2628: Six Controversial Muscle-Building & Fat-Burning Tips & More (Listener Live Coaching)

Summary

Podcast Summary: Mind Pump Episode 2628 – Six Controversial Muscle-Building & Fat-Burning Tips & More (Listener Live Coaching)

Release Date: June 27, 2025

In Episode 2628 of Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth, hosts Sal DeStefano, Adam Schafer, and Justin Andrews delve into six controversial muscle-building and fat-burning strategies. Drawing from over 40 years of combined experience in the fitness industry, they challenge prevailing scientific studies and traditional bodybuilding myths, offering practical, real-world insights that prioritize effective human behavior over isolated data points. The episode also features a lively "Table Conversations" segment, where hosts share personal anecdotes, followed by a listener Q&A addressing specific fitness concerns.

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1. Fasted Cardio

Overview: Fasted cardio, a staple in bodybuilding for decades, involves performing cardiovascular exercises on an empty stomach with the belief that it enhances fat loss by tapping into fat stores for energy.

Key Discussions:

• Scientific Findings: Studies indicate that fasted cardio increases fat oxidation during the workout but does not lead to greater fat loss overall compared to fed cardio.
• Practical Application: Despite conflicting studies, the hosts assert that fasted cardio can be effective, not necessarily due to increased fat burning during the session but by promoting better overall daily activity and improved habits.

Notable Quotes:

• Justin Andrews [03:00]: "Fasted cardio increases fat oxidation, but the end result is not more fat loss."
• Adam Schafer [04:07]: "I set my alarm an hour earlier to do fasted cardio, which not only added activity to my morning but also made me more active throughout the day."

Conclusion: Fasted cardio works primarily by fostering disciplined behavior, leading to higher overall activity levels and better daily habits, rather than directly causing more fat loss during the exercise itself.

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2. Mind-Muscle Connection

Overview: The mind-muscle connection emphasizes the conscious focus on engaging specific muscles during workouts to enhance muscle activation and growth.

Key Discussions:

• Scientific Debate: EMG studies often show no significant difference in muscle activation when focusing on specific muscles versus general effort during exercises.
• Practical Insights: The hosts argue that focusing mentally on the target muscle can improve exercise technique, form, and ensure the correct muscles are being engaged, leading to better long-term muscle growth.

Notable Quotes:

• Sal DeStefano [11:32]: "I'm looking at what actually changes the end result, which is muscle gain."
• Justin Andrews [13:33]: "Mind muscle connection has been communicated forever by bodybuilders, and it's how I train people in many instances."

Conclusion: While EMG studies may not fully capture the benefits, the practical application of the mind-muscle connection leads to improved technique and targeted muscle engagement, fostering greater muscle development over time.

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3. Fasting

Overview: Fasting involves abstaining from food for specific periods and has been both lauded and criticized within the health and fitness community.

Key Discussions:

• Benefits for Behavior: Fasting can help individuals who are overly attached to food develop a healthier relationship with eating, reducing the fear of missing meals.
• Limitations: For those with passive eating disorders or a history of restrictive eating, fasting may exacerbate unhealthy behaviors rather than promote fat loss.

Notable Quotes:

• Justin Andrews [15:09]: "Fasting is valuable for people who are so tied to food that they're afraid of skipping a meal."
• Adam Schafer [17:58]: "Fasting crushed my appetite, making it easier to maintain a calorie deficit."

Conclusion: Fasting can be an effective tool for specific individuals to manage their relationship with food and suppress appetite, but it is not universally beneficial and may not directly lead to significant fat loss.

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4. Priming or Pre-Exhausting

Overview: Priming involves performing exercises that specifically target certain muscles before compound movements to pre-fatigue them, aiming to enhance their activation during subsequent exercises.

Key Discussions:

• Scientific Skepticism: Recent studies suggest priming may not significantly increase muscle activation and could potentially lead to fatigue in supporting muscles.
• Practical Benefits: In practice, priming helps individuals adjust their technique to better engage target muscles, leading to improved muscle activation and growth.

Notable Quotes:

• Justin Andrews [16:18]: "Priming allows the person to modify their technique in a way that does get them to activate those muscles a little more."
• Adam Schafer [16:21]: "Studies show priming doesn't activate glutes more, but in the gym, it changes how people squat."

Conclusion: Priming is beneficial not because it directly increases muscle activation in a controlled environment, but because it helps individuals refine their technique and improve muscle engagement during compound lifts.

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5. Low Carb Diets

Overview: Low carbohydrate diets restrict carb intake to manage weight and body composition, sparking debates over their effectiveness compared to other macronutrient distributions.

Key Discussions:

• Appetite Suppression: Lowering carb intake can naturally reduce appetite, making it easier for individuals to maintain a calorie deficit.
• Individual Variability: While low carb can be superior for some in terms of fat loss, especially when controlling for calories, it may not be the best approach for everyone, particularly regarding muscle building and athletic performance.

Notable Quotes:

• Justin Andrews [17:54]: "Low carb diets can suppress appetite, making it easier to lose fat."
• Adam Schafer [19:15]: "Cutting carbs was easier for people to stick to than cutting calories from fat."

Conclusion: Low carb diets can be an effective strategy for fat loss due to their appetite-suppressing effects, though they may not offer additional benefits for muscle building or athletic performance and should be tailored to individual needs.

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6. Static Stretching for Gains

Overview: Static stretching involves holding a stretch for an extended period and is traditionally believed to enhance muscle growth and recovery post-workout.

Key Discussions:

• Scientific Evidence: Studies present mixed results on static stretching's role in muscle growth, with some supporting and others refuting its benefits.
• Practical Application: The hosts argue that static stretching fosters a parasympathetic state, improves recovery, and enhances flexibility, indirectly contributing to better muscle gains and overall performance.

Notable Quotes:

• Justin Andrews [20:30]: "Static stretching induces a parasympathetic state, promoting faster recovery and better muscle gains."
• Adam Schafer [21:10]: "Stretching alleviates soreness, encouraging more movement and activity throughout the day."

Conclusion: Static stretching may not directly increase muscle growth but supports overall recovery, flexibility, and daily activity levels, contributing to sustained muscle development and performance.

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Table Conversations: Personal Anecdotes and Reflections

Following the main discussion, the hosts engage in a lighthearted segment where they share personal stories and memories, fostering a sense of camaraderie and relatability among listeners. Topics ranged from childhood fashion faux pas to meaningful family moments, highlighting the hosts' personalities beyond their expertise in fitness.

Notable Moments:

• Sal DeStefano shares his family's tradition during Father's Day, emphasizing the importance of immediate family and heartfelt expressions of love.
• Adam Schafer reflects on his relationship dynamics, discussing the significance of grace and appreciation in maintaining strong partnerships.
• Justin Andrews recounts sentimental moments with his spouse and the joy of overhearing genuine compliments about himself.

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Listener Q&A: Addressing Specific Fitness Concerns

The episode concludes with a live coaching segment where the hosts answer listener-submitted questions, providing targeted advice on various fitness challenges.

Highlighted Questions:

1. Connecting with Pecs:

   • Question: "People are always talking about having trouble connecting with their glutes. But I have a bigger problem connecting with my pecs. Any recommendation?"
   • Answer: Focus on the function of the chest (horizontal adduction of the humerus) during exercises, employ pre-exhaust techniques with light flies before presses, and ensure proper shoulder positioning to minimize deltoid involvement.

2. Sleep vs. Late-Night Meals:

   • Question: "When getting home late, is it better to go to bed as soon as possible and get good sleep or eat a late-night meal and hit protein?"
   • Answer: Prioritize sleep over late-night protein intake, especially if poor sleep is a consistent issue. However, individual circumstances may vary, and occasional adjustments can be made based on specific needs.

3. Building Muscle with a Lower Back Injury:

   • Question: "I've injured myself a few times outside of the gym, especially my lower back. How's the best way to safely build those muscles back to where they should be?"
   • Answer: Utilize machine-based and supported unilateral exercises to minimize stress on the lower back, focus on developing core and lateral stability, and incorporate mobility and strength training once healed to prevent future injuries.

4. Using Squat Shoes to Improve Squat Range of Motion:

   • Question: "Should I use squat shoes to improve my range of motion in squats?"
   • Answer: While squat shoes can aid in achieving greater squat depth by providing ankle support, simultaneously work on ankle mobility to eventually perform squats with a flat foot for better stability and reduced injury risk.

Notable Quotes:

• Justin Andrews [56:38]: "Understand the function of the pecs and focus on horizontal adduction during presses."
• Adam Schafer [60:50]: "One night of bad sleep is more detrimental than one day of missing protein."

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Final Thoughts

Episode 2628 of Mind Pump offers a balanced examination of longstanding fitness strategies, juxtaposing traditional bodybuilding practices with contemporary scientific perspectives. The hosts emphasize the importance of behavior and practical application over isolated study results, advocating for personalized approaches to training and nutrition. Through engaging discussions and relatable personal stories, Sal, Adam, and Justin provide listeners with actionable insights to optimize their fitness journeys.

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

Transcript

[Sal DeStefano]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. What would you do if you had a little bit more money to do it?

[Adam Schafer]

I'd go to law school. I'd open a bakery.

