2606: 5 Ways to Become More Fit Without Exercise & More (Listener Live Coaching)

Summary

Podcast Summary: Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth Episode 2606: 5 Ways to Become More Fit Without Exercise & More (Listener Live Coaching) Release Date: May 28, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode, the Mind Pump hosts—Sal DiStefano, Adam Schaefer, Justin Andrews, and producer Doug Egge—delve into unconventional methods to enhance fitness without additional exercise. Following a brief discussion on sponsored content, the conversation moves directly into the core topic, complemented by live coaching sessions with listeners seeking personalized advice.

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1. Static Stretching

[04:40] Sal DiStefano

Static stretching, particularly long holds of two to three minutes, has historically been misunderstood in the fitness community. While early studies suggested that static stretching before workouts could reduce power output and increase injury risk, Sal argues that prolonged static stretching offers unique benefits that can complement exercise regimens.

• Notable Quote:
  "Long static stretching has been shown in animal studies and human studies kind of point to this a little bit." — Sal DiStefano [05:34]

Benefits:

• Enhanced Muscle Growth: Animal studies indicate that prolonged stretching can lead to muscle hypertrophy by adding sarcomeres, thereby increasing contractile tissue.
• Improved Recovery: Static stretching promotes a parasympathetic state, aiding in better sleep quality and faster muscle recovery.
• Increased Range of Motion: Extended holds enhance flexibility, allowing for greater muscle growth through a more extensive range of motion during strength training.

Implementation Tips:

• Integrate static stretching post-workout or between sets to avoid compromising workout performance.
• Aim for deep, tension-based stretches rather than passive stretching to maximize benefits.

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2. Sauna Use

[09:53] Sal DiStefano

Sauna sessions offer significant advantages, especially for endurance athletes. Studies have demonstrated a 32% increase in endurance performance when athletes incorporate sauna use post-exercise.

• Notable Quote:
  "Humans began using saunas as far back as 7,000 years ago." — Sal DiStefano [12:12]

Benefits:

• Enhanced Endurance: Regular sauna use can mimic endurance training, improving VO2 max and overall stamina without additional physical exertion.
• Calorie Burn: Sitting in a sauna for 30 minutes can burn up to twice as many calories as resting in a cool environment due to the body's effort to regulate core temperature.
• Health Improvements: Saunas improve insulin sensitivity, hormone profiles, and testosterone levels, contributing to better muscle performance and overall health.

Usage Recommendations:

• Utilize saunas three times a week, with each session lasting around 20 minutes to achieve optimal benefits.
• Post-workout sauna use can aid in muscle recovery and endurance enhancement.

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3. Cold Plunge

[13:18] Sal DiStefano

Cold plunging, when used correctly, can be a powerful tool for athletes looking to enhance performance without overtraining.

• Notable Quote:
  "You're learning how to control that in a freezing cold environment. And control that will only get you better at managing all those other little stresses." — Justin Andrews [17:48]

Benefits:

• Reduced Muscle Damage: Cold plunges help minimize muscle protein synthesis inhibition by reducing inflammation, allowing for more frequent training sessions.
• Improved Recovery: Regular cold exposure accelerates recovery, enabling athletes to increase training volume without the risk of overtraining.
• Arousal Control: Mastering cold exposure techniques like the Wim Hof Method enhances mental resilience and stress management, crucial for high-performance situations.

Implementation Tips:

• Incorporate cold plunges post-exercise to aid in muscle recovery and reduce inflammation.
• Combine cold plunging with breathing techniques to maximize mental and physiological benefits.

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4. Practicing Gratitude

[09:22] Sal DiStefano

The practice of gratitude extends beyond mental well-being, significantly impacting one's fitness journey by fostering a positive mindset and enhancing overall health.

• Notable Quote:
  "Practicing gratitude fundamentally shifts everything." — Sal DiStefano [24:59]

Benefits:

• Enhanced Mental Health: Shifting focus from negative stressors to positive aspects of life reduces anxiety and promotes a healthier relationship with fitness and nutrition.
• Sustainable Fitness Journey: Gratitude encourages consistency by appreciating the myriad benefits of fitness beyond physical appearance, such as improved energy, resilience, and sleep quality.
• Positive Reinforcement: Recognizing small victories and daily improvements fosters long-term adherence to healthy habits.

Implementation Tips:

• Regularly reflect on and acknowledge the non-scale victories from your fitness routine.
• Incorporate gratitude journaling or meditation into your daily routine to strengthen this positive mindset.

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5. Getting Sunlight

[24:59] Sal DiStefano

Exposure to sunlight is a fundamental yet often overlooked component of fitness that offers multiple health benefits essential for optimal performance and overall well-being.

• Notable Quote:
  "Getting sunlight allows your body to produce vitamin D. Most people are too low on vitamin D." — Sal DiStefano [25:48]

Benefits:

• Vitamin D Production: Essential for bone health, muscle function, and immune support, adequate sunlight exposure ensures sufficient vitamin D levels.
• Hormonal Balance: Sunlight improves insulin sensitivity, regulates cortisol, and can boost testosterone levels in men, all of which are critical for muscle growth and fat loss.
• Sleep Quality: Early morning sunlight exposure synchronizes circadian rhythms, leading to better sleep patterns and enhanced recovery.

Usage Recommendations:

• Aim for at least 20 minutes of sunlight exposure daily, preferably in the morning, to maximize vitamin D synthesis and support hormonal balance.
• Incorporate outdoor activities into your routine to combine sunlight exposure with functional movement.

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Live Coaching Sessions

Caller: Laura Lee from Pennsylvania

[61:31] Laura, a 31-year-old mother and former athlete, seeks advice on improving speed and agility after a decade-long hiatus from competitive soccer. The hosts recommend:

• Increase Sports-Specific Practice: Engage more frequently in soccer drills to regain muscle memory and agility.
• Incorporate Mobility Work: Address any physical stiffness or reduced mobility to enhance explosive movements.
• Balanced Training: Continue with her current strength program (MAPS 15 Performance) while adding targeted speed and agility drills.

Caller: Brandon from Utah

[71:04] Brandon, a 40-year-old father aiming to become a hybrid athlete, shares his successful experience with the Anabolic program and seeks guidance on integrating cardio without compromising his strength training. The hosts advise:

• Structured Training Phases: Alternate between focusing on endurance and strength in different training cycles to avoid overtraining.
• Integrated Conditioning: Combine mobility work with varied cardio routines like sprints and shuttle runs to build a comprehensive athletic profile.
• Nutrition Timing: Emphasize carbohydrate intake around workouts to fuel performance and recovery.

Caller: Dwayne from Turks and Caicos

[87:17] Dwayne praises the program's effectiveness after committing to it and discusses his struggles with sleep apnea and body image issues. The hosts encourage:

• Consistency in Program Adherence: Reinforce the importance of following structured training and nutrition plans.
• Addressing Sleep Apnea: Highlight the critical role of proper sleep in hormone balance and overall health, recommending the consistent use of CPAP machines.
• Mental Health Focus: Encourage incorporating practices like gratitude and mindfulness to improve body image and reduce stress.

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Additional Insights

• Microbiome and Skin Health: Sal discusses the role of the skin microbiome in maintaining clear and healthy skin, promoting products like Caldera Lab that use natural botanicals to balance the microbiome.

• Environmental Health Concerns: The hosts touch upon recent studies linking proximity to golf courses and airports with increased health risks like Parkinson's disease, emphasizing the importance of clean living environments.

• Authenticity in Fitness Influencing: A segment critiques the "Liver King" documentary, highlighting the pitfalls of maintaining inauthentic personas for fame and the resulting loss of personal authenticity.

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Conclusion

This episode of Mind Pump underscores the multifaceted nature of fitness, illustrating that enhancing health and performance extends beyond traditional exercise. By integrating static stretching, sauna use, cold plunges, practicing gratitude, and regular sunlight exposure, individuals can achieve a more holistic and effective fitness regimen. The live coaching segments further personalize these strategies, offering actionable advice tailored to listeners' unique circumstances.

Notable Quotes:

• "Nothing will improve your fitness like exercise. But all the things we're listing here, you can actually add to your current fitness routine." — Sal DiStefano [05:22]
• "Arousal control dramatically improves your performance across the board." — Sal DiStefano [19:09]
• "Your body's ability to adapt its metabolic rate and activity is remarkable." — Sal DiStefano [102:36]

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Stay Connected: Follow Mind Pump on Instagram @mindpumpmedia, @mindpumpsal, @mindpumpadam, @mindpumpjustin & @mindpumpdoug and visit mindpumppodcast.com for more insights and expert training protocols.

Transcript

[Sal DiStefano]

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

[Adam Schaefer]

With your hosts, Sal Destefano, Adam Schaefer.

[Sal DiStefano]

And Justin Andrews, you just found the most downloaded fitness, health and entertainment podcast. You guessed it, this is Mind Pump. Today's episode. Live callers called in and we coached them on air. But this was after the intro. Today's intro was 58 minutes long. Now in the intro we talk about fitness studies, fat loss, muscle gain, current events, talk about family life. It's a good time. Again. After that, we got to the live callers. By the way, if you want to be on an episode like this one where you call in, we help you on air, email us your question@live mindpumpmedia.com by the way, for trainers and coaches, go to trainerwebinar.com I'm going to teach you guys how to sell training. It's totally free. Go there to register. This episode is brought to you by some sponsors. The first one is Caldera Lab. Today we talked about how their skincare products promote a more healthy microbiome on the skin. What does that turn into? Better looking skin. Less acne, less blemishes, less wrinkles. By the way, studies show that this actually works or stuff works. So go to calderalab.com mindpump caldera is spelled C-A-L--E R A. So calderalab.com MindPump use the code MindPump20. Get 20% off your first order. This episode is also brought to you by PRX Performance. This is fitness equipment made for your home that is better than the stuff you see in the gym. They have squat racks that fold into the wall. They come off the wall by about 6 inches. When you're ready to use it, you pull it out. Super stable, super high quality. And you can get 5% off if you go to prxperformance.com mindpump we also have a sale this month on some programs. Maps 15 Performance and the RGB bundle are 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.

[Justin Andrews]

T shirt time.

[Doug]

And it's T shirt time.

[Justin Andrews]

Ah, shit, Doug. You know it's my favorite time of the week.

[Doug]

Three winners this week. One for Apple Podcast, two for Facebook. The Apple podcast winner is JDB Fubar. And for Facebook, we have Alicia and Andrew and Jim. Tony Rudzhagen. All three of you are Winners send the name I just read to itunesindpumpmedia.com, include your shirt size and your shipping address, and we'll get that shirt right out to you.

[Sal DiStefano]

The best way to get more fit is to exercise. This is true. But did you know there are ways to improve your fitness and your performance that don't involve exercise? It's true, and it's backed by studies. Today we're going to talk about five of the best ways to become more fit that have nothing to do with exercise. Let's go.

[Justin Andrews]

I like this conversation.

[Caller]

Whoa.

[Justin Andrews]

Maybe because I'm in this headspace right now where it's like, you know, doing.

[Sal DiStefano]

The least amount of work.

[Justin Andrews]

No, I mean, I just, I think that there. I think we, we often, especially our space. It's like macros lift weights. Like, it's like calorie surplus, Calorie deficit macros, lift weights is like the conversation. And it's like there are, there's a. There's a whole host of things that make you a healthier, better version of yourself. And maybe sometimes you don't make it to the gym to hit the weights, or maybe your macros aren't ideal or you didn't track, and so, you know, does that mean the whole day goes to. Or there are other things that I can be working towards that still make me a healthier, fitter version than who I was yesterday. And I just think it's a good conversation because sometimes there's still an opportunity, maybe if you missed on those other things, to still.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, no, great. And I. I actually made a list of things that have been shown in stud studies to improve your fitness. I got even more specific. Not just your health, but that will improve your fitness results, your endurance, your strength, your muscle growth. And we start. Some of these are much more direct, others a little more indirect. But doing these things, of course, nothing will improve your fitness like exercise. Okay. Nothing comes close to it. But all the things we're listing here, you can actually add to your current fitness routine, and you'll get better results as a result of doing these things, and they don't involve more exercise. I'll start with the first one, which is static stretching. Long static stretching. Now, static stretching got a bad rap sometime in the early 2000s, I want to say, when studies showed that static stretching before a workout actually increased risk of injury. It reduces power output by 5 to 10% and increases risk of injury. And so before that study came out, we were all encouraged to static stretch before we worked.

[Caller]

And then people just Abandoned it right at that point. But there is a lot of value to it, especially to get in the parasympathetic state.

[Sal DiStefano]

Totally 100%. So is this the best way to warm up? No, except for specific cases. But is there value that's unique to static stretching, especially long static stretching, where you're holding a deep stretch for two or three minutes. Is there value to it that can actually contribute to your even muscle gain? And the answer is probably, Probably. And I say probably because we have animal studies that seem relatively conclusive, human studies a little bit more murky, although old school bodybuilders swear by it. And I've now lived long enough to know that the old school bodybuilders are often more right more than they're wrong when it comes to muscle buildings.

[Caller]

Stretching.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. So long static stretching has been shown in animal studies and human studies kind of point to this a little bit.

[Justin Andrews]

Why do you, why would you, why would you guess there?

[Sal DiStefano]

It's murky because cutting a muscle off of a person and examining them, it's much more challenging. Right. You get this with an animal. Yeah, it's very straightforward. You stretch one wing, you leave the other wing alone. Like you take your, you know, you compare the two sides, see what happens. Human stays are much more difficult to replicate in this case, but we see in the animal studies is hypertrophy. We see muscle growth, we see sarcomeres being added to the muscles themselves. So you're actually adding more contractile tissue with these long hold stretches, these really long hold stretches. Now, it's not going to come close to strength training, but in addition to strength training, it's probably a good idea also because it doesn't cause damage, doesn't compromise recovery. If anything, it probably improves recovery. And a lot of it has to do with what you just said, Justin, which is putting you in a parasympathetic state.

[Caller]

Well, and I guess too there's a little bit of a difference there if you're talking about like holding that stretch with tension or if you're doing a passive version of the static stretch and both have different values. So for what you're mentioning earlier, the one with tension probably applies.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. And the parasympathetic, like why, why is that so important? Well, static stretching, the kind of that that really puts your body in parasympathetic, will probably improve the quality of your sleep. And we've talked ad nauseam at the benefits that sleep have to muscle gains. Like right before you go to bed, 15 minutes of deep stretching probably give you Better sleep and then also a greater range of motion. We know this in studies that a muscle under tension, when lengthened, that's where a lot of the muscle growth happens. Now, it happens throughout the whole range of motion. But the stretch position is where you see kind of an enhanced hypertrophy effect. And lengthening your range of motion will likely improve your ability to build muscles. In the studies that show, you know, that long ranges of motion more effective overall than short ranges of motion. So it's. This is a cool one. And bodybuilders have done this for a long time, and typically they would do it either in between sets or at the end of a workout. Well, they'll get a muscle really pumped, all these really deep kind of intense stretches, and they swear by the muscle growth effects.

