 If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind pump. Mind pump. With your hosts, Sal DeStefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. In this episode of Mind Pump, in the beginning in our intro, which lasts about, I don't know, 20 minutes or so, we talk about Adam's wedding. Pretty much just to plug myself in my first place in Sacramento show. We talk about my kid and how he locked his phone. It would not open it for me or his mom. He's 12. We talked about parenting. We talked about burn barrels. The hell is that? Find out in this episode. We also mentioned Organifi in this episode. We are sponsored by Organifi. Great organic supplements. If you go to organifyshop.com, enter the code Mind Pump, you'll get 20% off. And then we also mentioned our other sponsor Thrive Market. Now, this is a place where you can buy all organic non-GMO products at massive discounts. But what's even better is if you use our code, you'll get a free month subscription, you'll get $20 off your orders, and you'll get free shipping. It's awesome. It's ThriveMarket.com forward slash Mind Pump. And then we get into the questions. The first question was, what are some of the most appropriate exercises for people in advanced age or novices who want to build strength and mobility? How do we start them off? The second question was, Mark Sisson, who's actually a leader in the wellness industry, he believes that everybody should always get away with eating the least amount of calories. So what is our opinion on that? Do we think he's right or do we think he's wrong? Find out. Next question was, what are opinions on stevia? That's the zero calorie sweetener that's not artificial. What do we think about that, especially in comparison to the artificial sweeteners like sucralose or aspartame? Finally, what are the best anabolic foods? Get you jacked. Remember, anabolic means build. What foods help you build the most? That's why we named maps, maps anabolic, because it's the muscle builder of all programs. Also, speaking of maps, there's only four days left for our September promotion. If you enroll in pretty much any program or any bundle, you'll get something for free. So either you're going to get maps prime for free, or you'll get maps prime pro for free, or you'll get, or maps performance for free. So it depends on what you enroll in. Even if you enroll in our supermarket. Just buy something, you get something for free. You're going to get some shit for free. Awesome promotion. Just go to mindpumpmedia.com and enroll. T-shirt time. Give away some shirts, Doug. How many reviews we got this time? We got 20 reviews. Oh, it's bumping up. I like that. We're doing all right now. So we're going to send out six shirts. Say that fast, three times fast. Yeah, say that one quickly. All right, so the six winners are, nope, two, two, two, two, two, two, two. A lot of twos. I like that. Bepler four, Tim Eschelman, body under construction 33, J-R-V-S-C-R-R-9-1-1, and Y2 Cumensin. All of you are winners. Send the name I just read to iTunes at mindpumpmedia.com. So creative. Said your shirt size, your shipping address, and we'll get that right out to you. Thanks all, y'all. This is pretty funny, dude. What's funny? Well, I'm reading all of the comments of people talking shit and people, oh, they're a great company, this and that. So Rogue, okay, this is totally piqued my interest right now. Rogue has created a burn barrel. So explain a burn barrel. I don't know. As you show me the picture. All it is is just a barrel so you can burn fucking wood outside. So you can have a bonfire. So it's a safer way to have bonfires. And so Rogue's like, hey, we're going to get into like a culture thing with CrossFit or something. We're going to get into the business. Well, this is what that's what I'm wondering. I wonder if this has become a popular thing in CrossFit. This is where I'm too disconnected from CrossFit to know. The newest way to burn fat. Burn it in a barrel. Burn it in a barrel. Burn it in a barrel. Burn it in a barrel. Let yourself on fire. Maybe that's for like obstacle course races. They jump over it or something. No, it's not like that at all. It's literally a burn barrel. I'm on the website. I'm looking at the... Oh, it's on the website. I was looking at the Instagram. I don't see it. Yeah, it's like, it's $300, $295. It's... Is that a good price for a burn barrel? Do you guys know what they... I have no idea, dude. I don't even know. I don't even know they existed. You know, I haven't been burn barrel shopping lately, so I don't know what the market norm is. I do know that this is really weird to me. Yeah. That we would... It doesn't make any sense. Or doesn't. Is there something that Rogue knows? I felt like the X file song should have started right there. See, when Doug has more time, I want him to do things like that. Because right there, I think to produce that in right now would be awesome. Yeah. Okay, so I'm on Amazon right now. You can buy burn barrels for expensive ones, $448. Summer is cheap. It's $40, but it just looks like a garbage can with holes in it. $200 for this one. So I think they're right in the middle. Okay. For prices. For burn barrels. Where do you find it? I went on Amazon. Section on here? No, no. Where did I find it? It's on our feed. Highlighted. No, no. It's on our feed. Go to your mind pump feed. Is it a real? Go to Facebook. Maybe it's not real. No, no, bro. It's on their website. Oh, okay. So I'm on their website. That's how I knew it was $290. It's $295. They're called burn cages. Incinerate leaves. What does it say here? And sensitive documents. Does it really say that? Yeah, dude. Does it really say that? Yeah. Oh, no. This is not Rogue. This is okay. Rogue supply 11 gauge steel burn barrel gives you the ability to set up a fully functional backyard fire pit without the cost and complexity of landscaping project. This simple design inspired by the popular use of the old tractor tires as fire pit liners. Measures 30 inches in diameter with a laser cut ventilation slots throughout the 16 inch high paneling and a weight of less than 50 pounds each burn barrels uniquely portable so you can take. We just gave them a commercial. Yeah, we should call them up and get some commission. Rogue, you owe us some money. I don't know though. I don't know if it's a great, like, that is so weird. Weird. Yeah. Is there, now maybe right now, is there something going on that's becoming popular of like maybe going to beaches and going CrossFit on the beach and there's like a competition like that? Some party surrounding that. I don't know. Is that like, I know that after wads it's kind of like a thing to drink beer afterwards. You blow your wad, you drink some beer. So I think that's a thing. Or it's the other way around. Is there a thing now to do a bonfire and drink beer afterwards or something and maybe they're promoting that? I don't know, but it sounds cool. Yeah, it sounds awesome. I mean, because I don't know about you guys, but I kind of want to do that. I want to work out and then make a fire and then drink. Let's do that. That sounds to me like a great idea. It does. You know what I mean? Thank you, Rogue. Yeah. You know, that's what I'm going to do. Barrel ordered. What I appreciate and what I like about it is this, is that I don't have a fucking clue, but what it could be an example of, which is something Mind Pump would totally do, is just recognize a need somewhere in business and say, hey, we have an audience. I'm sure there's enough people. I'm sure the million people. The Mind Pump bong. I'm sure there's a... Oh my God. So much money. Right. As the million listens in a month, I'm sure at least 1,000 of them like to sit by bonfires. Right? Like, I think maybe there's a little bit more logic behind this than we're giving it. Mind Pump vape pens. And I mean, they do present the idea that it's common, I guess, to flip tractor tires and burn inside tractor tires. I don't know. That does not sound like a good idea. It doesn't sound... Yeah. Don't they catch fire? It's not healthy. Aren't tires highly flammable? Yeah. I didn't know that people... I think of it heat up enough. Yeah. I'm sure they catch fire. Maybe tractor tires are different. Super toxic. That's what it is. Instead of, you know, the popular use of old tractor tires as fire pit liners. I didn't know that. I didn't know that. So, dude, I got a hilarious story for you guys. Tell me. Okay. So, I get a call... Can't start it like that because then it'll never live up to it. What do you mean? Just say, I have a story. We'll help you. We'll help you. Now everyone's like on edge. I have a really... This better be funny. I have a really boring story. Okay. There you go. Set it low. Set it low. Set it low. Set it low. Set it low. Your son locked his phone and you won't open it for me. He won't unlock it. So, my son's 12, right? So, I'm like, oh, fuck, I'm