Mark Bell's Power Project - EP. 566 - Don't Be a Quitter, But Also, Here's How To Quit

Episode Date: August 4, 2021

Today we're talking about when you might actually want to quit. Don't "give up", but maybe move onto something new. Mark and Nsima share their experiences when they've filled one focus for another. Subscribe to the Podcast on on Platforms! ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast Special perks for our listeners below! ➢Marek Health: https://marekhealth.com/powerproject Use code POWERPROJECT for $101 off the Power Project Panel! ➢Eat Rite Foods: http://eatritefoods.com/ Use code "POWERPROJECT25" for 25% off your first order, then code "POWERPROJECT" for 10% off every order after! ➢LMNT Electrolytes: http://drinklmnt.com/powerproject ➢Piedmontese Beef: https://www.piedmontese.com/ Use Code "POWERPROJECT" at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $150 Subscribe to the Power Project Newsletter! ➢ https://bit.ly/2JvmXMb Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ https://www.facebook.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mbpowerproject ➢ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/powerproject/ ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject ➢TikTok: http://bit.ly/pptiktok FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell ➢ Snapchat: marksmellybell ➢Mark Bell's Daily Workouts, Nutrition and More: https://www.markbell.com/ Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ https://www.breakthebar.com/learn-more Podcast Produced by Andrew Zaragoza ➢ https://direct.me/iamandrewz #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell

So I've been fucking up, like really messing up those rib eyes because I have a lot, a lot. So yesterday I had two rib eyes, two 10 ounce guys, lots of fat. You know, the cool thing about people on teas is that, and I always say this, but they have cuts of steak that have just a good amount of fat. But then they also have like the flat irons that Andrew loves that are low fat for dieters. It's just good blend. Yeah, I've gotten a bunch of ribeyes as well. And, uh, you know, it's funny cause we go on different, we go on different trends for a little while. We're eating the hamburgers for a while. Uh, then we're, you know, eating the flat irons

or the Bobettes and we just kind of keep switching it up, but you're right. They got a lot of variety of a lot of different types of meat. And, uh, because I've been mainly only eating twice a day, I've been eating in the fattier cuts that they have which are still lower in fat than most other steaks yeah i've been leaning a lot towards the lean nebraska cut ribeye uh like 65 grams of protein and only i don't know i think it's only like four grams of fat but it's it's a fatty cut so it's like the same like 10 ounce size as like the full fat ribeye but has you know significantly less fat um that but last night yeah i've been i've been fasting a lot lately what i know a lot like it's it's been accidental almost but then i'm like yeah you know what like what? Like, I just keep going. I just keep going.

And so last night I had a bunch of hamburger patties from Piedmontese. They were just 85, 15. They weren't the hot patty patties. But I'm just surprised every time I eat those, how full I get off of just two. Like I get all like, so, you know, we'll, we'll, we'll thaw like two packs. Cause I'm like, yeah, let's go. I'm going to have like 18 of them. And then I have two and I'm like, you know what, man, I'm really full. Like another one's going to hurt, but I'll have that other one.

But yeah, eventually I'm just like, oh shit, like this is rough. We're so stupid because I make that mistake all the time too. And I'm always like, I can do it this time. And then I never do. It happens every time every time yeah it drives me nuts and the cool thing is the family loves it stephanie can handle one jasmine can barely get through one and so you know when you think about like oh shit what like it's gonna take this whole feast to try to feed my family it's like no like for my family like one pack is honestly enough but because

you're right we are a little ridiculous we want to do way more um but yeah uh and the other thing real quick is like it's ground beef it's a hamburger patty how good can it be i'm telling you guys it's there's something different about this meat um the only way for you guys to experience it right now is through Piedmontese.com. That's P-I-E-D-M-O-N-T-E-S-E dot com at checkout. Enter promo code PowerProject for 25% off your order. And if your order is $150 or more, you get free two-day shipping. Again, fatty cuts, lean cuts, ground beef, hot dogs. Can I get an Ayo?

Ayo. There you go. See I get an Ayo? Ayo. There you go. See, not an A now. You're not paying attention. He's texting over there. My phone's over here. You better stop. You better stop.

Sorry. You're taking notes. Okay, my bad. I can't see that far. Well, yeah. Get new glasses. I know. I do need new glasses.

PeteMontes.com. Links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. And don't forget that promo code POWERP 25 off your order and again if your order is 150 a more you get free two-day shipping mark what the heck you doing out in bodega i've been running running running on the beach uh feeling really good and uh gotten some lifting in and stuff too um i want to go over this tweet real quick that i just saw from Ted Neiman or Neiman, Ted Neiman the other day. And I think he brings up a really interesting point. It's just to go along with all the stuff that we share on the show often about protein leveraging. He's the

one that does a lot of the research on it and has a lot of great information, but he talked about what you eat determines how much you eat. And it's just to kind of play off of what you guys just said. Like you, your eyes, you know, sometimes are bigger than your stomach and you look at the food and you're like, Oh my God, I'm going to devour all of that. And then you get to it and you start eating it. That's what happened to me with the ribs, the beef ribs from Piedmontese.

