2568: The Top 5 Most Overrated Health Hacks & More (Listener Coaching)

Summary

Podcast Summary: Mind Pump Episode 2568 – "The Top 5 Most Overrated Health Hacks & More (Listener Coaching)"

Release Date: April 4, 2025
Hosts: Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer, Justin Andrews
Producer: Doug Egge
Duration: Approximately 64 minutes of main content

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1. Introduction to the Episode

In this episode, the Mind Pump team delves into the myriad of health hacks proliferating on social media, critically evaluating their actual benefits versus the hype surrounding them. Leveraging their combined experience of over four decades in the fitness industry, Sal, Adam, and Justin aim to demystify popular fitness trends and provide science-backed insights to help listeners make informed decisions about their health and wellness routines.

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2. Top 5 Most Overrated Health Hacks

a. Morning Routines

Timestamp: [03:00]

The hosts argue that while morning routines can have value, they are often overemphasized due to the vast amount of content promoting them. Adam Schafer highlights, “Getting more sleep is far more valuable for 99.9% of people than waking up two hours early to do the perfect morning routine” ([05:18]).

Key Points:

• Morning routines receive disproportionate attention, often overshadowing more impactful health practices.
• The pressure to wake up early can lead to sleep deprivation, which is detrimental to overall health.
• Consistency in fundamental health practices like sleep, diet, and exercise trumps the intricacies of a morning routine.

b. Cold Plunge

Timestamp: [08:08]

Cold plunges are praised for their potential benefits in reducing inflammation and boosting the immune system. However, the hosts contend that their impact is minimal compared to essential practices like a healthy diet, adequate sleep, and regular exercise.

Jeff explains, “All the research points to sauna as having more health benefits compared to cold plunging” ([09:18]).

Key Points:

• Cold plunges are often marketed as miraculous health solutions but offer marginal benefits.
• Simpler alternatives, such as gradual temperature changes through regular showers, can provide similar advantages without the need for specialized equipment.
• The allure of cold plunges is partly due to their “cool” factor and the challenge they present in today’s comfort-oriented society.

c. Supplements

Timestamp: [12:25]

Supplements receive extensive promotion in the fitness industry, yet the hosts argue they play a minimal role in overall health compared to diet, exercise, and sleep. Adam emphasizes, “Supplements are maybe 1% of what impacts your performance and health” ([14:10]).

Key Points:

• Supplements are often marketed for benefits beyond their actual impact, driven by profit motives.
• They are most effective in addressing nutrient deficiencies but offer limited benefits otherwise.
• Real, whole food sources and proper nutrition are far more effective for health and performance.

d. Blue Light Blocking Glasses

Timestamp: [15:05]

While blue light blocking glasses can slightly mitigate the effects of screen exposure before bedtime, they are vastly less effective than behavioral changes, such as reducing screen time in the evenings.

Jeff states, “It's like a band aid over a gaping wound versus not getting cut in the first place” ([15:51]).

Key Points:

• These glasses offer minimal benefits compared to eliminating electronic device use before sleep.
• Reliance on gadgets to solve behavioral issues fosters dependency on marketed products.
• Simple lifestyle adjustments yield significantly better results for sleep quality and overall health.

e. Fasting

Timestamp: [17:49]

Intermittent fasting is lauded for its purported benefits in fat loss and longevity. However, the hosts argue that its benefits are comparable to maintaining a consistent calorie deficit, which is a more straightforward and equally effective approach.

Jeff humorously notes, “Fasting has been around for thousands of years, but not for weight loss” ([18:37]).

Key Points:

• Fasting’s popularity is a recent development, repurposing an age-old practice for modern weight loss trends.
• Its effectiveness is similar to traditional calorie deficit methods without offering unique advantages.
• Psychological and behavioral factors, such as meal timing flexibility, can aid in adherence to calorie goals more effectively than fasting.

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3. Most Underrated Health Hacks

a. Pre-Bed Routine

Timestamp: [19:19]

Contrasting morning routines, pre-bed routines receive insufficient attention despite their critical role in ensuring quality sleep, which is foundational to overall health.

Adam asserts, “Doing something that sets you up for good sleep has such crazy ramifications down the line” ([19:23]).

Key Points:

• Establishing a consistent pre-bed routine can dramatically improve sleep quality and, consequently, health.
• Simple practices like reducing electronic use, dimming lights, and winding down activities can enhance sleep efficiency.
• Prioritizing sleep hygiene offers extensive downstream benefits that overshadow the impact of morning routines.

b. Walking

Timestamp: [22:03]

Walking is highlighted as a highly effective, low-risk exercise that offers substantial health benefits, including improved insulin sensitivity, mobility, and digestion.

Jeff shares his evolution in recognizing walking's importance: “Walking was once overrated for me, but now it’s my number one recommendation” ([22:50]).

Key Points:

• Walking is accessible to virtually everyone, regardless of fitness level or age.
• It enhances cardiovascular health, aids in weight management, and supports mental well-being.
• Incorporating daily walks can serve as a foundation for more advanced fitness routines.

c. Sunlight Exposure

Timestamp: [23:55]

Adequate sunlight exposure is underscored for its profound impact on mental health, mood enhancement, and overall well-being.

Adam emphasizes, “Sunlight could be sold as an antidepressant; it's that powerful” ([23:55]).

Key Points:

• Sunlight is essential for vitamin D synthesis, which is crucial for bone health and immune function.
• Regular exposure to natural light regulates circadian rhythms, improving sleep quality and mood.
• Lack of sunlight is a significant contributor to seasonal affective disorder and other mood-related issues.

d. Whole Foods

Timestamp: [25:40]

A diet centered around whole, natural foods is lauded for its ability to combat obesity and improve overall health without the need for supplementary interventions.

Adam states, “If everybody ever did nothing else but eat whole foods, we would solve the obesity epidemic by itself” ([26:49]).

Key Points:

• Whole foods are naturally satiating due to their fiber and nutrient content, reducing overall calorie intake.
• They are free from the additives and excessive calories found in processed foods, which drive overeating.
• Emphasizing whole foods leads to better nutrient intake, improved digestion, and enhanced metabolic health.

e. Hiring a Coach

Timestamp: [28:00]

Perhaps the most underrated health hack, hiring a knowledgeable coach can provide personalized guidance, accountability, and expertise that far exceed the benefits of self-guided efforts or generic online programs.

Adam passionately states, “A good coach is worth their weight in gold. Nothing comes close” ([28:00]).

Key Points:

• Coaches offer tailored programs that address individual needs, goals, and potential obstacles.
• They provide motivation, ensure proper technique, and help clients navigate plateaus and setbacks.
• Investing in a coach can accelerate progress, enhance results, and foster long-term adherence to health and fitness goals.

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4. Listener Story: Callum Ferris

Timestamp: [41:53]

The episode features an emotionally powerful story from a listener, Laura, whose 15-year-old son, Callum Ferris, is battling high-grade glioma cancer. Through her journey, she found solace and support via the Mind Pump community and Rock Recovery Center.

Laura shares, “The way it all came together to bring her son to them was like God tapping on my shoulder, saying, I got you” ([42:30]).

Key Points:

• The story underscores the profound impact of community support and accessible recovery resources.
• It highlights the integral role of Mind Pump in connecting listeners with life-changing assistance.
• The hosts express their commitment to helping others through partnerships with organizations like Rock Recovery Center.

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5. Q&A: Listener Coaching

a. Fitness Tempo and Rep Ranges

Timestamp: [65:54]

Listener Paulo Ruejka asks about recommended tempos for 8 to 10 rep ranges and adjustments for raw power or muscle endurance.

Adam advises, “For most people, the risk versus reward ratio is best with a more controlled tempo” ([66:26]).

Key Points:

• Controlled tempos enhance form, reduce injury risk, and effectively stimulate muscle growth.
• Advanced athletes may incorporate explosive tempos to develop power once foundational techniques are mastered.
• Tempo manipulation is a tool best used after establishing solid training principles.

b. Foot Position in Squatting and Deadlifting

Timestamp: [72:55]

Ernie Meyer inquires about the importance of foot alignment during squats and deadlifts to avoid overthinking the setup.

Jeff suggests a practical approach, “The first thing I always like to teach a client is to stand naturally and go from there” ([73:56]).

Key Points:

• Feet should be positioned comfortably, ensuring balance and symmetry to prevent injury.
• There is no universally “perfect” foot position; individual biomechanics and mobility play significant roles.
• Flexibility in training different stances can enhance overall strength and adaptability.

c. AI’s Role in Strength Training and Nutrition Plans

Timestamp: [75:23]

Listener MF Swellness poses a forward-looking question about the integration of AI in strength training programming, nutrition planning, and mental-emotional support.

Adam responds, “AI will never replace the human element because trust and connection are irreplaceable” ([76:33]).

Key Points:

• AI may excel in data-driven aspects like personalized programming and nutritional adjustments.
• The human element—empathy, understanding, and motivational support—is irreplaceable and essential in coaching.
• Successful implementation of AI will likely see it as a tool to augment, not replace, human coaches, enhancing their effectiveness and reach.

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6. Conclusion

In Episode 2568, Mind Pump effectively balances critical analysis with heartfelt storytelling, offering listeners a comprehensive overview of what truly matters in health and fitness. By debunking the overhyped health trends and spotlighting underrated yet impactful practices, the hosts empower their audience to prioritize strategies that deliver meaningful and sustainable results. Additionally, the episode reinforces the value of community support and personalized coaching in achieving optimal health outcomes.

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For more insights and expert programming, visit mindpumppodcast.com and follow the hosts on Instagram @mindpumpmedia, @mindpumpsal, @mindpumpadam, @mindpumpjustin, and @mindpumpdoug.

Transcript

[Sal Destefano]

If you want to pump your body.

[Adam Schaefer]

And expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind Pump.

[Sal Destefano]

Mind Pump with your hosts, Sal Destefano.

[Adam Schaefer]

Adam Schaefer and Jeff Fitness, health and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump. Today's episode people wrote in questions. We picked from their favorite ones and then we answered them on the podcast. But this was after the intro. The Intro today is 64 minutes long. In our intro today, we talk about fitness science around diet and supplements. We actually had. We showed into the podcast today of a woman whose son is going through rehab. It was really, really touching that happened in the intro. Then we got to answering the questions. By the way, if you want to write in a question that we can pick, go to Instagram indpump Media. That's where you do it. Now, this episode is brought to you by some sponsors. The first one is Rock Recovery Center. They specialize in helping people break free from addiction. We know the two guys that run their program. We trust them. It's amazing. Here's what they're doing. By the way, for our listeners, if you need help or someone you know needs help, go to rockrecoverycenter.com mindpump they will get on the phone with you, answer some questions and they will pick somebody to give a four month $60,000 rehab scholarship to. It's pretty amazing. Again, it's rockrecoverycenter.com mind pump. This episode is also brought to by Organifi. Today we talked about their green juice. I'm going to be using it regularly to see if it impacts my inflammatory system or if I get less inflammation. Anyway, Organifi has lots of good supplements. Go check them out. Go to Organifi.com that's O R G A N I I excuse me O R G A N I F I.com mindpump use the code mindpump. Get 20% off. We also have a sale on some workout programs this month, maps hit 50% off. And the extreme Fitness bundle, which includes Maps Hit Maps Performance and Maps Prime. That Bundle is also 50% off. If you're interested, go to maps fitnessproducts.com and then use the code APRIL50 for the discount. All right, here comes the show. Every time you turn on social media, there seems to be a new health hack that's going to dramatically improve your health, help with longevity, reduce inflammation, make you feel better. Here's the deal. Most of them are terribly, terribly overrated. We're going to talk about the top five most overrated health hacks let's go. I'll start with the first one.

