Performance Down? Here's what to do - Steve & Mike

Summary

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The Improvement Season Podcast – July 27, 2026

Episode: Performance Down? Here's What to Do – Steve & Mike (Q&A)

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Episode Overview

In this Q&A-packed episode of The Improvement Season Podcast, Steve Hall and "Magic" Mike Chalice tackle a broad range of listener questions focused on bodybuilding, training performance, recovery, nutrition, budgeting for healthy food, contest prep strategies, training intensity, and even gym music preferences. The tone remains informative, approachable, and occasionally humorous as the hosts share not just expert advice, but also personal anecdotes and practical tips from years of coaching experience.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Recovery from Surgery: Mindset & Nutrition ([02:14]–[08:53])

• Listener Q: Undergoing nose surgery – 3 weeks off lifting. How to approach nutrition and mindset?
• Mike: Emphasizes mindset. Three weeks off is trivial long-term; very minimal muscle loss is likely. Avoid a calorie deficit; prioritize healing:
  • “Being in a calorie deficit is just not the right time… healing is the most important thing.” ([03:03] Magic Mike)
• Total calorie needs may remain higher during healing. Remain at “maintenance” calories.
• Use “dead time” (stoic philosophy) productively, but also accept periods of stillness or boredom for genuine recovery.
• Steve: Cites research showing muscle regains quickly (“about half the time to regain than to lose”).
• View the break as a chance to repurpose gym/commute time.
  • “Quickly you find ways to fill it.” ([05:16] Steve Hall)

2. Saving on Groceries: Bodybuilding on a Budget ([09:04]–[12:28])

• Listener Q: Money-saving tips when eating for bodybuilding goals?
• Steve: Opt for tinned or frozen fruits/veggies; supermarket own brands over name brands; consider Lidl, Aldi, or even Amazon Fresh for bargains; shop in bulk; avoid “luxury” items if possible.
  • “All my blueberries, mixed fruits, they come from Iceland... That’s definitely a cheaper way.” ([09:59] Steve Hall)
• Mike: Highlights cost difference between fresh and frozen produce.
• Both reminisce about budgeting as students; re-examine costly habits.

3. Performance Drop in Dieting: When to Adjust? ([13:35]–[21:23])

• Listener Q: At what point does a drop-off in training performance require a deload, program adjustment, or nutritional tweak during fat loss?
• Mike: Assess whether the decline is isolated or systemic:
  • “If I'm seeing drop offs of more than one or two across multiple sets... then there's probably something more global.” ([14:23])
  • In more severe/fatiguing diets, may add higher-calorie days during deloads.
  • Contest prep clients: Weigh the timeline and psychological state.
• Steve: Watch for persistent decline over weeks; check for systemic vs. local drop-offs, address sleep, stress, nutrition timing before changing food intake.
  • “I would consider everything before making a nutrition adjustment... Is there anything we can do to improve or help performance?” ([19:19])

4. Returning From Breaks: Regaining Condition ([21:27]–[22:07])

• Listener Q: After 2 weeks off, feeling soft – will returning to routine fix this?
• Steve & Mike: Absolutely – expect to normalize quickly once back on track.
  • “By the time this comes out, I hope that you've done this and that my words are confirming what happened.” ([21:42] Steve Hall)

5. Maxing Out Machines: Next Steps ([22:10]–[25:42])

• Listener Q: What to do once you’ve maxed out a machine (e.g. leg curl)?
• Mike: Options:
  • Use a Gym Pin for extra weight.
  • Switch to single-limb training.
  • Play with tempo, pauses, different intensifiers (e.g. myoreps).
  • “There are other options, not just single leg work.” ([23:24])
• Steve: Adjust position (e.g. lean forward) to alter stimulus.

6. Gym Music & Arousal: Rituals before Heavy Sets ([25:42]–[29:47])

• Listener Q: Favorite genres/songs to get hyped for leg day?
• Steve: Enjoys motivational soundtracks, anime, and sometimes podcasts to modulate anxiety/arousal.
  • “Recently... the music had actually been pushing me more into an over-aroused state... I was feeling too stimulated almost.” ([26:42])
• Mike: Agrees that music is context-dependent.

7. Steps Programming: Is There a Limit? ([29:47]–[30:53])

• Listener Q: What is the maximum number of steps you’ll recommend?
• Both: Diminishing returns past ~12–15K steps/day; prefer to manipulate food or cardio for further progress.
  • “I don't really want them going over 15,000... I'd rather reduce food or introduce other bouts of cardio.” ([30:30] Steve Hall)

8. Calorie Cycling: Training vs. Rest Days ([30:57]–[32:36])

• Listener Q: Is it worth cyclin calories and macros (e.g. more carbs on training days)?
• Mike: Only potentially beneficial when calories are very low (deep in contest prep or aggressive fat loss).
• Steve: For most, it’s unnecessary; rest days also require nutrients for recovery.

9. Peak Week Approaches for First-Time Competitors ([32:44]–[36:59])

• Listener Q: How to peak for two shows, two weeks apart?
• Steve: General strategy:
  • Reduce training-induced fatigue.
  • Manipulate carbs to fill out based on response to refeeds.
  • Maintain water and sodium (do not restrict).
  • Avoid major changes on show day; focus on what works from “practice refuels/refeeds.”
• “The main thing is not changing too many variables... I'm very big on keeping a lot of things static and just manipulating carbohydrates.” ([34:23])

10. Dream Gym Preferences ([37:03]–[41:18])

• Listener Q: Ideal gym equipment and vibe?
• Mike: Favors mid-point vibe (between “spit & sawdust” and “modern & sleek”); wants anime and bodybuilding art; loves smooth machines (e.g. Atlantis, Cybex).
• Steve: Values reliable, well-maintained, smooth equipment over extremes of style.

11. Reducing Food Palatability During Diets ([41:18]–[41:54])

• Listener Q: How to make food less tempting on a diet?
• Both: Make meals plain/simple (unseasoned oats, plain protein+veggies); avoid flavor “hacks.”

12. Carb Increases: Glycogen vs. Tissue ([41:54]–[43:50])

• Listener Q: If you bump carbs by 50g, how much weight is glycogen vs muscle?
• Mike: Don’t split hairs; water-to-glycogen is ~3–4:1 but it’s not practical to track each variable – “don’t stress about the minutiae.”
• Steve: Focus on trends, not exact gram breakdowns.

13. Small Rep Asymmetries: Should You Match Sides? ([43:50]–[44:27])

• Listener Q: One extra rep on one arm – take it or match?
• Both: One rep won’t matter—don’t overthink it.

14. Starting Bodyweight for Prep ([45:07]–[46:22])

• Listener Q: What % over stage weight to start prep?
• Mike: 10% over stage weight is a standard recommendation.
• Steve: 10–12% is good; leaner is ideal but not needed; more than 10% to lose signals a harder prep.

15. Using Bands or Chains for Hypertrophy ([46:31]–[48:17])

• Listener Q: Thoughts on bands/chains?
• Both: Not generally useful for hypertrophy; resistance profiles rarely align with muscle strength curves; useful for unique situations, not standard.

16. Sharing Food Logs/Public MyFitnessPal ([48:17]–[48:58])

• Listener Q: Mike’s MyFitnessPal username?
• Mike: Shares openly: “MChalice24”.

