Episode 194. Q&A - Breaking Plateaus, Building Muscle and How to Enjoy the Gym

Welcome to another episode of the In-situ health and fitness podcast! This week, we are back to answering your questions! 

We explore the best coffee options for weight loss, the reasons behind elevated heart rates during exercises like split squats and lunges, and effective strategies for overcoming training plateaus to gain muscle. We offer tips for making gym sessions more enjoyable, strategies for eating healthy on a busy schedule, and guidance on determining the right calorie intake for muscle building. Additionally, we discuss our major changes in training and nutrition practices over the past decade and the insights gained from these transformations and much more. 

Show Notes: 

Mind Pump Macronutrient Calculator: https://www.mindpumpmedia.com/macronutrient-calculator

00:00 Intro 
5:45 What is the best coffee for weight loss? - Nathan 
7:54 Why does your heart rate increase so much when doing exercises like Split Squats and Lunges? - Higgs 
10:28 How do I overcome a plateau? I hit a plateau with my training. I am stuck at the same weight, and I am trying to overload each week (progressive overload). My goal is to gain muscle. - Dion 
17:45 How do I find out how many calories I should consume to build muscle? 
 25:00 How can I make the gym more enjoyable? I want to go, but I feel like I have to force myself to stay there for my whole workout. - Claire
30:50 I don't have a lot of time to cook. How can I still eat healthy meals on a busy schedule? - Dylan 
34:40 What are some things you have done a complete change on in the last 10 years in regards to training (Jack) and nutrition (Mack), and what made you come to those conclusions? - Xavier, first time caller, long time listener

Transcript

00:00:06:00 - 00:00:28:19
Unknown
What is up, everybody? Welcome back to yet another episode. We got a Q&A coming at you. Big thanks to everybody, as always, for all the cues, the questions, if you like. You know what? I got a good health and fitness question or just a question for us. You can submit your questions. There's a link in the show notes or the bio wherever you're listening.

00:00:28:21 - 00:00:49:00
Unknown
And you can just literally just enter your question. Hit submit. You don't even have to give us your email or name. You can do it and give us a fake one if you want. but yeah you can do it there. Or head over to Instagram in situ podcast search that will pop up. Give us a follow and give us your questions there.

00:00:49:02 - 00:01:11:06
Unknown
We post a lot of our Q&A content on there. So if you agree disagree you can have your say there. also on YouTube as well. We break each question up so you can just listen along to each question and would appreciate a like subscribe and a comment on those videos if you got the time. We would love that.

00:01:11:08 - 00:01:29:15
Unknown
I believe you got some rapid fire for us. Yeah. Let's go. So the last night I went to a trivia night. I'm in the mood. I'm in the mood for some rapid fire questions. I'll be honest though, I feel like I'm not very good at trivia. General knowledge questions. Not my forte, but I was a scribe, so I contributed equally to the trivia.

00:01:29:15 - 00:01:58:15
Unknown
So now it's Jack's turn to answer some questions because he didn't come last night. are you ready? Okay. Favorite ice cream flavor? It's a trick question. Chocolate. Say a word in Spanish. Hola. You can do better than that. Come on, come on. Ask us, I hope. Diego. Mariana. Listening. Your favorite number seven. Why? She's a good number.

00:01:58:15 - 00:02:30:14
Unknown
Is it? Oh 42. What? What is the answer to the universe? Okay. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was 42, wasn't it? I don't know, okay. Who has it easier, men or women? Men, yeah, I agree. Have you ever worn socks with sandals? Yes. Yes. Oh, Now what? Why can't we tickle ourselves? Di. Is it because we know that it's coming?

00:02:30:14 - 00:02:59:18
Unknown
Yeah. Go. Okay, that's about answer. What does a person need to be happy? Purpose. Oh. Good answer. Okay. What's the best age in your opinion? 36. Are you sorry? How old are you? Are you 36? Well, it's double dipping in a potty. Ever acceptable? What do you mean, double dipping? Like, if you have a chip, take a bite.

00:02:59:18 - 00:03:18:05
Unknown
Dip again? no. Okay. Good answer. Avoided at all costs. Good answer. Okay. You feel warm? Unless the dip is yours and you're on dip. That's okay. Well, other other people at the party. Yeah, but you might have. Yeah. So if we host a party, we can dip. No. Like, if I've got a tower dip in, it's my idea.

00:03:18:07 - 00:03:38:13
Unknown
Why are you carrying your own? To have a dip around in a party? Because it could be delicious. Okay, okay. You feel good now? Yeah. Okay, let's. Before we get into. Well, let's just answer the question that we've been getting the most. Where can I get some sweet in situ merch? Oh, yeah. That's true. We have been getting that a lot.

00:03:38:15 - 00:04:04:11
Unknown
I am not wearing any in situ. We neither of saw, So I've been posting. I've been wearing some in situ merch. Nice. So tees and jumpers, hoods. one way to make sure you do get some merch is to hit the support link and support the show. It's a bit weird to ask people to pay to support the show, but I don't think it is.

00:04:04:11 - 00:04:27:17
Unknown
I would pay, I happily pay to support Andrew Huberman. So you can do that. so those that have done that have got some sweet tees, so they, they're rocking the tees hoods. I know a few of you are looking for the hoods. Everyone in Melbourne at the minute is like, give me a damn gray hoodie. we're still trying to narrow down.

00:04:27:19 - 00:04:47:07
Unknown
We haven't found the right hood. Let's be honest. Yeah. So maybe we found the hood, but then who's printed on it? Yeah, but it's not easy to do. And to be honest, if we were to sell the ones we got now, they're not we're not real happy with the quality. And it would still cost you about $180. And we're breaking even on that.