[Justin Andrews]

I just like this as a, you know, I like that you connected it to sleep, because here's an example of, you know, my point I was trying to make about, you know, there's always these other things that we can do. And even if the day got away from me that I didn't hit my macros, I didn't get my workout in. I wasn't very active. Like, oh, man, it's like right before I go to bed, it's like, you know what? I can do this. I can get down. I can work on my 90, 90. I can do some of my stuff like that. And not only is that pro health, pro fitness for me, it also will, as a. As a byproduct, improve potentially my sleep that night, which we know the benefits of that when it comes to building muscle and health and performance and energy and all the things. So I, I love that as a, you know, oh, man, I, I still have that option before I go to bed and still can write off the day is like, hey, you know what? I didn't just completely write the day off. I still did something that improved my health for the day. I. I love communicating those types of things because I think we get so caught up on the macro and the lifting weight part, and it's like, there's some. There tends to be. So you start the day off bad on the macros, and a lot of people go off effort. I had a bad day, or you missed your workout time, and so, oh, I didn't do that. And so you write the day off, it's like, no, there's other stuff. There's other things I can do to still improve my.

[Sal DiStefano]

But what I also like about this is that oftentimes when you're dialed in, because we have, you know, a good, you know, segment of our listeners are very consistent. What can I add to my routine? And they're kind of already redlining. Yeah, you can add static stretching. It's not going to take, it's not going to add.

[Justin Andrews]

It's recuperative.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. It's not going to take away from your recovery, accelerate and it's going to enhance muscle gain. So it's like you're doing a little extra strength training which you can't because you're so consistent. You're already redlining now. You've just improved your recovery and you're probably going to build a little bit more muscle next. This one is remarkable at its effects in regards to its effects on endurance in particular sauna use. Yeah, there are studies on endurance athletes. They're relatively well made studies. Well, they'll take endurance athletes and then they'll have them add a sauna session, post run or bike or swim. They get a 32% increase in endurance from the sauna.

[Justin Andrews]

And that's all they control, right?

[Sal DiStefano]

That's all they added.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

Well, was the sauna for health? I mean there's a 50% heart disease risk, 50% from sitting in a sauna, which is super, super crazy. Now here's what's cool about this. Let's say you're just into strength training and you're not like an endurance person. You don't want to run, you just want to build muscle. Here's a way you can improve your endurance without sending a competing signal that says don't build as much muscle, sit in the sauna post workout. Is that going to benefit your muscle gain? Yeah, you're be able to do longer sets.

[Caller]

So strange exercise mimicker. But it doesn't apply that same type of a stress.

[Sal DiStefano]

It's absolutely, and you're right, it isn't really that much of a stress in the body. It'll probably, except for maybe in extreme cases, enhance recovery benefits.

[Caller]

Your circulatory system.

[Justin Andrews]

Do you think that this is something that is over. Over the last few decades has been increasingly better or it was something that was always this good. You understand what I'm asking like in terms of, is it part of the context of like where our health is currently right now and the way we eat and how stressed, how stressful our lives are compared to like say a hundred years ago? So do you think that these same benefits applied 100 years ago as it does today or do you think a part of that has to do with our current.

[Sal DiStefano]

That's a Good question. We're probably tapping into something where the human body learns how to become more resilient under conditions that are outside of what would be considered comfortable. And I'm sure if you go back, you know, 300 years, 400 years, there were periods of time when you were hot as hell.

[Justin Andrews]

Right.

[Sal DiStefano]

And you're working and there's like no air conditioning.

[Justin Andrews]

That's what I'm saying. Like we've become so conditioned to be. I mean, we live in a time right now where regardless of the season or what part of the state, or what, what country you live in or state, and you could keep your temperature at 72 degrees.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Day and night, all the time with all the controls that we have, which is nice for comfort. But then you, if it's like a muscle and you adapt to those abilities to go up and down like that, you lose that.

[Sal DiStefano]

Well, what's crazy though, with sauna use is it goes back a long time. I'd love Doug to look up. Doug, if you wouldn't mind looking up, you know the history of sauna use or how long ago did humans start using saunas or heat therapy? It's old.

[Justin Andrews]

Way old.

[Sal DiStefano]

People have been using it for a long time. I know in the Nordic countries, this has like been part of their culture for a very long time. And it's crazy. Here's the other thing that's crazy about it, okay. You can sit in a sauna and burn. And the studies confirm this one and a half to two times more calories than just sitting somewhere else. So literally sitting for 30 minutes, the sauna will burn twice as many calories.

[Justin Andrews]

And really what that is, is that's your body working extra hard to try and cool the. Cool your body, your core, that's part of it.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, it's working.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, right.

[Sal DiStefano]

Look at this. Humans began using saunas as far back as 7,000 years ago. So they didn't have air conditioning back then, but they still saw the benefits. I think what it does is we're tapping into. It's almost like a hack. Tapping as part of the system of the body and deriving all these benefits. But it's crazy because literally if you lift and you have an extra 20, 30 minutes, you can go to the sauna afterwards and just have an improvement in VO2, max and endurance without doing endurance training, without sending a signal.

[Justin Andrews]

What was it, Sal? I believe it's three 20 minute sessions a week to re. To reap the max benefits for the minimum amount. Right? Is that what it is? Yeah, about three yeah, three.

[Sal DiStefano]

There's always benefit, but once you get to three, you start to see really ramped up benefits.

[Justin Andrews]

Right. And I think that's where you. That's the least you can do for the, like, the maximum.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, yeah. After that, you get diminishing returns.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

You still get benefit, but it's not like three is where you one to three is. We see the big, big returns. So, yeah, that's a. That's a really cool one. Next up, cold plunge. Now, I know what the studies show, that cold plunging after a workout reduces the muscle protein synthesis. It brings down inflammation, essentially bringing down the signal that tells your body to build muscle. But you're using the cold plunge wrong. Here's how you use the cold plunge. You use it because it reduces damage and allows you to work out more. It allows you to practice your skills of your lifts more. It allows you to practice on the field more or on the ice more or on the court more. So for. People are really into training and working out, and they're like, you know what? I can't handle any more exercise, but I want to get. I want to just ramp up my fitness. I want to ramp up the ability to learn these new skills. What can I possibly do? And you're doing everything else. Cold plunge will allow you to add another workout, another practice, which, listen, you talk to any athlete, if they could do another workout or another practice without overtraining, like, the benefits they get for that would be amazing.

[Caller]

You're banking that neuromuscular memory. You're piling onto that. So now you have more opportunity to add volume to that. Where if you can go to the cold plunge and now apply again the next day, where you lower down that inflammation, you can just keep really accelerating that progress.

[Justin Andrews]

I think the same hypertrophy Bros that threw shade on static stretching are the ones that throw shade on the cold plunge.

[Sal DiStefano]

They're too myopic with how they view it.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, yeah. Like, it's because there was. There was a period of time, like you said, where static stretching was a very common practice. And then we went through this phase where all of a sudden it was just like, oh, it's killing your gains and it's not helping your performance in the gym. So throw it out, you know, stop doing it completely. I feel like we. We went through that same kind of period with cold plunging has been around forever. It got really, really popular. Then after it got really, really popular, then. Then comes the hypertrophy Bros. Oh, here's all what the studies say about don't do it. Yeah. You're not building any more muscle by doing this. So throw it out also. And then we're quick to dismiss it. And what will happen is, you know, it'll know. Right now we're still in the middle of the trend. That trend will fade because enough of that is that information. But it forever will be a good thing.

[Sal DiStefano]

I'll create an analogy, just kind of illustrate this. Like if you had two individuals and time wasn't an issue, because time is almost always an issue for most people. So I want to validate that. Like doing less work to get the same results for most people is better. Okay. That's a fact. Right. So most people are interested in fitness and health and if I can get them better results with less time spent in the gym, that's typically going to be better. However, there are scenarios where like I'll, I'll paint the picture. You have two individuals, both of them send the same signal for muscle building, except the other one gets to practice squatting, deadlifting and pressing, let's say twice as much. Who's going to get better results? The one who could practice the lifts more often. They're going to get better at the lifts because there is a skill acquisition that comes from doing the lifts. And I'm not even touching athletes. If you could throw the ball more or you could catch more, or you could run more, you could get on the court more with less damage, allows you to practice more. So cold plunging for athletes like this, especially hard training athletes. And by the way, they've used this for a long time. I know football players, they would fill big, you know, garbage cans, ice water.

[Caller]

We would jump in. Yeah, the physical therapy and we would do that after practice all the time. But one more thing I wanted to add on to this just because you know, when we're talking about cold plunges, there's other benefits to it depending on the protocol you use going into it too. Like if you're doing the WIM HOF protocol and it's really more focused on breathing is part of getting into that parasympathetic state and being able to, you know, handle that type of a shock and stress and quickly be able to find yourself through that sympathetic into parasympathetic for recovery. And so that's valuable. Hyper oxygenation is something that people way overlook which you know, to belly breathing, something that addresses this, lowers anxiety, helps to get you to recover more effectively. So it's a very important thing. Meditative elements to that as well. So box breathing Just that all, you know, contributes a lot to this conversation.

[Justin Andrews]

Huge benefits that gets overlooked and not talked about all day long. We are being bombarded with all these little stressors that, you know, elevate your heart rate, that, you know, send your CNS firing. And it's like you learning how to control that in a environment, in a freezing cold environment. And control that will only get you better at managing all those other little stresses.

[Sal DiStefano]

Look, I'm going to 100% like, if you're a, if you want to be a high performing individual, oftentimes what separates the best from the rest is what's known as arousal control. Right. If you look at like a top NFL quarterback, what makes him better than the other quarterbacks in the NFL is that he's calm under times of stress. I experienced this, you know, competing in jiu jitsu, where my fitness and my fitness level in a competition was like 50% of what it was when I would practice. Why? Because I was too amped. I was too. You're nervous, you're excited, you get in there and you gas out. This is true for athletes all the time. Like if you can be calm, actually forget athletics. You want to go do a talk, you want to go talk to a girl, you want to do whatever. You want to get into a difficult conversation. Arousal control dramatically improves your performance across the board. And using the cold plunge has been shown even if you don't practice. Wim Hof, by the way, Justin, which.

[Caller]

Is the one that I'm familiar with.

[Sal DiStefano]

But if just practice getting in there.

[Justin Andrews]

Often it forces you to have to do that. That's right, it forces you.

[Sal DiStefano]

You learn that.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, you learn that. There's really cool studies, you know, you're better at actually being able to, you know, repeat or exactly what the study said. But I've read great studies on your, you know, super hybrid, your Steph Currys, your, you know, snow was Shaun White snowboarding, where they've actually measured their heart rate. You know, when they're going for that gold medal run or hitting the free throw to win the game. And they're like heart rate like in the middle of a game or in the middle of a, you know, going just coming down the hill. Their heart rate is like our resting heart rate, which is crazy. And then so great. You measure that against an amateur and many. And so they attribute that as one of the main factors that separates totally the, excuse me, the super elite is that ability to be able to calm the heart rate down in those moments of stress. You can both have practiced the same amount of free throws going into that game, but his ability to do that separates him that much by being able to do that totally.

[Sal DiStefano]

Next up is practicing. This one's going to sound silly, but I'll make the case practicing gratitude. Okay, so we talk about this often on the show, but if you, if you talk to a fitness fanatic, or should I say somebody who has a good maturity around fitness, someone who's been working out for 20 or 30 or 40 years consistently, and they're very healthy and they have a good relationship with it. One of the reasons why they have this good relationship is they see all the. They see the complete host of benefits that being healthy has provided with them. They don't just see fat loss and muscle gain or the scale move. What they see is how it affects everything. Oh, my God, I feel better. It gives me more energy. I have a better outlook. I'm more resilient. It gives me better sleep. And now that doesn't happen naturally. You have to practice that. Our minds, our brains are wired to focus on things that can kill us, things that are scary. So if you just allow yourself to just run natural, what will happen is scary, negative, anxious. Things are going to be big and you're going to focus on them and you're going to remember them. And all the good stuff, all the blessings, all the other things, you just don't notice. And so this is what happens with exercise. You go into workout and all your focus is on is the scale. You're going to miss everything else. All you're going to see is a scale. And we did. Look, one of the reasons why we're successful trainers is we effectively got our clients to learn to focus on the other things. And then the scale was kind of an afterthought or a byproduct or a wonderful side effect. So practicing gratitude, the reason why it's a practice, because it's not going to happen natural. But the more you practice it, the more you notice good things, small blessings. All the effects that exercise mindset shift. You'll start to develop this more complete relationship with fitness and nutrition, making it more enjoyable, something you'll continue forever. But more importantly, you'll program and eat in a way that's more appropriate because you're not. Because, for example, someone who wants to lose weight can lose weight and lose their athletic performance and become less healthy. That happens all the time. But they don't see the negatives because all they see is the scale. On the flip side, somebody wants to lose weight. The scale may not move, but they're doing so well and everything else, and it's just a matter of time before the body fat comes off.

[Caller]

It's crazy because you can literally out compete a lot of those negative thoughts that pervade you while, you know, approaching a workout or approaching anything during the day.

[Justin Andrews]

It'd be cool to see us a clear study on the power of that because I think there's. There's more, even more there than what you're, You're. You're speaking to the. Just the power of having a positive mindset on. I imagine somebody who is negative all the time or always poor me, or this sucks, or this always happens to me, that, that would, I would imagine would lead to a. A more unhealthy, unfit lifestyle. Simply looking at the positive of everything in life and no. And then understanding that that's like a muscle also that you need to train that it's not easy. Like, it's real easy for someone to be sitting in a place of comfort and happiness and good things happen and tell others like, oh, be positive, be happy. And then it's real easy for that person to go like, oh, yeah, but you haven't been through what I just went through. It's like. So it's one of those things that you have to train. And if you train that and practice that, when that time comes, your ability to reframe will be stronger than the person who doesn't practice.

[Sal DiStefano]

It's important to understand that your default factory settings are negative, scary and anxiety. Right?

[Justin Andrews]

Right.

[Sal DiStefano]

So that's your default. So if you do nothing, that's where you're going to lean to. And yes, there's genetic variances and how far you are, but. But that's your default. All the positive stuff you actually have to actively focus on. That's why they call it a practice. Like, look, I remember there were clients that I trained who were in chronic pain. And then we would get the chronic pain to go away and they would have so much joy from things. Like, I remember I had a lady. I'll never forget this. I've talked about her before. She was in her early 80s. It wasn't even a day that I was training. I was training someone else. She walked in my studio, used to be next to a grocery store. She walked in because she was so excited to tell me that for the first time in years, she was able to close the trunk of her SUV on her own without having to ask for help. And she was so joyful. I closed the trunk of my car all the time without thinking about it. But she had a different perspective because she wasn't able to for so long, and it brought her joy. Like these, our default is to be negative. Practicing gratitude fundamentally shifts everything. But in regards to fitness and health, it will make your fitness journey something that you'll really have a full scope and picture of and understanding of. It'll make it a relationship that will benefit you rather than one that may hurt you or one that you'll want to discontinue.

[Justin Andrews]

That's true.

