 Our next caller is Billy from Utah. Hey, what's up Billy? How can we help you? Hey guys, what's up? Thank you for taking some time to answer my question. This is awesome to be talking to you. A little background. I have been lifting pretty consistently for about two and a half to three years. I've spent a lot of that time in a strength phase. So heavy lifting, low reps, a lot of linear periodization progressing that way. What I've noticed recently, probably over the past three to four months, I've been a little bit burned out on a specific lift, and it's been the deadlift. To the point where when it shows up in my programming, I really hesitate to go to the gym and get a little bit, it's a little bit harder to get to the gym just because that's showing up in my programming. Which is interesting because it was one of my favorite lifts before, one that I made a lot of progress on, but for some reason I've just felt burned out on it recently. So my question is, is this something you guys have seen before on specific lifts getting burned out on it? If so, what could I do in the meantime, if I need to take a break from it, to not lose the strength and the progress on that lift? I love this question because, I don't think we've had someone actually asked specifically something like this, but this has to happen a lot. That's right, and this is a perfect example of why, that's why there's no perfect program for anybody, that's why there's always an exception to the rule. That's why there's more to it than just, this is the best exercise that burns the most body fat and builds the most muscle, because if my client is just hates doing something and it will even discourage them potentially from going to the gym that day or they just skip an exercise altogether, that's part of my job as a coach to insert something else in there that they enjoy doing that I know has tons of benefits. Yeah, or taking it out, but it really depends on what you mean by burning out on the exercise. That'll determine the answer that I'm gonna give you. So what do you mean exactly? Is it that it's hurting you, that you're noticing that your progress is stalled or going backwards, it doesn't feel good? Like what do you mean by burnout? Do you have more stress like in your life and things kind of going into this? Cause that's a very demanding lift. So yeah, so a couple of things on that. No, it isn't hurting me. I haven't been injured by it. It's more of a mental block than it is going in and not being able to perform the lift or anything like that. So it's more of a, just don't feel like lifting a big heavy bar off the ground when I get in there. Regarding stress in my life, Justin, yeah. I mean, we had another kid about a year ago started a new job in March, had a couple of other stressful things. So I guess the last year, the last 10 to 11 months have been an increase in stress. So that certainly could be adding to it. Yeah, that sounds like it. So okay, what program are you following right now? I haven't been consistent on a single program for a little while. I had been following Bigger Leader Stronger by Mike Matthews for a little while. Oh, there's your mistake right there. That's the problem. That's just it. Where are you thinking? Not how. That's good. The guy writes good books. Yeah, yeah, that's good. Yeah, okay. So you were following that and then what do you, are you currently doing that or did you modify it a little bit? No, I've modified it a little bit. My consistency has not been as great recently. I've still been going three to four days a week into the gym. I recently just restarted Anabolic because they felt like maybe if I take a step back on volume and run through that again, that might help break through it a little bit. But that's kind of where I've restarted Anabolic most recently. Yeah, good. No, that's perfect. Okay, so and by the way, do you mind if I go into a little detail? Cause you actually wrote us out your question with more detail. So, okay. Absolutely. This is kid number seven. Is that correct? Yeah. Yeah. Holy shit. This is beyond minivan, dude. Yeah, bro. You need a full blown bus. Yeah, God bless you. God bless you, by the way. And you just became, you just became a CEO of a company? Yeah, so in March, yeah, the new job was a CEO of a company that some investors bought out. Two of probably the most stressful things that you think of. Pinnacle stress. Yeah, so okay, so what you're feeling right now is that your stress bucket is overflowing and exercise is a stress on the body. So, and that's why it gets your body to get stronger. And deadlifting is probably one of the biggest. It is. And if you, if your stress bucket is overflowing, the workouts are now no longer helping you, but rather hurting you. Maps and Ebola, two foundational workouts a week, I think is where you need to go. Don't do three, do two. Now you're going to the gym three or four days a week. I also read in your question that this is a good me time for you. I get that. So it's not just going to the gym to work out but rather center, be present, kind of get away from things. Walk, mobility. Yeah, dude, go. Okay, so two days a week, two foundational workouts for Maps and Ebola. The other days you go to the gym, mobility, stretching, walking, like do things that kind of rejuvenate your body and make you feel good. And what you'll see is your body will actually start progressing again. Now back to your specific question about deadlifts, unilateral deadlifts, single leg deadlifts. I mean, you're still doing that movement, but it's one leg, it's way lighter, it's with dumbbells. And it will, if anything, not just maintain your strength in the deadlift but might actually improve it or increase it. This is one of my favorite strategies because there may be an underlying thing there too in terms of like an instability that needs to be addressed which then will actually promote you to be motivated to go back to the deadlift and see what kind of load you can put up. But a lot of times it takes that sort of zooming in and really like staying in there to see like the discrepancies between left to right and in addressing those will really help the overall strength. I also wanna give you the option to do something completely fucking different. If you're following a bulk of maps in a bulk and the only thing that we're changing out is a deadlift. Listen, I haven't deadlifted in over six months. So it's not the end of the world if we don't