 In this episode of Mind Pump, the world's top fitness, health, and entertainment podcast, we answer a lot of fitness and health questions that are asked by listeners and viewers, just like you guys, how's it going? Now in this episode, we open up with an introductory portion, it's 45 minutes long, so we talk about current events and mentioned studies. After that's when we answer the questions. By the way, if you wanna fast forward to your favorite part, just go to mindpumppodcast.com. That's where we have everything time stamped. But I recommend you listen from beginning to end. That's the way you should digest mindpump. This is the way. Now we open up by talking about Justin's wife's crop top. Yes, that's how we open the episode. That's how we did it. You wanna hear that part? Then we talk about- You're welcome, honey. How excited I am because I got a baby coming any minute now, literally any minute now. And so we start telling baby stories. Adam talked about when his wife went into labor a little over a year ago, so good stuff. Then we talked about the podcast that we watched on YouTube, Impact Theory. This is Conversations with Tom Billu. He interviewed Brett Weinstein. Great episode. You guys should go check out Impact Theory, by the way. Tom interviews some really, really good people. Does a great job. Yeah, they get into it. It's great. Yeah, you learn some good stuff. So you can find actually Tom Billu's podcast in these interviews. If you go to Impact Theory with Tom Billu that's on Apple Podcast, Spotify. There's a lot of other podcast platforms. Or you can go on YouTube and just look up Tom Billu. That's Tom and then B-I-L-Y-E-U. Great interviews, great podcast. Then I talked about a supplement I started messing with called Agmatine. So stay tuned. I'll give my full synopsis in coming episodes. We talked about homeschooling challenges or should I say, distance learning challenges. They're not homeschooled because they're still following the same curriculum. Big difference. Then we talked about old 90s commercials, herbal essence. Remember that when the women would wash their hair and it was a little inappropriate. Which led us to talking about one of our new sponsors, Dr. Squatch. They make soaps and shampoos that make you smell good if you're a man. Like you smell like a man. My wife can't keep her hands off me now that I use Dr. Squatch soap on my armpits. Soap, squash. Other areas. By the way, because you listen to Mind Plump you actually get to discount all of the products. Just go to Dr. Squatch that's D-R-S-Q-U-A-T-C-H dot com forward slash mind pump and then use the code Mind Pump for 20% off. Then we talked about wisdom versus knowledge. What's the difference? Which led us to talk about online personal training certifications because if you wanna be a really good trainer knowledge is important, but wisdom is more important. Now one company, NCI, focuses not just on knowledge but how to apply it when you train your clients. This is why this is the only certification for trainers we've ever partnered with. We've never partnered with another certification but NCI. And because you listen to Mind Pump you can get certified at tremendous discount. Just go to NCIcertifications.com forward slash mind pump and then Justin talks about his little wiener dog and why I won't listen to him. Give me your boy. Then we answered the questions. Here's the first question. What can you do to get better at the overhead press? So we talk about movements and exercises you could do to improve your overhead press strength. The next question, how do I fix an imbalance between my left and right lat? So in that part of the episode we talk about imbalances in general and how you develop muscles that seem to be lagging behind others. The next question, what does a cool down? What kind of value does that provide? Why should I do a cool down at the end of my workout? And the final question, this person wants to know, what are good shoes to squat or deadlift in? Also, MAPS Anabolic and the NoBS six pack formula, two of our most popular programs, we have combined and we've slashed the price. You can actually get both of them. Lifetime access for $59.95. So normally if you enroll in MAPS Anabolic and the NoBS six pack formula, that's $174. Right now, 59.95 lifetime access. Now MAPS Anabolic is a full body workout program designed to help you build strength, muscle and speed up your metabolism. The NoBS six pack formula is a core training program designed to bring out definition in your abs by building them, building your abs and your core means that they're more visible at higher body fat percentages. Again, both programs are combined for our MAPS October Super Sale for $59.95. Here's how you sign up. Go to MAPSOctober.com. And it's t-shirt time. Ah, shit dog, you know it's my favorite time of the week. Oh, yes it is. You got aggressive. Boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing. We have two winners for Apple Podcasts and two winners for Facebook. The winners for Apple Podcasts are R. Gainan and article VCOS. For Facebook, we have Mike Norton and Brian Plunkett. Ah, Pinkett. All of your winners, in the name I just read to iTunes at mindpumpmedia.com, include your shirt size and your shipping address and we'll get that shirt right out to you. Justin, tell me about Courtney's crop top. You keep seeing notes about that up on the screen. You haven't said anything about it. I'm very curious about the story. I know, some of these just like, you know, I don't get to them, but it was just a funny kind of thing that happened at home. Like we have gear that every now and then, Courtney's like, hey, why don't you grab me something from Mindpump? Why don't you go in the back and grab me something? I need something to work out in. And so, there was like one of our tank tops, I think Rachel had come up with this design and it's like bright yellow. And it's like, anyways, girls love it, whatever. And so, she had this on and she's working out, she's coming upstairs. And both my kids went up to her and were like, Mom, you need to like put something else on. No way. I'm showing too much skin, Mom. Did they really? They were like shaming her, like saying she's like too sexy. That's so funny that your boys would say that, it's so young. I know, and I was like, I don't know where they got that from or anything, but like they're a little, you know, judgmental with that. Protective, maybe. Yeah, protective. Do you think kids at that, because they're young, right? You think that they just, they instinctually are like, wait a minute, more people are gonna look at my mom. I don't know, it's interesting. Of course, you never wanna look at your mom in that life. And don't you remember the one kid in school who had the hot mom? Yeah. But you remember that kid? I remember that kid in our school, you always had this super hot mom and you teased the fuck out of him all the time. No, you didn't. Yes, you did. It happened this early, though. You walk in on your mom when she's showering all the time. No. Yeah, dude. That's terrible. You totally, it's a high school. The kid that was always asking to come over. Yes. Hey, man, your mom makes great pancakes. When you're a young boy, you do not want the hot mom. You're proud of that as an older, you get older like, oh man, my mom took care of herself, like that's something you're proud of, right? Like when you're later in your life, but when you're a young boy growing up, a teenage boy. You don't want to have a milk mom? No. It makes me wonder, maybe one of his friends like says something. Right, exactly. That's all it takes is one friend, one time to make a comment like that and you like forever have it. And then you're like, mom, put on some clothes. Yeah. Wear a longer shirt. We have been having more kids over lately that want to stay. This makes me think. Oh, I hurt my knee. Mrs. Andrews, can you kiss my boo-boo? Yeah. No, Tommy, you're 18. You can take care of her to yourself. Kiss your own boo-boo. I screwed you. That's hilarious. Did you guys have any teachers growing up that were like, you thought were just not exact? Was that too obvious? Seriously. You did? Just one, Miss Bowie. You said her name. Wow. Hey, Miss Bowie. Shout out, Miss Bowie. You did it for me when I was a kid. You missed a great opportunity. Yes, I loved your eyes. Adored you. You didn't even know it. I should have showed my true feelings. I had a French teacher. She was kind of hot. And it's the only reason why I did OK in French class. I did not have a hot teacher. But I remember that kid's mom, Mrs. Crumb. Justin Crumb's mom, dude. Everybody knew who she was. She came to all the football games, like all done up and stuff. And everybody. Just sweeping up the crumbs. Everybody liked her, dude. That's hilarious. Yeah, you don't want to be that. Have that mom when you're a young boy. Yeah, I can totally see that. You don't mind if it's your wife, though, huh? Yeah, you know, absolutely. She's the hot one, man. Yeah, the dad is proud. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, 100% of what I'm saying. Speaking of which, dude, yesterday I got a great compliment from Jessica. I was like, I was changing. And she's like, you look thicker. It's like, wow. That's a great compliment coming from me. The thickness. I love that. Well, especially when our insecurity is that we've been skinny our whole life. So yeah, the thick compliment's a great compliment. She's like, your workout's working. You're looking thick. Damn. Do your girls ever compliment you like that? Of course. Yeah, yeah. Or my girl will tell me when I'm not. You know what I'm saying? No, she doesn't. Yeah, absolutely. Why are you getting all lean right now? Why don't you put on some wet? She'd rather see me. Does she mean lean as in like body fat lean or like smaller? Yeah, well, smaller, right? So I mean, if I stop lifting weights, I get skinny fat, right? That's what happens to me for sure. Right away. I'll lose the size of my arms and my legs and I get a belly. Like that's just like, that's my freaking genetics. Thank you, mom and dad. So she would she would prefer she would rather see me, you know, 15 plus percent body fat, but a solid 225, 230, then the, you know, 198 and 5 percent body fat. Same. This is why I struggled so much when we were doing that, like transformation thing and the competition, all that. Like, that's not why you struggled. Yeah, I don't like it. He's such a it was so hard because of my wife. Courtney doesn't like it. Yeah, she said that. So where's the motivation? You know what I mean? Like, why even bother? That's a good one. Yeah, no, you know, it is funny. Jessica does like me better, heavier than lean too. Even if I'm shredded, she likes it better. I think most women do. I actually think it's our own. I think it's guys, just like how women are probably more bigger critics on with other women. Men are the same way too. Like most dudes are in the gym complimenting each other and talking about each other's physique. Some more than women are talking about it. Most dudes think it looks great to be 5% body fat and jacked. There's only a small percentage of girls that are really attracted to that like overly jacked look. Shredded. Yeah, most girls are not. And there's also the factor of you're in a relationship and you're getting shredded. Like, they don't like that you're getting attention. They don't want to talk about that, right? Because they look back at the pictures like, oh my God, I didn't even realize. Like you realized, you know, you just didn't like the fact that I was getting attention. Yeah, I think too. It's also sometimes, for men at least, if you're super shredded, it might be perceived as like, you care too much, you know what I mean? You spend too much time on how you look. You spend too much time on worrying about it. And nobody wants to date that person, unless you're a fanatic too. And then which case you could both be dysfunctional together, raising narcissists. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? But yeah, she likes it when I'm a little bit heavier. But I haven't been with her when I've gotten real heavy. So we'll see what happens if that happens. Because I've done that in the past. You should really press her on that. You get a baby a week away. So we'll see, you know, see if you put on that baby weight. Any minute now, actually. She, in fact, had just got a text from her. She came from the midwife appointment. And so last week, we had the midwife appointment and they said that the baby wasn't in the face the right direction. Hadn't turned yet. Yeah, so like, the baby's kind of sideways. And what you want is you want the back facing out, right? You want the baby kind of facing your spine upside down. That's the best way. And so they told Jessica to get on all hands and knees for two times a day, 20 minutes, because I guess the gravity helps the baby turn in the right direction. So she's been doing it and has been a little worried. Because if you give birth naturally and the baby's back is facing your back, you can have a, it's a longer process. So I just got a text and she said that they said, baby's in the right position and the baby's dropping. We're good to go. And so- Guys are clear, let's go. And she told her, she said tell your husband to blow up the tub or whatever, get the tub ready to make sure that it's working. Oh wow, so you're gonna have that all blown up in the house now. So that's gonna be like, that's gonna make it feel a lot more real, right? Well, what I noticed is that with midwives, they're a big part of what they do is to keep you relaxed because natural childbirth, a lot of it is allowing your body to do its job, not freaking out, not being anxious, which is just make it, make your body tense up, make it much more difficult. And so they never say things like, oh, any day now it's coming. They're always like, well, we don't know. I think they try to keep you from participating. 100%. So she's like, fill up the tub and just cause like why? Just, you know, just see if it's, you know, if there's no holes in it. Secretly she's going, okay, this shit could pop in the next 48 hours. She's like, this could pop in the next 48 hours. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna do a little, I'm gonna do a little caffeine fast because I'm gonna save that caffeine for what I need it. I want my body to be sensitive to it. Oh, shit, she's pushing for 12 hours. Dude, we were ready with anything. We didn't have a bag packed. We didn't have nothing ready, dude. I mean, we were a month early. So it was like. You know, totally didn't happen to me. I left the Range Rover in the emergency parking with the keys in it and running. We pulled up to the, where the ambulance goes and drops off because I flew up there. She was barefoot. She didn't have underwear on. We didn't have shit. We roll up and I jump out, jump out, ran in real quick. I need a wheelchair. I need a wheelchair. They come rushing over. They get in the wheelchair. And of course, the natural instinct is not to leave your wife, right? So I don't go like, oh, see you later, honey. And she's like, right, it looks like she's about to have the kid right then. So I follow them up and then we're up there and I'm standing there for a second. They're like, sir, do you have the white Range Rover that's in the ambulance parking? I'm like, oh, shit, yeah, I'm down there. I go down, I left the doors open on it. The keys, it's running. It's running. Where's the valet? So let's take care of this. Was she inactive labor at that point or was it early? Like, was she like, oh my gosh, this is real intense? No, we literally had the baby within two hours of getting there, bro. Yeah. So she basically skipped the early period. Remember, we had the two false alarms that they made us feel like we were amateurs because she went in two days early, right? We were at the beach together. We were all at the beach together. She had that whole scenario where she was like, hun, I just went to the bathroom and my panties are soaked. So I don't know if I pissed myself right now or my water broke. And I'm like, well, I got that. I can cause that. That happens to me all the time. No, I tell her, I said, call the midwife, right? So she calls her right away, the doula, right? She calls her right away and she's like, you should go to the hospital. I know it's a month early, but you should go to the hospital. And we went there. They checked everything. They said, oh, false alarm, it's nothing. At that point, they are saying that the baby is growing so much that he can put pressure on the bladder and you can just, it's very common. You can wet yourself, you probably peed your pants, whatever. So okay, so we go back home. Then later on that night, contraction start and she thinks that, you know, we're like, okay, we were already told that it's not coming for like a month, like pretty much. And they are like that way, like dude, until it's like an emergency, like the hospital sometimes is like lame, you know? They're just like, oh, another, here comes a new couple. They make you feel bad for us. They do, they make you feel bad for coming in because it's too early and like, you know, yeah, it's not gonna happen. It's the bubble blossom, we're like, okay. So she starts having contractions. And, you know, we were thinking, okay, they told us she's not gonna have a baby for four weeks. So they're probably Braxton Hicks, right? So you guys waited. Yeah, so we sat and we waited and we, and then Katrina looked at me and she's like, honey, these are so painful. She's like, this is worth, this is way, this can't be Braxton Hicks. She goes, I'm pretty sure I've already had Braxton Hicks. It doesn't feel anything like this. And so I'm like, well, you know, let's just see if it continues. And so then we started timing just to see and we started timing and they were like five minutes apart and they got down to like four minutes apart and we're like, maybe we should go into the hospital again. So we go down the hospital again. They do the whole scenario with us. They check and they're like, no, it's probably Braxton Hicks. She's, you know, that's all it is. And they're basically telling her like, you know, yeah, I could pretty much be like this for the next three weeks. And so then we go back home again. And she's looking at me and she's like, honey, I'm gonna have to do this for four weeks. She goes, I'm gonna need drugs. I don't know if I could do this. And I'm just like, you're okay, you're okay. So we fell asleep that night, literally like this. So I had- She was in labor the whole time. Yeah, so we were laying in bed. This is all night long. And she, I had the phone with the timer with the little app to do the contractions. And she's holding my hand. I'm holding her hand and we're laying there on the bed. And she would squeeze me and it's what would wake me up and then I would just automatically hit the button start. You know, so I hit the start button and then she, and then I could feel her squeeze in my hand and in pain and stuff like that. And then