 In this episode of Mind Pump, we answer four fitness and health questions, but we also talk about current events, our lives, we talk about scientific studies. And random stuff. Here is what went on in this episode of Mind Pump. We open up by talking about Valentine's Day gifts. What are the gifts that we like to give our special other person? And what are the gifts that we've received? We love Justin's strategy for Valentine's Day. You gotta listen in. It's absolutely brilliant. It is. Then we talk about how to properly use and dose CBD. So CBD stands for cannabidiol. It's a cannabinoid found in hemp and in marijuana. It's got some interesting effects and benefits. There's some anti-anxiety effects. That's what you'll notice most from using the right kind of CBD. Now our favorite CBD product is Ned. Ned is full spectrum hemp oil extract. So what does that mean? That means that there's CBD in there, but there's also other cannabinoids with their own benefits like CBC and CBG. There's also terpenes in there. These are the compounds that give hemp. It's smell and studies have found that when you combine those with CBD, you get better effects. We have a huge discount for you. We highly suggest you give this company a try and see if you notice any recovery or anti-anxiety benefits. Here's the discount. Go to helloned.com. That's H-E-L-L-O-N-E-D.com forward slash mind pump and use that code for 15% off your first purchase. Then we talked about the organic farmer who got busted lying, got 10 years in jail and some bad news. He actually committed suicide. Then we talked about where the term buried alive came from. Is it buried alive or was it? No, no, no, no. No, it was saved by the bell. That's it, saved by the bell. People getting buried alive. People know where buried alive came from. That's right. We know where they came from, but they rang the bell. That's where it came from. Yeah, that's it. Then I talked about the monkeys in China that are smart. What are those scientists? Damn it, China! What are they doing over there? We need to stop this madness. We talk about the new diet that's coming out called pegan. It's combining paleo and vegan. Shouldn't have been pagan. I know. Which led us to discuss protein intake and one of our favorite companies of vegan protein powders is Organifi. By the way, they also make a phenomenal pre-workout red juice that is caffeine-free. It contains rhodiola, so it's got a very light stimulating effect for better pumps, better performance. They also have a gold juice you could take before you go to bed for recovery anti-inflammatory effects. Anyway, this company's phenomenal. You get 20% off with the mind pump discount. Here's what you do. Go to organifi.com. That's O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I.com forward slash mind pump. Use the code mind pump and get 20% off. Then I talked about a study that connected more muscle to a dramatically lower risk of heart disease in middle-aged men. So lifting weights, it's good for your heart too. Then we got into the fitness questions. The first question was, is working out once a week with a balanced diet enough to create a respectable physique? Kind of a weird question, but we try to answer it and talk about all the benefits you can get from. Respectable? Working out just once a week. The next question, this person says, how do you incorporate focus sessions with a full body workout? So focus sessions are something that we created in one of our workout programs. We break it down and explain it. So if you wanna add a new element to your workout for better results, make sure you listen in that part of the episode. The next question, this person intermittently fast from 8 p.m. to 12 p.m. is 190 pounds and is having trouble eating enough protein. What can they do? So we give them some advice. And the final question, this person says, hey look, is cardio even necessary? So we talk about all about cardiovascular activity, its benefits, its detriments, and whether or not everyone should do it. Also, this month, all month long, maps split is 50% off. This is a six day a week resistance training workout. It's, if you want really good results, if you're very serious about getting your body to change, about sculpting and building your body, maps split is a phenomenal program. Again, it's half off. Here's how you get the discount. Go to mapssplit.com, that's M-A-P-S-S-P-L-I-T dot com, and use the code SPLIT50, that's S-P-L-I-T-5-0, no space for the discount. Will you get flowers on Valentine's Day? What will you do on Valentine's Day? What is a traditional Valentine's Day for you? I don't know. What's a traditional? I mean, flowers is traditional. Jessica loves chocolate. For you, yeah. Have you gotten her chocolate every year now? Like, what have you done? I like getting her massages, because she loves massages. That's like a big thing for her. So that's typically what I'll aim for. Which I'll do. Something like that, yeah. Justin, do you do anything? Typically, I try my best attempt at cooking something for her, at least like, you know, like planning it out. So if I go buy something, or I'll like barbecue outside, typically it's barbecue, that's all I know how to do. Let's be fucking honest. So I'll do that. And then just I run like, I basically play catch-up of running all the errands that I probably should have been doing the whole time, but I like do it all at once. So Valentine's Day is the day that you're doing what you're supposed to do? Yes. 100%. And she loves it. It's a honey-do-less day. It's a honey-do-less day. Everything is devoted to her like entire idea of what I should be doing. This is brilliant, because if you think about it, a lot of, see people are, okay, I don't think people realize right now how thoughtful you are. I know. You're setting up for the whole year for that day. Yep. All year, you're not doing. Don't do a lot. You're falling short. Don't do a lot. On purpose. Do a whole lot. On Valentine's Day. Very short amount. Yeah. One day of hard work. Yeah. Not a bad stride down. Yeah. What about you, Adam? Son up. I know there was, one year you did like fucking pedals on the bed. It was like one year you did that. Yeah, no, I did a dozen roses for every year we were together on year seven or eight. I don't remember which one. So she had eight, I think eight dozen roses and I did that many balloons. So like the whole room was. Just went nuts. Yeah. You know what's with me? I'm very inconsistent. So it has everything to do with what's going on with me. It's totally wrong, right? Wrong reason for a while. It's just being real. She's honest to you. But here's the thing though, I'm also the same guy too that I made suck on Valentine's Day this year because I was traveling or I was busy or what like that. But then, you know, March fourth, she gets like this badass gift or very cool thoughtful things. So I try my best to be very mindful of, you know, her love languages and making sure that I'm coming through that. And that's why too, the things that I would do when I was a young man trying to woo my girlfriend, it would be all the things that I think is cool. You know, the tons of roses, expensive jewelry, like the gifts like that. Katrina's love language is not that. It's affirmations. Like, so me doing things that share my cards, like she would weigh rather. Like you write a nice card. Yeah, like, you know, this Christmas is an example of this, right? She just, I mean, she just, her mom shrank and ruined like a $300 coat I got her. I bought her fucking $900 belt. She hasn't even got it sized for herself. But you know what she fucking read 10 times over was the $70, you know, love book that I wrote. And you know, it was all my words, right? So I think I shared this on the show. Maybe I didn't share this. No, you didn't. So there's a love book. It's called lovebook. I think it's lovebook.com, I think. Adam's love library. It's actually a really cool gift, similar like a Shutterfly type where you just kind of, you create your emoji of like