 You're listening to Barbell Logic brought to you by Barbell Logic Online Coaching where each week we take a systematic walk through strength training and the refining power of voluntary hardship. Welcome to the Barbell Logic podcast. I'm Scott Hamburg and there's Matt Reynolds and we've got the team from A7 here. Yes. Yeah from A7 and international and we were we were just talking before we turned the mics on that Jason had ordered a Tesla this Tesla El Camino and and I was like, so why was compelling and truck about that thing for you? Why did you order that? I just think it's got such an innovative design And I think that the way that I try to look at the world is when people are really trying to push Something new that's great. It's always going to be Offset, I guess by the community and what they're thinking, but that's just the I don't know I guess the simple answer is I was really moved by the way that the design was shaped and the innovation and that It's a change to the truck industry. I Like it. I like it too. In the meanwhile about a Ford F-250 for about a third of the price Yeah, Scott just bought a bought a farm actually do those things those trucks start at 39. Yeah, it's not too bad You know, I was looking at that and being from the background. I'm from I was like Oh, he's got all these flat panels welded together because it's like One-tenth of the cost of actually like pounding out a contoured panel, you know stamping them out Interesting So I wanted to have you guys on the show you guys have been friends of the show for a while And and I think most of our listeners know we we're real choosy about who we Who we let advertise on the show We we don't let new Pete new companies advertise on the show that we aren't already Fans of and so I was talking to you guys before we started recording that I've been using your a seven-year bar grip shirts for I think like five years. How long you guys been making the bar grip shirts? Yeah, so we started back in This would have been right around the five-year mark. So it would have been December December, yeah, just well December 2014 is when we actually started a seven and then we started launching products around the August of 2015, okay. Yeah. Yep. The first a seven product. I saw was that shirt you had Reynolds and it had to be Right around that time close to five four and a half years ago. Yeah, I got lucky. I wasn't even looking for it I was on a I was on a website that that a big a big Fitness equipment website and I was like looking for shirts just like normal t-shirts. I was like wait a minute Here's a t-shirt with a rubber on the back. This is awesome Let's try let's get this and of course, you know, and and the price has always been pretty good like the price actually is Really not much more than just a normal t-shirt. It's surprising Yeah, like it's actually too low. Should we talk Scott? Should we start talking them into raising their prices? It's eight to ten dollars too cheap. Is that is that bar grip stuff on the back of that shirt? Is that screen printed on there? So we've experimented with so many different ways of doing this to the point that we actually set up our own factory In Pakistan that's American owned that handles all of our production one of our friends from California Actually has been out there for the last two years running it So to kind of break down the process. It is a screen printed process But it's kind of like 12 different membranes that we're kind of mixing together in a layering process That yeah, it's really kind of complicated to explain it all but all that to say there's different variants of heat and chemical applications that allow for the curing of it to Reachieve that optimal result which we're kind of going for that tack feel Similar to those little toys that you used to get from the quarter machine as a kid that you know It'd stick to everything essentially. Yeah, you know the thing that I still have that original shirt by the way Scott now I've got now I've got a bunch more shirts and I tend to wear those other ones but but even the shirt that I have that's four and a half years old that you know, that's been full of my my Matt Reynolds bacon grease Bax back sweat and has been washed hundreds of times and for a long time like when you buy a new shirt And you're sort of proud of it. You like I didn't dry it I turned it inside out or whatever and then I you know, I'd wash it then I turn it back right right side out and then Hang it to dry, but for like the past three years. I've just washed and dried it an actual dryer It's still pretty tacky four and a half years later Now it's not as tacky as the brand new ones, but it it is held up surprisingly well For me wearing it and having you know Big neural barbells on my back for the last for the last four and a half years So so for for people that don't know you make a shirt That you call the bar grip shirt and you make a lot of stuff now over the last couple years You've really you've expanded beyond the bar grip shirt But the bar grip shirt is the thing that people will know a seven buy and it's really just it's a shirt That has that's got this sort of screen print printed rubberized material on the back of it The the t-shirt itself is just a well made is that it's like a cotton polyblender is a cotton shirt What is like us you get the right amount of stretch with It's a kind of shirt you would wear anyway if it wasn't covered in rubber on the back out to the coffee shop But but this is got this has got this rubberized Design on the back and you guys have all sorts of different designs you have you also have this point You've got t-shirts. You've got tanks. You've got women's crops You've got all kinds of both male and female style shirts, but it just really helps the bar Stick to your back on the squats and then I really like it on bench press Especially for clients for my clients