Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 642: Adam's Show-Ready Workout Programming Secrets, Plant Sterols, Barre Exercises & MORE

Episode Date: November 18, 2017

Organifi Quah! In this episode of Quah, sponsored by Organifi (organifi.com, code "mindpump" for 20% off), Sal, Adam & Justin answer Pump Head questions about plant sterols such as beta ecdysterone, Barre exercises and their ability create long and lean muscles, the programming Adam used during his show prep and how it evolved from his first show to his last and their thoughts on PEDs in sports and the documentary Icarus. Sal’s foot becomes a beach ball in Cabo + other fun… (4:37) HPA Axis and  testosterone resistance (14:20) Thrive Market box unveiling (24:38) Quah question #1 – Thoughts on plant sterols such as beta ecdysterone? (28:29) Quah question #2 – Barre exercises say their programs create long and lean muscles, is that correct? (36:19) Quah question #3 – What programming did Adam use during his show prep? How did it evolve from his first show to his last one? (45:04) Increase volume and frequency Quah question #4 – Thoughts on PED’s in sports and the documentary Icarus? (57:33) Related Links/Products Mentioned: Organifi (Official Mind Pump sponsor) Use the code “mindpump” for 20% off Thrive Market (Official Mind Pump sponsor) One FREE month’s membership $20 off your first three purchases of $49 or more (That’s $60 off total!) Free shipping on orders of $49 or more Cabo San Lucas Resort | Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach Resort  Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis The hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and sex hormones in chronic stress and obesity: pathophysiological and clinical aspects (study) Ecdysteroids: A novel class of anabolic agents? (study) Barre (exercise) MAPS RED/BLACK freeD™ Technology – Changing the way you see the world Icarus XFL In the Thin Air of Coors Field, It’s Not the Hits, It’s the Humidor (article) Are athletes really getting faster, better, stronger? (TEDTalk) People Mentioned: Brendon Ayanbadejo (@brendon310)  Twitter Sammy Sosa Mark McGwire Also check out Thrive Market! Thrive Market makes purchasing organic, non-GMO affordable. With prices up to 50% off retail, Thrive Market blows away most conventional, non-organic foods. PLUS, they offer a NO RISK way to get started which includes: 1. One FREE month’s membership 2. $20 Off your first three purchases of $49 or more (That’s $60 off total!) 3. Free shipping on orders of $49 or more How can you go wrong with this offer? To take advantage of this offer go to www.thrivemarket.com/mindpump Would you like to be coached by Sal, Adam & Justin? You can get 30 days of virtual coaching from them for FREE at www.mindpumpmedia.com. 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 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. Get your Kimera Koffee at www.kimerakoffee.com, code "mindpump" for 10% off! Get Organifi, certified organic greens, protein, probiotics, etc at www.organifi.com Use the code “mindpump” for 20% off. Go to foursigmatic.com/mindpump and use the discount code “mindpump” for 15% off of your first order of health & energy boosting mushroom products. Add to the incredible brain enhancing effect of Kimera Koffee with www.brain.fm/mindpump 10 Free sessions! Music for the brain for incredible focus, sleep and naps! Also includes 20% if you purchase! 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 (@mindpumpmedia) look for the QUAH post and input your question there. (Sal, Adam & Justin will answer as many questions as they can)

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, with your hosts. Saldas Defano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. In this episode of Mind Pump, for the first 24 minutes, me and my fearless co-hosts have some fun conversation. We are without fear. We talk about my Mexican staircase surprise. It's exactly how it sounds. I did some staircase surfing. Yes. And my ankle looks awesome because of it. We talk about the availability of testosterone in Mexico. Why aren't there more buffed Mexicans in Mexico? It's strange. That's how steroids all over the place. We talk about testosterone

resistance. Remember, you heard it here first, I think. Before T-Nation. We'll see what it is. And then, that's a freebie. Doug actually buys us some surprises from Thrive Market. I like this is the new segment. Once a week, Doug's gonna drop us some gifts. It's pretty cool up, Doug the Elf.

Thrive Market is one of our favorite of all time sponsors. You can buy all kinds of non-GMO organic products, both the products that you eat, products you use on your skin, your hair, you know, under your arms, all kinds of different things. Tongues, scrapers. Yeah, that's what Doug got us. Skiing away. At prices that you won't find, I'm not even exaggerating, you won't find anywhere. Now normally when you get on ThriveMarket.com,

you have to pay for a membership to get all these deals and stuff like that, but we got the hook up for you. This is what you do. Go to ThriveMarket.com, forward slash, mind pump, here's what you're gonna get, a one month free membership, $20 off your first three orders of $49 or more,

plus free shipping. You just can't lose with this particular deal. Then we get into the questions. The first question was, what do we think about plant stirrals like beta, ectesterone? Weird question. These are actually steroids found in plants and insects. Exactly steroids.

I saw Spider-Man, he got really strong from the spider. So maybe Puppi was right with that spinach. We'll see what happens. The next question was, bar exercise classes, Pilates, stuff like that. They say that the programming creates long lean muscles. Is that true or is it bullshit?

The latter. Then the next question was, what programming did Adam use during his show prep? You know, some of you may not know that Adam is an IFBB professional physique competitor aka bikini competitor How did his training evolve from his first show? Nobody wants to buy the program

Just joking actually if you look at Adam's physique from his first show to his last show you see this progression Which is probably why this person asked this particular question. Adam did use programming that's similar to Maps aesthetic more on that later on. The final question was, what are our thoughts on performance enhancing drugs in sports and have we watched the documentary, Icarus,

which you can find on Netflix? Also, now we just mentioned Maps aesthetic. We like to call it Maps Black. That's the color of the Maps logo in the program. Now, Maps aesthetic is a program that we designed around and for stage presentation athletes, bikini competitors, body builders, physique competitors, or even people who just want to shape and sculpt their body.

Building muscle is difficult, but getting the body to look more symmetrical and balanced with more muscle is even more difficult. You definitely can look good by building more muscle, but there's always that look. There's that look that bodybuilders get, that physique competitors can get, that bikini competitors get where they have this interesting balance of delts and arms and chest and back and glutes and lower body. And it just looks attractive. It looks well put together.

Well, MAPS aesthetic is a program designed around that to maximize muscle growth, but to also maximize symmetry and it's very individualized. So you follow the program and you individualize it yourself based on your own Body part weaknesses now the program comes with video demos work out blueprint blueprints. It's told it's all complete The the total program lasts about three months long. It's very effective. You can find it at mine pump media.com It feels weird to be back in here. I'm gonna tell you what, it uh, hello, hello you.

Yeah. Uh, it's just, what was it? My voice is the same. My voice is the same. You look so tan, dude. I look dark. You do. Sexy?

You do. Yeah, I was in, I don't know if the list there's no no, right? I went to Mexico. I was building schools for, uh, I was trying to, you said you're a liar, dude. I'm supposed to hear me in a telemetry. I'm to Mexico. I was building schools for I used to do a liar He made a tell of it. I'm vacation. I was trying to score point I was just shitty thing to throw a baby Children what a fuck up thing. No, I went on vacation in Cabo

Polio, uh, San Lucas went with some good friends of ours and almost died Do you guys know that I almost died in Cabo? Well, we see the ankle. Almost died, okay. Yeah, let's just hear the story because I don't know. I probably just slipped in the shower. So every day, let's be honest, yeah. Every day we would go work out at the gym.

A dramatic story, by the way. At the hotel gym. So me and Jessica, we'd wake up early, earlier than the rest of our friends, and we'd go out there and we'd lift some weights, and then they had steam room and so we did the steam and the cold dip and had a cold dip So it's pretty cool, right? It's a great way to feel better the day after heavy drinking So one day in particular we wake up and that night the night before we had gone pretty hard So Jess was a little tired and she's like, you know, I'm just gonna chill and read a little bit by the pool

Why don't you go work out by yourself? So Jess was a little tired and she's like, you know, I'm just gonna chill and read a little bit by the pool. Why don't you go work out by yourself? So I said, cool, that's cool. So I went over there, had a great workout and Cobb was humid, so shit seems to sweat over there, including the floors. So I go to step down the stairs on the way out of the gym and my right foot fucking is just out from under me.

My left foot stayed behind, so I sit back. I can already see it. I sit back into what is, what look like a herdler stretch and just, and just, go, go, go, go, all the way down the stairs like that. And then I turn sideways, because I was like, this isn't in my mind while this is happening.

