 Welcome to Mind Pump. This is the top fitness, health, and entertainment podcast in the world. On the planet. This is a Q&A episode. This is where we answer fitness and health questions asked by listeners like you. And the way we open the episode is by talking about current events. We talk about our lives. Sometimes we mention our sponsors. So here's the breakdown of what happened in today's Mind Pump podcast episode. We're starting by talking about our favorite children's books, the ones that we read when we were children that Adam still reads as an adult. Then we talked about my son's workouts. I've been training him now pretty consistently. And he's getting stronger. And it's a lot of fun to watch. I talked about how it takes more work to build muscle than it does to keep muscle. This is good news for those of you guys stuck at home without gym access. Then we talked about caffeine cycling. Taking caffeine every single day really reduces its beneficial effects. If you take caffeine because you like the boost of energy it gives you, there's a way that you could cycle their use. Now a lot of pre-workouts contain caffeine as one of their main drivers of energy. One of our favorite pre-workout supplements is pulse made by Legion. But a lot of people don't know this. Pulse comes in two types. Besides all the different flavors you can also get pulse with caffeine or stimulant free pulse which does not have caffeine. And the way I like to use them is No pulse pulse. Three days a week for my heavy hard workouts I use the pulse pre-workout supplement with caffeine. And on the days in between I go stimulant free so that my body can reacclimate and I can get those magical effects of caffeine when I do use it again. Now Legion is a company that we're sponsored by and because you're a mind pump listener you get hooked up. So here's what you do to get a discount. Go to buylegion.com that's B-U-Y-L-E-G-I-O-N dot com forward slash mind pump. Use the code mind pump at checkout that'll give you 20% off your first order. If you're an existing member of Legion you'll get double rewards points for using that code. We are Legion. Then we talked about Ramadan, how that's going on right now and strategies around the fasting period. We talked about Elon Musk and why I have a major crush on the guy. He is handsome. Then we talked about birthday cake flavored high protein cereal. So one of our other sponsors Magic Spoon makes a cereal that has zero grams of sugar is high in whey protein. So high quality protein tastes amazing. They have lots of amazing flavors like blueberry. There's fruity flavors, cocoa flavor and the new flavor birthday cake. Oh my God, I can't wait. Anyway, we gotta hook up for you because you listened to mind pump. Just go to magic spoon dot com forward slash mind pump. You'll automatically get a discount and free shipping. By the way, their products come with a 100% happiness guarantee. Meaning you get a refund if you don't like their product. Oh, and by the way, use the code mind pump for all of us. How could you not be happy on birthday cake? Then we talked about all the shows that we like on Netflix and on streaming services. And Adam talked about a show called Black as F on Netflix. I guess it's a great show. As fuck. Then we got into answering the questions. Thanks, Justin. I didn't want to cuss, but thank you for doing that. I did it for you. The first question we answered was why do elite gymnasts look so strong and muscular even though they're doing so much training, they're not resting their muscles like what's going on? Next question. This person wants to know if you should eat and train differently depending on your body shape. And they're referring to mesomorph, ectomorph and endomorph. I'm oblong. Or is that a myth? The next question. This person wants to know, look, for long-term health and longevity, should I do trap bar deadlifts or straight bar deadlifts? And the final question, this person wants to know, in our opinion, what are the top three sports that give people the best aesthetics? In other words, what three sports produce the best-looking bodies? Definitely bad men. Also, it's a new month. That means we have a new promotion. We have a program called Maps Starter. All you need to follow this program are dumbbells and a fizzle ball. That's it. You don't need gym access, just dumbbells and a fizzle ball. Now, fizzle balls, if used properly, help you with stability, balance. They help you develop perfect form for resistance training. Maps Starter is the perfect program for somebody who's just getting started in resistance training or for somebody who wants to work backwards, focus on their stability, focus on their form, so that when they do go back to the gym, they have better workouts. Now, that program is 50% off right now. Maps Starter. Here's how you get that discount. Just go to mapsstarter.com, that's M-A-P-S-S-T-A-R-T-E-R and use the code starter50, that's S-T-A-R-T-E-R-5-0, no space for the discount. One, two, three. One, two, three, four. One, two, one, two, two, go. One, two, three, go. That's my new thing with my son right now. Like, he cracks up when I count to him. One. He laughs. Oh, he laughs. It's like the go-to move. I'm sure you guys have it. My kids get scared when I start counting. There's always like a thing, right? That it every... He's already talking shit to Adam. Right. Yeah, he's like, count. Yeah, he keeps counting. One. I do that and I get this like serious look on my face and he just starts busting up. Does he really? Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's so great. I love the video you're posting. When you're posting, I'm going to read the book. What was that blue truck one? Yeah, that's his favorite right now. Blue truck. Oh, and you know what? Actually, the other one. Have you guys seen Jimmy Fallon's book? No. Oh, you guys haven't seen it? Great kid's book, especially for the fathers out there. So it's called Dada. And it's like your child's first words. And then the whole book, okay? Like most child's books are like animals. You know, like the frog, the rabbit, the horse. And each page is this. On the left, it's a horse. And then on the right, there's a horse. The horse on the left says Dada. And then the horse on the right says Nee. And then the pig on the left, Dada. Oink. And it's like literally just the whole book is Dada. And then like the sound of the animal. Dada, then the sound of the animal. He busts up. Does he really? Oh, he thinks it's hilarious. Katrina's like, of course. Yeah. Of course that's his favorite book. Oh, that's so great. Yes, that's the book right there. Epic, dude. Did you guys have a favorite book when you were guys were really young? Do you remember that far back? Were you guys when kids? I have no idea. Really? Yeah. I had a book called Denny the Dinosaur. I remember it. It's called Denny the Dinosaur. Denny the Last Dinosaur. I remember, well, let me tell you this. So I couldn't read. No, that's Denver. Yeah, Denver. Here we go. I couldn't read, but my mom would read me this book. And she read it to me, I don't know, how many times in a row. And then I memorized it. So I totally tricked my mom. So she was reading, and then I went ahead, and she's like, what? She's like, can you read this? And I just did the whole book. And she was like, pull it away. Honey, we have a savant. He's a wizard. Nope, is that it right there? Oh my. Bro, you got to buy that. That was your book. Probably a terrible book. Yeah. Is it? Or it has some like underlining political statement. I just remember Green Eggs and Ham. That's like about the only one I remember. Did you read a lot of Dr. Seuss? Dr. Seuss and where the sidewalk ends. Oh yeah, yeah, so I forget the name of that. Is it The Wild Things? Is that? Oh, that's a good one. But that's a good one, too. Where the Wild Things are. Yeah, where the Wild Things are, remember that. I remember Bernstein Bears. I remember my mom reading a lot of this. Everybody says that one wrong. Isn't it? It's the Berenstien. It's the Berenstien. Oh, I thought it was Bernstein. I know, I don't. No, no, Berenstien. I need an official Berenstien. It's been like 30 years since I've said it, so. The Berenstien Bears. Wasn't there another Berenstien? That's what it is? I think so. I think so. Yeah, Doug knows. My sister, so remember we brought up on the show the other day, the mouse one, right? That was actually my sister's favorite book. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah, so she heard us talk about it on the show. She's like, oh my God, that was my favorite. Berenstien. Berenstien Bears, Berenstien Bears. Like you stain something. Yeah, there were a lot of books with like bears when I was a kid. That's what I remember. Still. Yeah. Wasn't there a bear that was, Paddington Bear. There's Smokey the Bear. No, Paddington Bear. Oh, Paddington Bear. That was the jam. Oh, yeah. That was the best. And then you get Pooh Bear. Yeah. Never got into. You guys didn't have Pooh Bear? Never got into Pooh Bear. You know what I hated was Eeyore. Come on, guy. Lighten up. No, he's a poor guy. He's depressed. Dude, it's obnoxious. I wasn't into Winnie the Pooh. You weren't into Winnie the Pooh at all? Never. Oh, wow. Never. I thought it was so stupid. Really? No. I guess we'll just walk over here. Bro. Hey. Shut the fuck up. Eeyore, like lighting up. Bro. He's clinically depressed. That's not something you can make fun of. The poor guy. I'm just saying, you know. He's doing his best. Oh, I don't have a tail. Somebody stole it. Oh, my gosh, you know. I can't. Same old story. I like Piglet. I'll be honest. He's always worried. Well, I think Piglet was the smartest one of the group. Yeah. No, he was just Tigger, who was just bouncing everywhere like a jackass. Yeah. And that's when I learned my first joke. What? Why was Tigger looking in the toilet? Because he wanted to play with Pooh. Wow. Oh, wow. Let me tell you