2894: 6 Fitness Truths That 95% of People Still Get Dead Wrong & They're Quietly Sabotaging Your Results

17:31Adam Schafer:100%. Next up, flexibility work is useless if you're weak. You don't want to be weak and flexible. That causes problems. That's a risk, a high risk of injury. So mobility is a term that some people confuse mobility with flexibility. But the way we define mobility is having strength and control within a particular range of motion or an ideal range of motion. Flexibility without strength is loose and injury prone. Think of a one-year-old. Like a one-year-old, you can bend them in all kinds of different directions, very weak. Put some weight on a one-year-old, they hurt themselves. ourselves. Hypermobility, which is a term that describes people, lots of flexibility without good strength.

18:18Adam Schafer:They're some of the most injury prone people on the planet. And so if you're like, man, I'm tight. I need to go focus on being flexible. Your best bet is to do strength training in good ranges of motion and challenge ranges of motion, increase those range of motion with strength because strength is what gives you stability. The flexibility component without strength is instability.

18:39Sal Di Stefano:Yeah. And to be fair, like mobility is considered strength training, which, um, you know, it's active flexibility is this active, passive flexibility. And, um, and I think those two, like some people don't know the difference between the two and, um, to really have that ownership and be able to recruit within certain ranges of motion, uh, and have it be useful. So, you know, I can take myself out of these, uh, positions and, you know, be active in recruiting these muscles in that position, that's valuable. And then that's pretty much the precursor to then loading it. And then we're going to load it and we're going to get stronger in that position, which is, that's all the value.

19:20Sal Di Stefano:But flexibility itself, if you're not addressing that you're weak, you're leaving yourself vulnerable. I think the most important point to be made to this right here is the person that I think of that still falls in this trap is somebody who has decided that they are going to make a change, get healthier, get fit. And they're midlife. They have some chronic pain and tightness and stiffness. And so their logic is, oh, before I start to, I know I need a strength training, but before I do that, I think I'm going to take yoga classes and stretch and really work on my flexibility before I go lift weights because my hips already bother me.

20:02Sal Di Stefano:My low back already bothers me. But what they don't realize is a lot of that chronic pain is due to weakness and instability. And one of the best things to combat that would be to strength train. Strength train is going to build that strength, that stability, that resiliency. And so I think there is this myth that they need to go stretch and loosen up because they feel tight, stiff, and chronic pain first.

20:24Adam Schafer:No, here's the truth. So a lot of people don't know this. The reason why your body gets tight, the reason why your shoulder gets tight or your hamstrings get tight or your hips feel tight is not because you have muscles that are like rubber bands that are cold that need to be stretched. That's not what's happening. Your central nervous system controls the flexibility of the muscles. If I rip the muscle off your body and place it on a table, it would be, I'd be able to move it no problem. Your CNS, your central nervous system, is telling those muscles to stay tight to create stability. So when you're weak and you have instability because your muscles aren't strong enough to support particular ranges of motion, the CNS tightens the muscles up around those areas.

21:07Adam Schafer:Activates. And it keeps them tight. It doesn't let them move much. And that's where the tightness comes from. So tightness comes from weakness.

21:14Sal Di Stefano:And that's also where a lot of the chronic pain comes from is because that tightness ends up being tightness and it's pulling on the hips, It's pulling on the back. It's pulling on the knee. And then you can't move right. Yeah. And so then you have this chronic pain. And most people interpret that as, oh, I have all these tight muscles and I have chronic pain. And so they sign up for yoga because that seems like the logical thing to do in that situation. When in reality, what you're saying is, no, it's because you're weak and unstable that you feel this way. And the best thing that we could possibly do is not sign up for a yoga class.

21:47Sal Di Stefano:It'd actually be go get strong lifting weights. That's right. And that will solve most of these problems.

21:51Adam Schafer:That's right. And last, the real fountain of youth is not in a pill or a shake or a supplement. It's in the weight room. So all exercise done properly improves longevity and improves quality of life. And all the data supports this. So as you get older, if you stay active and you exercise versus your peers who maybe don't do those things, your quality of life is significantly higher. but among all of the forms of exercise, one of them really makes a big difference with this and it's strength training. If we had to label a form of exercise as the fountain of youth, it's strength training. What happens as you get older?

22:30Adam Schafer:You lose muscle mass, you lose strength, you lose bone mass, you lose mobility and stability. You see people falling. You also get what's called insulin resistance because so higher rates of things like diabetes, metabolic health starts to go down. One form of exercise directly combats that. Now, other forms of exercise help with all of that, but strength training directly combats that. How? It makes you stronger. So your muscles get stronger and they get a little bigger. Your bones get stronger as a result. You have improved insulin sensitivity because muscles are very insulin sensitive. You're less likely to fall because now you're stronger.

23:06Adam Schafer:And if you do fall, you're less likely to break something because things are much stronger. So strength training is the fountain of youth. if we had to label a form of exercise.

23:15Sal Di Stefano:Well, muscle is the organ of longevity, right? That's right. I love that. I love that because I think that's exactly what that represents. And so, yeah, lift weights. Don't focus so much on all the supplements and pills and shakes and the latest fad that's out there. Go to the gym two, three times a week, get strong, and you'll live longer.

23:32Adam Schafer:That's right. So, Adam, I was going to ask you because you were just talking off air. How are you using – we did a commercial a few weeks ago on Caldera Labs Hydrolayer.

23:41Sal Di Stefano:yeah i so i i didn't realize i always feel guilty so that i wasn't using that i was using the base layer which they come in a similar uh bottle and they're but they're different yeah um so the

23:55Adam Schafer:hydro layer is literally to to improve moisture yes yes really like it i love still love the base

24:02Sal Di Stefano:layer too but it's like a thicker cream yeah um it's more like a like a it's like a like a paste

24:07Adam Schafer:but it's kind of like a creamy yeah whereas the hydro layer is like i know it's so funny listening

24:11Sal Di Stefano:to us trying to talk about men's face cream and stuff like that. You can tell. I mean, you can tell how genuine it is because we seriously know nothing. Just know that I like it or it works. And I couldn't even tell you the scientific difference between the base layer and the hydro layer. I can tell you the difference of the texture of it and how it feels. And the hydro layer is much more moisturizing or makes my skin feels really good, especially with my dry skin, my psoriasis and stuff that I'm always constantly battling and dealing with. um and i just started using that so i've added that now to the rotation um the hydro layer was not part of it and i really like it and i don't know if you've done it doug if you were already on the yeah no i just started i just got my first uh jar of it probably a week ago oh you too then okay cool so i don't feel so bad that i was the one that's my wife's favorite one of all their products yeah it does hydrate yeah so sometimes you put things on your skin and they make it feel more dry yeah this actually like really makes it feel yeah yeah yeah i actually i rub it all over my face and head oh yeah yeah yeah so it feels really good so i'm a i'm a big fan of that too

25:17Adam Schafer:yeah i was on the sun the other day and i'm like now i'm starting to have to put a hat on dude i'll get a sunburn on my head which i've never done before oh god oh i'm close dude i'm close i see videos of myself you know when i'm doing like so especially that's the hardest thing well See, here on camera, here, you see me from the front, so I can't tell. But I do, you know, I have this series I do called to his kingdom with Dylan. And that one, you see me from all angles because I'm working out. Yeah. And there's times when I'm, like, doing, like, a bent over fly or a row. That's what got me, bro.

25:48Adam Schafer:And he's like, and I see it, and I'm like, oh, wow. That's what that looks like. There's no height in that at all? Oh, no. I'm holding.

25:54Sal Di Stefano:That was it for me, dude. That was all it took was the team shooting video of me. And I had, because like you said, like, I see this stuff, right? Yeah, it was fine. and you know i was like oh i'm fine and then it was a shot like that that it doesn't help too a lot of times they're shooting you with under lights and things like that too and that camera just like oh man i remember getting mad at everybody for not telling me really yeah because i don't feel like anybody was telling me back then i wasn't teasing you back then no it wasn't until i think it was after i started to admit it and talk about it then it was like yeah yeah then it was fair game yeah then it was fair game lay into me or whatever but i'm like i was mad that nobody said i was really mad at my wife i'm just like you let me walk around like that like It's fine.

26:34Adam Schafer:Justin's not losing a single. Nothing.

26:36Sal Di Stefano:I mean, it's short now, but like. That was intentional. Makes me so mad he was. He just covers it all the time. Yeah, I know. It's such a blasphemy. I'm waiting until I get. Blasphemy, bro. I mean, I go through periods. I'll probably go through a period where I'll do my hair a lot more. But I'm waiting for it to just turn completely white. That's my goal.

26:54Adam Schafer:I don't think it will. I think it's just going to stay kind of gray like that. It's pretty gray, dude.

26:58Sal Di Stefano:My dad's kind of, you know, it's white. Is it white? White? Yeah, it's like, it shifted. Yeah. Oh, wow. Like full on. Wow. But white doesn't shift to quite a bit later. Yeah, like 70s, 80s. Yeah, you're going to be gray silver for a long time before you go all white. You know who I just saw in a show? I just saw a show with him. It's Richard Gere. And he's all white now. And I've never seen him all white. Oh, he was gray. Yeah, he's always been gray. Like, he's always been.

27:22Adam Schafer:He's got to be in his 70s now, right? Yeah.

27:24Sal Di Stefano:That's like wizard status, dude. I'm looking forward to it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, see what he looks like now? He was always gray. He always had good gray hair. He was like that gray. Look at him in Pretty Woman. Pretty Woman, that's why I see Justin's hair is like that. He's got that good salt-pepper mix. It's peppery. It's white now. It took all the way until now, until I've seen him like this. How old is he, Doug? 70? Maybe more? I don't know. He's somewhere around there, right?

27:54Adam Schafer:He is 76.

27:57Sal Di Stefano:Oh, wow.

27:57Adam Schafer:Wow. He's still doing shows, too.

27:58Sal Di Stefano:I just saw a new show. All of the people we grew up watching,

28:03Adam Schafer:they're all in their 70s, dude. That's weird. It's just crazy. What's Sylvester Stallone now? He's in his 70s, right? He might be 80. No, no, no, no. He's not? No, he can't be. Is he mid to late 70s? I think he's - 79. Bro, 80. Oh, my God. That's 80, dog. My boy. Listen, pretty much everybody. I'm not going to jinx, okay, but she's got, man, when that, because he's like a hero of mine, dude. Something happens to the level. Arnold 78. Arnold 78. So Arnold's almost 80. Dang. Yeah, they're almost 80. Arnold was a hero of mine for a long time. And I still think he's like the epitome of the American dream, literally, like immigrant success, all that stuff.

28:38Adam Schafer:Yeah, his story's great. But he said some stupid stuff. He's ruined during COVID. He really ruined it during COVID for me, too, bro. I was like, come on, guys.

28:44Sal Di Stefano:And do you follow him enough to know if he backpedaled from that? No. He didn't double down, did he? He never really came back.

28:51Adam Schafer:I get a vibe that he just kind of says what he thinks he's supposed to sometimes, Schwarzenegger. He's in with the politicians.

29:00Sal Di Stefano:Yeah. He'll just say things that will appease them. Because he's a first-generation immigrant, he can only go so far in the politicians.

29:09Adam Schafer:Yeah, he was governor. That's as high as you can get, isn't it? I don't think he could be. No, he can't be president. No, he definitely can't be president. I don't think you can run in Congress either. I think you can, yeah. He could be in Congress? Can you?

29:19Sal Di Stefano:I don't know how high he'd get.

29:20Adam Schafer:I think it's just president.

29:21Sal Di Stefano:It is only a president. Okay, yeah. So maybe he'll do that. Maybe that's what he's. Nah, he's done, dude. You think so? Yeah, I think he's done.

