Take care of yourself to better take care of others. Look, a fit, healthy, happy version of you is a better parent, better partner, better friend. You're just a better person.  This one, uh, we had to communicate a lot, right? To parents when they always didn't have time to, to work out. Yeah, you got to fill your cup up first. That's it. It reminds me of the, uh, you know, when you're on an airplane and they tell you not to put the, the mask on a hundred percent, right? Cause that the default is like, save my child right away. Then you pass out and everybody does. Right, right. And so I think that at, you know, first glance, you hear that advice and it seems a little ridiculous, right? Like what, don't think about my family or don't take care of them first. It's like, no, it's not, that's not it. You can't take care of them if you haven't taken care of yourself first. And so I think that applies here tremendously. It's the same thing. This is why when, when I eat ice cream, my kids, I always take the first bite just to make sure I call it the dad tech. Safe, safe ice cream. No, all joking aside, you know, all of us can think of this, right? We can all imagine a time when we felt not healthy, not rested, uh, or maybe we were sick and think about just how you view things, how you react to things, how you are with people. I mean, we tend to be short, annoyed, more forgetful, less sharp. Things that seem more negative. We're not as productive, right? When you feel good, uh, it bleeds out into other people. When you feel good, you're more patient, you're more calm, you, you remember things, you're more thoughtful. You actually have the capability to help other people. Um, without feeling good and healthier without your health, you're of not only are you of no help to anybody else, but you actually can become a burden. You can actually do the exact opposite of what you're trying to do because now they have to take care of you in extreme, uh, cases. I, you know, I remember years ago, years ago, I went through a really tough time because I had a close family member who was dealing with terminal illness and I still went to the gym regularly, but it wasn't because I don't want to miss a workout. I'm going to, my gains are going to be, I mean, I wasn't going to progress no matter what during this period of time, which lasted about a year and a half. Um, I knew I wasn't going to progress. I was too stressed. It was such a challenging time, but I went there because I remember, I was like, this is, this is so stressful, so challenging. We're not getting good sleep. I need to do something for myself so that I have some energy and capability to be able to be there for this person because they're going to need me. And that's what I did. I would go to the gym and it was, I mean, my workouts look nothing like they look like now. Like I go in there and do really lie, kind of go through the motion, just kind of be present for a bit. Cause otherwise my mind was so occupied with figuring out what we're going to do to either help this person or, you know, later on, how we're going to handle the, the inevitable. Um, so my workouts were sometimes that just walk, sometimes I'd show up and just walk, um, and really not doing anything strength training related, but it, it, it really was part of the key as to how I was able to maintain, you know, one of the most threatening in extreme cases, right? One of the more, the most stressful, stressful things that's ever been measured when you look at how stress affects the body is caring for a loved, a loved one.  Um, and in order to handle that kind of stuff, you have to be, you have to try to figure out how to be your best in the context of what's going on.  I mean, if you want to be a good, you know, parent or a good partner, you're going to do a better job. If you're, if you, if you're fit and healthy, or if you're more fit and healthy than if you didn't do those things. This is the fact. So, and this is, I just have to communicate this to parents, especially moms, moms had a challenge with this because they're like, well, if I go work out, and that means ultimate martyrs, right? Yeah. So, you know, it makes a huge difference. Have you got, can you think of a scenario where you've actually seen that with yourself? Like you notice like, like a clear, like I remember when that like that light bulb like really went off for me, I used to say it as a trainer all the time, but I never had that problem of being consistent until I got older and had a family of kids. And then now you see that. Have you seen that in your own life or where it's like, oh wow, I truly am a better version of myself when I do this. Like, can you remember when that, like that really light bulb went off? The biggest one was the one I shared. Um, because I, it was, it like saved me. It saved me from what happened to everybody else around this person.  So you, you just watch them deteriorate. It's really hard to do to watch someone you care about and there's nothing you could do.  But I was the one that went to most of the appointments with her. I was the one that she was able to depend on and count on. And a big role, a big reason for that was I was, I literally remember thinking like, I got to take care of myself. I got to make sure I could stay healthy. I got to make sure I could stay, you know, fit. I got to stay sane because otherwise, uh, we're all going to fall apart. That's the time that I can remember them all. What about you, Justin? Yeah. I mean, a lot of it is like the sleep deprivation stuff and just the kind of going through a lot of financial things and, uh, all at once and in, for me, it was, it was realizing that, um, we had to figure out how to sort of defer things. Like I, I just naturally would take care of certain things that would alleviate stress and anxiety and, um, kind of allow space for Courtney to be able to kind of, you know, have a moment, like work out, like go for a walk, like go be in the world for a bit.  It was the same on the other end of that where she would like, know that like certain amounts of sleep I literally needed because like my attitude and just everything would be affected, uh, you know, the next day. And so we've just, I guess, naturally sort of learned how to kind of ebb and flow with that, uh, sort of, um, division of, of labor and just, um, being able to kind of know, I think that's, that's the good part of having a partner too is like, you can point that out because, you know, uh, Courtney, a lot of times will be the martyr and she'll just be the one that's like, I'm just gonna take, I could just see her, uh, you know, slowly sort of decline in terms of like energy and just like, um, overall like effectiveness and like snappiness and so the, you know, vice versa. Uh, but, uh, I think, um, a lot of times you don't see it personally and that's the hard part is like it takes somebody else to kind of notice, you know, some of those behaviors and, and, uh, to point them out. And then once we learned that like, oh my God, I feel like, you know, I just need a moment. I had to learn how to ask for help. I think that was the biggest part for me that was tough. Like I had, I need, I need, um, like space and I need to work on myself and then come back and so it's been, it's been a lot of that, like back and forth to this point now where we have it pretty much down. Yeah, I noticed it, uh, as a husband and a father, that's when it really like, when both different scenarios. So before max, the first time I really made the connection was, I think I've shared this a long time ago on the podcast was when I wasn't working out, I noticed that when I would come home, my, my support around the house, helping it keep clean and, and do things at chores, get organized bills to whatever it was. Um, I just, I would be lethargic. I would get home from work and I'd want to plop down on the couch and turn the TV on or lay down for a little bit. I could really see a difference that then when I, I would train and I'd be consistent with my lifting, I'd come home and I'd be in this kind of active mood. So I would help around the house. I'd clean up, I'd do dishes, I would do whatever chores that we, that Katrina needed around the house, like the honeydew list stuff. Like I didn't feel like it was even that it was effortless to do those things. Whereas if I wasn't training, I like had to muster up the, the energy or the drive to want to do that stuff. It was really interesting to see what a contrast there was there. Then with max, when max came around, I noticed that same thing only with my effort to interact and play with him. If I wasn't training, I was falling off on something like that and I come home, you know, from a long day of work, dad's tired, I just want to lay down. I don't like the effort I would put into the play with him would be different. I come back from a day of working out and training. It's like, I'm throwing them up in the air and we're chasing each other. Like it was a different level of interaction with him and I could really see the difference in my own behavior. And it wasn't like either one of those things wasn't possible had I not lifted, but I didn't have the same drive and motivation to do it. It was effortless if I was training. If I wasn't, I had to like be consciously think about like focus on it. Yes, look, it's a fact. The data is strongly supports how health impacts your mental state, your physical energy in your physical state. Okay. So if you're the healthy version of you is always going to be more effective and better at doing almost anything than the unhealthy version of you. It's just a just the fact. So look, it's like having a horse that you need to do work for you, but you don't feed it. You don't let it sleep. Nobody would do that. Right. Nobody would have. I feel like it's so obvious and I don't think there would be anybody who would hear you say that. Like I never disagreed with that or and I used to say it all time, but I feel like until you like make that personal connection, you know what I'm saying? Like nobody would argue that. No one would be like, oh, I disagree. An unhealthy version of you could be it could be a better this like, no, that you everyone would agree with that. But I think the were I think we just don't think about it.  Yeah, it's not. That's what I mean by like it really hit home for me when I when Katrina and I got together and I noticed it in my relationship partnership. I never really made the connection with myself. Like I wasn't when I was a single bachelor living in my house, I wasn't making that connection when I was off the wagon. Did I let my house go more? It wasn't until I had something like almost like a mirror with having a partner and having a child. It really made that connection. I think a part of it is that because the truth is when you look at people who work when they're under stress versus not under stress, they do engage in more behaviors that are quote unquote self care, maybe not the best self care, but people are more likely to smoke. They're more likely to drink. They're more likely to watch sitcoms or reality TV. They're more likely to use drugs or alcohol. They're more likely to do all the things that will temporarily alleviate the stress. So people will do things trying to make themselves feel better. The problem is they do the wrong stuff. And then because exercise and changing your diet is hard, it takes work, right? It takes work to do those things because our impulses are to distract ourselves or reach for the tasty food or the junk food or whatever. Because it's more work than that sneaky voice in our head that we listen to sometimes gives us the perfect excuse, which is, what do you mean workout? You got to go do that thing with your kids or you're going to take time away from your business. You're going to take time away from your spouse or your responsibilities to go work out. That's so selfish.  