something. That is a good first joke, though. That's a hit with the kids. It is. I'll be honest. Any Pooh fart excrement. Which is why I don't like Winnie the Pooh. I never understood his name, and I could never take him seriously as a kid. I thought to myself, why would they name a character Pooh? Didn't the movie version do really well that came out? Did you see that, Doug, by chance? It came out. It was Christopher Robbins. I didn't see it. I think Disney did a movie version of it. It was like live-action version of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it did really well. I don't know if I watched it or not. I think it was one of those ones I put on, and then I did something else. Really? Yeah. I'm going to be reading my next kid, which they'll be born at the end of the year, the Arnold Schwarzenegger Encyclopedia of Body Billings. Even if it's a little girl. Oh, I don't even care. Yeah, let's do this. Yeah, and once upon a time, there was a shoulder press. This one works the interior deltoid, and I'll point to the little squishy arm, you know? You see that? Make it happy while we're doing it, so they have fond memories. What is your guys' theory? Do you believe that we could do that? I want to believe this, right, that I can. That they're like a blank slate. Yes, that I could subconsciously, you know, subconsciously get him to like basketball by the little things that, like by connecting happiness and play when basketball is on, you know what I'm saying? Or just make everything else seem like a drag. Yeah, you know, putting a basketball in his bed with him, like just subtle stuff, you know what I'm saying? Nothing crazy. Every time you get him to little Jordan's stuff. This is what you do. I got it for you. You just flip through the channels of the TV, and then when you get to basketball, put a little lollipop in your mouth, and make him lick it, and then keep going through. Yeah, association. Soccer comes on, put some hot pepper in his mouth. Oh, you don't like that, do you? Yeah, that's it. Right, I mean, I feel like I could do that, right? Is that bad? Is that a bad thing? You know, you can, but you know what, if you push you hard. Well, that's, so to me, that's the art of it, right? Like, you can't be obsessive about it where you force them on it, because even if they do do it with a ninja, they resent you for it later on. Dude, I have a family member like that, whose dad was excellent at soccer. I mean, if this guy didn't grow up poor and have to start working at a young age, I'm sure he would have made it at a high level. So he really pushed upon his son to play soccer. And as a little kid, he was really, really good, so his dad got even more aggressive about it. But then as he got older, he resented it. He resented it because his dad pushed him so hard. So by the time he got to high school, he's like, I don't wanna play anymore, I'm not playing anymore. And the funny thing is looking back, when you talk to him, he's an adult now, he's in his mid-30s, he's like, man, he goes, I wish my dad didn't push me so hard. He goes, I bet you I could have been great at that sport, but he pushed me so hard, I didn't wanna do it. I mean, I look at it the same way like you're introducing weightlifting to your son right now, right? So that's kind of like my idea is just that, I know better than to be like, make him do it, right? But if he sees me doing it, watching it, enjoying it, his mother loving it, us connecting around this sport, maybe like a thing we can do together. Right, so maybe that will make him, I hope that one day he comes to me and says, hey dad, I wanna play ball. You're like- How's that been going by the way? Oh, so good, so what I've done with him, so I was extremely motivated when I first started working out and what's hard to do is hard to compare how you were to your kid. Yeah. Because at 14 years old, I mean, I started lifting weights and that was it, man. I was in it, but I was also very driven by being very insecure. I was real skinny, super insecure about that and that's what drove me. And you know, I'll pat myself on the back. My kids are secure with themselves, which I feel good about. But he doesn't, so he didn't have that kind of drive, which is good. I don't want him to be driven by insecurities. I did a lot of bad things to my body because of it. But I do know the benefits of resistance training. I think it's an awesome thing that, you know, kids should do, adults should do. And so what I'm trying to do, what I try to do is introduce them and create like good associations, but not push upon them. So what I do is I'll take my son outside and into the garage or whatever and say, hey, let's do a workout. But then as we're working out, I'll put like fun music on that he likes. We'll talk about it. We'll joke. We'll talk about school. And so really, he's enjoying it because it's a good time with that. And I'm not taking the workout too seriously. We're doing an exercise, then talking after work, hanging out. Yeah, doing another. I'm not like hammering. I'm like, no, you got to do more. None of that stuff. And what's happened is it's been very inconsistent. Sometimes I can tell he wants to work out. We do it other times. He's not so much depending on how busy is whatever. But little by little, the consistency is starting to improve a little bit. And especially since they're doing school at home, we have more time. And so we've now strung together a couple months of consistent two to three days a week of full body workouts. Whether he's at my house or at his mom's house, I'll go grab him, take him through a workout. And yesterday we had such a, we had an amazing moment yesterday. Oh yeah? Yes. So I've strategically picked certain things that I know that will stay, that'll stand out in his mind, right? Number one, I told him, you know, when we first start, if he asked me questions, I use his opportunity to kind of, you know, to teach him stuff. And so he asked me, like, what are some of the best exercises? Like which ones are, are they all good? Or so I'm like, oh, and I use this as an opportunity. Like barbell squats. I said, when I was working out as a kid, I remember when I finally could do a barbell squat properly and I started to get stronger at it, I said I got so strong and I built so much muscle in such a short period of time. So now we have that barbell squat as a measure. And when we first started working out, he couldn't do a barbell squat. He didn't have the mechanics. Knees would do this thing, you know, he's tight in certain areas. It was hard for him to maintain his hip position. So I've slowly, slowly progressed him. And yesterday for the first time we did full barbell squats with the empty barbell, but full barbell squats for the first time. So that was exciting. And then the second one was one that he picked. When we first started working out, you know, we would talk about, you know, exercise and stuff. And he's like, oh, this is a kid at my school who's a gymnast and he did like 10 pull ups. And I'm like, oh, I'm like, you ever tried, you know, do you know how many pull ups you could use? I don't, I can't, I can't do one. He goes, I try and I kind of, it's really hard for me. So I kept that in the back of my mind. And so what I've been doing with him in our training is, you know, some weeks, sometimes we'll do a dumbbell row or a cable row. And I'm doing that specifically to correct his posture. I think that's real important for kids. But I also will put a resistance band around the safeties so that he can stand on it and then practice pull ups. Well, yesterday we were in our workout and I thought, all right, I think it's time to have him try to just do a pull up without it. And he did, he grabbed the bar and he muscled, he did it. He muscled himself up in a look on his face, man. Dude, yes. Were you a little nervous that you might have brought that up a little too soon? Exactly, I thought, fuck, if I brought this up too soon. Yeah, cause then it can go the other way. Then I got a little damn it. No, dude, he was able, and he did two of them. He was able to do another one right afterwards. He showed Jessica, in fact. Oh, that's awesome. What a confidence builder. So pumped. Now, when you reference all the bad things that you did to your body, are you referring to your low back tattoo and nipple piercing or what are you talking about? Yeah, that tribal butterfly? You referenced that all the time. Just curious if that's for the audience so they know what you're talking about. Purple barbell nipple tattoo. Did I ever tell you guys about the time when I found out my workout partner had nipple piercing? No. Dude, and he's such a lumberjack kind of, kind of like Justin. He's like a Justin. Yeah, that would be a surprise, right? If Justin pulled this shirt off and also he's got barbells through his nipples. And I was like plain with it. I'm like, whoa, and here I thought I knew everything about you. I've been hanging out with Joe Exotic. Start wearing mesh shirts. Just so you guys can see it. This guy worked for me for a long time. He was a trainer. We lifted weights together. Who was it? I don't know. Is this Ryan? I'm not going to say his name. Come on. I sell everybody out on the set. He's super conservative, like kind of guy or whatever. Didn't think anything. Oh, we just worked out together. And one day we were in the locker room and he takes his shirt off. And he has his hoop around his nipple. Oh, it was a hoop, too. It was a hoop, dude. Oh, wow. I was like, what the? Just one or both? No, it was one. Oh, wow. I was like, OK. You can hook that up to something. You can drag that across the room. Car battery. Yeah. Anyway, that's not something. Interesting. Anyway, so I got a DM, a couple DMs I've had now. Actually, every week I get a couple that are similar to this, where people are, again, we're still in this situation where people are working at at home. And people are