Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 572: The Vegan Advantage, Sensitive Topics & Becoming a Better Trainer
Episode Date: August 12, 2017Organifi Quah! In this episode of Quah, sponsored by Organifi (organifi.com, code "mindpump" for 20% off), Sal, Adam & Justin answer Pump Head questions about going vegan, their most sensitive topic t...o discuss and the moment they got on the path to becoming the trainers they are today. Sal talks cordyceps (3:10) Four Sigmatic Pre-workout gains Endurance workouts Stamin Sucralose and FDA daily intake / Pre-workouts (12:20) FDA Guidelines Gut impact Adam talks Atomic Blonde, other films (21:17) Kingsman: The Secret Service Pacific Rim Adam listens to books at 3x speed! (25:33) Forces him to get into flow state Retains the information better Quah question #1 – What do you say to someone who says going vegan made them feel better? Moderation and balance the better way to go? (31:40) Listen to your body Tracking Be aware of what you are eating Most vegans have to supplement Quah question #2 – What are the hardest/most sensitive topics to discuss on the podcast? (47:10) Sal His children and divorce Puts blame on himself/doing wrong thing Justin Gets defensive when placed in a corner Doesn’t like getting help Adam Seeks out things that make him uncomfortable Open book His work ethic Quah question #3 – Can you pinpoint the moment that made you the trainer you are today? (1:08:21) Sal The purpose behind what he does Being open-minded to training himself Justin Always wanted to improve his performance and others Shadow himself with someone who knows more/master of what they do Adam Got an offer for promotion below his self-worth No one can influence his self-growth/improvement Get our newest program, MAPS Prime Pro, which shows you how to self assess and correct muscle recruitment patterns that cause pain and impede performance and gains. Get it at www.mindpumpmedia.com! Get MAPS Prime, MAPS Anywhere, MAPS Anabolic, MAPS Performance, MAPS Aesthetic, the Butt Builder Blueprint, the Sexy Athlete Mod AND KB4A (The MAPS Super Bundle) packaged together at a substantial DISCOUNT at www.mindpumpmedia.com. Make EVERY workout better with our newest program, MAPS Prime, the only pre-workout you need… it is now available at mindpumpmedia.com Have Sal, Adam & Justin personally train you via video instruction on our YouTube channel, Mind Pump TV. Be sure to Subscribe for updates. Please subscribe, rate and review this show! Each week our favorite reviewers are announced on the show and sent Mind Pump T-shirts! Have questions for Mind Pump? Each Monday on Instagram (@mindpumpradio) look for the QUAH post and input your question there. (Sal, Adam & Justin will answer as many questions as they can)
Transcript
Discussion (0)
If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND We get some pretty deep stuff. Now the first 25, 29 minutes.
Hang in there.
We actually have a little fun time bullshit and a little bit.
I talk about Cordiceps.
It's an interesting mushroom that you can take for performance.
We also are sponsored by four-symmatics.
If you're not the psychedelic kind.
Yeah, not those kind.
So if you want to get...
We're still looking for that sponsor.
Cordiceps, the place to get it is
For sigmatic.com spell the word for F.O. You are
Sigma to S.I.G
M.A.T. I see dot com forward slash
Mind pump and enter the code mind pump for 15% off then we talk about sucralos
A lot of people don't know that one serving of pre-workout may actually exceed what the FDA says is acceptable.
Wow!
Or triple the amount.
It's ridiculous.
For daily intake of sucralose.
We talk about movies, Adam talks about the movie Atomic Blonde.
Yeah, go see it.
Which is apparently better than it sounds.
The female James Bond.
And Adam does what's called speed listening.
Very interesting.
Yeah.
Then we get into the questions.
The first question was, what do we think about people who go vegan
who say that's just how they feel better that way?
Do we still think it's better to eat things in moderation
for those people?
Then we talk about what the hardest subjects are for us to talk about.
Those are the sensitive subjects that we all find
are difficult to even bring up. Justin the sensitive subjects that we all find are
difficult to even bring up. Justin has so many that we actually had to cut out a question
because there was so many things that said, I'm on and on and on.
It gets legit deep in that particular question. Finally, we answer the question about how
we've grown as personal trainers. Like, can we pinpoint when we got on that path of really becoming the trainers we are to get today?
Finally, this month, again, it's one of our favorite
promotions, we are giving away access to our private forum
for free.
All you gotta do is enroll in any of our maps programs
or bundles.
In other words, get yourself started on a maps program, pick whichever
one works best for you whether you want to do our foundational base program, which is
maps and a ballac, or whether you're athletic focused and you do maps performance, or you're
more of a stage presentation type person. You want to focus on aesthetics with maps aesthetic,
enrolling any of those programs or a bundle and get on the forum. And the reason why it's
a good idea to get on the forum
is because then the people on the forum,
there's about 2,000 people on there,
made up of trainers, doctors, fitness professionals,
they can kind of help you along the way.
It's a great place to be.
And also, that price goes up after this month anyway.
So again, private forum, for free, enrolling any maps program
or any bundle,
and you can find it all at mindpumpmedia.com.
You guys know I like to stack things
with my pre-workout coffee.
You are a stacker.
I'm definitely a stacker of things inside your body.
Look, my body, inside the coffee.
I like that.
Then goes inside my body.
Because, here's the thing, with caffeine,
Camera does a good job of putting the neutropics
and stuff in there, which kind of balances out.
But then I add other stuff that gives me
the more calm, clean, focused, high.
Because I have a tendency,
unlike you Justin, who is completely immune to stimulants.
I am just wired.
You are completely immune to stimulants now.
I am.
Completely.
Well, I'd love to, you know, I have to have them.
You drink minimum a gallon of coffee.
Yeah.
Come on, hadn't you?
I'm exaggerating.
A minimum.
It's more like three quarters a gallon.
Yeah, exactly.
I mean, it's, let's all calm down.
If I had as much a double gulp, you know,
if I had as much coffee as you, I'd be able to see's the fight. Let's all calm down. If I had as much a double gulp, you know, if I had as much coffee as you,
I'd be able to see into the future.
That's how power like do.
That's why I come up with innovative shit.
Wow, that's your secret.
That is.
No, for reals though, I like to take things
to augment and balance what I do with my caffeine intake.
So one of the things I add is ashwaganda.
Ashwaganda is excellent with caffeine.
My wife's taking that now,
thanks to recommendations from Jessica.
Ashwaganda is a very good balancing herb.
I don't have any brands or anything to mention.
I'm just talking about not just the good.
It is, it's a really good one.
It's used quite heavily in aerobetic medicine.
It actually raised testosterone too
if you have low testosterone in men.
I'm not taking it for that particular reason.
I like to take it because it balances me out
when I'm having a lot of caffeine.
Yeah.
I've also, if it's a deal of stress too, right?
Oh, it's a balancing, right?
I just felt balanced it out.
I've also in the past, I've cycled in and out
of using cordiceps, which I've talked to you guys about.
Do you guys know the history of cordiceps
in terms of the popularity of cordiceps in this country?
I don't school me on your fungus.
So, you know it's a fungus.
There's a fungus.
Amongus.
You know it's a fungus.
And his name is Sal.
Every day you surprise me.
Every day, that was that impressive, huh?
Well, just every day, there's something new
that I learned about me.
Yeah.
But, so Cordecepts got...
I tend to be dumb.
So, I forgot what your Olympics it was.
It's a lot of work.
I don't remember what your Olympics it was,
but the Chinese swim team, women's swim team,
was crushing everybody and their performance performance and they were attributing
their progress or at least their performance to the use of cordiceps, not because they
were taking steroids.
But it was the cordiceps.
So then all this attention went to what cordiceps do for the body and what they're good. And here's the funny thing about courteseps.
It's a fungus that grows in caterpillars.
No joke. It takes over inside their body.
It fucking takes over. I think it's caterpillars.
If I'm maybe Doug, you can look this up.
I think you're right. I think I've never seen that.
It's a parasitic fungus, which all fungi are parasitic in some way.
And it takes over.
It realizes the host.
It takes over the fucking caterpillar
and it grows out and then the caterpillar's dead
and then it becomes this fungus that grows
out of this caterpillar.
Is this how they figured out?
Is there like some tribe somewhere
that like eats caterpillars on a regular basis
and they found out like this?
And I got this.
Wow, I feel great.
Right, I feel so mentally sharp today.
You know, like one of those caterpillars I ate, dude,
you gotta do it.
You gotta think to yourself.
That's how we figure this out.
Well, I wanna know who the first guy
to do all the shit was.
Like, what a brave simple bitch, you know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
Right.
Ooh, this caterpillar looks a little funky.
Let's put that in my mouth.
Yeah, so, oh, there it is.
So, what does it grow out of their dug?
Is it out of a caterpillar?
Am I right on this?
Arthropod. Out of arthropods.? Is it out of a caterpillar? Am I right on this? Arthropods.
Out of arthropods. So it's not just caterpillars. It's insects that belong to that category of insects. Not sure what arthropods are.
But
Don't worry our boy Mark Forell will definitely school you on the forum later today. It's his favorite thing to do.
So anyway, shout out to Mark, Smarty Pants.
I love it when he gives us pretend compliments.
You're saying.
He's like, yeah, guys, you guys are interviewing people
and try really hard.
And you guys, you know, he says same shit.
I know exactly what we're gonna say.
But it's really good.
I'm like, what?
What happened? It's like a thing.
It's like, yeah, you know, it's like a shit sandwich.
That's what that is.
It's like your fat, but it looks good on you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We only wear it well.
Yeah.
But anyway, so this, this is just disgusting images
that you can't do.
Oh my god, Doug.
So anyway, disturbing.
This particular fungus has properties.
If you read about cordi-steps, it's spelled by the way,
CORDYCEPS. It's one of my favorite supplements to play around with. It's been for a long time.
It has... No, I remember when we were at Paleo Effects, how excited you got when you got a chance
to meet the four-segmentic guys. Well, those guys just own, am I, my opinion,
they own the market on fun guy supplements
because they do the dual extraction.
I was gonna ask you,
what is it that they're doing that's better than,
because I know there's a lot of companies
that are starting to get into this.