I was so pissed because I wanted to eat like a lot of them. I wanted to eat like 10 of them, but I honestly ate like three of them and I had to take a break and I had to take like a walk around the block. And I was like, I needed to eat more of those because they tasted so good. But people that are trying to lose weight, people that are trying to get in better shape, you can utilize that to your advantage. When you make better food choices, you make really good food choices. And the food that you consume, you know, isn't just full of calories. It's also full of, you know, it has a good amount of protein in it. And it also has a lot of nutrients that your body needs for the day.

That's going to help you to control the overall amount of food that you eat. the day, that's going to help you to control the overall amount of food that you eat. And I just have found it to be more and more relevant with my own diet, uh, over the last few years, really, um, with, you know, leaning into protein leveraging and a little bit of, uh, intermittent fasting. It helps a lot. No, it helps massively. Um, they think it's going to be, it's great that we're going to have a lane Norton on soon because we know how lean he's more open to more types of diets, but he's still like loves carbs and he doesn't, you know, doesn't think fasting is that necessary or he, he thinks everything has its place, be for people, especially when people aren't tracking. I think it is easier to be more intuitive with being in a caloric deficit when you're not tracking macros, when you're focusing on fat, protein, and whole foods, maybe some whole food carbohydrates. But it's much easier. That's why it's so easy for us to maintain what we have, even while not tracking a damn

macro ever. Maintaining muscle, gaining muscle, losing body fat over time. It's just easier. And magically tie this into today's topic. We're going to talk a lot today about not giving up and also maybe when it is time to switch to doing something else because sometimes it is in your best interest to stop doing something because it's literally not working. But we're always in search of trying to be better. And I know in SEMA years ago, you competed in bodybuilding many, many times and gotten on stage and been probably, you know, 5%, 6% body fat or something like that. And nowadays you're walking out or walking around a similar body fat percentage. And it was because of your pursuit and because you never gave up on

believing that you could be big and strong and lean. Most people kind of give up on these concepts because they're like, this is unobtainable. I can't do it. I've heard so much on the internet that you can't be, you can't kind of have all these different things going on. And, you know, I can't do jujitsu and not eat a lot of carbohydrates and fast and so forth. But you never gave up on these things. And these are things that you kept bringing into your daily routine. And now you're able to do them them and it doesn't seem like it's uh i mean i'm sure it's challenging at times but it doesn't seem like it's difficult to you it seems like it's just something you integrated and it started to adapt to you right yeah absolutely um it's funny

because why when i think back to 2015 and 2016 2016 if you guys don't know is when doug miller got back on stage i think uh we We've had Doug Miller on the podcast. Jacked. Oh, he's jacked to just a disgusting level. It makes no sense. And everybody thinks he's on drugs, but I believe in Doug. But when I saw Doug hit the stage, I was like, yeah, that's the new goal. By 30, I'm going to be as big as Doug Miller.

I'm going to be able to get on stage like Doug Miller. I i'm gonna like be able to beat that that was my goal at the time and then like a few months later i found jujitsu and i was like oh shit it was that recent then yeah i started jujitsu in 2016 and actually like yeah 2016 i started just the yeah the the goal yeah wow yeah yeah because i mean what could have been what could have been it was in high school like three years ago i know fucking it was yeah but yeah like the goal switched when i saw jujitsu because i was like okay well maybe i can still really do the bodybuilding thing while doing jujitsu um but then jujitsu just became so freaking fun and engulfing that I was like okay athletically I'll

do this but I'll still do all the bodybuilding stuff and see what I can maintain and because I had a belief that I could maintain all of this muscle and this look while doing jujitsu I think that belief is what helped me to do this even though I'm not a competing bodybuilder anymore I guess I don't I don't really look at it like I quit, but I just transitioned into something that I feel much more fulfillment with. Um, and that was, it was a gradual transition. It wasn't immediate, but it was really, it was really useful and beneficial for where I am now. I'm not sure what year it was, but, uh, it was a long ago, probably, you know, like 2008 or something like that. Yeah, really having a hard time pinning down exactly when it was, but long ass time ago at Diablo Barbell, I competed in a powerlifting meet and I squatted 700 pounds and bent 600 and pulled close to 700. and benched 600 and pulled close to 700.

The 700-pound squat that I did was the first time that I squatted that weight. It was 705, and I felt like I was going to die. When I did my opening attempt, which was like 633, I was like, I should just fake an injury because I don't want to even bother to try to do my next two attempts because that one was so hard. And I'm like, I don't know how I'm going to deal with the pressure. Like even just on racking the weight, it felt like my head was going to pop off. And then by the time I got to the 700 pound squat and I actually did the lift. I mean, it just felt like i was throwing up violently in a

