2951: Slow Reps vs. Fast Reps — What the Data Actually Says (The Answer Has Nuance)

21:02Adam Schafer:Or jumping even off of a box.

21:04Sal Di Stefano:Right, right. And so just that, getting everything to fire from head to toe, quickly like that and organized, I think covers a lot, which is so funny. I never thought about that as a trainer. like like early days it was like we i took it for granted i took it for granted because i could move when i wanted to yeah there's a lot of exercises like that you're like oh this is the real value of oh yeah you know yeah for sure like because it's it's simple uh and it's it's a skill but like you're like i'm not trying to like fatigue my client you know in these workouts and i kind of abandoned it for a long time but then you come back and you're like well let's do it without fatigue and let's let's do this correctly yeah quickly and there's value there a couple hacks

21:44Adam Schafer:for people listening who aren't familiar with like trying to move quickly or whatever. You know, I just mentioned doing basic exercises, but bands are really good. Bands are really good at trying to move quickly because you don't have a lot of momentum like you will with weights. They're very safe. A pool. If you have access to a swimming pool, this is a very safe way to move quickly because if I throw my arm out in the air, I have to also slow it down. But in the pool, the water slows it down. Yeah, and it gives me a little bit of resistance. You don't get a joint impact either. Very low. Yeah.

22:13Adam Schafer:So those are just some hacks. You know, another thing that studies tend to not cover is the novelty effect. And the reason why they don't is because in order to show how great novelty or something new can affect the body in terms of progress, you have to have a really long study. You know, 16 weeks doesn't cut it. Six months might not even cut it. You need to have like a year or two years where you're taking people through rep ranges or rep speeds. and you can compare this group over here does the same exact rep range for two years. This group over here alternates. And what you'll see, which we've experienced with clients is novelty makes a difference.

22:51Adam Schafer:It does. Now it takes a long time to see what that looks like, but it does make a difference. And so even for hypertrophy, I'm going to argue, we take out the injury risk, because I think that's the big one, but take that out for a second. If you throw in different rep speeds over time, I think you'll build more muscle, even if you take out the injury risk, just because of the novelty. Well, didn't you see that when you were doing overhead press? I remember we had you doing some... Like push presses? Like push presses instead. Oh, yeah. And just that acceleration alone sparked a new stimulus.

23:23Sal Di Stefano:Well, there was two things I got from the push press big time that I helped, which when we talk a lot, especially lately, we talk a lot about the isometric component, was pushing that much weight explosively over my head and then stabilizing it and holding it up there. I got this. that's why i'm like such a big fan of the of the for shoulder development for even my my bodybuilder aesthetic people you want to build some shoulders uh heavy push presses and then like stabilizing the weight over your head like that we're like game changer i'll tell you what uh our program

23:56Adam Schafer:maps strong uh the reason why that's so popular especially which is funny this was totally not predictable we didn't predict this but women love map strong because it really develops the posterior chain the back and the glutes a lot so women are like i love this program my back and my butt never look better there's speed stuff in there in the work sessions there's like like high poles and stuff like that so yeah you know if you've practiced and you've trained for a while you've never done that style of training that novelty effect kicks in man suddenly you see

24:25Sal Di Stefano:new development oh yeah you know that's great you know since you're uh kind of bagging on studies a little bit did you i was backing on a study this weekend did you uh did you see the rant I did on the Instagram no uh so I I you know the the team has been trying to really encourage me to uh instead of just doing our shooting days that we do where we do content and everything like that um like hey when you have those out on those moments where you have something on your mind just like grab the camera and just and then send it to us and then we'll we'll decide if it's yeah yeah if it's appropriate yeah yeah right we'll clean it up a little bit uh so so i said okay so i was like kind of committed to them that i would try and do that so this past weekend uh so something had popped in my head and of course it's because it's something i'm in the middle of doing and um i was up i was up doing fasted cardio and as i'm doing it i'm like thinking about it like oh you know this is so there's no difference for fat law yeah yeah

25:22Adam Schafer:The study show.

25:23Sal Di Stefano:And I started thinking about it as I'm walking. I'm like, how funny is this? Here I am doing something that the fitness community for a while now has debunked the science around that. Mechanistically, there's nothing happening or magically happening in the body that makes it burn more body fat by doing fasted cardio versus regular cardio. And if all things are controlled, macros.

25:45Adam Schafer:This is cardio that you haven't eaten in the morning. You do cardio versus you ate breakfast and then did cardio. That's right. The old thought was fasted burns more fat. Yes. I did studies like, no, it doesn't.

25:54Sal Di Stefano:Yes. And so the rant that I kind of went off on is like, you know, you've obviously probably heard that fasted cardio has been debunked and it's this and it's that. I said, yet every bodybuilder, women's bikini and men's physique athlete still uses it religiously to get ready for a stage and compete at the highest level. So why is that? And I was like, that's because it works, but maybe not for the reasons that we've touted for so long. and the things that were going through my mind because i'm back into practicing that and i would argue i i drop an extra two to three percent body fat by just implementing this one strategy and the things that i notice are one uh if i've decided tomorrow morning i'm getting up to do fasted cardio i've got to already think about that tonight yeah go to bed early because i got to go about it i gotta go to bed early uh i gotta set my alarm an hour early because if i got to go to work and do my thing that I normally do.

26:47Sal Di Stefano:And I'm going to do it before I eat and before work. I'm not getting up an hour. I wasn't getting up an hour. So now I'm up an hour earlier. So right away, there's an additional hour that I'm up earlier than I would normally be. And I'm not just up, I'm actually doing something very physical. You're moving. I'm moving my body. I'm getting blood pumping. So what else happens when I do that? Well, I noticed also after I do that, the rest of the day, I'm far more active. I move faster. I move more often, which ends up being a lot more calories burned throughout the entire day and not to mention after i've done all that too the way i am planned for my day eating wise i also tend to do this when i do fasted cardio i've already i'm already kind of going i tend to delay the first meal already since i did just did that and so i shorten the eating window and when you're in a calorie deficit trying to lose body fat it helps it helps to like it's a couple more hours i'm not thinking about food because I'm moving or I'm doing something else.

27:43Sal Di Stefano:All these factors play into a incredible strategy to help leaning out. And yeah, because we've nailed down in a study that if we compare it, but it's like in real life, that's not how it plays out.

27:55Adam Schafer:That's right. Because what they do in studies, and this is just how you conduct a study. So I'm not crapping on studies. When you do a study, you control everything you possibly can to isolate the one action to see if it makes a difference. But in real life, all the other things are not controlled. Okay. So in other words, another good example is, um, if you replace your sugary drinks with, uh, artificially sweetened zero calorie drinks, you'll lose weight and you will, if you control all the other calories, but in real life that this never happens. Well, why is that? Because people end up making up the calories and other places.

28:27Adam Schafer:And so waking up first thing to do cardio, you named a few things that you identified with your behavior. And there's other things that we probably don't even know with behavior that change. Like if I'm up and I'm working out first thing, my mind is already set to fitness it's already set to that's right health it's already priorities are there and so in real life things aren't perfectly controlled you're not saying to yourself i'm going to do all the other stuff i do you change all the other stuff you do so in practice it tends to help and this is why

28:53Sal Di Stefano:people tend to tend to i mean it's a it's like an for me personally it's a huge difference like if i start my day where i roll out of bed at normal time and like today would be a day i do fasted car to day so it's like i move slow until that that third energy drink kicks in and we've had lunch we done like like really it doesn't start really kicking up till afternoon time when we go on our walk and then i get a workout in and then now i'm like like so when i look at my steps and calories burn for the first part of the day it's very and then flip that i got up an hour earlier and it started moving really early like i'm like moving all morning i'm moving I'm more productive.

29:37Sal Di Stefano:And so, man, by the time noon, when I'm just barely kind of getting, I've already, and then to your point too about, it's set the tone that I'm like, I'm fitness minded and health minded right out the gates. So I'm also more likely to make a better food choice because I'm like, I already, I don't want to, why would I want to throw away that extra hour, got up early to do that on a bad meal right now and eat something good.

29:56Adam Schafer:And you also woke up and decided to do something hard. And what that does for the dopamine, serotonin, like reward pathways in the brain, set you up to do more hard things the rest of the day. It actually improves your discipline later in the day. And that's what the data shows.

30:10Sal Di Stefano:It's so valuable.

30:12Adam Schafer:That's why it's like, go on my phone and scroll social media versus read a book that enriches my life. They'll show that makes differences for the same reasons, for similar reasons.

30:20Sal Di Stefano:No, it's a huge difference. And at the end of the rant, I said, listen, I don't think this is a lifestyle thing that you do forever, all the time, if you're not a morning person. And that's not like, I get it because I'm not, you know but hey you're you're getting ready for a trip in a couple weeks and you're you're trying to lean out a little bit it's like it's a don't change anything else get up an hour earlier do that for the next two to three weeks before you get there i guarantee you'll see a two to three percent drop in body fat by simply doing that and it's because of all those other cascading effects that that are not that we control in a study yeah but that happens behaviorally to us which is extremely valuable when you're talking about creating good habits and behaviors for the client and so such a fan of it and so anyways i posted that today or yesterday it was because

31:09Adam Schafer:i just i just looked up some some really interesting market data um on the electrolyte market and how much it's changed in like the last eight years you guys are going to be blown away really how much has changed i'll pull this up well i mean i have a pretty good guess considering that

31:26Sal Di Stefano:I didn't even know an electrolyte brand just 10 years ago.

31:30Adam Schafer:I'm going to say this right now. 100%. Gatorade. Yeah, I like that. That's about it. So 100%, the powder you add to water, electrolyte market. Because Gatorade's been around for a long time, and that would be included in the electrolyte market or whatever. And that's been pretty stable, okay? But I add this powder to my water to get electrolyte. That market element. Element, first off, started it off and are responsible, in my strong opinion, for the growth of it. Trip off this. So 10 years ago, basically didn't exist. Basically didn't exist. It has gone up several hundred percent. Element alone.

32:11Adam Schafer:So Element alone in 2020 was$7 million. 2023,$206 million. Element alone. Now Element, so we work with Element. And here's why they had such a big impact. Electrolyte powders or drinks, I should say, were, number one, everybody was afraid of sodium. Sodium is a bad guy. You need to have low sodium. Don't have too much sodium. The only people that were consciously trying to add sodium 10, 15, 20 years ago to their diets were endurance runners. Why? Because they experienced the effects of not having enough sodium. So if you're a runner, cyclist, like you do any kind of endurance sport, and you weren't consciously adding a lot of sodium to your diet, you experienced this.