she go, okay. And then I'd stop it and be like, okay. And so we were tracking them all night long. And they were, they were starting to accelerate. And I didn't want to go a third time in three days and be told that, you know, we're a bunch of fucking rookies and don't know what we're doing. I'm like, okay, I know we're okay until, because the hospital's not far. So I'm like, we can push this all the way to like two and a half minutes in between or whatever like that. So let's just keep seeing and they did. And finally when it hit about the two and a half, we go, okay, let's go back to the hospital. So this doesn't seem normal on the way of walking down the stairs to go back to the hospital. Water breaks when I'm behind her on the stairs all over the place. I'm like, oh shit, it is here. Yeah. And so we didn't have a bag. We didn't have anything ready because they kept telling us that this ain't happening. Oh man. Yeah. I am so excited right now. Just hearing that too is getting me excited. You know what I mean? Especially because my kids are older and now that my daughter's turning 11 soon and I think back to when they were babies and I'm like, oh man, I wish I could go back in time. I see pictures of, and now I get to do it again. You know what I mean? So I'm so pumped. It's gotta be a really cool experience for you to do this, right? Cause- So it's such a different- It's less common, right? There's not a lot of parents that have 10 year gaps with their kids, right? That's not that often. I don't think so, right? So it's gotta be pretty neat. It's such a whirlwind the first time around that now I feel like doing it again, I'm a total different- I really hope that you have the awareness to share with us as you go through step by step things that you know you've done differently. I shared with you guys, I don't know if I did this on air or not, but I talked about like, so I had a lot of experience with my two younger siblings, right? That I have 10 years plus on me. So I kind of got to be like a dad, even though I was a teenage boy and obviously I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. But I did, I fed and changed and did all and watched my baby brother and sister a lot. And I remember like, when they would cry and they fuss and trying to put them down sometimes, how frustrating that would get to like, and you get really irritated. And at that time in my life, I'm not thinking about my feelings and the energy that he may be picking up from me and like how I'm handling it. I'm not thinking of any of that stuff, right? I'm just like, mom told me- You're a kid. Yeah, I'm a kid, right? And you just deal with it. Where now like I have such a different, before he goes to bed, like he kind of wrestles around with me and stuff like that. It's just part of his process after bath and then reading. And sometimes when I take him in his room and it's all black and it's time to put him down, he does that where he's like moving around my arms and I don't fight him. I just, I think of like what I've seen- You just corral him, right? Yeah, I just corral him. I think of it like when you've ever seen like, when chimps are together and they have like a baby chimp and the mom's just kind of like keeping them in close, letting them play and roll and fight and pull and do all this. I don't fight any of it. I just let him do it. Isn't that weird? They have like this- Do a nequito with them. Isn't that weird? They have like this little bit of extra energy. They need to like get out so he can sleep. And I feel like when you resist that so much, you only make it worse. Makes them cry. They get irritated. They get frustrated. Then it's this battle. And then you get angry about it. Like versus me, like now I have this older version of me that's doing this. And I'm just like, it's cute to me. And it's fun. And I like, let him do it. And then before long, and it's weird. He'll sometimes he'll fall asleep on his knees with his head between like my armpit. Cause that's just where he ended up when he was tired. You know what I'm saying? Let him kind of roll around, do his thing. And then like the next thing I know, he's like sleeping. There was a period of time where for my daughter, like I don't know how long this period was. It was a few months or whatever. Well, she just had that. She had to have a good cry before she went to bed. Just the way it was. Like she would get real fussy and then she would cry. And then at some point I'm like, I think she just needs to get this energy out. So I just let her cry and hold her. And then, you know, after about a minute or so, she'd get tired and fall asleep. Yeah, I want to hear about the moments that with your new child that you recognize that you did something different. Like, oh, I handled this different. I remember now this has brought me back to when I had my two older ones, like during this time. And I see how I'm different this time. That's interesting to me. I think being an older dad is, I think that's a good thing. I really do. I think you're just wiser, you know what I mean? When you're young, you're just in the tornado. And you're like, I gotta make money. I gotta make sure things okay. And then when you're older, you're like, okay, it's all good. We'll be calm. That's like that. We are just watching Tom Biliu's, the Brett Weinstein thing, right? Talking about. Oh, great interview. Right? Yeah, great show. Wasn't that good in him talking about? It's on his conversations with Tom Biliu on YouTube, I believe. I think that's what it's called, right? Is that what it's called, Doug? It's his Impact Theory channel. Yeah, it's Impact Theory. But that is called Conversations with Tom. Yeah. I didn't know he was doing that where he was doing the one-on-one out of his studio or it's kind of like a prize. I like the way they set that up. What'd you guys think of that conversation? He's really interesting. I didn't know anything about Brett Weinstein. Yeah, yeah. I've heard Brett Weinstein on Joe Rogan. Yeah, it was an interesting conversation. I wanted them to get a little bit further into the actual conflict of both parties. I mean, the title of it, wasn't it something about are we going into civil war? It was a very provocative title and I feel like what they were saying in that conversation was really deep and it's definitely thought-provoking. But that title, I'm like, let's get to this. Why did they start to get to it? They did indirectly, I thought it was really good. Like I was alluding to right now with the whole child throwing a tantrum, how that's like their natural way to try and get of attention. And they kind of tied that, he tied that into like our culture today and how we're allowing that type of behavior to be rewarded. And I thought that was a really interesting take on that and to draw it back to that is our natural instincts as kids to do that to get our way. And anyone who's a parent knows that that's not the way to be successful as a kid. So we seem to be rewarding it in adults. Right, so I thought that was really, really fascinating. It is, it was a great conversation. I think the important thing to understand here that's happened over the last, I don't know, 10, maybe 15 years is that we stopped thinking that the other side was wrong and now we think that the other side is evil. That's very different. If I'm debating Adam, for example, on a subject, now I know you, right? I know Adam and I know Justin and I know you guys are not evil people. But let's say we're debating a topic and you both have completely different opinions from me. I'm gonna debate the idea, but you're not an evil person. I know that your intentions may be good. Even if I think the idea you have is wrong and it's not gonna work, I know your intentions are good. So now we can have a discussion. There's a level of civility there still. There is. Now, if I'm talking to an evil person, right? So if Hitler all of a sudden comes to life and he's sitting across from me, I'm not gonna debate Hitler. I'm gonna wanna beat him up. You're an evil person. So that's the big problem is that people on the left think that the people on the right are evil. People on the right think that people on the left are evil, but the reality is- And then everybody in the middle, why are you picking a side? You're evil. And the reality is both the majority of people on both sides want the right thing. They want people to be better off. They wanna help other people. They wanna help their families. Some on some subjects, maybe one side is right. On other subjects, maybe the other side is right. But for the most part, most people are not evil. Like nobody's voting for someone because they are evil and they want bad things. He makes the case in that conversation, right? That they're necessary. It's a necessary evil to have both opposing sides. That's what makes America so great. Did you guys- So I know you guys didn't watch the full VP debate, but actually that was the last question from the kid, right? So the kid at eighth grader writes in and says that, all I see on TV is this anger and animosity towards me and this division. And I really thought Mike Pence did a really good job of responding to that. Like he, I thought he came like reminded this kid that, oh, don't believe everything that you see on television. And that was where he actually complimented Kamala Harris and they talked about like, this is what makes our country so great. Is that we do have very opposing sides and we challenge each other hard. And like, so he went into great detail to share that, don't