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Hello, I am Kevin Smith, and you have found the Terminator Training Show, your one-stop shop for no BS training, nutrition, and health information. For more, please go to terminatortraining.com. Thank you for tuning in and enjoy the show. What's happening, guys? Welcome to another episode of the Terminator Training Show. I'm Kevin Smith. Today is going to be a QA from this week's Ask Me Anything on Instagram. If you want your question answered on a future episode, that is the best place to ask it. Give me a follow at terminator underscore training and look out for my typically weekly Ask Me Anything. And I oftentimes answer them on IG as well as some overlap. Sometimes I answer them on IG plus on here with a little bit more depth. And then other ones this week actually I did not answer many on IG because I have a newborn, and that is going to be my excuse for any time I don't answer as many questions as I wanted to. No, I just have a lot of things going on, and a newborn is one of them. But also I got a business to run, I've got training to do, I have a lot of other obligations, and if I didn't get to your question on IG, sorry, I'm drinking some Coke Zero, and that was a big burp. But anyway, if I didn't get to your question on IG, nothing personal, I might get to it today in this episode. I'm gonna try and get to more than usual. No promises, but if I didn't get to it, continue asking it. If I have not answered your question several weeks in a row, I know I say this every episode for anyone new though. If I haven't answered your question several weeks in a row and you've asked the same or similar question, probably not always, but probably consider making it a little bit of a better question, adding some more context. I understand there's a character limit and there's only so much you can write, but some of the questions that I get, I mean you guys should see them. They're insane. And usually I don't answer them. Sometimes I use them as a teaching point. This episode, I don't think I marked any. I go through recently, I've been going through and deciding which questions to answer beforehand, so that just so I see them and I know like I'm not answering a bunch of questions I've answered before, or that things that are just like pretty arbitrary. But yeah, some of the ones that are in there are just not great. And being a good question asker is really important. I'll just leave it at that. I know I've explained this a lot, but anyway, I don't think I have really many updates the day I'm filming this. I guess maybe one update. The day I'm filming this, my mom's coming to town to meet our little boy, which is gonna be awesome. My mom and stepdad. They're literally flying in right now. And then tomorrow is my birthday, the seventh. So I am turning 37. I always have to remind myself that I'm turning 37 versus 36 versus 38. Usually my wife reminds me, and I don't really put a lot of stock into my birthdays, but other people around me do, and I guess I appreciate that. So anyway, not really anything planned. We can't really go very far with uh three-week old. I guess he's actually he's gonna be four weeks. He's gonna be basically four weeks old a couple days after this comes out. So, anyway, that's pretty cool, and he's healthy, and he is an eating machine and we love him. So let's hop into today's questions. Beginning with any tips for hitting over 300 grams of carbs? Can't seem to get past this number. So, my man, you got some work to do, which honestly is not super uncommon at all. Most people have spent their entire lives eating way, way, way, way, way too little carbs, and 300 sounds like a lot to them. Honestly, when you get to a certain level, 300 is going to be an absolute joke to you. For example, yesterday I just adjusted one of my clients who weighs 168 pounds to 600 grams of carbs. And yes, he weighs 168 pounds, and he's in the low teens body fat percentage, and he's a complete stud. And we have been kind of bumping his carbs up over time, and he just got to 600, and I just love seeing a six as the first number of my clients' carbs, especially at that body weight. It's pretty common for guys that I coach to get up to 600 when they're 200, 210, 220. Some guys get up to close to 700. Some guys I've had in the past that are more than 700, but a little guy, a relatively little guy, I guess he's like more of an adder average size dude at 600 is pretty sick. But anyway, how to get to 300, honestly, man, you just gotta conceptualize what carbs look like, choose the right types of carbs, and ensure that you're eating carbs on a regular basis. There's really no trick to it, other than generally speaking, people will they just don't really know what a high carb meal looks like. So just because your meal has some rice or some bread or some potatoes or some oats does not really mean it has sufficient amount. It's almost like protein. People are like, oh, I had two eggs for breakfast. I had a bunch of protein for breakfast. You had 12 grams of protein. That's not a high protein breakfast. Same kind of thing with carbs. That being said, typically, if you're eating for performance, your carbs are going to be the highest macro in most of your meals, if not all of your meals. They should be. So getting an early start, I would say, making sure you're getting a significant bolus of carbs in the morning for breakfast. Maybe for you, if you're trying to get 300-ish grams, something like 60 to 75 grams of carbs in the morning, that could be two scoops of rice and grinds right there. Boom, you got it. And if you need rice and grinds, discount code 10% off in the description. Pride Foods, it's a fantastic oatmeal alternative, way easier digesting. And that's one of the things that I'm going to talk about here soon. Digestion is very important, but really, really delicious and super easy digesting, and it's beer carbs. And two scoops of it will give you, I want to say one scoop is 39 grams of carbs. So two scoops will give you 78 grams of carbs right there. Boom. And you also can continue throughout the rest of the day having a decent amount of carbs with each meal. So if you're having three meals a day, maybe consider bumping that to four meals a day. And if you're having four meals a day, maybe consider having four meals plus a snack that has a lot of carbs in it. Things like white rice, things like potatoes, potatoes are a little more filling. That being said, you can definitely consume potatoes, but cream of rice, white rice, rice cakes, sourdough bread, things like fruit, especially dried fruit if you're struggling. If you're like super full, you can't get any more carbs in. Dried fruit is not very filling at all. They kind of take the fiber out of them, and they're still not like bad for you. If you're cutting and you're struggling with hunger, then probably not the best idea to slam a bunch of dried fruit. But also, you can consider liquid carbs like a carb supplement, or you could have some orange juice or some other type of juice. I wouldn't go with like soda or anything like that, but something with nutrients in it. It's really not that difficult. It just comes with slowly bumping your way up a little bit closer, a little bit closer. And just to put it into perspective, like when I do high carb days, I consume like 400 grams of carbs in one sitting, basically. It's a few different meals. It's not technically one sitting, but it's a few different meals all in like an hour or two time frame. Because I don't like to have a ton of carbs throughout the day because I kind of get a little foggy and weighed down when I have insane amounts of carbs during the day, even if they're really healthy, easy digesting carbs. But in the evening when I'm kind of chilling out and I still have a lot of carbs to hit my high carb days, I don't do this unless I'm in a cut, but just talking about general carb intake, I will have usually 350 to 400 grams of carbs, no problem. And I'm just used to it and I'm metabolically healthy, and I've been doing this for a really long time. I've always really biased carbs with my diet, so it's really, really seamless for me. But you can get there. It really just comes down to conceptualizing what the right carbs are and what a good size carb bolus is per feeding, and again, considering those can like lower satiety, not as filling versions like rice-based things and liquid carbs. And lastly, I said I would talk about digestion, that's gonna be a huge one. Just make sure you're eating gut-healthy foods. Sometimes people struggle with eating enough food in general, and that can kind of also involve carbs if they are eating a bunch of processed stuff or really, really high fiber, like way too much fiber. This is kind of rare, but if you're eating a ton of like uncooked vegetables, people can really struggle to digest those. So make sure you're not like just overloading yourself with either processed food that just makes you feel terrible and bloated and gassy. Or even if you're eating whole foods that are just really, really high in fiber, like a ton of oatmeal or a ton of whole grains, another one, whole grains everyone thinks are healthy. I talked about this in my last episode, but whole grains aren't necessarily unhealthy per se, but they are very, very rough on most people's digestion. So avoiding stuff like that or very limiting, limiting significantly stuff like that would be a solid idea. But you can get there, just keep working at it. Next question just became a caddy at Pinehurst. Any optimal nutrition tips? High carbs, I assume, as a base. Yes. So, especially this time of year. That's pretty awesome, by the way. That for those not aware, if you're work at Pinehurst, whether you're a caddy or you work somewhere anywhere in the resort, I think you get to play for five dollars at any of the courses, which is insane. So, a lot of people, honestly, that I actually know a couple people that are caddies, like very much part-time caddies, mainly for that reason. Instead of paying like an insane membership fee and also a monthly fee, they just work there a little bit and they get to play for five dollars. You can't just play anytime you want on all the courses, there's like stipulations and whatnot, but you get to play for five bucks on a somewhat regular basis on the nicer compiners courses, which is dope. So, for caddies, I mean the thing you need to consider from probably let's see, May, like late May to mid to late September is