[Jeff]

Can we rated. Hey, can I preface this first, before you, like, ruin all of our partners?

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, let me say that. Let me say the first one. Let me say the first one.

[Doug]

You're probably smart.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. We got to say the first one before we lose people first. Then we'll get into this. Okay, so morning routine, I think that was what's. That's got to be one of the top, most overrated health hacks. Okay. Why are they overrated? It's not because what we're about to talk about doesn't have value. It's that they're overrated.

[Jeff]

It's that it's not one of the big rocks.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's right.

[Jeff]

That's. To me, this is the thing, because obviously we're going to say some things that people be. Wait a second. You guys promoted this?

[Adam Schaefer]

You said.

[Jeff]

Yes, there's all the things we've ever promoted. We use and we like. But one of the things we've always been very consistent on this show is telling people what are the big things that move them.

[Doug]

You need to look here first.

[Jeff]

Yeah.

[Doug]

You know, this is, like, secondary.

[Adam Schaefer]

It's ancillary to this 100%.

[Jeff]

So I know that's we're going to get some. Some pushback on these, but I love it. It's a good. It's a good discussion. It's staying true to how we've always communicated these things. Doesn't mean that they. They can't be valuable. Doesn't mean they haven't helped a lot some people along the way and been a big deal for them. But generally speaking, there is really a handful of things that really move the needle. And if you just did those things, you would be 90% healthier and fitter than everybody else if you just did that. And all the other stuff. Okay. Are, like, nice to have.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's right. So all the things we're talking about, starting with morning routines, are overrated because you see so much content around them that you think they do more than they actually do. Now, part of this is the reason why these things are overrated is a. Either because they sell a product which, look, all companies have to profit. There's nothing wrong with that. But what that can do is that can skew the information that you receive or how much of the information you receive comes from things that are profitable, which makes you believe because of the amount of content, that that is worth more than it actually is. Now, with morning routines, they tend to get a lot of views. So people like to post their morning routines or talk about them. And it's like this thing that you do, and it Sounds like Magic 4am Club, but the truth is there's some value in them, but it doesn't outrank all the other important things. And it's gotten ridiculous with morning.

[Jeff]

There's the most viral thing on Internet right now is a. Is the guy's morning routine. It's going crazy. Just. And everybody's. I mean, the reason why it's going crazy too is everybody's making spoofs of it and, you know, making fun of it.

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, it's gotten so crazy because, you know, nine out of 10 people who see these videos are like, dude, I got to be at work at this time. I got kids to get up. My kid woke up in the middle of the night. What I have to do, like, I gotta wake up two hours before to make all this stuff happen. Like, is that. Okay, let me, let me put it to you this way. Getting more sleep is far more valuable for 99.9% of people than waking up two hours early to do the perfect morning routine.

[Jeff]

Have you guys ever heard. Have you guys ever heard Alex Hormozi go on this tangent?

[Adam Schaefer]

No.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Jeff]

Oh, are you serious?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Jeff]

You guys, Dylan, you have to cut that in right here because I want the. These guys to see that edit. His take on morning routines is, I think, probably one of my favorite.

[Doug]

He loves to compete against somebody that has that mentality.

[Adam Schaefer]

Right.

[Doug]

Because what if they don't get that.

[Jeff]

Yeah.

[Doug]

What if they don't get their perfect scenario morning routine now they're their whole day's.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Doug]

You know, what do you do?

[Jeff]

How do you navigate? Right? So I, So I, I'm 100 in that camp. I've also always. Because I know there's a lot of people too, that try and connect it to the correlation of millionaires and they all have this, get up at 5am, do this. And I'm not that guy. I never have been that guy. And I've tried to be that guy so many times of like, just never been a morning person and never been able to stick to it and be consistent with it. And I have tried. I've fallen for the propaganda of man. This is what's keeping me from the next level, you know what I'm saying? Like, I, I can't make enough because I can't get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and do these things, you know? And so for the longest time, I definitely tried to Be that guy.

[Doug]

I'm proud of two things right now, just listening to you talk. You know, Sal, your. Your transformation getting into, like, Christianity and Adam, his transformation in conspiracy theory. Yeah, those two things.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. It's great. A lot of conversions happening.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

No, I think so. What you find the reason why you. You see the data that shows that people. People that make this much money or have this much success tend to have a morning routine, is what you're probably looking at is what's called reverse causation. The kind of person that tends to succeed also tends to structure and plan things in their day and prioritize things in their day. So that oftentimes includes some kind of a structured morning, which allows them to get more work done or allows them to do. Or also, what it also does is it tends to encourage them to go to bed early, because here's why I think this is overrated. People will lose sleep to try to get their morning routine.

[Jeff]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, no. Even though I'm going to bed at midnight, I got to be up at 6, so I could do my morning routine. No, like, more sleep is 10 times more valuable than your morning routine.

[Jeff]

Or the point that Justin was making is, like, you don't. Like, you missed the ice bath or you miss the, you know, the. The. The first.

[Adam Schaefer]

You know, look at the sun for 15.

[Jeff]

Yeah. Whatever your, like, steps you have, you miss one of them, and then it throws your day off.

[Adam Schaefer]

Or you're.

[Jeff]

You' at our. You start the day with a failure because you didn't accomplish this thing that you. You put so much credit in. Like, oh, it's so valuable. And it's like, no, it's not. You should be able to perform on. No rest on one night. You should be able to perform if, like, rushing out your door some days and other days where you got two hours to slowly wake up and do your.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, you're. You're. What you're talking about is just the inflexibility because of the. The fact that you make it so important.

[Jeff]

Yes, it's so important. Yes.

[Adam Schaefer]

No. 100%. Uh, next up. You kind of mentioned it. Cold plunge. Now, is there value to cold plunge? Yes. But how important is it or impactful? Is cold plunging to eating healthy, getting good sleep, and exercising? It's not even in the same universe. Okay, now, why is cold plunging so popular? Well, you could sell products around it, and also, it looks cool. It's really hard. It's something people like to brag about. I think there is some value to it for things like inflammation, immune system boosting. But when it comes to inflammation and immune system boosting, are there things that are far more impactful? Absolutely. And so for that reason, cold plunging is overrated. People think it does more than it actually does. And again, it has value, but it doesn't have the kind of value that I think that people subscribe to.

[Jeff]

I love cold plungings. And I also 100% agree with you saying. I actually just got asked a question the other day on my live questions. I only have so much time. Adam, what would you. What is better for me to do cold plunging or sauna? And I said all the research points to sauna. As far as health benefits.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Jeff]

And the ROI on your time, you get way more benefits for that. That's what the science says. Doesn't mean I don't like cold plunging. And I don't see the benefits from it. It's just, it's so. And I think it's so popular, Sal, for the same reasons why OCR is popular.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Jeff]

Is because we live in such a soft society that doing this hard thing is like this big accomplishment for so many people. Because, let me tell you, hard to.

[Doug]

Get up in the morning retention for. For going in the sauna is much higher.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Doug]

Than with the cold plunge. There's a lot of value in cold plunge, and there's a lot of science wrapped into that. But in terms of adherence, you know, you have to kind of balance that out. Like, you know, it's going to be a real challenging one to maintain.

[Jeff]

And when it comes back to the way Sal started this conversation, it's like, it's not. The big rock is if you're somebody who's already built cold plunging into your routine, you love. It's done. All these businesses, we're not. I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to the person who's trying to figure this out that's like, I hear all these things online that are so good, and they all attach to studies and research that say it's so awesome. And they're going, I don't know where to start. And they're overwhelmed. The stuff we're talking about right now, don't waste your time with right now.

[Doug]

Yeah. You can just use your shower and like, gradually, like, you know, go cold and then. And then, you know, whatever the resources. If I'm constantly, like, if I wake up and I'm taking a shower, I'm gonna do that every day. If I can just start, like, gradually bringing that temperature down and get like a Lot of the same values. Now I don't have to buy, you know, really invest in this whole elaborate operation.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes. But again, it's, it's just overrated because people perceive it to be much more impactful than it actually is. It's not going to change your life like fixing your diet. Not even close.

[Doug]

True.

[Adam Schaefer]

Next up, our favorite overrated thing to talk about, which is supplements. Supplements. Supplements get a lot of air time, they get a lot of articles, they get a lot of promotion because they're money making products. So when you're a fitness company or a health company or a fitness expert or influencer or whatever, part of the way you make money is probably going to be around selling products. And many of those products are going to be supplements. And so when you look at an influencer's content, a disproportionate amount of the stuff they talk about is probably going to be related around studies and things that talk about or support supplements. And what it does is it skews just how important supplements are aside from filling nutrient deficiencies. Okay? Because that's a big deal if you have a nutrient deficiency. In other words, if you're not getting enough nutrients to thrive, you're not getting enough vitamin D or magnesium or vitamin K or vitamin C, you're sick, you have symptoms of a deficiency, a filling that is definitely life changing. But above and beyond that, supplements are maybe 1%, maybe when you look at the whole pie of what impacts your performance, your fitness, your health, it's maybe 1%. People love them, they love taking them. I am a supplement addict, admittedly, but it's overrated in the sense that they just don't come close to the boring stuff that we talk about again, exercise, diet, sleep.

[Jeff]

You know, this is why I've always liked the analogy of supplements are like a spoiler on a car. And if there's a reason why every race car has a spoiler, the downforce it creates adds to the, the ability to get traction, take corners. But the percentage of what it does for that race car compared to just the engine, the suspension, the tires, the engine, the driver, the all the other things is just, it's not even in the same universe. So the guy that has the great car, the great driver, all those things that doesn't have a spoiler will crush the guy with the best spoiler in the world that doesn't have all the other things working for them. So I've always loved the analogy of looking at supplements like that. Yet every driver, every pro driver has one of Those on their car because it does create downforce, it does help, but it's after you've checked all the other boxes where it makes a difference, then. Okay, then I'm going to check that box.