[Sal DeStefano]

I'd travel to visit my grandparents I haven't seen in 10 years. We all have things we want to do in life and, and there are people who want to help you do them. So how do we best ask for that help? GoFundMe GoFundMe is the number one fundraising platform. 190 million people have used GoFundMe to support people doing things like furthering their education, starting a small business, or bringing people together in support of a cause. No matter what your goals are, GoFundMe helps you take an important step toward them. GoFundMe is free to set up and manage, easy to use, and designed to help you reach your goals. The community was so supportive in helping me finally open my bakery.

[Adam Schafer]

Now every day I wake up and.

[Sal DeStefano]

Get to do what I love.

[Justin Andrews]

And it all started with GoFundMe.

[Sal DeStefano]

What would you do if you had the money to do it? Get started today with GoFundMe. Start your GoFundMe today at gofundme.com that's gofundme.com gofundme.com this is a commercial message brought to you by GoFundMe with actors voicing experiences inspired by our users.

[Doug]

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

[Justin Andrews]

Mind Pump. Mind Pump.

[Doug]

With your host, Sal DeStefano, Adam Schafer.

[Justin Andrews]

And Justin Andrews, you just found the most downloaded fitness, health and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump. In today's episode we had listeners write in some questions. We picked some and we answer them. But this was after the intro. Today's intro was 53 minutes long. In the intro we talk about fitness studies, fat loss, muscle gain, family life. It's a good time. By the way, if you want to write in a question, go to Instagram, do it mindpumpmedia and then we might pick it up. This episode is brought to you by some sponsors. The first one is Legion. Today we talked about their brand new HMB supplement. If you want to try it or others, go to bylegion.com that's B-Y-L-E-G-I-O-N.com mindpump. Use the code mindpump to get 20% off. This episode is also brought to you by Organifi. Today we talked about their shilajit gummies. If you want to try those out or some of their other supplements, go to Organifi.com that's O R G A N I F I.com mindpump. Use the code mind pump. Get 20% off. We also have a sale this month, the shredded summer bundle of workout programs and the Bikini bundle of workout programs. 50% off. If you're interested, go to mapsfitnessproducts.com and then use the code JUNE50 for the discount. All right, here comes the show. All right, we're going to talk about six controversial muscle building and fat burning tips that the data might not necessarily support, but we support it and we'll break it down and why. Let's go.

[Adam Schafer]

Let's hear it.

[Unknown]

Let's go.

[Justin Andrews]

First one is fasted cardio. Yes, Fasted cardio.

[Adam Schafer]

One of my favorite.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, you know, so bodybuilders have been doing this forever where they'll advise because it works pre contest, they'll advise, you know, their clients or whatever to wake up and do cardio first thing in the morning or exercise first thing in the morning without any food. Now, the theory was that if you didn't have any food in your system, that your body would have to tap into fat stores in order to fuel the activity. So they'd say, okay, it's going to burn more body fat. And they've been doing this for decades. Now we have studies that compare fasted cardio to fed cardio. And it is true that fasted cardio increases fat oxidation. You can actually measure that. But the end result is not more fat loss. Right. So fat oxidation doesn't matter because at the end of the day, it's like how much body fat that I actually lose. So the studies say doesn't work. Doesn't work. Here's the deal, though. It does work. I don't think it works for the reasons they thought, but it does work. And I've used this with many, many clients when appropriate. And it's a, it's an effective strategy.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, I, I would still include this. Even though this probably gets a lot of hate and heat and has made tons of Instagram viral clips. I would chalk this one up to a win for the bodybuilders. They did a terrible, we did a terrible job. I include myself in that category of communicating the science around it. So we do.

[Justin Andrews]

That's always where they screw up.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, right, exactly. I mean, sometimes we don't do the best at communicating exactly what's going on with scientifically. But what you do know is if you've been doing that for a long time, like, as far as, like, you've done a lot of shows, you've trained a lot of people for shows you've had to get. And when you have to get in shape like that, where you have a very specific time frame, there is not a lot of room for error and mistakes. And so, you know, you. You have this group of people talking about bodybuilders that have been using this method for a very long time and has had tremendous success with it. And so this idea that, you know, the science community came in and said, oh, what they've been saying is all wrong and false and not true. And then so many people discontinuing that because they thought it was a terrible idea is like, no, it's not that simple. There's more going on. And what I think the way I communicated to my clients that at least what I found was, you know, if I set my. Set my alarm to get up an hour earlier to do fasted cardio, I consistently got up an hour or more earlier than I ever would. And not only did I get up, but I got up, I got up and I did activity where if I actually looked at like a typical day, like, even today, like a typical day for me is like, get up, I kind of get up, leisurely, shower, have some breakfast and a coffee, get in a car, drive, come here, sit. I mean, the most activity I get is by noon or one we take our first walk outside. Whereas, let's say I would decided like, hey, I want to lean out right now. So I'm going to start fasted cardio simply me just setting the alarm an hour earlier and doing that, starting that would not only get that activity going significantly, but then I also noticed another thing happened. I would became more active throughout the rest of the day. And so you can't account for that all. You can't. You got to account for that also as beneficial, too.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. So what happened was, like you said, Adam, where the mistake was is bodybuilders tried to explain the science behind why this worked. And so they had a logical direction. I thought that it was a. That's a logical place to go. It's like, okay, well, you don't have as much glycogen, no food, you're gonna burn more body fat.

[Unknown]

And that's the direction from it kind of makes less sense.

[Justin Andrews]

That's right. And so what the scientists did is they said, all right, let's control the variables. Uh, let's control activity and calories and see if it makes a difference if someone does cardio, fasted or fed. And in that case, it makes no difference. Now here's the deal. Uh, the real world is not controlled like that. In the real world, the biggest factor that you need to consider is human behavior, period, End of story. Trainers know this, coaches know this. Like, the thing that I need to consider when I'm trying to help somebody get leaner, build muscle, get more fit, is their behavior. That's more important than any other factor. And here's what happens. I'll back you up. When I had clients do fasted cardio, their overall activity was just higher.

[Adam Schafer]

Yep.

[Justin Andrews]

When I had people do fasted cardio, they actually had better habits throughout the day because they started with this pursuit of fitness first thing. And when they did that first thing, it actually affected their diet, it affected the rest of their activity. It gave them more energy throughout the day.

[Unknown]

Probably went to sleep a bit earlier.

[Justin Andrews]

That's right.

[Unknown]

Got better sleep.

[Justin Andrews]

That's right. So really, the reason why this works is not because in a lab controlled environment, all things being equal, it's superior. It's because fasted cardio tends to lead to other behaviors or overall activity that's higher, which is better for overall fat loss. And in the real world, that's what matters. In the real world, what matters is human behavior. Is this going to contribute to your goal in a general way? Not does this make a difference in a totally controlled environment which we don't live in?

[Adam Schafer]

Well, I'm gonna add another one on here because it's not on your list. And it reminds me of this. And that was the tip to don't eat past 6 o' clock and you'll. And you'll lose body fat. You'll burn body fat. And the way we explained it of what's happening, again, very similar, is like, oh, your body doesn't have any calories and then it taps into fat stores all day long and so it's burning all these extra calories. So the way that the science was presented was all wrong. But what we have found through training tons of people and giving this as a tip is that when do people tend to make the worst decisions eating wise?

[Justin Andrews]

After six.

[Adam Schafer]

After six p.m. dude, they eat after dinner. That's when they have the ice Cream pie, the snacks, the popcorn, the get up, you know, that's when you get.

[Justin Andrews]

Up, you just cut it out.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. So you just cut that out by eliminating the last meal at 6 o' clock. And because of that, and then to your point, Justin, that probably also improved sleep because they weren't eating right before bed. And so better digestion. And so there was a whole host of downstream effects that happened from that great piece of advice. And this was another thing that we came and all over with the science community and said, that's not true. This is not what the science says. Yet those of us that have been training people for a long time have observed the behaviors around that tip. And so this is an area that, I mean, I love topics like this because I think these types of things when I look back of mistakes that I made as a trainer when I learned the science. Oh, that's all. And then I go back and I go, you know what, though? But it was such a helpful tip for so many people.

[Justin Andrews]

That's right.

[Adam Schafer]

Simple.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

That I'm not giving them a bunch of boundaries and rules. Okay, you can have what you want. I'm not going to tell you what.

[Justin Andrews]

I care about what works as a trainer. I care about what works in the real world. Sorry to put it more clearly. And fasted cardio for a lot of people, not appropriate for everybody. Right. If someone's getting bad sleep or they hate doing it, like, I'm not going to do this, but when it's appropriate. Is fasted cardio more effective than fed cardio for people? It was, it was because it typically meant that they moved more in general throughout the whole day and it changed the rest of behaviors, period. End of story. Next up is the mind to muscle connection controversy. Now, there's studies out there that'll show that, you know, they'll have these group of people do a bench press and just press the weight, and then these group over here do a bench press and try to target the pecs more. And what the data will show with EMG analysis is that they're not activating their pecs anymore. They're not getting more chest muscle fibers activated by concentrating on feeling the pecs. This again is stupid. First off, I don't care what an EMG says EMGs are, they're not the end result. I'm looking at what actually changes the end result, which is muscle gain. But even, even if you forget all that for a second, it is far better for somebody to try to feel the exercise than not like making someone More present and connected helps overall, especially beginners. Like, if I get a beginner and I'm training them and I'm trying to get them to feel a muscle, what ends up typically happening is their form changes a little bit in a more favorable way rather than just not doing. Now the other option is just perfect the technique, which is great. I love that as well. It's also very valuable. But focusing on the muscle allows you to change the technique in ways that does allow you to target the muscle a little bit better. So I'd like to see end result studies on this because mind, the muscle connection has been communicated forever and ever and ever by bodybuilders. And this is how I trained people in many instances, especially when we're trying to feel a particular target muscle or a quote unquote, weak body part.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. But we do have studies though, Sal, that do support like your ability to recruit more from an area being able by mentally focused.