toilet like when your head feels like it's gonna explode uh my my eyes were bloodshot my i blew my face out my face was bloodshot i had like bloodshot marks all across my neck and my chest was like white and red and just it was just gnarly and And I was like, what the fuck? I'm like, how does anybody, you know, in my, my idols and role models and stuff at the time were the guys at Westside barbell, like Chuck Vogelpool and stuff like that. And I was like, how does anybody do that? How do you get to 800 pounds and 900 pounds or a thousand pounds? I'm like, I don't fucking get it. It just doesn't make any sense to me. So, you know, after that day, after that competition, it would have been easy to, to say like, oh, okay, well, you're never going to be able to figure that out. That was really,

really hard. And you're probably just going to hurt yourself if you kind of continue to work on that. But it was something that I could adapt to. It was something I could learn. And it was just going to take a tremendous amount of work and it was going to take a tremendous amount of time. And, uh, you know, I'm grateful that I didn't stop doing that because none of what we're doing right now would, it would be going on, uh, because I wouldn't have eventually went on to squat 800, 900,000 pounds, stuff like that. That really makes me look back on injuries that I've seen in powerlifting and been like, how many are legit? And how many of people are just like, oh shit,

let me just get off this platform and have an excuse. It's demoralizing. You're not sure how you're going to get through the meat. I really appreciate you guys sharing what you just shared, Mark. And then Nseema, you had mentioned in the past being wreckeded from bodybuilding and i appreciate it so much because i look at you guys and i'm just like okay i mean obviously you guys gravitated towards um fitness and lifting and it worked out really well but it's almost like when you when you when you're still starting out or you're trying to figure things out it's like well it didn't come to me as easy as you got dog hair in your mouth again.

Husky hair. Yeah. It happens to me all the time. Um, but like, Oh, it did. It didn't come to me that easy.

So it's like, man, if I had their, um, their skillset or I had their advantages, like, yeah, I'd probably be much better off.

But for even for you animals animals like it was not easy right like it was hard and you still had to push through it's it's all of its whoops i did my microphone technical difficulties time to grab a snack? Hey, now. That was perfect. Yes! I don't know what the hell I did there.

I karate chopped my fucking neck. I'm half just now. That was really powerful. What I was going to say is that it's all really hard. People tend to think, oh, it's easier because you created a fitness lifestyle so you get to train all the time or it must be easy for you because you're rich. But when I was broke and didn't really have much of a regular job, people would also point out the fact that it was maybe easier for me because I didn't have a regular job.

And then you get a job and you make money. And then people kind of, so people are going to always use these kind of excuses to kind of, I think, make themselves feel better on maybe why they're not, you know, following through on something. But for me, all this stuff that I've worked for and worked towards is, it's still in progress. You know, I heard someone the other day talk about physique transformations. And I was like, your physique transformation starts when you recognize that you don't have the physique that you want and that you want to change it and it never ends it goes on forever it's a uh it's a game that you're going to be playing for a very long time and just embrace it i think it's it's

a great journey to go along you're going to make some changes to your body hopefully they're healthy and hopefully uh you don't get lost in the shuffle and try to, you know, try to be perfect or something like that, or try to be something that you're not, but it's a worthy pursuit. And then same thing with wealth, you know, you gain money. It's like, well, now you're just getting started. I remember having a conversation years ago with Bradley Martin. He was setting up zoo culture and he was having a tough time with permits and all these different things that was going on in LA at the time. And he called me up and he opened up the place and he's like, it opens up tomorrow, man. He's like, I'm so excited. And I said, I'm really pumped and

excited for you, but now you're just getting started. And I think a lot of times people at home, maybe that is why people sometimes give up is because they feel like what's ahead of them, what lies ahead is insurmountable and that they're maybe not going to be able to do it. And so you kind of get scared and you just I think you're just like, fuck, man, I should probably go the other way. I remember that phone conversation very well. I think you were with like, fuck, man, I should probably go the other way. I remember that phone conversation very well. I think you were with me, weren't you? Yeah, we were filming for Hustle Mania and we were just in your car and you were talking to him. And when you said that, he didn't say like, oh, we're almost done. It wasn't like, we're at the finish line, we win.

It wasn't like that but you could just hear that here's a guy that's been probably got no sleep for the past like two months trying to get this gym off the ground and then when he's like yeah it's what's about to happen mark's like yeah the work's about to start you just hear like a and like it was just quiet for what seemed like you know an hour it was only probably like five seconds but you could tell he was just like oh shit dude like really um but what i was gonna ask you guys um you know because mark you you brought up um like your physique and you know wanting to get healthy and get better i've seen this a couple times i don't know if it's specifically with like the video game like um world or whatever but anytime like a gamer wants to get in better shape he gets kind of attacked pretty quickly and pretty bad uh the most recent one was uh the

dreamcast guy a youtuber um makes great content but he had just said that he was trying to get in better shape and he was doing some pull-ups or whatever. And everybody started attacking him like, dude, you're still fat. You're still weak. Like you ain't shit, blah, blah, blah. And I was just like, wow, you guys all suck. But I don't know. Did you guys ever experience anything like that where you are doing something and outside sources made you guys, you guys obviously, I mean, I don't know.

