 Question is from Brandon LPZ. How powerful is self-talk for motivation or having someone yell at you before doing a big lift? Do you practice it or should we just slap our faces, get angry and pick up the weight? This is a, you know, it's a power lifting mentality right here. It's an interesting question. Have you guys ever used smelling salts? Yes. I have. What do you guys think about it? They work. They're awesome. Dude, I get like hyper focused. My central nervous systems tends to respond a little bit more. It's the same kind of thing. If I have like that perfect song, you know, I already have pretty decent energy going into the lift, but now I have like that one song that I can get to that place where I just, I feel just like, like you get this like internal extra gear somehow. It's true. You know, if I get, and this works well when I'm going to do a heavy low rep set, like to get just amped or angry, doesn't work so well when I'm doing high rep sets because I'll gas myself out. I need something calmer to keep me kind of, you know, consistent, but it does work now. Studies show, I don't know if there's any studies on this particular, but studies show that music makes a big difference. That when you're listening to a song that tends to make you feel uplifted, it actually reduces the perception of pain that you have. So if something normally hurts at a level 10, listening to music that motivates you, inspires you, lowers it down to, you know, maybe an eight or a seven. It's not only that. Your brain is the main hub where everything starts. So if you're distracted about your day earlier that was going on or the stress you got at work or if your mind is in other places and doing things like getting slapped from your friend or listening to that song helps you stay present. And in the moment, there's gotta be a ton of value just from that alone. So how many times have you messed up an attempt of like a PR or like just lifting something heavy because you're mentally distracted? Absolutely. So almost every time. Some of my best lifting for sure was during the time that I was into competing because my mind was so much into it and I really think that I had a lot, of course, consistency and volume and all the stuff that we've studied and researched and understand as far as being on the build muscle mattered, yes. But I also think there was a ton of value in just I was so into it during that time that I went to bed thinking about my workout in the morning, I was at work and I was eating my meals thinking about what I was gonna be training in two or three hours. I was so excited to get there. I had my playlist already. I mean, I'm so focused on what I'm about to do. Some of the best lifts came out of that. And even if I was well rested, well fed and all these other things, but I was mentally distracted somewhere else, it's really tough to call upon everything I need especially to do a big lift like a squat or a deadlift. You know, it's very similar to when I played sports and I had a very, very intentional, very specific ritual that I would do every time before like a big game or like something where I knew that like, you know, my performance was on the line. Like it was gonna be really demanding. And I would make sure like nobody could talk to me. I was just like completely just by myself and just thinking, thinking, thinking and being quiet. And that really helped me get out there to get to a relaxed state where I was like, I was just there, it was all banked in mentally to where I didn't have to then keep repeating and relaying it in my head. So that's a really good point. And it actually reminds me of something that I answered to somebody who asked about the way I walked up to my deadlift and I do this thing where I raise my arms. And you know, when you have a movement like a deadlift or a squat or a head of press, there's so much that's being communicated through your entire body that there's all these little cues and it's taken me practice and practice and practice to remember all those cues and having a routine of the way you walk up to the bar helps me kind of settle that. The whole lifting the arms thing is to remind myself to activate my lats before I go in there. It's like, it's just, it's now become this routine. So I don't have to like- It's like you're pushing all the levers to get you into that zone. Yes. So, you know, if there's, you know, some people might need to get slapped I guess to do that. And if that's part of your routine before you go do a big lift. I mean, I've seen it help some of these like powerlifters and get a little excessive with it sometimes, but- No, your mind plays most of the role in how much power you can generate, how strong you are. It's funny, you know, if you're gonna do some, this is at least I figured this out for me, if I'm going to do something that is causing me already to be hyped and maybe a little anxious, then hyping myself further is a bad idea. So like, if I'm gonna go and do a speech in front of 500 people and I'm hyped about it and I'm excited and I'm a little bit nervous about it, hyping myself further gives me too much stimulus, too much stimulation and it actually reduced my performance. Now, before I lift, I have zero nervousness. I've lifted weights a trillion times. So smack me around, give me some caffeine and you know, I'm gonna grab the bar and perform my best. But for other things, it seems like the opposite would be true. Where you'd wanna actually be more of a calm- Yes. In a calm zone. You don't necessarily wanna go in there super hyped. Martial arts, martial artists. So martial arts focus on the, it's funny because lifters do the whole smack your face, get pissed off type of thing. Martial artists practice the opposite. They practice calm and chi and go in there. Wouldn't you think that that has to do more with like CNS, right? Oh, you're gonna fight. You're gonna go fight someone. You don't need to go in there all, cause that'll burn you the fuck out. Cause you're, if you've ever done a competition, well, also like before judo tournament or jujitsu tournament, I'm nervous one week before. So if I hide myself up, I'm exhausted. You know what I mean? I got to work on calming myself down. Anyways, it's reminding me of a story actually. I totally forgot this. Yeah, I had a client years ago that was training for a marathon and it was a marathon to raise money for cancer research. She had lost her sister. So it's a very important thing for her. She definitely wasn't somebody that should have, she wasn't a runner. She was deconditioned, had, you know, hired me to train her. We'd only been working out for about six months. She wasn't a runner. Sister, you know, gets cancer, whatever passes away. And she's like, I want to do this run. It really means a lot to me. So I helped her as much as I could and a marathon is a long run. Well, anyway, her husband made a playlist for her and put her favorite music on there and he did such a good job. And as she's listening to, and this brings chills as I'm talking about it, on the playlist towards the back half of the run when she got down to like, you know, like there was only four miles left or whatever when it's like the most difficult. The in between the songs was her kids telling her, mommy, you can do this, you're so strong. Mommy, you're my hero. I love you. And then another one from her husband, another one from her mom or whatever. And she actually got faster at the end toward like the last four. And how crazy is that, right? Gives you the chills. Yeah, it is. Wow.