[Adam Schaefer]

Imagine, imagine you're going to play a game of tug of war and there are four people to pick from. Three of them are 250 pound strongman athletes. And one of them is a toddler. Are you gonna. And you have to pick three. Who are you gonna pick the toddler or are you gonna pick the three big dudes? You're gonna pick the three big dudes. Now if you could use all four, cause you're already picking the three dudes. You can throw the toddler on there. It'll give you a little extra help, but it's not gonna come close. That's literally what supplements are. They're just overrated. And how do I know they're overrated? Cause here's what happens. Somebody asked me for fitness advice and it's one of the first questions they asked me. I get more messages from friends and family members about supplements that they've heard me talk about than about diet and exercise. And these are people that don't eat right and don't exercise. You know, I got my cousin sending me a text, hey Sal, I saw this ad for whatever that you were talking about this and I'm like, is it worth it? Well, I mean, are you eating right? How's your diet?

[Doug]

What are you doing right now?

[Adam Schaefer]

And they don't want to hear that, right? They just want to hear about the supplement that I talked about. It's like, look, if you're not, let's how about this? Hit your protein intake. That's going to crush any supplement. I talk about any supplement.

[Jeff]

It's always so hard for people to, to wrap their brain around this because it's in the same, in the same breath. I can tell you I use supplements. I love supplements. I use them all time. Yet I have never advised somebody when they asked me they need help with something that this was the answer. Supplements have never been everybody's life that I have helped changed or dramatically shifted their body composition. It has never been due to the supplement recommendation. Never. Yet I use them and I like them. So. And I can, I can balance the two of those. I can say I like playing around with supplements. There are certain things I like to take. I feel better when I take this thing. But when it comes to advising somebody who I'm trying to help, it doesn't even come close. To what moves the needle.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's right. Next up, blue light blocking glasses. Blue light blocking glasses are overrated because when you compare them to simply not being on electronics or being in the dark for a little bit before bed, it doesn't even come close. It's literally like a band aid over a gaping wound versus not getting cut in the first place. Okay, so, so blue light blocking glasses, better than nothing. But not being on your computer or on your phone before bed.

[Doug]

Yeah. Much more impactful.

[Adam Schaefer]

Way better. Way better. Now why are they overrated? Because people don't change their lifestyle.

[Doug]

Yeah. Turn the electronics off because they're like.

[Adam Schaefer]

I got the blue light blocking. This will fix everything. Yeah. And it does make a little bit of a difference, but it doesn't come close to, you know, not turning those things on in the first place.

[Jeff]

I mean, I think this is why there was such a huge market for this and why it got really popular again is because we've become so addicted to these tools, right? IPhones and iPads and televisions and heaven forbid we put together a night routine where we shut it all down by 6 o'clock and then we go by candlelight or we turn all the blue lights off and have something like a salt lamp. Like heaven forbid we do that. Right. That's just too much to, to ask or too much to do. I'd rather spend the hundred dollars on the, you know, high tech glasses and just throw them on, but keep my behaviors. And so that's why there's become a market for it. And that's the value that it has. If you know that about yourself that you're going to struggle and have that, well, then it's a decent aid. Right. But it's a band aid is what it is. When there is a free solution that's superior and that's like superior, which is also how these things fell in this again, overrated category. Does it mean that I don't use it doesn't mean that I don't see value in it. It just means it's so overrated because there's a free solution that's better. If there's a free solution that's better.

[Adam Schaefer]

So much better.

[Jeff]

I would always want to communicate that first. And then the it's like, listen and if you know you're not going to do that, okay, sure, you can have a pair of those and then throw on. That's why I got a pair on my bed right next to my nightstand. My goal always is to not have to use them and to not Be on my phone. But then there's times where I'm like, oh, I got to grab this thing. So I have them right next to my bed so I can throw them on. Then I can get on my phone.

[Adam Schaefer]

Totally. Next. Fasting. Fasting has some. Some great spiritual implications or applications, I think, done in that context with prayer or meditation. I think there's a lot of value there. But fasting for health, fasting for fat loss. Fasting for what? Super overrated calorie deficit gives you pretty much exactly the same benefits. It's been sold as this incredible cell autophagy, and it helps your body with longevity or whatever. And okay, well, compared to calorie deficit, same exact increased growth hormone. Super, super, super.

[Jeff]

This one to me is a bit comical on how overrated is and how. How big a suckers we all are, because this has been. They've been doing this for thousands of years. Fasting has been around for th. Not hundreds, not thousands of years people have been fasting and they never once, thousands of years ago, was it for weight loss. What we have found in the last 50 or 60 years is because man, and this is how, this is a lot of times how science works. Like man, humans just keep doing this thing. What is it about it? Let's dive into it. Let's read it. I'm like, oh, wow, there's a lot of benefit health benefits that came with it. Oh, wow. Now let's attach a diet or something to it and sell it to make it even more popular. But the truth is we've been doing it for a very long time, but not for the reasons that it's marketed to you.

[Doug]

We just found out consumerism just twisted it.

[Jeff]

Yeah, we just, we've. We found a way to monetize it and they've done an incredible job of marketing and selling to us. Again, doesn't mean I don't use fasting. I think it's an incredible tool. I've used it with multiple my clients. I use it personally myself, but not for the reasons or how it's being marketed for fat loss. I think it's terrible idea. It's better for the spiritual aspect of detachment. The practice of detachment, not feeding the flesh weakening is incredibly healthy for all people. Sustaining not what we've attached it to. As far as the science. Of all the things that sal pointed out, 100%.

[Adam Schaefer]

All right, now let's talk about some of the most underrated health hacks. Pretty pre bed routine, like a pre bed routine is so underrated. It's so Much more important than your morning routine.

[Doug]

Oh yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Something that sets you up for good sleep has such crazy ramifications down the line because good sleep is so powerful.

[Doug]

That's where all the magic happens.

[Adam Schaefer]

It's so powerful for your health. So doing a pre bed hour before bed routine that helps with improving your sleep, something that helps improve your sleep is always, always super valuable.

[Jeff]

Here's the thing too. There's a lot of other byproducts that happen or positive things that happen because of the morning routine, what ends up happening or evening routine. If somebody puts together an evening routine, okay, and it's a good one, that means they're shutting electronics off earlier so that the, the detachment of that is already got enough health benefits. Not to mention it's going to help you fall asleep. You also will have to shut down your eating earlier than what you normally would. That's got all kinds of research and benefits to it. That's going to improve digestion, that's going to improve your sleep. You then are going to get a great night's sleep, which then sets you up for a great morning and great success for the next day. I mean, the downstream effects of, of disciplining yourself, which by the way, doesn't cost any money, disciplining yourself to put together a night routine literally trumps all the other things that we said are overrated. You have, you put together what the people listening right now spend zero dollars but put together a good evening routine like the three, two, one or something before, before the end of the night that trumps the, all the other things that we just said combined. All of it combined. Like just get that down and the, the positive benefits you will get from that. And that's what makes those other ones overrated. That's what makes this so underrated.

[Adam Schaefer]

Now I'm going to blow people's mind. Okay, I'll say, I'll say this very confidently. 80% or more of the benefits of the pre bed routine is because it makes people go to bed on time. So when they go an hour before their bedtime, here's my routine, they know they're gonna go to bed on time. So most of the benefits of the fact the person's going to bed on time. Inconsistent.

[Doug]

That's right.

[Adam Schaefer]

Next up, walking, walking, walking, walking. The data on walking daily often and its health effects and for longevity are incredible. And there's a few reasons why. One, we could still do it without crazy dysfunction. So the injury risk of it's low. Two, it's not a crazy workout. It's not. People don't need to change and structure it. Something you can just do whenever you want. 3. You could do it all day long. And it's got all this great benefits for health, insulin resistance, for mobility, for digestion. This was so underrated as a trainer. I used to underrate this as a trainer. Biggest mistake I made as a trainer. It was a lot of mistakes. But one of the top three mistakes I made was. Was underrating walking for my clients. If I could go back in time, this would be one of the things I would change.

[Jeff]

This is why this is one of my favorite ones as put listed as underrated because I also made that mistake. It was, it would have fallen in the overrated category for me. If you asked me in my first two years as a personal trainer, that's how naive I was to how. But this is. I was, I was so on the opposite end of the spectrum of understanding how powerful, how value Something that I used to scoff at when people told me this is what they did for exercise has now become the number one first thing that I recommend before anything else. So before I even tell someone to do some sort of a MAPS routine or follow a diet a certain way, I encourage just walking starting them there. It's such a good place to start everybody and to build on. And it has so many good downstream benefits from just creating that as a habit.

[Doug]

It's funny because even when we had Alex Whitehair on and I didn't even put together like when I was an athlete and I was like, you know, at my peak, how completely sedentary we are and we would train really hard. But then the whole majority of the rest of the day you take like all the rest of the hours where I'm sitting down mush out on video games. Yeah. In. In again like there was because you're younger and I'm, you know, and I'm. I could kind of rebound. But if I would have just added a consistent just walking for recovery like man, when my performance would have increased substantially.

[Adam Schaefer]

Totally. Next up, sunlight. Sunlight is incredibly underrated. Like go outside the studies and the data on how this impacts your mental health. This sunlight would be. If we could sell it like an antidepressant or anti anxiety drug, it would be a blockbuster. That's how underrated. That's how powerful it is. By the way, we've known this for a long time and for some reason we forgot but it wasn't that long ago, maybe a generation or two ago when people are like man, I don't feel good. You feel kind of down. Go outside.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Literally, that was, that was the recommendation we used to hear all the time. Go outside, go for a walk, get some sunlight, see how you feel.

[Doug]

Immediate mood, elevation.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's it. It's so powerful that lacking it is an almost guaranteed way to cause depression. That's what the data shows.

[Jeff]

I felt like, I mean, I knew this, but when I had Max, I. This really became super apparent to me. I like. And there's something about that. Right. Like, I mean, being a coming up parent is one of the greatest, like self awareness tools. Right. That we have. And so, you know, sometimes we can. It shows you how numb we can be to even our own feelings or what's working or not working for us. We're so distracted and everything else. It's like I wasn't paying attention to how do I feel when days I get four hours of sunshine and then other days when I get no out. Like, I wasn't really connecting those dots. I wasn't. I knew the benefits of sunlight. I know that. But I never really tried to peer into that until I had a son. And I watched it until I could see it in front of me and I saw the patterns and I went, oh my God. That was one of the biggest self awareness tools for me to realize, like how much sunlight and anybody who's had a kid. Pay attention to the days that you take your kid out to the pool and in the park all day long and then compare that to the day that they're in the house watching TV or indoors all day long. And tell me you don't see a significant difference in their behavior, in their sleep and their attitude or everything.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Jeff]

That's how radically it changes.

[Adam Schaefer]

It affects inflammation.

