Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 353: Rapid Fire Fitness + Nutrition Q and A

Episode Date: January 11, 2024

Help the show (and enter for a chance to win some swag) by leaving a review on:  - APPLE PODCASTS - SPOTIFY Join my app based training teams, free for 7 days!Try FOREVER FIT (athletic, hypertrophy, strength program) HERE Try ELITE PHYSIQUE (women's bodybuilding, recomp, glute focused) HERE Try HOME HEROES (dumbbells, bodyweight, and bands only, quick and effective) HEREOUR PARTNERS:Legion Supplements (protein, creatine, + more!), Shop (DANNY) HERE!The best hydration and pre-workout on the planet! Get your  LMNT Electrolytes HERE!Vivo Barefoot: Grab my favorite training and lifestyle shoe HERE! Use the code DANNY10 to save 10% SISU Sauna: The best build it yourself outdoor home sauna on the market. Save hundreds of dollars by clicking HERE! (CODE: DANNYMATRANGA)RESOURCES/COACHING:  Train with Danny on His Training App HEREGrab your FREE GUIDES (8 guides and 4 programs) by clicking the link: https://mailchi.mp/coachdannymatranga.com/free-guide-giveaway Interested in Working With Coach Danny and His One-On-One Coaching Team? Click HERE!----SOCIAL LINKS:Follow Coach Danny on YOUTUBEFollow Coach Danny on INSTAGRAMFollow Coach Danny on TwitterFollow Coach Danny on FacebookGet More In-Depth Articles Written By Yours’ Truly HERE! Sign up for the trainer mentorship HERESupport the Show.

Welcome in everybody to another episode of the dynamic dialogue podcast. As always, I'm your host, Danny Matranga. And in today's episode, I'm going to be answering your health, fitness, wellness and productivity questions. These are questions fielded from right over on my Instagram. We have questions about turning your passion for fitness into a successful training and coaching career. What exactly is progressive overload? Snacking across the day, how that can affect results. Creatine timing. The importance of tracking calorie intake compared to certain macros. My favorite core exercises, my favorite tips for staying consistent with your eating, tips and tricks for minimizing overtraining, my opinion on the supplement, I should call it popular supplement, Athletic Greens or AG1 as it's now called, what one should do if you work full-time and your job is mentally draining, how and when you should prioritize your training, and much, much more. So lots of lifestyle, nutrition, fitness,

and many more questions not from the intro. I hope you guys enjoy the episode. This is episode 353. This episode is brought to you in part thanks to some of our amazing partners like LMNT. LMNT makes the best electrolyte product on the market. In fact, I've actually started drinking my LMNT each and every morning before I have coffee so as to optimize my circadian biology, make sure that I'm hydrated, and make sure that I'm getting ahead on my water intake throughout the day and not reliant on stimulants, but instead being somebody who's reliant on hydration and the proper balance of minerals and electrolytes. If you want to feel your best all day, mentally and physically, it's imperative that you stay hydrated. LMNT provides a balanced ratio of sodium, potassium, and magnesium to support

brain and body hydration. This combination of electrolytes improves health performance, body and brain performance. Mind you helps to reduce cramps and soreness and get you more hydrated. There's no sugar. Elementia sweetened with stevia. It's perfect for exercise and perfect for the sauna because the flavors are natural, tasty, delicious, and not overpowering. And if you're like me, you'll use them multiple times a day across your training sessions to get hydrated early to replenish after sauna use. And again, it's not just me. LMNT is the official sports drink of Team USA Weightlifting, and it's used by athletes in the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball, as well as athletes like you and I looking to

take your fitness to the next level. My favorite flavors are definitely the raspberry and citrus. When I put a box together, I try to load up on raspberry and citrus. And when you put your box together, you can get a free sample pack containing all of Element's amazing flavors like mango chili, citrus, raspberry, orange, and more. To get access to this free gift with purchase, scroll down to the show notes and check out using the special link for dynamic dialogue listeners. Okay, so getting into your questions. Most of these, by the way, folks, were fielded from over on my Instagram. So if you'd like to have your question featured on the show,

or just want to have your question featured on the show or just want to have your question answered in general, definitely follow me over there. Danny.matranga is the username. You can also find me on TikTok, on Twitter, which is now X, and on YouTube where I have a ton of like one to two minute exercise video tutorials that are just amazingly fast and efficient. So you'll never really have to wonder how to do something and you won't have to watch like a 30 minute fucking description on one exercise, which drives people nuts. Um, but follow me across all socials, especially Instagram. If you want to have your questions answered here, or maybe even over there. Um, so the first question comes from the J fish. And the question is, I spend five times a