the heat. So hydration, electrolytes, huge. Luckily, you'll be going at a relatively slow pace and you'll be able to stop every now and then. It's not like you're just on a continuous movement like you would be running or doing a ruck or something like that. So, like when your player stops to get himself situated, of course, you're gonna have to be paying attention and shooting yardages for him and getting his clubs ready to go and things like that, doing your job, aka, like basically as a caddy. But you'll have at least periods of time where you can reach for snacks. I would do stuff like very high carb, very fast digesting carbohydrates. So things like gels are fine, things like rice cakes, rice-based anything, are great. Things like sourdough bread, fantastic. Bananas, lots of bananas, lots of more higher carbohydrate, not so much fibery fruits, like grapes and things like that. You can do other fruit too, like nothing wrong with that. But what you really want to do is ensure that you are in the summertime, especially staying hydrated. It's not necessarily a big-time fueling thing, although the more hot it is, the more you sweat, the more fuel you you kind of need to keep on hand. But it's not like you need to be taking in like 90 to 100 plus grams of carbs per hour, like you would be if you were running. So, really not that much that goes into it. I mean, you can consider stuff like tailwind. Obviously, you're gonna have to carry that kind of stuff. They do make, and I know Pinehurst, at least on the vast majority of courses, have water coolers, and some of the nicer courses have actual water, they have cool, like legit coolers with bottles of water that you can grab. And I know for sure they make tailwind and probably scratch, which are like carbohydrates as well as electrolytes, they make them in little packets, and you can bring packets in your pocket. That way you're not bringing a bunch of water with you because you're carrying your players all your players' stuff, but you can grab waters out of those coolers, throw some tailwind in there, you got some carbs, you got some electrolytes, and honestly, you should be pretty good. Just make sure you're eating a good amount beforehand and afterwards. But I wouldn't like super duper stress trying to keep your carbs like crazy, crazy high during it. It's just not necessary, especially if you're just eating enough overall. But hydration is gonna be massive, like really, really keeping hydrated. You're probably gonna be, depending on your sweat rate, you're probably gonna be taking in, I don't know, a couple liters per hour of water as well as electrolytes, and that's gonna be like extremely important throughout the entire time. Otherwise, you're gonna go down. Honestly, not caddies, but a lot of people go down in the months of July and August out on the Pinehurst courses, especially if they're walking, mainly because of the heat, and people are just not used to it. And if you're not hydrated or if you're out there drinking, which of course you hopefully won't be as a caddy, then you're even more susceptible. So pretty sick, dude. Congrats on getting the job there and hope you enjoy it. Next question Will your two in five mile program make me an elite runner to crush SFAS? So, let's break this down to a few different things. Do you need to be an elite runner to crush SFAS? Not even remotely close. So, there are levels to running. A lot of people think things like an 11-minute two-mile is insane and crazy. If you are a sophomore in high school and you're a track athlete and you run an 11-minute two mile, you're gonna get completely dusted by everybody around you. Like you're incredibly slow as an actual runner. If you're running an 11-minute two mile at SFS, then you're gonna be one of the faster dudes there, if not the fastest dude there. So running is all relative. However, I mention this a lot, but just to reiterate, running is just one small piece of the puzzle for SFAS success. As long as you're meeting the standards, of course, I am all for shooting for well exceeding the standards, trying to be as fast as you can at your rocking, at your running, at basically everything, putting your best, absolute best performance up you can. That is a great mindset to have. However, a lot of people do over-index running, and you do not need to be an elite runner. You don't even need to be a high-level military runner to cross SFAS. You could be running a 13-minute two mile or a 1245 two-mile or even a 1315, 1330. And as long as your performance in other things is sufficient, then you're gonna be totally fine. So will two and five mile make you an elite runner? Absolutely not. Will it help you prepare for a specific SFAS prep? Yes, very much so. What do I mean by that? Well, you don't want to follow two and five mile going straight into SFAS because there is not enough run rucking in it. And SFS, you're gonna have a lot more rucking expected of you than running at SFS. So you really want to probably bias that a little bit more as you get close to selection. However, when you're further out from selection, three, four plus months out, generally speaking, you're gonna want to bias running a little bit more. Because when you build a really good running base, not only are you able to, once you start trading for more SFAS specific things, so not quite so much running biased, but running included, as well as rucking, as well as all the other things that are required, carries and whatnot, you can afford to lose a little bit of running ability. That may or may not happen, especially if you do what I'm about to tell you to do. But if you're really good at running, say four months out, and you get a little bit worse at running because you're diversifying your training, not a big deal. But also, if you have build a really good running base as well as a strength base, then you go into a lot more rucking going into selection. You're just gonna be starting at a higher, you're gonna have a higher start point, and you're already gonna be very well prepared for rucking, especially if you ruck a little bit. And there are options in the two and five mile to ruck a little bit. So, what I would do is when you're seven-ish months out, I think the two and five miles about 15 weeks long, give or take. So when you're seven-ish months out, follow that. Maybe eight months, seven, eight months. Then take probably a week or 10 days or so where you kind of chill out. You can do some light running, you can do some lifting, you can do some cross-training, but don't do anything like don't go from the very last week of two and five miles straight into SFAS day one, but take it easy for a week, maybe two, and then hop into SFAS for the last four months going into actual SFAS, and that is gonna make you the closest to being elite as you possibly can. Again, it's not gonna make you elite, but again, you don't have to be elite. Next question Will you ever bring your content to TikTok? I have considered this in the past, but I have decided against it mainly. Well, there's a few reasons. One, I wear a lot of hats, not just this hat, I wear several hats for the business. I do podcasts, I make a lot of content, I write a lot, I make a lot of programs, I have my clients, my one-on-one clients, I also do my group coaching with T850, and I program for that, and probably a lot of things that I'm not going over. There's a bunch of behind-the-scenes work that goes into running a business too. And I make a lot of content across multiple different platforms Instagram, I write articles, I'm on Reddit quite often. I make podcasts, I put podcasts on YouTube as well as audio and emails and things like that. So adding TikTok would be doable. I'll be honest, it definitely would be doable. Like I could do it, but it would be another good bit of bandwidth that it would suck. And I am very, very intentional with where I spend my bandwidth. And I try to a, of course, prioritize my clients, my one-on-one clients, that they pay me a lot of money to help them with their fitness, so they're like number one, but also I am very selective with what I spend my time with when I'm not doing that, as far as how to best get put my business in the best situation possible. So, right now, that's not really TikTok. Another main consideration that I have for TikTok is the type of people, of course, there are exceptions, not everybody's like this, but the type of people who spend lots of time on TikTok, which is generally a very non-deep, it's not very deep and nuanced. It's more of like an entertaining thing or an influencer style thing, at least in my experience. It's not really an informative, like getting really deep into the nuances of things, which I, if you guys follow me, you probably understand that I'm very, very into. And the type of people who are into that stuff, I am not trying to attract necessarily. I'm trying to attract people who are like really, really serious about personal growth as well as their fitness, as well as their nutrition, as well as just succeeding and being the best versions of themselves. And generally speaking, people who spend a lot of time on TikTok are not that type of person. So I am just I haven't found it high enough ROI to put a lot of value into that, put a lot of work into that. So, that being said, at some point, sometime down the road, maybe it'll happen. It's just not a top priority, and I'm pretty content with where we put our content right now, and I don't really plan on changing that anytime soon. Next question. When you went to the long walk, what was your foot care protocol during, before, and after? You're probably not gonna like this answer, but absolutely nothing. I just made sure I trained in a sound manner, and my feet therefore adapted like they should when you train soundly. What do I mean by that? Well, a lot of people talk about foot care in a prophylactic manner, like do all these things to avoid blisters in the first place, do all these things to avoid your feet being too stressed out by the insides of your boots. In reality, you don't really make adaptations. You basically the goal is to have built-in foot care. Like, no matter what, even if I don't put anything on my feet other than wear my socks and my boots and then go walk, a built-in tough foot, like no matter what, I'm not gonna get any blisters or hot spots. My feet are gonna be totally fine. Of course, keeping your feet clean and your nails trimmed. I mean, that's basic stuff that anyone should do