It's becoming very popular.
I see it now, even in your normal supplement shops,
my buddy was just talking about,
he's a supplement shop owner, he owns two of them,
and he's like, this is like the hottest thing right now to get a hold of.
What is it about that company that you like so much?
Because you were the one that introduced it to me.
So when we went to Paleo Effects, I was like,
fuck, I am gonna talk to these people and we met
one of the like, I don't think he was a CEO,
but he was a decision maker.
He was like, he was a big shot.
So I was able to talk science with him.
But anyway, the thing about mushrooms that's interesting
is when you use them as, when you use them additionally,
or as a supplement, there are things you can extract,
you can get from the fungus when you do like a dry extract
and things you can get from a water extract
and they're both different.
So in like, in aerovetic medicine,
they'll use one for certain things.
Like here's the water extract for these particular things
and here's the dry extract for these other particular things.
Well, for sigmatic does dual extract with all of it,
so you get everything with their process.
And I've always just liked their product.
Ever since I started using them,
it's the best, those are the best mushroom based supplements
I've ever used.
But Cordiseps, when I do it with my coffee
in the morning with my workouts,
I don't notice a huge effect with my,
like phase one style training.
So if I'm going heavy and doing few reps,
I don't notice a ton.
When I notice an effect is when I'm doing my supersets.
I'm so more stamina.
Yes, it's a stamina supplement.
So when I was doing jujitsu,
cordy steps got really popular with the jujitsu guys
that I trained because you do notice more stamina.
Is that where you got it introduced to at first was in jujitsu?
Yeah, that's the first time I started to take out.
Oh, so that's a long time ago.
I've been, I've been,
and it's fairly new to me.
I did not.
Cordy steps have been around for thousands of years.
But I, I feel like I've never heard the fitness industry talk about it as much as I have in the
last probably two or three years.
Yeah.
No, it's getting a little more popular.
Just where you introduced to it before then?
No.
This is the first time I've really heard it being introduced, you know, in the fitness world
anyway.
Yeah.
So some companies will take what they think are the active ingredients
at a core step, and then they'll concentrate them
and turn them into, and they'll say, okay,
this one has the highest amount of this particular thing.
The reason why I don't necessarily like that.
Leave it to Big Herba or Farma.
Yeah, and the reason why I don't necessarily like that.
Stract did multiply it, sell it for more.
Yeah, it's because they
concentrate the fuck out of it.
I mean, then you kind of, okay, so all these plants and herbs and stuff that have been
used for a long time have been used a particular way for a long time.
So what we know of how they work is based off of that.
When you start taking individual things out of it and concentrating them, now we no longer
know what they necessarily do and there may be more potential side effects or it might even be less
effective. You know what I'm saying? So anyhow, yeah, I did this morning, I did like a faster paste,
superset type workout. And I just noticed that I don't get you know when you start to get at a breath
and you're pushing yourself and you almost feel like you just can't anymore. And have you ever been
in those zone workouts where you're pushing yourself and even though you're exhausted, you almost feel like you just can't anymore. And have you ever been in those zone workouts where you're pushing yourself and even though
you're exhausted, you just feel like you can keep going.
I get more of a motor.
Yeah, I get more of that with cortisaps.
That's cool.
I like to cycle it, so I'll take cortisaps with my endurance-based workouts.
Yeah, I was going to say that's probably the only endurance version.
I see in your guys training for the most part, right?
The more super sad or muscle, yeah, muscle endurance.
Yeah, so it's like phase three style training,
like phase three that you'll find in,
or even more.
Off to try that in, I started to pull him out.
I started to pull him out.
That's when, that's, I'm gonna try that.
It's huge for that, it's huge sleep.
So now on the supplements, since we're on the topic
of supplements, I just read something very fascinating
that I'm gonna post about a little later today
on Instagram, it's gonna piss everybody off,
you know, my favorite kind of stuff.
Yay!
So, sucralos are favorite artificial sweetener
to hate on, only because it's the one
that's most common.
Yeah, and they're present and everything.
In shitty supplements.
I did not know this. This is interesting now.
This is based on a site that I'm reading
and I did a little cross reference
and I found that they were actually pretty accurate
with this information.
So there are some potential negative side effects
to sucralose and there is an acceptable daily intake
that is recommended by the FDA.
So the FDA actually says,
here's the acceptable daily intake of sucrose.
Now, two things, one, I don't trust the FDA
as far as I can throw them.
So, and there are massive organizations,
so I can't throw them very far.
Don't trust them that much.
So, whatever their saying is acceptable,
I will always venture to say,
way less is acceptable or none. Nonetheless, they've identified is acceptable, I will always venture to say, way less is acceptable
or none.
Nonetheless, they've identified an acceptable daily intake where they actually find, if
you eat more than this, that they have identified.
The FDA has actually identified negative effects, negative side effects, including long-term
side effects.
And that acceptable amount, based on the FDA, is 5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.
So let's do some in simple like a...
So a 150 pound man, it would be 340 milligrams of sucralosa day is what they're saying is
acceptable daily intake.
And remember, their studies are a grand total of six weeks, 12 weeks long.
I still don't trust it.
But still, right, 340 milligrams.
A can of soda will contain approximately 40 milligrams
and one can of soda, a typical can of soda.
And one, by the way, the soda is down.
By the way, one Splendip packet is about 5 milligrams.
So that's whatever, right?
So based on the FDA, you're probably safe.
Based on our opinion, I'd say probably not a good idea,
but nonetheless, you guys get the
drift of what I'm trying to say here.
Now, this particular company took one of the more popular pre-workout supplements and
got information from them.
Did they list the name or no?
No.
I'm not going to list the name either.
I know what it is, but I'm not going list the name either. I know what it is but I'm not gonna say it. And this popular pre-workout supplement,
which I would assume most are probably just like.
Are around here.
Yeah, right.
Because most of them have all the blueberry razz
and bubble gum, whatever.
Lightning lemonade.
It's like a dragon lemon.
And all that shit.
Not to mention the colors and shit they put in
to make it look the way it does, right?
But anyway, you pee brightness.
It's not even a color.
It's just brightness.
Coming out of my mouth.
When you pee in the dark.
So this popular pre-workout supplement, Per serving, contains 334 milligrams of sucralose.
That's approximately 30 packets of Splenda.
What is it, I'm confused.
Yeah, how does it have so much?
Well, they put it in there.
I know, but what?
What?
Does it really necessary to get it that sweet?
To that?
That's what sells pre-workout supplements. There? Well, what's cell pre-workout supplements?
There's only two things that sell a pre-workout.
Or does it taste that bad otherwise?
Well, because it's like horrible.
Have you ever had, okay, so-
Well, we've made our natural one before.
We've made our natural one before.
And it tastes like-
Remember when we did that?
When I had you guys taste the like, what's this?
I was trying to have that for a very long time, actually.
And I still recommend to people that,
I'll be the
first to admit. Here's the deal. Like, you know, back to, I've been training hard again.
And we've had some days where I've been up here back to back with interviews and so
that 5 a.m. And I've been trying to be consistent about the gym. And I'm like, I need something
to fuck and get me up. I need a pre workout type of drink. And so I make our, my, our own
ingredient, our individual ingredients.
I was trying to think of a comparison.
I was like, hmm, maybe a trolls asshole.
Yeah.
For what?
For what?
Oh, yeah.
The one that we made.
Yeah.
It tastes like, to me, it tasted like ground up bones.
Almost.
Ground up bones?
Yeah, like it's like, remember how it's called?
I want to taste like, like, bitter lemon water.
Oh, that's because of the citrally.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's, to me, it's like, it didn't have it tastes like bitter lemon water. Oh, that's because of the citrulline. Yeah, it's a tummy.
It didn't have a little lemon water.
But anyway, 334 milligrams of splendor or sucralose
in a serving of pre-workout.
And remember, I just said that the FDA,
which we don't trust anyway,
says that that's already, you've already hit your max limit.
Now, if you consider the average person
who is super into fitness,
they're probably having what every day?
Pre-workout, protein shake, protein shake.
Pre-workout, we gotta have it before you work out.
They're probably having two shakes a day
and a fucking pre-workout.
They're probably well above with the FDA.
So they've doubled down on the FDA.
That's what the pre-workout is.
What are these protein shakes?
What are like a kookies and cream from?
So here's the fucking problem.
Look at the problem.
Here's the problem.
None of them, none of them will list on their label
how many milligrams of sucralose are in there.
None of them.
If you look, go ahead and buy a protein powder,
look on the back and it'll say sucralose is an ingredient
but it won't tell you how much they're not,
they don't have to.
It's not law. Oh wow. Yeah, yeah, so you don't know. We don't know what's going they're not, they're not, they don't have to. It's not law.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, yeah.
So you don't know.
We don't know what's going on.
I wonder if like the law, I wonder with the look into this, I wonder if like, because
FDA regulates it somewhat.
So I wonder if the law is as long as it's under what they, FDA regulates is the daily.
Nope.
No.
No, that's so loosely regulated.
It's not, there is no, well, I know the FDA doesn't regulate supplements period. Yeah, I know that yeah, so so how do they get away with that then that's fucking crazy
Because they do they so here's here's here's how the here's how the supplement
You're gonna say when your mom used to ground you you're grounded. Why?
Why?
Therefore I am yeah, well, I mean you know how though you know how it works
They they do what they want to do until someone tells them that they can't.
And then say, stop.
Mind pump tells them to stop.
Yeah.
So knock it off, which is, which is, I mean, that's why we've always advocated the natural
route.
Because my finger, they're going to flavor it with things like, you know, what is that?
Monk fruit extract instead of yet.
And that kind of stuff, which is, I mean, so far as we know,
a lot better.
But yeah, trip off that.
So if you're taking all these supplements, like your artificially sweetened supplements and
you may be throwing a diet soda or a diet monster on top of it, you're above what the
FDA says is safe.
And the FDA is full of shit anyway.
So holy cow, right?
No wonder are you getting all these access, man.
Yeah, and we've talked about this on previous podcasts,
but artificial sweeteners like Aspertain,
sucralose.