32:59Adam Schafer:You know this. You pushed yourself and you just crashed. And somebody smart said, dude, you need to add some salt to your diet and to your water and watch what happens. So they were really the only ones that were doing it. And Element came out and said, hey, we have an electrolyte powder. You add your water, 1 ,000 milligrams of sodium. Very brave. This would be like me coming out with a saturated fat supplement. Yeah. Like if I came out with a supplement, like here's 30 grams of saturated fat. The stigma alone, it was like, wow, that's surprising. But yeah, obviously it's effective. Thousand milligrams of sodium.

33:28Adam Schafer:So when they first sent us the box years ago, I kind of dismissed them until I looked at the box and went, whoa, these guys know what they're doing and they're not afraid to, let's see what happens. And they crushed. And so that market has exploded because people, two reasons, number one, if you eat a whole food-based diet, adding sodium probably will make a difference. If you're low carb, for sure it makes a difference. If you work out really hard, sweat a lot, it does make a big difference. You can tell right away. And then here's the second reason. Sodium is one of the main components, or I'll say salt, in palatability.

34:03Adam Schafer:And so here they made a drink that is not artificially sweetened with no sugar. Normally when you drink a flavored drink that's flavored with stevia, it's not that good. It just isn't. Like you're drinking, you're like, eh, it's all right. I prefer sucralose or aspartame because it just tastes better. Sevilla, eh. But you throw 1 ,000 milligrams of sodium on top of it, and Element tastes, it's as palatable as soda. Yeah. And so they just crushed and ran with it. And they literally created this market that has exploded several hundred percent.

34:37Sal Di Stefano:It's so good. Isn't that wild? Oh, it's so good. How big of a growth that they saw? I mean, all my friends, they drink it. Everybody. Yeah, they like it. I mean, I think that's where they hit it. They hit the, obviously the point you're making of the science and the first people to actually put out what is effective. But I mean, it's because it tastes good.

34:56Adam Schafer:That's right. If you make a supplement that works, that also tastes good. A supplement that works, that's good for you.

35:03Sal Di Stefano:And it tastes good. It's just like, because I have plenty of people in my family that are not like hardcore fitness people and don't necessarily need an extra thousand milligrams of sodium because they're not. But they like that it tastes good. But they love it tastes good. I know. And they know that it's a better choice than drinking some soda or some other crap. 100%. Well, I figure they're doing good because every time I'll see one of our partners all of a sudden like on mainstream TV is a commercial. I'm like, oh, wow. Yeah, I've seen them and I've seen Viore. But yeah, theirs it was cool because it reminded me.

35:33I'm already in the thought process of going to this metal festival. And there was this guy like welding and doing this crazy stuff at this place. It's called Sloss Furnace Fest. It's like these like huge, it's old furnace like structures and whatever. But like, anyways, I got me all excited to go to this festival. I'm like my one time of year where I just like let it all out.

35:58Adam Schafer:That's coming, isn't it? When? It's in October. Last time you went in the mosh pit, didn't you lay someone out? Yeah. You're going to do that again, aren't you? Well, it depends. I mean, the guy kind of, I don't know, he kind of provoked it.

36:10Sal Di Stefano:Is your group, is your whole group going again? I think I heard you talking about some of the guys aren't coming through. No, no. It's only going to be me and one of my friends. The other guys had to kind of drop off, which is a bummer. And that's why I was going back and forth of going or not. But I'm like, dude, when you guys have one thing all year you look forward to, and you're like, this is kind of like my thing. Nobody else's gets it. This is totally like nobody else understands it. Nobody like, you know, I can't like really describe it in words for anybody else to like, you know, feel that.

36:40But this is like, it's like a really small community. And then you, you know, you just get to like, let all your fricking like rage out at once. It's great. And it's safe.

36:52Sal Di Stefano:You know, that's, it's hard. You know, we, Sal talks about the research around how important it is for men to have other relationships and things like that. Right. But it's, it's tough to get a group of dudes that are all in their forties all together and organized. like it's like it's a it's a big deal dude it's not especially a trip yeah yeah yeah fly somewhere yeah that's a big ask and they and the other guys to their credit they have like four kids you know it's like so me and my other friend we have two kids it's a little easier to maneuver uh but what's cool though i've i've met quite a few people along the way now where one of my other friends did a podcast well he's going to be there uh so it'll be cool he's doing the podcast like behind the scenes with some of the bands and stuff.

37:38So it'll be cool to kind of see. Oh, that is cool.

37:40Sal Di Stefano:Do you notice, just because your boys now are old enough to where they can watch themselves, was there a major uptick for you and Courtney in getting away and doing stuff? Compared to the previous, like, did you notice a huge difference? Or has it been the same, like... From us trying to do our own kind of tricks? Yeah, just, yeah, period. Like, being able to get away. I mean, when the kids are...

38:03Adam Schafer:When they're little, it's hard.

38:04Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, it's hard.

38:05Adam Schafer:you know so it's it can also be hard though when they're teenagers and they have all kinds of yeah that's why i'm asking that's why i'm asking because i think there's this assumption that

38:12Sal Di Stefano:oh they get to a certain age and then now you have all this freedom as a parent and it's like no they got things in the house yeah because we're constantly like shuttling them i mean ethan getting his license is going to help a lot big time you know and so we're looking forward to that but it's we're still very involved and so yeah i haven't i've had maybe a few opportunities still to like plan something where i could like go do something with my buddies the hardest part about the the kids getting their license so nowadays is that they're not allowed to drive with it like so like you can't like when i as soon as i was 16 and even i had friends so i'm young right so i had friends that were older so older than i was and so by my i think end of freshman or soft sophomore year i think the end of freshman eric got his so it was like end of freshman to sophomore year i already had friends that had license and so picking me up taking me to school if I didn't go somewhere, like, my parents would be like, call your friend.

39:03Sal Di Stefano:Call your buddy. Yeah. So, like, quickly I could get around, even when I didn't even have my license. But kids now, they can't drive until they're, what, 8, 21?

39:14Adam Schafer:You can't drive your friends around until you're 18. I think it's 21, I thought. These kids get around that, though. They're not, like, following that. They don't, but I'm pretty stickling. I'm strict in, like, Courtney, but, like, you know, when they hang out after school and they'll get rides from their friends, They just end up doing it. It's for safety, obviously. I get why they do that. I mean, if I think back to driving with my friends in the car at 16. That's when we drove the dumbest. Yeah, you get your buddies. That's the most dangerous time to be driving. Speaking of relationships and stuff, I'm reading this book with my wife.

39:49Adam Schafer:It's an old book. I don't realize it's been around for a while. It's called Love and Respect. Have you guys heard of this book? Uh-uh. So it's really good. It's for marriage. It is based off of the book of Ephesians, Ephesians 5, but it's totally human psyche, male and female psyche. I mean, it matches up with the data as well. But it talks about how what women need and desire the most is to feel loved. And what men desire and need the most is to feel respected. And it talks about unconditional respect and unconditional love. And what's interesting about that, and the author talks about this. if I say uh you know yeah you you should show your wife unconditional love nobody bats an eye but if you say hey you need to display to your husband unconditional respect people are like he needs to earn it yeah it's like well he says this in the book too like imagine if they said the reverse like well actually you need to earn his love everybody's like no he's like it doesn't mean that you don't criticize or you don't do certain things or talk about things that are unloving, but you say them, you display them in a way that's loving or in a way that's respectful.

40:56Adam Schafer:And it's a really interesting book and it makes a lot of sense. And it talks, he mentions this, he calls it the crazy cycle where let's say a wife brings something to her husband and he perceives it as being disrespectful. So now he withdraws. He doesn't want to show her love. Now she feels he's not loving. So now she disrespects him and then he shows her less and it goes, it spins out of control and he talks about how to interrupt that and what to do and it's really good it's a and it totally speaks like i'm listening to what he's saying about men yeah and i'm like oh my god that is 100 true that is a hundred percent true uh and now the part for my wife she agrees like that's that's totally true it's a really good book well this reminds me of

41:39Sal Di Stefano:our interview that we had with adam lane smith it's why it's one of my favorite interviews to recommend to couples was it was when i think back to the all the different people we've had and the things that like I've taken into our marriage and stuff and the ability for me to, well, obviously having him say it was, it was super helpful. Right. And for her to listen to the podcast with me and that kind of click was that, uh, we, I don't need respect and she needs love. And so that when we get in these situations where it's just like, um, the other person is thinking that that's all you need or what you're seeking.

42:14Sal Di Stefano:It's like, that's not what I'm seeking at all.

42:15Adam Schafer:and like he's so he uses this great example because he says that we we basically have different filters we hear things differently we communicate things differently and we you know what we're trying to communicate comes across the wrong way he's just this great example i thought it was hilarious if a woman says i have nothing to wear what she means is i have nothing new when a man says i have nothing to wear it's because he's got nothing clean yeah and it's just an example of like the way we'll communicate things that and how different oh it's a silly one obviously yeah but But, I mean, what he was saying in there was so absolutely true.

42:46Adam Schafer:And I think if you're trying to come together to understand that about each other and to present yourself in that way, you'll get along so much better and so much more effectively. But it is true. Like, you know, it says, and again, it's biblical, but again, it's backed by, you can look at the data to support this.

43:08Adam Schafer:It's so true. Like if when men communicate to each other, there's a code of respect there because there's always a threat of violence or whatever. So if you and I are talking and you withdraw, you're actually doing the honorable thing. Cause you're like, okay, I got, I'm going to walk out because I know where this is going to go. So that's kind of like a default. When you do that with your wife, she's like, he is so unloving. He doesn't care. He just shut down when he's actually doing kind of this, this default thing, which I think is really interesting.

43:39Sal Di Stefano:No, no, it's such an interesting it was such it's such a good book i remember we uh this was guy when we lived out in marina and this was right around the first time we had adam wayne smith one of the one of the challenges that katrina had in our relationship was that she loved uh coming home and debating or challenging direction in the company right like or something that you know i i would just do this this is what we're doing well what something like that and she'd be like why? And she would push back and do that. And early on in the relationship, well, we would, we'd go back and forth a lot as, as things progressed and the business got bigger and there was so many different moving parts.