her and I and then it prompts me and asks me questions and then I just have to type in the answers and then it puts together a whole story of our love. Ah, it's brilliant. It is. And it's all my words. I wish she didn't say it on the podcast. I would have totally taken this idea. Now Jessica's gonna hear the episode. Sorry. Can't copy it. So her name you'd probably just throw up if I gave her something like that. See now Katrina loves that. We're not like that at all. Oh, Katrina loves that and she saves every card that I've ever written her and that stuff means the most. But I tell you that for me, I think this is one of the biggest misses that people have in relationship. This is why I think the five-leveling, which is one of the best reads a couple can do, is to give you insight even if you do know, it gives you more insight of what your partner's love language is. And we tend to love people the way we want to be loved. That isn't what makes for the best relationship. Learning how they wanna be loved, that's true love, right? And then actively doing that is the real definition of love is that you actually putting the work in to love her the way that she wants to be loved. And the reverse is true for her. That's something that she has to always remember that she could sit down and write all these, oh, you're the most amazing man ever and you make me feel this way. And I'm like, cool, not a big deal to me. The words of affirmation, I'm more, I like tangible things and gifts, just who I am. Oh, so you like it or buy you shit? Yeah, yeah, buy me cool shit. Doesn't it be expensive? Just something that I wanted, right? And so I try and help her out throughout the year. So I'll send her links when I like, and this year she killed it. I sent her a link for a leather jacket like fucking six months ago. That's what she got me for Christmas. And I love it and I wear it already all the time and it's a gift I really enjoyed and it's cause I like those things. And again, to my point, like for her, I bought her all these tangible things, whatever, the thing that she adored or loved the most was the book that I spent the time writing. I think it's easy to get cynical because it's a holiday and the retail and all that stuff. But at the end of the day, it's nice. It's nice, you take some time aside and you show your partner that you took some time and you care, it's a good thing. I think it's a really good thing. But it is a very commercial retail thing that gets kinda... Yeah, there's some hustle behind it. A little bit. Yeah, I'm kind of a non-conformist as well. Like I don't like the whole same old thing like flowers, chocolate, and then taking you out to somewhere dinner that you can't get a reservation for. So yeah, I like to kind of, at least if I can control it in my own environment and with Courtney, it's all about comfort and the environment's a big part of that. And so like, me actually stepping up is part of that whole thing. It's creating everything so everything's accounted for and then it's like she can relax. It's all about her mental state of like, oh, everything is, she doesn't have to worry and think about everything else. She's very conscientious. She's very conscientious. Yeah, Jessica's like that as well. Yeah, you know that women rank much higher in that than men do, just generally across the board. What's that? Conscientiousness, far more. So you know the stereotype of the wife or the girlfriend that has to remember everything. Yeah, has to remember everything, has to pay attention to where things go, has to pay attention to schedules and tuck in your chair and do this and don't forget that and whatever. And then of course there's the other side of that which is like, oh, you're being a nag. But in reality, that stereotype is because women generally are far more conscientious and guys are just generally less. Of course on the individual basis, it's a little bit different. I'm terribly terrible with it. I don't remember, damn, not a damn thing. I had a DM the other day that I wanted to talk about on the podcast because I've actually received this several times since we've partnered with Ned and I get a lot of people asking what I recommend as far as the dosage and that's hard because there's such an individual variance but I did some of my own research and I read a bunch of different articles because everybody kind of has their opinion on this and what I think is one of the best ones that I read in regards to how much CBD you take that it takes into account the individual variance and what you're using it for, I thought was really good and that was they recommend that you take, unless you get prescribed or told different from a doctor, obviously listen to them if they've told you, but if you don't and you've just, oh, you're trying to use it for anxiety or you've got chronic pain and you wanna see if it helps alleviate it, if that's why you're using this and you're trying to figure out how to dose it, the best recommendation that I've read is starting off with about 40 milligrams as a dosage and then what you do is every week, you add five more milligrams if you don't feel any relief from that. So let's say it's a pain thing, you're using it, you don't wanna use painkillers, you wanna use alternative, so you're using CBD to help relieve some of the chronic pain you might have, so you decide to try the hemp oil out, you use it, you start off with 40 milligrams, if you don't notice that you're getting any relief up that five milligrams every week there for it until you find that it gives you that relief for whatever it is and that doesn't matter if you're using it for pain, anxiety. It's really good for relaxing, it's really, really good for that. That's how I use it the most. Same here and for insomnia, but it's not a sleep aid, it's very different, so a sleep aid you take and then you get drowsy and you get sleepy, not the same, in fact you could take, I've done this myself where I'll take Ned before we podcast or before we do an event. The reason why it helps with insomnia is it helps with anxiety, so people who have anxiety related insomnia, then it makes a big difference. So if you're the kind of person that goes to bed and your mind is racing and you're like, and that's what keeps you up or you think that's what keeps you up, then it might have a pretty good benefit on you. I find the most value whenever we do like a live event, if I have a big interview I had to do, I have to speak and I'm super anxious and then that night is when I use it. So I might use it. So you can get some sleep. No, that's exactly why, because I have a hard time coming down from that. And I've used it, I've used it with the Dawgs, I've used it with all different applications. What I find the most valuable value for personally is that is, and that happens to me semi-regularly. It probably happens a couple of times a week either I have, I'm having to speak somewhere or I have a really crazy interview or just even a wound up day with you guys. We've done two episodes together, we've got all this talking going on and I'm just wound up when I come home from work at five, six o'clock at night and you all know everyone can probably relate to this feeling. You know those days when you're like that and it can be caused because of excitement, it can be caused because you're nervous or anxious but it kind of gets you that, you can feel that adrenaline. It's my favorite thing to come home and kind of to use that to kind of take it out. What do you do, 30 or 60 minutes before bed? No, I actually do it a lot longer before that. I actually do it when as soon as I get home to kind of wind me down. And then that's probably about what I'm gonna do. Yeah, like my protocol is once I'm home it's decompressed time for me. I take that, I throw my blue blockers on and then I try and chill. Yeah, that's probably a good approach. And that's kind of, and then go to bed at a reasonable hour. I tend to be able to fall asleep pretty well when I do that protocol. I found also