anyway, and I did that. But besides periodically using some foot powder, I didn't do anything. And I my feet were just indestructible. And I did that by progressively exposing them to stress inside my boots without covering them with anything. I've made this analogy quite often, but it is still a pretty good one. And for anyone new or anyone who needs to hear it again, using prophylactic foot care, such as things like two Tom Sport or Body Glide or Moleskin or Lugotape, other things people use is similar to wearing gloves to the gym to try and avoid the stress from the weights on your hands. If you want tougher hands, if you wear gloves to the gym, yeah, your hands aren't not gonna be beat up, but because of the gloves, not because your hands are more resilient and durable and tough. You don't have calluses on your hands, etc. Same thing with rucking and foot care and boots. If you're always covering up these spots, eventually you're gonna be in a situation at basically any selection or school you go to that involves rucking and wearing boots and potential foot issues, you're gonna be in a situation where you can't get your perfect optimal blister protocol all in check. And what do you do then? Your feet are screwed because you haven't made these adaptations beforehand. So there are definitely certain people that take it a lot more seriously and they do a lot more things as they go into selection and they put a lot more thought and bandwidth into it. But my strong recommendation is to focus on proper progression, choosing a pair of Boots. Another thing people mess up in this regard too is they overthink boots and they'll try a pair of boots for a few weeks. I don't like those boots enough. They're not optimal for me. I'll try another pair of boots for a few weeks, or socks, or whatever have you. And they never actually spend enough time wearing the same boots, using the same socks, doing a similar protocol as far as like training protocol, exposing your feet to the stress, exposing the insides of your boots to the repetitive stress of your feet actually moving inside those boots when you walk, when you run, etc., on different terrain and whatnot. And because of that, they just haven't broken in the boots enough, well enough yet. And every boot you wear is going to probably affect your feet or hit your feet or rub your feet in a slightly different manner. And so you show up to selection, you just don't have the right equipment as far as your actual own feet being bulletproof, basically, for lack of a better term, as well as the boots being sufficiently broken in, and therefore you're just opening yourself up to foot issues. Of course, having things up your sleeve, like aces up your sleeve, like whatever you prefer, moleskin or two Tom Sport or Body Glide or LucoTape, whatever have you, is totally fine. Once you're at selection, you're not really going for more adaptation. So, like if you have hot spots coming in, yeah, take care of them. But you can get to where you won't have them. For example, I've told this story before, but it's been a while. I actually, the one blister I ever got at selection was at any selection or any school was on the very last day of CAG selection, right before, or actually it happened on the 40 miler, but right before the 40 miler, the night before, I slept with my boots next to the fire and the soles completely burnt off. The boots that I'd been wearing the entire time at selection, the exact same boots, never wore anything different. And my backup boots, of course, I had backup boots, but I hadn't worn them worn them the whole time, and I made the mistake of not wearing them that much in prep. I wore them a little bit, but but very, very minimal. And because of that, I had to wear them on the 40 for the very last day, of course, and I was not used to them, and I got a heel blister on one of my feet. I can't remember if it's my left foot or my right foot, but my feet are not the same shape. Either way, that is an example of I wore the exact same boots, my feet were completely used to them, my boots were perfectly broken in, but I was an idiot and I fell asleep and I paid for it, and I had to wear my backup boots that I was not used to, and only then did I get a blister. And of course, it was the last day, the last event, so I just kind of grinded it out and didn't really honestly, I didn't even know I had a blister until the very end when I pulled my boots off. I'm like, oh, there's a nice solid blister. It was hurting a little bit, but it was very, very manageable. So afterwards I just let it heal and it was all good. But that is possible. A lot of people think it's not possible to go to selection without getting foot issues, blisters, hot spots, etc. It is 100% possible. The main reason most people don't do it is A, like I said, doing prophylactic foot care when they shouldn't be, or just increasing their exposure to volume as far as rucking, intensity, load way, way, way too quickly, not just for foot adaptations and skin adaptations, but for fitness as well. So if you're making the right progressions fitness-wise, you're also making the right progressions foot-wise. Typically, yes, there are genetic components to this. Some people do have more sensitive skin, some people have tougher skin, but for the most part, you should be able to allow your feet to develop their own armor, so to speak. And you show up with indestructible feet, and you never even have to think about it. You just go and execute. That is my best advice. Next question: my adductors are last to recover post-back squatting. What can I do to make them recover quicker? Yeah, so this is actually a unique one. Actually, it's not unique in that it's rare, it's just a unique, very nuanced question. I'm that's why I kind of chose it. So, a lot of people think that after back squatting, their hamstrings are really sore because your adductors, the part of your adductor that gets sore after squats, are right next to your hamstring. It's kind of like the inner part of the back of your leg. People conflate that with hamstrings. It's not your hamstrings, your hamstrings are not completely dormant in a squat, but squats are not a hamstring movement, regardless of what you may hear other people say. It is your adductors, and typically this will resolve itself over time. Oftentimes, the first few sessions when you squat, you might be a little bit more sore than usual. But if you're training with appropriate progression, just like going back to the last one, if you're training with proper progression and you are doing the same range of motion each time, you're doing the same type of squats, you're adding load, you're adding reps, whatever have you, whatever your progression scheme is in a reasonable manner, after a few weeks, you should be a lot less sore, just across the board. But honestly, most people, the way they execute squats is gonna be a more adductor dominant movement, unless you're trying to make it more quad dominant by wearing heels or using wedges and going way out knees over toes, or if you're trying to make it more glute by kind of like sitting back on wider stance. Generally, a normally executed squat by most people is gonna be ad adductors, like very much adductor dominant, and that's totally fine. Like, honestly, that's a general squat, that's what it's gonna look like, and those muscles are a little bit slower to recover, especially when you hit them in a stretched manner. But there's something called the repeated bout effect. When you it's pretty intuitive what it means when you do the same thing over and over again, even if you are adding a little bit of stress, which you should be, that's progressive overload, you're adding a little bit of load or you're doing more reps, whatever have you, you're gonna be less sore and less sore and less sore. If you think about like last time you took time off from training and you came back, most people, when they come back from time off, they go way too hard and they're super duper sore. That is because the repeated bad effect kind of lost its effect for a little while, because it when you come back, it's more novel. The training stimulus is more novel. So you're really sore for a few days, if not more. And then the next week you do the same training session, you're a little less sore. The next week you do the training same training session, you're a little less sore, and so on and so forth. This is one reason why it's not a very good idea to just do random stuff. One of many reasons it's not good a good idea to just do random stuff every workout or different versions of different exercises every workout, because A, you of course can't really track your progress, but B, you're gonna be really, really sore. And a lot of people think that's a really good thing to be sore, and it's okay to be a little bit sore, and honestly, it's probably a good idea good sign that you're training hard enough, but you should not be crazy, crazy sore. So I would guess if your adductors are extra sore and it's like a significant enough factor to lift to answer this question, I would say probably just give it a few more weeks of consistency. There's no like special hack to get your adductors to recover extra fast. Other than sleeping well, eating well, continuing to train. You can do some bodyweight squats, that's probably a good idea just to get some blood flow down there, stay active. But there's no like adductor recovery hack that I am keeping a secret from you. So, best of luck. Next question overrated or underrated? Stretching routine before workouts, no more than 10 minutes. So if you're talking about static stretching, like bending over, touching your toes, or a quad stretch or whatever have you, not a great idea. Overrated. That being said, it's not like off the table. A lot of people will say never static stretch before you train. And if you are, let's say, doing a hamstring stretch, a static hamstring stretch, and then you're going straight into deadlifts or stiff-legged deadlifts or something that heavily involves the hamstrings, that is not a good idea. But if you are doing a little say you're like a really tight individual, or maybe you just enjoy the feeling of stretching a little bit before you train, and you do that as part of your warm-up, and then maybe you're using a muscle that you stretched 30 minutes later for an exercise. Probably not that big of a deal. The studies on stretching prior to training are typically the person stretched and then went pretty