Stereotypes about Bodybuilders are Oversimplified - Steve & Mike

Summary

The Improvement Season Podcast

Episode: Stereotypes About Bodybuilders are Oversimplified - Steve & Mike
Release Date: June 29, 2026
Hosts: Steve Hall & "Magic" Mike
Theme: Exploring common stereotypes about bodybuilders, personal insights on training, mental health, and nuanced Q&A on all things bodybuilding, training, and lifestyle.

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Steve and Mike kick off with a casual catch-up set amidst a UK heatwave. The hosts share authentic reflections on stress, motivation, anxiety, and well-being, highlighting how bodybuilders are often mischaracterized by stereotypes. The bulk of the episode covers insightful listener Q&A on hypertrophy, injury management, motivation, nutrition, and personal hacks for training success—all woven with candid stories and banter.

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Main Discussion Themes & Key Insights

1. Stereotypes About Bodybuilders: Truth vs. Oversimplification

• "Do typical bodybuilders get unfairly tagged as being meatheads, or do you think there's some truth to it?" ([43:42])

  • Steve: Acknowledges there's "some truth" to the stereotype but emphasizes that the bodybuilding community is full of highly analytical, educated individuals. "I'd like to think I'm not a stereotypical meathead… but I do approach my training, like you say, kind of dumb in the gym, just go hard" ([43:57]).
  • Surprisingly, the “meathead” approach of simple, hard work can be underrated, just as “paralysis by analysis” can stall progress.
  • There are PhDs and high-level pros (e.g., Eric Helms, John Jewett) who defy the dumb-athlete trope.

• Mike: There's merit to being “dumb in the gym” but logical outside it. “Rocky comes to mind. He works friggin’ hard, not the most intelligent of characters, but that's a positive in the gym.” ([45:51])

2. Mental Health, Stress, and the Realities of the Bodybuilding Lifestyle

• Coping with anxiety & stress ([05:35]–[13:34])

  • Steve describes recent heightened anxiety, especially around his dog's (Ada) health and upcoming travel. He's open about dealing with panic, the challenge of disconnecting from social media, and considering therapy.

  • “Sometimes these things just hit me in the gym … I was just getting into a real panic… but thankfully [Ada] has actually been fine, so I feel much calmer about that.” ([07:40])

  • Mike offers support and reflects on the value of talking to others, referencing past podcast episodes on loneliness ([09:18]).

  • Practical strategies discussed:

    • Meditation
    • No-phone days/digital detox
    • Self-reflection and questioning habits (Stoicism, metacognition)

  • Notable Quote:
    "I want to get better about it … I spend too much time online, and just not enough time disconnecting... it's changed my neurochemistry. I'd love to be this calm, chilled individual, but just doesn't seem to be how my head wants to be." – Steve ([10:03])

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Listener Q&A Highlights

Training, Fatigue, and Progress

• Managing Set-to-Set Drop-Offs ([36:50])

  • Over 20% drop-off in reps between sets indicates high fatigue/stimulus; might benefit from capping at 2-3 sets or using as a programming clue, especially with high-rep isolation lifts.
  • Example muscles: calves, hamstrings.

• Plateau Solutions ([46:31])

  • Progress stalls are not failures; sometimes more volume (e.g., Myo-reps), form tweaks, or simple rotation/fresh stimulus are all you need. Stubbornness in sticking with a stale exercise isn’t better than smart variation.

  • Steve: "There's this weird kind of thought process that there's plateau busters... Sometimes it's just novelty, change, or more volume that leads to faster adaptation." ([48:52])

• Dealing with Injuries ([24:22])

  • Navigating setbacks, especially with slow-healing tissues like tendons. Substitute or modify movements, be patient. Sometimes a change is needed, but complete avoidance isn’t necessary if you can train around mild symptoms.

  • Mike: “Tendons are probably one of the slowest adapting tissues… just about giving them as much time as possible…” ([26:07])

• Matching Motivation and Burnout ([59:50])

  • Steve admits to having days of low motivation. "I’m not continuously motivated... Right, let’s do the work." ([60:29])
  • Mike claims he’s never truly felt burnt out – training is an ingrained habit and source of fulfillment.
  • Advice: build systems, rely on habit, not motivation.
    • "It's like Arnie says, it's like brushing his teeth. He just trains and that's what he does." – Steve ([61:58])
  • Audience poll: Are more listeners like Mike ("robotic" motivation) or Steve (ups and downs)?

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Coaching & Technique Hacks

• Favorite Exercise Cues for Lats ([81:48])

  • “Elbows to hip,” “scapular depression,” focusing on pulling the upper arm down and in rather than behind the body, using straps to make hands “hooks.”

• Equipment & Setup Hacks ([56:08])

  • Don't just use the machine as is: modify seat positions, add yoga blocks, bumper plates for shorter lifters, use gym pins or versa grips.
  • Steve: "Don’t just stick to the settings… See if you can even manipulate your body to suit the machine." ([56:08])

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Injury and Imbalance Management

• Muscle Imbalances Post-Injury ([52:26])

  • Magnitude matters—small (1-2 rep) strength differences aren't a concern; if substantial, use targeted unilateral work (e.g., single-leg press/extensions) and a bit more volume for the weaker side.
  • Time, patient progression, and BFR (Blood Flow Restriction) can help.
  • "A strength imbalance doesn't necessarily indicate a muscle imbalance… sometimes it's just the mechanics." – Steve ([54:36])

• Acute Flare-ups on Adduction ([39:39])

  • Investigate triggers (volume, fatigue, exercise order), avoid pushing beyond moderate pain (3/10), and check for overextending range or going “too wide” on machines.

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Lifestyle, Nutrition, and Mindset

• Palatability & Sodium in Cutting ([70:28])

  • No need to cut sodium; focus on other strategies for hunger management as sodium aids performance and health.

• Satiety When Lean ([73:02])

  • If you’re chronically hungry at maintenance despite high-volume, high-fiber/protein, and hydration: you may be maintaining a physique below your “intervention point” (set-point), especially if body fat is low. Try less-frequent, larger meals. Accept that some hunger may persist if you’re very lean.
  • Mention of GLP-1 agonists (e.g., Ozempic) as a last-resort tool in extreme cases ([75:23]).

• Fruit and Veg Intake ([76:18])

  • Mike details a colorful diet with 10-15+ portions per day, loaded with variety; Steve eats more at dinner, less variety but still plentiful.
    • Steve: “As Aurora can see, we eat a lot!” ([80:14])

• Time as the Under-appreciated Secret to a Great Physique ([65:32])

  • "Time is underrated… just staying in the game long enough and continuously learning." – Mike
  • "Compounding effect. Daily habits over decades build a crazy physique... it looks like a small thing, but over 20 years it compounds…" – Steve ([67:40])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Anxiety & Social Media:
  “It feels like this uncontrollable response where I just get in my own head… I want to get better about it… I spend too much time online.” – Steve ([10:03])

• On Meatheads & Stereotypes:
  "I approach my training, like you say sometimes, like dumb in the gym... but I do think there is an element of stuff that's not fair towards that." – Steve ([43:57])

• On Progress:
  “That’s why you can’t live and die by the logbook. You set yourself up for the best performance… but sometimes you just have to dig more for the same outcome.” – Steve ([22:20])

• On Habit vs. Motivation:
  “I'm not continuously motivated… it's just habit. And that's all it is. It's like Arnie says, it's like brushing his teeth. He just trains and that's what he does.” – Steve ([61:58])

• On Time and Effort:
  "We haven't skipped any sessions… it looks like a small thing, but over two decades it compounds into something that's crazy." – Steve ([67:40])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Description | Timestamp | |----------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|----------------| | Opening Banter & Weather | Headaches, sleeping habits, coping with heat | 00:30–04:09 | | Anxiety, Routine, Digital Detox | Steve’s struggles with anxiety, social media, therapy | 05:35–13:34 | | Training Updates, Recovery, Injuries | Gym adaptations, knee & hamstring issues, pushing through | 14:33–33:15 | | Listener Q&A – Programming/Progress | Rep drop-offs, plateaus, muscle imbalances, hacks, burnout | 36:39–65:30 | | Motivation & Burnout | Steve vs. Mike on gym motivation, routines | 59:50–64:13 | | Physique Building – The Real Secret | Time, consistency, daily habits | 65:32–67:43 | | Nutrition & Satiety | Sodium, hunger cues, fruit & veg intake | 70:28–80:14 | | Social Skills & Independence | Advice on moving out for university | 80:14–81:48 | | Final Exercise Technique and Hacks | Lat cues, machine hacks | 81:48–84:14 | | Closing Q&A & Outro | Rapid-fire listener questions, final remarks | 84:35–88:34 |

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Overall Tone & Vibe

The episode is open, humorous, empathetic, and practical—mixing geek-level bodybuilding talk with real human struggles and encouragement. Listeners will appreciate the candid self-reflection, the actionable coaching, and the myth-busting around what makes a "real" bodybuilder.

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Summary Takeaways

• Bodybuilding stereotypes are reductive: the sport includes scholars, thinkers, and “meatheads”—often in the same body.
• Managing anxiety, burnout, injury, and motivation are integral—not just training volume and macros.
• Dietary tactics, exercise hacks, and injury management are all about context, experimentation, and self-awareness.
• The most underrated muscle-building ingredient? Decades of consistency, with small daily habits adding up over time.
• Whether you’re always motivated or only rely on discipline and routine, showing up is what counts.

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For more practical advice, self-deprecating humor, and honest insight, subscribe to the show and join the weekly community Q&A.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Hey guys, thank you so much for tuning back in to your favorite natty BB boys, Steve and Magic Mike on the Improvement Season podcast. And Steve, how's it going?

