2589: Five Ways Real Food Makes You Lean & Healthy & More (Listener Live Coaching)

Summary

Podcast Summary: Mind Pump Episode 2589: Five Ways Real Food Makes You Lean & Healthy & More (Listener Live Coaching)

Podcast Information:

• Title: Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth
• Hosts: Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer, Justin Andrews, Doug Egge
• Description: MindPump dispels myths and pseudo-science in the fitness industry, presenting science-backed solutions for muscular development, performance, and overall health.
• Episode: 2589
• Release Date: May 3, 2025

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1. Introduction to Real Food vs. Processed Food

The episode kicks off with hosts Adam Schafer and Justin Andrews delving into the critical topic of real food versus processed (referred to as "fake") food. They emphasize how real, whole foods naturally lead to a leaner and healthier body.

Key Points:

• Natural Satiety: Adam explains that real foods naturally help you eat less without the need for conscious calorie restriction. He states, “Not because you're trying to eat less, you feel just as full, but you're eating less calories as a result” (02:14).
• Overeating Triggered by Palatability: The discussion highlights how processed foods are engineered for maximum palatability, leading to overeating. Adam notes, “palatability is... the enjoyment that you get from eating something,” which often results in consuming more calories than intended (04:22).

Notable Quote:

"Heavily processed foods are so well engineered that they just... you just eat more of them, and it's about 600 calories more a day." – Adam Schafer (06:08)

2. Behavioral and Physiological Impacts of Processed Foods

The hosts discuss the broader implications of consuming processed foods, touching on both behavioral changes and physiological effects.

Key Points:

• Behavioral Shifts: Adam explains that the engineered palatability of processed foods can lead to a narrow value system around food, where the experience overshadows considerations of health and energy (09:07).
• Health Consequences: Chronic consumption of processed foods may contribute to hormone imbalances and other long-term health issues. Adam emphasizes, “whole natural foods... are healthier for our brain and our body” (12:22).

Notable Quote:

"If you just stay away from that, you naturally eat less." – Adam Schafer (02:14)

3. Introduction of Paraxanthine: A Caffeine Metabolite

Justin Andrews brings up a fascinating compound, paraxanthine, which is a metabolite of caffeine, highlighting its potential benefits over traditional caffeine consumption.

Key Points:

• Benefits of Paraxanthine: Unlike caffeine, paraxanthine provides wakefulness and energy without the jitters or crashes. Adam mentions, “parazethine gives you the wakefulness, the energy, the feel good, no jitters, no anxiety” (29:14).
• Natural Occurrence: Paraxanthine is naturally produced when the body metabolizes caffeine. Justin shares his positive experiences with the compound, noting improved energy levels without the typical negative side effects of caffeine (32:05).

Notable Quote:

"Parazethine gives you the wakefulness, the energy, the feel good, no jitters, no anxiety." – Adam Schafer (29:14)

4. Family Stories and Personal Insights

The hosts share personal anecdotes about their families, illustrating how fitness and healthy living intertwine with daily life.

Key Points:

• Children’s Interactions: Adam and Justin recount amusing interactions between their children, highlighting the importance of modeling healthy behaviors.
• Discipline and Consistency: Justin emphasizes the significance of consistency in maintaining a healthy diet, sharing how it helps in balancing indulgences without losing the appeal of healthy foods (13:36).

Notable Quote:

"It's the psychology of that too. The power of telling a client like you say, 'go get it'." – Justin Andrews (15:21)

5. Listener Live Coaching:

The core of the episode features live coaching sessions where listeners call in with their fitness and health-related questions. Four main callers share their challenges and receive expert advice from the hosts.

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a. Listener Call: Kenny from Florida

Background:

• Profile: 31 years old, 5'9", 190 lbs, former college baseball player, father of two.
• Challenge: Transitioned from endurance sports to resistance training, seeks to incorporate cardio for heart health without overtraining.

Advice:

• Implement HIIT Cardio: Adam recommends High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) sessions lasting 12-15 minutes a couple of times a week, post-resistance training days (57:19).
• Maintain Active Lifestyle: Encourages daily movement and achieving 10,000 steps a day for overall health and longevity (58:14).

Notable Quote:

"A real easy way to reap the benefits of cardiovascular training would be to do hit style cardio." – Adam Schafer (57:19)

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b. Listener Call: Myra from Colorado

Background:

• Challenge: Poor glute connection due to trauma, struggles with engaging glutes during exercises like squats and deadlifts.

Advice:

• Acupuncture: Adam suggests trying acupuncture to address both physiological and psychological aspects of her trauma-related muscle disconnection (65:59).
• Functional Medicine Consultation: Further evaluation by a neurologist or functional medicine practitioner to rule out nerve damage or hormonal imbalances (97:12).

Notable Quote:

"It's not necessary... we know the glutes are definitely working." – Adam Schafer (66:40)

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c. Listener Call: Dylan from Virginia

Background:

• Profile: Firefighter seeking financial growth while maintaining passion-driven work.
• Challenge: Balancing financial goals with dedication to a career in firefighting.

Advice:

• Focus on Passion with Financial Leveraging: Justin advises leaning into what he loves (firefighting) while leveraging income through investments and side businesses like real estate (72:16).
• Partner Support: Emphasizes the importance of having a supportive partner to manage the pressures of balancing work and family (80:43).

Notable Quote:

"Don't be afraid to put yourself in that situation, even if it's scary... the best version of you probably comes out in that situation." – Justin Andrews (77:18)

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d. Listener Call: Betty from Utah

Background:

• Profile: 38 years old, 5'0", 146 lbs, 23% body fat, experienced sudden and persistent weight gain after a vacation.
• Challenge: Understanding unexpected weight gain despite consistent training and diet.

Advice:

• Hormonal Evaluation: Adam strongly recommends checking hormones to rule out imbalances causing water retention (97:45).
• Maintain Caloric Consistency: Suggests staying at maintenance calories (around 2200) and monitoring body response while awaiting medical evaluations (100:22).

Notable Quote:

"10 pounds in three days is like physiologically impossible to gain 10 pounds of body fat in three days." – Adam Schafer (97:52)

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6. Closing Remarks and Community Engagement

The episode concludes with hosts discussing community stories, sharing lighter moments, and encouraging listeners to engage through social media and forums. They highlight the importance of building a supportive community for sustained health and fitness success.

Key Points:

• Community Stories: Hosts share humorous and relatable family anecdotes, reinforcing the integration of fitness into everyday life.
• Encouragement: Emphasize staying connected, leveraging community support, and continuously seeking growth both personally and professionally.

Notable Quote:

"Find a way to put yourself in that situation, even if it's scary, because the best version of you will most likely come out." – Justin Andrews (77:18)

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Conclusion

Episode 2589 of Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth offers a comprehensive exploration of the benefits of real, whole foods over processed alternatives, underpinned by scientific insights and personal experiences. Through engaging discussions and live coaching sessions, the hosts provide actionable advice for listeners striving for optimal health, strength, and longevity. The episode underscores the importance of dietary choices, hormonal health, and the balance between passion and financial stability in achieving holistic well-being.

For More Information:

• Follow Mind Pump: Instagram @mindpumpmedia, @mindpumpsal, @mindpumpadam, @mindpumpjustin, @mindpumpdoug
• Visit: mindpumppodcast.com | mapsfitnessproducts.com using code MAY50 for discounts.

Transcript

[Sal DiStefano]

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

[Adam Schafer]

Mind Pump. Mind Pump.

[Sal DiStefano]

With your hosts Sal Destefano, Adam Schafer.

[Adam Schafer]

And Justin Andrews, you just found the most downloaded fitness, health and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump. In today's episode, we had live callers call in and we got to coach them on air. But this was after an intro today. The intro is 53 minutes long. In the intro we talk about diet strategies, fitness, fat loss, muscle gain, scientific studies. We also talk about family life and current events. It's a good time. By the way, if you want to be a caller on one of these episodes, email us your [e-mail] now this episode is brought to you by some sponsors. The first one is [e-mail], they'll test your hormones. They can administer testosterone, other hormones to balance you out, optimize all those hormones, but they also work with peptides. Today we talked about BPC157 and KPV capsules for gut health. By the way, right now there's 25% off all GLP1s. A GLP1, for example, is Tirzepatide or Semaglutide brand name being Ozempic. 25% off right now. Go to mphormones.com this episode is also brought to you by Luminos by Entera. Their skin care products have the highest amount of GHKCU you'll find anywhere. This stuff is turbocharged. It really works. Go check them out. Go to enteraskincare.com mpm that's e n t e r a skincare.com mpm by the way, use the code mpm and get 10% off your order. We also have a sale this month. Maps 15 Performance and the RGB bundle of programs are both 50% off. If you're interested, go to mapsfitnessproducts.com and then use the code MAY50 for the discount. All right, here comes the show. If you're trying to get lean and healthy, stop eating fake food. You won't get there. We're going to talk about real food and five strong ways backed by data and science and experience in which real food will make you lean and healthy. Let's go.

[Justin Andrews]

We talk about this a lot, but I don't think you've have formulated it in a fitness tip.

[Adam Schafer]

No. So when I say real food, what I'm referring to this is just to get your attention when I'm referring to one ingredient. Yeah, exactly. Food that wasn't engineered. Right. So heavily processed foods. What I'm talking about when I say fake food, yes, you can eat it. So I know it's technically food, but when I say fake food, that's what I'm talking about. And real food is whole natural foods. And I'll talk about the first reason why, and this is the biggest reason, by the way, why real food leads to, almost always leads to a body that's more lean and healthy, and that's because you naturally eat less. This is one of the largest effects of heavily processed foods, is that they make you overeat. It's such a powerful effect, it's duplicated in study after study after study. And this is primarily, it's not the only reason, but it's primarily why we have an obesity epidemic. It's probably one of the biggest reasons why we struggle with being overweight is that our diet now is comprised of a majority of this fake, quote, unquote, fake or heavily processed food, which has been carefully, scientifically engineered to do one thing, and that is to make you overeat. So if you just stay away from that, you naturally eat less. In other words, not because you're trying to eat less, you feel just as full, but you're eating less calories as a result.

[Justin Andrews]

Is it the volume of it or the fiber? What is it about the whole foods that makes it so much more satiety producing?

[Adam Schafer]

You can add, because obviously, you know.

[Doug]

I know that you always balance fibrous.

[Justin Andrews]

I know that we can, we can, you know, manufacture or produce something that's this big that has 4 or 500 calories. Right. By making something like that. But normally whole foods, you get 4 or 500 calories is, is more volume. So is it the volume of the whole foods? Is it the fiber that comes with it? Like, what is it? What is it exactly? That is, is so much more satiety producing than processed foods.

[Adam Schafer]

There's, there's a lot of components that go into that, but you can, the umbrella term would be palatability. So you could take a heavily processed food.

[Justin Andrews]

You think it's more about palate fatigue.

[Adam Schafer]

Than it is 100%. Yeah, because you could take, you could take heavily processed food and throw a bunch of fiber and protein in it, which will make it produce more satiety than if it didn't have it. But because it's engineered to be so palatable, it's still going to cause you to overeat, even with the Same volume, even if all things were the same. So really it has to do with palatability. So palatability is. You could loosely define it as the enjoyment that you get from eating something. So, like the experience, the taste, the addictive properties or qualities. And that right there causes a few different things. One, you eat faster. And two, because it's essentially tapping into this enjoyment process, this. This experience. Again, it's engineered to do. So your body signals that, say, stop eating. Don't kick in until later. Two, until much later. Okay? So it's like this. I'll use example. We're pretty strict at home with TV with. With my kids, okay? So my son gets 20 minutes of TV a day total. However, he can watch unlimited Mr. Rogers. So you guys remember Mr. Rogers? We were little. So for. People don't know, Mr. Rogers was this TV show on public television back in the day. And if you watch it now as an adult, you'll realize just how slow it is. It's so slow. It's not exciting. There's no cuts. There's no. It's a very. It's very different from what you would see today for kids. Have your kids watch Mr. Rogers and then watch them stop watching at a particular point. Now have them go on their iPad.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

And tell them to come off when they're ready. And they won't, because it's really messing with the wiring of their system of the enjoyment where the kid doesn't want to come off. Whereas Mr. Rogers, you kind of like you're done after a couple episodes. I'll let my kids watch as much as they want. And they watch an episode and they're like, okay, let's go play. It's not so enticing and so addicting that it just keeps them stuck. Heavily processed foods are so well engineered that they just. You just eat more of them, and it's about 600 calories more a day. This is what they. And the best studies ever done on nutrition are the ones done on heavily processed foods. Because they're in a lab, they're actually controlled. They'll put people in these two rooms and they'll control, for macros. One room heavily processed, one room whole natural foods. And they'll have the groups and they'll tell them, eat as much as you want. And they'll just observe them. And then they'll switch the groups over. They'll actually have this group go back in this room and this group go in this room. And they've repeated these studies. It's like 600 more calories a day. Which, by the way, if you're trying to lose weight, typically you'll cut your calories by about 5 to 600 calories. If you're trying to gain weight, you're typically bump them 5 to 600 calories. Those are both aggressive. So. And this is just happening naturally. So when you stick to whole foods without even trying to, you just eat less food.

[Doug]

Yeah, it just seems a food science. There's such a multitude of factors that go into that with the size and being able to condense a lot of, you know, the nutrients and the ingredients to where you could put it in chip form, where it's even more like, has more crunch to it. So therefore you can sort of like put down a lot more than you normally would be able to eat. Tortilla wise. Into, like whole foods, you have to add a lot of spices. They figured out the perfect combo of spices and everything else to keep your interest high. And then switching that out, we always go back to that like tub of ice cream versus having like salted french fries and like just going back and forth between the different types of novel tastes. And so like, to be able to do that, they make it so easy because it's like you have this like, smaller, condensed version that's like packed with sugar or packed with salt. And it's like this constant, easy way to. To consume.

[Justin Andrews]

It's really hard for people to back out of too, because it, when you eat a lot of processed food, it robs you of those natural, good flavors.

[Adam Schafer]

Yep.