like, what happened? She's like, well, he was on it and I walk over to see what he's doing and he locks it and then I tell him to give me the passcode and he won't give me the passcode. And he refuses to open his phone. So, I'm like, what's he doing, right? He's in seventh grade. Now, I remember me when I was in seventh grade. So, I'm like, hmm. I think I know what's in there. So I get on the phone with him. I'm like, let me talk to him. So I'm like, listen son, I said, I know you're probably embarrassed or whatever about whatever's on your phone. I said, the fact that you're making this big of a deal about it and not opening it, now is making us more worried. Yeah, it makes it worse. Yeah, it makes it a lot worse. So just open your phone and it'll be cool. And he's like, no, I don't want to. I'm not going to, I don't care. I'm like, you do realize you'll never have an electronic for the rest of your life until you do this. I know an electronical toy. Yeah, fix that up. Can't get it, electronical. And no more electronicals for you son. That's what I would say. But he's like refusing. So I'm talking to him. I understand, yeah. We're cutting all the electronicals off right now. He's like fine. It's not even a word. He's like, you can cut all the electronicals off. I don't own any of this. So I'm like, listen, I'm like, if you don't unlock it, I said, I have friends who can unlock it for me and I'll find out what's on them. And then you're going to be in big trouble. So we're going back and forth. Now, I went to, my son goes to a different school than I did. He's, it's much more like nice kids, a little bit more sheltered. I went to a gangster-ass school. I was exposed to a lot of things. And I've experienced this with my kids in the past where they're really freaked out about something. And then I ended up finding out what it is. And it's like nothing. Dude, when he was in third grade, he came home from school and he was all distraught because somebody said a bad word. He would not tell us what it was. Finally, I pulled it out of him that it started with the letter S. So I'm like, ah, so I'm like, shit? Did they say shit? Like, what was it? So I finally asked him, like, and I got him to tell me what it was. Someone said, stupid, okay? So this is, so remember the context. So he's freaked out, doesn't want us to see it. Finally, I convinced him to unlock his phone. He's been messaging his friends back and forth and they cuss, they cuss on the fucking text. And he's all worried because he says the F word. Yeah, he says the F word on the freaking text. And I'm like, dude, I'm like, you're not gonna be in trouble. Now, how did this work now? Okay, because I'm thinking in my head, like why didn't he just unlock it, clear it real quick and then give it to his mom? But did she confiscate it? Oh, no, no, no. She went full woman style. Like, if you know what? If a woman thinks you got some shit on your phone. Give me that. That phone not leaving her sight. Give me that. She's not stupid, you know what I mean? No, no, no, no. She had the phone in her hand and she's like, we're gonna open it right in front of me. Because I'm sure he thought, you know? So he's just dropping a bunch of F bombs. I'm like, so I told him, I said, listen, dude. I said, I know when I was your age, I used to cuss all the time too. I thought it was super cool. It's not as cool as you think. Just don't listen to my podcast. Yeah. It made me a career. But you know, yeah, whatever. But I said, listen, you talk like that with your friends. That's fine. Just don't talk like that in front of adults and in front of your sister or whatever. Don't disrespect your friends. Right, if there was a place to do it, it would be via text with your friend on the phone. But we were all worried knowing to open up some crazy shit. I thought he just had some naked pictures. No, dude. So I thought like sharing pictures with his buddy like this naked chick. Here's a boob. I found it. No, it was basically like, you know, like, I hate this fucking game or this fucking God cheated or stupid shit like that. It wasn't even bad. That's being a shit. You know what I mean? He's a real shit head. So I feel like, do I make a big deal about it? So he doesn't push it even further. I can't believe you said a bad word. Ten lashes. But no, that was all nonsense. You know, that's way behind me when I was his age. How does that how away your fruit? How fast is that process for you? When you when that happens when when when you're dealing with that, right, you get on the phone and in your head, I know it's a million things are going through your head. Like, OK, could it be this could be that could be this could be this. And then when you find out what it is, is there a moment where you go like, OK, should I act mad about this or should I just let it blow over? Like, you know, I want here's the big thing that you have that I've realized when I was a kid is that because I had pretty strict parents. We didn't talk a lot about and there were certain topics we didn't talk about. Like we didn't talk about sex ever. My sex education was literally the dirty jokes that my dad's workers would tell me when I would go to work with my dad and he wasn't around. That was the shit. That's how I learned about shit is they'd tell me these dirty jokes and the dirty magazine that I found. But nobody talked about sex. We didn't talk about drugs. We didn't talk about any of this stuff, masturbation and stuff. So it was very taboo, very strict. And so it doesn't mean you're not going to do it. You're just going to hide. You're not going to talk to your parents about it. And then you're going to have all these fears around and all this weird stuff, right? I'd rather have my kids tell me the horrible shit that happens and be honest with me and then handle it, take it from there. And is he going to get in trouble for cussing? No, if he's stupid and he cusses in front of his teachers. Well, yeah, you're in trouble now, idiot. You don't get cussed in front. But you're doing your buddies. I go back and forth because this reminds me of this one time. And so, you know, my two boys were just kind of like wrapping back and forth off of like, they're just like playing around with words and stuff. And like there's a duck, you know. And so they're like throwing different words, nah, truck and this. And I'm like, oh no. It's good. You know? Here it comes. Because the first one that comes to your head is fuck. Yeah, the youngest. He's just like, fuck, you know, this. And then they kept going and then like, Ethan kind of froze. Like, because I think he knew it was a bad word. And I looked at, you know, and I was just like, I pretend I didn't hear it. And I was like waiting for them to keep going through the words and then like, said it again. And I had to be like, OK, so there's like words that we don't use. That's one of them, you know. Until you get your own podcast. That exact thing happened to me. So how you say that is parents, like, you guys can't use that until you have your own podcast. And then you can do whatever you want. There's an age, you know. That exact thing happened with my daughter, like a few days ago too. She was rhyming words and she said dick. Oh, my God. Yeah. And so, but I didn't say anything when my son gave it away. Which dick, dick, dick coming out of your daughter's mouth is worse than fuck coming out of your son's mouth. That sounded horrible. You can write your son says fuck. You're like, son, hey, keep that in text. Don't say that around your mom. Your daughter says dick. It's like, come here. Yeah, talk right now. No, no, she was rhyming words. And she's she's a get that out of your mouth. She said she said dick and my son gave it away. He starts crack. He starts cracking up and he's like, you said dick. And I'm looking at my son like, dude, don't give it away. And so she's like, why? What does that mean? Oh my God. She's like, what's wrong with that word? Oh, she didn't even know what it meant. No, no, she was just rhyming. Dude, the innocence is you got to keep it in perspective. But I had to tell her because he made a big deal about it. So I'm like, it means penis. She's like, dick means penis. I was like, yes, don't say it. And now forever she'll like, oh yeah, like throw that random thing out there. Oh, no, no, no, no. Now the other day she's, the other day she said, she said, I don't remember what she said. And she's like, and he got kicked in the dick. And I said, yeah. And I said, listen, I said, just keep using penis if you're going to talk about that area. I'm like, I'm getting kicked in the dick. Yeah, eight-year-old girl. I'm going to kick you in the dick. Kick you in the dick. Think about how intimidated you would be if some girl said that to you in the playground. I'm like, oh no, keep it up, Justin. I'm going to kick you in your dick. Whoa. Stay away from this. I just learned