yeah. Or what's it called? Moose is crazier. it looks like a dinosaur dude there's they're like one of the scare it's funny because they look all like cute and whatever dumb yeah like you think like bullwinkle or something and you're like no dude it was terrifying it was so big it was it had to be like over a ton yeah and so i was like canoeing actually this was in minnesota like at the boundary waters and i was there the football team we all like had uh this like canoe trip that we did together and i'm like just canoeing and all of a sudden it just came out of the woods down this hill we're in the water it goes in the water it says walking in the water and it like submerges completely and then we lost it we're like it was like walking on the bottom of the lake and we're getting like we get the

56:55Sal Di Stefano:hell out of here i'm scared i got video of one but as close as me and you uh when i was up at uh whatchamacallit yeah well jackson hole when i was in jackson hole there was one walking around where we were all staying and stuff they get pissed they'll go come after you yeah oh yeah especially they have their baby with them or whatever too they just look they just look cartoonishly big yeah you look at it wait a minute that's way bigger in real life it's insane it makes a cow look tiny yeah they're so yeah or like a horse it makes a horse look tiny yeah for sure anyway i

57:24Adam Schafer:want to talk about um essential amino acid supplements because so we work with kion so this is for our listeners they need to know this that essential amino acid supplements when you look at the data on how effective they are, the thing you have to look at is how much of it is coming from leucine. So leucine is one of the branched amino acids, but leucine is considered a trigger for muscle protein synthesis. Makes a massive difference. So if you see an essential amino acid supplement that's not 40 % leucine, it almost does nothing in comparison to the ones with higher leucine.

57:56Sal Di Stefano:So is it more expensive of other things? Because that's typically what you'll with supplement brands if they're going to try and cut corners it'll be the that's a good question yeah like because so like because it makes sense uh it doesn't make sense to cut it out unless it saves the supplement company a bunch of money to cut it out and to claim they're still an eaa and then do that so it'd be interesting to see if the the leucine is one of the more expensive

58:18Adam Schafer:parts but when you look at the studies like there was that one study that was done on women where they took uh just the centromino acid supplement compared it to a scoop of whey protein and how

58:29Sal Di Stefano:It is typically a bit more expensive per serving. It makes sense. So talk about, I didn't know this.

58:34Adam Schafer:So it's the primary driver for muscle protein synthesis. So muscle protein synthesis is what we measured if you're building muscle or building tissue. It's the leucine that triggers it. Now you want the other amino acids in there because when it's triggered, then it uses those amino acids to do what it needs to do. But it's the leucine that basically pulls the trigger.

58:53Sal Di Stefano:But leave it to shady supplement companies to skimp on that because they can save from the margins. because they're expensive. No, totally. I mean, the margins are so slim in the supplement industry, and the fact that they're not regulated, then a company can easily put 10 % in there, save money, and charge a premium like that, even though it's less expensive.

59:10Adam Schafer:So keyed on this is 40%. 40 % is from leucine. And then the rest of the amino acids are in there. So this will make a difference. So if you've tried essential amino acids before, you're like, didn't do much, try theirs and see what happens. And that's the one that we started taking. Yeah, yeah, I know. Because we had the interview with the founder. It made a big difference. Oh, yeah. What is ButcherBox? Well, ButcherBox delivers better meat for better you at low prices. This is grass-fed beef. This is crate-free chicken, heritage pork, wild-caught fish delivered to your door. Some of our favorite picks are their ribeyes, their bone-in chicken thighs.

59:48Adam Schafer:They have premium steak tips, their baby back ribs. Love their gluten-free chicken nuggets and their flat iron steaks, but there's more. So what you do is you go there, you sign up. They deliver the meat to your door. Now you get high-quality, healthy protein at incredible prices. And if you sign up now and choose, you can choose, sorry,$20 off, and you can also get either free sirloin tips for life, free chicken wings for life, or free ground beef for life included in your box for the life of your membership. Just go to butcherbox.com forward slash mindpump. Back to the show. Our first caller is Aaron from Indiana.

1:00:24Adam Schafer:What's up, Aaron? How you doing, Aaron? How's it going, guys? Good. Good. How can we help you? So I guess my question is, should I do a bulk cycle and cut cycle like every six months to achieve the body fat percentage I'm looking for? For reference, I'm currently 5 '10 and 260 at about 29 % body fat. I would consider myself an advanced lifter. I competed in Strongman for several years. And then life happened. I got away from me, and now I'm trying to get back down to my original size.

1:00:58Sal Di Stefano:What's the original size? What were you before? When I was competing, I was 220.

1:01:03Adam Schafer:Okay. Now, what was different about your lifestyle when you were 220? And what are you weighing right now? Sorry? 260. So what's the difference in lifestyle, would you say, that accounts for the 40 pounds extra? Life really happened. Advancements in careers. I got married, had a kid. So time got away. I wasn't working out twice a day. That's only working out once a day.

1:01:30Sal Di Stefano:It says you came from 300 something right now too. How long did that take you to get down to that? That was about 12 years ago. Oh, so 12 years ago is when you were at your highest at 360.

1:01:41Adam Schafer:Yeah. Now, Aaron, was the only difference when you were 220 versus 260 working out twice a day versus once a day, or are there changes in diet as well? Yeah, my diet was way better when I was competing as well. What are the differences, would you say, the big differences in diet back then versus now? Uh, now I've got it dialed back in. Um, but that's just recently.