What did you say that does the FDA go into when you're beyond
that? What are some of the side effects that they say
with the needle?
That's a good question.
I don't know.
I think so the side effects that the FDA they say with the needle? That's a good question, I don't know. I don't know, I think. That's the interesting thing.
So the side effects that the FDA is looking for
are things like that are reported,
you know, reported side effects.
Like, you were a bit like dizziness or headache
or you know, that kind of stuff.
Naja, you know, diarrhea, whatever.
They don't examine, they don't examine the one thing
that because they never knew to look for it.
That we know, sucralose really has a bad impact on, which has gut flora, because sucralose,
although it may not interact with human cells,
it does interact and affect bacteria.
What did Dr. Ruscio say?
I know you guys talked a little bit about this.
What was his intake or take on all this?
Did you talk to him at all about it?
He's, yeah, he's like, don't.
I mean, that was all. Yeah, he's like, it's not a good idea. It's, it's, he said it's probably not a
good idea. So an alternative, a better alternative would be something that's sweet with stevia,
obviously. Right. Stevia is your, your, your better alternative, your best alternative
is nothing. Right. Any sweet real. I mean, let's be, it's, it's impossible to find something
even like your best organic products and so like that are going to be sweetened with
stevia. So that, so it doesn't taste like dog shit when you're drinking it right right
and at least at least that's coming from a stevia plant right I mean yeah I feel like that's
and it's interesting. A lesser evil of of them. Yeah. Even that we say take that in moderation
you still should go for whole foods but like I say all the time it's impossible for me to get my
my protein.
I would just day in and day out without supplementing some.
Rule of thumb, just go organic and natural.
Those two things alone will do a big,
will make a big impact in terms of,
the healthier gut in long term,
potential long term effects.
Again, remember, there's no really long term studies
because how would you fund one?
Like how would you take a bunch of people
and give them sucralos on a regular basis
and study them for 30 years?
I don't even, it hasn't even been a market at all.
Right.
You know what, not to take a detour, but I'm going to.
Did you guys, had you guys see the preview
for the movie Atomic Blonde?
I have seen the preview for it.
Okay, so I totally did not want to watch it
because it looks like a super. It's starting to turn.
It's starting to turn.
It's a female version of James Bond.
Okay.
I went and saw it.
It was good.
You liked it?
Yeah, I did.
I didn't think it'd be good.
It was really good.
I like her, though.
It was done.
It was done.
I got to look and see who the director was
because I could tell that the film was it was shot it was unique right
reminding me of like watching a like a Quentin Tarotino film although it
wasn't like there's a flavor to it. Yeah exactly that's thank you there's
there's a there's a special flavor to it that's not traditional I love films
like that I love films that are shot. I watch so many movies so to get
something so you like Sin City. Yeah exactly stuff like that that I love films that are shot different. I watch so many movies so to get something so you
like Sin City. Yeah exactly. Stuff like that that's just kind of off the wall. Graphically cool.
A lot of them. Story told from different angle. You know what I'm saying? Like not your typical film
that's super predictable. So I know that that's why it doesn't get like it didn't get like a 90% review because I think the simpler
Like pulp comic or they're some kind of genre for is there well this time
My god. Yeah, it wasn't since city ish
But it where was like since it is that it's shot differently right?
So that's what I mean by oh, then I'll go watch it because I don't want to watch it because it looked to me like you're typical like
Oh, okay, you know special, killing people and it's all,
you know, all these like special effects and slow motion fights and all that stuff.
But if it's like you're saying, no, it's cool.
And I'm in enough was going on with it that it makes me want to watch it again.
Because I know I was actually kind of trying to figure it out for the first bit.
Like, okay, what's going on here?
She's what was that one movie with it was English special agents. It was rather part two just came out. What's it called?? What was that one movie with, it was English special agents.
It was rather recent.
Part two just came out.
What's it called?
It's Kingsman.
Kingsman.
Fucking good movie.
Great movie.
That was a movie that surprised me.
Oh, right.
The end.
Oh yeah.
That was a really good, surprising movie.
Part two just is either coming out or just came out.
Part of the second one.
I'm gonna watch it.
Yeah, I wanna watch it.
Yeah, the first one was great.
You know, there's one movie I think I've brought it up on the show
before that the movie, the one movie that I can think of
right now that surprised me the most.
You know, you're ever going to a movie and you're like,
this is gonna suck.
And at the end of it, you're like, wow,
that was actually a really fucking fun movie to watch.
Machita or whatever.
No, no, no, I felt like that movie would be awesome.
I thought, Pacific Rim.
Yeah, I saw that.
Did you, were you surprised by that guy?
I saw that on TV, I think.
Yeah, it had, I don't know if I saw that.
Yeah, that one actor, I like him a lot.
Egris.
Is that Egris?
Black dude?
You know I've been told that looked like that guy
by several people.
Did you just say he's a black dude?
Yeah.
And he looks like,
Hey man, I'm Sicilian.
Yeah, he get the, what are you gonna do?
I got the, I think he's way more handsome than you, bro.
Well, I, of course, he is, he's, he we is, but.
Yeah, I had, I heard rumors like he was thinking
of doing James Bond while back.
What's his name?
That would have been cool.
Eager is something.
We gotta find out what he's,
Eager's alba, I think.
Is it?
Yeah, something like that.
A lot, a lot of people
The reggae bastard it
You notice we have a oh eedress Idris my bad this guy. So this do I look like this guy right here?
Let me see a little bit. Yeah, we we know I don't do a mind pump IG post of like I do like that guy
I've been told literally gotten so I'm gonna I'm gonna do like a split screen and what we'll vote
I've gotten DMs from people who said I look like him if you were a black guy. You would kind of look at that
He is even though your guns are built different to though. No, we're kind of this look
It he's got a little bit of that narrow muscularity. He's got some good forums. You know me kind of looks like me a little
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. He's got the white hairs
Yeah, I'm gonna be some beer and he is he was the main guy in one of my favorite, all-time favorite TV series.
A must, the wire.
The only series that I have watched three times.
I've never in my life watched three times I've watched a series over.
That's how fucking good it is.
You watched a lot of TV, dude.
I do. I do. I tried to do those things. I do a lot of TV. I do I watch a lot of TV. I do I tried to do that I do a lot of things but I couldn't uh, yeah, are you a multi-fascar ever since ever since I started listening these books on three speed
I got all kinds of extra time and watch movies now
The three speed doesn't exist
You gotta train up to that. I think you are Neil from the major
I that's a page of a John Williams book. And when he said that, like this,
I just would boom, like just knowledge bomb from him.
I was like, what?
You can listen to it faster.
And then the first time I did it,
I remember going like, this is not gonna work.
It's gonna be, I already have a hard time paying attention.
If I speed it up, it's gonna be worse.
But the opposite is true.
Because it's so fast, it pays close attention.
Exactly.
It forces, it's like the whole concept,
we talk about flow state,
how when people do a back flip off of the thing,
how it's everything slows down for them.
The same thing works in your mind when you're reading a book
at super high speeds, you have to really focus to retain it all
and you just progress up.
Like so I started at 1.25, then.5 then 1.75 then 2 then 2 now
I actually don't listen to 3 I listen about 2 and a half is then depends on who's reading the book because of it somebody
Half how do you get all the storage on your phone because I keep wanting to add all these I have to hold on dude
I'm gonna have to do that. I'm gonna play I'm gonna play our podcast
I'm gonna play our podcast to get a book and it just kills my cuz I want to see what it sounds like
No, we only goes up to two for podcast. Let's see
Wow, you listen to faster than that. Wow, that's annoying. Well, we suck. I don't get a no way fast
You know what I at first it was you remember I didn it was, you gotta remember, I didn't go from, like I just said,
I didn't go from, yeah, I worked my way up.
So when I first went into,
when you go from one to one point two five,
there's just a little bit of difference.
It just cuts out the dead air.
Then from one point two five to one five,
then it sounds sped up.
Actually, when someone puts on,
like so everyone's walk a train,
and I, when we're listening,
it will slow the book down,
because we're like,
we're not speed reading.
We're just enjoying this time together. So we'll listen to it slower. It kind of annoys me, it will slow the book down because we're like, yeah, we're not speed reading. We're just enjoying this time together.
So we'll listen to it slower.
It kind of annoys me because it's slow.
You sound like the micr machines guy.
I'm gonna go that fast.
I'm telling you guys right now that that was,
you know, you talk about all the cool things
that we've picked up from our guests
that have been like great knowledge bombs
and things that we, Tom, Bill, you giving me that piece. that piece I feel like it's I mean I've been able to rip through
books at a faster speed and retain as much if not more than what I have.
So here's the thing with that.
So you you've you've said this many times on the podcast how when you read like not listen
read how you have trouble assimilating information by reading visually, but listening
audio, you know, audibly, you, you do much better, right? Much better. I'm the opposite.
So I can definitely listen, but for me to really retain it, to retain it, I need to have
someone there with me to talk about it while we're doing it. I need pictures. Yeah.
Yeah.
Coloring book. Yeah, coloring book.
I'm visual.
Just like I'm not reading.
This is no pictures.
Stupid is a stupid book.
How do I understand this?
I'm visual.
If you give me a book, I can blow through it very quickly.
I can read very fast and I absorb it.
Well, so I do better visually than I do auto.
I do though.
Every book that I do audio, I also purchase because a lot of times what I'll do is let's say I'm reading through and I you know
Went through a couple chapters that night or that day that I really liked I'll go back through the book
It actually highlights certain things that I want to remember so I can reference it later on and between
Reading like that highlighting the book like mean, I retain the information.
Still, unfortunately though, with all that,
I'm still not at the level where you,
the way you can, I blows my mind how you can
regurgitate something like that we all have read,
we'll read a fucking study together, literally.
And then you'll get on the pod.
It's immediately gone out of my head.
Yeah, right.
And like I absorb the information and I now have that knowledge,
I feel like, but in order to teach it,
I need to fuck it up four or five times
and hear someone else talk about it again
and have dialogue about it.
Then I feel like I can share it where I feel you have the ability
to turn around right after you've heard information.
Super power cell.
