 Ladies and gentlemen, Salah Mike back with another video. We're bringing an old school. I'm taking your questions from Instagram. That's Salah Mike with two Ks. If those of you comment below and don't lie. If you've been around forever, five ever, I think five years ago or so is when I started this YouTube channel and basically it was me and iPad and your questions. And it seemed like you guys really enjoy those questions. So those type of videos. So we're gonna dive in, I'm taking your questions. Be sure to subscribe. New videos coming out Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. I really appreciate you guys. Let's see if we can get to 1500 likes, man. The likes and views on these videos, the support has been dope. Are you able to provide guidance on how you went about leaning out and any tips for dietary discipline? So we talked about tracking meals. That's gonna be number one for the majority of people. You have to start to understand how much calories, macronutrients are in an actual serving. And then what an actual serving size looks. People don't know because at least Americans, Europeans, you guys might have a little bit better than us. But Americans don't know. At least I sure as hell didn't have a clue of how many calories are in what types of food, what macronutrient breakdown, and then also the actual serving size of something. You get like a box of cereal and you're like, oh, it's only 20 grams of carbs for a serving. But like a serving of actual cereal, what that looks like and how it fills you up and how it fuels you, that's a big difference. Another thing, guidance is, is you probably are gonna be hungry when you're dieting. If you're trying to get leaner and leaner and the more advanced stages of getting shreds life, you're going to get a little bit hungry and that's normal and that's natural. I don't really have that much guidance beyond the basics. You know, that's all I did. I was lucky enough to live in a metropolitan area. And so now I ride my bike as my main transportation. So my neat, my non-exercise. Calorie burn goes up a little bit. I sleep really good. I build my own schedule. And then I'm just watching my calories, keeping my protein about one kilogram. Sorry, one gram per about pound of body weight. If that makes sense. So one gram of protein a day per about body weight I have. So I'm about 200 pounds. So I'm getting anywhere from 180 to 200 grams of protein a day. I'm mixing in my carbs and fats kind of moderate on both. And then I'm being as consistent as I can in the gym, working as hard as I can, training similarly that I did when I was bulking, heavy, hard, trying to maintain that volume. Do you believe there's an ideal body fat percentage or range in powerlifting to be strong and competitive? That's a really good question. I think there's generally going to be a range. Again, probably 15 to 20% for most males. But I do think there's exceptions to every rule. And I do think that this is where the individuality kind of helps and happens within the sport. Depending on your height, depending on your genetics, depending on your muscle fibers, you may be able to get really, really lean and stay really strong or just be an absolute tank. You know, you look at guys like John Hack compared to Russ Swoll, my boy, Russell Orhee. Both of them are actually similar weight class, probably similar body fat percentage actually in the scheme of things, I might be wrong, but how they look and how they move is so different as John's pretty tall and Russ is a little shorter. You compare that to maybe Russ and Bryce Lewis. Bryce Lewis is one of the best coaches and lifters in the absolute planet in my opinion. He's a technician, insanely smart dude, a ton of attention to detail on every level. Been in the game very long. He's an OG, I'm an OG now, and so is Bryce. And his body fat for him to make insane gains had to go up a little bit. He's probably similar height to Russell Orhee, but he's a weight class or two above. And obviously his lifts have gone crazy over the last four years since he allowed himself to gain a little bit of body weight. And I'm pretty similar to Bryce. I was hanging out at 195 to 200 pounds. My lifts just really started to stall. And I don't know if that has to do with my muscle fiber type, my elbows or my legaments and all that does play a role in semi-joking, but it will depend on the individual. But I do recommend most of you. Most of you, even though you could feel and dive in and go 100% into powerlifting as a sport and want it more than anything, never disregard your health, never disregard your future, it's not worth getting up to 50% body fat right away to try to bench 400, 500 pounds, stay between the 15, 20%, stay in a very slight calorie surplus, if not just above maintenance, just above maintenance, find a really good program and push it out. What's your plan with the hair? Don't mind the hat hair, kids. I got no plans, man. This is who I am. I like my hair, I like my facial hair. I like the mullet. It's a little long, it tickles my neck. Feels like I have friends or a girlfriend that wants to tickle my neck. That's what feels sometimes when you go to bed. So it makes me feel not so alone. But I'm gonna keep it. I'm gonna keep the hair. I like the hair, I got no plans. I'll probably