1:02:05Sal Di Stefano:And what does that mean specifically? Are you tracking it all? Do you know calories and protein and what you're doing? Yeah. So yeah, I'm currently at 260 grams of protein a day and about 28 to 2900 calories a day.

1:02:17Adam Schafer:Okay. And where were you before? So what were the things, what were the knobs that you had to turn? What were the things you had to change? Cause you said you're dialed in now. so what was it that you had to change to get down all or what was yeah yeah a lot of it was like i cut back on the beer drinking okay uh and then really why i started eating whole foods again

1:02:36Sal Di Stefano:not eating fast food and processed foods okay you're good i was gonna say you don't have to do anything you're probably in a sweet spot i wouldn't want you to cut too much lower calorie unless you're pretty sedentary what you have any idea like what's your what your step count like how much you move throughout the day i'll make sure i get 10 000 steps a day oh yeah okay your size, moving that much, lifting, I'm sure, good weight. I'm not sure I want you to go much lower calories than what you already are.

1:03:01Adam Schafer:And here's a mistake that you can make. Here's where I see the big challenge. And this is just based off of the fluctuations in your body weight, you know, at low 220 up to as high as 360. It seems like it's like an all or nothing kind of thing. And so consistency or sustainability is the main thing to consider. And so you've already made a couple big changes. Cut down on the beer, probably substantially based off of what you're saying, and change from eating processed food and eating out to eating whole natural foods. Those are two pretty damn big changes. I would not want to add on top of that, chasing a calorie deficit.

1:03:41I think you're probably already in a deficit just from doing those things.

1:03:45Adam Schafer:I don't think you should chase a bulk or a cut. I think if you just focus on that, If you just did that consistently, as consistent as you could, and when you fall off, jump back on and just focus on the whole food, protein, not having too much beer. I don't know what your limit looks like right now with the beer, but just keep it limited. You're going to slowly get into a nice body fat percentage range. So if you're at 29, I think just doing that alone will get you down to probably 18, 17. Yeah, you'll probably get down to 18, 17 percent, just nice and consistent with all these crazy drops in strength or all this hunger from going on a cut.

1:04:20Adam Schafer:I think that's just the way to go. If you get impatient, this is where you'll mess things up, dude, because then you'll go too far and you'll only be able to stick to it for so long before you swing in the other direction.

1:04:30Sal Di Stefano:How do you feel in the 2 ,800, 2 ,900 calories? Like, do you feel hungry? Does your workouts feel, you know, fueled? and like how tell me about how that feels when you eat that amount of calories so on the days that i do lift because i follow maps aesthetic right now so on the days i lift i'm a little hungry yeah but on the off days it's okay okay you're good dude yeah you're probably good i mean

1:04:54Adam Schafer:honestly if you just if you just stayed consistent with that you're going to see some nice changes uh in your body you'll probably still feel good feel strong athleticism will improve good recovery and you'll see yourself drop some body fat without any drastic changes or any more changes to your diet.

1:05:11Sal Di Stefano:What were you running before MAPS Aesthetic? Have you been on Aesthetic for a while? What were you doing before? I ran MAPS Strong before then. Okay. Yeah, good. How were your results on that? I saw a lot of gains. Oh, good. Some of my lifts I competed in when I was competing came back. Oh, wow. Oh, shit. That's really good. And so were you eating about the same through Map Strong too, or have you changed eating the way you are now? Or is that about the same? It's about the same. Yeah, I would just keep going, dude. You're good. Yeah, I think you're at a good calorie place.

1:05:45Adam Schafer:After aesthetic, I think symmetry would be good for you. I think that'd be a good program to follow up with. Do you have that one? Yeah. Oh, good. Oh, you're all set, dude. And then just to get a little deeper into this, how big of a change in the beer consumption was it? because that's such a high-calorie beverage, and it really doesn't contribute to gains and all that stuff. Was that a pretty big change for you? Yeah, I maybe do it like once a day now, or once a week now. What was it? I have one like once a week. Was it daily before? No, it was probably all weekend. Okay. Oh, good for you, dude.

1:06:16Yeah.

1:06:17Adam Schafer:Bro, you got to do nothing else. I know. You're going to get nice changes. Keep chipping away. If you get impatient, this is where you're going to mess up, dude. And what it's going to look like is you'll get where you want, and then you'll swing again. and you'll be stuck in this back and forth type of deal. But if you want to maintain this, that's it. Do nothing else. Just stay consistent with those two things.

1:06:35Sal Di Stefano:I mean, I think you're in what we always talk about as a little Goldilocks area, which is tough psychologically, right? You want to see the quick moves down or the quick moves up. But I think you're at a really good intake that you're going to continually lean out. And as long as you have enough energy to get to those workouts and you're feeling good, I'd say you're okay on the calorie-wise.

