 Do you want to look bigger? Sometimes you have to get smaller to look bigger Is that what you tell the ladies? No, you know what this is we got to talk about this because I know as a kid I was obviously I was skinny always trying to bulk all the time trying to get big and The first time I actually got really lean because I didn't get lean lean lean for a long time So I just I didn't want to lose any weight on the scales like super insecure about that, right? So I think I was in my 20s and it was the first time I got below 10% body fat And of course my weight on the scale was lighter because I'm leaner And it was the first time one of the first times people actually approached me in the gym was like, oh my gosh You look so huge huge and then I realized it's because I'm leaner and I have more definition that I look a lot bigger and It's funny, right? So to look bigger never think that I mean I would never think that and all I my entire goal is just always get big get big To tell me that like to cut down. It was not gonna. Yeah, I know you had a similar experience exact same the the funny part about it is how driven we are by our insecurity to look this certain way in search of You know our peers telling us how great we look or how buff or how big we look and then the first time that you Decide to go in this cut of shrinking down getting leaner getting smaller. You get the most Oh my god, you look big compliments than I had in my entire life. So that was the irony and it was I spent at least a Decade of bulking Consistently and never cutting to finally go on like, okay Well, let's see what happens when I lean out and then all the you get and my by the way to I vividly remember When I was going through that phase even though I was getting those compliments inside of my head I still felt smaller and I still had a I struggled with the Insecurity of not filling my shirts out right as you lean out I start to look like a coat hanger in my Excel shirts sure and so I remember that messing with my head going like oh my god I'm getting smaller smaller, but then people were telling me. Oh my god You look I literally I literally had people come up to me in the gym This is what blew me away is they would come up to me and say man You put on some serious size. Yeah, how much muscle have you gained? I'm like I've gained nothing I'm actually 10 pounds lighter than I was before like a 16 inch arm on somebody who's lean single digit Body fat is way more impressive in real life than an 18 inch arm on a dude That's body fat is you know in the high teens. Yeah, this is just a fact So and by the way, this this goes both ways a lot of people who are constantly worried about oh my gosh I can't gain a single pound when they gain a little bit of muscle all of a sudden they look leaner How many times have you had that right with the female client where they gain a little muscle and they're like my husband says I look leaner, but I'm actually three pounds heavier So they're all like optical illusions basically it is and I think the moral the story is your Your insecurities which we all kind of have we all have a little bit right your insecurities create a filter and You you don't have like a objective view of yourself. Well, it's always subjective But it's really tilted in one direction So you'll look in the mirror like oh my god Terrible and then wonder why people are coming up to you saying you look healthy or you look fit like what's going on I feel like part of the size one too has to do I mean at least I remember being a teenage boy and like that you measured your bicep like that was the thing Yeah, right like if you're all we all started working out everybody was starting in the gym It's like the the measure of the success of your training was how big is your bicep and that was like that was it There was no any other measurements We were paid attention to it was like has your has your bicep grown a half an inch to an inch over the last year or Two that you've been lifting and that's how we all decided whether you were successful or not or looking good right, it's funny because my I introduced the movie Fight Club to my son a couple years ago quickly became one of his favorite movies So like he likes to show his friends, right and they're watching it and he actually had some friends over they're watching the movie and one of his friends comments like man What's the name Brad Pitt was buffed in Fight Club? He was so Jack he was like 150 pounds in that. Yeah, he was really lean. He was just really lean Yes, so just shredded to the to the gills. Yeah, and it's you know that definition really create and what now What's the moral of this right if again your filter really distorts things a lot of time So if you're on this like permanent bulk all the time because you're always trying to look bigger Get lean and see what happens and again that reverses true also for people are always so afraid to gain in this more Usually more true for women, but there's guys that do this as well They're so afraid of gaining any body fat that they're always restricting their calories and Really when when they gain a little bit of muscles when they really get the look that