And yet you'll reach for the donut, the candy, the cigarette, the alcohol, social media, whatever. So the truth is you are engaging in things to try to make yourself feel better because you render a lot of stress, but you're not making the choice to choose the thing that really pays you back, that really pays off. That's a tough thing to accept, but it's true. Again, look at the purchasing habits of people during the pandemic. I think the average American, how much weight they gained, but there was a faster gain in weight during the pandemic than we'd seen in previous years. There was a faster, more people smoked, more people drank alcohol. All the things that we do to try to make ourselves feel better, the impulsive stuff exploded because it was a very stressful time. So we do those things. We're just not really honest. And again, because it's hard, here's what happens. When something you know you should do, that you know if you sit down logically and calmly have a discussion about or think about, you know, like, I got to do that. You don't want it though, because it's hard. It's really easy to let an excuse prevent you. Well, especially when oh yeah, that's why family or job or it's very easy to justify those things as more important. I mean, that's I think that's what happens is you default to, well, I mean, it's time with my family or, you know, I need to work harder. So I just think that that's what I mean by like, it seems obvious until you're in that scenario and until you really make that connection of like and and have the self-awareness to admit like, you know, when I think about it, yeah, I actually am. I'm a better father. I'm around more. I do more with my family when I'm actually doing that workout every day. You know, saying like you start the truth is the truth is for a vast majority of people, it just requires a little bit of planning because I'll have these conversations with people too. I'll be like, well, what you could do is what time your kids go to bed and go to bed like shortly after them and then wake up early and then do a little bit of exercise three days a week, you know, before everybody gets up and then you get to like, I roll it.  That's when I get to watch my show the next day. Well, I just, I guess I remember, too, to your earlier question. It's like in the middle of the day, I just want to take a nap. I just like, I got, I was so overwhelmed and just like, we just want to sleep.  They're on devices, like the behavior spirals, like it's all like this domino effect when I, when I am working out. It's like, I'm already moving. I'm already doing things. The garage is open. You know, the kids are more likely to be outside. Then I go hang out with them and throw the football around whatever. But it's just like, to me, that was like a glaringly obvious solution. I also think, you know, to your point, Sal, about like, you know, it just takes a little bit of planning, right? For like the super busy. I also think that it's giving yourself permission to that it doesn't have to look like this hour bust your ass, sweat like crazy. Like if you're trying to implement this into your life and build some consistency and a routine, this idea that you have to go from I don't do it to also I need to be there three to four times a week for an hour at a time. No, it's just false. And it's like almost anybody can find, you know, five to eight minutes to do two or three sets of some squats or a deadlift pattern, you know, something that and if you can give yourself that permission to say that that's OK to like start there and then you'll see that it will start to build from that. I think that was a mistake, too, that I made with like clients was not understanding that that it had to be this like gym time they had to go to the gym. They had to carve out this hour. It had to be at least three to four times a week. And it was like, no, not really. If you if you're not doing anything in that direction, like, hey, maybe just find that one that one day that you 20 minutes goes a long way. Yeah. And then build on that. And then it also helps because then they make that connection. Then then it's easier. It's like, wow, you know, today was the day I just did those four sets of squats. And I noticed I got this done. I was this I felt this way. My moves out. It's like, maybe I can maybe and do another day like that. Maybe I can have another day where I just I squat again. And it's like, then you start to make those connections to how you are a better version or you're better at everything else that you care about. And then it becomes easier and easier to plan and carve that time out, you know, 100 percent makes a huge difference, huge and it doesn't have to be much. It just got to be a little more than what you're doing now. And then if later on you want to get more because look, life, life definitely gets more challenging. Sometimes it's less challenging. You're not always going to work out the same and sometimes it's going to be pure self care. Other times you'll be able to go and chase a PR or progress or whatever. But the point is the point. The point is and it's not the perfect health version of you because I think that's the kind of what you're saying Adam is it's not your I don't think it'll ever be perfect. It's just the healthier version of you is better than the less healthy version of you. And there's small things that you can do and prioritize that will put you in that direction. That's right. And yeah, sometimes you are limited, literally like real limited, not just kind of coming up with reasons and excuses, but you're really limited. But that there's a lot of things we could do that are small that'll move the needle over. And that's all.    I want that auto tune filter. Yeah. Did you see the clip? I was interviewed by Stephanie. I can't think of her last name right now. She's in our forum. She interviewed me and asked about she trains a lot of mothers and asked about time. And like, you know, what do you do if you're so busy this and kids and my answer was right in line with what you're saying right now, which is, you know, we we think this like macros and weight lifting, like that's like being healthy. It's like, dude, it's so much broader than that, that OK, so what? You missed your workout today to make a better choice than you normally would for dinner, you know, or maybe go take a walk or there's still these or maybe tonight you go, man, I didn't get my workout in. I didn't have a great ideal meal planning day. Hey, how about I really hone in on my my sleep tonight? I'm going to make sure I get to bed early. I'm going to do it. It's like, there's an opportunity in every day to move the needle in the right direction towards being a more healthier version of yourself that it doesn't always have to be this. I won. I hit my macros. I lift away. Yeah, that's great. And that's obviously going to move the needle the most, right? Many times. But it doesn't mean that if those if life happens and you get busy and shit, it doesn't doesn't work out. It's not all or nothing.  Now I'm also going to binge TV at night and I'm going to snack on candy bars late at night. It's like, OK, well, you missed the meal planning. You missed the workout. You still got an opportunity to make your sleep better. If you need to go if you need to travel 10 miles, whether you move an inch a day or 10 feet a day or a centimeter a day, you're getting closer. That's the bottom line. Today's program giveaway is Maps Aesthetic. In order to win that, you have to do this. Leave a comment below this video in the first 24 hours that we drop it, subscribe to this channel and turn on notifications. If you win, we'll let you know in the comments section. We're also running a sale this month.  You can find either one by clicking on the link at the top of the description below. All right, back to the show. Speaking of sleep, Adam, how is how has your sleep been since using AteSleep? I heard you talking to Doug earlier, so I wanted to bring it up. So I'm going to sell some of these things. I swear to God, I might get out hustling on the street with I think they're so the trench so listen, I am OK, sleep. So we just we actually Katrina and I just got done negotiating their contract for next year, right? They they're one of the companies, of course, that will be with us next year, too. And I actually requested that rarely ever does this happen where I requested from a partner that I want the guy who's responsible for the A.I.  So after the first, I don't know, week or two, and I bet there's some sort of timeframe that he can answer this when we get them. It it it it starts to notice like all the times I manually oh, that's too cold. Oh, that's not cold enough.  And it's also tracking my heart rate, the time I fell asleep, how deep my sleep is my score for my sleep afterwards. And it takes all that information and it now is manually adjusting itself. Yeah. So it's I think I told you guys early on, like if I was joking about like, oh, it gets so cold.  It's literally gonna perfect it no longer gets too cold. It's not too. It's perfect always.  That's so weird. How it just kind of over the and it's been, I don't know. It is. I don't know how long it's a couple months now. It's better over time. Yes. It's just keep getting. It's just kept getting better and better and better. And now it's like I haven't had to touch or mess with anything because it is like the perfect temperature is just the right cold to help me fall asleep. The sheet comes up and tickles your face. Oh, it's I'm so I'm so impressed and blown away that that I want to hear how exactly that's so crazy. Yeah. I want to know how exactly this is working and how it got to this. And it or am I like just imagining this? No, no, no. That's what it says on the side. That's what the company does. That's why we that's what yeah. But it's like it almost seems too good to be true. It's like so good. Like did it just hit just perfect for me? And I'm lucky.  I know you're the only other one that's like really consistently using theirs, right? So when I first put on my bed, I put a topper over it and so I was manually doing it all the time because it wouldn't get cold enough because there was a layer. Then I took the topper off and I had it down to like minus 10. And it throws me. But now it's been probably three or four weeks and it is done exactly what yours has done.  It's crazy. It's really, it's really, really cool technology. I mean, I just it was funny because when we were monitoring all those things, they understand how to piece all that information together. Movement, heart rate, yes, you know, like body temperature. So it's literally calculating all of that. That's why I want to ask him. I want to like, what is it? So like, does it all sudden notice that like, oh, when we when Adam gets at two in the morning, when we let it rise up to say 80 degrees in the bed, he's his heart rate goes up by 10 beats and you know, it's like, is it like getting to that kind of a probably because, you know, it's really weird. So I observe this in my little kids because they're, you know, have a almost year old and almost three year old, right? And we have a monitor on them. And my three year old, not so much anymore, but my my year old, she'll almost always wake up at particular times. And she just kind of wakes up. You hear a little bit and then she goes back to sleep. OK, so it's like this pattern. And I think it's because what I've read is that she's there's sleep cycles that have to get connected. But anyway, my point is I'm pretty sure if you ever talked to adults or clients, I used to, I had a lot of clients who would tell me so weird to always wake up at whatever time like 3 a.m. or two. There's always a time, right? Yeah. I wonder if it picks that up and figures out like, oh, this is when Adam starts to come out of his sleep cycle. So then we change these things, tweak whatever and then we prevent it from happening. This is why I requested someone because I there's so many questions I have on like how weird, how they pieces together. It's got to be a cool story on how this this technology was built. Yeah.  