1:06:52Adam Schafer:If you get really hungry, you just eat more whole foods. That's the other thing, too. if you're like man i am starving my energy's low throw on some whole natural foods but stay stay in those parameters and you're good dude yeah i agree awesome yeah you're kicking ass harry you got it

1:07:07Sal Di Stefano:man keep it up i love it i love to hear where you're at the next three to four months after you get through this and get into symmetry okay yeah that sounds good yeah check back with us thanks for calling in man all right thanks you got it yeah i mean uh again just um just takes time

1:07:22Adam Schafer:Well, it does. And also, when you look at someone's history of these really dramatic swings, that's a 120, 130-pound difference. And he competed at one point, so he was obviously very fit with good athleticism. Strongman is a very athletic strength sport. When you see that, the thing you want to really consider is like, okay, let's not go too crazy because I have a tendency to go all or nothing.

1:07:47Sal Di Stefano:In either way, by the way. In either way. Like an extreme cut will cause him to see maybe leaning out for a little bit, but then inadvertently we'll have a bench that probably falls out. And a bulk, a quote-unquote bulk, tends to turn into a dirty bulk or an excuse to eat outside of the boundaries or have a couple extra beers where he's eating in a place, and that's why I wanted to hear how he felt. If his workouts feel fueled, he's hitting numbers that were like what he was hitting in Strongman. And he feels a little hungry on days that he lifts, which is normal. Especially if you're in a deficit.

1:08:18And he intuitively switched up his training, so it's like more hypertrophy, which I thought was smart. Yeah.

1:08:25Adam Schafer:And I'll say this. If you went to one beer to drink in all weekend and went from fast food and processed food to whole natural foods, his calories probably dropped 1 ,300, 1 ,400 calories on average a day. Oh, yeah. Totally. On average, probably.

1:08:38Sal Di Stefano:I bet he was eating closer to 4 ,000 a day easily.

1:08:41Adam Schafer:Easy. You throw them beer calories and all that stuff. And then beer lowers your inhibition. You eat more garbage and the whole deal. So he's already made some big changes. Just stay there. our next caller is Derek from California what's up man hey guys thank you for taking my question you got it how can we help you um so I'm 5 '7 and I started weightlifting in January of last year and at that time I weighed 139 about a year and a half later I'm now 158 pounds I did gain four of those pounds just in April but I also started taking creatine then so that might have helped but prior to last month I was gaining less than a pound a month on average and I've been eating 3400 calories I tried to get enough protein and my main goal with starting lifting was to build muscle and get stronger and I have seen some progress through my lifts and a little bit aesthetically but it's just been a little bit slower than I would have thought and additionally my body fat percentage has gone from 10.7 to 18 percent and I'm actually glad to have more body fat overall, but it seems like it mostly goes to my stomach.

1:09:45And at some point, I would like to see my abs again. But I don't necessarily need to be back at 10 % body fat. But I'm not sure at what point I would cut if my body fat percentage keeps getting higher. And my concern is that I will lose too much weight if I do try to cut. And it'll be really hard to build this back up again later, since I've been trying to bulk at 3400 calories already. And it's, you know, been slow going. um do you guys have any thoughts about this yeah let me do some math here real quick

1:10:13Adam Schafer:so you started at and you were and by the way how are you testing your body fat what do you well i have a smart scale i mean i'm not sure how accurate it is but it's just but i've just been able to see the progress through that so you just every time that's what you use to test yourself yeah yeah okay by the way those things can be really thrown off by hydration but we're going to take the numbers at face value how much did you what

1:10:34Sal Di Stefano:was your body weight when you started 139 139 to 153 10.7 to 17 so let me see here you had 125

1:10:41Adam Schafer:pounds of lean body mass i just want to see how much lean body mass yeah you gained uh um through this process so let me see here minus 153 so so your lean body mass didn't go up that much uh

1:10:56Sal Di Stefano:based off of the body fat percentage which could be true it's most likely here's the two things one uh really inconsistent with the training and or not really progressive overloading or two you're focused just on eating that many calories and you're not really focused on your macros i.e protein consistently would you say that's true right how are you with your protein um so i'm shooting for like a pound um or one gram per pound of body weight yeah so i sometimes get like 140 d 150 like so a little bit less okay are you consistent with that though do you consistently do that um so i i consistently get it when i track but i'm tracking maybe like 80 percent of

1:11:44Adam Schafer:the time okay and then and let's talk about your strength uh give me an idea of some of your key lifts uh and if what any changes in those through this process um so well i've been i know you guys won't like this but i've been just doing like an ai program um but i it's kind of like um you know upper body lower body like okay splits and so i've done some um like like for squats i i mean i have it in my email but i'm not really sure yeah it's right here i can see here so your bench press went from 85 to 140 your back squat went from 95 to 205 and your deadlift went from 105 to 220 those are huge yeah yeah it's great strength yep you got to be careful so here's the thing without without seeing a picture of you before and after a lot because you got to be very careful with those stupid smart scales because they're really strange and the more you build and the more hydrated you are creating will do this the more it throws it off and it's it's really not that actually it's very difficult the the one objective metric that we have here is your strength because that's not something that there's no error there you know you're stronger if you're lifting more your bench press back squat deadlift went through the roof yeah like like your deadlift more than doubled right yeah so those are the things i would pay attention to more uh than anything else you're not gonna be building that strength without muscle supporting it no now here's the other thing okay so just just for you know uh just to play devil's advocate let's say you are around 17 body fat a good healthy strong fit maintainable body fat percentage that's also going to give you good hormone profile is probably only two or 3 % lower than where you're at.