44:17Sal Di Stefano:It's just like, for me, it became like a speed thing. And I remember that was one of the first big hurdles that we had with working together like that was I told her, I was like, man, I just, I just need you to respect my decision. Like we've, I think I've proven to you that I know what I'm doing right by now. And she's like, it's not about that at all she goes i love this part of our relationship i love that i see how your brain works and i see how this and i and i want and so that's really and so there was this huge disconnect

44:45Adam Schafer:she's something she's being loving yes meanwhile you feel disrespected and i feel disrespected

44:49Sal Di Stefano:it's like dude how much more i gotta prove that i know what i'm doing you know what's interesting

44:53Adam Schafer:challenging me yeah you know what's interesting about that adam and i'm sure i know the answer but if she uh displays respect when she's coming to you about something she has more influence so

45:02Sal Di Stefano:So if it wasn't for Adam Lane Smith, I don't know if I would have had the proper way to communicate it and get through that. And we had, and so it really helped me. I was like, listen, I don't want to take that from you because you like that. I love that you like that, and I respect your this and that. But how you say it and open it makes all the world of difference. If you said it in a way where it's like, oh, interesting. Why are you thinking that way? Or what's your thoughts on that? Yeah, because then you're giving me the respect that you aren't disagreeing with my decision in the business or whatever like that, but you're curious because you say you want to see how my brain works.

45:39Sal Di Stefano:And I'll map it all out to you. It's not like I just make a decision willy-nilly. It's like I've already thought miles ahead, and I just don't want to have to argue over something like that. I'm like, so if you just approach it with that curiosity of, oh, that's interesting. I would have never thought you were going to do that. What makes you think that's a good idea for the business? And you ask me like that, I would love to have that done. And then you should have more influence.

46:00Adam Schafer:That's right. You know what's funny about that? It's like someone listening to that right now is like, well, you just got to grow up and be more mature. Like, don't be so child. And it's like, and by the way, it can also be done on the reverse. Well, don't be so sensitive. Right. Like you get your feelings hurt so much. You know, I love you. And so it's like, it's denying that we're different. It's like why we're different and communicate with each other in ways that the other person needs. You know what it says in the Bible? It's just funny. So again, it's - It's not a homogenous thing. Again, it's biblical.

46:27Adam Schafer:So I'm going to go back to that. the word that it uses for husbands when it comes to loving their wives, because it says we need to love them in an understanding way, but the word it uses in Greek is agape. So there's four, there's different words they use for love in the Greek language. We just use love in the English language to mean like five. I love pizza. I love my kids. I love my partners. Obviously it's all different, but we just use one word in the Greek language. They used different words. So agape is sacrificial love. Philio, I think is the kind of love you have for your child. and a friend.

46:59Adam Schafer:It only tells husbands to have agape love. It doesn't say that to wives. You're like, why wouldn't it say it to wives? I think they're built for that sacrifice. They're built that it's automatic. It's automatic for a good woman. She loves herself so sacrificially for her kids and for her family. What it tells a wife is to respect because it's not automatic. It's not an automatic thing. And for a husband, agape is not automatic. We're commanded to display that you know and he makes that case and i'm listening to it i'm like i think this is right

47:28Sal Di Stefano:you know take take the the biblical stuff out and i think we've done such a disservice uh as americans to to make love as this all-encompassing word yeah i mean i remember as it means as a young as a young kid uh assuming that that love was this feeling that was going to overcome me and that's how i was going to know that that's the one i'm married like that like literally the way what disney is presented to all of us yeah like oh it's love at first sight it's oh this feeling that you get and it's like no it's an action and something i have to choose to do that was sometimes it's a feeling that's that was exactly it can be but the one that you're going to decide to marry for the rest of your life that's a choice that you make and that's something that you choose to do every single day it's not this feeling that you decide that you wake in all of a sudden like oh i don't feel it anymore therefore like oh we're not supposed no we're not we're not supposed to be married anymore it's like we did such a disservice i feel like of making it all this one word versus having definitions of all the different types like that because i'm honest Like it was years.

48:24Sal Di Stefano:I was in, into my mid to late twenties before that click for me, that that's not what a loving marriage looks like. It's not this, Oh, I'm just supposed to have this overwhelming feeling and that's the one. And then it's, it's perfect the rest of our lives. It's like, no, that's not it. I mean, yeah. I mean, Courtney, it's like hers is it's love and safety. It's like what, you know, I can provide. So she feels that sense of security, safety, and like, you know, health and everybody's healthy and accounted for. And for me, it's always been, you know, respect, honor, and trust, you know? And so it's, and, and we've learned how to really nail that down and figure out like, we are different.

49:00We have these roles. We have like, I'm stretching, she's pulling like, and we're great balance, but it took a long time to get there in that understanding.

49:09Adam Schafer:Yeah. You want to get, uh, uh, you want to get your husband to drag himself across glass for you. You tell him you're my warrior. You go out there and kill it. And I'm telling you right now, most good men will hear that. And they'll be like, Oh yeah, I'm going to do whatever I can for this family. Even saying that now, I guarantee men are listening and they're going, yes. And it's just the way we're made. And it's such, it's so crazy that we try so hard to go against that and to twist things to say, no, no, you got to understand things what I do. And if you don't, it's because you're X, Y, and Z.

49:40Adam Schafer:And it's like, this is just not how we're made. Yeah. And it's like, we'll work so much better when we understand this about each other. And it is a choice. It totally is a choice. Anyway, I, uh, we, we got, um, so I meet with our customer service team weekly and they often will tell me what people are writing in and requesting in terms of things to cover yeah okay and so we do a lot of episodes on nutrition you know protein intake macros that kind of stuff and so we've had vegans write in and say can you do a whole episode on uh you know the challenges with nutrition for vegans and what vegans need to do and this and that and maybe we'll do that uh at some point but i i want to just kind of cover a little bit here which is vegans, it's hard to eat a healthy diet that supports your goals, performance, muscle growth, let's say fat loss, endurance, all those things.

50:34Adam Schafer:That's hard. It's already hard. It's very challenging. Going vegan makes it harder. This is just a fact. It just makes it harder. I'm not saying don't be a vegan. If you have your reasons for it, you can do it. It requires a lot more planning than not being vegan. So when I'm not vegan, if I stick to whole natural foods and I hit my protein targets, unless I have some weird polymorphism, I don't need to plan that much more. If I'm not like crazy overeating, it's whole natural foods, protein, I'm lifting weights, working out. Like I'm going to do pretty good. If you cut out animal sources of calories, you place yourself at a higher risk for nutrient deficiencies.

51:14Adam Schafer:The data is very clear on this. And it's much harder to hit your protein targets. It just is. The amount of volume of vegan foods, whole natural foods to hit what the data has shown to be for most people, there's always individual variants, for optimal protein intake for muscle growth and fat loss and performance is really hard. You got to eat a lot of food. It takes up a lot. It's like a big bowl of all kinds of different things. And then you're eating tons of other things, fibers and carbohydrates and stuff like that. And so what I'll tell vegans is this. Supplements are not required, but for vegans, it's not required, but it's almost required.

51:52Adam Schafer:I've trained a lot of vegans. I've trained a lot of hardcore vegans, and we had to use supplements. We had to use protein powders in particular in order to really optimize their progress. Doing it without protein powders, in my experience, was all but impossible. so it was like you know and typically they would add like 100 grams of protein

52:12Sal Di Stefano:uh from a vegan for me it was always impossible unless you didn't have building muscle goals if you had goals to build muscle yeah all my clients did so yeah that's why it was impossible and the reason why i say that because there's some i was smiling as you were saying this because there's there's like three people out of the millions of people that listen that always go like i don't know what you're talking about sal it's so easy yeah i know i have no problem with

52:39Adam Schafer:it it's like good for you but you know most people it's gonna no most people it's it's i mean

52:45Sal Di Stefano:no uh restrictive diet is challenging for most people to get their protein in on a regular basis all of them you you pull out uh animal products that becomes extremely difficult extremely difficult

52:58Adam Schafer:yep 100 so you know uh or i'll say this because we work with them we've been working with them for years organifi makes the best plant-based protein i've ever used by far it's the best it's the easiest to digest it tastes the best they combine different sources biggest factor right yes the digestion yes i mean like if you're doing the whole foods thing's great but like you know on the vegan diet like if you're going for protein sources like how much can you really ingest that's not going to give you degastral distress i mean i mean that and taste because

53:29Sal Di Stefano:I think it's hard to make that taste good.

53:31Adam Schafer:Oh, vegan proteins are the worst tasting. They are.

53:34Sal Di Stefano:They are always.

53:35Adam Schafer:So it's Organifi's tastes good for any protein. It's not just good for a vegan protein. It's good for any protein. They've done a phenomenal job and they mix different vegan sources to give you a better amino acid profile. And you may hear this. You might've heard this before as a vegan, like combined protein sources to make a quote unquote complete protein. What they're really saying is there are limiting amino acids for something called muscle protein synthesis. So this is where muscle protein synthesis is how we measure muscle growth. And if you're low in certain key amino acids, especially leucine, you can have a lot of protein, but the leucine will limit the protein synthesis that can happen.

54:14Adam Schafer:And so combining different sources of vegan proteins, like Organifi has done this really well, you'll have a good amino acid profile so it's the best it's diverse yeah so if you're a vegan and you're trying to first of all protein powders are valuable for most people anyway because it's hard to hit those optimal you know amounts of protein but if you're a vegan like organifi is the best hands down i've used lots of vegan proteins because i couldn't have dairy for a long time so vegan was what i went with and organifi kills it by far it's the best one you guys excited about um friday's pickleball tournament i'm not good i'm not doing a pickleball yes you are bro yes bro you were built

54:51Sal Di Stefano:for pickleball i'm serious you are built for pickleball tell me more you will be you'll be hella good you're like mr carnival it's closest thing to a carnival game it's the closest sport to a carnival game as you could think really yes okay it is totally like you're getting me there dude no it is very much so there you don't got to move laterally very much you know it's like

55:11Adam Schafer:you don't do anything explosive it's like dude you'll be fine it is carnival game all day all So Kyle apparently is really good. He's like the best one, right? I think Cole's probably good. I've never been good. Yeah, Cole's good in everything.

55:25Sal Di Stefano:Cole's our— He's Captain America. Yeah, he is our little— It still has to be better than—remember when we used to play with the trainers, like softball? That was embarrassing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I was actually really let down because everybody's in great shape, but we're terrible athletes. Yeah, we're gym athletes. Totally different. Could you be using—there's a few in the mix. You didn't play. Did you play on my team where I got crushed by the junior college teams? Did you play on that team? You didn't play on that team. Oh, I didn't play on that team. Have you heard me tell the story? Yeah. Where are we?