I'm like, for sure, I tore some shit in both my knee hip and probably my ankle. This is how it starts, man. So I turn sideways. I turn sideways, went on my right side. My left foot flops out, finally in front of me. Both flip flops, psh, yeah, bro, down the stairs. Nobody saw me.

Oh, no one was around. No dude, because I stopped and then I just sat there. You ever do that where you fall and you, and for sure you're like, how contemplate. You look, wow, that just happened. Yeah, and I just sat there because I'm like, something broke.

How long until like sunk in that, oh, that really hurt. So I sat there for probably three or four minutes and you know, it's like, I'm like, if I was a kid, I would have been crag and the car was going on the stairs. You know wait for someone to come five. But I just sat there and I'm just sitting there and I'm looking up the stairs. There's nobody there looking down the stairs no one there. My flip flops are way down the stairs and I'm just I'm afraid

to move anything because I'm pretty sure something's fucked and I'm in Mexico and something's fucked, right? It's like you wanted somebody to see it because you wanted that like feedback. Oh, man. Oh, it's all new. It's all new. So I'm sitting there and then I start, you know, moving my knee, my hip and I'm like, oh, fuck,

I think I might be okay, my arm was kind of bruised. Start moving my foot around like, oh, shit, that doesn't feel right, but it's not really that bad. So believe it or not, it was hurt but it wasn't, it didn't seem super bad so I was just, I was walking around on it that day. So I walk downstairs, go to the pool, tell everybody about it, everybody has a great laugh on my expense. I start drinking, I'm like whatever it seems like I might have twisted it but we'll see what happens., that night, it started like a beach ball. It started inflating, dude.

And then I went to bed and I woke up the next day and I had the ankle and foot of an obese diabetic. You know what I mean? It was swollen and purple. Yeah, I didn't look good at all. So that was it. And that was the second to last day that I was there. Did it hinder anything you guys were planning to do or are you still not where you guys? Yeah, we planned on sitting on by the pool and drinking so now didn't didn't hinder shit. I was cool.

But it's not sure if you guys are on my part of your adventure trips. But I don't think I don't think I tore anything dude. I think I just sprained the fuck out of it. I got swelling and bruising. It looks like a level one or two sprain. Is that what it is tore anything, dude. I think I just sprained the fuck out of it. I got swelling and bruising. It looks like a level one or two sprain. Is that what it is? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're an expert. Well, you've rolled your shit.

I've sprained my ankle probably a hundred times. So in basketball, it's like it just happens all the time. Level one, you'll get some swelling. That could have been a level two. Level three, you would have to be on crutches. Like it's that bad. No, my foot got sprayed. It's pretty gnarly.

And there was bruising down the outside of my foot you know here a little bit by my toes and then here on the inside of my ankle yeah that's it so I guess I'm gonna live in prime pro I guess I'm pretty strong yeah a sprained ankle though man could be worse than a broken ankle man like when you if you go if all three of those ligaments go it's takes a long time oh yeah it's gnar I mean, I was on crutches for, I remember being on crutches for my ankle as long as I was for my torn ACL and MCL. Really?

Yeah, it was, it's that bad. Oh, damn it. If all three of those go, it's fucking bad. That's depressing. Mine went all the way up to my shin. My whole foot was purple. It was like, it was the grossest thing I ever seen. Yeah.

It was worse than anything at the end. Damn it. Yeah, anything else I've done. Because ever seen. Yeah. It was worse than anything I did. Damn it. Yeah, anything I also done. Because I was doing good with my foot and ankle mobility and now. You'll be fine. The fact that you can put weight and pressure on it already is like, you're going to be okay. I could or just because I have, I mean, I just, you know, I'm tough.

You know what I mean? Yeah. It could be bad. It could be weird, man. It could be broken. It could all be broken, but I just don't, I don't feel it. It's so tough. You know what, here's the thing about Mexico that's crazy. So I'm joking. It could all be broken, but I just don't, I don't feel it. It's so tough. You know what, here's the thing about Mexico, that's crazy.

So I'm in Mexico. Where did you guys stay at? What was it called? Pueblo Bonita. Oh, you split it in Pacifica. You were at Pueblo Bonita? Yeah. Bro, you look up.

That's above is where the, the Monicristos are. The Monicristos. Oh, right there. The Monicristos states above you. So were you on the, what, what is it peach or white building? What color was it? I think it was it wasn't sunset. It was I think it was white Maybe yeah, I don't remember you drink could have been on we drank a lot and then we went to The beach area of another, because our beach was totally blocked off.

And by the way, you can't swim in clubbo at all. You can't actually in some areas, but where we were, the waves were massive. So there was no swimming in the beach. There was no one out there. But then we went to another area where there was swimming in the beach. We went there and that's when I got offered every drug known to man. Yeah. Right away. Well, that's on the main where the main beaches right were. Do this lover's lover's like chocolates and then heroin. No, no, no, they escalate so quickly.

Yeah. Yeah. Dude walks up to me. He's like, see God. I'm like, no, and he's like, I think goes, would you like some blow? I'm like, Jesus Christ. There's a few levels that you skipped. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Before you get toadum pole. Yeah, that's a good one. Oh man. You went right to the top. I did buy some weed on the beach of Mexico. Oh god, it's so terrible what you buy for those guys.

Oh, it comes in this little fucking bagging. It's like dirt stepped on like six times. $50 per year long. It's garbage. But we go into town and we're walking around in town, you know, doing some shopping and stuff like that. And then you ever go into the pharmacies in Mexico? Oh, yeah, all the time.

Bro, it's funny. It's so funny. I go in there and right to my left, there's a glass case of anabolic steroids. If I'm ever, and they have the good shit, so if I'm ever, if I'm ever like between like testosterone shots, I try and time it when I'm in Mexico, so I can get a Mexican. Get what about that? Because they're legit. They're lural good shit. So if I'm ever like between like testosterone shots, I try and time it when I'm in Mexico. So I can get a

But because they're legit. They're lyrical good shit, bro. Over here You're probably getting some water down shit that's passed down from somebody that's made it yoked on vacations Yeah, no you go there. You're getting the pure pharmaceutical stuff. It's all it's fucking bro I know I had like Deca they had testosterone they had they had different kinds like Prima Bolin. You know what I find fascinating? Freeload, you know? Is that anybody can buy that and you don't see any buff people walking around?

That's what I thought. That is exact. Why would there should be a lot of juice heads around here? There isn't. No, no, no, no. No, why? Because I think what people don't realize is that it's not that easy.

There's no market there. Well, no, it's just two that you just, the guys that are really into that, like would have been buff guys anyways, and they take it and they're super buff, right? It's like you just taking testosterone doesn't make you fucking jacked. I think that, or else everybody in Mexico would be jacked.

Dude, I was just reading them. I was sitting there reading all of them, and I was, you know, just because I'm curious, and of course we went with a bunch of friends, so you can, they're all looking at me like oh my god, is he? Is he in a box? They're right? It's how's gonna take some oh no? I'm just reading you guys were with friends Yeah, I thought it was just the two of you. No, we went with my cousin his wife and then a bunch of a bunch of friends of ours I met through my cousin's wife great people anything celebrating was it just to get out?

It was just they they go every year. Oh, okay. So they invited us to go. Same spot every year, is it? This is the spot that they go to. And we had a great time with them. We had a really, really good time. Good people. Yeah, enjoyed ourselves quite a bit.

So I love fun. Also did some great thinking. You know, one of the things about going on vacations that you don't do much. Oh, clear your mind so much. You can sit there and think and I had some interesting kind of revelations. They're not really revelations,

but sometimes you think something for a while, but you don't completely put it together until you think about it a few times in a row or whatever and really kind of mull it over. Well, here's something that's very interesting to me. So we've talked now on the podcast a few times about HPA axis dysfunction. There's where the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenals, they communicate to each other and when one is off, the other two try to compensate and you get all kinds of different symptoms.

So they've called adrenal fatigue? Yeah, they used to call it adrenal fatigue, but that's not really an accurate name because the adrenals don't stop producing their adrenal hormones. We talked about cortisol resistance, which is not that different from insulin resistance. And I'm thinking to myself, as I'm sitting there, I'm like, you know, the body can be, can, it's pretty obvious to me, the body can be resistant to anything that it gets exposed to a lot of, right? So then I started thinking about body builders

and their experiences with anabolic steroids. Now, you know this atom, you got guys taking shit tons of gear, after a while, these guys are taking a lot of gear, the body stops your funding. They take the same amount that they've been taking and all of a sudden, that's why they keep going up. Do you know what's happening with them?