00:04:47:08 - 00:05:06:23
Unknown
So we don't want to charge $190 for an average hoodie. Yeah. To clarify, it is easy to do. It's easy to get things printed on a wooden drop ship, but it's not easy to get the quality and the fit that we want to give to you guys. Because I don't want I like I would hate nothing more than for someone to pay for something of ours.

00:05:06:23 - 00:05:30:10
Unknown
And it peels or the material bowls or it falls apart like that. Doesn't what drives me nuts. So? So they want to make sure it's perfect. Probably next winter we might have something sorted for you guys. the teaser definitely day. I think we've now those now pretty happy with those. So if you do support the show you will get a T no matter what price you decide to support them.

00:05:30:12 - 00:05:49:22
Unknown
So you hit the first link in the description and it takes you to a support support us. Or if you're listening somewhere, I think there's a little love or support. Oh cool, you can do it. You can hit that on the banner and it takes you to the support page. Nice. Ready? Ready. Okay. The first question is from Nathan.

00:05:49:22 - 00:06:15:11
Unknown
What is the best coffee for weight loss? Weight question. So I think your face tells me that you are thinking that he asked it in terms of how which coffee's gonna help me lose weight. I think he means which coffee should I be drinking if I'm trying to lose weight? So, because all of this drink and all this, a lot of us drink probably 1 to 3 coffees a day.

00:06:15:13 - 00:06:37:10
Unknown
And if you are trying to lose weight, that's a lot of calories that you're drinking if you drink it with milk. So if weight loss is your goal, then black coffee is your friend because it has no calories, maybe 1 or 2 calories. so black coffee could be, espresso or a long black, just like no added things.

00:06:37:12 - 00:07:04:24
Unknown
And then obviously when you add things like cows, milk is probably the highest in calories, but probably the milk I would recommend if you don't aren't dairy intolerant. And then I'm pretty sure it goes soy milk. And then the other nut milks like almond and oat are pretty much the same. But either way, just consider like the size of your coffee, the type of milk you're having, and if you're having any sweetness, because that also adds a lot of calories as well.

00:07:05:01 - 00:07:23:21
Unknown
And I feel like it's so easy for us to overlook the calories that we drink because we aren't actively eating them, so we forget that they have some value, and that can make a huge difference when you're trying to lose weight. Just good rule in general, don't drink calories. Yeah. we I think we've said that about fat loss before.

00:07:23:23 - 00:07:43:04
Unknown
Different fat loss questions. And one of the biggest things is just don't drink your calories. even for us, I, I'm very mindful of drinking more calories because it can easily sneak up on you. and you added an extra 500 calories to your day just through the drinks you have, if not more. Yeah, and you don't even notice.

00:07:43:04 - 00:08:14:12
Unknown
It doesn't even fill you. It doesn't satiate you. So it's not like it's maybe it's enjoyable, but it's not necessarily beneficial for body composition if that's what your goal is anyway. Okay. Next question is why does your heart rate go up so much during exercises like split squats and lunges, kicks, eggs? Good question. so he sent me these after she was she'd done it and was sort of freaking out, like my heart rate's way too high for these exercises.

00:08:14:18 - 00:08:44:09
Unknown
Is something wrong? And the answer is no. So you think about it. Especially legs. Your legs are the biggest muscle group in your body, really. And it takes a lot of energy to do that. So you know where bicep curl. It's one single muscle. If you oscillate it doesn't take that much effort. And obviously when you use a muscle, your heart is trying to pump blood into those muscles to give them energy and just, do all the things it needs to.

00:08:44:11 - 00:09:15:03
Unknown
So basically some, you know, some people might not experiences, but more advanced lifters, luckily in going to experiences because you can push super hard on those leg exercises and you think about it, you're fully contracted really. So yeah, you might just be don't work in your legs, but if you don't, a rear foot split squat or a Bulgarian split squat, whatever you want to call them, you're pretty much working every muscle in your body really, if you don't properly and then if you're good at them, you're going to be pushing hard.

00:09:15:05 - 00:09:40:11
Unknown
So you pretty much work in every single muscle in your body. So your heart is trying to pump blood throughout your body, but because most of the muscles are contracted, it's hard for it to do it as well. So it's sort of like, yeah, if you're blowing up a balloon, if you're just sitting there blowing up a balloon normally, but when your muscles are contracting, it's trying to, you know, blow that air through a tiny little straw because it's all contracted and there's nowhere for that air to go.

00:09:40:13 - 00:09:57:12
Unknown
So that was probably a bad example. But you know, you know what I mean? I get it, I get it. Cool. So basically you're just contracting your muscles a lot harder and it's harder for your heart to pump blood to those muscles. So it is a good thing. And you can use it as cardio when you get really good at it.

00:09:57:14 - 00:10:21:15
Unknown
I feel like that's where most of my cardio comes from at the moment. I'm going to join in on the Saturday Challenge, I know. so yeah, not a not a bad thing. it's just normal. And again, better you get at those exercises the more your heart is going to pump. So you can do that with a bicep curl when you're really good at bicep curls, for an example.

00:10:21:15 - 00:10:45:23
Unknown
But it's obviously a lot easier to do when you're using all your muscles instead of just one. Yeah. Good question though. Okay. Next how do I overcome a plateau. Yep I was just going to leave it there. So down okay. Good question. And we're going to go into a lot more detail with this dance giving us a bit of a brief on his activities and all that sort of stuff.

00:10:45:23 - 00:11:07:15
Unknown
So had to overcome a plateau. I figured I'd stop it there and then, shoot like ants is a good but a good question is better. So what would your follow up question be to Deion? If he's stocks that had what overcome a plateau from a nutrition perspective just in general. what are you trying to achieve.