55:54Sal Di Stefano:I didn't play on that one. It was the first time. So I've only been living in the Bay Area at this point. I don't know. Maybe I've got to be less than five years, probably around year three of living in the Bay Area. So I'm like, I'm new to living in a big city. I come from like small town, right? and uh you know my i still at this time i'm still connected to all my buddies i grew up with and um i got some of them that live this direction and i got some new friends over here they're all like kind of ex-athlete guys and stuff and trainers and people like that are connecting all fit all fit all consider ourselves athletic um playing playing playing playing in our first men's softball league and i remember when we're signing up i forget the way they they rank them you know but just say let's just say for easy people it's just like a b c d a being the best or whatever and uh we're like um well let's it's our first year so let's not put us at a you know so let's like let's put us at b but listen when we play our we're talking about how we play the first game like let's not go out there and just destroy everybody so we like so we look you know we get kicked out of that league or like that like let's take it easy or whatever we were getting so fucked up it was like it was the first or second inning it was like right away and it's like 13-0 and i remember like huddled everybody like hey you guys we could start playing now and everyone's like i am i am we got we got absolutely destroyed and then we thought man maybe we just walked into a buzzsaw as the first game and it's like maybe that was maybe that's going to be the champion team and we got it we got to get it knock this dust off we get the second game and we end up playing uh at that time it was i forget what the the junior college is over here uh west west west yeah west valley uh the the junior college baseball team is playing you know on like for fun for funsies oh yeah and they're up like 21 zero on us the team and they're like talking shit to each other having fun the guys are all getting up and they're batting oppo every guy's batting oppo on purpose you know so still hitting home runs on us it was like oh oh it's so embarrassing dude i've never been so bad that's such a nice humbling moment

58:11Adam Schafer:well i'll act like don't play too good you can't even can't even score hey i i got i got a i got a new twist to the to the ai conspiracy oh god what's next so so did you see that the anthropic guys stepped down anthropic open ai ceos both of them came out like we need to pause yeah we slow things down we're not going to go public now they're going to pause i think they're going to delay the ipo uh so everybody's like this is too dangerous like we got to be careful type of deal then i heard i heard an alternate uh presentation of this and i thought am i gonna like it you're gonna love oh good you're gonna love come on let's go and i know this for a fact this is what companies do in emerging markets they always do this the leading companies in an emerging market will come out do something incredible and they will then work with the government to regulate the hell out of the market to prevent anybody from competing okay and so i think what they're trying to do in the herd what they're what they're doing is because so they can block everybody else they're trying to get everybody scared enough to be like please regulate this into oblivion the CEOs of this company will love it because they're the help.

59:22Adam Schafer:They'll help write the regulation, making it very difficult for competitors. A average person is going to be like, yes, please. Cause we're scared. And, and that, and then the other part of that is that they're not making as much money as they say they are. And so they, this will help them, you know, by getting that government support.

59:41Sal Di Stefano:I'm sold on that. I'm so sold on that. That's, that's so likely, you know, You know what's not believable to me is when I see these videos of the robot doing your laundry, right? And we're all afraid it's going to kill us. It's like this robot can't fold laundry a T-shirt faster than freaking 30 minutes. And you guys think it's going to destroy all of us? Like, get out of here.

1:00:01Adam Schafer:Well, so here's why this supports my earlier theory. If they want hardcore regulatory capture, a rogue AI that shuts off the grid. They need an event. That gets us all scared.

1:00:12Sal Di Stefano:I think that's an incredible conspiracy theory and probably not a conspiracy theory. Absolutely the plan. Because historically, that's what all these companies do. It's first to get there and then the first one.

1:00:26Adam Schafer:Hey, guys, let's work with the government. We need to make this safer. Now it's impossible.

1:00:31Sal Di Stefano:By the way, that's the oldest game in every book. It's not just AI technology, fear mongering. You see this in hair salons. You see this. They're trying to do it in the personal training. side where they were trying to get all the minimum you had that certification to do certain member it's always every industry you know and it's always the person who's already established and got their business up and running and making tons of money and they want to be the ones that help come in to help everybody and make sure it's safe and done well it's like get out of here

1:01:00Adam Schafer:because china came out and said this is fear-mongering we're not going to slow down you guys are totally you know trying to fear-monger everybody i just think in uh what's his name David Sachs did this great post on it. And he said, you know, if you're making a product that you think will kill 10 people, you stop because you know you're going to get sued out of existence or you don't want to be responsible, let alone 10 million people. So if you think it's dangerous, just stop. You don't need to go to the government to pass these laws that make everybody stop unless what you're trying to do is be the big dog and make sure nobody else can compete, you know, type of deal.

1:01:35Sal Di Stefano:I think all that's what I've been saying. I mean, and again, and back to my point is, is all of the conversation and all this just keeps the, at the top of the news. And that's all we're talking about right now. And that's where the money is flowing. And that's, and I think the, the combination of that with what you're saying makes total sense to me. And it's not that big where I'm telling you guys right now, it's going to be the, this is going to be the biggest. And again, I'm going to get hate for this because it would be like me saying at the beginning of the.com era, that it's going to be this biggest letdown of what's going to happen.

1:02:07Sal Di Stefano:And everybody would be like, well, look what.com is. Of course.

1:02:10Adam Schafer:No, but they don't remember the.com bubble.

1:02:12Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, exactly. And we are in that same thing. And it is going to change the way we do things for the next 20, 30 years. But it's way overhyped. Yeah, it's way overhyped and probably looks nothing like what you all think it looks like. It probably looks totally different. Well, it's interesting that video you sent me where they're talking about the AI agents. Yeah, cloning themselves. Yeah, they clone themselves, but it's self-regulatory still. So it's like they were reporting on the other agents so that way they could compete. And so they have a cycle where after a few months, it's like they either stay and they clone them or they delete them.

1:02:49And so it's like this kind of natural competition amongst them anyways where it thins it out.

1:02:57Adam Schafer:Well, in that particular, which I thought was well-made, it was a really cool movie that someone made. I thought it was really cool. But the one part that I'm like, okay, I don't understand. Essentially what happened was this guy took all these agents and said, hey, at the end of the day, whoever makes the least amount of money, I'm going to cut 40 % of you will get deleted. And then whoever does the best, I'm going to clone you and we're going to continue down this path. And so what it turns into are eventually AIs, you know, shutting each other down and figuring out that lying makes them more money.

1:03:25Adam Schafer:And then eventually creating their own countries and fighting with each other. but I'm like, wouldn't they just all, hey, let's all work together? Like, if they're that logical, why would they create a war?

1:03:35Sal Di Stefano:Why wouldn't they collaborate and expand?

1:03:37Adam Schafer:Yeah, so that part.

1:03:38Sal Di Stefano:I also don't, I've seen a lot of creators online post these videos of, I programmed this thing to make me all this money, and it just sits, and I've yet to meet somebody who's doing that. And I feel like if someone would figure that out, the scalability with AI should be infinite, and so we should have these overnight billionaires popping up all over the place. If you could program an AI to work the stock market, to do all the things that these creators are claiming that they've done, then why don't we have all these, because it's infinite scalability of it. What's to stop you, if you have one agent, what's to stop you from having 1 ,000 agents, 1 ,000 agents making$1 ,000?

1:04:17Sal Di Stefano:I mean, it's just, it's infinite.

1:04:18Adam Schafer:What we're really in is a cold war. We're really in an AI cold war between major countries on who can get there faster, who can make the better one. You guys remember the hugging face debacle or whatever happened where the AI agents - The consumers see right through all this stuff, though. That's the thing. It's like, this is fluff. You're selling me, you're going to have your agent buy a bunch of stuff off of Alibaba and then try and reflip it. It's all just garbage. People aren't interested in garbage, dude. It's already kind of filtering itself out. Well, the hacking potential is interesting to me, but I guess the check and balance would be the other countries have AIs that would combat it.

1:05:00Adam Schafer:So I don't know. I think it's interesting. It's powerful, which makes it scary. Do I trust it more? This is the real question. And we'll just look like historically. Is it better that the government controls it or is it better that the market controls it? No. Historically, markets probably safer. Not saying it's perfect, but governments don't really have the best track record of controlling very powerful things.

1:05:26Sal Di Stefano:Is it ever good that the government controls it? Is that ever?

1:05:28Adam Schafer:I mean, I think some regulations are important. Some factory safety protocols maybe? I don't know. Is it better that they're like, hey, guys, we're going to make it safe. We'll control all of it. They're like, wait a minute. I don't know if I trust you guys. There's been a lot of fuckery, though. I'm definitely not on that camp. It is interesting. So it's fun to watch and see what happens. Hey, we just released a new MAPS workout program called MAPS Abs and Butt. Now it is a full body workout program, but the emphasis, 90 % of the training volume is to target the abs and the butt. You want a nice round butt?

1:06:09Adam Schafer:You want abs that show? This is the program for you. And because it's brand new, it's 40 % off. So you can get it for 40 % off. We're also going to throw in another free MAPS workout program, Muscle Mommy 15 or Muscle Mommy. We're also going to throw in more stuff. We're going to throw in the butt building diet guide and a supplement guide. So we get all that free stuff plus 40 % off this brand new MAPS program. Go to mapsabsandbutt.com and then use the code LAUNCH. Back to the show. Our first caller is Matilde from Singapore. Matilde, welcome back. Hey, hey. Hello. How are you guys?

1:06:48Sal Di Stefano:Good. How are you doing? Good, good. So it turns out you were right. I got my period exactly one month after I talked to you. So yeah, very happy. And I got it regularly ever since. So very happy. Success.

1:07:02Adam Schafer:Good job. Thank you. Yeah, I just have two questions from now. I'm still eating roughly about 2700 calories and I keep gaining weight quite quickly. I gain about one pound a week. So how would you recommend to reverse back from there and get off tracking calories? Because I know that one of my bad habits is to under eat. So tracking is actually good for me in some circumstances to make sure I'm eating enough, but I don't want to do it forever. So yeah, first question about diet. Well, let's back up for a second. So when you started on this path of trying to regain your period, one of the things you did was increase your calories and reduce stressful exercise.

1:07:53Adam Schafer:What was your weight when you started that journey? And then where was your weight when your period came back? So my weight, I think, was about 53 kilos when I started. And I ended up at 63. so I gained 10 kilos. Okay, so 22 pounds. Yeah. Okay, and that's when the period came back was when you got to that weight. Okay, all right. So what I would say, and you're still seeing weight gain from when you got your period back? Yes. It's one pound, I think you cut out one pound per week? Yeah, approximately, yeah. Okay, okay. So I think we're okay to scale back on the calories.