about my dick last month. You weren't going to kick it? That hurts. She's crazy. Yeah, no. It's funny to do with kids, man. The shit that they do. I went and watched. So we were out. Katrina and I took off to Sacramento. Sack town. That's right. Speaking of dick. My cousin got married out there. It's hot. It's sweaty. It's a beautiful place called the Firehouse in Old Town Sack. What a beautiful restaurant and venue to get married at. It was absolutely gorgeous. And we went and stayed. We went up the day before because they were doing like a rehearsal kind of dinner barbecue at the family. It was totally low key where all the family, friends, everybody could come to the house before. So we decided instead of driving up the day before, staying there, that we would stay at one of our favorite hotels over there. And there's not too far from Old Town Sack, or whatever they call it, is the West End. Obrinkly Sack. It's right over Obrinkly Sack. I don't know if that's what they call it, bro. The Old Sack. They, just trying to help. They've got, the West End has a beautiful hotel right there on the river that we stayed at when I competed at the Sacramento show, my show that I took first. So there's of course good feelings. Long way for you to tell everybody you took first. Hahaha. Dancing around. Well we see, that's the end of the story. Yeah. Isn't that great, isn't that great guys? Isn't that great? Well there was sometimes we didn't take any place at all and that I stayed in Sack. So there was a show there that I didn't place at all. Who got married? My cousin I said, my cousin Johnny. How old is he? He is 25 and he is the, well he's the only other male Schaefer right now. So he's carrying the name on. So he's, Oh so he needs to hurry up and make some boys. Right, right, just in case I don't. So, and you know there was that in the back of my head like listen there's only a couple of us male Schaefer's left on the side of the family. And so I almost felt obligated to have a child for that exact reason. But now I feel comfortable cause he's 25. He's already getting married to a young, beautiful 23 year old Juliet. So the chances of them having kids are probably much greater than me having any time soon. So the Schaefer name will live on. Were you in the wedding or were you just attending? No, no, no I was just attending. He had most of his buddies and we weren't. So this is my uncle who, this is my father who died when I was seven. It's his brother that I really didn't get as connected to him until almost 30. So we've become really tight in the last, you know, eight years or so you, but before that I really didn't see him that much. So Johnny, my cousin who's 25, I really wasn't in his life that much until most recently. So most recently I've been seeing them and spending a lot of time with them. But before that, we weren't that close. Do they live up there? Yeah, they live. Is he got like a job and he's done with school doing his thing now or? Yeah, he works, he's really into brewing and wine. Like he's a major wine and alcohol guy. So like he's all into, he's working for some brewing company I think right now. That's kind of like where his passion is. So he's like my other brother-in-law who's their hardcore into IPAs and that you can sit there and talk to each other. Everything had like wine or beer type decorations for all the stuff on the tables and everything. It was pretty cool. It was done really, really well and I've never been to the firehouse. So if you're ever in Old Sack, that's a really cool restaurant to check out. Just absolutely beautiful and the food was amazing. But yeah, that was a good time. We had a good time out there. Do you guys like weddings? You know, like it depends if it's one of your buddies, like your real good friends or something. I hate going to like, you know, my wife's friend's weddings, you know. I don't know anybody. Have you been to a lot of weddings? I've been to a lot of weddings. Oh, I've been to so many. Sometimes I like it. Like, you know, it's nice to kind of, you know, it's always a good energy there. Right, it's exactly. I think for those reasons, I'm with Justin that it's positive. Like I know my girl likes them. So for those reasons, this is my side of the family. So, and it wasn't, I like ones that are like this. It was very fun and like it wasn't, even though it was formal, it didn't feel that way. Some weddings, like, like, I don't know if you've ever been to a Catholic wedding or not. I've been to a couple of Catholic weddings in my life. Come on, bro. Well, hey, not everybody has. Even if you are technically Catholic, some people haven't been to a Catholic wedding. But if you've ever been to one, they're, you know, three hours long and you're standing and sitting and standing and sitting and it's like super formal and super rough to go to. So it wasn't like that, you know. So I really call it when it's after the ceremony, like reception. Yeah, that's the only part that I call it. You don't show up for the mass. No, I don't go. I don't go to that part. God, I'm not a... I make up an excuse and I show up later. I don't like weddings because I don't like dressing up. That's not fun. Then I don't, I'm not a big, like I could care less about dancing, let alone dancing with a bunch of relatives. And you just basically drink. There's really nothing much to, you know, and the food really at weddings isn't that great. Usually. Well, those are all great things. I think these are the things, some wedding, I've been to a lot, right? I've seen little things that I like about. Larry, actually one of the coolest parts at Larry's wedding, his first wedding, and I thought was awesome. And I haven't seen anybody top it yet. They did such a cool video of talking to all the best friends and the parents and the families of both sides. And they made this super awesome, like hype video. So if you were somebody, and this is what I, I think what is a lame for weddings is that a lot of times you're at a wedding and it's, you're paying your respect for that person. But really, you like don't know that relationship that well. Like, let's be honest. Like I know my cousin well. And even that, I didn't get to sit in that much time. But, and I know Juliette because I've been around her a couple of times, but I really don't know them as a couple, right? So Larry's, it was so cool to watch this video before the whole wedding happened or it was right after the ceremony. And I thought it was, I think everybody should do something like this for the guests because it gives you like this storyline and you get to really kind of understand they tell the story of each of them individually growing up and their family and their kids. And then it's like them together in their relationship. And I feel like, oh, I really feel like I know them now more than before. Cause most of the time at a wedding, you have people that are representing the groom, people that are representing the bride and we're all here to celebrate their. Oh my God, how is the best man's speech? Cause I've been through some really painful ones. So it wasn't, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't really, it wasn't one of the better ones either. I mean, I've done four, right? So there, I, and I've had ones that were, I thought that I did that were really weak. And then I've done ones where I thought were really powerful and really good and really heartfelt. I thought that they were heartfelt, like a lot of people cried, like not a lot of people listened. They cried while they were giving it. Yeah. Everybody had to- That's usually the move. Everybody was reading off of a piece of paper. So it wasn't, but what his best man did do that was really cool is best man could play the guitar and sing really well. And so he played and sung the, God, what song is that? I know this song. I think it's a Jimmy Buffett song for- I don't want to be a player no more. Yeah, that one. I think that's big pie. And in the road? I think that's big pie. Big campings and injees. He played that for their first dance. So I thought that was pretty cool. That was what was neat. I think the, the venue was my favorite part. I mean, this place was just absolutely beautiful. Oh, the best speech I ever saw at a wedding was my sister's father-in-law. So everybody was giving speeches and they all start out by saying, I want to thank this person. I want to thank that person. I want to thank this person. And so he gets up and so he continues the speech and he starts his speech in the same fashion. And he goes, I'd like to thank this person, thank that person. He goes, but I'd especially like to thank the following. He goes, American Express, Visa, MasterCards. There's all the people he's thanking for paying for the wedding. That's great. It was pretty funny. Yeah, it was good times. Yeah, I've seen some that are pretty, that's what I like when they do like a