2588: The Perfect 6-Step Pre-Workout Routine & More (Listener Coaching)

Summary

Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth – Episode 2588 Summary

Episode Title: The Perfect 6-Step Pre-Workout Routine & More (Listener Coaching)
Release Date: May 2, 2025
Hosts: Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer, Justin Andrews, Doug Egge

In Episode 2588 of Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth, hosts delve deep into crafting the perfect pre-workout routine using a comprehensive six-step approach. Additionally, they address listener questions on topics ranging from cutting and bulking cycles to the impact of social media on fitness professionals. Here's a detailed breakdown of the episode's key discussions and insights.

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1. The Perfect 6-Step Pre-Workout Routine

a. Hydration ([01:23] – [05:50])

Adam emphasizes the foundational role of hydration in optimizing workout performance.

• Adam Schaefer ([01:46]): "The most important thing you can do to get the best workout, and this is going to sound silly, but you talk to anybody who's experienced, they'll tell you is to be very well hydrated."

• Doug Egge ([03:31]): "No pain's a big one. Which also relates to the hydration, because a lot of times you'll feel that in your joints."

Justin shares his personal experience, highlighting how increased water intake leads to significant muscle pumps.

• Justin Andrews ([01:49]): "I've taken every pump supplement that's ever been made, and nothing has given me pumps like being hydrated by eating a good meal... and then drinking a half a gallon of water before I get into my workout."

b. Prioritizing Sleep the Night Before ([07:26] – [08:29])

Adequate sleep is crucial for high-level workout performance and injury prevention.

• Adam Schaefer ([07:26]): "Make sure the night before you get, like, a good 30 minutes to an hour more sleep than you normally would. This makes a huge difference."

Justin underscores the often-overlooked importance of sleep, advocating for intentional preparation the day prior to a workout.

• Justin Andrews ([07:46]): "This is probably one of the ones that's overlooked the most... you have to think about this the day before."

c. Taking the Previous Day Off ([08:29] – [09:42])

Incorporating rest days enhances recovery and performance.

• Adam Schaefer ([08:29]): "...take the previous day off leading into the workout will pretty much guarantee you're going to feel more rested, stronger, more connected, better pumps."

• Doug Egge ([09:20]): "I've been considering this a lot, especially like trying to time out and figure out when I'm really going to load heavier or not quite as heavy..."

d. Carb and Protein Intake Before Workout ([10:49] – [14:49])

Proper nutrient timing supports energy levels and muscle pumps.

• Adam Schaefer ([10:49]): "Have carbs and protein about two or three hours before the workout. The data on this with performance is very clear."

• Justin Andrews ([11:27]): "Somebody who's low carb... 20 or 30 grams... somebody who eats a lot... 150 grams."

e. Individualized Warm-Up ([13:04] – [14:25])

Tailoring warm-ups to address personal muscle imbalances prevents injuries and enhances workout effectiveness.

• Adam Schaefer ([13:04]): "Prime individual muscles makes a dramatic difference. This was like a trainer hack for me to convince people my value."

• Justin Andrews ([14:12]): "I would get to the gym and spend a lot of time doing this, getting my body all primed... so that when I get into those working sets, I'm getting the most I possibly can out of that."

f. Pre-Workout Supplements ([14:49] – [19:40])

The hosts discuss scientifically-backed supplements that can enhance workout performance.

• Adam Schaefer ([15:49]): "Caffeine is the number one ingredient in every pre-workout for a reason. It is a drug, it is a stimulant, it will ramp up the CNS a little bit and it will improve your performance."

• Justin Andrews ([16:38]): "If you're already someone who consistently and you never take a break from it, taking a break... it's like, you really get to feel the benefits of what that feels like right now."

Honorable Mention: Cold Plunge ([16:54] – [18:33])

A brief discussion on the benefits of cold plunges before workouts.

• Justin Andrews ([18:05]): "Honorable mention. If you have the resources or access to that. A good cold plunge before this workout shower."

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2. Listener Coaching Segment

Following the pre-workout routine discussion, the episode transitions into a listener coaching segment addressing various fitness and lifestyle questions.

a. Cutting vs. Bulking Frequency ([55:46] – [59:53])

• Sal Destefano ([55:56]): "How many times in a year should I switch between cutting and bulking?"

• Adam Schaefer ([56:26]): "For most people, if you're fit and healthy... you'll spend most of the year around maintenance, toggling between cut and bulk based on how you feel."

• Justin Andrews ([58:22]): "For the person that's in a healthy place, this is where they should spend their time is kind of hovering around maintenance... with periods when you're in a bulk and then when you're in a cut."

b. Effective Use of Social Media for Trainers ([59:52] – [65:26])

• Justin Andrews ([59:52]): "The advice I give... a better strategy is service your current client base... create posts that address common client questions."

• Adam Schaefer ([62:13]): "Most businesses are not... social media helps add value to their current business."

c. Recognizing Overtraining ([65:37] – [68:32])

• Adam Schaefer ([66:00]): "If you cut your workout volume and start seeing improvements in energy and performance, you were likely overtraining."

• Justin Andrews ([66:28]): "If you run Map Aesthetic back to back, it's our highest volume program... doing less volume might yield better results."

d. Specific Program Queries ([68:32] – [69:57])

• Sal Destefano ([68:32]): "Would it be fine to run Maps Aesthetic two times in a row?"

• Adam Schaefer ([68:32]): "Bringing up a lagging body part in a cut is not possible. You need a surplus to build muscle."

• Justin Andrews ([69:38]): "Our highest volume program neglects mobility and rotation, especially as we age... consider switching to programs with more appropriate volume."

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3. Broader Discussions on Fitness and Lifestyle

The hosts engage in broader conversations touching on the psychological aspects of fitness, the influence of social media, and cultural shifts impacting health perceptions.

a. Social Media's Impact on Fitness and Body Image ([31:18] – [47:42])

The dialogue explores how social media fosters unrealistic body standards and the rise of body dysmorphia among fitness enthusiasts.

• Adam Schaefer ([32:23]): "The most ripped, jacked people are the most likely to have really bad body image issues... they post on social media and get a lot of attention, but they're unhealthy."

• Justin Andrews ([34:35]): "We've glorified body dysmorphia for a long time... we completely distorted what health looks like."

b. Cultural Shifts and Media Influence ([45:10] – [50:49])

Discussion on recent events like American Idol's worship night and the broader cultural shifts reflecting or influencing societal values.

• Adam Schaefer ([48:18]): "It's a reflection of culture... there is a cultural shift that's happening."

• Justin Andrews ([49:04]): "These swings are faster and bigger... social media accelerates cultural changes."

c. Balancing Health and Quality of Life ([23:18] – [29:38])

Emphasizing that health is not solely about physical metrics but also about enjoying life and maintaining relationships.

• Adam Schaefer ([23:18]): "Quality of life has been shown to improve longevity."

• Justin Andrews ([26:24]): "It was like, I could eat it. I can eat it right out of the thing... but that's a rule. It caused these bonding moments, but also challenges in moderation."

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4. Upcoming Announcements and Promotions

Before concluding the content-heavy portions, the hosts briefly mention upcoming events and promotions relevant to their audience.

• Adam Schaefer ([54:24]): "We're doing a three-part bonus series of episodes for trainers, starting Monday the 19th, covering mindset, strategies, and assessments. Plus, a webinar on the 27th."

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Conclusion

Episode 2588 of Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth offers a robust framework for optimizing pre-workout routines, enriched by data-backed advice and personal anecdotes from the hosts. Beyond the six-step routine, the episode provides valuable listener coaching on maintaining balanced fitness cycles, leveraging social media effectively, and recognizing signs of overtraining. Additionally, the hosts engage in insightful discussions on the psychological and cultural factors influencing modern fitness paradigms, urging for a holistic approach to health that balances physical goals with quality of life.

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Notable Quotes:

• Adam Schaefer ([01:46]): "The most important thing you can do to get the best workout... is to be very well hydrated."

• Justin Andrews ([15:49]): "If you're someone who consistently and you never take a break from caffeine, taking a break... you really get to feel the benefits of what that feels like."

• Justin Andrews ([58:22]): "For the person that's in a healthy place, this is where they should spend their time is kind of hovering around maintenance... with periods when you're in a bulk and then when you're in a cut."

• Adam Schaefer ([32:23]): "The most ripped, jacked people are the most likely to have really bad body image issues... they're unhealthy."

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the episode's primary themes and discussions, providing valuable insights for both fitness enthusiasts and professionals seeking to enhance their workout routines and overall health strategies.

Transcript

[Sal Destefano]

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go.

[Adam Schaefer]

Mind Pump. Mind Pump.

[Sal Destefano]

With your hosts Sal Destefano, Adam Schaefer.

[Adam Schaefer]

And Justin Andrews, you just found the most downloaded fitness, health and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump. Today's episode we answered listeners questions, but this was after a 55 minute intro. In the intro we talked about fitness workouts, building muscle, burning body fat. It's a good time. By the way, if you want to write in a question that we may pick, go to Instagram @mindpump media now. This episode is brought to you by some sponsors. The first one is Legion. Today we talked about their pre workout pulse supplement. You can get it for 20% off. Go to by legion.com mind pump use the code mindpump. Get that discount. This episode is also brought to you by Vuori. You already know who they are. They're everywhere. It's the best athleisure wear company in the world. Get 20% off go to vuoriclothing.com mind pump. We also have a sale this month, Maps 15 Performance and the RGB bundle. 50% off. If you're interested, go to maps fitnessproducts.com and then use the code MAY50 for the discount. All right, back to the show. Everybody loves the perfect workout. Great pumps, great connection, you get good results. We're going to talk about how you can take six steps, just six, to create the perfect workout. Let's go.