trim it up just a little bit just because it's getting a little long. But otherwise, no plans. The modern mullet, me, we're Stan, we're gonna be in your life. What are the benefits of snatch grip deadlift compared to a deficit deadlift? Oh, that's a good question. Snatch grip deadlifts can work your upper back a little bit more. Deficit deadlifts when you elevate yourself in the plates. So the range of motion is a little bit greater. A snatch grip deadlift, you also have a greater range of motion because your grip's going out. But it will make you use your back a little bit more. Deficit deadlifts, you could probably handle a heavier load overall than you can with a snatch grip. And depending on your overall programming, if you wanna use it as kind of a lighter day or the general stimulus you wanna handle is less, the general load you wanna use is less. A snatch grip might be a good thing to mix in. But both of them are really good exercises. I do think both of them take a little bit more mobility than some people do have. So I'm not a huge fan of absolutely maxing out on either of those often. But I do think some volume work with the snatch grip and the deficit, if you can emulate your pull from the ground on the deficit. I think that's something that I see often is people will hip hinge or deadlift really, really well on a normal competition style deadlift. Then they'll go to a deficit and they'll get in a weird, funky position. Try to emulate a similar position, but both are great strength builders, great range of motion. Build you up, Buttercup. Not a question, but you're my, oh my. But you just became my favorite YouTuber. Thanks, pal. Thanks, Connor Lively. Appreciate you. Do you see yourself tied down with a partner anytime soon? You guys are trying to dig into the gossip. That's what you guys are trying to get. And I assume partner, that's very 2019 PC, meaning maybe I'll get a significant other anytime soon. Yeah, you know, we'll dig into that one day, all right, kids? We'll dig into that one day. One day, kids, we'll get into the personal, like I've never done like a meet my girlfriend video. Comment below if you guys wanna meet my girlfriend video. How's this look? Did we look cute? Prom ready? Meet my girlfriend video coming, who knows? Can out two questions from two separate people that lined up at the same time. Alcohol and lifting and moderation, one question. Alcohol, can it be part of a goal for cutting and general health? I think that moderation, obviously, is going to be key when it comes to alcohol as it is with anything else. Depends how advanced you are. Oh, sorry, kids. Whoo! Just a little yawners. It happened, you probably can't see it, but we have a storm going on right now and right as the sun peeked out of the clouds, I yawned as like I was yawning. Sunlight onto the planet. Neither here nor there. Alcohol can be a part of your life, I think, that obviously binging and going nuts on a weekend probably doesn't fit into any type of fitness lifestyle, whether you have strength goals or aesthetic goals as the recovery from it is too much, but having a glass or two of wine or beer or a mixed drink every once in a while probably will fit into whatever goal you want. Obviously, you have to track it if you're cutting or bulking, putting it into your macronutrients, but definitely possibility. There are some downsides. Can blunt some protein synthesis for a while depending on how much you drink. Obviously, the habits you get while your tipsy or drunk aren't great, you know, staying up late, eating calorie dense foods, et cetera, et cetera, all these things take into account, but overall, yes, I think you can. Do you watch anime? No. Fashion icon? Yes, just say yes. Yes, I'm super into clothes, man. I think just growing up the culture of basketball and hip hop, you kind of grew up in streetwear as it was becoming a huge thing in the early 2000s. So I've always been into clothes. I've just been sharing it slightly more on Instagram if you guys want to follow me and maybe we'll share it a little bit here. I do have a project semi-related to some of that. So hopefully you guys will really dig that and want to get behind that support that. I think you really, really dig it. It's been two years in the work, so that should be dropping the next two months. But yeah, man, I love clothes. I love accessories. I love sneakers. I love hats. Always been into it. What's something you're currently struggling with? Tough one, man. I don't know how deep we're trying to dig, but anxiety's been really bad lately. You guys know I was Twitch streaming for a very long time. I just had to cut that out. My mind wasn't allowing me to focus. I'm not diagnosed with anything, so take this with what you want. But sometimes my overthinking kind of ADD type mind runs absolute races, NASCAR in my head, and I can just not focus or get a positive thought into my brain. So I've been working really, really hard on meditation. I've been working really, really hard on cutting foods and drinks, and I don't drink alcohol anymore for a very long time. Trying to cut these things out of my life to allow myself to focus in a little bit, be a little bit happier, a little less anxious. But sometimes I just, I felt stapled to my bed over the last couple months, and just kind of