much straight into the lift. That is not a good idea at all. But doing a little bit of stretching, not the end of the world. The problem with static stretching in this case is that it is a parasympathetic activity, aka a rest and relax and recover style activity. Whereas doing things like jumps and maybe some dynamic stretches, dynamic warmups, maybe doing some lighter load, actual movement, like let's say your first movement's the squat, doing some actual squat patterns with lighter load, maybe a different type of squat, or maybe the actual squat, you're just using lighter load, that is a much better option for warming up because it's gonna ramp up your nervous system, it's gonna get you into a more sympathetic state or a fight or flight state, which is not the state you want to be in all the time, but it is a great state to be in when you're actually training. It's the state you want to be in when you're training. So stretching is kind of counter to that. So you're much better off doing static stretching either after training. Actually, it can be if you're doing it in a reasonable manner and you're not doing crazy painful stuff and you're like breathing through it, and you're kind of calming yourself down, you're not listening to crank-up music still, it can be a good way to calm yourself down, almost do a little bit of a cooldown and get you into a more recovery-biased state, a parasympathetic state. Or you can do it just any other time of day, like in the evening or when you're not around training. So, is it the end of the world? No, is it my best option? And like you said, is it overrated or underrated? Definitely overrated. I I mean, I don't think many people these days recommend it, so I can't really say it's overrated, but it's still just not a great idea overall. Next question: what is your favorite intra workout carb source? I'm using Gatorade right now. Is there any reason to upgrade? To be honest, Gatorade's totally fine. The sugar type in Gatorade is dextrose, which is a solid, easy digesting sugar source. That being said, if you're using it intra-workout, I would water it down a little bit. So either if you're buying like the powdered Gatorade, just mix it a little bit more watery. There's no like perfect exact ratio, but you don't want to mix it as is on the label. Or if you're buying a Gatorade in a bottle, maybe pour out a quarter of it and then replace that with water. Or if you're doing it away from training, you don't want to waste Gatorade, just sip it like an hour beforehand, half hour beforehand, whatever have you, and then replace a little bit of water so it's watered down. The main reason being when you're training, you're in a more stressed-out state. It is difficult for your gut to assimilate, like absorb and assimilate certain concoctions, certain osmolarities, it's called, of liquids. And Gatorade is not ideal. Even though they think it's ideal, they claim it's ideal, it is not. So it's harder for your body to actually use the carbohydrate sources in Gatorade when you're actually training, unless it's watered down a little bit, and therefore you are reducing the osmolarity and you're allowing it to enter the bloodstream a little bit easier. I am glancing over that. There's a lot of different science that goes on behind the scenes there, but that is just the general gist of it. So that's the only recommendation I have with Gatorade is just watering it down a little bit. My favorite intra workout carb source doesn't really matter. I mean, I don't do like a lot of long training stuff. So typically, honestly, these days, I use lemonade. I have a drink that I make, I I guess lemonade plus coconut water. So I have a drink I make, I have this big massive water bottle where I do 12 ounces of coconut water, then I do eight anywhere between eight and twelve ounces, usually 12 ounces on a leg day, eight ounces on an upper body day of simply lime lemonade or limeade, and then I fill the rest with water, and then I add some either element lemonade flavored or pink lemonade flavored, or I do lemonade or strawberry lemonade relayht for sodium, and that is my intra workout drink. Is that optimal? No. Is it sufficient? Yes. If you want to like really optimize and you're doing something like a lifting session, maybe I would say like the perfect intra workout for a lift would be vitargo plus maybe some pomegranate juice, plus maybe some beet juice, plus some coconut water, plus some water just to water it down for taste and electrolyte absorption, sugar absorption. If you're just doing all those carbs, then you're gonna it's not gonna absorb into your bloodstream the same way you're gonna want to water it down. And you can have small amounts of these too, like four ounces of pomegranate juice, four ounces of beet juice. Those are both really good blood flow enhancers. And then coconut water is great for potassium, and then vitargo is like pure carbohydrates, really, really easy digesting source of carbohydrates, and then you water it down, and then maybe you can add some electrolytes, whether it's your own electrolytes, or you can just add uh element packet or a relight scoop or something like that. That would be a really, really good intra-lift drink for intra-workout carbs running-wise. If you're going really long, I like to rotate back and forth between gels and liquid carbs, so like tailwind or scratch, and then like Morton Gels or Precision 30 gels or beta, what is it, science and sport, beta fuel. But honestly, it's kind of up to you. You can do Gatorade for all of it. Again, just make sure it's watered down. There's really no need. To be honest, like no one, almost no one that I've ever met is at the level where the difference between whether they're gonna optimize or not, like the thing that's holding them back, I should say, from hitting their potential is whether they use Gatorade intra workout versus something more optimal. Like, almost nobody is at that level where they need to worry about that. Usually people have a lot bigger fish to fry, like getting their fucking sleep dialed in and training with intensity and training with reasonable volume and doing some things outside the gym to help them manage stress, or a big one that's way more important than your type of intra-workout carbs, eating enough carbs in general, eating enough calories in general. So maybe you, the question asker, is super dialed in, and this matters that much to them, to you, but in most cases it really doesn't. I would say stick with what you got, just water it down a little bit. Next question Do I have to stop running completely if my shin splints are getting really bad? I absolutely would. Not forever, but I would for a period of time. Typically, your shin splints are being caused by your running, and they're getting worse because you continue to run on them. So it only makes sense to take a break from running. I know it's hard to wrap your brain around. I know you want to continue getting better at running, but your best bet at being a really, really good runner as soon as possible when you have worsening shin splints from your running is to stop running. It just is. I know it's not what you want, but you're gonna get to your running goals sooner if you just sack up, take a little break from running, do some cross-training, allow your shin splints to heal and go away, and then get back into running. A lot of people think, oh, I'm just gonna tough it out, I'm gonna continue doing it, they're gonna magically go away. It just does not happen that way. If anything, it's just gonna get worse and they can turn into stress fractures, and that is a much longer road for getting back into it, like going through your entire recovery process, then rebuilding your running base, doing it without getting hurt, being very, very meticulous. That is a much, much, much longer path. So, yes, I would strongly recommend not running for a little bit, doing some cross-training, strengthening your tibialis, strengthening your soleus, doing a lot of long pause calf raises, long pause tibialis raises, going pretty heavy with them. Definitely stay on your feet if you can. If walking doesn't bother you, that's usually fine. If you're in some cases, you can do some uphill walking, you can do some incline style stuff. In other cases, that's not the best idea. It really depends on whether your shin splints are impact related or overuse related. In my experience, most guys' shin splints are impact related because they just don't. It could be a little bit of both, they're probably doing a little too much, but also they just have really bad running form. So their running is just way more impactful on that area of their body, so they get shin splints. So I wouldn't say like without knowing anything about you and what caused it and any of like the specifics, don't just go and do a bunch of incline walking because that could make it worse. But that could be part of your recovery routine, and it could be a good option for cross-training. But if nothing else, biking, rowing, skierg, swimming, anything like that, you could also consider some stairmaster if that doesn't bother it. And how long, I don't know. It depends on how long you've been letting them run for. A lot of guys will start feeling the effects of shin splints, like mild effects, they keep getting a little worse, a little worse, a little worse over several weeks. If you've been doing that, it's gonna take you longer to recover. Usually the faster you act on them, as soon as they start coming in, like take some time off or really, really reduce your running volume, the better. If it's been a really long time, you usually have to stop running for a little while. And it sounds like just the way the questions asked, they've been getting really bad. You've probably been letting them run out for quite a while. And you might need to stop for a little bit longer and let them heal. But again, that is your fastest and best option if you want to be a really good runner at some point down the line. Way better than continuing to run through them and hoping they magically go away, because they're probably not going to. Alright, next question: what advice do you have for improving running while in sock'em? Honestly, the best way to improve running, regardless of what you're in, is to run on a regular basis. I would consider something like two and five mile. That's probably more reasonable than run advanced during sockam, unless you are just already running high volume, which by