00:11:07:17 - 00:11:29:01
Unknown
So again like I want to stop and just short break this down a bit because everybody listening, you've probably got questions. You've probably had thoughts about your health and fitness just taking the time to ask better questions is going to get you a better answer. if you have it, if anybody has used any AI these days, asking good questions gives you better answers.

00:11:29:01 - 00:11:50:18
Unknown
And it's the same with just life in general. The better questions you ask, the better answer you'll get. So the better results you'll have. So. And that's exactly what I don't like. What are your goals? So I said, well, I asked, what are you plateauing on. So it's sort of the same thing. So he said he's hitting a plateau of my training.

00:11:50:20 - 00:12:18:10
Unknown
I'm stuck at the same weight as in with the exercises. Okay. So he's trying trying to, progressively overload each week, and he stuck at the same weight. and his goal is to gain muscle. So, from there, what question would you. Ox. How much food are you eating? are you eating enough food? And then probably.

00:12:18:10 - 00:12:45:01
Unknown
Are you eating enough protein? so I went the other way. I said, what program are you doing? Because you're the trainer on the nutrition is so. And I've got answers to both of those. Again, you can use these answers for your own self. Everybody listening? it's just good to follow along. So I'll answer yours first. So he's eating 1000 to 2, 1700 to 2000 calories per day.

00:12:45:05 - 00:13:12:08
Unknown
Whoa. And that consists of 120 to 140g of protein and 150 to 200g of carbs. I didn't ask about fats because I wasn't too worried because he's got is muscle gain. What would you say to that answer? That he is not eating enough? I'd say he's, proteins, but I don't know his body weight or his heart or his daily activity.

00:13:12:09 - 00:13:33:00
Unknown
All right. So let's get into so again, I asked, you know, what program are you following? Because sometimes people are just going into the gym and just flopping around, flopping around. And I'm not progressing and not tracking. So he's actually following a really good program. I forgot to ask where he actually got this one from, but it's a four day a week, so push pull legs and a full body.

00:13:33:02 - 00:13:51:00
Unknown
Cool. Which is good. So if you're a long time listener, you know that we pretty much follow that, full body workouts. We don't really do splits. If I was to recommend anybody to do a split workout, I would recommend this because if you do miss the pool workout, you still got a full body, so you still going to hit that muscle group.

00:13:51:02 - 00:14:12:02
Unknown
So unfortunately if it's just fully split then you know and you miss your chest, you're not going to work your chest for another week. But at least there's a full body in here. So you're going to catch that up. You know to a certain extent. So not a bad, program. right. It highly obviously activity. We know he works in the cafe.

00:14:12:02 - 00:14:38:24
Unknown
He, so he's on his feet moving around all day. So. Yeah, I recommended he sort of bump calories up, you know, maybe 400 just to see what happens, but also recommended carbs because one of his complaints was he didn't have energy during the workout. And a lot of people are scared of carbohydrates and think carbs are going to make him fat and all this sort of stuff and carbs a really good for energy.

00:14:39:01 - 00:15:01:14
Unknown
Like they are energy, they are energy. So I recommended fast burning carb to for the workout and then slow burning carbs in every single meal because again, muscle doesn't get built in the workout. It gets built in your recovery. So you need to be focusing on your recovery just as much as the workouts. Because you know your muscle is going to build in the next 24 hours after that workout.

00:15:01:16 - 00:15:23:04
Unknown
And if you haven't got energy for your body to recover, then you're not going to build muscle. So that's a big trap. People get in as well. any fast really. Do you want to give some examples? Should I give some examples? Fast release carbs like before your workout. Things that think about things that digest quickly and don't make you feel full or bloated.

00:15:23:04 - 00:15:56:00
Unknown
So like fruit, vegetables, sticks, toast, crisps. What else? Honey on a cracker or something like that. Like things that give you energy, but they digest quickly and then slower. Release carbs would be things like potatoes, rice, pasta, anything that's a bit heavier and more satiating. for after, it's definitely different for everybody. And you go to sort of trial and error because I know few people that it like rice before workout because it digests quick and that seems to give them enough energy.

00:15:56:06 - 00:16:17:22
Unknown
Yeah. So again, just try different things, see what works best for you, but don't skip on the carbs. And then we continue to the conversation. and it's just like he is afraid of putting on too much body fat during muscle gain. And I said to him, like, that's just part of it. It's very hard to gain muscle without body fat.

00:16:17:24 - 00:16:44:09
Unknown
So for all the guys out there, because I know this is I don't know if it's a girl thing, but it's mainly going on mostly here from the guys. I want to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. And it's not like, to be honest, it's unless you're genetic freak and or you've got time to just like if you haven't got a life and all you're doing is training and eating and training and eating, dialing in your nutrition and everything, and you got nothing else going on like a movie act out.

00:16:44:09 - 00:17:01:20
Unknown
Like literally they have everything paid for. They got a chef cooking every single meal. So everything's like, if you can do that, then yeah, you can gain muscle less body fat. If you're a human, living your life outside is very hot. So I focus on one on the other. So obviously focus on muscle gain, build a good amount of muscle.

00:17:02:01 - 00:17:17:06
Unknown
And then once you build that muscle, your body tends to hold on to it. So you can do all the calories back a little bit, continue weight training, and you're going to hold on to that muscle and lose body fat at the same time. So like I cut yeah. So bulking and cutting I don't really like using those terms.

00:17:17:06 - 00:17:38:16
Unknown
But yeah people will be familiar with them though right okay. Do you think that's answered down the question in full. Yeah. And just, just give it time as well. Yeah. I said, you know, stick with it for a couple of months and then change obviously program and your calories pump them up and then you sort of play around with it, but just give it a good amount of time.