[Justin Andrews]

I, I remember this was when, when I competed and having to like, be so strict on whole foods for that. That was the longest period of time I ever, like, did not stray from that. And I remember how wild it was. Here I am late 20s, and for most of my life would say fruit was kind of bland, whatever, you know, I'm saying I never craved it, never cared about it. You know, in fact, the times I ate it was like, oh, because it's around, we're at the pool and watermelons out, I'll have some. It was never like, oh, I want this until that. Until I was eating nothing but whole foods for an extended period of time and then biting into an apple or a banana or some grapes. It felt like the same type of feeling I got if I were to eat candy but eat a bunch of processed foods for the next couple weeks or months consistently again, then go back to it, and it's like it goes away. So that's the other part about this, that Makes this really difficult is once you've kind of opened Pandora's box and you're. You eat processed foods every day, all the time, and then someone like us is trying to convince you to eat whole foods because they're so much better for you to stay human. You're like, oh my God. Just, I have no desire for.

[Adam Schafer]

You're actually, you're actually pointing to the second point, which is whole foods are healthier in both body and behavior. And we'll get to the body part, but behavior is what you're talking about. So because they're so well engineered. So it's, you know, you have salt, sugar and fat are the classic ingredients for palatability. But food scientists have taken it to the millionth degree with chemicals and colors and ways of making certain flavors linger and others disappear. And then it's like the texture on the tongue, like they've got. It's really a science, everybody. It's a crazy science. And what happens is your brain starts to adapt to this introduction of this crazy experience. That's what it is. Literally, it's a crazy experience. If you took someone from a thousand years ago and brought them today and introduced them to heavily processed foods, they would be like, what? What am I eating? Like, what's happening here? Your brain starts to adapt to it. So what happens is you have receptors that downregulate. You have brain chemicals that start to change. So when you eat a lot of, like candy, you eat a lot of grape flavored candy, real grapes taste like nothing terrible, bland. They don't taste like anything because your brain literally has molded and shaped itself to this. And then from a behavior standpoint, here's what happens. There are lots of values to food, one of which is the experience, because that's a real value. So I'm not one of those fitness people, we're not one of those fitness podcasts that says food is just fuel, which is. That's a lie. Food is also experience. We can't deny that. However, when you make the experience so overwhelming because you've engineered it, your behavior starts to tilt towards valuing just that. So what you have in modern societies are people that are completely unaware of any of the values of food aside from the experience. That's all. In fact, that's how they make every choice. So you have a group of friends talking about lunch. What are we gonna have for lunch? This is what the conversation sounds like. What do you feel like? I feel like this. Oh, let's get that. There is no awareness around how this Affects my health, my energy, my digestion, because it's such an overwhelming experience that we're now so numb to that. That's all our behavior points to, is that. So it actually is unhealthy for our behavior, it's unhealthy for our brain, and it's also unhealthy for our body. Because the way they engineer these foods includes so many chemicals that, you know, sure, they've passed certain levels of testing, but there is no test in the world that combines all these over long periods of time to see what it could potentially do to your body. In fact, we're. We're discovering some of these now. I mean, they just banned artificial food dyes, which have been legal for decades, because now we're able to show in the data that it's not good for you.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, I also don't think we're a podcast that demonizes processed foods either. I think it's just a level of awareness. If you're somebody who manages weight really well and stays in good shape and you eat processed foods occasionally or even frequently, then I'm not talking to you. But in my experience.

[Adam Schafer]

But you're rare.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, you are. You're rare because most people that eat a lot of processed foods struggle with weight, and they struggle with that urge to eat more and to overeat. And so that's who I'm communicating this to. It's like, hey, if you figured it. If you figured the formula out, that, hey, as long as I eat these things and do this by this time and get my workouts in, I can have the occasional processed food in my diet, I'm cool, dude, I don't care. But that's not the case. It's always these people that are struggling with calorie control, and it's primarily because of this. And if they were to just get rid of that, and again, not demonizing it, just letting them, you know, making them aware that that's how powerful this is. That if you just prioritize whole foods, you'd be surprised on how easy it is to control those other things. And the positive thing is that if you were anything like me, where vegetables and fruit was bland and boring, you can get that back.

[Adam Schafer]

That's right.

[Justin Andrews]

It's not like you lost. I mean, almost 30 years. It was bland to me. And then later on, which is what has actually kept. Always keeps me kind of in check, right? I allow plenty of processed foods in and out of my diet. What keeps me from going off the rails and eating mostly processed Foods is. I know I start to crave that crap. But whenever I feel that, I know, oh, it's time to kind of rein it back in, because I don't want to lose the enjoyment of fruit and vegetables and these things that are good for me. And I know if I continue down that rabble, even if I'm keeping my calories in check and not getting fat, I know I'll lose the palatability of healthy foods.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. You show me a household that is obese, and I'll show you a household that consumes mostly heavily processed foods.

[Justin Andrews]

Right.

[Adam Schafer]

Okay. Almost every single time as a trainer, when I trained clients and I figured this out, I actually threw away. Why don't I say throw away? I stopped advising people on all the other nutrition tips and tricks and advice that I used to do. Actually pushed it all aside, and this is all I would do, just eat whole natural foods. I literally replaced everything for the average client that I trained with just that. And the average client will lose 10 to 15 pounds alone from not trying to eat less, from not trying to count anything, from not trying to do anything at all aside from just eating until they're full and eating whole natural foods. It was like clockwork. It was like magic. To the point where people would come to me afterwards and literally think they couldn't understand it. Like, I'm actually more full than I used to be. Why am I losing weight? As if there's some magical thing that's happening, and I'll tell them, you're eating less calories. And they would literally debate me. No, I'm not. I'm totally full. You should have seen dinner last night. Like, trust me, you're eating less calories.

[Justin Andrews]

This is so powerful. I still. I can remember the first conversation that I started to do the same thing, where I stopped writing a meal plan out and check their weight and activity level and then and figuring out their macros. And here's your calorie balance where you need to be. And I just went, these are the foods I want you to eat from. And they would look back at me. I'll never forget the first time the guy sat across me. He was like, 80 pounds overweight. He says, where's my calories need to be? I said, I don't care. What do you mean you don't care? I said, if you stick to just eating from these foods that I wrote down all these foods, choose them however you want. Eat the protein first. That's all I'm asking you to do. Let's just See what the calories land. I'm not even worried about it. I feel confident that if you just do that, this weight's going to come. And I remember the look on his face, but I also remember how effective it was and going forward. That was exactly how I coached all my clients is I'm not going to write out these. Make up these arbitrary numbers of like you need to be exactly 2750 calories. And it's like, man, if I just got rid of all the processed foods and gave them that. And the thing I didn't realize I was also doing that came later was the psychology of that too. Was that you, you weren't telling them they can't. The power of you're not saying eat less. Yeah. The power of telling a client like you say, you can't do this, you can't do that. It's like just go get if. Just go focus. That was massive too. Was focusing on that versus the what I can't have was a huge difference.

[Adam Schafer]

Totally. Next up, it's just whole foods are better for your digestion. They contribute to better motility. They contribute to a more diverse microbiome. They digest slower, which is good. So processed foods are essentially broken down pre digested ingredients put together in a package. And when you eat those, they tend to get processed through the body a little faster. Or on the reverse, they can cause things like digestive issues like slower motility, which can cause all kinds of other problems. Whole natural foods, especially when you include things like vegetables and fruits, this is the fix. For most people when it comes to digestive issues, this right here alone tends to be the fix. And again, that was a wonderful side effect I would get from clients who would start eating this way is they'd be like, oh, you know what, regular.

[Doug]

Bowel movements are nice.

[Adam Schafer]

And I'm not getting bloated anymore. My heartburn is kind of going away. Like, this is wild.

[Doug]

Yeah. It's amazing how like nature's got natural limiters.

[Adam Schafer]

Yes.

[Doug]

It sort of like gives you that signal and so you just naturally will, oh, I'm good, I'm full. And it's hard to get that from processed food.

[Justin Andrews]

You know, not to switch directions right here. But this point reminds me of something else that we've seen. I've seen this more recently with the introduction of GLP1s. You know, since we're speaking of digestion, one of the, like you've heard people, some of the negative side effects. One of them is people, oh man, it just messed up my digestion. 90 plus percent of those people that have said that to me aren't changing their food choices.

[Adam Schafer]

They're just eating less of the same.

[Justin Andrews]

They're eating less garbage. And this is part of why the GLP1 works so well, is because it slows that process down and almost forces you to have to eat whole foods. Because if you eat anything that is like fast digesting, it throws you off like crazy, so you don't even want the process. And I remember feeling this when I went through this. It was like there was no desire for that food because it's like instantly your, your stomach knows, like, oh, that the last time I tried it, it didn't even feel right. The only thing that seems to feel right is this chicken and rice or like things that were lean and healthy and easy to digest. And so that's one of the things that's a positive, but some people look as a negative because they still keep eating the way they keep eating Fire Cheetos. And then wondering why. I'm just, I don' why the GLP one's not working for me. It just messed up my digestion really bad. Because while you're eating Fire Cheetos, still.

[Adam Schafer]

That'S the reason why next is, you know what's in it. So when I go buy rice and a potato and steak and a banana, I know what's in there. If I buy a banana, banana, that's the ingredients. If I get some steak, it's beef. That's what's in there. Whole heavily processed foods oftentimes have ingredients that, you know, maybe if you're well versed, you recognize. But do you really know what it is? Do you really know where they, where this comes from? Do you know how this affects your body? Especially in combination with these other ingredients that are put in there to increase its shelf life and its texture. Preservatives and the color and the whatever.

[Doug]

Gum, xylitol, you just don't know.

[Adam Schafer]

And by the way, you know, I know a lot of this stuff is tested. So I know you get the, like the super, you know, science zealots. We're like, everything's a chemical. Okay, technically that's true. But, you know, there are individual variances on how we react to these things as well. And sometimes you don't know what's causing what. Now if I eat a banana and it causes issues, it's a banana, you know, if I eat banana candy, I don't know what's in. Is it the banana? Is it the banana extract? Which is probably not Even in there. Is it the yellow number, whatever. Is it the other stuff that makes it, you know, the shape that it.

[Justin Andrews]

Is or whatever, sticky.

[Adam Schafer]

And you have no idea. So you just, you just don't know. Even if you look at the ingredients, you don't know. But when you buy whole natural foods, you know what you're eating. And here's the other part of it, by the way, calculating macros. I know people think it's easier with heavily processed foods because they look at the box and they go, oh, one serving is this many calories. Actually, if you take an extra step with whole natural foods and you weigh it and measure it the first time, you're far more accurate with whole natural foods because heavily processed foods are allowed to have a margin of error, which is, I believe, 25%. Yeah, 25%. Okay. So if you eat a 2000 calorie, let's say you eat a 2000 calorie diet based off of processed foods, and so you're like, oh, this is exactly 2,000 calories. No, it's probably, it could be as high as 22, 2300 calories because the FDA gives them a 25% margin of error. Now, if I take a banana and I peel it and I weigh it, I know exactly what the macros are. If I take a steak and I measure it, chicken breast, I measure it. Broccoli, I measure it. Yes. You have to measure it one time. Okay. Once you do that, I know exactly what my macros are with the heavily processed foods, the margin errors. And so now, good luck. How can you figure out how many calories are in your boxed one, Whatever. Because you don't know if the box, the label is 25% off. How are you going to figure it out any other way? Are you going to measure every single ingredient that's in there? Do you know how much of it? It's impossible. It's absolutely impossible.

[Justin Andrews]

Not only that, you have to think too, that if the FDA allows that 20 to 25% to be off, it's. And you are marketing your food as health food, it's in your best interest to go to 19%.

[Adam Schafer]

That's right.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, it's in your best interest to say you are probably has more.

[Adam Schafer]

Than it says because they want to market as low.

[Justin Andrews]

Of course. I mean, that just makes sense. If, if the, if FDA is going to give you that much wiggle room, you're marketing your, your thing as a low calorie snack. You're not going to overestimate. You're Going to underestimate. I mean, that's just simp. That simple. I mean, there's no.

[Adam Schafer]

And by the way, there's many lawsuits that have happened because remember Detour.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes.

[Adam Schafer]

Bars.

[Justin Andrews]

By the way, the only. So here's the thing I was going to make this point is there's been lawsuits of this and the only lawsuits I've seen. It's when it's egregious.

[Adam Schafer]

Yes.

[Justin Andrews]

It's like. So I wonder if it's like 26.

[Adam Schafer]

No, no, no.

[Justin Andrews]

It's like. Are they.

[Adam Schafer]

Detour was like.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, it was egregious. Yeah, yeah. It was like double the calories, half the protein. It was like not even. It was, it was a. It was literally a Snickers bar that they were marketing as a high protein snack. And it was just not that at all. So there's been other cases. I know Detour is one of the most famous ones because it happened during our time as trainers and when that bar got really famous. But this has happened. But every case I've seen, it's these egregious situations. It's never.

[Adam Schafer]

They're not going to get sued for being 20% off because they're allowed to.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes. So, yeah. So you have the people that are.

[Adam Schafer]

That means, by the way, a 500 calorie whatever could have 600 calories. Like when you're taught. When I'm working with people in reverse dieting or cutting, like they're moving a few hundred calories a day. If it's all. Excuse me, if it's all heavily processed foods, we could be totally off and have no idea because the box says this. But the reality is something completely different. Whole natural foods, that's what's in it. You measure it. Once you see it, that's done. Done deal. You are super accurate in comparison. Finally, whole natural foods require more presence and planning. All right, now you might think that's not a good thing because I just want to be fast. One of the worst, one of the biggest, I would say negatives of heavily processed foods, which is what we value, which is speed, convenience. That's actually a negative. Everybody. What it's done is it's encouraged, this unawareness and mindlessness around food.

[Doug]

Now you can eat it on the go.

[Adam Schafer]

That's right. In fact, I'll make this point right now. You like, let's think of like a, like a junk food that you might like. Let's say you like French fries or you like donuts. I bet you if you took the time to make the Donuts from scratch. You probably would be better off because of the presence that it took and the energy that it took to go versus buying it real quick and eating it real quick.

[Doug]

Sure.

[Adam Schafer]

And I think. And that's more of a behavior thing that tends to happen heavily processed foods encourage lack of awareness. They encourage this, like, speed of meet, this desire of I need to feel this experience. I need to taste this thing. Boom, boom, boom, real fast. Done deal, I'm out of here. That's the term fast food. Right. Kind of came from that whole natural foods requires a little bit of planning, which means I have some more presence, which mean I can say I probably should eat a little more of this. I'm probably eating too much of that. And it just results in a better situation.