[Justin Andrews]

I haven't seen what you wrote.

[Doug]

Just in six.

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, first I'll start with the first one, just so people get the first tip. But then we'll talk a little bit more about the workout itself. But the most important thing you can do to get the best workout, and this is going to sound silly, but you talk to anybody who's experienced, they'll tell you is to be very well hydrated. Yes, of course, it makes a massive, massive difference.

[Doug]

Everything works against you if you're not.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Doug]

It's really hard to make it through.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Justin Andrews]

Argue, dare I say, overly hydrated. In other words, like, I found that the, the more water I had leading into the workout, the, the crazier my pumps were. I remember piecing this together way later on. Like I didn't become the guy who carried the gallon of water around until I got into competing. Up before that who gave a. Like, I didn't care. Right. It wasn't a, it wasn't part of the game and that. But the, one of the biggest insights I got from that was like Holy crap. I've taken every pump supplement that's ever been made, and nothing has given me pumps like being hydrated by eating a good meal, you know, a couple hours before that's loaded with carbs, and then drinking a half a gallon of water before I get into my workout. And then while I work out, 100 unbelievable pumps.

[Adam Schaefer]

100. So let's talk about, first off, why we. We want that perfect workout. Well, first off, it feels great, right? If you work out regularly, especially strength train, it's just. It's a great feeling to have that workout that just everything feels amazing and perfect. The pumps, that's a big part of it. I think one of the reasons why we love chasing the pump, aside from the fact that it may indicate better results, maybe it's just. It feels great. You can see the muscles you're targeting and what they would look like if they're actually more developed in real time. The perfect workout, you tend to be strong. I. There's nothing like workouts for me where I go in and I feel like I can lift whatever I want. Like that feeling. Oh, just that strength, the energy, the connection. I can feel the muscles I'm targeting. Feels like I'm progressing as I work out. No pain. I feel great.

[Doug]

No, pain's a big one. Which also relates to the hydration, because a lot of times you'll feel that in your joints. And it's like, if I'm not properly hydrated, there's a lot more times where I'll feel. Feel like my joints are talking to me, and I'm like, oh, no, it's inhibiting, you know, the kind of performance I can have.

[Adam Schaefer]

By the way, this is such a big deal, having that workout that feels good. It's such a big deal that one of the reasons why fitness fanatics overdo workouts or work out too much is they like the way it feels. They just like working out. And so. And you can create the environment where you get that great feeling. Now, the hydrated part is very important. Now, first off, add some electrolytes or sodium to your water. When you do this, you can actually drink too much water, not have enough sodium, cramp up in the workout, actually cause yourself to get a little dehydrated cells. Yeah, yeah. So what I do like you like. So, Adam, I work out first thing in the morning, so it's like I have all this time to get super hydrated. But what I do is I. I'll have a thousand milligrams of sodium. Our partner element. I'LL pour it in, and I'll drink about a little over a quarter gallon, almost half a gallon of water. And I'll do that leading into the workout, and then during the workout, have more water. There's nothing that gives me nothing. A better pump and less pain like that. 100%.

[Doug]

It's funny you're bringing this up, because I just had this conversation with Everett. He just started track and field and has been practicing and. And ramping up his intensity. And, like, he came home and he was just super exhausted, just wanted to go to sleep. He's got a headache, and he's like, oh, man, Dad, I went too hard, and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, did you drink water all day leading up to he, like, didn't drink any water.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Doug]

And I'm like, oh, my God. And just to get him on this realization that a lot of this could have been resolved from that, you'd feel a lot better, and you perform better.

[Adam Schaefer]

70% of your muscles are fluid, so the majority of your muscle size and volume is fluid. You need electrolytes and water for cells to communicate properly, for your central nervous system to function properly. Muscles are far less likely to be pulled or strained. When you're well hydrated, you're far less likely to injure yourself. The data on that's very clear, by the way. Like, dehydrated athlete, the odds that they'll hurt themselves is actually significantly higher. So. And it sounds silly because it's water, but it's actually the most impactful things you could do.

[Justin Andrews]

One of the side effects, too, is, like, fatigue. Like, low energy.

[Adam Schaefer]

Totally.

[Justin Andrews]

When you're dehydrated. Like, that, too, sometimes, like. And there's this happens to me many times where I was like, I just. The days kind of got away from me, and I'm feeling kind of sluggish, and I'm like, I have had, like, no water day. And then I'll go pound a bunch of water. I'm like, oh, my God, I feel so much better. So I remember actually hearing Justin suggest that to a client, and I thought, man, I don't think I've ever checked that box. When a client tells me they're fatigued. And. And after that, I remember talking to clients, and many times it was, we just. We're in the. You know, have some coffee, energy drink, or go straight into, like, sodas and, like. And then you just. The day gets by and you're like, oh, yeah, I drink.

[Doug]

But then you go, unless you're intentional about it, you'll you won't even think.

[Justin Andrews]

Totally, totally.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. And by the way, there's a difference. Like some people argue and say, well, you don't need that much water to not be dehydrated. There's water that's essential, or fluid intake that's essential. And then there's optimal. And they're different. Okay. So you can have just, like, protein, you know, you can have essential protein, and then there's this. Then there's optimal protein for hitting your goals. The same thing is true for water. So it is true that your thirst is. Or your desire to drink water or fluid is a good indicator that will prevent you from being dehydrated. That's true. And so people will say that, well, your thirst will tell you when you need water. Yeah, that's true. But optimal is higher than that. Optimal is more than that. If you're looking for, you know, the best results and for a great workout. Next up is to have a really good night of sleep the day before. If you want to go into a workout and perform at a high level, either you're going to go after a pr, you're going to work out with your friend, you know, you're going to get after it.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Make sure the night before you get, like, a good 30 minutes to an hour more sleep than you normally would. This makes a huge difference. And on the flip side, a poor night of sleep is. I think the injury risk alone with the poor night of sleep is something like twice as high. It's significant. So going into the workout, be very well rested. Have a good night of sleep.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. This is probably the one of the ones that's overlooked the most. I mean, I think that we're constantly, I think, pounding the message of sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep. Because so many things happen, I think that we tend to neglect that, or a lot of times what will happen is somebody is feeling sluggish, and then they get in the workout and they feel so much better. Better than they push past that. But if I'm gonna go into a workout that I'm trying to get, this is like, very, like, in with intention of. This is gonna be a hard workout. This should be arguably the first one. Right. This is like. Because you're prepping, this is the day before. Right. Water I can make up first thing in the day. Oh, I can get some water in. But this is like, I have to think about this the day before. Hey, I'm. Tomorrow I'm getting after these lifts. Therefore, I need to make sure I do this tonight to make sure I get a good night.

[Adam Schaefer]

By the way, all the stuff we're talking about, you think to yourself, like, well, when would I use this? Well, number one, if you just want to have that workout, that's awesome. And number two, this is great for the air when you're training body parts or areas that are weak or that are lagging. So you see really smart bodybuilders will, they'll do all these steps for that day because they know they're lagging in their back or their legs or something like that. So this is, that's what you can use this for. Next up, take the previous day off. A day off leading into the workout will pretty much guarantee you're going to feel more rested, stronger, more connected, better pumps, more recovered, for sure. This was, this for me was when I, whenever I was going to work out with a friend, which I rarely ever do, but if I was, and I knew I kind of wanted to get after it with that with, with my buddy, I would make sure not to work out the day before so I could go into it fresh.

[Doug]

Oh, yeah. I mean, this is, I've been considering this a lot, especially like trying to time out and figure out when I'm really going to load heavier or not quite as heavy for this whole series I'm doing for overhead pressing. And so it's been a lot of strategic 1, 2 days of not lifting prior to that. You know, I'm kind of finding my sweet spot.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I would argue this difference. I would argue at least, at least one day or maybe even two, depending on how hard your training has been going consist with that because I feel the same way, too. You start stretching it beyond four days or longer, then I feel like that you have, yeah, sluggish reverse effect. But if I'm consistently training a good day or two off going into getting ready for a serious workout like that, it tends to always serve me.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. This is why a lot of people notice if they're consistent with everything and they work, let's say Monday, Wednesday, Monday through Friday workouts, their Monday workouts tend to be the best because they're coming off the weekend. They're rested, they're fresh, they're fresh, and they just have a great workout on Monday. Next up, and you said this earlier, Adam, have carbs and protein about two or three hours before the workout. Now, the data on this with performance is very clear. But I also noticed this with the pump. This is a big one with the pump for me. If I, if I now I work out first thing in the morning, so I'm fasted. But if I. If I can work out in the afternoon and have like, one or two meals before I do the workout, I know it's going to feel. No matter what. It just feels so much better and so much stronger, so much more energy. The pump is just unreal.

[Justin Andrews]

There's. Everybody has a number. In my experience of advising people with this. And it's good. There's a huge range. Somebody who's low carb doesn't eat a lot of carbs. I can load them up with 20 or 30 grams of carbs pre workout, and they're gonna notice a huge difference. If you eat a lot of carbs, that person might need 150 grams of carbs. But everybody has a number. There's a number of grams of carbohydrates that if you prioritize intake well before your workout. So two hours or more before the workout, you will notice this, and you'll have a number that if you eat less than that, the pumps are less. If you eat any more than that, they're not any better. There's a number, and it's like, I.

[Adam Schaefer]

You're right. For me, it was around 50.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. And I was about 75. So, like, I knew that if I had 75 grams or more of carbohydrates, I'm gonna. I'm gonna have the best. And the water, the combination.

[Adam Schaefer]

You were competing. This was a regular for you, right?