[Sal DiStefano]

Lastly is getting sunlight. You know what's interesting about this is. Well, obviously. Okay, I'll talk about the obvious. Getting sunlight allows your body to produce vitamin D. Most people are too low on vitamin D. When, when people, when the average person is. Takes vitamin D. By the way, vitamin D isn't a magic thing. It's just that we're so deficient in it. That becomes a magic thing when people take it. Many studies show that when people take vitamin D, their strength improves, their hormone profile improves vitamin D. It changes genetic expressing in the muscles. That moves it more better in a better direction towards things like muscle gain and strength. And since most of us are low in it, going outside, getting 20 minutes of sunlight, that's like one of the best things you could do for vitamin D production.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, I, I mean, obviously you would always go the direction that you can prove in the science and connect that way. But I still, I feel like there's an unknown or there's a still.

[Sal DiStefano]

There's so much, There's.

[Justin Andrews]

There's something else there about what the sun.

[Caller]

Information is.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, just. Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm not completely sold on. There's not more happening there. I still. We talked about this just the other day. We had a conversation with somebody in the. In here. We were interviewing and we went down the rabbit hole of kids and raising kids. And also that we talked about, man, just the obvious difference of your kid. When they get. And they, and obviously our kids are in. They're no interest of building muscle and performing. They're not thinking that way. But yet there's a profound difference on their behavior, their mood, how well they sleep, all these things that they're getting by getting out into that sunlight. And so I think there's even more there that we're not. We, we don't fully understand. That is so powerful.

[Caller]

All living beings benefit from it. And it's crazy to see like plants, I mean, photosynthesis keeps them alive. And it's like we're just going to discard that.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Caller]

And we're a living being, you know, it's got to affect us in some.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. Studies show that improves insulin sensitivity. Sensitivity by itself. Literally by itself. You just get some sunlight and your insulin sensitivity improves. It contributes to a better hormone profile. It's been shown to raise testosterone in men with low testosterone. It's been shown to regulate cortisol. It improves your sleep. Early morning or early day sun exposure has a very measurable impact on your sleep quality. So this is a big one. And if you work in an office most of the time, then this one's probably going to be a big deal for you. Like if you live on a. If you live in Hawaii and you're outside all the time, yeah, you're fine. But if you're like most people and your job is indoors and the amount of sunlight you get is literally, you.

[Caller]

Go outside your car, England or Seattle.

[Sal DiStefano]

This will make a big. This will make a huge difference. So. And it's not exercise. Oh, by the way, it doesn't take away from recovery, it only contributes to it. So all these things that we mentioned.

[Justin Andrews]

Right. You can add, stack onto it.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, you can.

[Justin Andrews]

And it's not exercise or do independently and get benefits.

[Sal DiStefano]

It'll absolutely improve your fitness. Yeah, yeah. Pretty. Pretty cool stuff. Yeah. Anyway, I gotta tell you guys about. I was learning about the microbiome of the face and the skin and its role in skin health and stuff like that. It's super complex. There's like a really interesting interplay between certain bacteria and fungus on our skin that when it's imbalanced, when it's all imbalance, the result is typically clear skin. When it's out of balance, the result tends to be things like acne, rashes, blotches, what we would consider unhealthy skin. So really, like, like when we're talking about healthy skin, by the way, what you eat can affect the microbiome on your face too. So that's why sometimes people eat certain things and notice like they'll break out and stuff like that. Like, the microbiome is, is what you need to focus on if you want really aside from general good health. Again, the microbiome reflects that as well. But the microbiome itself on the face or on the skin makes a huge.

[Justin Andrews]

So when you, when you think of a company like Caldera, right. Do you look at it then from that, from that angle, like a probiotic for the face?

[Sal DiStefano]

Caldera Lab first has figured this out. So they, they use natural botanicals not chemicals, or should I say synthetic chemicals, but natural botanicals that have been shown to improve the balance of healthy microbiome and improve the skin barrier. So you can actually weaken the barrier of the skin because your microbiome is off, and then that can cause lots of problems. So, like their face oil and their cream, like, you look at the ingredients in those. All those ingredients, all of those botanicals, that's what they do. They make the microbiome healthy. And that's why you get the good results on this.

[Justin Andrews]

So is it fair for me to present it that way? Like, it's like a probiotic. I would say prebiotic or prebiotic.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. There's no bacteria in their. In their oil. Caldera Labs oil. But it definitely contributes, so that's why we'll get people. So I've used this example so many times, Justin, and my skin couldn't be any different. He's dry, I'm oily. We both use the Caldera lab skin oil. It makes him less dry and it.

[Caller]

Makes me less oily, which is why we're compatible.

[Justin Andrews]

Thanks, Caldera.

[Sal DiStefano]

I know.

[Caller]

Thank you.

[Sal DiStefano]

It's pretty. It's pretty wild, dude.

[Caller]

I was gonna say, when you're a kid, did you ever, like, collect fungus and bacteria in petri dishes?

[Sal DiStefano]

Oh, no, on my own. Yeah, you did.

[Caller]

I feel like you would have.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, I did.

[Sal DiStefano]

In my room.

[Caller]

I just, like, stacked.

[Justin Andrews]

Did you have a little. A little microscope? Did you have that? Yeah, of course you did.

[Caller]

I mean, I did. I looked at stuff under the mic.

[Justin Andrews]

No, I didn't. Did you. Did you have a microscope? You had a microscope.

[Sal DiStefano]

I loved it.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

Justin's a nerd.

[Caller]

I am a nerd. I'm an undercover nerd like Katrina.

[Justin Andrews]

We all are, supposedly. You know what I'm saying? But I don't.

[Sal DiStefano]

She says we're all nerd.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. She thinks. She tries to say I am, but I'm like, come on, seriously, say you're a nerd about. Yeah, I don't know. I don't even know what she think. Just in general, it's like, you're. You're a nerd. She. She definitely will say that with, like, fitness. Right? She definitely.

[Sal DiStefano]

You nerd out.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Yeah. Because, like, that.

[Sal DiStefano]

And.

[Justin Andrews]

And when I can get that way, like, with a. A fan, which I'm guarantee you guys are the same way too. Like, I can't be in the same room with a family member, and they just make, like, a blanket statement about something that is, like, so off or not true that I have To. And I can't just be like wrong, you know, you're wrong. You know, I like. Let me explain. Yeah, let me explain. I just recently had this with my sister in law who was. Who she also battles with psoriasis and you know, trying to talk to her about it being an autoimmune and that there's definitely something in your diet that you're eating and it could be multiple things and trying to explain how that happens. Like, I can't just.

[Sal DiStefano]

You know what? So Doug pulled up the definition of nerd. They changed that. You know why they changed that? Because nerds made the Internet.

[Caller]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Here's a person who's extremely.

[Caller]

Nerds are in power now.

[Justin Andrews]

That sounds awesome.

[Sal DiStefano]

This is a. According to.

[Justin Andrews]

It used to be a slide.

[Sal DiStefano]

According to the nerds. Right. A nerd is a person who's extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable about a particular subject. No, that's not a nerd.

[Doug]

Okay, so here's another definition. Here is seen as an overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted, or lacking social skills.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, that's the classic.

[Doug]

Classic.

[Justin Andrews]

As you say. That's more what you would say. Yeah, yeah. When you were a kid, if you called someone a nerd, it was a slide. It was not a positive. But there was a point. There was a point where. And probably the Internet. Was it the Internet. They decided to make it into it, bro.

[Sal DiStefano]

It's when nerds became billionaires is what happened.

[Justin Andrews]

We're gonna make this cool. Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

I would be a nerd like that guy.

[Caller]

Tell your to jocks.

[Justin Andrews]

But you had a. You had a microscope too, huh? That's interesting.

[Sal DiStefano]

Dude. I had a chemistry set.

[Justin Andrews]

You did too?

[Doug]

Oh, yeah, I was into it.

[Caller]

I have the least magnifying glasses.

[Justin Andrews]

I had a magnifying glass I used to burn ants. I did that. Okay. That's normal. I feel like. What? So do you guys all remember what age where you were when you asked for one or got one?

[Sal DiStefano]

Oh, I was young. Yeah. It's probably 9, 8, 9.

[Doug]

Probably the same age.

[Caller]

Right.

[Justin Andrews]

And you remember the first thing that you even looked under? Like, do you remember my hand?

[Sal DiStefano]

And then I.

[Caller]

Probably a booger or something. I did gross stuff, dude. I'm not. I swear.

[Sal DiStefano]

Dude. Bad.

[Caller]

Yeah, I actually. I had this like ant colony. You know, the farm where you'd watch them build stuff and everything. And my favorite thing was to see what they would eat. You know, gross stuff, all kinds of stuff. But the best too is like the gladiator. Like, I would pit them against, you know, different types of insects and throw them in there and. Oh, yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

That's awesome.

[Caller]

Yeah, it was great.

[Sal DiStefano]

What would happen? So you put them in. They just go.

[Caller]

Yeah. Like, some would give a fight, like, especially, like, some spiders would. We'd fight a few off, but then, like, everybody gang up on, rip their legs off, and they get. It's amazing.

[Justin Andrews]

Wow.

[Sal DiStefano]

Did I tell you guys that. That I walked into my. Okay, you guys, have you been in my house? That you've been in my house? Right. You know the grand room that we have?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

I walked in there, and the other day, and it's sunny outside, right. And I looked at the table. We have this. This, like, nice dining room table in there, and a little bit of smoke was coming out of the middle of the table. What?

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, from, like, the glass, bro. I'm like, that happened to Justin.

[Sal DiStefano]

I know.

[Justin Andrews]

Justin.

[Sal DiStefano]

I had a jug of water, a clear jug of water on the table. The light crazy came in, hit the jug of water. It focused the light and was starting a fire. Dude.

[Caller]

Intensified that light.

[Sal DiStefano]

Could you imagine? We had a town, and I would adjust it.

[Justin Andrews]

Remember his house?

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

How remind me of what it was going through? It was.

[Caller]

Yeah, it was going through a window, and then it was like some other. Yeah, I don't remember. Some kind of decorative piece that went through that. And then it just focused that light and started, like, smoking all kinds. Billowing smoke.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. I think you even had a video on the chair. You videoed it? I remember. I remember seeing that being like. I wonder how many times that's, like, happened where it's caused a fire somewhere.

[Caller]

Oh, yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

That's crazy.

[Caller]

Especially if you just put, like, lacquer on the chair or something.

[Sal DiStefano]

Dude, that's crazy. I. So I closed all the drapes now, you know, I'm like, what's going on here?

[Justin Andrews]

That's funny.

[Sal DiStefano]

But when I first saw the smoke, I was so confused. I'm like, am I seeing things? I walk over, I see there's, like, a little dark spot on the table from the sunlight coming in.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, that's so.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, that's not. That's not cool.

[Justin Andrews]

That's so.

[Sal DiStefano]

Hey, I got a scary study for you guys.

[Justin Andrews]

Let's hear it.

[Sal DiStefano]

You guys want to hear it? Okay.

[Justin Andrews]

Do we watch?

[Sal DiStefano]

Well, I got to tell you guys, we need to know this.

[Justin Andrews]

We need to know this.

[Sal DiStefano]

No, we actually need to know this.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay, let's hear it.

[Sal DiStefano]

Okay. This is. It's going crazy, this study. So I'll read to you. Max Lugavir posted about it, and I Looked up the study and sucks.

[Caller]

Oh, great.

[Sal DiStefano]

A new study found that living close to a golf course. Okay.

[Justin Andrews]

All right.

[Sal DiStefano]

More than doubles the risk of being diagnosed with Parkinson's.

[Justin Andrews]

What is it? Because all the stuff they spray to keep the grass off the sides. Oh, yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

The pesticide runoff. Oh, that they think get into their water and stuff.

[Justin Andrews]

Dude, no.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yes. The reason why I'm telling you guys, we have a. Our place up in Truckees. On a golf. Yeah.

[Caller]

Well, I mean, it's not our main residence.

[Sal DiStefano]

Sink. No, dude, but like, we need to like.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, we have. We have a pure. We have a water.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, dude. But I'm wondering if we should even like, put filter through the whole, like, for the water that we wash ourselves and stuff with.

[Caller]

Yeah, they use a lot of chemicals.

[Sal DiStefano]

To keep it looking good. Yeah, dude. Doubles.

[Caller]

Think about that.

[Sal DiStefano]

Doubles. That's a big increase in risk.

[Caller]

I know. There's some crazy. If you live anywhere in proximity to an airport. It's horrific.

[Sal DiStefano]

Oh, is it really?

[Caller]

The dust, the brakes in the jet fuel and. And that just blankets all over your house.

[Sal DiStefano]

Well, what's crazy is they had these huge lawsuits against. I think it was Monsanto because farmers and people that lived near where they had, you know, like, farms. Right. Like, if you go like down to Salinas or whatever, you see all these farms, the cancer rates of specific type of cancers were like through the roof. And there was this huge lawsuit trying to, you know, now. Now we know that the exposure to glyphosate is like, that can increase your risk of cancer. That was a big battle for a while because Monsanto was like, nah, it's.

[Caller]

You know, I'm still waiting for that for Moss Landing. Like, what's going to happen with those batteries that caught on fire and just billowed.

[Justin Andrews]

It sure felt like it was kind of brushed under.

[Caller]

Oh, yeah, let's forget. Because guess what? Who investigated it? The company. There's no regulation agency that comes in and investigates the company investigates themselves.

[Sal DiStefano]

Don't you wish you could investigate yourself for stuff like that? Dude, what a. I wish. The irs. IRS came, take care of it.

[Caller]

Massive environmental, like, accident and. Oh, yeah, we'll just. We'll look into it.

[Sal DiStefano]

That'd be great. Irs. Hey, Adam, I want you to look at your tax again and make sure they're all right. And you come back. Actually, you guys owe me more money. Okay. Yeah, he investigated his own.

[Caller]

I mean, it's right here in the paper.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I know. Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

Speaking of Parkinson's and stuff like that, dude, do you guys want to hear something crazy about nicotine.

[Caller]

That's a nootropic.

[Sal DiStefano]

Well, it's got benefits for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

[Justin Andrews]

I think you've shared that before.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, dude. And I found the studies and it's actually reduces the risk of both of them considerably. You know what else reduces.

[Caller]

Is there any truth to. Yeah, reducing the risk of COVID Yes, because that was a conspiratorial thing.

[Sal DiStefano]

It blocks the receptors. Like there's a receptor involved with the infection that it blocks. So what they found with these studies were that smokers not even. They're not even using nicotine in like a healthy way, like a lozenge or whatever they're smoking it reduce. They have lower rates of Alzheimer's and they connected it to the nicotine. Isn't that wild? You know what else reduces both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's? Another chemical that we use often is caffeine.

[Justin Andrews]

So caffeine, which go together.

[Sal DiStefano]

Which do go together. Isn't that the classic combination?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, that's like youth creatures. Now. It can't be more positive than the negative cancer effects from cigarettes.

[Sal DiStefano]

No.

[Caller]

Yeah, I know the smoking part. Yeah, that's so trade.

[Justin Andrews]

Trade Parkinson's for cancer.

[Sal DiStefano]

But nicotine on its own is for the brain. Healthy. Well, I remember addictive, though.

[Justin Andrews]

Everybody, I remember. I remember when that. I mean, it's. It's really popular right now. Those, Those little. What are they? Is it zen? Is the brand or what like that. You see all. All the kids running around with the. The health and fitness pace. Was promoting it and talking about it for a while. It became like a really popular.