very, especially the workout fanatics, are afraid of losing muscle. And the questions typically are like, what can I do to prevent muscle loss? I don't have heavy weights. I don't have heavy weight, you know, access or whatever. And one thing that I tried to tell them, and I thought this was important talk about in the podcast, and this is true by the way, this is backed by scientific study. And if you talk to anybody who's very experienced, they'll tell you this is also true, it takes much more work to build muscle than it does to keep. So I have to gain five pounds of lean body mass. I have to work out hard and have a really good routine and a really good diet. And protein intake needs to be really high. But if I kept that five pounds of muscle on my body for a certain period of time, let's say I've maintained it for a year or two years, if I reduce my intensity, reduce my volume, reduce the weight, my protein intake goes down. I don't lose it. I don't lose that muscle very quickly. It sticks around much longer. And studies will actually support that. So it's a little word of confidence to people out there. Like, you know, losing muscle is harder. It's actually, you don't lose it that quickly. As long as you maintain some activity and some resistance, it's not like you have to maintain what you did before. You know? Yeah, personally, I've always found it rebounds a lot faster than I always anticipate. It's one of those things. I don't know if you amount that to muscle memory. It's really the work that you've put in over the decades. That's like a go-to. Your body just comes right back to that completely. I feel like there's a couple variables here, though, that are important to point out. One, I do think that the muscle memory plays a huge role, because the way I feel now in my late 30s is significantly different than what I felt as a 23, 24-year-old boy who'd only had about four or five years of lifting experience. Yeah, not enough time under the belt. Yeah, if I had about, during that time, and I was very consistent back then, but if I did fall off, it felt like I lost all my gains, and then it felt like a struggle to get back to where I was. Where after now having more than almost two decades of lifting, it doesn't feel like that at all. I feel like I can totally fall off and then get back into a routine. And when within a couple weeks, I feel like I'm already getting close to it. Maybe not strength-wise, like when I hit PRs and I deadlift or squat, but definitely enough to fill back out to where I don't feel or notice that big of a difference. But I think that says a lot about the time under the iron. Oh, big time. You know how hard it was for me to maintain my body weight at 190 pounds forever? Now 190 pounds for me is like, I'm either shredded or that's about as skinny as I'm going to get. Whereas before, if I stopped lifting or I wasn't lifting, it was like my body wanted to get down to 160, 170. So it does. It does stick around. You do build a certain amount of muscle that is more permanent, I would say, never permanent, but more permanent than you would expect. And then I think there's also the genetic factor that is where we all have this individual variance, right? Like for sure, I've had friends. And this is where I think we're different. Like me and you are probably more different than Justin. At least for sure, I know I'm different than Justin in this aspect where, you know, he tends to really hang on to solid mass way better than I do. Like I, I lose. Well, I mean, the grass is always green on their side. So that's the drawback. The drawback is, you know, I just have to look at a treadmill and body fat falls off of me. So that's the plus. The shitty part is the minute I stopped lifting. I was waiting for the other half of that. Yeah, exactly. You can sell a muscle also. Yeah, but don't you guys remember communicating this to clients, right? Like it's all you're always trying to explain to them like I understand that you've struggled with X your whole life, but the truth is there's positives to that, right? There's, there's, there's a positive and a negative to whatever side of the genetic spectrum you fall on. Neither you're somebody who puts mass on really good, which you know what's great about that. You can build muscle. You can build your metabolism relatively easy. You get strong, easy drawback of that is it's kind of a grind to get really shredded, you know? And then if you're the other side where it's like, man, I stay lean all the time. Well, the struggle is to put on weight and keep it on. So grass is always green on their side. Do you guys remember, like, do you have an experience of extreme, were you experienced muscle memory to the extreme, like post-injury or anything like that? Do you ever, have you guys ever experienced that? To the extreme. Well, I mean, I know after my, after I broke my arm. Yeah. My rehab for, for my knee, like it was real quick. Isn't it trippy? Yeah. I mean, there was a time when I'll never, I'll actually never forget this. And I wish that I took a video or a picture because it was, it was gross. Most people, I wouldn't like it, but it blew my mind. So when I had, when I tore my ACL, MCL, I had been at one of the, I had just came off of being like the biggest at every, I was been 235 plus around the time. This was before competing, but it was, I was big. I was not as lean as I was competing, but I was the biggest amount of mass I've ever built. You were so big. Yeah, I was thick. It was very thick and my legs, my legs were some of the biggest they'd ever been. And then I get this, I tear, I tear my ACL, MCL. And I'll never forget how fast it atrophied from being off of it to the point where I'll never, it was in there for rehab and I'm sitting with the therapist and we roll up my leg, the bad one, right? That's been injured. And I could grab the skin. So I could grab my skin like this and I could move it. I mean, it had like, it literally had like four inches of play and it was like the most gruesome and but crazy weird thing I'd ever seen on my own body. Like a burrito out of it. Oh, it was wild. You could, you could fold it over. It was a trip on how much I had atrophied. But then, boy, as soon as I got better and I was back to training to think, you know, my whole life to gain a quarter of an inch of size somewhere would be a big deal. And I was, I probably lost four inches of mass right there. And it was like back within months. That happened to me when I had shoulder surgery. I had my, my AC joint resected. And when I took out, when I was finally able to take everything off and look in the mirror, I looked in the mirror and I was frightened at first how skinny my shoulder, my arm, everything got. And I was like, of course, you know, I'm into working out. It turns into like a stick. Oh, yeah. It's happening to my arm too. Now keep in mind, it's not the same kind of atrophy as like you're active, but you're not lifting because I had a, you know, cast on or whatever. So not only am I not lifting, I'm not moving. So muscle was gone. So I remember I took it off, I looked in the mirror, freaked me out, started working out. And then I was equally blown away by how fast it came back. It was like every day I'd look in the mirror and I'm like, oh crap, it's working. You know? You know, you brought up like DMs that you've been getting and I still get, I still get people who think I'm you. We get, they ask me, they're asking me these questions about how I caffeine cycle. And I'm like, that's not, that's not me. You guys don't cycle caffeine for shit. That's what I was gonna say. You obviously don't, Justin and I are like, that's like a, that's part of our routine. Sal is the caffeine cycler. Ask that guy. You guys are deep in the caffeine addiction. No, you know, caffeine is a very widely studied chemical and it clearly an ergogenic supplement. What I mean by ergogenic means performance enhancing. It even, there are studies that show it and even improves cognition, especially if you're tired. It's very, it's a great, great naturally occurring chemical. If you can tolerate it well, it's actually healthy for you. They show that it may actually prevent or reduce your risk of things like dementia and Alzheimer's and it's, you know, it's good for your liver. So caffeine is a great, again, it's a naturally occurring chemical found in many, many plants. Now the problem with caffeine is that you build a very rapid tolerance to it. We all know this, right? If you have caffeine for the first time, you're on fire. If you have it every single day, within a couple of weeks, that effect is almost completely gone and then you need to have the caffeine to stay normal. Once you go off of it, you feel like dirt until your body acclimates again and then the caffeine, you know, magic comes back. And so people actually ask me all the time, what's the best way to use caffeine? And so one of the, and studies will actually support this. Save your caffeine for your three hardest workouts of the week, three. So three to four max. You should have at least four to three, three to four days off every single week if you want to maximize caffeine's effects. Now this doesn't mean you can't have caffeine every single day. You can, people do it every single day in the world. And again, unless you have issues with caffeine tolerance where you get your regular heartbeat or your hormones are all thrown off or especially if you're a female and your estrogen progesterone levels are off. If you're otherwise healthy, caffeine every day is not an issue. Studies are pretty clear. But if you want the caffeine magic, your best bet is to maybe three, I go three to four days a week max caffeine. And every time I take it, I get that boost. I get that great workout. And the days in between, obviously I'm not as jazzed but I'm not like crashing like I would if I went, you know, months on caffeine and then went totally off. So, you know, on that note, here's something that's really, really cool. One of the drawbacks to pre-workout supplements is that they all have tons and tons of stimulants. That's probably, that's definitely why people like them because you drink up, you know, if you take like a pre-workout like Pulse, right? So we're sponsored by a company called Legion. They make a pre-workout called Pulse and it's got all these other ingredients in there. Plus it's got caffeine and the caffeine is what gives you that, or that aggressive energy. Well, one of the drawbacks to pre-workouts, people take them all the time. If you work out five or six days a week, you don't get a break. So Pulse also has a stim-free version of the pre-workout. So they have the pre-workout with caffeine and they have the same pre-workout. So what do you do? Flip flop? That's exactly what I do. So Monday, Wednesday and Friday are my heaviest workout days. That's when I'm squatting and benching and deadlifting and overhead pressing heavy. Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, I'm either doing outdoor activity, mobility work or light, what I would consider light trigger session type work with bands or dumbbells or whatever. So on those days, I do the stim-free Pulse, which has the same thing. It's got the beta-alanine. It's got the citrulline. It's got the alpha-GPC, which is a choline, which helps with cognition. It's like a neutropic. So you still feel good, but you don't have the caffeine. And so I always get that, again, the caffeine magic. So I recommend everybody do that. Otherwise, what happens is, if you're so consistent on caffeine, you try to go off, oh, you got yourself a terrible week ahead of you. Just remember when, Justin, remember when you went cold turkey? Yes. You had migraines and, oh. Those are dark times. Yeah. Yeah. I try not to remember those. Yeah, I do try, I try hard to like, at least limit it to one to two, you know, a few days and then come back to my regular three, 4,000, you know, we're going to, yeah. I remember, Justin's like, yeah, I'm going off caffeine. So that I'm like, what does that mean? I said, how many cups of coffee is that? He's like, two. Well, that was the, that was the birth of cup zero, right? Was that conversation? I mean, that was the birth of that was like, wait a second, that first one doesn't count. So I'm, you know, technically I'm off. I want to lighten the shame, you know? So cup zero. Yeah. It's a thing. I tell you, when I was younger, though, my tolerance for stimulants was crazy. I was back when we, ephedra was over the counter or whatever. Oh boy. Oh no. Those were the nasty days. Yeah. Yeah, anyway. Kind of crazy. Did you guys know that it's Ramadan right now, right? One of the most popular religions in the world. People all over the world are fasting. For how many days is it? I don't remember how many days. Maybe Doug can look it up. 30 something or 40 something? Yeah. 40 does it work? Is it sun, when it's sunlight, you're like, nobody eats or anything. Sun up to sun down. You don't, you don't have anything. Basically when it's dark is the only time you can. That's when you can have it. And so the reason why I'm bringing this up is I've had, I was on a podcast. It's a fitness podcast based out of Kuwait. And one of the main questions or themes of that podcast was how do people handle their fitness and nutrition around Ramadan? Now remember, this is, you're talking about billions of people who are following this practice. And fitness is becoming a big thing in these, a lot of these regions. And I got a lot of DMs from people asking about that. How long is that, Doug? April 23rd to May 23rd. Okay, so that's how long that will hold. How many days is that? We'll figure that out. 30, 30? Yeah, 30 days. I thought it was 40 for some reason, but okay, 30 days. So 30 days. Yeah, but I already know where you're gonna go with this because I think, and it'll let you do your thing, but I think it is interesting how the fitness space, we're always trying to like, you know, hack, like how do we maintain the most muscle while we do these other things. And the reality of it is it's a different focus. Totally, totally a hundred percent. So two things that happen, and this was just from my experience with clients who have trained, who practice this spiritual practice, and also from the podcast, talking to the podcast host. What a lot of people end up doing is they end up fasting and then binging, and they celebrate with these massive meals when the sun goes down. Defeating the whole purpose. Which kind of defeats the whole purpose. So what I said to them is I said, look, I said Ramadan is a spiritual practice. The reason why you're doing it is because of your religion, because you are detaching from food. Practicing, abstaining from things. Yeah, and so is it ideal for fitness and health? Not for maybe physical fitness health, but it is part of overall health. If it's a real spiritual practice for you, then yes, it's good for you. And I would say that's the goal. Your goal isn't like, oh, you know, I'm fasting, but I still wanna hit all these PRs and stuff. It's like, this is a totally different focus. I mean, I have an analogy for somebody who's not spiritual and doesn't really care about any of that stuff that is also related to this. It's very similar, I feel, like the conversation that we're having with people right now that are stuck at home. And instead of being upset that you're gonna lose a couple pounds of muscle, now it's presented a great opportunity for you to focus on mobility. And if all we're thinking about is, oh, well, I have the most muscle, and am I gonna lose my squat PR? Am I gonna lose my deadlift strength that I had? It doesn't matter because you have an opportunity to work on something else that will have carryover into your strength. It may not have direct carryover where as soon as you get back in the gym, you're not gonna be stronger or have a better deadlift, but that work on that mobility for 30 days or whatever we're out with COVID-19, the benefits that that's gonna improve in your overall fitness journey is you're gonna reap the benefits of that forever. The same thing I would think for those that are listening that are spiritual and do practices like this, it's not about how much muscle you gain or lose or strength you gain or lose during this time, it's about focusing on what you're supposed to be letting go of and how that is supposed to enhance your overall journey. It's always what you can control. Like I love that advice. And I remember you going through that when you're having like your Achilles and all that. It's like reframing like the focus now. Like what can I actually do to improve myself while going through something completely different? Like where does my focus lie? What can I, you know, like vest all my attention and energy towards? And I think that's probably the best way to approach something. And the truth is a practice like that, if it is to improve your spiritual connection or to let go of a bad behavior, I know that's normally what a lot of them do, let go of something like that. You know, if you actually do it with that as the main focus and not worrying about the side effects of losing muscle, the truth is, you know, when you got bad things that you're allowing in your life and you now practice letting go of that, the health benefits from that, or the relief of stress. Like who knows what people are letting go of that is also stressing their life. And now you start to eliminate that and you practice that, that carry over to building muscle and to being stronger, it's there. Well, I'll give you an example. It's like you have two people, both of them need to produce, both of them need to be productive. And let's say they both need to write some kind of a paper. And one guy says, you know what? I can't waste time sleeping. When I'm sleeping, I'm not writing. So I'm gonna use drugs and stimulants to keep myself awake so I can continue to be productive and push through. And the other guy says, look, I'm gonna sleep so that I'm more productive when I wake up. Who is gonna be more successful? So sometimes it's like, you know, it feels like a step back, but it really isn't. You know, you talk about like focusing on mobility, Adam. Oftentimes our strength limits are there because our mobility is preventing us from getting stronger. Your body has these natural limiters and in your mobility oftentimes is one of them. So when you lay off the strength and now you're taking advantage of it because you're at home and you're working on mobility, then you go back to the gym. You may have lost a little bit of strength, but then you'll surpass your previous PRs because you've gotten rid of those limiting factors, which may have been mobility. Another example is the use of like a physio ball. You know, physio ball for a long time, when physio balls first got introduced into the fitness space, they were phenomenal additions for people working out. They're great for engaging stability, core teaching people balance, perfecting form. When you do an overhead press on a physio ball, you have to press very, very well with your form. It's not as forgiving as a stiff, you know, supportive bench, for example. Of course, people, you know, they bastardized it for a while and did the craziest stupid shit on it. But the reality is physio balls used properly. You know, I would see tremendous benefits in my clients who would train that way for a little while and then go back to their traditional resistance training and see the strength gains. Yeah, it places them in that environment where they have to brace. They have to be conscious of, you know, keeping their spine, you know, in a certain position and being able to do all that while pressing then. So it is very beneficial for that, for somebody who doesn't, you know, necessarily like can't understand how to feel their way through that on