00:17:38:16 - 00:18:00:12
Unknown
Don't just change everything. Each week because you won't see results over weeks. You'll see it over months. Good question though. I had a similar question, which was how do I find out how many calories I should be consuming to build muscle? this is a good question, because a lot of people I sort of like, well, where do I even start?

00:18:00:12 - 00:18:17:10
Unknown
Like, they go to the gym. I feel like when you start going to the gym, you have like the newbie gains and you build muscle, but then obviously you get to like a plateau, like Dan said. so there are a few things you can do. If building muscle specifically is your goal, you should be in a calorie surplus.

00:18:17:12 - 00:18:46:22
Unknown
So firstly you need to find out what your maintenance calories are. So that means the calories you consume where your body weight doesn't change. Exactly. Yep. Yeah. And then once you find out what your maintenance calories are then you would add between I don't know, three 250 to 500 calories a day on top of your maintenance calories while you're following a good program that has progressive overload in it.

00:18:46:24 - 00:19:12:06
Unknown
a few ways to find out what your maintenance calories are. The first one that I would recommend would be to track yourself and then adjust. So that means using my Fitness Pal as religiously as you can and tracking like either your body weight and or body measurements to see what changes, and probably photos as well so you can see what's going on.

00:19:12:08 - 00:19:30:14
Unknown
but track as much stuff as you can. So I track your food, you my fitness pal. Just don't even try to hit a target. Just record what you're eating, record your body weight, and then just see if anything's changing over at least a four week period. And if nothing changes over the four week period, then you know that this is your maintenance calories.

00:19:30:17 - 00:19:53:18
Unknown
That's also, if you're eating, a consistent amount of calories a day. And then so once you find an amount of calories that doesn't affect your body weight change, then you would add calories to that. That sounds like a long way to do it, right? That's the best way to do it. The other way that's maybe a little faster, is finding an online calculator to calculate your calories.

00:19:53:20 - 00:20:17:01
Unknown
The one that I would recommend the most accurate for building muscle is one pump calorie calculator. So like Mindy Pugh, I'll put a link in the show notes because it's kind of hard to find online because I feel like they don't really want people to use it for some reason. because I feel like they are advocates.

00:20:17:01 - 00:20:34:09
Unknown
They also have a podcast. Mind pump is a really good health and fitness podcast, but I think that they are advocates for going about it the way that I just said as well. Like the longer way, finding out what your actual maintenance is. but yeah, that calculated is really good. So you can go in there and you can choose if you want to cut, maintain or bulk.

00:20:34:14 - 00:20:59:15
Unknown
I would recommend putting in, maintaining, practicing, hitting your maintenance calories for a little while before you then bump your calories up. Just, I don't know, just to get the hang of it, because sometimes you might already be eating too many calories to build muscle, but your program isn't right. Or vice versa. So just, I feel, I think that tracking it and adjusting it as you go is really important.

00:20:59:16 - 00:21:23:21
Unknown
Yeah. And then the next thing I would say, after finding out your calories maintenance. So plus whatever would be to focus on protein. I mean we talk about all of the time. This might as well just be a protein podcast at this point. But yeah. What is the current protein recommendation for according to most research. Hot or hot.

00:21:23:23 - 00:21:59:16
Unknown
Right. So your height in centimeters in grams of protein. Protein a lot. So yeah again something else has come out where, you know, not quite that much is still sufficient. But again, even if you're tracking, it's likely if you're tracking the you're eating 160g of protein, you're likely still not eating 160g because you lose it all over the place in digesting it and cooking it in, you might just miss weight so that, like, you might have a 30 gram, 30 protein 30g protein shake and you might not even absorb it.

00:21:59:18 - 00:22:33:20
Unknown
So yeah, you might as well just go over. Yeah. So again, from what I can tell you, you can do your own research. There's no really life threatening issues if you're overconsuming protein, but also working out weightlifting and being a healthy person at the same time. You can add as much protein you want. I mean, it's so funny to me that people are concerned about eating too much protein, but they're not concerned about drinking too much alcohol or eating too much fast food or processed food or whatever other silly things that are not that, you know what I mean?

00:22:33:22 - 00:22:56:13
Unknown
Yep. Anyway, so side note, so I was just having a consultation with the clients morning. And he's we've been. How long have I been working with Alan? Probably six months. So he's got all his white white muscle gain. and we've been for six months. We've been moving back and forth you know adjusting tracking, adjusting tracking.

00:22:56:15 - 00:23:21:19
Unknown
So, so it's not. And we got to the point where he's hit a plateau. So probably Alan's another good example other than down Alan's hit a plateau. he has maintained the same muscle mass for the last three check in. So last we we do a body scan every four weeks. So he's maintaining muscle, same muscle mass. He hasn't got over that for the last three months.

00:23:21:19 - 00:23:41:00
Unknown
And a couple things I said to him like training. So you really need to focus on your training as well. A lot of people just get comfortable with their training and just go in, go through the motions, and that's hundred percent fine. You still need to be weight training, but if your goal is white, muscle gain, you really need to be focusing on your training as well.

00:23:41:00 - 00:24:08:24
Unknown
Like darling and technique, making sure each exercise, each rep, each set is perfect as well. And like actually pushing like I feel like it's really pushing. When you get to a certain point, it's very easy to just go to what's comfortable and not exceed that or what you think you can only do. Yeah, but your brain is going to tell you to stop well before you can actually like you need to keep pushing past that point but also maintaining technique.

00:24:09:02 - 00:24:29:22
Unknown
Yeah. And that's the very hard thing. And that takes a long time to learn. Like, you know, are you just doing junk volume or are you actually doing good proper reps that are going to actually get you muscle gain? So that's another thing to consider as well. so, but just it's not like I said, I've been working for Allen for six months and we're still tracking things change and things.

