2689: 10 Underrated Exercises That Deliver INSANE Gains, Metabolism Repair, and Nutrition Intake for Weight Loss Goals

Summary

Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth

Episode 2689 (Published Sept 20, 2025)
“10 Underrated Exercises That Deliver INSANE Gains, Metabolism Repair, and Nutrition Intake for Weight Loss Goals”
Hosts: Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer, Justin Andrews, Doug Egge

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Main Theme:

A deep dive into 10 criminally underrated exercises for muscle-building and metabolic benefits, followed by live coaching calls on metabolism repair, nutrition strategies, and effective strength training for sustainable weight loss. The hosts blend science-backed advice with industry banter, and digress into honest cultural commentary and challenges for modern trainers.

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1. The 10 Most Underrated Exercises for INSANE Gains

[03:07–19:15]

The hosts break down ten overlooked exercises—offering body-part coverage, execution nuances, benefits for muscle growth, functionality, and why most gymgoers skip them.

Chest: Parallel Bar Dips (Leaning Forward)

• “Very few chest exercises will give you a stretch in the chest like this one… now we have data to show that the stretch position when it’s loaded, produces the most hypertrophy.” – Sal ([04:00])
• Key cues: Lean forward, flare elbows, focus on chest stretch not just triceps.
• Allows for progressive loading and enhances bench press performance.
• Safety: Good shoulder mobility required.

Back/Lats: Dumbbell Pullover

• “This is an isolation exercise that acts more like a compound lift… You could get really strong and good at this and watch what happens to your lats.” – Sal ([08:39])
• Great for thoracic mobility; rare movement pattern.
• Historically popular with bodybuilders.

Shoulders: Kettlebell Shoulder Press

• “The way the kettlebell sits on your arm… pulls it back for you… gives you this assist to get in a more natural position. Makes full lockout more natural.” – Adam ([10:01])
• Promotes healthy external rotation, full extension, and better posture.

Triceps: Dumbbell Skull Crushers

• “Dumbbell Skull Crushers are better… More range of motion, just contours to your body. Doesn’t matter what your size is.” – Adam & Sal ([11:13–12:09])
• Preferred over barbell versions for joint safety and comfort.

Biceps/Forearms: Hammer Curls

• “This is a more functional curl… and it will develop an arm that looks thicker from the front.” – Sal ([12:51])
• Targets brachialis and brachioradialis for arm thickness.

Quads: Front Squats

• “Probably the best quad exercise you could do.” – Sal ([13:13])
• More upright posture, powerful quad stimulus, better core activation.
• Commonly avoided due to difficulty and reduced loading compared to back squats.

Hamstrings: Physio Ball Leg Curls

• “Nobody does these… There’s rare, I can’t think of any other exercise that allows you to focus on hip extension and then knee flexion.” – Sal ([14:44])
• Insane squeeze, no weights needed, progress to one leg for challenge.

Glutes/Hamstrings: Single-Leg Deadlift

• “Such a great exercise… If you get really strong and stable in the hips, chronic pain just disappears.” – Adam ([16:02])
• Improves stability, hip health, and can unlock big gains in bilateral deadlifts.

Core: Active Planks

• “This will build your abs and your obliques almost like nothing else. It’s an exceptional exercise.” – Sal ([17:25])
• Should replace traditional planks.

Calves: Donkey Calf Raises

• “When you’re flexing at the hips and go to work your calves, the gastrocs will stretch in that position… it’s a stretch like you’ve never felt.” – Sal ([18:28])
• Rarely done due to lack of equipment; mimics pro bodybuilder methods.

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2. Notable Banter: Parenting, Caffeine, & Hair Loss

[19:15–36:57]

• The hosts get real—challenging parenting moments, honest kid quotes, the dangers of caffeine overload, and male pattern baldness.
• Humor abounds: stories about kids’ bluntness, accidental innuendos, and aging male anxieties.
  • “I get in trouble, I can just stand up, you know… what a cool exercise!” – Adam, on making dips safe ([06:04])
  • “Your son just called me weak because I’m a woman.” – Sal ([21:16])
  • Caffeine caution: crash symptoms, benefits of pairing with theanine.

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3. Culture & Social Commentary: Racial Tension in the US

[39:05–50:21]

A candid segment on the recent viral tragedy (Irina Zarudska train stabbing), media narratives, and the cyclical manipulation of race in America.

• Sal traces the history of race-baiting content (“Huge country, always find a video… they’re pushing the buttons on either side”), [42:34].
• They dissect data misuse and warn of extreme-right backlash.
• Personal reflection on generational change: “My mom went to a segregated school… To see where we’re at now, it’s wild.” – Adam ([44:32])
• Life lessons: “If you look for evil, you’ll always find it in a country this size—media can make it look like society’s falling apart, always.” – Adam ([47:26])

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4. Fitness Influencer Fails & Dangers of Fame

[50:28–57:03]

• Paige Hathaway’s influencer misstep: a viral, tone-deaf ad for smoothies amid her house burning down; used to discuss the pitfalls of social media fame.
  • “It is a curse to be famous.” – Sal ([53:45])
  • “The crowd can turn on you on a dime… it’s fake love.” – Sal ([54:17])
  • “You build all this fame and persona… just lost touch I guess.” – Justin ([52:47])

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5. Live Caller Coaching: Nutrition, Metabolic Repair, & Lifting Programs

[57:40–98:09]

Caller 1: Liliana (Mexico) – Weight Gain Post-Dance, Metabolism Repair

[57:40–66:36]

• Former dancer gaining weight after leaving activity.
• Hosts advise:
  • Avoid processed foods
  • Hit ~150g protein/day (“Eat it first at meals,” Sal [59:46])
  • Follow MAPS Anabolic (strength training 3x/week)
  • Only walk and dance for fun, no overtraining
• Don’t get scale-obsessed; focus on getting stronger and eating enough.

Caller 2: Lisa (Pennsylvania) – Bodybuilding Veteran, Strength Focus

[66:36–75:31]

• 47, lifelong lifter, struggles mentally to increase calories for gains.
• Key advice:
  • Don’t reorder program to prioritize antagonistic circuits if goal is max strength.
  • “Even just a little more body fat, you’ll see hormonal, energy, and muscle improvements.” – Sal ([73:07])
  • Encourage bump to 2200–2300 kcal to accelerate gains.

Caller 3: Ryan (Louisiana) – Leaning Out with Adequate Food

[75:37–82:44]

• Young male, wants abs, stuck between 2–2.5k calories.
• Hosts warn: Don’t cut further—reverse diet up to 3k, then cut.
  • Build up metabolism, then diet down for success.
• “Reverse diet, build muscle… wait until you get to about 3000 calories and then we can drop down.” – Adam ([80:08])

Caller 4: Leo (UK) – Training/Nutrition for Female Client

[83:14–98:09]

• Coaching a woman down from 132 lbs to 126, plateaus, variable protein intake.
• Hosts approve 200–300 kcal cut, but stress consistent protein intake to protect muscle mass while losing fat.
  • “Cut her calories, and if she doesn’t eat or hit her protein, she’s going to lose muscle.” – Adam ([91:51])
• Trainer career tip: “Don’t go independent unless you’re the top trainer in your gym.” – Adam ([95:08])

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6. Key Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Donkey Calf Raises:
  “...you're flexing at the hips...the gastrocs will stretch in that position...it's going to be a stretch like you’ve never felt before in your life.”
  – Sal ([18:28])

• On Front Squats' Reputation:
  “They're hard and uncomfortable… when the discrepancy of my front squat to my back squat was so huge it discouraged me.”
  – Adam ([13:23])

• On the Social Media Race Cycle:
  “This doesn't get solved by making it a race thing. That just makes it worse. And when that's not the problem, this is like taking data and skewing it.”
  – Sal ([43:37])

• On Fitness Fame:
  “It is a curse to be this famous. It’s not what people think…just fake love, moves you in directions that aren’t authentic.”
  – Sal ([54:17])

• On Protein in a Deficit:
  “Cut her in a deficit and she doesn’t hit her protein…guarantee she’s going to lose muscle.”
  – Adam ([91:51])

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7. Timestamps for Key Segments

• Underrated Exercises Deep-Dive: [03:07–19:15]
• Parent/Kid Banter and Caffeine Discussion: [19:15–36:57]
• Racial/Cultural Commentary: [39:05–50:21]
• Influencer/Fame Discussion: [50:28–57:03]
• Coaching Call 1 (Liliana): [57:40–66:36]
• Coaching Call 2 (Lisa): [66:36–75:31]
• Coaching Call 3 (Ryan): [75:37–82:44]
• Coaching Call 4 (Leo): [83:14–98:09]

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8. Tone & Takeaways

The crew keeps things raw, direct, and highly practical, balancing technical coaching with personal stories and unfiltered opinions on news and the fitness industry. They emphasize sustainability, honest coaching, the real science behind fitness trends—and a heavy dose of “don’t believe the hype.”
Ideal for listeners who crave both high-value training insights and candid life advice.

Transcript

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[Sal DeStefano]

Mind Pump Mind Pump with your hosts.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Sal DeStefano, Adam Schaefer and Justin Andrews.

[Sal DeStefano]

You just found the most downloaded fitness, health and entertainment podcast in history. This is Mind Pump, right? In today's episode, we answered live callers questions. People called in, we got to coach them on air. But this was after an intro. Today's intro is 54 minutes long. Now in the intro we talk about current events and family life. We talk about fitness, fat loss, muscle gain. It's a good time. By the way, if you want to be on an episode like this one, email us your question. Send it to [e-mail] now. This episode is brought to you by some sponsors. The first one is Organifi. Today we talked about their green juice powder. Makes you feel good. Try it out. Tastes good too. Go to organifi.com mindpump that's O R G A N-I F I.com forward slash mind pump use the code mind pump. Get 20% off. This episode is also brought to you by Juv. They make red light therapy panels that actually work. When you read all the studies, there's a lot of them on red light therapy's benefits like it helps regrow hair, makes your skin look more healthy with less wrinkles, helps with the recovery and pain. They're talking about red light, like the ones Juv produces. Other red light companies don't produce the same wavelengths. They don't give you the same concentration. Joovv is the stuff you see in the studies. Get yourself a discount. Go to Joovv.com, that's J-O-O-V-V.com mindpump. Use the code mindpump. Get $50 off. Also, ladies, go to musclemommymovement.com quiz. Fill out our free quiz. See if you fall into one of these categories. The comeback queen, the efficient powerhouse, the strength novice, or the lifestyle integrator. If you fall into one of those categories, you will get some individualized advice. Again, musclemommymovement.com is where you go, here comes the show. All right, real quick.

[Justin Andrews]

If you love us like we love you, why not show it by rocking one of our shirts, hats, mugs, or training gear? [e-mail] I'm talking right now. Hit pause, head on over to my pumpstore.com. that's it. Enjoy the rest of the show.

[Sal DeStefano]

All right, we're going to talk about 10 of some of the most underrated exercises that produce incredible gains. I don't know why people don't do these more often. Some of them people never do, but they should. We have you one per body part. Let's go.

[Justin Andrews]

So the guys behind the guy.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. Where you come up with this.

[Sal DeStefano]

These are exercises that you still don't see a ton of people doing. And they tend to not be included into in routines. But they produce a lot of. Of gains. They produce incredible gains. They're valuable exercises. And so I got some per body part. Some of them have regained a little bit of popularity, but still, if you go in gyms, you just don't see a lot of people doing these.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, some of them are uncomfortable. And I think that's probably one of the deterrents for people, you know, because.

[Sal DeStefano]

Or hard.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, they're hard.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

And that's. Oh, natural deterrent.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's right. I'll start with the first one for chest parallel bar dips where you lean forward. You know, a long time ago, this was a staple chest exercise, and then it just became a tricep exercise. Now it's not a bad tricep exercise. It's great. But the way you perform these can really change the muscle activation. If I'm more upright and I'm allowing my. My elbows to flex and extend more, I'm gonna get More tricep. If I'm leaning forward, flaring my elbows out a little bit. It is. In fact, there's very few chest exercises that will give you a stretch in the chest like this one. I love doing that. And now we have data to show that the stretch position when it's loaded, produces the most hypertrophy. Most people think of a chest stretching exercise as a fly, but again, that's a isolation, single joint exercise. Dips are compound lift. This is a compound lift. In fact, you can get strong and.

[Adam Schaefer]

Load these with a lot of weight loaded deep dips.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yes.

[Justin Andrews]

People used to think I was crazy. I was always promoting those type of dips in combination with bench press to really build up my bench. Bench press strength in it.

[Adam Schaefer]

You're a big ring guy, right?

[Justin Andrews]

Big ring guy.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it will make you very strong.

[Adam Schaefer]

And people need to understand because I think the. Maybe the average person would think it's similar to like a decline bench. No, the range of motion you can get on a dip versus that's what makes the decline. What makes a decline bench such a shitty exercise. It just is. I mean, and every guy is probably guilty of running it through his program, like, way too long than we probably should have. I mean, I know I did. Why? Because we could stack more weight on it. He could lift more weight. But the range of motion sucks.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean, you're barely. I mean, you hit the bottom of your chest and you're. I mean, you're not deep at all. You going on a dip, you can get this much. So much more range of motion. And to your point in that stretch position, we already have the studies of sport. How much better that is for you for building muscle, loading that. Oh, great.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

And. And another thing too is, like, it's such an easy thing that you can load and do safely by yourself.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's right.