too when I've been drinking a lot of coffee and in the morning too, I'll add it in the mix as I'm drinking coffee, because I wanna keep and sustain a certain level so I don't exceed where I get those jitters. And I've found that it really helps to even it out and then it helps actually elongate my sharpness. So I've loved using it in the morning. Oh, it's a big cup of coffee. I showed you guys that a long time ago. Yeah, that's what totally turned me on to CBD in the first place. Would you think that this is where the, because what we see right now in the bodybuilding community in CBD it annoys me is it's becoming like this recovery thing that we're taking, but- I'm gonna make the case for it. Okay, so this is where I'm going to too. So and correct me if I'm wrong, but where it's valuable is if you're somebody like this a lot and all the time, and it's disrupting sleep, which we know is so important to the recovery process and it's aiding that, I can see tremendous value. If you're not somebody who suffers from sleeping, you're not wound up all the time, you're not anxious all the time and you're taking it thinking that it's actually repairing muscle faster or recovering faster, I don't think there's value. I'll make an even stronger case. I agree with that, but here's the next step. You know that the parasympathetic state is where you recover. So you have your sympathetic, there's two general states of your central nervous system. One is sympathetic, this is where you're amped, you're up, you're energetic, your fight or flight is more of an extreme example of it. Parasympathetic is rest, digest, relax, sleep, recover, chill, recover. And so can CBD and cannabinoids help your body, your muscles recover? Yes, and I think it happens through an indirect process of, you know, by bringing me more into the parasympathetic state, everything's calm and it's true. Listen, resting and recovering, just because you're sitting down doesn't mean you're doing a great job resting and recovering. You could sit there in a chair, be anxious and stressed out of your mind, mind wandering and you've got stress hormones going through your system, even though you're sitting there, your heart rate is a little bit elevated. So it's not the same thing, just because you're not moving, your mind has to also be in that state. I think we're saying the same thing though. I mean, that's the reason why I'm taking it at nighttime is because I'm in that sympathetic state so much from the day I'm so wound up. But if I'm not, I don't see as much value in it, right? Yes, totally. And this is what I tell people, if they ask me, is this something that I should, that will help me? And I'll say this. Try it, because you'll know after the first or second time. It's not something that you need to take all, for a month and then say, well, I think it's working. You could buy, you could get a really high quality hemp oil extract like net, for example. Try it, take it, give yourself 30 to 60 minutes. You should notice a difference. If you do, it's probably doing something good for you. If you don't, try a higher dose and try again. By the second time, you'll notice, you'll feel it. It's not something you don't feel, you genuinely feel it. Anyway, do you guys remember, last week or week before, I talked to you guys about that organic farmer that got busted because he was lying? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys remember that? So I got some more on that story. This is kind of crazy. So this is the guy who was the mastermind behind a $142 million organic food scam. So they were saying it was organic food. This guy's farms was making up a decent percentage of all organic food in the country. So it was a big chunk. And they found out that he was full of shit. They sentenced him to 10 years to jail, right? He had to go to jail for 10 years, killed himself. What? Yeah, he committed suicide. No. Yeah, because he was found guilty, didn't want to go to jail for 10 years. So he just... Over jail, he kills himself. He killed himself. And over 10 years, guy. 10 years, you're out by eight good behavior. I mean, it's a long time, but it's not like the end of your life. He's a 61 year old guy. And I mean, there's a who knows, you know what I mean? He might've already been, I mean, the whole, your whole world crumbling down around you. Everybody figured you out. That's crazy. Just committed suicide, crazy, right? Whoa, I did not know that. When did you read that? I just, it just happened. Oh, shit. Yeah, I just read this literally like 20 minutes ago. Dude, that's crazy. Yeah, isn't that wild? Speaking of death, I mean, this is kind of a bad transition, but it also works. Dude, I saw us having this weird conversation at the dinner table with my kids, about death and like coffins and this and that and the other. And like we were actually talking about examples. Oh, no, I know what brought it up. Okay, so there was like examples of they're asking me about albinos and they're asking me about like different, people have different conditions they're born with and then they look a certain way, right? And so albinos, we were speculating that maybe way back in the day, because of the red eyes, the pale skin, like there might have been like myth and folklore around like, you know, vampires and like things that people just constructed about, you know, people with these types of genetic anomalies. Oh, sure. And so the other part of it was like, you know, Wolf Boy and all that stuff where like, you know, people actually had hair that was grown on their face and all this stuff. And so we just had this kind of funny conversation about it, but also like trying to be like, hey, people are born different and like, you know, this is some things that can happen and we're kind of going down that thread. And it actually led to, you know, back in the 1700s, I found out that, I mean, there was so many cases of people being buried alive that it was a massive problem. And this is where a lot of the, you know, the zombie, the Frankenstein, like all these types of like stories kind of came out. Because it's like- You know what they used to do with the coffins? They would attach, they started attaching a string inside the cabinet. Ring the bell. Yes, and it would attach to a bell above. Just in case you woke up, because back then they didn't have advanced medical stuff. This is where the phrase saved by the bell came from. Oh, is that where it came from? Shut your face up. So just in case you came to, you could ring the bell in the coffin and they'd be like, oh shit. What? Yes. So okay, okay. What I'm assuming why this was happening was because this was, you're talking about people that were like hospitalized or sick. They thought they were dead or in a coma maybe. Yes. Their assessing was so rudimentary. Like they would literally go by like smell, like color, like if they're breathing or not. They didn't even know how to like check pulses or like they would check their tongue a lot of times, but that was it. And so people would be like, yeah, in a coma or they would be just like completely sedated. Shut the fuck up. And they didn't know that was a thing. They'd have funerals and everything and they bury them. This would be a big deal. And what caused a lot of the panic was that they would, when they would move, I don't know why this would happen, either storms or whatever, but they'd have to move coffins or the coffins would come up because of a storm or earthquake. And then they would see scratch marks on the inside of the coffins. Oh my God. Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up. How have I never heard this? Yeah, this poor lady like, they had a funeral and everything for her sister and like, you know, they resurrected it because like later they found all these scratch marks on the inside and her fingernails and everything were just worn down to the bone because yeah, she couldn't get out. And then she knew that it was like there, it was her fault that like she was buried alive. I guess we the chills just thinking about that. I know, awful dude. That was like back then, you know? Another funny thing that you like, I came across was like, the old saying, you know, you're blown, he was blowing smoke up my ass. Right. Right, that whole thing. Is this a way to administer medicine? Yes. So no, not only that, but this was a way that they tried to revive people that they that were drowning or like they brought back from shore. They would put like a tube in there and blow smoke in their ass. What? Yes, yes. You know what, if you think about it. I like Justin's science so much better than yours. Oh yeah. This is real. That's not science. Oh, it's real. Science day. This is alchemy science. It was science back then. Yeah, exactly, 1700 science. I'm all about it. It sounds almost like intuitive and logical, right? Like, oh fuck, they swallowed too much water, blow in their ass. Blow in their ass. It'll get it out. Like it's gonna warm them up internally. You know, they had like ideas about that. And I'm sure it worked a couple of times where the dude has passed out and then all of a sudden the heat of the fire is. Like what's your story? They were just inserting something in their ass to get back. Bro, revive them. Save by the bell and blow smoke up your ass. I love it dude. That's where it came from. Wow. No idea. Well, you wanna hear something. How do you say by the bell? Just drop the bike right here, bro. I'm done. I'm out. No, no, I got some crazy shit for you. This is actually a little bit frightening. So. So scientists in China have started adding human brain genes to monkeys. What? Yeah, yeah. No. Yes they have. The plan of the ape is gonna happen. I knew it, dude. Let me guess, is this in China? Yeah, so I said. Oh, you said China. Chinese scientists have added. So wait a minute. Wait a minute. Have they tried this on monkeys? Yeah. So scientists in China have added human brain genes to monkeys and have improved the short term memories of these monkeys because of this. Yeah, how interesting is that? Dude, why? The goal of the work was to investigate how a gene linked to brain size might contribute to the evolution of the organs in humans. No, I think they're trying to make super soldiers. That's what I think they're trying to do. I think they're trying to come up with something. Dude, I'm seriously nervous about all these experiments and things they're doing. We need to build a bunker. Honestly, dude. We have smart monkeys. It's funny and then it's scary immediately. First off, look, here's the deal. If we made monkeys smart, we're done. They're stronger than us. Physically, they could fuck us up. Right. Hell easy. Our only hope is that we're smarter. That's it. I feel them dumb. Oh, yeah. What a weird, what an interesting experiment, right? That is. That's so crazy. China's doing a lot of weird shit like that. They do with pigs. They've done weird stuff with pigs where they've had them grow like a human ear or something or was a mouse human ear on their back, which was kind of weird. Oh yeah. Yeah. And that's just what we know about. That's just what we know about. Yeah. Anyway, I got a new diet for you guys. Have you guys heard of the new diet that's coming out? No. The new diet that is coming out, getting everybody really excited. Every time there's buzz around a new diet, I always ask like, what have they not done? I know. Now they're just gonna smash them all together. I thought they've done everything. All they do is make shit up. We know this. So you ready for this? Yeah. You've heard of paleo. Okay. And you've heard of vegan. Ooh. Okay, paleo and vegan combined, peagun. It's called the peagun diet. What? Yeah, so I don't know how you combine. How do you... I don't get it either. I call it vegan because obviously there's gonna be meat involved. So this is a hybrid approach to eating that combines different elements of the paleo and vegan diet. Also known as a omnivore diet, normal diet, the diet that most people eat. So the creator is Mark Hyman. Mark Hyman's the one that came up with this. And what he's saying is 75% of your daily intake is plant-based foods. You didn't wanna call it the Hyman diet, huh? No. Yeah, that might've been different. And 25% comes from high-quality animal protein. So grass-fed beef, pasta-raised chicken, et cetera, along with healthy fats, avocados, coconut oil, et cetera. He says, eat mostly plants, eat healthy fats, stay away from vegetable oils like canola, sunflower corn, and soybean oil, focus on nuts and seeds, avoid dairy. So that's an interesting one. Avoid gluten. He's not a fan of gluten. Eat beans sparingly and eat animal products as a condiment, not as a main course, and then sugar is the occasional treat. I mean, it doesn't sound like a bad diet. No, it's great. It sounds healthy to me, but it's just funny. We got so many freaking diets. I mean, it's really how you should be eating for probably the most people unless you have a special condition where you would wanna eliminate one of those things. I mean, I think we've talked about this on the show while we talk about the benefits of vegetables and getting more servings of that. I remember after we talked to Terry Walls, Dr. Terry Walls. Yeah, Terry Walls, that we were all inspired by that and that we're, oh my God, I'm not eating nowhere near enough. We know the benefits of grass-fed beef and getting your protein source from that. To me, it's, and then we also know that one of the most common foods that you're intolerant to is dairy, gluten, so to, you know, generally speaking, avoid that. Probably a pretty good diet for most people. It's not bad. And now here's the other part, though, that I think there's more in the context of a healthy diet because that makes a big difference, right? Is if your diet is otherwise healthy, if it's low inflammation, you have a healthy body. High protein, it really is an important thing. It really is. Studies show that high protein diets really benefit especially the elderly. Muscle, it contributes to more muscle, it contributes to stronger bones and healthier brains. Now, if you eat a ton of protein on top of a shitty diet, it's probably gonna be more inflammatory. So a diet like this where it's 25% and you're eating meat as a condiment, the protein intake is probably not gonna be super great. I don't think it's bad, but I also don't think it's super great. I think it's something that's important. This is why, I mean, you might maybe do a diet like this and supplement with like a protein shake or something like that, especially if you want the vegetable sources you can go with a vegan protein. Well, it might be good to try it out for a while. This might be one of those like you kind of throw in and then you come back to a higher protein sort of approach, but yeah. Yeah, well, high protein is benefits across the board. You can find health benefits with people who are older. Of course, performance benefits. We talk about that all the time. So I think a diet like this might be a little low in protein, especially for somebody who's not lifting weights. Because protein by itself sends that signal to people. And especially for somebody who's not actively measuring, tracking and going after that. Because that's what I, in my experience, when I have a client who is, you know, just relatively unaware of their macronutrient breakdown or calorie intake, when they begin tracking and we look at their diet, protein is almost always under consumed. It's just, unless you're somebody who is just a huge meat lover or you're already kind of tracking, most clients when I had them track and I assessed the diet, most of them were under consuming protein. And of course, I always try and recommend first getting that through whole foods. But the reality is a lot of times that's either one and convenient to have three full home cooked whole food meals. And so this is where I find value in supplementing with protein. I just talked to someone yesterday in my DMs. She sent me her food logs. And you know, I try to