Max runs really, really hot. And so does my kid. He gets up in the middle of the night. So I'm kind of curious of like, will it like figure out like for him to optimize his sleep?  Talking about it. Yeah, that's definitely something I've been considering. Haven't done it yet. So that was like one on the list. It would be great because it's like clockwork.  It's like Everett's up and, you know, it's that's Max right now. Same old thing almost every night, like around one o'clock. He even he's like, I think they're connecting sleep cycles. That's what I've read. Yeah.  And there was one was like a airway that had some kind of a device that helps kind of open the airway a bit. Like in terms of like breathing patterns and things that they've noticed that helps.  And so I mean, I just got like an onslaught of options here. That I'm just going to go through all these things. But we got the eight sleep. So I think that's next on the list. Yeah, I'm going to I'm going to try it. I think it's going to be a worthwhile investment for for him just because I noticed how he runs so he runs harder than me. I can't believe like he'll come over on my side. Every sweats of puddles kick the sheets off. And I'm like, damn, dude. Yeah, it was like such a big fight for Katrina and I, too, because she wants to believe he's more like her. And I want to believe he's more like me. You know what I'm saying? And so she was always like putting them in long sleeve, long pants and everything like that. And like, I'm like, I'm pretty sure that he runs hot. Like he's sweaty. Like let him let him sleep naked.  It'll be too cold. I'm like, I do my three year olds like that. He sleeps with just his underwear. Yeah, it doesn't matter what the temperature is. Yeah, he does not like he doesn't like a sheet on him. Nothing just cold. That's in fact, I told him he's I'm like, man, you're like a polar bear. And I think he identifies with it. He wants cold showers, cold bath, literally cold bath. Really? And he doesn't get in like he like gets in like, yay. And he starts playing like what is going on here? Oh, that's kind of crazy. Oh, that's funny. But now at this point, though, because he keeps saying, I'm a polar bear. I'm like, is he identifying with the sound? He's becoming a thing, you know? God. Speaking of speaking of sleep and a lot of stuff.  So we we just were obviously moved into a new place, organizing things. We organized the garage. I now have a place where the garage is far. It's not underneath any of the kids room. So we can start working out in the morning at home again, which I still love doing. And I'm, you know, Jessica, I'm like, honey, let's let's start, you know, let's work out again. She's like, all right, let's do this. So we're starting. We're going to start working out together again. So the plan was we got to wake up early because I have to drive my daughter to school. So I was going to wake up at 5 a.m.  And I can kind of wake up and then we're ready to work out or whatever. Anyway, so I get up 5 a.m. She's not used to working up at 5 a.m. She normally wakes up a little later.  And I'm like, I thought you were coming downstairs. I for whatever reason I'm like, you're going to get it downstairs, not up here. Well, anyway, that made her pissed off and she wakes up. She's, she is, she has to wake up slow. Okay. Some people like this. I can relate to this. Okay. You guys are like this. I can relate to this. If she doesn't wake up slow, then another version of her comes out. Okay. Like literally, I don't know what's happening here. The gremlin. Like if there's too much light in her eye, if I, if I, you know how sometimes you wake someone up and like, hey, wake up. Like you shake them. That would, I would be at a fight. You know that, you know, that would be a physical fight. You have to interrupt your story right now. But what you just said right now, do you know that was like, I'll never forget that when I asked Katrina, like we were one night having one of those talks, we're asking questions and inquiring like favorite traits. If she lists like the top three trait of me is how I wake her up. She's all because she goes, it's a huge pet peeve to get like shaken away like that. And you're so gentle. And I am that way because that's how I, I get hella pissed if someone abruptly wakes me up like that. Oh yeah. Oh, I know. I learned that from you guys that time that we, that one of the first times we all slept in the same house that I played death metal in the morning to wake you guys up and you guys were, you guys were mad at me.  No, you guys were mad at me all day. I was like, oh, there we go. I didn't get over it.  And I don't want to do that.   And so now I'm trying to get everything ready. And then I see her on the couch and she's so upset. So it's like just, I'm so mad. So I go over to her. I'm like, you know, I'm trying to rub her shoulder. It's like, don't touch me. There's nothing you can do at that point. Like she's super mad. So I'm like, it's going to be a great workout. It's going to be awesome.  And we're ready to go. Then we go into the garage and, you know, she's watching the monitor with the kids. So we have to make sure the noise, well, then the little one wakes up. So now he's waking up. What's waking him up? I got to make sure this anyway. So this is the workout. This is what the workouts looking like, right? Meanwhile, my teenage daughter is having a, just, you know, she just goes through moods. And she's just in one of those moods. She was like that last night before. So she wakes up and there's one of those, again, this morning, so I'm dealing with that.  All morning, dude.  Oh, dude. It's so crazy. So we're trying to organize it, right? Cause I want, I love work. My workouts very important for my mental health. You guys know that. I need to do it, do my thing. I feel good to come to work. But I also want, I would love to be, cause Jessica and I used to do this together where we work out and spend a little bit of time together eating breakfast. It's a great way to start the day. So I'm like trying to schedule it and plan it. But I'm like throwing a little, like I'm like teasing her about it, you know?  I'm like, yeah, it's all uphill from here. All downhill. I was like, you set the bar real low.  I'm like, come on. Yeah, dude. I, you know what, I wake up so different and I'm so, it's like, cause when I wake up, I'm still groggy. So I'm not like, and you guys, it's hard for me to be super aware of what the other person needs, you know? Generally, but in the morning too, the way I wake up in the morning, you literally could come in and play the trumpet and I would get up and be like, all right, it's time to wake up. Whereas that would probably cause a heart attack in most people.  I would get really. Yeah, dude. Yeah, no, I just like, oh, I'm ready. That's one of the things I love. Katrina really like, she's always been a champ with that cause she knows how I am with sleep that she, she's like, you know what, like, yeah, I'd like him to get up right now and help me or do this.  He's like, I'd rather deal with the 30 minutes I got to get up right now and deal with the kid or do whatever I got to do and let him have his sleep. He stacks all the items later on in the afternoon for me. Really? I'd rather do it all. I wonder, so, okay, so obviously I'm the weird one. So this must be like a switching of the CNS that if it's disrupted, it must cause in most normal people a stress response like that gets kicked off, right? That's hard to slow down. I don't know what it is. There's people that have theories around like when you were born, if you were born at like the night you tend to be like more of a night kid. If you're born in the morning, I don't know how much truth there is to that, but. I don't know if there's any genetic component to either. My mom's the same way.  Yeah, the solution would be crazy. Like she really will, you know? And like, I'm like that. So I don't know if I got that from her or what. There has to be like a genetic component too. I think. I do think it's the switch, right? Cause you're going from parasympathetic to sympathetic and I think the abrupt shift for some people might make the sympathetic become like a crazy stress response. And maybe just some people transition, that's a genetically they transition very quickly. Other people, it's a slow process. Cause I'm buying after about my half hour drive and one caffeine drink and like, let them, I'm a peach. Do my first drink and I'm okay. Wow. But this morning was hilarious.  Joe, you're not a morning person really either. Not really.  I'm kind of in between though. So for example, if my phone goes off and it's time to get up, I just pop out of bed. So I don't have to necessarily, you know, just ramp myself up to getting out of bed in the morning. However, if you are to play a trumpet or shake me, you're going to see my worst side. In the military. Samurai sword. I pop right up too, but I don't want to be talked to. I don't want to have the lights on. I'll get right up, but it's like. I got somewhere to go. I'm going. Just don't wake me up before I'm supposed to get up. That's what I don't like. No, no, for Jessica, not even light. Like don't like no light on too fast. Like we got to, we got to like slowly ease into the world. Yeah. So bring her a coffee in bed now. Just a little blast of citrus. Slowly, but surely you're being trained. I give it to her like this. Like, you know, I have to handle it like this. You know, like. Please don't. Sunrise. I'm looking, I'm really looking forward to it because what'll happen now is we'll be able to work out, we'll be able to make breakfast, sit with each other in the nice outside in the dark, eat a little bit, hang out and then the little ones will wake up and I'll go to work. It'll be a nice way to start the day. Yeah.  I just, we did our first one. I was really actually excited and I'm glad I did it. And I think you mentioned that you might do the same thing too. Like I can't stress, do it now. Start now. Now I wish I would have even started even earlier because how well it was received and how well it's going to work. The whole books for toys or things. So like Max asked for like, he's all into Legos right now, right? So he wanted another Mario Lego thing.  And so it was like, you know, we need to read, we had to read 10 books if we want to get Lego. And he was like, okay, you know, so he was cute though. Cause right after I said that, he like ran upstairs and brought 10 books down. You know what I'm saying? Let's read them out dad. Let's do it. But I was like, okay, well when it comes, right? Well, wait till it comes.  