who train at at what I would call like a global box gym that have very That have like slick bench presses. So if you're if you're benching and they've got that like that real slick hard Vinyl it's not like a good rubberized Vinyl like you we're talking about the bench itself with the crampy Yeah, when the bench itself is slick and you're gonna slide down it and you put on a normal shirt And you just whoop and you slide down that bench a bar grip shirt fixes that for you And we've seen people doing all kinds of crazy stuff you know they'll bring in yoga mats and try to and try to put yoga mats on their bench presses and and wrap them with like Bands and so you just get a bar grip shirt and put a bar grip shirt on and they don't need any of that stuff And you can lay down on a bench and stick to the bench And so I I love your shirts that that's I've been a huge fan for years Yeah, when we actually came up with the idea for bar grip, you know I was I was doing a Lion MacDonald program that had me it called for me to do like 20 reps of squats and everything like that and This this program just was beating me to death and I was at a gym in Atlanta Which is incredibly incredibly warm in July, which is when this was or I'm sorry in June when this was and I Was on my third set with these 20 reps and the t-shirt and the chalk mixed was more like pudding Then helping me with anything and I actually had the bar roll down my back doing low bar squats and it tore my anconia So oh wow. Yeah, so for about three months. I couldn't even straighten my arm I was in a sling and everything and I looked at it kind of as a blessing Which is how I try to look at things when they hurt me is how can I overcome and how can I Become a little bit better through this and that's really where the idea of bar grip took off And by the time that we got home that day I turned to Tatiana said I have something that I really think and help our community And that's really where we've always tried to take our approach as we try to look at the community Understand what's going on in the community and opportunities that we can really Help the community and we try to look at it more from that side Then kind of a business model if that makes sense because we know they're helping people We're doing the right thing and it all kind of carried through so you had started a seven even before the bar grip idea came out It was a seven already. It was just a yeah fitness clothing brand before bar grip even was when a seven started actually it was really interesting The idea of a seven the name I'll start there is actually the name of a band that I was part of in high school So we took the name a seven what's what kind of music. Oh rock all the way man Just wide genre of rock Okay, but uh, yeah a seven stands for approaching seven and seven is generally looked at as kind of the perfect or the complete number So with that said it's always approaching perfection approaching the police in the idea of always bettering yourself and the character there in And when we started the idea of a seven It originally was called a seven fitness health and nutrition. So a little bit more of a mouthful. Yeah, definitely I used to work in a incorporate I used to manage a high-rise kind of minions and I went to sit down with my boss one day and she turned to me and she She said why are you doing this? And at first? I thought it was dismissive like I'm not doing a good job but she was basically encouraging me to explore more in my world and try to challenge myself more and Fortunate for her. I just got done pulling a deadlift PR that day So the follow-up question she had was if you could be doing anything with your with your life but you couldn't be sitting around watching Netflix all day, what would you be doing and why aren't you doing it now and It was the first time somebody really believed in my power like that and the next day We started recording videos for YouTube for a seven and started a YouTube channel and we saw really good growth with that and initially and then through that process of just you know trying to grow a community of like-minded individuals that really wanted to structure themselves to become better I Had this magnificent injury happen to me and it really just offset the whole flow that you guys kind of see and focus now Through our social media and and you know everything that we're doing and trying to connect with people if that makes sense Yeah, so what was the first product then if it wasn't that bar? Yeah, that's what it is. So we did make some t-shirts before we had bar grip, but they were really just Shirts that I really wanted to wear if that makes sense I thought the design was really cool We put them together on a on a t-shirt gave them out to the people that were supporting us and that we're really Living the never stop the progress and demand greatness lifestyle That we've always pushed for and we just gave them out and from there You know when we've made our first prototype of bar grip We handed out a couple shirts to people At the gym and it was just crazy because I thought that this idea of bar grip was just going to be a silly shirt That may be myself and a couple loved ones or people that that that I deal with on the day to day We're gonna want to wear and as soon as we saw the first person You know hit hit over a 500 pound squad in it and say wow I actually felt the difference it it just told us that we were on to something right and we knew that We just need to make the product better and connect with more customers to try to advance them in there They're training anything we can help them with it's awesome I have a I have my old guys by those because It's not really necessarily a performance thing although that's there But they get these sores in their backs they get these rashes in their backs They just won't heal up these guys are 60 70 years old sometimes