29:27Adam Schafer:I remember when his workout partner, Columbo, died. Remember that? Mm-hmm. You know, he died. He died. He drowned. Oh, he drowned? Yeah, he went out swimming like super far. Really? And then he ended up drowning. Something happened. That's weird. I know. That's not - Super sad. Yeah, that is sad. How old was he? Do you remember? I want to say he was 76 or 75 when he died. Yeah. Maybe we'll find out here. 78? He was 78. And he died by drowning, right? suffering a medical emergency while swimming on the coast of Sardinia.

29:58Sal Di Stefano:Oh, was he doing like a legit swim and then had like a heart attack or something? Something like that. I mean, 78 and swimming is like a legit swim.

30:05Adam Schafer:It was really sad to hear Arnold talk about Franco after he passed away. That'd be really sad too.

30:11Sal Di Stefano:Doing like exercising like that, you know, doing something like that to go like that. Hey, what did you think of, I sent you over a list. Oh, pull it up, Doug.

30:21Adam Schafer:The five luxury purchases worth the money.

30:23Sal Di Stefano:So Sam Parr has a group that I've been a part of for several years now. If you've been listening long enough, you've probably heard me talk about it. The Hampton Group, which is just a collection of all founders and CEOs. And he's done some really cool stuff I like. So I follow his podcast and some of his content still and talk to him. He's got good stuff. And yeah, I do. I like a lot of the stuff he's done. And he's now, I mean, he's got this massive, Hampton's huge, right? It's worldwide. um and it's got uh he so he's got this great tons of data of and everybody that's in there are very successful entrepreneurs so he's got all this this collection of all these very very successful founders and so he he gathers a lot of good data from all these different owners and founders of companies and one of the things he recently ran was like he ran this basically this article five luxury purchases that are actually worth the money so it says he interviewed 80 over 80 founders

31:14Adam Schafer:ranging from, and they're worth from 10 million to 4 billion. Yeah. And here's what they said about what they regret or don't regret.

31:23Sal Di Stefano:Yeah. Basically it's, it's what, what they're taught, what the top five ways of using their money. And I, so he had an even deeper, this is, this is a piece of a, I read the whole thing. It's actually really cool. He, he's like, he had interviewed all of them. So I actually went through and he showed me when he was doing this, he actually had me look at it before he posted it and shared it publicly. And it was really cool. I got to go through like each individual, one of these millionaire and billionaires, and they had a breakdown of their total money expenses. And they shared with him like what they spend it on and all.

31:54Sal Di Stefano:And so that's, he's collected all that. And then he's distilled this, this post down to the five things that's actually worth their money. But the way he got to this was actually very thorough. It was like a very detailed personal report from every single one of these founders, how they spend their monthly money. and it's ranging from people, their net worth is from his 4 million all the way to$10 billion. Well, let's see what it says.

32:15Adam Schafer:So number one is buying back your time. So every hour spent doing stuff you hate is an hour not doing, spent time with your kids or building the next thing. So one founder said, hiring a private chef changes life because he stopped thinking about meals three times a day. So this could be a housekeeper, chauffeur or personal assistant. Okay, so this makes a lot of sense. So like an example of this would be doing like you're like mowing your lawn. Right, landscaping. Like landscaping. So you may think like, well, you know, I'm going to spend money on hiring someone to do that. But the real way to look at the value is what else would I do with that time?

32:52Adam Schafer:If that's four hours every Saturday, are there things I could do that are more valuable? So let's say you're building a business. Maybe I could spend four hours building my business instead of doing my yard work. Or maybe I could spend four hours with my kids or whatever. So just an example of that.

33:08Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, no, I really like this and I wanted to hear your guys' opinion and take on all of it because what you'll find in, I mean, again, these are like uber wealthy people and this is like things that they consider luxury things that you spend your money on. And what you'll find interesting is cars, watches, things, none of those didn't make the list whatsoever. And number one is buying back your time. And I would have to agree with that. I would agree that, you know, one of the things that I have valued the most about making more money is the ability to make that decision. Not everybody has that luxury, right?

33:40Sal Di Stefano:It's a luxury to be able to have the decision of like, I don't want to mow my lawn. Like some people have to mow their lawn in order to do that. And in making a decision of, oh, I have an extra income or I'm starting to make more money. Oh, I go buy a fancy luxury car or I could drive a modest car and actually have somebody now do my lawn. And I think that's the good takeaway from this is you don't have to be uber rich where you're in a position where you make a choice to not drive the bmw or lexus or whatever and maybe you drive the toyota or the honda but now you cover somebody to handle your landscaping and i think that's the cool takeaway from this is like because i know some people might look at this and be like well i can't connect and relate to somebody who's worth 10 million or four billion dollars but it's like no we all make trades and decisions as you whether you're somebody who makes you know under six figures beyond that or millions of dollars you're constantly trading your time money and all those things and so it's like how many people do you know, still might be mowing their lawn or doing things, but then they're driving a car that's really expensive.

34:41Sal Di Stefano:And it's not a good view. Yeah. And I think that's the good takeaway from this is that, hey, as you climb the ladder financially, as you get older and mature and better at skill that whatever it is that you do, you'll be faced with this decision. Hey, I can now drive that fancy car, but hear it from all these people that have been there, done that. And they're telling you like, listen, this is a better place to invest your money.

35:04Adam Schafer:Number two, Doug. Personal trainer. Agreed. I think this is - I thought this was really interesting that this made the list. Yeah. Well, listen, we know this. We trained lots of clients on this. We do, but I thought this was fascinating coming from -

35:16Sal Di Stefano:We pitched this, but I'm surprised. Yeah. It's me too. I thought this was really interesting coming from just a bunch of millionaire billionaires out of a list. These aren't like - This isn't isolated to health and fitness people or anything related to us. This is just like - And so I think this is actually a really, this show, this is different. 20 years ago, this does not make the list. 20 years ago, so this isn't getting highlighted.

35:39Adam Schafer:No, but here's the thing. Like we talk about this all the time on the show. Better health and fitness makes everything else better. So investing in ways to improve your health will make the rest of your life much better. And save you money. Here's the thing. Being fit and healthy saves you money. If you look at things like medical costs, loss of productivity, loss of quality of life, and what that could potentially cost you, it's a wise investment. And people are figuring this out.

36:04Sal Di Stefano:Yeah.

36:05Adam Schafer:The next one is a dream house. Now, they said they like their dream house because it helps with dinners, reunions, and holidays. So basically, design your home for connection.

36:19Sal Di Stefano:Yeah. So you're bringing everybody to you.

36:21Adam Schafer:Yeah.

36:21Sal Di Stefano:I mean, you heard me talk about that. Yeah, subscribe. This one super resonates with me because - Rather than just being in your big house by yourself. And I love that. So it says number three, dream home. And then in parentheses, it says, but not for the reasons you think. And I think that's so true because if you would have asked me in my 20s what my dream home looks like, it doesn't look like the home that I live in. The one I would have drew a picture of in my early 20s would have been this massive, over-the-top type of place. and really when I look at what I've distilled down to what now is my dream home, it's for those exact reasons right there.

36:59Sal Di Stefano:It's been designed in a way. It's been curated on hosting my family and friends and barbecues and hanging outside, inside, and music. I've thought about a lot of that stuff and not neighbors on top of me. That stuff wasn't things that I thought about when I was 20 going, oh draw your dream house or describe your dream house it looked a lot different well a house that

37:23Adam Schafer:promotes uh connection and social interaction makes a lot of sense when you look at how

37:28Sal Di Stefano:valuable it is for quality well and two to have it be the destination for my kids friends to want to really hang out and connect and i get to know their friends really well that way their parents we have them over um you know so there's a lot of value in that for me like back to the first point of it were like you know buying your time back and all that that one i wrestle with a little bit um i i i totally subscribe to it and i like you know having the flexibility and being able to like have people do the remedial stuff or the tasks i don't want to do but also i i because of where my kids are at in terms of their age i find a lot more value in having them do hard work oh no that's which is plus but but it's like you have to actually manufacture that yeah which is rough like it's it's like one of those things like i you know so i want to just like have landscapers but i'm like well this is an opportunity i need to go out there and do it with them to instill this in them and like and that's not everybody's cup of tea but like i've just found like it's it it makes the household energy much better and everything else and it's too is teaching them you know some some life lessons at the same time so i i juggle with that though because i'm like you know sometimes obviously we all want to break and and all that too but and it's valuable to me so i i i think there's a there's a there's a middle ground to the point you're making or a way to kind of have your cake and eat it too um so what i do um in that example so not only do we have people that take care of the cars but i also have landscapers but i also still do both of those things yeah so there's times where i will opt out of not having a car washed and i will take max outside and him and i do it together yeah it's a beautiful sunny day him and i it's a weekend i know the car needs to get cleaned and it's like of course i could have someone go take care of it for me like i do sometimes on the sometimes but today is a day where like oh this will be a good opportunity for me to do that i have landscapers that are on a schedule but then there's times where i'm like you know what i need to power wash the backyard and clean and oh I noticed those shrubs are overgrown I'm going to go to I'm going to go trim them myself and so I think the luxury of having it outsourced that I can choose to do that time and I can choose to do it with my son or not so it's like I don't have the stress and the pressure of to keep up keep all of it all the time but then I can also dip in and out because I think what you're saying is extremely valuable to show your kids that work to do it yourself and then we've talked about this before too like I even think about from a movement perspective I I make that decision sometimes.

40:04Sal Di Stefano:Sometimes it's actually not even about my kids. Instead of cardio, yeah. Yeah. I tend to enjoy that more anyways. It's like, I don't want to get in my car and go to the gym, just go walk on a treadmill for an hour. Why don't I just go wash the car for an hour? I'll burn just a minute. There's a lot more examples of mundane stuff that you get, like a house cleaner. And there's all kinds of stuff that you could do that you really don't want to do. That's nice to buy back your time that way. But the personal training one, just to stay there for a minute, And I'm so impressed that that's made a list.

40:36I think that's such a cool thing to highlight,

40:38Sal Di Stefano:that we've now come to a place where even, because wouldn't you guys say that when you were training people in your 20s, because we trained very wealthy people when we were young, a lot of times they didn't have trainers. I mean, we had a few clients that were like that, but they were the anomaly. Right. Like a lot of them had - away from them being productive. There was a very small percentage of CEOs and founders and people that were higher, where it seems like it's very in vogue or trendy or they're more aware. Yeah, they're more aware of the ROI. Oh, I'm way more productive when I do that.

41:16Adam Schafer:Oh, all the clients I had, the back half of the last, you know, I don't know, 13 years of my training career were very successful people and they would tell me, this is in my budget. I budget this in my monthly budget because it brings me so much value. They would tell me this all the time. It makes me better at work. It keeps me healthy. It makes me feel better. And it was just a part of their expenses. Yeah, you have more drive. Yeah, there's so many benefits to it.

41:42Sal Di Stefano:Now, the cool part is if you're somebody who's already a health and fitness person and you don't need any motivation or discipline or accountability, you can add another fifth to this list because you don't have to pay for a trainer to do that. But if you're somebody who needs it, the accountability, it pays itself.

41:56Adam Schafer:I think most people would value you from working with a coach for at least six months. Then it says experiences. I agree with this 100%. I think the memories you make with experiences are so much more valuable than things. You know, going on trips or adventures or experiences where you're learning something, I think that's so valuable. Memories last so much longer. They do, dude. They do.

42:17Sal Di Stefano:They did like this. I don't know if it was a survey or a study they did on this, but like our, even the way our brain remembers things like these things, they stick. Like I think I saw this thing and it was about kids. Like the most memorable things that a kid could do is like going on a camping trip. Like it'll trump the expensive toy you bought them for their, like they won't remember that, but they'll remember the summer camp thing that they did in third grade or something crazy like that. And so I don't, I forget what the, like I said, if it was a survey or a study they did on it, but I remember reading it and I was like, oh, that's interesting.