always, don't know. And that's the problem I think is we live in this, Twitter world and 15 second soundbite world and a bunch of idiots that hear that stuff and they take that and they run with that versus recognizing that they're both necessary evils. They both have value. And that's what has brought us into this beautiful country that we all live in. And it's not something that we need to be like, I don't think it's as bad as we make it out to be. I think it's the tabloids and shit. It's way easier to burn everything down than to have hard conversations and to actually work your way together to build something that's different. It's just, it's just most people are not evil people. Go find somebody with opposing views from you and talk to them not about their views but talk to them about their lives. And you'll, you'll find. You'll find a lot more in common. You'll find most people, they just want what's best for their kids. They care about the wellbeing of other people. They want to do well themselves. Another thing that I really, I really liked that interview with once you, I never heard anyone explain the left and the right, the way the differences in that, but how the great value of both of them, the way the left looks more as the collection of the- It was compassion, collective compassion. Yeah, collective compassion and moving all of us collectively in a better direction, which that's the place where most of them come from. If I would think most liberals think of themselves that way. And then the right is more just, they think that the way to get there is through individual- Personal responsibility. Yeah, personal responsibility. So I thought that was really interesting and I thought that was, I thought that was a great point. And I think it was a great point for a lot of people to listen to at this time. Well, there's a conversation that hasn't been had in a little while, which I think is this, is that, that is whatever our, if we have this free system where people can kind of do what they want, buy what they want, so long as they don't hurt other people or steal or that kind of stuff, that's great, but you also need a society that's otherwise moral and has good ethics for that to also work. So that's the weakness in any system, but you need to have good, for example, if you look at the fitness space, right? The fitness space, it will provide the products and services that people pay for. So if all people want are fat burning pills that promise to make you lose 30 pounds in 30 days, if all people want are, aesthetic driven programs and insecure driven marketing, then that's what the fitness space is gonna push forward. So we not only want, I don't want the fitness space, for example, to get regulated, but I want it to remain free, but I want people to want things that are healthy and good for them, because then that's what we'll get kind of produced. That's the conversation I think a lot of people aren't having, is that we're not, we're kind of missing out on, I mean, imagine if all the collective, desire for, I don't know, distraction, right? So many people want to be distracted. Imagine if everybody instead of being distracted wanted to learn and grow, like how much of that, all those resources would get dedicated towards growth instead, you know what I'm saying? So I think that's a big thing, but it was, it was a good interview. I really appreciate, I think Billy's doing a great job on his channel. He's got some really, really good, guests going on. It blows my mind how much he's doing, dude. I can't keep, I thought that like we drown a lot of people with content, like it's almost impossible. He's a machine. Speaking of supplements, I've been experimenting with supplements. Been around for a little while, no sponsorships with a company that provides us or anything, but just thought I'd bring it up. Have you guys heard of Agmatine before? No, not familiar. Very interesting compound. I believe it's related to Argonine, but it does, when you take it, it lowers your perception of pain. It's got synergistic properties with painkillers. So this is why medicine is interested in it. It's actually an effective nitric oxide booster. And you take it with a stimulant and you get a little bit more of a stimulant kind of effect. So I experimented with this about, I don't know, five years ago, bought some more just to see what would happen. Oh yeah, it's legit, man. You definitely work out and you find yourself pushing a little harder because the perception of pain a little lower. Interesting. It's a very interesting supplement. Yeah, it's not a classic stimulant. I wonder what that would be like with paired with something like Kratom that works with that. Oh, so it's synergistic with things that work with the opiate receptors. That's why I'm wondering how. Now, here's the thing though. I have a real quick caution here. Synergistic sometimes it means it amplifies. So you might get also negative effects from more negative effects from something like Kratom. So I don't want to recommend people combine those. Where did you find out about this? It's been around for a while, but I was at the vitamin shop the other day. It's like a GNC, right? And I still like to walk through there and see what's going on. That's so funny, we drove by one yesterday and I told Katerina, I'm like, is that always been there? And she's like, yeah, I'm like, I can't believe those things are still in business. Bro, it's funny, I have a problem. I'll go into one of those and it's interesting to hear their advice in terms of it's all COVID related. They're always trying to pump you up with vitamin C, vitamin D, this, that, the other. I'm like, wow, I guess is the direction. I like to go through because you guys know I have a bit of a supplement problem, but I also like to look at the backs of the bottles to see, okay, what are they putting in? What are they trying to promote? And I kept seeing this pop up in some supplements. Oh, interesting. I remember reading about it a long time ago, did a little bit more research. Let me try this out and see what happens. Dude, how's the distance learning going with your kids? I have a bit of a story with this so far. It's been really rough. And I kind of have come to conclude that the way this is set up is just not in parents' favor at all. And really, it's a power structure because if you think about it, you're implementing this curriculum from a teacher who's the authority, but you're just basically the manager in this situation that's trying to make sure that everybody's, you're like the task master. And so this is where, I know Courtney's struggling with this quite a bit in terms of them having outbursts and frustration all directed at her, but then trying to do all this stuff virtually to appease the teacher. So anyway, so my solution to this, which I was really trying to think about this because it's frustrating for everybody involved was to kind of bring in another element of the power dynamic, right? So bringing myself into this is like an evaluation process. So daily, weekly, the total, like how basically they were behaving, like in terms of if they got up on time, if they're dressed, if their attitude is good, if they're listening well, if they completed their homework, how good the homework was, I had to have all these qualifications to then evaluate. So that way now it's like, oh, okay, like we actually have to take this seriously because that's the biggest problem is like they just haven't, like they're not taking it seriously. That's a really smart actually recommendation. Are you doing like some sort of like a chart with like stars on it or doing some sort of a reward system? Are you doing production meetings with your kids? Yeah, it feels like that. It really does. That's actually really fucking smart. I know that's a big challenge right now for a lot of parents. Bro, it's huge. You have no idea, I've talked to so many parents. Are you, now what do you do if they don't? Like let's say they don't do something, do they get a punishment? Negative, so here's the thing. They get a score from one to six based off of these qualifiers, like of what I'm evaluating. And so then I leave it to Courtney to give him sort of a score on that. And then I review it with them when I get home and you know, I haven't actually got to a point where I did a full week yet. So what basically is is like take something away. Yes, give. Screen time. Gift or take away. Yeah, dude. And so then, you know, and of course the gifts are gonna be real small things or whatever, like little wins, like yeah, whether it's electronics, whether it's you know, a little Lego toy or whatever it is, you know, like having a friend over to stay over. That's a brilliant idea dude. Dude, it's so challenging. I talked to parents, so you know, there's a huge like ADD problem, right? Like children have been medicated more and more because they can't sit still. And my personal belief is I don't, I definitely think that there are the ADD exists, but I also think that the way the system is designed is some people are just, they do better when they move around. They don't do so well sitting still. I'm one of those people. And so I don't necessarily think, and also I think there are factors that can contribute to that poor diet, unstable home is how are we're teaching maybe influencing that. So I have parents, I know parents who have kids who were borderline rambunctious or whatever, not necessarily ADD, never been diagnosed, but now they're thinking their kids have ADD. And I'm