It is definitely a superpower you have.
And I've tried to teach myself, but it just doesn't happen.
It's, I can't have everything.
It's not super power. I'll be honest with you but it just doesn't happen. It's, get everything. It's not super power.
I'll be honest with you.
It's totally self selective.
I don't know how or what to control.
Like I will, I will forget shit that I shouldn't forget.
I should not forget like the other day
I was ordering something online, okay?
This is true story now.
And I asked for my address, forgot.
I forgot my fucking address dude.
Literally could not remember my fucking address.
I had to go on my phone and go and do the map
and be like, home, what is that?
Oh yeah, there it is.
I will forget, I'll have a client that I'll train
for 10 years, I'll run into him at the grocery store
and I'll be like,
I don't remember your name.
I remember your workouts, I remember your imbalances,
I remember our conversation.
You benched 165.
Do you know I'm barricading that is to go to the grocery store
with a family member or something, right?
And then run into someone who I've subbed.
Hey guy.
Bro, it's been like, you know,
it's only been like six months as I've seen this person,
and I'll be with someone,
and then it's time to do the introduction.
So I end up introducing the person I know and I'll tell God they say,
so I struggle that.
Oh, it's horrible.
But then I'll remember like, oh, there are only 14 people in that study.
It was only 12 weeks long and the controls will be like, you know,
thankfully I have a podcast where I can use this bullshit because I am complete waste
to fucking know that it's a complete waste is purely applicable for what we do it's all good it's a complete waste
yeah okay this quaz brought to you by organify for those days you fall
short on getting your organic veggies or whole food nutrition
organified fills the gap with laboratory tested certified organic superfoods
to help give your health a performance the added edge
Try or gain a fight totally risk-free for 60 days by going to organify.com
That's O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I dot com and use a coupon code mine pump for 20% off at checkout
Our first question is from eat sleep and Run. That's my cousin Stephanie.
Yay.
We enjoyed having you in the studio.
I'm gonna say this.
Last time that she had a question like six months ago,
my uncle inboxed me to let me know that that was her.
And I said, yes, I know that was her.
Did you know?
Did you know?
You guys are wise.
I'm gonna say this.
I told myself the next time you guys picked one of her
questions that I'll give her some love.
After meeting your cousin, I can say now with good, strong, like, confirmation.
Like, you've got attractive genetics.
And your family, he's hitting on you.
Oh, yeah.
Just feeding into it.
You already know she likes you more, bro.
Stop it.
No, she doesn't.
Did you say that?
Did you say she likes the most?
That was the favorite.
Yeah, that's right.
I remember that.
Of course. That's weird. The Italian side., oh my God. Yeah, because he speaks in certain
tease. Everybody loves that shit. Oh God. Tell me more. He says it. Yeah. He says it
so confidently. It must be true. Yeah. Everything. Just just poured on me. All right. I started
out. Yeah. All right. Here we go. What do you say to a person who said they are going
vegan,
made them feel way better?
Is it still everything in moderation,
or would you say some people would benefit
from cutting out meat completely?
Yes and no.
Yeah, so it's a great question,
because we talk about moderation, we talk about balance,
we talk about the benefits of different ways of eating,
but there's one rule, there's one ring to rule them all.
Now there's one rule that is above all.
Great reference.
That is above everything when it comes to nutrition,
exercise, whatever you're doing.
The one rule is this, listen to your body.
Okay, so I don't care what I say on the podcast
or what Adam says or what Justin says or what your doctor says. I don't care what I say on the podcast or what Adam says or what Justin says or what your doctor says or what I say
anybody says to you
In terms of this is the best thing to do and this is what's healthy and whatever
At the end of the day and of course you have to be in a healthy state of mind
So if you're if you're crazy don't listen to your body because you might be
Some crazy. Yeah, I identify that you're crazy right?
Identify identify the good connection. Am I crazy?
Listen to your body because I've had clients like this. I actually,
so I used to train this anesthesiologist Mike, if you're listening right now,
he's a good he's a big fan of ours. Love the guy. Super intelligent human being.
One of the smartest people I've ever met and we would have these
conversations about nutrition.
And his expertise wasn't nutrition, but he was just an intelligent human being. And he
was vegan. And his goal was to build muscle with me. So I would try and see if I can talk him into considering eating meat because there's certain things that you find in meat that are beneficial, that
you may not be able to find, or at least it's hard to find in plant.
And there's obviously benefits to building muscle from eating meat for many people.
And I told them about creatine and how you may need to supplement creatine because study
show that vegans actually get a boost in IQ.
Ironically, I'm telling a fucking genius this, but they get a boost in IQ. Ironically, I'm telling you, I'm a fucking genius this,
but they get a boost in IQ when they take creative team,
probably because they're not getting it
from plant sources.
And so we're going back and forth.
And I'm like, well, what made you go vegan
in the first place?
And he goes, well, he had traveled with,
I don't know if you guys are familiar with doctors
without borders.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
So it's this. Great cause.
Amazing organization.
Wonderful organization.
And by the way, I know I talk about Western medicine and sometimes I have a bad, I say bad
things about it, but I have a lot of friends who are doctors and every single one of them does
it for the right reasons.
I actually have yet to meet one and personally where I'm like, oh, this is a crappy person.
Every single one of them truly wants to help people.
And all the ones that I worked with,
let's say I've probably trained maybe 14 or 15 doctors
and surgeons, and I think all but two of them actually
would volunteer time every single year
and would travel out of their own pocket
to some of these places and live in these horrible conditions
just to provide anesthesia for children for cleft
palate surgery or for whatever.
So anyway, he traveled with doctors without borders and he traveled.
I forgot where it was, but it was a high altitude.
There was lots of hiking and lots of physical activity in order to get to some of these areas
to donate his services. He was anesthesiologists.
And he told me how he was just exhausted.
He was a collegiate level highly competitive swimmer.
So he was an athlete growing up and he said he would just get fucking exhausted.
Well, anyway, he started eating like the locals ate and where he was, they ate vegan.
And he said he couldn't believe how good he felt.
Like he had all this energy, his digestion felt better.
And he just, just in general, he just felt so much better.
When he came back to the States, he started eating meat again and immediately noticed the
difference.
And he went back to eating largely vegan diet
and every once in a while I think he throws in like dairy,
but he says he just feels amazing doing it on all levels.
And I'm not gonna argue with that.
I'm not gonna debate that, you know,
sure meat has got things in it. I'm not gonna debate that, but know, sure meat has got things in it.
I'm not gonna debate that, but I feel like I have to chime in
because what I have found with clients, where this is true,
like exactly, I have stories just like this, where a client has gone
beginning and they've been like, oh my God, this is it for me, right?
And the common denominator in all of them is this,
they before that, they weren't on any diet.
So one, already being conscious of what you're eating,
you'd be surprised on just what tracking does, right?
Just because you start paying attention to what you're consuming,
how much better people start to feel when they're more aware
of the things that they're consuming.
Well, that's a good point. So vegan, you have to plan.
Yeah, absolutely. This is just one of the points. I mean, the other big one when it comes
to vegan is you end up eating a shitload of veggies that, and I'll tell you right now,
personally, I don't even come close to eating enough veggies. It's the reason why I've been
drinking, and I've been drinking the green juice lately,
and I notice a huge difference already.
And it's like, I don't think it's because
the green juice is so special.
It's because I'm lacking there.
I'm not getting enough of that.
And when I introduce it into my diet,
I feel so much better.
And this is what's really common with clients is,
now that they have this diet,
where also they can't eat all this meat, and they have to eat really within these strict borders.
It also and they end up eating all these great colors and different veggies that they weren't
consuming and eating an abundance of it.
And I'm talking to three, four times more than what they were.
And there's a lot of great benefits that we get from eating all these vegetables.
And that is what they're really noticing.
It's not the, I'm not eating meat anymore.
It's that, oh, now I'm starting to get a lot of these foods
I was missing before that are so high in nutrients,
and now that I'm feeding that in my body,
opposed to all this other shit that was in my diet,
now I feel amazing.
I think, you know, exactly what you said,
like I've always kind I think, you know, exactly what you said. Like I've always kind of like thought, you know,
maybe this is just because they haven't had enough
vegetables in their diet.
And, you know, for a blanket like across the board,
that's primarily the majority of people.
That's why they gravitate to that particular diet the most.
I was just talking to like a Iran actually,
when we were doing the podcast with
Josh Trent on wellness force and he actually is vegan but what was interesting about him is like he
is an insanely dialed in tracker right. So he actually went through I think it was like 24
different types of diets and then led him to, you know, even pursue going for,
you know, learning more and more about nutrition and, and get into the level where he is today.
And he just like, and having like monitoring this process and having this continuous glucose
monitor and, you know, tracking. But like what he found with you know his body actually responds better
So I mean the thing is like everybody has you know a
very individualized
You know makeup so like a blueprint that that works best for them
And so I think that you know to be able to get to that place, you really have to do, you
know, that due diligence and get to the point where you really know yourself.
Well, no, that's a great point.
Because vegan, well, by the way, well planned, because you can just stop eating meat and you
can eat garbage.
Right.
You can eat nothing but potato chips and soy burgers and have you guys seen, I know you
guys have, but for the listeners,
like you go look at the meatless category
of processed foods and it's more processed
and it has more the iron ingredients than,
you know, more processed food than,
yeah, a lot of cases are you're robbing Peter to pay Paul.
You're trading out these symptoms that make you feel better
to get some other potential symptoms that may not make you feel so good in the long run because you're eating
all this process shit. So, I mean, no matter what, if somebody is working for somebody
and they like it and it's conducive with their lifestyle, I'm pro whatever. I'm pro
you eating better. If it makes you feel better, it's easy for your lifestyle. But what I don't like
is when people attach that with, oh, it's because I'm vegan. Like, well, do you really,
do you, are you somebody who pays it to, and this is like, I mean, Sal and I, I remember
back in the days, we used to go back and forth with this stuff. Like when people start speculating
on how they feel, and we're talking about someone like Sal, who I think is on a whole
other level of awareness with nutrition. And I still challenge him when he talks about
how he feels,
when he's not tracking.