17. Weight Gain with Age ([49:19]–[50:05])

• Listener Q: 23-year-old gaining weight—slowed metabolism?
• Steve: Weight gain with age is about reduced activity, not metabolism drop; recommends tracking steps and intake.

18. Exercise Order: Kelso Shrugs vs. Rows ([51:03]–[52:40])

• Listener Q: Kelso shrugs before or after standard rows?
• Mike: “Totally depends… try both, see what works.” Most commonly performed after rows to further fatigue upper/mid-back.

19. High Steps Off-Diet: Transitioning Clients ([53:03]–[54:37])

• Listener Q: Clients pushing step counts high during maintenance/gaining phases – how to adjust?
• Steve: Lower slowly to avoid abrupt change; get client buy-in; discuss body fat set point expectations.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “This is a necessary time... part of life. Don’t let your ego or thoughts of loss go against the process.”
  — Magic Mike ([03:48])

• “It takes about half the time to regain [lost muscle] than the time to lose it…in a week and a half you’re going to be back to baseline.”
  — Steve Hall ([04:59])

• “When it comes to oats... Tesco’s Scottish own brand oats... Quaker oats of the same thing cost like double.”
  — Steve Hall ([10:39])

• “If your sleep is shy, what’s the point in deloading from training?”
  — Magic Mike ([20:13])

• “Being bored—that is the key.”
  — Steve Hall ([08:53])

• “The only time I’d cycle carbs is really in a fat loss phase… rest days are for recovering.”
  — Steve Hall ([31:50])

• “There’s vastly diminishing returns past about 12,000 [steps].”
  — Steve Hall ([30:53])

• “Once your body is happy at homeostasis, the need to eat more shouldn’t be so present... look at that too.”
  — Steve Hall ([54:14])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:14] Mindset & Nutrition During Forced Time Off
• [09:04] Budget-Friendly Nutritional Strategies
• [13:35] Assessing Performance Drop-Off When Dieting
• [21:27] Regaining After Breaks
• [22:10] Progressions After Maxing Out Machines
• [25:42] Gym Music & “Ultra-Hype” Rituals
• [29:47] Maximum Programmable Steps
• [30:57] Calorie Cycling on Training/Rest Days
• [32:44] Peak Week Programming
• [37:03] Designing the Dream Gym
• [41:18] Reducing Food Palatability on a Diet
• [41:54] Weight Changes from Carb Increases
• [43:50] Minor Asymmetries in Training
• [45:07] How Lean Before Prep?
• [46:31] Bands & Chains in Hypertrophy Training
• [48:17] Public Food Logging
• [49:19] Weight Gain, Metabolism & Age
• [51:03] Exercise Order: Kelso Shrugs & Rows
• [53:03] Tapering Down High Step Counts

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Listener Takeaways

• Don’t panic about short layoffs or performance dips—address lifestyle and stress management first.
• Spend wisely: frozen and tinned produce, shop own brands, buy in bulk.
• Make training adjustments based on systemic trends rather than isolated events.
• For hypertrophy, bands and chains are rarely essential.
• For contest prep, start lean and avoid overcomplicating peak week manipulation.
• Bodyweight, metabolism, and satiety are more about lifestyle than age—stay active and track basics.
• Step counts are powerful, but more isn’t always better.

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Final Interactive Prompt

What’s your average step count? Let Steve and Mike know in the comments!

Transcript

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

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[Steve Hall]

Hi guys. Welcome back to the Improvement Season podcast. It is me, Steve hall, introducing the podcast, not Magic Mike, because I have an important thing to say to you and that is because I always forget this is a pure Q and A episode. And if you love our question, or rather you love our answers and you want to ask a question, I always forget to tell you an appropriate time where you would hear where to ask. So you can either ask in the YouTube comments, we'll pick those up, get those across clients. You can actually just ask in our kind of joint WhatsApp group, no problem at all. Or like email your coach and let us know. And then for most people, you can join the Hypertrophic Time Chamber, which is my broadcast group over on Instagram, and that's always linked in the description. And don't worry, I don't bombard you with loads of spam or like whatever. It's mostly just question boxes for these episodes. Without further ado, any other intro points from you, Magic Mike, or should we dive straight into questions?

[Magic Mike]

I am discombobulated. Hopefully the listeners are excited for that intro and. But no, let's dive straight in.

[Steve Hall]

Cool. I'll ask you the first question then. Mike, should we go? I'll go for the ones I sent you, actually. So this one is from Zif Zafi and they asked question regarding recovery. I'll be undergoing a necessary nose surgery so that I cannot lift at all for three weeks. Any suggestions about mindset going into this extended life? Off? Any suggestions about what to do with nutrition, maintain or slight deficit context, mid-40s, been lifting for 30 years, currently doing five days a week. Upper lower. I am 173 and 70. 173 centimeters tall, 73 kilograms, 13 to 15% body fat estimated.

[Magic Mike]

So Zafy, thank you so much for your question and to address the first part, I think mindset is going to be really critical because I think if you're feeling good, if you're in a good place mentally, it's going to make the whole process that much easier. And I think the first thing that you've just got to remind yourself of is that obviously this is a necessary surgery that you're having, and ultimately three weeks in the grand scheme of things is absolutely nothing. And so the likelihood of you losing any significant muscle mass over that time is not likely at all. And I would also say that that probably lends into the nutrition side of things. And I would highly recommend that you don't go into a deficit, you know, for a couple of reasons. One, whenever you are injured, whenever you've got pain or you're pre surgery, being in a calorie deficit is just not the right time. And ultimately they've actually done research into areas such as concussion and injury. And what they find is sometimes that the amount of calories that you burn doesn't differ that much because. Because you're more inefficient with your movement patterns and because, you know, some of your body's healing processes are heightened, that can sometimes sort of do funny things. But ultimately healing is the most important thing. So you don't want to, you know, take away any resources from the body that might hinder the healing process. So the calorie deficit is not the right time post surgery. Now, if you're in a suitable maintenance, that will minimize, you know, any, you know, that will minimize the risk of, you know, any excessive muscle loss. And ultimately, again, because it's such, such a short period of time, any muscle mass that does potentially happen, you're going to regain so quickly when you first get back into training, it's just going to be pretty much negligible. So, like, if you can just focus on those things, like, that's gonna, I think, give a really good platform for you just to move forward. And just again, like, this is a necessary time. It's kind of like, I don't know why, but it made me think of, I don't know why, but like, we had a question a few episodes ago about being a father or becoming a parent for the first time. And it's like, hey, this is just a part of life. And again, you don't want your kind of ego or your, you know, any thoughts of losses to, to go against that process. But, but anyway, I'm kind of going on a ramble, but ultimately, I think use that mindset as your base and don't go into a calorie deficit. Stay at maintenance and I'll probably just leave it there and just if you've got any thoughts to kind of bounce off of there. Steve?