like, well, it's because your kid now is sitting in a chair looking at a 2D image all day. Now they're sitting in, not only, before they were in a classroom, which was challenging for them. Now they're in front of a computer, they're in fourth grade. So I imagine that this is probably going up. I'm wondering if more kids are putting on meds because of this distance learning. And really, if it was just about homeschooling, at least then you can determine your own hours. Totally. Your own environment. Them having to log in at that early morning time and be on there and check in and be forced to subscribe to this regiment is way less empowering to the parents. Here's my personal, so I'm blessed in this regard. Both of my kids have always done really well in school. My daughter has always loved school, like looks forward to waking up for school, looks forward to going to school the next day. She's very on, like if she gets a project and it's due Friday, she's doing it Monday, she does it way in advance, like never had to worry. First time ever in my daughter's life is she not like school, ever. Never comes out of her mouth. She still does well. She's very responsible. I still don't, I don't have to like be on top of her, but I've never heard my daughter ever say, oh, I gotta go to school tomorrow. Oh, I gotta, she hates it because of the way, and she's in a pod. She's not even by herself. She's with three other girls. She doesn't like it. My son, he does well. I never have to be on top of them. But I tell you, dude, the kid from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., he's in front of his computer, not moving. When I come home from work, I pull him out of his room. I have to drag him outside and he literally looks like someone that's been chained in their basement for years. They're just not motivated to go outside anymore. He's pale. He's just like, hey, listen, we're gonna go for a walk. And the pod thing is difficult too, man, because you get all these crazy parents that are like, they wanna keep their kid in a bubble because they're afraid of everything. Oh, dude, I just, I can't deal with it. I can't deal with people like that. I know. So I don't know, man. It's been a very challenging time, I think, for a lot of parents. It's been a challenge. I took max to swim lessons and I kinda had a feeling like it wasn't gonna go very well. Wait, how old is he? He's one, right? One and a half? Oh, yeah, that's young. Yeah, it's young, for sure. And really it was like, so really this has a lot to do with like getting Katrina comfortable. So one of the other things that like, we're not probably seeing ideas, I was already dunking him in the bath like way long ago. And I had to do it when she like leaves the room because she would freak the fuck out. Like she'd just, he's a baby, what are you doing? He's gonna be traumatized. Like I'm trying to drown him or something. I'm like, no, it's not, let's do it. Did you do the thing where you blow on his face and put him under? Yeah, as he blow on his face, they naturally close their mouth and they in there. And I used to let him really early on when he could barely even crawl, like kinda move around the bathtub, let him go fall and slip and go under a little bit. And then I'd pick him back up and then make sure it's not a big deal. Right, you know, the kid's not gonna fucking drown when I'm in the bathtub with him, right? So I'm not worried about that. And so now we're moving into the pool and like we're doing pool time. And like I want to be a little more aggressive with him and allow him to kind of let him go, let him try to, because naturally kids will do that. Like you've seen, I don't know if you've ever seen like videos. I've seen those videos of infants where they just let him go in the water. Before they can, before they can crawl, a lot of times can learn to swim and swim to get to their head at top. So I know this and I've had younger siblings and I've been in pools my whole life. And so, you know, I'm trying to get Katrina to be more comfortable with kind of stretching him a little bit and letting, because I want him to learn how to swim really early. So we don't have to worry about him around pools and shit like that, him following him. So a lot of this truthfully is to get her comfortable so she can hear a fucking person that is a teacher for this say all the same goddamn things I've been saying, right? So- This is a Katrina pool lesson. Yes. Secretly, I'm giving it up now too because I'm sure she'll listen, right? So yeah, so okay anyway. So I'm, because I'm like, I already know he's at a place where he won't let go of me, right? And then on top of that, like his totally new place and there's lots of stuff going on and it's loud and all kinds of people and kids jumping in pools, splashing. And here comes me with my son. I got to wear a mask, which I don't wear a mask around him at hardly at all. So he doesn't really see that on my face. I'm wearing a mask around. The instructor's got a big fucking face shield on, old lady's never seen before. It's kind of a scary environment. No shit, dude. And we wonder why he won't fucking let go of me, you know what I'm saying? Is that what's going on? Yeah, like, I already look, like when I put the mask on before we went in and I'm carrying him, he kind of gave me like this like sideways look like what the fuck is dad doing? You know, right? So, right. So I already, and then I'm in a pool with it. And then, so it was a disaster as far as like any sort of success with it. I mean, it was good because the pool, they keep it at 91. And so every time I've taken him in a pool before it's been really cold. And that seems to be bothering him more than anything else than more than fear. So yeah, we'll see how it, what we do to progress this. But I told Katrina already, I'll do it again for you. And we'll do a group one, try that, but. It's important, swimming lessons are super important, especially if you live near a pool. I mean, we did that with my kids when they were really young, because we had a pool and you know, that's the safest thing you could do is have your kids learn how to swim. You know, you put up a gate, you could do all that stuff. Safe, I do the same thing with gun safety. So like yesterday, I took my son for the first time, by the way, he, you know, fired a handgun. So he's 15, so I took him to the range and he was able, like I brought my revolver and he was able to do it. Before that, I go through all the gun safety, like treat everything like it's loaded. Here's how you open it. This is how you hold it. Never put your hand here. And because if you have the responsibility, if you have a gun, your people in the house should know gun safety and know to handle it, because most of the accidents that happen are accidents. We're not someone doing it on purpose. Not to mention, if there was an intruder when you weren't home and your 15 year old son is the only one there, you want him to be able to protect himself too if he absolutely had to. Not yet, not yet. Until when he's really proficient, yes. Cause otherwise he'll pull it out and the burglar will just grab it from him. No, I mean, that's how it starts. So you get to teach him at one point, you know what I'm saying to her. If you wait until he's 20 something before he learns that. I've just started. I've seen those statistics though. Yeah, it's always better to educate and have them like handle the gun versus like them just, you know, sort of be afraid of it. Totally, totally. Hey, I was speaking to my son. So we, sometimes him and I go on YouTube and we'll show each other funny things. And I was looking up like nostalgic 90s commercials. Oh yeah. Do you guys remember herbal essence shampoo commercials? I love this. Do we? Yeah. It's like the most like orgasmic moans. Dude, my son's like what the fuck? Oh, he had never seen them before. No, I mean, they don't do those anymore, do they? No. So basically, so for people who don't know it was a shampoo commercial. How do you not know those? And the woman washing her hair is moaning like she's orgasming. So my kid's like, this is a commercial? It was effective. They sold the shit to them. Actually, that was, I mean, herbal essence may be, we may be able to credit them for doing the first bit of like really edgy type of advertising like that. They were one of the first companies to kind of push those limits, at least that I remember. Every girl I know, like you could smell it in their hair because it was like a very floral kind of a smell. It's just like, but anyways, that was, that was one of those things too. Like I wasn't talking to him about that but what brings to mind, you know, that kind of a thing was that like Courtney has like certain shampoos that we have. We all kind of use her shampoos and she's just like sick of it, whatever. So I finally got like my hands on some of the Dr. Squatch version because I've had this soap but I didn't, they actually have the shampoos too and conditioner and so I brought those home and I'm using them like, oh, good. And I'm like kind of joking like, finally I can smell like a man, you know? And like, and the kids like heard me like talking about that. Oh no. And so they like stole it from me and I'm like, where'd it go? They're like downstairs, like they're all like, you know, super proud that they smell like a man now. I wonder if they think it's gonna make them stronger or something like that. Yeah, exactly. I know I have no hair, but I use it on top of my head all the time because of the tea tree oil. It's