42:53Sal Di Stefano:Like I, I, and then I thought I did the exercise myself and thought, oh, you know what? That's so true. I definitely remember like almost every memorable camping trip or camp that I went to, but asked me what I got on my seventh birthday. I know. I'm like, I have no idea.

43:07Adam Schafer:I remember like one gift. Me too. Yeah.

43:09Sal Di Stefano:It was like my first Jordans.

43:11Adam Schafer:That was it. Oh yeah. Nintendo. Only because I cried because I didn't get it. Yeah. That was a big one.

43:17Sal Di Stefano:Can I tell you why? Let me tell you why I remember it.

43:19Adam Schafer:I remember it because I thought I was going to get it for my birthday. I didn't get it. And I didn't say anything to my parents. I respected my parents. My dad worked real hard. I knew, you know, it's like, but I quietly and silently was sad. And I remember my mom was like, what's the matter? Why are you so sad? Why are you so sad? And I kind of got teary, you know? And I was like, and I let her, I kind of told her, I don't want anybody to know. And like, I thought I was going to get a Nintendo. And like 30 minutes later, my dad comes up and he's like, let's go. We're going in the car. I'm like, why?

43:46Adam Schafer:He's like, I'm going to take you to get a Nintendo. And I just never forget that. It wasn't the Nintendo. It was that my dad did that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's number five, Doug? Yeah, number five is flying private or business class. Well, I'll tell you what.

43:59Sal Di Stefano:I can get down with this. You guys know where I stand. We're going to lose the audience. I feel like I converted you guys.

44:07Adam Schafer:Listen, I'm going to give everybody a story because flying can suck. It can be stressful. It's all stress sometimes. It can be stressful. It's tough, whatever. And I get it. You want to go somewhere. it's how you get places I totally get it we got invited when did we go to London? 2023 we got invited in 2023 to be at this like really big event and we splurged and I'd never done a first class flight and I'd flown international before that was my first as well I never international can be brutal like you're sitting in that chair the whole time I'm not a young kid anymore so it's hard to sleep I that changed my life I was like this is if I could travel ruined it now i'm not gonna be traveling like that all the time but i can see why this made

44:52Sal Di Stefano:the list because it changes the experience well you know context matters here too right i think uh any of us could tough out a you know regular flight sure sure but what i think what you find in a list like this that's really the volume exactly the volume of flying totally most these people the volume of flying that all of us do now if i had to fly to europe like three times a year

45:13Adam Schafer:and I had a big company, that would be an expense for sure. Yes.

45:18Sal Di Stefano:And so I think that matters, right? Because you're right. A lot of people get lost on this and not connect to this. It's like, and let me tell you, if we flew one time a year, I would give two shits about toughing out one flight. And we've had different years where our flight volume is very high. And then it's like, but we fly a lot compared to what I'm sure all of us flew the rest of our life. And so when it's a regular thing of your life and you have to do it a lot, you just encounter a lot of, everybody's probably in their life encountered a shitty airport experience. When your volume is high, you experience that a lot.

45:51Adam Schafer:A lot of them, yeah.

45:52Sal Di Stefano:And so it's like, man. And then also when you're flying for business, it's an expense on the company. And so when you're an entrepreneur or a founder, that's an expense that comes off the top end. Whether you fly coach or first class, it's like no matter what, it's getting expensed on the company. it brings your taxable income down, which is how, I mean, I think I remember really getting you guys to like convert over that direction. It's like, listen, the difference of out of your pocket, when you really think about it, because you're going to end up paying some of that over to the government tax wise.

46:26Sal Di Stefano:So then this is why this ends up making a lot of sense is it runs an expense on the business. If you have a high volume of it, then, oh yeah, it makes it a lot better.

46:36Adam Schafer:Doug, can you pull up Keon's, all their different products? Because we've talked a lot about their essential amino acids, which I would say is probably one of their best products because, and I've said this in past podcasts, for essential amino acids to really work, they have to be high in leucine. Leucine is the trigger that sets muscle protein synthesis in motion. That's the muscle building that you get from essential amino acids. And you need your essential amino acids to be at least 40 % leucine, which Keon's is. They list everything. But they have other products too they have uh creatine uh is one of them and i believe they have a really high quality fish oil as well um so if people are interested in like really really good supplements kion is like uh super super high quality they do have good omegas yeah i use those yeah so i

47:23Sal Di Stefano:actually i actually use those okay yeah yeah so that's i'm i'm i'm big on their omegas i like

47:27Adam Schafer:their omegas what else does it say they have uh protein yep oh good um and they have the amino amino acids, essential amino acids, both powder and capsules.

47:37Sal Di Stefano:I like the capsules just because it's - You just throw five in there? Yeah. So I'm a big fan. I don't know if what's more popular for them, if they sell more of the powder or not, but I like the capsules. I find it easier to carry with me and then I can just, with water, throw them in my mouth or whatever I'm drinking. I could be drinking anything and I can just add.

47:57Adam Schafer:I like them when people are in a cut. I think when you're in a cut, it makes a really big impact to help preserve muscle. Oh, yeah.

48:02Sal Di Stefano:Well, that and then because GLP ones are so popular, I think it becomes, I mean, when you look. Oh, that's unnecessary. Yeah.

48:08Adam Schafer:The people that we coach on GLPs, we're like, you're going to use essential minimizers. A tool in your toolbox. Yes, minimize that muscle loss. Totally. Did you guys know, I got a fact for you guys. Did you guys know that there was a strongman competitor that got banned? They got banned? From competing? From competing because he was too dominant? No. Yes, it is. No. Yes, it is. It is true. Bill Kazmaier. I remember Bill Kazmaier Bill Kazmaier I never knew he was banned Bill Kazmaier was banned because he just he destroyed the competition too much he just made anybody else look silly now I gotta say this my opinion I think that was a stupid decision because they would I think it's when you have somebody that dominant it only gets more views I think they had the wrong idea but that's literally why they banned him because he was too good

48:52Sal Di Stefano:what are examples was it the 80s or 90s

48:55Adam Schafer:it was 1982 yeah he was 29 years old this was like at the peak of his career by the way I'm gonna tell you guys just how This guy's just a machine, right? He held world records in powerlifting along with strongman competitions. He was 6 '2", 300 or something, 340 pounds. Yeah, I remember this guy, dude. He was a beast. Do you know how strong he was in powerlifting? By the way, this is before double-ply, triple-ply shirts. This is like single-ply powerlifting. Do you guys want to know what his lifts were? No. What? 660-pound bench, 900-pound squat, 880-pound deadlift. Whew.

49:28Sal Di Stefano:That's great.

49:29Adam Schafer:That guy right there. just a moose well-rounded just in the hospital a month ago how's he doing was he really yeah she that over the right says that one month ago bill was that doesn't say that does it say yeah

49:41Sal Di Stefano:i'm pulling it up 72 years old yeah 862 yeah was he see what like he looks all right though how many is he deadlifted a thousand something pounds in the competition with one of those like

49:53Adam Schafer:if was it the one with the coins yeah yeah dude so did i ever tell you guys when i met him so let's see he's 72 now so this must have been i was uh let's see about maybe 12 or 13 years ago this is right maybe a couple years before we started mind pump so let's see 72 so that would have made him how old uh 60 so he's about 60 years old i went to the uh arnold classic event this is the bodybuilding show but they also have the big fitness event where you're for people don't know like you there's like a huge convention center and they have like arm wrestling and uh power lifting power lifting it's like oh it's like this huge strength uh event type of deal and um there were two things that stood out to me one of them was this i never i forgot the guy's name don't remember him skinny black dude had an arm wrestling table and a line of people lined up and he might have weighed 160 pounds and he was just beating everybody in arm wrestling he just kept going through everybody it's pretty crazy huh then i remember there was a booth with bill casemire 60-year-old Bill Kazmaier.

50:54Adam Schafer:And people were taking pictures with him. And then he was taking frying pans. And you could hold the frying pan. Like a legit frying pan. Like curling them? With one hand. He would grab it like this and roll it up. Dude. 60-year-old man with his fingers. Crazy. That's wild. That's crazy.

51:09Sal Di Stefano:So I'm just baffled by the fact that they kicked him out of the sport that he was dominating. It doesn't make any sense. When does that happen in any other sport? Well, I was going to bring up, what you don't see is someone getting kicked out. but what you do see in sports they change the rules and I was trying to think what are some of the examples

51:26Adam Schafer:I know Formula One's done it I know race sports have done that where they've changed you guys can't have an engine bigger than this or you guys can't do this

51:34Sal Di Stefano:I think it was Wilt Chamberlain when goaltending came around because that wasn't a thing before that I believe I think that was what his was I think we started doing that I know that in basketball there's been many things that they've had to change because a guy comes in and then just oh my god it's too good Yeah, like he's just standing at the hoop and he's knocking the ball. He can't even shoot. Is that what goaltending is? Yeah, yeah. Goaltending, I mean, so when a ball is on the downward part of the arch, you can't hit it out of the air. Oh. Otherwise, these seven-foot guys would just stay right at the rim and just volley it out.

52:06Sal Di Stefano:Yep. That's what he was doing? Yeah. So is it well?

52:09Adam Schafer:Yeah, it was 1961 to stop him. Yeah, because he could stay. Effortlessly catching and tipping.

52:16Sal Di Stefano:Yes, because he was so tall and long that he could just stand in front of the hoop right before the ball just taken out of the air and so now you can't you can get it on the way up but you can't get it on the way down

52:25Adam Schafer:was he okay was he for his time in comparison to other was he the most dominant basketball player of all time well he's he's the only one that's ever scored

52:35Sal Di Stefano:100 points in a game

52:35Adam Schafer:that's what I mean so like obviously because people do this with sports they'll take a past person and try and place him in a modern game that's not fair it's not but while he was playing oh yeah was he the most dominant that we'd ever oh yeah nobody's ever been

52:49Sal Di Stefano:that dominant in basketball yeah in that area i don't know who would be comparable in that era with no no no no yeah no no not not in that era that i mean 100 that if if we define that by point scoring that's it no one's ever no one's ever scored 100 points you've had some get close with 70s and 60s that's so crazy but 100 points in a game is just is what does that say right there

53:13Adam Schafer:what are you looking at so Wilt Chamberlain said that this is Wilt Chamberlain on Michael Jordan the difference between you and me is that they had to change the rules so I couldn't dominate they changed the rules for you so that you could dominate what did they do with Jordan oh you're hitting Adam in the heart Jordan's his boy

53:36Sal Di Stefano:is that really a quote you said as fuel to dominate apparently that's Wilt Chamberlain A little Kimberly. I bet that's a tongue-in-cheek type of comment like that. I don't even think that will.

53:47Adam Schafer:Hey, you know what I love about those old 1960s, 70s basketball guys? Why are the shorts so small? Short shorts. Things were hanging out, bro. Don't be jumping over me in those tiny shorts.

53:57Sal Di Stefano:Their Chuck Taylor shoes and everything is wild. Remember me telling the story to you guys about, so in high school we had those. We had shorts that were from the 50s and 60s. Old high school. It was like, oh, yeah. I mean, you know, somebody who went to school when we went to school, I'm sure has experienced this, where you had a school that didn't have a lot of money and budget. And so our basketball jerseys and shorts were from like the 50s and 60s. And they were like tight. So they were skin tight and super short. And then when the school got a little bit of money, the first team varsity got the nice stuff.

54:33Sal Di Stefano:And so when you were a freshman and sophomore. So you had to keep the timing. Yeah. So listen to this, though. So this is what happens to me. So freshman, sophomore year, we get this. Then we get to JV and varsity, and we're finally going to get the new awesome uniforms, right? And so we've already been wearing the Daisy Dukes all this. Up comes this freshman. I'll never forget. His kid's name was Derek Schaefer, and he was like 6 '6", 300 pounds as a freshman. And so because he couldn't fit in any of those clothes, they gave the freshman class our varsity jerseys. And we had to go back to the shitty jerseys.