roast. I love when someone gets up there and kind of- That's my favorite. Right, if you have somebody who does like a really- Like inside information on it, and you just like put them totally on blast. We were just at a wedding- I knew that to my brother. Katrina and I were just at a wedding that one of her coworkers got married. And the guy, one of his, the best man came up, it was his brother and his brother, it was his older brother gave his younger brother like just the most ultimate roast. I mean, I had never met this guy before and I felt like I totally knew him after that roast because it was so great. So I like shit like that. I like when you get somebody who gets up there and can just rip into somebody they've known for their whole life. But I mean, you did it tasteful too. It was not like it's hurtful or embarrassing if it's funny, you know? You know, something I wanted to ask the audience is just as a favor because we were been putting a lot of energy and focus right now on the YouTube channel and then the Facebook page. So if you haven't been over to the Mind Pump Facebook page and then I'm not talking about the private forum just the free page that everybody has access to we're really trying to put a lot of focus there. And so something that would help us out a ton if you get time to drop in there, like the page. And if you can leave a review if we've provided any content that has helped you out at one point in your fitness and health journey we totally appreciate that. So if you guys haven't checked out the Facebook page Mind Pump, check that out. We totally appreciate all them five star reviews you guys would love you. Bird. Is the word. Bring on the bird. This clause brought to you by OrganiFi. For those days you fall short on getting your organic veggies or whole food nutrition, OrganiFi fills the gap with laboratory tested certified organic super foods to help give your health the performance the added edge. Try OrganiFi totally risk free for 60 days by going to OrganiFi.com. That's O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I.com and use a coupon code Mind Pump for 20% off at checkout. Big Man James. Most appropriate exercises to prescribe to complete novice or older age group in a gym fitness program to give effective weight loss but also strength and mobility whilst retaining adherence to a healthy lifestyle. Oh my goodness, this is. What's the perfect exercises for all these people? Well, here's the thing is we're all gonna say the same thing, right? No doubt the squat is one of the best movements but the problem when you say something like you said advanced age, right? Like advanced age or the total novice is that more than likely the first time somebody gets down in a squat it's pretty fucking ugly. And so just telling somebody like movements like the squat, the deadlift, overhead press let's just say we agree that these are three of the best movements you could teach someone to do. The likelihood of them performing them correctly with just you teaching them one time is not very high. So, yeah. I think it's the goal of getting them to be able to work towards these primal patterns, right? Right. So if you think of it, cause like as reading this question it's like it's really tough to make a general statement of like, well, just squat, just push up, just overhead press or whatever it is. It's so individualized in case by case and the assessment process is really, really important as a trainer to dive deeper into where you can sort of fit in the best protocol, the best exercises that will benefit them right now and build them up towards these goals that we want. Well, I think every trainer should aspire to get their clients to be able to squat, deadlift, overhead press and bench press. I think that should be with a barbell. I think that should be the ultimate goal is to get their client to be able to perform each of those movements mechanically, right? Now, more than likely they're gonna be able to, they're not gonna be able to do most, if not all of those movements when you start and this is what will really stretch you as a trainer is to learn why, and this is where every case is going to be different. Why can't Suzy do the overhead press and why can't Mike Squat? Why does she compensate so much in this? And then diving into what is limiting them instead of doing what I'll be the first to admit I was like as a trainer in early years, which is, oh, we just won't do that, we'll do something they can do. Like, oh, you can't squat because it bothers you back. Let's go leg press and leg extension. And in my head, the logic was, I'm helping them because they're still working muscles out, they're still burning calories, they're still exercising and that's what they're paying me here for. But in reality, the better, the older, the more advanced trainer in me would say, okay, she can't squat because her back hurts, let's figure out why her back hurts and let's get to the bottom of it and then let's start to teach her these movements that are gonna eliminate her back from hurting while she does, she's performing squats because more than likely it's not a structural issue as much as it's a mechanical issue and why is her mechanics failing when she goes to do a squat and then learning how to fix that. So here's some, here's a typical breakdown or how I start, individuals very dramatically. Okay, so I'm giving you a super general, like how I'd start people in this category, advanced age or novice or dysfunction in terms of their movement and their body. So if I take an older person and I'm training them, typically the way I start them off, one of the first exercises I have them do is I have them practice slowly sitting back and sitting down on a bench. So they do a full sit and then stand up and that's their squat and so that's what we practice. That's one of the first exercises that I do with most people. Most people can do that to some extent. Now if they're really deconditioned, if I'm training like an 80 year old and even that is too difficult, then I'll give them a stick to hold with both hands. So they have two sticks and they can assist themselves coming up and down and as they get stronger, we move the sticks and it's just really controlling the descent and standing back up and that's how we practice getting to a squat. Then the second progression from that isn't a squat. It's actually a lunge, but the way I do it is I have a bar set up or something stable set up to where they'll hold it with one hand. Then they'll get into a split stance like they're gonna do a lunge and I'll have them go down and come back up and we'll play with varying degrees of depth. So many times we start off with a quarter depth and then we work on going all the way down and believe it or not, I do that before I progress them to just the standing squat. A standing squat, it actually takes a while to get people there when you're working with someone who's deconditioned or someone who's older. As far as overhead press is concerned, nine out of 10 times, if I train somebody in advanced age, they will not be able to do a good, complete overhead extension with their arms without weight, let alone with weight. I mean, they can reach up above their head but they can't fully extend with their arms. They're not able to retract the scapula. The arms aren't able to get besides their ears so they're kinda doing this real strong arch in their back and their elbows are bent. So before I even practice that, what I'll do is I'll have them work on rows, band rows or cable rows to strengthen their ability to bring their shoulders back and down. Then the next step before I do an overhead press is I'll actually have them hold onto a lap pull down bar so that it's providing resistance up so that they're having to pull it down. Don't have them pull it down. All I'm doing is I'm having the bar and sometimes I don't even use a lap pull down bar. Sometimes I'll use a stick and just pull up with my arms but what it's doing is it's pulling their arms up into the overhead position and then I'll have them pull down a little bit without bending their elbows so now they're resisting on the way down. Then I'll have them push up against that bar as if they're helping it and then I'll slowly take the bar out of their hand and see if they can hold their arms in that straight, strong overhead position because a lot of it before we can work on good fundamental strength, I have to get them connected to that position and to get them connected to that position, one of the best ways to do it is to put them in that position if possible so I get their arms fully extended and then I have them connect to it and then I release my help and see if they can hold themselves there. Many times their hands will start to drop as they start to release their hands and we'll start practicing there but over time they're able to hold their arms above their head