[Doug]

I mean, what a better way to hijack all your systems to cram food in quicker.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Doug]

And, and I mean, this is where all these other things were. Chewing your food makes a big difference. And you're not drinking drinks with your food makes a big difference. And it's just, it's that awareness and that presence for your body to really process it and, and pay attention, you know, to a lot of the feedback that you're getting as you're eating and digesting it instead of just, you know, cramming in really quickly and, and moving on to the next thing and eating mindlessly.

[Justin Andrews]

What about, what about micronutrients? I feel like, you know, I've always felt that there's no way that this, this is processed food that we've fortified with all these vitamins and minerals to make like, whole foods, has got to be equivalent to the micronutrients found in the whole food.

[Adam Schafer]

There's no way.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I know. It's just we. I know science says it is. It just doesn't feel like it can be. And so I, and I feel like this is another one of those somewhat unknowns of like there's other benefits to.

[Doug]

Be a science factor in there for sure.

[Adam Schafer]

We know a lot of what's in food. There's a lot of stuff we still don't know, but let's just stick with what we know. So forget the unknown because I can make that argument too. I could say, look, we've discovered a lot of things about food, but there's things that we don't know. There are CO factors and these micronutrients, there are these hormetic, you know, compounds that have this effect on the body that we still haven't really discovered how they work.

[Justin Andrews]

We know certain combinations of Certain things changes.

[Adam Schafer]

We don't understand this all yet, but let's put that aside. Let's just put. Let's just say the stuff we know they're only going to add in processed foods what they have, what has some popularity or some data or something supporting RDA stand. So you hear about sulforaphane, I'll bring that up. Right. We hear about that all the time. Sulforaphane helps detoxify the body anti cancer. Well, now they're going to start adding it to certain health foods. But before we started talking about it, it wasn't in there. The only way you got it was you ate broccoli or you ate broccoli sprouts. Right. So the. Of the stuff we know, they're only going to add it to food once there's awareness and popularity and some people talking about it. So good luck getting these nutrients in your foods, even the ones we do know. And then of course there's the argument of the stuff we don't know eat. You know, eat a vegetable or a fruit or some meat or whatever. And there are things in there and combinations and things that we still don't fully understand. So how far are we. Could you keep someone alive with complete processed food for the rest of their life? Yeah. Will they thrive? Probably not. In fact, there are situations where you have kids with severe autoimmune issues or whatever, they have to live almost entirely on shakes and processed foods. And you can kind of tell, you can kind of see it. And you talk to athletes. The athletes I would talk to, who are the most, who are the best ones to give you anecdote about this, I would say are bodybuilders because bodybuilders are so ridiculous and meticulous about their diet and talk to bodybuilders when they've included processed foods versus not including processed foods in their pre contest prep. I know you've said this, Adam, and they'll tell you everything was the same, but it feels different. Yeah, it just doesn't feel the same. So. Yeah, interesting stuff. Anyway, I gotta tell you guys, rarely do I get excited over a new. I don't know if you label it a supplement that I've been reading about, I was reading about this weekend. So there's a compound called paraxanthine, I think I'm pronouncing it right. And I was reading about it because caffeine, caffeine, when you, when you eat caffeine or you take caffeine is broken down into three metabolites. One of them is pirazethine. Pirazethine is what they think. Actually the data now really supports this is what gives caffeine all of its awesome effects. The other two metabolites are what give caffeine its negative effects. So here's what they did.

[Doug]

So they're isolating it now.

[Adam Schafer]

They took it out and they did studies on it and here's what they found. Parazephine gives you the wakefulness, the energy, the feel good, no jitters, no anxiety, doesn't affect sleep, poorly, doesn't have the same drop off crash. Like basically none of the negatives of caffeine, all the positives. So I was reading all these studies on this and I'm like, this is crazy. And the reason why I'm excited is because when you consume caffeine you already get parazephane. So it's not like this new thing that we're like discovering this new chemical.

[Doug]

Yeah. It's like, well, it's just the benefit.

[Adam Schafer]

Well, we've already, we've already like it. When you take, when you drink caffeine, about 2/3 of it turns into Parasitan. So 2/3 of it turns into this. So we've already used this. I had energy drink earlier or whatever, parazephine, I'm already having it, but I also have the other two metabolites. So I'm getting excited because I'm like, oh wait, this is something our bodies are already used to. We've already felt this. Studies are saying you get none of the negatives. So then I'm reading reviews, I'm going on Amazon and reading reviews of people who've used these products or whatever and they're like, I quit coffee, I quit energy drinks. I feel so much better. It's really crazy. Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

So since you went down that rabbit hole, I think I brought this up a long time ago on the show and you kind of shot it down. I was under the impression a long time. I wish I remember where I read it, but I remember reading up on caffeine and its effects on the body that we get. And I understood it to be like almost like a downer where it's what we feel, the high or the energy rush that we get is our body fighting against what it's doing.

[Adam Schafer]

No, no. It blocks receptors that allow circulating levels of like energy producing compounds to increase. So it's actually. It blocks certain receptors that then give us this wakefulness feeling.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay, so that is kind of a negative. It's negatively. I mean, yeah, I hear what you're saying, right? Like, and that's, it's the body trying to overcome that.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Gives you that positive.

[Adam Schafer]

I wrote down a little bit of stuff around it, but yeah, it's, it essentially the compounds, it increases circulating levels of the things that give you that energy by blocking their reabsorption, I think, I'm not if I'm not mistaken, but parazine does it better and doesn't cause a lot of the negatives and it's way less toxic. So like caffeine by a certain level will hurt you.

[Justin Andrews]

Any addictive properties to it by caffeine?

[Adam Schafer]

That's a good question. People are saying, and I don't know.

[Doug]

So how is this compound, Is it in just in pill form? Are they trying to put it in drinks or.

[Adam Schafer]

Right now there's only a few companies that are making it. We're not working with anyone. So I'm not going to give anybody.

[Doug]

Yeah, no, I mean I, I'm curious.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, at least until we try it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, I'm going to make sure we try it because I'm like tripping out.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, I'm interested, I'm curious. It sounds interesting.

[Adam Schafer]

It does.

[Justin Andrews]

You know, it, it sounds like it won't work as well, but it sounds interesting.

[Adam Schafer]

The reviews are like, people are like, it works so much. It's great. I love it. I can't believe I stopped drinking energy drinks and stopped drinking coffee. It's pro.

[Doug]

An individual thing too, you know, like some people are pretty receptive to caffeine versus not. So I wonder.

[Adam Schafer]

I'll bring, I'll bring you guys some.

[Justin Andrews]

Did you order it already? What even sent you down that rabbit hole? What were you doing?

[Adam Schafer]

I, I, I read, I was reading. I don't know how I went down that. I think I saw a post on X and I'm like, that's interesting. Oh. Stronger locomotor activating effects, lower toxicity, lesser greater wake properties. Stronger locomotor activating effects, greater wake promoting properties and stronger dopamine.

[Justin Andrews]

Wow.

[Adam Schafer]

Dopaminergenic properties.

[Justin Andrews]

Wow.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Wow.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. Better for the brain apparently. And yeah, pretty interesting. Supposed to be good for the brain. For the, for the brain too.

[Justin Andrews]

Sure did Detroit.

[Adam Schafer]

I don't know.

[Justin Andrews]

Did your, did your wife tell you about our sons this weekend?

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, so you were telling me A little bit. They were, they were talking about dinosaurs.

[Justin Andrews]

So I, I just heard, I didn't even know about, I didn't see it happen. You know, we host, we hosted the staff at the house this weekend. Right. We barbecued for everybody. Everybody.

[Adam Schafer]

Good time thanks for having us over.

[Justin Andrews]

Great time. It was a really, really times. Had a good time with the. See the whole team there and everything like that. Kids were there. Katrina's telling me this late last night. Last night, as we're in bed, she's just like, hey, did I. Did I tell you about Max and Aurelius? Kind of got into it. I was like, what? No, they were playing so good. She goes, no, no, not like that. Like, they got into, like a little Sal and Adam argument. I was like. I was like, what do you mean? I said, what do you mean? S. Jessica and I were cracking up because it was just like, oh, my God, this is like their fathers right now. So, you know, come to find out, obviously, Aurelius is hardcore into dinosaurs. Max has been into dinosaurs for a long time. And Aurelius is getting frustrated with Max because Max is trying to say that dinosaurs are not extinct. And Aurelius is like grabbing Jessica and like, mommy, tell him that dinosaurs are extinct. And he's. And Max is like, well, no, there's. They came from birds and we still have birds. And so. And so Jessica's trying to explain to Aelius that, like, well, you're both kind of cry like that. Julius is getting pissed. You know what I'm saying? Max is getting. Max is telling Katrina, mom, tell him that. So both are going to their moms, trying to get their moms to agree with him that, you know, dinosaurs are still around and dinosaurs are exist, extinct. And listening to them kind of debate back and forth. Oh, yeah, it was hilarious. I was like, I'm so mad that I missed that. She goes, yeah, no, they were totally. But you could tell they were both getting frustrated because they just started podcast.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Because Jessica and I, we couldn't, you know, conform to either one. They were both kind of right. And neither one of them wanted to settle for both of them being right still.

[Doug]

Nessie.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, yeah, well, I know that. So Max brings up. Max is like, what he's like, trying to explain to. And he's been asking me about this. This a lizard, iguana or whatever that has the. The thing that opens up and it's like a descendant from dinosaurs. And like. And I can't think that he's been actually. Yes, yes. He's been asking me the name of that. That. That reptile or whatever kind of lizard that is. Right, right. And I haven't been able to remember name. And so he's bringing that up too. Just like, but, Mommy, what about the. You know, is he doing the Whole thing. This one's still alive and so heal a monster.

[Doug]

Yeah, he can make an argument.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. What is it? What is that? Can you look that look. Yeah, that's.

[Adam Schafer]

Actually. I bought my son a toy that has the one from Jurassic park where things come out.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes.

[Adam Schafer]

It spits.

[Justin Andrews]

That's the one. That's the one. And so. Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

Well, you know what's cute about those two? So there's. They have something in common where, like, my son will play with other kids, but if the other kids kind of a jerk, my son doesn't want play with them. And your kids like that too.

[Justin Andrews]

Very much.

[Adam Schafer]

Like, like, fine, I'm not gonna play with you.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

So they're. And they're both like. They both like to play and share and do it. So the two of them got along great.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

But watching them, they. They saw each other. They haven't seen each other in a while. And then 10 minutes later, they're running. They're holding hands, running around like, come over here. Come over there. Playing. I'm like, I started laughing because I was with the guys, and they saw them, you know. You know, Aurelius grabs Max's hand and they're holding hands. Ran down, and we're laughing, and I'm like, that's what I do with Adam. We hold hands on camera.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, at one point, you know, the difference of the two of them, which was really interesting to see happen, was. Oh, yeah, there it is. What's it called? So I don't forget.

[Sal DiStefano]

Frill neck lizard.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay, send it to me so I can make sure I show my son, because I know he's been bugging me like crazy. So here's the difference of our kids. At one point, the boys, our staff, when I'm referring to the boys, they were playing ping pong.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

And Aurelius was just, like, drawn to it right away. Came over and wanted to play. And they were playing, and Max was just, like, so sad. He wound up to Katrina. I was just like, mommy, I'm so sad. Aurelius doesn't want to play with me anymore. And Katrina looks over, well, son, he wants to play ping pong. I know. I'm so sad. He doesn't want to play with me anymore. Well, you should go play ping pong with him. No, that's okay. She's like, well, you have to understand that he doesn't have a ping pong table at his house. And so, of course he wants to. Well, mommy, can we buy him a ping pong table? So he'll play with me.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Like, no, it doesn't work that way, son. We don't just do. We don't do that.

[Adam Schafer]

Speaking of kids, my daughter, my two and a half year old, she's. I don't know, she hit this, like, gangster stage. She's, like, pushing kids down and, like, yeah, dude, I had my friend over, and it's that age, you know, where they get kind of possessive of her toys and stuff. And my. My buddy's little girl, she. My daughter has a bunny that she goes to bed with, and it's like, her, like, if we lose that, she's not going to bed. So we have backups of this, which, by the way, you know, it's funny, we lost the original one. Yeah. So my wife went and got the backup one, and my daughter looks at it, goes, huh? And my wife's like, oh, she took a bath. And she's like. Because it's all clean and brand new. So I told Jessica, I said, we got to trade them out often. So they both wear and tear because it's not going to work pretty soon. But anyway, this little girl runs up to my daughter to. To, like. To, like, grab the bunny. And my daughter's like, my bunny pushes her down. I'm like, oh, here we go. And she's been doing this. Dude, she's been doing this thing, like. And even with her brother, like, yesterday, he was drinking out of my wife's cup, and. And she wanted some. And he's like, I'm not done. He could. And she just blasted him in the face, and he's, like, losing it. He's like, oh, you know. And we had to go over there and separate him. I'm like, what do we say to her?

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, she just became a little gangster.

[Adam Schafer]

All of a sudden.

[Justin Andrews]

It almost seems like any. I mean, Katrina will tell you her stories, too. Like, when you're the younger girl and you have an older brother or brothers, like, you tend to be kind of like, you have to. I feel like you. To be able to hang with the boys, rough and tumble. But it's kind of funny because a lot of times the girl ends up being more of the bully.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

She, like, overcompensates, like, so it's kind of crazy how you see that happen. My buddies, you know, we're trying to. The. The newest thing right now is. Is teaching Max to, like, put things away and kind of start to do chores, taking care of his room and stuff like that. And he's. It's been cute, like, getting up and seeing that because they go off to school before I leave the house most days. And coming in and seeing his bed all made and try not to make, like, a huge deal about just like, hey, so you made your bed. Good job, dude. And been putting his toothbrush away and this stuff. And so the other day, he hadn't. He didn't make his bed. And we're picking him up from school. Katrina's a mentioning it, you know, hey, I noticed you. You didn't make your bed today. And he goes, yeah, my legs were tired. Your legs were tired? What kind of, like, excuses when he does like that? Dude, you have. I can't help myself. I'm gonna die laughing. You walk to school, fine. You played all day in the sandbox all by.