And I want him to see that, have to sit up there and wait until we get through the books. That's Mark. Bro, and he was like so good about it. Like he came in, he came in the mail. He was so excited and I said, okay, don't open it till we get our books. We went back upstairs, went and got the books, sat down right next to me. And it was Q2 about the fifth book in, cause it's like sitting out so he could see it. You know, he got, he got up from me reading and he went over and he was looking at it and talking all about it.  And then he wanted me to read while he goes, I was like, no, no, no, no, no. Together we have to, okay. But he was really good about it, sat through all 10 books that I read to him. And then when he was all done, he did that. And he's asked now again, I said, oh, that's, oh, that'll be seven books for us to do that. So starting to make that connection now. Yeah, cause later he'll do it himself. Right. And I, and I, in the fact that he's already receptive to it already before he can actually read himself. That's so great. I feel like it's gonna be a really easy transition for when he actually can start reading. I go, hey, yeah, mom and dad will get that, but you're gonna have to knock out X amount of books or whatever to get it. I think it's gonna be a really, I hope we'll be a really smooth transition because if he's already receiving that now and we're teaching him now that together we do that when he can on his own. And he's 16. How many books for that car, dad? Yeah. 2000. That's a degree. The whole library. Yeah, that's a four year degree, so that's what that is. I gotta tell you guys, I got a new peptide in the mail. So I laugh cause all the peptides I try. So I, you know, I try these different peptides. I want to see what the effects are so we can talk about them. And the one that I have yet to try that people talk about all the time, it's known as TB 500 or thymicin beta four.  No. Is that, that's not like the, the, the T. TB 500. What were the, what was that, what was that popular supplement, the T. T 500 or wasn't that, wasn't that it? I don't know. The thermogenic for fat loss. Oh no, it's something like that. No, no, no. You don't remember that, that one? No. Oh my God. I had it too. I cannot think of the name of it right now. It was like T 500. I thought it was exactly what it was. No, no, no. This is a, this is a peptide.  So it's, it's thymicin beta four, I believe is the actual name of it. And so check this out, right? So BPC 157, which I've been using, which I love by the way, my favorite, my favorite peptide across the board is BPC now. Yeah. I would agree with that. I feel just good on it. Period. It's for recovery. It speeds up healing of the soft tissues like in tendons and ligaments. T 500. Wow, look at that.   Excel Pharma. What a weird brand. Where'd you come up with that? I mean, that's that brand. But I've seen that T 500 was a popular. It's definitely not that. Yeah, okay. But anyway, so, and now the other effects I've gotten from BPC is I just feel clear. I feel sharp. I feel, so, cause it helps with systemic inflammation. My gut is ridiculously good in comparison to how it normally is. And it's got to be that, right? Now, the TB 500 or beta, excuse me, thymus and beta four works differently, but it's also for recovery and for healing. So the difference, so, so far from what I've learned is BPC helps with the soft tissue stuff. Tendons, ligaments, joints. TB 500 or thymus and beta works on actin, which is muscle. So it speeds up the healing of actin and the healing process in general. Combining the two is supposed to be like, this is what they call the Wolverine stack. Combine the two and you heal. Oh really? Yes, super fast. So I've been reading online people's reviews and stuff and they're talking about like how well it works. And like one guy was like, I was supposed to not be able to do activity for six weeks. Two weeks later, I feel like I'm back to normal. I just started using it. I'll let you guys know what the deal is. They also sent me thymus and alpha, which is a different peptide. Thymus and alpha you only use once or twice a week. That is for immune system and that's the one that they tried to ban during the pandemic. Now the conspiracy theory is there were studies that showed that thymus and alpha was an effective treatment for viruses, respiratory viruses. And so then they said we're gonna ban this and so they said, oh, is that why you're gonna ban this? If it works, yes, get rid of it. I know, type of deal. But the TB 500, pretty crazy. So for people watching, listening, I'm not an expert on the peptides. I'm just learning from them, from the experts that we work with at MP Hormones and trying them out a little bit. This one's gonna be really interesting. I'll let you know. But from what I've read, people are like a recover faster. Yeah. People are saying like intense workouts in general. Like you would feel the effects of recovery. Oh, I'll tell you. So Jessica, I don't know if I'm supposed to say this, whatever, Jessica.  She tweaked her back.  It's probably so as we're like, it's even hard to stand up and walk. You ever do that? We're like, oh, okay. This happened to her the other day because we've been moving so much. And she was effed. Like she couldn't get up, she couldn't sit down.  She couldn't pick up the baby. So said, honey, do you mind you want to try these peptides, the BPC and the TB? And she said, all right, I'll try it. So I gave it to her two days, gone, gone. Woke up, she's like, this is weird. I don't feel it at all.  Well, remember I told you that was the, when I first, because I think I took it first out of all of us way back when, when I got it out. For your Achilles. Yeah. And it was like scary how fast it felt. Cause it was like, I know in my head. Makes you question it, right? Yeah. I feel too timid to like really push it. Cause it's like, this feels too good to be already that recovered from what I just felt. Just say a few weeks before that. So crazy. No, it's, I would say it's my, as far as a peptides that I've tried that like I feel a difference that I would 100%. Which is what I think what all the research has said too is as far as like the most effective out of all the peptides. Oh, here's what I was going to tell you guys. This is something just taking a left here. We're about to, we potentially may see one of the greatest battles in history. Okay.  Both not the best reputation, right? Both kind of like- Battling each other? Yeah. Over what? Yeah. Okay. Cause since we're talking about peptides. So the GLP one agonists, like semi-glutine. Oh, I saw this. Oh, ozympic and the, and then a, yes, I did. Oh, cause it's, it's affecting their snacks. Like consumption. People are consuming their less. So here's what's the, here's what seems to be happening. And I say seems to be- People are eating enough Oreos. We know what the data says on semi-glutide and GLP one agonists. These are all peptides. Okay. The data shows that people will lose about 20, 15 to 20% of their body weight consistently.  All basically all that's happening. If you just take it and you don't watch other things is you eat less. That's it. Okay. But you may, you're not going to, if you don't eat more protein, your body will try to adapt by paring muscle down. We know this. We've talked about this. But if you combine it with high protein, lift weights, it could be, especially if this is a challenge for you. Which by the way, this is right in line in the same exact physiological things that's going on when people do lots of cardio, cut their calories super high or super low. And why we tell them that's such a bad strategy. Your body just adapts to it. Try to do it by slowing it. So, so the big snack food companies are meeting trying to figure out what they're going to do about this. They actually- Do you think they have anything to do with what's going on then, right? With like the whole- I was just going to say, you were talking about two of the most powerful, big pharma more powerful, but big food is very powerful, has their hands in the government and has had their hands in the government for a long time. Same thing with pharma. And so the propaganda war is about to begin. That's what we're going to see. I mean, we already see it right now. That's- Yeah, with the stomach paralysis stuff they're putting out there. Like it's like, was it 1%? Less than 1%. And then, so what else has been taken off the shelves for way more than that? Oh, oh, nothing. There's things that are way worse that are sticking around. Yeah, they're still on the shelves. It's anyways, yeah. I look at that right away and I'm like, interesting that, yeah, they also have an incentive because of consumption. Yeah, so they're, yeah, so that's the propaganda machine, right? Like who knows? Because now you have these snack companies that for the first time ever, they've never felt threatened by any pharmaceutical in terms of weight loss or fat loss, never. They've never come out and actually had a meeting. So I read this article, I'll bring it up, where they're literally like, we need to figure this out. Snack food investors are concerned about the rise of semi-glutide. That's the, so Wall Street Journal reported this. So short Nabisco. Right, listen, so Wall Street Journal reports investors behind companies, including Campbell Soups, Conagra Brands. They make Slim Jim, Orville Redenbacher. They're asking tough questions of executives amid the rise of semi-glutide. So they're literally like, hey, what do we do? Like, what do we do about this? Because people are eating less and because they're less impulsive, the foods that are gonna get hurt the most are these impulsive foods that we reach for, like snack foods. That's what they feel at least, right? It's interesting. It's gonna be interesting to see the articles that are gonna come out to try to like battle each other because you're talking about two very ingrained behemoths, you know? The calorie is just the calorie. So why are we worried about this? I don't know. What are they gonna do? I don't know. They're gonna sneak like hunger peptides in the snacks. Hey, speaking of what are they gonna do? So I saw this. Put them on the next Titanic.  I think everybody in here has had like a family or a friend or somebody that's been screwed by some of the stuff. I was reading this article yesterday about the Brentwood. Did you see this? This person, Brentwood is an expensive area down in LA. This person's been in the short-term rental for 500 days not paying and they're demanding from the owner a hundred thousand dollars for them to leave. They've already been staying there for 500 days. Hold it hostage. Yes. And because of the way the laws are structured in California, they can't do anything.  I know. Can you believe that? Yeah. Like how ridiculous is that? You know what I would do? What would you, actually let me ask you guys a few questions. If you had a property. Work in the system. I don't even want to say what I would do. Well, hold on. Well, tell me what you can say, right? If somebody moved in your place. I would get them out. Let me tell you. Oh, bro. So I already know, I tell you. I had to have a straight, I leave at some point, you know, and lock it up. This happened to my uncle. He had a place that people refused to leave. And he's like, and we all told him, move in. Go move in with them and make it unbearable. And he was going to do that and they finally left. But that's what I would do.  