[C]

It's funny, I think I said this last time. Every time we do these why do I never feel great? I'm always feel a little bit tired. I don't know what it is, Mike. I woke up with a headache. Actually, no. Did I wake up with a headache I had? I have, I've had a headache and I still have a headache now. So I've just take. I'm. I don't know about you, Mike, but I'm pretty bad at taking like paracetamol or like ibuprofen. I'm like, oh, just like hard luck. Until I'm like, this is a migraine. I feel terrible. So anyway, it's been long enough where I was just like I could really do with this headache going, so I've just taken some paracetamol, so hopefully it passes. Apart from that, I think if that headache was to go, I'd be feeling pretty good because as you'll know and many of the listeners will know, we've had this crazy El Nino global warming heat wave, record levels of heat. And I thought yesterday was meant to be the peak, but today for me just feels hotter. I don't know what it is. So as many of the listeners know, you know, of course, Mike, I have an air conditioning portable unit and I was like, that's it, it's too hot. I need that air con unit in the office during the day because I've just sat here like sweating, not feeling good. Unfortunately, the whole process of getting it in here and putting out the window and setting it all up led to quite a lot of additional sweat and heat. But now you can't hear it in the background apparently, which is great. But this is why when we came online, you're like, oh, I'm surprised you have a top on because it's actually quite cool in this room. It feels like Kind of normal temperature, I would say, because when I open that door to outside of my office, I'm like, holy shit, it is hot. Awful. So anyway, long winded answer to say I'm cool, but I have a headache.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

How are you?

[B]

I'm. I'm all right. It's. Do you know, it was so funny. I'll check in today because immediately it was like, mike, I'm sorry, I apologize. I'm topless and this is. And it's so funny. It's like, Steve, we've been, we've been together like for eight years. I. I can literally, I can gauge the temperature by what you wear. And if it's topless, like, I know it's gone beyond a certain temper. So that was, that was quite funny.

[C]

And I don't know, I don't know where my headaches come from. I'm imagining it might be something. I mean, the heat is suddenly gone from like 20 to like close to 40 degrees. So it's been a huge change. And we've had what are termed, like, tropical nights where it hasn't dipped below 20 degrees through the whole night. That isn't quite appropriate for me because we do have the air conditioning unit, which has been a complete lifesaver, I must be honest. You laughed because in the. Check it. Oh, we were talking somewhere. But we had that one night where there was thunder, lightning. It was just like crazy. Ada was barking. I had the white noise machine on, the air conditioning on. It was just like so much noise. I was just like, oh, geez. But I found I don't need the white noise machine on if the air conditioning is on because it acts as white noise, basically.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So and if I put it on like two hours before going to bed and then just leave it on like low. I found actually I sleep quite well. And annoyingly, despite the headache today. I had the best night's sleep last night. Like, actually really well. Now I don't know if that's a bit of an artifact of having sleep debt from the previous days of not sleeping so well, but I did sleep well. So how are you dealing with the heat, though?

[B]

Do you know what? I'm. I've been reflecting on this because I think I'm quite adapted to the heat because I feel pretty good. Like I'm sweating, I'm clammy just like everybody else. But it genuinely doesn't seem to have bothered me as much as it has

[C]

other people say Mike sleep like a rock. Heat doesn't bother him. Like, this body is Just built for brutality.

[B]

I mean, yeah, it's just. It's weird. And. Yeah, so I've been totally fine, like I said, apart from just sweating more. I don't know if you, if you've experienced this, Steve, but one thing I have been trying to consciously do more of is drink a little bit more because I'm definitely sweating throughout the day. But my, my kind of, what do you call it, my thirst hasn't sort of upticked with that, if that makes sense. And I've gone to the toilet where normally, like, I'd have a clearer urination and it's not being clear at all. And I'd be like, oh, okay, that's different. So I'm just having to like, get plenty and plenty of water. And today, I'm not kidding you, Steve, you could have wrung my clothes out and the water would have come out. I. It was almost. I was getting embarrassed towards the end because, like.

[C]

You mean the sweat, right?

[B]

Yeah. Like it, it looked like I just jumped into a swimming pool. It was that, like I was that wet, like in the whatever kind of sense.

[C]

Yeah. People don't understand when we have heat in the uk, people will then be like, oh. But they'll be like, oh, in Florida, it gets way hotter than that or wherever it is, you know, across the world. But our infrastructure is not built for this heat. And it's also, we have that the humidity is really high as well. So it's like a one, two punch. So you're not able to like sweat and actually get like the benefits of the sweat. Like you sweat for it to evaporate, but it's not quite happening because of the, the humidity. So, yeah, definitely. I'm actually hydration wise. I thought it might have been a hydration thing for my headache, but I've been hydrated. Like today I took two bottles, bottles of water to the gym versus one. My peas have all been clear. I haven't had like dark colored peas at all. So I don't know, it's just the stress of the heat on my body. I know I can be a bit more sensitive to these sort of things anyway. And again, it could just be the accumulative stress of various things. I guess I could talk about this a little bit. I think it was on Monday maybe. I was just. I had. I was close to feeling like I could have a panic attack in the gym. And I just, I do get like this. I can be a little bit highly strung, a little bit anxious, and I was just for some Reason Sometimes these things just hit me in the gym and I was getting really anxious surrounding Bali and the trip. But Ada, because I don't know if last time we'd said this, but she'd been sick. So she'd been sick twice in the night and it just was very reminiscent of when all her symptoms initially came on with her cancer diagnosis and she wasn't eating her food one day as you. As usual. And easily you could try and chalk it up to like, oh, it's a change of temperature, a bit of a change of routine. Maybe she ate something she shouldn't have. Like dogs are semi regularly sick anyway because they pick up shit off the floor on walks. But it just, I was like what I was like just, I guess catastrophizing about what if suddenly, I don't know, she turns for the worst just before I'm about to go or whilst I'm away. What if, like she passes away and I'm not here to be present for that because the cancer's come back and I was just getting into a real like panic over everything. But thankfully I don't know where she is. Oh, she's right down here by my side. If I have her in here with. Because she doesn't. The dogs don't do well. The heat, they can overheat really easily. It's actually really dangerous. But to have her in here with me, she's been fine, so she has actually been fine. So I feel much calmer about that. And then I'm gonna book in for a test, re examination, ultrasound. I think it is actually for her before we go away, hopefully I give the peace and not worry because if it's got worse or if it's particularly bad, that's a bit of a challenge. But it kind of is what it is. But yeah, I was just like getting really amped up thinking about it in the gym and I think that along with the heat and maybe last week, like passing out and just the accumulated stress of all these various things just got to me and maybe that's where the headaches come from. But anyway, that's. Maybe some people can relate to that. Being a bit highly strung and anxious. Because you're definitely not that tight, Mike, and I'm jealous of it.

[B]

Well, yeah, no, but I, I can get. I can see how. Because you're. I don't know, I've just also been observing that you've also been a lot busier as well. Like you've had consultations and podcasts and stuff. There's Been a few days each week on your stories where you said, you know, you've had, you know, a few consultations and stuff. And, you know, I think it, you know, and again, that work hasn't been

[C]

that busy, you know, has it not? No, not really. So I can't blame that.

[B]

Well, I take it all back then. Yeah, no, but I think it's easy to let thoughts just, you know, run. Run away, like you said. And when you've got the combination of different things, it's, you know, it's tricky. But all I would say is that again, you've obviously got Charlotte, but I'm here as well. And I know I'm saying that on air, but like you, I think. I don't know whether it's a guy thing, but sometimes it's like you. I don't know. We don't always ask for help sometimes. And again, we've spoken about loneliness on, you know, a couple of episodes ago, and I think, you know, sometimes we don't always, you know, just talk to someone and just like, vent all the let it all come out kind of thing. And I think sometimes maybe that's what we need.

[C]

Yeah, I mean, honestly, I. Unfortunately, there's nothing anyone can do. It's like just. It's like, you can tell me, hey, Steve, vaccines are completely safe, harmless. Like, there's no reason to have a stress about it and pass out. But I kind of like. It feels like this uncontrollable response where I just get in my own head. I need. I want to get better about it because I'm even thinking ahead of time. I'm like. And it feels like it's getting worse with age. I seem to get more concerned and worried about things. And I don't know if it's age or it's the fact that, I don't know, I spend too much time online and not enough time, like, disconnecting. And it's kind of, I don't know, somehow change my neurochemistry, neurobiology, something to just be a little bit more highly strung, less able to just, like, let things sit. Because that's how I. I'd like to be. I like the stoic philosophy. I like being calm. I like that kind of monkish type of like, oh, I'd love to be this calm, chilled individual, but just doesn't seem to be how my. My head wants to be. So anyway, I think.

[B]

But I would say that there is some relevance to that maybe, because, you know, I know that I'm quite naive to A lot of things, but I think sometimes that does actually help.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And you know, I, Yeah, I can't think of what I was going to say. Like, it's kind of like, you know, if people watch the news all the time, you know, a lot of the news is just negative and some of it, we don't need all of it to stay informed with what's going on. So I think there is a balance, you know, and I think, you know, just experimenting, you know, maybe you could experiment with like. Yeah, I don't know what, I don't know what to suggest, but I think there is something relevant to what you said there potentially. And if you feel you need to go on like social media or need to check something, it's like, huh, okay, why do I need to, you know, why do I need to do that? It's kind of like again, that questioning side of things. That, again, that's part of stoicism in a sense. It's that self reflection, the metacognition, having that awareness of, you know, oh, I'm experiencing this, why is that? You know, and then questioning it.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, it's. It's all very interesting. It's. I can think of two practical things I might try. One is potentially doing some sort of meditation because I do think that could be a skill that I then can use at times at which I feel anxious to kind of sit with it and let it pass. And then another would be like to do something like no phone Saturdays or something. I just don't go on my phone apart from to post like the podcast or something like that. Just to take some time away and see if that helps. Yeah, it's. I think a lot of it is self inflicted, unfortunately. And I can't precisely put my finger on what. And hopefully it passes. Maybe it is like a bunch of things. It probably is this lining up everything before Bali and making sure that I, I want everything to perfect and to be run seamlessly. And I think it's just unrealistic and it's also the unknown. But that's why anxiety is, right? It's like worrying about things in the future that you don't know what's going to happen and you are worrying about the worst. And it's like, well, it could be the best. Why don't you try and make it be that? It's like, oh, it's easier said than done at times, but it's a work, work in progress. I, I sometimes wonder if I should see a therapist, to be honest with you, because I think it's, it's similar to physiotherapy. Right. It's just there's probably some things that could be worked on.