So you can't tell him, and if a client came to me and said,
like, oh, I've been eating this way,
and I feel really good because of this, it's like,
well, what were you tracking before,
and do you know your water, do you know your sleep,
do you know what you've been doing exercise-wise?
I do know how much sun you've been getting lately.
Do you know if your carbon take is increased?
Do you know if you're eating less process?
I mean, there's so many variables that can make you feel good or bad that you could be doing
more or less of now and to attach it to a diet, I don't like. Well, a vegan diet, a well-planned vegan
diet is a massive upgrade to the standard American diet. So any diet is in that minute. Any level of tracking, if you go
on the paylion, understanding was going
to get your mouth is a step in the
right. The card of our diet. I mean, every
diet, anything that is put together for
whatever spin they put on it for health
reasons is better than what the American
diet is. Now that being said, there
definitely are people
who simply do not tolerate animal sources of food very well.
Right, this is fantastic.
And they range everything from allergies
to just regular food intolerances.
And here's what you want to consider too
when it comes to veg,
we're talking about eat lots of vegetables, right?
I don't care what you eat, generally speaking,
and I say general because it's always exceptions,
but generally speaking, the bulk of your food should be plant,
should be well planned, well sourced plants.
I mean, if you consider, again, if we go back to evolution,
if we're hunter-gatherers, you gotta consider the cost
and risk and time it takes to hunt and kill animal.
I mean, if we're in a tribe, the downtime,
and we're trying to survive,
and on the one hand, we've got all the available vegetables
and roots and tubers and whatever
that we found naturally growing,
or I can say, hey, Justin and Adam,
let's go hunt that fucking buffalo over there,
and one of us might die doing
it is very dangerous, we might not even kill it, it can take a long time, it takes a lot
of energy to chase that thing down and kill it and carry it back, I mean vegetables are
easy to hunt, if they're there you get them and you eat them and it's not a problem, this
is why the agricultural revolution exploded the human population because we no longer
had to do this very expensive dangerous thing called hunting.
So throughout all human evolution, most tribes probably went vegan when they could.
And then when they couldn't, that's when they became hunters and then they ate the hell out of meat.
So there's definite benefits for a lot of people, for some people, I should say,
to avoiding meat products.
But, and then there's also this side of it, okay?
Most vegans who are long-term vegans,
don't do it for health.
Most vegans who are long-term vegans do it
for moral reasons.
And that's just the fact.
Statistically speaking, if somebody becomes a vegan
for health, the odds that they'll stay vegan
are very small because their motivation behind it
isn't as powerful as
a moral reason.
When people do things for moral reasons, when it becomes a fabric of who they are and it's
their belief system and they believe killing animals is immoral for any reason, their motivation
to not eat animal products is very, very strong.
Which I understand more of that.
And that being said, that being said, if's don't throw blood on me. Yeah, I mean, I don't think that's gonna be enough.
That being said, if it makes you feel better emotionally
or spiritually or whatever you wanna call it,
to not eat animal products,
is that gonna make you healthier?
Yeah, that too is gonna make you healthier.
So at the end of the day, I always circle back
to listening to your body and learn how
to listen to your body first and then listen to your body.
I'm actually right now in the midst of really working on the new nutrition guide.
And that's a big part of it is listening to your body, but also teaching how to listen
to your body because for so long, we've learned to ignore.
I want to make it a point to, though, that I think is important that we didn't talk about
with vegans is almost every vegan that I've trained
that has came to me and has wanted to build muscle.
They tend to have the hardest time
because not getting things like meat in your diet,
it becomes challenging to get enough protein.
Can it be done?
Absolutely.
There's vegan bodybuilders.
So there's definitely people that can be vegan and that can build muscle. I'm not saying that's not possible, but they tend to have
a really hard time hitting their protein targets when you're vegan. So that adds a new challenge. So
if you're somebody who's already really skinny and you're trying to build muscle and then you're also
trying to be on this vegan diet because you think that's a better way of living or healthier way
for you to live, that's something to take into consideration also that
well how important is it for you to build muscle because if you're really trying to build muscle
meanwhile all you're doing is eating all these leafy greens you're having a hard time
eating those protein. Bottom line is just simply the bottom line is most vegans at some point
have to supplement. It's a fact there are certain nutrients you simply do not find in plants
that you have to get from animal sources.
And I mean, again, I talk about creatine.
They've done several studies.
You give creatine to the average person who eats meat
and there's no boost in cognitive function.
There's a boost in cognitive function
with vegans when they take creatine.
That alone will tell you that there's something lacking in their diet that they're not getting.
Next question is from Rocky, Mitolo. What is the hardest or most sensitive topic for
each of you to discuss?
I like that question.
Wow, I didn't see that coming.
Who picked this one?
Uncle Sal.
Uncle Sal.
I almost feel like we should pick it for each other. Because I don't, let's not.
Really, you want to see what?
We just start poking at each other.
Well, I'll poke on myself.
Poke your own.
If you guys don't know what yours,
I know right away I had an issue with this,
this couple days, past couple days.
Oh, you got well, then share then for sure.
So, right now, and this is different for me,
depending on whenever, you know, throughout my life, right?
What's sensitive for me now,
hopefully will not be a sensitive topic in five or 10 years,
and what was sensitive for me 10 years ago
is no longer sensitive.
So in the past, if you asked me about body image issues,
about being skinny, about, you know, all that stuff,
it would have been very difficult for me to talk about.
Now I talk about it, it's not a problem.
It doesn't trigger me, it doesn't cause any changes, any motion, any more. It's very easy to talk about.
Today as a grown man, I'm 38 years old now, and I'm better at talking about the sensitive subjects.
In fact, I will purposely talk about them, knowing that it's better to do it,
but I've identified that they're very difficult to talk about and right now the biggest challenge for me
by far has to do with my children and has to do with my
Relatively recent divorce has been over a year and a half now that I've been divorced. It's very difficult to talk about because
I'm noticing that,
and right now I'm listening to a new Earth by Eckart Tolly,
which by the way, very, very few books
that I can, I love reading this.
Every book I read has some kind of impact on me,
but very few of them I'll consider life changing.
And this one is turning out to be one of those
life changing books, and it might be just
because of the time of my life.
Right, that I'm reading what you need right now. Yeah, so I don't know if it would have been life changing if I read it
You know 15 years ago, but right now it's very life changing and I'm identifying a few things and
One of them is the tremendous and very painful
guilt
that I feel
for
My divorce and it wasn't just my fault.
It was definitely a mutual thing.
Both me and my ex-wife agreed on the divorce,
and we were very amicable during the period of breakup.
It was something we both agreed needed to happen.
So it wasn't like one particular thing.
So it's not like I specifically did one thing
that I feel guilty about.
It's just in general, I feel very, there's a lot of pain in guilt behind the divorce because of the challenges that it poses to children, especially coming from my perspective and my culture that values family and defines value in very specific ways.
Like in my culture and my fat and the way I was raised, family was mom, dad, and children.
And the priority of the family were the children and mom and dad worked together, worked out
to get, worked things out together and stayed together for the children.
And divorce was one of the worst things you could do to your kids.
Like we would talk about it when I was a kid.
Like when we find out someone got divorced,
it was like this unbelievable, horrible thing.
The discussion was always those poor children.
You know, that's a very common thing
you hear my family when we talk about divorces.
Oh, you know, I feel so bad for those kids
to have to go through that.
And my entire family, I have a massive family.
Only one, I only have one divorce from a whole family.
Well now there's a few, but when I was growing up,
there was none.
And so it's probably what kept me married for so long.
I should have, objectively speaking,
we should have gotten divorced five years
into our marriage.
But the guilt that I have and the pain
that I have behind it affects how I am with my kids,
because everything that happens now, anytime my daughter is not herself or my son is upset
about something, or I'll tell you what happened the other day.
This was very, very difficult to talk about, but me and my ex-wife are dual custody,
so it's 50%, 50%, 50.
And we both do objectively speaking
when I can separate myself from this,
and I logically look at it, we do a fucking great job.
We do a really good job.
We both co-parent still, even though we're both divorced,
but how it feels is very different.
And she gets them for a week and I'll get them for a week.
Sometimes it's different, but right now it's a week on week off.
And, you know, I went to, you know, I'm grabbing my kids,
they're staying with my mom during the day while we're working.
And at the end of the day, you know, my daughter's asking me
if she, when daughter's asking me
when she's gonna see mom.
And I said, oh, she might stop by today
and you'll see her later or whatever.
And so sure enough, my ex-wife stopped by
to see the kids because we're at my mom's house.
And it was time for us to leave to go home.
And my daughter didn't wanna go with me.
She wanted to go with her mom.
And that was,
and you know, that's totally a normal thing for kids to do,
especially at that age.
Of course.
And I'm sure this can be times when they do that to me as well.
And part of the reason that she may have wanted to go with her mom
was because she has this old iPhone
that she uses to play video games on
and I didn't let her bring it to my house.
So maybe she thinks she's gonna, whatever,
whatever the reason maybe she wants to spend time with her mom who doesn't matter, right?
But it hurts a lot because I feel like maybe I'm doing something wrong or, you know,
she doesn't feel like she's seeing enough of either one of us.
And so she's coming, you know, this is kind of challenge that's that's happening, but, you know, with her.
And I don't like to see that.
And it's a very normal, because this happens
in the part that sucks is the logical side of me
sees no problem with this, there's no issue.
My kids did this when we were together,
the kids do this with parents all the time.
I wanna go with that, I wanna go with mom.
But because of the divorce,
I've attached all this guilt and pain behind it.
And it fucking ruined me.
And I had to, you know, it took me some time to really process that.
It took me a whole evening, and the next day
to really process through what I was feeling behind that.
And it's like, it's like any time something happens,
any time my kids ask for something, like,
hey dad, can you buy me this?
You know, I want to buy it for them right away
because I feel guilty.
You know what I mean? I want to give them everything that they want. I want to make everything perfect or I want to buy it for them right away because I feel guilty. You know what I mean?
I want to give them everything that they want.
I want to make everything perfect or I want to do all these things or spend all this money
on them and it's all driven behind this, this pain, this guilt.
