Mark Bell's Power Project - You Will Set New Standards for Yourself & The Evolution of Our Diet MBPP EP. 742

Episode Date: June 1, 2022

The standards you held for yourself yesterday just won't cut it today. As you level up, so will your baseline and going back will be out of the question. We explain that process today as well as the evolution of our diets. Join The Power Project Discord: https://discord.gg/yYzthQX5qN Subscribe to the new Power Project Clips Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5Df31rlDXm0EJAcKsq1SUw Special perks for our listeners below! ➢https://thecoldplunge.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save $150!! ➢Enlarging Pumps (This really does work): https://bit.ly/powerproject1 ➢https://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/powerproject Code POWERPROJECT for 20% off Vivo Barefoot shoes! ➢https://markbellslingshot.com/ Code POWERPROJECT10 for 10% off site wide including Within You supplements! ➢https://mindbullet.com/ Code POWERPROJECT for 20% off! ➢https://eatlegendary.com Use Code POWERPROJECT for 20% off! ➢https://bubsnaturals.com Use code POWERPROJECT for 20% of your next order! ➢https://verticaldiet.com/ Use code POWERPROJECT for 20% off your first order! ➢https://vuoriclothing.com/powerproject to automatically save 20% off your first order at Vuori! ➢https://www.eightsleep.com/powerproject to automatically save $150 off the Pod Pro at 8 Sleep! ➢https://marekhealth.com Use code POWERPROJECT10 for 10% off ALL LABS at Marek Health! Also check out the Power Project Panel: https://marekhealth.com/powerproject Use code POWERPROJECT for $101 off! ➢Piedmontese Beef: https://www.piedmontese.com/ Use Code POWER at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $150 Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast ➢ 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 ➢https://www.tiktok.com/@marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ https://www.breakthebar.com/learn-more ➢YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NsimaInyang ➢Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/?hl=en ➢TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nsimayinyang?lang=en Follow Andrew Zaragoza on all platforms ➢ https://direct.me/iamandrewz #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell

Power Project family, I hope you guys are doing well today. I want to give you guys a quick piece of fitness equipment lifting history. The hip circle that you see before you is actually the first hip circle ever. All right. There were no booty bands before the hip circle, which is pretty interesting. That's why you see it in gyms like The Rock. We've seen Kim K using it on Instagram. It is the OG.

But that's also why we have the slingshots, gangster wraps, knee sleeves, elbow sleeves, everything that you're going to need in the gym so that you can protect yourself before you wreck yourself. So, Andrew, you tell the people how to get it. Yes, that's over at markbellslingshot.com and at checkout, enter promo code powerproject10 to save 10% off your entire order. Links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. I don't think I've played any game more than Street Fighter. Really?

Yeah, I've played Street Fighter more than anything. That means you must be pretty good. I was shit at Street Fighter. It's been a hot minute, so I don't know. Your fingers remember. So I did play a couple days ago, and it was like riding a bike. There are certain super combos that I could easily hit every single time. But if I get online, I'm going to get wrecked. But what I'm so happy about right now which you saw me smiling about was

i didn't know people still played street fighter 4 online yeah so i'm definitely gonna get up on that all right who's the baddest character for you me cammy and chunley oh baddest or like chunley and bad like you know yeah cammy cammy with her ass hanging out was always like whoa i can't believe they put that on a video game like this is incredible this is so horrible as a kid but but on street fighter 4 when chung lee's quads and just legs just were like whoa i think she took the title chung lee's what got me into just just fit woman i'm pretty sure. Man, pull up Chumlee from Street Fighter V, man.

I didn't even really play that game, but I see people playing Chumlee. I'm like, yeah, play Chumlee. Hit those combos. Yeah, dog. I was a weird kid, man. I was a weird kid. How long has Street Fighter been around for? 90s?

80s. 80s? Yeah. How long has Street Fighter been around for? 90s? 80s. 80s? Yeah. Pretty long ass time, huh? The first one was terrible. It was impossible to play. It was very difficult. Let me find a good picture.

Was that on Sega Genesis? Nintendo. It was on Nintendo? Mm-hmm. First? The first one was not good, though. Let's see here. Come on. John Lee squats, though. Let's see here. Come on.

Chun-Li squats, brother. Look at that. Chun-Li squats. Me and my girl were talking about, like, oh, we should maybe do Comic-Con one day. She's like, I don't know what I'd do. I'd be like, Chun-Li. Immediately, I was like, Chun-Li. You pulled a costume out of your closet.

Wear this. She's like, hun, I don't know. Does this fit you? And it's like perfectly her size. Dog. So disgusting. So thick. Did you ever have any video game crushes when you were a kid, Mark?

Or were there cartoon crushes? No, I don't think they came in good. Yeah, they didn't look good enough. Yeah. Like, remember Tomb Raider? It was like everyone was going crazy over Lara Croft, but her boobs were just like triangles. Like, they were just super square.

Oh, yeah, that's true. In the video game, they were triangles. I played a game on Nintendo called Kung Fu, and it had, like, it did have a girl on there, but, like, i remember my buddy was like not bad for a video game huh and i was like you can't even i mean it's like she's got long pixels yeah it's got long hair so i'd hit that i guess he was just taking what he can get you know whatever whatever works yeah i can't remember who it was, but somebody was explaining like the progression of video

games is like the progression of like my life. So being born in 85, like, you know, Nintendo came out and it was just like, holy shit, like this is crazy. Everything looks like shit, but it's amazing. And then as you get older, you get into like, you start hitting puberty and stuff. You get into junior high when things are getting kind of weird. And so is video games, like all these pixels and or polygons and stuff. You get into junior high when things are getting kind of weird. And so is video games, like all these pixels and, or polygons and everything.

And then now as I'm older, there's like VR, everything. It's like, Oh shit. Like it, that's the shit that makes me feel like all this is a simulation. I won't start.

You're looking at me like, and does it seem I'm going to go on it? Like, no, I'm not going to do it. On the VR porn stuff? I ain't going to do it. Not today.

That's good. Yeah. We'll get veered way off track once again. Can't help ourselves. It's tough. But yeah, we are gross. We were just talking about how we don't wash our hands. I don't know if we should make that public or not, but.

I still do. No, you don't. Yeah, I do. No, come on. Andrew, I've seen you go in and come into the bathroom real quick without hearing any sink. I'm lying, actually. I haven't.

You're just either not paying attention or, yeah, it's kind of weird that you are paying attention. I think washing hands makes more sense. Are you singing your ABCs when you do it? No. The technique has definitely gotten way more relaxed. It's just like, all right, we're good. I'm out of here.

Monkeypox is going to make that technique come right back. You'll be on it pretty good at some point. You know what? With this whole crazy thing that's going on with monkeypox, we don't even know how it's progressing. But I think because it's a physical thing, because it's like a rash, people are going to be like, once that vaccine comes out, I'm getting it. Yeah. Like COVID is like this ethereal, you got it or you don't. Maybe I had antibodies. Monkey rash is like, ethereal, you got it or you don't. Maybe I had antibodies.

Monkey rash is like, God damn, that's disgusting. That's what I had said about COVID. I was like, remember? I was like, if it's something that grew on your face, we'd all be like, fuck that. Lock everything down. Yeah. I remember I was at the airport one time and my brother came out of the bathroom and I was like, you didn't wash your hands.

And he's like, he goes, the water here has got to be way dirtier than my balls. I was like, that's actually not a horrible point. But, you know, I think washing your hands is just like, it's just a practice of hygiene, right? Like I think that people think that you're washing your hands. And I had this discussion with Juan in the gym before. He's like, that's disgusting. He's like, your dick is gross. I'm like, why would my dick

be gross like i literally took a shower like two hours ago and my dick is like covered up like i'm not one of the most protected parts at the moment i'm not driving it into anything so it's it should be fine but you don't wash your hands necessarily because you touched your dick you wash your hands just because it's convenient practice that when you go into the bathroom they happen to have a fucking sink there and you wash your hands because of that holy shit you've thought this through yes and if you take a shit it's like everything's way different yeah you gotta wash off some of the e-coli right yeah unless you wiped and it's just a clear wipe then why yeah why waste why waste water still wash your hands no but truly actually what you're saying makes a lot of sense because when we're standing here right now, my torso is much sweatier than my dick.

Right? So if I go into the bathroom and let's say if I went like this. How dirty could your dick possibly be right now? Right? Like how dirty could it be if I didn't shower? It's pretty nasty. But if I did, I have a clean dick. You make a lot of sense now actually i mean even if

you got a little sweaty it's like not you know it's not like dirty it's not like you're gonna cause like right underneath my shirt yeah it's like well it's not gonna cause like an infection or something is it hopefully it doesn't shouldn't and like like we mentioned last episode apparently monkey pox is a sex related thing or st well it's not an STI, but people that are getting it, they were having sex around, so we'll be fine. We'll be fine. I remember working in an office, and there was the one dude that got labeled as a guy that didn't wash his hands, but this was after everything.

So after he was like... I would have been on that train like like like making fun of him too like talking trash he's so gross same guy's disgusting take the magnifying glass off of you boom fist bump you don't wash your hands holy shit that's disgusting did your mom teach you anything that's oh my god he's some sort of animal you guys are terrible how's that keto pro treating Holy shit. That's disgusting. Did your mom teach you anything? Oh my God. Dirty rat bastard. You guys are terrible. How's that Keto Pro treating you over there?