[Adam Schaefer]

Like you.

[Sal DeStefano]

You can do a spotter.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, I'll do it where I could actually put my feet on the ground and I just bend my knees so I. If I get in trouble, I can just stand up, you know, and so what a cool exercise that I could really load for like a low 3 to 5 rep range and. And safely do it by myself.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's my point. How often do you see in the gym weighted, you know, dips for chest? You never see that. You could get real strong at this, guys. Like, you could put.

[Adam Schaefer]

I'm gonna do those today.

[Sal DeStefano]

Like, you could load, you know, if you get strong as a guy, you could do this with like a 100 pound dumbbell. I haven't been neglecting around your waist and again that stretch position and then press it. By the way, this does require I, I'll say this little caveat. You got to have good shoulder mobility. And if you've never done these before, you haven't done them in a while. Start easy, play with the range of motion. Don't just jump into these crazy deep dips, right. But as you get better at them, like they'll unlock growth in your chest.

[Adam Schaefer]

I tell you what, in fact, you've motivated me because this was actually something that normally is in my routine. It hasn't been in my routine in a long time. And I'm going to do something right now is I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm going to make this like a staple for a while. And I just think that the development you get from shoulders, chest and tries in this is just, just get really strong at this for a lift. Like, watch the benefits you get from.

[Sal DeStefano]

It's amazing.

[Adam Schaefer]

I like this one.

[Sal DeStefano]

Next up is the dumbbell pullover. Now, you see some people doing these. Now these were really unpopular for a long time for some insane reason, but it's one of the few exercises that moves in, in this kind of plane of motion. It's like you're moving into two different planes. It is a great lat exercise. It's great for thoracic mobility.

[Justin Andrews]

Connecting lat and tricep is like a really unique.

[Sal DeStefano]

That almost never happens. So is lats and biceps. Bodybuilders in the past would actually brag about how much weight they could do with a pullover. And they got incredibly strong.

[Adam Schaefer]

Why do you think it fell out of favor? Because it was such a big movement back in the day.

[Sal DeStefano]

It's hard. It's hard. You got to get a heavy dumbbell.

[Adam Schaefer]

I never go on a cross.

[Sal DeStefano]

You go across a bench and then you got to get into position.

[Justin Andrews]

Maybe it's just the stretch of it. Yeah, people probably maybe like shoulder mobility wise too. People don't have that, I don't know, like fel favorite.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean, I, maybe a lot of people don't know what it's for, you know, and so that's that. That's probably one where people are like, what am I working? You're not, not too sure about what they're working. Because I actually don't think it's that hard of an exercise. You can, I mean, you could really.

[Justin Andrews]

It feels great too.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean, I used to do it with like really older clients. Just a light like 20 pound dumbbell and just work on that range of motion and their shoulders and everything. And so you can, you can really regress it. And I guess it's a little awkward getting the bench, but it doesn't. I, there's other ones you have on here that I would, I would put in the hard category of like, this sucks it hard. I don't want to do it. I actually wouldn't even put that here. So I don't know why it fell out of favor so much.

[Sal DeStefano]

It's such a great lat exercise. This is a, it's interesting. This is a isolation exercise that acts more like a compound lift. It really does. Like, there's very few. In fact, I can't think of an isolation exercise that I'd be like, ooh, this kind of builds muscle almost like a compound lift. The pullover is one of those. Like, you could get really strong and good at this and watch what happens to your lats from doing this kind of, this exercise. Next up is a kettlebell shoulder press. I, in fact, kettlebell shoulder press all.

[Justin Andrews]

The ones they do all the time.

[Sal DeStefano]

I never did this as part of my routine until we all worked together. And Justin was like, he was super big on them. And I, you know, I like strength movements. I like, like traditional strength movements. I like bodybuilding. I'm not a big functional workout kind of guy. I always thought kettlebells were more the functional realm and I knew I needed to do it more, but I just didn't enjoy. Yeah, but when I did this for shoulder presses, this became, this is like a great bodybuilding exercise. The way that the kettlebell sits on your arm and it sits behind your arm as you press places you in a better position. The rotation that's involved with the press gives you this really full range of motion.

[Justin Andrews]

Naturally, people lack a bit of external rotation. And to have that weight, you know, in the back of your arm and assist and pull back in good position really helps enhance it.

[Adam Schaefer]

I think that's the secret. Yes, it moves in that natural spiral. But I think the secret sauce in it is what you just said. Because one of the, so one of the, one of the cues that you give trainers when they were clients when they shoulder presses. Pull the head through the window.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, right.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's a, that's an old trainer cue. Pull your head through the window. And that's what you're doing is trying to get them to pull their, their shoulders back because it just, it's uncomfortable. It's not normal. We do everything so in front of us. So that's hard. When the kettlebell is behind like that, it kind of pulls it back for you. So it gives you that kind of assist to get in a more natural position. I really think that that has a lot to do with it. And then it's way more comfortable to fully kind of lock out. Which is another thing that people tend to do is they stay in front and they shorten this range up so you don't get that full extension. You don't get that better posture. So I again, this is another great one.

[Justin Andrews]

Diagonal. Yeah, I love it. Like it's. It's just so much more functionally sound.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah. Next up is the Dumbbell Skull Crusher. Now, we always put this in our programs. I almost never, though see it in the gym. Unless someone's following one of our programs, they typically will do a barbell like an easy curl bar Skull Crusher. I will tell you this right now. Like, if I'm in a hurry and I'm being lazy, I'll grab the easy curl bar. But Dumbbell Skull Crushers are better.

[Adam Schaefer]

I always do two.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yes. Way better.

[Adam Schaefer]

I. I never use the bar. It's.

[Sal DeStefano]

This is your favorite.

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, I mean, once I made that switch over to this just. And I don't remember what. Where in my journey I was at, because I remember as a young lifter, always the camera.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

You know, and your buddy spotting you and stuff like that. That was like the thing. Right. Trying to get from the 25s to the 35s. I totally remember that. But then there became a. I don't remember what made me do it, but I remember switching to dumbbells. Never went back. Never went back. In fact, I'll either do, you know, both dumbbells, or I'll Sometimes I'll even do one at a time and really focus on one side. But Dumbbell Skull Crushers is the way.

[Sal DeStefano]

It's just a great range of motion.

[Adam Schaefer]

You can get a really contours to your body.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's right. Exactly.

[Adam Schaefer]

So maybe that's why I. Because I have kind of an odd, you know, narrow, wide back. And so the bar has always been like this kind of weird kind of ideal place. No. And the dumbbells just. It falls right in a comfortable.

[Sal DeStefano]

Doesn't matter what your size is.

[Justin Andrews]

And you're more in a neutral grip as well too, which is.

[Sal DeStefano]

I prefer in neutral grip. Tends to be easier on people's elbows. Yes. Which is another good thing. Next up, hammer curls. Again, this is a program we tend to Put in a lot of our programs. I still never see people do this. Almost every type of bicep curl somebody does is a supinated grip curl. Having a neutral grip still works the biceps. It also trains the brachialis muscle underneath the bicep and the brachioradialis muscle, which is on the forearm. This is a functional curl, you guys. This is a more functional curl than your palms up. And it will develop an arm that looks thicker from the front. That's what I've noticed through doing this exercise. And you can get really strong with these.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

This thickness. And I don't know why people. I think it's just not as advertised or as sexy, but hammer curls again. This was a staple type of curl that bodybuilder.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean I'm looking at this list right now and this is a dope two day a week program or a split over four days. So you could cut it in half. Do. And do it twice a week would be totally a really, really good program.

[Sal DeStefano]

Next up front, squats. Probably the best quad. Like if you want to really hit the quads. Exercise you could do.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes.

[Sal DeStefano]

I know why people don't do them.

[Justin Andrews]

They're hard and uncomfortable.

[Adam Schaefer]

This is one though. This is one of the ones. When I looked at this, I'm like the reason why. I mean, admittedly why they're harder. They're real hard and you can't nearly. Well, not. I mean, I remember at one point I did get up close.

[Sal DeStefano]

If you practice, we get real.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. And I think that's the. That's just it. It's like this. It reminds me of comparing the flat bench to incline bench. I remember when the discrepancy of my front squat to my back squat was so huge it discouraged me from ever.

[Justin Andrews]

Doing 100 pound difference.

[Adam Schaefer]

And then I went on a kick of like really getting strong. My front and almost caught my front.

[Leo]

Almost.

[Adam Schaefer]

I didn't get all the way there, but I almost caught my front squat on my back. So that was some of the best. The best I felt in a long time.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh yeah. It's a. It's a. It's a great exercise because it keeps you more upright. You're hitting more quads. It activates the core differently. It's a staple Olympic lift exercise. So Olympic lifters do these really well.

[Justin Andrews]

You need to have to transition to. Yeah. A lot of those other.

[Adam Schaefer]

And also more most likely how you'll use it in the real life.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah. You're gonna hold some in front of you when you're Squatting?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, I mean, we. I know we all like the back. We all love the back squat, but it's like you don't ever throw £200 on your back and squat it down. You do a lot of times they'll grab heavy things in front of you and squat down, and so that's way more functional.

[Justin Andrews]

And honestly, I. I tend to find so much value in it with athletes because the fact that you need that explosive strength, you know, anterior, you know, explosive strength, and we, you know, being on your heels is. Is really, you know, a detriment to you out on the field.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's right. Next up, physio ball leg curls. Nobody does these. They are.

[Adam Schaefer]

They're brutal.

[Sal DeStefano]

There is rare. There is. I can't think of any other exercise that allows you to focus on hip extension and then knee flexion. Right. So the hamstrings do both, Right. They help extend the hips like you would in a Romanian deadlift, and they also flex the knee when you bring your heel back to your butt with a physio ball leg curl, you're up in position, holding yourself up, so you're already activating the hamstrings in this kind of stable position. And then you do a leg curl. And the squeeze you feel at the top of this is insane. By the way, bodybuilders sometimes try to get this kind of a squeeze on a traditional leg curl when they lay on the tummy. It's a city, dude. And what they do is they'll lay on their stomach and they'll do a leg curl. And what they're trying to do is take their legs off the bench to try to emulate what happens with the physio ball leg curl. A lot of people look at this and say, oh, it's correctional. No, try this for developing hamstrings. Yeah, Try this and see what happens to your hamstrings.

[Justin Andrews]

You don't need any weight with this.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, no.

[Justin Andrews]

Difficult enough.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. And good luck. I mean, you want to progress it. Go to one leg.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, God.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. Two legs will get most people. And if you think you're really, really strong and you get good at it, then you can move to one leg and progress.

[Sal DeStefano]

Speaking of one leg, single leg deadlift. Oh, oh, single leg deadlift.

[Adam Schaefer]

My favorite.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah. Great exercise. Deadlifts are great. Single leg deadlifts are great.

[Adam Schaefer]

I also think that they're okay. So we, we talk a lot about, you know, dysfunction in. In joints. It has to do with weakness and instability. A lot of our issues stem from weakness and instability in the hips.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

And this is such a great exercise because if you get really strong and stable in the hips, I've seen so many a personal experience and also lots of clients that have eliminated low back pain have eliminated a lot of this chronic pain that they have in the pelvis area. All that is so good to get strong in that area. And it is, it's just, it's difficult but you get good at it to.

[Justin Andrews]

Get really like stable hips and, and you know, this really challenges that anti rotation ability. So you know, to, for it to then translate into a regular deadlift where you get those shifts every now and then. It really helps to kind of keep you solid and, and stable.

[Sal DeStefano]

It's also a secret way to get your deadlift.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, I went on a kick. You can actually go far enough. Back on my Instagram where I was.

[Sal DeStefano]

Using the 200 pound.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, yeah. Where recording me progressing through this. I never felt so good doing bilateral deadlifts than when I focused on getting really strong at doing single leg. Man, when I went back to bilateral deadlifting, oh man, I just felt so good. So in control. And again, this is going to, this list is making me go like I need to reintroduce a lot of these movements that I haven't been doing.

[Sal DeStefano]

Next up for core active planks. We talked about these a long time ago. In fact, there was a video, first viral video that we posted years ago. It was probably eight years ago that went viral. This is a gnarly core exercise and we put this in our programs as well. But I almost never see them in gyms again unless someone's following one of our programs. This will build your abs and your obliques almost like nothing else. It's an exceptional exercise. If you're strong and you need to be challenged, do this. And it is incredible. And it does, it works in extension and at the topic contraction.

[Adam Schaefer]

I, I actually think that it should replace the traditional plank that everybody does. I just think that that's for the most part most people don't do those really well. It's hard for a coach to see if somebody's cheating it a little bit or doesn't have the best posture in it. And so activating the glutes. I, I so either like an active plank or just holding the, the tilt, just tucking the, tucking the tailbone and keeping it in that position in a, in a plank, I think is the superior way to do a plank.