a bench. You know, it's another tool to kind of add into the mix. I don't think there was ever a day I trained as a trainer in the eight to 10 clients I probably averaged a day that I did not pull a physio ball at least once. True, 100%. Not a single day in my entire career. That's how valuable I found it. But it's unfortunate that it was abused, like you said, and bastardized so much that we have to like kind of talk shit about, okay, now it's ridiculous when you start balancing on it to do a squat. You start doing seal stuff where they're like, you know, on top of their knees and clapping. But for a lot of my clients, especially when they were first getting started with me, that was a go-to. What was a go-to for me is to utilize a tool like that for sure. Oh, totally. I would say of all the tools that I use as a trainer, besides barbells and dumbbells, the physio ball was the number one. Has to be, right? Absolutely. Anyway, do you guys see what Elon Musk did? No, you were a man crushing and you'll want to share. Tell me, you did? I mean, he was talking trash about letting everybody out like in terms of like the whole lockdown. Well, he's been since day one. He's been against it. He's been a put like, you know, Bill Gates was coming out on one side. They were pitting the two of them together, right? Like Bill Gates is saying this and Elon Musk is saying this is ridiculous. And so what has came out? He gives our freedom back. Yeah, that's it. Elon Musk is tweeting and he's like, open up the country, you know, free America. Like don't let, you know, and he calls it fascism. And he says, look, he said, and this is what he said, part, I'm gonna paraphrase kind of what he said. He said, if people want to stay home voluntarily, he goes, that's totally fine. Ordering them to stay at home, he said, that's fascism. And of course, there's people on both sides. There's people who are like, I agree with them. And then there's other people saying, he's stupid, stay in your lane type of deal. I put up a poll in my Instagram story. 50-50? 50-50. I bet, yeah. It's almost equal 50-50 of people who, I love Elon. I love the guy. I don't always agree with him, but I love him because, you know, he's a major leader in the tech space. He's got a car company that's tremendously valued on the stock market. And the dude is not afraid to smoke a joint on Joe Rogan and say something that at the moment, for a leader to say, would be considered extremely risky. Oh yeah. And he speaks up. And he says it. And that's what I like, because I feel like Elon is real. You know what I'm saying? I don't feel like he's the, he's being. Well, no doubt a lot of people feel that way. So to have somebody like that kind of voice it, I think is interesting. Oh dude, what did they say? 30 million jobless claims? Yeah. They're saying it tops? Speaking of real, let me tell you something that's unreal. What, what, what's unreal? Magic Spoon dropped birthday cake. I saw that dude. Dude, I put that in my story. I almost lost my mind. That is, and I've already had somebody who's already got it. So I haven't got it yet. Are you serious? Yeah, yeah. And they told, you know what they told me to do? They said, they, they wrote a really long, I should have kept it so I could read the person and give them a shout out. The person who obviously will know who they are by what I share, what they said. They were just, you know, giving kudos to a lot of the partners and companies we work with and the fans will. And then they said, you know, the birthday cake, I already got it. And they said, let me tell you, mix the chocolate, the cocoa with it. And it tastes like chocolate birthday cake. Oh my God. They said, it's like heaven in your mouth. Interesting, because that was the one that wasn't my favorite. So mixing that with mine actually. I know. The interesting. I'm so, I'm like a little, Are you still doing it? You know how I am, right? Oh, yeah. With things that have to taste good. Like, that's why Magic Spoon is- Well, I even took, I took some of the fruity home because we still had a boxer to here in the studio. And like, I brought it back, you know, to my kids. And, you know, they've sort of lost a little bit of luster with it. Because like, I actually didn't know this. They changed the formulation of it. It's even more like crazy delicious. I don't know what they did, but if you- Didn't Max tell you? He did. So they changed one of the fats that was in there and people were a little bit up in arms. And I wish I saved what he said. Okay. Because I asked Max, is this a bad or a good thing? Well- And he goes, no, it's perfectly fine. And I can't remember what it was, but he says what they used is high in these particular fats that are totally fine. So even though when you read it, some people freak out. I forgot what it was. I'll have to look it up. It's like a sunflower seed or something like that. I don't remember exactly. I'll have to look it up. But the reformulation is bomb. Dude, either way, and I'm seriously not bullshitting you guys, my kids were like, I want that for dessert. Like, they were asking that. That's how I use it. I was like, are you serious? I don't have- That's a win for me, dude. Because like, otherwise they're gonna try and get, you know, some cookies or whatever, like garbage shit, at least they get some protein. I can actually only count on one hand how many times I've actually had it for breakfast. It's always a dessert. It's dessert. Yeah, it's actually- You have it every day, don't you? Close, I'm trying, because you made me feel guilty about the last time we did a magic spoon commercial. Did you ate all the fucking boxes? Yeah, the last magic spoon commercial I felt a little guilty like. So I've been trying to like limit it a little bit, but- It's like what happened to me was skinny. I mean, it's completely eliminated by ice cream cravings. So anytime that I think- What if you sprinkle it on ice cream? Oh, God. You know what I'm saying? Don't start shit like that, don't start that. You know what I'm saying? It's fine the way it is, you know? And really it's, I mean, Halo ice cream got a bunch of popularity and some of that because of the macros. It's very macro-friendly. It has extra protein in it, and so I've utilized that brand before, but I know it's, obviously it does not compete to like real freaking ice cream or gelato, but I tell you what, magic spoon gives me that same sensation of like this cold milk is inside of it and then I'm eating the- I just picture grown ass Adam and Justin in front of the TV with this. Oh my God, that was me last night. With their birthday cake cereal. Yeah, yeah, I'm trying to watch these shows, dude. You know, honestly though, this has really kind of bummed me out because Westworld has not delivered this season. I'm sorry. I know all that shit we talked early on. Cause the first episode I was like excited. I'm like, wow, it's gonna go, a new place is gonna be interesting, new world, lame. I actually fell off. This is what the third season? Yeah. I fell off the last two episodes and so because it just didn't hook me enough to, and that's when I always know like a season's or a show's losing its luster as if it, I can't wait. You know, like when you can't wait. It's such a bummer, dude, cause it was so epic. They have so many places that could go with it. I know. I'll tell you one though that is binge worthy that I resisted watching cause the previews didn't sell me on it. My sister, who I trust her recommendation said, go watch Black as Fuck and she goes, you're welcome. And I'm like, really? I passed by that one on Netflix. Yeah, just it didn't, it didn't hook me to wanna see it. And so I watched it and even the first episode I was like, okay. It took me a minute to understand how they were positioning it and putting it together. It's very similar to if you guys are fans of The Office. I love The Office. The Office is one of my favorite all time comedies. And so it's done like that. If you know that going into it, maybe even it's the same writer. I don't even know if it is or is not. But I do know that that's the format. And just like The Office, the very first time, if you've never watched The Office and you tune in the first time you might be like, this is weird, this is dumb. But then you get it and you get what they're doing and then you really fall in love with it. That's how Black, it's Black hashtag AF, right? So that's the name of the Netflix show. And it's hilarious. Really? Yeah, yeah, it's really good. I watched Extraction, I think on Netflix What's the guy's name, Justin Thor? You can know, because your wife talked about that guy. I blocked his name out of my memory. You know what I'm talking about? I know Thor, dude, come on. Yeah, he's always talking about how hot he is. Always bringing him up. He's like so handsome. Every time we have like a family party, yeah. She says like, oh, he's so handsome. Oh, Thor, yeah. Is Thor on tonight? Yeah. But anyway, the Extraction, it's a classic action movie. So if you're looking for like a predictable plot or a plot that's not predictable, forget it. But the action in it, the fight scenes are some of the best fight scenes I've seen in a long time. The car chase scenes, they're great. It's really well made. And the fight, I'll tell you why the fight scene's good. Because he's throwing in Jiu-Jitsu. He's throwing like legit Jiu-Jitsu moves and Muay Thai moves. Oh, yeah. Whoever choreographed it did a very, very good job. Awful, bro. No, it's not. Justin will like it. I got a nice division here. Doug and I have these like silent conversations, just him and I. I'm going to put him on front street right now. Him and I always are like. We go with the opposite of what Sal said. Sal talked about show that everybody leaves. It's normally Doug and I still here. And Doug will be like, I ain't watching that show. I ain't watching that shit either. Listen to him. I like John