[Adam Schafer]

But your legs.

[Justin Andrews]

Your legs were too tired to make.

[Adam Schafer]

The bed this morning. Sleepy. Oh, my God, dude, that's great. I got to tell you, I talked to your. Your sister the other day. She's having some gut health.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, yeah. I was going to ask you. I. Sorry, I didn't interrupt you, but I've been wanting to ask you this anyways. You recommended to her the BPC157 with the KPV pills.

[Adam Schafer]

Capsule. Yeah, for.

[Justin Andrews]

For gut.

[Adam Schafer]

For gut repair and inflammation. It's like, I mean, game changer. So I use it. And so what BPC and KPV will do is it'll reduce inflammation. It'll also accelerate the healing of the gut, the healing of the lining, the mucosa lining.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, that's the BPC side.

[Adam Schafer]

Both.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, really?

[Adam Schafer]

Both of them do that? Yeah. And they both also have antimicrobial. But KPV in particular, antimicrobial properties. So it'll help with any bacterial overgrowth. But, like. So the research on kpv, for example, is for things like ulcerative colitis, for Crohn's disease, for those kinds of gut issues. But they put it in a capsule together.

[Justin Andrews]

So does it stop overgrowth? Does it eliminate it? Like, what's it.

[Adam Schafer]

It is not a sibo treatment. Okay, but it will help. But what it primarily does is when you have, like, leaky gut syndrome, right? So this is when the. Your gut is constantly inflamed from whatever the. The junctions between the cells and the gut start to open because the gut. The gut becomes inflamed. What happens is food passes through when it shouldn't, and you start develop kind of autoimmune issues or reactions to certain foods, or you just don't. You just don't feel good. It heals. That reduces inflammation, and it heals the gut. And it. Again, the mucosal lining of the gut, which is protective, starts to rebuild. So it's a longer process. But when you take the BPC and the KPV capsules, what you find after 30, 60 days or so, it's like, oh, man, I can eat things I couldn't eat before, and I feel way better. So just talking to her, all the treatments she's going through. Yeah, I thought this would be.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, that's good to know, too, because I got those. And what I didn't do was take it consistently. So it's. It's actually one of those things that you have to.

[Adam Schafer]

Of course.

[Justin Andrews]

See, I always got to ask you this. I mean, there's certain things.

[Adam Schafer]

Take it every day.

[Justin Andrews]

There's like, things like BBC 157 that I can inject. And I know right away that's direct to an injury. Yeah. Right away I can feel the improvement. Then there's other things. I feel like that you're like, you. You need to build it up. You need to be consistent with it.

[Adam Schafer]

Yep. Okay.

[Justin Andrews]

So I never gave that around.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. And our partners@mp hormones.com. that's, like, one of the top sellers for good health, like, by far. They always tell me. Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

She was actually just asking me if I. About that. If I got that over to her.

[Adam Schafer]

I want to. I want to find. I want to know about Justin. You came in, you were super angry, talking about your weekend with some kid.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

Are we gonna talk about him?

[Doug]

A little frustrated. Yeah. Well, because I'm so proud of my son. My. Yeah, my. My oldest was competing for gymnastics, and we held our own competition for nationals at the arena there in Santa Cruz. The. The Warriors. Santa Cruz Warriors Arena.

[Adam Schafer]

And he qualified for nationals, right?

[Doug]

He qualified. So, yeah, he got first place for both of the events he competed in, except, bro, that's crazy.

[Adam Schafer]

He's so good.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

You have to be really good to do that.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

And he's. It.

[Doug]

It's been. It's been hard for him because he's, like, one foot out in his. We've really had to coach him up and try to get his mindset back into it just to, like, finish strong because he's kind, like, wants to explore other sports and all this stuff, but, like, his coach sees a lot in him and is really trying to fight for him to, like. And he's really good at it. And so we're. We're kind of in. In a pickle with it because I know he wants to do something else, but at the same time, like, dude, you're really good at this. I don't know if it's really the move to stop what you're doing. And so I don't know, he's just been a lot more disciplined and focused and he hit nationals and so he's. He shows up and he. And he just crushes it. And what gets me frustrated is like, I'm. I'm pumped. And I'm like, man, I'm so proud. And. And then I find out later they go to do the awards. And so Courtney's there. She had to do a lot of volunteering because we're hosting. And so she had to do a lot of, you know, all the announcing and putting all the paperwork together for all the athletes and all this kind of stuff.

[Justin Andrews]

Stuff.

[Doug]

And so she put it together and like has. Ethan is like, you know, the first place, but this other kid gets. He's like, no, I'm first place. She's like, what are you talking about? Your first place? And go. Because that same competition, there's different heats or I don't know what you call it, but there's different times of the day where other athletes kind of compete at that same event. And this kid was older. He's like almost 19 years old. He's like 18. Big kid. Pretty much a grown ass adult. And he's a level, like a junior or a. I forget what they call junior elite, I think is what they call him. But like, he's like three levels above Ethan. Right. So this kid.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, okay.

[Doug]

He competes three. Every level down below him just so he can sandbag points, so he can get into, you know, nationals with. With a higher point percentage.

[Justin Andrews]

There's another. You're allowed to do that. There's another.

[Doug]

This is why I was like, you can't do that.

[Justin Andrews]

There's another sport you could do like that too. What?

[Doug]

What sport is so dirty? So it's like, it's equivalent of like me with that.

[Adam Schafer]

Hold on. Me.

[Doug]

Me competing, you know, at my age range and then going three years below me and dominating these younger kids.

[Adam Schafer]

Wait, is it different levels of age are also different levels of experience or.

[Doug]

How age and experience.

[Adam Schafer]

So that'd be like a black belt in jiu jitsu, entering the blue belt division.

[Doug]

Yes.

[Adam Schafer]

And getting first.

[Justin Andrews]

There's other sports that do this.

[Adam Schafer]

Why would you. Why would they allow that?

[Doug]

Exactly. And so we were talking to coach about that and he's like, apparently it's legal, but like. And not A lot of gyms do it, but, you know, this is one of those things where it's like, it's his integrity thing.

[Justin Andrews]

Right, right.

[Doug]

So this coach that let him do that, I'm a blast. This coach. Like, you have no integrity.

[Adam Schafer]

Wow.

[Doug]

It's just. Oh, it's like, who does that? Who feels good about that?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Doug]

You know, like. And here's the thing. Like, yeah, it's not a big deal. You know, he's just. But you just took a trophy that my kid worked really hard to get.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Doug]

And just right away from, you know, and so he was pissed. He was absolutely livid, dude. And I, I get it. Like, who does that?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. That sucks.

[Adam Schafer]

That's weird.

[Justin Andrews]

Is there, Is there another pathway? Like, okay, so this older kid who did not belong competing at any of those levels, trying to get points so he can go to his national thing too. What is, Is there another pathway for him that he could have done or.

[Doug]

He could have competed more events at.

[Justin Andrews]

His age range, but instead he took the easy route because he can't. Easy route because he can. All I have to do, All I have to do is hurry up, get my. There's another sport that does this. And it drives me crazy till I figure this out, because I've. We've had my buddies and I have talked about this.

[Adam Schafer]

It's. What's interesting to me is that he'll go to nationals. It's just lose. If nobody else did that. He's gonna suck because he got there through.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

Essentially cheating.

[Doug]

Yes.

[Adam Schafer]

Wow.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. It's a cheat.

[Adam Schafer]

And you know what? That reminds me.

[Doug]

I can't believe it's legal, dude. It really pisses me off.

[Adam Schafer]

That reminds me, when I was a kid, I did. I competed in judo. Okay. And sometimes your pool was so small that there were only two or three people in your. In your pool.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

So if you got last place, you got a third place. So you got your ass kicked by everybody in your pool.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

But you get a third place trophy.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

Or a second place trophy. Yeah. And I remember, like, that happened once to me. I got second place out of three people. And I remember be like, throw it away.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

I mean, one guy. I lost the one guy.

[Justin Andrews]

There's second place. Bodybuilding. Bodybuilding can do some of this stuff too. Where you like. Let's say, let's. Especially now at the age I am now, let's say I went to go compete again and I want to. I want to compete against everybody or I want to go to go to, you know, Try and get into Olympia or whatever. And I'm getting my ass kicked by basically everybody else. I can enter into Masters in the same show, go into Masters because I'm older. And then now I'm competing against just those guys. And then now.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, but at least you're competing against guys your age.

[Justin Andrews]

I'm not going.

[Adam Schafer]

But if you're not going.

[Justin Andrews]

But it's still. It's still frowned upon because if I've already won trophies and I've already reached a level, it's kind of like going down.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, but it's not like doing, like, at least that's your age, though. Like, it would be like a pro bodybuilder competing an amateur to win. So we could say I was pretty.

[Doug]

Much had a beard. You know, he's like, dude, it's just like, oh. When he. I saw the picture of him staying next to my son, I was just like.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

So does this mean your kid can't go to Nationals then?

[Doug]

No, he still goes national.

[Adam Schafer]

Okay.

[Doug]

He just didn't.

[Justin Andrews]

Lost the trophy.

[Betty]

Yeah.

[Doug]

He lost first place.

[Justin Andrews]

And that's probably. That's probably why they make it like, oh, they can do it. Because it's like. It's not like he robbed his trip to Nationals, but he doesn't get a trophy. There. There isn't. It's gonna drive me crazy.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

And I know someone listening to the podcast right now.

[Doug]

Frustrating.

[Justin Andrews]

I know someone listening to podcasts right now knows that there's another sport that does this. Because we've. We've debated this before. My buddies and I are like, that's so unfair that they can do that. But there's other sports that allow this.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Where they can do that.

[Adam Schafer]

Dude, speaking of sports, did you know it's. There's a new competition that they filmed, and I saw a clip of it on Instagram. Do you know what? You know what? They're there. There's a new competition they're doing. You know what they're doing?

[Doug]

Is it a brutal one?

[Adam Schafer]

No, it's sperm racing.

[Justin Andrews]

What?

[Adam Schafer]

Dog, look up sperm race.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, great.

[Adam Schafer]

Keep your, like, keep your filters off.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

Why is this.

[Justin Andrews]

Why does it say welcome back?

[Adam Schafer]

Literally?

[Doug]

How do we sign up?

[Adam Schafer]

Literally, there's. It's on a. It's under, like, a microscope, and they're racing sperm to see whose sperm wins in the race.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay, now wait. Wait a second here, because you got vials. Once. Once they're out, they die pretty quick. So how do we get them racing each other in live, Right?

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, I don't even think that they only.

[Doug]

They only being like a warm.

[Justin Andrews]

They only. They only survive for so, so long.

[Doug]

What are they racing in?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Yes.

[Adam Schafer]

Yes.

[Justin Andrews]

And do we have to, like, get it out together to get it so. So they can actually compete?

[Doug]

Yeah. Yeah. Are they at the same time and like.

[Adam Schafer]

All right, next up, Adam and Justin going to competition. You have 15 minutes to prepare yourself for the sperm race. No, there was a clip on Instagram. I should send it to Doug because.

[Justin Andrews]

I'm there is that. There's a couple.

[Adam Schafer]

I guarantee you there's a lot of.

[Doug]

Details that I need from this.

[Adam Schafer]

Did you find it to.

[Sal DiStefano]

I did find it.

[Adam Schafer]

Okay.

[Doug]

It's coming in all weird there, how they evaluate it.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, let's. You got. Dude, I'm like, what are we doing? Like, I don't know.

[Doug]

Apparently.

[Adam Schafer]

No, that's not it.

[Justin Andrews]

Mass casualty.

[Adam Schafer]

No, that's. Whoa.

[Justin Andrews]

What happened?

[Sal DiStefano]

No, it says, the world's first sperm race goes off with a bang in la.

[Justin Andrews]

That's her headline, Dutch.

[Betty]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Getting cute with the titles here.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. No, so they watch. See, look. They're watching it.

[Justin Andrews]

And lab aggressively advertising all over your page there, man. There.

[Adam Schafer]

I mean, maybe a commercial for them.

[Justin Andrews]

I know.

[Doug]

Is this like, this, like, thoroughbred status? Like, if you're. You're the guy that always has the fastest, you know, like, you'd be, like, sought after.

[Adam Schafer]

I don't know. But I kind of feel like it's kind of interesting. Bragging rights, right? Like, you imagine if it is. You just tell you.

[Doug]

You know, I'm just thinking of selling it at that, you know, naturally.

[Justin Andrews]

Hey, man, you know, I'm naturally recognized.

[Adam Schafer]

I got really fast sperm. Really?

[Justin Andrews]

Guaranteed.

[Adam Schafer]

I feel like my sperm would beat you guys for sure. How easily.

[Justin Andrews]

So random.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. All right, Doug.

[Justin Andrews]

Doug's trapped now.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Hey, I want you style. You can Google. Because if I have Doug do it could take till next week. I'm gonna have you Google up vitamin C. Someone, one of the fans heard me talking about chlorine and what it does to my skin. Said that if I rub vitamin C on my. On my skin before going, it neutralizes the chlorine. Do your Google magic and tell me that's because before I look like an idiot and try it.

[Doug]

My youngest.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Doug]

He gets skin rations. And so that would be interesting.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes. That worked. Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

So it's vitamin C cream. It's like a lotion.

[Justin Andrews]

It's like a spray. So you could.

[Adam Schafer]

How to minimize. Oh, well, there you go.

[Justin Andrews]

Just do vitamin C. No, I found it. Okay.

[Adam Schafer]

How to minimize It. Vitamin C neutralizes chlorine and other chloramines. Vitamin C or absorbic acid is a powerful antioxidant that can neutralize chlorine. Pop up. That can neutralize chlorine and chloramines effectively. When applied topically, vitamin C converts chlorine and chloramines on the skin into the harmless compounds hydrochloric acid and dehydroscorbic acid. Oh, yeah, no, it's real.

[Justin Andrews]

I'm totally gonna do that.

[Adam Schafer]

So you can. Oh, wow, look at this. You can make your own.

[Justin Andrews]

That's what this. So that's what she said. She goes, you can. I can either buy it or make my own.

[Adam Schafer]

One cup of distilled water.

[Justin Andrews]

Can you send that link to me, please?

[Adam Schafer]

So one cup of distilled water, one teaspoon of ascorbic acid powder, and you put it in a spray bottle and.