they're looking for This doesn't support your case at all But like I'm because I'm trying to get like these high school kids out of that mindset of like always trying to be ripped Oh, well, that's different dude But this is such a thing that wasn't a thing back in the day Like we just wanted to get big and in jacked and that's really not something that's very commonly found anymore Like cuz they always want to like show off the muscles and like do the beach muscle thing And nobody's really into like stacking plates as high schoolers, huh? Yeah, so I don't think it wasn't like that when I was a kid Not that didn't happen till like 20s, you know, I think they're more aware now because of social media Maybe yeah, I think that's definitely now the difference with that obviously is in football Your mass plays a big role in your momentum. Exactly. That's why I'm motivated. I'm like I need more calories, please You know and that way like we're just gonna have a more effective You know body to deal with all of that trauma and you know stress that we're gonna place, you know in these games And so yeah, you need to have like a resilient strong body. I don't really care if you have abs No, there's a weight to strength ratio. That's important too, but it's not there's no weight class Not like wrestling where you know if you pack on a bunch of weight now You're just wrestling a bigger dude like on the field You know and you're hitting somebody if you have ten more pounds on your body and you've got a good strength to weight ratio Right, so it's not making you super sluggish or slow. Yeah, let's say you just you stay just as fast But you gain five ten pounds you hit some with that same speed. It's gonna hit much harder Yeah, because you're much bigger. So that's totally different than what I said, you know at the beginning of it Yeah, that's a good point though derailed. No, no, that's a very very good point when you play sports You want to consider that kind of stuff and the weight class sports People need to consider that as well. Like I know guys. I knew guys that would take performance enhancing drugs To gain muscle and strength to and but they competed in weight class events So in the problem with that is you you're taking gear to move up a weight class now You're bigger and stronger, but now you're going against guys that are naturally. Yeah at that heavy Comfortable at that weight comfortable at that weight naturally at that way you're gonna get your butt kicked Yeah, and that naturally have a bone structure totally ligaments and tendons that support that size where you've Artificially inflated your muscles to get that size, which you've just got that part You're missing the the the skeletal structure of that 240 pound guy or whatever. Oh dude a juiced up to get a fit a fit and strong Geared up 240 pound guy versus a fit and strong natural 240 totally different Do you know what use and if you know if you pay attention to what these guys walk around? Like off-season. Yeah, the ones that are normally the most dominant There's always exceptions the rule that are like great fighters with that But the guys are normally dumb in their weight class walk around naturally like 30 40 pounds Yeah, they cut way heavier They had to cut really really hard to get down that so a guy who walks around it Let's say the weight class around 210 walks around 250 cuts down to get into 210 weight class versus a guy Who is a 180 guy juiced out of his gills to get up to want 210 I'll bet on the guy That's walks around at 250. Yeah, all things are equal. Oh, yeah. Yeah, exactly I've obviously fight skills make a big difference in that but for the most part that guy has a huge advantage Yeah, but you know what when it comes to aesthetics, right? So we're not talking athletic performance. Just aesthetics Definition plays such a big role in how muscular and fit you look like like I said I've lost weight but because I'm leaner I get comments like you look like you put on muscle and mass and then on the flip side I remember this used to happen all the time especially with female clients where they want to lose weight and you know, I was the number one goal for most people and I would obviously talk about speeding up the metabolism We would bump calories a little bit first lift weights to build some muscle so that we had a nice base to work with When I would have them cut later on and sometimes on the scale They would gain a couple pounds, right? So they'd lose a little bit of body fat But maybe gain more muscle than they lost at first because we're bumping their calories And they would always come to me and be like this is so weird I've had three co-workers come up to me and ask me how much weight I've lost and I've actually gained two pounds on the scale I'm like well the muscle gives you shape It gives you this sculpt and so the appearance so aesthetics is So different than just the scale right or it's so different than just what the tape measure says It's much more than that and we often get our own way because our own insecurities Hey, if you enjoyed that clip you can find the full episode here or you can find other clips over here And be sure to subscribe