[Steve Hall]

Yeah, I agree with everything you said. I think some of the literature surrounding kind of regaining lost muscle, it takes about half the time to regain it than the time to lose it. So let's say it's three weeks. Like in a week and a half, you're going to be back to baseline and then you're going to be back improving. So Mike's completely right that, hey, you're really not going to lose much during that period of time and it'll definitely come back. And same with being at maintenance. If you're not providing the muscle a reason to grow, it's not going to stick around if you go into a deficit. So you're just risking unnecessary muscle loss at that point. It's definitely. Maintenance is the best call there. And I think you can probably use this as an opportunity where, yeah, there's normally hours in your day, like five days a week. Let's say it's an hour, let's say half an hour, commuting each way. That's 10 hours you potentially have back in your week. What things you maybe could put 10 hours towards. It could be anything. I don't know. There's so many things I could think of that I could use that time for. And it's just setting the time aside to be like, okay, actually, let's think about it. I've got this extra time back. What can I put into it? An example that comes to mind for me at least is, and you probably have had this, where you definitely had this. Mike is in prep. Towards the end, you're spending quite a lot of time posing and then suddenly you don't have to pose anymore. It's like you get that time back and quickly you find ways to fill it. So I think at first for Zafy, this will feel quite uncomfortable that first week, first few days, but then you'll get into like a new routine of you'll fill that time with whatever it might be. So, yeah, I think you'll go through it and you'll look back in a number of months time and be like, oh, it really wasn't that bad. It probably looks worse on the face of it. So I think that'll. That'll help too. But nothing, nothing more to add on top of what you've said, really.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah, definitely. And just one final thing to add there is. I remember listening to Ryan Holiday and Robert Green. So they both kind of are in the sort of stoicism space. And Robert Greene and Brian Holiday, they talked about a lifetime versus dead time. And, you know, you can see it's kind of time where you think like, ah, you know, I can't do anything during this phase and yada, yada. But that's kind of thinking of things like dead time. Whereas actually, how can you, like you said, Steve, how can you use that additional time? How can you put it to good use? And I think that's always. I've always liked that way of looking at it, like, right, how can I make this a lifetime? How can I put it to good use?

[Steve Hall]

Funny enough, it's. I didn't mention it, but I'll mention it now because you mentioned this. I've been thinking about it with the flight to. Obviously we've got to go to Bali. Like, it's 13 hours or whatever. Like, where it's like, it's dead time. But it's like how I was thinking of ways, how can I use this? So, like, hoping, like I said, listen to the England game, we'll probably watch some movies, we'll obviously have some great chats. And then I guess I can actually look at my presentation and make sure that I'm feeling confident with that. And then, like, client work. I've set it up so that clients are checking in with voice messages so I can actually download those and listen and potentially even get back to them. I have the external microphone. So, yeah, there's a lot of things you can do if you put your head to it. The only thing is I'm. If I'm at a point where, like, mentally I don't have it in me because I imagine that might happen too, where I'm just like, there's too much. And I just review it as like, Steve just needs to switch off. Like, it's just. It's dead time is what I need it to be. Like I just need to recharge in a sense. Which is fine as well.

[Magic Mike]

Exactly. It's just recovery time. And it's kind of like not. Not filling your time up uselessly, if that makes sense. Having that just stillness again, like your shower time almost. It's like you could maybe view having a shower as it is dead time. But ultimately we get our best ideas in the shower because we're able to relax. We're able just to be just empty and still. And it's. Yeah. Again, there's a lot of usefulness to just stillness and not doing anything. Being bored.

[Steve Hall]

Being bored. That is the key. I don't shower long enough to get any good thoughts in the shower. I have to admit. They're so efficient. I'm just like, get out. Done. Should we get to the next Question, Mike.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah, let's do it. So I think this next one is from my client Jack who. So my phone's just locked. So Jack, thank you so much for asking this question Jack, we really appreciate you listening. So Jack asks Stephen. Mike, I have a question. What are the best money saving tips when trying to get the right foods for your goals but on a tight budget? I've noticed since I've been in a gaining phase and eating a lot more fruit and veg that my weekly shop has just increased cool.

[Steve Hall]

So my head immediately goes to tinned fruit and veg, frozen fruit and veg. Tinned in particular. I haven't bought recently but I'm almost certain it's probably even cheaper than frozen. But I do a lot of frozen fruit and veg. I have an Iceland literally five minutes away from my front door. So all my blueberries, mixed fruits, they come from Iceland. I do spinach and I just do that from again and mix veggies. So that's definitely che. Cheaper way of getting fruit and veg in is going tinned or, or frozen. And then other things are just looking at like own brands versus like branded products that often is like considerably cheaper. I think about oats for example. Like I use my favorite oats are actually Tesco's Scottish own brand oats. But if you get Quaker oats of like the same thing, they cost like double as much. So it's just little things like that or like tin tuna, you can probably buy own brand versus like branded. And even like the supermarket you can go to if you got a Lidl or an Audi close by, they're much cheaper. And then potentially even shopping online, I think Amazon prime or Amazon Fresh, sorry, that's what it's called. Came out really good in a recent review of like they look over like, I don't know, 100 common products is probably not 100 but common products sold in various supermarkets and who has them for the cheapest like total bag price. And I think Amazon did really well on that. And then that saves you going to the supermarket as well. Yeah, especially. And you can get loads of frozen things, tinned things. So buying in bulk and just buying things that you need and not just buying it because it's a good deal or whatever, I think helps too. So those are some thoughts that immediately come to mind. I don't know if you have any other frugal tips, Mike.

[Magic Mike]

I think you covered all the main points and it's funny because like when it comes to oats, I, I don't Even get the Scottish. I probably could get the Scottish oats because they are probably tasty. But I even get the one down from that where it's literally just your bodies.

[Steve Hall]

They just cook better. I don't know why they cook better. That's what I found. Yeah.

[Magic Mike]

I need to try it because I've kind of like. I'm like, oh, should I, shouldn't I? And then I just always go with the cheaper option. So it's just me. But I think the. The biggest thing is, like, I couldn't re. Emphasize the frozen veg more because just in terms of, like, price, it's. It's just fantastic. Like, if you think of how much like, a punnet of, like, fresh blueberries costs versus, you know. You know, it might. I don't know. I'm just throwing numbers out there. But you might get like 150 grams for, like, 3 pounds, where you can always get 5, 400 grams of blueberries frozen for, like, a similar price. Almost a similar price. So frozen's great. Um, yeah. Honestly, I. I can't think of anything else that I would add to everything that. Anything that you said.

[Steve Hall]

Yeah. I'm trying to think of what else better to have asked me, like, two decades ago when I was a struggling student, whereas now I'm in a position where I can afford Scottish oats.

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

Yeah.

[Steve Hall]

And it not be espresso. But doing things like. Yeah, there's. Look at the areas that are most expensive on your shopping list and then ask yourself, do I really need that or can I find a cheaper alternative? I think that's probably one of the easiest ways. So I bet there's some stuff on there that's like, luxury and you could just downgrade it or just get it out. As a clear example for me, like, I love my kimchi sauerkraut. My fermented expensive. So, like, same with, like, salmon. I like my cooked. Or like, what's it called? Smoked salmon. It was definitely cheaper to buy it, like, uncooked and through a deal or even frozen fish or tinned. So there's definitely ways about it. So. Yeah. Um, Shall I ask you the next question, Mike?

[Magic Mike]

Yeah. And get. So I think we're going on to the hypertrophic time chamber questions now. Yeah.