[Justin Andrews]

Yes. Oh, yeah. Like it. It. You talk about, you know, again, this is. Was my job in a sense. Right. I wasn't getting paid, but I was. I was treating it like a job. So all these things that you're talking about, you know, I was always thinking about. I was. The day before, I was thinking about the next day's workout. If it was going to be a hard heav, knowing that I got to get good night's rest. I know I'm gonna. I'm gonna be lifting by noon or noon or so, so I need to get at least two meals in before, like, all these things that you're talking about. And I think this is. It's actually kind of cool to talk about this, because when you. When you optimize all these things that you're talking about, boy, the workouts, the gains, they all. They come on. And this is what. What a lot of people who don't know what's happening behind the scenes other than what they see on social media, don't realize about some of these incredible physiques that you See is like these guys and girls are, they're doing all this, they're doing this every day, consistent every day. Every day they're doing this. I mean I did at least that's what, that's what it took for me to look like that consistently was I was thinking about all these things every day, all the time and, and realize that when I checked all these boxes, I was making great workouts, I was making great progress. If I lacked in one or two of them, I was having setbacks. And so the pros or the people that do this for a living, whether that be for Instagram living or for competing reasons, they do all this stuff.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's right. Next up, prime prime. Well, individualize your warm up. So if you notice shoulder pain when on chest day and you have identified that, if you work on shoulder mobility before the workout, if you work on scapular retraction, like with some rows before you go, bench press, or let's say you have issues with your squats, ankle mobility is important or hip strengthening mobility. You know, some people tube walking is what really helps them get into a good squat. Like spending a good 10 to 15 minutes of proper priming makes a dramatic difference in your workout. This one's so important. I did this with my clients almost every time. Like when my clients were well balanced, then our warmups look more like a set or two of the of the exercise with lightweight moving into it. But almost. I mean, every client I had, at least for the first six months, like we primed individually and it dramatically improved their success with their workouts. It made them more connected to the lift, less pain, they felt great. In fact, this was a, this was like a trainer hack for me to convince people my value. I would do a priming session with them, have them do a lift and they're like, oh my God, how many more pain I feel great.

[Doug]

Yeah, the more consistent you are in the very beginning with that, the less queuing was necessary. Once they got into those major lifts and everything was responsive and yeah, like you said, they'd be like one warm up set and then you're pretty much ready to go.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, again, getting back to the people that do this at the professional level, like this part is so serious. I mean again, I had plenty of time. So I would get to the gym and spend a lot of time doing this, getting my body all primed, ready, knowing what lifts I'm going to go do, knowing all the imbalances and the things I need to do, spending all that time to do that so that when I get into those working sets, I'm getting the most I possibly can out of that for sure.

[Adam Schaefer]

Now lastly, we'll get to the pre workout supplements. That's what everybody's looking for. I'm only going to list the ones that are pretty consistently backed by data. So there's lots of ingredients and compounds that people we could speculate might help. And I could tell you some that I personally find that are good for me. Other people might not notice so much, but the ones we're going to list here are the ones that the data show pretty clearly have a performance benefit or a positive effect on a workout. So the first thing is caffeine. Caffeine is the number one ingredient in every pre workout for a reason. It is a drug, it is a stimulant, it will ramp up the CNS a little bit and it will improve your performance. I don't think I need to argue that everybody knows what caffeine does. Theanine is the next one. This is an amino acid that when combined with caffeine, actually enhances the effects of caffeine. Now, what it does is it doesn't make the caffeine stronger. It makes it feel more focused and cleaner. No jitters. And it kind of lasts longer.

[Justin Andrews]

It also kind of mitigates the crash.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes, that's what I always thought. It's a smoother feel. Yeah, it makes it feel better is what it does. Again, this is all backed by data. Next up is citrulline. Citrulline does seem to increase the performance in the workout and some blood flow. That's the pump supplement that everybody points to. The next one's beta alanine. Now, beta alanine has been shown in the data improves stamina. Some people don't like the way it makes them feel, get the tingles in their face. I personally love it. I love getting that feeling. Makes me feel like I took something else, you know, that's working okay. And then lastly is betaine. Betaine has been shown in the data to improve performance in the workout. So that would be your pre workout stack that you would take.

[Justin Andrews]

So I'm gonna add little twist. Two things. One, addressing the caffeine conversation. One, if you're listening and you're already someone who does this, the value of coming off of caffeine for a while and then coming back on is like massive. So if you're already somebody who consistently and you never take a break from it, taking a break, going through that misery for however long it takes to kind of wean off of it.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, but.

[Justin Andrews]

And then reintroduce it. It's like, you know, I don't want to say it's like steroids, but it's.

[Adam Schaefer]

Like you get the magic again.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, you do. You exactly. You really get. You really get to feel the benefits of what that feels like right now. For some people, it's like they just do it. They have to do it just to have a normal workout. They feel like. And if you're at that point, I can't. I can't suggest strongly enough that you come off for a while, then reintroduce it and watch what happens.

[Adam Schaefer]

Now. I have a study on caffeine. I want to get to that in just a second. But there is one of our partners actually put together, put together a pre workout that has all the ingredients I talked about, which is Legion. Legion's Pulse. One thing about Mike, one, you know, love him or hate him, we love him. Is he only does what the data shows clearly. He does not add or anything that he speculates or this person said that or whatever this exotic anything. It's like. Does the data show it? Yes. What's the efficacious dose? Oh, it's that much. That's what's going in. Nothing else. And he did that with Pulse, which is I think, by the way, Pulse is like one of like the top, top selling. Yeah. Pre workouts out there.

[Doug]

Best products.

[Justin Andrews]

Because of it.

[Adam Schaefer]

Because of it. And he has all the efficacious dose. He's got a really healthy. It's got a really big dose of caffeine. 350 milligrams.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

For a full dose.

[Justin Andrews]

So honorable mention. Cold plunge before.

[Doug]

Oh, good call.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Honorable mention. If you have the resources or access to that. A good cold plunge before this workout shower. But yeah, you could do that if that's. But if you can get in a nice little three minute cold plunge before you go into. And you follow all these steps you're talking about that combined with all this, like, look out, that's going to be a good lift.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's good. All right. You brought up caffeine. They actually did a study on how long you need to be off caffeine before it's not just out of your system, but receptors are back to.

[Justin Andrews]

Let's take a guess.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. So what do you guys think? How long do you have to be off caffeine for you to be new to caffeine again? To be a caffeine virgin all over again?

[Doug]

Oh, man. I say just like A week.

[Adam Schaefer]

So seven days.

[Justin Andrews]

That's a good guy. I was going to say seven. So I'll say shorter, because I think it's seven or less. I think you can be off for, like, three to five days.

[Adam Schaefer]

What do you think, Doug? Well, you're the closest. 11 days.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, it's 11 days.

[Adam Schaefer]

I actually found it takes about 11 days.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay.

[Adam Schaefer]

For the average person.

[Justin Andrews]

I know it's pretty short, though.

[Adam Schaefer]

It is.

[Justin Andrews]

Because I've had some short bouts.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean, you just take a couple days. Yeah, you just take a couple days.

[Justin Andrews]

You know what that research says about cannabis? Because I know cannabis is low. Like that, too.

[Adam Schaefer]

Can't. No. Cannabis is longer because it's.

[Justin Andrews]

No. It stays in your system for longer. But I actually think the effects of it, you get again, really quick.

[Adam Schaefer]

I'm not sure.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, I could be wrong, but I. I think cannabis is pretty. Pretty quick, too.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. I'm not sure, but caffeine, 11 days. That's the good news. The bad news is caffeine withdrawal sucks.

[Doug]

It does.

[Adam Schaefer]

It's really nasty, especially the first three days.

[Justin Andrews]

I think that's really. To each person. It really is.

[Doug]

It depends on how high you are, I'm sure.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, I'm pretty. I'm pretty dependent.

[Doug]

You are.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. But what do you do the three days when you're off? Are you just at home chilling or you're not coming to work, trying to do things?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Yeah. There's been many times in this podcast, you guys had no idea. I've been off caffeine for a while.

[Adam Schaefer]

We talked about when you left. He's off something. Adam's off something. I can tell. I went off. I went off for a little while. And that those first.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, it's a drug, right? And I. My experience with alcohol, harder drugs and. And caffeine as a drug, I really noticed that there's a very. There's a genetic component of, like, certain people. Like, you like, weed, alcohol, caffeine doesn't bother me. Opiates, things like that. Oh, my God. That my body has hard withdrawals.

[Doug]

It's interesting me because I can go like two, maybe three days, like, without really noticing anything. And then after that, it's like, oh, it's the headache. It's the. You know, I. I definitely get the, like, shaky.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, you get the withdrawal.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Afterwards. Yeah.

[Doug]

But the first, like, if I miss, like, a day or two, like, it's not.

[Justin Andrews]

It's not a big deal.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, no, it sucked, man. I hated it. I hated life. I actually felt Depressed. So cannabis four weeks for. For receptor function to return. However, I'll tell you this, the brain changes take much longer. They're doing brain imaging on people who use cannabis regularly and when they go off, the, the brain effects last a lot longer.

[Justin Andrews]

I wonder why then like there's plenty of times where I have these little three, four day bouts where I don't have any. And then the first time back after.

[Adam Schaefer]

Them, like, well, changes are happening so I' receptors are up regulating that, whatever.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

But it takes a full four weeks for it to go completely.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Back to. In fact, the withdrawal from cannabis doesn't kick in typically for a week or two weeks sometimes because it's fat soluble. Did you guys know that, by the way, that this has actually happened to some people where they would use a lot of cannabis, they're kind of overweight and then they quit and then they, you know, four or five months later they lose a bunch of weight and they'll test positive for thc.

[Doug]

Stays in there. Fat.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Justin Andrews]

I didn't know that.