really and that shirt protects them It's a piece of safety gear for a lot of my guys. It's a it's a big deal So Christmas is coming. What do these people that are listening to this show need to do? Yeah, so we we actually just got done with their our black Friday sale But we with that sale we actually launched some really cool amazing new products That really help with the innovation effect that we're always on to one of the biggest products that we launched That we've actually been in prototyping and designing for about the last 14 16 months is what we call our you bag and This is a bag that we designed specifically for Lifters people who are you know having to carry around their belt their knee sleeves their shoes As well as you know take their stuff that they need for work with them like their laptop and things like this And we've really designed a bag from the complete ground up where it started with sketches And then we did a prototype and we didn't like this and we liked that and all that to say we've we finalized it We launched into the community It's a really great bag that has Some key features of it are like 500 dinier nylon. So this is really really strong Supportive exterior in it. It has a triple stitch reinforcement. It has expansion pack to it So even when your bags at its max capacity need a little bit extra room And it's a three inch expansion zipper in it to give you some more room in the core of the duffel But I think the biggest reason that people are gravitating to this bag outside of the high quality that I kind of mentioned Even where we used metal ykk zippers is we've we've come up with a really great System for the belt to loop both vertically as well as horizontally which in theory you can even take two belts with you So if you use a different belt for squats compared to deadlifts like I know a lot of lifters prefer to do They can go ahead and fit both of these belts in the bag and still have full access to their bag With our vertical drop through for the belt You can actually still open the clamshell layout of the bag You can still open up the back of the bag where we actually have a separate sleeve From the bag designed for your laptop to slide in as well as a tablet And these all hold up to the the current size including the 16 inch New Apple computer that just came out. So we've really tried to put our attention to detail on this We've lined it with ripstop nylon. So if you do get a little scratch in it It's not going to destroy and unravel the whole bag So all that to say that's probably the the biggest item that we've launched for this black Friday that we've been the most excited About we've also launched a whole bunch of a really cool new designs for shirts Really just tried to provide with the customers have always given it for their feedback I'm looking at this bag now people that have listened to the podcast now. I'm a huge fan of ebags I actually the bag that I take to the gym now is a is an ebag mother-load But this bag looks badass dude and the problem with Bags for I travel all the time is that when you try to put a belt in a bag You try to carry it on especially if it's got a lever on it You're guaranteed to have a TSA agent put a rubber glove on and do a body cavity search It's amazing and so I love the fact that you've got the option to sort of have the buckle Exposed outside the bag so that they can see exactly what it is for those of you that travel I'm gonna have to give me one of these bags. It actually looks it was Who I like that they said it on they said it on camera send me a bag there we go And I'll do a review. So no these I'm a I'm a huge bag nerd So I I have I bet I've got 12 backpacks and almost all of them are from ebags I'm a I'm an ebags guy I've got all different sizes because I try you know all travel for a two-day trip or a four-day trip or a Seven-day trip or whatever and I actually just I just joined a gym for the first time in like 20 years as I've owned Gems and have a nice home gym and so I was like actually for the first time in a long time I had to like pack a gym bag to take to a the actual gym instead of just have all my stuff in my Home gym that I have now and I was thinking like this this is this bag that I have is pretty good for like bringing clothes And and laptops and stuff, but it's not great for like Olympic weightlifting shoes and belts and so This bet yeah, so it's called the you bag at a seven by the way your website is a seven co Right, and you guys are really like international. You got a you got a seven all over the place So you're you're an American owned company is it right? I want to make sure I get this right But you are all over the place. Yeah, definitely. We actually just signed I think our ninth distribution zone so in the coming the coming launch will actually have Russia joining up for the next launch and then we have we just signed a contract with mainland China a couple days ago So while China mainland China take off as well We've got a couple other points to try to help a small group of people you got to meet the needs Yeah, a lot of people we got to meet and we've got a couple other talks to try to help get the gear to the lifters quicker You know because I know that's probably the biggest hurdle when we're looking at power lifting It's just trying to make sure you have it available. You know, yeah, I was gonna ask so What is the typical turnaround time? So, you know, most of our we certainly have some international lifters Especially Western Europe Australia some groups like that, but most of our listeners are gonna be are gonna be us people What typical turnaround is my experience has been pretty fast. Are you guys still in you know going into Christmas? How late can you order? You were told me before we turn on the recording You actually have several of your employees right now like in the warehouse like Stuff from things in