Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth

Episode 2683 | Weird Workout Hacks that Build Muscle Fast & More (Listener Coaching)

Hosts: Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer, Justin Andrews, Doug Egge
Date: September 12, 2025

Episode Theme & Purpose

This episode dives deep into unconventional but science-backed "weird workout hacks" that can spur new muscle growth, especially if your training has plateaued. The hosts share 8 contrarian methods for stimulating muscle, clarify when and how to use them (with a large emphasis on safety and training experience), then answer four listener questions about balancing fitness with life, overcoming nutrition and motivation challenges, and exploring the fitness profession. The discussion is lively, irreverent and packed with knowledge and stories from the hosts’ decades of experience.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The 8 Weird Workout Hacks for Breaking Plateaus (02:57–23:42)

1. Cheat Reps / Looser Form for Advanced Lifters

• Summary: A recent study showed slightly looser form (e.g., controlled "bouncing" at the bottom of a fly) can increase muscle building, due to extra stretch/load at the muscle's weakest point.
• Risk of injury rises—for advanced lifters only.
• Quote:
  “If you have mastered the technique so well, you can kind of manipulate some of these things. ...I would never do this with a new client, but if you’re an advanced lifter, you have incredible control... the occasional momentum lift or cheat rep, I can see it being applied.” — Adam Schafer (05:19)

2. Fewer Exercises, More Sets ("Single Movement Volume Bomb")

• Summary: Rather than 3 exercises for 3 sets each, try 1 exercise for 9 sets—especially on big compound lifts.
• Improves skill, allows focused hypertrophy on lagging areas, even useful for beginners.
• Quote:
  “Some of my best gains in the short term come from this right here. Just doing like one exercise for a lot of sets.” — Justin Andrews (12:50)

3. Overcoming Isometrics

• Summary: Pushing/pulling against an immovable object, e.g., a heavily loaded bar you can't move.
• Rapid strength gains, tendon strengthening, and low injury risk.
• Useful for all—beginners and advanced alike.
• Gains plateau after 4–7 weeks.
• Quote:
  “It activates more muscle fibers than any other form of strength training ...5% strength gains week over week.” — Justin Andrews (13:44)

4. All-Day Workouts (“Micro Gym Sessions”)

• Summary: Break a workout into small sets (3–5) across the day (e.g., 9am, 11am, 1pm…).
• Improves strength, maintains higher intensity.
• Quote:
  “By the third workout or fourth workout, I was stronger, which was really weird… By the end of the day, a little fatigued, but wow.” — Justin Andrews (17:46)

5. Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) Training

• Summary: Use a tight wrap/cuff on limbs, perform high reps with low weight.
• Burns, rapidly builds muscle (in extremities especially), useful for rehab; results diminish over time, not a total replacement for normal training.
• Quote:
  “I gained a quarter inch on my calves in like three weeks doing it. And then it was a stop working after that.” — Justin Andrews (19:32)

6. The "Squat, Bench & Row Every Day" Routine

• Summary: 3 basic compound lifts, lower intensity (except one day/week), done daily for a few weeks.
• Fast adaptation, not sustainable long-term; helpful for “restart” after a layoff.
• Quote:
  “I would not do this for longer than three or four weeks because this is asking for injury. But...you do this for like 3 weeks. Feed yourself well, watch what happens.” — Justin Andrews (21:06)

7. Sled Training

• Summary: Push, pull, drag a weighted sled—no eccentric (muscle-damaging) phase, minimal injury, works all muscle groups.
• Excellent for all levels, recovery or intensity phases.
• Quote:
  “I think we all agree that this is probably the most underrated tool in the gym, hands down.” — Adam Schafer (22:20)

8. Pre-Exhaust / Isolation Before Compound Moves

• Summary: Flip workout order—start with isolation, finish with compound lifts.
• Dramatic pump, new stimulus; not for long-term programming.
• Quote:
  “If you did this for a couple weeks, it does switch things up. And what's interesting is the compound lifts feel very interesting when you’ve fatigued muscle already and then perform them.” — Justin Andrews (23:43)

2. Key Study: Animal Protein and Cancer Risk (24:16–29:25)

• Study (McMaster University, 16,000 adults):
  No link found between eating animal protein and higher death risk; higher animal protein intake associated with lower cancer mortality.

• Processed meat/foods are the real cancer risk, not unprocessed "whole animal protein".

• Quote:
  “One of the most foundational, basic foods that humans have been eating forever ...meat is not only not bad for you, it’s actually quite good for you.” — Sal Di Stefano (27:08)

• Additional study: It takes twice as much soy as beef (by weight) to maximize muscle protein synthesis.

• “Soy is not a terrible amino acid profile ...but you have to take in more calories to get the same effect.” — Justin Andrews (37:19)

3. Nutrition & Weight Loss: The GLP-1 Drug Effect (29:59–35:35)

• New weight-loss drugs (GLP-1 agonists) are rapidly changing diets and commerce.

• Major snack/fast food profits are down, especially among “heavy users” (the 15% of frequent customers who make up to 80% of sales), due to appetite suppression.

• Clothing companies are shifting more resources to smaller sizes as people shrink.