Yeah, they're getting adapted to it, bro. To testosterone resistance. For sure. They're getting testosterone resistance. I can tell you firsthand, I've felt it. Like the difference between, so like even like my therapeutic dose that I take, like I don't feel it, I don't feel anything.

I don't get like a, like, oh, I know I'm on testosterone, not at all, like it's just enough to keep me normal. If I want that feeling, I have to go to a higher dose And then when I go to a higher dose, it's only about six eight weeks where I feel that higher dose before you have to go It feels like you have to go to a higher dose to get that same if yours and this is what happens These guys end up chasing that feeling like anybody who's ever just by upping the dose Right, if anyone's ever if everyone's if anyone's ever Messed with testosterone, the first time you take it is unreal.

I mean, it's, you feel superhuman. I mean, especially if you're someone who's been lifting weights for a long time, and you know what your strength feels like, you know what, go to the gym. By the time that stuff gets into your system, depending on what you're, what you're using, how fast acting is, when that stuff kicks in,

there is no doubt, like it is working, like you are strength that's going up every single time, your endurance is going up, your putting size, and I mean, that doesn't last forever. If you're someone who takes testosterone a lot, over like your body gets very very. You're literally getting testosterone resistance

to where your body's down regulating the Androgen receptors, which is part of one of the, it's gotta be, because here's the thing, when you go off steroids, you go through this crash, right? And the way we talk about this crash is your body stops producing testosterone. So when you go off, now you have no testosterone, and you feel like shit until your body

boosts its own testosterone back up. And one of the remedies to that, or it's not really a remedy, but kind of blunts those effects or mitigates those effects, is you go on something like HCG or... No, the DEX. No, the DEX or something to try and boost your own natural testosterone back up.

But that's not the whole thing. Part of the thing that's happening to you is that your angiogen receptors are so down-regulated that when you go off, even if you do bring back normal testosterone levels, your body's responding to it differently. So part of the approach, this is why I thought. Maybe to up-regulate those receptors.

How? I think that may be one of the ways that Novodex helps. I don't think it's necessarily boosting the testosterone as much as it's up regulating scupi, excuse me, adrogen receptors, but something else I was thinking about that may be a good thing for that would be too. Well, Clomen is the one that signals the brain

to tell your body to start producing it back up. It's going to stop the Novodex and stop from the estrogen from aromatizing. Yeah. And then the HCGs and help kickstart it. So that's kind of the, but you know, Clomid, I'm going through this right now. So yeah, yeah, I've been, I've been off a testosterone for, I'm coming on my six or seventh week now. And I do this like once a year and just try and see if I can completely come

off and run a CG Clomid Novodexx. Because each year I feel like I get a little more closer to figuring my body out and finding natural ways to do that. Through everything, everything from meditation to how I'm lifting, I'm not hammering my body, I'm just kind of listening to it, trying to figure it out, my diet with the higher fats, things like this of all, I've started to put together over years. And so every year I like to try and come all the way off and see what I can do, but it's a tough time, man, it's rough right now for me.

I mean, my girl too, for sure, I mean, my sex drive is terrible right now. My motivation to live right now is really, really bad. Like, it's just, I have no... So I was thinking about that. Like, how would you up-regulate those receptors? There's a supplement that has been shown in some studies that might help.

Carnitine tartrate, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, is one of them. But here's another thing you can do. When you dramatically increase your cholesterol intake from food, that in a very short period of time should help upregulate some of those receptors and increase how your central nervous system reacts to exercise and maybe increase testosterone levels indirectly as well. So I'm wondering if that might be a good thing to do. It doesn't last very long. I know when I boost my cholesterol intake, I have like a strength boost that lasts about

two weeks or so, two or three weeks, and then it starts to drop down. You know what I'll do for you, and I'm not doing right now is I'll track my cholesterol. So I just don't, because I know that I'm consistently eating eggs and butter and steak, and so I'm getting a lot of foods that are high in cholesterol, but I don't track, and I'm definitely wondering what it says, you know, if you're gonna really talk about this, you need to be able to pay attention

and see that stuff. So I'll start tracking and see, and I'm like, get it way up there. Well, what I need to do is be really moderate for a while because I already intermittently eat all those foods pretty regularly. So I what I need like how many eggs would you eat in a day four or five? Yeah, four or five day at four or five eggs at least a steak normally a day, at least a meal or two that has butter in there. So I would double double the yolks. Just see what happens with that. Just double the

yolks and and see how you feel. You know, and just do it for a short part of time. You think that's the easiest and quickest way for me to boost it? That or that or chicken liver, the chicken liver is very high in cholesterol. It's just a lot of people like to taste. Oh, yeah. I don't know. This doesn't sound good to me.

I think I'd rather go the egg yolk route. Blend those fuckers and drink it. But yeah, no, this is something I've been going through for. Well, I've been coming down since the last time that I think you talked to your, your physician that I told you like, you know, tell your buddy to go really slow. And so I've been tapering for fucking six months now. You know, just kind of just slowly less and less and less. You can get it all your natural levels. Yeah, because I think the last time I did it last year was I did like it just a normal

post cycle type of come off and it wasn't it wasn't enough to really kickstart me back up and then I was back to HRT again. So knowing how the body kind of reacts to hormones and develops resistance to them, even but even you know, because you like wake with insulin resistance. You have to get to a certain point before they can test you and find it. But before you get to that point, you are developing resistance to the insulin. It's not like it goes from normal to bad. There's a process, and it's hard to test, but there are some symptoms.

I'm wondering if this happens to women when they're on birth control, just being exposed to hormones all the time. If their body just loses its sensitivity to these hormones and why anecdotally, I've had so many female clients that when they go off of birth control, some of them will take like more to feel normal.

After you had this epiphany, did you start to do some research? Did you start diving into some shit? You know, I started reading a little bit, but testosterone resistance isn't something that. I know there's not a lot of stuff out there. No, although I bet you, Teenation will do an article on it now. What's up, fellas?

There's some free content for it. Yeah, you heard it here first. But it's, but I wouldn't be surprised. I wouldn't because the body responds to anything and everything that way by first reducing its own production and by second reducing the way that the body reacts to it by down regulating receptors and stuff like that. Well, and I'm definitely speaking, 100% I know I felt that you can tell a difference. Two bodybuilders have been talking about this for years.

Somebody who's been taking testosterone for a long time, there is definitely, and that is part of what always motivates me because someone asked me out of the day, like, why don't understand what, why come off if you know that your testosterone levels are so low on the floor, why wouldn't you just stay on your, your moderate dose? Like, well, I don't want to have to do that for as my life. So there's a part of me that always wants to kind of play with that and see if I can naturally boost it up there and feel good. And then if I can't, then I'm going to go back. But absolutely over the years of, of taking it, you've, I've seen a huge difference.

And I would assume that even testosterone replacement therapy, like if you take enough to be at, like what they would consider normal levels, I would even think that that would promote, like some level of testosterone resistance over natural testosterone, only because natural testosterone fluctuates so much, whereas testosterone, whether it's injection or cramile or pellets, it kind of stays

high all the time. You know it would be super fun to talk to you about this is Mark, our buddy Mark, because I know he really, really knows like his is testosterone really well. And I think what's happening right now is a combination of what you're saying and because so many people are making on the black market, it's almost impossible to find like pharmaceutical testosterone unless you're going to an actual doctor and you're going to be prescribed. So almost everything is like is watered down and made in someone's fucking bathtub in their house and labeled made it look all professional and they build some bullshit website. So what it be interesting is, what are, if you, if you're, if you're watering it down

in combination with what you're saying. So now you've got these people having to take more and more. Well, what are you mixing it? What else is in there that you're having to take an abundance of now just to get that same testosterone feeling because of the combination of potentially it being watered down and then also down regularly. Yeah, you don't know. Right. It's hard to judge. Right. Right. Yeah, that'd be a fun one to talk to about. We talked about doing a thing on his show. I don't know if he's still doing the in the gray podcast. I think so.

Is he still doing it? Mm-hmm. Yeah. He hasn't invited us on. Hey, what's up Mark? You mean, shout out to Mark? Whatever. Shout out to Mark, you Mark.