It's good, man. That's some awesome stuff. You guys, Keto Pro was my favorite because it was like out of all the protein, it was the creamiest. But then when the new within you one came out, that was really good. That was really good. Now, I haven't had the Keto Pro on its own yet. I've only been using it in coffee, but it's really good in coffee. What do you got? Vanilla or chocolate in there? Vanilla. I haven't done the chocolateeto Pro on its own yet I've only been using it in coffee but it's really good in coffee

what have you got vanilla or chocolate in there? vanilla I haven't done the chocolate yet it hasn't been opened I don't even know if we're selling it yet I don't think we're selling it quite yet I think somebody commented on a video because they saw the Keto Pro on the desk they're like I saw it on the desk but where is it on the website I don't think we're selling it quite yet

but I do that electrolytes and the collagen from Bubz. And my nails were growing faster. I did have to cut them all recently. So they were right about that collagen. Yeah, you got to buy a NFT to be able to buy the Keto Pro right now. That's right. Yeah.

I would talk about how the hair on my head is growing fast, but I have some friends that don't have access to that same thing anymore, so I don't talk about it the hair on my head's growing fast but i have some friends that don't have access to that same thing anymore so i don't talk about it out loud it's because all the steroids is that why this the steroids are making my hair grow you know man you know that that's the thing i did you you really started when you're 16? Started. Losing your hair? No. We almost got him. We almost got him, everybody. We were so close. That's the closest we've been.

Started to slip. No, dog. Because I am a bald gentleman, it's like that's the number one thing that people point to for my steroid use because I started balding early. It's because of my dad. I don't know why people would think you're on steroids.

I really don't know why. It would be different if you were huge. And if you're like crazy athletic and you're able to kind of pick up anything physical that anybody else does. That's not true. You can do a lot of shit though. You're overstating.

I'm not big though no i'm pretty average you're very athletic just like our boy graham stefan you're not graham stefan graham tuttle who's graham stefan stefan is this real estate guy on youtube his name was stuck in my head i was hoping it was like a gay porn name or something it's a freudian slit no graham stefan it's a really good actually finance channel you guys should all check out. Yeah. Guys, I don't know how Encima looks via the cameras and stuff.

We have six cameras in here, I think, and a camera that's 10 pounds. He's actually very, very thin. Yeah. In person, people will be like, wow, you're fucking skinny. About 185 pounds. 185? Yeah. At like 6'3", 6'2"? 6'3".

6'3". 6'3", 185. If you put that into the FFMI calculator, it's far below average. That comes up as skinny's far below average i don't like how like um we'll talk about how like people in the fitness industry need to be be careful how they speak like oh my god i'm so fat and it's like they got veins through their abs like i think we should be careful here because dog, I love it. I love it when I see like, we were just talking about this. You showed me a video the other day. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't want the only time I bring up my homie on the podcast is when we're flaming him. So I'm not going to say his name, but there's this guy. He was saying, oh God, right now I'm starting my prep. Full six pack showing. He's like, this is the most body fat I've held in a long time. After you showed me that, I saw like three more videos that were like that. Where people were like, this is the fattest I've ever been.

And I was like, what? And they're in great shape. I guess we all fuck up here and there and what we say and what we share. But it is really interesting. And you see a lot of the girls too. We were talking about how the girls are like, oh got cellulite like it's natural and they're like sitting in some position that's like forcing them to have but they're not like i don't think these women at least from what i see i don't think these women have been big big women their whole life i think

they are thick and they look fucking phenomenal but there's a difference a huge difference between that and then growing up like severely overweight from the time you're like you're 200 pounds and you're 12 years old. Yeah. Like that's a much different story than what we're seeing some of these people share. Yeah. It's like,

it's, I, I think a lot of it may be coming from a good place to try to be motivational. Like when they say, Oh my, you know, it's great to have cellulite and all that type of stuff.

And it, it can be, but then when you look good and, you know, it's great to have cellulite and all that type of stuff. And it can be. But then when you look good and then you're like showing this tiny ounce of cellulite somewhere, but you got like perfect proportion. It's like, like, I'm proud of this body. But like, come on. I'm proud of this body, but I don't care that I have some extra fat. And you're like, where is it? Yeah.

You're like, you look incredible. I don't know what's shocking. Who the fuck is this fat that you're talking about? All in the right spots, I guess. Everywhere. All the right spots. Yeah. But luckily, none of the three of us would ever look at anything like that.

Oh, no. Right? No. It's all out of my feed for sure. Yeah. It's stuff we've heard from other guy friends. Because they're gross. I'm going to have to have to go through that. yeah it's stuff we've heard from other guy friends that because they're gross strong faithful men on this podcast that's it oh yeah well we actually actually are faithful but

strong mentally with the likes sometimes we're strong sometimes we're strong yeah strong podcast i feel it i forgot what i was gonna say so there was yeah yeah no no there was um nah i won't mention that actually oh there it is so uh no uh remington james did a video where he was talking about um like he's like going into like a bulk phase for the first time in a while oh like he's been like main gaining because that's what like greg ducette's always been saying so he's been like following his like advice but same thing he was just like you know like i i added so many calories and like i got so much bigger like it feels good he's like but i am maintaining like a lot of like body fat he looks fucking

incredible and then greg doucette did like a response video of course because it's free content for him kind of saying like dude you look great like you're crazy if you think you have extra body fat but it's like so weird in this industry that like yeah it's impossible to keep up with like i don't know like the rock and shit but then like the next stage is like instagram and it's like it's supposed to be real people but they are real people they are but i'm saying like the expectations are not you know it is is pretty interesting because when someone like Remington or any of these any of these people that we're talking about, right, maybe truthfully, like like the homie I was talking about that had a straight six pack, but he was starting his prep and he said, I'm just holding more fat than I have in a long time. I'm just holding more fat than I have in a long time. It's the truth. He is holding more fat than he has in a long time.

And, you know, as much as I'm kind of trolling him, yeah, that's true for him. It might not be true for mostly everybody. So there is a level where, I mean, kind of do have to be careful with how you put things. If you're somebody who's making fitness type content, you got to be careful about how you put things if you're somebody who's making fitness type content you got to be careful about how you talk about yourself because you got to realize you got so many people that are maybe paying attention to who aren't in that great of a spot and who would be like i would kill to have a body that looked like that but at the same time it's that's the truth and it's the most fat you've held in a long time well it is the most fat you've held in a long time like how how many people like and you't please everyone. You might feel fat. Especially if – yeah.

I mean I feel fat the second like my face gets a little bigger. So like more recently I started eating more calories and as soon as I did it and as soon as I got like more sleep and stuff like that, I started to like get a little bigger. I don't necessarily feel fat, but sometimes that happens where it's just like it could be a change of just a couple of days. And so the guy that is in tremendous shape or the girl that's in tremendous shape can, quote unquote, feel fat and not look anything remotely close to having excess body fat that would be dangerous to them. Yeah.

You know, you mentioned something really interesting. You might feel fat, but obviously compared to the most people or the general population who aren't focused on fitness, you're not. But at the end of the day, you know, with all the things that we do talk about here on the podcast, it's things that are in stark contrast to how most people or crazy idealistic and putting false hope in the minds of kids and all that that people put forward. We are trying to be abnormal. I'm going to be real. I'm not trying to be normal. I'm not going to talk about the things I do. I'm not going to say, oh, I'm feeling to be real. I'm not trying to be normal. Right. I'm not going to talk about the things I do. Like I'm not going to say, oh, I'm feeling fat or whatever. But at the end of the day, like when I got to 255, truthfully, I mean, I was pretty lean still. I think I was like 10 percent. But my standards, my personal standards have changed in terms of what's lean for me. That 10 percent is lean for everyone. It is. But over the years, I've gotten used to and while keeping my health on check, everything's, I'm all good everywhere. Like I feel I perform

well, I feel good, but I'm more so used to being at a leaner percentage. So I'm going to cut. I'm not saying that I'm that, I'm not by any means, but I do have a different standard now. And as you make changes to your body composition, wherever you are on the scale, whether you're overweight or whether you're obese or whether, you know, you're an athlete who's trying to get leaner as you progress, your old standards are not the standards anymore. You now have new standards for yourself and that's a perfectly okay thing for you to do. Yeah. Like if I went up to like 260 or 270, I would feel fat. I might not even really look, I just might look a little puffy to some people for a little while, but

yeah, it is an interesting thing. You know, I, I have lost, you know, over a hundred pounds. And so now I've been like kind of living at this body weight for a while now. And so it's a, it's an evolution, you know, it takes time to, takes time to get ourselves to these positions. But there's a lot of things, a lot of habits that I do. I think you guys have some habits probably to share today. I think it might be really useful for people. And there are things that we do every day that we don't even really think of anymore because they're just second nature. Like you're like, oh, I got up to like 255.