[Adam Schaefer]

I've even read anecdotally. I don't know how true this is, but I've read ACT only that people who used to smoke a lot of cannabis quit months later, lose weight, get high from losing the weight. Like, whoa, I feel like I just had an edible because it gets released. I've heard anecdotes about it.

[Justin Andrews]

That's interesting.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. Because it's a fat soluble compound. Speaking of which, I had this thought this morning about the people in the health space sometimes struggle with this. So I do think it's a good conversation where you get people in the health space that are really fanatical, not orthorexic, but they're getting there. Where you know, has everything has to be healthy. Everything has to be perfectly healthy. And what I think that they're missing actually had this conversation with someone at the gym this morning. What I think they're missing is that quality of life also has been shown to improve longevity. But we also can't just discount quality of life. You know, like an example would be pizza. Unhealthy. I don't think anybody would label pizza to be a healthy food. Okay. But if I'm eating pizza with my friends who haven't seen in a while and we're enjoying each other's company and we're having a laugh and we're having a couple beers, physiologically, you know, obviously not healthy. But is it healthy for me? I would argue, yes. I would argue it would be a. Paul. It Would be a net positive because the improvement in quality of life, you know, how does.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, but how does someone. It's got to be really tough for the average person to decipher between.

[Adam Schaefer]

You fool yourself, of course.

[Justin Andrews]

Because you, you hear that. You hear Sal say that on Mind pump. And I'm like, well, this is, you know, this is good for me because I'm with my brother. You know what I'm saying?

[Doug]

He's got to go recruit people.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Doug]

Hey, man, we're being healthy.

[Justin Andrews]

So, I mean, it is an interesting.

[Adam Schaefer]

Thought, you know, thought experiment.

[Justin Andrews]

It is. Because I know that. I mean, I'll be this, It'll be the first. What did I do the other. Oh, my God, it was so funny. It was like taking ice cream for one house the other day. The amount of seriousness and prep I did because I didn't want my ice cream to melt. I thought this is. This is a problem. Yes. That I actually took this much effort to keep from one house to the other house.

[Adam Schaefer]

Dry ice.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes, bro. I'm just like over like a little thing of ice cream. I'm just like, there's a problem there. You know, I'm saying like I was very aware of it as I caught myself doing it.

[Adam Schaefer]

What was the deal with you with ice cream when you was this specifically ice cream or was it just sweets in general? Because you said when you were kidding. Sweets in general because you had to eat them all. Otherwise everybody.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, yeah. Sweet. Yeah. And. And ice cream was really special because, you know, if we could afford to have it, it would just be, you know, it's those little carts.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

You know, or whatever. What is. How much. What is that? What is. What's in the. What's in the square? What's in the square?

[Sal Destefano]

Oh, that's a quart.

[Justin Andrews]

A quart and a half or half.

[Sal Destefano]

Maybe a half gallon.

[Justin Andrews]

Is it not a two quarts. Yeah, something like that.

[Sal Destefano]

It's more like two quarts is half gallon.

[Justin Andrews]

Look, look up. What a. What a thrifty thing of ice cream. Whatever that is. But for a. For a family of six, that's not a lot.

[Adam Schaefer]

No.

[Justin Andrews]

You know, I'm saying there might be six scoops total in there. And like I'm a three scoop ice cream guy, you know, some. Not a one scoop guy.

[Doug]

We'd have to get it for my dad.

[Justin Andrews]

So you. Yeah. So you had to like, you know, you had to fight for it to get it. You know what I'm saying? Or you got one time and then you didn't get it again. And so. And I remember when I was 17 and I moved out that I just had ice cream in the freezer. Like, that was like, I can eat it. I can eat it right out of the thing, too. That was another rule in our family. You couldn't do that. Like, you scoop it in the bowl, and it's what you do.

[Adam Schaefer]

It is a big family thing because we. Your making me. You know, memories come back. Like, my dad would buy. He would try to find ice cream that we wouldn't eat, but we would like. So he would buy, like, Neapolitan. Like, it was like, the mix of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.

[Justin Andrews]

Someone would eat the one. Everybody would eat strawberry. Just strawberry Whole, like, one block would be missing.

[Adam Schaefer]

My dad gets so bad. I just have vanilla now. What the.

[Justin Andrews]

But I mean. I mean, you're right. Like, so. I mean. And if we got a thing of Oreos or whatever treat that we would. We would get when my mom. My mom would grocery shop, like, once every two weeks. Weeks. And we would buy in bulk, right? And there would always be, like, one thing of cookies, one thing of.

[Adam Schaefer]

Once it's gone. That's it.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, once it's gone, that's it. You don't get to potentially see it. And that was a treat, too. So it wasn't like every grocery shop, she got that. It was like, you know, maybe the first of the month when she got a check or something like that. We. We got to see something like that.

[Adam Schaefer]

What are the sizes there?

[Sal Destefano]

So I think you have the one and a half quart.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, that's right. So it's a one and a half quart. So it's not a lot of ice cream.

[Sal Destefano]

It's almost a half gallon for.

[Justin Andrews]

For a family of six. That goes pretty fast. And you're not allowed to eat out of it. So. So yeah, it caused all these. Anyways, the whole point of me bringing that up is that that was a quality of life.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. So I. Well, I could get. I could get. I could totally catch myself. So we just had Tina's 75th birthday at my house, and they had all this cake, you know, and, like, and we had a ton left over. And everybody knows that, like. Yeah, yeah. So I come walking down the stairs, and I forgot.

[Adam Schaefer]

You, like.

[Justin Andrews]

And Katrina is. Is. Is arguing with Jerry and Tina and someone else. No, no, no, Just that. And they're like, well, let's ask Adam. And so I come in, and they're like. And she's got. She's literally got, like. I mean, It's. We made these giant cakes, two of them like this, right? And we had a quarter of the people that we thought would be there. And so, like, there's a full. And she's got this mound, you know, and then there's this little Tupperware of, like, pieces. And Katrina's like, this is what he gets, you know? And they're like, adam, what do you want, this or that? And I'm like, oh, you know, there's a part of me that's pulled to, like, give me the big thing. Yeah, give me the big old thing. That's like a cake is weird.

[Adam Schaefer]

Weird. It's one of those things that if you. If it's not a birthday or a celebration and you're buying cake to eat it, there probably is a problem.

[Doug]

It's, like, sad.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Didn't I tell you what happened last time we had boys weekend? This is so bad. So bad. I did this, so. And again, here we go. Yes. Justify. Oh, it's boys weekend, but I bought a whole Paris baguette cake for Max and I for the weekend.

[Adam Schaefer]

That wasn't for you, bro.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I know. He got. I gave him, like, a little. Little sliver for him, and I ate the rest of the cake myself. You like?

[Doug]

Ooh, too sweet, though.

[Justin Andrews]

So, you know, so this is what I mean is like, I. And there's just like, oh, there's a bonding time. My son and I, we're heavy. You know, he doesn't ever get to really do this, but, like, deep down, I'm like, I'm closing myself on that when in reality, I'm feeding it.

[Doug]

That's the only time I go. Look, I. I never go buy sweets with the kids because it's just. It drives me crazy. But if Courtney's gone, I'm taking them, and we're going to get cookies.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Doug]

That's just our thing, dude.

[Adam Schaefer]

Do you run into the. Well, your kids are a little older now, Justin, but this. I've been running into this with my little ones. If I give them a treat or if I get them a toy, all it does, they're happy, and then they want more, and then they cry. I'm like, I should have never given you this in the first place. Yeah, I'll give, like, my daughter. I give her six jelly beans, right? Here, have some jelly beans. She's so excited. She dances my daughter dance, and then she'll eat them all. She'll be like, more. And I'm like, no more, honey.

[Justin Andrews]

Why did I do.

[Adam Schaefer]

I shouldn't give you another theory.

[Justin Andrews]

I have a theory on that, because Max is not like that. He's, we have said he's got, he's got such a good relationship with it because, of course, I was so worried about my own right. So I probably overcompensate a little bit, but by saying no for so long. But I think because he was told no for so long, he's just grateful. He's so grateful to get a bite of something. I kid you not. Thank you, father. I kid you not. I could literally, he could ask for something, and then if I give, that's the secret.

[Adam Schaefer]

I need to give my kids nothing. Nothing.

[Justin Andrews]

No, I, I, that's what I mean. I really think, I think I waited so long that finally when, when dad gave to him and it was like, hey, I'll give you, you can have a bite. You know what I'm saying? And it was like a bite was all you got. And so he's just so appreciative of getting any of it. And I also think it conditioned his palate so much that it's a, it's too much for him if he has a bunch of it. So he's also got to a point where he's just like, he'll, he'll pass something up. There's been times I've given a full cupcake, and he's just like, he eats half of it and leaves it.

[Adam Schaefer]

That was my dad, my dad's argument when we were growing up. He would always tell us that when he was a kid, I had, you know, what my toys were, used to love telling us. You know what? I used to play with?

[Justin Andrews]

Sticks.

[Adam Schaefer]

A stick and a tire. I used to have a tire. And that's what I played with all the time. And it was my favorite toy. What are you talking about? A tire? Who plays with tire? He did. That was his favorite.

[Justin Andrews]

It's so, it's so hard. I get it as parents because they're, they're, you know, you love to see the kids light up and you want them to enjoy it and all these things like that. But then you create a monster. You do. You really. And then it's, and then it's hard to back it out.

[Adam Schaefer]

You know, it's another mistake that I've made now a few times I'm not going to do anymore is, I think it's going to be fun. We go on a walk, and where I live, there's this really cool toy store that's got like, like really cool toys, like learning toys. And like toys you don't typically find at a toy store. So I'll walk over there and I'll tell my son, you get to pick out a toy mistake because it's too many choices.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, it's.