week in the gym. My passion for wellness is infinite. Can I be a successful coach? So I actually have a kind of unique spin on this. Um, given that I have been a trainer now for 12 years and I have hired many trainers to either work in my own studio or to work for me when I was working in corporate fitness for many years as a fitness manager at 24 hour fitness. And I will tell you enjoying fitness is not always a recipe for being a good trainer. It's actually kind of funny. One thing that's like just blown my mind. Some of the fittest, most passionate about fitness people go on to be some of the worst personal trainers out there. They're very much passionate about their own fitness, their own journey, their own journey, their own methods,

their own style, but they're not good at all, whether that's because of lack of interest, lack of empathy, or straight up lack of skill at helping other people find what's going to work for them. It is the classic example of when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And when you are only really passionate about your own fitness, your own physique, your own growth, your own development, and what's going to help you reach your goal, it's very rare that those hyper-passionate fitness enthusiasts get the knowledge they need to help the general population. And most of the people who are going to hire a trainer, who are going to work with a coach, they have very different goals from their coach. Their coach might want to compete in a body

building show, but they just want to lose 30 pounds and stick with exercise. And so what happens many times is the passionate coaches out there who love fitness so much, they just apply all it is that they know to people who have no business following protocols like this, apply all it is that they know to people who have no business following protocols like this, and they break them or they have no ability to drive retention or keep people coming back. And they kind of just project their desire to change themselves onto people who have no business following these protocols. And it typically works pretty poorly and they're out of the industry inside of a year. I mean, most trainers don't even make it a year. And I think that's probably the biggest reason. They're just too passionate about their own shit. And they're really not that passionate

about other people's fitness, even though they say they are. And so I would challenge you and say, are you passionate about helping others? Or are you just passionate about fitness? Because if you're passionate about fitness, by all means, use yourself as a fantastic guinea pig to just explore that passion. But if you are only passionate or if you are remotely passionate about helping other people, you might actually be quite a good coach. And these two things are not the same. Okay, this question comes from Jan is not still. And the question is lifting. Is that overload question mark too much question mark. So lifting weights and the tenant of progressive overload oftentimes do in fact go together, but they are not mutually exclusive.

You can lift weights without applying progressive overload and you can apply progressive overload without lifting weights. So if you've never done a pushup and you do five pushups, and then the next day you come back and you do 10 pushups, that's progressive overload with zero weightlifting, right? You're adding more stress to the body than you've done in the past, but you're not lifting weights. You're doing a body weight protocol. Now, if you go to the gym every day for a year and you do 10 curls with 30 pound dumbbells and never change it, you're lifting, but you're not applying progressive overload. So progressive overload is not too much when applied appropriately and correctly for the individual. It is the central driver of strength,

muscle, and adaptation of any kind in the body, but it is not dangerous and it is not something that you have to worry about in the slightest. Okay, great question here from Donna Tav. And the question is, do you eat any snacks throughout the day? Now, this might surprise you because I am a personal trainer, but I do snack throughout the day. But it's what I snack on that helps me maintain a fairly lean physique. I try to snack mostly on fruits and protein-rich foods. This can be things like berries, apples, oranges, bananas, yogurt, cottage cheese, protein shakes, protein bars, jerky, etc. If I'm going to snack, I try to make sure that my snacks include protein and fiber. Now, that's not all the time because I do enjoy certain things. For example,

if I snack mostly on protein and vegetables and I have meals that are mostly protein, fiber, and multi-grain minimally processed carbohydrate, That does give me the freedom to enjoy the occasional cookie, chips and salsa, popcorn, rice crispy treat, and not feel guilty. It's all about balance. And I do enjoy snacking. So because I know I have a proclivity for that, I try to lean into snacking as much as I can and building as many meals as I can around the right stuff so that when I do have the foods that are imperfect, so to speak, I don't pay the price for it for a long time. And I know that in the long run, it's not going to make that big of a difference. Okay. Another question, this one from Larissa underscore Vanderpool. It's the best time of