the nature of the question doesn't seem like you are. You could also do something if you want to do a little bit more lifting, although sockam parts of it are very, very restrictive on time, like you don't have a whole lot of time, but you do something like Jackazelle 3.0 or TA50. But there are different parts of Sokum where you're not going to have a whole lot of time to make a lot of fitness gains. You're going to be more on maintenance mode. When I went through, it was trauma one and trauma two. Days were very, very long. And not to say that you couldn't get any training in, a lot of guys didn't, but you absolutely can get some training in and you should, but it might only be a few times a week. And if your main goal is running, I would still lift at least once a week. Make sure you're getting like a full body lift in once a week, but other training sessions should be runs. And because you're in a high stress scenario during those times of soccer, you're gonna probably want to, you're gonna definitely want to make sure that you're not doing too much. Like as far as for running, usually that's gonna be intensity. Going too hard too often is more fatiguing and more potentially going to really eat into your health and your well-being and your overall recovery and your potential. It definitely can increase your potential injury risk if you're doing too much intensity. If you're doing repeats all the time, threshold work all the time, you can usually do quite a bit of lower intensity stuff, zone two, easy stuff, long stuff. And honestly, that is a really good idea during those times because A, it's gonna, it's not gonna hurt you, especially if you do some strides and maybe some short sprints along with it. But let's say during trauma one, I don't remember how long these were, but let's say trauma one is about five weeks, trauma two is about five weeks. It's like ten weeks. Let's say you take ten weeks where you do mostly easy running and long running, and then maybe you do two or three day stride sessions a week. You can do them either before or after your easy runs, your long runs, and then maybe every two weeks you do some really fast short hill sprints. You're not gonna get much slower. You might get a little slower, but if you're doing that lower stress stuff during that time, it's probably not going to make you even more stress, it's not gonna like put you in this overly sympathetic state. It's gonna probably enhance your mental well-being. It's gonna make you a little bit more have you give you a little bit more capacity for other stress because that's really stressful times. Not only are the days long, but you're also putting a lot of pressure on yourself. The instructors are putting a lot of pressure on you, like it's a high pressure time because those are like the no-go, like the make or break things. Like if you don't pass trauma one, trauma two, that's like your your hands-on stuff. That's how you prove that you can save somebody's life, which is really important. So you want to really take that seriously during that time, but you don't want to be doing so much that it really like messes you up and makes you super fatigued or gives you a bunch of brain fog or really eats into your ability to perform your actual tested events and your ability to practice and do your test runs and things like that. So, again, for most of Sakum, like the beginning, when you're always in the classroom, you should be able to train relatively normally, even if you have to make some sacrifices outside of the workday and to get your training in, to have time to, which a lot of people just they don't think they have time to train, but in reality, they just spend a lot of time doing fucking jack shit or partying or scrolling or whatever have you. It really just comes down to prioritizing your actual training, which you should, and going from there. So that's the way I would do it. Of course, make sure you run, but modulate the intensity first and foremost, depending on what your daily schedule looks like. Next question: how to train minor sprint in all caps work before either a larger repeat or low aerobic workout. So I would not do full-on speed work like speed training as far as sprint training before you do your repeats for endurance, like your endurance style repeats. That is a very, very high stress type thing. You can do some like really, really short ones, but I would not do like 100 meter repeats or 100 meter sprints, like full on 100 meter sprints, 60 meter sprints, 40 meter sprints. You can do like 10 meter starts and things like that, accelerations and whatnot, but even still, I'd probably put that on a different day. On an easier run day, great option. Totally fine option. You can do something like a 15 to 20 minute, nice, easy run. Maybe do some strides, maybe do some lower intensity, like ramping RPE sprints. I would a hundred percent start them on a hill, a very steep hill, as steep as possible. For 99% of people listening to this, that is going to be your best option. If you're used to sprinting on flat, or if you've been sprinting on hills for a really long time and you've kind of decreased the incline over time and you're ready to start sprinting on flat, then that's fine too. But for most people, it's hills because it's going to slow you down, it's going to reduce your injury risk significantly. It's going to make it so that you don't have to desell. Honestly, deselling is where most people get hurt. And if you have a hill, it's going to kind of desell for you. And you're not going to have reached the same type of top-end speed as you would on flat. So there's less to desell from. So, of course, over time you can lower that hill incline. If you want to get to where you can flat sprint, you don't necessarily have to. If your main goal is to be better at endurance running, you can just stick to hill sprints. And you should probably just stick to hill sprints. Doesn't have to be crazy, crazy steep forever, but getting down to flat sprints, the ROI is just not really there. If your goal is to be a solid distance runner as well as a solid sprinter, that's fine too. You're going to want to get to flat sprints eventually, but it should be a very, very slow, deliberate process. The thing about sprints, to maximize sprint training, even if you're doing like five or six sprints, it's still going to be a quite a long workout. Because warming up sufficiently and the amount of rest you're going to be taking, you should be taking in between each one, it's still like a very, very time-consuming thing. A lot of people, when they do sprint training, they don't rest anywhere near as long as they should be. They kind of turn it into more of a cardio workout. And that somewhat defeats the pretty much entirely defeats the purpose of maximizing your sprint adaptations, your speed adaptations. So if you're doing, let's say, 60-meter sprints, you should be resting three, four, five minutes. Probably five minutes to start out, maybe a little less than that as you go. In between, more practically speaking, yeah, you can probably cut that down to like two minutes. And yes, you're gonna feel like you should go way sooner than that. You're not gonna be out of breath, you're not gonna be like needing that two minutes, but you your body, your energy system, your PC energy system actually needs that two minutes. At least, honestly, most high-level sprinters between 60-meter sprints would rest like eight to ten minutes. That's impractical, but just to show you, these are high-level sprinters, they understand the importance of resting between sprints to get faster. We are talking about a totally different thing than speed work for endurance training, where rest is usually incomplete. So I would do that on around easy runs. You can do like a 25-minute easy run, then you can do your sprint warm-up, get into your sprints, then do like a 15 to 20 minute easy run on the back end. I wouldn't do a full-on, like long run and then go into sprints, but you could do an easier run, like a 30-minute easy run, then do a sprint workout, and then be done. Or, like I said, you can kind of put it right in the middle there, or you can do sprints on their own day, you can do sprints prior to a training session. Usually, if you're doing like really, really heavy work, like leg training, you don't want to do too many sprints beforehand, but you can do some like really short ones, you can do some accelerations, you can do some sprint drills. That's a good way to kind of warm up your your nervous system. You can also do some playos, some jumps, and things like that. But honestly, for most people, again, if your main goal is just to use these as a support of your endurance training, then doing this once a week, maybe once every other week, generally this adaptation is going to be pretty quick to go away. But that being said, because you're also doing plenty of endurance training, and that's the main goal, you can still get away with doing it every other week or something like that. Especially if you're also doing things like jumps and other power-based work throughout the week, maybe as part of your lifts. So that's what I would do. Next question: how many one-on-one clients do you take? Will you ever do mass one-on-one coaching to scale your business? So I usually have about 30 to 35 clients at one given time. In the past, I've had double that, and it was an absolute train wreck for me. Like it was just way too much. I wasn't able to give enough attention to each individual. So now I keep my roster intentionally small. That is my one-on-one client roster. You said mass one-on-one coaching. No, I have tried that in the past. I've had a lot more clients, and the bandwidth is just not there, especially with all the other things. I was talking about earlier on a different question that I also wear hats for. So, do I plan on doing mass coaching? I already already kind of do. T850 is my group training program. So there's a chat feature in there. You can ask me any questions. There's no like actual individualized coaching, it's group coaching. It's very, very cheap. It's like 35 bucks a month. So very, very much cheaper than my one-on-one like personalized coaching. But still, it's a group coaching option that is scalable, very scalable. It doesn't take a whole lot of time for me to go in and update each week of training. It does take me quite a bit of time to do new blocks every six weeks, but that's totally fine. I actually enjoy programming, especially