And you're like, okay, that was cool. Like 255 and you're like, it would, okay, that was cool. Like to, to maybe relax on a diet a bit. It was cool just to get a little bigger. I wanted to feel what that felt like again. Various reasons to explore stuff like that. And then now you're also like, well, let me just cut back down. But we have the ability just to kind of like tweak stuff to where it doesn't feel really hard to pull

five pounds, 10 pounds, 15, 20 pounds off the body. Andrew's lighter than both of us. So for him to pull off 20 pounds might be tougher percentage wise than Insima and I. But these things, they take time for us to be able to get into. And for myself last night, I went to eat at one of my favorite restaurants here in Sacramento, Camden. And when I went to eat there, I got home at like 4. I knew that our reservation was like 6.30. And so I was like, you know what?

I'm not really starving necessarily. I didn't feel that hungry when I got home, which normally I'm pretty hungry. But I wasn't like real hungry. But I was like, I didn't eat liver today like I'm supposed to. I just forgot about it. So I ate some liver. I had a little bit of ground beef. I threw some bone marrow in there as well.

It was fucking delicious. I probably ate like half a pound of beef. I ate a couple ounces of liver, which I understand is not common practice for other people, so forget the liver. I just preloaded with some protein because I was like, I don't really want to go to the restaurant. And then you always know that it's kind of a shit show in terms of finding parking. And then you sit down and you order order and sometimes the place is busy and sometimes they're like, hey, we're short, you know, staff member today. So it's going to take a little longer.

Now you're not sitting there like thinking, oh my God, where in the fuck is my food? Like normally I can be pretty patient, but sometimes after a while you're like, where in the fuck is my food? And if I'm real hungry and they put like bread on the table and stuff like that, I'm going to tend to make some choices that I would otherwise not normally want to make. And so if I eat before I go, eat before you eat, cook and eat before you eat. Protein specifically. And if you do it for yourself and you do it at home, like you just safeguarded yourself. You had something. You know you do it for yourself and you do it at home, like you just safeguarded yourself. You're like, you had, you had something, you know, you had something healthy.

And even if you are to fuck up at the restaurant and just, or even if you're just to say, you know what, fuck all that. I just want to enjoy myself. At least you still got your protein in for the day. So at the very least, at least you would end with that. Or you may end up with a situation where you just don't overeat for the day. And that's exactly what I have been doing for the last several years. It's been really effective. It's helped me a lot.

I still ate a fuck ton. I had beef carpaccio. We had ahi tuna. We had cheese. We had – I ordered salmon and I also had a New York strip. Like I just – it was amazing. Like I still ate a lot. But it was all stuff that falls in line with the way I'm eating now.

Yeah. And the thing is too, it's like the way you're eating now and we're going to talk about like a lot of the things that we've done. But the way you're eating now, it's taken you a while to land on this, for it to be something super sustainable for you. But you've done hardcore keto in the past. Actually, you did that probably a decade ago, right? You've added in quite a few carbs into your diet. You've messed with that.

You've messed with a lot of things, but there are certain things like, you know, being able to control your hunger now because we both utilize fasting, got used to it. That's something that is allowing us to maintain the physiques we have now and not be ruled by hunger. For me, like I've done a lot of different diets. I've gotten lean. You know, I hit the bodybuilding stage in 2015, 14 and 13. And I got lean having quite a bit of carbohydrates in my diet. But one aspect of that is I couldn't maintain that leanness partially because I still didn't have good control over my hunger. So I was eating multiple

meals each day. And for me, those multiple meals were just driving hunger for me. And I'd get to the end of the day, my macros are finished. I'd be like, the fuck? I'd be mad. And I'd usually, I'd have times where I'd binge. And that's one aspect of why maintaining that level of leanness was just not possible. Hunger was just way too ravenous. But over time, getting used to fasting, controlling my hunger, you know, prioritizing protein, a lot of stuff and going lower carb to no carb. Sometimes I was able to adapt to that diet. I was able to control my hunger and now maintaining a far leaner physique than in the past is quite easy for me. They're going to be people who say it's because you're on drugs. Okay. Well, if you want to believe that you can, but

for those who don't, it's because of those habits. And how lean, like, did you get your body fat percentage checked back when you were on stage? On stage, I was definitely like, because I was like 225. And I wouldn't take myself that lean now. But for me to be that lean again, nowadays would probably be like 235. So that leanness was probably around five. Okay. So then that's professional. Sorry. was probably around five okay so then that's six percent that's right professional sorry that's but

the reason why i want to bring that up is because it's a lot easier for you right now but you're still you can maintain under 10 body fat yeah right you know and it's pretty easy for you yeah and that's like the holy grail right like if you're under 10 that you're definitely on something or you know what i mean but like i got a dexa scan the other day and it was at like both because i actually had to get two back to back and they were both at like 9.4 right and that's at a heavier weight than you've been in a hot minute that's crazy dude yeah well the dexa i did the year prior i was 242 or like 241 242 and i was around uh seven and a half seven and a half to like i think 7.5 to 7.7.

So it makes sense. You know, I want to encourage people to pay attention to the people that they are giving their attention to. Take a look at Greg Doucette. Is Greg Doucette still in great shape? Take a look at Bradley Martin. Have you ever seen Bradley Martin out of shape? Like look at some of these guys. Martin. Have you ever seen Bradley Martin out of shape? Like, look at some of these guys,

the people that we, uh, that we're excited about in the fitness industry. I don't think everyone has to always be in shape all the time. I don't think everyone always has to be peeled. And like, there's older people that, that have coached people and things like that. So there's definitely things outside of that, but is the practice that the person's doing, is it actually sustainable you know is sean baker still a savage like has he been the whole time he's been promoting this carnivore have we seen him slip like he's become more of a savage yeah and from what i recall he's gotten better and better looking like he legitimately got better looking he looks younger he looks better today than i've ever seen him before and stronger he's a motherfucker that guy right like he's that's a

date that's a dangerous human being right i i tried raiding his house to see if i could find something like i'm gonna he's gonna slip up somewhere he didn't have any like some seasonings like even for like his family right like though not the worst but like the most that i could find was like some cheese and apples right you know like everything else was like mineral water and meat right fuck all right another guy you know paul saladino like we've seen these guys fluctuate a lot we've seen them in bodybuilding we've seen that a lot where the athlete gets really lean they get on stage or somebody gets into fitness they get in great shape and then unfortunately they end up gaining a lot of weight back sometimes they're able to keep pulling

themselves in and out of that and they're able to toggle that okay but like that can be really tough on your mind that could be really brutal you're in shape you're single digit body fat and then wham you gain 50 pounds 40 pounds we see this fairly commonly and it's understandable like after a competition, maybe you didn't know, or maybe you slipped up or whatever. But my whole point in bringing this up is that bodybuilding type stuff and or getting on a stage for any sort of fitness type of protocol that you want to follow can be amazing because you can go to depths that bring you to a 5% or a 7% or whatever percent is low for you. And then you can kind of learn, okay, that was wild. That was interesting. I'm going to gain a

little bit of weight back. But what you can find from that and what you could learn from that is you might forever be able to be a little bit leaner. That's been my experience. I did one bodybuilding show, and it helped me. I mean, I don't know if it helped me forever. It's helped me the five years following the bodybuilding show. So you can use that experience this way, but sometimes people just get in shape for that one thing, that one time that they do it, and then they gain all the weight back because I think the diet or the regimen that they were doing was so strict. Kind of like the Marine who makes his bed every day, and then he's got a mullet,

and he's got an earring, and he doesn't make his bed anymore or whatever, like all these different things that they couldn't do when they were in boot camp or when they were a Marine, they're now, you know, doing when they got out. So a cool aspect about getting really lean first off is that when you get into those percentages, your body fat distribution does change. This is an anecdote that I've seen from countless bodybuilders and figure athletes is when they get to those depths and then they gain body fat back, their body fat distribution becomes more even around their physique. I didn't used to be able to just have abs. Like most of my body fat actually was like I had more body fat here

and I had a lot more body fat on my legs. My legs is where when I did the DEXA scan, I hold more body fat. Like my body fat composition is kind of that of a woman apparently. You're such an interesting person because like how do you hold – your legs are fucking jacked, first of all. But secondly, you ran on those legs forever. I think that you're supposed to be the fattest person that we know because of your appetite, your bone density. Your body was probably meant to hold a lot of weight. Yeah.

Yeah, my bone – yeah, yeah yeah yeah but but it's funny in my first bodybuilding show in sema at 300 pounds just like joel green asked for yeah dude never come on bro never just not happening the needle no i'm okay with that but in my first bodybuilding show the toughest thing for me was getting my legs lean and then on the con the in the when i gained body fat back after that show my legs had lines in them when i cut again my legs lean. And then when I gained body fat back after that show, my legs had lines in them. When I cut again, my legs got leaner. And when I gained body fat back, my legs had deeper lines. And now my legs are just perpetually lean. So your body fat distribution changes when you get into really lean percentages and come out. But I also want to mention this,

and it's really important because one aspect of what we do that fucks up younger people is that we do look the way we do perpetually. Like every year we're lean or we're fairly lean. So a lot of people that have just got into lifting are like, God, I want to be like that. How do I get lean and stay lean? that. How do I get lean and stay lean? And they don't understand that there were decades prior and years prior that we just spent lifting and gaining and putting on muscle, muscle that has allowed us to now look the way we do when we're leaner and without the need to gain and get back and be that heavy again. So understand that if your goal is to look like one of these fitness influencers, you can't, if you're new to the

game, you can't just cut because you won't have anything underneath to look the way you want to look. You had to gain some muscle. Okay. You don't need to get super fat, but you have to put some time under training and gaining muscle to then cut and look the way you'd like to look. You need that muscle underneath. I mean, you just, you just do. And that's why you see so many guys have the background of, of, uh, powerlifting or even just getting into like lifting heavy. Like you started in bodybuilding, but it seemed like, uh, right away you kind of understood like, Oh wow. If I go heavy after a couple of years of bodybuilding, it took you a while. I started lifting when I was 13. I didn't start strength training as in like, let's squat heavy. Let's deadlift heavy. Until I was like 22, I think.