[Sal DiStefano]

Well, it's a mental stimulant. Will improve your. Your, you know, your mental performance. Blah, blah. It's also very addictive, though. So you use them regularly and you just have added like, I'm already so addicted to caffeine. Adding that one would also suck. You know, trying to take that one.

[Justin Andrews]

Come off of that.

[Sal DiStefano]

Caffeine sucks coming off. I wonder what nicotine's like coming off.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, probably worse.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did anybody here. Didn't you. You were never nicotine again, Addicted?

[Justin Andrews]

No. Yeah, no, no, not really.

[Caller]

That one never got really.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, no, I. I went through a phase where I smoked cigarettes for a brief moment, but it was like. It was like more like.

[Sal DiStefano]

Did you have smokers in your family?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, oh, yeah. My mom has been most of my life.

[Sal DiStefano]

She was.

[Justin Andrews]

She's been. She's been. Actually, it hasn't been. I mean, she probably went through a kick in the last 10 years again. Yeah. And my sister did too. Cassie did for a while.

[Sal DiStefano]

Wow.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Cassie didn't like just out of high school and a little. I have to ask her what. At what point she stopped. She hasn't for a long time. But yeah, she went through a small period. My. My sister. Who else in my family? Grandmother.

[Sal DiStefano]

I was shocked when I went to Italy as a 12 year old kid.

[Justin Andrews]

Everybody does.

[Sal DiStefano]

I mean at the dinner table.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

It's like watching tv.

[Justin Andrews]

It's like part of their three hour eating event. It was so common when you're in Europe to see someone like in between. Yeah. Sit down at the restaurant and eat and then have a cigarette and coffee and just like be like a big long event.

[Sal DiStefano]

My cousins were delivered because. So by my age. Right. They were delivered in Italy. They were born there and their mom was like. Oh yeah. Like the doctor was delivering the baby. Put a cigarette down to. To get the baby out in the delivery room.

[Justin Andrews]

You know, I mean could you imagine like. Like flying and like the. It was like when do we ban it? The late 70s. 70s. I know when they. Because it used to be ash ashtrays in the.

[Caller]

I don't know cuz I. I used to work in a restaurant. I'm pretty sure there was a section. A smoking section still when I was. Oh yeah.

[Doug]

Flights even in the 90s had a smoking.

[Justin Andrews]

Even to the 90s. I thought it was like oh wow.

[Caller]

And I remember.

[Justin Andrews]

Could you imagine a. A like an eight hour plus flight and like multiple people are smoking in.

[Sal DiStefano]

A. I would just smoke.

[Doug]

It's just a curtain.

[Justin Andrews]

Of course you would.

[Sal DiStefano]

I might as well smoke and do it myself. Just breathing in your.

[Justin Andrews]

I think you would. I think 100% you would. Like. That's crazy.

[Sal DiStefano]

Do you know that that early exercise equipment, some of them had ashtrays.

[Justin Andrews]

Shut up.

[Sal DiStefano]

I saw them in it.

[Justin Andrews]

No way. Let me see one.

[Sal DiStefano]

I saw them in Italy.

[Justin Andrews]

I don't believe that.

[Sal DiStefano]

I was amazing.

[Justin Andrews]

I was.

[Sal DiStefano]

I went back to. I was 19, went back to Sicily. My cousin took me to the gym.

[Justin Andrews]

An ashtray built in treadmills had an ashtray.

[Caller]

That's a great set.

[Justin Andrews]

I kind of want one that's got a cool. It's like a cool antique, you know, like an ashtray on your. On your. That's funny.

[Sal DiStefano]

You just ran out.

[Justin Andrews]

You got to show me that.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

You know, Ann sent me this. I don't know if this is true. This article or thing and maybe Doug can research it after that and, and look it up. It Said that in five years a they predict that a fit body will be more rare than a Rolex.

[Caller]

Five years.

[Justin Andrews]

In five years that it'll be more rare to see a fit body than to see a Rolex.

[Sal DiStefano]

That's the ultimate flex, huh?

[Justin Andrews]

I guess. I had not. I had not. I. I don't know where that came from, but. And I don't know how much truth is to it, she sent it to me and I was just reading it literally right before we came on the podcast. That's interesting.

[Sal DiStefano]

That's wild.

[Justin Andrews]

I wonder how true that is. Yeah, well, I know the millionaire abs thing, right?

[Sal DiStefano]

It's more. There's more millionaires. There are people.

[Justin Andrews]

Actual six pack, which I think most people would think that's wild. Yeah, right. You would think that's crazy because literally anybody can obtain ABs.

[Sal DiStefano]

Six pack ABs are super rare. If you're on social media, you think they're all over the place. They're hella rare. They're rare in the gym where people who work out, very few people have six pack abs. Yeah, it's not like a, you know, it's not a byproduct of being super fit.

[Caller]

It's worth it.

[Sal DiStefano]

No. How much happiness is it going to bring you?

[Caller]

I'm gonna be the anti suspense guy. Dude, I found him like twice.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, we have, let's be honest, we have really skewed the perception of what a healthy, fit person is or.

[Sal DiStefano]

Just how much happier you are by being ultra shredded. Yeah, you're actually not happier.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, how often do you guys have to. I know Justin doesn't have to because he doesn't give a. But how you, you're a better person to ask, like, do you have to kind of regularly, regularly ask yourself that or challenge your own thinking about that. Like, it's like, okay, I'm. I'm beyond fit.

[Sal DiStefano]

Come on.

[Justin Andrews]

Not just for your age, but in general. You're so beyond fit. What am I doing? You know, what am I, what am I doing?

[Sal DiStefano]

Oh, yeah, It's a struggle, bro.

[Justin Andrews]

Like, yeah, I was gonna say. So do you, do you find yourself having? Because I know I, I have. It's been, it's been this long journey.

[Sal DiStefano]

Of like a tug of war of.

[Justin Andrews]

10 years of like going like, oh, you know what? Like, and we were just talking. I mean, the way you open the show is so in line with kind of like what I've been thinking. I was like, man, there's so many areas in my life I can always be improving. I've been so Focused on this lifting weight version and looking a certain way version of me. Like, I've invested pretty good in that. Like, maybe. Maybe cruise on that part a little bit. And maybe I. I double down more on the sunlight thing or double down on the stretching thing. And like, I mean, are you constantly having to have that conversation?

[Sal DiStefano]

It's a lot better now. It's. It's. I've definitely needed supernatural intervention. Lots of prayer. It's actually for the first time in my life, really. You know, I'm starting to get into it. It sucks, though, because it sucks because it's like, it's breaking down this, like, idol that I've identified for so long. So I work out way less now, but I. It's just. Because it's just making it even more revealing of this kind of attachment that I have.

[Caller]

It.

[Sal DiStefano]

You know, what saved my life this whole time is training people. Otherwise I would have gone way off the deep end.

[Justin Andrews]

Sure, sure. Because you can see, obviously, because I'm preaching yourself. You see yourself in people.

[Sal DiStefano]

Well, I'm preaching I care about you're. You're my client. I really do care about you. And so I could tell you the right things to do.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

And then it's. If I do that enough times, which was all day long when I was training clients, I'd start to hear my own self.

[Caller]

Finger will turn back.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, yeah. What is that one? Like, when one finger's pointing, three fingers.

[Justin Andrews]

Are pointing back at you.

[Sal DiStefano]

So that was.

[Justin Andrews]

Now, are you at a point place in this? Because you've been on this journey now for a little while. Are you. Are you able to clearly see the benefits to that? Like, you're attaching, like, okay, look, because, I mean, just like we give advice to clients, right. As to help them move away from the scale or the mirror of looking a certain way is, you know, showing them, like, hey, but this part of your life, look. What. How much better are you aware of those things? Are there. Are there things that are unfolding for you? Like, oh, the most recent thing I've really connected is I'm. I do now this or that right now.

[Sal DiStefano]

It's surface stuff, like, better sleep. And, you know, I feel better. I have more energy because I'm not beating myself up as much. And I'm also getting a lot of, like, this, like, these. These gifts, these. These gifts of grace where I'm getting compliments on how I look, even though I know I have a little less muscle. I'm less, like, whatever.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

So I'm like, I know why? You know. Okay, thanks. God. You're trying to show me that, you know. Still doing okay.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

But it's. It's just going to get deeper and deeper. I know I'm at the beginning of it, so I'm acknowledging right. Right now, like, this is still a work in progress.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. But I mean, I feel like you've had great momentum. I. I haven't felt like you've had. Is there anything currently right now within that that you're, like, targeting on, fixing or working on?

[Sal DiStefano]

I'm still trying to make the leap to do something athletic that's not lifting weights. It's still a big.

[Caller]

Waiting for you.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, dude, I know you are.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, that's got to be really difficult considering that's not even like a. A. A natural appeal to you.

[Sal DiStefano]

No.

[Justin Andrews]

So that's real. That's got to be. I could imagine.

[Sal DiStefano]

Super difficult.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Super magical.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. And I haven't made it yet, so that's. I'm like, I'm trying to get myself motivated to do that, but it's, you know, be great.

[Justin Andrews]

Joins like a basketball league or something like that.

[Sal DiStefano]

Like, what.

[Justin Andrews]

What is this?

[Sal DiStefano]

So I can see you guys make fun of me.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

Hey, speaking of, the craziest. Did we talk about on the show yet? The Liver King documentary? Did we go?

[Justin Andrews]

No, no, no. Did you actually finally watch it? I was.

[Sal DiStefano]

Watched a lot of it.

[Justin Andrews]

I was waiting for one of you guys to watch it.

[Sal DiStefano]

Do that guy is.

[Justin Andrews]

He's not a good person. No, he's not. He's not a good person.

[Caller]

He didn't come on the show.

[Sal DiStefano]

There's some issues there, dude. There's some big issues. Like, he's a. He's definitely. He. I don't think he knows how to be authentic to himself, let alone to anybody else. It's like this huge. It's like this Persona totally. He's like. It's almost like an actor being the. The role all the time.

[Justin Andrews]

I.

[Caller]

It's almost like, I don't know. You guys know, I've seen comedians, like, where this is how, like you're Larry the Cable Guy or like, even what's his name, Andrew Dice Clay becomes a Persona. And then you literally walk around and, like, that's your Persona now. That's who you are now.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah.

[Caller]

It's like an identity. And, like, I just don't think he's. He has. There's no contrast now with who he really is.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, you remember how not to. I won't throw the person's name you guys Will know, though, right away. Early on, we interviewed somebody who was big in the fitness space. And we were so annoyed by the way he was talking to us.

[Sal DiStefano]

He couldn't turn it off.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, yeah. Like off camera. We weren't even recording and it was like. Yeah. I felt like he was his. We were on his YouTube channel.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Performative. Everything's performance.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. It's like, yo, bro, it's just a four of us in here. Right. You know, you don't need to do that right now. That would draw. It would have drove me crazy at the point we're at now. Like, that. That same person were to be interviewed by us now, I would just call it out where I. I would have a really hard time letting the liver king sit in our studio with his shirt off. I would have just.

[Sal DiStefano]

Would have just.

[Justin Andrews]

You know, he's done every interview. He does every interview like that. It would have just. It would have just drove me crazy. Like, bro, calm the down.

[Sal DiStefano]

Part of the story. Part of the story, I think, is giving him a lot of strength and energy because I do think he care. I don't know the guy. Okay. So just based off this documentary. Yeah. It does appear that he cares about his family and his kids.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

And his two sons were really sick. Sounded like a lot of autoimmune issues.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

And going on a quote unquote ancestral diet, which was high in.

[Justin Andrews]

So I don't believe that.

[Sal DiStefano]

You think. You don't think.

[Justin Andrews]

I think. I think it's all. I think it's. I think it's even more so. And the reason why I believe that if you watched.

[Sal DiStefano]

I mean, I wouldn't be a hard stretch.

[Justin Andrews]

If you. If you listen to the, The, The. The company that he hired, the marketing team that. Did you. Did you see that person? They. They continue to. And he brings up. He even brings up not believing that because they manufactured a lot of that story. That's his story. This is his.

[Caller]

You have to have a story to get that viral.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes. And so he's like, I don't even know what to believe you. Because he lied to us about the steroid thing. He's like, so, I mean, how much of his kid thing was truth? I mean, I don't see any video or documentation of anything serious that was going on with him. So I don't. I don't believe any of it. And then you. I don't think you made it that far in the documentary either. To hear. He did open up and share towards the end that he's been like, this scammer since he was, like, a kid, and he's just continued to get away with these scams, and they just kept getting. They kept escalating.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

So I. I really think that's what he's an example of.

[Caller]

Liars.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he told a story of how. And I just. I mean, just. To me, this just shows what kind of characteristic or character you are. When he was working for GNC in his. I think it was teens or early twenties, you back then. I don't know if GNC still does this or not, but you. If you brought back a bottle of creatine half used and said, oh, this is, you know, my. I'm breaking out or making my digestion. Whatever reason, whatever reason, they'll. They would take it back. They would take the bottle back and refund you right away. And he figured that out while he was working at gnc. And so he would collect all these bottles, then he would use a receipt paper from GNC, then he'd go over to other GNCs and collect money from these. And so he was running. And he was running a massive scam like that, like, for a long time.

[Caller]

Like, so no moral conviction.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, that didn't. That didn't bother him at all. It just escalated. And then he did something else after. I don't remember what the next scammy did, but I think Deliver King, the Persona, the character is. It was just. Was built, I think, because he built it with the intent of, I want to get a million followers. I want to have a bunch of people.

[Sal DiStefano]

And the timing was right, too, because right around when he started to blow up, there was so much negative messaging on masculinity and being a man.

[Justin Andrews]

And the vegan thing was so hot.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. And so now you've got masculine and primal and, you know, eat like an animal timing thing. And so you had a lot of dudes that were lost, that identified, and there's some truth to what he says, but a lot of it's not true. So the timing was. And he just became a character.

[Caller]

Just read Mark Sisson's book, if you want. You know, the actual, like, what. He was banking most of his knowledge.

[Sal DiStefano]

That's right. Yeah, that's right. That's what.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. So I don't. Yeah, I'm not of. I'm. Was never a fan. We were never a fan of him. He's been trying to come on the show for years. Well, before all the stuff came out. We almost did. After the stuff came out, just for the. The end. I. There's a part of me that'd be interested to pry into that.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

And see if we could get more honesty out of it. But you could tell he struggles with being honest.

[Caller]

There's no way. Yeah, he just would put on this big show facade and you wouldn't be able to break.

[Sal DiStefano]

Come in here with his big animals. Yeah, dude, make no shirt.

[Caller]

Bring some big ass organ meat. Like a bunch of like, no, thanks, dude.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, you could see it too in the. In the documentary. You can see, you know, they. It's a documentary. And so obviously they staged scenes with his kids and stuff like that. And you could see his own kids that they couldn't even keep a straight face, like, while he's, you know, talking to them. Like, all right, kids. And now let's, you know, let's say thank you to this animal that we just slayed.

[Caller]

She's so over the top. So to keep that.

[Justin Andrews]

So cringe.

[Caller]

It's a prison for him. You create a prison.

[Sal DiStefano]

Wow, that's a great way to put it.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, no, it's a. You're a torturous prison. You're a hundred, 100.

[Sal DiStefano]

He's making money, he's getting fame, it's supporting his family. How do you back out of that?