1:13:28So most guys, 14, 15%,

1:13:31Adam Schafer:it's kind of the best of all things. You're fit. You don't have like a belly. Um, you're strong. Testosterone is good. It's maintainable for 95 % or more of men going down to 10%. You're, there's a lot of trade-offs, your performance, your strength, your testosterone, your energy just plummet it's typically not a an ideal body fat percentage we like the way it looks in pictures but it's just not great it's not you know it's not as athletic you're not as strong it's just not as good the only difference is uh cool i have uh abs and 15 i kind of have abs you know type of deal how clean is your bulk like is it all from whole foods are you incorporating yeah it's pretty um pretty clean like it's not like meat eggs rice avocado derrick what are you

1:14:18Sal Di Stefano:coming from? Like you, meaning like, uh, you were at one 30 and 10%. What were you doing to be at that? Was that just a low calorie eating? Were you a runner? Like what, what was keeping you at 10 %? Yeah. So I used to be a runner. Um, so I ran a few marathons and things like that, but, um, yeah, my lowest, I was like one 25. Um, but I was starting to get sick, like running like long distances. And so I kind of just wasn't doing anything for a little bit, but that's why I got into lifting because I was like, oh, I wanted to do something still where I'm, you know, challenging myself and trying to, you know, get new PRs and that kind of thing, but something that wouldn't be maybe so hard on my body.

1:14:59Adam Schafer:Good. Okay. So I got more questions because I really want to get a full context here. Subjectively, any differences, I know you're stronger and you're eating more, but any differences in how you feel, uh, from when you were one 39 to one 50, one 53, one energy, libido sleep.

1:15:18Sal Di Stefano:Yeah. Do you feel subjectively better? Um, yeah, I, I feel, I feel good. I don't know if I feel necessarily better than I felt before, but, um, but yeah, but I've been feeling like healthy, feeling energized well and all that stuff.

1:15:34Adam Schafer:So, okay. Would you trade your current body strength size feeling for what you were at 139? Or are you like, well, if I had to pick one or the other, I'd pick this. Yeah, I would pick this. Okay, good. This helps a lot. This helps me a lot with, with the kind of advice I'm going to give you. So if you want to get a little leaner, you're at 3 ,400 calories at your size, a small cut in calories will get you there slowly and nicely, but we don't want to sacrifice your quality of life, your strength. You know, You were kind of overtrained before getting sick, like you said. So you could go from 34 to 2 ,900 calories and stay there.

1:16:08Adam Schafer:Yeah. And you'll see nice, slow, consistent fat loss without these crazy drops in strength. In fact, if you change your programming, your workout programming, if I put you on a MAPS program, I bet you I could get you even more strength gains even at 2 ,900 calories versus 3 ,400. Okay. Which one would you recommend? Now you're working out what, four or five days a week? Yeah. Okay, let's put you on MAPS anabolic. And I want you to do the three-day-a-week version. I want you to keep your steps high every day. Do you track those? Yeah, and I usually get on average like 5 ,000. Okay, let's double your steps to 10 ,000.

1:16:49Adam Schafer:Follow MAPS anabolic, cut to 2 ,900 calories, and I bet you get stronger while getting leaner on a protocol like that.

1:16:56Sal Di Stefano:I don't even think you need to go that high in steps. So I think you just go up, you add 2 ,000 steps and you cut those calories like that and you put them in a ball. So 7 ,000? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's more than enough.

1:17:04Adam Schafer:Let's do that. 7 ,000 steps a day. Good place to start, too. Maps anabolic. Long rest periods, even if they say short. Keep the rest periods long because we're in a little bit of a deficit. And let's see what happens. And then what I want, Derek, is I want you back on in about two months. And we're going to get you back on and hear what's happening. All right. Thank you. You got it, man. Thanks for calling in. Yeah, thanks. Got it. Great. body fat tests are just I mean they're okay but sometimes they're not good especially those home scales

1:17:34Sal Di Stefano:what's your intuition tell you what went on here

1:17:38Adam Schafer:I think the scale is off by quite a bit I also think some of the strength gains came from energy and rest so you don't have to gain a bunch of muscle to get a lot of strength you can also just have more rest and energy but I also think you gain more than one pound of muscle during that period of time which if those body fat percentages are accurate and it says he only gained a pound of muscle, I doubt it. When you double your strength in a lot of those lifts, I doubt it's just one pound.

1:18:03Sal Di Stefano:But that's quite a difference. Even if you're right, let's say he gained five pounds. It's still a lot of body fat. It is. Right? So hearing only 5 ,000 steps, he was only 139 pounds. We just got off the call with a 260-pound strong lifter eating 2 ,900 calories. Too high of a bulk. And 10 ,000 steps, right? So too much of a bulk. Yeah, too much of a bulk, even if it was clean, which the next question I'd have. And he said, too, when he tracks, he's close to those numbers, which is 80 % of the time he tracks. In my experience, the 20 % of the time that people don't track is the weekends. That's when they miss their program.