55:08Sal Di Stefano:oh my god bro i remember i remember being angry for a year i mean my my buddies and i that all play we were so you're still looking forward to oh we were so we were so ready for like the cool long you know i just picture you in high school with a tiny because you're probably skinny kid

55:24Adam Schafer:oh very skinny little lady oh yeah oh yeah no i was i was super skinny i was short too until

55:30Sal Di Stefano:junior senior year so i was i was i was skinny and small i was only i was five three and about 100 and how long were you 5 3 4 freshman year and then i was like 5 6 5 5 6 5 8 uh sophomore year junior summer is when i when i sprouted all the way to six foot and then i grew even after high school so i kept growing until i was out even out of high school um but yeah i was i was i was six

55:59Adam Schafer:foot as tall as i am now in uh ninth grade boom done oh wow yeah i got tall and that was it done

56:05Sal Di Stefano:yeah like ending oh yeah no i was i was short yeah i was i was short when did you like yeah i was like 5 10 and then it was junior yeah summer same where i sprouted six and then it just so my

56:18Adam Schafer:brother was like you my brother we thought was gonna be a little guy and uh and then suddenly

56:21Sal Di Stefano:he's a giant it just but yeah you would have thought i was gonna be very little because i was short and skinny so i looked like i was gonna be super small which i look back now which is i always tell stories like i was never like this gifted athlete always had to work really hard i mean i was small too so i was like i got bullied around in sports and but it was really good for me because it made me have to i always and i was i'm also young for my class too so that adds another layer so i'm young for my class i was small for my class but then by by the time i got older then i really like sprouted and grow grew and then later i filled out but it took me a long time

56:55Adam Schafer:high school's funny like that like you'll see your buddy come back after summer he's got like a mustache dude what happened yeah i'm with my youngest right now and his friends he's like he

57:03Sal Di Stefano:He just all of a sudden sprouted up, and he's got this little stash. Really? Hey, guys. All his friends are like, hey, let's see you forever. I'm like, oh, my God. I forget that he's a young kid. Yeah, your boys have really grown and changed in the last year or two. I've seen them really, really grow. Yeah, this year especially. Yeah, they look so different to me than just a couple years ago.

57:25Adam Schafer:It's funny to see, too, when they grow, their feet and hands will get big first, and they just look awkward as hell because things don't grow evenly. Yeah.

57:32Sal Di Stefano:you know oh my god how are how are you with them because they are they're turning into little men now like uh challenging you and all that like are they yeah yeah yeah it's like i'll still wrestle and we'll pick fights and and uh just to get some energy out but yeah they're i think what what's new with that is more of like um i'll say something and they'll try and make fun of me which is new yeah yeah so i'll clap back you know and like i'm like okay you want to go down that road and then we start getting into it but it's funny they're just trying to like you know press the line and like make jokes at my expense and you know that's new because it's um you're used to being cool that used to be the cool dad now it's like you know they're trying to kind of

58:19Adam Schafer:yeah yeah check me a bit i get teased constantly but that's because i have a 16 year old daughter and 18-year-old niece. And so they're like teenage girls. And I think this is, you know, they like to do that with dad. They like to tease. And it's fine because I don't tease them back. They can't take it if I did. Yeah. So I let them, you know, so they tease and they'll joke around.

58:34Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, I feel like from the girls, it's like. It's fine. Yeah, it's cute, sweet. It's funny.

58:39Adam Schafer:Oh, yeah.

58:39Sal Di Stefano:Where with you, I feel like it's a part of manhood. It's a part of like, there is a part of feeling out, you know, like I'm becoming my own man. And so does it ever, do you ever. Well, it shows up like this. Like I'll be, you know, sitting on the couch. I'm like, hey, pal, before you go to your room, like, can you, you know, take the dishes and put them in the dishwasher? And he's like, oh, yeah, because you're, you know, something about me being lazy on the couch. I'm like, I should do it myself kind of a thing. And I'm like, and I just get up like, what did you say? And they're like, ah. And they're like, end up going to do it, you know.

59:15Sal Di Stefano:But someone's like, excuse me? You know, like, I'll end you. but it's i know it's like you know they're just trying to press me and see what it says i it has

59:26Adam Schafer:to be that that's just uh are they are they are there any mood because i obviously i have teenage teenage girls and mood swings are just come with the territory do they have because boys can get

59:34Sal Di Stefano:that a little too they have big moods i i guess like uh usually it's it comes with a struggle of like either something at school they're not performing well in or something you know like for their sport that they can't overcome. It's not just random. It's not random. Yeah, it's very much. Nothing happens. What's happening? Yeah, do they, both your kids, a question for both of you like that, because I'm still young, right? So we're still turning seven years old right now. So the one thing that my son is, I mean, he's been such a saint, he's so easy, but there's for sure, if he is tired, hungry, or he's come from his grandma's house, can get in a mood and sensitive.

1:00:22Sal Di Stefano:And if he doesn't get his way, then you can see this side of him that you just, I'm so used to this kid being so consistent. Those three things throw off the consistency. It's the perfect storm. It is. And what it shows up like is emotional over just the dumbest of things for no reason. It's just like, what? why what do you like it's it's like ridiculous what and it's and i always have to remind myself oh that's right like he was over at nana's house last night they stayed up till 10 o 'clock at night so i'm getting a combo of both we're tired today and we just got done being being told never being told no all day long you know so the fact that you're being told something or no like all of a sudden you're getting like that's not like him to be that way so do they have tells like that or And I just thought of, you know, the main thing that I usually now, now I'm learning that this is really the core of it is that they're scared.

1:01:19Sal Di Stefano:It's something that they're scared about. Like for Ethan, like, cause I kept teasing him and pressing him on getting his license because like, you know, he hasn't been putting all the work in with driving the car. We're trying, Courtney and I both are trying to get him to drive and get more reps and, and, you know, and he, and he just seems so like aloof about it and like, ah, you know, like, I know, I know, like, all this, like, false confidence. And he, his personality is very much more, like, you know, like, portrays all this confidence, but inside he's really scared. You know, and I've just started to pick up on that.

1:01:54Sal Di Stefano:I'm like, okay, so I just need to be a little more like, hey, bud, let's go for a ride. You know, like, a beautiful. Versus teasing him. You're like, yeah, teasing him about, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Oh, interesting. I've adjusted my strategy with that quite a bit. Oh, that's good. Oh, yeah, that's interesting.

1:02:08Adam Schafer:There's a surefire way to wake up, ready to go to the gym, feeling fresh after a night of drinking. It's with Z-Biotics Pre-Alcohol. So this is a pre-alcohol probiotic drink that's the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. Now, it was invented by PhD scientists who wanted to tackle rough mornings after drinking. So here's how it works. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut. But it's this byproduct, not dehydration, that's to blame for your rough next day. Pre-alcohol produces an enzyme and it breaks down this byproduct in the gut. So remember to have Z-Biotics before your first drink of the night.

1:02:49Adam Schafer:It lasts for about 18 to 24 hours. Drink responsibly. Watch how you feel the next day. Go to Z-Biotics.com. That's Z-B-I-O-T-I-C-S.com slash MindPump26. Use the code MindPump26. Get 15 % off. Back to the show. our first caller is philip from ontario what's happening how you doing philip hey guys this is insane cool how can we help you i've been you guys for a long time so uh this this is this is really cool how are you guys good dude thanks man how can we help you do right on um so yeah i'll just do like what everybody else does uh and just read my email uh make it to try and make it short and sweet um so yeah um name's phil 35 uh from ontario i've been a listener it says over two years but i've actually been doing the math and it's been closer to five um and i love the show um and you guys have changed the way i look at uh i look at uh health and general fitness so um i've always been a big guy a six foot two uh my heaviest i was 330 pounds and at my lightest I was 185 when I was a little younger obviously but still just before I found you guys I went from 330 to 225 on all the wrong ways, fasting, cardio and I wish I knew now what I knew then like I wish I'd gone so much better but anyway so I've been bouncing between 220-235 five pounds, uh, just recomping as I go.

1:04:23Um, but the reason why I'm writing into you guys has nothing to do with my metabolism, uh, just to kind of give you some backdrop basically. But, uh, two summers ago when I started figuring out, um, uh, everything about metabolic health and, and, you know, uh, exercises that were, were king for, for, for, for that metabolic health. Um, I knew that I had to start doing the bigger compound lifts and getting into that. So, um went into the squat rack started you know learning how to squat deadlift and all that and um progressed pretty quickly um got my deadlift eventually up to 405 um my squats i was progressing rather quickly i would say too quickly i got up to 225 which is a lower number, but, um, I don't think I had the greatest of form.

1:05:17Uh, but one day, this is again, two summers ago, I, uh, went down to the squat and when I was in the hole, I felt a pop. And on my way up, I thought, okay, I finished the rep and I was like, okay, I'm just not going to do anymore. Walk away. By the time I walked over to the dumbbell rack, I couldn't walk. Um, everything had seized up. It took me four days to feel like I could walk without looking like I was crippled. Um, and it's never been the same since. So I got an MRI after waiting for one year, uh, yay Canadian healthcare. Uh, and, um, so I, uh, found out I have a moderate bulging disc between L5 and S1, um, with a severe narrowing of the left forearm nerve, um, where I felt the pop.

1:06:01So it's kind of like in the iliac crest area. Um, you know, some days I don't notice pain at all. Like I'll wake up, feel bright eyed and bushy tailed. Uh, and then other days it's like, even, you know how, when you roll around in bed, you engage your core that like this past Sunday, it sucked, kept me up all night. Like it just discomfort. Um, so I've done physio with somebody I trust. Uh, I see a pain specialist who does biofascial release, um, or a specific type of form of it. Um, and I can still deadlift some days without any issues. Um, I know a lot of people have bulging discs and never have an issue, um, but, or symptoms, but I seem to do.

1:06:43And, um, I know there's a weakness going on somewhere in my hips. I don't know where it is. My physiotherapist has said that I have an amazing, um, external and internal hip rotation in terms of flexibility. I feel like it's tight, but he's saying that no, you can move really well. I've tried to do 90 90s, but I can't get my seat bones all the way down onto the floor. So I don't feel like I'm doing them correctly. So in my email, I've also stated like, if the pain is in my hip, it's not in my lower back. And if it's in my lower back, it's not in my hip. I don't, I've been sussing that out over the last while of really paying attention.

1:07:21I don't think that's the case. um so you know i i've debated on hiring a coach to kind of go through some movement exercises and something i didn't really list in here is um i kind of have um a struggle uh because i was always the overweight guy um i've i've come to realize and and after listening for you to you guys for so long like sal i think i think you'll emphasize um empathize with me on this is is the addiction of going to the gym, working out, lifting. Um, and I, you know, had this, this drive to, to get jacked for, for a while now. And, uh, it's a big goal of mine, but I think I really need to change my focus here this, this summer.

1:08:06What I want to plan on doing is going to like a three day a week, um, almost like a full body routine within my limitations. Cause I try and avoid hip hinging movements because of my, um, my, my hip and, and that, uh, and that bulging disc though I know it can be worked on. So the idea would be to work out less. I'm currently working out six days a week. I would go work out three days a week and then the other three days still go to the gym and, and basically become like the mobility guy, right? Try and focus on mobility. So that's kind of where I'm at right now. Um, I want to see if, if, if strength training, properly with the right mobility techniques would help this.

1:08:48But yeah, that's pretty much it.