[Justin Andrews]

Then you can you send that to me?

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, I'll send it to you.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, send me the link to that. I want to try that.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Because I tell you, that's the one thing that keeps me.

[Adam Schafer]

It messes you up.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. I mean, like, I. I love having a hot tub and pool and everything like that, but I'll only get into so much because it just gets exhausting. I have to really do a thorough job after swimming of like, really scrubbing my skin or it just dries me out.

[Adam Schafer]

I gotta ask you this, you've. Now you've used the luminose on your skin after getting sunburned in Mexico?

[Justin Andrews]

Yep.

[Adam Schafer]

Have you been using it more on areas of like, psoriasis?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Oh, I love it for that.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, yeah, I love.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. Because the GHKCU in there are supposed.

[Justin Andrews]

To be amazing for them. It is, it is. And we've worked with a couple different companies that have that product. They have the best, like, as far as, I don't know if it's the potency or what they mix it with.

[Adam Schafer]

It's a high amount.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Because we. I've probably done, I think, with all of our contacts with Peptides and also that I've used like three or four different. Of the creams. The luminose ones, though, whatever they're mixing it with or whatever, it's a high dose of ghk. I can tell, I can feel they all. They all work and they're all positive. But that one is.

[Adam Schafer]

There are lots of goods, there's good skin care products that are out there. But this is like. I mean, this is like. This is like steroids. Versus creatine. The creatine works. Can't compare to steroids. You put this on your face within two applications you could tell literally. My wife has some. So we have it at home. Her friends will come over.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

She'll have them put it on and then they'll put it on again later. And then all of them are like, what?

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, I think you can tell right away.

[Adam Schafer]

Yep.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I think you can tell right away.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

No, but I. For my psoriasis it's been amazing. I mean I've completely. It's been years now. After we got it first it was caldera. I mean used to use caldera a lot. I still do use both those. I toggle back and forth all the time but they're just.

[Adam Schafer]

This is a peptide. This isn't just like.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, it's stronger. Yeah, no it's, it's, it's way better for that. Especially if I. It's, you know, going back to the pool point. Like my skin gets dried out, it just exacerbates that. So if I. Using that afterwards is like a mandatory. So I'm really excited. The vitamin C. I had never heard that before.

[Doug]

Never heard that.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, that's really cool.

[Adam Schafer]

Makes sense.

[Justin Andrews]

No, no, I'm totally going to do that.

[Adam Schafer]

You can drink alcohol and enjoy the next day. You just got to use the pre alcohol supplement zbiotics. So this is a probiotic that's been genetically modified to break down acetaldehyde. This is a negative byproduct of alcohol consumption. Breaks it down in the gut. So you take zbiotics, then you go drink and then guess what, you feel way better the next day. Go check them out. Go to zbiotics.com that's Z B I O-T-I C S.com mindpump25. Use the code mindpump25 and get a massive discount. Back to the show.

[Sal DiStefano]

Our first caller is Kenny from Florida.

[Adam Schafer]

What's up Kenny?

[Justin Andrews]

How you doing Kenny?

[Doug]

What's happening?

[Kenny]

Hey, what's up guys? How's it going? Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate the opportunity.

[Adam Schafer]

You got it man. How can we help you?

[Kenny]

So my background, I'm 31 years old, 5 foot 9, 190 pounds. I'm a father of two boys, 2 1/2 year old and an 11 month old. I'm a former college baseball player and fitness has always been a pretty big part of my life. So I've been weight training pretty consistently for the last 15 years. My father passed away when I was a Senior in high school at the age of 39 due to cardiac arrest. My primary motivation now is to be the best and healthiest father and husband I can be and ensure I'm doing everything in my control to make sure that doesn't happen to my kids. In 2020, when gyms were closed, I got away from weight training and started running a lot and really began to like it. I wanted to do one hard thing each year, so I ran my first marathon in 2021, did an Olympic triathlon in 2022, and then another marathon in 2023. But after that, I was physically and mentally drained, so I knew I wanted to take a break from riding. Shortly afterwards, I found your podcast, and listening to your show confirmed what I was already feeling, that I needed to stop running and get back in the gym. So I've been working out three times per week ever since. Primarily consisting of resistance training, I've completed Maps Anabolic, MAPS Performance, and I'm currently in phase three of Maps Aesthetic. I feel much better now and have not carried this much muscle since I was in College over 10 years ago. However, I've pretty much completely ignored cardio for the last two years, and I know that it can have a positive effect on my heart health, which is more or which is very important to me, considering my family history. So my question is, with a goal of overall health and longevity, how could I implement cardio into MAPS fitness programming without overtraining?

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, good question.

[Justin Andrews]

Love it.

[Adam Schafer]

Now, why are you asking about the overtrain? Do you feel like you're hitting. You're reaching a limit right now? Do you feel like you're kind of, you know.

[Justin Andrews]

No, I feel.

[Kenny]

I feel great right now. I feel just like, historically that's like, my tendency being a college athlete. Like, if I ever did take a break from training, when I jump back into it, I just have a tendency to overdo it. Like, okay, I'm about to puke. I should stop, you know, take a break. And I don't know, I just. I hear you guys talk about over training a lot, so I don't want to just like, okay, let's run a mile before I do this, you know, MAPS Aesthetic program, and then, like, not see the results that I'm currently seeing. Seeing.

[Adam Schafer]

Got it.

[Justin Andrews]

What Maps program are you. Are you running aesthetic right now? Is that what you're on?

[Kenny]

Yeah, I'm in. I'm in phase three of aesthetic.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

I mean, so someone, like, if you feel good, right, you got good sleep, you feel good recovery, no issues otherwise, no, like, like nagging joint pains. Someone like.

[Kenny]

Yeah, I feel great.

[Adam Schafer]

Someone like you with your genetics. Right? So you played college baseball. You've competed in some pretty high level endurance events. You probably have a higher capacity for work, for workouts than most people. Even though you're a father, I don't think it's probably like when you were in college, you're still pretty good. A real easy way to reap the benefits of cardiovascular training would be to do hit style cardio. So you know, like, like 1215 minute hit sessions a couple days a week will give you a lot of the benefits. And then on top of that, just moving, just staying active throughout the day. So making sure you get your, your 10,000 steps a day. And that covers the bases when it comes to the exercise portion of health and longevity. The rest comes from diet, sleep, lifestyle, you know, that kind of stuff, relationships and that kind of stuff.

[Justin Andrews]

12 minutes hit post foundation days is perfect. That's what I would do if that. Listening to what your goals are, what you're already currently doing, right after you finish your lifting, go over and you know, mess, mess with the different modalities. If you want to do StairMaster one day, treadmill another day, elliptical rower, whatever. But do these, do these 12 minute hits and the, the way that programming looks is like I'm, I go all out for the, the 10 seconds as hard as I can and then I just let, and then I let my heart rate come, heart rate come back down. Could take me 45 seconds, could take me a minute and a half. Doesn't matter until I feel I've caught my breath and my heart rate can wet. Then I sprint it again, do it again. You just do that for 12, 15 minutes at the end of your foundational days. That will do a ton for you. Just that alone. And then maybe on your focus days you could have maybe like a little bit longer run that's like more moderate intensity, maybe a mile or two. I mean before those days, that's, that's gonna be plenty, dude.

[Kenny]

Okay. Yeah, I mean that sounds good. I just, like I said I didn't want to, you know, jump back into it and then, and then have a, be a detriment to, you know, all the strength gains that I've seen running programs.

[Justin Andrews]

It's good, it's good awareness and you are following the, probably one of the highest volume programs we have aesthetic. So if there was a program, I'd say be careful of that. It would be that there's a lot, there's a lot in that. And so if all of a sudden you started having three days of like long runs, it would be, it would be too intense probably for that.

[Adam Schafer]

And you know, also remember, consider this, like there's performance adds to longevity to a point. Okay. So when you go into extreme performance, you start to sacrifice longevity. Now, I'm not comparing extreme performance to the typical American who doesn't exercise at all and eats garbage, but I'm using the context of how do I maximize longevity and how do I maximize performance? So what do I mean by that is, you know, there is a balance that adds the longevity. When you start to push for extreme performance, then you start to sacrifice longevity. And so what you see is, for example, top level athletes, their longevity is not better than somebody who exercises in a balanced way. It's actually worse. And in some cases it's as bad as a typical, you know, the average American, you know, football players would be an example of this, for example. But it has to do with the nature of the sport. So remember that as well. So because of your background in athletics, the only reason why I'm telling you this is if longevity is really the key, you're going to see performance gains, but you'll sacrifice longevity. Just keep hammering performance to get faster, more stamina, stronger. If you keep pushing that button all the time.

[Doug]

Yeah, it's really just, I mean, at that point adjusting your intensity as you're going through that because, you know, retaining the skill of athleticism and, and multiplanar movement and you know, being able to recognize positions like that's really where if, if you're trying to maintain and keep that type of athletic feel and ability, you know, mobility is going to be your best, best friend. And that's really to, to just stay connected and stay able to recruit within those long ranges and, and that's going to carry you so much further than trying to just, you know, hammer your body for stamina.

[Kenny]

Yeah, yeah. I think I'm done with the, the long races for sure. I like, I like where I'm at right now a lot and I still do like adult rec sports and stuff too, so.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, you're good.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, you're good, dude.

[Justin Andrews]

Perfect. Especially if you're doing that.

[Adam Schafer]

So are you doing that right now?

[Kenny]

Well, basketball just ended, so I mean that was definitely cardio, but like, you know, beer league softball and stuff, that doesn't really count.

[Doug]

That's the best.

[Kenny]

But, but yeah, basketball. I was not doing any, anything else.

[Adam Schafer]

No, that's fine. Yeah, yeah, you're fine. If you're doing that. That's your cardio right there. Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. Good.

[Doug]

Yeah, man.

[Adam Schafer]

Good, man.

[Justin Andrews]

Right on, Kenny.

[Betty]

All right.

[Kenny]

Appreciate it. Thank you, guys.

[Adam Schafer]

Take it easy. I think I'm glad he said that at the end, like, playing is the best.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

For health.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Doug]

It's going to take you the furthest.

[Adam Schafer]

Look at the community.

[Doug]

You enjoy it.

[Justin Andrews]

Especially if he intermittently does this. I love. You know, you have a season of basketball that's over at rec league, and that's where you're. That's all you're primarily doing. Then you get out of that. Then you go into a maps program. Yeah, if he does that, he kind of undulates that throughout the year.

[Adam Schafer]

Fine.

[Justin Andrews]

He doesn't even need to schedule cardio. That'll keep him plenty healthy.

[Adam Schafer]

It does crack me up, though, that, you know, a college baseball player will go and play, you know, beer softball. I hate those guys. You know what I mean? You're playing.

[Doug]

Oh, he's just cranking, like, what is happening here?

[Justin Andrews]

Have I told that story story on here? Have I told that story on here before? I know I've told you guys signed.

[Adam Schafer]

Up for, like, a.

[Justin Andrews]

We signed the short story.

[Doug]

The hustler.

[Justin Andrews]

Cool.

[Doug]

Shark guy.

[Justin Andrews]

No, we. So my buddies and I, the first time we did this, it was here in the Bay Area. Now, I come from small town, right? So, you know, in our small town, we're pretty good athletes. You know what I'm saying? But now I'm in the Bay Area. Him and I, we sign up for. Then we get all of our buddies together, and we're all ex athletes. Couple guy. A couple guys play baseball. Most of us were basketball players, so that. And I have no idea how this thing works. It's like the rankings, right? You know, are you A, are you B, are you C? Ds, like, the lowest or whatever. And so we put ourselves, like, in C. We're like, you know, let's go and see and feel it out first.

[Adam Schafer]

Let's dominate.

[Justin Andrews]

No, no, no, no. That's not what we said. Oh. We say, hey, listen. We literally get. This is literally the conversation we all get together for. Listen, don't, like, ease into it. Don't go all out. Let's kind of feel this. Because we don't want to stand out. Like, we put ourselves. Yeah, we don't want to stand out. Like, we put ourselves in a little undercover just so we could win. So we, like, literally, totally. We're a dumpling, bro. First inning, we're down, like, 13 0. Remember, like, getting There. Hey, we can play now. Let's go. Everyone's like, I am. I am.

[Doug]

Okay, try.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes, dude. And you got like, the whole. The whole league is like a bunch of X. Yeah.

[Doug]

They all have the same idea.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, like literally. One of the teams we played was literally the. The junior college team. They were off season. This what they all got together and did. And we were just getting hammered. I mean, Hammer, we didn't win away. We didn't win a game the whole entire season. Yeah, that's how, like, that's how terrible we were and how good everybody else was. I'll never, never forget that.

[Sal DiStefano]

Our next caller is Myra from Colorado.

[Adam Schafer]

Hi, Myra. Hi, Myra. How can we help you?

[Doug]

Good morning.

[Myra]

Hi, gentlemen. Thanks for having me on today. I'm super excited to be here.

[Doug]

Awesome.

[Adam Schafer]

How can we help you?

[Myra]

So I have a really poor connection with my glutes as a result of a trauma. It's a trauma response, really. The only time that I can feel them engaged is when I'm using the hip thrust machine and doing thrusts, even holding, like an isometric bridge, not so much. And squats are definitely out of the picture. I have started throwing in ass to grass squats, which has been slightly helpful, but really not as much as I was hoping.

[Adam Schafer]

Okay, Is this physiological or psychological trauma response?

[Justin Andrews]

Both.

[Adam Schafer]

Okay. So acupuncture. Have you tried acupuncture?

[Myra]

I have not.

[Adam Schafer]

Okay, that might help. That might help you feel what you're looking for. So the question is, is it worth trying to connect or train them? Because you can't. What's the question?

[Myra]

So my question is, would it be more beneficial to run a bulk to try and build that muscle or continue to focus on feeling that connection first?

[Adam Schafer]

Both at the same time?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, both. Yeah. Do both at the same time. Also, we talk a lot about trying to feel the muscle and connect to the muscle. And it is important. I will say this. It's not necessary.

[Doug]

It's like phase one.

[Adam Schafer]

It's actually not necessary because it's.

[Justin Andrews]

It. Because it's impossible not to. If you do a floor bridge, your. Your ass is working. Just plain stuff. Even if you can't feel it, it's getting.