[Jeff]

And this doesn't like go away when you turn five or something.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Jeff]

Your body wants that. It needs that. It's forever important. And we just have found a way to try and, you know, supplement it or subsidize it and be distracted and not pay attention to it. But it's very important.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. There's a study that showed that hospital rooms were the. Where there was a window that faced the rising sun.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Patients that stayed in those rooms left the hospital a day or two faster. Faster. Just from the sun rising and them being exposed to. Yeah. Next up, whole foods. Like literally just whole natural foods. Foods with one ingredient. Super underrated. This is how underrated it is. Okay. If all everybody ever did, if they did nothing else with their diet, if all they ever did was only eat whole natural Foods. We would solve the obesity epidemic by itself. By itself. Now, it wouldn't make people more fit or strong. They still needed exercise. But in terms of being overweight, this alone, by itself would solve the problem. We see a significant drop in obesity just from this. This is so powerful that this became. After my years of being a trainer and a coach, after years and years of working with people, this became my go to. At the very end, this is all I would do with people. I'd say, okay, here's what we're gonna do. Just eat whole natural foods. Let's start with that. Nothing else. Yeah, let's just start with that. And people would lose 20, 30 pounds just from doing that alone. I wouldn't have to tell them to do anything else.

[Jeff]

Well, we've speculated off air before talking about this. Like, could you imagine if we could just convince everybody to eat whole foods, walk every day and train late, Weight train one day a week?

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, how?

[Jeff]

Like, now you're talking.

[Adam Schaefer]

We'd fix most.

[Jeff]

Now you're talking. You got everything. Like, now you are. You're fit, you're strong, you have a little bit of endurance with your ability to walk and stamina. Like, and compared with what you. The benefits you get from whole foods, like, that is not even getting into macros and trying to measure and track anything. That's not even getting super sophisticated with the training program or how many exact steps. That's literally like, go walk every day. Strength train one time a week. Eat whole foods will like, radically change 90% of most people.

[Doug]

There's natural satiating limiters when you eat whole foods that exist. Yeah, Exists. It's in the fiber. It's in the, you know, it's in the protein from the animals. It's. It's there already. And so, you know, like, there's. Once we get into the engineering and ways to. To really increase sales, and you see that with, like, a lot of food products, it becomes a different thing.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. Processed foods are engineered to be like drugs. And the best studies we have on diet, the best studies where they can actually put people in a lab, watch them, control them, crossover, are done on processed foods versus whole natural foods. The difference is about 600 calories with the same feeling of satiety, meaning substantial amount. Eat as much as you until you feel satisfied. When there's. When it's. Processed foods, it's 600 more calories a day. That right there is the obesity epidemic, period. End of story. All right, lastly, easily the most underrated health hack, easily. Is hiring a Coach. If everybody knew, if the world knew the value of working with a good coach, they would do nothing else. They would literally do nothing else. It would be the biggest, most booming business in America by far. A good There is nothing will give you a chance at solving your fitness and health challenges forever. Nothing comes close than hiring a guide that knows what they're doing. There is nothing more valuable. It's a coach is worth their weight in gold. It. No supplement, no routine, no online anything. Nothing comes close to a good coach. Good coaches literally change lives. We know this. They're more valuable than our. We know that.

[Doug]

Shorten your timeline towards success. It's like, it's crazy that people don't consider a coach is like, that's literally like the, the biggest hack. If you have any hack, period.

[Jeff]

It's such a bummer because I think at face value, people see how expensive it is and like, oh, it's so expensive. But if you calculated all the things that you spent money on, attempting to wait to lose that weight or to build that bottom on a hope and a whim, right? All the, the gimmicky machine, the newest machine thing that came out, or all the supplements or all the diet books or all the challenges you've. If you added up all those and, and, and whatever that dollar amount was.

[Adam Schaefer]

You invested, you're not even adding up the healthcare costs, lost productivity of poor health.

[Jeff]

Not even, not even adding that dude, just adding up the things that you have, you've actively spent your money on in hopes that you were going to get this return in your physique. You, if, even if you just spent a fraction of that on a coach or trainer, like five sessions with a really good coach and trainer will, will get it give you the return 10 times on just that. Even if you don't get to have them for an extended period of time, just the, the knowledge that you can get from those, those fighters. Now I do think it does matter the quality of the coach.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's why I said good coach, because that's the challenge.

[Jeff]

Because unfortunately, and, and I guess this is the other part of this or the, the challenge for the consumer who's like nodding their head like, yeah, I agree, but you know, how do I know? Or, and so that's the part that takes a little bit of work, right? A little bit of research or going to a trusted source that you can trust that, okay, they would recommend a good person for me because, you know, if you got me at 20, I mean, I might have helped you a little bit or Gave you some decent stuff. But if I got you today versus then the difference of what I could give you in five sessions versus what I could probably give you in five sessions 20 years ago is a.

[Adam Schaefer]

This is why we're devoting so much time to coaches right now is we're trying to create the standard and make it so that it become. People are more aware of what, what constitutes a good coach, what the right philosophy is, what the right ethos is. And, and this will help people get the, get good coaches and it also get coaches to become good coaches. All right, I got, I want to, I need to ask a favor of our audience. So we typically don't do this, but I, I talked to you about this yesterday, Adam. So Margaret, who works our. She does our customer service and she's. I got, I got to just give, I just got to say some nice things about Margaret. She's so. She loves what she does so much. She loves the people that she helps so much. She goes so above and beyond what she's supposed to do for customer service to help people.

[Doug]

Yeah, she's awesome.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. I mean, she does such a great job. Well, anyway, she was in contact with this gentleman whose son is a huge fan of the show. His son is 15. His name is Callum Ferris and he has high grade glioma cancer. The 15 year old does and he's a huge fan. The kid's a huge fan. So she was asking me advice and we've sent this kid apparel and so I'm like, man, can we do anything or whatever? Is there anything we can do? And they asked for prayers. They're asking for prayers for their 15 year old son, Callum Farris, and for people to visit his Instagram to support him. He's got a personal Instagram, but it's great. You can see the kid working out. He's wearing our gear and a lot of it, I mean, I went through and I was like wiping away tears.

[Jeff]

Oh, the coolest thing that I would love to see are, I mean, how cool would it be if this kid like overnight gets like thousands of followers, please. And people supporting what that could potentially do for his spirits.

[Adam Schaefer]

His Instagram is SJ and Ferris. So S J A N D F E R R I S Callum is his name. If you're a Christian, pray for him to heal. But everybody get on his Instagram and just give this, give this kid so much support. It would really, really. That'd be really cool to see.

[Jeff]

Cool to see how many people rally behind, behind that Sal. And actually Go do that. Because, I mean, listen, small, small thing to ask. Not asking for money, not asking if you're doing anything. Take a moment of your day.

[Adam Schaefer]

Just let them know we're thinking about him, you know, and support that. Super, super awesome. All right, I'm gonna go back to fitness study came out. I, you know, I love studies that challenge my previous understandings or views. There was a really good study on carb timing. That's right, carb timing. So let me pull this up for you. So in the study, they were trying to see if car. Does carb timing make a difference, like consuming carbohydrates post workout versus later in the day. Now here's what we've seen in other studies. So initially it was like, yes, right after your workout, have some carbs, have some proteins, speeds up recovery because it gets glycogen to, you know, replenishing the muscle. Other studies show, many studies show glycogen gets replenished just the same. Okay. Whether you do it right after you work out.

[Laura]

Right.

[Adam Schaefer]

Or whether you do it hours later in the workout. And so the difference was if you're gonna work out in an hour or two, definitely eat carbs right away. Replenish your carbs faster. Otherwise it doesn't make a difference. Here's how cool this study was. This study looked at how carbohydrate intake post exercise affected next day performance.

[Doug]

Oh, okay.

[Adam Schaefer]

So two groups. One group had carbs right after the workout. The next group waited few hours, then had carbs. Then they train the next day. So both of them should be fully replenished. Is there a difference in performance? Yes.

[Jeff]

Really?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes, there was. The delayed carbohydrate group experienced a 30% reduction. And next day, high intensity 30% reduction. Despite similar muscle glycogen levels, they completed five fewer intervals and reported higher perceived exertion.

[Jeff]

Can I say it?

[Adam Schaefer]

Go ahead.

[Jeff]

Another one for the bodybuilders, another one for my bros.

[Adam Schaefer]

It was one for my bros, by the way.

[Jeff]

Let me tell you that in the, in the bro bodybuilding community, we've been doing this for sure.

[Doug]

That's been a bright thing.

[Jeff]

80, 90% of my carbohydrates, I always centered around my workouts pre and post.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's why.

[Jeff]

And, and now I always felt it.

[Adam Schaefer]

In the performance of the workout itself. Like the before. Right. And that's what studies show. But as far as, like, if you were to ask me what's going to happen.

[Doug]

Yeah. The next day contributed it.

[Jeff]

Here's no.

[Adam Schaefer]

And they had similar.

[Jeff]

Here's the deal.

[Adam Schaefer]

They had similar glycogen levels.

[Jeff]

Okay, so the ready is cool. But to me, the, the thing that got me to do it, it just seemed logical that I just trained really hard and I depleted my. I just took that sponge and I wrung it out completely. And it is ready to suck up everything that it possibly could right now. It just made logical sense to me. Like that would be the most optimal time to load it with all of these nutrients like carbohydrates and protein and the bulk of it when it's wanting it the most. Then later in the day when it's satisfied, I would try and mitigate the amount.

[Doug]

Just makes sense to me too. From parasympathetic angle. Right. So like that's another way to get into that state is to eat. And again, yeah, replenishing the stores providing the materials to. To really start that process occurring, which.

[Jeff]

Probably is what speaks to why they had. They. They got it. They got to that parasympathetic and recovery process much earlier than the person who waited and delayed that.

[Adam Schaefer]

Maybe. I mean, we're speculating, right?

[Doug]

Yeah, we're totally.

[Adam Schaefer]

I think that's a. I think that's a fair. I think that's a fair theory. But had you asked me, hey, what do you think is going to happen in this study? Because here's what happened. They both trained hard. One group had carbs right after the other group waited three hours. That's all. They just waited three hours?

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Then the next workout was the following day. So again, previously, historically, if it was a workout right after an hour, after two hours, I would have said, oh.

[Jeff]

Yeah, since we're here, this is such a cool conversation for me because this was something I used to do. I didn't speak about it a lot on the show because again, there wasn't a lot of science to support. And I'm not going to be telling people what to do that I don't know how to articulate the science of why I do it or why it works. But I have always done it this way. When I am training to build in bulk, I follow this kind of a protocol. Most my carbs around my workout shuttle them all in right then and there. And that's what I do. When I'm on the cut, I go the opposite direction. I actually push the timeout because those are the. When I am in a cut, I'm not trying to make progress. I'm not trying to have the best workout the next day. I don't give a shit. I'm trying to lean out and the delay of eating is just. It would spread out the time between my meals, and it was easier to eat less calories that way. And so I used to allow myself the hours to go by before I would feed when I'm in a cut. And that helped me stay in a low. In a calorie.

[Doug]

More anabolic on some level, maybe.

[Adam Schaefer]

But here's what I. Here's the interesting thing. I would like to see a study that controls the calories to see if there's a fat loss benefit from one or the other. Because I could argue on the opposite side, Adam. I could argue if I wanted to, I could say, well, yeah, but then you'll perform better the following day, which would lead to better fat loss. I mean, who knows? This is just interesting.