[B]

Always. Absolutely always. And something that you, when you were talking, just then popped into my head is that some of it might just be a habit in terms of, you know, because you said it's self inflicted, but some of it might just be a habit that's just developed over time in terms of checking stuff. Because when I think of it reminded me of myself this past week as well. Because something that I've kind of always tried to be a. The thing that I've struggled with in some senses is getting to bed at a reasonable time to allow for a longer sleep duration. And it's always been a bit of a bugbear of mine and it's not been for any other reason other than I've just struggled. I've gotten in a rut with a certain habit and a certain way of doing things. And I think sometimes, you know, for different people it's, it's different. And just trying to gradually change those habits a little bit and seeing if it makes a difference can, you know, is worthwhile sometimes.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. No, completely.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Otherwise, how was training? How's that all been for you this week? Has it been all right? Is, is the gym. I'm again, our gyms aren't air conditioned like people I don't know. Unless maybe if you go to some of the commercial gyms might be. I'm not sure. I feel like the snap Fitness anytime fitness around me probably are.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But Yorkies isn't. They had, they did install a bunch of fans though, before this heat wave which are appreciated.

[B]

That's very smart. I am. Yeah. My gym's not air conditioned at all. It's a warehouse. But they have got some big fans. So if you walk in front of them, you get this like wave of, of reprieve. Yeah. So it's really nice. But if you're not in that line of sight, you know, it's. Yeah, there's no reprieve and you just sweat. So. Yeah. But I'm also.

[C]

Sorry, sorry. I was just on sweating. I don't know how you feel about it. I, I think I'm a little bit of a special case here. I, I, if I'm, if I'm in the gym, I'm okay sweating outside of the gym, I hate sweating. Like if I'm like a restaurant and me and Charlotte in there and I'm like sweating, I hate it. I Feel super uncomfortable. Like I want to wash immediately change my clothes. Like it's just like a bit of a height. I don't know. Like, it's like the same. If I get like a little bit of dirt somewhere, I'm like, I want to immediately wash this. Like I just. It's like a bit of a hygiene freak in some ways.

[B]

I. Yeah, it's totally context dependent for me. So gym, no issues at all. In fact, I actually enjoy it in a weird kind of way. And. But like in the clinic this week, I was properly sweating, you know, if I started to move because the. Unfortunately the clinic hasn't got air conditioning either and it's just really uncomfortable. And every time like it's. If you're sitting, I'll have a fan on me. So I'm completely fine.

[C]

But.

[B]

But if I'm. If as soon as I start to like walk to do something or if I start to treat someone immediately like I'm sweating, I can feel the sweat dripping down my back. Cause I. And I just accept it, to be honest with you. I'm just. I tried to put it out of my head and I'm just like, it's the same for everybody, so. But yeah, I can definitely see as well in the restaurant. If you're in a restaurant with someone and you've got some nice clothes on, it's like, no, this isn't ideal. This isn't good.

[C]

Yeah, I don't know why, I just hate the feeling of being sweaty. I don't know what it is, but we need to get used to it. I was thinking that with Bali, it's probably going to be just like a bit of a sweat fest constantly and probably going to need a lot of clothes to just like. I'm basically probably going to just live out like vests and shorts. So I did actually just order some more from Rascal, so hopefully they come in plenty of time.

[B]

I. Yeah, this is going to be good. What is it? Acclimatization. A good heat acclimatization for that? Potentially, actually. So although the Undefeated gym looks like it's air conditioned, I imagine it is. It looks like the type of gym that would be air conditioned. To be honest, I never see anybody sweating in that gym. So.

[C]

Yeah, I'd hope so. It looks, yeah, really like kind of. I don't. Bougie is the word I go for, but I don't know if that's the right word. It just looks like well kept and like clean and modern and not like spit and sawdust type of gym at all. But quite a lot of the bodybuilding gyms in that area seem to be that like obsidian I think is one as well that seems to be quite like clean and well kept and all of that. So anyway, yeah, it's going to come in no time. It's kind of scary still.

[B]

Yeah, I, it was, do you know, it was really, it was a bit weird at the beginning of the week because I had in my first session, it's a whole body push session for me and I have hack squats programmed and I'd slept really well. I felt really recovered, recovered and in the gym I was feeling good, performing well, but for some reason I just had to. When I was on doing a set of hack, my first set of hack squats, I don't know what made me, what, why this popped into my head, but I just visual, I just had you, Brandon and Jacob standing beside me going, come on Mike, like send it. And just like the standard that you guys set and I don't know what it was but that just like really triggered me and it just helped me dig like that little bit deeper. Not like in a bad sense but you know, helped me access that because when I got to that the last rep, I really had to like, like it was like full focus, like I'm not thinking of everything. I was like, it's, I'm either going up or I'm going down kind of thing. And yeah, I don't know what it was, but that's kind of what came to my head. And do you ever get it where. Even afterwards, after I'd finished the set, I actually got a little bit emotional about it. It was really kind of like a little bit weird almost, but. But yeah, but then that was just like, hey, this is just a taster for what's to come. You know, that's kind of what it's gonna be a little bit like, you know, you're gonna have Brandon, you gonna have. You're, you're around us and you're just gonna be pushing us and etc so it'll be great.

[C]

Was that the set you shared on your story where you made some noise? Yeah, yeah, I heard it. I heard like the, the, that's the like rep where you did it and then it just progressively got louder and louder. I was like, okay, yeah, I can see why you said this is a lot because that was a lot even for you, Mike. And yeah, it's interesting you say that. I have found myself probably getting less hyped and making that sort of like I. When I do what you did there, it's kind of a bit of a last resort for me. Like, I. It's like do or die. And so I try not to use that. It's kind of like, I don't know, this Knox that you've got on your car for the, like, final push, but you've only got it, so you better save it to use it in, like, sparingly so. Because I find when I do that sort of thing, I just. I'm pretty much done, like. I don't know if it's called CNS fatigue, but systemically I just feel completely kaput. If I end up going that aggressive and, like, I guess amping myself up to that level, I guess everyone has their little bell curve in terms of, like, the amount of. What's the word? Not. Not ampness. It's when you get revved for a set. Arousal. That's the one. Yeah. Everyone's arousal bell curve is a little bit different. Like, I remember thinking of Mike Tashirda, powerlifter from rts. Like, he. When you watch him powerlift and doing his, like, one rep maxes, he doesn't really get all that amped. Whereas you look at someone like Elaine Norton, he's all the way, like, over here, and you just have to know yourself of what works for you because, yeah, I don't know. I can't get away with doing what you did there very often. I suppose you don't do it too often, but I think maybe more than some.

[B]

The weird thing was it only came on at the back end of the set. Like, I. I made like I was not psyching myself up going into it. I literally just went into the hack machine and I just started. And I think it was only towards the end that that just naturally happened. But interestingly, I. It did. I did notice the effects afterwards because I was sitting in the car and I was just like. I just felt a bit more drained than I normally did, even to the point of. I was like. To be honest with you, I was a little bit lightheaded, actually. I was kind of like. So obviously, like, that had had some impact, but fortunately, again, I recover. You know, I recovered absolutely fine, but it was weird. It just. It wasn't something I intended to happen. It was like. It kind of just happened and I was like, ah, there you go.

[C]

The performance versus the week prior, was it much different?

[B]

It was matched, which was bloody annoying.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

I was so disappointed.

[C]

I was like, you had to take it there to match performance.

[B]

I was like so annoying.

[C]

Yeah, I mean clearly you're pushing yourself like close to your limits and. Yeah, you mean you just have those. That's why you can't live and die by the logbook. Right. Like you slept well, everything was on for a great performance and somehow you had to dig a bit more to just get the last week's performance. It just is what it is. There's no point overthinking it. More than that, you set yourself up for the best performance you could in the moment.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. And something that I mentioned to you in the check in which I have no idea why it happened, but after our conversation last week and you said about how on the pendulum you just somehow managed to just sink a little bit deeper for whatever reason on the lying leg press, I was just able to do the same and I was like, was it because I listened to Steve or was it like have I just what's happened kind of thing? But it just happened and, and it felt good and yeah, so it was kind of just a bit of a random thing and I was kind of even thinking about that, about the hack squat as well. You know, it's like, did I sink a little bit deeper? Did I was the somehow. What? The lying leg press? Sorry. No, sorry. There were different days.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah, so, yeah, so just like couple of interesting things really. But ultimately, you know, I'm feeling really well recovered right now. I'm feeling great, you know, So I think again, like you said, that's all that matters at the end of the day.

[C]

Nice. Yeah, I think it's good that they are on different days because if they were the same day, I would think maybe and it was post hacks, I'd be like, sometimes we can subconsciously kind of make things harder or easier on ourselves. So like you might have changed technique to be like, so somehow not have to try and match last week after you'd already been so trash from that. So as good as different days because sometimes I catch myself doing that as well. Kind of trying to make things easier because I've over shot something else. You wanted to say something? Sorry.

[B]

No, no, sorry. It just. You saw it come into my head. But obviously speaking of hack squats, because you tried hack squats last week. I don't think we spoke about that last week, did we?

[C]

Yeah, I was feeling all good about my TFL and the strain had gone and like I hadn't felt in ages and my knees were feeling better as I sunk and got range of motion. And then yeah, I did hack squats. After leg press and they felt great. I really enjoyed them. Like I was like yes, I can get back into the hack squat again. And then the next day my TFL was not happy and my knees also not happy. I thought my knees were also getting better but this week they have been more painful. My TFL though did recover and it's fine now and what I'm currently doing isn't irritating so I just can't do hack squats for the time being. As I mentioned to you, I think it's something to do with allowing for a. Not allowing sorry on the hack squat for the kind of hips to flex as much because you're forced with them forward whereas I think on other lifts you're not quite as in that forced position, something like that. But today with pendulums I did my top set and then I was just like that was getting to like a 5 out of 10 pain in my knees. So I just reduced the load by like 10% and just went, went through the rest of the session fine. But it's just yeah, navigating injuries like you've said before, it's kind of similar to I guess any other progress. It's non linear. Like you have better weeks, worse weeks. The knees are a little bit like they're just staying kind of just they're not really getting much better but they're not getting worse and I'm just like working around them. So I think I just need to be really patient with the knees. The great thing I think that happened for the TFL is I just made a change and it was just time it needed to then not make it worse. And then I think eventually I'll be able to do hacks again and they'll be pain free. But right now not unfortunately yeah, it's

[B]

tendons are probably one of the slowest adapting tissues we have in the body, you know. So it is just about giving them as much time as possible without having a load that they can comfortably sit at and then allowing them to adapt. So yeah, it's a bug and that's. I think that's also why I mentioned in I think one of your posts I commented like cautious optimism or something like that because

[C]

I was like no, it was like you being a scrooge to my. The Christmas that was my progress of recovery. But you're right, it was completely right. But I was like oh yeah, you're right, it's horrible.