hybrid programming, and I usually try and make a slightly different split just using certain principles, so it's a good challenge for me. But as far as scaling, I mean the main thing that is gonna scale for us is programs. I'm gonna continue making programs, and our programs are very, very, very popular, and they sell like wildfire. So I am that's gonna be like my main focus for long periods of time. I am not a big believer in having a bunch of coaches under me. I like the personal brand aspect of TTM. That's not to say like I won't bring more people onto the team, but they won't be actual coaches. Typically, people who sign up to get coached by me want to be coached by me. And a lot of coaches have like ghost coaches that do all the programming and do all the answering of texts. I do not believe in that. A lot of people are like, oh, just work on your business, never work in your business. Yes, you do need to work on your business, and I do a lot of work on my business. I have my wife as well as now my sister, because my wife's on maternity leave, that do a lot of work in the business, and they do a good amount of work on the business. But for the most part, my goal is to work on the business or in the business as far as client interactions, work on the business all else. And if I have too many clients, I just don't really have time to work on the business, on growing the business long term. So that's where I'm at. Do I plan on doing mass one-on-one coaching? No, just because I don't have the bandwidth for it, and I don't want a bunch of people that are hiring me to be coached by me, coached by some random person that is not me, that even if I teach my ways and give them all the principles and tell them like the way that I want it done, I still don't have that bone in my body. I don't have that low integrity bone in my body. And even if I made it clear, like, hey, you're gonna work with a coach on the TTM team, it's not gonna be me, it's gonna be one of my coaches. There's a chance at some point down the road that might happen, but it'll be very, very apparent and transparent. Like, you're not working with me, you're working with this coach. That's one thing. But that's gonna be way, way down the road if it ever happens right now. It's not really at the forefront of what we're planning to do. What's up, guys? A real quick break in the action before we get back to the show. There's this really, really trite quote fail to prepare, prepare to fail. And guess what? Quotes don't become trite accidentally, they become trite because they are actually true. Almost everyone experiences it, and so it becomes a quote. And this quote is applicable to nutrition more so than almost any other aspect of life. Those who prepare their meals ahead of time will see more success, regardless of what their goals are. Honestly, any successful nutrition intervention I've ever been a part of, whether it's coaching, my own, or people I know, have had some sort of planning or preparation involved. And although you can absolutely do your own meal prep, let's be honest, most people either do it for short periods of time and then they fall off for several months, and it's on and off like this roller coaster, and therefore they fail half the time. That's not a very good percentage, or most people just don't have the time or the bandwidth or the gumption to do their own meal prep every week. And that is where a meal prep delivery service comes in. And I have tried dozens of them, and absolutely nothing touches Mega Fit. It is hands down the best I've ever tried as far as macros are concerned, and as far as taste is concerned. Me, I prefer to get some of the meals custom made. You can actually go in and choose the meat, the produce, the starch, and the macros that you want. They also have pre-made meals that are also delicious, and the macros are fantastic for performance, body composition, and just overall vigor and well-being. I usually eat five, six, seven of these per week, and they make my life very, very simple and low stress. I typically like to cook them on the stovetop with a little bit of bone broth, let them simmer for a little while, but they also work great in their microwave. And I've got a discount code for you if you want to try. You can either go to the description and click the link for megafit, you'll get 10% off, or you can go to their website, megafit.com, type in the code TTM at checkout for that 10% off. Alright, guys, back to the show. Next question: What are your favorite courses you haven't played? All right, so it's hard to say my favorite courses if I've never actually played them, because I don't know for sure whether they're gonna be in my favorites. That being said, there are certain courses that I really, really want to play. So I'll list a few courses, golf courses, by the way, for those not tracking, that I would like to play, let's say, in the next decade or so. So starting a little bit more local, I want to play Pinehurst number four. I'm probably gonna play that somewhat soon. That is the one Pinehurst course that's really highly rated that I have not played yet. I've played two, I've played eight, I've played ten. Those are the top ones, and I love them all. I like ten the most, but haven't played four yet. Want to play it soon. A little bit further out, there's a course called Sequoia National out in western North Carolina that looks amazing, and then there's another one, I can't think of what it's called, but there's another one out in that area. It's like three and a half, four hours away, so it's definitely a haul. But they're mountain courses and they look freaking amazing. A little bit closer to as well, and I want to play this somewhat soon, Kiwa Island Ocean Course. That one is amazing. I mean, I've been there. I actually went to the PGA Championship in 2012. I was in the Q course, and my girlfriend at the time had a house on Kiwa Island, and the PGA Championship was there, and I can't remember who won that year. I want to say it was Rory, but went down with a buddy and her and her family, and we watched the Saturday and Sunday round, and that was pretty sweet. And I haven't played it, of course, but you of course you're not gonna be able to play while the tournament's going on. But I want to go down there and play. That's like a big time bucket list course. Then we go out to California. There's a few courses in California I really want to play. Pebble Beach. Who doesn't want to play Pebble Beach? Of course, I want to play that. Spyglass Hill. I want to play Cypress Point. I want to play Tory Pines. And that is off the top of my head all I can really think of for Cali. There's definitely some other courses out there that are courses I had like to play. But let's see, Cabot Cliffs up in Nova Scotia. My dad played that last summer and said it was amazing. I want to play that at some point. It's the number one course in Canada. I think it might be the highest-rated course in North America, to be honest with you. I really want to play Pain's Valley, which is Tiger Woods' course. That course looks absolutely dope. I'd like to play, let's see, Pine Valley. I think it's called Pine Valley. I think it's the hardest course in the United States, but it's also pretty sick. And then Overseas. I really want to play Port Rush. I really want to play Bally Bunyan. I really want to play Royal County down. And St. Andrews, of course. Will I play all those courses in the next decade? Probably not, but eventually I'd like to play a bunch of the top, the world's top courses, as well as the United States top courses. A dream trip would be something like going to the UK and Ireland for a few days, and then also like continuing that trip down to New Zealand. There's some amazing courses down in New Zealand, and doing a bunch of courses down there. So one can dream. I don't know if that'll ever happen just with family situation and things like that, but maybe my wife one year will allow me to go on like a I mean, I would try to get some bros to go with me, but realistically, this would probably be like a single man trip. And I absolutely love one of my favorite things to do in the world is play golf by myself. I absolutely love it. I do love playing with buddies, but I also love playing solo, and I love going to experience new golf courses solo. So to be honest, most of these courses I'll either probably play with my dad, or maybe play with one or two friends, or honestly, maybe play solo. But those are my top favorite my favorite courses that I haven't played yet. Courses I think that are gonna go on my favorites list. Next question Is it worth exploring Landav course at Hoffman before going to selection? Memorizing it? Okay. So going to memorize it would be virtually impossible unless you have lots and lots and lots and lots of time and you just go basically live out there for a long period of time. And even if you go do that, there are certain variables that will come into play that might make your time still very difficult out there. And also that is kind of just shitbaggery to go out and memorize the course. Is it worth going out there? I mean, you can if you want. There's benefits to actually seeing the land, but plenty of guys go out there and still fucking fail miserably. So what is most important is that you get land nav skills down. You learn all the skills for land nav, and then you go put them into practice regardless of where you are. You could do this in the desert, you could do it in the mountains, you could do it in the woods, in the pines, like North Carolina, or anywhere in between. The land nav basics, the land nav skills work really anywhere. They are universal. Certain areas are easier to land nav, certain areas are harder, some areas are harder to actually navigate on foot, but easier to navigate like see where you're going. For example, the long walk in West Virginia. Navigating using the terrain is relatively simple. That being said, actually putting into practice and being able to walk it is nowhere near as simple. You gotta be an absolute freak and you gotta be really, really fit and prepared for that selection. Whereas Hoffman, there's not as much prominent terrain, so it's harder to terrain associate. There's a lot of roads and smaller features like that, draws, lakes, etc. But and bowling alleys, of course, bowling alleys are just like big open areas, but it's way easier to walk it because you're the terrain's not very difficult. So there's pros and cons to