Call us up bro. Yeah, let's talk some test to ask around. All right, cool. What do we got here, Doug? Bring on the bird. All right, gentlemen, we got some surprises here for you Oh, he's got a box. It's got a box. Oh, is this our thrive gift? Thrive market Oh part of a gift and it's part of what we ordered on a previous show

So I'm gonna do you add some stuff to our order does yeah, I've ordered added a couple things here Okay, what you got for us here. What you got? Let's see what's gonna our thrive market order of the day All right. What I did get is Justin's beef jerky. Of course. He needs more meat like I need a whole new head. All right. This is Sal's birch.

Dude, I can always use it. Oh, my pancake mix. Oh, there you go. Gloom's free. Hold on. All right. Oh, there's a, one is protein and one is not protein. Adam gets the protein. Protein for me.

I obviously have a lot more muscle. You've got to read the ingredient. I said, a lot more muscle. It's obviously a lot to maintain. Yeah. All right, we've got some macadamia for the studio here. We got proof, royal Hawaiian, and we got thrive market brands. So we can try them outside by side.

Are they both salted? That's right. Actually, the thrive market are not. Oh, well, that's going to change. All I need is water to mix these pancakes. That's a comparison. Yeah Yeah, all you got any you need is water for the pancakes I told you do the birch bender pancake makes thrive market. It's the shit grass-fed My milk and then hormones. Oh your milk. Damia. No, yeah, wow. I'm super interested

And I got one more thing for all of you. You're gonna find a very unusual gift. Oh, is it a penis pump Is not taking it first right mark it first you guys And I'm just taking one in the at home the athlete. Oh shit a tongue cleaner tongue cleaner. Yeah, tongue cleaner Have you ever used one of these no? They sell tongue cleaners there? You're gonna make my breath smell. So wait a minute, hold on a second. I'm gonna tell you right now, if you've never done this before, you're gonna be shocked.

You are gonna be shocked. If you've never, so I did it in orthodontist, or orthodontist chick for a long time. Do you smell it? That's it? I had all these cool toys, and I'll tell you what, it's gonna gross you out the first time you do it. Really?

Yeah, cause you're gonna see how dirty your tongue is. Ah. So in the morning, wake up, scrape your tongue, and you'll be shocked. So what do you need garbage tonight before? So you just scraped a fuck out of it, huh? That'll fuck out of it. No, you just scrape it.

You just scrape it gently. Just like that. Yeah. You drag it across the top of your tongue, and then flick it at your friend. And by the way, your breath will be better, too. I thought I'm saying anything. Thanks, man. Yeah, you're inferring. It's all right. Did you the way, your breath will be better too. I thought I'm saying anything. Thanks. Yeah, no.

You're inferring. It's all right. Did you do this Doug for Sal and you just got all three of us this way so you wouldn't make him feel bad? Yeah. His keto. You've changed his filter all the time. Yes, yes.

I see your doing. His keto breath over there. My tongue definitely is filthy. Yeah. Who knows where it's been? I didn't realize I had stuff like this too, huh? Thrive Market has cool shoes. Yeah, they do. Dude, so when I actually went to Cabo, Dr. Travelling, it's called Dr. Tub. So when I went to Cabo, I thought you was mine. No, I'm

not gonna do that. No, do not share. Although we probably have the same as CDs by now. I went to when I was in Cabo, my cousin's friends, they all listened to the show and they all started shopping at Thrive Market and cousins, friends, they all listened to the show, and they all started shopping at Thrive Market, and I swore to God, it was like a two-hour conversation. How much money they're saving now. So much stuff. Yeah, so thanks, Doug, for the tons of endless.

I like that. I appreciate it. I own three of them. I like this new segment that we're gonna do. I like this like Christmas every week. It's exciting. Buy us some more stuff. Alright, now we can have the bird. Bring on the bird, bring it on.

This quaz brought to you by Organify. For those days you fall short on getting your organic veggies or whole food nutrition, Organify fills the gap with laboratory-tested certified organic superfoods to help give your health a performance-the-added edge. Try Organify totally risk-free for 60 days by going to Organify.com. That's O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I.com. And use a coupon code MindPump for 20% off at checkout. Our first question is from Tristanator. Thoughts on plant sterols like beta-ecti-sterol. Are you guys familiar with plant sterols?

No, I don't know what sterols. So sterols are plant steroids, believe it or not. Now sterolite is a class of molecule. It doesn't necessarily mean it's a testosterone. Cholesterol, for example, is a steroid molecule. Butectosterones are very interesting. They are hormones that are found in insects, and they do things like promote the process of molting.

They are found in some plants. And so people, these particular hormones and compounds have been advertised and promoted as muscle building supplements for a little while now. And it sounds like bullshit, right? You sound like, oh fuck, plant, just cause it's a sterile now, we're gonna start taking it like,

you know, cause it's like a leaf. Dude, so here's a trippy part. If you look up the research on ectosterone, you're not gonna find a whole lot, but you will find some Soviet era studies that were done on ectosterones because during those periods of time when the Soviet Union existed, they had invested a lot of money in kind of hacking how their athletes

could perform. So they did lots of studies on hormones, lots of studies on diet, training, and all kinds of weird crazy compounds. And they found that ectosteroids promoted, I'm not exaggerating, I'm not lying here, on a dose per dose basis, similar to results to common anabolic steroid like that. What the fuck? These are what the studies say. Well, yeah, well, go back to your words you just used. Come on, what does that mean?

Well, when you read the studies, yeah, what does it mean? Hold on. Come on. They're very, very interesting. And they're, and we're talking about. We're results that are similar to. Well, yes, we're talking about,

and these are what the, hold on. Jackson has a dick that's similar to yours. But I'm not to say, no, it's not to say. Mine's dark, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no to say, no, it's not to say. Mine's dark, no depression. It's not to say. A lot more oppressive, we know. So, no, in terms of muscle protein synthesis, recovery, all these interesting things, when there are animal studies done on

active steroids and when they give them the animals, animals predictably will put on more weight, burn more body fat, every, like every single time, they give, there's animal studies done on sheep, every, like every single time they give, they've, there's annumless studies done on sheep, mice, and all kinds of stuff. Now, here's where it gets kind of fuzzy. Humans don't have a receptor. They're like those are so huge. Yeah, I'm, I don't, you know, that's interesting. I don't know. Maybe this, maybe they're genes,

but anyhow, they, with humans don't have a receptor that this attaches to. So we don't know how this works in humans, but... If it doesn't have receptor attached to it, then it's basically worthless. We don't know. So there isn't an empty sterile receptor, but it's working through different mechanisms because when empty steroids are given to humans, you do see some interesting results. Greater strength gain increases the production of keratin, so skin, nails and hair tend to grow faster. Colesterol levels seem to be more balanced. Increased libido is one of those things.

And, anecdotally, you hear a lot of this stuff for ectosterone. The reason why I picked this question is because I have personal experience taking ectosterone supplements. The problem with ectosterone supplements is there's a lot of bullshit out there. So the vast majority, my belief is the vast majority of the supplements that are out there that are advertising as ectosterones don't have anything in them. But back in the day, when I'd find some of these and I'd use them Doug will tell you I had Doug Doug's tried them himself

Remember Doug when I used to have you take them as a client. We're so is actually steroids. Yeah, I forgot Well, they're actually called empty steroids as well But you remember we take them right and you would notice yeah, no, I'd noticed a boost from that Yeah, you get strength and more muscle. Very interesting. It's a fascinating area of supplements that I think you need to do a lot of research on. Okay. So what are they? What do we see in most commonly in right now? So I imagine that, you know, just like anything else in the supplement industry, when there's a little bit of good science that supports that this may have some positive benefits, we take a little bit from that extract it and then we fucking throw it in something.

Well, no, or what we do is we take other plants that are sound similar or like it, and we put it in some powder, and then we say it's going to build all this muscle and in reality, like it's got point, whatever, and you pixie dust it in there. So where do we see this? What supplement do I see this in? It's, they'll be called either,ctosterone, beta ectosterone, terchesterone is another one. I can't think of any others,

but there's different types of ectosteroids. The two most studied are ectosterone and terchesterone. Terchesterone is harder to find. I have yet to try and give that by. You have a brand, an example. You can give me like, so. The one I used to take, they don't make anymore, and it was by thermal life,

and they don't make it anymore. So no, I don't have any brand that I can recommend. I'm sure you'll find a shit ton of them on Amazon. I just can't guarantee you that what you're gonna get is legit. What are the potential side effects? So here's what I noticed. To turn into a vegetable.