[B]

But yeah, it's true. I see it in myself as well but. But yeah, I nothing too much else to Update on. Really, to be honest with you, it's. Do you know what? I think it's only two weeks now till we'll go to Bali.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. It's really close. And how many days? Five days till your birthday.

[B]

Right, Five days is it?

[C]

Or four? Yes, five days.

[B]

Yeah. So on Tuesday next week.

[C]

You haven't had anything arrive yet, have you?

[B]

That I've had a card arrive. I haven't opened it yet though.

[C]

Okay. I need to check because. Yeah, anyway, you'll have something arrived for me a bit. I purchased it quite a while ago so I'm like, where is it? I need to check. I thought you would. You won't. I think you'll be obvious not to open it but if you get something. Yeah, don't open it yet. But that's exciting. You're going to be joining me in the 36 closer to 40 club.

[B]

It's nuts, isn't it? We're going to be closer to 40 than we are 30. That's. Yeah, that's wild. I don't feel it at all. I feel 21, like early 20s I would say.

[C]

Yeah. Apart from my knees and my bald head. I feel young in myself. But yeah, the bounce back ability, maybe not quite as resilient as when I was then, but I also know I. The annoying thing is I push myself harder now than what I did back then for sure. Like found another gear. Yeah, I have no updates. Just England played on Tuesday. Do you know that the score there,

[B]

who did they play?

[C]

Ghana. Who should absolutely destroy. And actually I feel bad for Ghana because they should have got a penalty and they didn't get given it. It was nil.

[B]

Nil.

[C]

It was a very boring game.

[B]

See this is why you shouldn't watch football because it's just so boring.

[C]

Football. I personally do enjoy watching football when it's like good and the players of a high standard, like I actually really enjoy it. But England just aren't particularly fun to watch and unfortunately they just aren't. They're not one of those teams I think like Portugal, France, Brazil, they're probably quite exciting teams to watch. But. Yeah, but yeah, I used to be quite into my football. So.

[B]

Who, who's the England manager right now?

[C]

Some guy, I don't know his name. I don't think I could even. I think I could even pick him out of like five people, like of a lineup. Like I just don't pay attention to that sort of. I barely know half the fucking team to be honest with you. I'm just like oh, yeah, I remember Saka from four years ago.

[B]

Yeah, they are. It's bad as well when they're all. Because I think for us as well, most of the time football players are either older or then you get to the stage where at the same age as you, but now they're probably all much younger than us and you're like, oh, when did that happen?

[C]

Yeah, I don't know how old Harry Kane is.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[C]

You know Harry Kane, though.

[B]

I know Harry.

[C]

Yeah. He can't be too much younger than us. But yeah. Yeah. Anyway, no, no, no news. No additional exciting stuff on my end, I don't think.

[B]

And is your hamstring okay? Because you. I saw your.

[C]

Oh, yeah. So, yeah, I kind of had you at the back of my head this week because. Yeah, I went into my session today with a slight headache. I thought it would just pass when I warmed up, but it just hung around. I can still feel it now, even so hopefully the paracetamol will kick in soon. But I was just glad it didn't get worse. It didn't turn into like an exertion headache because it is very much where that exertion sort of headache place would be. Like, I feel it acutely there. So it's just one of those things. I managed to continue and have a productive session. It didn't get worse. But when I was going through my warm ups rdls, it's just a weird. Like I just came into the stretch and I just felt like something. I don't know if ping is quite the right word, but I just felt something go. Like it wasn't like an aggressive go. I didn't hear a noise. I didn't have any pain associated with it. I was just like. Feels like I kind of just pulled something a little bit, just tweaked something. So I just warmed up extra carefully. I went into lying leg curl machine. I probably did it in there. I was like, there's definitely no pain. I can push it hard. So I slowly acclimate it up. And I was just like, let's not try and be a hero at all today. But also, let's not catastrophize it. I was just thinking two things. I was thinking, Mike only recently strained his hamstring. And two, I do not want to go into camp into Bali any more injured than I am. So I. Thankfully I managed to match last week's performance, which is still pretty freaking decent, to be honest. So right now it feels completely fine. It's just. It's a weird sensation. That it was. It was just. I could. The word you often use is awareness. I was just aware something didn't feel quite normal. Like, it just felt like something. Like it was just like. Yeah. Letting me know it wasn't pain. It was just like this sensation, like tickling at the back of my hamstring. So who knows what it is? But.

[B]

Yeah, because it's also weird when you think about it, because you think the overall temperature is warm. You're warm, so it's not like, you know, you're cold and stiff going into it or anything like that. And there wasn't anything notable, apart from the headache that would make you think, oh, you know, you're in a super fatigued state. This is, you know, like, you know, this is on the cards kind of thing. It's. Yeah. And it was the same, exactly the same thing with me. There was nothing prior to when it happened that would make me think, like, oh, Mike, you got to be careful here. You know, don't do anything silly. It just happened. So again, sometimes I think we. Yeah, we can't know these things.

[C]

So hopefully, I mean, I've taken the paracetamol now, so maybe that is. But no, I don't think it actually was or is anything. It was just like a. I was just ultra aware and I was just like, it's just not worth. Worth risking it. But I also think at the moment I'm kind of a little bit at my capacity for RDLs or straight leg deadlifts, whatever. Stiff leg deadlifts, whatever you want to be calling them. But I'm quite happy with where they're at. I just need to be patient not to rush, like, progress. Because I think that sometimes can happen, especially on such a lift where, yeah, you can let the knees bend a little bit more, but the hips sink a bit more. You can get into a bit more of a flat back flexed position. You can maybe rush your eccentrics a bit more and kind of fake your way to progress. So I'm just like, hey, not like. If anything, I'm happy to leave it like a two rer and be like, I know that was like, solid technique and be like, now I can increase it next week. So, yeah, just being extra patient with that.

[B]

Can I just quickly ask. Also, it said, this is a totally different subject, but how's Rob doing? Because I saw in your stories, like, he was looking really good, actually, with his side chest pose. He had some striations in his glutes. I was like, oh, hello, what's this?

[C]

Rob is right where we want him, right in the pocket. But he is definitely in like the dig at the moment. So he has a refeed a week and he, he really benefits from that psychologically. Obviously we, we can't be sure of the physiological benefits but yet his hamstrings are starting to peek through. It's the kind of posterior where he's holding on to most of his body fat and his arms can get leaner like this, this clear body fat to come off. But he's definitely gonna have more muscle than last time for sure. Kilos heavier for sure. So yeah, Rob's, Rob's in a really good spot. I'm really, really pleased with that. And actually all my guys coming down got Asaph. Actually I'm going to test myself here with Christopher. I don't want to Anthony. I think that's of all my competitors actually at the moment coming down or at least the ones who are in proximity to competing. So yeah, they're all in a very good spot because for example Christopher who's often asked questions on here, he's literally just had a newborn son. So thankfully we were digging into that and we purposely redlining knowing we're going to take a week diet break. So he's just chilling for a week. But he also looks like he's going to be kilos heavier than his previous stage weight which is exciting as well.

[B]

Haha. That's yeah, so exciting. Like yeah, it's amazing.

[C]

But other than that, yeah, no, nothing. Nothing exciting. No news on my end. How about you?

[B]

Nothing else. I mean so actually that's a lie. So we've got Aaron's last show this Sunday. So when this comes out Aaron would have competed which is the PCA naturals. So I've never been to a PCA show in person before so I'll be able to let you know what that's like. So it'll be really exciting. And yeah, fortunately I think Aaron's looking better. I think he'll bring a better package than he did@the Wnbf. So I'm really excited for that. We've essentially just been drip feeding his calories back up and I think that's just worked really nicely. Like he's just hopefully progressively been feeling better and also it's just like a stress free lead in to the show as well. Don't have to do any major manipulations, et cetera. So yeah, it'll be great and also it'll be doubly nice because obviously I won't be helping out at All I can just be there for Aaron, just totally with him, which I'm really excited about as well. So, yeah, it'll be really great.

[C]

Make sure you get some good photos with him, get some backstage photos with him, all of that. Because yeah, that'll be cool. I know you're not the best at using your phone in those scenarios, so I'm gonna have to remind you to. Yeah, just because it's nice to have the photos. I reflect on the photos I have with you and Rob at the UKID FBA finals and I'm like, oh man, I'm so glad we actually took those because it could have been so easy just to forget to take them. But they're like very fond memories and you can have them to reflect on. But yeah, I'm excited for him and his final showing and yeah, what will be will be. And then it's into improvement season, which is exciting as well.

[B]

Definitely. You know, I think Aaron's got, you know, a lot of potential. So yeah, it'll be exciting.

[C]

Should we get into questions?

[B]

Let's do it. I'm ready.

[C]

Cool. So the first question I'll ask you, Mike. Actually you can ask me this one because the next one sounds like it's for you.

[B]

So Woodrave asks same reps in reserve, different muscle groups, very different set to set drop off information for programming decisions or does it not matter?

