 Electronic muscle stimulation and intermittent fasting do they have benefits or are they just fads? Watch this our first caller is calling from Washington Hey, what's up Colin? How can we help you? Hey, how's it going guys good good? So I had a few questions, but my first one is is EMS electro muscle stimulation training safe and effective. Okay, so first off Why are you asking this question? Do you are you using this to? Rehab an injury or build muscle. Yeah, like what's what's the context to see a cool ad? No, so I was actually I just saw the new Spider-Man movie and I Afterwards looked up what Tom Tom Holland had done to prepare for the movie and it looked like part of his regimen was was doing that EMS training where you you know, you hook up to one of those systems and hold a pose And I was just kind of wondering about it. I had only you know heard of people doing it Save your money, bro. Yeah. Well, so there's a lot of stuff. I'm sure he did to get ready for the role It's probably one of that probably had the least impact on his Physique so EMS has been around for a while. It's been studied for a long time. I mean, I remember reading articles about Bruce Lee using EMS devices you could buy them, you know through Catalogs back in the day and every five years or so you'll see EMS cyclical Yeah, like ab devices like where this ab belt and it's like doing 10,000 crutches while you work at your desk and that kind of stuff And you know, put this on your butt and it makes it grow So EMS basically forces a muscle to contract by sending an electrical signal to the muscle Here's what the studies show the studies show that it does help prevent some amount of atrophy When you're injured and not moving the muscle in other words if you're if your leg's broken and you can't do anything With the leg at all so you can't contract the muscle at all really then EMS may help prevent some level of atrophy But not an entire level of atrophy atrophy. There's also You know might help connect to muscles that maybe you've lost some connection to but that's more of a kind of a medical issue Now as far as I could advanced Training and building muscle No, you're you know isometrics will do that for you In fact, you know generating kind of intrinsic force is gonna be way more effective than kind of this external Source of force. I know that the selling point right the selling point is you know use this device That's passive right so there's a passive way to stimulate the muscle which then you know They're they're attributing to muscle growth, which it's really not moving you forward as much as preserving muscle loss from occurring like for you know again for rehab purposes But like trying to sell it as a performance device is kind of ridiculous. Yeah, even even in the atrophy aspect It really has a small effect. I was gonna say nothing. Yeah, even that it's still Yeah, I mean I would use it like so if I broke like you said if I broke my leg These these tools are relatively inexpensive, right? So if I knew I couldn't be on my leg for maybe three months or whatever the time it would be to heal I would hook it up to my quads, you know, why not? I'm sitting there watching TV anyways, and it's like if it's gonna slow down atrophy a little bit So it's a little less but I mean I wouldn't expect my quads to stay the same or build by any means And so, you know, I see some people pitch it to you as recovery. Yeah, so You know, you got sore the day. Let's say I guess if you compare it to like sitting laying on the couch and doing nothing Right, then maybe there's some benefit. So I think that's good to tell Colin, right? So like that and that's where and by the way after after we do do this I was gonna go on a rant anyways on because I always whenever I trash something like this I always get somebody who's like attached to it that wants to defend it. Listen, I can sell this shit, too Yeah, you know I'm saying like so I could take I could take the information around it and still sell it to people I just when we talk to people we're trying to help people with like real good advice Here's the thing if it's like where Sal was just going if I'm sedentary I'm doing nothing and I just trained the day before putting that on my putting that on my legs versus not doing anything at all I can show markers of improvement like recovery speeding up recovery, right? But I would take that and I would say, okay, you get to you get your guy who was hooked up to the EMS I'm gonna take that same guy and I'm gonna take him through a 30 minute mobility session Yeah, and I'll show you better results with not even five minute trigger. Yeah. Yeah, we'll just say it But I mean I will blow those results away with a 30 minute mobility session On that person then that guy is hooked up to a machine that cost him a couple hundred bucks to buy So that's where we will shit on things like this is that it's like well There's a free way to get better results and that thing will provide yeah And there's you know, I know I see how some people are using them now, too We'll get these really strong ones and they'll attach it to a muscle. I see people doing it work out now Yeah, they'll put on your lats while you do like a lat pull down or just it creates this intense muscle contraction Like an intensity amplifier, but there's so many non, you know external ways to do that That and I have yet to see anything that really shows that it's got tremendous value. It's also not very pragmatic You know hook yourself up to a big machine while you work out. So I don't see lots of of application So I hope that helped you