And I'm going to fart everywhere and I'm going to make them just. I mean, the amount of money this person has already lost on 500 days in short term rental long before 500 days. I would have seen the writing on the wall. 30 days. And I would have been like, OK, the amount of money I could lose is worth this much to pay somebody. Like I would pay someone full time to harass that person. Yes, full time. Like, what do you make this this year? Air horn. I'm going to like cover all night. Yes, I'm going to cover your pay, your job and your job starts at like 10 p.m. at night. Water off. Oh, bro, I got an open window. Bees around. Yes, everything. On slots of everything. I would I would literally pay somebody to just terrorize bees. That person's got to leave to go to the grocery store.  Like they would be terrorized until they leave. That's 100 percent. If you're going to get gangster on me, I'm going to get gangster right now. That's so crazy. Gangster on you. It's like it's crazy. You can't kick someone out your own.  Like why explain to me why? I don't understand why they make the case that, oh, you can't kick out a family. They're hard on their luck. We're going to do live on the street. That's for 500 days. That's five. It's over a year.  Yeah, you know, that's kind of like how the world works. Like I get if they're like 30 days or something like that, you know. Yeah. But I mean, the same thing, it's so funny because it's like you're you're thinking about that person and that family. It's like there's a lot of families where there's people that they're living is off of rental incomes. They've been smart, conservative with their money, invested in houses. And so I mean, imagine if all of our tenants at one time decided they were going to do that to us. Like that would hurt. It would even hurt us. It's not just that. That would hurt financially to get hit with that. First, obviously, it's the right thing to do, right? But I think it's not just that. What happens with laws like this is it actually hurts the disenfranchised in ways that people don't realize. I'll give you an example. Rent control laws, right? They're designed. People can't afford the rising cost of living. So we have to limit what you can charge in rent. And what that does is it prevents any reinvestment into those areas to build more properties or to clean up their properties, make them livable and good and whatever. So you actually restrict what's available, thus making it harder. So you go to certain cities and areas with price controls. Now a new family wants to move in. Nothing's available. There's nothing available. Sorry, we don't have anything. The market, it's artificially restricted and nobody wants to build because if you build, you can't cover the cost because of that. So what ends up happening is you restrict supply rather than encouraging supply. So it would be like this. Here's the example. It would be like the government saying eggs. Eggs are a staple food, okay? Everybody should have eggs. So we're gonna make a law that says you cannot sell a dozen eggs for anything more than 50 cents. That's it. That's the law, 50 cents. And then people who don't understand economics will be like, that's a good thing. We'll make eggs cheap. No, no, no. What'll happen is people will stop selling eggs because farmers aren't gonna sell eggs because they can't make money selling a dozen for 50 cents.  Or somebody else who has the means buys up all the eggs and then the other people can't anyway. But you know, the answer to that would be we'll just make more laws, you know, so. Yeah. It's so fun. Speaking of laws and rules, I just learned this fact.  I didn't know this was a thing in football. Hey, how about the Niners? Football, American football or soccer? The American football. Oh, we'll talk about the Beckham. I watched it. Oh, good, huh? Really good. I watched it, yeah. No, we can't talk about that. I didn't know this. Did you guys know in, up until 1980, that football players were allowed to put stick them all over their hands and arms? Do you know what that is? Oh, you mean for the glove? Yeah, dude. They had to ban it because I'm looking at a picture of it. What is that stuff? Well, you see, tar. I mean, what they do allow them to get away with are those wide receiver gloves. And if you ever felt those things, they're like almost like sticking. You guys are like your fingertips. Yeah, that's why, I mean, you see, and by the way, I'm not taking anything away from these amazing catches. But it's like, there is a big difference between bare-handed catching that and catching that with those gloves. Those gloves are crazy. But stick them, I saw a picture, and it's like green goo all over. They were playing like that? That's crazy. I mean, one of the things about sports, like that's half of the game is like, where's the loop. And then having to regulate later. Yeah, that's right. Where's, I mean, you know, like in baseball, they used to do that with like the Vaseline and they hide it in all these weird places. And yeah. There it is. And tar.  Go up, Doug, because it talks about what this stuff is.  And so, and you're supposed to like tackle a specific way that was different than football. So you'd like kind of let them run into you and then you'd have to kind of turn them over. I mean, wouldn't- And you'd slip right out of your arms. And I was just like- When millions of dollars are at, on the table. Of course. You know, innovation, creativity, loopholes, like that's like everything. You're looking for every competitive edge that you can. Of course. So speaking of football, yeah, European style, I'm watching the Beckham series on Netflix. So have you finished it or you're watching it? We're on this- And you haven't watched it yet? No. Okay, bro, you gotta watch it. It's really good. No, no, listen. I actually wish I was like hardcore in a soccer and would have watched that. It would have been really fun to watch. First of all, I'm gonna say this. I was never fans of the Beckhams, right? Gotta love them now, right? Because, you know why? Because they were the celebrities. They were like the Kardashians, right? Well, then the tabloids all the time. Tabloids. I'm like, who cares? I don't care, whatever. Well, here's why I like them so much. I don't care so much that he's an awesome soccer player, that she was a spice girl.  But the odds that celebrity couples stay together as long as they have are low anyway. When you hear about how they loved each other. Yeah, that's cool. That's real. That's really cool. I think I said this on an earlier show. He used to drive for four hours this year for 12 minutes.  And they went through, I don't know how far he was. Yeah, where he was hated by the whole country. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That and then also, I mean, obviously there was infidelity and stuff like that. For them to have made it through. I didn't get to that part. Oh, yeah. So to make it through all the things that they went through and still stay together as a family, that was really cool. Very inspiring. Yeah. And they're likable on it. Very, very likable. Tease each other and stuff. Very, very likable. The part where she said she was from a working class. Yeah, and he's like calling her out. And he comes through around the door. What did you drive? What did your dad drive? She kept trying to dance around it. She's on Rolls Royce. All right, let me walk down. He's normal. Yeah, I know. His parents, I love his parents. Yeah. They are so supportive and hardcore. I mean, he's just so, he's, and to your, I was the same way. I'm not, I don't follow soccer as much as a lot of other sports at all. So I'm like, I have a little bit of understanding of who and some of that. Of course I know who David Beckham is. And so, but most of that is through news. Like tabloid. Yeah, tabloid stuff. Not because I really follow the sport.  He's very Kardashian-like. But it's actually, I actually almost like feel sorry for him because of that. Because he was such a pretty guy.  And it's a, and then the part with their kid, dude, that like just tore my, like, I can't imagine.  Could you imagine the day you're, from the day your kid was born to getting death threats about your child. And then you got to go perform on a soccer field in another city or a state or sometimes in another country.   Good luck. No way. Yeah, dude, that's crazy. I know, you could tell that he's so respected by his teammates, the way that they all talk about him. Like he's, they like him, like genuinely, like admire him. So there's a part, not to ruin, I'm going to ruin this. That's why I wanted to wait until all of us to talk about it. But there's a part where he comes to play for Madrid. Did you get there? No. Oh, you didn't? No.  I just, Katrina and I both were like, wow. The fact that these, a super team like Madrid takes on David Beckham, who's this young, like tabloid kid.  And yes. And the guys at Madrid that are already superstars, the way they embraced him, like it actually made me really respect soccer on another level because I don't know another professional sport where you got that many superstars, the new kid comes in like that and for them to embrace him the way they did and trying to lift him up when there was like, yeah, it's, you'll get to it and you'll be, I just, I can't name another team that I've seen an example like that to that level. Of course, there's somewhat examples of that with some other sports, but not like that. I thought that was really, really, really impressive. And you could tell why that Madrid was such a dominant team for so many years because of their, they're, they knew that even with all these superstars that we only win, we only go forward as a unit and like that is like, was like the foundation of like, like we need to all go to dinners together. We need to do the, like we have to bring our families. We have to do a lot of stuff like that for the greater of the team. And you just, in professional sports or people are making millions of dollars, you just don't. Yeah, everybody's separate. Yeah. And then to do that to the young guy, right? Who's already like got all this celebrity attention and then he comes into your circle. Interesting. And you're already a badass and then, and he's coming in to potentially take another guy's position. It's like, so it was a really interesting dynamic that happened. No, we enjoy, we're enjoying watching it because, you know, Jessica, her, her mom's English and she lived in England when it was all popular or whatever. So now Beckham, although she knew who he was or whatever, but she thought she was a Spice Girl literary. So she's, she's hauling to Victoria Beckham. Oh, that's funny. She was a huge Spice Girl fan. Cause she was a teenager right around that time. Yeah. So I thought that. Speaking of huge fans, it seems like our strawberry, walnut, coconut cream is like the hit. No, it's definitely my favorite one. The creatures that have it? Yes. It's, it's the, one of their best sellers? Is there already a client? I don't know if it's a best seller. It's too early. I don't think it can hit. I don't think it's possible because it hasn't been out long enough to consider it a best seller. It's probably obviously a best seller this month, for sure. Like, but what I'm seeing on the forum and the DMs that I'm getting is people saying it's their favorite flavor they don't have. Awesome. Which is so cool. Cause that makes me happy that we, we made that. We collaborated on that. And I thought it was like a mystic flavor. Well, I took a few of me to Vegas and I got to take one of the, the strawberry ones that had my kids try. They definitely preferred that one over the other flavors as well, the maple and all that. Well, I told you guys, I'm gonna write down my ravioli flavor. It's just, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's. Yeah, we're gonna do with Adam's strawberry one. Yeah, yeah, I'm glad they kind of bypassed that completely.  