[Justin Andrews]

That's the controversy.

[Adam Schafer]

Right.

[Justin Andrews]

They'll do EMG studies and say you're not. They'll say, oh, it's the same activation.

[Unknown]

Because of the power of the contraction.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

So that's interesting because, I mean, do they look at the. The surface area, like, in terms of like how far it spans out?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. You know, I think they're limited. I really do.

[Unknown]

I think when you would pretty.

[Justin Andrews]

The way you would do a study like this is you would have twins train and then, you know, train them differently and have to control every single damn variable, which is good luck.

[Adam Schafer]

I know. But do. Do either of you even really need that? Because. Okay, I can.

[Unknown]

No, no, I don't.

[Adam Schafer]

I was gonna say, because I. I would tell you guys, let's take it.

[Unknown]

I'm just trying to break down.

[Adam Schafer]

Good example of where. Where you really manipulate this. And a close grip bench press is an example to me. Early on in my career, I did. I would do it and I would feel all my shoulders. Right. And then when I really understood mind muscle connection, I can keep that all in my triceps. And so I took a movement and. And I know soreness is not the best indicator of exercise working or not working, but I think a movement where. That I used to do and my shoulders would get really sore to where now my shoulders never get sore and only my triceps get sore. And so there's. And I can feel it while I'm doing it. It's very clear to me what's being activated and what's moving the bar more because both play a role in that Movement. But if I really focus on utilizing my trouser, I could really use.

[Unknown]

I don't think an EMG can really measure effort very, very well. I mean, and this is something I was tripping out a long time when I was trying to create that stick that measured, you know, pressure and like, because it was, it was pretty good about. Like, if you could drive, you know, more pressure and tension and recruit more, it would light up and you'd feel more of that force output. And you could measure that, but in terms of like. Yeah, but where, like, so it's, I think it's just very tricky. And it's like you said, it's a very narrow scuff that they're looking at. So I don't think it tells the whole picture.

[Justin Andrews]

No. And I could change my technique. I could change just the way it feels. I think this is, the more advanced you get, the more important this becomes. I could fatigue my lats faster by concentrating them on them during a lat pull down than just by trying to move the weight. I think this is how you become, this is how you develop fitness maturity is, you understand mind to muscle connection in compound lifts. This is a very valuable skill. And I hate these guys that put out these EMG studies because they, they're moving people away from something that I think is so valuable.

[Unknown]

Like, if you need it too, for secondary muscles, you need it to be able to, you know, really have control and stability while you're applying max effort.

[Adam Schafer]

That's right.

[Unknown]

Like, and so too, you need to be able to feel your muscles so you, you can have some sense of inquiry and control.

[Adam Schafer]

Well, I've also had countless female clients that came to me trying to develop their butt that were doing the right movements but couldn't connect to the glutes. And the only thing I got them to do was to be able to connect better to the glutes. And then we had. But that's right, they were doing things like deadlifts, like squats, movements that are great for the glute development, but filling it in all the areas, filling in their quads, filling in their hamstrings, but not filling it in their butt. Once I got them to better connect.

[Unknown]

By doing, it grows.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, we're doing all the same movements.

[Unknown]

Where's that study?

[Adam Schafer]

Right. And so, I mean, I, I don't, I don't even care what, what the argument is here on with the EMG studies. It's like I've seen enough people where I've changed this for them. So I Think again. Maybe the bodybuilders again did not communicate the science the best, but tremendous value in learning the mind.

[Justin Andrews]

Huge value. Yeah. Next up is fasting. Now fasting is controversial because there are cases where I think it could be valuable and there are cases where I think it wouldn't be very valuable at all. The places that I think it's valuable are for people who specifically are so tied to food that they're afraid of skipping a meal or missing their planned food. This is a great way for them to develop a better relationship with food. Where is this not necessarily a good thing to use is when people have a passive eating disorders or a past of restricting, in which case fasting is an extreme option. Yeah, fasting in general has been super bastardized in the health and fitness space. Yes, you do lose weight when you don't eat. I don't know why that's all that was suddenly like this remarkable thing that people were like, oh my God, fasting is a great way to lose weight. Like yeah, you don't need food, but I don't think that's a great way to burn body fat. Unless your issue is that you're so connected to food you're afraid of skipping a meal. That was me. That was me. So when I fasted, for me, it broke those chains and it helped me develop a more healthy relationship with food. Next up is priming or pre exhausting. This is my favorite because they'll show.

[Adam Schafer]

Recent study just came out to try and on this, right?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, it's like if you prime your glutes before squats, it doesn't, it doesn't activate the glutes more. You prime your pecs before a bench press. It doesn't actually, if anything it fatigues the supporting muscles, you know, more or whatever. That's what the studies will show. Priming or pre exhausting. Again, an old bodybuilding technique I think is incredibly valuable because it allows the person to, to modify their technique in a way that does get them to activate those muscles a little more. When I, when I got a woman who couldn't feel her glutes while squatting to prime properly with let's say hip bridges and then squat, I could see.

[Unknown]

Explain a warm up set.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I mean warming up is just increasing the internal temperature.

[Unknown]

They would say, right, so there's no near muscular recruitment happening and you know, you're not like channeling a sequence.

[Justin Andrews]

These studies are so limited, so ridiculous. It's ridiculous. And again, I would watch the woman train, we would pre exhaust or prime then we do squats. And I'd see her technique change. Yeah, because now she knows where to feel because she just, you know, got a little pump in her glutes from the previous, you know, priming exercises. Totally. So super valuable. Um, next up is low carb. Low carb can be quite controversial. Um, a diet that's low carb versus a diet that's moderate or high carb. All calories being controlled. Both high protein in the controlled study showed no additional fat loss. But in some cases, I think low carb is superior. And I think it's superior because when you drop your, when you keep the calories, you know the same but you low, you drop your carbs so your fat goes up protein side. It does in many cases suppress appetite.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, bro.

[Justin Andrews]

So it, it's easier to lose fat on a low carbamyce.

[Adam Schafer]

It tamps down the cravings. Okay. So in any case, obviously there's a genetic component just like there is in everything. And there is going to be people that maybe don't notice as major of a difference. I was a heavy carb eater and when I took, got rid of it, it I. One of the number one things I remember reporting back going like, oh, wow, my appetite is just, yeah, gone. Like, I didn't, I did not have the. I didn't have the. That's why I remember when we. And if those that have been listening to the podcast as far back as the beginning when the ketogenic diet was like blowing up, everybody was talking about it. We decided to like experiment with it and do it. And I remember part of the reason why I moved away from it was at that time again, I was at the height of my, my bodybuilding and my size and physique. I was having to eat like 5,000 calories a day. And I remember telling you guys, I'm like, I can't do it. Like, I cannot get to the calories without carbs. Without carbs, it just crushes your appetite. It just crushed my appetite. So I was like, so just palate fatigue of protein all day long and, and fat. I was just like, I don't want anymore. I don't, I couldn't, can't possibly do it. And so I was like, man, this is a great diet to a great way to eat. If you are trying to help somebody with cravings and trying to lean out, it's a great strategy for that person.

[Justin Andrews]

Now for muscle building, not the best approach and not for athletic performance performance, but I think for fat loss, this is something that I would always have my clients mess with. And you're right, there is a. There is a variance between individuals. But generally speaking, cutting carbs was easier for people to stick to than cutting, let's say, calories from fat. It just, it just killed their appetite more. Last is static stretching for gains. Static stretching for gains. This is, again, bodybuilders have done this for a long time. And there is some data that supports. This is other data that doesn't support it. But I believe that stretching, deep, painful, static stretching at the end of a workout of the target muscle, the one you just trained, like, you do this on your quads. You just work out, your quads are super pumped. Go sit, go kneel on the floor and lay back and just stretch the hell out of your quads. Now, the way bodybuilders will explain this is it stretches the fascia. It's, you know, doing. I don't know about all of that, but I do know when I do this, I do tend to get, first off, coming out of the static stretch, the pump gets more intense, which is interesting. But I do notice better gains. My clients have had better gains. Bodybuilders have talked this for a long time. I also think it's a great thing to do at the end of your workout to. To induce parasympathetic state.

[Unknown]

Anyway, that's a big part of it is just getting into parasympathetic states and the recovery process starts earlier, which then you have more chance of really recovering and like rebuilding and starting that whole engine. But still, too, there's got to be something circulatory wise too, that we're getting blood flow. And again, this all feeds into the.

[Justin Andrews]

Recovery and that mechanical stress that's happening.

[Adam Schafer]

And again, the downstream effects of this. Right. So all of us have obviously trained and overreached and been really sore. And I tell you what, when you crush legs or train and overreach to the point where it's sore, the touch you, you don't want to move.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

And one of the things, yes, it limits movement for the rest of the day because you're just like, oh, everything's like. But you get straight, you get stretched out, and boy, does that really alleviate a lot of that. And now that's just going to promote me moving more, more all day long.

[Justin Andrews]

So again, contributes to better behaviors.