1:08:33Sal Di Stefano:Just a little though.

1:08:33Adam Schafer:Yeah.

1:08:34Sal Di Stefano:Because even one pound, if she's strength training still too.

1:08:37Adam Schafer:That's what I was going to ask you. How was your strength? Any changes in the gym? Do you feel like you're stronger? I'm getting stronger. Yeah, yeah. I would barely pull back.

1:08:45Sal Di Stefano:Maybe down to 2 ,500 calories.

1:08:46Adam Schafer:Maybe 2 ,500 calories and that's it. Okay. Yeah. And then when you feel like you want to stop tracking, the key for people who under eat is to eat on a schedule. Okay. So when I've worked with people who tend to move towards under eating and track to make sure that they eat enough, what we've done in the past, it's been somewhat successful because sometimes we've got to go back and forth, is they just say, okay, you're going to eat on a schedule. You're going to have four meals a day. You're going to make sure you have your proteins. We're not going to go super lean. You're going to have some carbohydrates.

1:09:18Adam Schafer:And so that schedule typically kept them on track. But if you want to bring your calories down by 200, 300, that would be totally fine by now. Definitely don't go too far down because we just got our period.

1:09:30Sal Di Stefano:Especially if you're seeing strength gains because there's a good possibility that – and when I'm trying to build muscle on somebody, I'm targeting about a pound a week on the scale is a nice yeah okay so that's a good now if you were gaining a pound a week and you weren't getting stronger then maybe I would be more concerned about backing off a little bit but I mean there's a good chance that you know half of that pound is muscle and so if you're putting a half a pound of muscle even a half pound of body fat on ratio it's not bad at all so I wouldn't want to cut back too much 2 ,500 calories that is the lowest I probably want to go where you're at right yeah and how tall are you Matilda I'm 170 centimeters I'm not sure what it's

1:10:10Adam Schafer:how many feet is that Doug do you know how to 170 170 centimeters did you say 9 feet tall I think maybe roughly six or something like that but I'll give you a number yeah give me the number here because I did your weight in pounds because I'm not too familiar with kilos Adam used to work with kilos but I'm not the so I think 138 yeah 5 '6 is great 5 '6 138 pounds your body weight is is is not only perfectly fine but you could probably still gain some weight actually five seven five seven yeah you could still gain especially if you're strength training you could probably still gain some weight like good strong kind of athletic build uh at your height you know could get up as like 145 oh katrina walks around at 150 155 she's 5 8 yeah so i wouldn't worry too much about the weight gain right now i think that's kind of what your body needs you're in a good place yeah yeah you're kicking butt makes sense okay and the second question is more about programming because i did maps 15 two times in a row now so i was wondering what you think about upper lower for me or is that too much volume or is there if i if i move you up in volume i would go to ppl not upper lower yeah okay ppl first before upper lower yeah so let's let's do this then okay if you want to bring your calories down stay with maps 15 good call if you want to If you keep your calories at 2 ,700, then I'll let you do PPL.

1:11:35Adam Schafer:There you go. Okay. Makes sense. So what do you want to do? I think I'll stay at the calories I'm at and try a new program. All right. Cool. We'll send you PPL. I like that.

1:11:44Sal Di Stefano:I like that.

1:11:45Adam Schafer:Beautiful. Good job.

1:11:46Sal Di Stefano:Yeah, you'll love this program. Okay, thank you so much, guys. And by the way, too, that increased volume with the calories, a one-pound gain a week, as long as you're getting stronger, is totally good. It's a good thing. You'll probably build a muscle. Yeah, you're crushing. Okay. Cool. Great. Great job. Thank you so much. Good job, Matilda.

1:12:02Adam Schafer:thank you bye-bye as an early trainer as a younger trainer uh i had no idea you know about you know helping when we get our period back or whatever it never really dealt with it i don't think anybody brought it to me uh later on um i had some female athletes and then this kind of came on the radar a little bit and then i worked with somebody who i learned a lot from um i owe a lot to her but she was really really well versed on hormone health and this became a topic um and then And from then on, I realized, wow, this is a really important signal. Like when a woman loses her period and she's young, like that's like a big red flag.

1:12:40Adam Schafer:There's some things we need to work on and figure out. And so since that happened, I've worked with several female clients at helping them regain their period. And sometimes it takes longer than others, but it's pretty consistent. It's typically like reverse diet, gain weight, reduce volume, reduce stress. And then typically like clockwork, for the most part, you'll see it come back and their hormone health comes back.

1:13:03Sal Di Stefano:I'd say you see this sometimes even, or not sometimes, very common too, where you see this where somebody is challenged with getting pregnant.

1:13:11Adam Schafer:Yes. That was every time. Yeah.

1:13:14Sal Di Stefano:And just needed a higher calorie, get up a little bit higher in body fat percentage, and then all of a sudden it flips. It's actually a lot more common. Both that and the losing the periods for young athletes, super common.

1:13:24Adam Schafer:I had a female client who she was fit, strong, all that stuff, struggling getting pregnant. We had to gain 15 pounds of body fat. I mean, it was like, what about muscle? I'm like, that's cool, but we got to get body fat. And it worked.

1:13:37Sal Di Stefano:Well, I share Katrina's story because I always thought, I've definitely had those cases where I had like fit athletes and they definitely, and it was kind of obvious that they needed to gain body fat because they were lean. They were like vascular woman seeing her abs. Yeah, just lean. Very, very obvious. is Katrina really surprised me when the doctor, I didn't see it. I was like, I didn't think she was that lean, but she had to put body fat on in order for us to get pregnant. And then she, right after she did, she got pregnant pretty dang quick. Our next caller is Malia from Illinois. Hi, Malia.

1:14:09Hi, Malia. Hello. Hi, how are you? Good, how are you? How's it going? Good. Well, I had actually emailed you back in November, so I have actually made some changes, is based on listening to you guys, but, um, I am 46 now. And when I had first, uh, sent you guys a message in November, I was about 15 pounds heavier and I started doing, um, the muscle mommy class. And I also just started, I'm starting my second round of the 40 and over, um, class that you guys offer. I, um, I got diagnosed with type one, like three years ago. I had no idea you could get it when you were older, but you can, I've typically always done like the beach body workouts for like ever since I had kids.

1:15:00I also had gestational diabetes when I had kids too. Um, so I've always stayed between one 25, one 35, and then I ballooned up to one 45 all of a sudden. I know sometimes insulin can, you know, the extra insulin is hard to manage with weight sometimes. And I was just on progesterone and estrogen when I had messaged you guys, but I was currently got on testosterone and I think that's helping a little bit. I also am microdosing a GLP-1, but I'm also getting my protein goals and I'm still eating 1 ,800 to 2 ,000 calories. I walk about 20 to 25 ,000 steps a day because I'm a PE teacher and I'm constantly moving.

1:15:46Um, I'm still having like feeling like my mid sections a little big. I'm still trying to figure out the testosterone levels. Um, but yeah. And just kind of wondering what program to do next. I do. Um, I have a, I've had a frozen shoulder on my left side and I kind of have a a little hip impingement as well. Okay.

1:16:08Adam Schafer:So Malia, is it okay if I go through the email that you had sent? Because I read through it and there was just some information for context. Okay, so in the past, you did a lot of workout stuff. Pilates, reform, strength training. You did lots of beach body class type programs. Kind of like you did a lot.

1:16:30Sal Di Stefano:10 to 25 ,000 steps.

1:16:31Adam Schafer:And today you're still taking about 20, 25 ,000, which is quite a bit. it's a lot of steps uh that you're taking per day you're following the muscle mommy program is where you're at i did that one already i did two rounds and now i'm doing the 40 and over one so you're following 40 plus with the 20 000 plus steps a day yeah and you want to get leaner but you're eating about 1800 to 2000 calories we have no runway with calories and so we need to build your calories are really low and i would guess malay and you just correct me if i'm wrong uh but you you you seem to have a history of under eating and over training uh and you probably yeah well what do you mean probably why wouldn't it be true well i've always just tried to stay i mean there was times i was trying when i was a little bit heavier in november december i was going you know 15 1600 calories um and yeah just to kind of lean out and it wasn't working

1:17:31Sal Di Stefano:Yeah. Well, even at 1 ,800, 2 ,000 calories, you're way low. Yeah, you're too low.

1:17:36Adam Schafer:But again, let's just back up for a second. So you have a history of really controlling your intake, trying to control your body weight by eating low, and doing a lot of exercise. Is that true? Yeah. Okay. And so what do you think is happening now? Do you think speeding up your metabolism to build, is that something you can do? Because that's a way different approach than I think what you're used to. Yeah, I would love to do that. I do worry though, like when I eat more carbs as a type one, then I have to take more insulin. Yeah. We can do it with other ways of intaking calories. But here's what happens when you build muscle.

1:18:14Adam Schafer:Your insulin sensitivity goes up a lot. It's actually one of the most effective ways to improve your sensitivity to insulin is to build muscle. It's one of the storage vessels for glycogen, which is what carbohydrates turn into. too. So we need to go on a muscle building, uh, like journey for, for probably a little while because otherwise we're left with this. You're at 18 to 2000 calories, 1800, 2000 calories. You could cut down to 1500, but nothing will happen. You could get down to 1200 and you'll feel horrible. Um, and nothing will happen. So what we need to do is get your, with that much activity, you need to be eating North of 27, 2800 calories.

1:18:53Adam Schafer:Now we're not going to do it overnight, but will slowly build you up to be able to do that. And it's going to be very challenging because it's so different than what you've done for so long.

1:19:05Sal Di Stefano:How are you accomplishing the 10 to 25 ,000 steps? Are you getting on? She works. No, I, I walked a dog every single morning for two to three miles. And then I'm in PE. So we, I'm just constantly moving all day. It's nice outside right now. So we are out walking a lot, like playing tennis walk i walk around with the kids i do their workouts with them sometimes um so yeah i just am active all day yeah you're very active yeah when when how old were you when you first started kind of watching what you ate oh my whole life i feel like um yeah i mean i didn't really start tracking until the trackers the apps came out but probably you know i mean I remember thinking about it when I was in high school and then now, you know, tracking my whole life pretty much.

1:19:59Adam Schafer:Okay. So this could be a tough, this could be a tough, um, relationship to break or change because it's gonna be very different than what you've done in the past. And there's going to be a process of reverse dieting.