1:18:41Sal Di Stefano:And if you're already kind of like not a big stepper or mover, sedentary, you're even more sedentary typically on the weekends when we don't work. And then you also overconsume. So I have a feeling that he's just been really overconsuming on his calories. I think a better program, like you put them on, I think even just bumping those steps a little bit and cutting those calories, watch what happens. And here's the other thing too,

1:19:01Adam Schafer:and this is why I asked those questions. Part of it was for him. The other part was for people listening. We tend to ignore quality of life in favor of metrics in the mirror, but he doubled his strength. He's eating way more food. He said he feels energized. Even if those numbers are correct, who cares? You're better off. We get so caught up with numbers and aesthetics that it's like we think, oh, I'm going to be happier, leaner, even though I feel more like garbage. That's almost always never the case. But again, I think if he does a little bit of a cut, does what you said, Adam, where he bumps the steps a little bit and follows a better program because I'm pretty sure maps on a bulk will be more appropriate for him, I think we'll see some good progress.

1:19:43Adam Schafer:Agreed. Our next caller is Nick from Alberta. What's up, Nick? How you doing, Nick? How you doing? Hey, how's it going? Good, man. How are you? Good. But basically, I'm just going to jump right into my question here. I'm 27 years old. I'm 300 pounds, and I've been having issues with my energy and libido. I went to a doctor, got blood work done, found out I have a total testosterone of 325, and a free testosterone is 305. I'm worried about having issues with fertility and stuff because of such low numbers. So I've started taking some supplements and eating mostly whole foods, right? I'm kind of 90%, right?

1:20:26I've been listening to you guys for a little bit of time and just kind of going off what you guys say for that. I've always been into sports. I played a lot of hockey, lacrosse, football, that kind of stuff growing up. I had my last pretty bad concussion when I was about 18, and that all kind of just stopped. And I sat in a dark room for about three months. And then I've had a lot of obviously neck issues and such to go along with it. So I was pretty inactive for a couple of years and gained quite a bit of weight. At my biggest, I was 330, right? Right now I'm down to about 295. So I'm doing a little bit of good there.

1:21:08Basically, my question is, what do you guys recommend for kind of going forward here? Right. I've always kind of, like I've got into the gym a bit, right? But in the past when I did it, I would try to cut calories and start working out more and it never really worked out. What I've been doing here for the last month, I've lost about 10 pounds in the last month. And what I've been doing is just trying to eat better quality food, not so much processed and just trying to go to the gym four days a week sort of thing and just getting moving is basically what I've been doing so far.

1:21:41Adam Schafer:uh i've been basically doing some squat deadlift like compound movements as opposed to just hitting one particular thing so basically just wanted to see what you guys think i should do how much how much protein you think i should like i don't know how much i'm supposed to weigh to be honest with you you know i mean i've always just been big right so i don't know how many grams of protein i should aim for for my target body weight sort of thing right so good questions So I'll answer the protein one for you. How tall are you again?

1:22:13Sal Di Stefano:Six foot.

1:22:15Adam Schafer:I think 220 to 240 or 50 grams of protein is perfectly fine for a big guy like you. Yeah. I think that's a good target to start with. I do have some more questions though, if you don't mind me asking. Yeah, for sure. When you're trying to eat whole foods, you're strength training, you're kind of adjusting your lifestyle. were you doing that when you got your testosterone checked or were you doing or did you start doing that after you got i've just started i've just started doing that after the last month okay so i got my i got my test done at the end of march and that's kind of when i started doing all this so it's only been about a month okay okay and what did your lifestyle look like before when you went leading up to the hormone test um you know we mainly ate kind of more processed stuff you know like chicken fingers, Kraft dinner, that kind of thing.

1:23:05Right. So we we've transitioned into a lot more roasted potatoes and, uh, some beef and chicken and mainly trying to eat as, as much whole foods as possible. And it was my birthday on a Sunday, so I didn't have a great weekend when it came down to what I ate and drank, but, uh, that's all right.

1:23:23Adam Schafer:Now, um, uh, were you exercising, uh, leading up to that? So processed food diet before, and what was the activity exercise like? It's very off and on again. Like I was never consistent. I've been, I've been quite consistent going at least four days a week for the last month. Right. But otherwise my activity is not great. And, and I work at a body shop, right. I only get probably 5 ,000 steps a day would be my guess. Right. So that's another thing I wanted to talk to you guys about. Cause a lot of people say don't do cardio and, and resistance training in the same day or same sort of thing. right so i wanted to talk to you guys if i should be hitting the treadmill for half an hour as well as doing my resistance training yeah i think it's a good idea uh and sell your phone does this but you can also get a real cheap pedometer just getting steps check track your steps and try to aim for like seven to eight thousand a day and if you need to walk on a treadmill to do it i think you should just because activity is good for you okay get it through walking though don't get it through don't get on the treadmill and start trying to burn away

1:24:26Sal Di Stefano:like running just move yeah just just get your steps up and if you could do that without getting

1:24:30Adam Schafer:on a treadmill uh you know like take a little walk at lunch uh park a little further in the like little things like to actually add up if you can get seven to eight thousand steps just moving without having to get a treadmill i would prefer that because the consistency and sustainability with that in my experience is just way better than having to schedule walks since you've been doing these changes it's only been 30 days but um have you noticed any changes in libido uh yeah i mean it's gone up a bit for sure um i i'm i uh i noticed i'm a lot warmer now like i feel like my metabolism was kind of kicking up a little bit right but uh good sign dude because here's what i would want you to do so um going from an let's i'm just going to be generalized right you're going from an unhealthy inconsistent activity lifestyle to a much more healthy act you know uh more active including strength training right appropriate strength training lifestyle, it's not unheard of to see a man's total testosterone double.