everywhere. Would I go out and try and memorize it? No, that's shitbaggery. You're kind of cheating the system. But also, if you go and do that, you're it's it's just not very high ROI compared to learning the basics and practicing the basics and getting reps in. That being said, if you're a relatively competent individual and you at least have some experience like being outside, you generally have a solid sense of direction. You don't need to do any of that stuff beforehand. If you're worried about it or at all concerned, or if it's keeping you up at night, then absolutely go and do something about that. But I personally didn't do any land nav prep before I went to SFAS other than Sopsi, and I was fine. I found all my points with time to spare. I didn't do any extra land nav prep prior to the long walk, and I was fine. I had to knock some rust off for sure at the beginning, but the skills come back pretty quick. If you're going to that selection, by the way, and you have the ability to go and do some prep, you probably should. I didn't going looking back, I probably should have, but I was still fine. But going out there and trying to memorize it, totally not worth it. And also going out there in general. I know TF Voodoo has his course out there, and I've heard a lot of rumors, so I don't know what the actual case is, but I know a lot of cadre are not a huge fan of that. I know a lot of cadre aren't a huge fan of people going out there. It is public land, so technically you are allowed to go out there, and like I don't think there's anything wrong with it because I know for a fact a lot of guys go out there and they still fuck it up. You still have to go and do it on land nav day. But yeah, just do what your rank can handle, but don't get too crazy with it. And just make sure you go in and you know how to land nav. That's the big thing. Even if you don't know exactly what Hoffman looks like, if you know how to land nav, you're gonna be fine. Next question how important slash how much should we care about HRV? HRV, all right, heart rate variability, it can be an indicator of generally it for lack of a better way to describe it, in simple terms, it shows you how sympathetic versus parasympathetic you are. If your HRV is a little higher, it means that you're a little more chill, you are a little bit better recovered, you're a little bit more prepared to go train. If your HRV is lower, and by the way, higher versus lower is compared to your baseline. It's not an absolute number. Some people have really high HRVs in general, their baseline, some people are a little lower. What matters most is how it trends based on your baseline. So let's say your average HRV is 50. If it's higher than 50, or if it's trending higher than 50, like getting higher and higher and higher, that usually means you're pretty well prepared. If it's getting lower, that means you're not quite as well recovered. Or it doesn't mean it can suggest, it can be one data point that suggests that you are a little bit worse recovered. So should you pay attention to it or not? There are a lot of different nuances. I'm going to try and make this relatively cut and dry. Some people can definitely benefit from paying attention to HRV. Other people, it is going to be more detrimental than helpful. Depending on your personality and depending on the way you look at numbers, and also depending on how much emotion you attach to things, that'll be whether you should use this or not. So there's one type of person that is very objective about the data. So their resting heart rate, their HRV, maybe some other things. They might have a grip tester where they grip test their grip before going into training. Your grip based on like compared to your baseline can be a decent indicator of how well recovered your nervous system is, as well as your vertical jump. There are other ways to do this too. If you can look at that objectively and also take into account how your body's feeling and what you've been doing recently in life, like how your nutrition's been, how your sleep's been, your stress levels, etc., and use that all to factor in how hard you should train or how much you should do, or whether to let off the gas pedal a little bit, maybe take an extra rest day, maybe go a little bit harder than usual, whatever have you. Great. If you look at these numbers and either A, you completely throw how your body feels out the window, you just don't pay attention to it. No matter what, my whoop strap is telling me I got really bad sleep and I have really bad recovery, my HRV is really low, my resting heart rate's higher, I feel like I'm overtrained, I'm gonna just drop everything and take a random deload, or I'm gonna take a rest day today, I earned it, or whatever, I'm just way too fatigued. Oftentimes, people who see their HRV is low or their heart rate is higher or whatever have you, typically those are the type of people that look for excuses to take extra rest days or take it extra easy. Oh, I'm just not quite prepared today, according to my wearable, so I'm gonna just gonna dial it back or I'm gonna take a rest day. I'm autoregulating. Auto-regulating, yes, you can factor in data, but also you should factor in subjectiveness. So how do you feel? If your whoopstrap or your aura ring, whatever you're using to track these things, is telling you that your HRV is lower than baseline and that you're therefore potentially not very well prepared to go do a hard training session, but you feel fucking amazing and you are energetic and you're motivated, then who's to say that you can't go and get a great training session in? If your HRV is telling, or if your whoopstrap is saying your HRV is great and you're super well prepared and you're just ready to go and you should go crush it, oftentimes these devices, the apps will tell you, like, oh, go crush today, or dial it back today, or consider like taking a rest day, whatever it is. If you're just listening to that and your body feels terrible, let's say you feel absolutely awful, or you're banged up, or you just are your head's in a different place and you just don't feel like training or whatever. That doesn't mean you shouldn't train, but it probably means that you shouldn't just listen to your wearable and go hit it as hard as you can because you're probably going to put yourself in a potentially dangerous situation. You might hurt yourself, you might dig yourself into a recovery hole. Maybe your HRV is kind of lagging behind a little bit. High HRV doesn't necessarily mean you're very, very well recovered, just like low HRV doesn't necessarily mean you're very poorly recovered. It's just one data point. So, generally speaking, for most people, I recommend when in doubt, listen more to your body than to your wearables. That being said, there are certain people that will always convince themselves they feel good. And for those type of people, having some sort of objective data that tells you, okay, man, like you have been way low HRV for the last six days, you keep telling yourself you feel amazing, you keep having these bad workouts. Maybe you might want to consider the fact that you are not poor well recovered and that you're not well prepared to get this training in. And you should dial it back a little bit. Those type of people, these things can be a little more valuable for if they also are a little more objective and not super. Basically trying to major in the minors and get way too analytical about it. So lots of nuance there. And I kind of jumped around on that question answer, but I think that gives you a pretty good idea of why it's not just this like cut and dry answer. And honestly, if you guys have been listening for a while, you know basically any answer to any question is never going to be cut and dry. And a lot of people like to give cut and dry answers to a lot of things, and that is a great sign that they don't know what they're talking about, or they're just being lazy, they don't want to give you the nuance, or they're regurgitating something other people say, or whatever have you, and I don't stand for that. So you're always gonna get nuance, you're always gonna get it depends. And uh anytime I say it depends, though, I'm always gonna explain why it depends and what it depends on, and who it uh is a good idea for, who it's not a good idea for, and provide as much context as possible. So, anyway, that's a tangent. But let's hop into another question, we'll do a couple more. Next question: I am currently in a caloric surplus to add size. Should I continue with T 850 or move to a higher lifting volume program? It depends. I would say the main thing to ask yourself is do you want to maintain your conditioning performance during this game phase or not? Because if you really care mostly or only about adding as much size as possible, and you don't care that much about let's say maintaining your ability to run two miles and five miles fast, ability to rock, just general conditioning performance, then doing a more hypertrophy bias program would be a good idea. Something like 19-week hypertrophy if you want one of our programs, or if you want to wait a month or so, we're gonna have our new hypertrophy program out probably end of the month, maybe early October. No promises. We've got a lot going on behind the scenes with a newborn, so I can't give you exact dates yet. I got a few questions about this, and I appreciate the interest, but we're working on it. Anyway, a better option for you in that case would be a more hypertrophy bias program. If you do want to maintain your conditioning throughout this time, then staying on T850 is totally fine. There is plenty of lifting volume if you're training hard enough, which you should be regardless, to continue to add muscle as long as you're doing the right things nutritionally. Like you're legit eating in a surplus, you're not eating in an insane protein surplus, so you're super full, so you can't get your calories in, you're eating a lot of carbohydrates and whatnot. There's plenty, but it's not enough to maximize. But it anyone who tells you you can maximize your hypertrophy on a hybrid plan is completely full of shit anyway. The more things you're training for at one time, and I'm not saying that most people are probably aware of this that are listening to this, and the question asker is probably aware of this, that's why you ask the question in general. There are plenty of people who are not aware of this. If you are training for multiple different