answer as many questions as I can. So I don't recommend you do this because I might, I probably won't answer you, but I had time and so I looked and her total daily protein intake was 30 grams for the whole day. Now as a trainer, when I would train clients, that wasn't super out of the ordinary. It was, that's still, it's a low, it's lower than what I normally would say. Yeah, and trying to ask that chick to have four chicken breasts nowadays. Well, so in this, and this is what she said. She's like, I don't like meat. I don't like protein. I said, well, you're probably getting essential protein, but you're not getting a lot of the benefits that protein can provide you. One, you know, so I got her to get the Organifi protein shake. And one, you know, I told her to say take two servings. There's one serving's 20 grams. So a 40 gram protein shake, she went from 30 to 70 grams of protein. What kind of effects do you think she's gonna get from doing that? Just by itself. Oh, muscle, she'll notice better performance. She's gonna feel more solid. And it's a convenient way to do it. Now, of course, the best thing to do is always with food. Speaking of muscle, I love these studies because more and more of them are coming out. It used to be thought that building muscle, resistance training was purely an aesthetic thing. It was purely, oh, you wanna look cool. That's great. Oh, you wanna be really strong, have big biceps. That's nice. But if you wanna be healthy, you need to, you know, run. You need to do cardio. You need to do those types of workouts because lifting weights doesn't really, really that's more for bodybuilders, more for people who just wanna look good. But more and more studies are showing just how important strength and muscle is for long-term health. This new study came out showing that middle-aged men who had more than the average amount of muscle. So middle-aged men who were more muscular or carried more muscle than the average middle-aged men lowered the risk of developing heart disease later on by 80%. Whoa. It was all, it was just the muscle. Just the fact that they had more muscle. I've had, I've read other studies that show reduction in the risk for cancer. And then of course, my favorite study is showing if you do get ill or hurt, having a lot of muscle is a huge protector in the hospital. And now, do you think that a majority of that is just because now how your body utilizes glucose? I think that's a big part of it. Right. I would think it's such a healthy, active tissue. Right. And it requires so much. And in modern life, we are more often than not probably gonna over-consume. That's what the average American does. And so it's like a little bit of insurance for all these people. Oh. And it's basically anybody who would not be benefiting from over-consuming calories, carbs, sugar, having more muscle on your body is a great way to ensure that person no more. That also has to affect the health of your ligaments and bones and everything else, attached to this muscle fiber versus your composition mainly being body fat. Well, muscle promotes a healthy hormone balance. So if you're a man and you're building or you have a decent amount of muscle, the odds are that your testosterone levels, for example, are probably pretty good. When I would train female clients and they would work with me and their doctors and they had hormone imbalances, it was hard to build muscle on them. Once we started to get them healthy and they started to build muscle, you notice the hormones start to balance out. And again, don't you think that's connected to insulin and then how your body processes the sugar? Totally, yes. I mean, it's all connected to that. Like having more muscle is just like having insurance for anybody. And then the other big part. Well, injuries too. I mean, yeah, that was a big thing that was revealing. I had a friend that broke his ribs and everything, but he was a muscular guy and they're like, oh thank goodness, you had a lot of muscle there to help support you to get back because that injury a lot of times, like sidelines, like some people and they're in the hospital for a long period of time. Yeah, I remember years ago, I went to this company party, not for where I worked, but it was for where my ex-wife worked. And it was a big company party and I sat at this table with a bunch of engineers and tech people and whatever. And so it's different, right? Cause I'm used to working in the fitness space. So these are just everyday normal people and we're talking and of course the conversation goes to what do you do for a living? And so I said, oh, I'm a personal trainer. I work in fitness and this and that. And this lady sitting across from me, she's like, yeah, you know, I used to work out and stuff like that, but now I just want to enjoy my life. And it's like, what do you mean? She goes, well, I had a friend who worked out and ate ride and then she got breast cancer and died anyway. So I thought to myself, what's the point? And I said, well, you know, here's the thing about exercise and this is true about muscle as well. First off, studies show statistically this is true. It will increase your odds of having a longer life. It will decrease your odds of having chronic disease. Not a 100% guarantee. I don't think there is any 100% guarantee in the world, but here's what it will do. Perhaps we don't know if you'll live longer. We don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow, but I can guarantee you that you'll live better. Right, improve your quality now. That's it. Like, you know, I can move. I don't have pain. I can play with my kids at the park. I could lift, you know, I could hold my groceries. I could lift my suitcase in the overhead compartment in the freaking, you know, at the plane or whatever. You just feel better. You live better. It's a conversation I'm having with my dad right now. He's has a lot of back pain and he's been working hard labor since he was a kid. So it's the result of all that. And I'm talking about exercise and I'm like, listen, I said, dad, I said, right now you're having trouble because right now he's having a lot of sciatic pain and I've been going to his house and stretching him out and doing stuff and he'll get some temporary relief and I'm telling him you need to go to the gym and you need to work out. And he goes, I don't, he goes, look, you know, he goes, I get it. He goes, but I don't care. I don't want to be fit. I don't need to be an athlete or strong. I'm like, no, forget that. Just go so that you can move better and live better. Forget all the performance, you know, goals and all that stuff. Just go there so that this pain starts to feel like it's last you start to feel better. You're stronger, you're more able. You have a better quality of life. Same exact conversation. You know, that conversation, it really reminds me and takes me back to our why and the purpose of why we created this and have built this platform is, and I think we always have to keep reminding ourselves. Sometimes we get caught up in the nuances of the space and all the different professionals and arguing over what's better, this exercise or that exercise or this modality or this diet and, you know, really the, what really inspired I think all of us to do this was to reach those people, like our own parents. They don't give a fuck about how they look. They don't want to jump higher, run faster, build a ton of muscle. That population is very, very small. And they're going to be in the gym. Right. They're going to show up. Right. And that's really who we need to reach. We need to reach the, and that's why too when we present information, it's always coming from that place. Like, yeah, we all have the knowledge, the background, the experience to help the elite athlete or the elite competitor with the cutting edge. Well, this is better for that. But really like, I think that's why a lot of, a lot of times we get turned off by that conversation is we're really more interested in giving people like your dad