good for- You got hair on the side? Yeah, it's for the dry skin, fuck off guys. For the, I mean, I have my psoriaspots that I have on my head and it's how, it's half of what keeps it. Tea tree oil is good for a dandruff too. Yeah, it's good. Did you guys use their toothpaste yet? I haven't used it. I just literally put it in my bathroom last night. Oh, you use it. They have a daytime and a nighttime. Yeah, so the daytime one has got ginseng, vitamin B12 and I can't remember, there's a mineral in there that's very similar to tooth and an amyl. Apparently, if you brush your teeth with it, it can help strengthen teeth and even heal cavities, by the way. What smart marketing. Yeah, and then. You know, morning and then the night one. Well, the ingredients are legit. The evening ones got valerian, chamomile and salt palmetto, which for a man, salt palmettos and natural DHT receptor blocker, which is good for hair loss, actually. In fact, that's why he's a salt palmetto shampoo. Thanks for pointing that out. I point right at it. Late to the game, but hey. I point right at it. In case I'm unaware. That's hilarious, totally. Hey, I started doing, do you guys remember when I used to do my egg yolk shakes in the morning? Yeah. I started doing them. How many did you put in there? Like six or eight? Between six to 10. So, and this may be why Jessica's looking thick. So you're a thick boy. With a bunch of C's. Yeah, dude, so here's a disclaimer. Yes, if you put raw eggs in your shake, you could run the risk of- Chamomile. Yes, it's a tiny risk, okay? But take your own risk and it's up to you. But when I do this- More importantly, you'll feel like Rocky. Yeah, when I, hey, listen. You can cook your eggs too if you want. When I do this, when I have my six to 10 egg yolks in the morning, legit, if I do this for like a two week period, I will get stronger every time. It is the most effective supplement ever, is bumping your cholesterol, having the egg yolks, and then watch what happens. I know, you swear. Completely contrary to, yeah. People being afraid, yeah, of cholesterol. Too much fat and cholesterol. Yeah. Yeah, don't eat it. Don't do it. I was having a conversation with my aunt the other day. So I have an aunt that is, I love her because her and I will, we've always been, we've always debated each other. When I was younger, you know, it was more like arguments because she was, she's closer to my age. But now that I'm older, we have these wonderful discussions about anything, any topic, and I love her because even if we- Do you have many different perspectives or views on things? Sometimes, although most of them now are very similar. Sometimes we have differing opinions. And so we were having a conversation about the impact of the internet. And I remember a long time ago, I had this huge debate with her of the internet. And I said, this is wonderful. You know, it's gonna give humans access to like all the information in the world. And this is gonna be something. And I remember she's like, that's not necessarily a good thing. We got this big debate. Well anyway, I had a conversation about it with her again. And I said, you know, you were right. I just didn't understand it because I was younger back then. And she said, what do you mean? I said, you know, we do have access to all this information. And I can safely say people now have more knowledge than they've ever had, especially younger people. They know way more facts and knowledge than ever because it's just there whenever they wanna look it up. But we lack wisdom. That doesn't give you wisdom, right? We're not listening to the right people. No, and so then he was, check this out, right? So we're talking about this in a dawn on me. If you think of like, as you grow up as a human, right? You're a baby, then you're a toddler, then you're adolescence, teenager, 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond. When you're a teenager, and I'm seeing this with my son, when you're a teenager, that's the first time where you actually know stuff. Like you really know stuff. Like my son's 15, he's a smart kid. He'll sit there and he'll debate things with me and he's got facts and knowledge. But he comes to stupid conclusions because he lacks wisdom. I told him this the other day. I said, you know things, it's true, but you lack experience. So all you have is knowledge and you have no wisdom. So it was a great discussion that I had, you know, with my aunt. Does that like resonate with him yet? Or it's like one of those things. It pisses him off. Yeah, he's angry. It pisses him off, but luckily he tries to be objective. And what's funny is that he was telling me how logic is so much better than emotion. This was great conversation. Go full spot. Oh dude, he saw my son, it's so ridiculous. It's annoying too. He's like, logic is better than emotion. Emotion is not good. And he is, that's exactly how he is. Jessica says his emotional range is between a two and a four. Like doesn't go any below or above that or whatever. And I said, well emotion's part of what makes us human. So then as we're going, he starts to get angry and he starts to be logical about his anger. I'm like, you just be emotional, buddy. That's it. It was really good. Speaking of expressing your feminine side. Yeah, it's funny. When I got to our little wiener dog, you know, like I knew like right, because I have, you know, this crazy beast of another dog that's like, I, you know, my whole plan with him was to get good training and everything was, you know, chaotic. And then, you know, sort of harnessing that in and like maintaining control. Like, like my little dog's been really easy. But at the same time, it's been difficult for me because there's certain things that I have to do differently with this little dog than I did training the big dog. So the little dog, I have to be like extremely like happy and like, oh, come here. Like I have to like, he will not come to me. Like he won't recall to me unless I have like this really high effeminate voice. And it's really masculine. So that was when you get a chick dog, bro. I know exactly. That's where they come from. I seriously didn't even like consider that, but I was like out at the dog park with my friend and like he was, he was running off. And I'm like, Finn, get over, Finn, calm. And in the course, he like looks back and just does, and then I'm like, Finn, he's like, what? And then just starts running right to me like, no. He's so cute, dude. He's the cutest. Hey, speaking of training, still getting great messages from people going through the NCI certificate. You know, I just spoke about wisdom and knowledge. That's what they do well. That's just hit me right now. They try to take the knowledge of coaching online, but apply it through wisdom, which means, okay, it's great. You know all this stuff. How do you coach people? Like how do you communicate it to clients? That's a big part of their process. And so I'm getting good messages. I actually had a really good call with Jason yesterday and just talking about the future of our partnership. And he was just kind of asking my feedback because we're coming up on a year that we've been working together. And he's asking some of the things that I thought that they could do to help support our audience. And I said, moving in a direction where, I said, I think obviously with this pandemic, I said it's accelerated this. I thought we were moving this direction anyways. But many trainers are moving away from training a lot in person and more virtual and trying to figure out how to do, how to make that transition, how to scale that business. I said, I think you have a lot of wisdom around that. You've coached a lot of other coaches. And I said, and you guys offer a platform that is great for educating many of these trainers. So I think more things, more either free content that's around it or even paid content that you guys create around that, I think would probably be one of the best things that we do in 2021. And he was pretty pumped about it. We got to call again today to kind of follow up and probably start putting some of that stuff in motion. Yeah, one of the biggest questions I get from trainers because one thing I love about trainers is that what makes them trainers is that they really want to help people. It's like a number of drivers. Yeah, they don't really care about people. Yeah, and one of the big questions I get is how do I provide as much value virtually as I can in person? And that is a big challenge. That's a big challenge to be met, but I think there are, you just have to change the way you approach things. It's a completely different, there are different obstacles, but I think it's possible. First question is from ZT Roan32. What can you do to get better at the overhead press? The Z-Press. Z-Press is great. Z-Press, great advice. Added Z-Press and just start with lightweight if you have to, like real, real, just the bar, you know? Dude, I got one for you because, okay, so aside from pressing more often in practicing different rep ranges and doing different versions of presses, kettlebells, dumbbells, barbells, the one thing that I ever did that gave me the biggest like immediate impact were overhead carries. It gave me, right away I saw an improvement in my overhead presses from doing different versions of carries, either the ones where I have like a really heavy kettlebell racked on one side or both arms and maintaining tension and carrying, or especially pressing kettlebells, dumbbells, or something up above my head and then