[Adam Schafer]

Better behaviors, better movement, better blood flow, circulation, faster recovery, more calorie burn. I mean, there's a whole host of downstream effects to that that I think that maybe these individual studies that we try and use to prove is it helping for building muscle or not? It's like that's not, it doesn't tell the whole story. And so again, maybe we didn't communicate this the best on the benefits of it, but there's obviously a bunch of other things that you get from it that I think are, are worth it.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I love it. All right, speaking of studies, I gotta, you know, I gotta talk about a supplement and it's not creatine. I know creatine is the king, right, when it comes to muscle gain and health and longevity. And it is, it's in a category on its own when it comes to supplements. But there is a second place when it comes to muscle building. And I'm referring to hmb. And HMB is second place because it's probably the second most studied supplement there is creatine being first, HMB being second. It's so many, so many, so many studies on hmb. Now its effects are not like creatine, so you're not going to notice this pronounce of an effect. But the studies on HMB are really interesting and I actually saved a bunch of them. I don't know if you know this, but HMB is being administered to or it's being included in like care homes where they're putting it in the replacement shakes for people who are.

[Adam Schafer]

Well, you also, if the audience doesn't know when you recommended supplements for our GLP1 group, I knew HMB was there list that you highly recommended also doesn't surprise me because I know Mike over at Legion has created an HMB product and that guy doesn't put out anything if he doesn't have a bunch of science to support what he's doing. So makes sense that that's why, that's why he's in that. So what is it? I'm not as familiar with hmb.

[Justin Andrews]

So it's a metabolite of leucine. And so leucine is one of the amino acids that triggers. It triggers muscle growth more than others. And it's probably because high leucine content lets the body know a high quality protein has come into the body. So if you look like animal proteins versus plant proteins, animal proteins are more bioavailable. That's important. And the other one is they tend to be higher in the branch amino acids in particular leucine. And leucine is highest in these high quality proteins and it signals things like mtor, which is a signaler of muscle growth. HMB is a metabolite of leucine that seems to be more effective than leucine is at doing this. Now here's what's interesting with some of these studies. When you look at studies on older individuals, by the way, if you're let's say over 50, creatine is even more important for you. But HMB is a close second. And in studies with HMB I found a study comparing HMB to high protein for preserving lean body mass in non training older individuals. So these are older people not working out. What can I take to prevent muscle loss? And I found studies compared high protein diet and not working out to just taking HMB and not working out.

[Adam Schafer]

I was going to ask you HMB better.

[Justin Andrews]

Really was better.

[Adam Schafer]

Okay. So that was my follow up question was in the context of somebody who eats a very high protein diet already, is it still got value?

[Justin Andrews]

Yes, it does. It does still have value because I.

[Adam Schafer]

Knew that's, I obviously that was what I thought was the main reason. So did I. You recommended it for the glp. One group is like we know that one of the hardest things, it's not.

[Justin Andrews]

Better than high protein when you're strength training. Strength training, high protein while strength training is the best. But it is something you can add to get some benefit.

[Adam Schafer]

But okay, but it's still, even with high protein on top of it, it still gives benefits. Some things are like, like you. Well we even found out branch chain amino acids still have some benefits too.

[Justin Andrews]

Right.

[Adam Schafer]

I mean that was something that I was under the impression that if you were on a high protein diet it was no longer beneficial. But now we have research to support both those.

[Justin Andrews]

Right. Probably because the height, what the upper limit of benefit for protein may be higher than we thought. And so essential amino acids helps do that without taking in all this extra protein. But HMB is an easy supplement to take. It's anti catabolic. I think it's extremely valuable for aging population but especially for also for people on a calorie restricted diet to prevent muscle loss. And that's what I'm finding in some of the latest studies. And there's a lot of studies on HMB and it shows like for preventing for anti catabolic effects. It's extremely powerful, it's good for hypertrophy. There seems to be some fat loss effects which are kind of like the, you know. Because of the muscle building effect.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

So HMB is one of those and it's been around for a long time. But again you want to find literature supporting a muscle building supplement. Creatine king second place is HMB I mean, there's literally probably a thousand studies.

[Adam Schafer]

Wow.

[Justin Andrews]

On hmb. And it's, and it's inexpensive. It used to be expensive. I remember when it was expensive. I remember when, back in the day, like, it was like, man, I'm breaking the bank trying to take, you know, this on a regular basis. But now it's gotten to the point where you could buy it and it's.

[Unknown]

A. I wasn't even familiar with it until you brought it up for the GOP group.

[Adam Schafer]

So what's the dosage look like?

[Justin Andrews]

Three grams a day.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, so low. Like creatine then.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Three grams a day. So you can.

[Adam Schafer]

Any, any benefits going beyond that?

[Justin Andrews]

Speculation. But that's not what the data shows.

[Adam Schafer]

Okay.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, data shows. So like legions is 3 grams once a day. You could take it up to four. Up to three times a day. Sorry. 12 grams a day some bodybuilders will take, but you could just take it once a day as well. Yeah, yeah. But especially when you're dieting, I, I would say it's beneficial. I've played with it so many times. Here's a deal with muscle building supplements, they usually don't do anything. You'll notice creatine. HMB is more subtle than creatine. So don't expect this. Like, you know, with creatine you take it typically a week later you're adding five pounds to your lifts. Like you could tell HMB is one of those ones that you'd have to take for a few months.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, it would be one of those things that would have been fun to have experimented while I was on all the different cuts.

[Justin Andrews]

While cutting.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. To see. Because I always, I, I was very methodical, consistent. I always tracked body fat percentage before and after a show. So I could see, like, was I dieting too extreme?

[Justin Andrews]

It might be a great supplement too, when you're sick. So it's like I'm. Or injured. Right. Because a lot of the studies on HMB have been done on untrained individuals who aren't working out. And so I think like, you're hurt. Oh, I can't go to the gym. How can I prevent some muscle loss? Or I'm sick. What can I take to prevent some muscle loss? HMB shines. It's actually incredibly anti catabolic in comparison to, you know, to those other supplements. So it's kind of cool. More cool. Studies I did, I found a compilation of free weight versus machine studies on muscle growth, function, athletic performance, hitting them against each other, pitting Them against each other.

[Unknown]

Wow.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Which, you know what's interesting about this? What's annoying, it's predictable. I've heard people bring up the studies on machines before and say, builds the same amount of muscle as free weights. Like there's no, you know, bodybuilders will say this right. Or that. What should I say? The bros, the Instagram bros, will hear us touting free weights.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

And they'll say, machines build just as much muscle. There's no benefit. You know, the problem with these studies, which, by the way, I'll go through all these studies and I found meta analysis and everything. When it comes to muscle growth, it is similar. That's true. But remember, these are eight to 12 week studies.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

The learning curve and technique with free weights is longer. You could take somebody and they could do a leg press. Fine. The second time they use it, it's going to take me weeks to get them really good at a squat. I'd like to see these studies stretched out over a year to see who's going to build more muscle. And I. The free weights are going to crush.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

When it comes to fat loss, free weights are better. And then where they really kick ass is in athletics. They make you faster, they make you jump higher. Machines, not nearly as much. Not nearly as much.

[Unknown]

Yeah. Because, I mean, a lot of them are single joint. You know, if we're talking about the machines and then it's, you know, to, to be able to organize all your muscle groups to create a movement at once. It's like. It creates a dysfunction more than anything.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Now the one area that machines might actually be better is in isolation exercises, which. Duh.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

That's exactly why I would, I would, I would recommend them.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

And that's why you wouldn't support any rehabilitation. It's like you, they, they all are tools. You know what I'm saying? So.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

So I, I was. Katrina and I play this. I think it's called table conversations. I get asked every time I bring it up or talk about it. I'm pretty sure it's called table conversations. It's a little stack of these cards.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, table topics.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. I think that's what we love them. We always.

[Justin Andrews]

He's just the two of you?

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Really?

[Adam Schafer]

All the time. It's like one of our favorite things to do when, like, you know, if her and I try and do this. Right. Like, if we become aware that we're getting in this bad habit of like Netflixing Netflix and chill every night, you know, for a while Like, I'll totally let myself do that because it's like, hey, why not? I enjoy. We love movies. It's one of our favorite things to do together. But we feel like we're doing that all the time, like, consistently. Like, we'll interrupt it with, like, there's no TV tonight, and we'll just like, sit in the room and we'll talk, you know, and stuff like that. And those are always just fun. And I. We've been together 15 years, and those conversations, we always land on one or two that are just like, oh, wow, I didn't. You know, I wouldn't have thought you would have answered that. Or I didn't know that about your childhood, or, like, so it always gets that out of it. So we always have a blast doing that. Anyways, we were doing them the other night, and so I was like, writing down and I was like, I'm going to make sure I ask some of the guys, because these are just like, some funny questions. And the one that came to mind for Justin was Justin, if you were.

[Justin Andrews]

Why Justin?

[Adam Schafer]

I can't wait to hear.

[Unknown]

It's probably specific.

[Adam Schafer]

Just if you were a WWE wrestler.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay.

[Adam Schafer]

What would you. What would your come out song be?

[Unknown]

Oh, wow, that's. That's a deep question. I gotta pick up music, call out songs.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, I mean, you're coming out might.

[Unknown]

Be like my pr. I don't know. That's the. I had thought about that for, like, if I was coming out for like a fight or something.

[Justin Andrews]

You've already thought of that?

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Biscuit?