day to take creatine pre-workout post workout, or does it not matter? Uh, when you take your creatine really doesn't matter folks. Like it truly doesn't make that big of a difference. If you want to really split hairs, I'm going to give you a pro tip about when to take your creatine post-workout your body has all these little cells all these muscle cells that have just been damaged right and so to the surface of those muscle cells your body sends a transport protein it's like a little door and it opens that door that's called glute four and glute four lets blood sugar in glucose it lets amino acids in and it lets creatine into the muscle cell. And when you train, your body sends a lot of those glute four doors to the surface of your

muscle tissue. And so post-workout, when you have all this glute four and all these open doors letting in blood sugar, letting in amino acids, creatine might trickle in too. So it could make more sense to take it around your workout so it's circulating and available to get right into your muscle tissue. But in truth, the research shows that the number one thing you need to do is just take it consistently every day. That's what makes the biggest difference. Three to five grams of creatine monohydrate every day. If you're sensitive to it, take smaller doses throughout the day. Most people aren't sensitive. So I would say three to five grams around your

workout on the days you train and at a set time on the days you don't is how you take your creatine. Another question here. This one is from JV underscore WW. I track my calorie intake rather than going by specific macros. Will this hinder my goal? Yes and no. So when you track your macros, your protein, carbs, and fat intake, you're indirectly tracking your calories because almost all the calories in your diet, with the exception of those that come from alcohol, come from protein, carbs, and fats. So if you track your macros, all three, you will get the best overall representation of your caloric intake and probably make sure that you're getting all of the things that you need to maximize your recovery and your fitness goals. Because you might say, okay, I want to lose fat, right? And I'm going to eat less than 1500 calories. So that's all I'm tracking. That's not going to work as well for you as somebody who

tracks their calories and their protein. Because making sure you get enough protein is a huge driver of body compositional change, not just weight loss. Because remember, you don't want to lose just weight. You want to lose body fat. And if you are in a deficit, but you're not getting enough protein, you might lose more muscle than you want. But if you're in a deficit and you're getting 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, even one grams of protein per pound of body weight, you're going to be right where you need to be. The likelihood of losing muscle is really small and the likelihood of you being successful in changing your composition is much higher.

So I do think the number one thing you can do is track your calories. That's the most important thing. But if you're not going to track all three macros, at least do me a favor and track protein. I'm not going to be a stickler and be like, hey, you need to track every single macro. But if you want to get the most out of your training, at the very least, track your calories and your protein. Okay, great question here from Austin Williams 509. What are my favorite core exercises? So when it comes to picking core exercises, I like to look at the function of the core. And most people, when they think of core exercises, they think just of the rectus abdominis, the six pack. They think of crunches, they think of planks, and those are great exercises. I

actually do a lot of crunching and planking exercises in my training, in the app training, in my client's training, all of it. However, the core has a lot more functions than flexion and anti-extension. The core is also responsible for rotating, flexing laterally, resisting rotating, and resisting lateral flexion. So in the same way your abs create a flexing effect forward and resist that flexing effect. They also rotate, resist rotation, flex laterally and resist lateral flexion. So a good core training program or a good program with lots of effective core training is going to hit on all those tenants. Taking a break from this episode to tell you a little bit about my coaching company core coaching

method more specifically our app-based training we partnered with train heroic to bring app-based training to you using the best technology and best user interface possible you can join either my home heroes team or you can train from home with bands and dumbbells or elite physique which is a female bodybuilding focused program where you can train at the gym with equipments designed specifically to help you develop strength as well as the glutes, hamstrings, quads, and back. I have more teams coming planned for a variety of different fitness levels. But what's cool about this is when you join these programs, you get programming that's updated every single week, the sets to do, the reps to do, exercise tutorials filmed by me with me and my team.

So you'll get my exact coaching expertise as to how to perform the movement, whether you're training at home or you're training in the gym. And again, these teams are somewhat specific. So you'll find other members of those communities looking to pursue similar goals at similar fitness levels. You can chat, ask questions, upload form for form review, at similar fitness levels. You can chat, ask questions, upload form for form review, ask for substitutions. It's a really cool training community and you can try it completely free for seven days. Just click the link in the podcast description below. Can't wait to see you in the core coaching collective, my app-based training community. Back to the show. So something to bend the spine like a crunch, something to resist that plane of bending like

a plank, something to bend to the side like a side bend, something to resist that bending to the side like a farmer's carry, something to rotate like a woodchop, and something to resist that rotation like a payoff press are comprehensive full-spectrum core training. You've got to look at all of the functions of what those muscles do. And remember that your six-pack, your rectus abdominis, is not the only core muscle you have. And this doesn't even include the intrinsic core muscles, the muscles of the pelvic floor, lower lat, glute, groin, adductor, etc., that all work in concert with your core.