out Colin. Yeah, definitely. I appreciate it and then my other question was What are the benefits and drawbacks of intermittent fasting and does eating in a small window Effect the absorption of protein in your body. Yeah, maybe a little bit You know some divided divided doses of protein within a reasonable amount, right? So maybe every four hours or so you'll see in studies will show an increase in muscle protein synthesis So it's probably a little bit better I would say it's splitting hairs when you consider the context of you know What works better for the person and their lifestyle and all that other stuff as far as intermittent fasting is concerned The benefits really boil down to helping people develop a better Relationship with food. However, that's there's that's a double-edged sword. I would challenge that for intermittent fasting I would say I would agree to that with fasting But intermittent fasting is turned into more of a fad and and it's a window you're still eating So you could technically you can have an adverse effect for relationship with food instead of you Instead of you eating throughout the day sporadically now you eat in this four to six hour window And now you binge because of that so it could promote bad relationship But what we do promote on the show and talk about is the benefits of doing like a day fast, right? Like fasting from food entirely for the day and not for the benefits of what everything it does for, you know Regenerations of neurons and growth hormone production and blah blah blah that there's a bunch of stuff that mark the real benefit is Disciplining yourself to detach from food to know that I can go 24 hours. My body is not going to starve I'm not going to lose muscle. I'm not going to die and go wow I don't I didn't really need as much as I thought I needed and and what what am I doing with my time now that? I don't have to eat for those three meals in a day We think there's tremendous value in a practice like that and incorporating in fact if you go back self-reflection Yeah, if you go back far enough on mind pump, maybe uh three years ago I so Sal went on a kick for a while and I I You remember this when you're promoting your two to three day fast every month So I think that's extremely valuable But he wasn't doing it to get more shredded or build more muscle or to get growth hormone production all the things that Is touted around uh intermittent fasting, right? And that's not to say that those things aren't true There are good health markers and benefits that are improved by Incorporating fasting. I just think the way it's been promote or we think the way it's been promoted I think it's it's used like a diet and I we don't use it that way with clients Yeah, from a medical perspective, there's investigating fasting like legit fasting for potential cancer treatment or at least in combination with with chemotherapy So that's kind of interesting But you know, we're talking about what the food relationship thing it totally can go in the opposite direction If I'm dealing with someone Who's battles with an eating disorder where they restrict themselves fasting is the worst possible thing I could possibly do I mean in extreme case I could take an anorexic or a recovering anorexic Be like yeah, we're not going to eat for two days. I'm like what a terrible Way to approach food relationship really it works well with people who are afraid to be away from food The person that feels like they need to feed themselves every two hours are afraid of being skinny and they overfeed themselves and stuff themselves Then a fast can can maybe be beneficial if they go into it in the right way but A lot of the health benefits by the way calling that come from fasting Sell autophagy and You know the hormonal effects anti-inflammatory effects you see also from a restricted calorie diet. So it's not unique Uh specifically to fasting. Um, so it's definitely been Turned into the new fad diet Excuse me if you will but yeah for the average person Um, I would never promote fasting as a way for fat loss the clients the clients I used it most with were competitors Work and what I found was when I coached competitors. So bikini men's physique bodybuilders They had they had become So addicted to measuring and weighing and tracking their food and eating six times a day that they just they carried their Tupperware everywhere Religiously wouldn't miss any of that and fear of muscle loss or whatever or not having enough fuel for the workout like Those clients I saw uh, I saw a poor relationship with food Even though they thought they had a good relationship because they were fit and ripped I saw them so attached to food that I would disrupt that by telling them Hey next week we're going to go on a 24 hour fast And I thought there and then I would show them look at you're not going to lose a bunch of muscle You're going to be just fine In fact, you're going to see these other health benefits watch your mental clarity watch these other things And so I liked to use it to interrupt somebody who's attached to food Other than that, uh, I think it's it's I think it's been um overly used or or Prescribed to people and by the way the people that get most upset about this conversation Are people that sell shit related to intermittent fasting like whenever we go on this rant Which this youtube channel for sure will get some bullshit So it'll be somebody who talks shit underneath in the comment section And it's always some motherfucker that has made their living off of selling intermittent fasting to people Collin we lose you Oh, you got