walking, just holding that top position, that tension. I saw like a 10-pound increase in my, and I'm talking about, this is way later in my lifting career when adding five pounds is a big deal. I saw my lift go up 10 pounds, like the first thing was like two weeks after I started doing overhead carries. Yeah, I had this very similar experience with that and really it was about being able to stabilize in that top position I think is so crucial. And again, that's addressed with the Z-Press, like you really have to put the work in in terms of how you're bracing and how everything is holding and things in place for that to occur. And so, you know, to hold something overhead and really train yourself to hold that for a period of time helps tremendously with that, but you gotta think of the overall joint of the shoulder. And so, this is why, again, here's my button that I'm always hammering is rotation. And so, for me, the biggest unlocking factor to success with overhead press for me was really starting to work more into that natural rotation that my shoulder wants to get through and then add little bits of resistance to that, which people don't understand that you can add little bits of resistance and strengthen the rotators and do it in a safe and effective manner where all of that pours right back in to the overall strength and stability and support. Totally, a huge limiting factor for a lot of people with an overhead presses or mobility issues. So, you know, and I've seen this with clients and I've seen this even with myself because when I first started working out, I did a lot of bodybuilding type movements and I wasn't focusing a lot on full range of motion. And here's how you know, right? So, you could do something like a wall test. And I know we did a wall test on our Maps Prime webinar.com. And if you do a wall test and you find that difficult, what you run into when you do an overhead press with a barbell or dumbbells is you have resistance from your own body. So, you actually see this sometimes. You could take someone, even with a lot of muscle, have them straighten their arm up above their head, but also have them straighten out their spine, maintain good posture. And without any weight, they find difficulty keeping their arm in that position. That's resistance that is happening to your arm and your shoulder without you actually holding weight. So, you are lifting, let's say, 10 pounds less than you can because of this internal lack of stability and mobility. So, stability and mobility make a huge difference for a lot of people. In fact, even simple external rotation exercises like rotator cuff exercises, they know the ones that the physical therapists will give you where you grab the bands and you externally rotate that type of stuff. Even something like that, sometimes you'll see someone practice that and the overhead press will go up five or 10 pounds because the limiting factor was that their stability wasn't good, that they had poor mobility. And that's more, some exercises, it's more common than others. Stability provides more force production. Totally. And I think that it was shoulders that it's 99% of the time. Oh, yeah. It's so common. It's very rare that when someone asks a question like this that it has anything else to do, it's not the lack of certain exercise you're doing. It's not anything more than that most people are very uncomfortable with a full extension above their head with their shoulder in the right position. Exercises like Z-Press, I think are incredible. A good movement to start before you go into that, retrol lift. Like, so I love retrol lift to kind of prime before you go into one of these movements that we're on. And then if you do retrol lift, the overhead carries the Z-Press and then like Justin's, you know, Arnold Press with kettlebells or whatever. Those movements, phenomenal for that. Absolutely. Next question is from Kat Il Est. How do I fix an imbalance between my left and right lats? Same way you would work on an imbalance with any right to left muscle, which is to place more emphasis on the weaker smaller side. Now, here's the challenge with this. The challenge is, and I know because I ran into this too as a younger lifter, you're afraid you're gonna slow down your gains because you're focusing on the weaker side. You're not. The bigger side isn't gonna shrink to match the smaller side. It's just that you're gonna get the smaller side to speed up a little bit. One way you can do this, and I remember Adam bringing this up on the podcast a long time ago as a physique competitor, this is something he had to focus heavily on because he was getting judged by his physique on stage, was to do unilateral exercises. So one arm or one legged exercises, right? So in this case, it'd be one arm. And then allow the weaker side to dictate the weight and the reps. So if I'm doing like a one arm row or one arm pull down with perfect form, and the most I can do is 100 pounds for 12 reps with my weaker side, that's what I'm gonna do with my stronger side. Even if I could do more than that with a stronger side, I'm gonna stop there. So it's the weaker side that's dictating the sets and the reps, and then what'll happen and you'll find by doing it this way is it actually catches up. It actually does catch up pretty quickly to do it this way. So exercises. Rows, you said lap. I mean, literally almost everything that you would do with both your hands, you could do by yourself. So a seated single arm row, a lap pull down single arm row, a dumbbell row, a hammer strength. I mean, there's tons of exercises that you can do almost anything that you could do with a barbell that you would do for your back. You could do with single arm with a dumbbell. And so this is a perfect time to make your routine be all unilateral for a while. And I had to do this for my shoulders. I had to do this for my chest. I had to do this for my biceps, all at different periods of my training career. You just get avoided barbells. Yeah, I just avoid it for a while. And honestly, it only took, I wanna say three to six months. I can't remember each one was probably a little bit different, but just simply focusing all on unilateral. So one arm, one leg, like you said, at a time in your routine, getting rid of the barbell stuff for a while. Because this is a priority, right? I know you hear us talk on the show all the time about barbell exercises, barbell, barbell. But that's why there's always exceptions to the rule. Like if someone's asking me, oh, you say you need to do barbell exercises all the time, but then you guys say to do dumbbell exercises and get rid of barbell exercises, well, that's because this person right here, this is an example of this now takes over a priority of what exercise technically would build the most muscle on their body and it's more, let's get it balanced out, then we can go back to those barbell movements. Right, and also too, I guess I just think, I think also about posture and what maybe, maybe a block in that process in terms of unlocking more potential for you to gain access to your lat. So what if like your chest, for instance, and your pecs are a bit tighter on your other side. And you really need to do the work of mobility in assessing where those deficiencies may lie if there's any asymmetry or anything within your posture that you can realign in order for you now to then really be able to focus on gaining more connectivity towards the lat. Next question is from Beck Pasteur. What value does a cool down provide after a workout? What is the best way to cool down? Okay, so cooling down, if you had to compare it to priming, I don't think it's as important, but it does have some value. From a muscle building perspective, static stretching, first off, this is when you do it. You would do the static stretching at the end of the workout. So if you just worked out your back or your chest, now you're gonna slow down and you're gonna focus on these long stretches of this muscle, especially if it's pumped. Studies show that this does contribute to more muscle growth and better recovery. So that's part of it. The other part of it is it gets you into that state of recovery a little bit faster and better and in a more organized way, rather than stopping your workout all of a sudden cold and then moving to the next thing. Yes, you have a process of allowing your body to come down to a more, a better state. Now for endurance athletes, a little bit more valuable. You tend to get this blood pulling effect in your extremities when you're running or cycling a lot. And so cooldowns can prevent some of the dizziness that some of them would experience after cycling. So rather than like doing a hard cycle and then just stopping, they would do a hard cycle and then kind of slow down. But in my experience, cooldowns are excellent for doing correctional static stretching, improving range of motion and then accelerating muscle growth through that static stretching period. I think there's a lot of opportunity here. I think that this is definitely an overlooked aspect of working out and training in general to where, yeah, you can bring yourself down into that more parasympathetic state. And for athletes, how beneficial is that when you can control your body and be able to get yourself into that state a little bit more effectively, a little more efficiently and train your way there. And I think a good way to do that would be to really implement these cooldowns in your workout and start train your body how to respond like that. So if you're in a really