Wick. There you go. If you can compare it to that. Did you guys watch John Wick? I did. OK. So it's like that. Like, you know what's going to happen, but it's fun to watch. It was a fun movie. Weak plot, but like very heavy action. Yeah. I like deep ass fucking movies, too. I'm not saying you don't, but you do have a lot. Hey, man, you gotta at least throw some shit right back. Listen here, Linda. Listen here. That's only when I'm sick and I want to feel better about myself. Yeah, right, dude. You want to twist that like nipple piercings? You guys, you're also the one that introduced us to that stupid dating one. Was it that love is blind? Oh, my god, bro. You pinched it, though. Hey, now that because I was super sick. OK, now that I thought I had the rona. So it turned out I didn't have the rona. I gave the analogy the other day, or comparison, that those types of shit, that's junk food, right? It's junk food. It is literally, it's fiends, it's bonbons. Bro, it's the junk food of junk food. It's not even junk food. Junk food would be like a cheeseburger fries and whatever. No, no, no. This was like a chili cheese fry. No, it's like candy. It's like, you know, a burger has some value. A burger has some value. It's like circus peanuts. Like, that's how bad it was. Yeah, like, who made those? No. It's no-name brand candy. But what do you do? You keep getting, coming back for more. It tastes like kind of orange. Like, what high asshole came up with those? Do you know what I mean? I love them, though. I know. They see the fuck out of one of those kids. Anyway, they have a new dating show on Netflix. I saw the hot, the hot one. Yeah, too hot to handle. It was like that. Absolute garbage. Here's the premise. I just watched the trailer for that. And I don't, I'm sure I'm messing up the premise because I couldn't last longer than 50 minutes, right? Because I watched that other dating show. They can't have sex with each other, the whole premise. I thought to myself, I'm like, if I could watch that, then I should be able to watch anything, right? This one is, they got hot people, quote unquote, on this island. And then they can't sleep with each other. And if they do, they get fine for it. And these are, I'm not joking, okay? They picked the dumbest people in the world. I honestly think that they actually sought out people who were borderline, like you can't even qualify to be in a normal classroom. That's how dumb these people are. It was so terrible. It was so hot, they get away with it. No, not even that hot, dude. I told you what's happening right now with Shelter in Place. The teenage kids are screwing up the algorithms because these are all the top ranked shows right now. It's like, for sure, this is a bunch of 13-year-old and 15-year-old boys and girls that are watching and binging television and they're screwing up the algorithm. Give us a real show again, man. You know what? Billions is coming back Sunday. Dude, I can't wait. I love that show. And Mandalorian, so I got all pumped up and I was excited to bring this to show. I'm like, yeah, they're gonna move the season up, season two of Mandalorian, but no, they're just teasing us. It's basically May the 4th, they're doing this whole thing with Mandalorian where they're having this discussion of how they filmed it and they brought all these different directors in and stuff. And so it's like, they just do a deep dive into the episode. So what's your guys' thought on this? Because I've been thinking about this with Disney for a while, right? And somebody in our forum posted the Disney revenue driving down and Netflix coming up and being like, oh, Netflix, and I'm like, get out of here. The theme parks have been closed for like, which is a monster revenue for them. Don't even compare Netflix to Disney. Those are not even close to the same companies. So saying that or knowing that, right? What is your guys' thoughts on their strategy? Because they really are not pumping a ton of content. Like part of me feels like they know that. It's not like they don't have the money and the resources to potentially do that. I kind of feel like it's more methodical about how they release and they do something. And so what is your thoughts on why Disney isn't like really... I think that they have to be very careful of their brand and I agree with you. I think if Netflix grows... Because they're still trying to do movies. Yeah, and look what Netflix does. Netflix has this approach where they take a bunch of spaghetti and they throw it against the wall. And so when you guys look at Netflix originals, one out of every how many is really good, right? Disney isn't gonna do that. They're not gonna put out shit. They put out good stuff. Their writing is excellent. So I think that you're right. Their strategy is probably to be smart. Yeah, honestly, I think that this is a whole new monster for them to even think about because they're still doing movies. They're doing Marvel movies. They're doing Star Wars movies. And now it's like, oh, wait a minute. We gotta figure out a streaming type content. And so Mandalorian was their first home run. And they were thinking about adding all these different variations of some of the movies from Marvel, some of the movies from Star Wars and trying to create different character stories. But it's like, that takes a long time to develop a good thing. And all the back end ways that you're gonna monetize of it. I agree with you, Sal. I think it's really that is they... They sell merchandise. Yeah, it is. I mean, no one's buying a Netflix original series like Doll, Stranger Things, maybe. Maybe. And that was like an anomaly. That was their number and hit. Yeah, yeah. First question is from B-Boy Warrior. How do elite gymnasts get so strong and perform so well despite such a high training frequency with not a lot of rest? Good question. Oh, love this question. So here's why, okay? Gymnasts do not go out and practice their moves on the rings and on the horse and all that stuff. As a workout, they are practicing. They're constantly practicing. This is what we talk about on the podcast. This is a very valuable thing to understand with your training. Gymnasts get phenomenal results physically, even though they're not necessarily training for that. Remember, gymnasts aren't necessarily training to build and sculpt their bodies. They're trying to get better at all of the positions and moves that they do and their stability. And so they don't go out there thinking to themselves, I'm going to hammer my biceps, I'm going to hammer my shoulders, I'm going to hammer my legs. They go out there and think, I'm going to practice and perfect the skill. And when you're practicing a skill, you don't practice a skill to fatigue where you can't do it anymore because then you're not able to practice it, right? Not to mention that proprioception is the foundation to all pursuits. So body awareness, right? Body awareness and I don't think there is a sport that focuses on that more than gymnasts. Yeah, that's your base. Maybe divers or not even. Yeah, gymnasts still serve because everything a diver does for body control, a gymnast does and some. So their body control and awareness of their body in space is beyond almost every other athlete by a ton. In fact, when we did that interview with Chad Wesley, we talked about if you were to pick a sport that would lay the foundation for the super athlete, it would be gymnastics was all that totally resonated with. That's why kids are doing parkour. That's why they're doing things like that where it's like exploring all these different ways to move the body and become aware of, you know, the position that they're in and how to then kind of work their way out of it. Gymnasts are masters at this. And to be fair, like gymnasts, like this is really taxing on the body. Like they're really, they're not old. You don't see a lot old gymnast because it is very demanding. Like this frequency and this style of training is really hard on the body. But they'll do max effort, but they do rest quite a bit. And they're just trying to make sure that they're constantly practicing the skill and sharpening the skill of it. So I don't know if I told you guys or not, but I plan to enroll. I think it's called like tumbling or something early on for it. And I forget how old Max needs to be when I enroll in that. 100% I will do that and hope that it's something he enjoys and likes doing. And it's funny because I think my generation and definitely the generation before, that would be like totally frowned upon as enrolling your son in gymnastics. That would be totally demasculating him to put him in something like that. One of the best investments I've ever made in my life and I will recommend this to anybody who has boys is get a trampoline. Get a huge trampoline that's like, uncovered and cased. They have their skills and their body awareness like went up 1000% after that. And they just live on that thing. It's one thing that you always go to, jump, flip. They just experiment. They figure their body out and they move. Yeah, gymnasts were one of the things that motivated me or inspired me to come up with the trigger session concept for MAPS Anabolic because I had gymnasts that worked for me as trainers. And I remember just being blown away by their muscular development, of their arms in particular. Now, I used to think to myself like, you know, they're not trained to failure and they're not letting their biceps rest a full week before they hit them again. Like, how is this even possible? So I started thinking about this over and over again and really it's the frequent practice. It's the frequent stimulation. So it would be like if you went to the gym and you practiced squatting, benching, overhead pressing and rowing, you know, four or five days a week. Not going out there to hammer yourself. In fact, not trying not to be sore. That's right. Your goal is to go out there and just practice