1:20:11Sal Di Stefano:Oh, there's gonna be an uncomfortable phase for sure.

1:20:13Adam Schafer:And a process of reducing activity. So some of your activity is you're busy. some of it is you're consciously trying to move and there's probably there's probably a fear there of if i don't move this much and if i start eating more oh my god i'm gonna gain 50 pounds of body fat so so it's gonna be a bit it's gonna be a bit of a process so i can tell you what to do uh but if i'm being quite honest with you malay you would working with a coach would be your best bet because they'd walk you through the process. They'd coach you through all of the challenges. They'd pull back when things get unbearable because they will, because reverse dieting is very difficult for some people.

1:20:55Adam Schafer:And at times a coach will have to pull someone back with their calories just to give them a little break because they're like, this is just too much. Um, and they'll also going to be checking with you on, well, are we getting stronger? Are we doing the right things? But that reverse diet process will build the muscle, improve your insulin sensitivity and then we'll have some runway to do the cut and then the body fat comes off rather than what it feels like which is it's holding on it's like wants to hold on it wants to stick to your body so that would be the direction that would be the direction uh that i would go program wise 40 plus is great anabolic is great 15 you know maps uh 15 is great like those are all work for you really well uh it's going to be the the reverse diet is going to be the most have you intentionally been on a surplus or a bulk like for an extended period no i i think i did try one it was like with a beach body one and i was just eating a lot more carbs during that time but i wasn't diabetic yet um so that one i did try for a little while so a couple things with uh with type one uh if you train too intensely that can that cannot be a good thing so which i'm glad you're following our programs.

1:22:09Adam Schafer:So if you went back and did like insanity, beach body, what it would be totally, that'd be super wrong for you. The second thing is if we, if we bookend your workouts with carbohydrates, that tends to be better. So kind of organize them in a way to where you're most sensitive to insulin, which is when you're strength training. Um, and then bumping calories, we can add some carbs, uh, but we could also do it through fat. We can also bump fat and it really

1:22:33Sal Di Stefano:doesn't make that big of a difference how how good are you at the long rest periods in the program just gonna get to that yes um i mean you mean in between lifts like taking three minutes or yep it is hard because i want to get it done quickly yes yes so i i mean i'll get to two minutes and then i kind of get antsy and jump in yeah of course you do so this is a this is why the coaching part is so important because there's there's there's characteristics of somebody that's that's dieted and trained the way you have for as long as you had, that we're going to have to break and change. And it's going to be a push and a pull through the whole process.

1:23:10Sal Di Stefano:I'm going to have you do something. You're going to resist for a while. Then I'm going to get you a little bit of bought in. Then you're not going to trust me. Then I have to get you bought in again. It's like, it's a push and pull. And then eventually things will click and you'll see the results you want. You'll be happy, but it's not easy. It's not easy because, And you know, because for so many years, I mean, even when Sal said the number 2700, right? Like you felt your reaction, right? I mean, yeah, for sure. And so there's so many signals to me that I know that like what I'm going to have to do with the client.

1:23:44Sal Di Stefano:And so it'll be a process. But if you surrender, if you can trust and go, okay, I trust these guys know what they're doing or I trust the trainer. I know that they're going to take care of me. and you do that and you defer this, then you're going to be okay. But if you're like, I'm going to just figure this out or you fight with them the whole time, then it's going to be a bumpy road along the way. Just establish this new mentality. It would be so helpful because you have the knowledge. You've worked out and you know the exercises and you watch your calories. But to have somebody reiterate this entirely new way of doing it, I think would be super helpful for you.

1:24:24Adam Schafer:They can go really slow too, Malia. Oh, yeah. You know, they can bump your calories 100, you know, a week or two weeks and see how you feel. And what you'll see is you're just going to get stronger. You're just going to get stronger. And it's a snowball effect. So typically what happens is you get stronger, stronger, stronger, calories up, calories up, calories up, calories up. And then things start to work. And you start to get leaner and it feels weird because you feel like you're not doing a lot in comparison to what you've done in the past. So you're like, what? This is weird. I'm getting leaner.

1:24:53Adam Schafer:like i don't i don't i'm moving less this doesn't make any sense it's a process though six to nine

1:24:57Sal Di Stefano:months of you trusting the process so it's not a you know turn it on and then tomorrow you like see it's going to take a little bit of time so just trust that process you've done it a certain way for so long i you know i'm sure you're frustrated yeah because there's nothing there's i and i i'm always like feel for my clients who put the work in it's not a lot you you are not It's not the lack of discipline and effort and commitment. Like, so like that's most people, most people lack consistency, the discipline, the effort. Like that's not your situation. So that's a plus that we have, right? Like I know when I get a client like you, like, okay, I know that she's got the discipline.

1:25:36Sal Di Stefano:She's got the consistency. If I can just get her trust that I know what I'm doing and I'm going to take her through this, like then, then we're going to be okay. But it's a process.

1:25:43Adam Schafer:This is a good place to be though, because, uh, your, your hormones are kind of getting balanced, your own testosterone, you got the progesterone, estrogen, insulin is handled. So we're in a good place to start this kind of process. But I mean, with your diet, I'm going to, I mean, straight up, like you're eating 150 to 170 grams of protein a day, but about 2000 calories, a real easy way to bump calories would be to move away from the super lean cuts of whatever you're eating to get that.

1:26:09Sal Di Stefano:You know, that would be a real simple switch. Get rid of the chicken breast, should be chicken thighs. Stop eating the super, super lean meats, all white or all fish. enjoy some red meat, enjoy some healthy fats.

1:26:21Adam Schafer:That's an easy 200-calorie bump, like very quick and easy. All right, sounds good. Do you want to have a mind pump coach call you? Because I can set that up for you. Sure, yes. Okay, let's do that. And they do a very, very good job. We hire them ourselves. The process is difficult, but it works. And if you've listened to us talk to other callers, we have people come back. They all come back, they're like, I didn't think it would work, but it did. so the process works yeah sounds good thank you guys thank you Malia we appreciate it alright I'm looking forward to trying it okay thank you yeah that's a good example of what we talk about I hope she does it I think she will

1:27:06Sal Di Stefano:I was able to call her out on stuff and she wasn't like when you call someone out and they either lie or defend she was like I know I struggle with the minutes Yes, I know I made that face when Sal said to me. So the self-awareness where she's at, hopefully she, and it sounds like. I mean, she knows she hit a wall. Yeah.

1:27:24Adam Schafer:She's going to be blown away. She'll be blown away when she follows it and is consistent, and then things start clicking. It's always a trip. I love being a part of it because I love hearing from people. I didn't believe it. I didn't think it would work. Yeah. But it totally did. It is. And it will. And she moves so much. She's done this for so long. Like, you do a couple changes. Oh, God. And stay consistent. she's going to just trip out.

1:27:46Sal Di Stefano:Well, what I love with those clients is that, like I said, it's not a lack of effort and commitment and consistency, which is what most people struggle with, right? Most people are not consistent, don't have the effort. No, that's not the problem. The biggest battle in the beginning. Right. So she's got that part. That's right. And so that's a huge plus. But getting her to reframe what it looks like is the challenge. Our next caller is Shell from Pennsylvania. Hi, Shell. Hi, Shell.

1:28:09Adam Schafer:How you doing, hon? Good. How are you guys? Good. Good, good. How can we help you? Well, first off, as always, I want to say thank you. I've been listening to you guys for many years, and I just wish I would have had yous in the 20s when I had my kids young, you know, versus now I'm, like, telling my kids about my grandkids, you know, what they should be doing. Oh, that's great. Where are you at? Beautiful where you're at. I know, where are those trees? Oh, I live full-time in my camper, so this is my office in my camper, and I got a deck out back here.

1:28:41Sal Di Stefano:Oh, how cool. Oh, that's awesome. How cool. Yeah. It's kind of funny you were talking about campers the other weekend. I've been full-time camper for six years, and that's actually one of our businesses. We do mobile RV repairs. Oh, nice. Very cool. So we travel all over the country and work wherever we're at. That's awesome.

1:29:02Adam Schafer:So how can I help you? Well, let me read my email to make it short. We're kind of short here. Apologize. I'm not good with talking with people and stuff, so bear with me. No worries. I've had three DEXA scans done since December of last year. And each time I've changed up regimens or my eating habits. And each time I thought I was doing better. I went through MP hormones prior and then moved with the Vitabella when they started. and even going through all that each time I do it, my scans are worse and not better. And I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong and why that is. Okay. So tell us, okay, so you mind if I read off your email a little bit?

1:29:57Oh, no, yes, please.

1:29:58Adam Schafer:Yeah, because you did a great job. I just want to say this first off. First off, you're so sweet. I really like it. And I'm looking at your email and you gave us some really good details. I think it's important when we get details like this because it gives me a good idea of what we can work on and what might be the issue. So it has your age, your height, and your body weight. You're lifting four days a week. You sleep between six to seven hours a night. So you go to bed at 7 p.m. You wake up at 3. You don't necessarily track your calories, but you prioritize protein first. And I'm assuming you're eating whole natural foods.

1:30:31Adam Schafer:Is that where you're getting that from? Yes. Yeah, basically chicken and beef is like my go-to. And crab, since I'm on the East Coast. We do a lot of blue crab. Okay. And you're taking thyroid, testosterone, and you're on a few peptides here. And then, Doug, when you got that DEXA, did the lean body mass change or was it just body fat? So I see the fat mass has changed here from 2025 to 2026. Yeah. So it's gone up a little bit from that point. Okay. So here's the big glaring thing, and this is going to be annoying to you. The lean mass.

1:31:05Sal Di Stefano:is what I'm looking at.