• Oral (pill) GLP-1 drugs are coming—expect even larger cultural shifts.

• Quote:
  “Their profits are...scrambling. ...The demand for extra-extralarge is going down. They’re having to put more money towards smaller sizes because people are shrinking.” — Justin Andrews (34:44)

4. Endurance vs. Muscle: You Can’t Have Both (40:02–43:42)

• Endurance training and hypertrophy are physiologically opposed.
  • Endurance signals cause muscle fibers to “shrink” (cellular size) for energy efficiency.
  • Best strategy: separate training blocks (e.g., 4–6 weeks of building, 4–6 weeks endurance) rather than trying to max both at once.
• Quote:
  “If you’re pushing for the adaptation of endurance ...it’s going to make muscles smaller. Just how it works.” — Justin Andrews (41:51)
  “There was a study that showed ...alternating [weeks] was better than combining them all. Of each, you got better results.” — Justin Andrews (43:37)

5. Listener Questions & Coaching (53:38–64:40)

Q1 [53:38]: How do I fit in strength, movement, and cardio with a busy desk job and family?

• Answer: Prioritize walking (8–10k steps/day) and simple strength work (MAPS 15 style: 2 exercises/day).
  • Walk 5–10 min a few times daily (morning, lunch, night).
  • Break up sedentary time for productivity and health.
• Quote:
  “If you did MAPS 15 and got between 8 to 10,000 steps a day, you’re going to get 85% of all the benefit you’ll get from strength training activity. That’s it. That’s all you gotta do.” — Justin Andrews (54:03)

Q2 [57:03]: If I’m not meeting protein or calories but not hungry, should I force-feed?

• Answer: Use light supplements (e.g., bone broth protein powder) if chronically short on protein; if calories are adequate, don’t sweat minor shortages.
  • Chronically low appetite can signal overtraining or excess stress; strength work may help.
• Quote:
  “You could put three scoops of [bone broth protein] in there and pound that with water... The Payo Valley bone broth is the go-to move.” — Adam Schafer (57:14)
  “Sometimes this is an appetite issue, and you may be overtrained; changing training to something that gets you stronger spikes the appetite.” — Justin Andrews (57:40)

Q3 [58:19]: Advice for a former college athlete struggling to get back into the gym and losing consistency post-college?

• Answer:
  • Recognize your drivers and environment have changed (no team or competition).
  • Invest in a structured program or coaching for accountability and programming (Muscle Mommy Community launched as example).
• Quote:
  “Especially if you’re a college athlete...your drivers are different, your tolerance for intensity is different and that suddenly changes and you don’t know how to get yourself to the gym.” — Justin Andrews (58:47)

Q4 [60:20]: How do you decide to keep fitness a hobby or turn it into a career?

• Answer:
  • You must love people as much as fitness to work in fitness successfully.
  • Being a trainer means working with all types, solving human problems; if you dislike navigating personalities and perspectives, keep fitness personal.
• Quote:
  “If you’re asking this question, you probably already love fitness ...[but] you also have to love people just as much...That’s the deciding factor.” — Sal Di Stefano (60:26)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Hack Safety & Advanced Lifting:
  "It's like teaching a pro athlete to throw sidearm—master the basics, then play." — Adam Schafer (05:19)

• On Protein & Plant-Based Diet:
  “If you just ate meat, not ideal, but you’re not going to get to a point where your body can’t function. You can’t do that with a single plant.” — Sal Di Stefano (28:00)

• On Fitness as a Career:
  “All the fitness in the world won’t help if you don’t like people. You’re not going to be in front of people that you just like. You’re going to be in front of a lot of different people who are very different from you.” — Justin Andrews (61:03)

• On Endurance vs. Muscle:
  “Big muscles just aren’t as good for endurance, period. End of story.” — Justin Andrews (41:27)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Time | Segment | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------| | 02:57 | Weird workout hacks intro | | 04:46 | Cheat reps and stretch overload | | 10:46 | Fewer exercises, more sets | | 13:43 | Overcoming isometrics explained | | 16:25 | All-day (broken up) workout protocol | | 18:10 | Blood flow restriction (BFR) training | | 20:32 | Squat, bench & row everyday routine | | 21:33 | Sled training | | 23:00 | Isolation before compound (pre-exhaust method) | | 24:16 | Animal protein & cancer risk study | | 29:59 | Weight loss drugs & effect on food industry | | 40:02 | Endurance vs. muscle size physiology | | 53:38 | Q&A 1: Fitness with job/kids | | 57:03 | Q&A 2: Low appetite and protein | | 58:19 | Q&A 3: Ex-college athlete consistency | | 60:20 | Q&A 4: Hobby vs. career in fitness |

Closing Thoughts

The episode offers a nuanced take on unconventional training hacks—always anchoring advice in context, safety, and science—while tackling modern nutrition challenges and bringing the real-world, sometimes messy realities of fitness and coaching to the forefront. Whether you're plateaued in your lifting, struggling to stay fit around life’s demands, or wondering if fitness should be your calling, the Mind Pump crew delivers a blend of actionable tactics, myth-busting humor, and genuine mentorship.