00:24:29:24 - 00:24:51:16
Unknown
So you know, it does take time as well. The human body is freaking crazy. Like so it's hard. It's we I feel like the internet maybe makes it seem like it's easy to figure it out and to start. Yeah, progressing. But it's so very hard. Everyone is so extremely different. Yeah, it's not just a matter of just like we're saying probably like, you know, lift weights and eat enough protein.

00:24:51:16 - 00:25:13:17
Unknown
It's not that easy. Everybody's very individual. But that's a that's the best place to stop. Who's that? Dylan. Oh I didn't write the name down. The next one is I skipped two to go to this one because it related to Dan. So now let's go back up. Yeah. How can I make the gym more enjoyable? I want to go, but I feel like I have to force myself to stay there for the whole workout class.

00:25:13:19 - 00:25:40:03
Unknown
When I started reading this, I was like, oh, that's Bradley for sure. A really good Bradley. The question this week, no, I did not. But he's he said this to me. Oh really? A week or two ago, I'm like, I submitted that question, but what's your there as well? Yeah. Look just keep at it and keep changing until you find different things like I guess as in you're saying not everyone has to go to the gym and lift weights.

00:25:40:03 - 00:26:01:00
Unknown
Yeah, but what if this person wants to build muscle and wants to be in the gym? Like, what if you want to be a gym person but you don't like being at the gym? I'd say you probably just need to change your experience a little bit, maybe go to a different time. like I say this to you, it's just the morning vibe is completely different to the afternoon vibe.

00:26:01:02 - 00:26:21:14
Unknown
So I just go to a different time. You might vibe with the people like although you're not talking to them, but just people around the gym that you might just be vibe with a little bit more afternoon during the day. Change that. so, you know, was another person who hated the gym, didn't want to lift weights, all this sort of stuff, never lifted weights.

00:26:21:14 - 00:26:42:16
Unknown
So he's in his 40s and he hadn't been to the gym, hadn't hated weights and never thought he'd actually enjoy it. And, I've tiled a program to suit him, so it's sort of like, you know, he's feeling good. It keeps him entertained during the workouts and all that sort of stuff. So he actually enjoys the gym and now he wants to go by himself now, which he's like, I never thought that would be me.

00:26:42:18 - 00:27:07:00
Unknown
But he's like, I'm feeling like I'm a gym person now. So actually getting help on how to train properly or, you know, talent, getting somebody to try to program to suit you. And it's very hot. Like, you know, I can't do that straight away. I usually like somebody like Dina. I'll go to work with him for a little bit and then, you know, it's probably boring or, you know, now I've sort of know him.

00:27:07:00 - 00:27:23:15
Unknown
I know he's still a training what he likes. You know what makes him happy in the gym? So obviously I'm going to give him more of those exercises, and they might not be optimal exercises, but he's going from a non gym person or a gym person. You know it doesn't really matter. He's doing some exercises. He's having fun.

00:27:23:15 - 00:27:47:12
Unknown
He's going to come back next on. That's the main thing. Yeah. So just keep finding around that. You will find it. what about you got any tips for Clint Bradley? Honestly, the I think the biggest one for me is the time of day. So like, Jack really like to train in the morning. I absolutely despise training in the morning.

00:27:47:15 - 00:28:09:24
Unknown
One, I don't like the vibe to my body. Doesn't feel ready. Three I haven't eaten enough food. There's just endless reasons why I don't like going in the morning. But I think the reason that I've found the afternoon as my spot is because I like to use my brain like I like to do focus work in the morning, and then by the time the off, I mean, not everyone has the flexibility that I really have either.

00:28:09:24 - 00:28:32:00
Unknown
But if you do, I like to you. I've just found my groove for the day. So if you can find like your daily groove and where it feels best for you, so if I'm using my brain from like 7 to 12 or whatever, and then I have lunch and then I sort of hit like a slump, like I'm tired and I don't want to do anything.

00:28:32:00 - 00:28:50:06
Unknown
So that's when I go to the gym. I mean, maybe that's not like intuitive. That doesn't seem like the right thing to do. Right? Because you want to go to the gym when you have the most energy. But going to the gym gives me energy. So I've placed my training sessions at like 1 or 2 to give me more energy for the rest of the afternoon.

00:28:50:12 - 00:29:17:24
Unknown
Does that make sense? But also, I really, really need to eat enough food before the gym. I don't know why. When I say that, I mean like I'm I would will have had a coffee. I'm usually about a coffee, egg steak, bread, salad and meat, chocolate and a hot chocolate before I train. And if I just if I train before just lunch, I just don't feel as good.

00:29:17:24 - 00:29:45:09
Unknown
I don't have as much strength, as much energy. My mood is worse. So over a while of trial and error, I've just found that having an adequate amount of food in my system and in the afternoon is like my sweet spot, and it makes the gym more enjoyable because all of those things align. So I feel like if you can play around with different things in your day and your life and see what helps you make helps and see what helps it feel better to be there.

00:29:45:11 - 00:30:07:22
Unknown
and also a playlist. This doesn't affect Jack much like Jack listens to what, a podcast? No, I've been listening music. I need a playlist and I noticed yesterday I went to the gym with a friend and I put my music on on the speakers in the gym, and it wasn't the same like having music in my ears, like it's in my brain, you know what I mean?

00:30:07:24 - 00:30:27:00
Unknown
It sort of stops me from thinking about how hard the workout is because I'm distracted by the music. So finding a good playlist that, like, helps you sort of get lost in being in the gym. Like you forget about the people around you. You forget about the other music that's being played and you're just focusing on yourself. I think that really, really helps me as well.