[Jeff]

No way. I mean, when you think about, you know, that when you were trying to do fat loss, okay, the performance in the gym does not matter. The work is done in the calorie deficit.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes, but what.

[Jeff]

I mean, that is where the real work is. And I think that's one of the biggest mistakes that people make is thinking that the, the labor they do plays a big role in fat loss. Nothing is more powerful than being consistent with the diet. And you know, this. Being in a deficit, one of the hardest things to do is discipline yourself to consistently stay in that deficit. So creating this. Maybe the science doesn't support being more anabolic. Maybe the science doesn't support that I would have better performance next day. But what it does support is if I carve out three hours that I don't eat when I normally would have ate at least once, and then almost a second time, it's easier for me to hit my calorie time.

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, that's.

[Jeff]

That trumps.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. No, what I. I'm not, I'm not arguing that. What I'm arguing is if they did a controlled study where the calories were the same, if they're identical, same calories.

[Jeff]

Oh, I don't think that my way would. Would win if you controlled that part of why I do it as a psychology.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's right.

[Jeff]

There's a.

[Adam Schaefer]

Which I think trumps everything.

[Jeff]

And so that's, That's. That's my point. So the, the science obviously says the benefits. This new science is supporting eating most of those cars right afterwards. What I'm saying is that that's more hunger. I would use. Exactly. I would use that as a strategy when I'm bulky and I'm building. When I would switch to cutting, I would Actually counter the science. Even though the science supports I should probably still eat a bulk of my carbs. It didn't matter at the science. At this point, I know how hard it is to stay at a 500 to 1,000 calorie deficit day in and day out. So I would stretch the window out so it'd be easier to hit the calorie.

[Adam Schaefer]

And by the way, for people listening right now, Adam is speaking like a coach. And when you're training people, the most important thing you look at is what influences their behavior. It's way more important than what's actually happening. Yeah, it's way more important. Right. Because if what Adam says is true, which I agree, it keeps your calories controlled easier. That's going to. It's going to trump whatever other value you may see. Nonetheless, study's interesting.

[Jeff]

It is interesting. I would have never guessed it's interesting. And to your point, what sucks is that I actually think that my point would lose in the study if you took two groups and you control the calories.

[Adam Schaefer]

But that's because it's controlled.

[Jeff]

I know. And this, this is an area of why I don't like. This is where I like to discuss this stuff with people so they understand. It's like there's times, in my opinion where it makes sense to follow the science. Like eating right after a workout right away to bulk and build because of the benefits of your performance the next day and how many more calories I can eat because I'm eating right away and then I'm going to eat again. Makes a lot of sense to me. I mean it was logical to me to do that even before the science completely supported. When I'm trying to cut creating these a little bit longer windows between eating makes a lot of sense.

[Adam Schaefer]

Most important thing to manage.

[Jeff]

Right. Even though the science may not support that. The best for building muscle burning body fat.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, no, totally. All right, so we're going to do something a little different. We're going to cut to. So I listened to the fir like four minutes of a podcast today. So Real Recovery Talk is a podcast about. About addiction and it's hosted by our friends Tom and Ben, who want. Who help run rock recovery. So they help people get off drugs. Well, anyway, they have also have a pod. It's been on air, by the way for like seven years. Really good podcast. They had a woman on their show who heard about them through our podcast. Who It. It was like a. It was like a miracle how it all came together to bring her son to them. To then get treatment. I listened to it this morning.

[Doug]

It was powerful.

[Adam Schaefer]

So powerful. We typically don't do this. We're gonna. We're gonna go ahead and cut to so you guys can hear what happened and so you can hear for yourself.

[Jeff]

All right, so let me do. Let me do a little bit of introduction here. Ben calls me. I'm in the gym and says, hey, there's some lady at the front door from mind Pump.

[Sal Destefano]

And I'm like, what?

[Doug]

This was early in the morning.

[Jeff]

This was early in the morning.

[Laura]

I was here three minutes ago.

[Jeff]

So anyways, I go to the front door, and Laura's there, and she's in tears. And we're like, okay, come in. What's going on? And Laura, you found us from Mind pump because you've been a listener of Mind Pump for a long time.

[Laura]

Yeah, so I actually haven't been listening to Mind pump as long as they've been around, and I think I did, like, a search on Spotify and then found Mind pump about a year, year and a half ago. So anyway, Wednesday morning, I was going back on past episodes, trying to catch up on all the things I missed, and. And they were talking about marijuana, and I guess Sal had been a proponent of legalizing it. And then he was like, you know, I think I need to backtrack a little bit because there's new research coming out showing this that, you know, yada yada. And then they said, you know, we need to reach out to our friends at Rock rec and, you know, get their spin on this. And he slid the plug in about the. The scholarship. And, you know, now this is Wednesday morning. And I had been praying for Randy for years, and I was just, you know, constantly asking, God, help me, I don't know what to do. And I immediately was like, oh, I should probably reach out to them sometime. But didn't reach out immediately. Didn't go to the website. Fast forward Wednesday night. Randy wasn't home. Now, normally when he wasn't home, I would be on the streets, driving around, looking behind alleys, praying not to find a dead body. But this time, over my sons, my two older sons, telling me, mom, you have to stop. And my friends, you have to stop. So I didn't. I didn't go searching for him. Come to find out, by Thursday morning, he was in jail. They picked him up for trespassing. I still don't know the details of the trespassing, but what I do know is that previously, throughout the years, police would pick him up or they would call Me, they would have found him at a gas station. He. He would tell me he was just, you know, taking a rest, and they would say he was passed out, you know, from being drunk. So I would always get these two different stories. But he had been stopped by the police multiple times over the year. So this time he was actually in jail. This is my first experience in all of this. I've never had anyone, you know, in jail. And I remembered that episode. And so then I went directly to the link, went to your website, started filling out the application for the scholarship program. And then by the time I had finished, I went down and I saw that you were literally five minutes down the road, two and a half miles from me.

[Jeff]

Yeah.

[Laura]

And here I'm thinking. At first, I was thinking, okay, I think I can handle a flight to California. You know, I can't afford to get him into a program, but I know I can muster up between my sons and I, you know, a flight. And so I was trying to plan all that and praying to God, please. And so I stopped filling out the application. I've never hit submit. I got in the car and I came down here and was here at the door like, three minutes before you guys opened. But just the fact that all of that came. I mean, the way it all came to be, that was God tapping on my shoulder, saying, I got you.

[Adam Schaefer]

Right.

[Laura]

I've got Randy. I've got you. And. Yeah. And for you guys and for Sal and Justin and Adam and Doug and Katrina and all of them, you know, he used all of us to help this one person. You guys are an answer to a prayer.

[Jeff]

Yeah.

[Laura]

You know, he used you to help my son. And I will forever. I will forever be in your debt.

[Adam Schaefer]

That was, I mean, crazy, crazy story.

[Jeff]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Crazy, crazy.

[Jeff]

Hard not to get emotional.

[Doug]

Made me emotional.

[Jeff]

When you. When you hear that and the chat, the fact that she was literally two miles away from the facility, I mean.

[Adam Schaefer]

Gives you the chills.

[Jeff]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

What's. What's. You know, what's crazy about this is the part where she said that she goes out looking for her son, praying that he's not dead. I don't know if you guys. I. So I. I know someone. I can say too much because I don't want to reveal who they are, but I know someone who struggled with addiction, and I know their mother very well. And it was like five years of hell.

[Doug]

Oh, my God, five.

[Adam Schaefer]

Now this. This kid got delivered out of it, and they're now actually help other kids, other people with. With addiction. But during that period of time, like, I can't even imagine, you know, going through that. But they. Those guys at Rock Recovery are so. They're such good guys. They're so good. They truly care about what they're doing. So. One of the best places.

[Jeff]

Yeah, no, it's, It's. It was. It's been a really cool journey. We've known Tom and Ben for. They were huge fans of the show a long time ago, and we have had them on. We've been on their show, so they've been good friends for a long time. And I remember when Tom and I were first talking about working together and, you know, I thought. I don't. You know, that's a. I've never thought like that would be something that we would talk about, but I'm like, I believe so much in what you guys are trying to do. Yeah, we'll figure something out if. To help and support it. And at that time, I really didn't know what it was going to look like. I had no idea what to. What to expect. I didn't know what he would be able to offer to the audience or how he could support it. But it's really turned out to be something really cool. And this is just an example that it's only been a short time that we have been working with them and to already start to hear somebody. So we have another guy who's already like, how many months now? Is he deep into the.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jeff]

No, no, he's like eight.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, no, no, I'm sorry. He's nine months.

[Jeff]

Yeah, so he's like nine months sober that he's been in it. And so it's been really cool to see the people that listen to our show that have then found them and then have had success with it, especially with those things, because a lot of those clinics don't have a lot of success. And a lot of those clinics are in the business of recycling clients. And that was what connected Tom and Ben to us, is that, I mean, we love.

[Adam Schaefer]

We.

[Jeff]

We gravitate towards disruptors of industries. Right. Like, we think we're a disruptor of an industry. They are trying to disrupt the industry by really change that perception around these recovery centers. And they, they. They are really truly trying to have success with these people to where they never come back again. And it's good to see that because I. I had a really bad taste in my mouth around these clinics after I saw that. That documentary, Body Counters. Or is it Body.

[Sal Destefano]

Body Brokers.

[Jeff]

Body Brokers. Yeah, I remember I talked about on the show. I don't know if you guys remember, like hella years ago, it was like five, six years ago.

[Adam Schaefer]

Became a crazy.

[Doug]

Such a hustle.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Jeff]

And I had no hustle. And how dirty it was. And so it was so cool to meet someone like Tom Ben, who are very aware of how dirty it is. And they're trying to change that for the good.

[Adam Schaefer]

Totally.

[Jeff]

And to see things and stories like this unfold's been a really cool, really cool journey.

[Adam Schaefer]

So I got something for you, Justin, because you are the isometrics guru among us. And there was a. There was a study talking about. Yeah, isometrics are great. We've talked about them on the podcast. They work really well for connection, for strength, stability, super safe. It's this incredible way to. To amplify your training. But one thing that isometrics do that I've. I knew even before meeting Justin and really diving into isometrics just as a trainer, they're really good for pain. Isometrics are just really good for pain.

[Doug]

Analgesic effect.

[Adam Schaefer]

Somebody with knee pain, like, if I put them in an isometric quad contraction, it would, it would oftentimes get, you know, reduce the knee pain. Right. Or if they had shoulder pain, if I can get them in the right position, create an isometric there.

[Doug]

Sometimes it's like immediate crazy.

[Adam Schaefer]

So I went into like, what is it that's happening that. And I thought it was. Oh, it's correctional movement. It's helping the body.

[Jeff]

There's some sort of a radiating effect that happens. Isn't that what's going on?

[Adam Schaefer]

The isometrics. There is.