I'm not a flavor guy anyway. I was like, can we put more weird stuff in it? Yeah. Can you put some peptides in it? It's actually weird to me that there's something, the handful of people I've met that actually don't like it. I'm like, how could you not like that oatmeal? You must not like oatmeal, period. Or you're like, you know, have you ever met somebody with my best friends like this that are weird about textures? Certain textures of food, like a soft with a hard, like nobody can't do that. He can't have a soft texture with a hard texture.  Tapioca. Yes. Or, um, but boisterous or, yeah. Wait, hold on. You don't like tapioca? No. Tapioca is either a yes or no. Yeah, me too. I love tapioca. I love tapioca. Yeah, yeah.  What is it? Tapioca. That's the actual tapioca. Yeah. What is tapioca? It's a root, I believe. Really? It's a starch, yeah. And it's a powder. You can actually make your own little tapioca balls. What's the macro profile on, is it? Like, how bad is it for you? Probably not good for you. I know, it tastes too good to be good for you. That's what they make boba out of. But is it, uh, would you- So, oh, boba is made from it. So those are- Yeah, those little balls, yeah. I bet you don't like boba. So those, uh, those boba drinks, that's actually tapioca balls. Yes. Oh, interesting. And those ones are black, and tapioca is typically white. I think they do something to make it dark. I'm not sure exactly what they add. Some of them have brown sugar included. I love it.  You know, that one grew on me, right? The first time I had it, I was like, in my early 20s, one of my clients brought it to me, a Vietnamese lady. And I was like, this is weird. Yeah. But after having it a couple of times, I actually started to really like it. So that's like one of those acquired- I love boba. Do you- Yeah. Did you like it right out the gates? Yeah, I like chewing on boba.  Have you had it? No, I haven't. It's really slimy. No, yeah. Like the, you're such- Chewy. It's slimy and chewy.  That's just different. That's different. Yeah, that's kind of- Just won't eat anything slimy or anything that's phallic-shaped. Remember when you tried to get me to pop it. But I feel like these are the people that don't like creatures that have it. It's like that. You have like a texture thing because the oatmeal has that, which I love the seeds and the things in there. Yeah, so do I. Because it gives it texture, besides just slapping down an oatmeal. I think it gives it a different- I thought he crushed it with that idea, which I didn't do that. I didn't put the seeds in there like that. I always was just like the walnuts and a like fruit or something like that. But yeah, some people don't like that. Who's our shout out today, by the way? It's David Meltzer. I think I'm gonna say it right. I've been following him for a while and I don't know how I came across this stuff. I like a lot of the content he puts out. And it was where, so when I shared the kind of fitness tip that you did today, that's where it was inspired from that. I thought that he kind of articulated that point really well. So shout out to David. I think he's got some pretty good content on there. When it comes to muscle building, fat loss, your hormones and recovery, sleep is everything. Well, there's a company that makes a pre-bed drink that combines the power of magnesium with other natural ingredients that have been shown in studies to promote more restful sleep and to help you fall asleep faster. It's all natural. There's no crazy sedatives. You can use it nightly. It's good stuff. It's called sleepbreakthrough.com. Go to sleepbreakthrough.com forward slash mind pump. Use the code mind pump 10 for a discount. All right, back to the show. First question is from Amy Lang, 25. How do I train to failure for the most muscle building when I train alone? All right, let's answer this first. That's best in a book. Yeah. Next question. He got it. No, you know what? Okay, there's two general schools of thought around failure training. Okay, one of them is right, one of them is wrong. So here's what they are, right? One school of thought is failure means you can't move the weight anymore. It literally means you fail.   That's one school of thought. The second school of thought is that failure is the last good form rep that you can do. Anything beyond that, and now your form is off and you're now training bad recruitment patterns, your injury risk goes through the roof. You don't want to strengthen bad recruitment patterns. You don't want to increase that risk of injury and there is no additional value in going past that intensity. I belong, we belong to that second school, right? So when you're training alone and you're going to failure, what you need to do is you need to do, go to the last good rep.  So that'll keep you safe in the sense that you're not gonna drop the bar or totally fail. However, the risk of overestimating the rep is still there, especially when you first start training to failure because you can't gauge where failure is. So I always recommend if you train to failure, whether you have a workout partner or not to use safeties when you use a barbell. I don't even like to do it with a partner because if I fail on an exercise with a barbell with a partner, that means that they have to know how to spot me properly.  They usually make, I've gotten hurt with a partner spotting me wrong way more than I have failing with a barbell. Yeah, and on that sort of note, I definitely wouldn't do like a one rep max. I wouldn't recommend that unless you're testing out for some sport, but in general, multiple reps to failure. And then to your point of like losing form is really, that's the metric I would stick with for the majority of like, that's considered failure to me is when I can't perform it with perfect form. Yeah, I just want to make it clear to the audience that you can build the most amazing physique and get really, really strong and never trained to failure. That's right, you can totally do that. I know, obviously we program that in advanced maps in a bulk to teach people how to do it if you ever going to program it. But the truth is that of all the things that are going to factor in you getting strong, you losing body fat, you building muscle, training to failure does not crack even close to the top 10. It's not necessary at all to do that. It's just a tool. Right, and so, you know, if you don't feel like it, you don't feel comfortable with it. I would just say, don't do it right now. If you really wanted to, I think I would ask questions like, well, what exercise are we talking about? And then I could give you a specific suggestion to that exercise, like how I do it. There's certain ones that I don't even mess with though to be honest, like I don't know if I've ever trained. I mean, I guess to mechanical failure, right? But I don't risk like an overhead press with like a substantial amount of weight that I wouldn't do. Maybe I would do it in a seated press where I'm supported and I have, yeah, where I have like a military. I don't have a problem with overhead press because I feel pretty confident bringing the weight down to my chest or dropping the weight. Yeah, you can get rid of it pretty easy. I think benching, benching is probably the most. Bench squat dead. Deadlift, you could, you could drop the bar. Yeah, easily, as I said, bench squat dead or the three that you would catch me training. With safeties, with bench and squat though. All of them. Yeah, yeah. Deadlift, you don't need it. No, but I'm talking about without safeties, bench not a good idea to go to bed. No, definitely not. But I mean, that's how, that's how. You're most vulnerable probably. That's the, I mean, that's why too. All the rest of exercises out there, the value that I get from it isn't worth the setup or the risk. And deadlift doesn't require any sort of setup. You literally just drop the bar in that situation. Squatting, if you know how to practice bailing on the bar or safeties, easy there. Go behind. Yeah, and bench press, put the safety bars on the most benches, have the safety bars, put that there so at least you can get your neck out. I don't think this is an issue anymore, right? Most good home gyms have safeties. PRX does. The old school benches didn't. I remember the old school ones with no safeties where it was just the unwrack it and the bench actually came with the rack type of deal where I've gotten stuck under that before. And there is a technique to it, by the way, if you get stuck under the bar where you can get out, doesn't feel good, but you can do it. Squatting, you practice failing with safeties. If you don't have safeties, you gotta know how to dump the bar.  That is such an easy way. I actually think some of you will get hurt because of that. I don't recommend a spotter for squatting at all. I just don't, I think it's such a better exercise to bail when you feel mechanical. Agreed. When you feel mechanical. You'll catch me, I mean, I used to do it a lot to where like people would trip out.  And I'm like, no, as soon as I feel mechanical breakdown and I'm loaded, right? I'm 300 plus pounds on my back. I just drop it. Why risk it? If I'm coming up and I'm like, oh, I overestimated my strength today. That's right. I'll just let it go. Instead of trying to grind through it or saying, hey, come spot me and have some dude hug me from behind. And like, why? Makes no sense. Like if you're gonna push the weight that much, then learn how to bail on it or put safeties to where you can just right go. Which by the way, the only proper way, if you were to get spotted on squat, which you shouldn't, you need to know how to drop it or use safeties, is literally a person that has to hug your chest and come up with you. And nobody does that. Everybody tries to grab the bar. I mean, when they do that, they push you forward just slightly. So you lose your balance four, which is the worst case scenario, which I've seen that happen so many times. No, no, no, no. Just not a good exercise to have somebody. But again, I'm gonna make this point again. Whatever you train, you strengthen. So if you're going beyond good form to squeeze out another rep, that means your form has changed and that intense last rep is going towards whatever that form was that you used. So if I'm benching, like a common thing to happen when someone benches and they actually fail, not the rep that's perfect, but the one after that. They go for another one. As you see this twisting or shoulder rolling. And then maybe they get it up, but here's what you just strengthened, that form. That's what you just strengthened. So it takes away from good technique. It encourages bad technique because that's what you're strengthening. And that last rep is the most productive rep. So I do not like the whole, like if you go until you can't lift the bar. I know very few people have the technique and skill to do that without their form going out the window. It's very rare. Only really advanced lifters I've seen be able to do that properly. Next question is from Amanda 10. Every time my family sees a video of me squatting, they say, watch your knees because the women in my family have a history of arthritis and bursitis. Are there any special considerations I should take into account while lifting with that history? Nope. No, yeah. Your special considerations are the same considerations that we would tell anybody to have, which is to ensure good technique, good control, good stability. And if you don't have those things, work towards those things and to always train appropriately. That's it. So it used to be believed that joints got bad because