[Justin Andrews]

So that was the biggest thing that resonated for me for watching that is what we talked about. And one of the worst things that could have ever happened to us was when we switched over to somebody else, helping steer our content would have been having massive success. I mean, that was hard. That was the big takeaway for me is watching someone like that who. Because he.

[Sal DiStefano]

What a blessing that it didn't work.

[Justin Andrews]

No. And that was the big thing. Right. So he talks about. Or the marketing guy. This is the marketing guy who he hired. Talks about how he struggled with, like, some of the messaging and things that they wanted him to do and say because it was like out of character and. But they're like, this is the stuff that'll go viral. We got it. We got to do these things. And he would do like a hundred takes to say, make one reel to make one 30 second reel. But then, like, it. If one of them hit and then like a light bulb. Yeah, a light bulb went off. Like, oh, this is what people want. This is what I need to do. And so then he leaned into that. And the more he leaned into it, the more viral he would go. And then that escalates because the same thing that made you go viral is no longer Viral or Doesn't make you go viral anymore. So you have to go the next level. Next level. And then you're making millions of dollars. Now all of a sudden, you're sucked into. I'm pretending to be this thing that I'm really not. Like, that would be a total prison. It'd be horrible. And so I think back to, you know, and I think our. Our original intentions were rooted in a. In a good thing of, hey, trying to help the business. Like, this thing. This provides an income for a lot, you know, not. It's not just four of us talking this podcast. And so, like, man, keeping the business at least maintaining or growing.

[Sal DiStefano]

Well, the trick that happens, the game that happens, is you. You have your straight path, which is. This is authentic. This is real. And you can veer off of it a little bit and be like, well, it's still helping people. We're still giving a good message. We're still telling the truth. But now that you're off the straight path a little bit, and if that starts to work, you keep going down that path and it moves further and further and further away.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

And then you're in this place where you're like, how do I get back? How do I get back?

[Justin Andrews]

You can't, because. And then you. And then imagine you elevate your life, dumping everything. You buy the huge ranch and all the toys and the. And. And all of a sudden you have this incredible.

[Caller]

Getting rewarded for it.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Crazy overhead and income for it. And then you look back and you're like, I'm so far from that original guy or that original message that I had. And so. Yeah, no, that's a. It's a total prison, Justin. And I think that that would be the worst. The worst part about that was the big. The big takeaway I took from that was, wow, what a cool.

[Sal DiStefano]

How blessed we were.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

Because it didn't work.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. I mean, I admitted to you that, man, it would have been. It would have been difficult if we were seeing really, really positive things in the business. Even though we were like, about the content, we're like, ah, this is like. Because at first it wasn't bad. It was like, oh, this is helpful. Oh, this is cool. This, man. It's like, what? We have to do that again? We do that again. Really?

[Sal DiStefano]

We already suck.

[Justin Andrews]

We already addressed a conversation with Justin.

[Sal DiStefano]

At our Christmas party where him and we're looking at each other. I'm like, bro, this sucks. And him and I were like, yes, we got to stop this. Yeah, this does not feel like we were the same. Yeah.

[Caller]

Conviction.

[Sal DiStefano]

But it would have been an argument. There would have been a big argument, a fight and a debate. And I don't know, man. I think it would have been hard to. It would have been hard to argue against the affirmations of success or downloads or whatever.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. That's why I think a lot of this young generation that wants. And I say young generation because I don't think this is different to other versions. It's just that it's a different. It's different. The way it manifests right now manifests in this Instagram fame or YouTube fame. And. And it's. It's like the number one thing that kids want. And as parents, I feel like it's. It's so important that we communicate and help these kids understand that It's. It's probably not what you. You. You think you want it, but I don't think you do because it can turn into this. This massive prison.

[Sal DiStefano]

Totally. I got to tell you guys, we got a message from a trainer who's opening a studio and they were asking the question was, what kind of equipment should I put in my studio? Of course, I said PRX for the squat racks. And I thought, man, I can't think of a more. Forget about the fact that PRX squat racks fold into the wall. They give you a lot of space. Right. So you could put in your garage now you can park your car, whatever. They're the most stable squat racks. Yeah, they're the best squat racks for stability. Solid, solid, solid. They're more solid than commercial gym squat routes.

[Caller]

And they have the full cage option too now, which is huge.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, dude. And I was thinking when I had my studio, I would have loved that because there were moments where I could have folded it in, had extra space, bring it back out. Stable, like the most stable.

[Caller]

Like floor space is like such a valuable commodity to use a. A gym owner and to be able to adjust that and have like more of a class setting in there or have like a presentation.

[Sal DiStefano]

Oh, it's a no brainer.

[Caller]

It's like.

[Sal DiStefano]

No brainer.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. No, you bring it up. The. The gyms and private studios. I actually had a stat that I had saved. I read this. That was interesting. Gyms and studios to grow 134% top 237 to top $237 billion brick and mortar fitness is booming with global gym and studio revenue projected to reach 237 billion by 2034.

[Caller]

Look at that.

[Sal DiStefano]

Wow, this is great. Yeah, this is really great. I think the future, I'll say it here right now on this podcast, if you look at the gym industry, what's happened is the kind of mid range, big box gym has kind of disappeared. And you're either going to do the, the low cost, high volume planet fitness model or you're going to have the high end gym, steam room, the sauna, the towels, much more expensive. Those are the ones that are thriving. But I think that there's another type of gym here that I think could crush, which is a trainer led gym. A gym where it's about results and results gym. Yes. Where it's the training staff and team that run the facility and people still work out in there. But it's high touch, high service, high community, high value community.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean I think that, I think.

[Sal DiStefano]

That would crush if people do that, right? That would crush.

[Justin Andrews]

I think what you are watching us kind of build right now and not with like, I mean we did not start.

[Sal DiStefano]

It wasn't the intention.

[Justin Andrews]

It wasn't the intention whatsoever. But what, what I'm seeing unfold as we're, as we're going through this process right now is what I think the future is going to look like. Now obviously not every trainer is going to reach the size of a mind pump podcast, but I definitely think that you can build a pretty large Internet following and community through helping people on online, whether through a podcast, YouTube channel, social media. And I think that paired with a private type of in studio where you live is like the ultimate business for like if imagine though, knowing what you guys know now about what we're, what we're building towards and we didn't have all the other things like how, how fun, how easy, how cool of a business it would be just for the four of us to be running this small little studio. I think it's, I mean if we're still training people and like that would be very viable business.

[Sal DiStefano]

I think it's very possible, especially in bigger cities to have a 15 to 25,000 square foot gym with a training staff that's let's say 20 trainers. But those 20 trainers crush and the majority of the revenue comes from the trainers. I think that those gyms can produce deep six figures a month, be highly profitable and have incredible long lasting success because people won't leave. But I think what would require is a incredibly proficient and good training staff. One that really does if you do that, like think of the training, the training teams that we've managed in the past that were just killers. Imagine if you Took them increase their pay, responsibility and made a gym focused on them the potential for that.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, and imagine you give them now the power of the Internet and social media to complement that also. So now they're, they're, they're not just fishing out of their small community. Yeah. They're not confined to just that. They have the ability to reach outside of that. And I do think that this is the future. This kind of hybrid online, in person.

[Sal DiStefano]

Real career there trainer led gyms.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

Completely different than a small studio. Speaking of trainers, Doug, is the, is this going to air before the, before our webinar? Can I talk about it? Okay, so trainerwebinar.com if you're a trainer or coach and you want to learn how to sell training, I'm going to teach you how to sell training. It's free. Go to trainerweb.com sign up.

[Justin Andrews]

And we have the. They're already live both on the YouTube channel and the podcast. We did the three episodes. So if you're a trainer and you haven't listened to those, those were specifically geared to. Do we title them anything different or. They just have.

[Sal DiStefano]

It's a three part series each one.

[Justin Andrews]

Does it say like part of a three part a trainer on it? Does it. Did we.

[Doug]

Yeah, it does.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay, so it's like. So it was a three part that went up last week right from when this is airing. So you still go back and listen to those, listen to those three and then they. And then the webinar for sure.

[Sal DiStefano]

Element has a new flavor. Lemonade Salt element is the best electrolyte powder you'll find anywhere. Has the right amount of sodium to fuel your workouts, to give you better pumps. No artificial sweeteners, no sugar. Go check them out. Go to drink lmnt.com forward/mindpump. By the way, on that link you'll get a free sample pack with any drink mix purchase. Back to the show.

[Doug]

Our first caller is Laura Lee from Pennsylvania.

[Sal DiStefano]

Hi Laura Lee. Hello.

[Justin Andrews]

Hello, hello.

[Laura Lee]

Hey, how's it going?

[Sal DiStefano]

We're good. How can we help you?

[Laura Lee]

Good. First, I just wanted to start by saying thank you so much for everything you guys do. I listen to your podcast every day. I feel like I've learned so much from it. So thank you for that.

[Sal DiStefano]

Awesome.

[Laura Lee]

So my question, I am a 31, almost 32 next month year old, mother of two young kids, 8 and 5, former 4 Sport High School athlete and a former college soccer player. Recently, for the past year I've started playing soccer again in an adult co ed League and I've realized that playing against these younger kids, some of them are still in college or just graduated and there's guys playing in this league. I realized I've kind of lost a step in my older age now. And it's a pretty competitive league. We play about once a week. And I just want to know what I can do to improve my speed and agility. I feel like sometimes my legs are just real heavy while I'm playing. I don't know if that's just because I am a little older now or my cardio is just not as good as it was back when I was in college. Currently I am doing maps and 15 performance and I'm adding about 15 minutes of either cardio or sports practice on top of that. And I just wanted to know what you guys think, what program I should be running to improve my speed and agility.

[Justin Andrews]

Actually that's a pretty good protocol.

[Caller]

Besides advanced, how.

[Sal DiStefano]

How long was it because. So how long was it that you stopped playing soccer regularly before you started this league?

[Laura Lee]

So it's been probably about 10 years.

[Sal DiStefano]

Okay. That's why you feel the way you do. By the way, it's not your age. You're still pretty young.

[Caller]

Removed from it.

[Sal DiStefano]

You just, yeah, you just, you just out of practice, you haven't practiced for a while now. There's a lot of memory there. You were at a high level. So you know, you obviously know quite.

[Justin Andrews]

A bit and know your skills are probably still there.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. But it's been, it's been a long time. The best way to get back to what you were doing before is to play more soccer. So you're with your workout, you're doing great and I love the 15 minutes.

[Caller]

Perfect. Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

I think focus all your additional time on, on the drills. You remember when you were in college, dribbling the ball, hitting the net, you know, practicing the game is what's going to get you there the fastest. It's not going to be an additional workout.

[Caller]

100% to piggyback on that too though, really assessing like where you have sticking points in terms of like you feel stiff or you feel a little less mobile. Being away from that type of like really dynamic, you know, fast twitch movement exposes a lot of, you know, some of the, the previous patterns, like even the, you know, the day to day stuff that you just kind of form into and so to really open you up a bit more and really focus and you know, on the mobility side is going to do wonders for, for you know, promoting that, that type of Explosive movement.

[Justin Andrews]

Are you. Do you live close to like a soccer field or a place where you can go do like drills out on the grass or anything?

[Laura Lee]

I, I do. I live right next to the college I went to. So the turf fields maybe half a mile away. It's not that far.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I mean, I could, I could see adding a day or two in there of like sports specific conditioning on the grass that would benefit you. Right. So if, you know, you got a couple days where you can go over there in addition to you, because you're already playing once a week, you already doing the right program, it sounds like you have a good balance with it. If you could squeeze out another day or two when you go out to the field and spend a Good, you know, 30 minutes or so doing some drills. Yeah, like sports specific drills on the grass that'll translate well into the condition.

[Caller]

If you feel strong and stable in your joints and you add in more endurance. So you have that kind of gas tank you used to have, you'll definitely feel like you're back.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. One of the mistakes that, that athletes will make whether they played competitively before or even while they're being competitive, is that they use workouts to improve their ability to play their sport. Now there is a, there definitely is a value to using workouts, but. But that has to be a value that you can't find or necessarily get or target from playing your sport. But what you're expressing is that agility, the quickness. I lost the step. Whenever I hear an athlete say I lost the step. What that kind of means is a little bit of agility, speed and timing. You're going to get that from practicing. So in a perfect world, if you were my client, I would tell you to join another league that is low level, not like as competitive as the one you're playing, but one that is more recreational, that allows you to go play one or two more days a week. That'll get you there faster than anything that you're going to do on, you know, drill wise or workout wise.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay.

[Laura Lee]

Yeah, it makes sense.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. But as far as workout is concerned, that's perfect.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

Maps 15 performance is perfect with, you know, going out and playing hard, you know, playing a sport in a challenging way. Any more than that, it would be too much.

[Justin Andrews]

Do you have the advanced version too, or just the 15?

[Sal DiStefano]

Just 15 performance.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, we have the advanced.

[Laura Lee]

Yeah, just the 15 performance. Yeah, I've been doing the advanced version.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay.

[Sal DiStefano]

Perfect. That's absolutely perfect.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yep, that's it. And then from A diet perspective. Are you doing anything diet wise to help.

[Laura Lee]

My maintenance? Calories are probably around 2,800 right now, hitting 170 grams of protein a day at least. Mostly whole natural foods. Little bit of sprinkling, some bad stuff in there, but mostly pretty good.

[Sal DiStefano]

Good, good. And then is your body weight close to what it was when you were playing in college?

[Laura Lee]

I'm probably about 10 pounds heavier than I was then. I like to think that it's muscle, but there's probably a little bit of fat in there too.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, even if it is muscle, you coming down and weight a little bit would also give you that feeling of like.

[Sal DiStefano]

That's right.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Be lighter on your feet.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, you're, you're, keep that in mind.

[Sal DiStefano]

Your body awareness is different. Right. So if I took you back when you were in college and magically added 10 pounds on you, even if it was muscle, your, your, your, you would be off, your timing would be off. It's a different body. So another thing that would help would be coming down a body weight. But to be quite honest with you, I think if you just add extra playing time and eat healthy, that'll start to naturally happen. Okay, that's it.

[Justin Andrews]

I like it.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, you're doing good.

[Laura Lee]

Thanks. Can I ask one other quick question associated with that?

[Sal DiStefano]

Of course.

[Laura Lee]

So for the cardio that I've been doing, I've kind of been mixing in either a one or two mile run or some like, sprint intervals. Do you think either of those would be preferable to the other?

[Sal DiStefano]

Probably the sprints. I mean, you know what soccer is like.

[Justin Andrews]

Even though, even though there's, there's moments in soccer where you have like sustained running like that too. So. Yeah, I don't think, I don't think either one's bad. I think actually getting good at both. This is like, for example, if I could get you to do one or two days, like if you can't join a league like Sal saying, because I think that's the easiest way to go. Get that. Then I would do drills on the, on the field, those type of drills. I would do a little bit of a, you know, a moderate run, like a mile run. Then I would do, you know, shuttle drills, I would do sprints, I would do, you know, pedal backwards, karaoke liners. I mean, I'm gonna do all the conditioning stuff out on that field. And so you, you do both, right? No, it's not one or the other. It's all of it.