[Sal DeStefano]

Totally. And then lastly, donkey calf raises. Now I know why nobody does this is because if there Isn't a machine to do this. You're not going to grab your buddy to sit on your back while you do donkey caps. That's how they do it back in the day. Back in the day, you would have somebody sit on your back. There's pictures of Arnold, like, he's got Franco and a couple of the bodybuilders on his back. But when you're. When you're flexing at the hips or like bending over and then you go to work your calves, the gastrocs will stretch in that position like. Like, almost like the hamstrings. So you want to get a gnarly stretch in your calves. You can get a stretch standing straight up. Now try bending over. You're. It's going to be a stretch like you've never felt before in your life. This will pump your calves up like nothing else. There are machines that do this, and I absolutely love them, but you don't often see them. If you have a friend and you want to experiment, get a block. Put your arms on a bench like.

[Justin Andrews]

A piano at your house, and you're pushing it up.

[Sal DeStefano]

So. But these are pretty awesome. Again, it was a staple back. Anyway, I got to tell you guys about funny, funny situation with my son, that he's probably too young for this conversation, just by the evidence, by the. What he said to his mom later in the day. So I'll tell you guys what happened. I'll tell you what he said to his mom. So my son's four and a half, right? And we're working on helping him control his temper or his outbursts, okay? And so the other day, he got really mad at his sister, and he started, oh, you know, getting real mad. And so I stopped him and I said, hey. I said, listen. I said, once he calmed down a little bit, I said, who's scarier when they lose their temper? I said, mom or dad? And he's like, well, Dad? I said, why? And he goes, well, you're louder. You're bigger. I said, yes. I said, you're a boy. You're going to grow up to be a man one day. And men are typically bigger, stronger, and louder. And we have a responsibility to be disciplined. It's very important for a man to know how to control himself, especially his anger. Now, the reason why we're bigger and stronger. And this is the way I explained to him. As I said, we've been gifted with the ability to protect people, but don't abuse that. And so learn how to control yourself. He's like, okay. And it's like, he looked like he got it. He's like, all right, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. I get that. Anyway, later in that later on, I.

[Adam Schaefer]

Already feel I know where this is going.

[Sal DeStefano]

He's too young for it. Later on, he's in bed. And earlier before bed, him and I were watching snake videos. He's really into snakes right now, so he's like, you know, can a python beat a, you know, alligator? Whatever. So we're looking at videos. Well, we saw this video. I think it scared him a little bit. So he's in bed with his mom. She puts him to bed most nights, and they're laying there, and he's like, mom, I'm scared of snakes, and I don't want any snakes to come in the house or whatever. And she's like, honey, don't worry about it. And they're going back and forth, and she's like, listen, I'm with you. I'm here with you all day long. Like, I'll keep you safe. And he's like, but, mom, you're a woman. You're weak. You can't keep me safe. No.

[Adam Schaefer]

What?

[Sal DeStefano]

I get a text. Dude. I get a text from her. She's like, your son just called me weak because I'm a woman.

[Adam Schaefer]

I'm like, oh, whoops. I didn't. Like.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, that's not what I meant. Yeah. Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Honey, I swear I didn't say.

[Sal DeStefano]

I'm like, let me talk to him again. She's like, don't talk to him again. Just wait till he's older because he doesn't get what you're trying to say to him.

[Adam Schaefer]

Wait till your father gets home and I kick his ass.

[Sal DeStefano]

You're weak. Like, did you explain to me? Because still beat him up.

[Adam Schaefer]

You know, it's not. It is funny, man. The stuff they. He. Max is at a phase right now. We. We're. We have to be very, very careful about any conversations that ear shot away because he is picking up.

[Sal DeStefano]

He'll pick it up.

[Adam Schaefer]

He's picking it up, and he is. And I've. I've. Since day one, I've always encouraged the. The questioning, right? Like, I'm. I always told myself as a dad, like, I don't care how busy I am, what's going on. Like, when he. When he starts inquiring and asking the whys. And, like, I want to. I want to go all the way through with it. I never want to dismiss it or give him the short answer. And so, you know. And now I'm I'm being very challenged because it's like he hears something, well, why did you say that? And why? And just wants the why, the why, the why, the why, the why all the way down. And so we have to be really careful of what we say say next to him. He's also. He's sick right now. And so, you know, he's. He's told Katrina. Yesterday, he said to her, you know, mommy, you know the one thing I like about being sick? And she's like, oh, what's that, honey? She's like, because you sleep with me. That's why. She's like, yeah, but she's also going like, look what I trained. You know what I'm saying? She'll go in there. So he doesn't. Because when he's not feeling well, he almost always wants to be. Yeah. He wants to climb in. And so. And then Katrina will try and protect me from getting sick. And so she'll go in there and go. And go sleep with.

[Sal DeStefano]

I love how honest kids are, too. Like, they don't know. Like, my kids. They told my wife, they said, mama, you're the best at giving hugs and love. She's like, oh, thank you, but Papa's way better at playing with us than you are. She's like, oh. And then yesterday, I was with my daughter getting ready for bed. My wife was serving at the church, so I had to put them to bed. And my daughter's, you know, I want Mama. I want Mama. I'm like, oh, she's, you know, papa's putting you to bed tonight. Whatever. And she's like, mama's my favorite one. I love you, too. Cool. Okay, thanks. Thanks, kiddo.

[Justin Andrews]

Dude, I have a story you got. You got to stay with me. Because it's gonna sound bad, but it's actually pretty funny. Okay, I'll recover from it. But my friend was over. His. His son's like. I think he's four or five somewhere around there. Like, cute kid. Hilarious. He loves coming over the house and using my boy's trampoline. And so, you know, we have a lot of fun doing that. And we're kind of hanging out, and there's all these leaves and everything on the trampoline. And so I go get the. The leaf blower, and I'm like, you know, I'm just kind of taking care of and getting all real leaves and having fun. I start, like, you know, the extra bit of air blowing in on him and, like, blowing him over. It's fun. And then my friend Dusty gets In there. And he's, like, jumping with him and all this stuff. And he's like.

[Sal DeStefano]

He's like, justin, Justin, blow my dad.

[Justin Andrews]

I was like, we have to reframe this. So I start calling it I'm hurricane in you. I'm hurricane.

[Sal DeStefano]

He's like, hurricane my dad.

[Justin Andrews]

Like, yeah, hurricane him.

[Adam Schaefer]

Because I was, like, dying, laughing.

[Justin Andrews]

I'm like, I'm not doing that.

[Sal DeStefano]

Okay, yeah. Where we stop. Not again. Not again. One time.

[Adam Schaefer]

Not again.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, my God. Kids are great.

[Justin Andrews]

It's funny, though.

[Adam Schaefer]

Just totally threw us off.

[Justin Andrews]

We both stop.

[Sal DeStefano]

We're like, oh, they're the best, dude. I got to tell you guys, recently. Well, not recently, but, you know, kind of relatively consistently around 2, 3pm I'll get, like, this really, you know, bad kind of energy crash. And I've been trying to kind of piece together what's going on. And it was some supplements I was taking, and I stopped. And maybe it was that or whatever, but what it was was just the caffeine dose I was having in the morning was just too high. It's really common when your caffeine gets too high.

[Adam Schaefer]

Did you ramp up because you normally don't get that high?

[Sal DeStefano]

Well, for me, Yeah. I know 400 milligrams for me is a lot. I know you guys are like, oh.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, well, 400 is a lot for you because you don't.

[Sal DeStefano]

Rarely.

[Adam Schaefer]

I don't ever see you do 400.

[Sal DeStefano]

So here's what it was. So 400 milligrams from energy drinks versus 400 milligrams in pill form with theanine. Very big difference.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, okay.

[Sal DeStefano]

If I do it with theanine, I don't necessarily get the crash. So the other day, I experimented with it, and I cut down the energy drink, did it in pill form with theanine, and sure enough, I felt way better. But it was really stressing me out. I'm like, why am I getting this terrible? And it's so funny because if I were a caller who was calling in, one of the first questions I would ask is be like, how much caffeine do you have in the morning? And then that's probably what it's. But I don't think a lot of people realize that although caffeine gives you energy, when you go too high for you, and there's a lot of genetic variants, there are. There are certain enzymes that some of us produce more of and others that allow us to break it down or not or whatever. So your dose may be lower than someone else, but it might Be too high for you. The energy crash that you get later, that's a sign your caffeine is too high. It's just one of those signs. That was what was happening. Oh, wow. So, yeah, now I'm going to start scaling it down.

[Adam Schaefer]

And so do you think that's what it was? That was where you weren't kind of. You're feeling off the other day?

[Sal DeStefano]

No, that was something else we'll talk about in another episode. I'm saving.

[Justin Andrews]

Save that version.

[Sal DeStefano]

Just so people understand. There's this wonder.

[Leo]

This.

[Sal DeStefano]

It's all tied into my series. Right. There's this. There's this, this struggle that I have with taking things and doing things that feel more capable and powerful.

[Adam Schaefer]

You're so the opposite of me.

[Sal DeStefano]

Part of this is like, you know, taking like exotic supplements and stuff, and I just, you know, I go too far.

[Adam Schaefer]

I can't. I can't be consistent with damn near anything for the life of me. I tell you what, it's like so difficult for me. I was even this, this morning, I was like, because Max is sick, right? What I am pretty good about, I've gotten better about. You know, a lot of that, again, is because of you. You've really train me to be better about, like if someone's sick around me before I get sick or feel it starting to do all the things.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

You know, like I. Taking my green juice right away. Like I'll take the thymus and alpha later on, like. And so like really getting.

[Sal DeStefano]

And you've avoided getting sick a few times.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, yeah. And even the times that I have gotten sick since I've implemented the. That regimen like that it, like night and day difference. I'm a total. I'm like, admittedly a total baby when I get sick and it feels like it hits me like a ton of bricks. But the last few times, either one, I haven't got sick, which is so rare in the. If someone is sick in our house, typically I'm going to get it. But when I go through that process of being good about taking all those things right away, I notice a huge difference.

[Sal DeStefano]

But now the green juice is part of your.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, yeah, that's. That's. And why I brought that up is because I also just felt good after I take it. I'm like, God, this is something I should just drink on my way to work. Anyways, I always feel good when I drink. And I know. And it's like. And I know that. And yet I, I, yet I'm not consistent with it. And so I'm just reminded of that today. And the only real reason why I was really on it today was because I was more worried.

[Sal DeStefano]

Those polyphenols and antioxidants and just those micronutrients that you find in greens and what happens with the green juice is they. They break it up to the point where. So it's a powder that your body can actually absorb some of the stuff and they put ashwagandha in it. And so it's just really nice mix.

[Adam Schaefer]

You know, and it's. It's something that I've traditionally tried to use when I. I know that I'm, like, lacking vegetables in my diet, but I was actually like, that was one of the first times. I don't think I've ever. I don't remember the last time, at least that I did it first thing in the morning. And I'm like, man, that I felt really good from. That probably would be a good idea if I just consistently.

[Sal DeStefano]

You know. It's crazy. It's so funny how we have, like. It's even split. You and I are the ones that, like, we. We are more likely to get sick. And we got Justin and Doug over here, which seem to never get sick. Like, Justin's whole house will be sick.

[Justin Andrews]

Everybody's sick.

[Sal DeStefano]

And you never get it. Almost never get it. And Doug, he's been really sick, but like, twice in, like, 10 years.

[Justin Andrews]

It makes me angry. Like, even if I am sick, I'm just. No.

[Sal DeStefano]

So that's your secret.

[Justin Andrews]

Anger my way.

[Sal DeStefano]

So maybe you are sick. You're just not letting us know.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, no way.

[Adam Schaefer]

He.

[Sal DeStefano]

Are you kidding me?

[Adam Schaefer]

If Justin is off, he. Of all of us.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, you can tell.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, definitely. I feel like Justin. I mean, I know everything. I get a lot of flack for being the moody one here and stuff like that, but I feel like when Justin's not a good mood, I feel like he is every bit.

[Sal DeStefano]

Well, he's every bit.

[Justin Andrews]

I agree.

[Adam Schaefer]

He gets like, be quiet.

[Sal DeStefano]

It's like a different kind of quiet. You directed everyone else around you. He gets quiet.

[Justin Andrews]

Difference.

[Sal DeStefano]

I don't believe will be like, why is he so mean to me?

[Justin Andrews]

Try to keep it to myself.

[Sal DeStefano]

Something happened. But it's crazy, bro. Your house has been all sick, like, in the 10 years I've worked with you, like, 12 times.

[Leo]

And.

[Sal DeStefano]

And you'll tell us, oh, all my family's sick. I'm like, oh, great. Here we go. Just. Yeah. Never get sick.

[Justin Andrews]

I honestly could. I can think of the one time where I kind of missed. And you guys did a podcast, and I. I think you guys even called in my house, and literally, that was the sickest I've been. And it was like, one day, and I remember I was watching. It was like a Tony Robbins on Netflix. You dropped his whenever that was. But, yeah, I was like, it was the flu or something, and it, like, came and it went, and so, yeah, I don't know. I. It's just one of those things. I haven't really been sick much, you know, growing up, either.