1:08:52Adam Schafer:You're on the right track. Yeah. You're on the right track. I think the reason why you're still dealing with this issue is because you're doing a little too much with your workouts. So you can have too much volume, too much intensity, frequency in the short term, but it can also just be cumulative. What that means is, you know, six days a week you do fine for a while and then suddenly you start to notice pain and issues. And that's because stress becomes cumulative over time. So this is why athletes will do things like deload weeks or they'll do a whole cycle of lighter training. And it's not because the training was too much before.

1:09:29Adam Schafer:It's because the training becomes too much over time. Does that make sense? So I think you're moving in the right direction. I think the difference between the days you feel no pain and the days you do has probably more to do with systemic inflammation.

1:09:43Sal Di Stefano:Agreed. And that's where you're starting to see the issues.

1:09:46Adam Schafer:Now, could there be some movement issues or some imbalances there? Yeah, possibly. I think going to a physio is a good idea. I think I would look at the pelvic floor. This is an area that men often don't even look at for strengthening. I would also look at strengthening core, obliques with rotation. I would look at strengthening the hip flexors. Those are all areas that support kind of where you're talking. I think a great routine for you would be symmetry, map symmetry. And I think following map symmetry and skipping the last phase would be a good idea for a couple rounds. And that's going to get you in the gym an appropriate amount.

1:10:26Adam Schafer:You're not going to be in the gym six days a week. It's an appropriate amount of exercise. I believe it's three days a week. and then in between I like I like mobility and movement on the days in between but you don't want to get carried away with like too much intensity on those

1:10:40Sal Di Stefano:days in between. That's why I would have put him towards performance I like because Matt performance is programmed out that way for him already it's not as unilateral focus but it's still got unilateral work and it's got a lot of things.

1:10:52Adam Schafer:There's two phases in performance I wouldn't want him in like phase one I think and maybe the last one do you have what do you have for mobility Phil do you have any structured mobility or none unfortunately no um finances have all been a bit I just wanted my first time so symmetry's got mobility has yeah it

1:11:11Sal Di Stefano:has uh the mobility sessions and I believe it's in phase two there you go so symmetry's got the

1:11:17Adam Schafer:mobility in there as well so symmetry will give you a workout plus the mobility and it's going to be unilateral for I would say a couple cycles yeah so the last phase of symmetry is bilateral five by five skip it skip it twice uh so you'll be going through about four months of of pretty much all unilateral style training modify if you need to but i think you'll be okay um and allow your body to rest uh and recover because i think it's tied to inflammation at this point yeah i

1:11:43Sal Di Stefano:agree your thought process is correct though i mean this is what symmetry is going to be like for you it's going to be three days of like strength training and then the other two days of mobility type focus and so that's what i would be doing you know two of the biggest correlates for chronic pain are no stress uh poor sleep so my my sleep is locked i get like nine like 85s 90s on my sleep scores um you know eight hours of sleep every night sit bed same time wake up

1:12:11Adam Schafer:same time my point with that wasn't to point to your sleep but rather to point the effects of cumulative stress on the body so lack of sleep is a real clear one or poor sleep and I think six days a week, how long you been doing six days a week for? Uh, about two or three years. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you know, six, six days a week consistently is, is like without taking lots of time off without doing periods of time where you're doing two days a week. So that is too much for probably 90 something percent of people. Yeah. And like, I mean, I'm probably wrong in stating this, but I do know that I spend a lot of time in the gym, um, obviously six days a week, but I also take extremely long rest periods cause I do, um, emphasize and focus on, on, on like the strength component of it.

1:13:03So everything is a minimum of three minute rest periods, if not five, if not more, depending on the type of lift. Right. But even for like a simple, a simple exercise, like bicep curls, I'm doing a long hold of like three or four minutes, um, really focusing on getting stronger. and I don't do too many reps or too many sets.

1:13:23Adam Schafer:But you've been doing it for a long time.

1:13:26Sal Di Stefano:Well, what you're describing too is incredible for building strength, but that does damage the body, right? So if I lift heavier, if I give longer rest periods and I lift a heavier weight, I do more damage to the body. Good damage, right? Sends a signal to build muscle, so you're doing the right thing. But when you talk about what Sal's talking about with the cumulative stress, that's not doing you anymore more or less favors. I mean, it's still, that's still considered a lot. Like that's not a, so let's say you, you, you circuit trained where you never rested and you just went all the way through.

1:13:56Sal Di Stefano:You could argue that that's equally as much stress on the body or maybe even less than what you're doing. Cause you're able to load more because you're giving your rest period. So the load that you're able to put on the body, even though you're giving the rest periods, you can put a lot of load, which puts a lot of stress on the body.

1:14:10Adam Schafer:And again, Phil, think of it this way. It's cumulative. So it's fine. You get away with it for a while, but now you're noticing pain come back on and off. This is what it looks like for people with cumulative stress. Progress stalls. I get a little stiffness. Some days feel better. Some days feel worse. For most men your age, good health, everything's good, typical guy, eating right, all that stuff. For most guys, three days a week is the fallback with strength training appropriate strength training and then you'll have sprints where you do more but for most guys about three days a week is is uh that's kind of where you're going to be at most

1:14:51Sal Di Stefano:the time i mean the other the other option of uh programming is a 15 15 style symmetry and then the other the other rest of his hour is spent on mobility that's the other option so you do two lifts a day so every day you're still lifting weights but it's only two lifts and then you're doing mobility, you're doing 30 minutes of mobility, which I don't know which one matches. Yeah. Cadence a bit better. And probably go ahead. Yeah. Sorry. I think, I think I'm going to lean more towards 15 symmetry. Cause, cause the, my, the way my schedule works with work and I'm always driving into the city. I've got long commutes and stuff like that.

1:15:28I'm, I'm always near the gym. Um, so yeah. And then if I didn't want to work out on one day, I could just combine two of the 15 minute routines on one day anyway. Right.

1:15:39Adam Schafer:You could, or you could just start back up when you're, you know, where you left.

1:15:42Sal Di Stefano:Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, so I think that, so yeah, I think 15 symmetry and then focus a lot on the mobility, stuff like that. I think that'll really serve you. And that's so extreme the other direction, right, of really, we're really reducing the volume there. If you start feeling really good in the first few weeks, that's like your clear indicator that you just.

1:16:00Adam Schafer:You'll know pretty quickly. Yeah. You'll know within the first few weeks because you'll feel stronger, you'll feel more energy. You'll be like, oh God, things are starting to feel better. probably by month one or two less pain. Okay. This is not at all the route. I figured that you guys were going to say, I was thinking something like a maps prime or something like that. Like it's, it's a movement issue. Um, that's what I was just assuming. There could very well be that also, but here's why I'm not going hard in that direction. Cause I still think you should do mobility. Uh, but you're, you saw a physio.

1:16:33Adam Schafer:Uh, so, and they're experts at identifying movement pattern issues. Uh, and they did say you got good, you know, external motion both ways. Yeah. So there's no glaring issue. Uh, otherwise the physio would be like, Oh yeah, here's your problem. Um, and then based on how much you're working out, like this is super common with people who are really consistent with workouts who have like kind of an issue that can pop up. Sometimes it's a knee or a back. Uh, you know, you don't have a, like you said in your, in your email, you don't have this massive bulging or slip disc was kind of minor, some narrowing of the nerve.

1:17:05Adam Schafer:Uh, but it's just a constant. That's right. It's irritating. And sometimes you're like, I don't feel any pain. And so that points to, to, you just kind of, you're redlining a little bit for too long, maybe not hardcore redlining, but you're just too consistently, you know, pushing the limit. Okay. So on, on the topic of, of, of, uh, symmetry, um, there's no mobility stuff in symmetry, right? It's just the, it's just the main exercises. So are there mobility uh exercises that i should be doing for my hips that would would benefit there

1:17:36Sal Di Stefano:is yeah there there's some yeah there's some in there so symmetry actually like in between we have these frequency builders and so we did add in like uh trigger sessions from anabolic and also um the mobility sessions from performance so what i would do is take you know pull from the from the performance mobility uh movements there and anything hip related you know hip flexor um you know anything you can pull from there i think would be very helpful yeah the other thing

1:18:05Adam Schafer:too is because symmetry is unilateral that in and of itself is correctional what are what movements

1:18:10Sal Di Stefano:does the physio have you doing right now do they have you doing so i had so i haven't seen that physio in a while so i've been seeing the pain specialist now because i'll be honest like the physio so i i uh tore uh my supraspinatus uh i don't know eight years ago uh and she helped me back from that injury amazingly. And now I can push 200 pounds overhead without any issues. But doing the hip rehabilitation just didn't really like we kept treating it, but the movements and nothing was really working. So I kind of just stopped. Shame on me, but you know, such as life. But the pain specialist was the one who said like, yeah, your, your external and hip rotation is just amazing.

1:18:55Now, the one thing he did say was that the muscle, I think it's the IT band, the one that, um, connects down to the outside of the knee, um, is he said it is the tightest and hardest, uh, IT band he's ever seen in his career. I have zero discomfort from it. I don't even notice it. Um, so I don't know if that's also an indication of something, but, um, IT band tightness can

1:19:20Adam Schafer:come from instability or overwork. Yeah. So runners will get that. Probably. Yeah. Yeah. And again, like I said, I think it's this, I think, so when somebody's doing a little too much for a little too long, like in your case, uh, and it starts to kind of compound more work is not the, not the solution. So more mobility might be like the best thing for you.

1:19:42Sal Di Stefano:Yeah.

1:19:42Adam Schafer:I've seen people with like pain and they just, Oh, I'm going to do more mobility, more mobility. And it gets worse, uh, because they're actually, they're doing more when they need to do less.

1:19:51Sal Di Stefano:Okay. That's why we'll know pretty quickly putting you on a 15 protocol with that. Yep. Use Justin's advice. Take the stuff that's in there that's related to hips. Don't overdo it just every day. And then in a couple of weeks, you should already start to feel better and like you're moving in the right direction. That'll be a really good sign that we're on the right path. Okay. Okay, cool. We'll send that over to you, Phil. I much appreciate it, guys. That's amazing. Thank you. Yeah, check back with us too. I'd like to hear from you in like a, give us like a month or two. of doing this and let us know how you're doing.

1:20:23Adam Schafer:Yeah, maybe we'll have you back on to hear what's going on. Okay, cool. Yeah, how do I reach? Same email.

1:20:30Sal Di Stefano:Yep, same, yep, same email. I'll just let her know. A guy said they wanted an update on how I'm doing. Let's make a note, Doug. And then he'll get to us.

1:20:36Adam Schafer:Yeah, we'll reach out to you. We'll make a note. We'll see if we can have you back on at 60. Okay, cool, cool. Yeah, again, like just before, like at the end here, I really, really hope that the general population gets your message and it becomes, it becomes the norm. Um, I, I preach you guys all the time. I think my wife is sick and tired of me bringing you up all the time. Um, she's working out, you know, same thing six days a week and she's, uh, she's going crazy, but she's, she's loving it. So, um, but yeah. Um, okay. And I forget who the psychopath said that, you know, you put jam on the bread first and then peanut butter.

1:21:22Sal Di Stefano:That's the only way to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, bro. Jam first.

1:21:27Adam Schafer:He also pees sitting down, remember?

1:21:33Adam, I'm with you on that one. That's worse, dude. Don't make your peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

1:21:39Sal Di Stefano:He's a happily married man, that's why. Whatever, dude. We're going to clip that out and put you in the category. Right on, Phil. We appreciate the support, brother. Thank you so much, dude. Thank you. Thank you guys. Much appreciated. Take it easy, brother. All right. You too. You too.

1:21:56Adam Schafer:You know where a lot of confusion comes from when people hear. Peter and Joey? No. When people hear, you know, the value of activity, the value of daily. Yeah. Is they confuse daily activity with workout. Uh-huh. So when you're lifting weights, you're working out. I'm in there to send a signal. But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't do daily activity. Right. And people confuse the two. They're like, what do you mean I shouldn't lift weights six days a week? I'm supposed to exercise every single day. No, no, no. Lifting weights is like, that's a hard stress. Yeah. For most people, what it's going to look like for most of the time, especially as you get into your 30s and beyond, is you're going to be lifting about three days a week is what it's going to look like.