[Doug]

There is an irradiation effect.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes. So it's called cortical inhibition. So there's actually, there's. There's a, there's a. There's a real phenomena that's happening. I always thought it was through getting the person to move better because now they're moving better. The pains, I think that plays a role. I definitely do. But what they're. What they're showing is that. That what you're activating are these cortical areas that release inhibitory neurotransmitters like gaba, serotonin, and they activate the natural opioid system, relaxes it.

[Jeff]

Interesting.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Doug]

So chemically, like, you're. You're literally stimulating that by the amount of tension that you're producing.

[Adam Schaefer]

You are. You're releasing pain. Natural pain relievers, Natural opioids.

[Jeff]

I didn't know that.

[Doug]

To the area, like localizing it.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, right. To the area okay.

[Jeff]

So that makes me think this.

[Doug]

That's so rad.

[Jeff]

That's super interesting, because I understand the benefits of how that feels when you do do something like that. Isometrics before bed. Like, why would you not do that? I mean, I would think that would create.

[Doug]

If it doesn't get too stimulating. That's the only concern. Some people do well with that, though.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think static stretching also has an effect like we're talking about. Might be a little better for before bed because it's more.

[Doug]

More parasympathetic.

[Jeff]

That'd be interesting to compare the two then.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Jeff]

Now that you.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean, for pain relief. I'll be honest with you. Like, for pain relief. In my experience, static stretching can help. Isometrics were like magic. Every time if I could get the person the right position, sometimes it's challenge. Right. Like just creating the isometric contraction that they can do. That doesn't hurt.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

But when I could do it, it.

[Jeff]

Was like, are you guys seeing all the other fitness influencers and everything starting to move and talk about it more about isometric?

[Doug]

Oh, yeah, no, they're jumping on the way.

[Jeff]

I get lots of dms. Well, that's good from people. Yeah, no, it is good. And people going like, man, you guys called this one. It's like. Well, I. I like to take the credit for isometrics, but isometric has been around for a very long time.

[Doug]

Yeah, it was a lost. Yeah. Method and. And modality. But yeah, it's. It's.

[Jeff]

But super underrated impact.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Jeff]

I mean, even myself, like, I. I didn't. I didn't use it a lot early on. I didn't understand the value of it until much later. And again, like, we talked about some of the underrated things today, like walking, like isometrics, as far as types of training for people, just because, two, everybody can do it. I don't care how injured or how immobile or how old you are.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Jeff]

I can incorporate where I.

[Adam Schaefer]

Or how advanced you are.

[Jeff]

You'll get better or even how advanced you are.

[Doug]

It benefits anybody. That's the thing. It's great. Yeah. Like you said, like, it doesn't matter. Your age doesn't matter. Your ability doesn't matter. Like, yeah, if you're a beginner. Advanced. Because it'll fit in there. Like, because. And two, it's safe. So you can literally, you know, generate that yourself intrinsically, and you can. You can manage and mitigate the amount of intensity that you have.

[Adam Schaefer]

So now I want to ask you, Justin, because you're you're obviously you're filming yourself on this fitness journey. The goal is a 2. A 315 pound push press. Which is ridiculous. Yeah, you're using isometric. You're using isometrics quite a bit.

[Doug]

I am. And especially in this first phase, in the first month I was incorporating it quite a bit. And really too, I'm trying to train my central nervous system to respond and really produce, you know, as much muscle recruitment as possible. Because I have to go, I have to exceed my current level and so to, to be able to do that with rapid result. Because it's a short window. I have three months.

[Jeff]

Right.

[Doug]

Like, if I was like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna do this for a year and I'm gonna string this out, it's gonna look a lot different if I'm trying to do this in a very condensed amount of time. Like, isometrics is like, I have to. Like, this is. This is one of those things because the recovery rate of it is so much greater. Like, I can, I can do that. It's not going to damage, you know, muscle tissue and, and any other kind of tissue, like, you know, lifting heavy weights would.

[Adam Schaefer]

What are you doing more overcoming or holds or is it equal? Both.

[Doug]

Yeah. But the, the, the yielding isometrics, I'm probably doing a bit more. So. Yeah, so I'm pushing, you know, into.

[Adam Schaefer]

Is that.

[Doug]

Yeah, overcoming is, is the. Where you're holding.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's right. Sorry.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

So you'll. So that. Because I saw one where you had the barbell and you were pushing like the safety bars. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How long do you hold that for when you're doing that?

[Jeff]

Yeah.

[Doug]

So it's typically between five to 15 seconds.

[Adam Schaefer]

Okay. So it's just. Yeah, yeah.

[Doug]

Because any more than that and now you're like, yeah, it's. You're gonna fry. Yeah. Your endurance is gone and too, you're gonna hold your breath and like get dizzy.

[Adam Schaefer]

So, so here. This is funny too, by the way. I don't know if you were in here, Adam, we were talking and Justin, obviously, it's a lot of training and he's got this huge goal and he's like, I need to get motivated. I need an enemy. I need somebody to chase. He's such a negative motivation person. So, so I told Justin where we all differ. Right.

[Doug]

Like, I was actually talking about this on my series a bit.

[Adam Schaefer]

But yeah, see, the problem is I just identified a problem. Justin, you're so liked by our audience that every comment is so encouraging.

[Jeff]

Yeah. What you need more my people, what.

[Adam Schaefer]

You need are some of our fans talk shit. You.

[Doug]

Why are you trying to, like, bring all this in work? It will.

[Jeff]

What are. Okay, so, I mean, obviously, anybody who watched my series, I like the encouragement. Anybody who watched my series saw. Saw all the challenges and hurdles I had. What are you. Are you encountering anything that is. Been frustrating or challenging a little bit right now? Like, what's. What. Tell me a little bit more about what's going on inside.

[Doug]

It's overthinking and it's. It's psychologically. I'm. I wrestle every day whether or not I can do it. And I. I think, like, I feel like I have a good plan, but it's. I just don't. I've never displayed all this publicly. You know, it's like I. I work best in the shadows, you know, Like, I just. I like to do my own thing, and I like to experiment and see where my limits are. And to. To put it out there, like a tangible number and have that as, like the determiner. Whether it's like a success or failure is kind of like, it's psychologically messing with me.

[Jeff]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Yeah. And every time I work out, I want, like, my tendency is like, well, I want to check and see if I can do it, you know, And I have to press myself to that, like, right away.

[Jeff]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Like, I don't, like, the patience is really challenging for me.

[Jeff]

You know, something that Sal said to me that really helped during my series when I. I think it was probably the second time that helped you. Yeah, yeah. Every once in a while you say something really smart, cool. He said something to me that it resonated. Right. And it made me. Because I had similar pressures of, like, man, I've. I've put this goal out to go do this. Now. I knew I could do it, or I felt confident I could do it, but I'm like, there's a lot of pressure that comes with putting it out there, documenting the whole thing, putting a time frame on it, like. And so I can totally relate to that. And then, of course, I started getting these injuries, and I was like, yeah, well, this sucks.

[Adam Schaefer]

Right?

[Jeff]

You know, setback. Yeah.

[Laura]

Yeah.

[Jeff]

And then, of course, I, you know, you're thinking to yourself, like, this is just going to make me look like I don't know what I'm doing. And so totally, you know, Sal was said to me, he goes, pro. He goes, listen, he goes. The fact that you're, You're, You're. You're not maybe getting the results you want or you're not succeeding or you have setbacks is more relatable. And more people are going to learn and get more value from it than if you just smash the goal, Even though your ego tells you that's what you want to go do. So giving yourself that permission to not hit it and to fail is actually a really empowering thing. That it's like, hey, what you're doing and what you're teaching or showing is so valuable. And let's be honest, many people set goals and don't hit them. Most people that. So the fact that that might happen to you is totally okay. It's how you deal with it along the way and how you respond to it and what you did to get there and what. Whatever. There's where the. The gold and the. And the value lies. And so giving myself that permission to fail or know that, oh, this may not go the way I think it did really helped me through that whole pro. That pressure that I was. That extra pressure I was applying to myself that I probably didn't need to be applying. So, again, I'll say the same thing to you. I think that I'll have to hear.

[Doug]

That a few more times. Yeah.

[Jeff]

Because what people are getting already, I think from watching it is really valuable. Just watching you work through that process is been really cool. And I think that they're getting tremendous value already. That whether you hit 275, 290, 350 is actually really irrelevant. I mean, it's cool, and it'll be cool if you hit it. Yeah. Cool.

[Adam Schaefer]

No.

[Doug]

Yeah. And I appreciate that. I. I like, My logical brain says that, you know, like. And I can. I can totally hear that. But my other brain is like, you know, back into athlete mode, where you. You just like all hell or high water kind of a thing. And so, yeah, it's. It's kind of balancing both of those is. It's tough. And I think that's what's really. Is. Is the challenging roller coaster I'm on right now.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, well, your body's transforming. This guy's looking like his delta husky. Yeah, dude. What's going on?

[Doug]

Anyway, I'm going for beefcake.

[Adam Schaefer]

I gotta ask you guys, what's the number one thing you guys notice when you do a good job of increasing your vegetable intake? What are the, like, the top few things that you guys.

[Jeff]

Consistent energy. I don't have a. I don't have the dips.

[Adam Schaefer]

Okay.

[Jeff]

Feels like. Okay.

[Adam Schaefer]

Digestion. Me too.

[Jeff]

Yeah. I would put. I would put digestion up there too.

[Adam Schaefer]

Do you guys notice an improvement in inflammation?

[Doug]

I do.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. Me too.

[Doug]

I do, yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Big difference in inflammation.

[Jeff]

I don't, I've. I don't know if I've connected that.

[Adam Schaefer]

So two, there's a couple things that affect my inflammation. One is if I eat foods that are intolerant or if I eat junk food, I could definitely feel more inflamed then if I'm eating healthy. But I include a decent amount of especially greens. I do notice less inflammation. So the reason why I bring this up is because I'm trying to connect the dots between vegetables and inflammation and organifies green juice and inflammation. Is it going to make as big of a difference? So I'm going to start using it regularly. I'm not doing a good job of vegetables and I'm doing all this deep stretching. Right. Long story short, I'm trying to improve my mobility. I'm preparing myself to potentially go back to jiu jitsu. I'm not flexible at all. So I'm doing everything I can. So what I'm now doing is I'm starting to leverage my diet in a way that helps with mobility which reduces inflammation. Yeah. So I'm going to start using the green juice regularly to see if that makes sense.

[Jeff]

This is always how I've used the green juices. I, I remember if. Who was the doctor when we first.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jeff]

When we were at the other studio. The very first wall. Dr. Terry Wall.

[Adam Schaefer]

Dr. Terry Wall.