do a deadlift variation right now. I mean, this is a perfect example. Sometimes this is where I'll get on a kick and I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna get strong doing the Turkish getup. I haven't really focused on getting good at my Turkish getup in a while and I know it's not in my maps in a bulk program but every time the deadlift comes around that's what I'm gonna do instead. So don't feel like, and this is why our programs are moldable. This is why we have the podcast is why we have the forum to kind of do things like this. If there's an exercise or a movement that interests you or that you know makes you feel better or you know that you have a lot of room to get better at like inserted in there right there. I mean, I just, this is the area. Yes, the deadlift was programmed in there and it was a brilliant written program by us and that's the most ideal thing for progression for you to put in there. But that's where this is, there's a lot of room to play with that because sometimes that shit doesn't, you getting an extra quarter of a pound of muscle over the next month versus de-stressing and having better balance and being a better CEO that trumps that. Yeah, well, you're not gonna gain that quarter pound of muscle if your stress is overflowing. That's right, that's right. It's not gonna happen. Are you taking any supplements right now? I am, I'm taking, I take creatine, I take a fish oil and I take a multi. Okay. And bottom of D. So look into Ashwagandha, okay? It's probably one of the most well-documented herbs to help the body deal with, to deal with stress, okay? So, and what it does essentially is literally, it's a very powerful adaptogen and it allows the body to deal with stress and adapt to stress a little bit better. I personally use it, I'd say every two or three months I'll throw it in or when I feel like I'm not getting good sleep or I'm much more challenged with stress and I do notice an improvement in how I feel and how my body reacts. So you can read up on it, check it out, examine.com is a great website for looking up supplements. But aside from that, what we're saying with the workout is I think where do you need to go? And don't be surprised if you start to progress again. But also consider this, this is the most important thing. Your workouts should be to improve the quality of your life, not necessarily to improve your quality of your workouts. Okay, so sometimes it's to improve your workout performance, but what's more important is, I mean, you're not a professional lifter, right? You're a CEO, you're a dad with seven kids. I'm gonna assume that your priorities in life are probably not to be the biggest beast in the gym, but rather to be an amazing dad and a great CEO. Just be stronger than your kids. Yeah, exactly. So use the workouts to make you better at those things. So sometimes that means like Adam said, you go to the gym, you're like, man, I feel like doing something totally different because that's what's gonna make me feel better. And if you do that, believe it or not, in the long term, you'll progress because you're gonna make better choices and decisions for yourself. Great, great. That's great advice. Thank you. I think, yeah, some of that stress relief kind of focus might be what's needed right now in the near term. So we'll give it a shot. All right, Billy, thank you very much. And are we gonna go up to 10, 11? How many kids you want? Cutting this off. Yeah, I think seven has overfilled the cup as you guys say, so you did this one. You're a champion, man. All right, man. Thanks for calling me. Yeah, thank you. Broi, talk about like, it makes you feel weak. Seven kids, CEO. Dude, I was stressed out. And he works out consistently? Yeah. Wow, yeah, that's a tough one because I think we forget, right, that because we know where we were before. So we think, oh, you know, two days a week, that's too little for me. It matches your lifestyle. And sometimes that's totally appropriate. And I've done this where I'll back off and voila, my body progresses. And I go, oh, this is a lesson I have to keep learning. Well, I think what you said that is even more important is it's not always about progressing in the gym. I know that's what our business is surrounded around. I know that's what makes our program so amazing is all that stuff. But at the end of the day, you hit it right on the head. This guy is a father of seven and a CEO. His number one priority isn't, I gotta show that I can get my bench press up to 315. Like who gives a shit? I know he obviously doesn't care that much about that. But we always get this in our head all the time that you gotta be seeing all this great results. You have to be the best at everything. Just keep them healthy, sharp and strong. Those are very realistic things to focus on. And I totally relate to this right now, being a newer father. The three of us said that's where my priority is. And then actually performing in this job. I mean, I've got a lot of responsibility when it comes to our business and a lot of things in my play. And if I'm so focused on my workouts that it's taking time away from those things, and so my workouts are completely modified right now. It's to stay healthy and to be able to perform at those things. That's where my priority. Now, just go back two and a half years from now. It was chasing Sal on the deadlift or getting ready for a stage. Well, that's a different story. And eliminating a deadlift at that time when my goals are so focused on that is something that I probably don't wanna do. But in a case like this, who cares? Well, in even that sense, it's always amazing how little you can do to keep moving the needle forward. Totally. And I think that's the message that we're always trying to kind of drill into people because it really is less as long as it's like very structured and you're smart about it and you listen to your body. You're gonna get a lot of results. Yeah, and the irony is this, right? The right dose. I know he'll probably progress. Yeah, so I'm saying, here's the irony. The right dose will get you there. The more than that is too much and less than that is too little and won't get you there, right? So it's the right dose. So here's the irony. You train the way that we're talking and over time you get better gains and better results anyway, you know? So it's not even like you're trading one for the other. If you wanna progress, you still have to do it this way.