[Adam Schaefer]

He doesn't know what to get. I don't know what to get. And I'm there forever and I just make a choice for him.

[Doug]

You're getting this, you know, happy about it.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

He gets all like. Because it's too much. You know, it's like trying to find something to watch on TV these days, you know, I mean, you know, searching for hours or what's so true. I know. Speaking of fitness and stuff, are you guys. So I just got. Who sent this to me? One of our. Oh, that's who it was. I think it was Margaret. When I was on their call last night with our staff. There's a hashtag and this, like this, this, this movement that's happening on social media, they're calling it skinny talk skinny talk skinny and then talk like tick tock. So it's a hashtag and it's all these. And they call it like tough love. But I went through and started looking at what they're saying and it's not good.

[Doug]

It's not healthy shaming people.

[Adam Schaefer]

No, it's not. It's like if your stomach is grumbling, pretend like your stomach's applauding you or something like that. Yeah, dude. And it's like tough love. Like, you know, oh, if you're hungry, that's a good thing. And don't give in. It's like, it's like this group of mostly women who are shaming each other into getting really skinny.

[Justin Andrews]

Interesting.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Young or older, what's a gauge you look like it's.

[Adam Schaefer]

I haven't done a ton of looking.

[Justin Andrews]

But it's tick tock. So I imagine young, it seems like.

[Adam Schaefer]

Mostly younger, you know, 20 something year old, whatever, you know, fitness people.

[Doug]

And it's just about getting skinny. It's not about like any kind of exercise or anything about losing weight.

[Adam Schaefer]

It's about losing weight, not eating, eating less. Don't eat too much.

[Doug]

Yeah, it's not a good.

[Adam Schaefer]

Like one of the popular.

[Justin Andrews]

Dangerous about the Internet is that there's enough sadistic people that like that and want that for that to get traction. Well, and then, then, then it also ends up capturing a lot of people that are on the fence or shouldn't be. And so with that. But there's enough like that doesn't get traction if a majority of People are like, this is terrible idea, but there's enough people that are like, I needed to hear that.

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, a part of a part of it. We see this in our, in the fitness space. Right. The most ripped, jacked people are the most likely to have really bad body image issues and have poor relationship to food, you know, body dysmorphia. They're the most likely. Part of the reason why they look the way they do is because they're completely obsessed and they have no relationships, they have no life. All they do is focus on how they look. But because they look the way they do, they post on social media and they get a lot of attention.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

So everybody is getting information from psychos. You're getting information not from healthy people.

[Doug]

Obsessive psychos.

[Adam Schaefer]

Right. So what they're communicating is what they think is good information. Like being hungry is a good thing, you know, whatever. Or, you know, weakness, pain is weakness leaving the body and go beast mode, whatever. And so the average person sees this, like, oh, this is the fitness guy. He knows what he's talking about. No, no, he's unhealthy. Don't listen to that guy.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, we've, let's be honest, the fitness space is.

[Doug]

I feel like it's going to ramp up even more.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, we've, we've glorified body dysmorphia for a long time. I mean, all of us have some form of it. I mean, if really the goal. Okay, what. First of all, what. Our industry didn't exist 50 years ago because it wasn't necessary. Nobody, nobody was fat, nobody was eating too much. Right. We didn't have all this stuff. Then that happens and it's like, oh, shit, we need to do this. Okay, here comes the fitness industry to save. Save the day to get us healthier. And then healthy ends up pendulum swings so far that it becomes healthy is this jacked look. And it's like. And then we professionals that are jacked looking, we talk about, oh, it's all about being healthy. But no, it's actually like a form of body dysmorphia. Because I didn't need. You didn't need to go that far to be healthy. You went way past it.

[Adam Schaefer]

You're past healthy.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, you're way past it. Like, it was 4%, 5%, 7% ago was healthy. And you kept going for your own body dysmorphia issues. And so, and then we've even, and we've even convinced the consumer that, like, if you don't, like, if you don't look that way. Then. I would never hire you because I don't want someone who doesn't live that brand or doesn't know how to discipline themselves. And it's like we've completely distorted what health looks like.

[Doug]

We're right back to it just because, I mean, we get it through the body positivity side of things, you know, on the other end of the pendulum. And then, you know, all the mannequins now are, like, obese. And.

[Adam Schaefer]

I know.

[Doug]

And this is, like the new standard of health. I know.

[Justin Andrews]

You're right.

[Doug]

It's like this now we're just like. Just slide right back into the old shaming stuff. It's like. It's crazy to me.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. It's just poor health is common.

[Justin Andrews]

That's really what this is, Justin, is to. What your Sal's highlighting right now is just an overcorrection of. From. From that.

[Adam Schaefer]

It's all bad health. It's all poor health.

[Doug]

Yeah, it's. It's all about balance, dude. Like, it's always been the case. Like, people, like, innately, they know that. It's just. Just.

[Adam Schaefer]

It's.

[Doug]

I don't know why it's so compelling.

[Adam Schaefer]

You know, it's tough, man. The data on. Especially girls, young girls, teenage girls, they should not be on social media. They should not be on social media. The connection between anxiety, body dysmorphia, eating disorders with girls and how long they're on social media and what they look at is ridiculous. It's insane. And if you look at the things that. That are geared towards these girls, I mean, it's. It's terrible. It's. It's not good.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, you. I mean, you're talking about that. Like, you guys, I know you haven't seen that show yet, but that show goes deep on.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, I'm almost afraid to watch it because I'm probably watching it.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I mean, we all should, just. Because I just think it's an important. I mean, it's important for us to continue to communicate this message to all the other parents that are out there right now that may be on the fence of letting their kids get on these platforms or not. And it's just. It's. There's not a lot of positive things that you can say can convince me now of, like, why you would get them on that platform. I just don't. I don't see it. I don't see what. What positively comes out. And. And I get that they would try and make this case of, like, oh, well, you know, they meet with their friends. Kids will find a way to talk to their friends. Kids will find a way to do all that. They don't need to be on Instagram or Tick Tock or Snapchat in order to do that. And what you don't, what, and what you don't see is all the stuff that they're doing. And, and their brains just aren't formed yet where they even realize like, that's the thing I got from this, watching this show is just like a lot of these little girls are just, they're, they're so young and naive. They're just, they're getting positive reinforcement, which is addicting to adult. I mean, everyone in here knows what it's like to post something on Instagram and then check back to see if you got likes or not. Okay, if we have felt our own pool to check that, what do you.

[Adam Schaefer]

Think a 13 kids are wired for that?

[Justin Andrews]

Wired. And so, and, and, and then they don't, they're not going like, is this morally right? It's just like more of that. Oh, more whatever that get more. Yeah, more of that. You gotta do more of that. And it's like. And there's a part of them that's actually very innocent about it that just is, is just getting this positive reinforcement and so they think it's okay. And then if we have parents that aren't paying attention to it, then it just, it runs wild, man. And it's like, how do you put the toothpaste back in after you've let it out like that?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, this like with my. I have a 15 year old and we limit. And I monitor if I. Because I have to monitor it. Because if I don't monitor it and the limits somehow get turned off or some update happens, she won't say anything. She'll just keep staying on there. And so we've limited her to like 15 minutes on social media platforms. And part of the reason why it's limited and not completely gone is there's a part of me that's like. Because I had friends. I had a friend whose parents were so strict with certain things that when he got out of the house, oh yeah, he went crazy in the opposite direction. So that's the tough.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean my, my. I told you guys again, I'm so far from this so I could be so way off base. Maybe I fail at it and I have no idea what I'm talking about. But I'm convinced that the, and this is why I think your situation both of you because you've. The cat's out of the bag. Right. It's hard. It's harder now. But because he's still so young, I have this opportunity that when that comes knocking at the door and he really wants to do that, he's going to have to read those books and he's going to have to be able to report to me what he learned from those books. That's your first to get you even the possibility to use it. Is that. So that already is going to create a barrier because when he's a certain age, he's going to be too lazy to even do that. That's fine. You're too lazy to do that. You can't have social media. Once you're ready for it. It's. After you read that, then after he reads that and he can explain that to me, then you have an understanding from. Not from me, from a brilliant author who sold millions of books and multiple books, not just one, that are telling them the dangers of this. And then he understands why dad says, hey, you need to have. You can only use in the living room. You can only do this for this long. And then we can. Then we can talk about how you're going to be able to manage.

[Adam Schaefer]

You know, what I'll say is, just from experience is the most. I think the most important thing is aligning with parents who have similar values.

[Justin Andrews]

Sure.

[Adam Schaefer]

So that their. Their friends are like, they are. Otherwise it gets real. It's like all my friends are doing this and I can't.

[Doug]

The friends take a lot of influence.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Doug]

Dude. And so, yeah. And this is to like the earlier point of when we were like, having to decide whether or not this environment was a good fit, you know, for. And like if this friend group was. And I went in and hijacked and pulled them out because I was like, no, this isn't the. This isn't going in a direction I. I like. And. And so we're gonna shake it up. There's gonna be pain points because it's like they like hanging out with those people. Like, you know, there's gonna be fights involved. But it. It was the best decision because now it's like you do kind of have to lead and. And place in front of them better. Better opportunities for that. Better kids that are, like, handling it better. I mean, you're not gonna have a lot of control over that obviously, as they get into high school. And like, you know, all of that. It's like you're. You're pretty much what you've established is what you've established. So, yeah, in the beginning. And like, getting involved like that, I think that's everything you can do. You can't do more than that.

[Justin Andrews]

I. I mean, I think you're so right. And I think that's the biggest takeaway or what I take away from it is just being aware and involved. Involved in it. Because, like, And I shared with you guys the, the recent finding that I had of, like, one of Max's friends that his parents don't let him use iPad. That's like, I encourage that friendship like crazy.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Justin Andrews]

Because I know how the parents are with the iPad.