Yeah, you start to grow insect arms. I'm like, weird. I have flowers under my armpits. You know, here's the funny thing. I personally never noticed any study effects other than my appetite would increase. I'd sleep hard as hell. So I would sleep. I'd get lots of vivid dreams and I'd sleep really hard. And that's pretty much it. Notice my fingernails would grow really fast and weird stuff like that. But I didn't notice anything else. But when I did take it, I would take it very conservatively. I didn't go long. Where in nature will we find this?

Where would I find this in nature? Plants. Plants will contain them. No, I don't. I know those particular ones that have higher amounts. I mean, is it something that I would potentially maybe just eat in a salad? No. It's something I'd have to go.

I think you'd have to consume a lot of plant material to get the effective dose of, you know, ectesterone. So supplementing it would be the best way to get it. It's not a magic bullet or anything like that. It's just really fucking fascinating. No, it is fascinating. It is fascinating. But then when you say that,

it makes me always go like, man, just weird to me how everything that we go, like Justin was saying, that we over concentrate, just never seems to be ideal for the body. Like if it's found in nature, like in there's plants that actually- Perfectly balanced. Right, exactly. Eating it, eating it in nature, when you wear it, you find it. Probably not a bad

idea at all. Probably have some good health benefits and stuff. Concentrating the fuck out of it may make us feel it a little bit, but it did not be the best thing. It seems to have some anabolic, I mean, in the studies with animals, it's got anabolic effects, some androgenic effects. I would assume that the side effects would involve potential things like prostate enlargement or endrogenic alopecia, which is hair loss. I would assume, right? But I don't know, I don't know

because the studies don't really, there's not a lot of cyanthenon. Now there was one study done on athletes that showed no results whatsoever. The athletes that took it didn't get anything. Then there's other studies that show that it actually has an effect. If you're listening and you're into this kind of stuff, I swear to God, you'll go down to rabbit hole.

If you start to study ectosteroids and ectosterone and terchestrone and all the other plant hormones or insect hormones that you can actually buy as a supplement, you'll go down a rabbit hole of old research and anecdote. So it's very, very interesting, but, you know, it's one of those things. Like, you find things that are in plants and sometimes they have these interesting effects in the body. Not sure if they're entirely good, but like I said, I had some pretty interesting effects from it. Next question is from Lauren Chipley. Bar exercises say their programming creates long and lean muscles. Is that correct? No.

Long and lean. Not at all. That's a whole marketing term. It's been a while since we talked about that, huh? Yeah. I guess we haven't brought that up in a long time. Pilates is known for this. Bar is known for this. bar is known for this,

yoga is known for saying this, your muscles do not change in size and length. They are still, there's an origin. They mean length, they can't change the size, but. Yeah, yeah, no, they do not, did I say size? They do not change in length, right? So they're the origin and insertion of a muscle does not ever change, you know,

it would need to if it were to actually shorten or lengthen. So, yeah, that's not possible. Just because you're in better posture, you feel like you have a longer arm span or something like that, but it's really just, it's a matter of function. Like your muscles, here's where it's a marketing term. It is, it's just where I think it comes from. Long lean models, they look lean, then.

So bar or Pilates or those type of exercise programs have the yeah they have the roots in Training systems that were designed for dancers. So ballet for example, you know ballet high-level ballerinas We'll train with exercise programming that looks similar or at least bar comes from that type of training program. Now, to the average person, if I say a ballerina, you think of these high level dancers, and what do they look like? They look tall, they have tall posture, they have long and lean kind of bodies. They're lean and tone. They have these really amazing lines

when they point their toes and extend their arms and the way they walk them. And so logically, we think, oh, it must be their training program that makes them look like that. No, it's not. What you have to understand is that the highest level of any competitive sport or art,

not only do you have excellent training and diet and all that stuff, but you also have what's called, what is it called, I can't remember the term of it. Basically, what it basically means is you have this self-selection. Markerization, right? Yeah, there you go. The democratization of athletes, in other words, at that level, the people who are born and are genetically, you know, just designed in a certain direction.

They tend to flock towards these sports. And so you end up with like swimmers at high levels who have long torsos and short legs and long arms and flat ribcage or you have, you know, long distance runners who have short torsos and long legs and skinny bodies and high, you know, high distance runners who have short torso, so as long legs and skinny bodies and high muscle insertions, or you have bodybuilders with long muscle insertions and small waist and wide shoulders. Like, training these ways won't change your structure or your insertions and origins.

So, training like a ballerina is not gonna give you ballerina genetics, it's just gonna give you a workout. So, like, you knowina is not going to give you ballerina genetics. It's just going to give you a workout. So like, you know, I just think it could train like a ballerina. Since he was, you know, a child, he'll, he'll never look like a high level ballerina. He just tried. It's just not going to have to put that to the test. Yeah.

No, you know, this is me and a two to I think this is important to to talk about because we, you know, we were in the neighborhood lately and we did a bar class. Is that what it was a bar class? It was quite more challenging than we thought. And it actually roasted us. And it was these little small pumping and isolation movements. Most of us do not train 50 to 100 reps for a small movement or do a lot of isolation stuff.

We just eliminate all rest. That's what I did. Right. And so it's, but what people don't, and so they think, oh my god, that kicked my ass. This must be really working. And just because something is really, really challenging for you, doesn't mean that it's going to be the most beneficial for what you're looking for, right? And if you're looking for fat loss and building muscle, bar, pilates, and I know

I'm going to offend people that are taking those classes, it's not ideal. It's not, and you're only strong in that little range that they have you go like a half rep, like you're only strong in that portion. And it's not to say that it doesn't have other great benefits. I mean, there are some things that are that are beneficial to do that type of training. But if, but what I find and what I've to do that type of training. But what I find and what I've found in the years of training is that clients that I would get that took that class, I would say, okay, well, what is your goal? And they would say, well, I want to lose some body fat and I want to look lean and I want

to look tone. I said, okay, well, let's talk about what lean and tone means. Okay, so lean means we reduce as much body fat as possible, and tone means we build some muscle because that's all that it is. So it's just, that's just verbiage that you've been told over years to be marketed to because you don't wanna hear scary words like build muscle and burn fat.

Like it's just like, let's lean and tone. Well, lean and tone means lose body fat, build muscle, and what are the most efficient ways to do that? You know what I mean, it's definitely not bar. No do that? It's definitely not bar. No, definitely not Pilates. Nothing at all can compete with traditional resistance training with weights, for sculpting, toning, building, whatever you want to call it. The muscle.

Now bar classes and Pilates classes, you can develop some good stability in the multi-colour range of movement. I mean, there's a lot of stuff going on. If you, if you plan on dancing, if you plan on doing ballet and stuff like that, you definitely want to exercise. The biggest knock that I have on all those types of, all those training modalities is that there is no real phasing or pre-tization built into it. No. So no matter how amazing.

It's like an experience. Because you know, there's someone listening right now, it's like, I don't know what they're talking about because I started that bar class And I'm in the best shape of my life that I've ever been in and that's awesome And that could have been that could have worked for you like you could have got you in the best shape You've ever been in but if you wanted to continue to progress beyond that which you absolutely can You would need to phase out of that way of training because your body after about six weeks of doing it Four to six weeks of doing those classes, you're pretty damn efficient at it. Remember the first day you walked into it, how much it smashed you,

and then remember what it feels like now six weeks later, after you've been doing it three days a week, your body's become very efficient. It's no longer changing from it. Sure, it's helping keeping stamina up. Sure, it helps keep some flexibility up, make your core strong. I see a lot of overuse issues with, so I would train clients who do a lot of these classes. I see lots of hip flexor issues because it's a lot of hip flexor. Lots of that single leg kind of movement, pumping type of stuff.

I would see very poor strength in certain ranges of motion. So if I put them in a full squat or if I'd have them do a deadlift, their strength would just kind of break down. And I would see a lot of the symptoms or similar symptoms like I would see with people who do too much cardio. So I would see kind of this adaptive response from the metabolism where it would start to slow down. But again, there's definitely some benefits.

It's not a terrible thing. I don't think it should be unless it's your favorite form of exercise and that's all you're gonna do. I don't want to finish ragging on it yet because there's other things about it that you bring up training clients for a really long time. I trained a lot of clients that did this and one of the things that used to drive me crazy is when you get in these class settings like this, anybody who's seen one of these and next time you go to gym, go stare at a class that has 50 people in it, more than half of them are fucked up mechanically. And then they're doing these pumping exercises and movements. They already have poor recruitment patterns.