So maybe eight or nine years. So my whole training thing when I was younger was, again, training for sport. Just trying to be bigger so I'm more dominant on the soccer field. So I was doing in the gym. I was doing like leg pressing. I was doing goblet squatting. I was doing some squatting, but I wasn't trying to go super heavy. I was doing a lot of high reps, a lot of high reps.

I'm squatting, but I wasn't trying to go super heavy. I was doing a lot of high reps, a lot of high reps. But then after I started going, focusing on bodybuilding, after my first show, when I started training again, that's when I was like, let's really work on the deadlift. At that time, did you have like hamstrings and stuff? Yeah, my legs were big. My legs were big when I played soccer. My legs were big when I got into my first show. Decent hypertrophy, but it helped you grow overall. Yeah.

Like I mentioned when we had Mike Isertel on the show, a big transformation for me or a big breakthrough in my training happened when I started really pushing the intensity. Intensity meaning the overall load on the bar, the percentage of my one rep max, really trying to work with heavier loads. And when I was focusing on strength while still doing a lot of reps on other exercises, it's like I had another set of newbie gains that came. Right. But now I think a cool thing for a lot of young lifters is you understand both. You know, you understand that you can train with some really good volume, but understand that you can progressively get stronger. And when you mix those two, it's a, it's, it's going to speed up your progress, And when you mix those two, it's going to speed up your progress, really speed up your progress.

Do you do anything now that represents something to where you would maybe kind of say like – maybe it's just not your goal. But like are you doing anything in your training to where you're thinking, I think what I did today sent a good message to my body to get stronger. I think what I did today may have sent a good message to my body to gain muscle mass. Like, I don't think that those are either things that you really touch upon. However, when you're doing like your kettlebell stuff, like you're using pretty heavy kettlebells, like we take it for granted. We're like, oh, it's only two, you know, 50 pound kettlebells or 70. It's like, it's a lot like when you think about the reps and stuff. so you think there's anything that kind of falls in line with that or is that something that you don't really need to mess with at the moment it's something that i don't need i don't need to mess with as deeply as i was as and i don't need

to i don't need to put as much training volume into my legs because number one i'm not trying to get my legs that much i'm not trying to get my legs that much. I'm not trying to get my legs bigger, but there are aspects where I am trying to increase strength. And when I say strength, I don't mean like, uh, you know, weight on the bar, bar, weight on the bar, bar, both squats strength. I mean like, okay, let's see how deep of a range of motion I can get into an ATG split squat with some decent load and see if I can come back well. Like I'm trying to exhibit strength through large ranges of motion that my body isn't used to. And I do believe that that does elicit a different type of strength. For example, the trap three raise on the lower back extension machine. That's the, when you're,

I don't know if Andrew can pull it up, but you're on the low back extension, you have two dumbbells. I'll do it like a Superman type motion, yeah. Boom. Right there, right? That was a weak movement for me. But when I do that movement, I feel these deep muscles within my back start to activate. I need a lot of shoulder stability to be able to maintain that position slowly. So I'm gaining a different level of stabilization, strength, probably, yeah, stabilization, strength, and

just smaller muscles are getting stronger. And that elicits a response for me to progress and be able to do that movement better next time. So my focus isn't building more like big muscle tissue. My focus is working on all those little things that I've neglected over the years of training that are going to help me in athletics and sport. Right. So that's why I mean, that's why you see me doing some of the weird shit that I'm doing right now. You know what I mean? Like this, the, the leg swings and the fucking grabbing the marble with my foot and all that weird shit to try to get all these fine, small control muscles, because doing jujitsu, that's going to help me have better body control. And the cool thing is that since I had that base of bodybuilding, I don't need to stimulate those muscles the same way I used to, to keep them. I need to stimulate

them. They're not just going to stay if I don't do anything for them. So I do things to stimulate all my muscle groups, but I don't need the same volume to maintain it. Yeah, you're doing stuff to train yourself to absorb force, forces from individuals that you don't really know what they're doing. You might have an idea of what they're doing because that's part of the game of jiu-jitsu. And then for you to be able to produce force. It's a really interesting thing when you get into a grappling sport. to produce force. It was a really interesting thing when you get into a grappling sport.

But then another thing that's probably missed about grappling is like, there's dudes that just grapple and they don't lift. And sometimes they're jacked. Like there's a, there's a eccentric, there's concentric, there's isometric. Isometric holds and grappling is huge. There's a lot of that going on.

And obviously like a little bit of training go a long way. So I think all those guys should mess around with weights for sure. But you're getting a lot out of your training. I'm getting a lot out of my training. But one thing that I think is really, really important that seems – it's like, okay, how can you add this puzzle piece into what athletes are doing? I was lucky to start training when I was younger. I was lucky to get into the weight room and have that be a part of what I do.

But a lot of athletes that are in sport, soccer or grappling or martial arts, they didn't. But they have the base of martial arts. So their martial arts are really good, but they want to be more muscular, right? So the thing is, is like, how can this athlete, that athlete will have to probably do more hypertrophy work than I have to do since my base was putting on muscle. Well, they're going to need to do some of the bodybuilding stuff. Maybe they'll do some of the powerlifting stuff to allow them and maintain their sport. I think one weird thing is people think that if they do bodybuilding or powerlifting, they'll get super stiff and they won't be able to perform well. Yeah, it's not true. It's not true. If you continue doing your sport, your body is going to be used to what the new muscle you're building and the new strength you have.

If you stop your sport and you just do bodybuilding and powerlifting and come back to your sport years later, that's where you'll be having a problem. I know you're enjoying this episode, but listen up. We partner with Merrick Health. They're a telehealth network owned by Derek for more plates, more dates. But literally, the amazing thing about Merrick Health and getting your labs done with them is that when you get your labs done, you work with a client care coordinator that goes over your labs and gives you specific supplementation or nutrition protocols or potentially hormonal protocols for your levels. The problem with a lot of these other telehealth networks is that when they do these things, they give everybody the same exact things, which actually can hurt you long-term more than help you. Andrew, how can they get it? Yes, that's over at MerrickHealth.com. That's M-A-R-R-E-K-Health.com. And if you already know what labs you want to get at checkout, enter promo code PowerProject10 to save 10% off all of those labs. If you don't know where to start

head over to merrickhealth.com slash power project you guys will get directed straight to the power project panel that has 26 different labs that will cover everything you need and at checkout enter promo code power project to save 101 off of that panel again merrickhealth.com links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. Right. And I made a post the other day about, you know, I just went all in on powerlifting. And we've talked before about like speculations on why I got so tight and different things like that. But I think an interesting thing to keep in mind is like we're all very different. And my athleticism when I was young, it's not like I used to move like Tyreek Hill. You know what I mean?

Like I've never possessed that. I mean the capacity on that guy is fucking crazy, right? And any other just really high-level athlete you can think of, I didn't have those capacities. Not even sure if I have those capabilities to be totally honest. I don't like any ceiling on anything, but just being honest, like I, when I first lifted weights, it made sense to me. I lifted a little heavier than my friends and I was like, this will probably be something that I pursue the rest of my life.

Like I knew it pretty early on. I think, you know, maybe I lifted weights for six months and then after that I was like, yep. Not only am I stronger than my friends when I started without really doing much, now I'm way fucking stronger than them. They couldn't move hardly the bar and then sometimes having tens on each side was crazy for them. And I was able to put 25s on each side and move it around just after my brother showed me a couple times how to do it. And so I kind of like gravitated towards it. But each person is going to have their own journey.

And for you to get something in particular, for me to get more mobile, it's going to be a motherfucker. Like it's going to be a lot of work. It's going to require me to think about it a lot. We understand and we know that somebody is going to be really, really good at something the more time they spend doing it. However, there are people that have some really awesome natural talents and sometimes they don't have to spend as much time perfecting that trade but that's okay you just have to look at it and say cool for them that ain't me i might require a little bit more time i dealt with the same thing in school i would go over reading stuff i'd go over math stuff and they'd say you understand it i'd be like yep and the second i went to do it on my own apparently I didn't understand it I

would try again and again all right you got it mark yes I'd go to do it again and it wasn't there I couldn't retrieve it I couldn't I had a hard time figuring it out so it took it took a lot of time you know and that as a kid that like broke me down that made me very upset. But I had to just accept it at some point. I had to get real with myself and say, do you actually think that there's no possible way that you can learn that? Or do you think that maybe there's just a small disconnect going on in your brain where you might have to concentrate on this a little longer than the next guy? But so what?