[Caller]

Specificity wins every single time. So if you're on the grass and you're cutting and you're, you know, adapting to that. Like, you're going to do much better than you are just aimlessly running for two miles.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. Soccer is, like, it's sprinting interrupted by, like, running.

[Caller]

It's so constant running and stopping.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. So your rest is a run. You need to.

[Caller]

You need to match and emulate that as. As much as possible.

[Sal DiStefano]

That's right.

[Laura Lee]

Okay. Yeah, that sounds great.

[Sal DiStefano]

Awesome.

[Justin Andrews]

All right.

[Sal DiStefano]

All right. Thanks for calling in.

[Laura Lee]

Yeah, thank you so much.

[Sal DiStefano]

You got it. Yeah. If you stop practice, you stop a skill for that long, you're gonna. It's gonna feel awkward.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, and for sure, to your point about the bodies, like, even if. Even if she's in better shape because she has more muscle on her body, 10 more pounds on a body throws off your timing. Totally.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, this has been. I feel like my problem with wanting to get back in basketball is I had that big, long gap of not playing, and I got more jacked. Like, I look better that today than I did when I played basketball, but I'm carrying 25, 30 more pounds. Even though it's mostly muscle, it's. It's completely changed.

[Caller]

And you're really strong in different directions.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes.

[Caller]

Which matters. You know, when you. When you go to test that on the basketball court, it, you know, doesn't have the same effect.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

And weight, you know, they say there's good weight. Well, weight is only good if your strength is. Is higher than the weight. You have a better strength to weight ratio. So when you're trying to change directions and you're 10 pounds heavier, that's a lot to. Well, that's a lot.

[Justin Andrews]

And to Justin's point, I, you know, you. If you got 10 pounds of muscle from lifting a barbell versus cutting left or right, that's 10 different types. 10 pounds different. Right. If I got 10 pounds of muscle built on me from doing sprints and cuts and moves, like, and that is so applicable to the field versus I got 10 pounds of muscle on me from lifting a barbell. Like, it's just not going to translate.

[Sal DiStefano]

It doesn't. But also, like, you want to know what the ideal soccer player looks like? Look at professional soccer players. What do they typically look like? They're not big. They're typically smaller. They're not big. And that's because legs.

[Caller]

But lean.

[Sal DiStefano]

At some point, muscle is even a detriment in that sport.

[Doug]

Our next caller is Brandon from Utah.

[Sal DiStefano]

What's up, dude?

[Caller]

What's happening, man?

[Justin Andrews]

Hey, guys.

[Sal DiStefano]

How you doing good, man? How can we help you?

[Brandon]

Huge fan. Started listening to your stuff like two years ago. Listen to every episode since then. You guys are amazing. The fitness part, the. The dad part, the Christianity part, I love it all.

[Adam Schaefer]

So thank you.

[Sal DiStefano]

You got it.

[Brandon]

Okay, so I'm 40, I'm a dad, I've got four kids.

[Sal DiStefano]

I'm.

[Brandon]

I'm doing my best with them. I'm pretty present, so take that into account. I'm not neglecting them, but I want to do 2A days and become like a killer hybrid athlete. And I know you recently did a podcast. This is my home gym. I have a pretty good setup. And I recently did Anabolic, which was my first program from you guys, which absolutely loved. And I just did phase one of aesthetic, so I'm going to start phase two today anyway. Oh, a few other numbers. My testosterone is 800. I have like high free. I did just start two months ago. CJC epamorelin through Dr. So I've been doing that.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Brandon]

For two months. Yeah. So my main question is how do I incorporate cardio in an effective way while still following your programs, which I love, and how this is related or maybe even more important for me. How do I time carb intakes? Intake and, and know how much I need to eat? So I'm utilizing carbs instead of whatever else to fuel that type of training.

[Sal DiStefano]

Okay, good question.

[Justin Andrews]

Let me ask to the desired outcome. I know you kind of just said like this hybrid athlete, but are you, are you planning on playing a sport? Is you or you just want to be in great cardiovascular shape? Like, do you have a specific thing you want to use it for?

[Brandon]

It's really just to be in great shape. I mean, I, I think it'd be fun to do some hyrox competitions, but I'm not trying to do that, like for, you know, a career or anything like that.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Brandon]

So it's really just to be in, in amazing shape.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay.

[Sal DiStefano]

Okay. And then time. How much time are you excited? Two a day is me. Okay. For people. Listen, that's two workouts a day. What do you. How much time are you looking to spend?

[Justin Andrews]

It's not necessary, though.

[Brandon]

I can do whatever I could. I can spend as much. I do love it. So I can do as much or as little as you want me to do. You know, I probably fall into the category of, you would probably say, oh, do less, but I try to because I get like 17, 18,000 steps a day, but probably, probably 14,000 of them are just walking on the treadmill while reading or something. It's not like I'm running a lot right now, mostly because I've been waiting for this call to figure out what I should do.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. So, okay, so if you want stamina, endurance, strength, the hybrid athlete type of deal, you want to do minimal strength training.

[Justin Andrews]

Aesthetics, not the right program aesthetic is.

[Sal DiStefano]

Way too much volume for, for that goal. Yeah, it would be very hard to add any like stamina, you know, endurance building to esthetic because you're going to likely are you just doing too much. You might not over train. You might have this ridiculous crazy genetics, but you'll, you'll definitely be doing more than is what's considered optimal. So the strength training would look more like Maps Anabolic or Maps 15. And then the second workout of the day would be more geared towards your endurance to stamina, which would be a combination of things like a sprint day, which would be like a 20 minute, you know, combined total of workouts with mobility. And then, you know, other days would be more of a longer, you know, style run, maybe three or four miles. A lot of your time should be spent on mobility. So go ahead.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, just, I'm just, I think you, and I think you would agree then I would recommend performance and then just add the cardio to that.

[Sal DiStefano]

Oh, there you go.

[Justin Andrews]

So it's already got the mobility built in for him. He's already doing things that are going to be multi directional. So he's gonna get the benefits from that. Then really it's just like you're, like you're starting to allude to is you have your, your mobility days and then just tack on some of your conditioning training. So you would tell you go mobility and then you attack on, you know, one day's hill sprints, then the other time you do mobility, it would be something like a more in a longer run, like you just break. You would just every, every mobility said you have your three days a week of training, which could technically go down to two if you needed it to, depending on how taxed you are. But three days, a week of strength training and then your two to three days of mobility work with conditioning. That's what it would look like.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

And you get. I tell you what, if you mix that conditioning up with long runs with short sprints, with hill runs, with types of footwork drills, you, you're going to get in pretty badass shape.

[Sal DiStefano]

Now what I'm going to say is super important with this, Brandon. So it's very, very important you pay attention. I'm about to Say, when you're doing this, do not try to get stronger and improve endurance at the same time. It's one or the other. So one of those modes of training is going to be more of a maintenance style. So let's say you're like, okay, for the next 60 days, I'm going to improve my endurance. Well, then what the strength training looks like is moderate intensity and maintenance. Then let's say, all right, the next 60 days, I'm gonna try and increase my lifts. Then the stamina style training looks more like maintenance, and the strength training is more challenging.

[Justin Andrews]

Great, Great point.

[Sal DiStefano]

If you push both, you'll get neither.

[Justin Andrews]

Yep.

[Brandon]

So if I'm doing performance. So since I've been doing anabolic anesthetics, should I do the next 60? Let's. And is. Is 60. 60, 60. Is that a good cadence? Should I have that be, you know, more cardiovascular focus? Since I've already been doing strength, I would.

[Justin Andrews]

I would do 30. 30. Okay, so we'll send you mass performance. So you have it. I have it.

[Adam Schaefer]

I have.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay, so I want you. I was gonna do it, so I'd want you to run Maps performance as laid out. And then on the mobility days, you are just going to attack on your condition. And then you decide, okay, am I really wanting to get after the cardiovascular side right now or strength training and whatever that is? Take the advice that Sal just said. So let's say you go. Well, I, you know, I really want. I haven't done really much with the cardiovascular side, so let's make the first 30 days focus that. So you're lifting. Looks like every time you go in the gym. Oh, I could probably do a little more. That. That's okay. Go. Moderate, go. You're just. You're just. You're just trying to hold on to your muscle. You're not building muscle right now. It's. I'm just trying to hang on to what I have. I'm getting really good at the conditioning. You do that for 30 days, then you hit the next 30 days, and then you flip it. You go, okay, now I'm gonna kind of just maintain on the cardiovascular side. I'm not gonna go hard on my sprints. I'm not gonna engage, increase my runs. I'm going to try and maintain my current times and levels, but I'm not really trying to add anything or do more. And then I'm going to really push the weights. Now I'm going to stretch myself. When it comes to adding more weight to the bar, that's how you think.

[Caller]

The weight is four is very, very focused on endurance and building your gas tank and durability. So you know, in mass performance phase four. Phase four, yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

So go.

[Caller]

So, so as you're to their point, like as you're doing the, the mobility days, you could add in like either separate. If you're doing double days, you could do like your sprints and everything later in the day or maybe you know, combine it with your mobility. But you know, that would be your kind of focus on those days and then you would run just as it's laid out like the next days, like more multiplanar focus. But then you can kind of sprinkle in. But then your, your entire dialed focus on endurance like comes, you know, already programmed in that phase.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. I think think of your progress when you're training this way as a step ladder. Okay. So it would look something like this, like okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna focus on stamina for the next 30 days. I'm gonna push it a little harder and then I'm gonna maintain that for a week or two and then I'm gonna push a little harder. Meanwhile, the strength training is just maintaining and then when you flip it's the other way around. If you push both, again, heavy strength.

[Caller]

Focus and then kind of shift.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, I can't stress this enough. If you push both, you'll probably get ne.

[Justin Andrews]

But if you do a good job of doing what we're saying because mass performance has four phases, by the time you get into phase four, you'll have elevated all of it. You'll be stronger, you'll be faster, you'll have better endurance. So long as you do it like that, if you try and overdo it, that's where injury happens, that's where regression happens. That's where you're going to get in trouble. And then the now we've addressed all the training now it's like getting in a diet. You just need to make sure you're fueled you with that amount of movement activity. Two hours before your workout, you're, you're getting loaded up with carbohydrates, you know, a good meal with carbohydrates in it and just staying fueled up.

[Sal DiStefano]

Like on the double day. On the double days, if you have those double days, make sure after the first workout you do have a post workout high carbohydrate and protein meal.

[Justin Andrews]

This is also where EAAs come into play. Right. You're somebody who we rarely, you never hear us recommend that to people, but you if you're doing this, you're the type of person who I would have, you know, get those kion EA pills and just take those throughout the day.

[Sal DiStefano]

The key with the carbs is going to be the most important thing with your food sources is ease of digestibility. What source of carbohydrates cause the feel like I just digest it very well. That's going to be more important than almost anything else. So for a lot of people that's probably white rice.

[Adam Schaefer]

Okay.

[Brandon]

And if I'm 61 almost 183 and doing 2 a days in this mops maps performance combo thing is like 400 grams of carbs. Is that good?

[Sal DiStefano]

Probably, yeah, probably.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, I also want to go back to it. You don't necessarily need to be doing two days though, just so you know to, to obtain this. Like you could, you could literally do the, the three days of strength training and then the days that are mobility days. So basically I would make it a six day day a week program. And the one, one day is purely strength training, the other day is mobility and skills and endurance, stamina stuff. And so you're just flip flopping like that. You don't really need to do double days. In fact, I, if I was your, if I was training you one on one and we were going through this together, I would definitely save the potential double days. After I've trained you this way for a while to see how you're, how you're doing.

[Caller]

Like if we've raised your base up.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes. If I see you like killing it and you're just getting stronger and faster and you're feeling amazing, then maybe I tap into that on the third month or whatever like that we start. Okay, let's add another day of conditioning in there to get. But you, I think you're more likely to overdo it right now than to underdo it with what we're talking about.

[Sal DiStefano]

You know, Brandon, when it comes to double days, there's a lot of confusion around how to do them in a way that's optimal. Most people think double days means adding volume. The real effective way to use a double day is to use your current volume that you do one day when you train during the day and split it up. That's the way to really do a double day. So what it would look like is I'm following, you know, maps, I'm following maps anabolic and I'm going to turn it into a double day. Well, how do I do that? Do I double the workout? No, I take the Workout and cut in half. That's how you make a double day effective. Everybody gets it. Thinks it's like, no, I'm doing twice as much. No, you're doing the same amount. You're just splitting it up.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

Allowing some recovery in between, that's all.

[Justin Andrews]

Which you could do that. So if you, if you like, let's say, you know, it's ideal, actually. Yeah. Kids are gone all day or something like that. And you have the opportunity to, like, get in the gym to twice that day, take your max performance workout and cut it in half. Focus on, you know, half of it in the early way and then half the other. And then what will happen when you do that is because you're cutting the volume in half, you'll have more strength, more to give to, to those three exercises versus having six exercises. And then what Sal is saying, most people go, oh, I'll do 12 then. And it's like, like, no, you're not going to get more that way. It doesn't work that way. So. But if using.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, well.

[Brandon]

And I do zero mobility now, and I'm not flexible at all. So I'm sure performance is going to.

[Sal DiStefano]

Help me a lot.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, for sure.

[Caller]

And keep in mind too, as you're doing your endurance, like, what are you, what, like what skill are you trying to really promote with that? Because if you're doing it constantly just for fatigue sake, you know, then that's, that's one thing. But if you're trying to get better at running, it has to be diligent and intentional every single run. Especially if you're sprinting so you get adequate rest, so you come back and you're doing, and you're, you're, you're mapping and you're modeling awesome form every time you get better in your skill versus the other, which is just. You get a little bit better endurance.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. It's funny. You, you, you just. What did you just say? Oh, your mobility and your tight. You know what's going to improve your performance the most is improving that. Yep. Yeah. You look like someone who's already in pretty good shape. And what you would note if I were to, like, if I were to improve your mobility right now with a magic wand, you're gonna, you would improve. Your performance would dramatically improve just from that.

[Justin Andrews]

That's why the program we laid out, the way we laid it out is gonna, it's gonna blow your mind, if you follow, if you listen to us. If you're, if you're stubborn, you don't listen to Us and you go do your own thing, then I can't promise anything.

[Brandon]

When it comes to you guys. I'm not stubborn, so.

[Justin Andrews]

All right, yeah. Well, then trust us. Follow it like that. I. I think it's gonna blow your mind. I think you're gonna have incredible results. In fact, I would love. I would love to, by the way, after you do this, you'd be a great person to talk to after it and follow up. So I'd love. I'd love.

[Brandon]

I would love to.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay.

[Brandon]

I love. I like doing the Murph. Do you think that's a good barometer for this overall health? Because it's a, you know, it's the exact same thing every time with the vest. And so I can see kind of my time and how I feel.

[Justin Andrews]

Not really. Well, not really. Here's why. Because you're not practicing the Murph this whole entire time. Even though there's. It, it, it. Some will translate. And I bet you would probably get a little bit better at the Murph for sure. It's not the same. Like, what you're better at. What will you be better off doing is like, spend a day of assessing all your things, your range of motion with like a squat or flexibility, a vertical jump, a one mile time, a shuttle run. Like, give yourself a series of tests that are like that and then know where your baseline is now and then come back at the end and then measure that.