[C]

Right. So this is relatively typical. Even the same muscle can have different drop offs depending on the exercise you're doing for a variety of different reasons. I do think there is some information for programming decisions because the thing that I think large drop offs in performance indicate is that you've generated a lot of stimulus and also fatigue. If you're able to get close to repeating performance, clearly you're able to perform very closely to where it was previously. And so the muscle has some endurance characteristics and so likely you can benefit from more volume there. So I tend to say anything above like a 20% rep to rep drop off set to set is like you maybe want to start capping it there especially past the first to second set. Because I often do see a big drop off the first to second set, especially on high rep lifts. For some muscles where you could hit like 20 and then it drops like 15. Don't kind of be too concerned about that. It's the sets after that now I would start focusing on. So it doesn't necessarily like matter per se, but I do think it can inform programming decisions.

[B]

No. Well said. Yeah, I don't really have anything else to add there, to be honest with

[C]

you, I was just thinking of examples that I have this happen on but it is typically those high rep sets like calves for example or hamstrings. Yeah, I was gonna say lying hamstring curls do it big time.

[B]

What else have I had? I think those are the main ones. Calves, hamstrings, recent again, high rep set. So sometimes I'll do like a high rep set of lateral raises and that might drop off quite a bit or even arm work. Again it tends to be slightly smaller muscle groups, higher upsets I think.

[C]

Also interesting enough for us, we probably don't see that much of a drop off because we're very volume tolerant. Like both of us do a lot of work in the gym. So it kind of makes sense that we don't see that much of a large drop off very often. So it's very, it's actually quite rare for me to see a 20% drop off like on a set to set basis. And I don't typically fall off a cliff either. It normally is like I could probably keep going but it's just not worth it. So. But not everyone's like that. I'll ask you the next question. Mike Frat underscore Torta asks any tips for acute flare ups of groin pain during slash after seated adduction.

[B]

So I think my first thought goes to pattern recognition. So from the way that this question is worded makes me think that oh okay, you've had this flare up more than once and if that's the case, try to work backwards and figure out what were the situations when this has happened. Now sometimes with pain and sometimes with injury, there isn't always necessarily a clear cut pattern. However, again with the way that this question is worded, seated deduction. Okay, so clearly it's happened repeatedly on seated deduction. So I would just again get you for to just think like right, try to just unpack when and what were the, what was the context and what was the situation when these flare ups happened? And if you can unpack that a little bit, your answer is probably going to be there. The answer to managing this is probably going to be in there somewhere. And I think just sometimes where my head goes to in terms of, you know, what could trigger a flare up. Has there been a change in volume or sets? Is the order of the exercise making a difference both in the week or in the session itself? Is there anything you're doing outside of the gym that's related that could be contributing to fatigue? Those are the sorts of Kind of things I'd be thinking of in my head that to try to unpack that a little bit more. So as an example, if frat you were playing football or you were playing a different sport and you had a really intense game, maybe the night before, maybe even you just went for a run and maybe the next day you then did, you know, you went to town on the seated adduction or whatever. You know, stuff like that. It's stuff like that that I'm kind of trying to think of that might just kind of unpack the acute flare ups you mentioned during and after. So sometimes with pain as well, we can feel fine during the set, but actually it's. We only get the pain afterwards. The location also makes a big, big difference here. So, you know when you're thinking of groin pain, is that right up in the groin where the tendons inserting onto the pelvis, or is it more in the muscle belly? If it's tendon, that might indicate. Okay, maybe there's a bit of repetitive overuse here. So it's less of an acute kind of like bang type thing. It's more of like, oh, okay, there's. There's a volume thing here. Maybe position also makes a difference. So again, I'm kind of throwing stuff out there, but this is probably giving people an understanding for. There's so many different reasons that could be contributing to these flare ups. And I come back to what I said at the very start, where if you can just try to think back and try to think of the patterns in the context and unpack that a little bit, that will give you an answer to say at least. Right. This is how I can start to manage it. And then, you know, you can kind of build from there.

[C]

Yeah, I love that you answered that in a. Trying to kind of solve the root cause versus just putting a plaster on it. I think that's. That probably is what needs to happen. The only two additional points I would say thinking about this is, as you always say, don't push more than a 3 out of 10 pain or discomfort. So if you feel it coming on during a set and it feels like it is getting to that, don't push through that. And then also just with that machine, we spoke about this in terms of your mobility, but sometimes I find you could be tempted to go too wide and that could be causing. You're just going to maybe a stretch that the body isn't ready for. But yeah, I think you answered that brilliantly, Mike.

[B]

The often I think you just brought up A great point there in terms of, again, it comes back to maybe forcing progression a little bit. Maybe we're forcing the lengthened position or forcing that range of movement a little bit more. And it's like, hey, just go with what your body is currently capable of. And then, you know, if it adapts and you can get more length, great, go with it, but don't force it.

[C]

Nice.

[B]

Cool.

[C]

Right?

[B]

Okay, so it's my turn. So our guy Jake Fit underscore as underscore. Hell asks, do typical bodybuilders get unfairly tagged as being meatheads, or do you think there's some. Some truth to it?

[C]

I. There's definitely truth to it. It's funny because I think I bring this up in a recent vlog. I don't know if it's live or not, but I talked about. I think I did. I think it's the. The one that's like, it's not the program. It's something that you're doing. I think I talk about, like, pencil necks versus, like, meatheads. It's like, yeah, meatheads are termed that because they're just like, numbskulls, but they work hard, whereas pencil necks, sometimes they get paralysis by analysis. They overthink things. And these are clearly stereotypes. Is clearly bodybuilders. Like, probably everyone listening yourself, Me. We think about these things a lot. We're kind of nerds for hypertrophy. So I wouldn't like to think I'm a stereotypical meathead, but I certainly don't feel offended to be called kind of a bit of a meathead. Like, yeah, I kind of approach my training, like you say sometimes, like, dumb in the gym. Like, you just go hard. And I think that's where that meathead mentality comes from. But I do think there is that. I think was in, like, Malcolm in the Middle or something like that, where they had these, like, bodybuilders and they dropped something down a drain and they were like, oh, how can we get this? They're, like, so confused and stressed out, and those, like, cute, adorable, dumb meathead bodybuilders. It was quite funny. But, yeah. So I think there is some truth to it, but I do think there is an element of stuff that's not fair towards that. Like, I think about someone who's at the top, is someone like John Jewett, very educated in this space, knows a heck of a lot. Or there's. There's probably. I can't think of anyone off the top of my head, but there's probably PhDs like no one gets a PhD and can be called like dumb. But there's probably PhDs who have like an IFBB pro card or PhD. So there's certainly PhDs like an Eric Helms who has a natural pro card. So yeah, I think there's some truth to it, but it also is an unfair stereotype to like blanketly just put to everyone. I don't know what your thoughts are, Mike.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. My head just goes to finding that, finding that line in the middle. There's positives to both, but then there's also drawbacks to both, like you said. I think I do tell clients sometimes, particularly the ones who tend to overthink. It's like, hey, just train dumb. You know, for me, in my head, Rocky comes to mind. I don't know why, but Rocky just works friggin hard. But he's, he's not the most intelligent of characters, of guys and. But that, I think that's a positive. But then when we're outside of the gym. Right, okay, now we can maybe be a little bit more logical or kind of think about things a little bit. So yeah, I totally agree with the way that you worded out.

[C]

Cool. So we have facilo 11 asks stuck on particular weight and movement for months. Would you consider an intensity technique, MYO reps, downsets or swap exercises?

[B]

So I again we've answered similar questions like this a lot I think in the past. So I think ultimately it doesn't come down to like maybe the number, but I would say more the SFR and the stimulus to fatigue ratio. So if you feel that the stimulus has really dropped off and be a bit meh, then yeah, sure, why not add in some myoreps or a downset equally Again and this is come to my mind a lot more recently is maybe just don't be as stubborn. You know, if you've had that movement in for months like you said you have, then don't be so stubborn to swap it out for something else. If it's feeling really meh, but if it's feeling great, still stick with it. Don't worry about changing it.

[C]

Yeah, I think there's, there's this weird. Everything you say there I agree with. There's this weird kind of thought process that there's like plateau busters. There's things, special things that you can do to kind of get round numbers. Being stuck for four months or that being stuck on certain numbers and repeating performance is somehow a negative. It's just like either, like you said, if it Feels great. Just be patient. Or if you want to increase the speed of adaptation, is there anything you can do there? Can you improve your recovery, your sleep? Can you maybe put yourself at maintenance or surplus? Or if you can recover from more doing more volume tends to lead to faster adaptations and more growth. So you could put in additional volume via what if that was my reps or a downset. But yeah, that's something I've come to more often is not being stubborn. Like if some movements I've had in for a long time, they just feel great and I really enjoy them. Like my leg press, I've had in there for like over a year, it's just been bread and butter. There's no reason to change it. But I have at times made small modifications where I maybe have changed the rep range slightly or I've changed the start my foot stance slightly. You just don't want to change things too often where you can't learn it and progress it. But then once you've learned, progressed it for an extended time, if it's just stalled, feel free to rotate at that point. Especially like you said, if the SFR's dropped off. So I don't know if I added anything to what you said.

[B]

No, you did.

[C]

I just wanted to clarify the being like again, there's not something special plateau busters. It's just normally it's just novelty change or more volume that leads to faster adaptation.

[B]

Yeah. And I don't know why it made me think but in your recent blog as well, it's like muscle confusion and you've got to confuse the muscle and it's like no, you've just gotta overload it and just, you know, progression over time and it's like that's exactly it. And it brought me back actually to when I first start, when we first started lifting because it was like, I don't know if you heard of P90X or something like that. Yeah, it's like it was all like oh yeah, we, we, you know, we apply the muscle confusion method and da da da da. And it's just like oh, it just took me back to then as well as. That's crazy.

[C]

Brilliant. Yeah, I remember P90X but I never really looked into it much. I think I was already thankfully at a point where I was like this just looks like not good. Hypertrophy trading.

[B]

Yeah, I was considering it getting it for my mum once.

[C]

Oh yeah.

[B]

Because I think they had like a, you know, a more kind of middle aged woman on there once and I was like, oh I could get this for my mom. It would be great, you know, introduce her to weights and stuff. But I didn't in the end and I'm kind of glad I didn't.