I don't know. That's why I'm asking this question. But like, did anything ever happen to where you kind of felt like damn maybe i shouldn't be doing this maybe i should pack my shit up and go home or maybe i should do something else and if it didn't maybe can you give some advice to people that might have been experiencing this and like what they can do to navigate these waters. So, this is something interesting. There's two things here. People want to keep you

with them. If you think about gamers, this guy sitting here, he's fucking destroying it at Fortnite, and he's killing all these assholes. Everyone. He's just so good. Then he's like, now I kind of want a six-pack, too. And everyone that's listening and watches him

is like no fuck you stay here with us like like like you can't be good at that and have a six-pack that's no fair right it's people are looking up to him already because he's or whoever this person is because they're they're amazing at this game and now they're gonna do something great in real life too and people already look up to them so i think what what happens intrinsically is when people see themselves in somebody they're like they're doing something that i can achieve and then when they're trying to now get in shape people intrinsically can realize how difficult that can be so they're like i don't want you to do that too although it's probably going to be great for you that's that's like i look i want to be like you and i kind of don't want to climb that too although it's probably going to be great for you that's that's like i look i want to

be like you and i kind of don't want to climb that mountain too stay here with me and people do that in friend groups like the friend that's like i kind of want to stop doing so much of this and maybe stop partying as much and do a healthier lifestyle fuck you stay here with us you think you're better than us yeah you know um so it's it's it's tough mark i know you got a lot on this right now yeah and seemingly nailed it um i think oftentimes the comments that we see we forget uh that it has to do with what's going on in that person's life more so than it does anything to do with you so they want to attack you because like you said they're you know maybe they're i don't know nervous or scared or anxious that you're going to somehow, you know, do something that's going to maybe take

something away from them or that you're going to leave them behind. I've seen this before with couples where one person wants to lose weight and the person starts to lose weight. And then the other person starts to try to sabotage that person or just gets kind of disgruntled with that person because they don't want them to leave them. They don't want them to lose 40 pounds, 50 pounds and be a different person than what they've been used to. So I think for some people, it feels like threatening for some reason, which I don't I'm not sure why you would love to see more encouragement. But I also think on the flip side of that. You know, the negativity for the haters, you know, from the haters can be really powerful when you do see those comments, when you do hear people say things that are disparaging or, you know, are against, you know, what you're trying to do.

You can just be like, fuck that. Or you could use it as fuel. You know, I've talked about that before. Use it as ammunition. All the things that people said you couldn't do or that you'll never be. Those are amazing tools that a lot of people have used for years and years to be successful. And, you know, you can, you can kind of get, that can get to be a little bit dangerous for me personally. I try to think of like, I don't know if I've really gotten myself into situations

where I did something that like, you know, I've had, I've had great parents and, uh, they have put me in a lot of situations for me to pursue things that I'm interested in. And so there really hasn't been, you know, it's not like, it's not like when I was a kid, I went out for like cross country or something and was like, this is the wrong fucking place for me. Like I, I knew I didn't like to run. I knew that wasn't interesting to me. So I never got into a situation where, um, you know, something just didn't feel right, but I have felt out matched before. And that was definitely like in pro wrestling. I mean, I've talked about that many times where the skillset of some of these individuals was just, uh, it was insane. And they're, you know, wrestling, there's not really like a, um, gradual progression.

You're either, you know, wrestling on the independent circuit or you're with the big boys. And when I went from doing some independent stuff and, um, you know, cutting promos and doing stuff like that, I was, I got pretty good at it, but, um, you know, once I got around, you know, John Cena and some of the other people, it's like, holy shit. You know, once I got around, you know, John Cena and some of the other people, it's like, holy shit, you know, some of these people are just on, they're just completely on a different level. And I didn't look at that as being discouraging though. I actually looked at that as like, all right, well, this is just, this is the way that this is. And if I would like to do what some of these other people are doing, I'm going to probably have to put in more time than they're putting in currently because they're already ahead of me. So I just kind of looked at it more as more positive reinforcement rather than just thinking like, I'm just going to pack

up and go home. Go ahead. I was just saying, like, I mean, I still get shit quite a bit from like the Sarmageddon series. And then even being on this podcast you know like i'll still you know receive random dms or like i'll see a um like uh just just like a comment you know someone saying like andrew talk less and so something i got from mark bell and something that i got from the podcast you sent me this morning with andre 3000 but what mark said back in the day and back in the days like you know two years ago or whatever i know right uh you had said something like uh like people would talk shit when i was broke and now that i'm rich they're still talking shit and then something

that andre 3000 said he was just like yeah we made music and people hated us and then rick rubin was like well they're still gonna hate you now and you know and the thought of like people liking him and then making music that nobody liked he so now he it's like stopping him from doing more music so something for myself it's like well yeah if people don't like me they're not going to like me if i become the most proficient podcaster on the planet if i become like fucking mr olympia they're still not gonna like me period however those that like me now and then those guys are the fucking you know those people are like the ones that i should be focusing on not the people that are just gonna dislike me just because of who i am absolutely and it's like even further, like, I mean, so this stuff's weird because we put forward information. It's not like we being liked, right?