and then slowly progress them to the overhead. There's mainly like the overall function of each joint. I mean, you got to like test the quality and the range of motion and what you have to work with, right? So like a lot of times hip hinging is where we need to start, right? Most people don't even understand the difference between hip hinging and squatting because they just kind of fall into that position versus actively connect to that and push their way through it like a stretch. So there's a lot of what Sal's talking about. We sort of prep the person and we prime them into connecting to those types of movements and what the joint should be able to function and what it should be able to produce movement-wise. And so placing them into the proper positions is very crucial. And then what I even do with that is very similar is just to get them to squeeze and isometrically contract and what does that feel like and what should you be feeling? So slow it down. So Dr. Brink actually shared a very fascinating article in the forum. I don't know if you guys saw it on the squat and he made an interesting post and it makes the case that, because a lot of times when we get clients or patients or whatever, if you're a doctor or a movement specialist who have patients, but people will come in and one of the first things we do is we try to work on their gait. That's like the most fundamental thing. Oh, I saw this post. I was talking about what we should be looking at regressing all the way back down to being able to... Well, we think of a squat as being a progression from being able to walk. But the reality is it's actually, the squat is far more fundamental because if you look at when we learn these things as babies, babies learn how to squat or sit in a squat before they learn how to walk. Just like learning how to crawl, right? In fact, if we take an older person with some dysfunction and even told them to crawl on the floor, they'd probably have more trouble crawling than they would walking. And it's not because it's more difficult. It's because we've literally forgot how to do this shit because we stopped doing it. It's something that we just stopped doing and we forgot how to do it. So the good news is you can relearn how to do this. The key with any novice, I don't care what age or what level of function, is to meet them where they are at and to train them just a little bit over that. That's it. No matter where they're at, you'd meet them just a little bit. And you don't wanna overwhelm them either. And it can look like basic, super basic. I've had clients in the gym where I would blow up a balloon and I'm just popping the balloon to them and all they're doing is they're reaching and hitting the balloon because that's where they're at. Like that's more than they're used to doing and that's gonna get their body to adapt. This is exactly why we created Maps Prime and Maps Prime Pro was for a question just like this. We know that there's a lot of trainers out there that think about this exact question and have these types of clients all the time. And in reality, a lot of people can't perform all those major lifts. But instead of just being okay with that and moving on to a different exercise that they can do, the idea is to give you the tools to help you figure out why they can't do that movement. Why can't she do this? And that's why within the Prime and Prime Pro there's these tests to check the range of motion for each joint and if they fail, then there's movements to help that. And so that's the way you look at this is okay, my goal is squat, deadlift, overhead press, and bench press. These are my big movers, right? These are my big main movers and that is a solid, solid foundation for anybody. Now the reality is that a lot of those movements they won't be able to do or they'll have limited range of motion, whatever. So don't neglect the movement. Challenge yourself to figure out what it is that's limiting them. It's only gonna make you a better trainer. We're doing the best that we can to provide all the tools via YouTube or programs to help answer all these questions. Quick commercial break. Hey, people ask us all the time how they can support Mind Pump. Here's what you can do. You can go to www.brain.fm forward slash Mind Pump and get 20% off Brain FM for meditation or focus. You can also go to audibletrial.com forward slash Mind Pump and get a 30-day trial plus one free audio book. Lastly, you can go to getnatureblend.com forward slash Mind Pump and you will get a discount on Ben Greenfield's CBD product. Next question is from Anthony Santana PT. Mark Sisson believes that everyone should always get away with eating the least amount of calories. What is your take on this? Will your body create a new maintenance with lower calories? And then once that maintenance is set, can you build muscle with that lower caloric intake, even though the science says your calories are going to be too low? Okay, I know why he says this. Yeah, I get what he's saying too. This is actually an interesting debate and I feel like I can argue it either way. Well, I mean, for longevity, I mean, technically, he's right. For longevity, for longevity. Based off of the studies, if you were to look at somebody who eats at certain low of calories versus somebody who eats an excessive amount of calories. All the science points to this. All the science points to accelerated signs of aging with the more food that you consume, in particular, the more protein and more carbohydrates that you consume, or the quality of food that you consume. They measure, this is both measurements through subjective measurements, how people feel, how they move, joint pain, function, health, that kind of stuff. Which are also objective. And then also the shortening of the telomeres, which now are very strongly connected to how old your DNA is, in terms of the shorter they are, the older your DNA is and the more likely it is to mutate. And this shows up in animal studies and in human studies where the less you consume and the less you can consume, the better for longevity. Here's the thing with that. There's the whole live longer thing and then there's the whole live better thing. And there's a balance between the two. Will I live longer if I don't eat the cake at my kid's birthday party? Technically, probably. I don't think there's any real benefit to it. But I mean, do I wanna do that? I mean, I'm celebrating my kid's birthday. He's only gonna turn five once in his life and it's a cake and we're enjoying this wonderful time together. I mean, there's kind of a balance there. And there's also this, like let's also consider the studies that show that quality of life, enjoyment of life and the connections we have with people is also strongly connected to longevity. And if you eat low calories because you like to eat that way in your health conscious, but you enjoy your life, that's fine. If you're fanatic and you're orthorexic with your diet and you're eating low calories because this is the way I have to eat and I wanna live a long time and you're super anal about everything and you fucking hate your life and you're not connecting with people, is that gonna, what about the negative effects of the connections and the fact that you hate your life? I don't, you're probably not gonna live as long now because you've got those two things. I wanna say that I think we agree for the most part on this. I think for the most part we agree on this. But I think that's kind of obvious because what you would compare to is the opposite or the other extreme which is over consumption of all this shit and like, yeah, no shit, that is not ideal for you. This is why I would challenge that thought though. So even though I agree with it, how I would challenge it is this. There has to be and there is no, I guarantee there's no studies that show this because this would be really tough for us to figure out. But what about all the micronutrients and what is the optimal amount of all these different micronutrients that my individual body should be taking? And if I go with the theory of, we should all be striving to eat as little as possible, sure my body may adapt to that to get by and be efficient with that, but is that the most optimal amount of nutrients for all my body's systems, for all of its different needs? And am I lacking there? So that's where I would- Quality is very important with that. Well, yeah, right, exactly. So if you are on the lower end of calories, nutrients, and I mean, this person's asking more for the muscle building aspect, so that's a no brainer. Yeah, of course, if you're eating so low, low calorie and then you also have these conflicting goals that you also wanna be the biggest, buffest guy that you know, that's pretty tough to do that, right? So they kinda conflict with each other. If we're just talking about health and longevity, well then yeah, I could argue that