[Jeff]

When Terry Wall. Dr. Terry Wall came on our show and talked to us about the, the amount of vegetables that we should be intaking was like. And it was nowhere near, wasn't even near. My best day was just like so enlightening to me. And then that reversed her Ms. And then I. Yes. And then I remember after that really being cautious of that and going after way more than ever. And I remember how good I felt eating more vegetables than I've ever ate in my life. And it was very obvious to me at that point, like, oh boy, I, I can do this now the way I do it. I still try that. I'm still. My goal is always to try. But then when I don't because I've recognized the benefits of that. It's like this is where I make the effort to like, okay, at least I'm gonna get this green juice in. So that's kind of how I look. It's like my goal is try to get three to four good sized servings of vegetables a day. The reality of that is I miss that a lot. And so that's where the green juice has come in incredibly handy to me because I've already seen the benefits of when I'm consistent with that. And again, we always recommend people go through the Whole Foods. Right. We had this. That's how we started this podcast. That is what. What. But here's an example of where the supplement makes sense and helps is that.

[Adam Schaefer]

It'S a priority right now for me because I need to improve my mobility. Otherwise I'll come back injured.

[Jeff]

So are you for sure? I mean, are you signed up?

[Adam Schaefer]

90. I'm giving myself a month to. Really? Really. I'm only lifting twice a week, so first time in.

[Jeff]

Oh, so how. So we're okay. So did you already use up your two days this week?

[Doug]

Yeah, because I feel like you already.

[Jeff]

I know I've seen you train already.

[Adam Schaefer]

At least once once. So Monday and Thursday, that's what you're doing. I may do three days a week, depending. We'll see how I feel. But right now, it's two days a week of strength training, and then it's three days a week of. It's going to be things to improve my mobility, but I'm starting with flexibility. And so what I'm doing on those three days is I actually go to where I have access to a sauna and I do 30 minutes of static stretching in the sauna just to improve range of motion. Why the sauna? It dampens my CNS and allows me to get deeper than I normally would. It's brutal. But I mean, literally, I never do 30 minutes.

[Jeff]

It's also like killing two birds with one stone, too. You get the benefits of what sauna is great for. It's easier for stretch.

[Adam Schaefer]

So I'm just in there, just. And I know what kind of flexibility I need for Jiu Jitsu because I did it for so long. Hip flexibility is one of them. I need quad flexibility because you'll sit back on your heels when you're in someone's guard or whatever. My quads are so tight. And then there's rotational flexibility I need to work on. So I'm working a lot on those things.

[Jeff]

I can't wait to see and see how you feel and look from reducing dramatically the amount of volume that you've been doing for as long as you've been doing. I think that.

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, I'm gonna encourage you guys not to point it out too much because it'll get. Well, I'm telling you right now, he.

[Doug]

Doesn'T want to think about It.

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, no, there's two. There's two directions I could go with this. One is where I'm like, obsessing about it. Two is this could easily turn into a pride thing. So I could have turned away from one thing and then turned it into a. Look how cool I am. Look what I can do. I can transform and I can move and I can whatever. And pride is a nasty.

[Doug]

What do you need from us?

[Adam Schaefer]

You know, hugs.

[Doug]

Okay.

[Adam Schaefer]

Love and a little background. Now, you guys, the hardest thing. No, I'm telling you guys what to do. I'm gonna tell you guys the truth, Swear to God. Love you guys. You guys are the best. You guys always know what to do.

[Jeff]

So.

[Doug]

Yeah, no, we'll figure it out.

[Jeff]

Yeah, we'll be. I will be.

[Doug]

I don't want to do the wrong thing either.

[Jeff]

Like, you went into this the right attitude, the right way. You're not trying to prove or show anything. This is all for your own personal journey. And so I'm just personally curious because I think what you're going to get and revealed from it is, you know, even though that's not your goal, I think the. The fittest, healthiest version of you is going to be revealed. I know.

[Adam Schaefer]

Mentally healthy, for sure. Yeah.

[Jeff]

And. And that's for sure. You already know that you're going to get that. I actually think, just like you always preach, the chasing health is going to give you even the better. I know. So I just. Weird. I think that's one of the most interesting parts. I mean, I also get it because although we're different in a lot of ways, and I have not the same extreme version of addiction to the training and stuff like that as you do, but this has been a thing for me for like the last 10 years. Like, it's been a thing I've been watching and paying attention to, and I've kind of played with the extremes of not working out for long periods of time and then. And I've, you know, been on both ends of the spectrum and it's. It's pretty wild. It's really cool, though, because we've invested so much of our lives into training and building all this muscle that we. You've got a lot invested, you know what I'm saying? You've got. You've got a lot of security. You get a lot of. You get a lot of financial security.

[Adam Schaefer]

I'm getting more and more comfortable with it as time goes on. Very encouraging comments from our. From listeners and stuff on that whole episode. I'm reading the Comments, they're so encouraging. So that's really good. It's really good to hear that. I didn't do it for that. I didn't say it on the podcast. I said on the podcast to make it real. But man, it is really encouraging to hear people's feedback. So really appreciate everybody.

[Jeff]

Been cool.

[Adam Schaefer]

Good digestive enzymes will help you break down your food, get better digestion, get the protein, carbs and fats to your muscles and your body to get better results. The best digestive enzymes on the market are mass Zymes. We love them. They are for fit people. Go check them out. Go to buyoptimizers.com that's B I O P T I M I Z-E-R S.com mindpump use the code mindpump10 get 10% off. Back to the show.

[Sal Destefano]

First question is from Paulo Ruejka. What's the recommended temple for 8 to 10 rep range? Would you change it for raw power or muscle endurance?

[Adam Schaefer]

So the tempo refers to the speed at which you perform the reps. Okay, so that's what this person's asking. There's benefit to different tempos of lifting. A slower tempo would be like, you know, it takes you four seconds to lower the weight, then you bring it up for two seconds. A fast tempo would be obviously the way it sounds, right? You go down and up very quickly. They're all valuable, they're all beneficial. However, I will say this, for most people, the, the risk versus reward ratio is best with a more controlled tempo, generally speaking.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Now balance, if you're an athlete and you want power, you're advanced, you got.

[Doug]

Great stability, great control, centric, just explosive.

[Adam Schaefer]

You could do explosive on the lift part and that's going to give you some power benefits. But I mean, I'll be honest, like the like 99.9% of the clients that I trained, we used a controlled tempo because it's just risk versus reward. It's the best. It's a low risk of injury in comparison to other tempos and you still get great results. You build muscle, you still get great, you know, the return is still great on it.

[Jeff]

Yeah, I, I, we used to have this really good, and I can't remember if it was from NASM or where, what, which one of my national certs it was in, but there was, they had a really cool, you know, four quadrants and there was like power, strength, hypertrophy, endurance, and each one of those representing the rep ranges, you know, single rep, max, you know, 3 to 5, 8 to 10 and then 15 plus. Right. That, that's the four quadrants. Each one of them had ideal tempos for each. Each one. Hypertrophy typically is like a 4, 2, 2. Your power is a 1, 1, 1. So you. So there are these generic tempos that tend to lend themselves well for types of training. That being said, there's a case for manipulating all of those. And there's also a case for what Sal said, which is depending on what level my client is at. I'm going to take the tempo 4, 2, 2. Right. That's a really slow tempo comparison to the rest for all these phases for right now. Because right now I really, I'm going to mess with the rep ranges, but I'm going to keep the tempo slow and controlled for a long time in their journey until they get to a place where they can really control weight and they really understand the movement and they're really good at that. And they've reaped all the benefits of the year. Two years that you're going to get just from simply manipulating rep ranges and exercises. Now I'm talking to this person. They've been with me for two, three years and it's like, hey, let's explore what power looks like. Let's do like 1, 1, 1. I mean this client is now very advanced. They understand what, what's supposed to be working firing. They get the form technique. They've already gone through plenty of cycles and rounds of manipulating rep ranges. And so now we can start to play with tempo within the rep ranges. And there's a case to be made that you can mess with what is normally a power tempo in a hypertrophy phase. There's. If you've never done that, then you could do that and it would give. It would be novel and then therefore it would have some benefits. So tempo is a great tool, but it's one of the, it's one of the later things that I do. I kind of wait to really start to manipulate that. I'm with sales. Most of my clients, I, I choose a really slow tempo until you get the mechanics down.

[Doug]

Control first.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, 100. And you know, again, just to put it differently, right. If your form is off a little bit with a controlled, slow tempo, you're probably okay, but then you do that fast, you're going to cause problems. So the fast tempos, the power tempos, they you most risky, I would say only use those. If you've got it down, you've got the technique, you've got the skill down, then use those Fast tempos and then the fast tempos are amazing. Otherwise I'd stay away from those because if you're not perfect with your form slow, it's going to be bad when you're fast.

[Sal Destefano]

Next question is from Kristen J. Leish. I have done a round of maps 15 advanced and loved it and then got excited to switch to anabolic for the change in my weekly schedule. However, after two weeks, I felt my recovery was tanking hard. After long days, I'm in perimenopause and I'm resigned to the fact that I have to go back to shorter daily sessions instead of two to three longer sessions per week. What do you Recommend I do Maps 15 again.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yep. Maps 15 performance and go between Maps 15 performance and Maps 15. And when someone says, by the way, Maps 15 advanced, what they're referring to is Maps 15. In Maps 15, there's a barbell version. There's a barbell version of it that we call, that we refer to as the advanced version. Okay. So. No, no, go back to it. By the way, I get the whole. I resign myself to this fact because.

[Doug]

It'S not a less than situation.

[Adam Schaefer]

You're going to get great results. You did get great results. Go back to it.

[Doug]

What fits best with your situation?

[Adam Schaefer]

Look, I'm, I'm at the point now in my understanding of fitness and strength training or I think it's probably best for most people to do short daily strength training sessions versus two or three longer ones.

[Doug]

It's the culture.

[Jeff]

Yeah.

[Doug]

It fits best with our most people's lifestyle.

[Adam Schaefer]

I also think it fits best with recovery and results. In other words, you could do two 45 minute sessions a week or do one 15 minute every day. Same everything. I think the short sessions are better for most people. I really, really do.

[Jeff]

Yeah. This is one of those things where I feel like Kristen knows this and she knows the answer because she's felt it. She already felt it. She knows it. I think it's just looking for the permission or the like nod that, yeah, that's what you should do. You absolutely should. And your, your body is telling you that. And in, you know, to the guy's point, it's not lesser. You're going to get better results. And, and you doing anabolic or aesthetic or Muscle Mommy or some other one is not a better program for you. And your bodies are. And you'll get more results, you'll get better results by following Mass 15. So you could, if you wanted to toggle between Maps 15 and Mass 15 performance. So if you want to get a little bit of a novel stimulus because there's different movements inside that, but they both follow that shorter protocol. There's totally nothing wrong with that. There'd be benefits to that. So if. If you're not going to go back to matt15, which is totally fine, too, max 15 performance would be a great way to kind of toggle back and forth between those until you're in a period of time in your life where you feel like your body can handle.

[Adam Schaefer]

And I gotta say, Even the original maps 15, it was so well put together and so balanced. You know, all of our programs are valuable, but we'll tell most people to move out of one after a while because it's got Strengths and weaknesses. Maps 15 is pretty well balanced. And if, especially if you followed up with Maps 15 performance, you're going to have those short daily workouts. You could forever go 15, 15 performance. 15, 15 performance. You've got all your bases covered by those two programs.