[Steve Hall]

You're way too excited, Mike. I need to get on your level. What is going on?

[Magic Mike]

I know. Sorry.

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

It was.

[Magic Mike]

Because I said.

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

No, it's.

[Steve Hall]

Don't apologize. It's good. Oh, yeah.

[Magic Mike]

Okay.

[Steve Hall]

Okay. You're excited by Rob's question. I haven't seen the Question. But Rob, my client and good friend asks how much performance drop, drop off, sorry is acceptable before making adjustments via a deload, adjusting to the plan or nutrition when dieting. Oh, sorry. Hopefully that made sense. How much of a performance drop off before making adjustments, either a deload or to the plan or nutrition when dieting?

[Magic Mike]

So I think a couple of things that I that helped me with my sort of decision making is one I look at is this just one exercise or one body part and is this just one session versus is it multiple the body parts and multiple sessions? Because if it's just one exercise then even if say there's a rep drop off of more than like two, I kind of think is it just that exercise? If everything else is completely fine, I think ah, was something just off with that particular exercise. Whereas if I'm seeing again if it's one particular body part, okay, maybe we could do, you know, and it's like again, maybe off by more than two reps. I would say then, then I'm thinking like oh, okay, is there something about that body part? But then if I'm seeing drop offs of more than two, more than one or two across multiple sets, multiple training sessions, body parts, etc, then I'm like ah, there's probably something more global systemic going on that we need to just do a bit of a sort of a shotgun grenade approach and just kind of do a whole, whole deload. And then just in terms of nutrition, I think it does depend on probably where you know, the individual, you know, are they in a contest prep, Are they in a fat loss phase? So if I was just to go off someone who was in just a general fat loss phase, providing that depending on how they were feeling, if they hadn't been in the fat loss phase for too long and they weren't too diet fatigued, I might potentially keep their calories the same. Because a train like reducing their training volume might act as a bit of a sort of, might help anyway. But if they've been in the diet for a long time, if there were signs of like diet fatigue etc. Then I might be inclined to just give them maybe a couple of higher calorie days along with that re. Along with that deload. If they're in a surplus, obviously I wouldn't change anything nutritionally. If they were in a contest prep phase, I would look at their timeline and look at like hey, where are we relative to where we need to be? Can we afford this timeout? I think ultimately though, even with me Saying that, you know, even if we were behind or we didn't have much time to lose, I've got to look at the individual again. Can they cope with that? I think you've got to talk to them in that moment and say, like, look, hey, I can give you some high, higher days and you will feel better, probably better, but it might affect potentially our look, our time, etc. So, yeah, just throw it. That's kind of where I'd start.

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

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[Steve Hall]

I think you covered that very comprehensively. The only thoughts that I think that maybe weren't quite that. I think you'd also probably agree with that you didn't get a chance to go to is if it was like happening for several weeks. You mentioned like several sessions, but I think also, like, if it's happening like every week, you're seeing like it just go down and down and down. I think that's also a bit of a sign that something wants adjusting. And I think actually something you didn't mention, but I think you would have, is when it's multiple muscle groups, like you said, it seems like a systemic thing, then a deload is more likely appropriate. That means if it's not and it's like say just chest, then you might be able to do a localized thing. So it might just be some downsets or a reduction in volume or a rotating exercise, something like that, which is just. Yeah, you would have mentioned if there wasn't so many things to think about for this question. It's a great question. And in terms of nutrition, I think it's exactly as you said, really. If there's no timeline, no deadline, as it were, which outside of a contest prep or photo shoot, there really isn't, then yeah, you can always give them an extra high day and that could help potentially. And then it's just trying to assess is the performance drop nutritionally driven or is it just driven through like, hey, you're smaller. And then I'd look at kind of your strength ratio, what's it called, weight to strength ratio or it's like a. What do they call it in powerlifting your wilk score? That's the one, yeah. So just trying to determine like, hey, is this a big enough drop off to be concerned about or is this quite typical given we're in a dieting phase? So I think like a 10 drop is super. Like, hey, that's just fine. If it's starting to get over 20, that's when it's like, oh, maybe there is something. Maybe we need to slow the rate of loss. Maybe we need to introduce refeed or even a diet break if we've got time for it. And again, if you have no deadline, there's no issue with slowing things down. You're just putting yourself in a better position to retain or grow muscle. So I think that's worth considering. And then exactly as you said at the end there, it's trade offs person to person. Like, is the trade off of taking off that more body fat going to make you more competitive on stage? Even if we lose risk losing a bit of muscle because performance is dropping off a little bit more than we would like to, or is retaining that muscle, retaining that performance can lead to a better competitive look and is the person feeling one way or the other towards it? The other thing I'd mention, the final thing is I would consider everything before making a nutrition adjustment. So what's lifestyle stress? What can we do about it? How's your nutritional timing? What can we do about it? How's your sleep? What can we do about it? Is there anything that we can do to improve or help performance before we close that kind of deficit gap? Because there might be room for improving it elsewhere? Because I don't know, you might talk to someone and be like, yeah, I just trained fasted and like, I don't know, they're just really lackadaisal about their approach to kind of ensuring that they're going to be able to perform at their best. And there's a lot that can be done on that front. So. Yeah.

[Magic Mike]

And how many, you know, you probably see situations as well where maybe someone says, oh, I need to take a deload. So they deload from training, but then their sleep is absolute dog poo. And it's like, what's the point in

[Steve Hall]

you like dog shite, Mike?

[Magic Mike]

Dog shy. Sorry, I don't know why I said dog food.

[Steve Hall]

I wanted to get aggressive. Dog poo.

[Magic Mike]

Sorry, sorry, I was a bit too PG there. But yeah, like what? What's the point if your sleep's in is shy when you know, you know. Anyway, anyway, you knew, you know, the point that I was making.

[Steve Hall]

Sorry, that's right, yeah. Like, what do you expect if you're not taking care of business outside the gym? But yeah, it's. And I think often associated with prep is like someone's looking stringy flat. Like these sort of symptoms are also alongside it. And maybe there's also signs of diet fatigue building up. It's like, ah, we just need to kind of reduce some of that. But at the end of the day, often it is like, it's as Brandon Kempter says, like you deplete replete, deplete replete. You get a bit of a short term bump in performance, but it might not be that it maintains going forward. It will probably slowly erode. And you'd expect that too.

[Magic Mike]

Definitely.

[Steve Hall]

Shall I ask. Oh, no, I asked that question, didn't I?

[Magic Mike]

So Patrick Morris asks. I've had two weeks off the gym for holiday and eight at maintenance. Maybe some days slightly above maintenance. I'm feeling very soft. Will this likely sort itself out once I'm back to normal training, eating?

[Steve Hall]

Patrick, by the time this comes out, I hope that you've done this and that my words are confirming what happened. Yes.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah.

[Steve Hall]

I don't know if you have anything more to say, really.

[Magic Mike]

No, not really. I think you kind of. Yeah. There's nothing much else to say.

[Steve Hall]

Yeah. Get back into your normal routine. It'll all come flooding back and you'll feel like you never left.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah. Essentially.