[C]

Yeah, I. It depends. But getting that sort of gift for someone, for some from someone like us, often doesn't come off right. It's like I'd be like, yeah, I'd, you know, if I bought Charlotte like something, she'd just be like, extra against it.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Like, yeah, you want me to do this? But I don't, I don't want.

[B]

Yeah, funny. But no, it's great. So. Right. Tudor Bendilla asks, performance on some isolation movements goes up and down from week to week. Do you ever experience this?

[C]

Another one of those that we kind of touched on actually just before. So, yeah, sometimes for sure. And there's just so many things that go into like, again, how is your sleep, how's your eating, how is day to day stress? Like, loads of things that can impact performance like this in like. And not to get too attached to your logbook numbers. And it's looking at the overall trend over time. So sometimes I know for me, sometimes if I don't check my logbook numbers, I might go into a set and just be like, yeah, I'm just going to take this to 0rar. And then I'll be like, oh, shit. I undershot by like two or three reps. It's like, probably because I was more controlled and I wasn't like gunning for those reps. It's like, that's okay. I just care about the stimulus I'm getting. So, yeah, I wouldn't be too caught up in slight fluctuations like that.

[B]

Yeah, I'm, I'm very much similar in that regard, both in terms of I'll experience like weight rep fluctuations every now and again and again sometimes if I don't look at the logbook and yeah, it will kind of affect things slightly and then. But there again, similar to yourself. I imagine there'll be certain lifts where I do pay attention to the logbook, like maybe hack squats or leg press or my good mornings. Like, I want to make sure that. Right, okay. I need that accountability for these lifts.

[C]

Yeah, I genuine, generally really do. Look, it's just sometimes I'm just, I don't know, I just decide I'm gonna try it and see what happens. And then I'm like, oh, okay. That's what, that's what happened. Cool. So, Barnaby Stanton asks, any tips for addressing left to right muscle imbalances? One of my quads is weaker than the other following a meniscus tear.

[B]

Ah, okay. So I think something that we've talked about a lot in the past is about the magnitude of the difference in asymmetry. Because if we're talking like maybe a rep difference, don't get too caught up in that, I would say. But if there's like a notable difference or there's a notable instability, then of course, sure, you can, you can kind of obviously address that. And I think for me, probably just as with my physio hat on, I probably would just say allocating maybe, you know, just a little bit more volume, maybe one to two sets for that particular muscle group. So for your quads, and it might be just something as simple as, you know, if you can incorporate a unilateral movement, maybe single leg, leg extension or if there is a, like a single leg. It's hard with things like I think Bulgarian split squats, because I think those sorts of movements can sometimes be highly fatiguing. But if you've got something like I've got a lying leg press and actually you can just go in there and you can just send it to failure and there isn't any additional sort of fatigue from having to stabilize the weight and get set up and stuff. So my kind of go to would just be picking maybe an isolation lift or something that isn't too actually fatiguing and then maybe just allocating a tiny little bit more volume. If there is truly a significant difference in strength between the two, which obviously following a miniscule tear, you may well have one. Sorry, one final point I would just say is my impression from the question is that, Barnaby, that you are quite a long way out of the meniscus tear in terms of, you know, this isn't the early stages of having had the meniscus tear. So if it was the early stages, I sometimes say to people, obviously trying bfr, blood flow restriction training, occlusion cuffs, you know, sometimes that can be a nice way in the early stages of just stimulating that muscle, but using lower loads. So that, again, could be something to consider, particularly also if maybe there is a very visible difference in muscle size between sides as well.

[C]

Yeah, I don't think there's anything I would add there. I think it's just a case of if that muscle imbalance means, yeah, one side is less muscled than the other and then you use volume to be your kind of. You keep one at minimum effective. You put one more like maximum adaptive type of deal to use those that terminology, one will slowly catch up to the other until hopefully they're matched. And then the only thought that comes to mind is like, a strength imbalance doesn't necessarily indicate a muscle imbalance. Like, if you've got an injury or something there, then the mechanics of how it works and the functions could be different. That means the muscle could be just as big. It's just you might be a little bit weaker or what have you. And I wouldn't say that's a problem. So that's the only differential I'd really note.

[B]

Yeah, no, totally agree with that. And because obviously that strength component is almost like an expression in a sense, it's kind of performance rather than a physiological output. And that actually might improve with time. So if. If the muscles are the same size, but maybe the strength is a bit different, just give it time. It might be just that over time, as that muscle is able to express more force and just, you know, get better, the strength might just even out over time as well. So.

[C]

Yeah, nicely said.

[B]

Cool. All right. So my guy, Aaron. Hey, Aaron. So Aaron asks, you mentioned the seatbelt as a small hack for improving an exercise. Are there any other small hacks you use?

[C]

Hmm. I would say a general hack is not lifting to the textbook, not lifting to the machine, but making the machine fit you or fitting yourself to the machine, rather. And exercises, again, pertaining to your own biomechanics, anthropometrics, paying attention to that. So, like, lifting for your own body, basically. Yeah, I'll see people, like, go on to certain exercises and they just lift to how the machine's set up and it's like, oh, if you stood off it or if you kind of turned your body here, so on and so forth, it would just fit you so much better. Or even modifications, like sometimes if you're a shorter lifter, you need to, like, have a block underneath your bar, more like under your feet, put some blocks on there. So, yeah, I would say that's a bit of a hack. And a lesson is like, hey, don't just stick to the settings on the machine. Set the machine and then see if you can even manipulate your body to, like, suit, suit even and line up even better. And then the only other small one, always have my yoga blocks in my bag. Just because, again, you can put one behind your back or on your chest or, like, it can just add range of motion or change like the. Like, you can add thickness to seats and padding, which can change where you're set on a certain machine. So something I've been doing recently is on that like hammer strength vertical row I think it's called where it's plate loaded on the chest pad. I put a yoga block on there so I'm set even further back and it just puts me in a better position for the upper back row. So I'm not as like set as close to it. So I've just things like that are quite nice. Or if you're doing. If you've got a machine fly and you want to do like a incline version often you want to have your kind of chest set forward but if you lean forward you're a bit unstable. So you can have the blocks behind your back. That's another way I've been using those. And then I guess something like a gym pin could be helpful if you're like stacking machines or I use my angle grips 90 I like hook plates on that for some of the machines where I max them out. I can't think of versa grips but then already like a hack my versa. I don't know why I have this. The velcro on my left versa grip is all always goes. So my last set of rdls today, thankfully it only started coming off peeling off as I was re racking but it just made my re rack a bit dangerous. I got pissed off. I like threw it to the ground. I was like for sake. But the. The thing's fine. It's just the velcro on the left one always goes. It happened again. I just saying that in case anyone else experiences similar but any other hacks that come to mind for you, Mike?

[B]

No, I really liked all the ones that you mentioned actually I a couple of did crop to mind. I all I would add is that I definitely sometimes do that for. For a dumbbell chest press. I actually put a little bumper plate underneath my feet because again because I am a little bit short, I find if my feet are on the floor then my lower back arches quite a lot and that would change the angle of my rib cage. Whereas I find that if my feet are just slightly elevated off the floor I can keep a better sort of rib cage angle that helps me feel my chest better. So again, just for short folks out there, those sorts of things can sometimes help. Yeah.

[C]

Awesome. Coached underscore by underscore. Raul, my man, you've been training. Okay. I think it's actually saying it to me but it could be you actually six times a week for years on end. Have you ever reached a point of mental burnout and don't want to train and how did you cope?

[B]

Oh, it's going to be a short question. No, I've never reached that point. So, um, I've. I've never had a point where I've been like, oh, I don't feel like training. I. I struggle to remember any time that I ever felt like that really. Like. Like there was maybe once where I was like, ah, I don't really feel as to train, but once where you

[C]

were like, I don't really feel like I could skip the gym today. Really.

[B]

No, not even. I wouldn't even skip the gym, to be honest. I just wouldn't be like fired up to go.

[C]

So I definitely have experienced it. Even now I have days where I'm like. Like resting doesn't sound terrible to me. Like I'm not continuously motivated by any means or stretch of imagination. I feel, especially sometimes recently when stress has been quite high, where I'm like, this is tough. Yeah, man. Mike, you seem to have this psychology and physiology that's just like robotic, where it shocks me. I don't think it's normal. I think I'm more normal where I think more, more people. Like, I'm not motivated to train every day. Like, I'm not waking up out of bed, I'm like, yay, I get to train today. I'm like, right, let's do the work. And I often think I have to have it like that for sure. Yeah, I would say I'm more the rule than you. Yeah, I often have that. And I had burnout from six times a week training a long time ago, though. And that was. I think it was 2017. I had that in my prep and I think it was. It wasn't necessarily just the training six times a week, it was just the prep and that on top of one another, along with having a partner, which I think was the reason why, where I just felt like I wanted to give the weekends to Charlotte and have the time with her. So I did five times a week for quite a while, but then I went back to six and then I've been on six and then I did twice daily for an extended period of time. Semi burnt out from that. It just started to become a bit of a bugbear to have to go to the gym twice. And I was like, I could really don't like having to go through all the faff of all of that and psychologically get myself in a position to be able to train again. Yeah. Now it's like I don't rely on motivation to train at all now. It's sometimes unmotivated, but it's just habit. And that's all it is. It's like Arnie says, it's like brushing his teeth. He just trains and that's what he does. So I don't have doubts in my mind, am I going to train today? But there are times where I'm like, oh, like today, I'm not feeling it as much as other days certainly have that. But in terms of how do I cope, it's just. It's in my calendar. I have time set for it. I'm going and doing it. And sometimes it's just that first step. That's all you need. Like, put your gym clothes on, take a step out the door. Start warming up like you're done. So, Mike, you're pulling a funny face.

[B]

Oh, sorry. It was more just, like, agreement. And I was just.

[C]

I thought you were like, mike, hi.

[B]

Sorry, I wasn't. I wasn't consciously aware.

[C]

Yeah. I mean, it surprises me to hear that you are every single day absolutely hyped for the gym, and you don't have days where you're like, oh, man. Like, after your accident or with your shoulder, anything like that. Not that I'm trying to dig these out of you and make sure that I'm trying to make you like me, but I'm just surprised that when you had the. Especially with your injury, where there weren't days where you're, like, frustrated and just like, man, I just don't even want to go in there.