Or whatever. Accepted. It's an interesting thing because like as our podcast, we want to be accepted by people. We want people to like our podcast. But it's the it's like, how are we going about it? I don't think that we're doing things for people so so i'd be like okay they like us you know what i mean we're not trying to be cool we're not trying to be cool i don't give a fuck about being cool um i'm just doing the things i'm interested

in learning the things i'm interested about i put it forward if people dig it cool if they don't it's okay i really don't care because the interesting thing of what you said is when i started jujitsu i started putting forward jujitsu stuff bro my my falling started dropping so quick like i was on a steady decline for years i remember that that was straight i remember i thought it was the craziest thing people would like um i'd be filming videos at the the previous location and you would talk about you're doing a certain movement or whatever for jiu-jitsu and I remember reading the comments like dude we get it you do jiu-jitsu like shut up already I'm like

what they're telling in cima that like are they crazy yeah no no my shit let me I should went on to decline a sharp decline like it's like I was doing all this bodybuilding stuff and then once I started jiu-jitsu everything just started falling and it was for years and i was like damn well i'm my bad but i wasn't gonna stop it because i truly enjoyed it and in my mind i was like whoever really digs wanting to do stuff like this well they'll they'll they'll get something from it and if they don't that's okay but we can't do things just so that we can be accepted by our friends groups or people in our lives. We can't do that. You know, something that's been helpful for me.

And I heard that. Shit, what's in David Blaine, the magician. I heard him talking about this on Joe Rogan. And I was like, oh, my God, I do the same thing. He talked about lying to yourself and how people talk about lying to yourself in a negative sense, but he talked about lying to himself in a positive sense. And I was like, I do the same fucking thing. So this is really useful for those of you that sometimes are struggling to get a certain amount of work done. Just convince yourself to go do like a little bit

of something and then you'll find yourself doing more. An example, you know, it's just an easy example is working out. If you say, I'm just going to go in the gym and do, you know, a couple sets of shoulders, you'll probably be in the gym for longer. You'll probably have convinced yourself to go in the gym for a longer period of time, which is going to help you with your consistency and your commitment to fitness. The same thing with when I'm running, you know, I don't really have aspirations of like running super far, but a lot of times when I'm running, I'm just like, I'm going to run to that landmark, you know, I'm going to run to that tree. And then when the tree comes and I, and I still feel like I have good energy, I'm like, just push a little further. Like, it's not going to kill you.

Like, just go a little further. And so that's been really helpful to me. And there's been many situations like that in my life. You know, I used to do track when I was a kid and I remember like our coach would have us run and I just, I hated like, you know, any longer distance running, but we just did it as a team here and there. And when I ran, I remember, you know, one of the other, one of the other athletes on the team was like, he's like, Oh, it's just way easier. If you just like, just put your head down and just concentrate on your steps. Like just one foot in front of the other, just kind of keep going.

And don't, don't think about like how far we got to go. Cause if you're like, oh, we got to go around. I think, I think we had to run like a mile and a half or something like that. And I hated it, but, um, and it wasn't around the track actually. It was like kind of through this path. And I knew like, you know, the, I knew the path and I knew where the halfway point was and shit like that. So I was dreading it the whole time. But once I kind of just kept my head down and kept to myself and just looked at my own shoes, basically, and didn't worry about what anybody else was doing, you know, it was kind of over before before I knew it. Kind of the same thing. Many people can probably relate when you cover up the amount of time that's gone by when you're doing cardio.

Throw your t-shirt over top of it because you don't want to know about it. And that would be another great example. You don't love doing cardio? Teach yourself to do 10 minutes of it. And I guarantee you'll probably work up a sweat. You'll probably feel good. You'll probably be listening to a podcast. You're like, I might as well just keep going.

Mark, how do you feel about the idea of, of a Jack of all trades? And I want to ask you this because I think this is interesting. Like we're talking about not quitting something, right? Um, but when I, when I think about when quitting has become beneficial, like when, when, when I stopped focusing on eating a lot of carbs and I started fasting and seeing how that would do, I quit that diet. But I had a jumping off point to try something else that has yielded massive benefits. Quit focusing on getting as strong as possible for sumo deadlifting or whatever. And it's yielded benefits in performance because I had a jumping off point to something else. I was like, okay, I'm quitting this for now to figure this out.

So there, there, there's getting decent at a lot of things, right? But a lot of people, um, they don't, it's like being a Jack of all trades.

A lot of times is not necessarily looked. It is looked down upon at times. So how do you feel about that or making or quitting, but having a jumping off point to get going to get good at something else? I think, you know, putting all your eggs in one basket and trying just to be a savage at one thing is admirable. But a lot of times it doesn't do what a lot of people think it's going to do. going to do. I heard something more recently about kind of like filling gaps in your life and filling like a hole in your heart kind of type of thing. And it said that not all the holes that you have in your life are supposed to be filled, but you are supposed to fulfill them.