It's a very, very difficult sensitive topic to discuss and it's also sensitive and difficult
for people around me because when this was happening, when she was saying, no, I wanna go with mom,
I wanna stay with mom tonight.
I could see my parents and my son,
like I could sense them thinking, like, oh shit,
you know what I mean?
What do we say now?
What do we do now?
And immediately after my mom's like, you know,
it's normal for kids to do that.
I kind of feel her wanting to console me over this type of thing that's normal.
And I know logically it's normal.
So, you know, I identify this as a very, very good opportunity for growth as a person
for myself and also as a parent for my kids.
I'm already a way better father than
I was when we were married. Already, I can already say that objectively, I'm a far better
more connected father. But I mean, talk about being challenged. This is, I've never felt
a challenge quite like this before because it's dealing with my children. And, you know,
I hope to continue to grow about it. I'm glad we had this opportunity actually
to talk about it on the podcast.
It makes it easier.
Always therapeutic for you.
Justin, you have one?
That was deep, man.
I don't know, like,
just talking about like serious issues like that,
I think is enough for me to have difficult.
Justin's like, I got a whole boat load on.
I just got to go for me
I feel like I've crapped you guys out, I'm sorry
No, I should have gone last
Yeah, yeah
Well I couldn't go first because I still, that's why I deflected over to Justin because
Well, yeah, go ahead
Well no, I don't go because I don't have one for you right now so that's why I defrauded
There's no topic that you, I mean it's, it's the thing is like, yeah, I would talk about whatever.
Like, that's the thing.
Like, it just depends, it depends on like how it's all framed
and I think it was difficult for me as if I get cornered
and I'm trying to sort of defend my stance or like,
I don't know, I guess, I guess like verbally like if we're sitting
here and we're like, you know, like something that like you've identified that's wrong
with me or something, I'm gonna get super defensive on it, you know, and that's like still that's
like within me, like I get really like I can't like, I can't just like be like, oh, hmm, you know, like, yeah, let me evaluate that.
It's like, fuck you. You know, like, like I have this like immediate like, like,
my hands right here and like, I'm gonna push back at you first. My first instinct is to push.
Courtney calls me out on that all the time because she's like, I'm not like, I'm not trying to like
create conflict with you. I'm trying to identify things and just admit that you're failing
or something within this is something that needs to be addressed.
And yeah, that's a constant thing for me.
I don't like talking about, if something I have going on
or something like that is not doing well, I just don't want to talk about it.
And you know, that's probably something that you should talk about, right?
Because, you know, how you're going to work through it, like you're like, I don't like
getting help, you know, that's one thing.
So I think, you know, along those lines, like, yeah, I find it's a tough thing for me because I just I want to like take it all on
and internalize it and like I can fucking do this and like because like that's just been drilled in
my head that's like you know maybe I'm weaker I don't have enough of the mental fortitude overcome
this and really like I should be seeking more help with a lot of things. So, you know what's interesting about that is,
it requires more strength for you to ask for help
than it does for you to do shit on your own.
Absolutely.
So, you know, that might actually help you.
I was like that for a while, and someone told me,
I don't remember who told me, they said something like,
it's harder to,
it takes more strength to cry than it does to not cry.
And it kind of struck me like,
oh fuck, like I consider myself a strong person,
then I should seek out the things that require me
to be strong.
And at that time in my life,
it was to admit that I need help.
Whereas before I was like, no, I can do this song.
Like, wait a minute, it's easier for me to not ask for help than it is to ask for help.
You know what I'm saying?
So, I don't know.
You know, yesterday Taylor and I were talking and he gave me a nice compliment, although
I don't know if he was meeting too, about, you know, he's like, man, out of everybody,
I really feel like you're just,
you're really open-minded.
You're willing to meet with people
that you would totally disagree with,
hang out with people of different circles
and try things out that are against what you believe
or think.
I really believe that when it comes to like sensitive topics,
I could think of stuff when I was younger.
That like I had a hard time sharing like talking about my dad's suicide, for example, like as a kid, like just not understanding that.
And you know, I remember when we had the girls gone wide, podcast here, and she's like,
uh, you know, I wish you would dive more into your childhood story and what you've been through thinking that that was like something that I avoid because I don't only talk about
like I have no problem talking about that stuff. It's not sensitive to me at all. I'm pretty
much an open book and I, I don't know what point in my life that I start doing this, but
I seek out things that make me uncomfortable like this because if I if it gives me a
most real action like if you one of you guys were to we're talking and then you did something
right and I caught myself getting like agitated or firing back or getting me what for sure
and I talk about this in the podcast all the time that night I'm fucking thinking about
that like I'm evaluating how I responded to you guys
because you obviously poked a button with me.
And I'm not going like fuck Justin, fuck Sal.
I'm going, whoa.
What did that bother me?
Or why did that get me all riled up?
I must got some shit I need to work on in that area.
And I don't stray, I'm not afraid of any of that shit.
Like if you got something you want to say to me
that you think is a sensitive to fucking bring it.
Like tell me, like poke at me, tell me that
you don't like this about me or you want to know more about this
because you think I'm afraid to,
I'm not afraid to talk about anything.
I've been an open book for a very long time.
I've shared any sort of insecurities.
I think I've shared on this podcast before.
I don't know.
I don't know if there's a topic that I'm really sensitive
to talk about.
I mean, do you guys feel like there's something
that you guys bring up with me that I avoid
or I get all pissed off or I have a,
that you read on me and you share it with me.
Now's the time to share with me, right?
This would be a good time to, let's see.
Why don't you say some and see if I get wrong.
Don't that me, that's all.
Yeah, right?
Well, I think, you know, the three of us are pretty,
we pretty much do that, right?
We pretty much share that sentiment.
You know what I mean?
That's not like, and even when I'm sharing that,
it's not like, like I said, I'm not,
I'm definitely open for you guys to jab at me
and like point things out. Yeah, but I don't wanna, like I don't wanna, I'm definitely open for you guys to jab at me and point things out.
Yeah, but I don't want to be a dick right here,
but out of the three of us, I could have definitely said
that about Sal and I know that about Justin.
I know that, and I've done it to you, you embrace it.
You don't hide from it, but I've intentionally
came after both of you on the podcast
because I know it makes good radio
because I know that they're sensitive topics.
I know that talking about the divorce and the kid stuff
that I know that is tough for you
and I challenge it all the time.
Well, life's funny because when you're at that point,
where you feel like it's all like,
oh fuck, I got it all under control.
Tens of the throws shit at you.
And I had a string of things that,
I mean, I felt like, fuck, I'll handle it.
I'm talking about, I'm talking about on the podcast.
Like right now, this is a difficult subject to talk about
and I'm talking about it on a podcast that I know,
you know, tens of thousands of people are gonna listen to.
So, you know, it's my gauge of sensitive and difficult
to talk about is maybe different
than someone else's word.
They can't even get the words out, right?
Right, right.
I'll get the words out and I'll talk about it.
It's not a problem, but you know it affects you emotionally.
What?
I'm just trying to.
I'm trying to talk about it and be aware of what it does.
You know what I'm probably sensitive about?
If there's something, if there's something I'm currently working on, and I know I'm working
hard at it, and somebody's like, fucking trying to remind me of it all the time.
Like let's say, I'm trying to give a good one that like recently where there's something
that I'm trying to get better at, whether it be business, whether it be personal relations,
and I'm actively putting in the work.
I'm working at it, I'm putting practices in place, I'm doing something, and we'll use
an analogy that isn't me, but let's just say, you know,
currently if I was out of shape
and I'm working towards getting in shape,
and somebody's just like, hey bro,
and they're like poking at me in that arena,
and it's like, you motherfucker,
like I'm tracking my food right now,
I'm training every day, like I'm working towards that,
and if you were really paying attention,
you would see that I'm making progress in that arena,
fuck you for pointing out something that I know is an issue of mine and I'm working on.
So I guess if someone gets me on something that I'm currently working at and you dig at
me and it's an area I already know I need work on and I'm working on it, that could probably
get me sensitive and I could probably fire back at you.
But I would just do it.
I'd handle it just like that.
So like let's say there was an area like that and you guys called me out on it and I got sensitive do it. I'd handle it just like that. So like, let's say there was an area like that
and you guys like called me out on it
and I got sensitive about it.
I'd be like, well, fuck you bro, I'm doing the work.
You know what I'm saying?
I'm trying.
Yeah, I'm trying.
I'm putting it into practice.
Well, you don't, you definitely don't like,
if someone says that you're lazy or not hardworking
or not working, I don't know.
Okay, yeah, that's good.
So that's a very sensitive topic.
And that's actually, okay, good. So that's a very sensitive topic and and that's actually okay
Good one. That's a good one. You want to get me riled up
Come after my work ethic because I pride myself on
On my work ethic and there's a lot of things that I do that I don't talk about that doesn't exactly translate into
Money all the time or that other people see that I'm constantly doing.
I'll give an example.
That's a really good one, so because that's probably something that I am sensitive about.
If you want to, if you want to rattle me up, make me feel like I'm not putting work in
because I don't know very many people that could outwork me.
Sometimes the work that I do does go unseen, for example, part of this job that we are currently
in right now requires a lot of relationship massaging.
We are constantly in contact with all kinds of people and very important people and you
can't just expect in business.
And I think this is for people that are entrepreneurs, it's important to recognize this.
You can't expect that you're just gonna build
this network of people without putting work in,
without giving to others,
and part of giving to others requires giving time.
And sometimes that's text messages and phone calls
and emails, taking people out the lunch,
going to dinner, doing things that may seem
like it's not a big deal, may not seem
like it's work to the average person, but it is fucking work.
And there's a lot of energy.
It does.
It requires a ton of fucking energy to do that.
So if someone were to call, but you guys don't though, you guys have never, you guys have
never like called me lazy or made me feel that way.
Well, why would we, I wouldn't call, I remember we got cornered on that like when we were
doing that silly game show and we completely all avoided that question
because it's like, none of us is the laziest
in the group, it just doesn't work that way.
I guess the question would be to ask yourself
why, besides the fact, I know why,
so I'll get there, I know you're going.