[Steve Hall]

I'll ask this one to you then from my man Jared. Wishful thinking, but if you. Sorry. If you eventually max out the machine, such as a leg curl, guessing the next best approach would be to do single leg.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah. So, well, there's a couple of options. So you could actually invest in a gym pin. So Jim pin could allow you to add a little bit more load to that. And then, yeah, I guess going single leg, you could manipulate other variables because I think obviously the trade offs with single legwork can sometimes be time. It can also just get quite mentally burdensome if you're going really hard on one leg and then go to the other. So obviously with things like if it's just like a leg extension or a leg curl, maybe not so much. But I'm just giving options here. So if, like, it just maybe was a bit too time consuming or burdensome to do single leg work, then you could potentially look at manipulating tempo as well. So if you were, say, doing the, you know, your execution with that was very explosive. Maybe you could again just slow down the tempo. A little bit pause for a little bit more in the fully lengthened position. Again, maybe add a more of a different technique such as like a myoreps or something of that nature. So again, I'm kind of like dancing around the point. I could just say yes, go to single leg work. But I think it's important probably just to consider though there are other options, not just single leg work as well.

[Steve Hall]

Yeah, I think best approach is the crux of the question. Right. Is single leg the best? I think it's. There's just multiple choices really. So long as you're taking that muscle close to failure and your reps aren't getting much above 30, like you're. You're kind of good in that regard. The only other additional thought I have to what everything you said there, Mike, is leaning forward. I personally find that makes me weaker and I guess it's because the hamstrings get a bit more lengthened. Maybe you lose a little bit of stability, but that could be a progression where you just lean forward and you can't use as much load. I don't know if you notice that or I guess you've been leaning forward for so long you maybe don't remember the difference.

[Magic Mike]

Well, note, it's actually really interesting you mentioned that because not maybe a few weeks ago I bought a seatbelt and so I've actually been using the seat belt for seated leg curls. But for some reason I. The seat belt is because of the machine setup. I can't have the seat belt on and lean forwards because like for whatever reason it can't happen. So when I'm just wearing the seat belt, I'm now just sitting back and the seatbelt just keeps me locked in. I can't lift as much as when I'm leaning forwards. Whether that's just because I got so adapted to leaning forwards, I'm a bit stronger, I don't know. But I'm actually weaker leaning backwards at the moment. So.

[Steve Hall]

Interesting. Yeah, I tend to. I haven't actually lent forward in ages, but I. From memory I would be weaker in that position. And to. In my head that makes sense because of where I'm at. But what might be happening is for you, the seatbelt is so much. The seat belt is locking you in so much and isolating the hamstrings even better. Where other muscle groups can't come in to help then maybe it's actually that's why your weaker is just like you're really like distilling that stimulus to the hamstring. Now who knows? Like, it's not. We don't need to know. You just need to know you're getting what you want from the movement, but interesting nonetheless.

[Magic Mike]

All right, so Nick asks for Mike and Steve both. What is your go to genre of music in the gym? Also, what's one ultra hype song that you'd put on before a super hard leg set? We've answered this before.

[Steve Hall]

I think we have, but actually I have a bit of an update on it. I guess just a different take. Nick is my client as well, so thank you, Nick for your question. So I think yeah, generally I'll. I think I said like anime and like it's often what I'm listening to at the time. And I do quite a lot of like funk or anything with like a strong beat and just like gets me riled up. I don't have like a go to song per se, but as I've said in some of these episodes where I'd felt like my anxiety, I felt anxiety was rising a little bit during workouts and so the music had actually been pushing me more in like an over aroused state. And I was just. It wasn't working with me. It was. I was feeling too stimulated almost. I've actually been taking L theanine with my caffeine in the morning now as well to help just kind of calm me down a little bit. But I've been. It's actually I can't do it for like my big heavy lifts. But for some of my isolation stuff, I've actually been listening to a podcast that just can happen in the background and kind of keep me chill where I'm kind of getting a bit too amped or listening to on Spotify is the weirdest things that it has like clips from movies. So I have like Batman talking to Robin about a certain thing or I have a clip from like various animes where the person is. It's just like a quote they would say or like it'll have a David Goggins talking through a moment. These sort of things. Oh, it has actually one I liked. It was Halo. For some reason I watched Halo and so it has like. And it like talks through. It has actually one from Lord of the Rings as well. But it's like quite motivational speech type of stuff. And I kind of liked that where it was like. It gets me kind of driven for the set but it doesn't rile me up where I'm feeling like a bit anxious. So yeah, it's just something that changed for me. I Imagine your answer hasn't changed. And I'll be back to just the raging stuff soon enough. I'm sure.

[Magic Mike]

We go. But it's funny because I think everyone goes through phases where, you know, maybe we're listening to a certain type one time, but then again, due to life and due to various things, we just kind of transition a bit to another. To another kind of like style. And I don't think either is wrong because ultimately all we're doing is managing our arousal levels to get the best out of our performance in the moment. So, yeah, I don't think ultimately it makes a difference as long as we're performing at our best in that moment. What you. You actually reminded me of. There's a particular anime song, but it starts off with that clip from Attack on Titan where I can't. I blanked on his name. Not Eren, but the blond hair.

[Steve Hall]

Oh, I know. Who. Yeah, I know exactly. You know the clip. Yeah, I wish. I. I've listened to it enough times. I should know. I should be able to quote it line by line, but I. I cannot. And I can't even remember his name off the top of my head for some reason right now. But I can picture him talking to all the. The Scouts and Levi. And this is when Levi is, like, swinging along like Spider man, killing off all the Titans on to, like, kill off the. Zeke.

[Magic Mike]

Commander Irvin Levin.

[Steve Hall]

Irvin? Yeah. Erwin. Erwin. I think it's Owen. Commander.

[Magic Mike]

Something like that. Oh, gosh. But then there's another one as well where Eren's friend. Not Mikasa, the other one. Yeah, he's like, on his. He's like. His body's on the floor and he's like, move, body, move. Why won't you move? Yeah, there's that one as well.

[Steve Hall]

Everything that you thought had meaning, every hope, dream, or moment of happiness, none of it matters. As you lie bleeding out on the battlefield, Their lives have meaning because we, the living, refuse to forget them. My soldiers rage. Yeah, so I had to get it. We might have to do a bit of quick fire here, Mike, because. Quite a lot of questions.

[Magic Mike]

I was enjoying that so much. All right, so, Nate.

[Steve Hall]

Oh, sorry, it's me. Lloyd says, what are the maximum amount of steps you'll program clients? Oh, we've answered this so many times.

[Magic Mike]

I know there isn't really a maximum, to be honest, but, like, probably. I mean, again, like, we've answered this so many times. Depends on the person. Depends on their lifestyle, style, their work, etc, ultimately, you know, if they haven't Got a really physically active job, then, you know, once we're kind of getting above like, say, hey, 10, 12K steps, you know, I think it's kind of really questioning how much more do we need there. So. But yeah, we've talked a lot about that.

[Steve Hall]

Yeah, I think there's vastly diminishing returns past about 12,000. So the most I think I've ever programmed to be like, hey, let's see if we can bring this up. And they're happy to. Is like 15. I don't really want them going over over 15,000. I prefer to reduce food if we need to do that, or introduce like other bouts of cardio that's more time efficient. But yeah, Lloyd, we've definitely answered this a few times, so you need to listen to every episode.