[Unknown]

No, I wanted to go, like, heavier because I know a lot of the mainstream doesn't, like, they can't handle it, so I kind of want to irritate them.

[Justin Andrews]

Wait, hold on. Is this like a common. Because I thought about that too. If I'm coming out to a fight.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Is that like a common guy thing?

[Adam Schafer]

Probably, yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Or guys at home.

[Adam Schafer]

Yesterday.

[Unknown]

Yesterday don't mean it would be a good one. I'd like from yesterday don't mean.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

Who sings that?

[Unknown]

Pantera. Oh, that's a great song. That's amazing.

[Adam Schafer]

What was yours? That wasn't a question asked by me. That was a question I saw and I was like, I gotta ask Jess.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, now I want to know what yours is.

[Adam Schafer]

What would I be if I was a WWE wrestler? What would I come out to? You know what? I don't know. I would maybe. I would probably come out to a Rage song. I mean, I like. Like, Rage. Like, Rage is pretty, you know. You know you won't do what you tell me what' that. What is that? What's the name of that song? Oh, oh, I think it.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, something in the name of.

[Unknown]

Killing in the name of.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. Killing in the name of. Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

You want to know what's funny? I would play that in my gym when I train clients, and when that line would come on, my clients would laugh because they would like, I'm not going to do what you tell me because I'm do more.

[Adam Schafer]

I. I would have probably said Tool, too, because Tool is another one that I love to. That's a staple song for me to work out to. Gets me going with that. Only I have this crazy memory. And when I was in my 20s that I went to the Pink Poodle and a stripper came out, she came out to all the Tool songs.

[Unknown]

And what happened with the Death Tones for me?

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, really?

[Unknown]

Yeah, yeah. Shove it. Yeah, shove it.

[Adam Schafer]

So, I mean, so it just killed it for me.

[Unknown]

It just.

[Adam Schafer]

It is. It's like one of those weird things that's burned in my head forever just because I remember with my buddies, I'm.

[Justin Andrews]

Like, does that place even exist anymore?

[Adam Schafer]

I don't know. See, look it up.

[Justin Andrews]

That was the most.

[Doug]

I believe it does.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, Doug dog, real quick. All like.

[Doug]

To defend myself. I drive by it sometimes.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, okay. So that's. That's. That.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, that was a janky.

[Adam Schafer]

That direction. Okay, here's one for you.

[Unknown]

Not the best picks there.

[Adam Schafer]

If you were. If a. If a movie. Okay. Were to represent your life, what genre of movie would you be?

[Justin Andrews]

Genre?

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, yeah. What genre?

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, I don't know.

[Adam Schafer]

Would you be a comedy? A drama? Would you be a suspense? Would you be. Probably a drama situation? Would you do a rock? That's a good one.

[Justin Andrews]

That's ridiculous.

[Adam Schafer]

What would you be?

[Justin Andrews]

I don't know. That's weird. I never heard of that. I mean, I never thought of that. I don't know. I was stuck on the song right now. I was thinking about.

[Adam Schafer]

I was gonna ask you guys all the same ones.

[Justin Andrews]

I know. I was thinking of that. That.

[Adam Schafer]

Did you come up with a song?

[Justin Andrews]

Well, you know what. You know what I just thought of was the. The montage music from Rocky 4.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Because you. Did you play. You played in Vegas, trying to get me psyched up for speaking.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Rocky in my.

[Justin Andrews]

Don't ever play that. You're going to give me oversight.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, yeah. That would probably be what yours. Give me the. Give me your. Your movie. And then, Justin, you give me your movie.

[Justin Andrews]

After probably be a drama. It'd be like. I don't know.

[Unknown]

To what, like, describe your life?

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, Yeah. A movie. A movie. A movie is made about you in your life and what genre does it fall under?

[Unknown]

It's like a dark comedy.

[Adam Schafer]

Horror. No, I. We should, you know, we should let Doug name what everybody's would be.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

What would you. What would you put? Justin's. What would you put Sal's. What would you put mine on her?

[Doug]

Oh, my God.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Doug]

If Justin's life was a movie.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Doug]

I don't know. I probably have to go with sci fi with him.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, see, that's good.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, it's the cool one.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Doug]

Adam would be fast and furious or something.

[Unknown]

Yeah. Action, action, action.

[Adam Schafer]

How's the rom com?

[Justin Andrews]

Probably.

[Adam Schafer]

How about this one?

[Unknown]

One sounds g.

[Adam Schafer]

Here's one that everybody ever. Everybody could think of. Think of a. A trend like. Like clothing wise or anything like that that you did at one point in your life that you wish, like you like. Oh, I shouldn't have done.

[Justin Andrews]

Easy.

[Adam Schafer]

Okay.

[Justin Andrews]

Easy.

[Adam Schafer]

You know that one.

[Justin Andrews]

Easy, bro overalls with one down. Oh, those are cool.

[Adam Schafer]

Bro overalls are back in style.

[Unknown]

You have a one down.

[Justin Andrews]

That was dumb, dude.

[Adam Schafer]

That was LL Cool J. Right. Remember I used to roll up one side of his. His pant leg too like that for a while.

[Unknown]

Then the crisscross where you weren't backwards.

[Justin Andrews]

I. Did you ever wear your clothes back? No.

[Unknown]

My friends did, though. I had two friends that did and they tried to get me to do it. I was like, nah. But mine was. Mine was embarrassing. It was like very California, like, surfer. Like, I used to wear these hats that you'd flip up. I would hairspray, like a wave of my hair to go along the. That was brim of my.

[Adam Schafer]

That's what came up for me.

[Unknown]

Yeah. And then I had like.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, my God.

[Unknown]

I had these really dorky, like, high shorts that were like fluorescent colored. And then like a fluorescent gotcha shirt.

[Adam Schafer]

You know, like a very spot on right there. I had the hat was like this. With the hair sprayed like this, you know, like the. Like a wave or whatever like that. And then bright. Bright pink and blue and neon. Like bright neon colors in the zoo.

[Unknown]

Bass pants. That was another phase I went through.

[Adam Schafer]

Yes.

[Unknown]

With the hamsey hammer. Like the puffy pants.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes.

[Unknown]

I had bone fish bones pants.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, yeah, I remember those.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. Wow. Embarrassing. What about you?

[Doug]

I went full Miami Vice.

[Adam Schafer]

Did you like all white?

[Doug]

All white, no socks. You know, I actually have a picture somewhere. You do find what Year Drew from organic.

[Adam Schafer]

Drew would have approved from Organifi.

[Justin Andrews]

Totally.

[Doug]

I was totally drew.

[Adam Schafer]

Hey, you know, it be fun talking about this topic. Is it, like, throw like, a party at one of our houses and then you come as, like, one of your worst trends.

[Unknown]

I don't even know I can find those clothes.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, you probably could.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

A lot of stuff is getting online recycle.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, some of the funniest pictures I have are when I was so young that my mom dressed me. But whenever I'm in pictures with other kids, I play this game, find the ethnic kid. That was me. My mom put me in. Oh, bro. I had. I'd be three years old playing, you know, with other kids, or four years old or five years old in school, and I'd have a gold chain with a big, crisp fix on it. And, like, I just came off the boat. Like, my mom dressed me like a stereotypical little guido.

[Adam Schafer]

Okay.

[Unknown]

You know, Nice.

[Adam Schafer]

All right. Last. Last one. This is like a feel good for everybody, so everybody can think about it, really. And everybody on a nice, like, feel good. The last thing that. That comes to mind for you that, you know, put a real big smile on your face or gave you joy, like something. That was a lot. Just most recent thing.

[Justin Andrews]

What's the most recent?

[Doug]

Easy for me.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, let's hear it.

[Doug]

Yesterday was Father's Day.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, okay.

[Doug]

And my daughter came and she brought me a pizza from a place I.

[Adam Schafer]

Really like because she knows you.

[Doug]

Yeah. And then we just spent the day together, went out for dinner, and then we took a walk. It was just a great day together. That's together.

[Justin Andrews]

That's the best. Mine was my little girl, my two and a half year old. We're. We're playing, and she just looked at me and she goes, papa, I love you. And she just kissed me with her little. This little baby kiss around my face. Yeah. And I just. Was that was it. That was it.

[Adam Schafer]

What about you, Justin? Well, we all are cheating because we had Father's Day yesterday, and you. You didn't have your family. So not fair. This is a harder one for Justin. We're all. We're all going to pull from yesterday.

[Justin Andrews]

Which is not fair. Guy.

[Adam Schafer]

Nobody in my family said it.

[Justin Andrews]

You guys. Yeah.

[Unknown]

Like, unfortunately, mine is gonna be, like, you know, related to my. Like, how my wife left before that. It was nice, you know.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, she had sex.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

For anybody who's wondering what he's talking about.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

But I. I don't know. Like. Yeah, it was. I don't know. You have to circle. But I don't, like, can't think of something very specific.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. I mean, it's kind of. It is a little unfair that we all literally just spent Father's Day yesterday. You're the only one that wasn't with his family on Father's Day, which was not fair and unique. All three of us are pulling from. All three of us are pulling from yesterday. I should have thought of that when I asked that question. I should have said, like, before yesterday. Would have challenged everybody a little more. Yeah. Because I would say the same thing too. My son. The. The video that Katrina made was really cool. That the top. The whole day was awesome and exactly how. So first of all, she asked me before we left, she goes, hey, the whole family wants to get together for father. Because there. It's tradition in her family that, like, on Father's Day, all the women come over, do all this.