these movements and get really, really good at them so that someone could look at you and say, wow, that's the best looking squat I've ever seen. If you did that with that level of frequency, the side effect of that would be lots of muscular development. You built really, really strong muscles and you would build quite a bit of muscle doing that. Now, just doing that, I don't think is the formula for maximal muscle gain, but it is a great formula for muscle gain which is why you see gymnasts looking the way they do. But there's one more piece of that, okay? I also think it's not fair to look at a high level athlete and look at their muscular development and say, okay, if I train like them, I'm gonna look like them because there's a bit of a selection bias when you're looking at that high level of an athlete. When you're looking at, you know, top state level, you know, maybe nation wide champion or worldwide champion gymnast, you're looking at people who train a lot for years and years and years, totally dedicated, will also have extremely amazing genetics for that given sport. So same reason why, look, if you swam and you swam like crazy and you train like an Olympic swimmer, you'll never be Michael Phelps. You're not gonna get short legs and a long torso and long arms for it. You know, Michael Phelps was born with the genes to have short legs, long torso, flat rib cage and long arms, which happens to make you give you an advantage in swimming. So you're not gonna necessarily look like a gymnast by training them. The best way to build muscle is to understand some of these concepts and inject it in your training. And if you follow like a maps program, you'll see and you'll notice, although it's much more common nowadays, but especially when we first came out five years ago, it wasn't common to see a resistance training routine that had you training your whole body three days a week, it just wasn't. We were the ones that really come out and say, hey, this is actually what works better. Now you're starting to see more and more people doing it. And it came from watching people and athletes like gymnast. Next question is from Rebsquesto Fitness. Should you train and eat differently depending on body shape such as mesomorph, ectomorph, endomorph, or is that a myth? Have you guys been tagged on the little things that have been going around right now with the fasting and the body? Is that coming back? Well, yeah, just, I think that's where this question is coming from. I was tagged at least 15 or 20 times on these people that are doing posts right now that are promoting intermittent fasting and that the types of intermittent fasting windows based off of your body type. Really? Yes, and I know that this question isn't exactly directly connected to this, but it's related to this. All in all, it's bullshit. Well, it is, so I had to look this up because I forgot. So, somatotypes are what we're talking about, right? Mesomorph, ectomorph, endomorph. So, a ectomorph, it describes the classic skinny person. Yeah, like the skinny hard gainer, right? So, skinny bones, narrow shoulders, doesn't gain weight very easily at all, either muscle or body fat, typically left to their own devices without training or whatever, not very physically strong, right? A mesomorph is your natural bodybuilder, your natural athlete, builds muscle very easily, stays relatively lean easily, naturally strong, and then your endomorph is someone who gains weight very easily, thicker bone, they gain more body fat, they also gain more muscle, they tend to be bigger people. Now, this is a form of taxonomy, so this is like what they would do when they'd describe animal shapes and stuff like that, and it was developed in the 1940s by psychologist William Herbert Sheldon. He's the guy that came up with this. Now, can you classify people in these categories? Sure. There are people that fit into these categories, but most people don't fit neatly into ectomorph, mesomorph, or endomorph. Most people are a combination of all of these things. Like I lean much more towards ectomorph, right? I tend to have more of that body type, that hard gainer body type. I wouldn't consider myself a pure 100% ectomorph, I'd probably ectomorph with some mesomorphic qualities. I'm like mezzo-endo. Yeah, so this has been discarded for a little while now, but here's the answer to your question. Forget your body type in terms of categorizing like this. Go off of your own individual body. So should you train and eat differently depending on your body? Yeah, absolutely. Your training should match your body. Your diet should match your body, not somebody else's, because your individual body is gonna respond and react differently to someone else. Yeah, I think, again, this is marketing. This is a way that they can kind of reduce options for people out there, because there's so many variables that dictate what you should be eating, how you should be training your body, and this is why we're always saying depends, individual-wise, but marketing, they don't wanna deal with all those different variables. They just wanna corral certain types to speak to them more generally, and so this is definitely the general version of all the different body types that we see. Well, and to your point about marketing, it's our fault as consumers, because we wanna be put in a box. We wanna identify with a group. Just tell me what to do. Right, and when you do something like this, and you say like, oh, this type of body type has a hard time putting muscle on, and it's like, that's me. That's totally me, and then so the marketers know this, and then they go, oh, now if we can get them to identify with this group, now we can sell them on the idea that the reason why they weren't seeing results is because they weren't doing what's specific for them, and it's a bunch of hogwash. It's not true at all, and in fact, why this got debunked is because what this doesn't share or talk about is metabolism, and the metabolism is, even though when you maybe have a genetic predisposition to a faster or slower metabolism, it's a free-flowing thing that you can change, good or bad, right? You can speed it up or slow it down, depending on your behaviors and habits, not only what you do physically, but also how you eat. There's always an exception under the rule for each one of these things. You can be in one of those categories, but struggling to gain muscle or burn body fat that's not supposedly in that category because of where your metabolism currently is. I will say this, there definitely are people that seem to fit perfectly in each of these categories. If I describe an ectomorph who's your classic hardgainer, doesn't gain weight very easily, seems to have a roaring metabolism. They eat as much as everybody else, and yet they're super skinny while everybody else is obese, and it's hard for them to build muscle. I can definitely speak to that person. I can talk to that person, and if you fit neatly in that category, and that literally is you, then there are some things you may wanna consider, like let's say you're an ectomorph, and you do fit in that category, most people don't, but let's say you do, then you're probably gonna have to consume something like 22 calories for every pound of body weight. Now, I would never give that number to somebody who doesn't fit neatly in that category, but someone who does, then that's the amount of calories you probably need to eat, and I've read studies on this. So that would mean a 150 pound classic ectomorph, let's say that actually existed, that person would need to consume about 3,300 calories just to gain weight. Now, if you're a 150 pound average person, 3,300 calories might make you just gain a ton of body fat. So there are people that seem to fit in that, but in terms of categorizing people in these neat three categories, I mean it's almost never the case. Next question is from Coach Carruthers. For long-term health and overall longevity for lifting, would trap bar deadlifts be better than using a barbell? Another good question. Yeah, you know, I tell you what, the barbell deadlift. Lots of debate around this too, but there is. The barbell deadlift just requires more skill than a trap bar deadlift. So both of them, they're similar, but they're not the same. Both of them, where you're lifting a weight off the ground, there's a bit of hip hinging involved and both of them more in the deadlift than in the trap bar deadlift. But the barbell deadlift just requires more skill. So anytime an exercise requires more skill, that means that there's a higher potential risk for injury. Now that doesn't mean that it's gonna hurt you. If you have good form with both of them, then you're fine. But when I would train the average person, they're far more likely to be able to do a trap bar deadlift properly than they would be able to do a barbell deadlift. So I think you could, I could make the argument for both ways. Now, one way would be, well, if you can't, barbell deadlift, let's figure out why. Let's work on your mobility. Let's work on your hip hinging. Let's work on your stability so that you can do it. Then the other side of me says, look, the average person might not be able to address a lot of those things or know what to do if they're not working with a trainer. In which case, a trap bar deadlift is an easier, less skilled version of picking up a weight off the floor exercise. Yeah, I like the trap bar for distributing the force kind of a little bit more effectively like that. Like if you're talking about your average person, I think that there's definite value in using the trap bar. And this is something too, where like Courtney has had issues with her back, even though like mobility has been something we've been working on and really like connecting and working on bracing and, you know, the overall skill of, you know, a deadlift and doing a regular standard deadlift, there's still issues that