the tools to really improve their life right now and for the rest of their life. It's a better conversation. And they probably wouldn't have come to the gym because they still think that it's a bunch of people arguing over how to build more muscle. I want to get American, I want to get America to lift weights. And I don't want, I'm not saying I want to get America to body build or to power lift. If they want to do that, that's cool too. I want to get America to lift weights. I want to change the perception around resistance training. It's not the first choice when people think that they exercise for health, it just isn't. At the moment, if you're listening right now and you're a fitness fanatic, you know, hear me out. Your parent or your aunt or someone who doesn't work out doesn't care about exercise. They go to the doctor and the doctor says, you need to work out because you're unhealthy. The first thing they think is not lifting weights. The first thing they think is, I'll walk, I'll swim, I'll get in the treadmill. And there's nothing wrong with those forms of exercise. They're totally fine. They're just not the most ideal for those people. Resistance training blows them all away. Resistance training, it's connected to bodybuilding, aesthetics, it's connected. And by the way, there's nothing wrong with that. That's a good thing. It's true. Resistance training will shape and sculpt your body better than other forms of exercise. But that's not the main power of resistance training. Resistance training builds the insurance policy of your body against illness. It prevents you from heart disease, it speeds up your metabolism. And it's extremely individualizable. I can train anybody with weights, anybody. I can't have everybody run. I can't have everybody swim. But I don't care who you are, what your limitations are, I can do a resistance training program that'll help you out, for sure. All right, first question is from Cameron Daniel 71. Is working out once a week with a balanced diet enough to create a respectable physique? Oh, depends what you mean by respectable, but I will say this. Respectable. What do you mean by that? Show me what you're working with. A good diet would be a much better word to use there, but you say something like respectable. It makes me question what you mean by that. It's pretty respectable. Well, here's the deal. I've trained lots and lots of clients that only worked out with me once a week. Did their bodies change? The diet made the biggest difference in terms of the fat loss and whatnot. Once a week, I got people's strength to go way up. Now, I didn't get them to be as strong as they could be. I didn't get them to lift weights that were just blew their minds, but I would double or triple their strength from when they were sedentary. This is the beauty of resistance training. Resistance training is the only form of exercise where you can spend one to three hours a week and get a huge return for the time that you spend. If you run for one hour a week versus one hour a week of real good resistance training, that resistance training is gonna yield you tremendous benefits in comparison. It's not ideal, but I do wanna say this. Some exercise is better than none. Well, it's just like the question we answered the other day. Yeah, someone just asked a question on the last call about, you know, is it worth it for me to train if my diet is all out of whack? Should I, if I'm not dialed in nutritionally, should I waste my time going in and lifting? And, you know, my response was, you know, the younger me would have that same attitude. I was all or nothing. But something is always better than nothing. And believe it or not, if you, especially, one of those things by themselves, just exercising one time a week and doing a shitty diet is better than not exercising whatsoever. And not exercising at all and having a good diet is better than nothing at all. So the combination of you saying that you have a respectable, which I'm gonna assume respectable is leaning more towards a good diet. No, no, no, it's respectable physique. Oh, respectable physique. Oh, I thought they meant their diet was respectable. No, the diet is balanced. Oh, okay, the diet. Okay, so diet, if you have a balanced diet and you're training one day a week, yeah, you could build a respectable physique. Are you gonna compete, no? Are you gonna land a cover of magazine, no? But you absolutely can. I'm trying to find something. Yeah, that's gonna be in their eyes. You know, that's from their perspective. If you're happy with it, then that's how it matters. I mean, at the end of the day, you know, you can maintain your physique, very well with once a week and good nutrition, but in terms of like getting respect for your physique, like that's something that, I mean, it's a different conversation. Yeah, it's a weird, there's this weird thing around working out where it's like either I do it all and I'm serious or it's not worth it. It's not a totally wrong approach. That's not true at all. It's once a week is far better. I started off so many clients this way. In fact, this was my MO. I would get an older person that would come in. So over the age of 65, that was my advanced age clients. And nine out of 10 times, I would start them off once a week because they would come in and they'd be afraid and intimidated. You know, it'd be referred by a doctor. They'd come see me and then they would be relieved to hear me say the following. You know, I'd say to them, look, we just did our assessment. You're very deconditioned. I could do a lot with you just once a week. Just come in, see me once a week and we'll start right there and we'll see what that looks like. And they loved it. And you know what ended up happening? I'd train them for once a week and after about six months or a year, inevitably they would have come up to me and say to me, hey, Sal, do you think we could work out another day a week? Absolutely, let's do it. But it's a great starting point. And even if you never do anything more than that, it's still better than nothing. Don't let yourself not start because you think it's not worth it because you're not totally serious. That's like brushing your teeth and flossing. Just because you're inconsistent with flossing doesn't mean you should throw out brushing your teeth. You know what I'm saying? Keep the brush in your teeth going, try and floss as much as you possibly can. But as far as overall gum health and teeth health, it's probably beneficial for you to do both. Oh my God, I wish my mom lifted weights once a week. I think she would get phenomenal results. Here's a great once a week routine. Go into the gym, do one exercise per body part, do about three sets, and then you're in and out. Take you about 45 minutes to 60 minutes max and then you're done. And then the rest of the week, here's what I would tell you. The rest of the week, just try to maintain a decent amount of activity through steps. Mobility. Yeah, or, well yeah. Mobility for sure. I mean, in a perfect world of, because I'm trying to get even my parents, same thing. Like I was talking to my dad's wife who is getting ready to do hip surgery. And I'm like, man, if I could just get them to do hip mobility work, you know, for 15 minutes a day, like that's a huge win. Even if they, I can't even get them in the strength train. I mean, I would love for her to strength train one day a week and then the rest of the week is all like hip and ankle mobility that whenever she has five minutes, and that was the conversation I was trying to explain to them was like, don't overthink this. It doesn't need to be like this planned out. I need an hour of my morning to do some of this work. It's like, you're doing nothing right now. Just getting down in this position, spending five minutes there is way better than nothing at all. And then let yourself make that a habit and then build upon that. Next question is from Liz Reads. How do you incorporate focus sessions with a full body workout? Okay, so let's explain