[Justin Andrews]

Her family's like, mine. Everything's. Everything's all together.

[Unknown]

315 overhead. How about that?

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, There you go. Oh, there you go.

[Unknown]

I was very happy.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. Yeah. That was.

[Justin Andrews]

Your foot was wrong, and it wasn't.

[Unknown]

A push press technically. Jerk.

[Adam Schafer]

No, I could see. I could see the joy in your face right after you. You got it completed. Yeah. Katrina's family. Very much so. Like, you're so. Of course she hits me right before we're about to take off. Right. The day, day before, whatever. And I'm, you know, like, you. I'm like, I don't know where I'm gonna be, and none of that stuff. Like, I'm so scatterbrained, and like, I'm. I've learned over time to be careful when she asks me questions like that, just to commit right away. And I'm like, I don't know. Hold on. Well, when. Where. Where. When are we gonna get. Because I have no idea when we get back this. That she's like, oh, will you get back on Saturday? And I'm like, okay, well, what time I'm at? So I'm, like, inquiring to make sure before I commit to. Then she's like, oh, you get back late. I'm like, well, how late? You know, somebody you tell. She's setting me up to be like, yes, so I'll commit to it. And then I get home and realize, like, that is not what I want to go do is go get with all the family, and I find out we're not gonna be home till one in the morning. And I'm like, hell, no. I don't want to. And she wanted us to host it. So I'm like, no, honey. I mean, for Father's Day, this is the one day I get to choose what I want to do. No, I don't want to go do the family traditional thing where we all get together and everything like that. I'm like, no, I want to sleep in. I want to see my son. I want to have a cup of coffee and stuff like that, and then that'll make my day. And I don't want to be, like, going anywhere. So it ended up being amazing because that's exactly what it was. Just the fam. My family, the immediate family. And it was centered around that. And she went. Her and Max went over the top with gifts and things and stuff like that. But the best one was the video that she had made. And I don't. I gotta ask her if it was sparked from what I asked her, like, three days before I saw this dad. I told you guys this off air.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

So this dad did this thing online with his daughter who just graduated from high school, and he recorded the first day of school every day of her life, and just sat her down in a chair and was just like, I love that video, and it is so good. And I went, oh, this is so perfect, because Max is about to start kindergarten, right? So he's officially starting that. And I'm like, let's make this commitment that we sit him down just one day right before school, and just what do you want to be. Ask him a series of questions. It's real short and easy, and I'll keep it. And so we had just talked about that, so that must have been fresh in her head, because she decides to sit. Sit him down and ask him a series of questions for his. For. For Father's Day. And actually, what I think I like the most about it was I was surprised by some of the answers. Like, she asked him what I have taught him the most, and he said, love. And I thought that was really great. I know that was great. I was not expecting that. You know, I would have. I would have expected that from his mother for sure. Um, although I do teach him a lot around that. Like, I've told you guys that, you know, I've. When I. I teach him about bullies and that, you know, if kids are mean to him at school, he know you can ask him. You guys can literally ask him on command. Max, if you meet a bully, how come they're mean or like that? And he'll tell you because their parents don't Love them. And so he's absolutely gonna tell some kids. Oh, 100. I look forward to the day some bullies with my kid. And my kid doesn't even phase him and feel sorry for him and says, oh, man, it's too bad your mom and dad don't love you. Oh. And so he's. So. That's what he said back. And he did a bunch of other ones. I posted it online. I normally don't post, but it was. It was so good.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, I haven't. I have another one.

[Unknown]

Great.

[Justin Andrews]

I have another one. I. We were out to dinner with some friends of ours. My. My. My friend Chuck and his wife. And I left to go to the bathroom, and I came back, and my wife didn't see me coming back, and I overheard her, like, bragging about me to them, which is really cool. When you hear, you know, you hear somebody talk about. It was my. It was. And it's. You know, of course, a wife has so much power with her words for her husband, so to hear her talk about what she values in me and my critical thinking skills. And she went. This whole thing. And I could overhear the conversation walking up now.

[Adam Schafer]

Is that a. Is that a. A man thing? Where, like. And I've told Katrina this, because Katrina is really good about saying a lot of nice things to me, but it's. It's more powerful to me if it's. If it's done like that than just saying it to me.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh. I mean, I think that's for anybody. Right. Because it seems so real.

[Adam Schafer]

See. No, I don't think so. Katrina wants to hear, like, I always tell her all the time, like, I constantly brag about you tell people about you people.

[Justin Andrews]

Maybe you don't do it enough to her.

[Adam Schafer]

Like, yeah, I don't.

[Justin Andrews]

That's.

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, that's what she wants to know. I'm aware that. I'm aware of that. That's what I'm saying. But that doesn't. But that doesn't bother me. Like, she could never say it to me, but if I hear her talking about me in that way, or someone says, oh, man, Katrina says this about you. Like, that to me is like, that when I'm not around.

[Unknown]

Yeah. Feels like you mean it more somehow. I. I've experienced the same thing where Courtney was, like, on the phone with her friends or family or whatever and was, like, talking about me to them, and I was just, like, she didn't know I was there. And it was, like, all real complimentary and, like, really hype. And it Was like, oh, wow. Like, yeah. Because I don't. I don't hear it directly. And so I think indirectly, I feel like it's like, really how they think.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

I know for me with, like, Katrina has this thing that her mom taught her, which is, I guess, cool and awesome, but also it causes this thing for me where it's just like, I don't hear that. Her mom has taught her since she was little. Like, you don't advertise your man. And so, like, there's this, like, joke that it's like. Like, all her friends think I'm like, this guy doesn't put it down. Barely can provide. Like. Like, she does not. Like, she has been trained.

[Justin Andrews]

Laser.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. She does not. She's been trained not to. To brag about her man. And so if I actually hear her doing that, that's like, such a big deal for me. Because that's a no. No for her is like, she just don't advertise that.

[Justin Andrews]

Is it because.

[Adam Schafer]

Don't advertise your man because you don't.

[Justin Andrews]

Want other women coming after her.

[Adam Schafer]

Her mom has taught her that other women crazy. Other women are like that. And that if you have this amazing man, like, they will. They will. Yeah. And so that's like, it trained.

[Justin Andrews]

That's some distrust right there, right?

[Adam Schafer]

Oh, my God.

[Justin Andrews]

You know, I heard. I heard someone say something the other day. Would love to know what you guys think about it. They said that the. The words I love you to a woman, the words thank you to a man are as powerful. So like, a wife wants to hear I love you. A husband wants to hear thank you.

[Adam Schafer]

That's probably.

[Justin Andrews]

Guys agree with that.

[Adam Schafer]

100.

[Justin Andrews]

I think so.

[Adam Schafer]

I don't see. I don't. Which is why I always have to work on it. Because again, it's like the love language thing is like, because those, like, words of affirmation, I love you. You're pretty. All that. I don't. I don't need none of that shit. I don't. I don't need none of it. And therefore, I'm really bad about doing it. And I have to. I have to actively practice that. You know what I'm saying?

[Justin Andrews]

But because you're, like, thinking.

[Adam Schafer]

You're like, oh, the respect thing is everything for me. I actually. Even. Even less than hearing something. It's more that. I'll tell you what I. And I always try and tell Katrina when I catch her doing something like this, when she gives me grace or latitude, like, I know I can be a bear. I know that I can be distracted. I know that.

[Justin Andrews]

That's huge.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, that's huge. I know that I can be an asshole at sometimes. I know I could be that guy, like, 100%. And when it. When it's. In that moment, her not reacting to me being that way and staying calm amongst the storm. I'm aware of it. And that I see. And I'm like. I mean. And I always try and say something to her afterwards, like, hey, I appreciate that you. You didn't react to me like that, or you let me just vent. Yeah. Yeah. Because sometimes I just need that man for me. Like, that's. I like that even more than any compliment, any thank you. Any I love you anything like that is like, allow me a little bit of grace to.

[Justin Andrews]

That reminds me of another. Another statement I heard, which was that couples don't fall out of love. They fall out of forgiveness or they fall out of grace. So little. Little by little, they stop giving each other grace, and then that's what causes the destruction of a relationship. I thought that was. I thought that was interesting. No, that's very true.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

No, I. I agree with that. I definitely could, because. What's it. Remember the Gottman said, the number one thing for divorce is, what, resentment or content contempt.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

And that would be the opposite of grace. Right? The opposite of grace would be contentment, I would think. Yeah. Contempt. Right. It's like you. Everything they do, hold them to all.

[Unknown]

These things, like in the past.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

Never let it go.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

It's. There's a whole. There's that whole myth that's like an equal 50. 50. No, it's not. Sometimes it's 70, 30, sometimes it's 60. 40, sometimes.

[Unknown]

All over the place, dude.

[Justin Andrews]

It's all over the place.

[Adam Schafer]

Well, the. The other season. The other great advice I've also heard, too, is like, the. This attitude of, like, ever even paying attention. Like, it's irrelevant. It's always, I'm on a mission. Okay. Year, 15 years in. I'm on a mission this year. Right. It's like that New Year's resolution goal is like, can I love my partner more than I loved her last year?

[Justin Andrews]

Right.

[Adam Schafer]

Irregardless of what she does.

[Justin Andrews]

Regardless.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Sorry, Doug.

[Unknown]

It's all right.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. Irregardless. Is that a word?

[Justin Andrews]

No, it's not.