[Sal DiStefano]

There's a way to do it with the Murph if you want that, if you like it. And the way to do it would be to do it once a week on one of those. Those days, and to do it at moderate intensity. And then every once in a while, you test yourself. But. But Adam's saying is important. You have to practice it. You know, you don't just not do it. And then. Okay, I'm going to test my Murph. You know, the people who do the Murf best, The ones that practice the murf.

[Brandon]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Okay, well, yeah, I like that sort of, you know, that fifth grade, you know, was whatever that test was.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, yeah, no, totally. The presidential test. Like, you do do something kind of. It sounds generic and lame, but it's like, that'll be a good test because that, that also tests your. If you do like pull ups and some basic shuttle runs.

[Caller]

Awesome. Like, yeah, do like a 40 yard dash. You know, like, let's get some speed in there. Let's get some vertical jump. Like you said, like, you know, some of those Measures for strength as well with your squat and you know, some of those numbers. I would just pay attention to that.

[Justin Andrews]

Primarily look up what the. What the combine does. See what they, what they do for the. That that day for all the college athletes and, and mimic it. I think that would be cool.

[Caller]

Used to be. I'm trying to think.

[Justin Andrews]

They had the 40 yard dash, they have the shuttle run, they have vertical jump. Yeah.

[Caller]

And then two we did in the weight room. We did bench press. Bench press. We did squat and we did power clean.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. So you do. I mean, I think that would be a cool way to. I mean, there's a lot of different ways you could do it. But test, test your baseline now and then test it at the end. And I think you'll see that. And I, I definitely would love to circle back with you and talk to you how this all went.

[Sal DiStefano]

Sweet.

[Brandon]

Hey, this is amazing. I don't want to take any more of your time. You guys are awesome. I'm gonna do every single thing you just said.

[Justin Andrews]

Awesome. Appreciate the support, Brandon. Anyway, reach back out to us after you've gone through. Okay.

[Brandon]

Okay, we'll do.

[Sal DiStefano]

Thank you. All right, take it easy.

[Justin Andrews]

That's cool.

[Sal DiStefano]

Well, it's cool that Jim was cool. I know, right?

[Caller]

He's got the setup.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. You know, I, I can't stress enough this. Enough when, when people try to work out twice a day, the. The approach is so wrong. It's like, oh, I could do twice as much call. No, you take your current amount and split it now. You're gonna get better results.

[Justin Andrews]

No, it was such a good point. And then the other great point you made too is that is focusing on one or the other through that process. That's another problem is like you got somebody who's just pushing at all, everything, everything. And it's like, yeah, that's where you go back.

[Caller]

Even if you. You're quote, unquote hybrid. Like it's the thing is we have to. To develop those skills individually first.

[Justin Andrews]

100. 100.

[Doug]

Our next caller is Dwayne from the Turks and Caicos.

[Sal DiStefano]

Hey, welcome back, dude.

[Justin Andrews]

How you doing?

[Dwayne]

What's happening, gentlemen? How are you today?

[Justin Andrews]

Good, good.

[Sal DiStefano]

How can we help you?

[Dwayne]

Well, I was on in January. I was in Jamaica at the time.

[Justin Andrews]

Actually.

[Dwayne]

I did go back to work for a little while, but now I'm down in Turks and Caicos. And I came on in January because I was just. I couldn't get your programs to work. And it's probably because I wasn't following them. Right. Because I needed, I felt like I needed more time in the gym. I hear you guys talk about unhealthy relationships with the gym a lot. And I'm thinking, yeah, it sounds like it reverbs in my head what you're talking about. And so we had a great conversation. Hey, maybe you don't need to go to the gym as much. Maybe challenge yourself to not go as much. And what do. You said something to me near the end. You said, I'd love to have a chance to coach you. So I left our chat in January thinking, okay, that pretty cool. So I'm thinking, okay, if I win the lottery, then I can come down to California and spend a lot of money and you can coach me. And I thought, well, that's not reasonable because I bought a lottery ticket and didn't win. And then I had a plan in place where I can take a four month leave absence. You know, I got some good savings. I just got to convince my wife that that's going to work. That didn't go so well either. And what my wife said to me was quite funny. She said, haven't you bought their programs but never really followed them? And she said, you know, isn't that kind of like getting the coaching? And I'm like, well, no, you don't understand. Coaching's always better. She goes, well, how about you try the program first? So I did. I grabbed aesthetics and I followed it letter, letter, word for word. I did. I tracked everything. The first time I've ever tracked during my workouts. I was in the gym three days a week, the off days. Did some cardio, my trigger. I started doing some yoga on the off days as well. And I didn't feel like I was missing the gym. And my, I got great progress. Like my. Everything's gone up about 15 to 20. I'm feeling strong and maybe I'm not even feeling as tired as I didn't know I was feeling tired, but. But I'm not. So I've just wrapped up the aesthetics program and I think I'm going to jump over to Anabolic and do the same thing. So I just wanted to give you guys a chance to say I told you so, because you did.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, no, good job.

[Justin Andrews]

I appreciate that, Dwayne.

[Sal DiStefano]

It's hard.

[Caller]

Yeah, it's humbling.

[Sal DiStefano]

It's hard when you've been doing something for so long and you have that kind of, you know, attachment to exercise and it, and it's very difficult to kind of step outside of that. I'm gonna, I'm gonna be straight with you. I. You're. You're gonna do less volume and get even better results.

[Caller]

Yeah, that's right. Now, you know, you just started.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. So. But great job, man. And this is good because what's happening is your, your fitness and health knowledge and understanding is maturing. This is what happens on this path of fitness and health is over time it becomes, well, ideally it starts to mature and you start to understand things a little bit differently. Like, I wish I know. I KNEW, you know, 20 years ago what I know now. I can't even imagine what I would have been able to accomplish. So. No, you're. This is great, man. Maps Anabolic's gonna get you real strong.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

It's just hard because, and I always bring this up on the show, that everything else in our life, we were rewarded for harder work doing more of it. And so it feels counterintuitive to think to do less is going to get me more results because nothing else is like that. You work harder, you make more money, you read more, you get smarter. Like you, you do, you practice a sport, you get better. Like everything else in life, the more we do of it, the, the better or the more we get rewarded. Building muscle and getting lean and, and fit is not that way. There's a science to it, there's an art to it, and more does not equal more results. And that's a hard thing to really connect those dots. It's probably for. For an already fitness person like we have, I feel like there's a great divide of people. I have one side of people who, I never even talk to them about that because they haven't strung 30 days in a row of working out. And so they don't need that advice of doing less. They need the advice of can you just be consistent for a couple months and see what happens. But then you have the other side, which are the people that love to work out, and they've connected the dots of all the things that makes them feel great. And telling that person who has already connected the dots that I feel great working out all these days, hey, maybe you should do less and get more results. That just does not resonate with that person at all. So you're very normal.

[Dwayne]

It doesn't at all.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, it doesn't at all.

[Dwayne]

You know what? I hear you talk about it all the time, right? And it was, it was that. It was. You said, I'd love to have a chance to train you. And I thought, wouldn't that be amazing? That's what I Thought in my head, I'm trying to plan how to make this happen. And then my wife said, well, you don't. You do their programs? I said, not really. I kind of went on the show and told him I don't really follow them very well because they don't work out enough. She goes, well, have you ever really followed the program? And it was quite fascinating. And when you. I think the next step in my, I think maturing and this is, you know, yet hit anabolic. Keep up that good tracking because I never tracked before. Weights, rep, sets. Yeah, amazing difference. Amazing to see that progression over time, especially through this exercise. My next thing to me now is, is to not feel like I'm not big enough and I'm not strong enough. I think I have that, you know, you've got that I have a negative body image. No doubt about it. I don't know. And I got to work myself through that. And I talk about you guys, you know, in your. Your meditation and your. All the other stuff. And so I got to sort of get that into the mix now.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Dwayne]

Because let's be honest, Calvin Klein isn't calling for a new, you know, underwear model tomorrow. Right. So. So what am I. What am I pushing for? Am I pushing to look like something I can never look? And what's it going to give me? Right.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, right. That's. That's going to mature as well over time. That'll happen over time. If you. When you put your body or fitness or muscle or whatever at the top of your. It's a good. By the way, it's a good thing. So there's nothing wrong with fitness. There's nothing wrong with working out unless it becomes the ultimate thing, unless it becomes your God, which is what happens. And when you. That's God. It's a terrible God. It'll. It'll tyrannize the hell out of you. It's not a great God has no mercy, no grace doesn't do anything except, you know, tyrannize the hell out of you. So it's just your priorities are a little out of whack. And we see this in the fitness space all the time. This is something I've struggled with for, since I was a kid. But as long you're talking about it right now, which is interesting, which is good, this is the beginning of that, of that starting to get better. And when it gets better, it just feels freeing is what happens.

[Dwayne]

Yeah, I think you're right. And I've tried to. And I'm wearing this shirt today because my daughter bought it for me because she knew it was coming on the show. And she said, you got to wear the shirt on the show. My daughter's. I want to say she's. She's very much bungee for working out, right? She jumps all in and just goes down, like hard, and then she bounces right back out of the exercise again. So I've been listening to the show a lot and I said to her, listen, I said, if I need to wear the shirt, you got to do something for me. She goes, what? I said, you got to get to the gym. And she said, okay. I said one day a week for 30 minutes on the treadmill.

[Sal DiStefano]

There you go.

[Justin Andrews]

There you go. Great place to start.

[Dwayne]

Yeah, right? And I'm like, yeah, just do that. I can do that.

[Sal DiStefano]

Said, okay, good.

[Dwayne]

And you know what? And she's been doing it and she, dad, I'm going to go again tomorrow. I said, no, one day a week. Don't like. And I'm hearing you guys in my head. It's funny because I was tell everybody else the great advice you give and go listen to the guys in mind and body. But of course, I wasn't following it. Why would I do that? But it was amazing, right? What. You know, so I'm hoping that maybe that one day a week, 30 minutes, then maybe it'll be two days a week. And then eventually won't be this bungee jumping. Like 75 hard. Some workout program she found. 75 hard, where it's like you gotta do 75 days in a row with no break. If you take a break, the clock resets. Like, what mad stupidity is that? And. And so.

[Justin Andrews]

Right.

[Dwayne]

Because it's crazy. 75 days hard. And if you miss the day the clock reset.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah.

[Dwayne]

I'm sure it's a fat on Instagram or Tick Tock or something.

[Sal DiStefano]

But Dwayne.

[Dwayne]

Yeah. So even I'm trying to give her that advice.

[Sal DiStefano]

How old is she?

[Dwayne]

25.

[Sal DiStefano]

Ah, she. Have you ever thought about hiring a coach or a trainer for her? That would really help. Yeah.

[Dwayne]

She's living in a small town and there isn't one. And so maybe a virtual one might help.

[Justin Andrews]

I.

[Dwayne]

Because I've tried to. I've been into kind of semi healthy my whole life and tried to get her into that, but she's never been a Sporty Spice. But maybe find a real virtual coach. Not a. Not a Instagram virtual coach. Somebody who actually knows what they're doing is probably a really good idea to sort of look back into that, because I've looked, but small town.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, you're right.

[Dwayne]

You know, you don't have any.

[Sal DiStefano]

Are you on our forum, Dwayne? Did we put you on our forum? Are you in our forum? Did we put you in our forum?

[Dwayne]

Yeah, I'm a Facebook forum. Yeah, I'm in the Facebook forum.

[Sal DiStefano]

All right, man, Keep, keep, keep us updated, brother. This is good news.

[Dwayne]

Yep, it is good news. I'm pretty proud of myself that I followed your program and it worked and you had a chance to say, I told you so.

[Sal DiStefano]

Good man.

[Justin Andrews]

Keep it up, brother.

[Sal DiStefano]

Love the update.

[Dwayne]

Okay, cheers, guys.

[Justin Andrews]

See you.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah, there's, there's rarely a situation where you get a fitness fanatic lowers their volume. That doesn't go, come back and go, what? I got way better results.

[Caller]

This is amazing.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I mean, I, I appreciate the, the admitting that because I actually think there's a ton of people that, that don't admit that, that do that whenever we, I get somebody. Oh, yeah, I tried to follow it. It just didn't work for me.

[Sal DiStefano]

I'm like, okay, I wonder why.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I wonder why. Like, maybe you didn't follow.

[Caller]

Did you do it?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Our next caller is Will calling from Japan.

[Sal DiStefano]

What's up, Will?

[Justin Andrews]

You doing, Will?

[Caller]

What's happening going on, guys?

[Sal DiStefano]

Hey, how you doing, man? How can we help you?

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, first off, I want to say thank you very much for this opportunity coming on your guys show. To be honest, ever since I kind of stumbled on finding mind pump, you guys have been an absolute game changer as far as fitness information, you know, motivation, just kind of learning the facts. I mean, everything that or a lot of information that you guys put out goes against, you know, the average, you know, information that a lot of people have. And, and I, I've had a lot of just bad experiences with, you know, past trainers based on the information they gave, which goes completely opposite of what the information that you guys put out, which makes way more sense. And currently right now, working with Margaret has been amazing. She's on point. And honestly, I've had a lot of changes to my body already that I haven't had in a very long time. So I just want to, you know, put that out now saying thanks for.

[Justin Andrews]

Awesome. Awesome. Always appreciate when you guys shout out our employees like that.

[Sal DiStefano]

Thank you.

[Justin Andrews]

Great job. Keeps us on, on pace or on point.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes, yes. And so I've been, I had to start off with reverse dieting. I, when I first met Margaret, I was teeter tottering around when I first started was around £330 at my heaviest. I was able to lose a little bit of weight prior to working with her. Got down to around like 320 and. But I was only at like, I was eating like twice a day and I just wasn't. I only ate when I was hungry, but it was like a thousand, maybe fifteen hundred calories at most. So, you know, I had to learn. I didn't know what the reverse, reverse dieting was. I figured my metabolism was just dead. So I had to kind of go through that whole process of trying to learn how to eat more. Listening to your guys videos too, about learning the relationships with food, that's been a huge help for me as well too because I've definitely been looking at things wrong. But since I've been consistent with Margaret now and consistent with, with listening to you guys as well, since November of last year, it's just been. I've really like noticed that now like when I look at foods, I look at it in a whole different light. I'm like, man, that doesn't like the right thing. This isn't going to benefit my body this way or give me this type of feeling, your energy. So it's just been, it's been a good process. And Now I'm around 306. So again, at my heaviest. 330 to 306, but still pushing forward. Right now just came off a mini cut and now we're kind of up in the macros. Back up again.

[Sal DiStefano]

Awesome, man. Great job.

[Justin Andrews]

Doing a great job.