[Sal DeStefano]

Really? Yeah. That's crazy.

[Adam Schaefer]

I see on the notes because rarely ever do I ever feel like your guys's stuff you watch and read overlaps with what I watch and read. But somebody has Garth Brooks up there. Is that you?

[Sal DeStefano]

It's me.

[Adam Schaefer]

Is it the conspiracy stuff around it?

[Justin Andrews]

Have you heard about it?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes. I got sucked into that because it was so wild. I don't know. Thank you.

[Justin Andrews]

You can validate.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. Okay, so I want to hear what.

[Sal DeStefano]

I don't know any of this.

[Adam Schaefer]

I do. I put up.

[Justin Andrews]

There's, like, kind of a goof because it's, like. It's so big, wild and bizarre. And I saw a video that was, like, trying to highlight and correlate the. They're trying to basically paint him as, like, a serial killer. Under. Under the radar.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Justin Andrews]

Because of where he worked first was at this. Some, like, boot barn or something. And then, like, some people went missing, and then, like, he moved to this other, like, somewhere in Tennessee. And again, there's, like, people around him that went missing. And then, like, on tour, they. They were like, some guy was, like, tracking all these things and associating it. He had, like, some kind of property that.

[Adam Schaefer]

So one of his first purchases, like, they were like, he gets his first big payday, and he goes out and he buys just this massive plot of land. Like, not a house, not a thing. Like, that was, like, supposed. So that was like. And then at the same time, it was near all these missing bodies. And also that. So I was like, I've never heard any of this before.

[Justin Andrews]

It was so funny to me because it was so, like, left field. And the other thing is, the guy's a weird guy.

[Sal DeStefano]

Hey.

[Justin Andrews]

He's a really weird guy.

[Sal DeStefano]

It originated by. From a joke by comedian Tom Segura.

[Justin Andrews]

No, this wasn't this.

[Sal DeStefano]

They.

[Justin Andrews]

They sent this to Tom Segura after that.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, really? Yes.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. This was a different video. I know, because originally, Tom Segura was, like, breaking it down because he. He's also Chris Gaines. I don't know if you know that, but it's another singer, the Persona that he just created, and it's.

[Sal DeStefano]

I don't know that.

[Justin Andrews]

It's just this weird, narcissistic, kind of sociopathic, like, he's got weird weirdness about him. So I think people, like, started looking into, like, what else is he all about? And then all these kind of weird correlations, you know, it sucks.

[Sal DeStefano]

People are making that with the. With the Internet and social media is.

[Adam Schaefer]

That no matter whether it's true or not, it sucks now.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, dude.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, like, that sucks, dude.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, this just landed on him.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, that just sucks. Yeah, because there's going to be, like, people who are going to get real into it, and they're going to really believe, like, you.

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, that's. There's. I mean, I think I clicked one video now. I just thought it was all kinds of ones. Like, there's, like, podcasts that have gone in depth of, like, his. His career and all these weird things. I'm like, oh, my goodness. I don't.

[Sal DeStefano]

I don't believe it.

[Justin Andrews]

It's like. That's why I think I thought it was kind of funny. But, like, I mean, if it is true, then that would be. That would be really crazy.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's wild.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, that's the other guy, right?

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

See, the. The. That's the character.

[Justin Andrews]

He's all emo.

[Sal DeStefano]

What? Wait a minute. He actually. That's him. Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Why?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sal DeStefano]

Why? Exactly? That's weird.

[Justin Andrews]

He's. He's an artist. He's experimenting in a different genre.

[Sal DeStefano]

But that looks really. That's weird. I don't know that.

[Justin Andrews]

I know that's weird. He's a weird guy.

[Sal DeStefano]

All right, I got to ask. Doug, I got to ask you, because one of the negative side effects or negative effects of the series that I'm doing is. Is there are moments where I catch the top of my head on camera and, whoa. I'm. I need to do something about this hair loss.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

You use the red light a lot. Yes. Right, for the. For your head.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Leo]

Actually works.

[Adam Schaefer]

It does work. I know.

[Sal DeStefano]

When I see the studies, I got to use it.

[Adam Schaefer]

It does work.

[Sal DeStefano]

I got to use it.

[Adam Schaefer]

I didn't do it with that intent. You know that. I did it, like, sitting in front of it, like, trying to do my psoriasis and everything. And I was just. And I have psoriasis on my head. So I was thinking about that, but then all of a sudden, I felt like all the peach fuzz coming up, like, oh, wow. Although I don't care about that.

[Sal DeStefano]

I gotta start using. What is it, 10 minutes? Is that.

[Justin Andrews]

I do 10 minutes.

[Adam Schaefer]

10, 15 minutes.

[Sal DeStefano]

I do it. Yeah.

[Ryan Seacrest]

At least three days a week.

[Sal DeStefano]

All right. All right. I gotta start doing it.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

You know, I'm not ready to let go. My wife's trying to convince me. Oh, yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

See, that's awesome that you're trying to picture you. Katrina didn't want me to shave it. I. I blame her for how long I held on for, because I was like, ah, let me. I'm just gonna shave this thing. I had a shave all time. She's like, no, I love your hair. I'm like, what are you talking about?

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, no.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

You feel bad about it?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes. I. I kept. You know what I just said? I don't know if you guys remember, this was back when Taylor used to work with us and we used to shoot content in the front.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

And I was. But he. We were doing a bunch of stuff, and I was in there and I'm shooting content and I'm between clips and I'm. I'm down on my phone and I'm, like, messing around. And then after I was done, I was Rachel, and they were working on the edit, and I come walking over and looking over her shoulder to see the edit, and they were. There was the whole recording. And there's a recording of me putting my head down, looking at my phone. And the white light.

[Justin Andrews]

The white light was.

[Adam Schaefer]

And it was unbelievably bad. And I was, like, so angry that, like, how are you guys working with me? And no one is saying, yeah, it's like having the food on my face. And no one said anything or a big booger hanging out. Like, you guys could tell me, like, that was looking like that I shaved it the next day. Like, forget what the wife said. I was like, honey, no way. Like, you cannot let me go around like that. That's crazy. So that was. It was the lights on my head when I was recording. Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

No, my. My buddy was trying to convince me to shave your head, then grow a beard. I'm like, listen in. I'm not trying to get stopped at the airport. I'll just. If I shave it. I'm not growing a beard.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean, you still have, like, a pretty good comb over. I don't know why.

[Sal DeStefano]

It's not really a comb over. It's kind of there.

[Adam Schaefer]

It's kind of a comb over.

[Sal DeStefano]

Is it really come back. It works.

[Adam Schaefer]

So not everybody can do that. Like, I feel. And maybe it's because it's light that. That works. When mine was, like, black, and then my.

[Sal DeStefano]

You have the white hair. Yeah, yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

And so black, too.

[Justin Andrews]

And he's like, yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

So it was. It was. Yeah. Maybe that's it, too, with my mind's curly difference spots, so it leaves, like, bigger s. Like, you have, like, a nice, even distribution.

[Sal DeStefano]

You're never going to lose your hair, Justin.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, no, I. I shaved early, too. I was like that kid that all through junior high, high school, I had a shaved head and, like, everybody was, like, just assumed I was going to the military.

[Adam Schaefer]

Did you never shave yours?

[Sal DeStefano]

I did when I did Jiu Jitsu.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, you did?

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah. I would buzz it, and it. It just. Just. Just for Jiu Jitsu. Oh.

[Adam Schaefer]

So if you've done it for a.

[Sal DeStefano]

While, then you know what it is. I. I'll. I'll do it at some point. I'm sure we'll see. Whatever. But I know it's gonna happen. I'm gonna do it, and I'm gonna see a bunch of comments on YouTube. It's gonna bother me. That's what's gonna.

[Justin Andrews]

Like, oh, I keep hearing, like, the copper makes a difference with your. Yeah, dude, I don't know about that.

[Sal DeStefano]

Copper.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Complimenting with it.

[Sal DeStefano]

But it's like, oh, for the gray.

[Justin Andrews]

For the gray, yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yes.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, maybe. Maybe a few years of doing that, maybe it'll make a dent.

[Sal DeStefano]

I don't. I don't.

[Justin Andrews]

I don't know if I buy it.

[Adam Schaefer]

I think gray looks good.

[Sal DeStefano]

Gray does look good.

[Adam Schaefer]

It is.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, it's. It's fine.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, look at that.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Our views just went up.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean, I never do my hair. I bet Courtney likes it. Does Courtney like the gray?

[Sal DeStefano]

Yes.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. Yeah. Katrina likes the gray, too. I think it's just. I don't know. I don't think. I don't think gray looks that. I think bald looks.

[Sal DeStefano]

I own it. Yeah. Listen, if you're.

[Adam Schaefer]

I don't think bottle looks bad.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah. I think it's shave.

[Justin Andrews]

It looks great.

[Sal DeStefano]

It does. But. Yeah, you would look all right with a bald head.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, I already know that. I've, like, half of my big life already.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

I got a big old head. Fits in a helmet. That's the only way I could fit in a helmet, dude.

[Sal DeStefano]

My head looks like it's a shape like yours. It's like a little. It's like a little round.

[Justin Andrews]

It was a round doom.

[Sal DeStefano]

All right, I'm gonna talk about another. This little bit of an intense Conversation.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, wait. Before you get. Please talk about what we are doing with the Muscle Mommy movement right now, because it's so exciting.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, it's amazing.

[Adam Schaefer]

It is. It is growing rapidly right now. Okay. It's the muscle. Muscle mommymovement.com. you get on. There's a quiz.

[Sal DeStefano]

Quiz.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. You don't have to do forward slash. It'll go right. The hyperlink will go right to. So Muscle MommyMovement.com will take you right there. What's really cool between recordings right now, I had just. I know you had touched bases with Dr. Becky Campbell. I talked to Dr. Gabriel Lyon. I also talked to Dr. Lauren Fritz. All of them are committed to joining the group and being in there and actually doing talks, which is gonna be incredible to have that support. It's. I mean, and it's. You don't have to be going through the Muscle Mind program, although it's just.

[Sal DeStefano]

Women who wanna build muscle.

[Adam Schaefer]

You get the Muscle Mommy program and the new Muscle Mommy 15 program that we haven't even released when you're inside that community. So that's a part of it. But you can be following any of the Maps programs. It's just a support group and community that is driven by our trainers and us. And now that some of the. Our. Our best female doctor friends of ours that will be supporting that group through their journey. And so it's blown up and growing.

[Justin Andrews]

Like, feedback's been awesome so far.

[Sal DeStefano]

And it's gonna be. It's a group where we have our trainers who are going to be in there weekly doing group coaching for all you. So it's pretty awesome. All right, let's get. Let's get to the intense stuff. So, you know, right now on social media, and I know this is not my algorithm because I don't click on this. I don't click on it. They're. They're definitely pushing it. It's definitely training because they're.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, we talked about this. It's in mine, too.

[Sal DeStefano]

Okay, so what I'm talking about is you guys. Okay. Who is that girl? What was that girl's name that got. She got stabbed on the train. Yeah, I don't know her name. Recently.

[Justin Andrews]

Ukrainian?

[Sal DeStefano]

Yes. In fact, I'm gonna. I'm gonna look it up because I want to make sure I have her name here. So the person that I'm talking about, her name was. Scroll down. I got a bunch of notes here. Her name was Irina Zara Zarudska. Okay, so this is the video you've probably seen.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, this is when she gets stabbed.

[Sal DeStefano]

She'S on the train, there's a dude behind her, randomly gets up and kills her. Okay, now what I'm seeing with this and what's happening here is you're getting all these people that are turning it into. Well, it's basically race baiting content.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, now the other side, huh?

[Sal DeStefano]

Well, up. This is where I'm going to go, okay. Because this started a long time ago and I've talked about this on the show. People could look back at episodes years ago and I'm like, hey guys, watch out for this kind of stuff. And it started years ago. And when these things start, and I say these things because this is an effective way to keep people divided, to cause division, to keep people under control. This all started back when Barack Obama became president. If you look at the data, the general consensus in America around racism was that it's getting better and better and better, and it has been for decades. This is what all the polls showed. Obama gets elected and we are at like peak, like lows in terms of what's happening in the country with race. Everybody's like, oh my God, we elected a black president. This is great. Right after though, we got elected, suddenly we started getting force fed that this racism is everything and we gotta watch out this and that. And what happened is we saw all these instances which this stuff happens. We're a huge country, it's 300 million people. So you could find a video of something happening that looks terrible with whether it's a black person, white person. You can, you're always gonna be able to find this. And we started getting kind of force fed this like, oh, look at this person. And then, you know, George Floyd is a good example. Here was a situation, cops got aggressive with him. He was also on enough fentanyl to choke, you know, to kill five people. That turned into crazy riots. You had blm, which we now is totally corrupt and crazy. And that stoked one side. And it looks like the game is, we're gonna start over here, we're gonna stoke these guys and we're gonna push a bunch of stuff that's gonna make this side pissed off. Cause they'll look at it and go, this is crazy, this is too far. The riots are being a good example of people's businesses and homes getting destroyed who had nothing to do with any of this stuff. And now it's over here with this white woman getting killed by this black gentleman. And you have these conservative commentators who are spouting statistics and using data that seems like, it's connected, but it's not. And they're saying things like, you know, young black males commit this percentage of crime, and they only make up this percentage of the population. By the way, they use the data on the other side to say whites earn this much more money, therefore it's racism. The. The stat that connects all that together is whether or not you're raised in a home with two parents who are involved. Okay? That's what predicts all this stuff. But they're trying to make it this race thing. And it's really frustrating to see because what was scary with the extreme left is going to be scarier when it's on the extreme right. Because what that turns into is this militarization, this legalized, you know, militarization, nationalist.