So be sure when it comes to core training that you do more than just lie on the floor and do some crunches and planks. You'll find that your strength, the resilience in your hips, back, all get a lot better when you train the core for all of its functions. Okay. This question comes from Nick Sharnock. And the question is, I like this question a lot. What are your best tips to stay consistent with healthy eating? So my number one tip to make healthy eating easier is to standardize at least one meal a day. And I know for a lot of people that might sound restrictive, but you're going to take one meal a day, every single day, make it the exact same thing and make it nutritious, healthy, and specific to your goals. So if your goals are improving your body composition, having more muscle and less fat,

which that is most people's fitness goal, having a breakfast every day, that's something like protein. Maybe I'm going to have two scoops of protein, a half a cup of oatmeal, frozen blueberries, and an apple, and you're going to have that breakfast every single day for a year, that's going to do a few things for you. The first, it eliminates choice. You don't have to choose breakfast. You don't have to wonder what it's going to be. It's always the same thing and it's always goal specific. Two, it gives you more freedom in the back half of the day. When one meal is very on goal, like a hundred percent aligned with your goals, it gives you more freedom to kind of trickle off the rest of the day. Not saying you should, but if your first meal every day is perfect and maybe your next meal is like, it's a B plus,

and then your dinner's like a C, well, you're still probably hovering around a B, B plus average, and that'll get it done. A plus breakfast, B plus lunch, C plus dinner is a B plus average. And so for most of you who want to build a routine and build some habits, I would recommend making that first meal of the day, that first vote you cast with food every day, a good one. Make it something that's aligned with your goals. And for most of you, that's high protein, high fiber, moderate calories, and very satiating. Next question here comes from Amanda Thindikahl. How do you calculate what your calorie deficit should be? So your calorie

deficit should be like three to 500 calories below your total daily energy expenditure. If you want to make it more than that, you'll lose fat faster, but it will be harder. So just calculate your total daily energy expenditure, which is your base metabolic rate, plus your thermic effect of food, plus your exercise activity thermogenesis, plus your non-exercise activity thermogenesis. Many calculators can approximate this. None can give you the exact number. And then go 300 to 500 calories below that number, you'll find your deficit. This question is from Jessica Harland. What are your opinion on grip strength training? I always see people doing it in the gym. I actually like training the grip and the forearms for a number of different

reasons. My primary reason for doing it is my elbows. I have hyper mobile joints. So my elbows oftentimes experience pain, aching, and just sensitivity. And the stronger my grip is and the stronger my forearms are, the happier my elbows are. So I'm a pretty big fan of grip training. And I do think you can get a lot of it from doing more direct pulling work and bicep work. But it's not a bad idea to include some direct grip training. This question is from Iamproof7. And it is, any tips on best splits to minimize overtraining. So I don't believe in overtraining. I believe in under recovering. And I think the best way to under recover is to do a ton of

training sessions, not nail your nutrition, not nail your sleep. So if you're concerned about overtraining or as I would call it undering, I would do this. I would see if you're training like six to seven times a week, can you bring that down to four to five? I would make sure that you're eating adequate calories for your goals, especially for women, making sure you're getting enough essential fats and carbohydrates. Many of you do a good job of getting enough protein, but if you're not, of course that's important, but be sure you're getting enough carbs and fats as well. Those play a big role in helping you feel good. The number one thing that I think most people can do to avoid overtraining though, is to avoid not getting enough

or to avoid poor sleep. Make sure that you're getting between seven and nine hours of sleep every single night. If you can do that, it's pretty darn hard to overtrain. For people who are training five, even six days a week, who are getting enough fuel, who are getting enough sleep, you can keep that going for a long, long time. But the poorer your sleep and the poorer your nutritional compliance, the less volume and intensity you're going to be able to handle in the gym without kind of trickling into that under recovery slash over training threshold. So that's how I would handle it. Um, next question comes from the underscore Gomez, six, one, nine work full-time outside the home and job is mentally

draining. When should I work out? I would say to work out before work or to work out on your lunch break if it's possible. Because it sounds like by the time you're off, because your job is so draining, you're probably not going to have the juice. So I would aim to do it before your work. Go and wake up an hour early if you can and try to go before work. Okay, this question is from, if you can and try to go before work. Okay. This question is from, sorry, there had to take a micro break because the dogs were going berserk, but getting into these questions again. Uh, this one's from a local Joe. How can I set year end or new year fitness goals? What should I aim for? I think you follow the smart goal framework, specific, measurable, accessible, or attainable, realistic, and time-bound.