[Magic Mike]

Come on, Lloyd.

[Steve Hall]

I'll ask you the next one then. Because that was short.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah.

[Steve Hall]

So Fusillo asks, do you think training day versus non training day calorie cycling is worth it? Primary, more carbs on training day, less fat and higher fat, lower carb, non training day. We've answered this one as well.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah. Personally, I don't think it's worth cycling. I think especially if you're in a calorie surplus right now, there is no. In my experience, personally, I don't think there's a benefit. Maybe when you are in a contest prep or you've been in a fat loss phase for a very long time on very low calories, maybe. But I think it's very individual specific.

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

So.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah, and I would err on the side of. Yeah, again that carb carbohydrates might be the manipulating factor. But ultimately, again, I don't think it matters terribly.

[Steve Hall]

Yeah, the only thing I'd add to what you said there, Mike, was I don't really understand the rationale of going lower carb and higher fat on a day you're not training. Like, why are we doing that? Are we trying to boost insulin sensitivity? Because you're not gonna be able to really do that through that. It's not really gonna the magnitude to be so negligible. And so like you said, the only time I'd cycle carbs is really in a fat loss phase where there is quite distinct kind of rest days versus training days. But you have to remember what we're doing on the rest days. We're recovering. So for a lot of people, unless they're training three days a week maybe, and there's extreme differences in energy expenditure, I don't know that it's worth cycling. It so much. Or unless we're doing a refeed that's a little bit distinct though, than carb cycling per se. What did you want to say, Mike?

[Magic Mike]

I think someone's at the door. Can I quickly grab it?

[Steve Hall]

Oh, yeah, I'll just go on to the next question then go on to the next one.

[Magic Mike]

Sorry, 2 secs.

[Steve Hall]

Everyone's seeing Mike in his underwear. So we've got Zach asking, hey, guys, what do you advise competitors for peak week? What would your approach be for two debut shows that are two weeks apart? So tricky to give you a very easy and efficient answer here because peak week is very context dependent. It's dependent dependent not just on the person, the category, the timeline, all these things. The general approach is to reduce stress. So we don't want muscle damage, soreness that's going to cause unwanted inflammation in areas that isn't going to attribute positive effects to your look. In addition to that, we're going to want to fill out muscle glycogen and that is in accordance with your category to some extent. Like you're going to be fuller, you're going to be able to fill out more and you're going to get a better benefit from glycogen storage for someone that's in a leaner category versus a less lean category. And yeah, so we're just trying to reduce stress and fill up muscle glycogen and then reduce any chance of like bloating or distension that's going to impact your look on stage as well. So the general approach is carbohydrate manipulation and the training manipulation would be to like reduce stress and fatigue. And then for someone who's got debut shows, I would start using, hopefully you're using refeeds and I'd use that data to kind of inform the power the peak might be. So you'd look at the morning of the refeed, the next day, the following days, where do you look your best? And then that could even be how you approach your peak week. So, for example, if you look your best two days after, so you have a high den and you have two low days and you look your best after that second low day, then you might carve up two days out or that'll be three days out, sorry, vice versa. If it was you looked your best the day after the peak week, sorry, the refeed day, then you might do a backload and do the day before the show and follow your refeed. The main thing we're doing is not changing too many variables and that's why I'm very big on keeping a lot of things static and just manipulating carbohydrates. Probably expected me to talk about water and sodium and I generally think have those to your normal average. So you could start tracking those a couple of weeks before peak week, maintain them and if anything they should follow where glycogen, sorry, where carbohydrates go. So when you're having more carbs come in, water should go up or fluid should go up and so should sodium. And you'll probably get that just as a consequence of being a bit more thirsty. And also eating more carbs probably comes with it sodium as well. So because they're needed to store the carbohydrates, you don't want to restrict them. And that's something that a lot of people do and it hurts their look. Because if you try and like carb load but you restrict water, the carbohydrates can't be loaded. And so you're just going to be looking not great and a lot. I've done this before with having been coached. And then the next day I drank a load because I was really thirsty and then I just looked way better as all the carbohydrates were like, thank you. Because they fill out like a sponge. So. So, yeah, a really safe approach, I'll say this, Zach, is having a few days, one to two to load and then having a day in kind to decide, am I going to continue this loading if someone still looks a bit flat and they look like they could benefit from a bit more loading or are they a bit spilled and you can go for a low day and clean them up a little bit or you can kind of maintain this full look that you're really happy with. That can work really well for a first timer. So you, you give yourself that extra day to kind of like, hey, top up, maintain or clean up. And the night before the next day, for a bodybuilder, at least you should be looking a little soft or for whatever category you are, you want to be a little softer than what you want for show day because you're going to tighten up overnight and then you're going to be show day. You should be not doing too much different to a normal day of dieting because on show day, glycogen takes 48, take 24 to 48 hours to like properly store and assimilate. So you don't want to. That's why it's peak week and it's not show day. Right. You don't want to be doing too much on show day. The main things that are going to impact your look on show day is sodium and water. They are things that can have an acute response to your look. So as you can tell Zach, this probably could be a whole podcast episode. But that, that's my kind of answer. I don't know if you want to dive into it or we can just go to the next question for you, Mike.

[Magic Mike]

I think let's go to the next question because we've got a lot of questions.

[Steve Hall]

Yes, we do. So we have a question from Aaron Busby, your man, Our man. Aaron, you can design your dream gym. What equipment are you putting in there and what sort of vibe are you going for? Spit and sort of style or modern and sleek.

[Magic Mike]

So I probably would go with. In terms of just going to the general vibe, I would go actually probably something like a slightly undefeated gym type vibe. So not completely, not even been there yet, Mike. Like I know I haven't been there. Maybe I'll change my mind, who knows? Yeah, but maybe not, not like, you know, Ronnie Coleman spitting sawdust. Not that extreme. But maybe somewhere in the middle, like air conditioned gyms.

[Steve Hall]

A little in the middle.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah. So maybe like a dash gym type place. Air conditioned, not squeaky clean, but you know, it's got a bit of a, you know, being used vibe type type to it. So maybe somewhere there would be the vibe. I def. In fact it would be dash gym vibe because I want anime pictures, I want like bodybuilding pictures. I want like pictures that just inspire you. Just look up and you're like, yeah, I'm going like I want lots of that everywhere. And then equipment I would go with. I might not go in terms of branding. I don't know like specifics, but I know like Atlantis, you know, maybe like Cybex, but just stuff that feels smooth, like a good hack squat machine, good leg press. You know, I can't think of anything specific right now, but like, yeah, just stuff that feels good. That sounds rubbish, but yeah, that's my gonna be my answer.

[Steve Hall]

Yeah, I mean I, I would need to like take some time and I could list out probably the exact gym I would want and if I was designing one, this is what I would do. But off the top of my head, I'm, I'm challenged to be able to do that. In regards to vibe. I defin lean a little bit more towards modern and sleek versus spit and sawdust just because I think I've spent like modern and sleek. I wouldn't call like the gym that. But it's maybe more that than spit and sawdust. I'd say Yorkies a bit is a bit more spitting sawdust versus modern and sleek.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah.