They're reinforcing that. They're just reinforcing all the issues they may have. So you know, you brought up hip flexors and there's a reason why the hip flex, because most people already hip flex are dominant because of lower cross syndrome. So you get someone like that, you throw them in a class. She's just falling a teacher. She doesn't understand what she needs to do. She doesn't understand. She needs a rotator pelvis. Like she's all she's seeing is pump pump pump pump like crazy and trying to keep up and sweating. And so you don't realize that there's things that you could be doing that would greatly benefit that body more.

It's just it's one of those things. It's like, hey, do you want to look like, you know, do you want to look like a high level, you know, ballerina, then train like a ballerina. And it sounds so logical, but it's just the same thing with athletes. It's the same thing with football, baseball, you name it, like, that's the go-to, is like, I want to look like this guy.

So I'm a training center. Exactly. And they'll put it out there sometimes, and then people will like, kill themselves to try and be this person. No, no, high level ballerinas got those long limbs, that long, you know, and it's just they were born that way, and then they trained a particular way as well.

But if you want muscles that are lean and toned and sculpted, then it's nutrition and resistance training. And that's it. If you want to throw in some bar classes as well, that's great. But really the foundation of your programming should be resistance training that's individual. If you want to throw in some bar classes as well, that's great. But that really the foundation of your programming should be Resisting string that's individualized for your body. Next question is from Austin 4100 What programming did Adam use during his show prep and how did his programming evolve from his first show to his last show?

Okay, well from as far as take this one You got adjusted. Well, this is what inspired Maps Black. So I trained a very similar protocol to what we did in Maps Black. And if you own Maps Black, you'll notice that it's out of all the programs. It's the only program that like, you can continue to go around and build volume into it through the focus sessions. So it's designed that I could run it from the beginning of when I first started prep all the way through all of my shows and the way they evolved was increased volume. So I followed that and even before Maps Black, I was following something closer to like

a Maps Red because this is when Sal and I were first talking I was getting ready to get ready to get in shape to then try and compete and so I was training and him and I were doing a lot of talking back then He'd already created maps read so a lot of my programming started to kind of evolve Around red, but I also knew that red was very strength and it's a very Incredibles what we it consider our base program and me getting on stage, the amount of volume and training that I would need to do to sculpt my physique, I would have to increase quite a bit. So I was training six to seven days a week.

I started off with following kind of a structure like red and then eventually once I hit stage, I was evolved into a program like black. Now black didn't exist, it's what I was doing. So what I did was I took Sal's red and then I started to build in these extra days where he was doing trigger sessions. I was doing what was called what we ended up naming focus sessions where I was focusing on specific body parts that I felt were lagging that were holding back my symmetry in my body, and I was training those on those off days of the other three full body workouts.

And then I would just over time, over weeks, I would slowly increase that. So when it first started, it kinda looked like a trigger session. I wasn't in the gym for very long. I was touching maybe one or two exercises then I was out or that I was walking on the treadmill or stretching or something else. And then after show after show, you think I did like what,

six shows. So if I was going to continue to progress my physique, I was continually to pack on volume. And if you want specific numbers, I would talk about doing a YouTube video around this. So maybe make a mental note, Doug, for me to do this, but I wanted to do something on volume. I think volume is grossly underrated.

People don't talk about it very much, and I think that years went by of training that I didn't fully understand what is volume, how to measure volume, and what a difference it could make when you talk about building bigger muscle. This is increasing your workload. Yeah, and doing it mathematically and strategically, right? Like, like, some people think you have to add weight every time. muscle and increasing your workload. Yeah, and doing it mathematically and strategically, right? Like, like, people think you have to add weight every time. No.

That's one way, but you can just be able to handle another more work. That's another way. All of this contributes to, you know, triggering more adaptation. And map systemic is designed that, you know, each time you go through three months of training that when you, you could, you could technically, even though we recommend for the average person to go through all the programs, but a person who's competing that is solely focused on aesthetics, and that's all they care about

like I did, you could keep going back through black, but each time you go back through, you start to build volume into the focus. So, I'll give you an example so you understand what I'm saying. So volume is sets times reps times weight. That gives you the total volume towards the muscle that I'm trying to develop and bring up. So if I go to a show and a judge tells me, Adam, your shoulders are weak, you've got a great chest, you've got a great back, what abs look awesome, shoulders are small. So I go, okay, well, I was doing shoulders, you know, two times a week, this mini sets, this mini

reps, this much weight. Let's just say hypothetically, just for argument's sake, I was doing 50,000 pounds of volume on my shoulders per week. So then all I did was I increased that by 10%. And I would increase it by 10%, and I would pay attention to my strength. I would pay attention to my weight, my weight going up. I would pay attention to my way, I would pay attention to my weight going up, I would pay attention to my shoulders looked in the mirror, and then every other week or so I would start to increase by another 10%.

And depending on how close I was the show time, I might be increasing every week by 10%. But that's not very much when you think about it. When you go 10% of 50,000 pounds, I just got to increase 5,000 pounds. I could do that through adding one more exercise in the week. I can do that by adding two or three more sets. I could do that by adding reps. Yeah, or reps or weight. Total volume is one of the easiest ways to guarantee that you're going to build size or add more muscle to an area. And just most people neglect to actually mathematically break that down.

And if you don't, and it's okay if you don't care, like if you're someone like trains like Justin who's not like, I need my shoulders to be a little bit bigger to my chest. Like he's not sitting down and he's not tracking, he's writing out his volume and going like, oh shit, I only did 30,000 pounds of volume last week. I need to do, I need to up that by 20. He's not doing that because he gets two shits about as long as his shoulders are strong their mobile He does he can move the way he wants to and he's programming He's not gonna care about but if you're an aesthetically driven person and you need certain parts of your body part

They're unbought if your legs are too small for your upper body There is a way to mathematically attack that and be very successful at it You guys remember when it first clicked for you that you, when you started to just increase the frequency of training and what happened to your body? Yeah, well that was a lot when we first started talking. When you and I first started talking, it's what turned me on to what you were talking about because it was funny that around the same time,

I had been really dabbling with more frequency. Started putting it together. Yeah, I was kind of like putting it together myself and then I read what you said to me, oh my god, this is so what everybody needs to hear. Here I am 10 plus years into my career and nobody was ever telling me the importance of frequency. Over intensity has always been pushed.

Even in the athletic realm, I mean, we were still doing splits and going for like off days and like hammering the legs super hard. And just getting back to frequency and adding more volume with that was a game changer. Frequency and then the reducing of, are not going to failure, were the two things that I was kind of, that was my world right when you and I first started talking about. And when I saw maps read, I was like, fuck yes.

This is what people need to know. This is how I've been training my clients. I'm finally, how funny is this? I was training my clients first that way. I trained myself. I trained myself that way afterwards. Of course. I was still running a bros split

but I was training all my clients with more frequency. And it was finally, I was like, what the fuck am I doing? Why am I not applying? I'm not finding how we do that. Right, I'm totally guilty. Because you're just a better, you're more objective when you're dealing with someone else

than when you're dealing with yourself. It's just the bottom line. And you're watching it all. It is so hard to be objective with yourself, especially when it comes to your training or your attitude or anything. Like, you know, imagine if you were recorded all the time with a camera and then you watch the video

later on, you'd be like, oh, shit, I was acting like a dickhead right there. Yeah. It's hard to be objective. Same thing for training. I remember the first time I did it, I went from training each body part once a week to training twice a week and then doing full body three days a week. And it was instant, like instantly I went and worked out and it was like the

second or third workout of the week and I was stronger all of a sudden. And I just had that feeling, you know, that feeling you get where you know, like, oh shit, like this is the right thing. Why wasn't just, like, I just remember not being as taxed, you know, certain days where you just feel like, oh God, like, the motivation isn't there, the energy isn't there, and you know, switching into doing total body,

you know, routines and then also doing it like with more consistency, it was just like, wow, I just like would keep ramping up and I had this upward sort of energy versus, you know, being feeling like super fatigued all the time. What's funny is when I bring it up to people, when I would talk to them about this type of thing, like I had a buddy who was a bodybuilder and I would talk to him about this one, like, dude, you need to try training the body parts more frequently, do the same total volume,

just increase your frequency. And he would kind of debate me a little bit and he'd go, you know, this was, it was an interesting time. He's like, I remember a while ago, I wanted my bench press to go up when I was younger and all I did was go get under the bar every day and do like two or three sets and he goes, and I got my bench press up to 400 pounds. It's like, you know, I was like, I forgot about that. I wonder if that works for everything else.