1:25:29Adam Schafer:I've seen this many, many times. So I, and since in libido isn't perfect, but it is a pretty strong for most men indicator of testosterone levels. So if you're noticing a little bit of a bump now, it could mean that your testosterone is going up. It could also mean you just feel better. But what I would want is 90 days of consistency. see. And then I'd want you to get retested. Now I'm going to go back to the concussion. Okay. It was, it sounds like it was a really bad concussion. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've had, I think five diagnosed concussions. Okay. And then, yeah, I've had some, some ones that I don't remember a whole lot about.

1:26:10Right. Okay.

1:26:11Adam Schafer:So here's why it's so important, Nick, that you get retested in 90 days. Okay. There is a moderate association, uh, depending on the, the, the severity of the concussion. It sounds like you had a bad one with concussions and low testosterone because of damage to the pituitary stock and the hypothalamus. So you see this with athletes across the board, especially athletes that, that really get after it and bang their heads as you'll see this like correlation and it's coming from, uh, just damage to those parts of the brain. But we don't know, We don't know because your lifestyle wasn't healthy before, which is also very strongly correlated with low testosterone.

1:26:49Adam Schafer:So try to stay consistent. You're already 30 days in, 60 more days. Get your blood work done again. If it comes back and they're like, you know, it went up to 400 or barely changed, then I would look into hormone replacement therapy. And they can maintain fertility with hormone replacement therapy. So a lot of guys are afraid because they're like, oh, if I go on testosterone, I can't have kids. It's not true. They'll put you on something called HCG, which maintains fertility. I mean, my wife got pregnant while I was on hormonal platinoid atom, same thing. So it's not an issue. They can just, like I said, they can put you on HCG at the same time.

1:27:27Adam Schafer:But there's no way of knowing until we do this consistently. So 60 more days, get retested. if it comes back low, um, then, uh, it would be a good idea, uh, to talk to, uh, someone about hormone replacement therapy. And we have really good partners at NPHormones.com. They're super great. It's the, probably the least expensive, just pure hormone replacement therapy place you'll go with. And they're doctors. So you're not dealing with salespeople. Um, so you could go there, uh, and get retested and see what's, what's going on. Okay. Workout wise is, uh, Are you following one of our programs? You're doing your own thing.

1:28:04No, I haven't got one yet. I've just been kind of just doing like typically what I'm doing right now is I'm doing two leg days a week. And like when I say leg day, I mean like I'm doing like three exercises. So I'll do squats. And like yesterday was squats, Romanian deadlift, and calf raises. And then I go home.

1:28:25Adam Schafer:Okay. Right. So I was only there for 30 minutes. Okay. I'm going to give you MAPS anabolic. do the three day a week version of it long rest periods in between sets so you're only going to be at the gym three days a week you want to go back for an extra day just walk on the treadmill and i think you'll get better results uh with that versus kind of what you're doing um 220 to 240 grams of protein whole natural foods make sure you get good sleep um and uh let's see what happens in 60 days in fact let's get you back on in 60 days and so we can get back on the phone and see what's happening. Okay, sweet.

1:28:59Is there any supplements you guys, you recommend I take to help with this or just kind of stick to the whole foods and see what happens?

1:29:07Adam Schafer:Yeah, let's go multivitamin. Make sure you take a separate vitamin D supplement and a zinc supplement. And you can take creatine on top of if you want. There's really nothing else, unless you need protein powder to hit your protein targets. I think that's it. Okay. Perfect. With my creatine, it doesn't matter if I take it all at once. I've got like a big water bottle and I kind of just drink that water bottle throughout the days and I just put creatine in that in the morning, right? Or should I make a separate glass with creatine in it and just drink that? I don't, I don't want you to leave creatine in the water all day long.

1:29:39Adam Schafer:Yeah, it might degrade. Yeah. So what you do, how much are you taking a day? Just five grams. Okay. I want you to take, I want you to take 15 to 20 grams a day because it's going to be good for your brain. Cognition. Yeah. But don't take it all at once because you'll get diarrhea. So what you're going to do is you're going to take five grams with breakfast, five grams with lunch, five grams of dinner. So 15 grams a day. And you should notice some, some mental clarity, um, and energy. I was going to say any nootropic, I mean, might be exploring. Yeah. Let's, let's, let's, yeah. Let's just do that for now and see what happens.

1:30:09Adam Schafer:I'll have you back on in 60 days and let's get, let's get reevaluated. Awesome guys. Thank you very much. You got it brother. Thank you. Thanks. A lot of people don't realize the correlate with, uh, head trauma and low testosterone. Yeah.

1:30:23Sal Di Stefano:I've read up on that. I mean, he had some serious ones. Yeah. Five that are documented. He was in a dark room for three months.

1:30:28Adam Schafer:Five documented? Yeah. And three months in a dark room. It's debilitating. Yeah. And I know a few of my buddies have had that happen.