And so that is really like, I find that to be really interesting because I think that it's the, it's the pursuit of stuff that makes us feel good, you know, and when you're pursuing something and you're thinking that the certain number that you're going to deadlift or this certain thing that you're going to do is going to really give you a fulfillment, it really won't, it doesn't really change anything. You know, I mentioned this before, you can only live in one home at a time. You can only drive one car at a time. You know, there's the convenience of it is can be great, but you can only use so much of these, these resources, even when you do obtain them, they don't really, they don't really do much for you when you get to that 800-pound deadlift or whatever that goal is that you have, it's not necessarily going to be serving you the way that you might think.

Now, the journey of it, the steps that it took, that will serve you forever. That will serve you a lifetime. Pursuing a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and trying to win a world championship, that'll serve you forever. and trying to win a world championship, that'll serve you forever. Like those steps that you take to do that. How many times we see it with people that wrestled in high school, they're always just different than everybody. You know, somebody that stuck with it for a couple of years, you're always like, man, that guy, like our boy Settledge, right?

Yeah. Those people, they just have a certain way about them. And it's, it's that, it's that structure, but you never talk about wins and losses. I never even have gotten conversation with Josh about, uh, how proficient he was. I have no idea. I don't even, I don't even know, but I don't care. Cause I just saw that. I saw what wrestling did for him as transformative for him, just like many of the people that we have on the show what they're doing and what they did and what they pursued is massively transformative to them uh how far they made it is almost irrelevant what about the um the saying like if you chase i think it's rabbits

chase two rabbits at the same time you end up with none so how do you you know how can you get better at more than one thing and be proficient at both i maybe chase one rabbit at a time you know and and then you end up with two right i mean you know it just might it just might take your time um that's the big thing right yeah yeah just don't don't write shit off just because somebody said something that's that's the main thing i think you know and sema's touched upon this a bunch uh talking about having no limits um why not you know why why why can't you uh what can't you look like a meathead and be jacked but be philosophical you know why why can't you uh be jacked but be philosophical you know why why can't you uh you know be well read and well studied and uh you know there you can it's all out there it's just a matter of uh time um so it does take

time i mean that's going to be the one like thing of currency that it's going to take you is everything's going to uh always take your time But if you're really interested in something, you're going to find yourself, you're going to find that giving up is really hard. You're not going to really give up on somebody that you truly love, that you're truly interested in, but somebody that you maybe don't flow together the way that you thought, that would be easier to give up on that particular relationship and move on to something else. So giving up, I think a lot of times it starts with the choice that you made to even get involved in something in the first place.

And so that's kind of a critical thing. And I think that's fine to recognize that you go and do something and you're like, that ain't for me. I think that's okay. You don't have to, you don't have to view that as a negative thing. How about like avoiding that feeling of like, well, I mean,

I know we're talking about giving up, but like, or I'm sorry, we're quitting. How not to feel like you, like I gave up though. Like, I guess we can transition over into like, um, like jujitsu or, uh, maybe power

lifting or something. Um, I'll use me as an example as like, uh, like my back hurts, but I still want to keep power lifting. And it's like, I don't get like, I'm not going to give up. I ain't going to be a little bitch, but in actuality or in reality, it's like, no, if I give up power lifting i'll probably be able to you know rehab my back and i'll be better off anyways but i guess if it's a part of someone's identity at this point how like yeah how do you avoid feeling like you are

literally giving up on like who you are i think uh we kind of the the big thing is the jumping off point for something else um for example like when i when when i made the switch to start focusing on jujitsu versus not focusing as much on strength right um i was feeling myself literally getting weaker in terms of my one rep maxes. And I was like, oh, like that. That sucks. That's that. That really fucking sucks.

But it was in pursuit of something that was going to be more beneficial that I felt for myself was going to be more beneficial. I think it's also similar to like, I mean, when we all started fasting, Mark, it didn't feel the greatest when we started doing it. Horrible. I felt like shit we felt i felt like crap like i was like i can't work out but i was like okay let me give myself time and see what type of benefit i can get from this as that became part of my lifestyle it showed benefits in so many different ways because i gave it time but i was giving up on something that i thought was so useful which was eating multiple times during the day and eating before working out.

I gave up on that, right? But it was in pursuit of something that had potential to reap more benefits for me. And even though it was hard in the beginning, it did absolutely did. So you having to give up on powerlifting for your back, you're going to see in a bit when your back feels a hundred percent and you're moving and you're all loosey goosey and feeling great. You're like, Oh wow. Loosey goosey. Um, you brought up fasting. Um, what is, um, real quick, like something that you've been utilizing to help you with your fast? Well, electrolytes are always good. Electrolytes are freaking dope. It makes it easier. So that like, you know, a lot of times people when they're,

when they're electrolyte deficient and dehydrated, they think they're hungry. So they start reaching for food, but electrolytes have been the main supplement that's helped me as far as working out as far as maintaining a good fast. It's awesome. Makes it big. I was doing some running yesterday and I got some lifting in.