[B]

Oh, no. During the injury, definitely I wanted to be in the gym. Like, because for me, it was just. Yeah, I just. I appreciated it so much more, if any. Yeah. So it was almost the opposite. When I had my injury, I almost wanted to be in the gym. Yeah. I. Maybe it's more because listening to you now, I wonder whether it's just. It is, because it's so habitual. Like, there. There are days when I'm not like, get me in that gym. But I do look forward to it every. You know, every time that it's my training day, I'm like, yeah, you know, this is my time. And I always. And I always appreciate it. And I. I'd never. I don't think I can ever say that I felt like I'm done with the gym kind of thing.

[C]

What about when you're sick?

[B]

When I'm sick? Yeah. Maybe this is a memory thing, because I can't remember when that happened, because

[C]

when I'm sick, I'm like. Like, I want to go train But I'm also like, I don't really want to go train, but I have to go train because I'm like, I don't know, it's like a built in thing where I'm like, this is the time I got to turn up and show up. Because this is when people don't. But it's not like internally. It's like there are days I don't want to, I don't know, eat a certain, A certain number of macros or something. I'm just like, I could just do. I could have a cheese pizza and I could have burger and fries. Like, there are times where I, like, have that, but I'm like, nah, it's not part of who I am and it's not what I'm gonna do. So I don't know. Yeah, anyway, trying to break you down and you're. You're impossible.

[B]

You.

[C]

You love the gym each and every day, so. And it makes sense with your shoulder injury, actually.

[B]

Shall I ask the next question?

[C]

Yes, it's your turn.

[B]

So my client, Megan. Hey, Megan. So she asks, what do you believe is the most underrated or overlooked aspect to building a great physique? Gosh, that's a good question.

[C]

Yeah, go for it.

[B]

I think time. I think time is underrated. Maybe, maybe I could be wrong, but I think, you know, like, again, you could take Ewan as an example. Like, I don't. I think some people will look at you and they won't appreciate that it's like 20 years in the making. And I think sometimes time is overlooked or underrated. Just staying in the game for long enough and also just continuously learning and being open minded. So that would be one thought that came into my head.

[C]

I heard this question wrong. I thought it was like a. A muscle that's underappreciated as part of building a great physique. But it's an aspect. So, yeah, time. I would say, yeah, most people underappreciate time, but I would say time in combination with high levels of consistent effort because I think people get that maybe it takes a long time, but they don't quite understand, like, no, no, no, no. You don't understand. Me and Mike, literally, for the last five years, like, haven't had a day where we've missed, like, macros, missed a meal, where we haven't been trying to be on top of our sleep, where we haven't, like, we haven't skipped any sessions. I don't think they quite understand, like, it's every single day. It's that compounding effect. So they see, they're like, yeah, yeah, you eat your meals. Yeah, you go train. It's like, yeah, it looks like a small thing, but over two decades it compounds into something that's like crazy. It's kind of, I guess because I'm thinking about this is part of my presentation in Bali is the compounding physique. Basically how daily habits can build you into like a crazy physique. And it's like beaches. Like there's some massive beaches, but it just started as a one grain of sand and it's like it just accumulates over time or time and time and suddenly it's this huge beach. It's like, yeah, that one action was tiny. But repeated actions over a long period of time developed into something that's magnificent. So yeah, I can't really think of a better one than time actually then sleep. But I don't know if that's underappreciated. Staying healthy, injury free.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Enjoying the process maybe.

[B]

Yeah. I think sometimes being open minded as well because I think not being too dogmatic, being willing to change your views and saying like ah, what I did five years ago, actually I do things differently now. Listening to other people's opinion and being willing to change your, change your approach. I think that can sometimes go a long way.

[C]

Yeah. Supplements underappreciated, Mike. Absolutely.

[B]

Always.

[C]

I'll ask the next question from jordancooper Underscore pt. What specific visual cues do you use for estimating body fat in order to estimate stage weight and map out a prep timeline?

[B]

Okay, interesting one. I guess just visually you're looking for separation say from like obviously clear visible abs that kind of goes a little bit without saying particularly maybe like details around the obliques. Potentially again that might be a bit variable again the lines between the delt and the arm, but notably as well, separation between the quad and hamstring from the side, separation between the glute, hamstring. Those are kind of like obviously separation through the quads as well. Those are kind of like key visual landmarks that you're kind of looking at to say like, right, okay, this person is getting lean, leaner or is, you know, potentially stage ready.

[C]

Yeah, I kind of have it very similar to you. It's like if someone's high teens to 20% as a male, females can add 5 to 7% on top of that. Everything is like just soft. Like there's shape but there's no separation. Then you're getting towards 15%. Once there's like some abs, there's a little bit separation, especially in the upper body. You can see like a bit of tricep separation, a little bit of that Delt tie in. That's around those kind of teens. And then getting below that, closer to 10%, is when you start seeing the quads. For most people, they're like, the legs are the last thing to come through. So once you can start to see some separation between those, then you know you're getting like, seriously close to that, like low teen, 10% body fat. So there. But there's. This is why it's an estimation anyways.

[B]

And it's toasted. O, yeah, absolutely.

[C]

That's all you need.

[B]

Yeah. I was, I was just thinking as well, Sartoris is always a nice muscle that when you see. Come through.

[C]

Yeah. People don't hit it sometimes if they don't push their hips back and push out, it can be like. But then they do it. It's like, oh, yeah, there it is. Yeah, the hamstrings. Hamstrings come very late, but like, quad separation is the one I'm often thinking about. It's like, normally that's lower teens or body fat. They start to come through.

[B]

Yeah. Nice. Okay. So Aaron Henriksen Baxter asks, should you reduce sodium in a cutting phase to reduce palatability of the diet?

[C]

I personally wouldn't recommend that. I think there's easier ways to reduce palatability or to aid hunger management because sodium is essential and especially because you're probably reducing the amount of processed foods you're eating. You're probably getting less sodium anyway. So I wouldn't remove sodium because it's going to be important for hydration performance in the gym. So, no, I wouldn't phase it out.

[B]

Yeah, me too. Nothing to add there.

[C]

Blood pressure also dips when you're dieting and as you get leaner. So, like, keeping in some sodium can help you feel a little bit better in that regard. And in the gym. So, no, I'd say yeah, like you said, nothing to add. I can ask you the next question from Remy. He asks can hit the gym only once should you do cardio 45 minutes pre or post lifting. This is while on a cut.

[B]

I would say no, I would say leave the cardio. Firstly, I'd try to get it in via steps because I'm thinking if you can only go to the gym once, save that for training and save kind of like cardio for maybe outside the gym. Can you get that via steps? Can you be a bit more active, maybe cycling to somewhere? Yeah, I personally would say maybe just leave the cardio because it's such a big chunk of time.

[C]

I think maybe they're suggesting, not that they're time limited, they've got 45 minutes of cardio to do. Should they do it pre or post workout? Because they can only go to the gym once. But I think your answer still holds fairly well. But continue.

[B]

Yeah, so I'd probably go post again. Just so it depends what kind of session that you've got going on on the gym. But I would still always go post. Post lifting.

[C]

Yeah, I, I agree. Post or even splitting up a little bit, like a little bit pre to get warmed up. Assuming it's like low intensity, steady state, it's not going to take away from the workout and just acts as a warm up. You might be able to tick off 10 minutes or something 15 and then you've only got a little bit afterwards as well. But yeah, post because it's just burning calories, it's not a priority. Your training is a priority. So. But ultimately, yeah, like you said, getting it done through steps or something away from training would be quite nice.

[B]

Cool. Okay, so the last bow asks if eating at least maintenance and satiety is still chronically low even with protein, fiber and hydration being good, is there any solution? So yeah,

[C]

is there a solution? When we look at what drives satiety, part of that is obviously what you're eating, which is the thing you're managing and I imagine you're eating a really wholesome diet that should promote satiety then the other is your number of body fat cells because that impacts your leptin. And if your leptin is high, low, sorry, then you're going to be hungrier for some reason. I haven't spoken about this for a while, so it's like it's taking me a while, taking a while to come to me. So basically if you're below what we often talk about is your lower end intervention point of body fat, that means your leptin is going to be low and therefore your hunger is going to be quite high. Whereas if you are fatter, your body fat cells were producing therefore, or you had more body fat cells producing more leptin, you're going to be better satiated. So it might be, if there's any other solution, maybe you're maintaining a physique that's too lean. That would be a thought that comes to mind. I can't really think of another thing you could do. I guess actually in terms of high protein fiber Hydration. Sorry, I won't have the way to word this. Lower meal frequencies tend to provide better satiety than higher meal frequencies. Like if you're always eating a meal and then you're leaving it a bit hungry and then you eat again a few hours later, you're a little bit hungry. You might find actually if I eat a full size meal, I kind of stretch my stomach to that point where I get that nice satiety feeling. And then you might find that hunger and satiety is a little bit better there. I don't know if any other thoughts come to mind. There might be other things I've missed.

[B]

Not really because I think those are really practical points and I think that gives something for the last bowel to kind of like think about. And ultimately it sounds. Might sound really flippant, but again, it maybe it might be time. How long have you given yourself to, you know, allow hunger levels to kind of improve? You know, because if it's only been maybe like a few weeks or so, maybe it's only been a couple of months, hey, it might take longer depending on how lean you got and blah blah, blah. So yeah, maybe just a level of, hey, give it a bit more time, keep a bit of acceptance maybe. Yeah, those would be the only thoughts

[C]

and because someone's gonna say it if I don't say it, GLP1 Agonist. Someone's gonna say it. Right, so like a zempic retitutried. Yeah, I mean these are truly research based peptides that have been found to help with exactly this sort of thing. Not to say that's the route to go down. I would absolutely see that as a last resort. But that could be something because there are people like Dr. Crystal who came on the podcast where she had plenty of body fat and she was eating really well, but still had hunger, food, noise going on this drug or drug, peptide, whatever, helped a lot with that and got her healthier and living life better. So yeah, I'm not against these in certain scenarios where they make sense, but a lot of people in our space try and maintain. Too lean of a physique, I find.