[Adam Schaefer]

Then he's not isolated.

[Justin Andrews]

He's not yet over more. Yeah, exactly. So that's like. That's become his best friend. And I have. He's at an age where I can kind of control that. You know what I'm saying? And Katrina's fostered relationship with the mother, and so they see each other, they're best of friends now. And so it's like, I'm gonna try and involve. And involve myself as much as I can and be aware of those things, those friendships, and do my best as a parent of fostering those until I can't. Because you're right. At some point he gets his license, he's in high school, and he's going to hang out with whoever he wants. But I think if you've done that for 10, 12, 13 years, 14 years of their life, you've probably laid a pretty solid foundation that, that you. You still have that to lean on. Doesn't mean it's going to be perfect or I guarantee it's going to work. But yeah, gives you a fighting chance, I feel like, versus just being like, whatever, laissez faire about it or not paying attention whatsoever, caring what the kids that he's hanging around with right now or how the parents parent.

[Adam Schaefer]

The best.

[Doug]

The, the best moments for me are when they come to you and admit that they have this, like, pull to it and they have an addiction and they're like, they don't. Like, dad, this is, you know, this is something that, like, I. I'm struggling with this and I'm like, oh, wow. You know, and then, Then, you know, we've had that conversation a few times. And so it's. Yeah, it just, It's a lot of involvement that you really have to, like, peer into that. Because two, we know how. How much of a thing it is just with us personally and like, how much. How hard it is for me, and.

[Adam Schaefer]

We didn't grow up with it.

[Doug]

I can justify it so many different ways. And they feel the same way. It's like everything that they're involved in is important. Their whole friend group is important. Just as important as work is for us, you know, and it's like. And they're missing out on this party or they're this or that or the other. And so, you know, I have to be the bad guy a lot of times. But, you know, we talk our way through that and then, you know, some of them all comprom.

[Justin Andrews]

But that's to me, that's. That's so that's everything right there. Right. And that's why my theory is if I make him read those books and he's aware of it not coming from dad, but aware from it from somebody else. Right.

[Doug]

Your intention with it.

[Justin Andrews]

And then, and then he's likely. If like, let's say that he, like, again, I still am allowing him some sort of freedom that when he starts and he's like, oh, I'm starting to do some of the things that book said and then maybe he'll come to me.

[Adam Schaefer]

He's aware.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, he's aware. Where the average kid is just unaware. They just, they look at their peers and it's just. It's normal for them all to sit at a table together and all of them be like this and none of them talking to each other like that's just like.

[Doug]

It still drives me oblivious. Some days I want to just blow it up, bro.

[Justin Andrews]

Because I'm like, if you, if you, if you do that, at least I feel like my kid will. Because I can't stop him from at lunchtime or at school one time sitting at table like that. But he hopefully will be the kid who goes like, oh, wow, this is.

[Adam Schaefer]

What, this is what I read about.

[Justin Andrews]

This is what I read about. Or this is what my dad was talking about because he's aware of it versus I never had that conversation. I just hope for the best. And it's like, no. Then he's gonna do what every other dumb kid.

[Adam Schaefer]

You know what's interesting about this conversation is the data on what's the youngest generation that they're. What do they call it?

[Justin Andrews]

Gen Z I. Oh yeah, Gen Z. Is it Gen Z or I? Which ones?

[Doug]

Which one's ign?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. So with their show, the data on Gen Z is interesting. They. A lot of them are trying not to go on social media.

[Justin Andrews]

More aware.

[Adam Schaefer]

A lot of the bull. A lot of the. A lot of them are trying to avoid things like pornography Trying to avoid having smartphones, which is weird, because who does that? This generation is doing that. There's a huge interest in religion, which is a. Decades. That's been on the decline for decades. And we're seeing a reversal, and I think it may have just gotten so bad.

[Doug]

Yeah, that's it. I hope that it's in the same trajectory of smoking. Like, we.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, we could see.

[Doug]

You see how that all was in every movie. It was cool. Like, you know, cool kids are doing. And then everybody. Like, it's so different now to see somebody smoking, and it's just like, oh, God, what's doing.

[Justin Andrews]

I agree. I think it's. I think that we're just. We. We've lived before and after, and we're in this time with our kids during it. That I do think that this. This Gen Z generation, when the kids will be in high school and then they're sitting around a table and there's kids that are doing that, they're gonna be like, what are you doing? Yeah, it's rude. Yeah, we're all right here, dude.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, you know, it's funny. You know. Speaking of which, did you guys see American Idol? What they did, was it like a few days ago or a week ago?

[Doug]

No.

[Adam Schaefer]

So you guys are familiar with American Idols, right? Same competition. Generation Alpha is the. Is a younger one. Oh. The newest one's Generation Beta. Interesting. So what American Idol did, which I never would have thought they would have done in a million years, they had a worship night. They had a night where most of the mainstream tv, Most of the contenders were singing.

[Doug]

Wow.

[Adam Schaefer]

Religious music. And most of it was Christian, you know, Who. Who?

[Doug]

The artist.

[Justin Andrews]

So suspicious. I'm so suspicious. My tinfoil hat's never been on so hard, bro. Lately with that stuff.

[Adam Schaefer]

Brandon Lake, the 180. So quick.

[Justin Andrews]

The 180 TVs made so hard, man.

[Adam Schaefer]

Do you know. You guys know Brandon Lake is. He's the guy that came out and opened. He's like a huge. I went to one of his concerts. Yeah. And they were like, Carrie Underwood.

[Doug]

That's pretty crazy.

[Adam Schaefer]

Sang a. A Christian song and had all these artists. This is American Idol.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Of all places. What is happening?

[Justin Andrews]

I don't.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean, I think it's cool. So what do you. What do you. What do you think they're doing?

[Justin Andrews]

I just don't trust it. I just think.

[Adam Schaefer]

You don't think they're following consumers? I think they're trying to follow consumers, that's all.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, yeah, of course. But again, I don't Think it's rooted in good? No, like you, you feel good. I feel good about when we're watching it because it aligns with your values. But it's. I mean, is it any different than the other side? It's no different.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

It's just this time it aligns with you.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

So now the other side's pissed off.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

But at least now the atheist is all mad. Like, what is this now we gotta watch?

[Adam Schaefer]

Atheists are already mad.

[Justin Andrews]

I just, I. I mean, to me, like, what, What I'm not sold on is I'm not excited because I feel like it's. It's not rooted in the right things. It's not like we're not. I don't think they're doing. Because they're trying to help society or move in a direction that's better for us. It's. Oh, this is like, we're now on this conservative kick, so now we're going to move over.

[Adam Schaefer]

What's cool about it though, is that so many people are like, like emboldened, encouraged by it. So social media, see all these people posting like the Carrie Underwood song, and they're just like, oh, my God, this is awesome. I can't believe this is on prime time.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, just so you know, that same feeling that you have, the. The woke side of the culture was saying that the last five years, finally we feel supported and emboldened. And now you just. Now you're that. Now you're that side. Yeah, but the other thing.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

You know what I'm saying? So it's like, I'm like, I'm not excited about it. I'm like, I mean, you would have got me excited about it 20 years ago because I'd be naive to what's going on. But it's like, man, this 180.

[Adam Schaefer]

My point is. I agree. My point is, it's reflecting the consumer, which is. Is just showing us that there is a shift. There is a cultural shift that's happening.

[Doug]

I see a Disney movie that's like they did full on and I heard. Yet they had a character about that.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, they had a character.

[Justin Andrews]

There's something else I heard too, about Disney, that they're making a move that direction now too. I forgot what it was. I wish because they.

[Doug]

They're the last, like, sort of strong. They're like holding strong, like, to this, like, like ideology.

[Justin Andrews]

No, they're not gonna. They're moving the other direction. I saw something too. I can't lose money.

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, that's just it.

[Doug]

You got you Gotta. You gotta. Just.

[Adam Schaefer]

So here's the way I look at it, is I don't look at American Idol and go, yeah, American Idol. They're good now. Or yay. I look at it like it's a reflection of culture. Yeah. And I think culture is.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. I mean, on that note, I'm with you because of course it's. I mean, they're on my team now, so I'm, like, positive about it. But it's like, then it's only a matter of time before it goes the other direction. Yeah, right. I mean, it's like, so how long do we get My fear.

[Adam Schaefer]

How long do we do?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, how long do we get? You know? So that's. So that's my fear is that what I have noticed in my short 40 something years of being on this earth is I, like, because of social media and the Internet now, these swings are faster, fast. Hell, they're big and fast. Yeah. It used to be like decades. You get a run. You know what I'm saying? We're not. So enjoy this while ass. Because devil worshiping is on next week. Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

But then you see, like, you get a week, dog.

[Doug]

See, like, Kanye getting all, like, freaking Nazi in there. It's like, what the.

[Adam Schaefer]

Did you guys hear about what he said? He's.

[Doug]

He's lost his mind.

[Adam Schaefer]

No, did you hear what he said?

[Justin Andrews]

He's saying crazy stuff.

[Adam Schaefer]

Did you hear what he said?

[Justin Andrews]

I. I did. I did. He's saying off.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, dude. Yeah, there was.

[Doug]

But that's, like.

[Adam Schaefer]

Talked about some sexual abuse stuff that happened when he was a kid.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, really?

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, look up. Kanye West's. Yeah, dude.

[Justin Andrews]

Who do you say did it? Did he say it was another. No, another diddler.

[Adam Schaefer]

He had a cousin. I think it was a cousin. He had a cousin who used to make him do things to him up until he was 14 or something.

[Justin Andrews]

Like, wow.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

What's going on with Diddy right now? What is it? What is up with. I don't follow all that stuff. So are we.