boxes and send them out What is you have sort of an end date like if they get an order in by December 15th or something that you can You'll have it there by Christmas. Do you guys have you guys set it all depend on really which zone they're in? So, you know, since in the US we still ship internationally and everything sure if they're outside of the states and everything It's gonna be a little bit trickier to kind of get here But I always just tell people, you know play it safe try to plan 10 days before the holiday We actually shut down our website right before when we do the cut-off and everything So you'll probably say shut down around that time on for at least the domestic orders So we really try to help customers out throughout that whole process So I don't I don't really have an exact answer, but we will ship them out to give you an idea We had the whole team there until around six o'clock in the morning on Six o'clock Saturday morning from finishing our order So we are all very dedicated We we try not to look at the package as if it's just another package going out Every customer gets a handwritten note Every customer gets a little candy in their bag when we're shipping domestically and they don't get interfered by customs And we really just try to go the extra mile for the customers to make sure that we're treating it like it's going to our mother or our father Or our best friend and it's not just a package that's going out the door uncared for You guys know have you ever heard of? Happy Van Winkle whiskey. Yeah so so You guys are actually really similar to like the happy Van Winkle of fitness Right out and what I mean by that is like it's very high quality. It's very high quality It's low in supply and high in demand and and you do a great job of actually even playing to that Like you guys will shut your website down like nope can't buy our stuff right now and Everybody's like when when's it when's the launch coming? When's it come and then you you're able to use that and you know Pappy's the same way so they're like hey, man We don't have very many every year and it's coming out and demand is incredibly high and supply is pretty low As a matter of fact if there's if there's any complaint about your business It's that there are lots of times when like damn and I wanted that shirt and it's sold out so fast I didn't get it, you know and so but that's that means you're doing it right you've you've You've created a tremendous amount of demand for the product and it's because the product is great, right? We are looking at a future partnership with a barbologic having a barbologic a7 bar grip shirt Personalized with with the barbologic logo on the back And so keep your eyes open for that in the future But until that thing is out and I don't even know if I'm gonna offer that to the public I'll be honest with you. I'm probably just I might just offer it to the clients. Well, here's what I'll tell you I'm gonna offer it to the clients and the staff first And if it sells out from the clients and the staff then it's never going on the website So, you know, we want to constantly again. It comes back to people I want to reward our people so that people who've invested in us We want to invest back in them and so but I already own five of these shirts Plus I own a bunch of other cool shit, too Like you get good shorts and all kinds of fun stuff, but so get on the website go to a7.co You guys have it your stuff is really fashionable, too Like it fits well the shirts fit well. You can tell my wife Really into being fashionable look at him I'm glad it's a podcast I have a face for podcasting so no I mean, you know, it's like you guys have done a really good job of making the cuts that you you know how Lifters are built so you know how to design your clothes to fit lifters where you know, it's tight where you want it tight It's a loose where you want it loose. It fits correctly So we love your products man. You guys have done a great job Jason and Tatiana Thanks for coming on the show and telling everybody about your business and a little bit of your story. Thanks so much Thank you guys. You really appreciate it. Absolutely Let's answer some questions. What do you say Anna? Who is a female listener 24? She is 33 years old Perfect five foot seven one forty five Sounds great. Not too bad. She says I've only been able to pull two hundred and twenty for a double for over a month At this point and I'm wondering what I should do differently to be able to hit that number My goal is a five rep max and then be able to complete continue Upping the intensity And she she doesn't give us any information here about About her training or training but I think we could guess like if we had a lady like her that was stalled pulling a double there What would we have to do? I? Got theories She probably needs to pull more Yeah, or frequency more volume. She I would guess I would guess that she's probably just pulling twice a week It doesn't say that But I'd have her pull three times a week and do a heavy light medium kind of thing I might have her on a four-day split, but I'd still have her pull three times a week Right or well or if you ever on a four-day split You also could have so much volume on that second piece that it's it would be the same amount of volume as if you did Heavy light media so three times a week right so the total amount of like kind of tonnage and volume would be the So what you're what under your plan? It would be like pull your big heavy double Then squat and then do two and then well and then two back offs probably and then another day of like five sets of five on Dead list five sets five on deadlifts Five sets of four whatever, but that's probably what she needs. I wouldn't have her do five sets of five Well, I'm just saying a vault like a volume type. Hey, I like six doubles seven doubles eight doubles for those ladies I like six sets