Pick a goal that is specific, something that you can measure, something that is actually attainable and realistic. And again, you're setting it in the new year, so maybe it's by the end of 2024 or the end of 2023. You're probably listening to this in 2024 for sure. But just keep it simple. Keep it measurable. Keep it actionable and make it happen. Hey, from cam sharp 93, what would be some good books on nutrition?

So I really like max Lugavere's books. Um, I think people give him a little bit of a hard time because he's very much kind of learning as he goes. Um, and he's somebody that I think is really a good dude. Like I've had nothing but positive interactions with him. He's super smart, really good writer, um, has some extremely interesting, uh, written work specific to Alzheimer's specific to, you know, all of these, uh, you know, these myriad of, let's call it different, um, you know, cognitive, uh, diseases, impairments, uh, these things that often affect our brain as we age. Uh, and his book genius foods is super, super good. Uh, I'm a really big fan of it. I like it quite a lot. I find it to be a very,

very, uh, interesting read. Um, I've loved Alan Aragon's work. Um, he wrote a book called flexible dieting that I just think is super duper, duper good. Um, really big fan of that. Um, let's see nutrition made clear another awesome book that I like. This one is actually delivered specifically through Audible. I think it's just a class, essentially. It's literally just a class. It's essentially a Nutrition 101 lecture for any old school. To me, it's essentially a nutrition one-on-one lecture for like any old school. And to me, it's super, super slick because it's basically like getting free access to a new college nutrition course for the price of one audible token. So those are the three things I tend to recommend, like really big fan of Max Lugavere's work. Uh, I just like him in general as a dude, super, super cool.

Uh, Alan Aragon, awesome. OG great book nutrition made clear. Awesome. Great book. I'm sure that there are people who I am unfortunately leaving out here, but, uh, those are ones that I really, really have enjoyed. Um, and so I would definitely recommend checking those out. Uh, Jules, Sam wants to know, do you think body pump classes are good ways to build strength? Actually, I don't. Um, they're okay. They're better than nothing. Um, Megan Schurn wants to know, do you think it's possible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time? Or do I need to cut in bulk? You can absolutely gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. It's just a lot harder. If you are someone who is, you know, pretty experienced with training, it happens a little more easily when you're a novice. My favorite

form of cardio, Liz Friel.fit wants to know, I like rucking, steady state, walking, hiking, just got back from Yosemite. Love that. Daily Digest wants to know, do you always eat before your workouts or go in a fasted state? I do tend to train fasted just because I find that in the morning when I have time to train, I'm not hungry at all. So I do have a large post-workout meal. Ponty Fix Pat wants to know if I bulked more than intended and a lot of it went to my belly, but I want more muscle. Should I cut really quick than bulk? Might recommend that. Might recommend just a high protein gain tainting period. Brianna Rochelle wants to know the best way to keep on muscle during this. Newbie gains. Will I have that when I get back to lifting?

Oh, it's a two-part question. Taking an extended break from lifting and shifting to running for endurance goals. How to best keep muscle during this. Will I have newbie gains when I get back to lifting? If you eat a high-protein diet and include like one to two, maybe even up to three lifts per week, you probably won't lose too much muscle. And when you reintroduce training, I wouldn't be surprised if you had a really strong response to the training stimulus, um, maybe a small newbie gains effect, but I wouldn't expect it to be like the very first time you started lifting. Um, at Brett M underscore three wants to know, is there a meal prep recipe book you recommend? So

I really like fit men cook.com for a website and then the shredded chef by Mike Matthews. And, uh, I believe Max Lugavere, who I mentioned already, also has a good fitness cookbook. Aaron Jessica Yoga wants to know the best exercises to grow quads. I'm a pretty big believer in lunges, squats, and hack squats. I like those a lot. I would probably build my program around those. And then I would also be sure to include leg extensions because they're the only exercise that hits the legs in the shortened position or the quads. All right, guys, I hope you enjoyed the episode. If you did be sure to leave me a five star rating and review lots of Q and a episodes coming at you in the new year. Um,

I want to be sure to add value and help you on your fitness routine. So please hit subscribe, share this with somebody, share it to your Instagram story and tag me so I can grow the pod and I will catch you on the next one. Thanks so much.