I'm like, yes, it does. It does. You have to try and he put on literally, this is guy, I forgot about that. I wonder if that works for everything else. I'm like, yes, it does, dude. You have to try and he put on, literally, this is a guy who's got great genetics. But he instantly put eight pounds of muscle in something like two months, just from changing it over and then forever. Well, we'll think of it this way.

And you say that a lot, what you just said about, just keep your volume the same and then split it up over three. And you're right, you'll see a difference just from the frequency, but here's the thing. Here's the kicker to that. Is that's the real secret sauce? When you break up your frequency over three times a week on that muscle group, it allows you to increase your volume so much easier. Over time, for example, think of it this way. I was a guy who used to do 25 sets of legs.

And I mean, I was an hour and a half fucking ready to throw up. I was leg day. Yeah, and I don't want to do legs here. I don't want to do legs again for a week because I'm fucking hammered. But I understood that needed more volume. I needed more volume in my legs.

They're going to grow. And that started off. I was doing 15 that I was doing. That was doing 25. Now, here's the problem with that. That's not sustainable, it's really tough to come in and go beast mode, 25 sets, and even then, how do you build upon that?

How do you build more volume in that without just continuing to be more sets, more reps or increase more weight? Now if I spread that out over three, eight sets of fucking legs ain't shit, that's one exercise, I can go squat eight times, I could be done. Dude, you could do 10 sets three times a week, and now you're doing 30 sets for your life. That's one exercise. I can go squat eight times, I could be done. Dude, you could do 10 sets, three times a week,

and now you're doing 30 sets for your legs. That's what I mean, it's- And they're fresh sets. Right, and it's so much easier and you're doing better lifts. So it's so much easier for you to build volume into your program. So if you're very serious about building an aesthetic physique,

you need to learn how to track your volume. Like if you're, if this is, I have no idea what this guy looks like, who asked this question, but if you're asking this question because you're considered about getting into competing and you're serious about it, hopefully your, and this is another thing, talk about all the bad coaches out there, I didn't meet one coach

that spoke to volume and any of their athletes. None, it was just hard cardio. No, no, no, it's actually cardio. You know, you know, it talks about volume a lot, Olympic coaches and even powerlifting coaches. It's bodybuilding coaches. It blows my mind. And it was crazy because I remember watching myself

get ready for a show and be, and like I remember these buddies of mine that were pros and coaches saying like, oh, get on stage and I'm like, no dude, I'm not even ready, man, I'm not even, I won't get on stage until I feel like I've built enough size that I feel like I can compete with pros. And so I waited for that.

And if you look back at all my show pictures, every show, I brought a different physique, a bigger, a more improved physique, show over, show over, show. Well, it's the, I just tracked my volume. And every show, I brought more to, in different different areas like maybe my chest wasn't bigger in every show But that wasn't a focus my focus was shoulders one time or then it was legs or it was calves or it was back So every time whatever I brought whatever I presented this to this on the stage was a different package

And I see I see this at the professional level of the pros and men's physique bodybuilding They can't get away with this because bodybuilding. There's so much more that has to be put pros and men's physique. Bodybuilding, they can't get away with this because bodybuilding is so much more that has to be put into it. But men's physique, so many guys already have really good genetics and so they don't have to be, they don't have to, they're not forced to have to do this math. And I was forced to because I don't have the genetics. If I wasn't compete with these guys, I had to do these little things like track my volume.

So if you're a guy who's getting ready to get in a men's physique or you're already in it and you don't understand how to like track your volume and yet, you're trying to sculpt a physique and you're a guy who's getting ready to get into mince physique or you're already in it and you don't understand how to like track your volume and yet You're trying to sculpt a physique and you're being told like you need to work on certain areas Well, what does work on area as mean? Just do more of it. Well, yeah, how about be Strategic and smart about it and build volume now That's the beauty of Maps black is we took that out for people because we understood that how many people

Really want to sit down and punch in a calculator and track that. If you follow the program and each time you come around on the program, you just slowly increase sets, reps, or weight into it, it's naturally designed to progress you volume ones. Next question is from Mark Wolves. Your thoughts on performance enhancing drugs in sports and have you watched the documentary? Icarus. That was a good one.

That was a good one. Yeah, a documentary. Really long but really good. Yeah. It shows you like what the Soviet Union was up to, man. Oh, wow. It does. So that's the documentary of a cyclist, a competitive amateur cyclist.

So he's a pretty good one. It's a very good documentary. Who got his gotten contact with one of the premier, if you want, I don't know, if you want what you want to call him, scientists in this particular area, from the former Soviet Union who knew how to put athletes on drugs and how to get them to pass tests,

so they can compete and drug test events. And so he kind of used himself as an experiment and then the documentary goes into other stuff after that. But I found it very fascinating. I also found it fascinating that his performance, he didn't see these crazy changes. No, not at all. He didn't do well at all.

Yeah, he played better. Yeah. Natural. This is what I liked about the documentary is, I wish I saw more things like this before I ever dabbled with testosterone because I really thought that it was like the reason why athletes were super impressive that, oh man, if you're a pro or you're this level, you just have accepted to take testosterone and do stuff like that.

I had no idea that it, how little it had to do with these guys at that level. When you're at the elite level with cycling, with swimming, with basketball, with football, you gotta have everything else. And the PEDs is just the kicker, man. It really is. It's just an edge. It is. But it's actually not an edge because everybody,

everybody's doing it. If everyone's doing it, it's not much of an edge. It's not much of an edge. No, it's funny. You know, they're getting smarter with how they use anabolic in sports. Like you'll see like MMA fighters, for example, because they compete in these weight classes, they're not using these crazy doses of things to start running a jack because you go up a weight class. If I go up to let's say I

fight naturally as a light heavyweight and I start taking all the steroids because I'm like, fuck it, I want to win, you know, I want to be the champion of the UFC or whatever. And I go up to heavyweight. If I'm pushing my body to heavyweight with anabolic and I'm fighting a guy who's a natural heavyweight, he's got advantage over me. He's going to kick my ass all day long. Well, of course, being that way our technique or someone else. People don't understand what that is though. People don't realize why it was lived in that weight. Right.

If you have two guys, both of them are 220 pounds. One of them has been 220 pounds his whole life, his natural and has been fighting. They would say everything else is equal. They've been training as long. They're both top of their class. They're awesome. And then the other one, God, is now bumped up to that class because he's taking testosterone.

The guy who's natural, 100% because, like Justin just said, he's used all of everything else. Because when you take testosterone, it doesn't change your ligaments. It doesn't change your bone structure. It doesn't change those things. So if it doesn't change those things, those things are important.

And then when someone throws a punch, like if your bone structure is denser, harder, thicker, bigger, it's gonna hurt more. And if you're gonna be able to take more and you're used to moving around that way, there's so many factors. So yeah, these guys use it more for recovery and dirt. That's the thing.

If you took all hormones and antibiotics and all that stuff, if you took all of them out of professional sports, the people at the top, but still be the people at the top. And they still would be superhuman. And that's just so crazy. This is kind of why I'm kind of like whatever about it. Yeah. Because at this point, I don't think there's people within the sport,

so I do get, it's a good conversation, and I do know that there's some people that speak passionately about it, because I could understand if you're, like, let's use an example of my buddy, Brynnnaub and Desjo, right? He's got, I am, but Desjo, sorry, he has got, you know, eight years in the NFL, so does my, my other buddy, Eric Frampton, who's got eight years they played in the NFL, both of them all natural guys. But they're also, they weren't, they're not Ray Lewis, both of them all natural guys. But they're also,

they weren't, they're not Ray Lewis. They weren't guys that everybody knows their name and so at that, they played eight years in the league and they were good. But they weren't like super, I think if those guys took testosterone, they would have been well. They probably would have been right because they already had all the natural gifts they were and they were incredible football players. So they could, and so I get why guys like that would be like anti testosterone because they don't want to take it. And you know, they know that that could potentially put them over the edge.