[Doug]

It is.

[Justin Andrews]

It is getting worse. Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

And I just. In fact, it's so funny. You. You. This is your question. I just read a study yesterday where they were looking at EMG results from exercise. So what. What this is measuring is muscle contraction or connection in an exercise. And they were comparing it to the subjective assessment of the person doing the exercise. So the person Doing the exercise. Like, I feel this a lot here. Then they would check the emg. You know what they found? They were not really correlated. Okay. For example, men oftentimes don't feel their glutes doing a squat. But we know the glutes are definitely working. We know that for a fact, so it's not necessary. Now, I'm recommending acupuncture, however, because yours is the result of something that happened. And acupuncture, in my experience with what you're saying, I actually have anecdotal experience with clients with situations where they couldn't feel a part of their body for certain reasons. The acupuncture actually made the difference.

[Betty]

Great, thank you.

[Myra]

I will try that.

[Adam Schafer]

Yes. Now, are you following any of our programs, Myra?

[Myra]

I have ran anabolic twice, and so I'm kind of going through it a third time, but I've tweaked it to go over three days. And then I've kind of added some more back exercises because those are my favorite.

[Adam Schafer]

Cool, cool. Can we send you a program?

[Justin Andrews]

Muscle Mommy would be great.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Especially if you like adding back.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, let's give you Muscle Mommy.

[Myra]

Oh, that would be fantastic. Thank you.

[Adam Schafer]

You got it. You got it. So follow that one after you're done.

[Myra]

Okay, sounds great.

[Adam Schafer]

Thanks for calling in.

[Myra]

Thank you so much.

[Adam Schafer]

Bye. Bye. Yeah, I had. I actually had clients use acupuncture, break.

[Justin Andrews]

Down and cry sometimes after something like that.

[Adam Schafer]

Well, I had. I had a client who had some trauma as a kid and as a result didn't feel anything from her belly button down to her, like, thighs. Like, it was almost like she just couldn't.

[Justin Andrews]

Disconnected from that.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. Now. Now she had neurological connection. So everything worked.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. But mentally disconnected.

[Adam Schafer]

Just couldn't.

[Justin Andrews]

Because of the trauma.

[Adam Schafer]

Just couldn't feel it.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

And the acupuncture back the feeling. Now, I don't know how you would explain that from a Western medicine standpoint. I know what they would say in Chinese medicine, but I've also had acupuncture work for clients who had physiological disconnection. So I had a woman who injured her back and one of her rhomboids, she just couldn't connect to it. And it didn't get back 100%, but it was significantly better. Yeah. From accurate. So what she would do is she would get acupuncture, then she would train with me.

[Doug]

So. Yeah. Don't they target. So it, like, kind of goes cross body. Like, in terms of the. Like, how do they. I don't know. Do you explain a Little bit of it. Because I'm totally unaware.

[Adam Schafer]

I don't know that China. So acupuncture uses Chinese medicine explanations. So like the meridians.

[Doug]

Meridians, Energy flow and chi.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, I, if I had to guess, I would have to say I would, I would guess it has to do with the nervous system. Yeah. And the needles going in. You know, through thousands of years of them practicing, they figured out how to get this, the nervous system to react in a particular way.

[Doug]

So.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Is it the same thing that's going on when we, you know, when you have trauma, when you're a kid or whatever like that and a period of time in your life and you have no memory and you can't recall because you've blacked it out.

[Adam Schafer]

Right.

[Justin Andrews]

Like there's years.

[Adam Schafer]

That's a great speculation. I didn't even put that together. Yeah, I would, I would think. So your body literally is making you forget. Yeah, that's a great speculation.

[Justin Andrews]

So I think it's similar to that probably where it's just like something back. Like there's, there's periods in my life where you asked me and like I can recall something before.

[Doug]

Jump right past.

[Adam Schafer]

But your body's protecting you.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Yeah. Because obviously there stuff there. Right. That you don't want to do. And so your brain's like, okay, we don't need to remember that. I would think that's the same thing.

[Doug]

That's the weird part because you think some of that. Yeah. Is stored in the body.

[Adam Schafer]

Sure.

[Doug]

Like the memory of it sometimes, by.

[Adam Schafer]

The way, it's the opposite. So people have pain, it just doesn't go away. Then they'll do like intensive therapy and the pain gone, you know, and they had, you know, MRIs and everything. Couldn't figure out what the hell this pain was coming from. It's very, very, very complex.

[Sal DiStefano]

But our next color is Dylan from Virginia.

[Justin Andrews]

What's happening? Finally get to meet you, man. Other than Instagram. Deal. Well, yeah. Right on, man.

[Adam Schafer]

How can we help you?

[Dylan]

So I'll start off with the subliminal, like beginning. Everyone does. I found y'all six years ago, actually when I first got married. Y'all through your advice, helped me to go from 180 pounds, 6 foot 3 to 230 pounds at 12 body fat. I got to be a personal trainer. I actually work at the fire department. So I'm on. I'm working towards getting on the fitness committee as well. Helped a lot of the guys, my peers and stuff, lose a bunch of weight, gain a lot of Muscle. And even through low sleep and all the stuff and the stress that goes with the fire department, I'm still able to get a PR of 500 pound deadlift and 450 squat.

[Justin Andrews]

Nice.

[Dylan]

So that was all, all the Yalls information. So I appreciate that.

[Adam Schafer]

Dude.

[Doug]

Crushing.

[Dylan]

So my main question is actually towards Adam today. And even though I know that y'all like obviously it's a fitness podcast, I know you all deal with a lot of life stuff. And right now in my life I'm working towards like, I love the fire department. I know Adam's talked a lot about like he's big into business and everything and I know that he has talked a lot about that, that he with his passion for fitness and stuff. I'm kind of looking to see some direction on your thoughts on like I'm looking to gain some financial goals, but the fire department isn't like a super big financial, financial provider. So where do you draw the line of turn down some big private sector opportunities for something that you love, like y'all with fitness not being the best paying all the time. So I'm kind of looking for some direction on like where do you draw that line of doing what you're passionate about versus big financial opportunities in private sector?

[Justin Andrews]

When, when it's 10:00 at night and you're on your phone and you're not supposed to be, what are you looking up, what are you researching? What are you doing?

[Dylan]

Normally it has to do with business with the fire department mainly.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay.

[Dylan]

So it's trying to get better at the job.

[Justin Andrews]

It's not. Okay, well then, so then you're somebody who put. Applies yourself. Anyway, I was gonna. I thought maybe you'd be doing things related to the real estate, the houses, construction, stuff like that.

[Dylan]

No, I do.

[Adam Schafer]

It's.

[Dylan]

It's kind of like I, I have a, a little bit of an issue where I have thankful I have a lot of opportunity in my life and from time to time I feel like I skip a lot. Like where it's like I see this opportunity. Oh man, that's a great opportunity. Like, let me jump on that. But then I'm into that a little bit and then I see something else. I'm like, oh dude, that's a great opportunity too. So it's like I find myself like floating a lot because I get excited about the opportunity without like. And sometimes it's hard for me to fully engage in something because I'm always like seeing the opportunities and it's hard for me to just dial into One at times.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. I mean, my, my advice, because I think even though you, you may not think the firefighter thing has big potential, I mean, you get up to be a fire chief and can make some really good money doing something like that, an incredible retirement. So if you were passionate about that, that's the thing that you're sitting up at night looking into and reading. Then maybe I leaned out. I'm going to lean into the thing that I find myself doing when I'm not getting paid, that I, when I have downtime, I'm researching, I'm reading about, because it's, I'm obviously into it. And so leaning into that is, is going to end up, no matter what, the kind of like the firefighter thing, you might have, like this dollar amount, like, oh, I can only make this much. Like, I don't know if that's the right way to look at it. I think it's more like, what are the things that you're most passionate about? And then leaning, leaning into that. You know, I know that if you, if you've been listening for this long, you know my story of being in the cannabis industry. And, you know, at that point in my life, I was chasing a dollar amount and I had, I re. I reached that, got past that and realized how unhappy I was. Now temporarily, I was happy for the year, year and a half of spending the money and kind of filling this, this hole that I had to make myself feel better. And then I just woke up one day and realized, like, okay, cool, I checked that box. I'm actually not really happy. What is the stuff I'm into? And I, you know, it's like, man fitness. But what. There's no money in that. There's no. I could see the cap on that. I knew what the two positions above me were going to be and making. I'm like, I want to make more than that. And so, But I thought, well, who cares? I already did the money thing, so why don't I go back to doing what I love now? The irony is I found a way to make more money than I ever made doing the other stuff, doing what I love to do. And I think that's the moral of the story here is, is you got all these things that. And you already, I can tell by the way you approach fitness, by the way you approach real estate, why even the way you're approaching firefighter. Like, you're the type of guy that if you put your mind to something, you're going to be successful. And sometimes guys like us what you actually need is that little bit of pressure of I have to make this thing work. I got. I'm gonna go all in on this thing and I'm gonna cut this other stuff out and I'm just gonna focus on this because that's the only way I'm gonna eat. And people like you tend to. To rise to the occasion. Now, it's scary to initially let go of the other things that are consistent and are paying you, but you're also not the type of person to lay down. You're not the type of person who's gonna like, oh, the first hurdle that you have, you're gonna give up. Or if you trip and fall, you're gonna quit. You're the type person, and if you know that about yourself, then don't be afraid to put yourself in that situation. Don't be afraid to back yourself in a corner, because the best version of you probably comes out in that situation. And if you're the type of guy who's always got, like, all these things cooking and you're. You can get complacent with that. Like, I'm good. I'm making a good. I'm getting a nice living. I don't. I'm not starving. I can get these stuff I want, but I'm also not thriving. I'm also not doing the thing I love the most all the time. And so find a way to put yourself in that situation, even if it's scary, because the best version of. The best version of you will most likely come out. And I felt that with these guys, when we, when we first started, like, there was never a doubt in my mind that we would figure out. I had no. I had no idea what, what it was going to be, how it would manifest, like, the way I would. I had no idea it was gonna. The financial side of this was going to pan out. But what I did know is I love doing it. And I had partnered up with other guys that had the same attitude of, of we gotta win and at all costs, we'll figure it out.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Dylan]

So what did you do? So I. I fully understand that that's the exact thing. One of the reasons why I'm asking the question, because I. Exactly what you said is what I'm feeling. And like, we, me and my wife just moved into a new house. So now it's like, we've risen to this other level now. So now it's like, even more so on a financial aspect. Like, I. I have a goal. I would love to pay the house Down. So in the case anything ever happened to me, like, I know my wife and kid are taken care of and they don't have to worry about that burden. So in those moments, I'm curious, in those moments where you were, where you're taking that leap, was there anything, was there anything that helped you be okay with the risk that you were taking on that?

[Justin Andrews]

That's, that's the crazy confidence I have in myself. I just, I just know like, I mean, and you've heard, if you've been listening to podcasts this long, like, this goes all the way back to my childhood. Like, I wasn't the most athletic, I didn't have all the opportunities, I wasn't privileged. But I knew my work ethic is like, I knew I could lean into that. I'm not the smartest, but I also know that if I'm, I'm gonna outwork the next guy at whatever it is that I do until I figure it out. And so having that confidence in yourself is like, if you know that about you and you only you know that, are you that guy? Are you the type of guy who does something for a little bit, then it gets hard, it gets boring and you quit. Are you the type of guys, like, I'm gonna figure this out and if that, if that resonates with you, you just lean into that. Like, I, I won't lose. It's just a matter of time. How long does it take me? Is it going to take me? You know, that's how these guys were when we started this podcast. We're like, we knew we sucked at podcasting. We knew that we had no, this is not our craft. We weren't, we didn't know what we were doing. But everyone's like, I'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. And it might. Will we figure it out in a hundred episodes or 2, 000 episodes later? We will figure it out and we won't stop until then. Like you just. And that we were totally confident that we had no idea how long it would take. But, and that was where the formula of us doing like five episodes a week came from. Was not because we thought that was some great business strategy. It was like, that was like how much effort we could put. That's like the max we could do with the, with Doug editing everything on him by himself and us Putting content like 5 is like about the max work effort we could do while also trying to keep our full time jobs to pay the bills and, and, and keep those things going. So lean into it, whatever it is that you feel most passionate about and don't be afraid of that. If you know that about your character, if you know that about who you are.

[Adam Schafer]

Dylan, how old are you? Dylan? So here's the other thing too to consider is that most wealthy people are not wealthy because they make a lot of money at their job. They're wealthy because they took that money and leveraged it. In other words, if you look at two jobs, both of them cover the bills. One of them makes a lot more money but you don't like it. The other one makes less money but you're passionate about it, you can still become very wealthy with that by taking that money and leveraging it in investments and properties and stuff. Like, especially at your age.

[Dylan]

Yeah, it's kind of why I'm trying to work towards that.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, trying to.

[Dylan]

The part that's hard is that now I have a wife, I have a two year old, I have another kid on the way. So it's. For me, it's. The question I actually have written out is how do you balance ambition and business with the desire to provide beyond your basic needs with still being present in the home? And what have you learned from that?

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, I mean, look, here's the funny thing.

[Justin Andrews]

I hope you married the right woman. Yeah, that's, that's.

[Dylan]

No, she is.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay, to me, that's, that's the answer right there. Like, the answer is a partner. That is patient trust. Trust in you that you're, you're going to go out there and figure it out why she holds down the fort and, and supports you. Like, because what you can't have is a partner who, because you ended up having to work 12 hours that day to make it happen, guilts you for not being there as a dad. Because that probably already rips, rips you apart inside. Like, and if she's not like that, then you're gonna be okay. You know, if she's, she looks at you and says, go get it, honey. I trust you. I trust you're gonna figure it out for us. And you know, this is a short period of time. Now obviously it's not ideal to have to work 12 hour days, six, seven days a week when you have two kids, right? You want to be a present father, but you might be at a period of your life right now where that's the, that's what you need to do to get there. And so if it, if it is, then you do that and how she handles it and handles it in front of your Kid is everything.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. But, you know, you gotta. You gotta see what's in your heart. Because I think sometimes men will use the work as an excuse because that's where they feel most comfortable. So if you really do value time with your kids versus I gotta be at home more, so my wife doesn't complain. Those are two different. Two completely different heart postures. If your heart posture is, I do want to spend time with my kids, then I wouldn't worry about it. I think you're going to find a way to prioritize what's important. But if your heart posture is, I just want to work all day, and I don't want to deal with all that at home, and I just. How I escape, which happens to a lot of men, then that's what you need to examine. Because then no matter what, that's what's going to happen. Even if you're there, it won't be present.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Dylan]

There are times where I definitely like, that resonates with me a little bit, because there are times where it's like, maybe there's a problem that I'm having trouble solving at home, and I'm so good at my work that it's like, it's easy for me just to go there because I'm like, I know how to solve these problems.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Dylan]

So it does. It does definitely happen from time to time.