occur, you know, in her back that speak to her. So, you know, I prefer to use the trap bar for that reason so we can kind of distribute that force a little more, you know, both anterior and posteriorly. So, but I do kind of also agree a little bit, you know, with Ripito's argument of the fact that the trap bar swings a little bit. And so you have to account for the fact that it's a different monster in general. So I don't know that I would class them both as like the same animal. Well, I think that, and the reason why this is a good discussion is because there are experts and high level coaches that have taken a staunch position on both sides of this. And the truth is I'm with you, Sal, on, it depends and I utilize both. And if I had a client, many times I have a client do trap bar because there is so much, I get a client, let's just say who's in their mid 50s and they've never trained with me and they've never had anybody. And they have a lot to work on. They've got a lot broken down. You know, they've got stuff, their knees are collapsing in, they've got an asymmetrical shift. They've got all these issues that I'm trying to work on as a coach and as a trainer and getting them out of the barbell deadlift, it just exaggerates all these problems. And so that doesn't mean that I say, oh, well, let's just eliminate the barbell deadlift and only do trap bar because you can do that with good form. I may have them do the trap bar deadlift, but then my ultimate goal is to get them to be able to do a barbell deadlift. So that's the position that I take. It reminds me, very similar, and I remember this is kind of, this is actually how Eugene Tao and I met, was he did a post on Instagram, kind of shaming the coaches out there that pushed the squat so much and that technically the hack squat is as beneficial or more beneficial for developing your quads. And my comment to him is that I don't like that message. I don't like, because what I know is that a lot of people, including someone like myself as a kid, would hear that and go, oh, see, I don't need to do squats. I'll just do hack squats and I'll be able to develop that. And that's how him and I serve. As if it's an even trade. Right, exactly. It's not, they're different movements. They both carry lots of value and a benefit and they both should be tools in your tool bell. But the truth is if you can't do the barbell deadlift or you can't do the barbell back squat, we have things like the hack squat. We have things like the trap bar deadlift, which are, like Sal said, easier movements to teach someone to do and great place to utilize them. But as coaches and as people that are pursuing overall strength and fitness, you shouldn't eliminate the idea that you don't wanna work towards being able to barbell deadlift. One of the best things you could do for your overall development, fitness success for muscle and fat loss, one of the best possible things you could do is find traditional exercises that you can't do well and learn how to do them well. One of the best possible things you could do. If you can't barbell squat well, then figure out why you can't fix that problem. And it may take you time. It may take you months. Sometimes it takes years. But work towards being able to do it and that work towards being able to do it and then eventually being able to do it produces tremendous results. And this is true for both the deadlift and the trap bar deadlift. But again, trap bar dead, nine out of 10 times. When I get a brand new client, I start them on trap bar deadlifts before I move them to a barbell deadlift. And look, with my son, I'm training my son right now. That's what we're starting, trap bar deadlifts. Am I gonna not have him do a barbell deadlift? Of course not. We're gonna move to that eventually, but this just requires less skill. It's easier to start with. Next question is from Maria the Moriarty. In your opinion, what are the top three sports that indirectly give the best aesthetics? Well, I think, you know, interesting, we stacked this in these questions because I may not have thought about this unless we had just talked about it. And gymnasts would probably be up there. Oh, gymnasts are sprinters, I think. Only thing about gymnasts that their aesthetics, that rates their aesthetics a little lower is their legs. Gymnasts, male gymnasts typically don't have legs that match their upper body. It's disadvantageous to have those kind of legs when you're on the rings and you're doing, you don't want big muscular legs matching their big muscular arms when they do that. I think, but I do think overall, their aesthetics are phenomenal. I would say boxers, grapplers, wrestlers. It depends what position to football wise. Like I would say, you know, if you're looking at running backs or you're looking at, you know, wide receivers or something like that where it's a little more of a skill position that you'd probably like have like a better physique, obviously than alignment. Yeah, I would disagree on the boxing one for sure. Really? Yeah, I would. Do you think like a Van der Holyfield? I mean, those are anomalies, right? Those are guys that just looked amazing and stuff that probably looked amazing before they even started boxing or had the genetic potential to look like that. Because here's why I disagree with boxing, because boxing is heavily focused on high repetitions and low rest periods and they don't strength train nearly as much as most other athletes and they also are normally very forward. Everything is rounded forward. Oh, yeah, they're going to mold to their sport. Right, so the aesthetics on a boxer, it's more rare we get an Van der Holyfield, you know, or Lennox Lewis, they have these great physiques. I think you normally see not the best physiques, aesthetically pleasing. I think too, you've seen that change dramatically in basketball too. Like because of the physicality has become like more on the forefront, you've seen a lot more players like really, you know, build and develop muscles to combat that. But now it's already shifting a little bit more, you know, in the other, like the Kevin Durant where it's like, you know, you're longer, lankier and I don't know, it's interesting to watch sports kind of evolve with that. It's a fun debate. I have a different way to present this because something just came to me. Judging the sports for the best aesthetics by the top representatives might not be fair because you made a great point. Boxing is very high, lots of repetitions, yet the Van der Holyfield looked like an amateur bodybuilder. Is it because of the boxing or is it because of Van der Holyfield probably had incredible muscle building genetics? Like UFC, like what was it? Is it Fedorov or not Fedorov? Oh, Fedorov, Emilianco. Fedorov, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, right, you can use that same thing like with basketball. David Robinson had one of the craziest-looking physiques as a basketball player, but it's not because of basketball. So what sport, not strength training sport, because obviously we could cheat and say Olympic lifting or powerlifting, what sport would you think, if they just did that sport would present for the average person the best chances of that aesthetics, overall aesthetics? What would that, I think gymnastics probably has to be that. Yeah, gymnastics is one, I think we can all agree on that. I think that just, I mean, going right back to our first question, it lays probably the best foundation to build upon anyway, so. I feel like some people would say like soccer, but they're like tiny. No, dude. I mean, no. No, because that dude, look at men's health and all that, they're always being like soccer guys are the best athletes. Well, that's again, those are the top athletes in the world that that's part of it. There's only like one or two David Beckham's, you know what I mean? Yeah, I guarantee if you put David Beckham on a traditional resistance training routine, he'd build muscle like a genetic freak, you know? Well, here's the truth, like when you talk about building muscle and aesthetics, no sport is really ideal. I mean, it's not. I think we look at athletes too, when we look at these top golf, these, yeah, these John Daley's. I mean, sports, the goal is not to build a bunch of muscle, it's to become very efficient at whatever your sport is. It's just to be good at the sport. Yeah, and most sports are not heavily focused around, or it's not advantageous to have a bunch of muscle mass on your body. So it's really not a good place to even look at, like, hey, what sport should I do if I want to have like the overall best aesthetics? If you pick a sport- There's no balanced physiques anymore. Yeah, and if you pick a sport, pick it because you like doing it and it's healthy for you and you enjoy doing it. I wouldn't pick a sport necessarily because I'm trying to change my aesthetics. The most effective thing you could do to manipulate your aesthetics and sculpt your body's lithoids. There is no other form of exercise that lets you pick parts of your body to develop and change for the pursuit of aesthetics like resistance training. Right, and the example that everybody is thinking in their head is always anomalies. I can pick out a person in every sport, every sport that has this awesome, except for maybe that one, that has an awesome physique and it has less to do with the sport and more to do with their genetic potential. And with that, go to mindpumpfree.com and download all of our guides, resources and books. You can also find your three favorite podcast hosts on Instagram. You can find Justin at Mind Pump. Justin, you can find me at Mind Pump Sal, Adam at Mind Pump, Adam, and believe it or not, Doug is on Instagram too. Believe it or not, Doug's also there. If you want to see behind the scenes, you wanna see the equipment we use when we record, if you wanna see what the studio looks like, go follow Doug at Mind Pump, Doug.