[B]

Yeah, no nicely added there for sure.

[C]

Is it me or you? Now I can't even remember. My brain's one smush. Aurora Matteson asks, you guys eat so much fruit and veg, how many grams per day do you think you eat in total?

[B]

Oh, I've. That's so hard to know. In the hundreds, obviously.

[C]

Yeah, I might even be in the thousands.

[B]

Oh really?

[C]

Yeah, maybe just

[B]

yeah, I'm just trying to toss it all up.

[C]

Walk me through your fruit and veg intake, Mike.

[B]

Okay, so I will have a banana with my. I'll have one to two bananas to per. Per day. Nor I'll have at least one in my protein oats. I will have. I don't know if you'd count this, but I also have some Greek gogurt with fruity mousse there and obviously got raisins and sultanas and stuff like that. So if you, if you got close

[C]

to 30 grams of those. Thirty grams is the like of a dried fruit is a portion definitely, because

[B]

I have a hundred grams. So there'll be a 30 grams of like over 30 grams of raisins in that. So I'll have that. I'll have the banana in my Croats. I'll have that with a kiwi and like an orange. I'll have an apple for my third meal and then I'll have like 200 grams of like berries in the evening with some pineapple and like I said. Yeah. And then you might throw in another banana in there and the banana is like, you know, a hundred grams maybe. So If I have two, that's 200 grams. So high. Hundreds. Oh tons. So like beetroot, you're already at eight

[C]

portions of different fruit and veg.

[B]

So I'll have vegetables, wise. Sometimes I'll roast some aubergine, courgettes, onions, mushrooms. I'll have rocket or arugula. I'll have some radishes, spinach, lettuce, beetroot, green beans or broccoli or some mixed veg. What else? Bell peppers and lots of. And probably a couple of other things that I've forgotten. So I normally have about like 10 or 12 portions of different veg or like eight.

[C]

Oh, wow. In. In combination. Yeah, it depends how much of each of those you're having, but you're getting close to 15 to 20 gram. 20 portions of fruit and veg a day. I thought I was doing good and you are doing more than I am.

[B]

You. You don't want to look at my food bill. It's horror. It's horrific.

[C]

No, I'm not so concerned about that. I just. I think the reason you're crushing mine a little bit is because I save all my veg for one meal and I don't do veg in the day. So it all comes in that evening. And it does depend on the quantities. So like a portion of fruit or veg for most is 80 grams. So if you're not quite doing 80 grams, which you might not for some things you might be just under. It won't count as a whole portion. So lots of variety, which is awesome. And you don't need to go as high as what making all of those portions. Even if they're half portions, you're still getting like over 10, which is amazing. So. So, yeah, interesting. I. So I would have thought you were getting to a thousand.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Wait, am I, am I adding up? My, my brain has gone to smush again. So maybe I'm adding up things wrong. No, no, I would have thought you'd be in a thousand. Right. If you're getting like 15 and all of them were near a hundred, like combined fruit.

[B]

Are you combining vegetables and fruit?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I thought you were just talking about just fruit.

[C]

No, yeah, I don't get, I don't get to a thousand fruit. I won't run for all mine because I'll end up boring everyone. And we're at 20. We've only got 10 minutes left for these last questions. But as Aurora can see, we eat a lot.

[B]

Right. So Astronomy Game asks. I don't know if I should move away from university or stay home with my parents and commute Home is more controllable for sleep etc, but less social

[C]

without knowing anything more, move out. One of the best things for me with university was having experience away from home, having that independence. But also it forced me to learn a lot of skills that, oh, I have to buy my own food, I have to navigate more social situations and navigate, I don't know, living with someone potentially. So I think one of the biggest benefits for me personally when I think about university, I think less. I saw less benefits necessarily on, oh, I got this degree, it did teach me how to work and how to do all of that. But I think the social. I almost wish I could go back to university and experience the social thing again because I think I've lost quite a bit of it. And also my accident took away the third year from me in terms of being social. But I think the social skills that you develop are really, really good. So if you can afford to do it, that's the only reason I'd really stay at home personally is if you, you couldn't afford to live out from home.

[B]

Yeah, I totally agree. And echo everything that you said there. Just building self sufficiency even though it might not seem convenient, maybe it might seem a hassle or whatever or money. Don't think about that. Think of the life skills that you're going to be developing and like you said Steve, your future self is going to thank you for it and also probably miss it at some point. So yeah, definitely go for it.

[C]

Yeah, for sure. Right. Chris Plummer asks, what are your favorite exercises? Sorry, Exercise cues for pulling movements to help target the lats.

[B]

Ah, nice. So Chris is a client of mine, so. Hey Chris. So I guess breaking it down a little bit into maybe vertical pulling or lat bias movements versus maybe horizontal or mid back movements. I think for a vertical pull or for something like that's more lap biased, just thinking more of, of like direct depression. So scapular depression and thinking like elbow, elbow to hip, that's always kind of a nice one. And then for like more of a mid back type exercise or a row, I just kind of almost think shrug. And a really nice cue actually that one of my clients recommended was bring your shoulders into you. So think about almost sucking your shoulders into their sockets and sometimes that might work as well.

[C]

Nice. I'm going to approach this a little bit differently because the way I often my brain goes to like anatomy and function of the muscle. So I think of okay, what are the lats doing is bringing your upper arm in. So ducting and it's extending so it's bringing it down and in basically. So I often just think about and the sucking cues I like kind of thinking about. Then like okay, down and in. So I'm sucking the elbow down into my hip hip and that's basically any movement wherever it's like out here or in front of you or like wherever it's angled. If you're listening audibly, I'm visually moving my arm all over the place. If you suck that like your humorous basically into your side. That's all going to be lat, like pulling it down and in, down and in. Because that's shoulder extension, shoulder reduction. So anything there. So that sometimes I think helps. But yeah, I really just think, yeah, that's mainly the cue that I use is down, elbow down into like back pocket or into to hip. But if you do cue back pocket, just recognize you're not trying to pull your elbow round you into your back pocket because you'll start pulling behind your torso and the lats don't act on pulling you behind the torso. You just pull into line with the torso. But yeah, those would be my main ones probably. And then hand thinking about hand as hook. So I almost try and separate my bicep from that by thinking hand as hook. Which versa grips or straps really help a Lot with that.

[B]

That nice. Okay, cool. Last question is clementurpen92 I asks, can you put on muscle while staying relatively lean, I. E. 10 to 13% or is it more optimal to push body weight high after 10 years of lifting? Thanks.

[C]

Cool. So you definitely can put on muscle whilst being lean, so long as you feel good. There's. There might be people that don't feel great at 10 to 13%. Again, females be closer. High teens are body fat percentages. So that's the thing you'll just have to recognize. It's very easy to perceive if your body is functioning well, like you're sleeping well. Your energy day today as well, your hunger management is good, you have good energy in the gym, you're progressing, you're at a body fat wherever you are that is allowing you to perform well in the gym, which is the match the lights for fire for muscle gain. So yes, you can still put on muscle there. It might be. If you don't put yourself in a surplus, you might be slightly handicapped versus being at higher levels of body fat because basically that body fat is like your surplus. But if you're already quite lean, you've got less of that available, then a body is going to be less likely to use that to build muscle. Whereas if you're quite over fat that then being at maintenance, it might be like, hey, well, your surplus is just this fat you've got on you. So we'll use this to kind of recomp here. That'd be the only thing I think here that could be suboptimal.

[B]

Nothing else to add really, to be honest with you. I think you did a great job.

[C]

Nice. We finished all the questions and didn't have to do a quick fire round or anything like that, which is great. And actually I meant to. I need to remember to do this earlier within the podcast really, because I realise I end it with all of these. Oh, we're online coaches. Sign up for coaching. Oh, subscribe. Oh, by the way, if you want to ask questions, head to my broadcast channel. So I need to do this before we start asking questions. Actually that should be. And then I can do a nice outro that doesn't have to just feel like a sales pitch every time. Because I've done the sales pitch earlier but now you guys have heard it. And I also want to get people to comment if they ever. If they're more like Mike or more like me in regards to. Ah, no, because I think I'm more. No, how do I put this? Because I'm not The other extreme, it's not like I'm never motivated to train. I definitely have motivation to train. But let's put it this way. Do you some. Are you. Do you ever not feel motivated to go train? I would like to know just generally what people's thoughts are surrounding that, because I want to see if I am. My experience with clients is that they're more like me in terms of they have dips in motivation. And Mike is extremely not the norm in terms of like always driven to train and not having days where he kind of maybe fancy skipping it. But that's like you with. There's no exercises you don't enjoy apparently in the gym as well. So, yes, I don't know where I'm going with this. Thank you guys for listening. Thank you, Mike, for being here.

[B]

Thank you.

[C]

I didn't sweat at all. Did you sweat during this podcast?

[B]

Yeah, I'm sweating. I am sweating.

[C]

I'm thankful I didn't sweat, but I still have a slight headache. Hopefully that will pass soon enough and if I get another good night's sleep tonight, that'd be good. But wish me luck dragging this aircon machine upstairs. The worst thing with the aircon machines, by the way, you probably can't see it, but it has a pipe you have to like shove out the window. And that pipe is just like it's menu. It doesn't attach nicely to the machine, so quite easily hot air can leak out from it. So it's just like pumping cool air out, but then there's hot air also coming in. Anyway, it's a bit annoying, but I'm grateful to have it because apparently they've sold out everywhere. If you were in the market for one in the uk, that is. Yeah.

[B]

What, like global? Like as in there's no air conditioning units?

[C]

I. This is just me spending too much time on social media and seeing lots of things about this heat wave come up and people are saying that they've sold out. But Lidl, I think, or yeah, Lidl, announced they launched an air conditioning unit, but apparently they've now all sold out like immediately. So I don't know, they're. They're hot product. I mean, it makes sense, right? The demand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Didn't think about that. Anyway, I'm rambling. Thank you, guys. We'll catch you in the next one.

[B]

See you later.