I actually just, I went a little overboard yesterday because i did a bunch of lunges and stuff and uh i was like holy i better you know wolf down a bunch of electrolytes so i probably had about maybe five packets oh yeah element um whatever that pink one is i was like oh the grape the grapefruit one i think that's what it was. Absolutely delicious. Gets you all the electrolytes you need. Didn't have any problems with cramping, even though I fasted for a good 18, 20 hours or so. So, you know, a lot of times I think that's why people

are feeling like crap. It's because they're not getting in the proper electrolytes. Yeah. I've been utilizing them for my workouts for a long time now but it's just become way more apparent that like the the benefits from it when i'm not um when i'm not eating so like i train fasted and when i when i drink element i still still get pretty good veins pop in i still get a really good pump and i'm on top of that like i'm hydrated it tastes good you know it's it's a kind of a habit for me to have an intra workout. And it's really, it's probably like,

it's been my favorite intra workout that I've ever experienced. And if you guys want to experience it, head over to drinklmnt.com slash powerproject. At this current time, they're still offering a free element recharge pack. So that's an eight sample pack. All you have to do is pay the $5 shipping and you'll get that shipped out to you and if you guys

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Just head over there right now-ish. Back to this kind of topic about giving up and, giving up and, you know, why, why you might feel like you gave up on something. Like I said earlier, you might've selected something that's not great for you, something that's not in your best interest. The hard thing about all this is we don't really know what is on our best interest. It's really just a lot of guessing. And that's part of being human is we have a lot of error correction. We work on something, we go towards something and it's just like, ah, man, you know, that didn't go the way I expected. Sometimes we have expectations of things that they're going to maybe happen faster

than what we thought, you know, and maybe it may be something that you got into. Let's say out of nowhere, you want to start taking some acting classes or modeling classes, or you want to start playing the piano. Shit, like maybe you go into that having no idea what's going on and it scrambles your brain and embarrasses you. You feel awful. You are the clear the worst person in class. And you're like, I will never go back to that again. It may have been useful to maybe look into it a little bit more. Like, what does that require? I wonder about that. I am interested. And then maybe you ask somebody that you know, or maybe you look it up on YouTube. And then maybe you have a little bit better, maybe you're just a little more better. Maybe you're just a little

more familiar with what you're getting yourself into when it comes to bodybuilding, when it comes to powerlifting. I often suggest go to a competition, go check it out, go see what it looks like, go see what these people look like when they're on stage and how many judges there are and what people are looking for and what you're wearing and shit like that. I mean, how many times have we been to powerlifting meets and people need a singlet because they didn't even know, you know. sometimes really add to the anxiety and can make you kind of, uh, I don't know, just feel like crap and, and want to maybe switch gears on into something else. Yeah, it's, it's, it's pretty crazy how much that can happen, but I think that it's kind of, it's hard to figure out right when you are stopping something. I think when you truly, when quitting wasn't

beneficial is when you end up heading into something or you end up regressing. Now, when I say regressing, I don't mean like you quit something. And like, like I mentioned, I quit powerlifting. My list got a little bit weaker, but I was going towards something else that I was really pushing. Right. Um, if you've really given yourself an honest go at something. So for example, I think that a lot of people, when they do try out something like fasting or they do try out like something like a high fat diet for first few weeks, they're like, ah, I don't feel good. Or, uh, this isn't, this isn't working for me.

And they just quit it after like two weeks when everyone says it's going to take you time to adapt and time to get feel good on this and time to get used to it. going to take you time to adapt and time to get feel good on this and time to get used to it people don't give themselves a good amount of time to really flesh something out before they quit and in that sense you really quit it's like uh there's a big meme within the jujitsu community that once somebody becomes a blue belt they quit like they like the amount of people that get their blue belt you never see them come to class again for like six or eight years and then they come back. It's high. It's really high.

But that's because like they reached a certain level of proficiency and then they're like, okay, I guess I'm good with this. I'm out. Right. And maybe they quit and they started doing something else, but they were happy that they reached blue belt level. They became fairly proficient. They reached blue belt level. They became fairly proficient. And in a sense, that's okay. As long as what you're heading for is pushing you forward in a different beneficial way.

There's a great Bruce Lee quote. This is one of my favorite quotes ever. Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own. I think that's amazing. Because as you're going through all this, there are going to be things that you drop. There are going to be things that you just,

I mean, you could just say it. You just gave up on it. You quit it. It's okay. You're working towards being better. Maybe you quit smoking, you know? So it doesn't always have to be like that it's a negative or maybe you quit any bad habit that you had. That's, that can be a fantastic thing. And maybe you did give up on, let's say you gave up on lifting weights. You know, you really, you heard all the information, you heard all the science about bone density and what it can do for your metabolism and all these different great things that lifting can do. You went to can do for your metabolism and all these different great things that lifting can do. You went to the gym for three months and out of those three months,

you hated it the whole time. It just turned out you just never, never found it useful or great for you. It wasn't uplifting. It was miserable. It made you sore. You got hurt, then that's okay. Maybe that's not for you. Maybe there's some other form of exercise you can pursue, but understanding that some form of resistance would be great. So maybe you take up some hiking or mountain biking, or you do some body weight exercises at home. You find the thing that's going to be useful for you and you add that into your routine. But there's going to be a for you and you add that into your routine. But there's going to be a lot of things that you quit and move on from and move into as you go on with your life. So it's not all bad being a quitter.