they were used too much, okay? Technically that could happen very unlikely. You'd have to really beat yourself up with just work. This is what usually happens in 99% of time. Joints are used in suboptimal ways over and over again and that causes problems. So it's no different than a machine, right? Look at a machine with pulleys. If you got a pulley with a chain on it and the chain is off just slightly and then pulleys still working over time, it's gonna twist the pulley or cause problems. Or if you're looking at like a sliding glass door that slides on a groove and it's slightly off the groove, it's gonna start to chew up the groove a little bit. The joints are not, here's what's different about your joints than a machine. Your joints are alive. That's living tissue that adapts and strengthens. So if you squat appropriately and properly with good technique, good stability, good control, not only will you not cause knee pain, you will prevent knee pain. You will cause your knees to be healthier longer. This is why old people whose strength trained properly have far better mobility than people who don't move. That's a fact. So it's the opposite. Now, this whole like family history. Training the muscles is strength to get you through the movement. I mean, the only thing really if you're gonna go from like the frequency aspect of it is if you're always continuously in the sagittal plane and reinforcing that one plane of motion to where this is why we always kind of bring up like unilateral training, or we bring up other ways to kind of have your joints acclimate towards these other stresses, twisting or sideways kind of forces to consider. So you have to be able to sprinkle that in or step out of like your programming to make sure you're accounting for those types of movements so your joint can be reinforced and strengthened. But other than that, I mean squatting and strengthening is everything. So we should also break down what arthritis and bursitis is and the difference, right? Like I had bursitis in my hips and I had bursitis in my hips because I had weak hips and poor mobility. So I had cancer from the weakness. Yeah, so I had weak hips.  It felt like someone was sticking a knife in the side of my hip. And what ends up happening is your body thinks that there's an injury or something is wrong with that area because I'm weak and lack the mobility yet I was still squatting and strength training. And so then it sends fluid there into these sacs and those sacs are what ends up pushing out and then causing all this like pain. They become inflamed. And then it becomes inflamed. Now arthritis is autoimmune. So that's something that genetically someone could have passed out or it could be something that your body's attack. Well, there's different kinds of arthritis. Yeah, rheumatoid arthritis, which is that. Yeah, rheumatoid would be autoimmune. Then there's like osteo or arthritis from poor movement that can cause the joints to start to degenerate. So nonetheless, regardless of the kind of arthritis that you have, having joints that are strong and mobile and supported well and that move the way that they're supposed to will make whatever your propensity to have much better. In other words, even if you have- Or gone. My bursitis is gone. Well, bursitis is totally different. Bursitis, like those fluid- That's why I wanted to tell the difference because they're not the same thing. You have to understand that they're not- Information driven, yes. Well, the bursa sacs themselves get inflamed. The bursa sacs are filled with I think synovial fluid. And the job is to cushion the joint, allow the joint to move well. But if it's not moving well, it's pressing on those bursa sacs, the sacs become inflamed in an attempt to limit movement. So here's the thing that people need to realize with the body, it's smart.  And so your body, when you're not moving well, your body will try to limit movement with tight muscles, with inflamed bursa, bursitis, with all kinds of things to kind of make you stop moving it so that it can heal. But if you're moving poorly and you go back to moving poorly, you're just gonna cause that problem to happen again.  So you stopped squatting and went away. This is where it gets kind of frustrating because there's a lot of fear.  It's like, well, we need to address the crazy inflammation. And then you look at like cortisol shots and things to like deal with that, which is literally temporary. We're not like building strength and better like recruitment patterns to absolve that problem. And then later on, what's the next thing that they're gonna offer surgery? And it's like, those are the two hammers that they have. So you have to look at it from, you know, from a physical therapy slash like exercise lens. This is, I'm so glad you brought that up, Justin. This is why I wanted to talk a little bit more about this. If I went to the doctor and complained about my bursitis, that is what they give me. Give me a shot to bring down the information and then tell me I should lay off the heavy squatting. That would have been the prescription. And you would have felt better. Yes.  So what eliminated it though, was doing 90, 90s and squatting deeper. So getting to a place where I had hip mobility and I had hip strength and stability. And then, and then strengthening it up even more by taking a full range deep squat. And now I haven't had that in almost 10 years now. It's crazy how bad it was too. I mean, it was so bad for the audience to understand how it wasn't like I kind of had this.  Think about it this like, I've used this example before. I think it's a good analogy.  So the bottom of the window maybe has like a little fin that slides in a groove and you slide the window open and you slide it back. And then you notice, oh my God, it's getting all chewed up towards the front of the track that it runs on. But rather than line up the window better, which is probably what you need to do, you just spray some more lubricant on it and you just do that over and over again to make, well, it's not gonna work for very long. At some point it's gonna continue to break down. Yeah, friction's still happening. Yeah, the solution would be, why is it dragging so hard against the front side of this track? And you look at it like, it's not lined up properly.  You don't need to worry about it anymore. That's how the joints work. They work in a way that's optimal and then there's suboptimal ways that allow them to work. But if you add load to the suboptimal ways and you use them over and over again, then you start to get the kind of wear and tear that your body can't heal from because it's wear and tear that it's not normal wear and tear and it causes problems. Now the other part of the question was I have a family history. You may have a family history of movement patterns and joints that move in a particular way. So there may be issues that pop up in your family because of it, but that doesn't mean you can't work on the root issue, right? You may have a family history of low back pain because everybody's maybe genetically has a little bit of an anterior pelvic tail or maybe your knees that come in at an angle like mine do that a little bit, right? So once you notice that, you work on areas to support and strengthen, you work on mobility, you work on the right exercise and how to perform those exercises, find the root issue, then your knees are gonna be healthier than if you didn't do those things at all, far healthier. So that's the answer. Next question is from Luca Curran. You talk about the detriment of eating immediately post-workout as your body is still in sympathetic drive. However, I've heard from other sources that it is precisely why you should eat post-workout as it gets your body into parasympathetic drive very quickly. So I'm confused, should I eat or not eat immediately after my workout? This is why I love having a podcast because we have long form, it's a long form of media and we can explain the differences and the nuances. Yeah, cause it depends on the person, okay? Not, nothing is right for everybody when it comes to health and fitness and this is one of those things that's true. This is actually a quite easy one. Who would not benefit or who would get a detriment for meeting right after they work out? Somebody who has gut issues. Yeah, gut issues. If you already have gut issues and you notice you're reactive, you get blow digestive issues, avoid eating right after a workout because right after a workout, you have some kind of normal systemic inflammation. That's what happens after a workout which could promote leaky gut, right? Could promote the gut from the junctions that are supposed to stay tight in the gut spread out because of inflammation and you could encourage by eating right in that during that period of time for proteins and other parts of the food that pass through the gut when they're not supposed to and you could develop food intolerances or it could lead to further inflammation which can cause dysbiosis, right?  So if you've got issues or you're prone to gut issues then I would not eat right after a workout. Who would benefit from eating right after a workout? Somebody who struggles to hit enough of their protein intake every day or can't get enough calories. And they have good, their gut health is fine and or somebody who plans on working out again in a few hours because studies will show that that person who ate right after the workout is gonna be better prepared for performance for a workout that happens later in the day. So who's that like high school football kids who are about gonna go do double days.  I mean, recoveries everything for that situation, right? And then again, and this is where we actually did like little ice baths in between which then there's controversy over that in terms of building muscle and blah, blah, blah. But yeah, you have to look at it as what's gonna benefit you best based on, you know, what my pursuit is going for.  No, no. It's not that big of a guess. I'm so glad you said that. It's like if you didn't fit one of those specific categories that we just said, like, if you have gut issues, avoid it right afterwards.  Do what you do. It's so, it's so splitting hair difference on the benefits or the detriments of doing that that it doesn't matter.  So I could get a workout and used to go right next door, order and eat it. And that's kind of convenient. It works well for you to make a good choice.  And if it's for, if it's inconvenient for you because it's like, man, I don't wanna lug all this food in my bad duffel bag. There's not a restaurant that I can go eat at that's healthy. It's just easier if I get home three hours later and eat than do that. Yeah, here's, by the way, here's why this is a question at all. Here's why the person writing this thought, I need to ask this question, it's really important because the fitness industry is driven by sales, like at all industries, supplements being one of the top sellers, they communicate, you know, taking pre-package protein powders and supplements post workout all the time. And so it distorts the understanding and makes you think it's more important than it isn't than it is. It's not important. It literally is not important at all, except for specific categories. If you like to eat after, then do it. If you don't, you don't. It literally makes no difference for that. 99% of people watching this right now, it makes no difference. But you think it makes a difference because we're constantly trying to sell a supplement all the time, especially post workout supplements. Next question is from local noon enterprises. If you owned a gym today, what requirements would a brand new trainer need to meet before they could train someone in your gym? 100 mind pump episodes. That's not a bad one. Yeah. 100? Yeah. 100 you get. Earlier, later ones. Yeah, yeah. More or less. No, not the early ones. Yeah, yeah. Gotta just put that out there.  