eating that way in comparison to how a majority of people consume food, absolutely. But I would be willing to challenge that way of thinking that we don't know the three men that are on this podcast right now, exactly how much vitamin D Justin needs in comparison to me, exactly how much creatine that Sal is getting in comparison. We all have got all these different amounts that we're intaking or not intaking based of our regular diet and based off of how we're training and working or our own genetics. Because I have psoriasis, so my body probably has different needs on a micronutrient level than someone like Sal or Justin. So therefore, if I'm eating on that super low calorie, would it necessarily be ideal for me? It just seems really hard to manage, like manage that mentality of like when I have a really rigorous day or have something that comes up where I feel like really low energy or I'm trying to recover and then I'm still trying to eat as low of calories as possible. Am I really gonna nourish myself properly with that mentality all the time? Like I think that it's different because I feel like this is in direct contrast with the way that we think in society thinks about like having to constantly eat and keep your metabolism high. And I get where he's going with this mentality of like longevity, but I feel like that becomes quickly, becomes something that can become like a fixation. Like it can be just like, the macro like counting where I'm like so stuck on like always trying to like keep everything like so low. I mean, there's no doubt that everybody eats too much. I mean, there really is no doubt of it. That's why it's a good- I agree with that. I mean, three meals a day, breakfast, lunch, dinner, who made that shit up? Like we probably don't need that. Most people have not gone a day without food, which everybody right now is probably thinking, oh, well, that's a good thing. Well, not really. I mean, we evolved going without food for periods of time. It's part of our DNA. It's actually healthy for us. In fact, a lot of the health benefits that people get from low calorie, you can get from fasting or prolonged fasting. And I mean, we are gluttonous. Like we throw away more food in developed nations than some of these third world countries have to feed themselves with. The amount of food that we throw away is insane. The amount of food that we consume is insane. And it's changed pretty recently. Like if you look online, you can look at pictures of what the typical soda look like, or the typical French fries or burger, or what the typical steak look like when you went to a restaurant. And they're a lot smaller than they are now. Like I go to, you go to Cheesecake Factory and the fucking size of the meal that they give you is insane. It wasn't like that 40 years ago. 40 years ago, you didn't find that size of a meal anywhere. You get a meal. Actually, if you go to Europe, in fact, you go to Europe and you order meals in Europe and you see them in these other countries that they're very small. Like you have a breakfast in some countries and it's like one egg in this. You don't really need that much, I mean, to keep your body up. We do eat way, way, way too much food. So I see where he's definitely coming with us. Well, I just think too, like things are like, it just seems so many things are more optimal when it's cyclical, you know? And it's your undulating sort of your process, right? As opposed to like, okay, this is my formula and I'm like trying so hard to maintain this consistency long-term forever, right? That just doesn't seem like the most beneficial way for my body to react all the time. Like it's gonna get super efficient at that. Well, he said, he points out right here that, you know, and then once maintenance is set, you can build muscle with the lower caloric intake, even though the science is calories going to be too low. There is some good truth to this. Yeah, that's true. I remember experiencing this the first time that I got lean for a show. I remember pushing my body to a body fat percentage that I'd never been to before. What required me to do that was a low calorie level for a longer period than I've ever done before in my life. And I actually found that post-show, when I went back to trying to build again, I actually built and broke through a muscle-building plateau of mine that I'd been in for quite some time. And that was because I had created this new caloric maintenance by cutting, you know? And once I got rid of that fear of, oh my God, staying low calorie for this long, I'm gonna lose all this muscle off my body. Once I got past that fear, that that wasn't true. And I realized I just shredded all this body fat. My body got adapted to consuming 2,300, 2,500 calories. So then when I went back to eating 3,000, 3,500 and lifted and continued to train, my body started to pack on muscle pretty well. Some of the best muscle gains you'll ever get will come from something like that. That's why we recommend mini cuts and mini bulks. You do desensitize your body. And there's some science to suggest that that happens with protein where you consume high levels of protein all the time. Your body just becomes less efficient with it, uses more of it for energy than it normally would and less of it for muscle building. And you get less of it of a muscle-building effect. So yeah, going low calorie and then bumping it up to build muscle, you'll see that benefit more than if you are always high calorie. But I think we can all agree most people eat too much food all the time. Definitely. Next up is Shani Doe. What's your thoughts on stevia compared to other artificial sweeteners? Would you put it in the same category with the same side effects related to microbiome, appetite, et cetera? Or is it relatively harmless? I don't know, you just posted something about this, right? I don't think that you could put it in the same category as artificial sweeteners because it's not artificial, it's real. Yeah, it's derived from a plant. It's not an artificial sweetener, but it is a- Processed one. A replacement for sugar, right? So it's a- Highly processed, right? It can be, it can be very processed because they don't just get put the leaf in there, they have to process the shit of it to make it taste good. So there's evidence, more and more of it's coming out. Recently a study just was published showing that glucose intolerance is observed in the gut after a short period of time of consuming artificial sweeteners. There have been other studies connecting things like diabetes and glucose issues with artificial sweeteners. So this is all, it's all pointing in the same direction. There's been studies on artificial sweeteners and their effect on the gut microbiome, in particular how they kill the beneficial bacteria that we know about, sucralose in particular. Sucralose I think in one study killed off 50% of the beneficial bacteria that we know about. I say we know about, because there's so much bacteria in there, but there are ones we know that are good. Sucralose kills a shit ton of it and the odds are your protein powder, or whatever pre-workout is probably flavored with sucralose. So we are always anti artificial sweeteners. There's just more evidence against them. Plus they are artificial. Now of course there's things that are natural that are bad for you too. So I'm not saying all things that are natural are good for you, but the odds that we create something in a laboratory that's gonna have no negative side effects are much lower than something that people have been consuming for thousands of years that we just have thousands of years of anecdotal evidence. No, and we know kind of what it does and what it doesn't do. Like stevia has been consumed for a very, very, very, very long time. It's been consumed by people much longer than artificial sweeteners. It is part of a plant. Again, animals and plants and bacteria all co-evolve on earth together. So the likelihood that something that people consume thousands of years ago for a long time. Where's the highest concentration of stevia found? What do you mean? In earth. It's a plant. It's in a leaf. Oh, you mean, oh, where's it grown? That's a good question. I don't know. Maybe Doug can look that up while I'm talking. Is it South America, Doug? I think it's South America. Doug just said throw it out there. No, I think he's riding in South America. So that's why I'll go artificial. If I'm gonna bet money, I'm gonna go natural all day long always because I know I'm gonna win most of the time. That being said that does not mean stevia or stevia is perfectly safe. Stevia has no calories in it, so that makes it cool. Doesn't really affect blood glucose levels like sugar wealth, so that's cool. Is it perfectly safe? Here's why I'm gonna say no. Anything that, because I think we consider the perception of sweetness as being benign. In other words, when our brain perceives