I grew up with clothes on my back. I grew up in a really nice house. I grew up with amazing parents. I grew, I had everything. So this one, now I'm, what am I going to do? Sit there and focus in on this one thing that's like my struggle. No, it's part, this is part of my story. This is like, this is here for me for a reason.

This, this is like of my story. This is here for me for a reason. This is meant to be. It's like you hear Joe Rogan talking about you're writing your own story, your own movie. You're the hero of your own movie type of thing. Don't forget, Andrew, can you pull up James Smith's page real quick? Did you see the recent video that James Smith posted? I did not see.

I saw something he posted where he was talking about somebody else but i don't remember who he's talking about was it an asian dude i don't recall okay what you just said like remind i literally saw this video this morning i find it so funny that first one we love james smith by the way and i love the fact that he's always in his little skivvies yeah oh man i can't see hold on okay there we go no need is this guy kind of annoying two sets of 30 seconds i want to bring something to your attention something called the swimmer's body illusion imagine someone if you will that wants to get in shape they think the bodybuilders look too swollen and stupid and they think runners look too skinny and miserable they go oh swimmers they've got amazing physiques i'll start swimming

three four five months in they realize they don't look like a swimmer they're like what the fuck is up they then come to realize that swimmers don't look the way they do because they swim they swim because of the way they look people think i'm big and broad because i played rugby no and i played rugby because i was big and broad when my whole school year went to play rugby only the big guys and the fast guys and the athletic guys actually enjoy it then they continue doing it and getting better those that don't don't so let me see people in shape like this i'm sure it works very hard but genetically spread across populations are some people that are just going to build muscle quite easily and remain relatively lean with minimal effort so people like this don't look the way they do because of what they're preaching. They're

preaching what they preach because of the way they look. It's why most personal trainers are really incredibly un-fucking-relatable. They're a non-empathetic, broccoli-wielding bullbag. And because they're in good shape, their friends go, you should be a personal trainer. They wonder why it doesn't last out. They're only doing the job because of the way they look and not the way they look because of the job they do. It's important to keep that in mind whenever you see some cunt in baby oil online tensed with muscles and telling you to do ab workouts that was fantastic that was amazing i love that and i totally wish somebody said that to me way sooner i love it and i also dislike it quite a

bit there's a lot of love there's a lot bit. There's a lot of love there. There's a lot of love. There's a lot of love because it makes a lot of sense. It makes a lot of sense because, you know, like you were mentioning, you know, you got on the weight on the bar and you were able to lift more than your friends. And someone who hears your story then hears what James said is going to be like be like well mark's only doing what he's doing because he was talented in the beginning he had a talent so he drove into that and that was his thing that's that's the main reason so i'm just going to kind of discard what he says because he's talented and he's genetically gifted for it cool so you don't do shit and you stay the way

you are true true right yeah so the thing is like as truthful as what James said, you have to find your gifts and do something with them. You do need to find your gifts and do something with them. But you also, if there's something you like, and even if you're not as immediately gifted as the other guy that just for some reason he, he did it and he's after a year,

he's a pro just because he's a pro doesn't mean you don't keep working at that because especially when it comes to the fucking body the lot of change can be can happen when a person's consistent when a person's consistent and stays with that over years the problem is that most people that try the fitness thing don't see the results they want to see after a few months and then they see something like that and like well i'm not talented so that's probably why I don't, you know, that, and so I'm just going to fucking stop. That's what I don't want people to do. I don't want people to see somebody that's like good at something. Number one, they don't know how many years that person spent doing the thing to look the way they do now, because I've seen so many transformations of people at point a, and they

look like someone who's not talented. But point B, they're like, wow, you look like you're talented. But no, they probably put in a decade of work that you haven't put in and you're just saying that they're talented. So as much as there's truth behind James' video, there is a lot of without – he's not being devious, but there is this little thing that's going to creep into the minds of quite a few people that's going to tell them to, it's not my thing. I'm not gifted. I'm not talented. I'm not going to bother with it. I'm not going to bother.

And that will kill a lot of people's progress and kill a lot of people's goals. Also, you know, we tend to leave out parts of our story too. Like I'm leaving out, okay, that was the bench press. I laid down on the bench press. Bench press made sense. I didn't squat forever because putting a bar on my back, I was too much of a pussy. I was like, this hurts. And I wanted to use like one

of those pads. The only time I could use one of those pads was like in the high school gym. I bet Mad Dog probably gave you so much shit. He was like, you're the biggest. is like this is fucking disgrace like what are you doing and that was like it took me forever to learn how to squat especially because even back then i didn't have good mobility so it was like a huge hurdle i remember um building up my like bench press and going to some competitions and stuff and then being like oh i'm glad they i'm glad they have like bench and deadlift because i can't squat and then finally when i joined like a powerlifting gym i had a coach and he was like

you uh aren't proficient in the squat because like no one ever taught it to you so let me just show you how to do it and then just like anybody else and just like anything else, I had to like learn it. I wasn't naturally strong at it. It took forever to build up a squat. But that's the thing. It's like that's kind of where I think, you know, if you're someone who's starting or if you've started later in the game, just because like if you're paying attention to somebody and they look great, just because they look great, you don't realize the amount of work that's gone into that, the decades that's gone in figuring things out and actually putting the time in. Because the thing is, is most people don't put in the time. And if you want to get there, everything that we've done has taken a gradual amount of time. It's taken a lot of figuring out what works for us, figuring out what's best, trial and error of a lot of different things.

And that's what it's going to take. It's not an easy thing. And that's why it's like, what I think of that video right there is that it's good, but for many individuals who don't look at themselves as being talented it's going to implant a little mind virus it's going to implant a mind virus yeah i think uh two interesting thing

is to his point and this is stuff that i've thought about in the past it's like whenever you're ever seeing a fat surfer you know you ever see a fat guy with a surfboard it's like probably you probably don't ever recall seeing that didn't rodney dangerfield do a movie where he's like surfing uh he well he definitely did a movie where he was a diver yeah i remember he did the triple lindy i remember that but you know what i mean like and then you're like is it the activity of like hauling a board to the to the beach because i always see those guys i'm always like that seems crazy like they're walking from really far away you know with this giant from their cabin in the mountains yeah this fucking giant ass board and they're like is it the activity that burns the calories or are they out there pumped about surfing because they've always looked pretty good like i you know or same thing with like

beach volleyball kind of rare to see someone real heavy out there um is it because they're out there and they don't eat like they're out there and they don't eat? Like they're out there forever playing volleyball. They're active. But again, like whatever your thing is that you might have a little, a little tiny push forward on than somebody else, you still have to find it. You still have to carve it out. You still have to work on it, find it. Yeah. The reason why I was digging what James Smith was saying, because, you know, with, uh, you know, YouTube comments and stuff, everyone kind of assumes they know everything because it's like, oh, well, Arnold never did sissy squats. So obviously those don't work. You know, like, why would you waste your time doing

this and that? It's like, well, maybe he was already going to be big and he was going to gravitate towards squats or whatever it was. And he didn't have any issues with his back. And he didn't have any. Yeah, exactly. Right. So it's like, but the way you explain it, we're almost kind of getting at the same thing where it's like people will get something in their mind and be like, nope, because so-and-so did it. That's the only way you're going to do it the only way you're going to get big is if you grow up playing soccer get into bodybuilding then try powerlifting then do

jiu-jitsu that's the only way you can look like in sema and i just think that like again it's the same thing we're just trend just like in sema's own trends well i didn't want to tell everybody but i'm glad you did now that that's on the table but you know what i mean like i guess it's the same mind virus it's just uh the cousin of the one you were talking about yeah dude and but that's the thing man it's like the the main like the main thing that i think i've actually i've been saying that for a really long time even on my old ass youtube videos on my old channels like just takes a lot of time and consistency and that's not a sexy thing. And I've never marketed like something that will take you a few months to get somewhere because I don't believe it. I truly don't believe that. I mean, if you, if, if you've,

if you have your diet in check and you, you understand everything and you have good habits, you can lose body fat consistently. But if you're, if you're new to this, this is something that you need to give yourself, you need to give yourself years. I'm not saying that it's, it's, uh, your weight goal is going to take years, but I'm saying that to build all the habits we talk about and to be able to be consistent and to get to a point where this is just your second nature and it's the way you live, it's going to take years. That might not be the greatest thing to hear, but like, you know, with you and getting mobile and running, like this has been a process that's taken a few years. And now people see you running miles.