We taught some things in there too. We did teach. I mean, that's kind of tongue in cheek, but there's some truth to that. I think that that amount of hours dedicated to probably learning like that, even though it's not a formal certification, I feel like they probably have a better sense, I mean, I feel like Doug could probably be an elite trainer. He doesn't have a national certification. He doesn't have a degree in kinesiology, but I think he'd be better trainer than 80% of the trainers that are training in a gym because of just being around and consuming the content. I would want to see on paper, okay, I would want to see some kind of education. So a certification that I respected or some college, just because it shows you've had interest and you went to study it. I would want that. I would experience not necessary. Usually it's a good thing to have experience, but not necessarily I hired plenty of brand new trainers. On paper, there's not much. There's a lot of stuff I could see that would make me disqualify you, like, oh, you've had 15 jobs in the last year. That's weird. But there's not much I would see on the paper, on the resume that would make me go, you're hired on the spot. Really, I'd have to meet them. And what I'm looking at are how good you are at communicating.  Do you, and do you, yeah, they're character. How passionate they are. Are you likable? Yep. Are you a likable person? Are you trainable? Do you communicate well? Because those I can work with, everything else, I really don't care. And I hired a lot of people with almost nothing else that did so well with this. Yeah, I don't care at all. I mean, if you did a good job interviewing them, I think that matters everything. Like in an interview, you should be asking like behavioral based type questions in a situation where a client has a knee injury and you're not sure what you're supposed to do, how would you handle that situation? And then listen to them. And then you're gonna, that's gonna tell you a lot about that person. That's gonna be a hard question. Like, man, what would I do? You know, and they're like, well, you know, I would let the client know that I'm not sure about this. Let me talk to my boss and learn what I'm supposed to do. I wanna make sure, like that's a really good answer.  This person, when they don't know, they're willing to admit they don't know. They're gonna come to an authority to learn and they're gonna teach, oh, I could trust this person with one of my clients. So that is so important that when you interview that you've asked a lot of these situational, behavioral based type of questions to get a real good judge of their character, because I'll take somebody as green as they come that doesn't know anything about training, but has the right characteristics for me to develop and teach them to be a great trainer. Because they only gotta have about a certification or a little bit of experience to be more educated than the average person who's working out for them to help that person. And then as long as they're willing to learn themselves and handle scenarios like that where they don't know the right way, then I'm confident to let them to do that. I don't think you need a lot of education coming into it. I think I would look for somebody that would want to pursue it at least, and have that desire to have that tool in their toolkit. But really, it's the passion behind it. And also too, I would say those five commandments we listed on the other episode. They would have to abide by that completely and share those values. Really, it's a value thing for me, and it's an integrity thing, and it's the willingness to really want to help and change somebody's life, and they're all in on that idea. Yeah, I'll tell you guys, this is the truth now. I used to, when I would manage gyms, and then when I owned my own studio, I used to oftentimes work out in other gyms. This is just a smart thing to do. You want to work out in your competitor's gyms, see what's going on, whatever. Of all the places I recruited from, I recruited one person ever from another gym. Do you know where I recruited other people from? Restaurants, recruited a guy who sold cars. I recruited a guy from a foot locker. I recruited a young lady at a retail store because of how she was talking and how she was working with people. This is where I used to pull people from. One time, one time did I recruit from a gym. That's pretty much it. But likable, good communicator, willing to learn, obviously have some passion, and you got the job. These are all character traits. That's it. By the way, you want to hear a good interview. I learned this from years ago from someone who did interviewing for a living. A great way to ask questions on an interview because obviously if you ask them a question, they're going to give you the answer that they think you want to hear. Yeah, ask them why you answer, ask that question. Well, not just that. They said, this is what I learned, this is what I learned, and I used it and it worked really well. What you say is you talk about something that you value, and then you ask them for an example of a time that they displayed that, and you wait and watch them come up with a story.  So I'll say something like, we really value passion here at Maps Gym or whatever. We like to be passionate about our clients, passionate about fitness, helping people out. When was a time in your life when you really demonstrated passion? And then you quiet and watch and see how quickly they can come up with a story or whatever. It was one of the best interview techniques. Yeah, that's a behavioral base. So if this person, I actually did this with Katrina, not that long ago, by the way, the example of chat GBT is a great tool for something like this. Give me, I'm a gym owner, give me 10 behavioral based questions for a trainer. Isn't that crazy? And chat GBT will spit off 10 good questions for you to ask somebody that are behavioral based just like you're saying right now. And so I love to do exactly what you said. I love this, by the way, like obviously hiring and firing trainers was most of my career and I was terrible at it at the beginning. And as I got better and better, I realized like, man, the secret to a great staff is just hiring well, is learning how to not have, because it's got a high turnover rate. And if I got better at figuring that out at the beginning, who had the right characteristics to be a sal or adjusted? Yeah, it made my job a million times better. And so it took years of getting good at this. And one of those big hacks was understanding what behavioral based questions are or an asset. And then like what you said, and then actually asking them after they answer me, like, why did you choose that story? Yes. Why did you choose that story to tell me? Like to really get to know somebody and make them, yeah, open up, oh, fuck, because they're like, damn, I was ready for that story. It's like a canned answer. Yeah, but now you explain to me like why did you choose that, right? So those are just some things that you can do to find out, man, you do a good job at interview and really get to know somebody like that. I mean, they'll figure it out. You know, I guarantee that if I had, you know, had the opportunity to get a hold of these guys when they were first just getting started at stuff, they would be amazing. And it doesn't matter if they had 10 certifications or none, they have the characteristics to become great. And that's what you wanna be able to figure out before. And you don't wanna discount, could imagine discounting one of you guys because you didn't have that experience would be the worst decision you could ever make. Look, if you like Mind Pump, head over to mindpumpfree.com and check out all of our free fitness and health guides. We have a lot and they're totally free. You can also find all of us on Instagram, Justin is at Mind Pump, Justin, I'm at Mind Pump, DeStefano and Adam is at Mind Pump, Adam.


We are frequently asked to cover the intriguing ancient documents of ancient Sumeria, and for good reason. For although the Sumerian King List is officially classified as an accurate and important chronographic document from ancient Mesopotamia, the lifespans of many of the oldest of its rulers are stated as having lived for upwards of 30,000 years. Furthermore, there is a noticeable steady decline in the duration of these ruler's lives, this gradual decline when seen in its complete translated form if, of course, it is indeed an accurate documentation of history, displays a clear example of devolution over many thousands of years. It lists a long succession of cities in Sumer and the surrounding regions. The first fragment of the text, which is largely believed to date back at least 4,000 years, was found in the early 1900s by Hermann Hilbricht at the site of ancient Nippur with its discovery subsequently published in 1906. Since Hilbricht's discovery, at least 18 other fragments of the list have been found, most of them dating from the second half of the Issen dynasty. Yet this controversial claim of past ruler's ages is a reoccurring theme with many of these fragments reiterating these incredibly long lifespans. Furthermore, intriguingly, the epic of Gilgamesh, perhaps the most famous still surviving contribution to world history dating back to Mesopotamia, is depicted as nothing short of a giant. Often depicted, carrying what is perceived as his pet lion, the cat, however, appears far from tame, attempting to take a chunk from his arm, but due to Gilgamesh's relative size to his furry friend, merely appears as nothing more than a kitten when in his embrace. Could these claims of a 20,000-year lifespan be connected to the additional claim of many of the figures from this era's incredible sizes? Could heavy research and a subsequent in-depth expose regarding the reality surrounding the claims of the Mesopotamian civilization finally confirm the past existence of not only giants, but human beings, whom after their derivation from divinity initially had lifespans stretching into 30,000 years? For as the list states, and I quote, after the kingship descended from heaven, they were situated within Eridung in Alulim. It is named after Eridung, who became king. He ruled for 28,800 years, with Alijar subsequently ruling for 36,000 years after him, two kings who ruled for 64,800 years, end quote. As one would predict, such claims are simply dismissed by academics the world over. This is of course due to the tales of the king's immense longevity, and due to their own paradigms, one they are often funded to regurgitate would have simply been impossibility. Additionally, along with this starched denial to even consider such possibilities within mainstream study, this same fate befalls the countless gigantic unexplained megaliths found the world over. This is a clear example of how valuable academia perceives their illusionary, oracle-esque all knowing regarding a complete history of human civilization. For if one was to consider such past individuals, having been responsible for the Great Pyramids, for example, one could finally explain how, and indeed who, accomplish such ancient feats. But I digress. Could Mesopotamia be the key to unlocking many secrets hidden or lost within human history? Would they find such possibilities as highly compelling?