So why that is is because even as much work as I do,
I always believe I can do more.
And so if you say that, it stings me because I'm like,
fuck, I could be doing more.
I could be doing more.
And that's-
I feel like there's some truth in it.
Exactly.
Which is true, right?
Anytime we get sensitive about something,
of somebody who really truly reflects,
there's some truth to that, right?
It's true on any end of that, right?
If somebody is like Elon Musk and somebody says,
oh, you're failing here, like, and it's true.
Yes, to recognize that.
It's like, but really is that like,
right.
So something you gotta focus on.
And that's the perspective thing, right?
This is learning to have the attachment perspective
and say, okay, what can I take from this?
Obviously that bothers me.
Obviously that bothers me because I could potentially
be doing more, but then also being mindful
and going like,
you know, hey, I am doing all this, I am working hard,
I am doing those things and recognizing yourself
for those things, just like,
and that relates a lot to what's sounds sensitive thing is,
it's like, bro, you are a really good dad.
Bro, you are doing, you're probably one of the best dads
that I've ever met.
So for you to beat yourself up over one scenario like that,
that you're totally overthinking is crazy. And for you not to yourself up over one scenario like that that you're totally over thinking is crazy and
For you not to recognize all the good things that you're doing and allow that to get you emotional
That's your talk you got to have with yourself, right?
So which is very similar to the one I would have to have myself if I let somebody really
Which you know what I have her buttons. I don't think I don't think the average person could get me that route
I think I would take it to heart maybe if one of you guys said
that to me, which I don't think any of you would because I think we all know how
hard everybody works in here. But yeah, if someone if someone got me there, that
would be a little sensitive. You probably would you probably see me react.
Get the rap. You probably get you probably even Superman has crypto.
Quick commercial break you guys. We keep getting asked all the time,
how can I support the Mind Pump family?
Here's one of the best ways you guys can.
You guys love that Chimera coffee that we have.
Chimera coffee with a K, you go to chimeracoffee.com.
Put in the discount code Mind Pump for 10% at the checkout.
Also, if you guys want to know how I have this
looks, jeeery as beard and you want one too,
go to bigtopbeardcompany.com. Put in the discount mine pump again, but this time for 33% off. Also, you guys, if you guys have
not tried Ben Greenfield's new bars out there, fantastic. If you want some, go to Ben GreenfieldFitness.com,
forward slash nature bite, put in the code, mine pump and get 10% off. Go check it out.
Next up from Prime and Glory, you openly say how much each of you
have grown as trainers since your early years. Can you pinpoint how you got on the path to
becoming the trainers you are today? So this is actually pretty clear for me. I can't
too. This is very, very clear in terms of what made me the kind of trainer that I am today and what's going to make
me the trainer that I'm going to be tomorrow because I think I'm going to be an even better
trainer and you know five years from now that I am even today. There's two things. One
is reminding myself the purpose behind what I do.
So being a trainer was never a job for me.
It was never a paycheck for me.
Although sometimes it would do that every once in a while where I'd focus on the fact
that I'm making money, focus on the fact that it's a job when I would bring myself back
to my purpose, which was that I really, really do, I truly do love people.
Nothing is more fascinating.
Nothing draws me in more,
and nothing attracts me more
than just the human condition, than people.
Children, old people, people in special populations.
One of the reasons why I love training, if you look at the kind of people that I like
to train the most, I love training at advanced age, and then second place is kids, and then
third place is special populations, people with physical ailments or mental ailments.
And the reason why I love training them so much is because it makes me feel more purposeful
to what I'm doing because it definitely is awesome to get an athlete to perform better and it's
also great to get someone just in better shape. That's all amazing. I love that too. But there's
something about helping an old person walk up the stairs or working with a kid and seeing
that kid's outlook on themselves change completely.
So it was really about my purpose that forced me
to examine my methods as a trainer.
And the second thing was being open-minded
to training myself.
That pushed me in many different directions as well,
because I was always driven in my own training
and my own nutrition, and my motivation and drive
was different in the early years.
It was about building muscle, getting strong, building muscle.
But because I was so driven to gain those things,
I was constantly examining my training and questioning training and reading other people's opinions
and reading scientific articles and questioning what I thought was common knowledge.
It's the reason why I switched from a body parts split, which by the way,
when I switched from a body parts split to more frequent type of training,
which eventually resulted in more of a full body approach, it was totally at a style.
It was totally nobody was doing it.
You wouldn't find a single body builder or muscle building expert that would recommend that you train, at least if you were advanced, with a full body approach. Nobody, in fact, they would laugh and scoff at it.
And the only reason why I went down that path was my constant
self-examination.
And I went and started reading these old articles
and these old strong men and these old advice.
And I started saying, you know, what's the worst that could
happen if I try this approach?
Let's see what happens.
And then that opened my eyes.
And then I kept doing that.
I kept pushing myself in different ways and identifying things that blew my mind in terms of what was
working for me. And then that made me a better trainer because then I was able to apply that,
you know, those things to my clients. I mean, it all started with that. And then it turned into
questioning, eating small meals every day. Then it turned into looking at fasting and how that affects the body.
Then I started questioning protein intake.
Then I started looking at veganism,
which was like you never even talked about it or even you laugh at it
if you're trying to build muscle.
Well, I started looking at maybe there's some benefits to eating like that.
Then I started examining wellness.
And I started noticing side effects of wellness
in terms of muscle building.
And all those two things really drove me
to become a better and better trainer
because I was always self-examining
and I was also driven by my love of people
and that it always made me seek out what worked the best,
not what I thought was supposed to work
or what I was told was the best.
Do you remember how old you were?
I would say,
I couldn't really start it for you.
So my career is different than your guys'
because you both started as trainers
and really stayed in the fitness side your whole career. So I started as a
personal trainer, became a fitness manager, which is a managing trainer, then it became a general
manager. And so then I was managing production of the gym. So although I was very connected to the
trainers and the fitness, I was no longer training people until I started my, until I bought my own personal training studio slash wellness facility.
When I opened that up years later, is when I really got better because now I'm really deep in being a trainer.
Yeah, do you remember how old you were?
I was, I started ABS at, I think I was 22 or 23.
So 22, 23 is when then I really started taking off
and then from there, probably the first five years
was just fucking tornado of growth.
Just learning all these different things and growing
and then I started training, Doug, when did I start training?
If you remember what year you and I started?
It was years ago.
Like so about seven years ago, six years ago, something like that.
That's when I started solidifying a lot of the concepts and stuff that I understand today
because right around the time I started training Doug is when I started putting together
the concepts of maps and all that other stuff.
So those are my two drivers. Those are the two things
that made me a better trainer and that will continue to make me a better trainer.
I think for me, definitely there was periods. There's periods that I went through where
I mean, I went most of my life trying to improve my performance and my athleticism and just totally focused
on my own success and within my own body and my own capabilities.
And that was really the driver for a long period of time.
And getting into the industry, it just made sense for me.
It was like, oh, you know, I really enjoy working out
and I really enjoy what I can do to my body physically
to, you know, enhance what I'm currently doing.
And, you know, and then getting into training,
I was completely humbled.
And I think that this has happened to me.
It's almost this cyclical experience for me where I feel like I've mastered something
and then I'll step into just a little bit different like seeing environment and I just
I feel like I don't know anything and I'm just like humbled all over again.
So that being the first part of that was seeing how people move
and seeing that their body didn't respond the way I wanted it to.
They weren't athletes.
I couldn't understand it.
It's just like, it was this foreign concept to me.
Like why can't you move your arm like that?
Why can't you get off the ground like this?
Like what the fuck?
What am I supposed to do with this?
I had to really research. this, like, what the fuck? What am I supposed to do with this? I had to really research.
I'm like, okay, so now I'm starting,
like I had to really peer into somebody
who's been deconditioned that most of their life,
and they've never taught their body
to do these very simple things.
And it's like people don't have experiences like you.
And like for me, I don't know,
it sounds like, sorry Dick,
it was so mind blowing to me,
because it was just like,
I knew how I could do things,
I knew how my body worked,
like I could tell my body to do something
and I could do it.
Like, you know, even when I would go,
like try to a new sport,
like I would do like wakeboarding or something like that,
like I would get it right away.
You know, I just had that sort of body awareness.
And so just kind of peering into that and like seeing,
okay, there's a way to actually train your body
to step by step kind of build up to that,
that same kind of response for just anybody.
But man, some people, you have to really draw that out
for a long period of time.
Anyway, that's just one example. But man, some people, you have to really draw that out for a long period of time.
Anyway, that's just one example, but I went through that and then figured out a better way
to approach somebody from where they are.
And so building on top of that led me to, okay, so somebody's coming in with more experience.
What does that look like?
What does a professional athlete look like?
How do I improve them?
How do I benefit them?
And for the most part, in that scenario,
it's about longevity.
It's about supporting their joints.
It's about maintaining the explosive response and movement
that they can produce and keep them healthy and help them have a long career.
And I just feel like me as a trainer
to improve on being a trainer is to immerse myself
in an entirely different arena, different experience.
Like shadow myself around somebody
who's a master of that domain
and humble myself and realize that, you know,
like I know a lot about movement
and I know a lot about the human body,
but somebody always knows more than me.
And I'm fucking seek those people out,
whether they, you know, it's from their book
or like thankfully with this podcast, we can interview them
and we can take them out on
the floor and they can demonstrate things you know for a YouTube. And so I just feel like as long
as I can stay here and do what we're doing like we're just going to keep getting better and better
and our message is going to you know resonate even more to you know more groups of people.
How old do you think you were when that mindset
who could set in for you?
Where how, do you remember how old you were
when you started like really diving and digging into
to grow like that?
To grow it like just as a person?
Well, like you said, no, you just,
you just give an example of like, you know,
you had a client come, or you had a person come in
front of you and it's like, you realize like,
oh, fuck, like I gotta like figure out
how do I teach this person the first step?
They have no awareness.
Like, and then that obviously
sent you down the rabbit hole, right?
Cause you know, once you get going there,
it's like, there's all kinds of different directions
that maze takes you.