But a few years ago you were run walking and you were super stiff and now you're less stiff, but it's taking years. So it's just like, that's why that, that's what we're talking about here. Be great. Have grace with yourself so that you can just, you can continue to make progress. And when something doesn't work out, don't use as an excuse to quit and say, this doesn't work and say, you can't do this because you're not talented. Just adjust and find something else and try to work through it and make it work. People really need to believe in themselves. And sometimes some of the stuff we hear via social media, like these things, they shouldn't really have much impact on us. We should still be able to believe in ourselves. But something I felt from the time I was young,

I always felt like I was special. Like I don't even really know how to put that into words or what that even means. But I always literally felt like I was going to do something cool. I always felt like I would be in line to do something that I wanted to do that would be like impactful in some way. And I don't think as a kid, I was thinking about other people. I was like, I want to be a pro football player or like you know i was just thinking about myself i want to be rich you know those kinds of things but i really did feel like i've always felt that way no matter how i felt like about being dumb or no matter how i felt any other way any other inadequacy that somebody would face um i always could kind of rest my hat on like we we'll wait and see. We'll see. I don't know when

it will happen, but I failed playing football. I was decent at it, but I wasn't great. I saw what really talented football players looked like. That wasn't me. I worked at it. I, I trained for it. I sprinted, I jumped, I lifted, I did all this stuff. And I was just wherever I was at in terms of a football player. I played on Santa Monica city college where we had Ocho Cinco and we had Steve Smith, Steve Smith, hall of famer. Like you get around people like that and you're like, Whoa, that is fucking, that's different. I don't have whatever some of that is these guys are working with that. I don't, I don't have that, but I'm not like mad about that. It's just like,

okay, I'm trying to work at this and I'm sure they're working really hard too. They got some gifts. I got some gifts some other ways. So let me try something else. I tried professional wrestling. Didn't come out the other end the way that I wanted to on that either. And then powerlifting has always kind of been sitting there for me the whole time. And so I was like, let me see what happens if I really push into this. Let me see what happens if I really push into this. Let me see what happens if I really go into this.

But the main moral of that story is that I never stopped believing in myself. Like I knew that I would still be able to become something. I didn't know what it was. I never knew when it was going to happen. But I stayed connected to that for as long as I could. And what I would encourage people to do is like, what does it hurt? What does it, like, what does it hurt to just believe in yourself?

I know it can be hard, especially because some people don't have the love that I grew up with. And that fucking sucks. But I think that through trying stuff, you will fail and you will learn from those failures. And hopefully you'll start to land on something new, something different that helps progress you forward to where you're like, okay, I didn't do that great at that. I didn't succeed that well at that.

But when I moved over to this other thing, I actually made some really good progress. And when I moved over to this other thing, I made some more progress. And if I can make progress here, I wonder where else I can make progress. I should start campaigning that around everywhere. I should start seeing what are some other areas in my life I can make progress on that maybe I didn't believe in myself about. Maybe for me, maybe it was like after I was like 30 or so i was like oh like maybe there's tons of shit that i can actually learn all this stuff that i didn't think i was capable of like holding on to this like knowledge maybe i can dive back in and i did so through personal development through using youtube who doesn't have access to YouTube? I mean, it seems like most of the people

do, right? Absolutely. That's like, you know, that book Mindset by Carol Dweck is something that I mentioned a lot, but that book, it's like, it talks about how, you know, when parents tell their kids how talented and how gifted they are at certain things, how that can stunt their progress at other things as an adult or as a teenager. Because as this kid grows up, they're like, oh, so talented at this. And I got this so quickly. And the perception of children, too, when they get kind of good at something, they don't realize how long it took.

They're just like they suck for a while and then they're good. And then their parents like, oh, you're so talented. But they've been doing it for a few years. So they're like, oh, I'm talented. But as a teenager or adult, you try something and you're pretty bad and you're pretty bad for a while. And it makes you think that, well, you know, because I don't have the gifts and I'm not talented, I definitely can't really get good at this or I can't progress at this, especially as adults, because now you're aware of how bad you are at something. As a kid, you're not. That's something you just got to get rid of.

You really have to get rid of. And I know we talk about, you know, going on your gifts and going on those things that like you feel drawn to and you should. But I would be wary to tell an individual that just because they don't feel that they're totally gifted at something or talented at something that they shouldn't try to go towards it. I'd be wary of saying that because that's something that makes people stop doing something that could end up that that could be really good for them, especially because progress takes time. It is gradual. Everything that we've talked about, everything that we're implementing has taken time. It's been gradual. There was a lot of mess ups.

There's a lot of times where it's like, ah, this probably isn't going to work. And we just kept doing it for a while because we knew that at some point things are going to click. And you need to keep doing things until they click. You can't just quit it after a week or two or a month because it hasn't clicked. If you like it and it's not like detrimental, it's not really hurting you or the people around you, then you need to, you owe it to yourself, I think, to continue to pursue it. I want to kind of get back on track with some more of the stuff that we were talking about in terms of like applying some of these things and the evolution

of some of our food and some of the things we've been doing. But I got to ask you guys, like when's the last time that you guys, the last maybe three times that you really like binged and like ate, like literally kind of went out of your way to eat something that's like way off plan? You know, let's just say normally that, you know, you guys both from what I know, eat some meat, eat some fruit, eat some rice, maybe some potatoes. When's the last time you just like, fuck it, man, I'm eating pizza. I'm having a burrito. I'm eating ice cream. Like one of the last two, three times, like what's the time span?

You're both like kind of really thinking about it a lot. I'm having a hard time. And so it's yeah it's it's interesting and if you remember if you guys both remember we've had people on the show before like years ago and they like stand up for you and be like hey when's the last time he's like i don't i don't know i had strawberries the other day that's what he said yeah and we talked to a hern and some of these guys and we're like what what the fuck is going on like what's wrong with these guys and now i think we're there like what what's been your experience in the last couple months well i i mean for for us in and out is just like it's so close it's so convenient so like that's it's something that i would consider something still off plan but because it's not so far off, it happens more often than not.

But the last time I had anything that was just like, I'm going to enjoy the fuck out of this was in Tahoe. We like finally found that one place that had like the ice cream sandwiches because they had gluten-free cookies and Stephanie has a gluten intolerance. So it's like, dude, yeah, let's, let's go get that. And like like we had such a hard time finishing one together like we couldn't like it was like my stomach started hurting like it was not that enjoyable like it was good but it wasn't like amazing um outside of that it's uh yeah it would just be in and out like every i don't know not every week but it's safe to say once a week just a regular i mean what do you get from there um so it's yeah it's safe to say once a week. Just a regular, I mean, what do you get from there? So, yeah, it's pretty amazing.

I'll either get nine, and this is for the whole family, nine or ten Flying Dutchman, and then I'll get three orders of fries. So the fries is really the one thing that's like. Nine or ten Flying Dutchman for everybody? Yeah, so I haven't been able to eat that much of them, so I'll have four or five, and then Stephanie will have two. Jasmine will have two. And then my son will have one.

We got to do a show where Encima eats the entire time. Because I've had nine fine dust me before. Dude, when I have like tried like cutting back on calories and you're just like always fucking hungry. Like I've had 10 on my own. Nice. But it's like my nephew thinks i'm a hero for that but you reminded me of a dream i had i'll tell you after but traditionally i would have like six but i lately i've been having like he got like embarrassed yeah he did because it

clicked that's so good but anyway yeah lately i haven't been able to eat much of uh of anything too too crazy so like it would be that ice cream outside of that um we went to hell's kitchen and i ordered uh like wagyu meatballs with like uh like a crouton thing and i'm like give me two of those because i'm like i don't want to share i don't want to share this one so you guys have that one um but even that you know it was like mainly meat it was Wagyu meatballs but the thing is it had like a bunch of bread like croutons around it and those just they just tasted really fucking good so like that's just what I like indulged in it's just funny what you got dude dude I had this dream last night and it just when you mentioned Flying Dutchutchman just hell of things went on in my head so tom saguro was in my dream and i had a dream that i went to in and out i think he was

giving me the burgers but i ordered say he worked there he was giving me the burgers i ordered six flying dutchman and it costed 84 and when i left i paid for it you were like five guys wait wait i left and i was i was like i was getting ready to eat but i'm like wait up why was this so expensive it's expensive because i typically do triple flying dutchman and when i do triple flying dutchman for some reason it's cheaper triple so so meaning like i got 12 patties and they were doubles so i had six six of those but if i did three it's usually 36 i don't know why it was like that in the dream, but it's, but I have four, you know, four Flying Dutchman, three patties each.

Tom's a guy who fucked you over. So I went back and I was like, I'm sorry. I usually get this and I get triples and it's usually $36. Can I have a refund or can I replace this? I'm a big fan, but you fucked up my order. Yeah. And then I got my, I got my triple Flying Dutchman back and I got a refund. That's incredible.

Dreams are amazing. What's funny is like we're not supposed to really like be able to deal with numbers in dreams for some reason. I forgot why. But I do that shit all the time too. I'm just like, no, this is way wrong. Like why is it like 16 o'clock right now? Hold on. That's so funny.