1:22:36Adam Schafer:It's ideal. That's what it's going to look like most of the time. And you have little sprints where you do more, but most of the time it's about three days a week. That's where you're going to get the best results. That doesn't mean you're not active every day. You should definitely move every single day. And that could look like walking. It could look like stretching. look like swimming could look like lots of different things but the lifting part yeah six days a week is too much chronic for pretty much everybody i feel like we should um like i'm trying

1:23:00Sal Di Stefano:to picture what it would look like right now if we if we design this um like almost like a one page printout and like the perfect routine well no no no like uh we showed like here's your stress bucket right and like uh a strength training workout is like a rock this big yeah you know saying that it goes into that bucket which it's a good rock but it fills up this much of your bucket yeah you only have so much yeah walking little tiny little pebble right and like i think walking or or uh high stress at work big rock here you know i'm saying like and so we could give people this idea and like and once that bucket is full i don't give a shit if a lot of it's full of stuff that you would consider good it's full and anything over that is overstressed and then your body is going to start to rebel and do things like this.

1:23:45Sal Di Stefano:And so understanding how to balance that out, because even like when he was repeating back, like, no, I listened to you guys on how you talk about strength training. And so he's doing the right protocol for building muscle. Absolutely giving yourself three minute rest periods. But then you also got to know that when you rest for three minutes, that now allows you to load the bar a lot more, which pushes the body more, which is more stress, which is good because that's what builds more muscle, but that doesn't make the rock any smaller the rock is as big if not the irony which you caught was like he's trying to find another thing to add to solve the problem that's already a lot of things we need to get

1:24:18Adam Schafer:rid of yeah yeah and you know by the way uh pro bodybuilders back in the day would take three months four months off a year yeah ronnie coleman uh most people consider the greatest mr olympia of all time after he'd win the mr olympia did nothing for two months no working out nothing at

1:24:36Sal Di Stefano:all for a full 60 days the body fully recovered he'll know he'll know we're on the right path when because i'm glad we went to the 15 route because that's even reducing his volume even more yep he should notice he should feel a couple weeks he'll feel better oh yeah yeah and if you feel better after a couple weeks of us reducing that much volume that's what you needed to go that direction our next caller is farron from ontario farron how you doing how you doing farron Hi, I'm really good. How are you? Good.

1:25:05Adam Schafer:How can we help you? Good. Well, I feel like it's my turn for show and tell because I was on three months ago and I wrote on and was asking for your advice on how to build the lower body that I wanted. And you guys recommended me to increase my calories, build the body I wanted through Muscle Mommy. me so this is my check-in for um I completed that so I can read off my stats and I'm really proud of what I accomplished I had a lot of fun um and then if it's okay I want to share my biggest win with you which is actually a little bit of a qualitative story so um so when I called in at the end of March, my weight was 132 to 134.

1:25:54And I was eating 2200 calories. And I wanted to build my lower body. So through increasing my calories, I went up to 2400 in April and May and got to 2550 to 2600 in this so far in June um my weight is now 135 to 136 I'm still eating 150 to 160 of protein um my waist stayed the same um and my hips increased an inch my glutes got an inch bigger so I was proud of myself for that um and I had a lot of fun because I'd never done five by fives before I'd always trained like with a little bit lower weight and higher reps. So I got my squat from 80 and three by 15 to a hundred by the end of phase two and then 135.

1:26:46Sal Di Stefano:Whoa. Yeah. Yeah. And my deadlifts, um, RDLs went from a hundred to 160 with my sumo squat. Sorry. Sumo deadlift. And I increased my hip thrust from 150 to 210. Wow. Look at you. Awesome. I was, I had so much fun. Like I, in the past have just been concerned about, you know, I don't know the wrong stuff. So it was really fun to work on getting stronger. Um, but the story I'm most kind of proud in a silly way to tell you is embarrassingly like over the last two years, as I've been working on my fitness journey, um, I felt like I would reach my goal when somebody told me I looked like I worked out.

1:27:33I just wanted somebody to tell me like, oh, you look like you work out. And two weeks ago, I was driving in the car with my kids. I homeschool. So we drive around to different activities quite a lot. And I feel like we have our best conversations in the car. And my 10 year old son is getting to the point where he doesn't quite think I'm cool anymore. But we were driving home from a birthday party and he got a bookmark in his loot bag. and it had a picture of this woman superhero on it and he said mom this person looks like you oh like really and I looked at it and she looks like nothing like me at all he's like yeah he's

1:28:11Adam Schafer:like well how so he said she's strong that's wonderful and so I finally realized that the positive feedback I was looking for was actually coming from my my 10 year old son so um anyways so I'm writing back in because I wanted to ask you guys um I'm like so bought in and I'm so motivated to continue to work hard over the next six months and just get stronger and see my body continue to change um so I wanted to ask you guys um if you were coaching me for the next six months what would your roadmap look like for me um like what progression would you recommend after muscle mommy? Should I stay at my current calories or continue to increase?

1:28:54Um, what's like the highest leverage changes you think I could make or continue to do to just continue on the happy train that I'm on right now?

1:29:03Sal Di Stefano:Because you, um, you mentioned that you really hadn't done any like five by five and that's like, that was your real first experience. There's two things that come to mind right away. Either one, you could totally run muscle mommy again. I think you would be a great candidate for someone just to run it right back and probably even bump your calories another 100 200 more calories keep going in the direction you're going um or if you're interested in trying something like a power lift maps power lift would be a really good program or map strong uh a lot of our female clients love map strong it's a lot of posterior chain focus so a lot of a lot of glute a lot of hamstring so if you like stuff like that and you want to develop continue to develop the lower body.

1:29:44Sal Di Stefano:Those are two great options, but you could totally just run back what you just did because that was so fresh and new for you. That's the first time I'm really doing it in a calorie surplus. It's the first time running five by five. The only other way I would push you in a different direction was if you gave me feedback of tightness or pain or anything going on with your body like that you have or imbalances. If you don't feel imbalanced, you don't feel any joint pain, you don't have any issues like that, then I would stay the course you're doing right now.

1:30:11Adam Schafer:So I'm I'm going to encourage you by telling you something that you could have done better. And this is going to be encouraging, okay? So when I scroll up, Doug, we scroll up to our stats again because I want to point something out here. So your weight barely changed. So 132, 134 to 135, 136. Like it barely changed. But you gained an inch around your hips and your waist stayed the same. This tells me that you actually got leaner while you built some muscle.

1:30:39Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, yeah.

1:30:39Adam Schafer:which tells me that your surplus, your calorie bump wasn't enough. It would have been higher. You would have got stronger and seen even more muscle gains if your calories are closer to 2 ,700. Okay. Now this is encouraging, by the way. And I get it. You know, when people reverse diet, it gets a little apprehensive. They don't want to go too fast. I'm afraid of whatever. And you made phenomenal progress. But this is encouraging because I'm like, oh my gosh, we got some. There's still room there. Yeah, you're like at the beginning of the upward slope of progress. Like we bump your calories again, go to MAPS Powerlift.

1:31:12Adam Schafer:You're going to see some crazy gains. I mean, your strength gains were amazing. You're going to see that again, which is going to be even crazier because going from, you know, 80 to 135 squat, going from 135 to 170 squat, you're going to see some crazy muscle gains in your lower body. So there's two ways we could approach this. And it really depends on how, and you sound very motivated, which is why I'm going to present this to you. You can follow MAPS Powerlift, bump your calories again. I'd go up to 2650, 2700 and have some fun with it. Option two, if you really want to have a good time, we'd be to actually hire a coach who could take you through the whole six month process and work with you every single month and modify and change as you go along.

1:31:52Adam Schafer:Because what may happen, which is what I'm going to suspect, if I was working with you, I think we got a lot of room in your metabolism. I think if we bump you up to 2650, probably within three weeks, I'm like, We're going up again. And then again, we're going up again. And you may be one of those people that gets up to 3000 calories, doesn't really gain much body fat and just builds crazy muscle and a metabolism that gives you ridiculous flexibility. So those are the two, those are the two routes that I would, that I could, I would go. So I've worked with a coach before. We talked about it last time.

1:32:26She was actually really, really great. um so I I did really enjoy the process and actually the only reason I stopped working with her was that I decided to sign my kids up for uh like a homeschool program that then I paid for instead of paying for coaching for myself um so it's a potential um but I think it would depend on uh what the cost is because my kids are thriving in the environment that they're now. So I can't pull them out just from my own personal, um, my own personal, uh, needs, but, um, I have a question about strong and about power lift. So, um, when in phase three of muscle mommy, when I was doing, um, the overhead push press the first week I had never worked with, so I only just started working with our bell in February.

1:33:20Um, and I had only been using it for lower body lifts. So when I was using it for upper body, I noticed it's a skill I'm not used to. And so when I was doing the push press, I kind of tweaked my left shoulder a little bit and it was causing me some issues. So I didn't push press for the rest of phase three. I just did regular dumbbell overhead presses because I felt like it was more comfortable on my shoulder. So I think i'm a little bit hesitant to try to lift a lot of weight overhead um with a barbell no you don't

1:33:58Adam Schafer:have to yeah that's a that's a perfectly fine modification yeah uh you will be bench pressing okay that was fine yeah you're gonna be bench pressing and power lift yeah overhead isn't a

1:34:08Sal Di Stefano:big uh you know emphasis in that program so i mean besides just uh your regular it's not going to be a pushback. I really like even more now putting you in power lift based off what you just told me too that this is introduction to barbell lifting. It's the ultimate, like if someone wanted to learn how to use the barbell, power lift is the training program I'd put them on and it's going to get you good and proficient at that and you getting really proficient at those core lifts with the barbell is going to get you really strong which is then going to carry over to the results that you want. How long ago

1:34:42Adam Schafer:did you go up to 25.50 with your calories?

1:34:45Sal Di Stefano:April, May. That was 24. Two weeks ago. It was around the beginning of June. They were trending up, but yeah, more consistently two weeks ago.

1:34:54Adam Schafer:Yeah, I like going up 150 a day. It's not a ton, so nothing to worry about. 2 ,700, MAPS Powerlift, I think you're going to be blown away. Yeah. Okay. So I have two more questions, if that's okay. Sure. um if um like what strength benchmarks would you have in mind for me like to evaluate kind of whether the plan is working because i've because i'm new i've seen progression in all of my lifts every week and so i'm kind of used to that and i know that that will slow down so what any any

1:35:30Sal Di Stefano:strength gain is positive yeah don't get in the trap don't don't do that to yourself i would never give you a number like that and potentially set you up for being let down for something that could be great still like getting stronger anywhere is positive yeah so so i would expect slower

1:35:44Adam Schafer:strength gains but you've only been doing this for 90 days with the barbell yeah you've got yourself some more consistent strength gains coming up yeah so you're still going to see some pretty good consistent strength gains i wouldn't expect a gain every week yeah that's that don't get caught up in that but i think by the end of the program you're gonna see some clear number differences

1:36:03Sal Di Stefano:And we say don't expect it, but that could happen. It could. I mean, you're somebody who is not proficient in barbell lifting and is just really getting good at it. That alone, they will get it. And then if you also give that person a calorie surplus and they're dialed in everywhere else, oh my God, you absolutely could keep getting stronger like that. But none of us would ever say that to you because if all of a sudden you had a week where you're like, hey, I didn't get stronger this week. Am I not doing good? It's like, no, that doesn't mean you're not doing good. You're doing great.