of three dude. I've been doing six sets of three. I've been killing it You're just gonna have to do more sister. That's the answer. Yep I'll run somebody at six sets of three as long as I can and then I'll drop the third rep and go to six doubles But I don't start with six doubles, right? I start with like the triples Cuz we're not that heavy yet, and then when they start getting real heavy. I just pull that third rep So yeah, you're just gonna have to pull more you're gonna have to pull more The intensity guys who always say to increase intensity say you got a pull more It's actually true at some point you can't keep putting weight on the bar until you do some more work Just gotta do you more? I'm sorry Sorry, and so of course your volume days are gonna be lighter, of course dudes I Would have their volume work maybe 70 to 80 percent of their five rep Sure, but she's a higher than that females and older people will be probably more like in that 85 90% area That's what I was gonna say 98 to 90. Yeah, good luck. You'll be fine. Just keep working and stay with it Don't get frustrated. It will come Francisco says When we talk about programming He gets so confused. That means we're not doing a good job. Sorry man And he says what books do you recommend for a novice? to read about programming Cuz they want to understand the theory and the notes nuts and bolts of the programming There isn't one sorry man I You know the theory and project programming is pretty good chapter two of practical programming is golden So good. Yep. I agree chapter three ain't bad either No, it's I the beginning the theory that's laid out there is pretty is pretty solid How to apply that theory and then to be able to take that theory to the next level to say well This is why we make minimum effective dose changes Why do we do three sets of five in the beginning for linear progression? Why linear progression or why is linear progression linear with intensity increases as opposed to a volume increase or something like All those are questions that should be answered and aren't necessarily answered We need to be answered in a future minimum effective dose book written by Scott Andrew says hey guys love your show you talked about two groups No, she says you talk a lot about two groups the underweight 18 year old kid You should do go mad and the 40 plus age man looking to get healthy. He says what amount of food is necessary for a 30 year old? Right, I don't know overweight or underweight or the right weight. No, he doesn't say that even say For just a 30 year. He says I don't feel like I need as much as the young kid But I don't fit in the older category. You probably actually do fit in the older category or at least closer to it Then you suspect always 30 He's 30 don't run a stream shed. He's fine 30 years old man. You're listen at 30. You're closer to the young man than you are the old man Yeah, now for a few more years and then it falls off the cliff and then you're not I Have no dietician or nutritionist, but I would say you may be overthinking it make sure you get 200 grams of protein every day and Put a tape around your navel Once a week and as long as the weight is going up on the barbell and the tape is not You're not having to let out more tape Then I would say your your diet is just fine if the weight on the barbell stalls and the tape You're not letting out tape eat more if the weight on the barbell is going up But you're letting out the tape you can probably trim back a little bit There is an iterative iterative process you have to go through we got to figure it out And we figure it out by looking at the scale looking at the weight on the barbell and looking at how big around You'll belly is You'll figure it out There you go Lucas says great show guys always enjoy listening in a few weeks. I'm having a vasectomy. No All right next pocket next one. Wait, but wait, what if the but is the next sentence I already have a Welcome their fourth child in and the doctor said For three total weeks he said how much of a strength decrease can I expect after coming back from a three-week break? Any other lifting tips specific to me and coming back from a vasectomy? Hey, listen I've got some lifting tips for people coming back from vasectomy Don't do a darn thing for three like I know so many guys that like oh, it's a I'm in I'm in day 15 I feel pretty good and they mow the yard and then they have really bad swelling Like you really need to need to lay on your back And then yeah, and then your thighs turn Under your knees doctors orders for sure as far as how much of a strength decrease I don't know you probably back off 15% and run back up Yeah, that's what I was gonna say 15% come back a little lower volume hit that one set of five And the two sets of five and three sets of five and you're off and run You'll be back where you were in like two weeks about you'll be fine six or seven Your strength won't be 15% we're just gonna back you off that much so you don't get really sore You'll be just fine. Yeah, right doctor's orders, man Yeah, a lot of times those guys are way too conservative, but on the vasectomy thing the swelling Can cause real problems. Yeah, we've had several clients that are it's been an issue and I don't like pictures I don't like getting having to get those you don't I've had some pictures over the last few years or some of my Clients like a cat brain goes bad It's not really what I want to see That's oh good Josh sends this one here He says you guys have revolutionized the programming world through this podcast by expanding the conversation Around programming and convincing many people to start lifting with intention. What thank you. He says What are the what are the programming differences between the traditional versus the four-day split Texas method? Specifically, how does the four-day split makeup for not having a Wednesday light day? We've