[Sal DiStefano]

That's great.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

What are you. Are you following, Are you following the maps programs?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes, I am.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

I was gonna say. So I started off with Maps 15. Prior to doing all that, I was just doing. I was doing muscle splits. And I know you guys talk about this multiple times on your shows. You know, whenever you talk to anybody else, they're just like, oh, you know, have an arm day, have a chest day, have a back day. And that's pretty much the only focus and. And I kind of just plateaued with that. But I was doing that with like around six days a week when I first got with Margaret though, and I kind of gave her my whole background. She put me on match 15 to start, which was great. Like, it took, I'm not gonna lie, it took a lot of adjusting just because I was used to doing so much more. And Matt 15 was so much less than that. And I know you guys have actually mentioned several times. I know Adam has mentioned several times as well too, doing basically getting more from less you know, but doing it, approaching it the right way. So Max 15 kind of, kind of really open. Opened my eyes with that just because I was still getting great results and I wasn't doing killing myself the way I was. I was approaching it before finish maps. Fifteen went in the map. Santa Bolic. That was awesome. Had a great pump with that as well too. Definitely helped me increase muscle size. And now we're in maps performance now, which man and I, I know Justin's had a lot of, I'm sure a lot of input for and putting together a match performance. It is a, it's a, it's a, it's a beast because it's a lot of movements that I'm just not used to doing, like the renegade push ups or the, the bear crawl or. I mean, there. Gosh, there's so many of those that I was just like, I had no idea what they were. I had to watch the videos and, and then trying to do them. My body just wasn't used to it. But it's definitely, I feel like helped my mobility and range of motion and things like that.

[Sal DiStefano]

Awesome, man. Great job.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, you're looking good too, dude. Doug just pulled up your, your before and afters right now. Doing great.

[Sal DiStefano]

You got a lot of muscle.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Slow progress, but I'm, I'm pushing.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Oh, bro. Perfect. Yeah, doing great. Good stuff, man.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, but I was gonna ask too, like, after, like. So when I came out of reverse dieting and I was working with Margaret, now we're, you know, she's trying to. She always explained the science behind, you know, why we can't stay in that. But I kind of wanted to see if you guys can elaborate more. Like, what I'm, what I don't understand is why can't you just maintain like a thousand to fifteen thousand calories, but still keeping example 220 grams of protein and just kind of maintaining that almost like a carnivore diet, basically, and just hoping that your weight basically is still going to keep dropping. Like, why would that not be better? Long, long run.

[Sal DiStefano]

Yeah. Well, you would die if you just kept losing weight. If you were, if you were in an energy, if you had an energy imbalance, because let's just talk about that way, right? So you're eating X amount of calories and you're burning more calories. If that happened forever, you would die. And now you could do that. It would take less. It would need less than a thousand calories, but you could do that. But the body's ability to adapt its metabolic rate and activity and desires and all that stuff. So that your energy intake matches your output is remarkable. I mean, you should see the studies on POWs, like people who are prisoners of war who are fed incredibly little calories. And yes, they become emaciated and ill, but they live for years on like 300 calories a day. It's crazy. So your body adapts and it's very sophisticated in the ways that it does it. There's a lot that we don't understand, but it'll just adapt. So, yeah, you lose weight for a while and then you plateau and that's where you'll be forever.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Okay.

[Justin Andrews]

And that's the reason why we reverse that.

[Caller]

Yes, yes.

[Justin Andrews]

And then. And also when you're in a calorie deficit like that, especially when it's really low, your body's really not building any muscle. I mean, you're mostly catabolic, and so. And muscle is only going to help your metabolism. So it's far more beneficial to reverse and then add some pounds of muscle on you, because for every pound of muscle you add your body, you're speeding your metabolism up. And so then it just becomes easier to maintain the physique that you're going to be happy with. And so always just going cut, cut, cut. Not only will the metabolism eventually adapt, but you're not going to build a lot of muscle in a low calorie diet for an extended period of time.

[Sal DiStefano]

You know the other thing you want to think about too, you know, a guy like your size. Right. Let's say you got down to, I don't know, 1300 calories, and that's where you stayed forever. Yeah. I mean, you'd probably survive, but you wouldn't feel good. I mean, that's only 1300 units of energy. So you would not feel good at all. You'd have hormone disruption, you'd be tired, brain fog. It's like, okay, can, you know, you know, run your car on super low amounts of fuel. It's not gonna do much. You can't even idle it much. Right. So. So that's the other thing to consider. So, you know, you know what we tend to see with people who've gotten their metabolisms to adapt to really low calories, One of the first things they notice when we reverse them is they just feel better. They just have more energy. They can think clearly because their body was running on so little before soso. Is it possible to keep that? Yeah. Is it gonna feel good? Probably not. Especially not a guy your size. You Have a lot of lean body mass, Will. So you're not like a, you know, if you were like, you know, 5 foot 2, you know, 130 pounds, but I guess you could be okay, maybe. But yeah, you would feel terrible on that for long term.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

How long do you think a good, like if you're going to start doing a mini cut, what's the time lapse do you feel like is the best, basically most effective?

[Sal DiStefano]

I mean, you can cut until you start to feel things start to get a little challenging or you start to want to eat a little more. But generally speaking, a mini cut is anywhere between three to six weeks.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I never, I never cut my clients longer than four to six. Four to six seems to be. And the reason why there's a range because everybody's metabolism is a little bit different. Some clients will still be seeing great results. Week four, week five, most clients, I notice after about the third, fourth week, it starts, the progress starts to slow down. And that was always like a sign to me as a trainer, like, okay, the metabolism's starting to slow down. It's starting to adapt. Let's, let's flip it. Let's go to reverse diet, where a lot of people don't do that. What they do is go, oh, I'll just do more or I'll cut more because it's slowing down. And it's like, that's just a quick recipe to hit a hard plateau and then rebound hard versus, you know what? I can tell my body is starting to. The metabolism slow down. Let's, let's work with my body, feed it the calories it wants, build some muscle and go the other way for a little bit and then just toggle back and forth. So you're running back and forth between these mini cuts, mini bulks. And you know, when you look back six months from now, you're looking at a transformation like you. Where you've lost 30 pounds on the scale and you probably feel like you're eating more frequently in the day than you were £30 ago, which. That's a good place.

[Adam Schaefer]

It is, yeah. And I definitely feel 100, 100 pounds lighter. I mean, it's, it's night and day and of course clothes fit differently and that's always motivating as well. I was also going to ask you guys as well too. So I've been diagnosed with diatosis recti and which, you know, for any listeners who isn't aware what that is, basically it's like a separation of where you're at I'm still come apart. I know it's more actually more common with women after pregnancy than it is with men. I think that I'm guessing this happened just because for my time in the Navy, we would have, whenever we do our fitness test, we would have two minutes basically to max out as many sit ups as possible. And I used to do it to the point where I would have parked just maybe one of my abs just clinched up and literally popped out of my stomach and I was trying to punch it back in. And I don't know if that happened, but over time it's definitely separated to the point where prior to meeting to Margaret, I wasn't doing any core training. I was just doing just sit ups and sit ups and crunches and machines and all that. But it looked like, like the thing from Alien, you know, where the alien was trying to pop out of your stomach. So right now, you know, I've been doing the cable chops and things like that. But do you guys, in addition to that, I mean, do you have any routines or advice on how I could kind of slowly do something that would progress that like back and even be able to train abs still to still.

[Justin Andrews]

Grow that draw and maneuver.

[Sal DiStefano]

If they're, if they're fully separated, they'll never, you can't get them to connect again. Except for through surgery. By the way, it wasn't your workout that you did, it was the visceral body fat. So the same reason why a pregnant woman's abs separate pushing. When you have visceral body fat that gets really large, your, your, your abs separate to create room. Okay.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

So now they won't ever close. If it's a full separation, they won't close back up. However, the gap will shrink as you get leaner. It really won't make a difference when you're lean. When you're lean, it's not going to make a difference, but it'll push out if you have visceral body fat pushing it out.

[Justin Andrews]

The best way to train to help that is the drawn maneuver, which is like stomach vacuums. You might have heard Sal, like we have a Good, a good YouTube video on stomach vacuums. There's also another one where you get on all fours and you kind of let your belly kind of hang down and then you pull it in. Yeah. And so that, that will train that, that those, those inner core muscles that will help pull like a vacuum in. And so those would be great. And those are things you can do frequently. Every day. Every day work on that. And do that definitely before you go do your workouts and that'll start to improve that.

[Adam Schaefer]

How about like oblique, Oblique workouts? Like, like the ab twist and all that. Just working the obliques instead of trying to do just sit ups or crunches.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, that's fine. It's not bad, but it's not gonna, it's not the desired outcome of what you're talking about right now. Like, if we're talking about the, the ab separation and trying to bring that back in, that's going to be those inner core muscles that are, that's going to bring that in. So you, you could build muscle on the obliques and external abdominal and, and do things like that. That's not bad. But if you really want to try and bring that all back in, it's going to be stomach vacuums. Draw and maneuver.

[Sal DiStefano]

And if you want to work your abs directly, what you would do is you would draw in and then do it. Come up in a crunch and hold and really focus on isometrics. But too much fast work is, is probably going to cause problems.

[Justin Andrews]

There's the stomach vacuum video on YouTube that Sal did. He also did another one where the hip, like the hip flexor deactivator would.

[Sal DiStefano]

Be good for you.

[Justin Andrews]

Where you do the pressing the back.

[Caller]

Down, really sucking your plank, where you kind of tuck your tailbone with it. So really crunchy.

[Sal DiStefano]

But if you see the, the, the bulge coming out in the middle, then, then you, you know, I would avoid that exercise until you start to get leaner.

[Adam Schaefer]

Okay. Yeah, I definitely had a ton of versatile fat. Especially when I, when we just started. I used to, I didn't even know about visceral fat. I used to just think that my, my fat had muscle because it was like, it was like rock hard, like rock hard fat.

[Caller]

Turtle shell action.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Yeah, very common.

[Adam Schaefer]

How about like testosterone? Is there, is there any way to. Because I kind of feel like so I struggle. I, I think it was, I think some of the information might have passed you guys, but I struggle with sleep. I, I have sleep apnea. But I feel like my energy and my, and my testosterone is, is also super low. Do you know if they're, I mean, in addition or not including supplements, but is there any foods or. I know working out obviously will help naturally boost up testosterone, but is there anything additional, additional that you guys recommend.

[Justin Andrews]

That could really get your blood work done through our, our partners?

[Sal DiStefano]

Dude, you gotta see what's, what it's at.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, yeah. Get your blood work done. And if you, if you end up getting recommended, which is a good chance. How old are you?

[Adam Schaefer]

42.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Okay, so you're not like a spring chicken anymore. So there's a good chance, especially if you feel that way, that you're probably low on testosterone. They're probably gonna recommend testosterone. It's very inexpensive to take that, and you'll just probably have to take a low dose of it. And I'll tell you what, if. If you're. When they fix that, holy shit, you're gonna feel and see a huge difference.

[Sal DiStefano]

You said you have sleep apnea. Do you wear a cpap?

[Adam Schaefer]

So I do not. Here's the. This is. This is my biggest problem. I can. I can work on controlling diet. I can do all those things. Sleep. Sleep is my hardest obstacle more than anything. I have a sleep ap machine next to my bed, but 90% of the time, I don't even make it to my bed. I watch TV and I pass out.

[Sal DiStefano]

All right, well. Well, if you want to raise your testosterone, go to bed and wear your cpap. The detrimental effects of sleep apnea are so scary. Okay, I don't. I'm not gonna freak. I don't wanna freak you out, but if you want. If you wanna get scared, look it up. This is what got me. This is what eventually got me to get a CPAP machine. We interviewed Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, and the. The. The topic came up after the podcast. She stopped me outside the studio and she goes, where is cpap? I'm like, okay. So I looked up the data, and it's like, you're gonna give yourself a heart attack. No joke. Through sleep apnea. It's not good. It's. It's actually high risk for blood clots, strokes, heart attacks. And then, not to mention, your testosterone's destroyed, your insulin sensitivity gets affected. You're basically suffocating throughout the night. So you're not getting good sleep and you're oxygen deprived. So go to bed where you're cpap. You know, that'll change your life. I'm gonna tell you that right now. If you do that consistently, that'll. That'll make everything more effective.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Okay. Yeah, I'll definitely have to start. I know I need to start actually doing that. I was gonna ask you too, just one last question. If. I know that you guys mentioned this in previous podcasts, but I just wanted to know if you had any more information on it as far as your thoughts on body types. Like, I'm definitely an endomorph. As far as training or eating. Do you know if There's a. A specific direction that you think it should go, or really. It really doesn't matter about those.

[Justin Andrews]

No. But I will say this. When I. When I have clients that are more like endomorphic, you do better with trying to build muscle than you do trying to burn body fat and so lean into that. So that's why the reverse diet would probably did so well for you, is because your body type is not the type of body type that does well on 1500 calories and. And running on a StairMaster. That's just not. That's not what you. You. You're built to go lift heavy things. And so I do feel working it like leaning into the things that your body type is typically best for. And I know I'll get some pushback on the people that want to. On somatypes and everything, but I'll tell you right now, my clients, like, you did great when we focused on building muscle and building your metabolism that way versus running it off. My clients that were super lean and had a hard time building muscle, they did better at getting lean and running on a treadmill, but then they had a hard time building muscle. So there are. There are. And I don't know if it's as tied to Somatypes as it is just genetically. We're all different, but there is something to be said about working with what your body wants to do versus trying to force it to do something it doesn't want to do. And you. You look like the body type that if we really wanted to get strong and build muscle, your body would say, hell, yeah, let's do this. Versus you trying to be this little petite, 175 pound dude. Your body's gonna be like, no, I haven't been that since I was 6. I don't want to be that. You know? So I. I do think that there is an advantage to leaning into your body's natural strengths.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's good information. I'll definitely look into that. I appreciate that very much. Guys. You guys. Yeah, you guys are great. Again, thank you so much. Again, thank you for the opportunity to come on the show and talk with you guys.

[Justin Andrews]

Keep it up, bro. You're doing great.

[Sal DiStefano]

Thank you.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes. Thanks.

[Justin Andrews]

So, guys, guys, you know, we haven't done an episode. We should talk about that.

[Sal DiStefano]

We could, right?

[Justin Andrews]

I have a lot of opinions about that that are probably controversial.

[Sal DiStefano]

Well, so do I. I think there's some truth in it.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes.

[Sal DiStefano]

I don't think this is all baloney.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. I don't think it. I don't I mean think of your experience. How many clients like him?

[Sal DiStefano]

Like 100.

[Justin Andrews]

Like just they do not do good with super low calorie. I mean they, they feel like getting every pound of fat off sword. But if I told that guy let's go get strong as like he could be underfed and get strong like that body type.

[Caller]

General truth to it for sure there.

[Justin Andrews]

Is there and, and yet I know, I understand that there's.

[Sal DiStefano]

I have some strong opinions too.

[Caller]

It's not yet. Yeah, it's definitely not the.

[Justin Andrews]

It'd be good. It'd be good conversation. I just think that it's. We've dismissed science has dismissed it and then so everybody's just, you throw it out completely. It's like, ah, there's, there's some value to understanding that.

[Sal DiStefano]

Good topic.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DiStefano]

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

[Doug]

Adam, thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body dramatically improve your health and and energy and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB super [e-mail] the RGB Super Bundle includes maps, anabolic maps, performance and maps aesthetic. Nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by Sal, Adam and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels and performs. With detailed work, workout, blueprints and over 200 videos. The RGB Super Bundle is like having Sal, Adam and Justin as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price. The RGB Super Bundle has a full 30 day money back guarantee and you can get it now. Plus other valuable free [e-mail] if you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five star rating and review of 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.