something to taste a certain way, we think that that has no other effects on the rest of our body. So if we can create something or have something that we perceive as sweet but has no calories, then we think then it's perfectly fine. That doesn't mean anything. Not true. There is an effect because it still tastes sweet. That sweet perception is going to change things in your body and the way your body reacts. There's a reason why you perceive that taste. Now, is it bad that you perceive sweetness and it's not accompanied by sugar or something that sweetness normally comes with? Maybe. That might be a problem. Not quite sure. But this whole tricking our body with flavors without calories and thinking that there's not gonna be any potential side effects. Or you're not getting the vitamins and those nutrients attached to it. I don't buy that. I think anytime you perceive something, there's something changing, including sweetness. And because historically, evolutionarily speaking, anytime we tasted something that was sweet, it came with sugar typically, that I think hormones and chemicals in the body are going to react in a particular way or at least the receptors that interact with those things. It's very, very complex. Remember the human metabolism is besides the brain, the most complex thing, animal metabolism is just the most complex thing that we know about in the universe. And so it's not as easy as eat this, no calories, therefore it has no effect. I don't think so. Do I think Stevia or Stevia is a better alternative than artificial sweeteners? 100%, absolutely. Do I think it's better than sugar? Depends on the context. You know what I'm saying? Right, how much of it? Exactly, like if I have something with fruit in it and the rest of my diet's healthy, then is that gonna be okay? Sure, if I'm eating too much sugar, too many calories and the overconsumption's gonna be bad, then maybe throwing in some Stevia in there might be better. Then that makes sense in that context. How often do you guys personally, I mean, it's complete transparency. I probably use Stevia in my coffee in the morning, which is pretty regular. And then I have my green coax occasionally, which is Stevia and cane sugar. And then I believe our green juice is actually sweetened with Stevia also. So organic supplements are, if it's organic and if it's sweetened without sugar, it's gonna be sweetened with, typically with Stevia. Stevia, monk fruit will be something else that's in there. Keep in mind supplements are, they're not as ideal as food. They never will be as ideal as food. It's just the bottom line. So like we are sponsored by Organifi. I personally have been really enjoying their green juice. I've noticed now that I've used it now for a while, I've noticed great gut health benefits, which I did not anticipate. It's actually something I think it's gonna be a staple that I use now for a long time, relatively regularly because I notice it really has a positive effect on my gut health. It is flavored with Stevia. That's probably most of the Stevia, that's all the Stevia I get. I don't use Stevia otherwise to sweeten things. If I drink coffee, it's typically black or with butter or whatever. Stevia is also can be processed non-organically. So if you do get it, I would say it's probably better to be organic. Well, the reason why I'm asking and I wanted to hear where you guys are at is, I think that I use it quite a bit and I already am aware of that and that I'm always trying to be mindful of it when I make those choices that day, like, oh, you know, today, I just happened to grab a bar on the go, that's not normal. So maybe I'm not gonna, this is definitely not a day, I'm also gonna have my green Coke and I'm also gonna have the green juice. So I'm already mindful of the intake and I'm always trying to minimize that. I think that that's always the message that I'm always trying to share with others is that, okay, in reality, there's gonna be, there's much bigger rocks always, right? Debating over Stevia versus artificial sweeteners or regular sugar and then the rest of your health and nutrition is fucking upside down. Yeah, I wouldn't be stressing over that that much. I would be trying to minimize it as much as possible but then focusing on these other areas. And I think there's a give and take on some of these things. If there's certain way, for example, the green juice, and I think Justin recommended how this is how he uses the Organify a lot. It's just a way, I've used it the same way too because I used to like Coke zeros or the green Cokes. It's just, I like to sip on something besides water. I drink a ton of water already and so I like to have something else. It's a nice change, right? And if it helps me not drink something else that is way worse for me, this one at least has a bunch of benefits that I'm getting from the green juice. I'm gonna take that because it's a lesser evil. So I think all these things have to kind of come into play when your thought process of I do or I don't. Yeah, I think that's the important message really is to pay attention, to really understand your intake with that. And like you said, like I definitely am not gonna eliminate all things that taste sweet in my diet. That's just not a reality. Like there'll be days where I do try and do that and I'm more mindful to consume less carbohydrates, sweetening sugar, Stevia's, whatever it is, I'm putting in my daily intake. But yeah, like I like to use stuff like that, like green juice, just like you said, like I'll look forward to it that way. So the more you sort of minimize it in your diet, the more actually you look forward to it. Yeah, now Stevia in South America as an herb was used for to treat certain things. So like stomach problems, colic. And believe it or not, I gotta read more about this, but as a contraception, as a form of contraception. So some naturopaths will recommend that women who are trying to get pregnant or are pregnant might wanna look into or think twice about maybe using Stevia because of that. But it's also got health benefits. So like their studies showing Stevia's got anti-cancer properties, improves blood pressure, good for cholesterol. And again, it's been used for a long time in South America as a medicinal herb. So that's why I always lean towards it as my, you know, non-chloric sweetener of choice. Quick commercial break, you guys. We keep getting asked all the time, how can I support the Mind Pump family? Here's one of the best ways you guys can. You guys love that Chimeric coffee that we have. Chimeric coffee with a K, you go to chimericcoffee.com. Put in the discount code Mind Pump for 10% at the checkout. If you guys have not tried Ben Greenfield's new bars out, they're fantastic. If you want some, go to bengreenfieldfitness.com forward slash nature bite. Put in the code Mind Pump and get 10% off. Go check it out. Next up is T-fluid. What are the best anabolic foods? Oh, easy. Fat. Yeah, no, I'm gonna say very, very easy. Okay, so if we're talking about foods that actually have an anabolic effect. Steroids. Anabolic meaning. I'll eat those for breakfast. Yeah, go to the steroid tree. That actually promote an anabolic environment with your hormones and everything in your body. Dietary cholesterol. If you consume, and it doesn't work long-term, it's kind of a short-term thing, you'll get it. You'll notice it. Steak and eggs. Yeah, and by the way, old school bodybuilders and old school strongmen, this is what they used to do. When they wanted to get stronger, they would eat liver and egg yolks and full fat, butters and creams. And they didn't know why it worked. They just knew that it worked and it made them really strong. It was the cholesterol. It was the cholesterol. There's many studies that show that consuming high amounts of dietary cholesterol for relatively short periods of time, three to six weeks or whatever, you'll get a boost in testosterone. Remember, cholesterol is the, it's like the base molecule for hormones. In fact, cholesterol itself is a steroid. Steroid refers to a class of molecules. Consuming more cholesterol, strengthen cell membranes. It will increase testosterone levels. You'll notice an anabolic strength-building effect. I always do when I do this. Again, I notice it short-term. It's like three weeks and it kind of goes away and then I bring it back down because I may notice some negative effects. People are still so scared of this because of the American Heart Association. Like we fucked it up for everybody. I feel, I feel in sodium too, like this. So I feel like- Good one. And I highly recommend people trying this, right? Where they'll kind of go low, either come off of fast or like lower sodium, lower calorie, lower type cholesterol and then feeding it hard so you can really see the difference, right? Obviously, if you don't track, you don't pay attention and then all of a sudden you just, oh, I'm