1:30:36Sal Di Stefano:Is that the protocol if you have a really bad one is to keep you in a dark room like that? You can't handle light. Yeah, it's his sensitivity. Yeah. I don't think I know anybody that's had a concussion that bad. Yeah. It's brutal, dude. I don't know anybody personally who's had one

1:30:51Adam Schafer:You know what's crazy too about concussions is and this is not recent data but when they came out with this everyone was shocked soccer players have a high rate of CT and they're just hitting the ball they're not like playing football even when it hits the chest too you're getting that kind of impact and it's getting the brain to hit so it's not just the severe ones, those are obvious it's also just the repeated banging and there's kind of long term effects of that Our next caller is Kathy from Florida. Hi, Kathy. How you doing, Kathy? Hey, guys. How can we help you? Thanks for having me on the show.

1:31:26Adam Schafer:You got it. Sure. So should I just go right into my summary of my email? Yes, please. Okay. So I'm 55 years old, 5 '3", 103 pounds, post-menopausal. So I started my fitness journey after being diagnosed with MS about 23 years ago in 2003. I didn't have a lot of energy to train back in those days, but over the years, I've become very consistent and I'm a very disciplined gym person. I also stopped working about eight years ago, which gives me more time to work on my health and my fitness. Then last October, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, which when I started watching your program. So my goal is to build as much muscle as possible for my health and bone density.

1:32:07And I train about five days a week. I stay very active, 12 ,000 to 15 ,000 steps a day. and my nutrition is very consistent. I'm currently eating about 1 ,800 to, no, 2 ,000 to 2 ,100 calories, and my protein is about 100 to 120 a day. So my question is, based on my age, weight, and activity level, do you think that I'm eating enough to build maximum muscle, or am I just maintaining? And my next question is, if your goal was muscle gain and bone density at my stage, Would you prioritize first nutrition, training, or recovery?

1:32:44Adam Schafer:Yeah, great question. Can I ask a few more questions? Of course. Okay, so tell me about your symptoms from MS. I know you got diagnosed 23 years ago, you said. Do you have a lot of symptoms now, or does it feel like it's pretty manageable? I'm in remission. I'm in remission. I haven't had a relapse in eight years. Wonderful. Awesome. So there's a few things, but that is a strong consideration, And I've trained a few clients with MS. And as you probably already know, too much stress can definitely trigger, you know, a flare up in the symptoms of MS. Now, the answer to your question is actually kind of easy.

1:33:22Adam Schafer:And I think it'll work well with what you're trying to do and also with not pushing you into any kind of a flare up. You're definitely overdoing it and under eating for sure. That's what's happening. Yeah. Yeah. So, and it said here, you're following maps aesthetic. Yeah. Not the program for you. That is entirely the wrong program. It's way too much volume for most people, let alone a post-menopausal woman with osteoporosis eating, uh, you know, 2000 calories a day who also, um, has MS. That's like the absolute worst, one of the worst programs that you could follow. Uh, now the challenge is I'm going to recommend something to you, but it's to be a lot less.

1:34:02Adam Schafer:And so I need your honest, I need your honest feedback here. Do you think you could do a lot less and stick to it? You know, it's going to be hard. And it's going to be hard to do a lot less. Yeah. Yeah. But I called because I want to get your opinion, so. Okay. I think the program you should follow. I would love it with one of our coaches. Yeah. So two pieces of advice here. I'd love to see you, and it's going to sound crazy, okay? So forgive me, but I'd like to see you follow a MAPS 15 protocol. You can keep your steps as high as they are. That's a lot of steps, but that's fine. 12 to 15. Okay.

1:34:42Adam Schafer:Unless you're going crazy, you know, getting on a treadmill all the time. No. I won't take that away from you. And I'd like to see you get your calories up by like three or 400. Okay. Now, when you're at the gym and you're done with your workout and you're like, what do I do now? I don't mind if you do mobility. I don't mind if you do stretching. I don't mind if you do like really low kind of, uh, stress type movement, but this is the protocol that'll help you build muscle and build bone. Okay. Okay. Now here's the other piece of advice I have, cause this is going to be really hard for you. Like going from maps aesthetic to mass 15 is going to feel like you went from working out to not working out.

1:35:24Adam Schafer:Even though you're going to see strength gains, even though you can see, you're going to be like, I'm losing my mind. working with a coach, I think would be a really good idea to walk you through this and also to individualize the whole thing. So what a coach will do is take, you know, maps 15 and turn it into maps, Kathy, and we'll just individualize it for you. As you go through this process, coach you through the hurdles, which are going to be mental. Um, and also encourage you in the right direction when you're seeing progress in the areas that we want to see progress, but you feel like you could or should be doing more, which is probably what's going to happen.

1:36:01Okay.

1:36:02Adam Schafer:So that would be ideal. But I think MAPS 15 muscle mommy would be fine. Traditional MAPS 15 would be fine. MAPS 15 power lift would be fine. All three of those would be awesome. Okay. But definitely a bump in calories and reduction overall training. Okay. I mean, I can do that. Okay. All right. Would you want a coach to call you to see if you'd want to work with a coach or do you want to go after it yourself and see what happens? I mean, I can whatever you think. I mean. Okay. The odds of success are way better if I have one of my coaches call you and work with you through this process. I just know just from experience.

1:36:41Adam Schafer:Yeah, you're going to do this for like two weeks. Very. Yeah, I want to pull your hair out and it's like, oh, I'm eating too much. I'm not exercising enough. What am I going to do? And having a coach work with you is going to be so valuable. Plus, they'll be able to individualize it, modify it as you go along. Okay. I didn't want to question it. So you definitely think that I'm overtraining. For sure. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, no doubt. Because the aesthetics is what, I mean, it's your program, but I know I like it. I'm on, I have one more week left. I'm on phase three right now. Yeah. My second time around.