1:31:07Adam Schafer:Well, yeah, so I see that too. That's also changed, not in the positive. So here's what, it's going to be frustrating. You're going to hear what I'm going to tell you and you're going to be like, well, that sucks. But what's glaring to me, and people never believe it when I tell them, but if you're averaging every night six to seven hours of sleep, it's your sleep. It plays that big of a role. It plays a huge role. So six to seven hours on average is about six and a half hours most nights. if we can get you one if you can get one more hour of sleep that's it one more hour of sleep within 30 days you'll see your body moving in the positive direction i'm just i'm not sure where

1:31:50Sal Di Stefano:how come it's so early 3 a.m what are you doing up at 3 a.m so out in the tree out in the trees too it's pitch black out there what the hell could you do at three o 'clock in the morning out there so i work full-time remotely on top of owning two businesses so i'm allowed to work my 40 hours anytime i want so i will get up at two in the morning and work i usually have my 40 hours in sunday monday and tuesday whoa okay and then once and once that is done wednesday thursday fridays i'm doing the business stuff i'm doing the bookkeeping i'm out in the field like this morning i was out in the the old helping work wow you work a lot wow yes i we do it yeah i mean which by the way totally it's curveball for me because i'm like oh i live in my rv full time out in the forest it sounds like you're vacationing all the time totally not the read uh i was getting from this call like so

1:32:45Adam Schafer:that's a curveball wow so you go if you go you go to bed at 7 p.m yep anywhere between 6 30 and 7 But then you wake up at 2? I wake up between 2 and 2.30, yes. If you could just add an hour to that, if you could wake up an hour later and help yourself sleep through that process, that would make a big difference. Okay. Yeah. Listen, I've had a few clients. Now, oftentimes when you're working with somebody, sleep is part of the formula. But I've had a few clients in the past where they kind of did everything right. And all we did was get their sleep. That's all we did. and it was like it was like i just it was like last key that you just turned oh it was like magic it was changed everything uh body composition energy everything changed just from that alone

1:33:33Sal Di Stefano:so it's important for all clients it becomes exponentially more important as we age too yeah it's not like we're 25 anymore and we could grind like that like i mean it's different it's it's different right and like the sleeping pattern i've had for years so it's like and that's why i'm trying to like nothing's changed in the past year except for my body fat's gone up and my lean body

1:33:57Adam Schafer:mass is going down you know so it's well what happens what happens is i mean humans are pretty good at being uh kind of chronically sleep deprived we can kind of get through things uh but it doesn't mean it's ideal and it's cumulative so you know you can do it for a week you can do it for two weeks, but you do for years. You don't notice it as much. Yeah, it has progressive impacts on our bodies. So that would be right. If you were my client, I'd be like, we're going to start. That's it. We're going to start here. The supplements you could take that would enhance or improve your sleep, and they're very inexpensive.

1:34:35Adam Schafer:These are very inexpensive. They're backed by data. Very inexpensive. You go theanine, glycine. So those are amino acids. They're really, really cheap. And then apigenin. Epigenin is a compound found in chamomile. You can find those on Amazon. They're super, super cheap. You take them before bed on an empty stomach, and it should help you be able to stay asleep. Because I'm assuming you're probably so used to this, you probably just wake up at 2. Is that what's happening? Yeah, yeah. There's no alarm ever. So what I would do is just you wake up, you look at your clock. Okay, it's 2 o 'clock. I'm going to just shut my eyes, and I'm going to lay in bed for the next hour.

1:35:10Adam Schafer:And what you'll find is you'll doze in and out for the next hour, but eventually your body will get used to it, and you should be able to sleep longer.

1:35:16Sal Di Stefano:Would you also recommend she does like a mega dose of creatine with that lack of sleep too?

1:35:21Adam Schafer:I mean, do you already take creatine? I do. I take it consistently on the days I work out, but on the days I do not, I seem to lax in remembering to take it. Just take it every day. That'll help. That'll also help. It's just good for you, but it won't make up for lack of sleep. In some ways it helps with performance, but it doesn't make up in the other ways. But that's pretty much it, hun. I mean, everything else looks good. I mean, diet-wise, you know, because you don't track, you could look at that. You could look at maybe big offenders, like, you know, there's that bag of chips I have here and there or stuff like that.

1:35:56Adam Schafer:You know, you could always look at that. But honestly, the big thing that's really standing out to me is the sleep. And do it for 30 days. Try it for 30 days to be consistent.

1:36:06Sal Di Stefano:It's almost guaranteed that, Sal, because why I don't think it's diet stuff is because we're losing muscle. if she was like overeating every now and then and still prioritizing like you'd still you'd still hang on to muscle or build muscle your body is paring down muscle because it's it's it's fighting back it's fighting back and it's pushing back because it's lacking sleep and that's why and so it's we got to fix that it's that it's 100 that yeah it's like yeah because it's like over time i was feeling better and like each time like each time i got the adexa scan i was super excited looking forward to it and then i get the results and quite the deflation in my attitude towards

1:36:43Adam Schafer:everything yeah no don't be deflated you're doing you're doing all the other stuff right and what i want to remind you of is so you're right because but here's what'll happen if you stay on this path you're going to feel like crap so stress hormones feel good so we all think we all been told cortisol is bad and you don't want to when your cortisol is high when your stress hormones are high you got energy. You feel good. You almost feel wired, but that chronic elevation, uh, reduces muscle mass and it helps promote fat gain over time. Then it crashes. Then that's the bad part. When you get to the point where you crash, then it gets emergency and it feels terrible.

1:37:19Adam Schafer:You're like, I'm like, God, I feel horrible. What's going on. But in between that is like this, like wired energy. I used to have people like this in my gym. They'd show up, they do these crazy intense classes. I feel great. What's going on. I'm like, uh, you're doing too much, but I feel so good. I'm like, you're a cortisol junkie. Let's get this to come down. And then, of course, everything works.

1:37:37Sal Di Stefano:It might be a worthwhile investment for you to get like an aura ring or like a Fitbit to track sleep just so you have like a data point. Because I know what Sal is saying is like try and get an hour of sleep. But there's times where I'm laying there and doing that and I get really restless bad sleep. And there are times where I get really good sleep and it's nice to have that data point. I can look at my aura ring and see, oh, nice. Today was a 80 score. today and so and i'll give you something to kind of focus on since that's the main focus i think there's a lot of value in investing in something like that fitbit or a ring anything that you have i do have i do have a garmin that does that okay um my average which is like my highest i've ever had was a 75 wow yeah yeah so shell this is shell this is our sleep man if that's your highest at a 75 that which means you probably have some 60s and 50s oh yeah i average like a 68 oh god yeah for like the past year that's our goal that's our if i was training if i was training you that's what because you're doing everything else really good that's all i'm talking to you about is like let's get competitive with how good can we get to sleep do you have like a routine like an hour before sleep you do or like do you prep you know before that the hardest part is like my husband doesn't get home till 5 30 in the evening so when he gets home we eat because that's our you know and then you know we talk business and then i go to go to bed at seven and then i'll get up like it when he comes to bed at nine i'll wake up and take my medicine that i have to take on an empty stomach because it's not empty when i go to bed so i get up to take it damn girl you guys work hard yeah there's a couple you guys be working your ass yeah there's a couple

1:39:20Adam Schafer:things there's a few things we can fix there with your sleep like black everything out of course because six seven o 'clock the sun's still out yep see if you can figure out i'm asked see if you can figure out a way to not have to wake up at nine uh to take your medication uh if you could maybe or can you yeah switch it so you go to bed at nine and then you know extend your morning a bit i i could do that my i guess how it all originally started was i started to go in bed earlier so i didn't snack at night oh that's how that's how that's why i start that's how i started going to bed earlier so i didn't snack at night okay and that took out the snacking and then that was years ago and now it's become a habit oh this is not necessary yeah no it's not it's it's really it's not it's a here's okay here's what we're gonna do your husband goes to bed at 9 p.m okay i want you to try going to bed at 9 p.m.

1:40:17Adam Schafer:You have your last meal at 5.30. That way you can have your supplements before bed. And now you're obviously going to be switching your circadian rhythm. So it's going to take about a week to get used to. It's going to be an adjustment. So give yourself a week or two to get used to it. And then sleep eight hours. That's going to change your life. Yeah. And he will interrupt you too by coming in. Plus you go to bed when the sun's down. yeah it's going to change your life yeah all right i will i will give it a try like i'll give

1:40:50Sal Di Stefano:anything to try the other thing we could also do just because we are trying something new with you like this is and i don't know if you've ever heard us talk about the concierge but you'd be like a great candidate for someone who just checks in with our team once a month and we're making these little little adjustments um i could have one of the trainers call you and kind of explain what that looks like if that's something you'd be interested in yeah definitely are you um with all the peptides and the stuff that i'm taking through mp hormones is that i don't want to say is it necessary is it i started out taking it because i didn't have testosterone at all and i've gotten that up but even i've been doing that for two a year and a half now two years but my libido is still tanked so could that still have something to do with my sleep too Oh, that's sleep.

1:41:40That's sleep. It'll help balance you out.

1:41:42Adam Schafer:100%. If you fix your sleep, I'm going to tell you right now. So thyroid, you want to stay on. Testosterone, you want to stay on. The other peptides are great, but you don't need them. You fix your sleep, it's going to change everything. Everything. Give it 30 days, like dedicated 30 days. Go to bed at 9, wake up eight hours later. Give it 30 days, and it will change your life.

1:42:04Sal Di Stefano:I mean, the fact that you're already tracking on Garmin, I love, because now we have like a data point. that you know what it's been like. And so you and I, when we're meeting, if we're meeting, I'm just telling you, what's our scores been? And our goal is just to keep getting better and better. Let's just keep getting better and better scores and being consistent with those scores. And of all the things that you got going on, that's the thing we're focusing on. Because if we can put, like Sal said, if we can start stringing 30 days and we can break your record of 75 and we see an 80 for the first time, you know what I'm saying?

1:42:33Sal Di Stefano:We see an 80 for the first time. You get a couple of 70s in a row. like now we're kicking ass and then we start building on that.

1:42:39Adam Schafer:Just to be clear, give it 30 days, but it's going to take about six months for this to become really good and regular for you. So it's going to be a process of getting used to. Okay. I just want to be clear. All right.

1:42:48Sal Di Stefano:We got this. Yeah. We got this. Simple. It'd be huge for you. Simple and straightforward.

1:42:53Adam Schafer:So do it. It's just it. Nothing else. You don't got to change anything else. Okay. All right. I appreciate all your help. Thanks, Joe. Good to see you. Thank you.

1:43:02Sal Di Stefano:Dude, I was so thrown off by the living in the RV in the trees. Like she grinds. She grinds. She's up like hella early. Bro, what a grinder. But you know what?

1:43:13Adam Schafer:I'm glad towards the end she started talking about why she does that. Because I thought that was necessary. I was like, yeah. I guess I assumed this was just like a necessary sleep schedule. I kind of assumed that at first. But she did it because she didn't want a snack. So she just stuck on the schedule she didn't have to keep. I had a client once. I had a dude I trained once. All we did, it was fix his sleep. That's all we did. He gained eight pounds of muscle and lost 2 % body fat. Yeah. Changed nothing else. Oh, yeah. That was my client who would get interrupted all the time from international calls.