[Justin Andrews]

Movement starting to happen.

[Sal DeStefano]

We got to be careful, everybody, to not start making this or allowing ourselves to get into this, like, this fervor about race. I don't care what side you're on. And it's like they're pushing the buttons on either side with this kind of stuff.

[Adam Schaefer]

You know, it's interesting that I'm not. At least maybe I'm just not paying attention to this stuff. I mean, I did see that. So I did see the whole. The whole thing went down.

[Sal DeStefano]

You should see the commentary. I'm just like, what?

[Adam Schaefer]

No, I'm not even looking. I just. So. I'm not even looking at it. And maybe that's what it is, is I'm just. I'm not getting sucked into it. Like, when I saw it, when I see something like that, I'm like, oh, my God, that's horrible. It's horrific. The last thing I think is like, oh, a black or white thing. I think that's just. That's just sad. It's just completely sad. But to your point, this is happening all the time, around the world, all the time. So it's. It's interesting how we take a single story and then we just run with that and go so deep on that one thing.

[Justin Andrews]

It's a specific narrative.

[Adam Schaefer]

There's so much evil and bad thing. That's things that are happening on a daily basis all over the world. But now, because we're all so connected, you can take something like that.

[Sal DeStefano]

This doesn't get solved by. By making it a race thing. That just makes it worse. It just makes it worse. And when that's not the problem, this is like taking data and skewing it. It would be like. And this might sound hilarious, but it would be similar. I could say if you ate bacon, you're a thousand times less likely to be an Islamic terrorist. Yeah. Does that mean eating bacon is going to fix that? No, it's because they don't eat pork. When you look at these, when they try to quote these stats about young black males or this or that, what you're seeing is a large percentage of kids who are growing up without two parents in the home. And it doesn't matter what race you are, that dramatically increases the odds of crime and poverty and all that stuff. But they're making it a race thing. And I'm looking at these people, and I remember seeing it on one side. Now I'm seeing it on the other side and I'm just like, shaking my head like, what are you guys doing? Yeah, you're falling for this game.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean, it's got to be so interesting. I mean, Doug, you're almost old enough to. If you've been around for 60 years or so, to where you. Because I remember when I talked to my mom and stuff like that. Like, my mom went to a segregated school, right. So she was. She. She experienced that in. In their high school where they had to segregate the high school because of riots and issues happening, stuff like that. So it must be so crazy to be at that age where you experienced it as a kid when it. When it was really segregated was really bad. And then to watch the evolution and to see where we were, like, in the 90s, you know what I'm saying? Like, where we were at in the 90s felt so. And we were. Now we.

[Justin Andrews]

I see no color. Like, there's this whole movement of just like, judging people based on their character.

[Adam Schaefer]

And. And you have to know too, that, like, I don't care how great a country is, racism will always exist because there will always be bad people.

[Sal DeStefano]

Y.

[Adam Schaefer]

So but for it to be talked about in a narrative, in a big thing, you know, from somebody who's 60 something years old watching it when it really was like a big thing, to watching how far we came in the 90s, and then to see where we're at now. Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Spiral back.

[Adam Schaefer]

It's like we're going backwards.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

It's wild to think that.

[Sal DeStefano]

Did you see.

[Justin Andrews]

I've seen people, like, posting like, we need to leave separately. And like, I'm just like, this is horrific. Like, that we're gonna, like, start. Remember, Entertaining.

[Sal DeStefano]

Remember when it was the others, the left that was saying that?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

They're like, we need safe spaces. Segregate us. Like, what. What are you saying? Now you've got the other side saying this kind of stuff and it's like, it's crazy, you know, I'm not saying it's a psyop, but I'll just, I'll say this. When you study, when you study psyops, they, they run on a 10 or 20 year timeline. A psyop. It doesn't, it's not a year, it's not five years. Yeah, it's like a 10 or 15 or 20 year plan. And they start over here and they stir some stuff and then they do their thing and then they wait till they get the other side really mad and now they've got something to play with and then they move over here and they go back and forth and then they cause revolutions, they cause civil unrest. This is like the playbook. And so I'm seeing all this and I can't believe some of these people are conservative Christians. They're calling themselves and they're on there talking. I'm like, what are you saying, dude? Yeah. This is unbelievable. I can't believe, you know, I can't stand.

[Adam Schaefer]

I hope it doesn't get to that. I mean, I guess I haven't been paying attention enough right now to see if it's getting like George Floyd. Like, it doesn't. At least it didn't feel like that for me yet. But I mean, if you're saying that this is the early stages of that, I think it's happening. Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, it kind of timestamps, like when we're recording, but like, you know, Charlie Kirk had been shot, you know, recently too. So it's like there's. Yeah, it just seems like it's. There's a lot of, like, stuff firing up in that regard.

[Sal DeStefano]

Listen, I want people to pay attention. Watch the news cycle. And they go through cycles of this where they intensify, intensify, intensify, and it turns into something and then they'll let off a little bit and then they'll do it again. And there's periods of this. So every day stuff happens. That's crazy. We're such a big country that if you wanted it to make it appear like things are getting worse, you could do it.

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, that, that's my point. My point is like, there is no, there is no real end game in this because we are such a huge melting pot of a country that you. There will always be a percentage of evil like you. You can't just era, unless you want to eradicate it. When we start killing people because we think they Break laws, which obviously that's not the route ago. So we're always going to have this low level of evil. Bad people on any side, any race, any color, any religion are always going to be there. And if you choose to cherry pick those stories and those people and highlight them in the news and spread them across millions of. Of people and platforms, it's going to look like we're all falling apart all the time. Like, and I'll never get resolved. It's impossible. It's impossible to resolve that. So this idea that you're going to solve or fix this thing, that will always exist. There was, there will always be bad and evil.

[Sal DeStefano]

Here's examples of psyop. Like, I remember when the, the George Floyd riots were happening and I remember they were happening during COVID when we were told do not be together in large crowds. And then they had these protests and they were like, this is, this is fine. This is great. This is why I'm like, wait a minute, you just told me. Or when things were on fire. That's a peaceful whatever. And I'm like, I see something completely different that's going on right now. That's really interesting. Like to now we have. I forgot what news organization it was, but when they were writing about, you know, black either victims or whatever, they would capitalize the beat when they talk about white people. It was lowercase. So people were making a big deal about it. Why do you lowercase this and uppercase that? So that became this big blow up type of thing. And my question is, why are they doing that in the first place? Is it because they want people to point this out and to turn into. Or. Or maybe it's our human nature that it's easy to get manipulated once we get pissed off. And so that's just what they do. Yeah, it's just crazy. Just everybody's got to remember.

[Adam Schaefer]

Or is it the solution to this?

[Sal DeStefano]

Isn't.

[Adam Schaefer]

Or is it back to like coliseum days where it's all just meant to be a big distraction? Why other things are really right?

[Sal DeStefano]

Right.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean if we're all focused on this, like, it's like it makes other, other bills, other things, they just kind of fly under the radar and us not pay attention because oh my God, this is so much more important to talk about. And so we all end up talking about this thing. Meanwhile, behind closed doors, all the other. The real deal is happening.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

So it makes you wonder.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Adam Schaefer]

It's crazy. I can't believe that's possibly happening. Again, right now. That would be so sad, dude. Yeah, we just came out of some of the, like, yeah, we can't do darkest bad run of years now.

[Sal DeStefano]

They're doing it on the other side. It's predictable. It's super predictable. It's just like the cycle that they're doing, it's just now it gets more intense because media is so pervasive and so everywhere. And like I said, I don't click on this stuff. So I'm going through and I'm like, why is this showing up on my feedback? I don't want to see it. I don't want to see this poor woman.

[Justin Andrews]

And then you got bots and everything else, and. And so it just reinforces a lot of, you know, this. This unrest and it's just like, is this even real, this artificial? So, yeah, it's just not. Not contributing to. It is really the.

[Adam Schaefer]

The move on. On lighter doomsday type juice.

[Sal DeStefano]

No, it's lighter.

[Adam Schaefer]

It's lighter. It's a little more good.

[Sal DeStefano]

It's.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean, it's not necessarily fun, but it's. It's something that's a little bit lighter. But I thought was. Is. Is. Was kind of funny. Did you guys see and hang with me, like Justin said, like, the story is. I'm not that bad of a person that I'm saying this is funny. Did you see the Paige Hathaway thing that just has gone viral right now?

[Justin Andrews]

I see it.

[Adam Schaefer]

So. So it was just so in poor taste. I mean, that girl just can't win right now. I mean, she's one. She was. You know who she is, right? She's one that was part of shreds. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So she's like. She's just not been this. The greatest of the butt implants. She is, yeah. All like. She's had, like, a lot of things, right, that has. That has happened. And, you know, being this influencer chick, she did this story just the other day and her. Her house burned down.

[Sal DeStefano]

Like.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, yeah, down in la.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, down.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, during the fire.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's terrible.

[Adam Schaefer]

And she made a whole Day in the life video of, you know, salvaging their clothes. And it's like, you're totally like, oh, my God, you feel so bad. She's going through. And then it. It works its way to. But at least I have time to make my protein smoothie shake by.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yes, she did it, bro.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Sal DeStefano]

She really did a commercial.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, it was an ad, dude.

[Sal DeStefano]

It was an ad for her smoothie shakes. And everything.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, I did see one comment though was like, hey guys, leave her alone. She's now she needs to make some money.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, bro.

[Adam Schaefer]

It was such in poor taste. I don't know. I mean, that's probably so bad. I don't know anybody that would tell. Nobody who's like in charge of that would probably.

[Sal DeStefano]

If you need to sell product, just be honest. Hey, guys, My house, right?

[Adam Schaefer]

That was.

[Sal DeStefano]

Buy this.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Sal DeStefano]

You were with me.

[Justin Andrews]

That would have been way better moved.

[Adam Schaefer]

Move it.

[Sal DeStefano]

Way better like that.

[Adam Schaefer]

So did you. Have you seen our. Say so our buddy James Smith and Chris Williamson in the new Taunt? Did you see?

[Leo]

Yes.

[Adam Schaefer]

Okay. So they put out a challenge, like with that video. And so people have been sending in their own version. And so it's like they. The first half of it is her video and then it cuts over to like somebody else with their tr. Some crazy tragedy. But I had time to get my new tonic drink. So good. So good. Yeah, I re. Shared it because it was so good the other day.

[Leo]

But.

[Adam Schaefer]

But Doug, can you pull it up? Oh, those are all. Just go to her page. Go to her Instagram page so Sal can see what it looks like. But I mean, she is getting roasted for doing something.

[Sal DeStefano]

I feel bad, man.

[Adam Schaefer]

I feel bad.

[Sal DeStefano]

People like this because you, you. You build all this fame and Persona.

[Justin Andrews]

And, you know, she's just lost touch, I guess.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean, for the consumer, I feel like, okay, you should be like, it should be a red flag right away when your influencer person you follow is on their seventh protein powder company.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Like, there's no loyalty there. It's a purely around making money. Like, like, how do you. How do you. Like, there's a lot of these people that, like, I. I've seen her at least promote five different brands in like the last few years. It's like. And this is on to another one. Keep. Go down. You can probably see the. The burnt one. Yeah, it's that. Probably that one right there, right?

[Sal DeStefano]

No way.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. Yeah. Dude.

[Sal DeStefano]

So she didn't even take it down maybe.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, those are pictures. Those are still pictures. It's an actual video of her day in the life.

[Sal DeStefano]

She probably took it down maybe. If you get that.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean, it was. It was. It was up. It looks like it might be down now. She might have taken it down.

[Sal DeStefano]

You know, I gotta say this like it's a curse. I think for most.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes, it is a curse to be this.

[Sal DeStefano]

It is famous to be famous.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Sal DeStefano]

I don't think it's a. I Don't think it's a good thing.

[Adam Schaefer]

It's 100. It's a. It's not what people think. It's.

[Sal DeStefano]

It's. I think it's.

[Adam Schaefer]

You know what saddens me about that, Sal, is that and why I. I like. I like to talk about that and, like, scream that from the rooftops for these young. This young generation that thinks they want that. This young generation that thinks being a YouTuber or tick tocker is the ultimate place to be. And it's like, no, it is not. No, no, it is not. It is not. You think that's where you want to be. It is not where you.