rigorous activity and event to be able to then calm the system down and regenerate some energy, I think that would be massively beneficial. Well, I think it all depends on who you are. You're a weekend warrior person who kind of just is approaching working out and just trying to stay healthy and fit and balance lifestyle. And that person to me, if you're getting the main lifts in, you're eating well, sleeping well, you're taking care of the big rocks, I don't think this is that big of a deal. If you are a competitor, if you're somebody who's competing and you're looking for the competitive edge, whether that be sport or building a physique and looking to maximize autonomy, this does matter. And then there's a lot actually. I mean, you guys both your point about the parasympathetic system, getting into that state allows you body to start to recover until you're in that state, you haven't started the recovery process. So let's just use hypothetical numbers and just pretend that you go and you don't do a cool down and say it takes a half hour to an hour before your body actually switches over into that system and says, okay, we've calmed down now. He's no longer hammering me with weights or running on the treadmill or beating me up. It's no longer stress time. Now it's time to start recovering and rebuilding. And let's say that's a, it takes your body naturally, a half hour or hour to do that. And let's say when you do cool downs, it only takes it 15 minutes to do that because you did a cool down process. Now that 15 minutes of recovery times five to seven days a week times 30 days a month times 300, you know, in a year, that shit really starts to add up. So if you are a competitive athlete or looking for the next set, this stuff does make a huge difference. And this is where things like, you know, cryotherapy and ice baths and infrared, all these tools really start to come into play where man, these can be difference makers for somebody who is trying to take their recovery and take their training to a whole nother level. And you saw that with LeBron James is all his money he poured into that direction. And it did make a massive difference. Yeah, you know, it's funny is that bodybuilders instinctively have done this for a long time. There's like a ritual, especially in the older days of bodybuilding after a workout, they would go out and they'd eat a big meal and go lay out in the sun. That's what they did, right? Or after a hard workout, I have, by the way, eating is parasympathetic, right? When you eat food, it kicks in this, this digest, rest and digest is what parasympathetic stands for or kind of does. And bodybuilders, again, they've done this instinctively. Every time I, when I work out, one of my favorite things to do, and this is even after I understood that eating after I work out isn't as important, doesn't really make a huge difference. I still like the process of I just had a hard workout, now let me relax and eat. It's really part of the cool down process from an instinctual perspective. Next question is from Neal Robert Curran. Can you recommend a good shoe for squatting and deadlifting? Does it make a difference or would you bother? Different shoes for these here. Yeah, it really depends on the person too. So ideally, okay, let's say you have great mobility, great stability, good foot strength, everything looks good, barefoot or as barefoot as close to barefoot as possible would be best for all lifts. Yeah, flexible, flat soles. Yeah, because you're working with your feet are strong, your ankle mobility is good, hip mobility is good, everything looks good. Now, what you don't want is you don't want something under your foot that's going to be a crutch or prevent you from strengthening all your stability, right? But that's not typically the case, right? With most people, they have issues and so let's say you have bad ankle and foot mobility and strength and you go and try and do barefoot deadlifting or barefoot squatting especially, you might hurt yourself. So in that case, you might want to transition and start with something that has a strong stable sole, especially for squatting, something that maybe has a little bit of a heel rise in it. So squat shoes, very stable, little bit of a heel rise. I don't think you should stay there. I think you should slowly and gradually work on your ankle mobility and your foot mobility in order to do that. Deadlifts, you probably do want a nice strong sole but flat because you want to be lower to the ground if you have a little bit of a rise in your ankle. And deadlifts don't require nearly as much ankle mobility as squats do. And also if you have a rise in your heel, it just throws your weight forward anyway, which makes it the deadlift less effective. You have to address this because it's a popular thing I see. I don't know why this is common. And maybe just because I think the people that buy the shoes don't understand, using squat shoes with heel raises in a deadlift is silly. You're making it more challenging for yourself. You're not helping yourself whatsoever. You want to be lower. Yeah, you want to be as close to the ground as your heels as flat as possible. Yeah, you're adding an extra inch of pull that you have to do now. So squat shoes, wow, that's why they're called squat shoes and not deadlift shoes. Wearing those shoes while you're also deadlifting is not ideal. It's interesting though, so Sal was actually the first person to introduce squat shoes to me. Again, I was never into powerlifting, even lifting very heavy. And this was back when we were really picking apart my squat and trying to improve it. And Sal was like, you should really try these squat shoes, see if it really helps you out. And boy it was, it was a game changer for me because I lacked the ankle mobility. And so I went on a kick for a while where I was wearing squat shoes a lot when I was squatting because I did feel a lot better because I did it. It was crutching my lack of mobility in my ankles. Then I went on that whole hardcore kick of working on my mobility, got rid of the shoes and do it all, trained a lot of barefoot training. Now what I love to do, because I train mostly in chucks or barefoot most of the time, but every once in a while, I'll go to do like some heavy squats and I'll throw those squat shoes on and it's like- It's like turbo. Yeah, it's like a turbo. It's like, because now I'm getting an extra inch that I don't have to squat in a sense, right? When you think about that, that's I have less range of motion that my knee has to travel. And so it's easier. So if I've done a good job of working on my ankle and hip mobility for a long time consistently, which I have, and most of the time squatting in flat shoes or barefoot, every once in a while, when I throw them squat shoes on, it reminds me of the feeling of having the belt, not having the belt. It's like when you train mostly without a belt, then you go throw that sucker on there once in a while. It's like, oh, you get a little extra gear out of it. Yeah, it's interesting because I probably wore running shoes and like cross trainers a lot in my career just because the athletic background and whatnot, like it was a lot more movement-based and running and athleticism and all that kind of stuff. And when I actually was in this gym, I saw a lot of my coworkers wearing chucks and like they were doing everything in chucks or these like those five finger shoes. And I was the guy making fun of them and all that kind of stuff, but started to realize, I mean, having running shoes, running shoes are literally engineered to get you to be able to move forward. Like everything is moving forward. Nothing is considered side to side. And cushion impact. And so it's like, I mean, I can't tell you how many times I almost rolled my ankle, just going side to side or twisting or rotating or doing anything like that. That's the worst shoe that you could train in. So I just wanted to throw that out there. That's a great point. Oh dude, you ever see someone heavy squat and they've got like Nike Max Air running shoes? It's like they're standing on dyna discs. You don't want to use running shoes for heavy lifting because there's so much cushion that they're unstable, unless that's what you're trying to do. And at Justin's point, left to right, which is where you see those injuries happen. Lots of injuries in that direction. And have you guys seen the deadlift shoes that power lifters use? Just back to what you were saying about not wearing squat shoes, deadlift shoes, have you seen them? They look like socks. That's how thin they make the sole because you want to be flat and low to the ground. So yeah, don't wear anything with a heel rise if you're deadlifting. I work out in my garage. That's when I go barefoot. I take off my shoes flat to the floor. Barefoot is liberating. I mean, you got to work your way there, but it's definitely a whole nother experience. Absolutely. Look, Mind Pump is recorded on video two. Come check us out on YouTube, Mind Pump Podcast. You can also find all of us on Instagram, including Doug the producer. You can find Doug at Mind Pump Doug, Justin at Mind Pump Justin, me at Mind Pump Sal and Adam at Mind Pump Adam. Great job at improving your sex, not just through feeling better, but also the drive to have sex. If you feel like you have less motivation to have sex, exercise tends to improve that. And your sex drive oftentimes can be a good reflection of your health. When that drops, oftentimes there's a lot of things underlying the reason why it went down.