1:36:31Adam Schafer:Totally. And I'm just like, the reason why I said that, and I think you're okay with this because of what you told me about your overhead press, is if you get carried away with having to add weight to the bar and you start to ignore little nagging, you know, kind of pain and stuff. Don't do that. Like make sure you form a technique. But it sounds like you're really good with your technique and you pay close attention.

1:36:50Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, and this is part of the process too. Like when you start really moving the weight fast, that's a whole nother skill. And I think that this is a great process for you to then really adapt to barbell training, get strong, get, you know, like consistent with that and be able to stabilize it properly and adjust. And, you know, from there, then we can look at stuff like, okay, we can get into like moving the barbell a little faster and like some lifts that will complement that. And then your body will respond on another level with that. So this is a great time for you to really just adapt to the barbell.

1:37:24Adam Schafer:Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if you gained a few pounds of muscle by the end of mass power lift. You know, like three, four pounds of muscle, I think would be, I wouldn't be surprised if that happened. Yeah, that sounds pretty exciting, actually.

1:37:40Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, you're on a great time. Okay, my, oh, can you still hear me?

1:37:48Adam Schafer:A little bit, you're breaking up a little bit, we can hear you. hello yep yeah i can hear you can you hear us okay um so my yeah i can hear you

1:37:59Sal Di Stefano:okay um we're delayed that's what it is okay my last question was just about

1:38:10Sal Di Stefano:okay hello we can hear you we're just delayed say it really fast you want to reconnect maybe you can reconnect. Okay. Okay. I will, I'll just ask my question then. And then I'll see, I'll listen to it when your answer comes through. My last question was, I've heard you guys talk about the concierge coaching, which would be like a once a month check-in thing. And I'm pretty dedicated. I'm really good at following through on plans. Do you think that that might be something that could benefit me as I continue to progress through. That's what I was going to suggest. I think that's what Sal was suggesting is that.

1:38:48Sal Di Stefano:That's right. That's what would be perfect for you because you're already doing great on your own. Just having someone to check in and make modifications once a month would be perfect for you. That's right. Yep. Okay, great. I used to work as a nurse, so I love data. I love seeing how the body responds and tracking data and doing all of that stuff. So to have somebody coach me through the process, like, and then I can follow through for a month and check back in. Yes, sure. We'll have somebody call you and set that up. That's ideal for you. That's what Sal was suggesting right there. That's perfect.

1:39:18Okay. Perfect. Okay. Thank you so much. I had so much fun and I would have never done this if you guys hadn't suggested it. I would have just kept spinning the hamster wheel. and so I'm super happy and just yeah my mood my energy my like outlook I feel like I have so much more to give to the world now so thank you so much you got it and I'm just gonna encourage you

1:39:41Sal Di Stefano:it's gonna get better yeah at the beginning it's gonna get continue to get better yeah yeah I'm excited for you yeah excited for you and your coach you guys are gonna do great yeah and I think that's one thing like you guys but the coaches in general don't realize that what they're doing is that people who get stuck in this spot, they dedicate... So much of their brain space to focusing on fitness and like getting, meeting their goals and how much they're eating and all this stuff. And it's taking away from all of the gifts that were given to give to the world. So you guys free up space for people when you get them in these, these, I don't know.

1:40:19Adam Schafer:I don't know if I'm making sense, but you've just freed up space for me to be a better person. You actually summed it up really well. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. All right. Thanks guys. You got it. Take care. Okay. Bye. Yeah, when I looked at her stats, weight barely changed. Waist didn't change. Hips went up an inch. She actually lost some body fat and built some muscle. Yeah, yeah. She's in that perfect sweet spot. And just so people, this is what women will freak out over this. But let's say you're in this process. You're trying to build. And you do gain a little bit of body fat because you might through a surplus.

1:40:52Adam Schafer:And let's say your waist goes from 26 to 26 1⁄2. but your hips go from 38 and a half to 40 or 40 and a half that's the ratio yeah you look you actually look like you have a smaller waist because people freak out oh my waist grew a little bit that might happen a little bit in a surplus especially if you're kind of lean yeah but if you built more muscle you you look better and then you got more metabolic flexibility yeah

1:41:13Sal Di Stefano:what it highlighted was she could have jumped right to where she's at now from from the jump from the jump and maybe we'd be up even higher calories maybe we would but you know sometimes it worked out great because this is new to her. Eased her in. Yeah, eased her in nicely. Now she's bought it. Now you can tell her, go to 29, and she'd be like, okay, I trust you. Sometimes it's okay to take someone slow like this because it does. It gets buy-in in that trust, and then now they're like, okay, I get what we're doing. Our next caller is Ben from New Hampshire. What's up, Ben? What's happening, dude?

1:41:46Sal Di Stefano:How you doing, Ben? Good.

1:41:48Adam Schafer:How can we help you? First of all, I just want to say I love your show. I'm super consistent whenever I listen to you guys regularly. I've been listening for about three years now, and you helped me make some great gains. Thanks. Yeah, so to get into my question, I've kind of always been that skinny kid. Growing up, went to college. I'm 6 '2". I was like 150 entering college. Really hit the gym, hit that unlimited meal plan, was bulking up. Made some really good gains, especially in the last couple of years. I'm up to 230 now. and so i'm thinking it's finally time for me to start cutting a bit i've really never tried to do a dedicated cut in my life so before i really dove into it i wanted uh your advice how should i start i want to make sure i'm not losing too much weight and whatever your advice is start start

1:42:36Sal Di Stefano:with uh um so i how you've been listening to the podcast for a long time yep have you heard sal and i talk about uh this this challenge because this was us right skinny guy trying to gain weight our whole life and how the most challenging part for you will be the psychological part. Exactly. Because in your head, you're still the skinny kid who's trying to get big. And then when you start to cut to get shredded and you're going to think you're losing muscle when you're probably not. So I just want to start with that, that before we get into like the, like do this, do that type of stuff is like, know that there's going to be a period where you're going to be like, I'm definitely losing muscle.

1:43:11Sal Di Stefano:This is not working. And you're going to want to bail. and I just want to encourage you to see it all the way through. You can always get it all back. It's real easy to put that. Once you've gotten to this point weight-wise, it's easy to get it back and to just see it all the way through. I had to tell myself that. I'm just committed to going this way, but I still believed I was losing muscle all the way there. Even though I knew better, I still believed that, and you just have to trust the process. I just want to start with that before.

1:43:34Adam Schafer:That's the big one. Yeah. That's the big one. So I'm reading the rest of your email. This is going to be kind of simple. This will be a simple cut for you. the hard parts with what Adam said, but what we can do is actually very simple and you'll see yourself lean out real nice. You'll stay strong. You might even build some muscle through this process. And here's what it's going to look like because I see here that you eat out pretty regularly and there may be some other habits there that you could probably clean up because you've never really worried about being too heavy. And literally it just looks like this, clean up your diet.

1:44:05Adam Schafer:What does that look like specifically? Whole natural foods. Yeah, prep your meals. That's it. Whole natural foods, hit 220 grams of protein a day that you are getting from whole natural foods. If you just do that, you'll get leaner. Consistently, yep. Yep, you'll get leaner consistently.

1:44:18Sal Di Stefano:And still eat when you're hungry, but just make the whole food choices. Done. Not eating out, because eating out will mess up that signal and you'll overeat. But if you eat whole foods, I bet it'll naturally drop your calories, 500, 700 calories a day.

1:44:31Adam Schafer:And you hit your protein, like 220 a day consistently, whole natural foods, you'll be great. By the way, when I do this, because I eat pretty healthy most of the time, but if I switch from eating out to eating what I make, I drop 2 % without even trying. It just comes off. And I'm already sitting kind of lean. So this is easy. So I would get rid of like any liquid calories that you have. So sodas or anything like that. I'd get rid of like garbage, snacking, that kind of stuff and eating out. And you just do that for like two or three months and you'll see yourself get leaner.

1:44:59Sal Di Stefano:I would, a good idea while you're doing this, if you want to like continue going down this path, because I think that'll take you easy the first four or 5%. I think you'll get 4 % or 5 % leaner just doing that, like relatively easy. And then if you track the calories while you're doing that, so you kind of know where you're at, then to keep that progress going after a month or two and you start to slow down a little bit, you just reduce the calories by 500 or increase steps and activity. And then I'll just keep it going another month or two.

1:45:28Adam Schafer:Do you know how many grams of protein you're eating a day right now? Do you track anything? Yeah, so that's really the only thing I do track. I kind of do it more like mental math at the end of the day. rather than entering something into an app. I just don't love tracking all the time. But I usually make sure if I'm not at like 180, by the end of the day, I'll add in a protein shake. So I make sure I'm usually always up to that like 220. I'm going to make a little prediction here, Ben, because it's kind of loose with how you're doing it. When you prep, it's very consistent because you know what you're making.

1:45:57Adam Schafer:You know what you're making. So I bet if you consistently, just through your own prep, hit 220 grams of protein every single day, clean up your diet i bet you you'll get i bet you won't have to do anything else i bet you'll slowly yeah that's the formula get a physique that looks more muscular just through getting

1:46:16Sal Di Stefano:leaner and you might even build yeah the heart the hardest part will be staying consistent with it and then trusting that you're not losing muscle because what will happen is it'll put you in a calorie deficit right away okay and so that'll already put you but that'll also pull that glycogen out of that muscle which will make your muscles look a little bit flatter and smaller and that will mess with your head, but you didn't lose muscle. It's just, they're depleted. They're depleted. And now you're, you're, now you're cutting into fat storage, which is where you want to be to lean out. So just get that out of your head that you, you know, you look worse.

1:46:46Sal Di Stefano:So you don't like it, like accept it, uh, and just keep going. And then you'll see, you're going to, you're going to lean out just, just fine. Just by simply making your meals.

1:46:54Adam Schafer:It's going to be all based on your own consistency with what we're saying.

1:46:56Sal Di Stefano:That's it. Yeah. Whether this goes fast or this takes you a long time will be how consistently you do what we're saying. Now on the psychology part and for how fast should I be weighing myself? Once a week? Once a day?

1:47:09Adam Schafer:If you want once a week. If you want once a week, but honestly, if you're consistent with what we just said, I think if you don't weigh yourself, you're better. You'll see it in the mirror, dude. You'll work out. You'll take your shirt off and be like, huh.

1:47:20Sal Di Stefano:What's your daily activity? What do you do for work? Work, I sit a lot. I do try to get outside. I've already got three walks in today. Um, so I probably get around, you know, 7 ,000, 8 ,000. Okay. Um, I hike a lot too. So sometimes on a weekend I'll, you know, I'll go do a 10 mile hike. Like it's nothing. Um, so I'll ask another question. I usually typically eat more on days where I, you know, do a 10 mile hike. Do you suggest trying to keep those calories? Again, if the advice is literally, if you're making your meals and you're hungry, eat, eat more of it. Yep. Eat more of those. Yeah. Don't do this.

1:47:54Adam Schafer:Cause this is sometimes what happens when people do like a long hike is they'll do a long hike. Then they'll go eat out and eat garbage. Yeah, don't do that. Which is probably what you do. Most people do that. Absolutely. Yeah, if you cut that out and it's what you made and you just eat a big portion of it, you're fine.

1:48:07Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, you'll be fine that way. Ben, are you familiar with the concierge program that we do? No. You might be a great candidate for that. You meet once a month with a coach, and so they're making subtle tweaks. And so as you have questions through it, like as you're going, and then they'll just tweak the program or tweak the diet as you're going through. Um, if that's something that interests you, I can have somebody call you and they can talk to you about what that would look like. Cause you sound like you kind of know what you're doing. You've been good. You've been tracking. So this is now the advice we're giving you is great.

1:48:38Sal Di Stefano:It's just having somebody who's going to get a customize it to you every single month. Uh, that's something you're interested in. I'll have somebody call you. That sounds perfect. Okay, cool. Oh yeah. That's a, you're going to do great, dude. Yeah. Thanks guys. Yep. Appreciate it. Thanks man. Keep it up.