[Sal DeStefano]

I don't think it's not only not what you think it is. I think it's a true. I think it's actually a curse. It's a curse because it's fake love. It moves you in directions that are not authentic unless you're really solid and strong with who you are, which it's probably not you if you're a kid, because you're still a kid. And then the. The crowd can turn on you on a dime, and that's terrible. And if they don't, you end up living for this fake love, and it's just the curse.

[Adam Schaefer]

And you get to a point where people, they want to see you.

[Sal DeStefano]

You.

[Adam Schaefer]

When you get that, when you get big, they actually want. It's in our nature. It's so awful. But we want to see that person fail.

[Sal DeStefano]

I've had this conversation.

[Adam Schaefer]

So you're. Not only are you. You're not even just sitting and waiting, you're searching to knock them down.

[Sal DeStefano]

I've had. I've had this conversation with. With kids where I'm like, okay, why do you want to be like a tick tock or whatever? Why do you want to have fame? Oh, because then you can make a lot of money. I said, okay, so you don't want. Don't. It's not the fame you want. It's that you could potentially make more money. There's way easier and better ways to do it. You'd much rather make money and nobody know who you are.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Sal DeStefano]

Than have the fame. By the way, fame doesn't always turn into money. Oftentimes it just. You just have.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean, obviously not if you have to use a burning your house down video to promote a protein powder where you make 10 margins on. And it's not your company. So you actually probably make 2% margins on. So you made about 100 bucks. Like. Like, it's not what you Think it is like you think, think that if people really understood that even these influencers, they're not making that much money unless you're the Kardashians at that level and you've created your own brand.

[Sal DeStefano]

But would you really. Come on, think about this. Would you really want to be the Kardashians?

[Adam Schaefer]

No.

[Sal DeStefano]

Do people really think that they're great, happy people?

[Adam Schaefer]

No. No, no, no.

[Sal DeStefano]

You don't want to do that?

[Adam Schaefer]

No. I mean, again, that's why I think it's important to talk about this type of stuff because I feel like I want. Because who knows, maybe when I was. Maybe I. If we. I was born to the YouTube world and born into that, maybe I would have been attracted to that for the monetary reasons. Like you're saying, like, I don't know, like I was later. Right. Like I. Facebook was not a thing until later for us. And so I never, I never really adopted.

[Sal DeStefano]

Here's how much of a curse it is. Had we been. Had we. Let's imagine we started mind pump at 21. Yeah, I know you're making that sound because you know what, that. What would happen to us? Yeah. At 21. And mind pump becomes the top fitness podcast. By the time we're 22, 23, it would. We. We would have not survived. There's no way.

[Justin Andrews]

Totally different.

[Sal DeStefano]

It was a blessing that we were already in our mid-30s, pretty solid. And that we have each other, which were great checks and balances. You guys won't let me get too crazy and vice versa. Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Watch a lot of cultures.

[Sal DeStefano]

But if we were in our early 20s, this would have been bad.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

So it's a curse, everybody.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, and by the way, shout out to mindpumpstore.com where you guys can actually find some more T shirts. Hit it up. Get gear. See how that goes.

[Justin Andrews]

Fresh new gear. Mypub store.

[Sal DeStefano]

Check it out. The world's best probiotic is seed. Hands down. Look. Probiotics have amazing benefits. Great for digestion, great for skin health. They also help with fat loss. That's what a lot of studies shows, that good probiotics will help you with fat loss. Seed is the best. Try them out. Go to seed.com mindpump Use the code 25mind pump. Get 25% off. Off. Back to the show.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Our first caller is Liliana from Mexico.

[Liliana]

Hi. Hi. How are you doing, guys?

[Sal DeStefano]

Good. How can we help you?

[Liliana]

Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and read the question. I am 37 years old, mom of a beautiful 7 year old girl. And happily married for 9 years. I've been very active my whole life. Ballet, cheerleading, jazz. Now I'm a studio owner, which is great, but I am not as active as I used to be. I stopped dancing about a year ago. Late night rehearsals didn't fit my life schedule and family life anymore. But of course I gained some weight, about 15 pounds. At first I didn't have much of a problem with it because I was enjoying not being restricted in the free time. But now I want to feel fit, strong and good again. But I don't want to go back just cutting calories to get to a certain weight, which is what I have always done. I came across the podcast a few months ago in Sal's episode with Mary Lee Welling in the pursuit of Wellness and started listening to your podcast. I have never really tried weightlifting. Just one time after the pandemic when everything was closed, I bought a glute guide from an IG girl and actually saw great results. But when dance classes opened up, I didn't continue. About two months ago I started going to the gym again five times a week. And I've been doing this guide again, but I feel kind of stuck and not seeing as great results. So my questions would be, which program would you recommend for someone like me and diet wise, how can I do these? You always talk about of repairing your metabolism without gaining even more. Gaining even more weight and fat in general. I think we have a pretty healthy lifestyle. Maybe an occasional craft beer and wings with my husband, but it really is occasional. I'm a tall girl. I am 5, 9 and 171 pounds right now.

[Sal DeStefano]

All right. Really just three things I would start you with. I would avoid processed foods. Although it sounds like you probably don't eat a lot of processed foods. I would eat aim for about 150 grams of protein a day. Okay. And eat it first. Okay. So 150. Yeah. So you could go down as low as 130, but I think 150 is a good target. So what that looks like is 50 grams of protein for breakfast, 50 for lunch, 50 for dinner. If that feels hard, you could bring it down to 30. But eat it first. So when you, when you eat your meal, eat the protein and then first. And then you can eat everything else if you still want to eat more food. Okay. And then I'll send you maps anabolic that right there. You're going to see some great strength gains. You'll start to build some muscle. As you start to build some muscle, then your metabolic rate is going to Change and shift and then you'll start to see some fat loss. But initially it's going to be mostly strength gains. So what you'll see in the gym is you're just getting stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger. And then as things start to kick up, then you'll start to see the change in body composition.

[Adam Schaefer]

And an easy way to kind of reverse diet without getting really nitty gritty with the tracking is if you eat all whole foods, you eat the protein first. Like Sal is saying, you target that 150. If you're still hungry, eat just that simple. Because if we do a good job of lifting weights and falling and you're following the program, you're, you should feel the appetite kick up a little bit. That's very normal. And what you don't want to do in that sense is go, oh God, don't give it any more food. Especially if you haven't hit your goals. If you haven't hit your protein goals and you still want more calories, I'm going to push you in that direction to allow you to do that. Because we want to feed that muscle building signal. Yeah, that's your body telling you, I want to build muscle.

[Sal DeStefano]

Now. Now, two important keys with this, okay, is that stick to the meals. So if you're hungry in between and you want a snack, wait till your next meal. Eat the protein first. It's very important that you do that first. The second thing is avoid processed foods. Processed foods are engineered to make you overeat and they will make you overeat. That's just how they're designed. So to give you an example, let's say it's lunchtime and you got your food in front of you and you have your chicken thighs, or let's say it's your steak, you've got your 50 grams of protein, you eat all of it. You're like, you know, I'm still a little hungry and you want a little more. Well, now you can eat your rice or potato or vegetable or fruit or whatever after so long as it's whole natural food. And just stick to that. With Maps Anabolic, you can follow the three day a week version of Maps Anabolic. So when you get it, you can either do the two day a week version or the three day a week version. Do the three day a week version and that's it. And then if you want additional activity, you can do walking or you could do your dance classes. I wouldn't overdo it, but that's totally fine. But just do it for fun. Don't think to yourself, like, I have to work out, you know, a lot. Just if you want to enjoy yourself, do some dance. Or if you want more activity to move, I would say try walking throughout the day and then give it some time and watch what happens to your body.

[Adam Schaefer]

Let the weight training sculpt and shape the body the way you want. That's what's going to do all the work. So don't try and do it through cardio and moving around.

[Sal DeStefano]

Keep in mind, Liliana, when you do it this way, the, the fat loss looks different. So if you just right now cut your calories and just did a bunch of cardio, you get an initial weight loss. It would happen. Feel quick on the scale, but then you'd plateau real hard with what we're saying. What's going to happen is you're going to get this. You start to get stronger, you'll feel different. You'll kind of look at your body and be like, whoa, I think I'm looking different. I think I'm feeling good. And then you'll start to see the body composition speed up as the process continues, as the metabolism kicks in and it leads to a much more sustainable approach. You'll have a faster metabolism, you'll eat more food, you'll have. You'll be able to work out less and keep. Maintain the same leanness, but it is a different process. So initially you may be like, why is the scale. In fact, I would say don't even weigh yourself because that's going to mess with your head a little bit. Just focus on your strength and your shape because your body will start to change its shape as muscle builds and things start to change.

[Adam Schaefer]

Since this is kind of your first journey into really strength training, I'd like to have you in our private forum, too. So I'll have Doug give you free, free access to that so you have access to us. So as you go. So as you go through this process, if you have questions, just message us on that in that forum, Tag us and message us on Facebook and let us know what you're going through or if you have any questions. But the advice that Sal gave, follow that to a T. You don't have to add anything else and, yeah, nothing else. Just watch what happens.

[Liliana]

Okay, so only three times a week.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's it.

[Adam Schaefer]

And then walking the rest of the time. So if you, you have free time, then you want to go do something. Go walk. Go for a nice walk.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's it. Don't get on a treadmill don't go crazy.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

And then of course, you love dance, obviously. So if you want to do dance, go for it, have fun, but do it for fun. Do it for fun, not for workout. It's a very different approach.

[Liliana]

Okay. I think the hard part will be the waiting myself. Waiting myself.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, of course. Yeah, that's always the hard part.

[Adam Schaefer]

This is also why I wanted to put you in the forum. So as you like. It's very normal when, when we do this with someone, the beginning is a little challenging because like Sal said, it's not like this initial weight loss a lot of times, sometimes you might even see like one or two pounds go up and that freaks people out. Oh God. I'm putting body fat on and then they, then they, then they cut, they cut calories and they start doing what they used to do. So I'm putting you in the forum so that if you have moments like that, reach out to us, let us.

[Sal DeStefano]

Talk you through, hey, is this okay? What's going on? Do we need to change anything?

[Justin Andrews]

We'll reassure you that you're doing the right thing.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's right. And we're in there and there's of lot a lots of trainers in there that'll, that'll move you in the right direction.

[Liliana]

Okay, perfect.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's all right.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's it, that's it. Just do that.

[Adam Schaefer]

We're going to send it over to your email right now.

[Liliana]

Okay, thank you very much, guys.

[Sal DeStefano]

Thank you so much. So a client like that, just for people listening. If I was her trainer in six months, I would have her radically different. I know, six months now. And the reason why I say that is straight greenhorn. When people have, don't have experience with strength training, don't have experience with hitting their protein intake take. They expect this 10, 15 pound weight loss to happen in 30 or 60 days because the way that they've done it before is they've cut calories and just move like crazy. But that does not lead to sustainable body composition change. You don't have as much strength, you don't have as good of a shape. Six months with me and what would happen is that the, towards the end of that she'd be like, I can't believe what's happening to my body. It feels like I'm eating a lot. It feels like I'm barely doing tons of exercise. This is just insane, useful definition. And that's the beginning. She keeps going on that path and it's just going to get better and better and better. But this is why it's so important to communicate that? Because people don't know that it works differently than previous approaches.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Our next caller is Lisa from Pennsylvania.

[Sal DeStefano]

Hi, Lisa.

[Adam Schaefer]

Hi, Lisa.

[Sal DeStefano]

Hello. Hello.

[Lisa]

Hi, how are you?

[Justin Andrews]

Good, good.

[Sal DeStefano]

How are you? How can we help you?

[Lisa]

Good, thanks for having me.

[Sal DeStefano]

You got it it.

[Lisa]

So I'll get in it. I'm 47, have been weight training for well since I was 18, so a long time. Always done bodybuilding, types of splits, lot of volume. Started listening to you guys about a year ago and decided I really wanted to focus on getting stronger. About a month ago I started Anabolic Advanced and I really want to get stronger and push my metabolism. Currently about 110 pounds, I am 5 foot even and about 17% body fat. That's according to inbody. My question is with the Anabolic Advanced, really looking at can I change the order of the exercises without affecting the results of really pushing the metabolism and getting stronger with my splits? I've always done one upper body. With the upper body, I do a push pull. I do back or chest, back, chest, back, chest or back thighs, back, thighs. And with the anabolic events, it's all of the chest first and then all back and all shoulders. Just wondering if I change that to chest back, shoulder, chest back, shoulder, something like that, if that would change the results. Because I really want to get the results that are intended.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah. Why do you want to go through the body parts and then go back and go through the body parts again versus focusing on the larger ones and moving down the chain?

[Lisa]

I guess I always thought that I guess it some more rest in between. So if I did chest, chest, chest, I would really not have enough rests for the chest. If I did like a chest back or chest back and then maybe the shoulder, triceps, something like that. Just giving that extra rest between the sets.