talked about this before when you move from a three-day full-body program To a four-day split you are pulling some of the stress off of the squat and the deadlift And you are applying it to the upper body to the bench press and the press, right? So rather than squatting that deadlifting three times a week or six times total between the two You're now going to four and rather than benching and pressing only 1.5 times each or three times total you're going to four Right, so now it's four and four so it's it's even yep That's it. So what you're doing and you need to do that because at some point In our experience with the vast majority of people, although not everyone but with the vast majority of people At some point it's too stressful to squat and deadlift three times a week And it's not stressful enough to bench and press only 1.5 times per week And so when you get to that point the most natural thing to do is to take away a squat and a deadlift and add A bench and a press and then low and behold later on you do need to squat three times a week again Yeah, and then they're right and then you'll go back. That's exactly right then at some point You'll actually go back to three times a week, you know, we have we have debated Offline a whole lot more than online about what is the utility of the light day squat in the Texas method as written We have we've and man, I'm telling you I just I'm not sure what the utility of the darn thing is Maybe it's practice. Maybe it is some training stress I don't really know but one of your specific questions is how do you make up for not having the Wednesday light day? And I think for the person who is actually a new intermediate I Don't think not having a white light day needs to be made up for Right. That's my stand. I just don't think you need it by that point. Sure. I just moved a guy I got a guy that's you agree with that. Do you think it's a waste of time? I don't think it's a waste of time all the time So I was just about to say like I've got a guy right now who? doctor from Northwest Arkansas He's in his late 50s six foot tall about 220 pound guy is In good shape looks fitnessy looks lean looks relatively muscular. You know what I mean It's just got like, you know, he's a kind of guy if you're like, hey, I'm I'm pushing 60 I want to look like that guy, right? GP general practitioner in Northwest Arkansas, and I've been coaching him and he is I do literally Today is his very first light squat day What do you want to guess what he squatted on Monday? Well, you've been talking this gentleman up. I'm gonna say 315 395 for three sets of five fuck that guy His light squat day is 315 for three sets. That's ridiculous. Isn't that ridiculous? That is ridiculous The thing I think he needs and this is what's crazy is the guy is like still green He's squatting three sets of five at 395 at 57 years old and not 20 and not that big No, six feet six foot tall in 220 like you just a be just a athletic looking dude Yeah, I was like and I don't want to butter him up too much because I don't want him to know how good it is So he's probably gonna hear this. I hope he doesn't but Yeah, so so I like a light day for him right now Because I think he still needs to practice on the squat the guys like actually he's gotten strong like I've had him for About two months now so about two months in and I'm looking to see what our first day Yeah, it's actually October October 30th was my very first was his very first workout So October 30th and now here it is it's December 4th today So it's almost been almost exactly two months. He came to the barbell prescription seminar with sully that to meet him in person And and because he's relatively close. So yeah, so I like the light squat day with this guy because he's only squatted for like eight weeks He's still not an intermediate though. That's the difference between your gentleman. No, it's not He's not he's really not an intermediate and so I'll probably if just for practical purposes here for our listeners He's probably gonna do another Four to six weeks of this sort of heavy light heavy That's my guess. I mean he he's the three sets of five at 395 was not an absolute grinder I was just like, ah, the guy's pushing 60. Let's just not he's gonna squat 415 is not grinding the powder for his last day or swap for yeah for 415 420 for three sets of five Here in a few weeks and then we'll and then we'll switch into a four-day split What's his body weight and that's what I would do it has he been gaining weight? You know, I need to ask him. Um, I don't I mean he he I bet he isn't I bet he's just like getting more and more jacked and just like yeah, you're looking just turning He just like granite He's probably gained a little bit, but he doesn't look any he definitely doesn't look any fatter That's remarkable, but my guess is he's he's got a little more Density so yeah, the lord has mysterious ways matt reynolds. I know right I know that's people are going to be like what the 60 year old guy's squatting three sets of five Anna, you're not 60. I know you're not quite 60. You're close to 60 though. You're pushing 60 Oh, god, uh charity seven years old charity has a lady client who's 32 years old. I don't know I don't know what she weighs. She's 5a. She's not a small person, but um, yeah LP deadlift 310 for five That's crazy Isn't that crazy strong You know, uh, I think her I think her press LP ended at like 110 105 like her press is going to be right crazy, too The those numbers are almost as crazy for a lady at the end of LP as this gentleman's squad is I think Yeah, sure crazy sure. How old is she 32? Okay, so yeah, she's I mean she's still young. Yeah But yeah, people people I think people overthink the light the light day too much, right? Yeah, right in the beginning you're putting the light day in there because I think it's for practice And I think that they're not ready to they