Yeah, when you mentioned Flying Dutchman, just my head started going crazy. Yeah. I love pizza i haven't had it in a long time like other than like the stuff that i make at home like every once in a while which is with your guys favorite fat-free cheese just to keep calories down dude if you so check this out if you put fat-free cheese and then you spray i can't believe it's not butter spray which is also like basically no calories it comes out like really really good like gooey cheese like like the way it's supposed to be melted it doesn't turn into plastic it's really good this fucking witchcraft you're doing it's amazing he's creating like at home velveta cheese yeah kind of it's definitely some kind of chemical it's no longer cheese whatever we're not by time i'm done with it oh man that's some turkey pepperoni and it's a freaking party it's really good yeah you

guys gotta try it smelly's kitchen i'm actually curious i really am curious what it tastes like because it's really good you mentioned it so many times man yeah uh in terms of the last time i was off plan you know the okay so the the big thing is the reason why because I'm going to mention some shit that seems off plan but it's really not the control I have over hunger now um because of fasting over the years and I can go the day without eating and just have like electrolytes and maybe some protein and then eat later I've had ice cream in the evening right but on those, it's usually because like I didn't really eat much during the day. I've had sushi. I've had like eight rolls of sushi,

but I remember that day I didn't have anything during the day and I had those eight rolls of sushi and a steak. So the caloric intake wasn't that high. This isn't something I do every day, but like on days that, on that day that I went on a hike and had that pizza and stuck with a bunch of meat, that pizza was like the only thing I ended up eating and I ate a steak when I went home. So it's like none of those things end up being off plan because when they're done, when I do eat out and I enjoy it, it's always because I wasn't eating during the day. And that means that that one meal may be 1,800 or 2,200 or 2,300 calories. And I've already done a bunch of stuff during the day where it's like not off plan. There's always this concept of most days I'm always in taking a lot of protein.

I'm always being satiated. And even on the days where I cook at home, sometimes it is just one meal that I make. But none of those things that I mentioned are even remotely off plan because I have certain habits in place that we've done over the years that allow me to enjoy that and not even feel remotely guilty about it. That's interesting. And yeah, like just I guess reframing what's not part of the plan. I think there's many ways to like guess, kind of go off your diet. But really, if you truly think about it, the only way to really go off plan and way off the charts would be to consistently overeat for an extended period of time, like a handful of days. Yeah.

You know, where you really just like went nuts with food and had very low activity. where you really just went nuts with food and had very low activity, that would be like, oh, you took a little mini vacation from what you normally do. But I don't think any of us get into those predicaments at all anymore. No. Actually, to kind of piggyback off of what you just mentioned, what I mentioned here, I wouldn't suggest to somebody that's having a hard time with food or having a hard time with their diet or whatever, because for me, doing those things doesn't open any type of floodgates. I have ice

cream one night doesn't mean I'm going to have ice cream every single night for the next week and then eat way more food. That's going to put me over calories and have me gain excessive weight. But for some individuals who are new to all of this, doing something like that will be like, they'll feel bad about it. Then they'll eat more. It'd be a trigger. It might be a trigger. These things don't trigger me and they don't affect me negatively because my whole day is controlled.

Like the whole caloric intake at the end of the day is still in a deficit. So because I mentioned this, remember, we have all these habits that we have set up that might allow us to do something like that and be perfectly fine and not remotely off of the goals that we're trying to achieve yeah like the day that i had the the ice cream i started out the day the way i do almost any single day whether i'm at home or on vacation um i just i had eight poached eggs and four slices of toast with like dry because i was, I don't want whatever fake butter you guys have even though I eat it at home. But I ate that and that's all I had the whole day until I had the ice cream and then we had dinner afterwards. But it's like, yeah, you're right, setting it up.

And so it wasn't off plan. It was just something I don't normally eat because I set up the rest of the day. eat because I set up the rest of the day. Yeah. For myself, there's been times where something like In-N-Out, you know, I might go and have some Flying Dutchman, but then I also might get like a regular one with the bun. Um, I've been doing more stuff like that probably over the last like year where I'm like, it just doesn't matter. You know, it's something that's really, you know, I would consider to be like fairly modest. I went to a place called El Patio, which is really good. I think I told you guys about it before. It's been a while.

It's really good. It's so fucking good. And I got a burrito. I got some fish tacos. But again, like trying to load the motherfucker up with protein right um you know i i try just to do things like you know like i try to make a choice between like sour cream cheese and like if you start to get sour cream cheese guacamole like you just end up with like a lot of fat um so for me i just mainly like the cheese. So I'll get cheese, beans, rice, and just load up

on either chicken or steak or sometimes both stuff like that. You know, little things like that over the years have been things that, where you just get like double meat, you get the extra protein in there. That's kind of helpful. But, um, so I did that. And I think when I went to, um, when I went to Nebraska, when I went to Piedmont Tees, um, even though we ate all day, uh, at night when we were going home, I was like, oh, let's stop at like CVS or something. So I bought some candy. Uh, but it's like, it's nothing like what I used to do. Like when I used to do something like that, you know, I would be like, you know, i'd have like a shopping cart and i'd like you know dump everything in there this was like i bought a

handful of things and i was good the next day yeah man um it's the the thing about this that's interesting that i actually i'm i'm happy about is that we don't need to be extreme. Like some people talk about diets and they're like so strict and they're, you know, so rigid, uh, to look the way that they do. And that's cool. But we have habits and we have things that we do that allow us to loosen the reins, loosen the reins, but we're still within our protocol and have these foods that people be like ah you can't have that and be cool you know i mean this is what people will say oh you're just doing flexible diet we're not tracking shit we're not tracking like but what you know this isn't something we do all the time but it's something we enjoy and it's not something we need to do every day one thing i think is that people feel like some people think you got to be able to have

ice cream every day you got to be able to have ice cream every day. You got to be able to have something like that every fucking day. You don't need it every day, right? And number one, when we have it, we don't feel guilty. We don't feel like we're off plan. But it's also not something that we overdo. We have a balance with all of this stuff and it's – all of it is always – we're always heading towards our goal. It's never taking us off plan.

It's kind of nice to like, somebody has food or there's some like, you're at, you're somewhere. And there's, there's certain things that I won't do. Like I won't, I won't eat like chips. Cause I'm like, chips are fucking great. I love chips and salsa, but like, I'm going to eat so like for me to be pumped about it, I'm going to eat so much of it. And I'm just sitting there like, Hey chubs, like don't eat the fucking chips. But when it comes to something else, I'm like, okay, well I am going to get a burrito, you know, or I am going to have tacos. Like I am going to eat this or that. And I just make a little compromise with myself. Like, OK, don't have that, but allow yourself this. And then it doesn't feel restricting. And sometimes certain things I've learned, like something like chips, it's just never ending.

It is, yeah. With a burrito, I'm like, that hit the spot. Like, that was great. You know, that was perfect. That hit the spot. Yeah, where is that spot? I don't need anything else. That felt great.

It's this part of the belly that only gets triggered with just copious amounts of food. It's that kid's spot. Yeah. The chip thing, I got to say, as we're talking about all of this, that is truth. We mentioned ice cream. We mentioned pizza. We mentioned sushi. These things, sans ice cream.

These things, they can make you feel full and you can get kind of creative with it but chips no boy oreos boy that's not like see that's just that's something i'm not gonna do and i did it recently and i was i was so regretful okay yeah there we go there we go you asked the time we binged yes the time we binged that was when we did that video and i bought all those processed foods oh yeah i had an oreo and then i ate the three sleeves i ate the whole sleeve the three sleeves it was a big old package that's great i don't keep that shit see that's that's that shit where we just don't you know we don't we don't play something like a dorito is so interesting because i swear that you're i think your mind thinks like i need to taste this again.

Like your mind's like, I think it's going to taste different this time. And it's amazing. But for some reason, I think there's like something in your head. You're like, one of these is going to taste a little different. I think they actually did like a thing a while back where they had like a spicy Dorito in there or something like that. That's evil. Yeah, it was like encouraging people to like, you know, eat them whatever doritos should be illegal those are so good there's you just bypasses all human evolution it does yeah what i was gonna say is like i had actually like a pretty i don't know

i was like having fun going to each restaurant and trying to figure out like how i can make the healthier decision or whatever you know anywhere from a breakfast to like a dinner spot i was just like i want to do that but take that out or you know like just give me an extra couple of eggs or give me an extra patty on this whatever hamburger double protein whatever it may be and like i don't know you don't have to like look down on anybody but when you're you get your plate and it's a fucking solid meal you're just like i'm winning right now everyone else around me is kind of losing and i'm tearing shit up right now just imagine you stuff yourself with more bread you fat motherfucker yeah it's like andrew's like ha ha ha ha look at you

and you're like giving everybody dirty look as he like walks to the bathroom or something it works out really well like so again it's not fun that my wife has a gluten intolerance but she can't have bread so i'm like cool we don't need bread at the table there we go and then no matter what she eats my son can eat because it's just mainly going to be protein like that's all he cares about we'll try to give him rice or something he's just like get that shit out of my face like give me the fucking protein it's great oh god yeah i feel that man but i i'm mad i gotta i wanna i it's funny it's like we go on these tangents of like wild shit we eat but then i i gotta reiterate you know different stages like it was a gradual process to get here is a gradual messing around with the diet, messing around with what works. If you're in that right now and you're a little bit strict and it's working well for you and you feel you need to continue to be kind of strict, especially if you're trying to lose a lot of weight or trying to lose a lot of body fat, don't introduce ice cream.

weight or trying to lose a lot of body fat, don't introduce ice cream. Don't, you know, introduce wild pizzas or anything. Just don't, don't mess with that yet. Especially if you, if you know yourself and know that currently that's not the best thing for me, that, that tends to open up patterns of binging, et cetera. That's not, that's not something you need to be doing yet. Right. But you may get to a spot when you have a better level of control over your food and your habits that you can introduce these things and you're like wow i'm fine you know i didn't i didn't eat more of it the next day and the next day and the next day and now i'm good and then boom that you you're good so just understand like everything we're talking about it's a gradual thing.