[Sal DeStefano]

Okay. So it depends on the body parts. Okay, so chest back is fine. They're antagonistic. So I'm not making one tired by working the other one. In other words, if I'm using doing chest and then I go to back, I'm not impeding my ability to train my chest by training my back. Okay, but if you go like chest, shoulders, chest, shoulders. Well, shoulders are involved in most chest exercises. So as triceps fatigue will be a factor. Now fatigue starts to take away from there's larger compound movements. So it does make a difference in that, in that scenario, antagonistic body parts are typically fine like biceps, triceps, chest back. But other than that, it, it does take away from the programming. Now, if I, if, if your answer to me was I just like the way it feels, then I'd say go for it.

[Adam Schaefer]

But. I would say go for it. But I would also tell you this is. There's huge benefit benefits in novelty. And if that's how you've always trained, doing it a different way has its own benefits by itself. So even if I like. So even if I didn't like to train that way, it's like I don't ever train this way. Therefore, this is going to be novel stimulus for my body, which. That brings on its own benefits because it's novel stimulus. So you will certainly get more benefits or more gains doing it in a untraditional way that you've always done, no matter what, what we are talking about. So I would, I would say that too.

[Justin Andrews]

Especially if this is the first time you've run it before. I think to allow the programming to really go through it exactly how it's intended. Just see, you know, how your body responded as opposed to then kind of injecting in sort of your old routine and patterns within it.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, but I will say this, even just to address what Adam said about novelty. I mean, there's, there's some value in that. Yes. But you also said you want to get stronger and going chest, shoulders, chest, shoulders or back biceps. Back. Biceps is not a programming that promotes the most strength. You will almost. You'll never find that in a strength based program. Now, there's another component to this that I'd like to address, if that's okay.

[Lisa]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Okay. Your body fat's at 17%. Your body weight and height, you probably. Well, you definitely can eat more food and that'll really accelerate the muscle gain. Women typically build strength, ideally in a bit of a higher body fat percentage closer to 20. So I don't know what your calories are at 1800, but. Or 1800. Is that what it says?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, that's what it says.

[Lisa]

Well, that's where. So I started this a month ago. And I will say, I can go and say that I did the month with it all. All that all chest, all back. Just did it. Exactly. It's laid out and it was challenging since I wasn't used to that. But I definitely. In the, you know, week two, week four, where I was really pushing to failure, which was fun, I definitely gained, I was able to push so much more than I feel like I've ever have.

[Adam Schaefer]

Oh, wow.

[Sal DeStefano]

So that's awesome. But yeah. Do you know what your calories are now?

[Lisa]

Are they and then. Yeah. So for calories, I, I started. I would. Was in a maintenance kind of. I was just doing 1800-1900 and keeping that one 10. So I'm trying to reverse diet. I've never been able to get above 2100 mentally. It's just always so hard for me. I just feel like I'm so small. Like, how can I eat that much? But I. I'm out about 2,000 now.

[Adam Schaefer]

You're doing good.

[Sal DeStefano]

You're moving in the right direction.

[Adam Schaefer]

You're doing good.

[Sal DeStefano]

I'll tell you what.

[Adam Schaefer]

Really good.

[Sal DeStefano]

If you want to see some strength gains.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

If you really want to see some strength gains and you want to see the muscle development, get yourself up right, right now. Go up to 22 or 2300 calories. Follow the program and then just close your eyes and trust it. Just keep and just trust.

[Adam Schaefer]

I know.

[Sal DeStefano]

Get off the scale and your strength will explode.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Your strength will go through the roof. Because even 2,000 calories with maps, Anabolic advance, your current body fat percentage is low.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. You're in such a good place. You're in such a good place where you're at right now. Even if we were to over consume and accidentally overestimate.

[Sal DeStefano]

You're gonna build muscle.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, you're just gonna build muscle and it'll be really easy to come back down the other way. Yeah, you're doing a good job, though. You're heading the right way. It sounds like just the psychological part of getting over the food.

[Lisa]

Yeah, Yeah, I. I guess I am always like, I'm only five foot, so, like, if I go up way too much, I'm afraid of just gaining fat, but I know I gotta get past it.

[Sal DeStefano]

Even if you did all right, even if you gained a few percent body fat, you'd be at 20%, which is lean, but you'd have a lot more strength, a lot more muscle, and I promise you'd feel good. You'd feel better than your. You'd have better energy. Hormone profile would probably respond in a positive way. Sleep would respond in a positive way. You know, staying in the teens of body fat percentage for a while for women is typically not ideal. It's okay to dip in and out of it, but it's just not ideal for most women. Most women do best between 19 to 23 body fat just to maintain in that kind of place.

[Lisa]

Yeah, it's been quite a while now. I've been in the teens, so this is actually high for me right now, the 17%.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, yeah. Lisa, you Gotta. Yeah. Bump your calories. It'll change your life.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

You're going to notice changes in energy, mood, sleep, hair, skin, hormone profile, recovery pain. You're going to feel like a new person. But you got to close your eyes and trust it. Everything.

[Adam Schaefer]

I'd love to. I'd love to have Doug put you in our private forum, too. So we're kind of there for you through this process.

[Lisa]

That'd be great. Thank you.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, I'm going to have him put you in there. And then as you go through this, you will have those moments of doubt. And I shouldn't do this. Just message us. Send us a message. Let us know how you're feeling, let us know what you're doing, and then we'll help talk you through it.

[Lisa]

Yeah, that'd be awesome. Thank you.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, you got it.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. You're doing good, Lisa.

[Sal DeStefano]

You are. You're moving in the right direction for sure. Yep.

[Lisa]

Thank you. Thanks. Thanks for having me.

[Adam Schaefer]

All right, we'll see you in the forum.

[Lisa]

All right. Have a good one.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. If she's been in seven, in the teens for a long time.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, my goodness. Her body. Her body's like, craving. Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Waiting for those extra sustenance.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, yeah. That makes it would change her life. Yep.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Our next caller is Ryan from Louisiana.

[Sal DeStefano]

What's up, Ryan?

[Justin Andrews]

What's up, Ryan? How's it going, man?

[Adam Schaefer]

Good, man, good.

[Sal DeStefano]

How are you?

[Adam Schaefer]

Good.

[Ryan]

I just want, first of all, thank y' all for everything I do. I've been listening to y' all for about two years now, and y' all got me back into working out and changed my perspective on not only health but also life. So with that being said, I'll just get a little background. So I'm 24, 5 8, 185 pounds, played sports in high school. I've been working out consistently for the past two years. I have worked through Anabolic twice and recently purchased Symmetry. And over the last two years, I've lost about 15 pounds following anabolic. More than happy with the strength gains, however, I want to lean out a little bit more. And my goal is to have visible abs just to show myself that I can do it and I can get there. So my questions are how should I diet through symmetry if it's the right program, and how should. Or could I incorporate cardio?

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, good question. It doesn't matter what program you follow, as long as it's strength training one and you're in a calorie deficit, that's what will produce the fat loss.

[Adam Schaefer]

I want to know where calories are right now.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah. So that's the question, is, do you know where you're eating now, where you're at? And that'll give us an idea of where we can go?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

So I've been tracking for about two weeks now consistently, and between 2,000 to 2,500, that's between 180 to 200 grams of protein just to be on the day. And then I'll, like, backfill with carbs and fat till I hit my calorie goal.

[Sal DeStefano]

What's your calorie goal?

[Ryan]

I said the. I follow my fitness, pal. So I put it at like 2500. That's my goal for the day.

[Sal DeStefano]

Okay. I don't. I don't think we'd want to cut. Yeah, it's too low if we're hitting 2500.

[Adam Schaefer]

What's your act? Unless you're really sedentary? What's your activity level of throughout the day?

[Ryan]

So I doing throughout the day? I usually walk after every meal for about 10 minutes.

[Adam Schaefer]

Okay.

[Ryan]

And then if it's a workout day, I'll work out, lift, and then maybe two, three times a week, a light jog, but that's about it.

[Adam Schaefer]

Any idea of, like, kind of total steps that you average in a day? Do you track any of that?

[Sal DeStefano]

That?

[Ryan]

Yeah, but usually between 8 to 10,000.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. You're pretty active.

[Sal DeStefano]

You're okay if you're going between 2 to 2500, was what you said it's going to be. It's too low to cut.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Because, you know, if I were to cut you, where would I. I bring you maybe to 2000 consistently. And we would see some. Some fat loss, but then we wouldn't have much room to go. So what I. What I'd prefer is to see you consistently hit. Hit 2500 calories a day and focus on building strength. And then from there, try to slowly move your calories up to a place we can cut from. So guy your size, your activity level. I'd like to see you closer to 3,000 at some point. And then we could go back down to 2500, and that would be your cut.

[Adam Schaefer]

Okay. And you can either systematically increase calories, like, say, 200 every week or two go up, or, you know, when I have someone that's eating like you, if you're eating good, you make good choices, then I say, okay, eat 2500, and then when you get hungry, eat again. But just make a balanced meal as long as you are disciplined to make A healthy choice. I want you to feed that appetite. That will probably naturally happen as you go through the program and. And your body wants to build muscle and then feed it those additional calories. That's one way to do it. Or you can just say, I'm Gonna systematically add 200 calories every week or two and just keep bumping it up over the course of the next couple months and see what happens.

[Sal DeStefano]

It says, lost 15 pounds over the last two years, and that's in combination with strength training. So I'm assuming you built some strength and some muscle. What was it that lost the 15 pounds? Was it just following the programs and targeting protein, or what did you do to get to do that?

[Ryan]

I think at first it was just being real active and not eating a lot. And then I started watching y', all, and I was like, oh, I should probably eat more. And I started lifting heavier, so I got stronger, and that's when I started to notice me leaning out.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, that's gonna happen again?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, it's gonna happen again through this. This. This reverse diet process. And you can go slow if you. If you feel more comfortable with that. But we got to get you a place we can cut from, because right now it's. It's not a place we could cut from. It'll put you in an unsustainable position.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. I mean, and even if, like. So, like, you. You could go down to 2, 000 calories, and you'd lose a couple pounds, but then you'd plateau hard, and then you'd be like, where do I go from here? And then you just. And then you'd have to cut again. Again, you're down to 15 or 1800. And that's just.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, you want to make it comfortable.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, you'll feel terrible. Even if you lost the pounds that you wanted, you'll put it right back on running like that. So if we can get you up to 3000, 3200 calories and then bring you back down to 2500, then you're going to lean out real quick, and then you're probably at a more sustainable place to eat. I don't know how you feel at 2500. If 2500 feels like you're starving or it feels like you're just balanced, but ideally, okay. Yeah. See, that's where I want you to land. Like, that's my goal is, can I get you to a place where the calories that you're eating feels very comfortable, easy to manage, and 2000 or 1800 is just not a manageable place to stay for a long period of time. So if we want to keep this off. Reverse diet, build muscle. You know, wait till you get to about 3,000 calories and then we can drop down. And what I'd really do is go up to 3,000, drop you just for a little bit, just to show you leaning out again, and then go back to eating more. Because I think this process of just, just building muscle over time is also going to lean you out. Because as you build more muscle, your metabolism speeds up and you'll kind of naturally lean, which is kind of what you did. Right. You. You ended up building. Yeah, you go this way too.

[Sal DeStefano]

Like you're. It says you're 24. Like, you do this process and you give yourself some time and get strong over the next year, you're going to set yourself up really well. And what this will look like at the end is you'll be able to walk around at a leaner body fat percentage with more muscle, eating more food, and you'll set yourself up really nicely.

[Ryan]

And as far as, like protein, should I still be eating about 200 grams or should I do a 1 gram per pound of gold body weight?

[Sal DeStefano]

I like 200. Yeah, the same for that. Since we're still trying to build too.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, that's a good goal.

[Ryan]

And then time wise, for the 3,000 to 3,200, how long should I do that before I do a short, short cut back?

[Sal DeStefano]

I mean, it's up to you. You know, if you were my client, I'd watch things and see how you're, you know what probably going to happen, Ryan, through this process is you're probably going to have body composition change through the reverse diet process.

[Adam Schaefer]

I think that's exactly what happened. There's a good chance you could get to 3,000 and you don't have to cut.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

So if we do a good enough job of building muscle, 3000 calories will even lean you out. So you. There's a possibility of that. So really, like Sal's saying, I want to get you up to 3,000 and then hear your feedback back how you feel like, do you feel like it's a ton of food or does it feel good or do you feel your appetite's still kicking up? Like, that's what I want to hear from you. And I'll tell you what, when you get up over 3,000, keep it at 3,000 for at least two weeks and then hit us back up.

[Sal DeStefano]

Okay.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. So reach back out if you're up to 3,000 and you've been there for a couple weeks. Reach back, back to us and let us know how you're feeling and where you're at and then we can guide you from there.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yep. Okay.

[Adam Schaefer]

Awesome. Cool.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, thanks for calling in, man.

[Adam Schaefer]

All right, Ryan, Everything.

[Sal DeStefano]

Appreciate it. I love seeing the young, younger people kind of approach things this way because they have time, they got youth working for them. And this process works so well.