me great. All right. All right. Well, so does that does that answer your question? All right Yeah, I did. I really appreciate it guys. All right, man. Awesome. Have a good one. Appreciate it Yeah, you too. Bye. Bye. Yep. Yeah. God forbid could you see his face dug? Did we ruin his day right there? We just crushed him. He's like, fuck all the things he he's like, I just ordered this I just got my intermittent fasting book. I guess I'll send it back You know, God forbid there's a study that shows any Benefit at all to some things get to diet leave it to the fitness industry We'll make we'll make a market out of it. They will turn it into something Uh, completely different um and and market it and sell it and make people believe it's the next Well, watch watch the comment section on this. Watch the youtube comment section on this Exactly. There will be somebody in here. It changed my life or somebody who and maybe and maybe it did Maybe you're that person that needed to to detach from food and learn how to deal with Hunger cues and cravings actually or maybe it just worked incredibly well with your schedule Maybe you had bad habits first thing in the morning. Maybe you were a four donut, you know Starbucks 900 calorie drinker and because you no longer can eat in that now You know, you you you don't need that many calories, right for one thing Right, it's like oh, wow. It just brought a lot of awareness Uh to your to your daily habits and it was like very beneficial in that sense So there's a lot of benefits to it, but it's not like the end all be all no Intermittent fasting really should be viewed more as a spiritual practice. It really should that's how it was It's how it's existed. It's been it's an every major religion Precisely for that reason then the intent is right. Yeah, by the way, it's no different The only difference is we're dealing with food, but it the spiritual practice would be like if you Fasted from electronics for a few days or fasted from, you know, maybe from the city You won't camping how many times people go camping disconnect come back like oh my god. I feel so rejuvenated. I feel so right Centered so that's the way I think it should be viewed. It should not be viewed like a diet If it's viewed like a diet You're only uh, really you're using it wrong in my opinion. Well and the ems thing is just like that, right? They took a little bit of science and positive benefits that are surrounding it and Built it into this whole thing. It says and that's what it's this is another one Like I see a lot of it right now It's really popular in the the it's making its way big time into the men's physique and bodybuilding world Because I still am connected to a bunch of those people and now they're like doing it Why they work out like they hook them up to these machines and it's just like it's that same pattern Right like they were doing with rubber bands attaching machines on top of already having Exactly let let let some study come out to show the you manipulate the strength curve with using the bands on a hammer strength Now every fucking guy is doing it inside the gym like it's the next best thing So I feel the same way about this if I had a product that was connected to this Absolutely, you could hear me sell it. I could sell it to you for three different ways It's also how how like we always have to look at new techniques and are they pragmatic like yeah, okay There's this new EMS machine Super powerful and we're watching bodybuilders and strength athletes be hooked up to it in a gym There's this computer and wires and pads hooked to their back And then they do it like who's going to do that right and is that even is that the same machine that you order online that you get Sent to your house. It's not so It also how long would you be implying that? Yeah, I was gonna last and also the unintended consequences Like I feel like one of the things that we're in the middle of Right now with technology is We're trying to promote people being more active and walking more Not trying to find more hacks on how they don't have to move and still be able to get the benefits Lazier ways to to promote work, right? So even if it did have some pretty good benefits from it I'd be I'd still be cautious with promoting it because I know that's one of the biggest problems Is we just don't move enough. No, so I would much rather teach my client Hey, listen, not only will I give you more benefits by having you go do this flow session of mobility work or yoga practice You'll get the same, you know, uh, you know muscle atrophy or the not atrophying benefits that you would get from this machine Plus, you're now moving so we're burning some calories, right and we're promoting other health benefits I would I'm thinking of that also. So it's not just Hey, what does this help work or not work or is it practical or not practical? But it's also like, man, what right now we're in this like people don't move anymore And we're heading in this direction where we talk about all the time the wally look, you know Before you know it, we're not going to be moving around at all and this is just another tool Oh, hey, guess what you don't got to move, you know, it reminds me of still and build muscle You know, it reminds me of never total recall. We're like, you know, if you can't afford a vacation How about if we just give you the memories of a vacation? All right. Oh, that's cool. I'll just remember that I went somewhere easier than I did it Hey, if you enjoyed that clip you can find the full episode here Or you can find other clips over here and be sure to subscribe