[Sal Destefano]

Next question is from Ernie Meyer. How important is it to line up your feet perfectly when squatting and deadlifting? How do you lighten up your feet without overthinking it?

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, just make sure they're together. I mean, make sure they're balanced. Like.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Is it important? Yeah. You don't want one shoulder width. Yeah. You don't want one foot in front of the other because that could cause problems. So they should be lined up. But I don't know what you mean by overthinking it. Are you like, well, measuring it?

[Jeff]

I mean, there's a lot of. There's a lot of debate here on foot position for squatting and deadlifting, that. There's a lot of national certs that advocate for neutral, perfectly neutral, straightforward toes. Then there's a lot of people that talk about the external rotation.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, is that what you. Is that. I feel like they're talking about lining them up where they mat.

[Jeff]

No, no, no, no, no. This person's talking about that. That's what I get from this. And that's normally what is asked. Or where people overthink.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, they can be turned out a little bit.

[Jeff]

How far out? Or do I keep them neutral? And so here's. There is like the. The first thing that I always like to teach a client is I don't even tell them anything, but I just have them walk up to the bar and I look at the actually stand.

[Doug]

What's most comfortable immediately.

[Jeff]

Exactly. And a lot of times, most people have a slight external rotation. Now, what I do want is, I do want Them to look even on each side. I don't want the left one to be wide open and then the right one is narrow. Right. Because then, then that, that shows me there's a glaring discrepancy. Yeah. From left to right. And then I'm. I'm actually not even going to do any bilateral with that person. I'm going to do a lot of unilateral and fix that. But let's say you walk up and you have this kind of external rotation. That's where you're squatting and deadlifting from. From right now. Now, that being said, that's kind of your normal natural position. I think there's tremendous benefit in learning how to squat with your feet in all different positions. There's. There's benefit to shoulder width apart. There's benefit to a narrow stance, there's benefit to a sumo stance. There's bet. There's benefit to an open stance, a more neutral stance. There's benefits to. And I would like to be able to perform those movements in all of those stances. So I think we. Oh, we. Where we overthink. This is like critiquing each other and being like, that's right, wrong, like you shouldn't. Your feet are too open. It's like if you can perform it with no pain and good mobility and good work, it's an exercise. And so. And all of them are exercises. So I think there's value to learning to be able to squat and deadlift in all those foot positions.

[Sal Destefano]

Next question is from MF Swellness. Where do you see AI in 5 to 10 years in relation to strength training programming, nutrition plans and mental emotional support?

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, this is a good question. I think when it comes to general strength training programming and general nutrition planning, it's going to be far superior to Google is it's far superior to just going online and trying to find things. Do I think it's going to be better than a good experienced coach? No. Now let me kind of go a little deeper. Let's just say for argument's sake, and this could be possible. Who knows? I mean, AI is really trippy right now. Let's just say in 10 years that AI has the programming know how and the diet programming know how in terms of knowing how to adjust and individualize based on the person, they're just as good or better than a coach. Do I think they're going to be as good as a coach? No, because the human element is so valuable in coaching. It's in fact, I would say it's the most valuable thing, like what I told my clients to do was valuable, but the way I did it and the way I connected to them was more valuable than the actual what I did. Now, when AI is indistinguishable from a human, that's a completely different conversation.

[Doug]

Well, as it currently stands, it's based off of your input, which is inherently a flaw because we know as trainers, we have to probe the right questions. We have to really, like, dig in further to find out more information. A lot of times that's not even revealed. We can just know based upon, you know, experience where this is all the trajectory is leading this client. So we'll make micro adjustments. And a lot of times, too, it's what you present the client to shape and, and, and cultivate the behavior in a better direction, which I don't think AI is sophisticated in that regard either.

[Jeff]

So. Two great points you both made, and I have thoughts around both of them, like yours, Justin, is actually how I think AI is going to be really neat in the future. Like, imagine that you had an app that there had a series of. The same series of questions used to ask your client.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Jeff]

How'd you sleep last night? How'd you do on your diet today? How do, how do you feel right now? Right. That, that from there, logging all that data. Yes, you keep logging that data. And from there, the, the AI then modifies the intensity and the exercises based off the feedback it's being prompted. I think that is going to be neat. And I think it could get pretty damn good. I think it could get so good, it's probably better than a lot of trainers. Like 90% of trainers, there still is going to be that 10% that are elite level. That's going to be hard for A. But AI could replace 90% and then only leave room for the 10% that are super elite. That's to your point. Your point? Even when it's indistinguishable, will we still get the oxytocin benefits?

[Adam Schaefer]

So when I say indistinguishable, I mean. And I don't know if this is possible, Adam, but let's just say that's the thing. If it's identical to human interaction, then it doesn't matter. But I don't know if it'll ever be identical.

[Jeff]

Right. I don't know.

[Adam Schaefer]

There's a trust factor here, too. Like, two people could give me the exact same advice. Okay. But one of them I know and trust, that's going to be more valuable. Or even the one I The person I know and trust gives me a little worse advice, but. But it's better for me because that's the person I know and trust. So the human element is so important in that regard, like as a coach and a trainer. What makes a coach and trainer valuable? 10% of it is that they know what to tell you to do. Literally. I'm not exaggerating. That's 10% of it. Now that's a big percent, but it's still. That's about it. The 90% that makes a really good coach and trainer really good is they have the trust, the connection, and the person really feels that they have their best intentions and trust them and goes with them. That's what makes a really good coach extremely invaluable. Will AI be able to do that? I think it's gonna take a long time. Theoretically, maybe, but until it can do that, no, it doesn't matter.

[Jeff]

We already know there's already like a human who is talking to or communicating with another human virtually versus in person.

[Adam Schaefer]

Doesn't cause the same thing is.

[Jeff]

Is different. So I would think that even when AI gets really good and these robots are really good, I would question.

[Adam Schaefer]

No, it'd have to be a humanoid that looks and feels exactly like so. Exactly.

[Jeff]

So indistinguishable that you'd have no idea that you think you're talking to a human. I would think for it to produce those same chemicals. Right?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Jeff]

I mean, so I don't even know if that's possible. And if it is very interesting, then we have a very interesting conversation debate. But I mean, I think it could get close and I think it could help just. Just like, would any of you guys want to see video, you know, conversations? Go away. I mean, it's been an awesome tool for me. I mean, I love that my son gets to connect to his grandmother five hours away every single week now because of that. But I also recognize that I couldn't only do that and I couldn't rob him of in person meeting his family.

[Adam Schaefer]

There was a recent study where they took a bunch of patients and their medical history and they sent it to a group of experienced doctors and then they sent it to AI and the AI outperformed the doctors in diagnosing. Now, does that mean the AI is going to be more valuable? No, I think it could add to the value of the human element of the doctor. Now if you have a shitty doctor who has no human element and they just tell you what you got, well, okay, then go with the app. But if it's like a. That human element is the thing that makes the difference between a good coach and a bad coach or a coach and just information on the Internet. So what I think is good coach.

[Doug]

Replace a lot of bad actors.

[Jeff]

Well, this, yes.

[Adam Schaefer]

And I think good coaches are going to use AI.

[Doug]

Yeah, that's.

[Jeff]

Oh, it's going to be integrated. Yes, there's no doubt. There's no doubt it's going to be integrated. It's going to be an incredible tool. So the science nerd sal would say to you then, define that because is what the human element. Define that for me because could we develop that. In other words, human is empathetic and understanding and reads emotion. Like what if you could program it to. You could be empathetic to read emotions, know how to, you know, I'm saying, like, it reads.

[Doug]

It reads body language, language, temperature.

[Adam Schaefer]

You could, but you have. But it would also have to be in person and appear to look, smell, feel like a human to be the same. Yeah, because there's a human element that comes from being in person, from touch, from gaze, from. So now when we can create AI robots that are completely indistinguishable from humans, we got a whole other set of problems. This is not. Nobody cares about this at that point. It's like, what's going on here?

[Jeff]

Yeah, we for sure are really close to like this. I mean, I already think that if.

[Doug]

You'Re speculating, it looks like, like in 10 years. Because like I, I keep thinking it's kind of like something that's talking to you in your ear.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yep, that's right.

[Doug]

And it's just like real time, like kind of just little micro adjustments. Like you might want to consider resting a little bit longer.

[Jeff]

Yeah, yeah. I, I actually see it as a caddy to the trainer. Yeah, that's how I see it. It's not to the individual. I think it's a.

[Adam Schaefer]

It's like you're Luke Skywalker.

[Jeff]

The first version of this, in my opinion. The first version of this, in my opinion is going to be a tool for trainers to use to be better at diagnosing, better at prescribing, better at their job.

[Doug]

It'll make them better.

[Jeff]

That will be the first version. Maybe the evolution of that is an actual humanoid, you know, robot that comes in and does this type of. But the first, I think is going to be a tool.

[Doug]

I feel like that's 50 years out. I don't feel robot.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, you're right.

[Jeff]

I think so too. I do too. I don't I don't think we're close to that yet. I think we're really close to these cool apps, cool tools that I could. Yeah. Because I mean, how cool would that be? We're not that far from an app that could take all the data and information that we used to ask our clients.

[Doug]

Sure.

[Jeff]

And then loan us. Yeah, exactly. And then it's like woody, okay. When my client tells me they got poor sleep, they're in a bad mood, they had stress and I had this plan, I now cut that in half. I now, like, there's very good principles.

[Adam Schaefer]

There are these famous terrible studies that the Soviet Union did with orphans where they had nurses without feed the orphans. And then they had human touch that would just get hugged.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

And get fed. And the difference in how they thrived was insane. Remarkable. They did one with monkeys.

[Doug]

Non psychopaths.

[Adam Schaefer]

They had one with monkeys where they had a furry pretend monkey and the monkeys went to and hugged it. Needed that, that touch. So there's a lot more that we don't understand with that human element. But if you're just looking at information, I mean, it's gonna be great for just information.

[Jeff]

It's here, it's here to stay. And trainers that aren't finding ways to adopt and utilize it will get left in the dust. They're for sure you're going to get passed by because even if you're a badass trainer, the trainer who's not very good but has learned how to use AI within their business will surpass you. Yeah, that's what I think. Because. And I think what you'll see is at the top will be really good trainers who also know how to integrate AI into their their business. That's will be successful. If you are already cocky and think you're such a great trainer, I don't need that. And you don't adopt and use it, you're going to get passed by lesser trainers that know how to use that tool.

[Adam Schaefer]

Right. Look, if you like the show, come find us on Instagram. Justin is @mindpumpjustin. I'm @mindpump. To Stefano Adams @mindpump.

[Sal Destefano]

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 [e-mail] 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. The RGB Super Bundle has a full 30 day money back guarantee and you can get it now. Plus other valuable free [e-mail] 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.