don't want to train four days a week. Sometimes it's just that right? It's three days a week. So it's three days a week and That light day works better than than a like a four-day split over three days a week. I don't like that as much I've got another question here Okay, yeah, I'm not even going to give the guys first name Okay, Matt and Scott. Thank you for the podcast all of it. I've listened to every episode from the beginning It says I've been following the method for a while and I'm having trouble programming for myself as an early intermediate I am 33 years old 5 foot 9 to 30 Life stress is very high as a baseline as I am a police officer in a large city I have a three-year-old and I'm taking seminary classes and serve at my local church congregation outside of work I also am diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome I don't even know what that last thing is, but okay You're depressed dude. You don't have chronic fatigue. You're depressed I'll just go ahead and just diagnose it right now Right. I mean chronic fatigue. I mean and I'm not trying to be ugly chronic fatigue Is kind of like the uh Oh, what's the garbage pill diagnosis that you hate? Fibromyalgia fibromyalgia. Yeah, I I think I have known people that have gotten that diagnosis and I think universally those people are depressed Yeah and giving them that diagnosis Is not helpful to them because if they actually put if they pinned the tail on the donkey and said, hey, man This is actually, you know clinical depression Well, now you've got something you can work on if it's just chronic fatigue You're just like, well, I'm just going to be tired for the rest of my days. I'm chronically fatigued Yeah, I've No, we're not doctors and we're not Psychiatrist and I'm not and I've never had I've never had long term Systemic fatigue or systemic depression. Have you have you ever had you ever been depressed for a period of like a long period of time? Yeah, I mean 74 I'd like look out the window and I just get so fucking sad You know, but I've been I've been I've had short periods of acute depression like sure four five 10 days whatever And one of the very first things you'll notice is that you you can't sleep enough You have no ambition. You're tired all the time. It's a super common Trait characteristic of of depression and that's that's our experience again. We're not we're not doctors But you're you're probably onto something there. Yeah, I'm certainly I certainly of course I could possibly be wrong and I'm not trying to do so on you here, man Yeah, consider that maybe it could be depression And maybe go to someone who specializes in that and see if they see what they think Because I think it would be very useful to you If you could if you if you do have depression if you could move away from that diagnosis and just accept that it's depression now now You know, you would have uh I hate this term. I'll say to me a path forward Yeah, so I've never And I'm sure somebody's we're going to write in and get hate mail on this But like one of my things with this sort of chronic fatigue or like a fibromyalgia type thing Like I I don't I don't think it's um, we were talking earlier about like authenticity I think people really believe they have it. Right. I think they believe they really feel something wrong And they really and they really feel fatigue like so it's not that I think that it's all Um, you know, I don't know how much of a psychosomatic, but it's it's they feel something physically There is a physical feeling that they get but the interesting thing about it is is if you think about um Like like professional athletes Sometimes professional athletes get cancer and die. Mm-hmm Uh, but but olympic athletes professional athletes never get fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome and stop You know what I mean? Like now that's weird. Have you thought about that? Like some like some like all of the other diseases that are out there like like cancer Right and we don't disease Lou Gehr like Parkinson's whatever like Athletes get that all the time As a matter of fact, they get it as often as the rest of the population does And yet Never do you hear of usain Bolt? Listen, he just can't perform this year in the olympics because he's got that fibromyalgia He's got a steam bar virus or you're right or as the as the uh, is that where somebody kills you? No, it's that yeah, it's when uh, attorney general bar died you the You know that uh Fibromyalgia, yeah, I think most of those people have Profound trauma histories And that might be true. Yeah, I I I see a lot of people who have fallen into the I recognize that I cannot contribute to society I have uh lingering pain and I'm now on opiates for the rest of my life because I have fibromyalgia Like and so I said at home and watched like soap operas all day at netflix and and I don't even know how many of and they're just depressed I don't know how many of those people are guaranteed to have trauma sometimes I just think it's a Do you think you hit a point in life sometimes at 40 years old or whatever it is where you're just like? I'm not contributing to society at all I have I have no job or a dead-end job or I hate my job And my my marriage sucks and my kids don't like me and oh my god Everything hurts. You're goddamn right. Everything hurts. You're depressed because your life sucks suicide rates, you know for For just middle-aged white guys are just going up up up. They're just disaffected like it seems pointless You know to go on is just too much um They haven't been able to realize their dreams or even approximate it, you know and and uh You know some profound depression and hurt out there, you know, so I can imagine if you if yeah I I want to be very careful to talk about this stuff because I like listen I I have literally his the thought has never crossed my mind ever in the worst of like acute