what focus sessions are. Now, focus sessions are something that we put into one of our more popular programs, Maps Aesthetic. This is a concept, it's a way to increase the frequency of training for a body part. And it was one that Adam used quite a bit when he went from his fat to fit transformation in order to become an IFBB Pro physique competitor. So first off, full body workout. Full body workout, typically you go to the gym two or three days a week and you hit the entire body with a relatively high amount of intensity with weights. Now, on the days in between, so let's say you go three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, full body. Tuesday and Thursday, you go into the gym, you pick the body part, one body part that you feel is lagging that you would like to place special emphasis on and you hit that body part with a lower level of intensity, doing mostly isolation work. And this is where you can use lots of machines. So if it's like chest for you, for example, Monday, Wednesday, Friday is the heavy hard chest workouts. Tuesday, Thursday, I'm doing cable flies, I'm doing peck deck, I'm squeezing, I'm stretching, I'm getting a pump. Hammer strength machine. Hammer strength machine, stuff like that. That's basically it. I mean, this is exactly how we wrote Maps Aesthetic. It's a three day a week full body routine, exactly what Sal said. We give you the option for focus days to focus on one or two muscles. So, you know, you can buys and tries or glutes and hamstrings or glutes and quads, whatever. And then we show you how to build that program. So we program it loosely with the full body workouts. That's what stays the same, but what's customizable for each person is you decide what muscle groups you want to do. And it's exactly how I used to prepare for each show. So I do a show, I'd assess my physique, I get feedback from judges, friends, whatever that said, hey, awesome, madam, your chest look good this showing. You could work on your front delts a little bit and your hamstrings are weak, whatever. And then I'd go to the drawing board and I would build in these focus sessions around these full body routines. So it's how the program is designed. I think the one mistake I see some people doing with focus sessions is, and it's, you know, I was guilty of this when I was younger and that's just like hammering the muscle, thinking that the harder you hit it, the more results you get. If you're following the three day week full body routine, you're already getting a pretty loud signal to that muscle. All we're trying to do is increase frequency, a little bit of volume and like hypertrophy. So you're really just kind of chasing a pump. You're not trying to like go to, you're definitely not trying to go to failure on focus days. You should not be going to failure at all. You should be at least two reps. You should be doing mostly isolation type exercises. This is where we do recommend cables and machines more often. I wouldn't really do any free weights unless it's like a real basic dumbbell curl. Have you seen people use like these sessions with too much volume where they're doing too long of a workout? Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, overdo it. I mean, there's a right dose. There's a perfect dose of total intensity, frequency and volume. And with focus sessions, what you're trying to do is you're trying to add volume, add blood flow, but you're trying to dance around the intensity a little bit. You don't want to overdo the intensity because you're already close to that limit. Hitting your body three days a week full body, for most people, you're getting close. You're either at the limit or you're getting close. You throw in a focus session with too much intensity, you've overdone it and you'll actually regress. You will let that target body part that you're working on will actually go backwards. So you just want to go in and this is why machines, bands, cables and isolation exercises are good. Yeah, they make the most sense. Because they're not intense. They don't cause a lot of muscle damage. Maybe, again, maybe Monday, Wednesday and Friday for my chest, I'm doing incline barbell press and a flat bench press and incline dumbbell chest press. And then Tuesday and Thursday, I'm doing a cable fly. I'm doing a machine press and I'm going light, but really focusing on the squeeze and getting a pump. Yes, thin press, all these. Yes, exactly. Those sculpting shaping exercises that on their own don't have tons of value, but in a focus session are brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. And we're taking into consideration your CNS in that programming, right? We're thinking that if this person is following our routine that we've designed in full body, three days a week, you're hitting quite a bit of compound lifts and your CNS is getting a lot of work that week. So we don't want to do a ton of that on in these focus days. Again, I'm just chasing kind of the pump. It's like just a little bit elevated version of trigger sessions, I would say. Totally. Next question is from MJ Langevin. I am 190 pounds and intermittent fast from the hours of 8 p.m. and 12 p.m. the next day. What are some examples of how I can get enough protein in between those times of eating? And is it possible to still burn fat and build muscle while going about it this way? This has gone out in the hand. This intermittent fasting thing has just gotten so out of hand. You know who used to call that back? Starving. Yeah, oh, you're skipping breakfast or you're not eating frequently enough. In fact, nine out of 10 times, if I got a client back in the day that told me that this is how they ate, I would recommend that they start eating breakfast. Absolutely, because you're missing nutrients. If the challenge is I can't get enough nutrients that my body needs, i.e. protein for building muscle, and I need help with figuring out how to fit in the window, give yourself a bigger window. And stop worrying about it. Intermitt fasting is not that miraculous. I know we wrote a guide on it. We talk about the benefits of it, but this is where it's gotten out of hand is when we start to do it for whatever reasons that you've been sold on it, and it's actually now getting to a point where it's impeding. Well, it's been distorted. It's been impeding. It's now impeding what your body needs to build muscle, which is maybe your ideal situation, or what you're trying to target here, or your adaptation you're seeking. And now because that you're stuck in this, you know, intermittent fasting program. I can't eat for these hours. Yes, you just can. Eat a meal because you need it because you need the extra protein and that's more important than you hitting your window target. Yeah, it's funny too. The benefits that you see from short fasts, which is what intermittent fasting is, most, if not all of the benefits come from the calorie restriction that it ends up indirectly causing. Okay, so when you look at the studies and they say, oh, look, people who don't eat between, you know, eight PM and noon or whatever. And by the way, there are health benefits to not eating too close to bedtime. That's totally different, okay? I'm talking about the big window of not eating, you know, during the first half of the day or whatever. Studies that show the benefits that come from that, you can look at those studies and find that in reality, what the benefits are coming from is the fact that people are eating less calories because they've limited the amount of time that they're eating. Because you're not eating till noon, you're naturally eating less calories and that has all kinds of benefits. I mean, just reducing your calories will cause cell autophagy to happen, which you'll see in fasting. Now, long fasting is a totally different story. Fasting for 28 hours or excuse me, 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, totally different. It's got tremendous health benefits, should be done not often, should be done, you know, maybe once a year or twice