1:48:51Adam Schafer:All right, Ben. Appreciate it. Peace. When, when I, so I, when I went from just eating as much as I could and a lot of it was garbage to tracking protein and going whole natural i got leaner but i also built muscle yeah so i was like eating a lot of calories my protein was an iron well that's always what

1:49:07Sal Di Stefano:happens it's still to this day i'm that way it's just naturally when i i find it very rare that somebody who uh isn't like tracking or making their foods consistently hits protein what they do

1:49:22Adam Schafer:is they they it's like what he said he guesses and then he adds a shake yeah yeah and so you're

1:49:28Sal Di Stefano:what ends up really happening when you start checking you realize like oh shit i was under eating protein and i was over consuming these other foods and simply just making your meals and making sure you hit that protein kind of just balances everything out nicely our next caller is liz from new york hi liz how you doing liz good morning this is so cool how can we help you um okay so i am a very long time listener of the show i've been listening to you guys since 2017 so all right i bless you i was there through it all you hung in there um after finding you guys in the middle of my fitness journey you really gave me direction you helped a lot of my form um and become really well versed in a variety of exercises so really appreciate everything i've learned through following you guys and all of your programs um so my question i'll start off with the general gist um i wrote in wondering how would mind pump coach a woman to work out to optimize their health and lower stress while trying to get pregnant um so i can delve into a little bit more about myself um i was married to my husband in october um and we just decided that we want to start trying to start our family um so to talk a little bit more about what I do.

1:50:49I'm five, five, probably about one 35 guessing on the body fat might be like 26%. Um, I made a switch about three years ago from working out on my own. Um, I had run aesthetic and then strong. And then I started a hit strength style class. Um, generally I would do about four to six hit classes a week. Um, a couple of cycling classes ran about 20 to 24 miles. and I average about 20 ,000 steps a day.

1:51:18Sal Di Stefano:Wow. So very active. Don't eat a lot during the day. Generally would have, you could say, kind of an OMAD diet, do like a small breakfast and then one big meal. There's nothing outwardly off or anything in terms of hormones, you know, doctors and obviously my friends and family who are less into the fitness world just think it's all great. But I'm curious what your thoughts are in terms of creating maybe a less optimal environment for trying to get pregnant. Are you, are you, are you still present? Are you still, that's present? Yep. That's how you. So, so, uh, two weeks ago I got told I have a, um, I have hamstring tendinopathy.

1:51:58Sal Di Stefano:Okay. So I've actually had to stop running. Um, and I had to stop the HIIT classes as well. Liz, what do you, what do you think we're going to tell you? Yeah. You've been listening for 70. All right. And you know what we're going to say to you. Yeah. But I want, I want you to tell me. Yeah. What do you think? Uh, stop the run. running yeah um probably stop the cycling um switch to some slower form of strength training yeah uh eat more yeah yeah you're on point i think that's the gist we're done yeah yeah we'll

1:52:27Adam Schafer:talk to you later yeah no so check it out so so um here's the deal okay it's much harder to get pregnant when there's a lot of stress being thrown at the body it could be emotional stress it could be physical stress and you're doing a lot. You're doing a lot. I doubt your body fat percentage at 26%, by the way. Yeah. You're probably in the low twenties, if not under. Um, and so you're going to actually have to gain some weight and you have to really reduce your exercise. And I'm also going to challenge you like this and just present this to you, Liz, uh, pregnancy. First off, let me ask this. How important is this priority for you?

1:53:04It's number one. Okay. Okay.

1:53:06Adam Schafer:Okay. Good. Cause we're gonna have to change a lot of things to make it happen, but I also want to let you know that during the pregnancy process, being pregnant, postpartum, for somebody that's so into fitness, it's very challenging. And so this is a great time to start to kind of make peace with it because when you're pregnant, it's going to feel like your body's not yours after you have your baby and what the hell, it's still not mine. And it's like two years later where you're like, I think I'm back type of deal. And for somebody who's so into fitness and in their body and knows how to perform and what their body's capable of, it's very, very challenging.

1:53:41Adam Schafer:Okay. But if you let go of it, it's not so challenging. But if you try to hold onto it, you're going to be in for a really bumpy ride. So it's going to look like this. This would be the strategy. You're going to need to gain weight and you're going to need to stop working out a lot. Like a lot. Yeah. It should be like MAPS 15. Yeah. basically your body needs to be like this wonderful, pleasant, like, like ready to be, to, to host life, uh, environment. And, uh, and I'm talking to you, right. If I was talking to somebody else, uh, that might be different advice, but for you it's maps 15 walking 10 ,000 steps a day, no more.

1:54:22Adam Schafer:And the stress levels down. And your goal is to gain 10 pounds before you get pregnant.

1:54:28Sal Di Stefano:So bumping the calories. So going away from this. Do you know how many calories you're eating right now? Well, she's one meal a day. So you can't be higher than maybe 1 ,500 to 1 ,900 at the highest. There's no way. Yeah. I would say probably the morning it's like, I don't know, a 250 snack, maybe like something very small. And then it's like, it's just dinner. So probably, I would say probably around 1 ,500. Yeah.

1:54:49Adam Schafer:So you're going to eat a breakfast. You're going to eat a lunch. And then you're going to keep eating dinner. Follow MAPS 15. don't let yourself go more than 10 000 steps a day and that's it now the beautiful part about this

1:55:02Sal Di Stefano:is if we if we reduce down to a maps 15 and you eat properly like that she'll probably put some good muscle on too like your body will probably respond yeah but i'm just gain that's definitely

1:55:13Adam Schafer:you'll gain good weight that's definitely what's going to happen but i'm i'm setting you up for gaining weight yeah it doesn't matter the mentality it doesn't matter what way to be honest with you at this point i've had a few female clients like you who are like a couple of them were ex-athletes or just fitness fanatics. And we literally had to be like, we're going to gain body fat. That was Katrina. Katrina was that.

1:55:32Sal Di Stefano:And by the way, Katrina did not feel lean. That was the hardest part for her was she's like, I don't feel like I'm lean at all. She had to purposely gain body fat. And the doctor's like, you need to put on body fat. And she's like, this is so weird to me. This is not lean me at all. And so yeah, we had to stop a lot of the training and really reduce it and eating cheeseburgers and doing things to put on body fat. And so that's what we had to do before she got pregnant. And she did not feel lean at all. And being honest, like seeing her, I didn't look at her and go like, oh, she's way too lean.

1:56:00Sal Di Stefano:I, even my, even with all my experience, I didn't look at her and go, oh, she looks way lean, but that it's just to highlight the point you're making that, you know, it's, it's amazing what, what you have to allow your body to do to allow a life to come in there. Like if you, if you're going to grow a life in you, you have to be in this environment that is calm and not stressed and has a good amount of body fat on it and then the baby will feel like i can grow in this optimum environment and if it doesn't if it's stress and all those things we're doing hit running cycling those are all stresses lots of steps yeah and then under and then doing it in in a low calorie environment it just exacerbates all of it and so no baby's gonna want to grow in that environment so yeah and just and by the way there's always of course there can

1:56:45Adam Schafer:be lots of different reasons why this is a challenge, but you did say cycle is regular, hormones look good. Uh, and so this just seems, this seems pretty clear. And the amount of working out you're doing Liz is crazy. Like you're doing a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like that's deep down. I need you guys to tell me. Yeah. Yeah. But here's the deal. I'm going to help you. I'm going to encourage you some more. Give what we're saying three months. Because here's what sometimes a person will do is they'll listen. They'll try it for a month. Didn't work. Give it a good three months before you go back to the fertility doctor and say, okay, let's look deeper because I cut all these things down.

1:57:23Adam Schafer:I increased my calories. And now I want to see if there's another issue. But give it a good three months of a shot.

1:57:28Sal Di Stefano:Well, I don't know where you're at personally in your financial situation, but I would really push you to get with one of our coaches just because of how difficult this can be. Yeah, I am worried about my adherence because I do. This is not easy. This is not easy. And it's not X's and O's hard, right? Like, I don't think it's like you don't understand when I say do this or do that. It's the psychological piece and having somebody remind you, Liz, you're doing great. Stay the course. And so if you're open to that, I would like you to work with one of our coaches. Yeah, I would definitely love to at least talk.

1:58:06you.

1:58:07Sal Di Stefano:We'll have, we'll have someone call you after we get off and then present to you what that would look like. But I think that would be, if this is a serious priority to you and it is the number one priority, I think it'll be more than a worthwhile investment is to do this. And you don't need it forever. It's to get through this process, get you pregnant, and then you're good.

1:58:23Adam Schafer:Either way, you're going to get math 15. And then if it works, will you please let us know and message us?

1:58:29Sal Di Stefano:Yeah. You'll be, you'll be the second to know. yeah awesome all right let's we'll have someone we'll have someone call you thank you looking forward to when you get pregnant thank you so much appreciate it you got it all right

1:58:44Adam Schafer:yes that's a lot she's doing a lot of stuff yeah that's a lot running 20 000 steps hitting classes

1:58:50Sal Di Stefano:lifting yeah oh dude you know it it it highlights you know that'll that'll damn by the way that'll

1:58:55Adam Schafer:damage a man's fertility too it's just not as sensitive a man's fertility is not as well you

1:58:59Sal Di Stefano:You know, it's tough when you take someone like that, especially when all her markers aren't showing it yet. You know, it shows you how resilient the body can be sometimes. Oh, I know. You know, because, but. You'd think her hormones would be, yeah. I mean, she's only 32. She's still young. She's still young and still resilient. You keep going down that path.

1:59:14Adam Schafer:I literally had a client, and this isn't necessarily the advice that I would give people, but for this client, it was appropriate. She was getting her cycle. Hormones look good. Ex-athlete. We reduced her activity. you know two months later it's not happening she's working with a fertility doctor she's like i don't want to do all the fertility stuff and i'm like you got to get fat and she's like what i'm like you got to start eating some burgers and stuff i know and so she did she started eating because she just wasn't eating enough she wasn't and so she started eating more that kind of stuff and

1:59:46Sal Di Stefano:what's what's crazy sal is that you're saying that and i'm telling you this is what katrina and what katrina was not eating a super low calorie i didn't look at her and think she looked really

1:59:56Adam Schafer:lean like too lean but she had to purposely go try she had to purposely go gain body fat

2:00:00Sal Di Stefano:and we had to go out and do that and really all that reserve and and it you know as it was such a good experience for me to see that firsthand in my wife because i can i can only imagine if you're somebody who doesn't feel yeah like i'm not lean i don't feel lean you know and i'm i'm already eating good amount of calories i don't oh she my kashuna doesn't train like that it's She's not overtrained. And so it's like, why? But it's like, you just need to be at an even higher body fat.

2:00:29Adam Schafer:Your body has to sense that you're in this plenty. That there's plenty.

2:00:32Sal Di Stefano:And that it's a spectrum. Not everybody's the same. That's right. Some people need to be at an even higher body fat percentage than other people. Some people get pregnant. At 20 or 21.

2:00:41Adam Schafer:Yeah.

2:00:41Sal Di Stefano:But some people need to be in the mid to high 20s for that to happen.

2:00:44Adam Schafer:That's usually my experience. Yeah. These people. Yeah. Look, if you like the show, come find us on Instagram. It's Mind Pump Media. We'll see you there. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy, and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Super Bundle at mindpumpmedia.com. The RGB Super Bundle includes MAPS Anabolic, MAPS Performance, and MAPS Aesthetic. Nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by Sal, Adam, and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels, and performs.

2:01:21With 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. The RGB Super Bundle has a full 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can get it now plus other valuable free resources at mindpumpmedia.com. if you enjoy this show please share the love by leaving us a five-star rating and review on itunes and by introducing mind pump to your friends and family we thank you for your support and until next time this is mind pump