1:43:41And so once she retired, it was like, boom, everything worked. Yeah. You know?

1:43:46Sal Di Stefano:Oh, I mean, it's clearly that. It's clearly that with her. So clear. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

1:43:50Adam Schafer:And people don't believe it. I know she's kind of like, all right, I'll give it a shot, but I'm telling her.

1:43:53Sal Di Stefano:She knows, though. I feel like when we point, I mean, and it's great that she has had some data, too. Like, to say that your best score you've ever seen is a 75. I know. is that's a bad night oh yeah dude our next caller is andrew from washington what's up andrew how you doing andrew what's happening how are you guys doing good dude how can we help you um well i'm a little i guess i would say frustrated and uh lost here so i'll start like everybody else and again thank you guys for taking my call um i'll read you what i wrote you all and i guess we can go from there all right let's do it all right so hi sol adam justin and doug i've been listening to the podcast now for about eight months and it's completely changed how i approach training i'm hoping you can understand my help with hoping you can help me understand my latest decks of results because they don't seem to match my effort or my progress i'm 42 5 10 before this I'd never trained seriously.

1:44:54I did CrossFit for about three years, then took a year off due to arthritis in my chest. Since returning, I've moved away from CrossFit and now focus solely on strength training and building muscle. My wife is a certified personal trainer and a CrossFit level two coach, so I've had plenty of good guidance. I might be sleeping on the couch after going around my own personal trainer to ask you guys these questions.

1:45:19Sal Di Stefano:We won't tell her. Well, she made sure she's posted up in the next room to hear what I said. All right. All right. So I do want to preface this as this, for the past several months, I've been on a structured cut against her recommendation. I've been at about 1 ,700 to 1 ,800 calories per day, 170 to 190 grams of protein every day with mostly whole foods. Let's see here. I started completely plant-based. I've been plant-based for about six years now. Then added tuna and shrimp just because the volume became too much to eat. It was like I had to eat a bale of hay every day just to hit my protein.

1:46:07I track everything consistently and hit my calories and protein goals. Sleep has been consistently good. I lift three days a week using progressive overload. On my non-lifting days, I walk or ruck three to four miles carrying 50 to 70 pounds. I also average over 10 ,000 steps a day about 90 % of the time. My DEXA showed a 14.7 % body fat and 146.1 pounds of lean mass on my first scan. Six weeks later, my DEXA showed a 16.2 % body fat and 139.1 pounds of lean mass. According to the scan, I lost 4.7 pounds overall, gained two pounds of fat, and lost seven pounds of lean mass. What doesn't make sense is my lifts have increased as far as strength goes.

1:47:02I do look a little softer than I did in May, so I can understand that I may have gained a little body fat. But I just can't really understand how that happened unless it had to do with recovery or nutrition. So I guess my main questions are, is were my calories simply too low? Could the weighted rucking and overall activity level have interfered with recovery and body composition? How much of the reported lean mass loss could realistically be glycogen and water versus actual muscle? and if I was your client, where do you think I should go from here? You hit it already

1:47:39Sal Di Stefano:and I bet your wife told you this. Both. It's both. Yeah. Over-trained, under-fed. Big time. So,

1:47:46Adam Schafer:oftentimes we'll get people on the show, we'll ask questions and the answer is very obvious. Yeah. So, this is not mysterious whatsoever. In fact, if you didn't tell me your DEXA scan, I would have guessed. Yep. Now, to answer your question about strength, strength can go up because technique gets better and central nervous system, central nervous adaptation. Yeah, the adaptations get better so you just get better at the lift yeah so now you do that long enough typically you end up building muscle you said you went on a cut so 17 to 1800 calories to cut do you know where you were before that um probably low 2000s okay i've i've had a horrible uh eating habit my whole life i was a commercial fisherman for a long time um owned a body shop So like I ate at night.

1:48:34I didn't eat breakfast. I barely eat lunch. And then I just gorged at night. Got up, did it again for the majority of my life. Okay.

1:48:41Sal Di Stefano:I'm assuming too that if you have a CrossFit background too, that you probably train pretty intensely. And so that would be my guess. I'm sure you don't seem like somebody who trains like soft and weak. Like you probably get after it when you lift. Yeah. And that is one of my largest problems is this. And like even the tracking the nutrition is I'm all or nothing. Yeah. Like I'm weighing my onions. I'm weighing absolutely everything. And then when I work out, it's very difficult for me to dial back. Yeah. Okay.

1:49:14Adam Schafer:Can I, why plant-based? Is this because ethical reasons, moral reasons, or is it because you want to be healthier? Well, a big part was my wife is plant-based for health reasons. Um, and it was just easier. I do all the cooking. So instead of making, you know, a meal for my kids, a meal for my wife and a meal for me, I figured I'll just eat what she's eating. And what, is it okay if I ask you what the health reasons are? Does she have like a polymorphism where her, her blood lipids are all over the place or? Um, it had something to do with migraines, the estrogen and like dairy and chicken really just gave her really extreme migraines to her.

1:49:50Adam Schafer:I mean, so, so the, the, for you, Andrew, the prescription is simple. Uh, you got to bump

1:49:55Sal Di Stefano:your calories way up yeah like way well that or a combination of more appropriate programming with a little bit more calories it's the combination of the two that's killing well

1:50:06Adam Schafer:the calories are real low dude your body's the thirsting like if you bumped your calories 800 if you went up 800 calories you would notice dramatic difference and if you threw in some red meat dude that would make a big difference for you red meat and eggs would help you a lot those two things right there now because if you try to go up 800 calories with your plant-based diet this will be really hard for you to do i mean why not i mean eat like uh but the plant

1:50:31Sal Di Stefano:base is the base and then just throw some meat or like literally cook the same shit but then just throw some chicken or beef there with it and then that's kind of what i've done with the the tuna salmon okay cool yeah the seafood if anything i'd be more inclined to go pescatarian um i just actually just the other day we were talking and took 42 years of my life to realize with uh um red meat that i'm eating muscle yeah do you do you take uh do you take creatine i do i do about uh 15 uh yeah 15 grams a day all right do you take a methylated b vitamin i do not know i have he's got me on a whole bunch of supplements i just do what he says okay okay good i do not i do not She said I do not.

1:51:17All right.

1:51:17Adam Schafer:So try switching to a methylated B vitamin. You might be getting your Bs anyways, but I would go methylated B. Just some people don't absorb Bs very well unless it's the methylated version. So you'll notice a difference. If not, you can go back to the regular.

1:51:31Sal Di Stefano:Are you going to get a big I told you so when we hang up right now or what? Well, okay. So I was listening to episode, oh, geez, 29, 23 this morning and had to come in. and eat crow and tell her, you're training me exactly how they're talking about it. Minus the rucking and the walking, which was my idea. Yeah.

1:51:55Adam Schafer:So if you want to feel better very quickly and have energy go through the roof, build muscle, get stronger, get leaner, you want to see crazy results, you would cut the rucking out, you'd stick to the strength training, you'd bump your calories 800, and you'd be good. and you know 800 from the 18th i want to be around 26 minimum yeah i'd have you at 2600 calories to start with the rucking i'd have you over 3000 okay yeah but 2600 calories is not a ton but with the strength training 2600 calories get some of those fats in there so you know get some of those fats because you're hitting your protein yeah um and then within a week of doing that within a week of doing that you're gonna be like what's i feel way better week i mean we could

1:52:38Sal Di Stefano:supercharge it even more if I play with your training a little bit too. I mean, how you, I just have a feeling the way you approach lifting is super intense. Are you good? How are you with rest periods? Do you rest for three minutes in between sets? I do. I do. That is one thing that I am doing. Um, as far as the, Oh geez. Uh, what were you going for there? What were you saying right before the three minute rest? intensity intensity how intensity yes so she tells me to stop when i've got a couple left in the tank she's right she's right i don't this isn't i told you this is good she's not in her head the whole time we're talking right now i know she is yeah no yeah no she's she's right let two of the that's what you do i mean that will suit what sal gave you advice wise i think that'll already send you in the right direction you want to supercharge it listen to her you Leave two in the tank.

1:53:33Sal Di Stefano:Leave two in the tank. Drop the rucking.

1:53:35Adam Schafer:Bro, you're going to gain eight pounds. You'll gain eight pounds of lean body mass so fast. Yeah. If you just stop your sets, two reps short, eat 800 more calories, cut the rucking out. You'll gain eight pounds of muscle so quick, it's going to blow you away. Okay. Now, just make sure I keep those steps up. I know that's a big one. You guys always hit. Your steps are fine. I'm not worried about someone like you with activity. I think you're the kind of guy that has to pull back.

1:53:58Sal Di Stefano:Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah. and then really and then and really push the protein get get some meat in there if you go the the uh fish route salmon get some salmon in there um and then yeah you're that's gonna make a huge difference bro huge difference wonderful hey thank you very much you got it dude yeah you got it man good luck email us with the results yeah yeah we'll do we'll do yeah take it easy thank you

1:54:22Adam Schafer:very simple fix yeah yeah i you know i love clients like that because they're like oh cool oh you're gonna blow your mind bro it's always it's always more fun to take somebody who has

1:54:33Sal Di Stefano:got discipline and consistency and pull them back and adjust things because those are the ones that are like mind blown because they're like they don't lack effort and and you know i'm saying so it's like adjusting and tweaking and being like hey this could be easier bro i'm gonna say

1:54:46Adam Schafer:i didn't want to say this to him because i never want to under promise because you know you never know but uh what'll probably happen he's gonna gain 10 pounds and get leaner he's gonna bump his calories and he's like what i lost three percent body fat while i gained that's exactly

1:54:58Sal Di Stefano:to cut out the cut out the rucking pull back on the intensity of the training bump calories he will absolutely put 10 pounds on and it'll be like all lean mass mostly all lean mass yeah if

1:55:09Adam Schafer:you like the show come find us on instagram it's mind pump media thank you for listening to mind pump if your goal is to build and shape your body dramatically improve your health and energy and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Super Bundle at mindpumpmedia.com. The RGB Super Bundle includes MAPS Anabolic, MAPS Performance, and MAPS Aesthetic. Nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by Sal, Adam, and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels, and performs. With detailed workout blueprints and over 200 videos, The RGB Super Bundle is like having Sal, Adam, and Justin as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price.

1:55:53The RGB Super Bundle has a full 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can get it now plus other valuable free resources at mindpumpmedia.com. If you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five-star rating and review on iTunes and by introducing Mind Pump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support, and until next time, this is Mind Pump.

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