Yeah, actually, just start there. Just quit and then move on. Have an action plan, though. I mean, before you quit something like what you about to do man yeah right um so i mean let me ask you this mark what do you think would be uh for someone who because a lot of people they go from diet to diet so what would you say are some things somebody needs to think about before quitting the diet they're doing and starting another one? You have to just, I guess, each person needs to understand they're an individual and they're going to react to the foods, you know, a little bit differently.

So first of all, you always need to give everything time. You know, I think a month is a reasonable amount of time, not to like drop 20 pounds or anything, but a reasonable amount of time to see if you're heading in the right direction, whether you're losing or gaining weight or slightly feeling better. There could be some cases where you might have to do the diet for a little longer because maybe you didn't have great adherence might, might've taken you a while to, you know, really get into it. But yeah, I mean, you know, I think over time people are going to find what best serves them and sometimes what best serves them. It's obvious to an outside

person that that's not in their best interest because the food that they're consuming and what they're doing is having them regress. Their health is getting worse, but they're going to do the thing that's convenient for them, the thing that kind of, quote, unquote, feels best for them in the moment. And again, that's what makes a lot of this so hard is that we don't really always know what's best for us. And that's why it's good to sometimes put this stuff in other people's hands, you know, hire a coach or hire a trainer, someone to lead you through it because fitness is overwhelming. And it's like, I've been thinking about this a lot. Like, where does someone start? Like, where do you start? How do you explain all this to somebody?

How do you explain some of this in a healthy fashion that doesn't have them going down this rabbit hole of like going from wanting to pursue some health to completely being unhealthy because they have like an eating disorder or they train too much, you know, whatever it might be. And it's, they train too much, you know, whatever it might be. And it's, it's tough, you know, it's really, it's really tough, but I think just, you know, implementing something, implementing some, some sort of rules into your nutrition and going with that for a period of time and seeing how it's feeling for you for about a month, I think would be a really smart thing to do. Give it a try for a while. That's amazing. I, I, I feel like that's a really, really good thing to do. Give it a try for a while. That's amazing.

I feel like that's a really, really good way to wrap things up. Unless you guys have something else to add. That was one heck of a conversation, guys. Nah, killed it. Awesome. Awesome. All right. Well, on that note,

thank you everybody for checking out today's episode. If you found anything beneficial, please make sure you hit that like button and share this with somebody that needs to hear it. Maybe somebody that's been running into a brick wall nonstop thinking they're going to get through it, and maybe they just need to switch things up and give up. Quit. Quit. Yeah, just give up now. Thank you to Piedmontese and Element for sponsoring today's episode.

Links to them down in the description below below as well as the podcast show notes. Follow the podcast at Mark Bell's Power Project on Instagram, at MB Power Project on TikTok and Twitter. My Instagram and Twitter is at IamAndrewZ. And Seema, where are you at? At SeemaYinYang on Instagram and YouTube and SeemaYinYang on TikTok and Twitter.

And remember guys, go to Apple and give us a five-star review because you know we're five stars. Check it out. Mark, where are you at? Before we stop this, I got I got a thing to add here and a question. So people see David Goggins, you know, they see him running like a madman and yelling at everybody, everything like that. Right. And and you hear John Cena, you know, has adopted the saying never, you know,

never give up type of thing. So we think that, you know, we need to go, you know, full blast and into stuff and everything, but there are times, there are situations where it's important that you tap out, but also they understand why you're tapping out. So if'm to go to in sema's dojo and uh i'm to uh i'm to uh you know pair off with him and i'm trying my hardest to beat him um every time he puts me in some sort of hold or lock i mean look it's in my best interest to fucking tap. Otherwise, that's not going to be a great idea, right? So you have to understand why that's happening. You have to be level headed about it. You have to understand that you're not prepared for that particular moment.

If I'm to run with David Goggins, the same thing would happen. I'd get fucking killed. I've lifted with Stan Efferding. I lifted with Eric Spoto before. I've lifted with some of these monsters and been around some really great people. And occasionally there's been some times I ran with Cam Haines. There's been things that I haven't been prepared for. And not that I was trying to prep for those particular things. And even if I did prep for those things, I don't think I'd ever be able to catch up to some of those guys. But the point being is, you know, don't, don't give up because you're not, you're not fully

committed yet. You know, don't give up because like, if I went to jujitsu and people at Encima school, they just decided to kick my ass because I'm big and they wanted to, you know, try to make it so I never come back or something like that. Don't give up then. Like give yourself more, have more respect for yourself to come back and do it again and do it again and do it. Give yourself a fair shot. And then if you gave yourself a fair shot, then it's okay to say, hey, this isn't really for me. It's not working out the way that I thought. But make sure that it's not because you're not prepared. You got to put in a lot of work and you got to put in a lot of time. And when you don't do that,

when you don't have that built up, it's going to be really fucking easy to give up. Where can people find you, Mark? Strength is never a weakness. Weakness is never strength. I'm at Mark Smiley Bell. Catch you guys later.

Bye.