If you do find yourself binging, you might want to reevaluate the type of diet that you're on. And then, or you may also want to just bring up your calories for a little while. Like if you're counting and you're tracking

and then you're binging and a lot of times, what do we do? Like if you are tracking stuff, like you don't track any of that because you're like, I went way off. I went way off plan. Um, what I would suggest is like, just spend a couple of days just eating more, you know, spend a couple of days adding in stuff to your food that you enjoy. Like for me, it's pretty simple. I just add in like cheese. I like dairy a lot. Um, I like fattier cuts of steak um even fattier burgers like i like the

96.4 from piedmontese but i fucking love the hop dotty patties they have those are so good and that's like you're gonna defrost that shit yeah it's like it's like cooking up a bacon burger it's so it kind of is yeah it's so good it just sits in its own fat and it's Yeah, it's so good. It just sits in its own fat. It's so good. But little things like that can make a huge difference. And it's just a small little adjustment in your diet. You're not doing anything too crazy. But sometimes, like, if you're on a diet for three days and then you're binging, and you're on a diet for three days and you're binging and keep going back and forth,

like, that's a sign that it's not working. And same thing with fasting. If you fast a lot and you keep finding yourself overeating, like overeating to the point where you're overdoing it so much that you're eating like two days worth of calories or 125% of your caloric need for the day, then it didn't work. Can I mention that that's happened to me? Yeah, it's happened to me a million times. Exactly. That happened to me a bunch in the beginning when I was trying to figure out how it worked. So if that doesn't work, but neither of us said, oh, this fasting thing just doesn't work. We adjusted and figured out ways in which it could

work. You know, maybe we cut down time a little bit. Instead of trying to do 20 hours, we went 16 or 12 and worked from there. But understand we've done that shit and we're still here and it's working. And we don't do that stuff anymore, but it happens. So a situation that you've had, we've probably fucked up in a similar way.

Are all three of you guys kind of fasted today fasted ish well i mean i had protein in my coffee so people say no but yeah yeah no i i still i've been doing like two meals a day pretty much so um oh you had your you had your eggs so i did have eight eggs but because i had a little taste test of those chaffles yesterday i started craving french toast so i made uh french toast with four eggs instead of using egg whites. And then I just added four extra eggs on top of that. Smelly's kitchen. Smelly's kitchen is going to change the world. We're making some really good food over here. Yeah. So yeah, I still had eight eggs and four slices of toast, which is kind of like a

normal thing, but, um, with a little bit of protein and then of course the sugar-free syrup. So that's what i had today and i won't eat anything i might have a tasty pastry depending on how i feel but i won't eat anything until i have dinner around i don't know four or five o'clock and you're here from nine to four or something yeah yeah so just i mean yeah it takes me roughly i don't know depending on traffic but like we'll say half an hour to get home. So when I get home, that's usually when I either start cooking or like I'll finish cooking dinner if my wife started. I think it's a great idea for a lot of people that are always thinking about what they're going to eat at work, when they're going to eat, you know, all that shit. It's like,

maybe just don't eat at work. Maybe eat when you're home. Yeah. It's like such a huge productivity hack, but like, yeah, I would, I don't want to go back to having to carry around like bags of food and, you know, stop everything that I'm doing just that way I can go eat right now. It's like I can eat, we can podcast and then I can get some work done. And while like an episode's exporting, I go hit the gym. And then after that, I come back, upload and head out. What are you giggling about, dude? Nah, it's just fun paying

attention to the bodily sensations that happen when you begin to think about your next meal oh yeah because when you started talking about that like first off the eggs you made yesterday i was i stuck around a little bit so i could eat because he made some stuff in somebody's kitchen so i'm like let me just stay in the office so i can eat whatever's made and those eggs were fucking good. How did you make them? I didn't even get to see them because you ate them all. Yeah, I did eat them all.

Yeah, how'd you make them? Well, I usually use bacon grease, just a little bit, just because no matter what nonstick pan you have, eggs stick to fucking everything. I'm not a big fan of like the sprays and stuff so i'd rather use like butter or uh bacon grease anyway i found bacon grease to work really really well so i put down some bacon grease and then i throw some eggs in there and these are like uh like medium uh or soft boiled eggs i guess you'd say um they're not even boiled they're um uh what the fuck is the word?

Yeah, they're kind of like poached eggs, right? I think I had maybe about six eggs in there. I throw a little bit of cheese in there after they're cooked already pretty well. And then I also throw a little bit of butter in there. And the butter is kind of what poaches them because I put a lid on it. Nice. And the butter and the fucking cheese all melts like together and then you have the explosion of the yolks everywhere and it's just like it is just it's bacon was hella good yeah it comes out

so good and yeah like that so yesterday because i didn't have bacon grease, I just actually cooked bacon and I just topped it with bacon. And yeah, it was just, it gets to be insane. And when you start to learn to cook that way, every time you eat, it's so good. It's like, God damn, this is really good. So yeah, Smelly's Kitchen is going to be coming soon. You guys can look at that. It'll be on Mark Smiley Bell YouTube channel. I really have a piss in my stomach now.

Now I can feel how empty my stomach is because of all this. There's a top secret thing that I do during the making of those eggs. So, I cook them. I have the stove on, right? And then I put the lid on. Then I shut the stove off.

I go and I take a shit. When I come back, every single time without fail, the eggs are fucking perfect. April even mentioned, like, these were perfect. And I was like, yeah, they were perfect. It was just like, did you take a shit during Smiley's Kitchen? I didn't take a shit during Smiley's Kitchen, were perfect it's just like did you take a shit during smiley's kitchen i didn't take a shit during the kitchen but i did stop as if i did like this is how long it would take normally i just have to take a shit at that time like it goes without fail i'm like cooking the eggs and i'm like oh my god like this is a fucking emergency

it's so excited and antsy for the food and i'm like yeah i'm like let me put a lid on it and move it over here, and I'm going to go take a dump. Nice. That's a good rule of thumb, I guess, for you guys. Trying to make some perfect eggs because, yeah, those eggs were good. Thank you. You're very welcome.

Thank you. I make mine similar, but mine are so much more bland than that. Like I just use water to create the steam. And so it's like not even close, but it still comes out good. That worked for me the other day too. It does work. Thank you does work yeah i haven't been able to get like the perfect timing down like if i'm gonna go take a shit but like it just depends like if i'm super hungry i'll cook them a little bit more because it's a little bit harder to eat like really cooked eggs it's like basically like hard-boiled eggs but if i'm not too hungry i'll undercook them so that way they just like melt into the rice which is what i eat them with imagine you're like reading

a recipe and step five is to go take a shit that is so good you're like what you're like what go take a shit or wait five and a half minutes and you take us on out of here all righty thank you everybody for checking out today's episode please make sure you guys like today's episode and subscribe if you guys are not subscribed right here on the YouTubes we would sincerely appreciate that and follow the podcast at MB Power Project on Instagram TikTok and Twitter my Instagram

TikTok and Twitter is at I am Andrew Z and Seema where you at check out Discord go to Discord link in the description ask some questions over there we'll use them on the air Check out Discord. Go to Discord. Link in the description. Ask some questions over there. We'll use them on the air over here.

There are actually people who have been on the topic request side, so I'll pull that up. But yeah, we have a lot of different channels there. People are there going over their progress day to day. Bruce Bruce is killing it. This person Sloane's abroad. I think she lives in Korea. A bunch of people in there just killing it daily.

It's a great fucking community over there. Check out Discord. I don't see my NA on Instagram and YouTube. I don't see my Yin Yang on TikTok and Twitter. Dear Liquid Death, could you please give us a scholarship? Yeah, sponsor us. These are fucking good. These are so good. I'm really digging the fresh water out of a can. I've never had that before. It's so refreshing.

I don't know what it is, but it is amazing. It's really good. I'm just drinking just the straight mountain water yeah that's what i have right here and it's awesome i mean i guess it's water but i'm excited about it the sparkling water is the the good shit oh yeah because like like this is the mango chainsaw and i've had a lot of sparkling water i tasted i'm like why is this so good i looked at the nutrition facts it has three grams of sugar i don't give a fuck about the three grams of sugar because it's three grams. That's it. But it tastes really good and I can drink tons of these.

I think you drank all the flavors yesterday on the show. I did. All at one time. You kept cracking them open. I'm like, this guy's going to pee himself. That's what I thought too. I'm like, how's he not peeing? That's wild.

What was your favorite flavor so far? Mango chainsaw. And the next one is the lime one. I had lime yesterday. That was good. What was your favorite flavor so far? Mango Chainsaw. And the next one is the lime one. I had lime yesterday. That was good. Yeah, it was really good. They shit all over La Croix. They do.

It really does shit on La Croix. La Croix is not very good. No. Yeah. There is that one lemon one that we were talking about yesterday, though. There's that one lemon La Croix that's pretty good. I don't know the one. I forget what it's called.

But it's not good when your whole company has one good flavor. Yeah. Yeah, the rest of it sucks. Anyway, Liquid Death, help us out over here. We need you in our lives. Another market scholarship. Thank you so much for sending that out to us. I appreciate it.

I'm at Mark Smelly Bell. Strength is never weakness. Weakness is never strength. Catch you guys later. Bye. I need to apply deodorant.