[Steve Hall]

And I don't know in my head, modern and sleek moves towards well kept. And for me there's nothing more frustrating than equipment not being in working order. Like you said, smooth and that. You can go in week in, week out and it'd be ready, available and working how it was the weeks prior. Not like disjointed and feeling a bit off. So yeah, equipment companies like Cybex, Prime, Atlantis, they all seem to be really, really good with that sort of thing. Yeah, I don't have much more to say on it than that, to be honest.

[Magic Mike]

I'll just add a quick point because I'll always remember one of the gyms we went to in New York. I can't remember the name of it, but there wasn't anything special about the equipment. But they were just all smooth.

[Steve Hall]

City Gym, was it not something like that?

[Magic Mike]

It wasn't Mid City Gym. It was.

[Steve Hall]

Oh, not that one.

[Magic Mike]

Not. Do you remember we did the leg session where we did that crazy sissy squat giant set.

[Steve Hall]

Oh, you like that one? Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah.

[Magic Mike]

Well, it's the only thing that I remember about that is that there wasn't anything. There wasn't any like special pieces of equipment. But it all felt smooth and so it just meant the session was very pleasant. I wouldn't say that this is the best one, the Mid City Gym where you had like the lighting and the pictures, like that was great. Like the vibe was. That was the best.

[Steve Hall]

But location was ideal too. It's like central as hell.

[Magic Mike]

Completely central. But I remember the other one just because the equipment was very bog basic, but it was smooth. So it was. It felt nice.

[Steve Hall]

That was very modern and sleek. And I remember the lying leg curl in particular felt dreamy. That was awesome. There was also that gym in Boston. Right. But it was very compact. I forget what it's. You might remember what it's called. The Hub. Something like.

[Magic Mike]

Yes, that's the one. Yeah, the Hub.

[Steve Hall]

Yeah. So that had some great equipment, but it was so compact and it was very busy at the time, so it made it a bit harder. But yeah, that was a fun session that we had at that like more modern, sleek type of gym. Nice. I'll. Let's get to the next question then.

[Magic Mike]

So Aaron Henriksen Baxter asks what are good ways to reduce palatability during a diet?

[Steve Hall]

Do the opposite to what you would do to Increase palatability. It's probably the easiest way to go about it, to be honest.

[Magic Mike]

It's like, just don't add anything to the food. It's like, hey, if you're cooking oats, just keep it as oats. Pretty much, you know, if you're eating, you know, eat fish and vegetables, eat chicken and vegetables. That's it. Don't add anything to it. That's pretty much it.

[Steve Hall]

Super basic, right?

[Magic Mike]

There you go.

[Steve Hall]

The last bow. If one increases calories from carbs, eg, 50 grams, how can you tell how much of that additional weight is glycogen and how much is actual tissue?

[Magic Mike]

Oh, you probably could do some sort of calculation because for every gram of glycogen, there's so much water in the tissues. But I can't remember that offhand. And ultimately I would say the last bow. Don't worry too much about it. Like, it feels. The feeling that I'm getting from this question is you're kind of splitting hairs unnecessarily, and you don't need to worry about it. It will stabilize. Ultimately, you're increasing calories to go into a calorie surplus. And, you know, so you want to see your weight trend upwards. So ultimately it's kind of what you want. So I kind of. I want to kind of put that caveat in there to say, like, hey, don't stress too much about the minutia. But, Steve, I can hear you typing. You're probably getting the. The numbers up.

[Steve Hall]

No. Yeah, it's so nice. I can't remember where I was talking through this. It was on some sort of vlog or whatever, and I was like, I haven't spoken about the number of, like, water grams to glycogen grams for so long, but it's three to four. But regardless, I don't think you can math this out. It's just not worth it. So, yeah, I. I just wouldn't stress about it. Just look at what is the body weight doing? How's it trending over time? Is it doing what I want it to be doing? And there you go. Because, yeah, you can't even say that 50 grams is all going to be stored. Like, how much of is it going to be metabolized? I can't fully say. So how much is going to liver versus muscle? Does that impact anything? Does your output increase? Like, 50 grams is even such a small amount? Like, yeah, it's not worth us digging into and trying to math it all out. It just doesn't become practically helpful. So next

[Magic Mike]

so Alex, the funk asks single arm lat cable rows. My left side always has an extra rep in reserve compared to the right. Do I take that extra rep?

[Steve Hall]

Yeah, I take it. It's only one rep. I don't think it's a big enough deal to worry about it.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah, I, I would agree with that, Alex. You're not gonna suddenly become like a monster of asymmetry by one extra rep. So don't stress about it.

[Steve Hall]

No, I often though I will say just match. I think I just default to matching. I don't some. Unless it's really obvious that I have an extra rep, I'll just end up matching.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah, I think either way, don't stress about it again. Right. That's another kind of just the same, a similar theme. Right.

[Steve Hall]

When you're training that close to failure, like the difference is not that huge. I know. Yeah, it could add up over time, but that would become very obvious on your physique, I think. And I think I sometimes have. Yeah. Anyway, I'm not diving into it. We have more questions to get to. So Daniel asks. Hi guys. What is an ideal percentage? Ideal body weight? Sorry, percentage you recommend. Slash percentage you recommend to be at before starting prep. Prep to ensure you nail your conditioning. So starting prep, what body weight or percentage? I guess above stage weight.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah. So I believe it's 10 above stage weight is what we typically recommend, I think.

[Steve Hall]

What do you recommend, Mike?

[Magic Mike]

What do I recommend? I think it is around that mark, to be honest. That's typically what I would suggest to someone. Yeah, that's what I would suggest.

[Steve Hall]

Sorry, I didn't mean to be like. Yeah, you can have your own opinion on this. You're gonna say 20 be fast, it's completely fine. But yeah, that 10 having like 10 of your body weight to lose is great. I, I like 10 to 12. Some people struggle. But the ultimate decision I come to is like, what's your lower end? What's the leanest you can be at and maintain without any symptoms of like diet fatigue. That's where I kind of want to get someone to. So try and do like a pre prep diet if you need it to be. To get down to that. That. But being about 10% is great. If you can be lighter and leaner than that, awesome. But if you need to be a bit heavier also, fine. I just wouldn't want someone having to lose much more than 10% of their body weight to get down to stage ready because that starts to turn into like 25 plus pounds for a lot of individuals. Unfortunately, which is just starts to become a very long and arduous task.

[Magic Mike]

Agreed. I was just thinking, we've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 questions.

[Steve Hall]

Quick fire.

[Magic Mike]

Let's go. Quick fire. Okay.

[Steve Hall]

If you're okay for that, let's.

[Magic Mike]

Let's do it. I'm ready. So, WV Lassie asks, what are your thoughts on chains and bands for hypertrophy?