00:30:27:02 - 00:30:49:03
Unknown
yeah, like but then other people like training with friends, you know, and that maybe that's maybe you need a buddy to push you and make it more fun to be there. Yeah. yeah. Like, back just said, like, just keep trial and error. Like, he fits your goal, and you want to get there and do the right thing and keep going and just try different things.

00:30:49:05 - 00:31:14:08
Unknown
Yeah. Cool. That's it. Yep. Okay, now we've got Dylan's question. I don't have a lot of time to cook. How can I still eat healthy meals on such a busy schedule? This is a good question because we've recently tried some things right to try and fit our schedule. Firstly, I think the easiest way would be to get some sort of meal prep service.

00:31:14:08 - 00:31:34:08
Unknown
So we got like a locally meal prep service recently. but you can get like your food or, my something, my muscle. My muscle. Chef do they do boxes? Well, like light and easy. We have a client that does like an easy and everything. Like, even your snacks come with, like, an easy. Like your whole day is planned.

00:31:34:10 - 00:31:59:12
Unknown
yeah. So you could get, like, a prep service, even if you get a prep service for just dinner or just lunch, like just one meal, it doesn't necessarily have to be the whole day. the so I would say that that would be like the very, that would be like tier one. And then tier two, I would say if you want to cook your meals, but you feel like you don't have enough time, just make it as easy as you possibly can.

00:31:59:12 - 00:32:24:10
Unknown
So maybe that means buying bags of frozen vegetables, bags of microwave rice, pre roast chickens like pre roast roasts. You can actually get it from like the supermarket things like that that require less preparation. Very helpful. You can even if you're not a fan of frozen vegetables. You can buy so many pre chopped vegetables at the supermarket. Now like you don't even have to chop anything up.

00:32:24:12 - 00:32:50:01
Unknown
You can buy a bag, put it in a bowl, put some salt and pepper and oil on it and put it in the oven. And then cook a steak or a piece of chicken. And that's like 20 minutes, right? you can also buy like quinoa or rice or couscous salads at the supermarket. So you could do like that sort of thing with a protein source as well.

00:32:50:02 - 00:33:11:08
Unknown
do you have anything on the top of your mind? No, I, I guess I just think about, like, what is the friction that you're experiencing? So if you feel like you don't have a lot of time to cook, what part of cooking takes the most time for you? Is it the preparation or is it the actual cooking itself?

00:33:11:10 - 00:33:28:07
Unknown
Like maybe you could preach up all of your vegetables on the weekend, or maybe you could just cook. We often just cook protein. Like we'll cook a bunch of chicken and cook a steak. Oh, pressure, cook some beans. Then all of our protein sources are ready. And then all we have to do is add like some eggs will make a salad.

00:33:28:13 - 00:33:55:14
Unknown
Then the friction is a lot less because for me, cooking the protein, cutting the protein looks disgusting. I hate it, so if I do it all at once, it feels a lot easier and a lot faster during the week. Yeah, like I just obviously we don't have too much detail on Dylan's life. but, you know, a lot of, a lot of times I'll say guys and girls spend two hours in the gym every single day, like, I haven't got time to cook.

00:33:55:16 - 00:34:14:16
Unknown
It's like, well, you know, probably just having one rest day and using those two hours to cook some food. It's going to be more beneficial than doing that, like the seventh workout of the week. or just like you've said it before, time block. Just I'm sure you everybody does have time to cook a meal prep and all that sort of stuff.

00:34:14:18 - 00:34:31:13
Unknown
It's just whether you want to or not. And if you don't want to, that's how fun you do. You like order some meals, but you know, if you if, you know, you got certain goals you want to hit and this is what you want to achieve, then it might you might just sacrifice some other things to make time to food prep and that sort of thing.

00:34:31:13 - 00:34:55:04
Unknown
So just sort of, you know, what your goals, how much do you want them and what are you willing to sacrifice to achieve those goals as well? So that's how you do that. Cool. Last question. Okay. We saved the best for last. Okay. What are some things that you've done a complete change on in the last ten years in regards to training Jack and nutrition.

00:34:55:04 - 00:35:22:15
Unknown
Mack and what made you come to those conclusions? Xavier first time caller, long time listener. Xavier I freaking love you. We need more questions every week. Every week. You want one? Okay, you go first. What's something that you have changed in the last ten years? I, I think I've been training for ten years. I definitely haven't. Ten years ago, I would have been, what, 26 just opened promo.

00:35:22:17 - 00:35:47:09
Unknown
Well just before opening problem. So look I've pretty much changed my mind on everything. So I like I guess ten years ago I was a lot more, you know, if I was doing heat training, I'm like trying to use everybody stop what you're doing, put down those weights, come do heat training because it's the best. And no, I would have been diehard on those certain things.

00:35:47:11 - 00:36:07:22
Unknown
Well, you know, if I was fasting, I would have been like fasting. Stop eating in the morning fast so that would've just been my mindset back then, when now I'm just a little bit more, you know, try it and see what happens. You know, everything works. Everything doesn't work. So I think I've just changed my mind on how I approach things.

00:36:07:22 - 00:36:16:14
Unknown
I guess that's not just training, but just life in general as well.

00:36:16:16 - 00:36:44:03
Unknown
Just trying to think of an actual thing, you know, I've changed my mind on what about like, well, obviously heat training. Like, why why did you change your mind on heat training? Because when I it wasn't ten years ago when I met you, but six years ago, you were a lot more CrossFit cardio focused and fasting focused. You had a lot of weird beliefs, and I don't even know why you believe that you had to do the things that you did, but you did tell me it was good.

00:36:44:03 - 00:37:15:02
Unknown
So I was Tim Ferriss, probably. yeah. But why? Like, do you do you have any recollection of what made you change your mind? Or you think it's all just a gradual change, more education? Yeah, both. So obviously I've changed my mind on heat training, like in particular CrossFit. It's just I don't think it's an optimal weight. CrossFit, as in training, every modality, you know, is really good for you.