stuck, I felt really stuck. So trying to set some new goals. I'm trying to look for some positive things. I'm doing a ton of meditation, a lot more reading. I don't know how long, some of y'all follow me, but in high school I think I read one book, out of probably the 100 I was supposed to read. And after I dropped out of college, I haven't read a book since. I think I've banged through about four books in the last month or two, which is literally the first time in my entire life. Plus the meditation, cut out energy drinks, cut out alcohol, so. Biggest thing I'm struggling with is, yeah man, the anxiety, the kind of negative thoughts. I don't really like the word depression, but I've been stapled now. I've been stapled in my bed for a while, so. I do like to be alone, and so it's hard for me to sometimes distinguish, or I'm like, do you just need to re-energize, plug in and be alone for a bit, or Mike, are we stapled and we're hiding right now? And so just trying to figure all that out, man, just normal stuff in life, normal stuff. We all go through it, we all have negative thoughts, we all have self-doubt, we all have sad times, we have up times, hard times, fun times, but that's the struggle, man. That's the raw truth of what's been going on, kind of why I haven't been Twitch streaming, kind of why I've been trying to be on Instagram as much as I can, but I don't feel like myself sometimes, so I just post whatever I got, lifting or picture or something of that nature. Are deloads periods necessary for beginner lifters? I would probably say no. If you're following a solid beginner program, check out kaisentraining.com, pre-sale limited a dish. 40% off, beginning programming right now for you guys. You don't, you shouldn't. If you're getting some sleep and some calories in you, your body's gonna adapt really, really quick. And I would even argue that later in life, even as an intermediate advanced, there will be lighter weeks, but I think this notion of a deload probably needs to be stabbed down. People will go from, you know, let's just make it up, 50 sets a week on an exercise at averaging 80% or 85%, and then their deload will go down to like 20 or 15, they'll cut it in half, the percentage and the volume, or the intensity and the volume, and I don't think that's necessary. I think having lighter weeks to recover a little bit, mentally and physically are good, adjusting things mentally and physically are good, so you can continue progress, but I think the general notion of these deloads are a little extreme at this point. Do you know your videos, specifically the dancing ones, make people's day? I appreciate that, and I don't, I don't. As much as I'd like to say I do, and I do support you guys, I really appreciate you guys and the support, trust me, I really, really do. It's hard to feel sometimes the effects you have when your job's on the internet. You know, I think through podcasting, it's my episodes have been downloaded over 20 million times, 20 million downloads total for every podcast I've ever been on. This YouTube channel has hundreds of thousands of views. I've been on OMAR and other channels with hundreds if not millions of views, hundreds of thousands of people I've interacted with on Instagram, but you don't really feel the full effect. I know somewhere in me that I think I'm doing good, I'm trying to help you guys toward your goals, and I'm trying to entertain you every day, but the truth is I don't know. It does feel very different when you're training someone one-on-one or coaching high school basketball, and you can just see on their face the improvement or the happiness you bring an athlete or a person. It's hard on the internet, it's really hard. Talking about this, things I struggle with, finding fulfillment is I think something that we always, all of us are always striving for. We're trying to find something that makes us feel good and want to work harder, and I always want to work hard, and I'm continuing to work harder. I have no issues with that right now, but feeling it is something I've struggled with my whole time, my whole life, even when it comes to my own goals, accomplishments. Noticing and feeling the small victories, celebrating the small victories has been something I struggle with, and I think that's part of my NASCAR brain of what's next, what can I do better? Being a self-critical kind of chip on your shoulder style athlete is what's translated into my work ethic as kind of a content creator and a businessman, and so I never really do well at smelling the roses, enjoying the moment, hence if anyone has any anxiety out there, thoughts of the future, thoughts of the past, not living in the moment is what's really jacking me up, but it's also what pushes me to work hard, and it's also what has allowed me to be in the position I am, and I am very lucky and I'm very happy to be where I am, but it can be very difficult, it can be very difficult, but I do appreciate the comments, I really do, it helps remind me why I'm on this course, why I'm trying to help you towards your goals or entertain you. We've been in some dark places, I've been in some dark places, I understand, and so if I can entertain you guys with an actin' a fool on the Instagram or here on YouTube, I'm gonna continue to do so, so I do appreciate it.