[Steve Hall]

I think bands generally have an opposite resistance profile to probably what you would want in that as they get longer and you. Your muscles get shorter, it gets more challenging. So it's kind of like, hey, where your muscles are weakest, you're getting the most tension. So they generally don't have a great application. I would say within kind of your hypertrophy training, there might be some people that have nuanced reasons to why they want to use it. For example, like on a hack squat, because their knees feel uncomfortable in that bottom position. So they just utilize a small band. But generally I wouldn't worry about using bands and then chains. Just how many gyms have trek chains? Like so few really. So I. It's not something I spend much time thinking about. And I guess you would maybe attach them or you could put them over your shoulders for dipping, which would just be fine. It's just the same as a way to dip. Or I guess really you're thinking about, hey, as I come down again, doesn't it do perform the same thing as you come down on a, like squat pattern or on a bench, the chains are hitting the floor and you're reducing the load in that bottom position and then you're kind of pressing up and it gets harder in the short. So applications for hypertrophy. I'm struggling with the rationale for either.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah, I think for hypertrophy it's really limited and ultimately I'd say if hypertrophy is the main goal, I really wouldn't. I don't think you need to use them at all. So it would be only if you had some sort of strength goal and some sort of specific problem related to that that you could consider it. But even then I wouldn't worry about it.

[Steve Hall]

Sorry, I'm laughing at the next question. So Barnaby B10 asked messaged you Mike about sharing your MyFitnessPal login so we can be nosy. But also learned from his meal structure. Drop the username Mike.

[Magic Mike]

I will. All right. All right, Barnaby. I'll message. I'll drop it. No problem.

[Steve Hall]

Do you know off the top of your head, you can share it to the whole audience?

[Magic Mike]

Yeah, okay.

[Steve Hall]

You don't have to.

[Magic Mike]

My account's already public. To be fair.

[Steve Hall]

Yeah, mine's public. I can't remember my name.

[Magic Mike]

Okay, so my username is M Chalice C H A double L I S 24. There you go.

[Steve Hall]

I have had some creepy messages with this in mind before where someone's asked me, like, I saw you ate this on this day, like, what was your rationale for X, Y and Z? And I was like, oh, this is weird. Yeah, I don't love this. So anyway, maybe set you up there. Shall I ask you the next one as well? So, Jake.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah, sorry, fit, underscore as hell. Asks a guy 23 years old in the gym, said he feels like he's gaining weight that he didn't used to and asked for my advice about getting older. What are your thoughts?

[Steve Hall]

My immediate thought is, from my understanding, it's a myth that your metabolism somehow ramps down as you age. And it's more a factor of the fact people become more sedentary. That tends to be more of the thing that goes on. So I think generally if he was to, I don't know, keep himself accountable to scale weight, calorie intake and a step count, that would probably really help him. I think that's where my head goes.

[Magic Mike]

I'm in total agreement. I'm not going to add anything nice.

[Steve Hall]

So. Matthias asks, doing Kelso shrugs before or after standard rows? Not doing partials after rows, by the way.

[Magic Mike]

Oh, thank you, Mattis. That doesn't. There doesn't seem to be a question there.

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[Steve Hall]

I. Oh yeah, I kind of took it as doing. Kelso shrugs before, after standard rows. Maybe that's the question.

[Magic Mike]

Not doing. I don't. What's the question?

[Steve Hall]

So should you do. Kelso shrugs before, after standard rows.

[Magic Mike]

Totally depends, I would say, because some people might. I can see how some people might like to do it before because maybe it gives them a better mind muscle connection with their mid back and so, you know, essentially you're kind of almost doing a little bit of a pre fatigue before going into rows. So you could do it that way equally you could do it afterwards. Like almost again, like just like a again essentially it's like a lengthened partial. So ultimately I would say it doesn't really matter. I think I would just do it one particular way, stick with it for, for a period of time and see how it feels. That's ultimately my line of thought.

[Steve Hall]

Yeah, yeah, you can absolutely do it both ways. My I don't do. Kelso shrugs. So but I, I see most people applying it after like you've already taxed everything and now you can do some partial shrugs. I guess doing it before. My only thought would be is that then the traps are going to be the limiting factor more than other muscles. So you just have to pay attention to that.

[Magic Mike]

But yeah, yeah, I personally do. Kelso shrugs After Rose, I for me, because my rows are quite a lengthened bias exercise anyway and my range movement drops off, I find I can only get like one or two, you know, may well maybe two if I'm lucky. But sometimes I can't even get one because I've literally let the range of movement drop off. So it's kind of like naturally happened anyway. So yeah, that's kind of what I personally do.

[Steve Hall]

Cool. Last question.

[Magic Mike]

All right, I've just lost it. Okay, so the last question is from our guy Lloyd Grossman, who asks further to that steps question, how do you help clients who push their steps high outside of their normal given they want to eat more and are not dieting?

[Steve Hall]

Great question. I have actually a client that has somewhat done this and the thing that we're doing is tapering things down gradually over time. I think the worst thing you can do as a coach is be like, hey, your clients at 20,000 steps. Or let's just say they're like 300 grams of protein. And you're like, really? I want them at 150, I want them at 15,000 steps, whatever. And you just suddenly go that, let's bring it right down. Let's like make this huge change because it's just going to make that client feel really uncomfortable. So I transition it down and you're basically just getting their trust. And not only are you earning their trust is like, hey, they trust you as a coach with the changes you're making, but they're trusting in the process too, where they're like, ah, it wasn't that big a deal to bring that down and just informing them why you're doing it and explaining what we're expecting and just taking time. So if things then stabilize, then take time. So that's generally where I would go. And then just understanding like what why they feel like they need to eat more. Like their satiety cues off for a reason. Are they trying to maintain a level of leanness that is leaner than necessary? Because, like, once your body is happy at homeostasis, like the need to eat more like, shouldn't be so present through just general hunger. Unless. Yeah, I can't think of like you should be satiated if you're at energy balance and a body fat that you're happy your body's happy at. So I'd also look at that as well and see if there needs to be like a realistic discussion in terms of the level of body fat they're trying to maintain.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah, great answer. And I probably have nothing else to add.

[Steve Hall]

Amazing. We did it. You can close it.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah.

[Steve Hall]

Since I opened.

[Magic Mike]

Yeah. So guys, thank you so much for tuning in. If you remember, we are both online coaches at Revive Stronger. So if you're interested in coaching, if the stuff that we've talked about today has piqued your interest and you think you might benefit from having a coach, then you can contact us and book an online consultation. Or you can just request a free video response where you where you complete an application form and we will go through that response, send you a video and tell you what coaching would look like so you can do that. So please get in contact with us if you're to inquire about coaching. Also, if you like this, please like the video, please share it with people. Get the word out there and Have I missed anything? Steve, how was that?

[Steve Hall]

I was trying to think. No, no, you did a great job. I was just thinking for the. We always do it too late. For the final people that are listening, give them one little nugget to leave a comment. Like, I don't know. Have you got a thought?

[Magic Mike]

No. I don't know why I pointed. I know I did it for no reason.

[Steve Hall]

What's your step count? I want to know.

[Magic Mike]

Yes. So let's talk about your step count. Leave your comment on step count below and that will be great. So leave us a comment there like share, subscribe and we will catch you in the next week.

[Steve Hall]

Cheers, guys.

[Magic Mike]

See you later.

[Steve Hall]

Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now, I was looking for fun ways

[Magic Mike]

to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is bad.

[Steve Hall]

So I thought it would be fun

[Magic Mike]

if we made $15 bills, but it

[Steve Hall]

turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial.

[Magic Mike]

Give it a [e-mail] switch upfront payment

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