00:37:15:04 - 00:37:39:08
Unknown
I just don't think I was doing it right. So I ended up in a lot of pain, you know, had all sorts of issues going on, but just enjoyed it. So I pushed through, which made it even worse. So it's like now I've learned the hard way not to do it, to do that through pain. I guess you could say, I did post for this to get a few of these questions on my social media of me doing a snatch and that's fine.

00:37:39:08 - 00:37:57:13
Unknown
Like I had, you know, wrist wraps, knee wraps. Is that all these things just so I could perform an exercise? Remember the the elaborate gym bag we used to have? Yeah, we would have a gym bag full of all the accessories to go to CrossFit because you needed honestly, like eight different accessories just to do a workout. Yeah, you need the massage balls.

00:37:57:13 - 00:38:19:16
Unknown
A Theragun is the hot hand grip. Yeah, because you keep going, right? Can you rip your hand apart? Yeah, yeah, all that sort of stuff. Again, good fun. But I've just learned that that's not a good way to train long term and for longevity. Like, yeah, if I kept doing that in fortnight by now I'd probably need a shoulder reconstruction or something like that.

00:38:19:17 - 00:38:42:12
Unknown
Yeah. so just things like that, I guess Olympic lifting I have changed my mind on as well. A lot of Olympic lifting. A lot of people hide it and think it's bad and people shouldn't do it, but it's good fun. I just don't think it should be done in at high intensity, like we were doing in CrossFit, doing it as it should be, doing weight lifting style.

00:38:42:14 - 00:39:24:11
Unknown
Yeah. Really good. it's a good overall body movement. Good for power production, good for mind body connection, cognitive like everything. It's really they really good for you. But just low intensity and focusing on like the technique in the movement pattern. Right. Moving the barbell properly rather than moving as fast as possible. Yeah. one thing I've spoken about this on the podcast before about CrossFit just got me in a bad in a bad habit of finishing the rep too soon because it's just about getting the reps done, and it's not a good way to build muscle or hypertrophy, you know, longevity of joints, all that sort of stuff.

00:39:24:11 - 00:39:46:22
Unknown
And so now, you know, I'll finish my my last rep of not if I'm doing ten reps and I'm like my ninth and ten rep is super slow, super controlled, I make sure I start and finish in the same position where CrossFit, it was just like last reps down, drop the barbell. Now the lights off thing. so that obviously that's changed.

00:39:46:24 - 00:40:12:04
Unknown
us yeah, dyno training. I sort of my I don't think yoga and all that sort of stuff's bad. But I do think if you wait, lift properly you can get some benefits like, you know, lifting lift and move weights properly. You can get some benefits from yoga that, you know, that you don't really need to do it every single day to increase your flexibility and mobility.

00:40:12:06 - 00:40:31:11
Unknown
Yoga's good. since with our last guest last week, I have been doing it every morning. That's true. Just not much. So I have been doing it, but it's like, I don't believe you have to, you know, do yoga to get increase your flexibility in mobility. If you just lift weights properly and move properly under load, you can get the same results.

00:40:31:11 - 00:40:50:00
Unknown
I think yoga, I mean, yeah, sure, it's good for mobility and flexibility, but I think yoga is if you were to do it for as a daily practice, I think you should do it more. This is my personal opinion, but more from the perspective of like connecting your mind with your body, right? Yep. That's I think it's good for that.

00:40:50:00 - 00:41:23:11
Unknown
But you know, usually when people want to increase their flexibility, they go off into yoga. It's like, you know, lift weights properly and you'll probably get better results, faster results as well. Nutrition. Honestly, ten years ago I was 17 and I hadn't even considered my nutrition yet. Weight was it? That's crazy. 17 I only started working out and considering that food even played a role in my life and how I felt maybe when I was 21.

00:41:23:13 - 00:41:49:24
Unknown
So six years ago, still a lot sooner than most people. True. so since then, I guess since studying nutrition and starting the thing, I think at the beginning that I was like, I somehow became basically religious about was that dairy and wheat were bad. Remember how like, how much of a stickler I was for that in the beginning?

00:41:50:01 - 00:42:20:13
Unknown
To be fair, in my defense, I had a lot of gut issues and I did have to cut them out for a while. But I think in the beginning I was like, no one should have dairy or wheat or processed foods or sugar like I was crazy with it right when I first started. It's like I went from eating KFC, McDonald's, binge drinking, partying, all of all of the bad things to the complete opposite at the beginning, which was only eat vegetables and meat.

00:42:20:15 - 00:42:39:09
Unknown
and I thought that that's what everyone should do. And this was the only way to do nutrition. Like just eat completely clean. Clean is the word. I was such a stickler for clean eating. It was insane. And I think it affected my quality of life a lot because I wouldn't go to things, I wouldn't go to events, I wouldn't go out with people.

00:42:39:09 - 00:43:00:06
Unknown
I wouldn't go to like parties anymore because I didn't want to not be clean. but yeah, I think that being sick made me think that. And when I cut out dairy and wheat and all the sugar and stuff, when I got better, I was like, whoa, this is what's wrong with the world? But not necessarily. It's just that I overdid it.

00:43:00:06 - 00:43:22:08
Unknown
Like I overdid the shitty processed food, the alcohol, the drugs, and that made me sick. Whereas if I was just a normal person and had like a small amount, then it would have been fine. But I think that's what I've changed. My mindset on now is like, you can still have what's what's not clean food, like food, shouldn't be labeled as clean or unclean.