depression that I had Never has the thought crossed my mind that I'm the last one to go Kill another person. Oh, I think about that all the time I mean like, you know, I can I can actually remember, you know, my my dad Who's still in hospice? I get thank you guys for asking say still in hospice He's actually done a little bit better the last few months never thought he'd make it through the through this year He was wired. He was kind of a melancholy depressive sort of guy and I can remember I'm the oldest and so So he you know, he had to learn a lot of parenting with me Then then he was able to probably refine some of that for my younger brother and sister And I can remember when we would get in some big fights when I was like 14 15 years old Not like physical fights, but just big like massive arguments And my dad was always a super wonderful guy. I was always just really nice and and was emotive And after you know an hour or so after a fight or 45 minutes at a fight He would come in my room and he would make sure he's like, hey, do Are you okay, you know, do you know that I love you and um and he would Like allude to now you're not gonna do anything. You're not gonna hurt yourself or anything, right? And like dad You better not sleep old man Yeah, they was that I mean really that that was when I was I was like, bro I don't have any problem with me. I'm good I'm gonna kill you. I'm not gonna kill me So I say all that I make this funny But like I wouldn't be very careful because I know this is a real serious topic and I I cannot Sympathize with it. It's that thought is never coming to my head. I like me. I don't understand it I'm not gonna kill me And I've also never had five miles you Back back to poor andrew here. Uh, he says he's having he's having programming Um difficulties and he's trying to you know and trying to make uh progress and then he asked um, he asked Is it possible? Um That it might be testosterone as well. I mean, I think it could be all those things I think the chronic fatigue syndrome the diagnosis. I think it's that can be a little catch-all If I were you I wouldn't be satisfied leaving my diagnosis there I think go go look into the hormones go look into the the possibility of depression. What do you have to lose? Right. It's cheap. What do you have to lose? You know, you're a police officer. You probably got good health insurance You know, let's go. Let's go dig into a few of those things go to a good urologist Go to a mental health professional go check it out man. I hope you uh, I hope everything turns around and and uh start feeling better brother really I do Yeah, by the way, if you're listening to this like we'd love to Like go get some of that stuff checked out and let us know. Yeah, right. We'll we'll protect your privacy there Thank you for thank you for being honest and vulnerable about it. So hopefully this didn't piss off that we That we Steer do this direction. So but you probably need to go get some help and it might need to be and it might be physiological might look like you literally might just have a Have a hormone issue. You might have a chemical balance. You don't your testosterone's nine like oh, sure That's right. That's right. That'd be the best answer ever perfect in three weeks. You'll be awesome. That's true. Yeah. Oh, shoot Yeah, yeah, get some help brother and until then like make training fun That's what I that's what I would say with a guy like this Like hey, don't put too much pressure on yourself when you feel this way To go out and hit prs all the time like like still train. So when I say make training fun I'm not saying like go out and just exercise and like play around on a treadmill I'm like just go lift and just have fun. Just go have fun like if it's there for the taking Take a pr if it's not there Then just go hit some reps and go have fun because you'll feel better at the end But if you put this pressure on yourself that all you have to do is you have to chase numbers all the time That gets old nobody does that all the time, right? Like even super competitive lifters Don't chase numbers 12 months out of the year. Matt. I'm only going to chase them once a year now I'm going to run up once a year Yeah, yeah, it's just too much. It's too heavy and I'm not sure how much Good I do If I chase it 12 months a year sure Right, so you right so you spend so you spend You know eight months out of the year just like being real healthy Moving and join training. Yeah, don't have to push real hard and then you guys are Yeah, you're still strong moving some decent weight, you know, I pulled 480 yesterday pretty fast Nice and Then did some back offs, but you know, I didn't do five. I didn't do that five fives at 430, you know You know Yeah, so yeah be easy on yourself, man. Go check it out Uh There's another question and answer episode. We got it all in there on that one, didn't we? Yeah, go check out our friends at a seven dot co And uh, go get a go get one of those shirts, uh for uh somebody in your life that uh, your training partner, maybe It's a good Christmas shirt. I hope to get that backpack too. I look that backpack looks awesome. You've got enough backpacks, Matt I know I have a problem with backpacks. I apologize. You're like a bag lady What if I sold some of the backpacks I currently have and just replace and replaced it with this one? I prove of that or I could just give them. I like I think my backpacks will make good gifts There's another question answer episode Please send in your questions to questions at barbell hyphen logic.com. Hey, and if we've answered one of your questions in the past Uh, and you followed up on On uh, your problem with our advice. Let us know how that went like even if we were 100 wrong Uh, or whatever. Let us know. I'd love to I'd love to get some more field reports from you guys We'll uh, we'll read some of those on on air Thank you guys for listening