[Justin Andrews]

If he's consistently training and, you know, and that's, that's a big part of what he's doing, it's like inevitably he's.

[Adam Schaefer]

Going to build muscle.

[Justin Andrews]

It is going to have that nice exchange.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's right.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Our next caller is Leo from the uk.

[Sal DeStefano]

How you doing, Leo?

[Justin Andrews]

What's up, Leo?

[Leo]

Hi, guys.

[Adam Schaefer]

How you doing?

[Sal DeStefano]

How can we help you?

[Leo]

Yeah, you guys definitely can help me with it. When I wrote that question, I was kind of in doubt just to maybe paint the context a little bit. I was a long time ago when Maps Bands came out on your show talking about Maps Bands. Back in my life, when I was living still in the countryside in Scotland and then afterwards moving into the city, then having a gym, sort of was pretty transformative. Started using free weights instead. So it was like epic in that sense. But I also learned a lot from my personal trainers and my own personal trainer that got there in capoeira. And helping you all with their struggles motivated me to go into personal training as well as nutrition coach to help people towards better lives. Really. And you guys always inspired me very much onto that journey. And reason why I posted that question is at the time when I wrote it, I was kind of in doubt about it. So let me go to the question and I'm going to add some updates as well to some of the things and numbers since I wrote it in because it was a few weeks ago. So I have a client that I'm currently having for my nutrition coaching program that I'm doing for my assessments to get qualifications in there. And her goals are weight loss and eating more healthier. My estimate of caloric intake were something like around 2200 calories, roughly 2300 macros a protein fluctuated quite a lot. When I did the measurements, it was pretty inconsistent between 60 to 135 grams of protein. And her weight started off at 126 pounds and body fat percentage about 25.6. And originally the conversation started that she wanted to get back to the weight that she had back when she used to live in Brazil, before the Pandemic where she weighed about 114 pounds and she was doing a lot of cardio Pilates, being a very fit and active person. When Covid hit, she lost track of the entire thing, particularly with the circumstances of her dad at the time getting seriously sick. And she put on a lot of weight at the time, up to about. How much was that? 66 kilos. That's about 132 pounds. When she then came to the UK and went to a gym to do strength training. Over the course when I met her, she now down to 126 pounds with that body fat percentage 25.6. But I sort of started thinking a little bit about even just reducing it. 1 to 3% would put her into a much healthier range rather than much further. And I was thinking of like doing just a more gentle cut of like 200 to 300 calories. Maybe that's more maintainable for her over the course of the program that I have with her, which is eight weeks overall, by the time I wrote, I think it was already into the second week or so. And introducing the mindful eating, really. And get her, Alton, to do some things like walking after meals and eat with the mindful eating as well. Not eating in front of devices and making sure that she tracks basically her cut or of 200 to 300 calories. I didn't want to do a drastic cut like 500 because I think that might be a bit too much was my concern. And I think that would put them on to that healthier body fat percentage range, like 22 to 24%. But even just a small reduction would be good. But I started thinking of the numbers and I sort of think it's pretty impossible for her to really do much weight loss because she's gained so much muscle over the time. At least 15 pounds, I'm gonna guess, compared when she was the cardio person to the more like body split person. There's an update that she's been doing so far on the coaching program is he actually has been implementing mindful eating, delaying sweets and treats and enjoying an onion at very special moments, cutting snacks and all that. Not even before devices at breakfast and dinner. At work. It's difficult for her because she works for the nhs, which is the National Health Service in the uk. And I did encourage her to eat more protein and increase her water intake from just 8.8 ounces to 70 ounces or almost 2 liters. And she's doing much better without headaches. But she had a bacterial infection just recently had to take antibiotics and also was just on holiday last week. So I haven't seen yet these past few days because of these two scenarios.

[Sal DeStefano]

So.

[Leo]

So I hope she's doing fine. I do check in here with her regularly to just see that she's fine. But now it's more like making sure that she eats healthy, but also improves her gut health after the course of antibiotics and maybe wait a little bit with the overall progress on the weight loss until we sort of rebuild that. Just to say her current caloric intake is like 1900 calories. These things are ready to be on track with tracking. I gotta check how that went during the holiday because she wanted to try to maintain at that time. And there were those setbacks with the antibiotics. So my basic uncertainty, because I was a bit of a doubter, is any of that what I'm doing actually good or sound? Or should I consider changing course in some things and how I think about it? Because ultimately it's about her and her goals really in the end.

[Sal DeStefano]

Okay, so be more specific with your question. What is the question exactly? She wants to lose some body fat.

[Adam Schaefer]

Or she does, but he wants to know the steps that he took to get her to where she's at right now. Basically, dropping down to 1900 was a sound strategy of what he's been doing.

[Sal DeStefano]

Is that correct?

[Leo]

Yeah, it's basically my uncertainty was I just wasn't exactly sure where doing just the 300 cut would be the most ideal for her. Cutting down to such a low body percentage. But also, like, introduce the mindful eating.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's fine.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, you're fine, Leo. What I'd want to know is how is she feeling? Is she feel satisfied on those calories? Is she doing a good job of being consistent with it? And then the. The. Probably the most important thing, based off of what I heard you say, is her consistency around hitting her protein intake. Because if she's strength training and she's really inconsistent with the protein and you're cutting calories, we're gonna probably lose muscle. And that's not ideal. And so in that case, I would be like, I'd lower to bump her calories a little bit or at least continue to speak to her like, we gotta hit our protein. We gotta hit our protein.

[Leo]

Okay.

[Adam Schaefer]

Because that's. Because the one challenge you might have, because I don't think there's anything wrong with what you did. I think it was very logical. I think it's a good strategy. I think if it's working out, it's good. But I did Hear you say that when you had, when you were tracking her protein, she was really inconsistent with it all over the board. And it sounded like she, she's lower than, she's higher more often. And if you put her in a calorie deficit and she's also not hitting protein consistently, then she might lose a couple pounds, but she's probably gonna lose some muscle too. So it's gonna be really important. Important that she consistently hits her protein intake too.

[Leo]

Okay.

[Adam Schaefer]

So that's, that's what I would be communicating the most based off of what you've told me. But I think you're doing. Your, your strategy is totally fine and okay and logical and, and good. But I, right away, what jumped out to me was the inconsistency around protein. And we're also cutting this girl. So if we're cutting her calories and she's missing protein, you can almost guarantee she's going to lose muscle too. Do.

[Leo]

Okay. Okay. That's a good awareness.

[Adam Schaefer]

But all in all, good. I mean, everything. I think you very, very logical. Good job. But I would be, I would be really hammering that home. We got to hit that especially in a deficit. In a deficit, she could even afford to have more protein than we have.

[Sal DeStefano]

It's more important.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yep.

[Leo]

Okay.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yep.

[Leo]

Okay, I see. What do you mean that literally protecting a muscle deficit?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes, yes, yes. That becomes the most important part. You got her strength training, right. So she's lifting weights, she's doing a good job. You're in a, you're at a reasonable calorie, but you are cutting her because she wants to lean out a little bit. But if you cut her and she doesn't eat or hit her protein, she's going to lose muscle too. So got to really drill that home to her. We got to hit our protein. We got to hit our protein. In fact, it's more important if she's always consistently low. And let's say she's at 1800 calories and it's seven or six or seven o' clock at night, I would allow her to go up in calories just to hit her protein intake because I don't want to lose her muscle. Muscle.

[Leo]

Yeah, that's a good point. I'm gonna try to get her to do a few more food journals for me to actually show me what intake has been.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Leo]

As of recently, particularly after the course of antibiotics, if I have thrown off anything.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Leo]

She wanted to try to use some more alternative choices and desserts, like high protein mousses and like these are ready Ones with higher protein content.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Leo]

And seems to be enjoying those. How much protein that always is. I need to check really, with her.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's find out where that is at. And that's the big thing. I think I would speak to her too.

[Leo]

Okay.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yep. Other than that, you're doing good. Lee, are you in our. Are you in our trainer form with all of our trainers?

[Leo]

No.

[Adam Schaefer]

Gotta get you in there.

[Leo]

Ready?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

We'll put you in there.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, yeah. That way.

[Justin Andrews]

Network for you.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. That way you riff with. Yeah, yeah. So when you have challenges like this, you can bounce ideas just like you'd just did with us right now with all of us and the trainers.

[Leo]

Okay. Yeah, that, that might be Apple. I'm not the most active person on Facebook primarily because I had more depression issues with it, but I might see my best if there's some challenges up. Maybe get in there, that sense. Just on the side of the coaching part. Can I just ask a quick question? That's really short. I'm going to be working in my own gym very soon, a couple of weeks time because I have the gym instructor part to start working there at some point later on, I want to probably consider going independent. And my basic question is, what single advice would you suggest for me to take while being in that environment to make the most of the experience of developing myself stuff?

[Adam Schaefer]

I personally would not go independent until I'm the top, top trainer or the at least one top three trainers in the. In there, meaning you have one of the fullest schedules, you're making the most money. Because if you, if, if you have a hard time working for a company and getting yourself to be number one or number two, going on your own.

[Sal DeStefano]

Is a lot more difficult.

[Justin Andrews]

Marketing yourself is very difficult.

[Adam Schaefer]

Very difficult. I, I mean, my whole career, this is what I did was train trainers. And rarely ever, if ever, did I see a trainer that wasn't a top three trainer in my club go off and go independent and have more success than where he was currently at the gym with me. Now, the guys and girls that were my top one, top two trainers, and they went and did their own business, they had great success. Justin's an example of that. But trainers that were not my top trainers that thought going on their own was a good idea or good strategy, they tend to all fail.

[Sal DeStefano]

Scale.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. So. So make it a goal to become the top guy in your gym with the resources that you have from somebody else's gym providing for you before you go out independent, get all their forms.

[Justin Andrews]

And, and all their systems and figure all of that out before you go on your own, because you're gonna have to replicate that. So just keep that in mind.

[Leo]

Okay. Okay. Really built myself. Make myself indispensable almost.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Leo]

Yep.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Leo]

Really learned. And it's in box.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yep.

[Leo]

That's.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Justin Andrews]

You got it.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yep.

[Leo]

Okay.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yep. And then lastly, get in our course because that's what we teach. We teach the business side. So inside our trainer course, that's what we teach is the building the business. So that would be the last.

[Justin Andrews]

Cut a lot of time out of just guesswork for you.

[Leo]

Okay. I wasn't sure what I assume should sign up for the course at this stage because I wasn't sure how. How I'm at this stage with currently doing my certifications as PT and nutrition coaching at that moment, which is an integrated program. So it's literally just doing one by one. And I wasn't sure whether trying to do your coaching program at the same.

[Adam Schaefer]

Time, it's at your pace, so you could do it simultaneously or you can wait till you're afterwards. But my suggestion is definitely go through it before you go. Try and go independent because you're the advice given. There is specifically two trainers that are trying to build their business. So you can do it simultaneously because it's at your pace. You watch the videos when you have time. But if you have a lot on your plate and you feel like that's too overwhelming, well, then wait till you're done and then. Then add our course. But you absolutely should go through the course.

[Sal DeStefano]

Okay, cool.

[Leo]

Okay. I keep in mind. All right, Leo, how can you do it without a question? Just the timing. Okay.

[Sal DeStefano]

Right. Thanks for calling in, man.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, good luck. Stay in touch. Leo. Good luck, brother.

[Leo]

And thank you very much again as well. I just wanted to also say your podcast has been life changing for many levels. It has helped me. I say you can help my parents as well. Getting healthier and helping with my dads with diabetes. And also, Sal, your current journey that you're doing with the series is absolutely impactful that you're choosing to take faith as your focus and really making it for something higher like God. Really. I feel like it's something really impactful that a lot of people need to see, need to feel, and just need to listen to as well. Because there's so much loss, esteem, so many sectors, and you bringing in faith really into the journey of fitness even. Let's just provide impact.

[Sal DeStefano]

Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you so much.

[Adam Schaefer]

Thank you, man.

[Leo]

Okay. Thank you very much.

[Adam Schaefer]

Guys, you have a good one.

[Leo]

Appreciate your time. Bye bye.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, of all that, the most important thing to take away is for trainers watching, which is what you said. If you're working in a box, a big box, or you're working in a studio as a trainer and you're not the top trainer, don't even consider.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Going off on your own because you've just, you've just, you've multiplied the challenge of building your business times a hundred. Yeah. I'm not exaggerating, by the way. It's literally, I've never had a hundred times harder I've had to build your business.

[Adam Schaefer]

I've never had a trainer who was not the top. At least top three. Okay. At least top three in the club go off to have more success independent than they were already having inside the. The gym, the, the commercial gym.

[Sal DeStefano]

If you can't figure it out in there.

[Adam Schaefer]

No, it's, it's, it's exponentially.

[Sal DeStefano]

In fact, I'll even say this. There have been top trainers involved that have gone out to try to do and they couldn't.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes.

[Sal DeStefano]

So that's not even a guarantee.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's right. That's right.

[Sal DeStefano]

Look, if you like the show, come find us on Instagram at Mind Pump Media. We'll see you there.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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