[Unknown]

I remember a comedian.

[Adam Schafer]

It totally feels like it should be word.

[Unknown]

It should be a word, regardless.

[Justin Andrews]

I think Doug said that to us a few times. Has he?

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. Yeah. He doesn't do it enough. I appreciate. I like when you do that, I bite my tongue. That's how I learn. You know what I'm saying? Look at the.

[Justin Andrews]

Gracie.

[Adam Schafer]

You know? Hey, you know why?

[Justin Andrews]

Hey.

[Adam Schafer]

You know, I've probably said it a bunch of times because Doug doesn't speak up till after the podcast.

[Justin Andrews]

I'm sorry, Doug. I just flipped it on you.

[Adam Schafer]

I didn't mean to get you. No, no, no.

[Justin Andrews]

He's.

[Adam Schafer]

No, he's like, after the podcast, Doug loves to let me know that, like, call me out on it when I do it. That's how I learned. Like, I probably won't do it now because you stopped me in it.

[Doug]

I don't want to be that guy either.

[Adam Schafer]

No, you can be. You can be that. You that guy with me. Other people can't do that. But you can't. No, but yes to love or more. Yeah, that. I mean that. And if you focus just on that, then it's amazing what will end up happening on the other end. And if it doesn't, then that. To me, that's always meant to be there. You guys aren't meant to be. Right. You're not. If you have a partner that. If you continue to level up on taking care of loving that person more and more and more as you. As you age and you're with that person, the right person should not only reciprocate that. This is a word, right, Doug?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Very good.

[Justin Andrews]

You reciprocate. Sorry, sorry. Hey, we brought up Drew earlier. I wanted to talk about his company, Organifi. The reviews and the messages that we get on the shilajit are. Are pretty damn good. But I've also had other people comment that they've tried shilajit, and it didn't do anything for them. And I got to say this, that the quality control on shilajit in the market in general is terrible.

[Unknown]

Yeah, you got to get the right version.

[Justin Andrews]

You got to get the Himalayan like it is sourced from where you get shilajit, because they can make it in a lab. They can also get it from other places, and it does not have the same effect whatsoever. The Himalayan source, like Prima V. Shilajit.

[Unknown]

Should be able to feel the.

[Justin Andrews]

That's what Organifi uses. That's the. That's the legit, real deal. The stuff that Ayurvedic is in Ayurvedic medicine.

[Adam Schafer]

Do you think that has to do, Sal, with the. The aging process of it that makes it so special?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, it's been there for. For a long time. Hundreds of thousands years.

[Unknown]

Dense, like micronutrients and everything else. Dude.

[Justin Andrews]

But you don't make it in labs now and sell it in capsule form. And just because now it's a trendy thing.

[Adam Schafer]

I wonder if it's a similar. Like. Like fermentation processes. Like, what wine goes through with that? Wine ages and makes it better and so that. As it ages, like, I don't know.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Is it something. Doesn't wine go bad eventually?

[Adam Schafer]

Or is that.

[Justin Andrews]

Is that false?

[Doug]

Oh, well. Go bad.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, eventually. Right.

[Adam Schafer]

It has a. Like a sweet spot, right?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Doug]

It really depends on the vintage, I guess. I'm not an expert.

[Justin Andrews]

What's the most expensive wine you've ever had? You've probably had some of the most expensive. I was at a wine guy bar.

[Doug]

And this guy bought a $700 bottle of wine.

[Adam Schafer]

I don't think I've had over $500.

[Justin Andrews]

Was it. Was it good?

[Doug]

You know what? I was not impressed.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, wow. Really?

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Doug]

He was kind of, like, showing off.

[Justin Andrews]

So I go, sure you do. When you're at the bar and you get the expensive. You've tried 500?

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. Was it worth it? Yeah, I mean, it was good. Katrina's family's really into wine. Like, they were wine makers. Right.

[Justin Andrews]

So they're winemakers.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. You didn't know that? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Troy. They were in it for a long time. It's a hard industry to crack and make it money.

[Justin Andrews]

There's a.

[Adam Schafer]

You know, there was a point where their bottle was sold for 250 or 350 a bottle at Forbes Mill.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, I didn't know that.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. In Los Gatos. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So he was. But just can't. There's a. What's that old wine saying? Make. I don't know. Make. There's a wine. There's a. There's a wine saying that. Make. Make $2 million a year. So you can make a million dollars in wine or something. Yeah. I forget how it goes, but it's.

[Justin Andrews]

Basically like rich people do it for fun.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. Yeah. It's like you. There's no money in it, and you need to have a lot of money to make any money making wine. I forget how the exact saying goes, but that's pretty.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Every time I go wine tasting, here's what I notice. The. The longer the wine tasting goes on, the better the white taste.

[Adam Schafer]

That's what I noticed.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Now I like it. After visiting two places. It's delicious.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. No, they. They had. They had great. In fact, they still. So in their family, they put away a bunch of The. The family stuff. They haven't. Since Troy's passed, they haven't made wine again. But they're still. They're still like. It's gold in the family. Like, if you. We have, I think, one bottle still of their wine, and it's really, really, really good wine.

[Justin Andrews]

I gotta tell you guys about this.

[Adam Schafer]

Did you find that saying, Doug?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Doug]

If you want to make a small fortune in wine, start with a big one.

[Adam Schafer]

That's it. There it is. That's a good one. Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

All right. I saw this meme. I guess it's a meme floating on social media. It's going viral, and it's totally sending the wrong message. So this guy, he put on a mask. Then he took, like, you know, like the. The kind we were, you know, encouraged to wear during COVID Right, the. Whatever.

[Unknown]

The useless one.

[Justin Andrews]

Medical mask.

[Adam Schafer]

Yes.

[Justin Andrews]

And he took a. He took a petri dish and he would speak into it, and then he did another one where he would speak into it, and then he showed the difference. Right. And so the petri disk without the mask showed like. Like a bunch of overgrowth. The other one showed none. So he's like, see, masks totally works. And what's annoying to me is that people are sharing it saying, master worked. It worked. I'm like, petri disks grow bacteria.

[Unknown]

It's bacteria.

[Justin Andrews]

That's not viruses.

[Unknown]

It's not virus.

[Justin Andrews]

That's bacteria.

[Unknown]

Molecule.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

Viruses are tiny, tiny, smaller molecules.

[Justin Andrews]

Way smaller.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Then. Then bacteria. That's not what you're showing is bacteria, which is. Duh. But it's not.

[Unknown]

Which is why.

[Adam Schafer]

I mean, which is why they weren't hospital.

[Unknown]

Yeah, exactly. The surgical setting, you know, and you're trying to keep everything, like, super clean and sanitized, like, you know, for bacteria without virus. Sterile. But not for viruses.

[Justin Andrews]

No. But also the training involved with, like, how you handle it and put it on. Like, nurses go through legit training around that.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

I don't know anybody that did that before they were put on their medicine.

[Unknown]

Off about all that forever.

[Adam Schafer]

So if it's. If it's only good. So it's only good for sanitary reasons and bacteria, then, like that. So then a lot of the people that are continuing to wear it on planes and stuff like that are silly, too, because a virus is going to get through that. So someone has a cold or sickness.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, Virus will get through that.

[Unknown]

Absolutely.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Airborne. Airborne stuff.

[Adam Schafer]

So then it's literally ridiculous.

[Unknown]

Blocking their own bacteria. Like they're breathing their own bacteria.

[Justin Andrews]

I think people. I think that A lot of people were a bit traumatized. I also think that for some people, and I see this, I saw this with kids, they like to cover their face. They don't want people to see them.

[Adam Schafer]

Well, that makes sense. That makes sense.

[Justin Andrews]

I do.

[Adam Schafer]

There's a trend. There was a trend before that that, like, where kids wear their hoodies all.

[Justin Andrews]

But you still see when you fly, you know, you still see people wear.

[Adam Schafer]

That's why I just asked you guys. We just. I mean, we just flew. Right now, there was at least five people on the plane that had that mask on. Now, I assume that they're like, oh, man. Maybe there's people that are cold and have a sick. And it's like they never let it go.

[Unknown]

I mean, because there's a new variant out. Right. And so I think everybody just started to put them back on. They never really, I don't know, adopted any new information. They just kept going with the thing.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

Or they just didn't. I mean, that's why I think that what you just brought up is really interesting. I've never heard anyone explain that. I didn't know that there was a difference between, like, that bacteria.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, yeah. Bacteria is way bigger than viruses.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Viruses are tiny.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah, tiny.

[Justin Andrews]

Tiny.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. So then the fact you wear it on a plane, like, and you're trying to not get sick from somebody else's cough right next to you. It's not going to.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Unless they spit on your face. So you're not going to get the spit on you.

[Adam Schafer]

But I mean, that's.

[Unknown]

Yeah. What kind of person you talking to?

[Justin Andrews]

Hey, man, that's my kid. Dude. That is my kid. We tell him not to cough or cover your mouth. And sometimes he thinks it's funny. When he sneezes, he'll come up and. Right on my arm. I'm like, oh, come on, buddy. Don't do his. Mom gets so mad. Brain FM is injured. Engineered music and sounds. It sounds like music, but there's sounds beneath the music that induce different states of mind. This is backed by data and studies. In other words, you listen to their focus, your brain becomes more focused. Listen to, meditate, you get more meditative. You listen to sleep and you want to go to sleep. It really works. Don't believe me? Try it out for yourself. Go to Brain FM. Forward slash Mindpump. Get 30 days for free. Test it out for 10 minutes. You'll see what I'm talking about. Back to the show.