[Adam Schafer]

The ultimate mistake a father and a husband will make is being passive. And what that looks like is avoiding problems. So there's an issue I'm gonna run from it, which is the, you know, what they would say, the sinful nature of a man. You know, like, you know, your wife's talking to you, and you're like, I'm just gonna. I'm gonna go over here now. You're gonna think about it. It's very easy for us to disconnect. So if you find yourself doing that, do the hard thing, which is not go to work. It's to stay and deal with the issue and lead your family. Lead your family. That's your job as a father and a husband, and that'll pay you. And I'm telling you from personal experience, it'll be far more fruitful than going and doing the thing that is easy, which for you might be working. Yeah.

[Dylan]

I've definitely appreciated in the times. Like, that's one of the things I love about Yalls podcast, is that I like that honesty that you all bring with, like, struggles that you all have had.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. Because it.

[Dylan]

It that thing, y'all, and how good of dads you all are. It's nice to know that, like, there was a moment of imperfection for sure to say that, like, hey, it wasn't always this way. We had to work towards it.

[Justin Andrews]

100.

[Adam Schafer]

They're still imperfect. Nobody's perfect, man.

[Dylan]

Well, yeah, yeah, for sure.

[Adam Schafer]

It's always like that, man. It's always going to be a struggle. But yeah, that's the big thing, man. As a father and a husband, you're responsible. You're the CEO of your company, so you're responsible for all of it. All of it. And when those problems arise and you see them, your nature is going to be to disconnect, go do something else, something you're good at, something that's easy for you, but stay there and face it. That's how you lead your family.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Dylan]

Do you have time for one more question? More fitness related?

[Justin Andrews]

Let's hear it.

[Dylan]

So obviously with being a fireman, sleep is kind of an issue. Especially like last year our house ran 9, 000 calls.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh my God.

[Dylan]

So we're, we're up. There have been some mornings that we get in and we get done with the shift and we walk into our bedroom with our bed fully made. Like, well, I was dumb. Just put our bed linens back in the closet. Like just no sleep at all. And then obviously when you're trying to like we're talking about like doing these other extracurricular things, sometimes you go straight from there, straight somewhere else. So sleep is kind of a tough thing at times. Are there any. I know that you all talk a lot about? Are there any tips that you would say are good to get that baseline to start working towards having better sleep? When I'm off trying to focus on that.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Dylan]

Any type of recommendations on that?

[Adam Schafer]

Besides the sleep routine stuff, you know, the blue light blocking glasses and not eating before bed?

[Dylan]

I. Felix, Gray blue light blocking glasses.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. So besides all that, actually the mo. The healthiest thing somebody can do in a job like yours is to take naps. So when you.

[Dylan]

I do not like naps.

[Adam Schafer]

Yes, I know, I know guys like you don't like taking naps, but it's actually the best. It's the second best thing you could do aside from getting eight hours of sleep every night. So. And it does wonders for the brain and the body. So are you looking when you do.

[Dylan]

That, are you looking for. To get a combined. Like if, like let's say I get four hours sleep, are you looking for. To get like four hours worth of nap?

[Adam Schafer]

No.

[Dylan]

Looking for like Just a, like, just a standard like hour and a half nap.

[Adam Schafer]

It's unreasonable to try to make up the time. I mean, that'd be great if you could. But what it probably looks like is power naps. Yeah. Is you're either gonna take a 20 to 30 minute nap or you're gonna take a 90 minute nap. Those are kind of the two time frames in between. You'll wake up feeling like you're half asleep. I don't know if that's ever happened to you. You take like a 45 minute nap, you wake up, you're like, oh. So it's like 20 or 30 minutes just to, just to take off sleep pressure so you can function. Or you go for 90 minutes for a full, full nap. So you just gotta determine which one's better. And literally just sit, even if you don't want to. You just, you know, go in a quiet room, close your eyes, lay back, Brain fm.

[Doug]

Get you some hammock.

[Justin Andrews]

Brain FM and a sleep mask.

[Adam Schafer]

There you go.

[Dylan]

I do have Brain fm. That's helped out a lot.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, yeah, that works.

[Justin Andrews]

That's the hack for that. But it's not easy, especially for a guy that doesn't like to do it.

[Dylan]

No, I know. Well, I will say this, it's kind of funny. When I first got Brain fm, I used it at the station because it's tough to sleep there because you're always expecting that call. And I went to bed playing in the background and I woke up to one of my crew members yelling at me, saying like, hey, are you going to go on the call? And I slept through. The call had put me so out. So it works.

[Justin Andrews]

That's a great Brain FM commercial. Make sure to clip, clip that for them.

[Betty]

Yeah.

[Dylan]

So I actually had to work at dialing it back to only an hour so I wouldn't sleep through calls.

[Adam Schafer]

That's right.

[Doug]

That's so effective.

[Justin Andrews]

That's hilarious.

[Dylan]

Well, yeah, I know, it was, it was, it was pretty good.

[Justin Andrews]

Well done. You, you and I, you and I chat quite a bit on Instagram, so stay in touch with me, let me know how things are going. But I, I really do feel like you know the answer to this. You just need to lean into it. And I would know it. The little bit I do know about you, I don't think you're a guy who, if you go all in and put yourself in a scary spot, you're not going to figure it out. You will. You'll figure it out. You'll be all right. And, and maybe this Juggling all these things is just kind of your. Your way of excusing yourself from doing the thing you're supposed to do. So whatever that is, lean into it, and you. And I believe you'll make it happen.

[Dylan]

All right, well, I appreciate it. I appreciate y'all's time.

[Adam Schafer]

Thanks for calling in.

[Dylan]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Adam Schafer]

Good character. You could tell 29. Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

You know, I wouldn't worry. It didn't dawn on me right before we got on, and then I saw the full name and went, oh, I talked to this guy all the time. He's a. He's a regular. He's been listening to us for a long time, and he does what he does. He didn't talk a lot about it, but how we got to talking a lot was when. When I started sharing some of our real estate stuff. Stuff. And he's like, big, big into, like, finding these properties, and he goes and does a lot of the work himself. So he'll find, like, a little fixer upper, buy it, put all the work in, and then six, nine months later. Yeah. Sell it for a nice little profit.

[Adam Schafer]

So he's fine.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, no, he's. He's got what it is. He's doing a bunch different thing.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

You know what I'm saying?

[Doug]

Irons in the fire.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. And. And the. Obviously, the. The firefighter career is a very consistent, solid paycheck for him. And then. And obviously, real estate is inconsistent. You know, you're. You're the mercy of the market. And.

[Adam Schafer]

But I mean, making a good, consistent salary if he invests conservatively at 29.

[Doug]

Keep chipping away at it.

[Adam Schafer]

He'll be fine. I remember the first. One of the first times I realized this, I met a man who was a. I mean, a multi millionaire in the Bay Area, owned all these properties. Like, what do you do for a living? He's like, oh, I'm a cashier at the. It was a local grocery store, dude.

[Doug]

I know.

[Adam Schafer]

I'm like, what?

[Doug]

Well, that's an old man statistic with all the teachers.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Millionaire. Next store is such a great read. And that. That's one of the things they break down, is the top five. It's like the top five professions that are multi millionaires. You wouldn't even guess because it has nothing to do with. That has everything to do with living well below your means, having the discipline, whether you make 80 grand, 100 grand, 300 grand, living well below that, taking the money that like you said, and leveraging it to grow on the side and you. What it is Is you just have to start so small at first. It's. I mean, God, I love the analogy of, like, we compare it to building muscle or losing body fat.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

It's slow, it's arduous. It's not going to come really fast. It seems like, oh, my God, I didn't get any results from that one workout. Of course, that one, that one investment or that one time you saved is, like, not going to make that. But you do that every day for months, years.

[Doug]

Shit starts to compound and grows.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

Our next caller is Betty from Utah.

[Adam Schafer]

Hi, Betty.

[Justin Andrews]

How you doing, Betty? You guys, how are you going?

[Betty]

I am. I am starstruck. I can't believe, like, I'm actually talking to you guys right now. I'm so good. How are you?

[Adam Schafer]

We're good.

[Justin Andrews]

How are you doing?

[Adam Schafer]

Good. How can we help you?

[Betty]

Okay, so should I just, like, read my email and then we can go from there? Would that be the easiest.

[Justin Andrews]

That's probably the easiest way to do it.

[Betty]

Okay. Also, I just want to say thank you for everything, like, along with everybody else in the whole world. Like, you've changed my life and many others. So we'll get to that later. But thank you.

[Adam Schafer]

Thank you.

[Betty]

Okay, sorry. I'm very excited, a little bit nervous. So here we go. I said, hey, guys, I'm a huge fan. I love every episode, which, by the way, I started from episode one and made it to about 400 and then decided to skip ahead so I don't miss any, like, new stuff, which probably I did, otherwise I wouldn't be here. So I've been listening for a little over a year and I listen to you all day while I'm at work. I started my fitness journey as a runner after I had my baby and I was running for about a year and I got all the way down to 114 pounds, but I also wasn't eating much, and by that I mean not a lot at all. When I got divorced, I couldn't run in the morning anymore. And so I got a job in my gym membership. And so begins my love affair with lifting. I've been lifting for 13 years. And. Sorry, I gotta scroll down. I love it so much. I've gained a tremendous amount of strength and confidence. For Context, I am 38 years old. I'm 5ft tall. I'm 146 pounds. My scale claims I'm 23% body fat. I don't know how accurate that is. My pant size is a size four, so I am pretty small. I can squat 200 pounds. I deadlift 265 and I can bench 165. Wow.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh my God. Wow, you're strong.

[Justin Andrews]

Great numbers.

[Betty]

Thank you. Sorry, I'm very nervous. Early last year when I found you guys, I started.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, we hear you. Yep, we hear you.

[Betty]

I thought I heard something. Sorry. Early last year when I found you guys, I started my cut and was able to drop down to 135 from 155 pounds. Took me about five months. I looked and felt great. I managed to keep most of my strength, but I did have to cut my calories pretty low to get there. Like probably around 12 to 1300 calories. I went on a three day vacation with my husband and when I got back I had gained 10 pounds and I was a little surprised. I swam while I was there. I got all of my steps. I didn't eat or drink, like, like too crazy. But I did like really enjoy myself. But after I got back, for the life of me, I could not get that ten pounds off. It wouldn't budge. So I reverse dieted for about four months. I increased my calories to actually, oh to 2300 calories and I was eating 150 grams of protein and I got up to 154 pounds and I was about 90 to 95% consistent. Like, this is my thing, it's what I do, it's what I love. Like, so I was pretty good on it. I started my cut in January and I'm down to 146, which is great. But it feels like I need to drastically cut my calories low, even get things moving. Beyond that. I have no interest in ever being 114 pounds ever again. I was pretty much a skeleton, but I can't body fat that I put on during my reverse diet. I am a trainer and a coach and my clients have fantastic results. Why don't I. Ha ha ha. I'm. Right now I'm bouncing between match 15 and anabolic and I can't decide which way to go. I'm also wondering what happened. How did I gain that much weight in three days? And then I included some pictures. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Thank you.

[Adam Schafer]

No problem. So 10 pounds. You gained 10 pounds in three days.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, well, definitely. It was a bunch of water and stuff.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. But it's stuck.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, yeah, stuck.

[Betty]

And usually like when I go on vacation, I anticipate I'm going to gain a couple pounds. It's just what you do, you know. And it's usually gone in three to five days.

[Adam Schafer]

Okay.

[Betty]

And it did not go away. No matter. Didn't matter how hard I tried, how far to cut, and I tried, like, fixing my stuff. Like, I would do, like, higher calories in one day, lower calories on another day to try and, like, break things up a little bit, you know, but didn't matter. So I was like, okay. I listened to you guys. I was like, maybe I'm ready for my, like, reverse diet. And I would, like, really be focusing on, like, getting strong, which my body puts on weight easy. And when I say weight, I don't just need fat. Like, I can put on strength and muscle pretty good. It's losing the fat that I have an issue with. And so the scale was starting to make me nervous. And so I took your guys's advice and just stopped weighing myself during the reverse. Reverse diet. And so that's how I got up to 154. And I weighed myself at 154, and I didn't panic. I kind of anticipated it, and I got back down to 146. Super easy, but. But I can't seem to get past it.

[Adam Schafer]

Are you testing body fat too?

[Betty]

I have it on my scale, so I don't know how accurate it is, but. So according to my scale, I'm 23%. And when I was at 135, I was at 21. According to my scale, again, I don't know how accurate it is, but so low.

[Adam Schafer]

20% is good, especially if you're as strong as you are. Your bench press in particular, super impressive. I don't know too many women I haven't met too many women who can put up 165 in the bench press at your size, that's like. That's like, competitive level strength. So now. Now, any. Any signs of hormone imbalances? Because, you know, do you have any signs, like, libido changes, hair changes, sleep, anything like that?

[Betty]

So I was actually listening to one of your episodes a couple days ago when you were talking about, like, the cortisol imbalance, and that seemed to, like, resonate with me. My sleep is. It's good once I'm asleep, but I have a hard time falling asleep. But once I'm asleep, like, my house could burn down, and I wouldn't have any idea. Like, I sleep. I sleep really deep, but so I'm trying to, like, limit my caffeine. I don't drink a ton, but I do. So I'm limiting my caffeine, and I'm in the midst of, like, trying to help, like, help my Sleep be better. So I just started that a couple days ago, so I haven't really noticed a big change.

[Adam Schafer]

But I don't, I. Whenever I see or hear when someone's tracking diligently and they're getting like strange weight gain, rapid weight gain like you did, I always ask to look at hormones. I always, let's see if there's anything going on with the hormones that could be causing severe water retention. Yeah. Because that's 10 pounds in three days. It's like physiologically impossible to gain 10 pounds of body fat in three days.