[Doug]

I don't know where that's at. I think that he knows I stopped looking at all this stuff anymore because Epstein's never coming out. You know, none of this, like, information. As much as they wanted to promise that we're going to get all this transparency, it's like you start to understand there's so many, like, really powerful world leaders involved in this that it's like they're just gonna go ahead and.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, well, whatever happened their way back out of it. Whatever happened to that big stunt that happened where Trump had, or whoever had all these conservative influencers come out and they had all the logs and they had all this top secret are like. And then we hear nothing.

[Doug]

Big, big stunt. Big, big PR stunt.

[Adam Schaefer]

Nothing. It. It looks like he was a part of a big. A big, I guess, plan to blackmail people through his island.

[Doug]

Of course.

[Adam Schaefer]

And there's so many people implicated that it's.

[Justin Andrews]

You know, why they can't just. Too many left and right.

[Doug]

I mean, that whole thing is too.

[Justin Andrews]

Many on each sides that both teams are like, hey, let's just agree.

[Adam Schaefer]

We'll just cover it on.

[Justin Andrews]

We'll just.

[Doug]

We'll just.

[Adam Schaefer]

Are you on the list? Me too. Up. Yeah.

[Doug]

And just from. I don't know, I brought up chaos and all from Tom O'Neal, that book, and it just. It was so enlightening in terms of, like, what the strategies, like, the CIA already was implementing. And it's like they were using cultural figures and people to influence and capture them. And, like, they would give them, like, this get out of jail free pass. Yeah. It's so like, of course they were doing that with Diddy. Of course they were doing that with Epstein. It's because, you know, so they get all this intel and they get it on, like, powerful people, and this is literally, like the intelligence world. Like, you think it's all clean and. And, you know, they have, like, little spy cool stuff. They just use sex, dude. And then they use it against them, and it's been the oldest trick ever.

[Adam Schaefer]

I think. What? It's a bit misguided to think that there's a good guy and a bad guy. I think it's a lot of gray.

[Doug]

And a lot of. Oh, we're the bad guy.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Nobody told me that.

[Adam Schaefer]

Hey, speaking of good gu. Guys.

[Justin Andrews]

Say, speaking of celebrities. Well, yeah. Seeing a celebrities, I. Justin sent something over the other day that I didn't know about that. Did you see that they signed Vori, Signed Archie Manning.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

So, okay. Who is that? That? Is he. Is he. He's obviously related to Pton. Pton. Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, it's his son.

[Adam Schaefer]

Is he. Is he a badass?

[Doug]

Well, yeah, like his dad. I think it's. It's. It's his nephew.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, it's not his son? Yeah.

[Doug]

Yeah. So, yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Son.

[Doug]

I had to look this up because I was like. I thought. I was like.

[Adam Schaefer]

So now which kid is this? Is he. Is he high school? College? He's college.

[Doug]

He's college.

[Adam Schaefer]

So he's already good.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

All right. He' pedigree.

[Justin Andrews]

Why did I think it was his son? I totally thought it was his son.

[Doug]

I thought so too. So just. Just.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, because I. I was. I was wrong.

[Adam Schaefer]

Didn't you say they're opening a store in Palm Desert too?

[Doug]

They. Yeah, they did. They opened it. The. When I went there, I was like, oh, wow. Cuz I hadn't heard about it and it's right off of that strip in. In. It's. We. It was cool, dude. We got to walk down. And I. I didn't use my like, hey, I promote you guys all the time. You know, Sponsor me. Yeah, sponsor me. But I was looking for some good meta shorts because is, you know, it was hot out there and those are my favorite.

[Justin Andrews]

Did you see they also. They like tripled the size of the Santana Row store.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh yeah. They moved it. They did.

[Justin Andrews]

Like they took over that H and M, which two story. Huge. Huge one.

[Adam Schaefer]

It's the most. It's so crazy. I never in my life has anybody ever said, hey, are you. Is that what. But now that whenever Vori. At least. I don't know, not super often, but more often than ever in my life, like at least a few times. At least. Least four to five times a year, somebody will come up to me and say, oh, you like, I know you.

[Justin Andrews]

So I think I'm like, what. I think the most interesting thing for me about Vuori is and for the listeners for a long time, they know this, right. We were. We were the first company to advertise with them. Right. So well before they're so famous now. Well, so what? There used to. There used to be a time eight years ago when I saw somebody wearing Fiori, There was a 5050 shot. They were my be listening to us. Yeah, I could especially. They were fit. If you were fit and you were wearing Vuori, I'd be like, oh, you listen to mine. Then it was like, yes. Where they are so big now and I still have that. Where I'm like, I want to do this. But now it's like they probably don't Adam. They probably don't listen to the podcast. There's way more people around. Yeah. So it's been wild to watch their growth and where they're at now. I mean they're just dominant.

[Doug]

What's cool is all these. I mean because like retail, it seems like it's back like full force, you know, because for a while there it was pretty bleak. Everybody was going to the online. They started in the online, I'm pretty sure. Right. And then.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, that's how they store. So their first store was Encinitas.

[Justin Andrews]

Right?

[Adam Schaefer]

That's where we went. Wasn't that one of their first stores?

[Justin Andrews]

Good question. I think that was their first.

[Sal Destefano]

I believe that's their number one.

[Adam Schaefer]

That was. We went to it.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I believe that was the first one they launched.

[Adam Schaefer]

Okay, so I want to mention this because this is happening on the 19th, so we got to let people know ahead of time. We've never done this before, but we're going to do a three part bonus series of episodes. It's going to be Mind pump, but it's for trainers. It's only for trainers. It's going to be dropped on Monday the 19th. Anybody can listen to it. But it is directed for trainers, not.

[Justin Andrews]

Replacing any regular episodes.

[Adam Schaefer]

In addition to it's three, it's a three part series. We're going to start with the successful trainer mindset. Part two is diet and exercise strategies that clients love that actually work. The third one is the most valuable assessment you could possibly do. And then we are going to do a webinar the following week on the 27th, teaching trainers how to sell training properly. And that's going to be 4pm Pacific. That's trainerwebinar.com you can sign up.

[Doug]

Miss it.

[Adam Schaefer]

But Monday the 19th, it's a three part series, all dropping at the same time. For trainers, trainers and coaches only.

[Justin Andrews]

Let's go.

[Adam Schaefer]

Probiotics have profound benefits. Digestion, skin, health. They can help with your mood, they help you recover. Some studies show they make you stronger and have more endurance. I'm not making this up. The data is clear. So what's the best probiotic in the world? Seed. By far. It's the only probiotic company we work with. Go check them out. Go to seed.com mindpump use the code 25. Mindpump. Get 25% off. Back to the show.

[Sal Destefano]

First question is from Jackie Wellsford. How many times in a year should I switch between cutting and bulking? Should the year be divided into quarters or should I change more frequently?

[Adam Schaefer]

So this is kind of an individualized answer. But I will say for most people, if you're fit and healthy, okay, so obviously if you're, you have a lot of weight to lose, well, you're going to be, you're going to be spending more time in a cut, in a proper cut, right, appropriate cut than you would in a, let's say reverse diet, which you could also loosely label as a bulk. But for most people, if you're fit and healthy, most of the time you'll spend in right around maintenance. You'll be mostly right around maintenance, which you're never really in maintenance.

[Justin Andrews]

You're technically toggling back and forth between a cut and blow.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. Because you can't ever perfectly calculate maintenance. But you're going to eat right around there and you're going to exercise and improve your performance and you'll add calories when you need more energy and strength and you'll cut them down and you feel a little bit of digestive issues or some bloat or some inflammation and you, and you move back and forth based off of how you feel. But if you're fit and healthy, I mean you can create seasons for yourself. The, the, the standard, you know, traditional one would be like summer's a cut, winter's a bulk. I like that for some people because especially the holidays, you go into the valuable.

[Doug]

You know, it's weird because it's like, it seems so stereotypical but you start to realize like how that lines up and it's like, it makes a lot of sense too. You're, you can get more calories in. You need to like consume vitamin D versus like you're not going to get a lot of it because it's, you know, cloudy and, and two just, you know, the activity part, you'd be more active in the summer. So I don't know, it kind of makes sense.

[Justin Andrews]

I really like the idea of, okay, there's two types of people that are, are not that don't fall in this category. Right. So if you are a ectomorph, you really struggle with putting weight on and building muscle and, and bulking, then you're going to spend a big portion of your year probably bulking because it's difficult for you. And believe it or not, more often than not you probably accidentally fall out of that. And so you're focused in that direction because you need to gain weight or want to gain weight. The other side is the, the person who needs to lose, like you said, a lot of weight. You got to lose £100 or even if it's £50, you have a long way to, you're going to spend most of that year probably in a cut with these mini interrupted bulks or main weeks, then everybody else. If you're relatively healthy and fit and that I think you should do cuts and bulks way more frequently. Like all the time. Like it and, but it, what it looks like is what Sal said, you're.

[Adam Schaefer]

Kind of hovering around maintenance.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, you're kind of hovering on maintenance, but it's never maintenance. It's always a cut or a bulk, which means you have periods where you're. Yeah, exactly. And so that's what it looks like. I think people tend to make a mistake in, in aggressively bulking and aggressively cutting and you don't need, you just, you can easily hover around maintenance and you're going to have these periods of time when you're in bulk and then when you're in a cut. And for the person that's in a healthy place, body fat, this is where they should spend their time is kind of hovering around that. Yeah, that's kind of how I would give this advice.