[Doug]

First question is from House of Fitness. People are always talking about having trouble Connecting with their glutes. But I have a bigger problem connecting with my pecs. Any recommendation?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, there's a couple things you can do.

[Unknown]

Yep, Very similar.

[Justin Andrews]

First off, understand the function of the chest. Okay. Of the pecs. So the function of the pecs is called. It's known as horizontal adduction of the humerus. So in other words, the upper arm. Right. The bone of the upper arm. When you bring your elbow up, the pecs bring that part of your arm closer to midline or center. So anytime you do a press, focus on that part of the movement. Bringing my arms closer together, my upper arms closer together. So when you're doing your chest presses, think of that as you do the exercise and try to feel the pecs be engaged more. The second thing you could do is pre exhaust, which is funny because we talked about the beginning of the episode where you do some light flies before you go in your presses and then go in your presses. Now, one of the biggest mistakes I see people making with this is that they just go too heavy. And because they're going so heavy, they're relying on where they're already strong, which tends to be for people like this, Shoulders, shoulders and triceps.

[Adam Schafer]

Well, I'll add to that the other reason, because you could understand the mechanics. Right. Of the abduction of the humerus. But if you are protracting the shoulder girdle forward as you do that.

[Justin Andrews]

Rolling them forward.

[Adam Schafer]

Yes. If you roll the shoulders forward when you do that, you get a lot of delt activity and not a lot of chest activity. And so the ability to be able to retract and depress the shoulders, stay open, keep them in that position as you come forward is the key to that. There's a huge. I'll take somebody and have them do, you know, the. Basically the fly with their arms just naturally. And I can always tell. And then I take them, start over, retract, and hold. And then I'll hold their shoulders. I say, now put your do that. But I'm going to keep your shoulders in that position. And then you can't help but fill your. Your chest flex. Another movement I love to do with somebody I that. To help get them to feel this is. I used to love putting them on a foam roll, a foam roll down their spine so they lay on.

[Justin Andrews]

You ever use the half foam roll for that?

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Either one would work fine if you. Whatever. You have access to a half foam roll. Half foam roll is nice because you're going to roll off. Right. But even. Even A regular one's fine, but you do a foam roll down your. So supporting your head and down your spine. All right.

[Unknown]

And you lay down just naturally.

[Adam Schafer]

Exactly. And what it does is it allows the, the shoulder girdle to drop back and down naturally. Just gravity will make it roll on the other side. And it's kind of. And then I used to love to take a client, just do a real light dumbbell fly on that position and then we get over and we do like bench press and things like that. That would really help them activate.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. The other thing too is focus on the stretch and portion of certain exercises. That tends to help with hypertrophy. So with presses it's hard to get a stretch unless you use dumbbells. Flies like, focus on that stretch part of the lift and try and feel the stretch in your pecs.

[Unknown]

Try and feel the stretch in that initial bit here where you're resisting. And then also too in the squeeze. But really hold it isometrically and add in effort. So add in that extra bit of tension that you can create yourself. Go really slow with it and just take that extra time to feel it as much as possible.

[Doug]

Next question is from Corey Franzois. When getting home late, is it better to go to bed as soon as possible and get good sleep or eat a late night meal and hit protein?

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, all things being equal, Sleep.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Sleep is gonna be more important.

[Unknown]

What's your biggest mover?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I mean, there's gonna be cases where, you know, I might add, advise somebody to eat.

[Adam Schafer]

It's going to be the client who's really struggling. Protein all the time.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, like, like always.

[Adam Schafer]

Always.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Like take a shake or something.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

This is get pretty good sleep already.

[Adam Schafer]

This is a no brainer answer depending on the client. And I, I'm. Even though not everybody fits cleanly into two categories, but there's two total different people that I would advise that way. So you can decide, whoever's listening, what category you fall to. Are you the person that chronically doesn't get good sleep and you're inconsistent about it? We have no problem hitting your protein intake. And so here you are, you get nailed with this night and you're like, oh, today I'm gonna miss my protein. No big deal. That person misses one time. Flip that. You're the person who has such a hard time hitting protein intake, you miss it all the time. And here's another night. Here's another night. You're getting home late and you're below on protein and you're like, oh, I need to hit my protein intake, but I am, I'm gonna miss again. But then it's gonna mess my sleep. I'm tell that person at their protein intake.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

Because we're focusing on that. So it really depends on the client. Sleep wins in the if head to head race of what is more valuable in a, in a day by day practice. Right. Like one night of bad sleep is more detrimental than one day of missing protein.

[Justin Andrews]

Totally.

[Adam Schafer]

But if you are a client who chronically misses protein intake and here's just another day that you're gonna miss it because you now you just because you got home late. I'm trying to create those good behaviors around that person. And you know, one night of sleep is like whatever, we'll, we'll get better.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, it's funny because this one I mess up all the time because I'll get home late sometimes, especially if we're traveling for the show and I'll be hungry and I'll be okay. I'll just eat real quick. I always regret it because my sleep is not as good and I, it, it would have been better to focus on sleep. So I get this. But I'd say generally speaking, like get the sleep and, and wake up the next day and then try to hit your protein.

[Doug]

Next question is from emmett.mh I've injured myself a few times outside of the gym, especially my lower back. And it's limiting the exercises I can do. What's the best way to safely build those muscles back to where they should be and to keep progressing in other areas while, while I do so to.

[Justin Andrews]

Build the rest of the body while not stressing the back that's injured, the low back that's injured. I mean you could do seated exercises, unilateral exercises, supported exercises are a great.

[Adam Schafer]

Way to do that as well. Machines are great.

[Unknown]

Yeah, machines would be great. Any chest supported rows, things like that, you know, that you can put in place. So it's just like you don't want to add a lot of unnecessary stability that your body has to react to.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Now that being said, like if you keep hurting your low back, there's something going on there. Like you want to pay attention to what's happening. Farm. You know, suitcase carries are really great way to build stability in the back. Strengthen your core properly, strengthen your obliques properly. And then do you know, things like back extensions and get good at things like deadlifts. But that lateral stability and rotational stuff tends to be an issue when you see these repeated low back injuries often, especially if you're working out. Actually let me, let me preface that. People who work out a lot who also often hurt their back. It's like why do I keep hurting my back?

[Unknown]

Yeah. Typically there's a lateral too much in the sagittal plane.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. And suitcase carries are really good for that. So are even, even old school side bends because can sometimes be good just to strengthen the. The lateral side of the spine.

[Adam Schafer]

I think like being real, real specific instruction for this specific client. I would say while we're healing from the injury, I'm going to do all machine work and wait for you to fully heal. Then once you heal, I'm running like a map performance or a map symmetry program with you.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

You just need it. It's. If you've injured your low back multiple times and to your point, if you, you are someone who lives consistently, then there's definitely something lacking in your programming that's not, that's not bulletproofing your low back. And so great programs that we have that are for that mass performance map symmetry and. But right now I wouldn't put you in that because you're. It's compromised. So get better, get healed. Just do machine work, you know to just until you get healed and then.

[Unknown]

When you get back mobility and core strength.

[Adam Schafer]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Next question is from shamonk7. Should I use squat shoes to improve my range of motion in squats?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, you can. Ideally though you'd want to folk you'd want to fix. Here's the deal. You can use squat shoes but simultaneously work on your ankle mobility so that you don't need squat shoes.

[Unknown]

This is pointing to. Yeah, definitely an instability. There some kind of limitation with the ankle.

[Justin Andrews]

It is. And now the people that wear squat shoes all the time to squat. Olympic lifters. Why? Because they use them in competition. But you want to be able to do this with your foot flat, ideally with your foot barefoot. Now I don't want to say that lightly. Most people can't. Most people don't have the stability and strength in their foot or the mobility in their ankle to do so. So it is a slow process. What you don't want to do is if you're listening to this and you always use squat shoes, you're like cool, I heard this on mind pump. What I'm gonna do is now go train barefoot and you go the same weight that you normally do and you just try and push it, you're gonna hurt yourself because it requires a whole nother. It's. It's a different technique and requires different stability and strength. So ideally you want to be able to do this with a flat foot, but you can do it at the same time. You can work on ankle mobility while squatting with squat shoes.

[Adam Schafer]

I did. I mean when I, I went through my, my big kick on mobility and in, in particular ankle mobility, I was using squat shoes because I wanted to promote greater depths in my squat and keep working on that simultaneously understanding that the limiting factor was my ankle mobility.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schafer]

And just kept continuing to press and that's exactly what it looked like. It looked like me squatting with squat shoes for the time being because that allowed me to still get in a pretty deep squat while I was doing ankle mobility and eventually got to a place where I could barefoot deep squats. And so you can absolutely. What you don't want to do is use the squat shoes as a crutch and then never address the reason why you can't do that. Like that's where you find yourself at.

[Justin Andrews]

The beach or something or with flat shoes on. And you end up hurting yourself super vulnerable to. Yeah, because the foot, I mean the foot is covered in muscles and the ankle is a, is a joint and you compensate for those. Then that's how you develop a bunch of strength is with those being compensated for. And that can set you up for issues when you don't have those shoes on. So look, if you like the show, come find us on Instagram. Justin is @mindpumpjustin. I'm @mindpump distefano. Adam is @mindpump.

[Doug]

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