Like, how old were you when that moment happened?
Do you remember?
When I was first started training,
I mean, sure it was like, I was around like,
like 22 or something like that.
But I would think for me, like, to identify that mindset was more when I stepped out of
high school and like, you know, I was getting into college and I was getting away from my
family and, you know, the safety net that I had established.
I had a girlfriend, you know, for like three or four years.
Everything was about safety, you know, for like three or four years, everything was about safety, you know. And then I just decided that for some wild reason, I just felt like I was totally settled,
you know, with my life. And like everything was, I was just doing things like on autopilot.
And then just this wild idea was like, why don't I go somewhere I've never been before.
And the opportunity kind of came to me because I was trying out,
well, okay, here it is.
Actually, this is interesting.
I was trying out for the football team for San Jose State
and my identity was a football player.
And I killed it in high school.
And I tried out for D1 school.
And this is something that I got into the school,
okay cool, you can come into the walk out tryouts
and you can go through this process.
And I did really well.
And I was like, you know, had great numbers,
you know, squat numbers, bench numbers,
like my, you know, my shuttle run,
but my 40 time was dog shit.
You know, like they really care about speed. And so the
first moment with that was, I failed. Like I failed hard. Like I had such a bad start
that the coach was like, I don't know. Like, let's have you try this again. He's like, yeah, he's a lineman faster.
It's like, it was like, it was like,
it's like, it was like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like,
it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it What the fuck is going on? And then like, I did it again,
and it was like a little bit better,
but they just were not impressed,
even though I was killing all these other numbers,
and I was bigger than most of the guys
that wanted to play my position.
And they're like, I'm sorry, man,
we don't have a spot for you.
And I had to tell my parents,
and it was just like, fuck, dude, what am I gonna do?
You know?
Oh shit. And then after that, it was like, fuck, what am I gonna do? You know?
Oh shit.
And then after that, it was like, do I just keep being a student?
And I'm like, that's lame.
Like an athlete.
I'm an athlete, dammit.
And I just struggled with that.
And I was like, well, screw it.
I'm just gonna be a really good student.
And I'm just gonna do the shit out of this.
And I really cracked down.
And then this opportunity came to me
this guy
Basically was on the plane flight with my dad and my dad was just like, you know talking to him
Whatever and he was a coach for really small school in Chicago and
I was like, yeah, you know, he's a really good player. I don't know. He didn't get a good 40 time and they didn't want, you know, to put them on the squad.
He's just kind of doing school right now.
Like, my dad was trying to hype me up and all this stuff about how good I was in high
school and all this stuff.
And so he ended up sending them video and all that stuff of when I played.
And then the coach got all excited because it was a position that they needed really bad.
And so he reached out and everything
and then they gave me a scholarship opportunity.
So they paid for most of my room and board
and stuff like that and took a chance on that.
Yeah, so.
That's awesome.
It's kind of like how life's really worked for me, dude.
And then I just took a chance and I was like,
ah, forget it, I'm going. I'm gonna grow and I'm gonna, I'm gonna improve. But like,
a lot of times that's happened, like I just get fucking, I just get hit in the face, like so hard,
like, no, you know, like I had to take that one. Like, like, I just sucked in that moment.
I was 25. I was 25. I remember the moment like yesterday for sure.
It was a conversation that I had with our VP.
And I know that you guys know the VP was,
we'll talk names out.
What was initials?
M-P.
So he came down and the reason why he was coming down
to visit me was they had gave me
an offer.
They wanted me to be a general manager.
I had been a fitness manager already for four years.
I had crushed it in all three of their clubs.
And by now word had got out that I was helping the sales team and teaching the sales side
of the business, even though I was a fitness guy.
And so of course, this guy was a talented salesperson in the company
and I'd been around for a long time.
And he wanted me to go to the general manager side so I could teach sales more.
And I was really excited to talk to him the first time they came down.
The offer they gave me was shit.
And I was like, I'm not going to move, move positions.
I love fitness.
I love training. I love fitness. I love training.
I love people.
And I love money, too.
And I was, I definitely entertained the idea of heading to the general manager side like
Sal did because technically on that side, you could make more money, technically.
But there were people like me that were the exception, the rule.
If you were really good at the fitness manager position, you could make as much if not
more than a lot of GMs.
And I was in that position.
I was outperforming most GMs in my area.
And so I didn't really have a desire to go to that side.
I love what I was doing.
At that time, I wanted to just keep moving at the company in that side of the house.
So back then, it would be a fitness manager.
Then they wanted you to go over the sales side and then you go over to like district level.
Before that, there used to be a whole fitness side. So you could go from fitness manager to
district fitness manager, all the way up to regional fitness manager type of position.
And so you could stay on the fitness side of the house. And at this, at that point in my career,
I was very bought into the company. I had dreams of being like a VP or a main guy in the company
and making really good money.
And I was all about the company.
And when they came down, they gave me the shit off
for the first time and I denied it,
then he actually came to visit me.
And I thought, oh, this is cool.
He's gonna come down and visit me
where he's gonna talk to me and he's gonna give me
a different offer.
And we sat in this office and he gave me this whole speech
about, you know, and I don't remember a lot of what was said,
but I do remember the stupid statement of,
you know, Adam, sometimes we have to take a step back
to take a step forward in life.
And I remember like inside like kind of chuck,
right kind of chuckle.
You also have to, you mean you gotta tell the audience too,
like this is after years of carrot dangling,
which that company was very fun.
Right, fucking good at it.
Right, and that's actually what I'm getting to
and this story is that, you know,
I had been, you know, told all these great things.
I had, I had, at that point in my career,
I thought I was gonna be in there forever.
And this was the turning point for me.
This was when I realized, fuck this place,
they don't care about me, you know,
I realized that, you know,
I realized that, yeah, I had the same moment.
Well, at this time too, I'm four plus years into management.
I had worked with a lot of talented people.
I had absorbed a ton.
I had grown a lot.
I would say I was kind of at a plateau.
I realized that this company was not gonna look out for me.
And I kind of had this like, by the way,
the offer he gave me was a little bit more money,
still wasn't enough money to get me to leave.
I wanted a guaranteed salary of what I was averaging
over the last three years.
And I didn't think that was a lot to ask for more,
if I was gonna take on more responsibility
and potentially make you more money.
And they just thought that was crazy
because nobody got offered that kind of money for that position
And I said, okay, well, then I'll just continue doing what I love to do which is stay in this position and that's what I did
But at that after that I had a real I was bitter was pissed off and I was kind of angry and like I I believe that even back then
I was the type of person that would reflect I was a little slower back then
It would take like a week of bitching and moaning before I finally looked at myself and said, you know, what the fuck is wrong with you? I don't
what, you know, this is, you know, how are you letting him control your emotions and
let this company? And I realized at that moment, you know, what I cannot allow a company
or these outside forces to dictate my personal growth. And all of a sudden, I just became,
this is when I started really reading.
And I remember at what I decided to do,
I was like, you know what I'm gonna do?
Is I'm gonna look up what the CEO was reading.
So I looked into our CEO and he used to do this thing
where he'd email out things, books that he had been reading.
And I started reading, I started with the books
that he was reading.
So I wanted to know where my CEO's mind was
and how he was directing the company.
And it was awesome because he gave me so much insight.
And at that moment I realized I would never let somebody else,
I would never let a company, a business,
another person influence my personal growth
and shame on me for allowing me to allow myself
to get caught up in that for so many years
of wanting this company to take me somewhere.
Like they're gonna move me up
and they're gonna provide this for me
and I thought to myself, fuck that.
Like I'm gonna make this for myself
and at that moment was the moment
that I went on this journey of personal growth
and that's in all areas, not.
So we're talking about business,
we're talking about self-help type shit,
we're talking about fitness and science and that's when I started.
That's when I really started to dive deep and I just had this thirst for knowledge in
learning and I never stopped from 25 on but it took up and to that point and that happening
to me for me to really wake the fuck up and realize that every moment, every day that goes by, it's nobody else's responsibility
on how much I grow and how much I progress in this life.
I have full control of that.
And if I'm not progressing fast enough in this life, it's nobody's fault but myself.
And when I took that ownership and I began to look at it like that, it changed things
forever for me.
As a trainer, as a leader, as a businessman,
like it forever changed me, and it's a bit of advice
that I always give to somebody that,
if you're not pushing yourself to grow,
if you're not, it's the Abraham Lincoln's,
I have no respect for a man that is no wiser today
than he was yesterday.
And if you don't have that attitude,
that you're not comparing yourself to anybody else,
but yourself, and are you smarter today than what you were yesterday?
It doesn't matter what level that is compared to anybody else,
but if you're not challenging yourself that way every single day,
then you're losing the game.
Excellent. Check it out. Go to mindpumpmedia.com
and get yourself registered for 30 days of coaching. It's free. It's
available and it's free. Also YouTube, we post a new video every single day on
YouTube. It's different information and content than you get from our
podcast. So I suggest going over to YouTube, looking up Mind Pump TV and
subscribing. Finally, if you want to ask us a question that we answer in an episode
like this one, the place to ask it is Instagram and the page to ask it on is Mind Pump Media.
Finally, we all have our own personal pages on Instagram.
You can check us out.
Mine is Mind Pump Sal.
Adam is Mind Pump Adam and Justin is Mind Pump Justin.
Thank you for listening to Mind Pump.
If your goal is to build and shape your body,
dramatically improve your health and energy,
and maximize your overall performance.
Check out our discounted RGB Superbumble at MindPunkMedia.com.
The RGB Superbumble includes maps on the ball, maps performance, and maps aesthetic.
Nine months of phased, expert exercise programming designed by Sal and Iman Justin to systematically
transform the way your body looks, feels,
and performs.
With detailed workout nutrients in over 200 videos, the RGB Superbundle is like having
Sal Adam and Justin as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price.
The RGB Superbundle has a 430-day money back guarantee, and you can get it now plus other
valuable free resources
at MindPumpMedia.com. If you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five-star
rating and review on iTunes and by introducing MindPump to your friends and family. We thank
you for your support. And until next time, this is MindPump.
Until next time, this is Mindbomb.