And I also get it to just from as far as like trying to get back to the to the purity of like what sports even like represent, you know, for youth and for kids, especially. Like I always, but sports like you mentioned MMA and stuff like that, like, I don't want kids doing MMA, you know, anyways. So, like, that's a different category for me. So, there's like certain things where it's more, it seems more like entertainment and carnage,

like football for me is like, you know, I'm okay, like, let's all just bash heads and get crazy because it's, this is violent. This is a violent sport. It's not grace and beauty. There is elements of that, but what people really are drawn to it for is the carnage. Well, so this is my theories on all this. I think that where it'll go away is I think the future like the NFL. I told you already where we're going which by the way the company

I think free D is the name of the company that's coming out. It's first person perspective on the athlete Right, so I actually think you in the future is the athletes will virtually represent their bodies their strengths their attributes I think we'll be able to measure this but I think they'll be virtual attributes, I think we'll be able to measure this, but I think there'll be virtual beings that look real and that avatars, like avatars, and it'll actually be met, like so like you and I, like they'll be able to, we have the science to be able to show your strength, your explosive enough, your speed. So if you could do that, we could be able to dispose simulation. Yes, the simulation, and then you'll encourage people to kill people. It'll be awesome. It's not a real it's not a real human right you can

Spear me you could do whatever you want to me because worst case scenario you just kill me I'm out of the game for the day and the crowd goes insane because it was like oh my god fucking Justin just killed him Right think about that and but think of it like avatar style This is where I think we're going because especially when you think about all the stuff that's coming out with Concussions and how dangerous football is and it's protecting more and more, we're heading the other direction. The pendulum swung this way. It's going the other way. That's an interesting thing. You really think people buy into this virtual. I don't know. Would you be tied to it?

It's strongly. Yeah. Well, if it's first person perspective and it looks just like a real human video game. It'd be like, think like, think about a football field with a bunch of AI out there running around that looks just like the real players. They're at their home playing themselves with a bee. You see people hacking in and giving themselves cheat codes. Yeah, I mean, this guy's huge. How did that happen?

I don't know. So here's something interesting. So I, you know, I'll stand by them. I'm totally sober right now, too. Yeah, I know, I thought it was. I'm sorry to wear. I'm totally sober right now. Yeah, I thought it was I'm sure it's where I'm tripping on it right now. So I'll say this. I think performance enhancing drugs do give athletes an advantage and an edge, but I think they give female athletes a much bigger advantage in edge than they do to men. And I'll stand by that. I think the difference between a natural, you know, very talented male athlete and a anabolic enhanced, very, you know, natural talented

athlete, there's going to be a difference. I think when you look at women, I think the difference gets dramatic mainly because testosterone in the female body is very, very potent. I mean, you give a woman, you know, one tenth of those of what you'll give a man and they start to get crazy, crazy changes in their body. So I would, I would stand by that. I think that performance in answering drugs and female driven sports or with women is probably a bigger. Are you anti-etho women, what's your thoughts on it? I mean, I wish, here's what I wish. I wish they were not frowned upon or illegal so that everybody, you know, they talked about what they took and there was more science and finesse behind it.

Because I think that it's more dangerous now because they have to hide it and they have to figure things out and they gotta use chemicals. That may be not ideal. I think there should be like maybe two separate leagues. Like there should be a league. If you're a purist, you know,

and you know what he's watching the purist. Exactly, no one's gonna watch it. It would die. But you're a purist, you know, nobody's watching the period of time. Exactly, nobody's gonna watch it. It would have died. But that's a humbling thing, right? Like it's like, year was crazy, historical. So, you know, all of baseball, we have your average home runs that happened per year, then all sudden steroids come out. Barry Bond, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, that era,

home runs like double. I don't remember what it is, and I'm sure somebody, some baseball middle will correct me here. Well, they had to do something because the viewership went like way down because remember that like strike. Right. So we had the strike baseball thing was completely down.

So it's kind of like all of a sudden these guys get massive. The league starts to turn a blind eye because they're getting viewership like they never have. So steroids kind of are floating around the MLB for a good five, eight years or so. And then now all of a sudden that's like because because all the shit that came out, all the controversy, they cracked down. So boom, so you go from guys that were on average baseball players were hitting, a lot of dudes were hitting 45 to 55 home runs every season.

And then the record guys were hitting 60 plus, right? So then I'll send them we dropped, everyone drops to like 25. So now baseball has only seen like 20, 25 home runs. This year they beat the steroid era with all the steroid testing. So one of two things is like the equipment. Are they just enough the balls? Yeah, so the theory is that they're using or doing something different to the ball. Now let me tell you a little bit of backstory on what happens over in Colorado Rockies. So the Colorado Rockies, when the stadium got built the first year, home runs were flying out like crazy altitude because the altitude and the humidity, right?

So or the dry, it's dry. It's not a lot of humidity. So they actually, they figured this out after a couple of years, like, dude, everybody comes to Colorado and home runs, home runs, home runs, it's not fair. We need to figure something out. And they're like, oh, what's the air? Oh, and it's not fair. We need to figure something out. And they're like, oh, what's the air? Oh, and it's the ball. So now, when the major league plays in Colorado,

all the balls are kept... They're ad humidity? No, they're kept in a humidor. So they're all the balls. So the balls are super dry, so they don't fly out of the park. Oh, oh, oh, they keep them, they ad humidity to them. They stay in a... They stay in a... Yeah, they stay in a get- Exactly. Oh, I see, yeah. Yeah, because if they get dried out and hard, they keep them they add humidity to them. They stay in it. They stay. Yeah, they're staying at exactly.

Oh, I see. Yeah, because if they get dried out and hard, they're going to go fly. Yeah, they'll fly out. So they keep the, the keep them in the humidor. So they stay kind of, they stay the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,. I would suspect that you could keep the same balls, but you could manipulate the other direction. Right, go the opposite direction, dry out a ball really well. And that would probably...

Right, so I don't know what's going on right now, but that there's all kinds of speculation around the ball and stuff, the pictures are saying that it feels like we used to cork bats and they crack down, not for a while. Right, so they, and so, but it's crazy that we went from that testosterone era in baseball. You saw this huge spike, then we go,

now we're cracking down harder, but then all of a sudden this is happening. Everyone's going like, where is this coming from? We broke the record with all steroids. What's happened? The theory is the balls. They had some of these picture pictures take like a five gallon bucket of half the balls were from last year

and then half the balls were the new balls and the pictures were like blindfolded, picked the ball, throw the ball up and they could, they were right on, spot on with the new balls. They could feel the difference. No one could see it, they're looking at it. No one could tell they were stitching,

looks same, everything looks normal, but a picture that's so used to grabbing. That's the real performance enhancing that's going on. Right, sports. Right, it's true like the gloves that, you know, receivers enhancing that's going on. Right, sports. Right. It's true, like the gloves that receivers are using the NFL now. Oh my God.

Dude, have you ever seen those? Yeah, it's like stick them. Yeah, it's crazy. You're like, tar on their hands. It is funny when you say that because the drugs don't have as much of an impact as the... No, and there's a great TED talk on that that we all watched a couple years ago that was,

and I forgot the name of the TED talk, but it was the one that totally dispeled everything that I believed with a test australian being totally. Totally. Right. Yeah, it talks about the four. Yeah, the internet. All the equipment that the, that's the cap, the swimsuits, that the athletes, like all

these records that keep getting broken is a lot. Most technology. Yeah, it's the equipment. We should have to compete naked. You know what I'm saying? Like the ancient Greeks. Whoa, dude. Like you. Yeah, it's the equipment. We should have to compete and make it. You know what I'm saying? Like the ancient Greeks. Like you get to make it.

Like that's it. There's nothing. Nothing can help you with your work. Right. No, it'd be interesting to see, especially things like, you were sure, but no. It'd make it interesting. When you look at like football, to me,

oh, I don't know, because maybe I'm just into football the most out of all those sports. I feel like that, man, the types, how aerodynamic the pads become, how lighter the helmets, but protective they become, the cleats, the turf that they run on, the wide receiver gloves. I mean, which is why football has changed so much.

Oh, so much. Man, the equipment and just all these little, like, you know, the undergarments and like all these different like pads and stuff like this. It's just so high tech now. So, we're hilarious. Yeah, we're hilarious. Check this out.

We have a new website, MindPupMeet.com. Yeah. .com is all updated. It's got brand new stuff on there. Go there and buy everything. There's some good, you can watch videos and read about information on each of our programs. There's blogs on there.

Fitness information. We have our guides on there. It's awesome. Check it out. Also, go fitness information, we have our guides on there. It's awesome. Check it out. Also, go to YouTube, subscribe to our YouTube channel, Mind Pump TV. We post a new video every single day. And finally, if you want to ask us a question that we answer in an episode like this one, do it on Instagram under the Q&A meme on our Instagram page, it's Mind Pump Media.

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