gonna have some more eggs in my diet or have some liver every now and then. You may not see enough of a difference. And I know Sal has talked about this on the show before he'll literally look at his total amount of cholesterol and double the intake. And so it takes kind of that difference to really feel the difference if you're looking for that anabolic feeling. And nothing has given me more than that than actually restricting from certain foods and then feeding back into it. I think it felt more inflammation as a result, right? So you have to manage that properly as far as the time frame that you do this, right? Yeah, so I'll do it. When I do this, I'll usually phase it around a strength building phase, because that's where I know. And cholesterol bumping or cholesterol also strengthens the central nervous system. And so I think that's where a lot of the strength gains come from and then the muscle gains follow. But having cholesterol post-workout, this is something that I've been talking about for a little while, and this is very interesting. Cholesterol is used to repair muscles as well. In fact, if you do intense workout and then they test your serum cholesterol in your blood, it'll go down because your body is up to such an end. That was something that we called a long time ago that I don't know if I've seen yet. Has someone done that yet? I've heard a couple people talk about it. It's not new information. It's old. Like they used to do it back in the day. But it's made a comeback because of what? Two years ago or three years ago, God's when we first started Mind Pump when American Heart Association had to come out and recant what they had been saying for the last 30 plus years. Because it's no longer a new trend and concern according to them. Right, and back then it was, right? So now that it's not, now that it's more popular, American Heart Association recognizes as it's okay, now I bet we're gonna see supplements start to come out that's related to them. We've speculated and talked about doing it ourselves. Yeah, and now here's the problem with that is how do you provide cholesterol in a non-oxidized form? Because eggs, for example, egg yolks, when you cook the shit out of your eggs, you actually damage some of the cholesterol and not only make it less- You gotta go raw, baby. Less ideal, but in fact, it may be pro-inflammatory a little bit. If you eat the egg yolks raw, then the cholesterol is better for it. So I don't know how they would put it in a supplement without processing it and creating, and just making it bad. Just some really nasty drink. You know, and see what happens. I'm not quite, I'm not sure, but like post-workout- Remember how they used to do the egg white pumps? Yeah. Maybe they do that with the yolks. Dude, it's funny. It's like we should call that, we should call the company that makes egg whites and be like, hey, what are you doing with all the yolks? Give us your leftovers. Yeah, we'll take all the yolks over. But yeah, post-workout, man, you'll get faster recovery and more strength from doing that. The other one is saturated fat, bumping up your, I know I'm saying all the shit that everybody's like, oh my God. I know, what do I say? Blast for me. Sodium saturated fats and fats, that's it. Blast for me. It's true. It's true. Bump up your saturated fat intake if you're healthy otherwise, and it's natural sources of saturated fat or good sources. And you'll notice that your strength will typically go up as well. But I'll tell you something right now, nothing's more anabolic with food than going from a deficit to a surplus. And when you do something like the sodium thing I'm talking about, so I always recommend someone tracks it first, kind of pay attention to where you're at and keep it minimal. And then like, if I'm gonna boost it, I'm gonna boost it with like a salt, like a Himalayan pink salt. Oh dude, I'm glad you brought that up on Thrive. Oh yeah. So Thrive's got a great price on Himalayan pink salt because it's normally expensive as shit at the store. Check this out, I'm glad you brought that up, Adam. I just read an article, they just did a study Oh sea salt. On a bunch of popular brands of sea salts. And I believe in either all of them or almost all of them, like a majority of them, they found microscopic plastic. What? Yes, in almost every single one. That's the state of our ocean. That's our fuss. We have so much fucking plastic. That's cause of our oceans. Cause they're getting it from the ocean and our oceans are filthy. There's like islands of plastic. So they're filthy as fuck, right? Yeah. So that you take sea salt and you're a health person, you're like, oh, I'm gonna eat this healthy sea salt and you end up ingesting plastic, which is very bad for you. Wow, so freshy. So I'm telling people, I'm telling my family, everybody like either you consume the best sources of Himalayan because it's mined from ancient beds of salt that existed before we polluted the shit out of our oceans. So it's clean or gotta go with the fricking, you know, process the shit. Salt. Because it's better than plastic. How fucked up is that? Wow. Yeah, isn't that fucked up? That is fucked up. I did not know that. But yeah, Thrive's got a good price on it. Dude, I can't believe some of the stuff on Thrive. Like something like that, the salt would literally be like 15 bucks. That salt, that Himalayan. Yeah, no, that's what it would be. Yeah, no, it's seven bucks. Yeah, I know, on Thrive, it's like half the price. It's crazy. Everything's on there like that. Everything I'm buying, everything on there because it's all like 30, 40 or half, 50%. And I know Whole Foods now has lowered their prices because they're working with Amazon. So it's cool to see this little price war, but Thrive's still lower, dude. Thrive still has the lowest prices. They still beat him for sure. So any of those, whether you're doing sodium, the cholesterol, I even get that anabolic feeling from depleting carbohydrates for three or four days and then pumping them back up. But to me, I think if you really wanna feel the difference and potentially see the difference in your workout, like, spend a little time tracking, just see where you're at currently. And whatever, and I would do one by itself so you can kind of feel the difference of each of them because I think everybody, depending on what you are either oversaturated with or very low on, will feel difference because I've done this with sodium with someone and it was like, oh my God, game changer for them. And then I've done it with other people and then they felt like really nothing from it. I've done it with, I've done the fats thing with people and they feel little to no big deal over it. And then I've had other people that's been like, oh my God, game changer for. So what I think it has the most to do, of course, our genetic makeup makes the biggest difference, but even like what you regularly do already with the bodies already become very adapted to, if you already eat pretty high cholesterol and then telling you to add more cholesterol may not make a huge difference for you. So same thing goes with the sodium. So pay attention to kind of where you're at and then play with one of those, maybe double them as long as you're in a healthy, safe range, which it takes quite a bit of that stuff. I want to say the first time I heard about really consuming a lot of cholesterol for strength was when I was reading, because I love to read old school bodybuilders and stuff. Yeah, the old timey. And one guy, Vince Garanda, who was known at the time as being like the smartest bodybuilder. Like everybody, he had gyms and he gave people diets and he was known as like the scientists of bodybuilders. And he was shredded, especially back when he competed. He had like full six pack, back when bodybuilders kind of looked a little bigger and smoother. And he had a diet that he would recommend for strength and they call it the steak and eggs diet. And it was like steak and eggs cooked in butter and full fat cream. And he used to promote the hell out of this, the bodybuilders, and Arnold even did some of these diets to gain mass in his early years and he talks about it in his encyclopedia of bodybuilding. So for all you muscle building nerds, look up the Vince Garanda diet. It's right along those lines. Also, go to YouTube, subscribe to our channel. It's the coolest channel on YouTube. It was actually ranked number one. In the world. Coolest. In the world by us. We got a trophy. Mind Pump TV. Also, 30 days of coaching, it's available. It's for anybody. It's free. Just go to mindpumpmedia.com and subscribe. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy, and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Superbundle at mindpumpmedia.com. The RGB Superbundle includes MAPS Anabolic, MAPS Performance, and MAPS Aesthetic. 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