00:43:22:10 - 00:44:01:11
Unknown
You should be able to eat everything we do, eat everything now, because like, food is life, right? What's the point of life if you can't enjoy food, especially with people? and as an experience. So I think that's probably like the biggest change that I had. How I got to that, I'm not really sure. I think I slowly just started getting more educated and getting out of like, the crazy bubble on the internet, like the bubble of, you know, how there's like women on the internet that are like clean or death, pretty much like clean eating, clean lifestyle or die.

00:44:01:13 - 00:44:26:18
Unknown
I just sort of got out of that bubble and saw that you could be in shape and you could be healthy and have nice skin, hair, nails, etc. and still have like a croissant. Every now and then we'll go out for a beer with friends. Like I just started saying that that was realistic as well. and to be honest, in the last six years I feel like social media has had a very big impact on my beliefs.

00:44:26:20 - 00:44:49:10
Unknown
Like if I follow people that believe one thing, then I am more inclined to also believe that. Whereas if I follow people that are like, you shouldn't have to pick a camp, then I'm like, oh well, camps are just made up. Like, does that make? But isn't that like the natural arc of everybody? Like somebody start something, they start to get results and they're like, oh my God, this is, this is the this is the best.

00:44:49:12 - 00:45:07:17
Unknown
I'm getting results. Everybody come to this because I'm like, I'll get results. You're going to get results. Yeah. And that's not always the case. But like obviously I was the same as well. Like but it's just time and self-knowledge and education that you realize well you know there's a lot of ways you can get results. It's just calm down.

00:45:07:17 - 00:45:29:02
Unknown
And not everybody has to do this one thing. Yeah. But I guess in that, in that first initial thought, big one is when people go cut out, you know, they go vegan and they only eat plants and that sort of stuff. You're cutting out a lot of bad stuff, and obviously you're going to get a lot healthier. You can, you know, feel better, have more energy, all that sort of stuff.

00:45:29:04 - 00:45:50:17
Unknown
But that doesn't necessarily mean it's the vegan being vegan is. But if you do that, you get results, but then, you know, you start telling everybody, come do this. And then people start noticing your results and you help people get those results. Doing what you're doing. And then it's just like a B, but and then it's hard to get out of that bubble because that's your thing and that's you've got to keep doing that.

00:45:50:19 - 00:46:10:06
Unknown
The label, like labels, is satisfying and they're easy to explain. And that's why things like the shred and vegan and paleo and fasting, that's why that things like that sell. And that's why they go viral. Because they're easy to explain and that it's just like a little it's a little box. Everything fits in a nice tiny little package.

00:46:10:06 - 00:46:31:07
Unknown
And it's easy to present to the world. This is the answer. And we just want things to be simple and we want things to be the answer. But I feel like us, through the business have figured out, like with working with a bunch of people, there is no pretty neat little box. Everyone is so vastly different. Not one thing that you do with one client is going to suit another client.

00:46:31:07 - 00:46:48:14
Unknown
Ever, ever. and I feel like that's what also makes it hard to sell like us as coaching, because we can't put this little thing in a neat little box and say, here, if you come with me and we get rid of all the dairy and wheat and we just do hit training, you'll look like this because it doesn't work like that.

00:46:48:14 - 00:47:13:15
Unknown
And, this little side note, it's funny, like, so, like Norton's, brought out a new book or something, and he's just doing a different podcast and a lot of different content. And he was just reading through a study that's been done on protein or something about longevity in this sort of stuff, and then like lines, not necessarily pro meat or, you know, pro vague and he's just like this, this is a result.

00:47:13:15 - 00:47:39:23
Unknown
So he's like, eat meat, it's good for you. And then this, vegan influencer was almost like debunking his review of that, the study. So he went through his study and he's found a completely like, you just had two different scientists that are scientists talking about the same study with two different conclusions. Yeah. And it's just like I have to fan both of their both opinions.

00:47:39:23 - 00:48:00:04
Unknown
Very intriguing and very good. And I accept both of them. But it's just to good to see like one is sort of a mediator and one that you know that like non mediator. And they read the same study but got the two different outcomes from it because everything is up to interpretation. Exactly. And you know, and they sort of said that as well.

00:48:00:04 - 00:48:21:02
Unknown
But at the same time it's like well, you know, they're obviously in their camps, they've got results in their camps. Are they getting people results in their camps. So it's just sometimes you got to step outside the camp and see what else is going on. Even with the podcast, like, I feel like we try to be as neutral as possible because we don't necessarily have a camp for anything.

00:48:21:07 - 00:48:42:12
Unknown
That's the whole point of our philosophy, right? But even from episodes, people still will pick a camp that they think we're in. We haven't at all like identified that this is the way, you know what I mean? People just. Yeah, it's just like some sort of underlying bias that we don't even realize we have that causes you to pick a camp.

00:48:42:14 - 00:49:00:09
Unknown
Yeah. Even if it's completely made up. And, look, we might be. And that's like, why I want to try and get a vast different amount of guests on to challenge our beliefs. I'm not saying we're always right and everybody should do what we say, but yeah, challenging those beliefs is when you as well. When are you going to come on?

00:49:00:11 - 00:49:16:07
Unknown
I said, this is an official invite to come on the podcast because I feel like he would have some really good insights. I also want to know what he's changed his mind on in the last ten years as well. we're going to access all these questions back to you when you come on. Yeah. All right, that's it.

00:49:16:10 - 00:49:37:08
Unknown
That's it. Well, big Q&A obviously, if you've lost this far, you've enjoyed the episode. So make sure you copied the show link, send it to one friend or family member. We do appreciate it when you do that. because it does help this show grow. And we love that you have given us your time and been with us for this whole episode.

00:49:37:10 - 00:49:45:02
Unknown
So thanks again. We appreciate you, and we'll talk to you in the next episode. Bye.