a year. But this whole trend right here, all it's done is it's given a name to people who don't eat breakfast. Yeah, honestly, that's what it is. I think that it's challenging a lot of times for people to reduce calories and I think this is a way to trick you into it because that's a major meal, you're just cutting out and all of a sudden now at the end of the total of the day, your overall calories go down and so that's great. However, even now I'm less to promote something like that where it's in this anabolic window or just this window, they call it anabolic fasting now. That's what I was trying to get at which is totally distorted, the benefits behind fasting in general for me to recommend. But yeah, if I'm gonna tell somebody or have them go through a fast, it's usually a 24 hour fast to be able to really receive or 72 even to get all the health benefits of it, not necessarily trying to reduce body fat and get all these other attributes. The clients that we recommend intermittent fasting to are the ones that we're trying to break a relation, a bad relationship with food. I don't recommend- It's people who have to eat every hour or whatever. I don't recommend intermittent fasting for 90% of the population. I do for my competitors, which I used to love to do because nobody was doing that. Nobody had a bikini competitor and in the middle of her diet go, you're gonna fast for 24 hours, Dave. No one else would do that. They would think they would lose all kinds of muscle that was, but what I would try and do, I was trying to break that, we're married to every two hours having to have a meal and what's great was someone like that, they're so calculated about their macros, it would be very easy to now just shut off that window and they wouldn't get hurt from not having a day of hitting their protein intake because they're so consistent with it all the other times. The average person who already suffers from not getting enough protein intake that is now also intermittent fasting and is now asking me a question like, how do I fit the protein this window? Don't do it. You're not the right person for intermittent fasting. If you're struggling to hit your protein and take consistently in that window, then intermittent fasting is not a good tool for you. Right, and by the way, it's funny that people do this fasting and I used to do this as well where I wouldn't, if I did a period without eating, it would be the first half of the day. Studies show it might be better to do the reverse. So if you want to do this kind of a fast, you're probably better off rather than not eating your first meal till noon. You're probably better off eating in the morning and then cutting it off and giving yourself time without food before bed if you want to really start to split hairs. But look, at the end of the day, you want to hit your protein intake. You know what you do? Eat breakfast and you're done. You got it. It's not a problem. If anything, you'll notice benefits. Next question is from Junior Kadena. Would you guys consider cardio necessary? Okay, so in an ideal situation, somebody's exercise and activity level, activity protocol would consist of some form of resistance training. I would consider that the cornerstone. It would consist of some form of cardiovascular training just to improve stamina, work on endurance. It's also a more oxidative form of exercise which can have some benefits for the heart and the lungs and some form of mobility or flexibility type training. That's ideal. Do I consider cardio necessary? And none of it's necessary, I guess. Especially if you're lifting weights and you're doing it right, you can lift weights in a way that'll give you plenty of cardiovascular benefit. You're not gonna get great cardio from it. It's the least important of the three you just named. Yeah, it is. It's the least important because I can give you a lot of the cardiovascular benefits that you're talking about by lifting weights faster. Totally. So I can give somebody, do some supersets, do a phase three of maps aesthetic and anybody who's around that knows what that feels like cardio while you're lifting weights. Do 20 reps of squats. Yeah, exactly. I mean, and that in itself would be giving you similar benefits as getting on a treadmill and cranking away for 30, 45 minutes. So I would argue that of those three, and I agree with you that in a perfect world we're doing a little bit of all of them is ideal. But if there's one that is less important, it would be cardio because for the majority, I think that mobility and strength training is gonna give you the overall benefits and those two can have carryover into cardio. Cardio will not have carryover into strength training and also mobility. You're not gonna get that. And you're gonna adapt the fastest to it as well. Like two or three weeks? Yeah, so at the end of the day, like yeah, that's something I'm always like consciously considering. Like, well, I feel a little bit winded or I feel a little bit, like I didn't have the type of endurance through that workout session and maybe I should focus in, but it's really like it's a small window to where I work on that for a while. You know, my endurance increases and then now I'm right back in business, but the true benefits have been from lifting weights and from adding mobility and making sure like those are gonna give me the most long-term results. Yeah, and here's the other thing too. You wanna also consider what are your goals, right? If your goal is to really build lots of endurance, lots of stamina, if you're an athlete that competes in that kind and you require that kind of performance, then cardio is the best tool for that. It just is. I mean, I can definitely build stamina and endurance with weights, but weights are a better tool for building muscle and for mobility. You'll get endurance and stamina from it as well, but it's great for strength, muscle building, mobility. Cardio is phenomenal to build endurance. If you really want a lot of endurance, then cardio is necessary. You know, if you're a runner, you're gonna have to run. You're gonna have to do some cardio to get really, really good at running. If you're looking for long-term health, if you're looking for longevity, then you don't wanna do anything too extreme. You don't wanna body build either. Same thing with cardio. You don't wanna train like a marathon runner. You wanna do a little bit of everything. That's gonna give you the best. Like your average person, for instance, I mean, like you're walking throughout the day, but like when are you ever even jogging anymore? Like he just aren't. And to be able to build strength and build up your metabolism to where you can sit, but you can still burn calories, like that's ideal. Yeah, if you look at the longest living people on earth in the world's blue zones and you look at their activity levels, what they engage in on a regular basis, a daily basis is moderate intensity levels of exercise. They hike, they walk, they swim, they fish, they hunt. They're not beating the crap out of themselves trying to become the best athlete in the world or build the most amount of muscle or generate the most, get the most amount of endurance. So it all depends on your goals, but if you're just looking for longevity and you wanna live a long, you just wanna have a healthy, long life, cardio is not necessary. You could do it all with resistance training. You can get all the stamina you'll need. Your heart will get much healthier from higher rep resistance training or super sets or a faster pace of resistance training. You'll get the strength and mobility from the full range of motion that you do. There's your longevity right there and they can all be definitely overdone. So it all 100% depends on your goals. And with that, go to mindpumpfree.com and download all of our guides, resources and books. They're totally free. You can also find all of us on Instagram. You can find Justin at Mind Pump Justin. You can find me at Mind Pump Sal and Adam at Mind Pump Adam.