[Adam Schaefer]

For me personally, I judge it based off how I feel for the most part. Bulking for me as well. I'm getting stronger, I'm pushing more weight and then the cut typically happens when I start to notice my joint pain, my inflammation, I'm just not feeling as good. Okay, I need to reduce my food intake so I'll start to cut it down a little bit. The truth is if you have a healthy relationship with food and you're consistently exercising and you're listening to your body and you're, you know, you're eating, you know, the stuff that you know is good. You're, you're trying to hit your protein and you're sticking to whole natural foods, your body will naturally put waiver between cutting and bulking on its own. You'll find appetite will go up sometimes, sometimes down a little bit. And that's, that's kind of probably most, most of the way you should live for the most part.

[Sal Destefano]

Next question is from Jennifer Ashton. Fit for those who generally despise social media, how would you recommend using it effectively to grow your business? How do you find a good balance?

[Justin Andrews]

I, I, the advice I give to, we obviously we help a lot of trainers and coaches, right? We have over a thousand trainers in our course in, in our private forum forum where we're constantly giving advice and helping along and this is a, is a common question and I think that, I think I went about it all wrong when I first was introduced to social media and was trying to figure it out and was chasing the wrong things like trying to go viral, trying to get lots of followers. I think that's a terrible strategy. Both not not only for somebody who hates social media, but even for somebody who say likes it and wants to grow, grow it. I think it's a terrible idea. I think a better strategy is service your, your current client base. So let's pretend you only have a handful of clients. But you train those handful of clients a couple times a week. And every time you train a client, whether it's in person or virtually, they ask you questions and they have challenges, they fall off the diet, they don't know how many grams of this to eat they have, they feel this pain when they work out. The everything I just said, that's a post, you know, every time a client asks you a question, that should be a mental note for yourself to go, oh, I should make a post about that. And, and then what that, what the way it looks is you're serving your current client. So now you've created this nice post that has some copy that basically breaks down. You know, why your client, you know, you don't single them out, but let's say they're, but they're bothered on knee pain and they're, they're, they're bothered at knee pain because their, it is tight and it's pulling on it. And so you taught them how to foam roll and do some hip mobility before they work out and it alleviated that. So teach that to the five people following you on Instagram and don't care if thousands of people see it because you're doing a solid for your people, but you'll also attract other people. That, that helps and that's how you grow it.

[Doug]

You know what's great about that? It's literally what we experience even in the physical journey gym. Because when you're training your clients, you're always getting observed and people were constantly shopping you and you're not looking, but you're talking to your clients, you're engaging with your clients, you're teaching, you're educating and people are listening and they're picking up on all this stuff. And so if you can do this and portray that and magnify that and then it's a better way to attract clients.

[Adam Schaefer]

The only people that. Because here's what I think what happens with a lot of people who have a business is they look at social media based businesses and they look at them and say, okay, well what are they doing? That's what I need to do. The only businesses that need to focus heavily on social media, reach lots of people and maybe get viral, which is good luck with that, are businesses that are 100% social media based. But most businesses are not most businesses. Social media helps add value to their current business. And that's the way you need to look at it is here's my business, how can I use social media to add value to my current Business. And the way you do it, like what Adam said is, is how can I create social media that adds value to my customers, my current customers. Let me do that. And through that process, your social media will become very valuable to your business. But if I have a business, let's say I have a brick and mortar business and I'm like, I'm going to go viral on social media. Waste of time. You're wasting your time. That social media is going to bring you no value. You're not going to go viral. Good luck with that. And if you do, that doesn't even mean much. Many people go viral and do nothing with it. It's not bringing you any value. You're spending a lot of time doing it. Instead, think, how can I add value to my current business with social media? And so what it looks like is, here's my customers, here's my clients. What content can I create that's going to help them? And just do that. That's all you got to do. And that automatically makes it valuable.

[Justin Andrews]

We, we talk in the course. There's a, there's a section in our course where we. And I share that. Like how I used to, you know, I was the young trainer who had no search, no experience. Everybody was smarter, more experienced, but more fit than I was. Was good. I had all the success. Well, part of that was I wasn't afraid one to admit I didn't know. And then when I didn't know, I'd instantly go look it up. As soon as I look it up and learn what it was, I'd turn around and I would teach my peers, the, the 12 other trainers that work with me. And then now I knew the information and that was a huge strategy for growth for myself. The only difference, that was 20 something years ago. The only difference today that would lay instead of me going and having to go tell eight other trainers, I could tell it online, online. So I would just post it and that would be my way of doing that. Every time I don't know something, I'm going to go look it up, I'm going to learn. When I learn about it, I'm going to share with my tiny little community because I'm not big and famous yet. I only have 10 people paying attention to me, who cares? But I'm going to share with those 10 people this newfound knowledge that I just learned and hopefully I can help them because it helped me and I'm just going to keep doing that every and every day.

[Adam Schaefer]

If you've already made your business more Valuable right away.

[Justin Andrews]

And if you're in this, if you're in, in this field to be a good trainer, you want to be in this field long term, you definitely should probably be learning and picking up things almost on a daily basis, whether that or organically happening from the clients that you're teaching and helping and then running into things that you got to troubleshoot and figure out or actively going out and seeking newfound knowledge. Both those serve you as a great driver of, of Instagram content or social media content. And so don't over complicate it, don't overthink it, don't get caught up in the likes and follows and all the metrics that they try and sell you that are so important. Go service your people and, and then it'll grow from there.

[Sal Destefano]

Next question is from Abby af. How do you know if you're over training? I'm a 40 year old woman woman who lifts weights four days a week and does hit cardio two days a week.

[Justin Andrews]

Weight.

[Adam Schaefer]

Okay, so, so I could go through the list of symptoms of over training, right? So like sore joints, not progressing, fatigue, you know, my sleep is disrupted, strong cravings, blah, blah, blah. But here's, here's another, here's another easy test, easy test. Take your current volume. Four days a week of strength training.

[Justin Andrews]

Cut in half, see what happens.

[Adam Schaefer]

Cut it in half. If you get stronger and, and more and you get better performance, you overtrain.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, what a, what a, what an easy answer, right? Because the other stuff can be so subjective. Like, you know, am I getting the great sleep or am I.

[Adam Schaefer]

A lot of people fool themselves.

[Doug]

Joint pain.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. By the way, you, you like extreme over training is obvious to people. I think people know when they're doing it, like, oh my God, I'm burnt out.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

But a lot of people, especially fitness fanatics are in this kind of like, you know, this is as much as I can tolerate and I can do it and I think I'm okay because I do it and I complete my workouts and I keep going. And then you ask them questions like, are you getting stronger? Not really. Is your performance improving? Not really. Have you plateaued? Yeah, kinda. Maybe it's a diet thing. It's like, try this. Cut your volume in half, it won't hurt you. So for two weeks, strength train two days a week and do hit cardio one day a week. So cut everything in half. And if you notice improvements in energy and performance, it's almost like if you're.

[Doug]

Asking this question, you could pretty much assume the Majority of people probably are.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, and, and the reason why this, this advice that Sal just gave is so good is because just the, the 40 year old woman thing doesn't even matter.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

It's all the other factors. We don't know. We don't know what your personal life is, we don't know how many kids you have, we don't know what your work hours look like, we don't know how stressed you are.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

And all those variables take. And that's why too, if anyone were to ever, by the way, it would be a terrible trainer. If the terrible trainer goes like, oh, no, that's fine. It's like, well, I, I can't say that' I don't know all those things. And in the context of all those things I just listed, let's say that they're not great in a lot of those things, then four days a week could absolutely be over training. Or it could be absolutely perfect and not, or maybe it's not enough. It's normally not not enough. With fitness people that are training four days a week or more and doing hit cardio, it's normally teetering on the too much. So the advice Sal's giving is like such easy test. It's easy test. It's like cut in half, you're not going to lose gains, you're not going to get fat during that week. You're going to be fine. And then the question you have to ask yourself is after those two weeks, do you feel better, look better or move better, stronger, sleep better? If all those things go up, then it's like, oh, I was over training. I'm going to, I'm going to go less go.

[Sal Destefano]

Next question is from Sammy Girl dc. Would it be fine to run maps aesthetic two times in a row? I am completing my first time in two weeks. I focused on shoulders and triceps, but I want to do a cut for my 45th birthday coming up. And although I hate working glutes and legs, I want to work on other legging body parts.

[Adam Schaefer]

First off, bringing up a lagging body part in a cut is not, is impossible. So if you want to bring up a lagging body part, you have to be in a surplus. You're not going to build anything in a cut. So that's number one. Number two, Maps aesthetic is usually too much volume for most people, especially a woman who's 45. But for most people it's just too much volume. So can you do it twice in a row? Yeah, you'll probably get better results by running another program like Map Synabolic or Muscle Mommy. Something with less more appropriate volume will probably give you better results. And if you want to work on glutes, Muscle Mommy is glute heavy program. That's a good heavy program, right?

[Justin Andrews]

Or don't do a cut right? I mean if you're going to run run the one thing so when people ask me about running Maps Aesthetic back to back, I'm very careful to say it's okay or to do that just because it is our highest volume program. It does neglect things like mobility and rotation and some other things, especially as we get older, as we get into our 30s, 40s and 50s that we want to make sure that we're doing. And so what might end up happening is you quickly tip over into to over training, especially in a cut, especially older too. So all those things are not working in your benefit. If you want to develop glutes and legs. I would do a program like Muscle Mommy and I would do it in at least a maintenance to a surplus and then do a cut afterwards. That's you'd be far better off doing it that way.

[Adam Schaefer]

Perfect. Look, if you like Mind Pump, come find us on Instagram. Justin is @mindpump justin, I'm @mindpump distefano adam's@mind pump Out.

[Sal Destefano]

Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If you're golden 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 like. Love by leaving us a five star rating and review on itunes and by introducing Mind Pump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support and until next time, this is Mind Pump.

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