[Betty]

I know. So that's why I didn't panic too much because I was like, mathematically that's not possible. It didn't go away.

[Adam Schafer]

Water retention for sure. And water retention that sticks around can be a result of some hormone imbalance issues or hormone issues. So I would get that, I would get that checked and looked at. Aside from that, if you feel good, if your fitness is good, if you have, you're not getting crazy mood swings, you feel healthy, no crazy joint, like no achiness, joint pain type of stuff, I would stay, I would stay the course. I would just stay the course and wait until you get your hormones checked. And the second thing I would do is go with the functional medicine practitioner if that comes back normal to see if there's anything else that's going on that can be causing like water retention. But just so you know, like low 20s is a great percentage of body fat. Place to be, that's, that's where you want to always be. You always want to kind of walk around between, you know, 19 to 24% body fat. If you're fit, that's great.

[Doug]

Did you feel like any, anywhere in your body particularly that you felt like that weight kind of sat. Or is it, is it like in a, like more in your stomach or is this like.

[Betty]

No, it's like it's everywhere. Like there it wasn't like, oh my gosh. And all of a sudden my pants don't fit. It was like everything still like pretty much fit normal. But I didn't notice, like my face wasn't puffy. Like everything just seemed okay. But I was like, whoa.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Betty]

And I've gone on like week long vacations before and I like, I can't. I went to Hawaii. This is before I went to, on this vacation. I went to Hawaii and we were gone for 10 days and I came back and I like had lost a pound. So it's like, I don't know what happened between then and there, but and so that was probably when we got back from this vacation. I think it was August of last year. So that's when this whole thing kind of started.

[Adam Schafer]

Any. Any changes in menstrual cycle?

[Betty]

No. In fact, it's actually like the best it's ever been in my life. So like clockwork.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, good. Okay.

[Justin Andrews]

That's a good sign.

[Adam Schafer]

Energy, libido, and everything else is okay.

[Betty]

Energy is iffy, but I am again, you know, I'm trying to address like, that with my sleep. I'm hoping if I can really hone in on my sleep, that'll help with my energy and okay, everything. But it depends on the day. But mostly, like, I'm usually okay until about 4pm and then I really get really, really tired and have to have my energy drinks. I can go to the gym and, you know, here we are.

[Justin Andrews]

So, yeah, lean into the. Lean into the sleep hormone thing. I mean, let's. Let's check that box and make sure. Now, if everything comes back and you're great, the next question I'd have is, okay, so how long were you at 2300 calories for? And it was at the highest you'd ever reverse dieted to.

[Betty]

That is the highest. Yes. And I was there for about a month.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay.

[Betty]

But that was working up from like. Okay. So when I was at 135 and I was hanging out there, I was at about like 1700.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay.

[Betty]

And so I slowly brought myself up over those four months. But, you know, like, I can gain super easy. It's losing that was hard.

[Justin Andrews]

So. So let's. Let's say that all the hormone stuff is fine. Then. Then the advice I would have is to lean into the building muscle and actually doing. Even though psychologically it might be difficult for you to keep pushing the calories, but since you do build muscle relatively good is like, you know, just saying, hey, I'm gonna. I'm gonna really lean into this building muscle thing for a little bit longer and see if I can get these calories up to, say, 28, 2900 calories.

[Betty]

Okay.

[Justin Andrews]

Same way you did. Real slow, incremental like that and just trying to get stronger. Hopefully we see, even though you're very strong, hopefully we still see some strength improvements that way. And ultimately getting your calories up to a higher place where your body weight doesn't change and shift and then coming back down again and seeing if you can find yourself at a new, even a new low.

[Adam Schafer]

And another. Another approach is just to stay at like 2200 calories, stay at Maintenance and just focus on getting stronger through your workouts and just live there. Just live there for a while. And the other question I have for you, this is more of a root type question. You know, you're sitting at a good, healthy body fat percentage. Seems like you're healthy. Why is this more of just a frustration thing? Like, why my body's not reacting or.

[Betty]

Like, a little bit? I feel like I know my body pretty well, so when it does something I don't expect, it's like, excuse me, ma'am. I have been with you a long time. Why all of a sudden, like, are you behaving weird? And so it was more like, my question was more out of curiosity than, like. Than, like, frustration. I mean, it's frustrating, but, like, I've worked. I've dealt with, like, okay, I've dealt with my weight my whole life, but it's not because, like, I was super unhealthy and tried to get healthy. It's just like, I grew up with a mom that was always like, I'm on a diet. I'm so fat. I'm blah, blah, blah. And so I really, really worked hard to move away from that mindset. So when I was, you know, a runner and not eating, I was like, oh, look how skinny I am. And then, so my husband now, but my boyfriend at the time, we were going on a vacation, and I was like, cool, I get to try on new bikinis. And I did. And I turned around and saw my ass in the mirror and was like, oh, my God. No, no, no, no. This is not better. But, like, this isn't better. So that's really. When I got my gym membership and started lifting. And, like, it totally changed my life and my outlook. It's like, I love it so much. I preach it. I tell everybody about you guys. Like, I just, you know, I live and breathe it, and I just. I feel like I'm doing everything right. And so I'm like, well, how come this isn't working? But, like, I reverse dieted. My clients. They have amazing success. Like, so I don't know, like, how come this isn't working for me? So it's more of a curiosity and trying to just, like, understand what happened.

[Adam Schafer]

If you were my client, I would tell you to hover around 20, 100 calories and just stay there for a while and stop chasing. Stop chasing something by manipulating your diet.

[Justin Andrews]

But more importantly, you would say, go get your hormones. Check. Let's go get our blood. Let's go get a full blood panel. See Everything.

[Adam Schafer]

While you're doing that, test your hormones. But then just, Just, just stay at that maintenance level and just live there for a while. Let your body get comfortable. You get comfortable with it and just kind of detach from this, like, I need to chase up or down type of thing.

[Betty]

Sure.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Betty]

Okay.

[Adam Schafer]

Okay.

[Betty]

So does, like, 150 grams of protein seem.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Betty]

Is it too much? Is it.

[Adam Schafer]

No.

[Justin Andrews]

What you've explained you've done on the diet and everything like that, you're. You're good. You really are.

[Betty]

Okay.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. You're doing, doing it right and makes.

[Betty]

Me feel actually a lot better.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. Good.

[Betty]

I thought there was something else that I was gonna say. I don't. I don't know. I'm very nervous, but I love.

[Justin Andrews]

I'd love to hear back from you after you get your. Your panels, because I just. I feel like we're gonna get some better insight on what's going on. It sounds like you know what you're doing. It sounds like you're pretty consistent with your tracking or anything like that. So I don't know if there's going to be room for air there. I think it's going to be. I think we might find something enlightening on that, on that end, especially with the way the. The weight came on and stayed like that for that. That long period of time.

[Adam Schafer]

Are you. Are you in our trainer forum?

[Betty]

I am.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, great.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. So follow up with us, please.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Betty]

Yep. I'm about. I'm 30% through with the trainer course.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Beautiful.

[Adam Schafer]

Awesome.

[Justin Andrews]

That's great. That's the best place that you're in there. Reach out to us.

[Betty]

So would you recommend. Right now, like, I'm kind of battling on whether I should do, like, right now I'm doing Maps 15, but I'm also kind of, like, bouncing back and forth between anabolic. It kind of depends on how I'm feeling that day. Does that seem like that's okay, or should I, like, stick with one or the other? Because I'm trying to, like, focus on my sleep and see if I can. Oh, like, bring my cortisol down because we were talking. You guys are talking about that, and it resonated with me. So maths 15, trying to decide which path to go.

[Adam Schafer]

Maps 15.

[Justin Andrews]

Stay with maps 15.

[Adam Schafer]

Stay there.

[Doug]

Less volumes of good.

[Justin Andrews]

And don't. Don't fall in the trap of like, oh, I got great sleep. I feel great. So now I'm gonna do maps, anabolic, ride out, math 15 no matter what. So if you feel great and you can do more still do math 15 and stick with that.

[Betty]

Okay.

[Justin Andrews]

Consistently for a while while we figure all this out.

[Betty]

Okay, Sounds good.

[Justin Andrews]

All right, buddy.

[Betty]

And you have time for one more question.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, let's hear it.

[Betty]

Okay. Okay. It's not. This is not fully related to me. So I have a friend who also is a trainer, and she is amazing. Her name is Kimba. Hi, Kimba. And she has a client that she's had for about three years. And she was in a crash skiing. Not like a bad one, but, like, kind of hurt her shoulder a little bit. And ever since that happened, she cannot fire her. Right. Like, especially when she's doing, like, rdls. Like, she took a video and I could see that this, that the right side or the left side was like, firing and engaged and good, but the left side or the right side was like, dead. It was nothing. And she said that her client said that she can't feel it. And she used to be able to. This is just since her crash and she hurt her shoulder. Would the shoulder and the glute be.

[Adam Schafer]

Connected or her spine?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

I'd have her go, go, go get tested by a neurologist to see if there's any. Any nerve. Nerve damage, impingement, or damage that's causing a disconnection to the glute.

[Betty]

Okay, cool.

[Adam Schafer]

Yep. That's the first place I'd look.

[Betty]

I'll tell her. And then, Justin, I'm very interested in your, like, Indian clubs that you do.

[Doug]

Oh, cool.

[Betty]

You do. You have like a, like a class or like an online thing that I can watch so I can learn how to do it.

[Doug]

I have some videos that we shot when we were running, like a subscription model on the Mind Pump IG page for a while with Kelly Manzon. And she's brilliant, one of the best instructors out there.

[Justin Andrews]

And so what's your Instagram? What's her Instagram?

[Doug]

Do you remember Kelly Manzone?

[Justin Andrews]

What's her name?

[Doug]

That's her name to look it up. But yeah, she, she. She does a lot of videos. I will go ahead and. And DM you if you reach out to me. Those videos, I have them on my computer still, so I'm happy to send those out. And then there you go, Kels Bells. I might actually. I'll see if I can put those in the. In the trainer form.

[Betty]

Oh, that would be awesome.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Betty]

Because I have, like, I also work in. I have a lot of your writing programs, but so I also work in a lot of, like, mobility work from Maps Performance. Just periodically throughout my Week. And so I've become like the weird person in the gym that has their own mobility stick and, like, hangs out on the turf and does, like, all the isolation, like, holds and stuff.

[Doug]

You're one of the cool kids.

[Betty]

I've had a lot of people come up and ask, whatever you doing, what's this about?

[Justin Andrews]

And so awesome.

[Betty]

I'm kind of leaning into the mobility side because it seems like there's a.

[Doug]

Lot of people that are so much value there. It's crazy. Yeah, yeah, Watch. Watch how that increases if you, you know, really stand out with that. Like, people need that.

[Justin Andrews]

That's such a. There's such a trainer hack to get clients too. Is doing something that's like that, that then you can then articulate and explain why you're doing it to people and then. And then introduce that. It's a great, great way to use.

[Doug]

For sure.

[Betty]

Yeah. And so I'm really trying to, like, make that more of my niche than just, like, strength training. Because a lot of the people that are, like, in my gym and around me, like, well, I can do this. What do I need you for? But if I can, like, and I've taken this from your guys podcast. If I can be, you know, if I can help them, like, alleviate their pain.

[Doug]

Yes.

[Betty]

Then I'm immediately showing value. And I am like, see, I know something you don't. I can actually help you, you know, so I'm really trying to learn really more about, like, mobility and, like, correctional exercise and stuff. In the Indian clubs, I was like, that is so cool. Like, that will. That'll spark some interest probably, if people are like, what is this thing that this girl is doing?

[Doug]

Always does. Yep, Yep. That's beautiful. Yeah, keep. Keep doing that. For sure. It's going to pay off.

[Justin Andrews]

That's awesome, Betty.

[Betty]

Hey, cool. Well, you guys, I am. I am so grateful for you. I'm glad that I found you. I don't even remember how I found you, but from the first episode, I was hooked. I. I've laughed, I've cried. I've done everything while listening to you guys, and it's really nice. It's really refreshing to hear from people that, like, get it. I want to say, you know, you guys are about health, you're about longevity, you're about everything that I stand for. Where a lot of people that are in this industry just mostly go on how you look. And that's, you know, that's not what I'm about. And so it was so nice to find you guys to validate what I. What I was trying to say to the world and like helped me actually learn how to speak it. So I just wanted to say thank you.

[Adam Schafer]

Thank you, Betty.

[Justin Andrews]

Thank you.

[Adam Schafer]

I appreciate that. Yeah, we'll see you in the forum.

[Betty]

Yeah, okay, sounds good. Thanks guys. I appreciate it.

[Adam Schafer]

All right, bye. Bye. Yeah, hormones.

[Justin Andrews]

She's 30, 38. I think there's got to be something there.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, I mean, well, you gained, think 10 pound weight gain in three days is.

[Doug]

That's interesting.

[Justin Andrews]

It's not body fat and she's reverse dietish. She also could be like, I mean she is very. If she's 23, body fat. That's a great place. She's already built like somebody who holds muscle, builds muscle. She might just be finding this place. This is where you're happy. This is where your body and this is a hard part about social media and the stuff that we promote is fit and healthy and it's just like.

[Adam Schafer]

You got to push to these other.

[Doug]

Yeah, money is a great place.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Low 20 and that strong. So you know, she's got a ton of muscle on her and she's on a little five foot frame. She might just be finding like this is where my body is most happy. And you know, it's just tough because some people can walk around at, you know, teens and for a woman and.

[Adam Schafer]

That feel healthy, then they can't bench 165.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, no, that's a fact, right? For sure.

[Adam Schafer]

Totally. Look, if you like the show, come find us on Instagram. Justin is at Mind Pump. Justin and I'm at mind pump. DiStefano Adams at mindpump.

[Sal DiStefano]

Adam, thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB super bundle at mindpumpmedia.com the RGB Super Bundle includes maps, Anabolic maps, performance and maps aesthetic. Nine months of phased expert exercise program 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 resources at mindpumpmedia. Com. If you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five star rating and review on itunes and by introducing Mind Pump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support and until next time. This is Mind Pump.