1:37:12Sal Di Stefano:It's inspired by what I did when I was bodybuilding.

1:37:15Adam Schafer:He was a pro physique competitor in his early thirties. Yeah. And he was enhanced with performance enhancing substances. So it's very different. Yeah. With the amount of volume. Also, his life was dedicated to it. He didn't have it at the time. That was his job. Right. Yeah.

1:37:30Sal Di Stefano:I wouldn't train like that right now. It's just not appropriate for my lifestyle right now. And I mean, I'm still fit and strong and all those things, but it's just too much. It's just too much. It's not necessary.

1:37:41Adam Schafer:You'll see better results with less. We have other options. Yeah. The reason why you're seeing bone density issues, even though you strength train and probably have been strength training for a while and even hitting your protein is it's too much.

1:37:52Sal Di Stefano:Yeah.

1:37:53Adam Schafer:So too much exercise combined with not enough nutrients. I don't care how much strength training you do. You're going to see a bone mass go down. I've seen that with, I've seen it with girls in their twenties and bumping the calories and

1:38:08Sal Di Stefano:reducing the training volume. We'll send it the other direction. So that'll fix it. I mean, that's what will send us in the right direction.

1:38:14Adam Schafer:And if we see some really good strength gains and muscle gains, bone is going to follow. It's just, it's very predictable. okay okay do you think the scale is gonna eventually go up or yes it's not yeah it's

1:38:28Sal Di Stefano:going to go yeah and that's to justin's point this is where the coaching really helps is because it's this is the tough part psychologically is challenge you're going to see that you're going to see the reduction in activity the increase on the scale and it starts to be a bit of a mind

1:38:43Adam Schafer:so i just i'll give you what this would look like it's going to sound shocking uh but this would be a process, okay? If you were my client, Kathy, and I'm working you through this, I'd want to see you gain 15 pounds on the scale, 10 of it being muscle, 5 of it being body fat. Totally. How much? 15. Easy. 15. 15. 15. 1.5. If I got you to gain 8 to 10 pounds of muscle, 5 to 7 pounds of body fat, we would be moving in a beautiful direction. And you would look great. I like the scale to go to 1.07, at least 1.10. I'd be fine with that. Yeah, I think what you need to do is really not weigh yourself through this process.

1:39:19Adam Schafer:It's going to mess with you. I'm just telling you that right now. Uh, but yeah, I really think working with a coach would be so valuable. You give it six months with a coach. You just do what they say, no matter what you, how you feel. Um, and I think probably four or five months into it, you're going to be like, okay, this is, this is great. I feel good. Okay. So you think that'll just, the scales it has to go up yeah absolutely i'm not one of ways myself to see it you know go down i want it to go up i just keep an eye on it so i don't slip too much in the wrong direction i'm just going down yeah okay oh good all right that's good that's how i get on the scale because i see 101 i'm like oh god i need to be 103 104 and it goes down to 101 i get nervous i start eating a lot and it goes back to 103 104 and comes right back down oh well that's good that's good all right i'm going to have a coach call you when we get off the phone here and they'll talk to you.

1:40:11Adam Schafer:I'd love to see you in it. I'll probably pop in on some of the calls because now I've talked to you. But I think six months would be a nice start. Okay.

1:40:20Sal Di Stefano:All right, Kathy. We got this.

1:40:22Adam Schafer:We got it. Oh, you guys. I love you guys. Thank you. Thank you. This will be great. We'll see you. Bye. Bye. Bye-bye. It's remarkable to me how many people follow the least appropriate programs that we have for most people yeah because they see how much is in it maybe the name because i think it's i think that's part of it yeah it's the marketing yeah it's the power of marketing yeah it's i mean we should put a warning we also we also

1:40:50Sal Di Stefano:that wouldn't matter to make them want it more we also have a bit of a bias uh i i would i would argue that a large percentage of the people that listen to a fitness podcast or the ones that call in both even right yeah so you're i mean these are avid listeners these aren't just somebody who listened one time right most people that call in have been listening to us for quite some time um are fitness people yeah you're into it you want to learn about it you're in you know i'm saying this is not something that you're not interested in more on that fitness fanatic side yeah exactly and so you're gonna have people that tend to teeter like this is not your average client or average american no your average american you're doing everything you can't you're you're just trying to get them to get them to move more they're not doing anything Show up to the gym consistently for a while.

1:41:32Sal Di Stefano:Very few are going to be attracted to this level of activity and training. But because we have this bias of people that are already interested in fitness, we tend to see this more often than I think represents a normal person.

1:41:45Adam Schafer:The good news for people listening, if you sound like this woman and you're able to do what we say, which is hard. So I'm not going to lighten that or diminish that. It's hard. but if you do what we say the changes are nothing short of dramatic big time dramatic changes it's just you gotta go through that period of trusting the process and it takes like half a year it's a 180 from your mentality and it's not a half a year of because you need to see results in a half a year it's a half a year of you trusting and letting go and then finally being like healing and restoring the body 100 % look if you like the show come find us on Instagram it's Mind Pump Media Thank you for listening to Mind Pump.

1:42:27Adam Schafer: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.

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