disciplines, so you're trying to get strong, you're trying to get jacked, you're also trying to improve your running, your rocking, etc., the more things you're training for, the smaller the deltas, the improvements are going to be. So you're not going to improve quite as much on your muscle gain if you're also doing a bunch of performance bias running. That doesn't mean you can't do some cardio to maintain your health and your just general ability to recover and whatnot. You should. But there's a big difference between a couple of inclined walks per week in zone two and actually going and trying improving your two-mile time, your five-mile time, etc. So that would be the main question I ask yourself. Do you want to get better at conditioning too? Or do you want to just get jacked and just do a little bit of cardio for like maintenance, like maintaining your health and being able to recover and not getting too fat? That's how I would go about choosing. Alright. What is your opinion on assault treadmills compared to regular treadmills or running outside? Alright, so these are all a little bit different. I talked, I think, in the last episode, maybe two episodes ago, about the differences between outdoor running and treadmill running. So I won't get too into that. We'll kind of lump them into the same category because they're different enough. They're outdoor running and treadmill running are more similar than assault runner running is to either of them, let's say. So we've got assault runner or curve runner, whatever you want to call it, and then we'll lump the other two into the same category. We'll just call it regular running, or I might just call it running normally or outside, whatever. So the assault runner is going to be still running, of course, and still an option. If you have no other options, like let's say you're deployed and you can't go run outside because either the weather's terrible, it's like crazy hot, or you have to be in kit if you leave the building, something like that, or there's just no space to run, but you don't have any normal treadmills, running on the assault runner is far better than not running at all if you want to get better at running. Or if you just want to get a solid cardio stimulus, but you don't really care about the like getting your tangible running metrics better. So, for example, like you just want to improve your conditioning, your cardiovascular health, you want to do some anaerobic stuff, and you like to rotate different things, but you also enjoy running, using the assault runner for that would be a totally fine option. Or let's say normally you are, let's say you do want to get good at running and you do most of your training either on a treadmill or outdoors. If you have the option, by the way, and you want to get really good at running, and you are choosing between two indoor modalities, either the assault runner or the treadmill, the treadmill is almost always gonna be a better option. That being said, doing an occasional training session on the assault runner, not a big deal. The difference is the main difference is the mechanics. Your mechanics on an assault runner versus an outdoor run or a treadmill run are going to be different enough to give it some attention. So, for example, if you're doing a lot of your running on the assault runner and a little bit of running outside, but you're training to get better at running outside, that can be a little bit of a problem, especially if you are an unskilled runner, which let's be honest, most people are a relatively unskilled runner. There's definitely levels to it. Some people are good enough, they're solid enough, they're skilled enough. Other people are downright terrible. And if you're a horrendous runner, you have very, very poor running skill, like your cadence is 130, 140, 150, and you are just hearing for the first time while I'm talking about it that running is even a skill that you can practice and get better at, then doing a lot of running on the assault runner is not a good idea because you're gonna have to transfer your already poor skill and almost learn a new skill every time you go out and run. Like you're gonna have to learn running skill and develop it and apply it every time you go run outside, and you're just way higher risk of injury, and also you're just not gonna perform anywhere near your potential. So if you're that type of person, which a lot of applies to a lot of people, doing most of your running either outdoors or second best would be on a treadmill, would be a best option. And doing, if anything, very, very periodic runs on assault runners would be fine. I really like assault runners for higher intensity stuff where you're not quite focused on building your specific running skill. You're more just you want to get some running in, but you're not doing like pace-based intervals. Maybe you're doing like a minute on, minute off, or you're doing it as part of a big circuit, or you're doing a bunch of other exercises along with it. Maybe some rowing, maybe some body weight exercises, maybe some kettlebell swings, and then maybe you hop on the curve runner for 30 seconds or something like that. I don't love it for long distance stuff. That doesn't mean you can't do it for long distance stuff, but it's just a little bit less practical. The main thing you need to consider is this, and I've had clients do this in the past. The pacing is gonna be way different than it will be outside, and way different than it'll be on a treadmill. Last episode or last time I talked about treadmills versus outside, I talked about the discrepancy between pacing. It's gonna be even more of a discrepancy on a curve runner. So let's say normally you run your 400s at a 130 pace or a six-minute mile pace. If you go on the assault runner one week, let's say the last six weeks you've been running around that pace for your 400s, and then this week, for whatever reason, you use an assault runner. And you try to run a 630 no matter what, it might be way harder, it might be way easier. It's not gonna feel the same. And if you just go off pace, you're not really gonna get the same type of stimulus in that training session. And in most cases, it's probably gonna feel harder because it actually is not calibrated to outside. So you're running way, way, way harder than you would be if you're doing actual repeats properly outdoors. And so, therefore, it's either gonna be really frustrating because you're not gonna be able to maintain your pace and you're gonna think that you're getting slower or you're just having a really, really bad workout, or you're gonna try at all costs and go balls to the wall, and you're gonna get way more fatigue than stimulus from that training session, and it could mess you up in future training sessions, either make you more susceptible to injury, or just prolong your recovery, it's gonna throw you off. So, generally, I like to use RPE for repeats on curve runners. Depending on what you're doing for the training session, if you're doing some threshold RPE, like threshold intervals, RPE 6, 7, 8 is a pretty good range. So if you're doing, let's say, like five to seven minute threshold intervals with a little bit of a recovery in between, or if you're doing a longer threshold bout, not ideal for curve runners, but still can be done. If you're doing things like one minute on repeats, like 6090s or 6060s or 60120s, RPE 8 to 9, something you can repeat. You can either use wattage or meters, or you can use pace, but make sure you're using pace relative to the training session, not relative to your outdoor pace. So let's say your pace at an RPE 8 to 9 is about seven minutes per mile. Around that pace for each of your repeats would be a solid option. Just to make sure that you're not going so hard on the first one, still really hard on the second one, but you're a little slower, still really hard on the third one, but you're a little slower. You're basically doing all-out sprints, but you're not resting long enough to make it a sprint workout, but you're also not going hard enough to make it an endurance workout, which a lot of people do naturally, but it's not the right way to do it. Those are all factors you need to consider. So there's a lot of nuance there, but in general, not the end of the world to use the assault runner once in a while. Just wouldn't use it all the time if you're trying to get really good at running outside, because there's definitely a pretty significant difference, especially in regards to mechanics. All right, last question, we will make this the last one. What is some advice you have for shorter guys trying to go to SFAS? Alright, my advice for short guys going to SFAS is absolutely no different than tall guys, medium-sized guys, whatever have you. The standards are the standards, and the standards are very, very attainable and crushable. Like you can absolutely exceed every single standard at selection as a short guy if you are prepared for it. If you train in a way that allows you to exceed the standards. Whether you're 5'4, whether you're 5'8, whether you're 6'1, whether you're 6'5, the standards are the same. The way you go about training for those standards is relatively the same. Of course, there are individual variances, but usually they have nothing to do with your height. So there's that. In my class, there was a dude that came in second or third in all of the gated rucks, both of the gated rucks, I should say. And he was 5'3, maybe 5'4, at the very most. So he was the second or third fastest rucker in our class at 5'3 or 5'4. So a lot of short kings have this narrative in their mind, this big time self-limiting belief that because they're short, they're at this massive diff disadvantage, and the main thing they think they're at a disadvantage for is rucking. So that goes to show that just because you're short does not mean you're just gonna be really bad at rucking. If you continue to believe that and tell yourself that, and you continue to let that belief and that narrative hold you back, and maybe even use it as a cop-out or as an excuse, like, oh, I would do this, but I'm too short, or I went to selection, but I failed the O course because I'm just not tall enough, or I went to selection, I'm just not good enough at rucking because I'm short. Not because I'm not good enough at rucking, not because I didn't put the training in, not because I didn't continue to be consistent and do the right things and get better and better and better at over time, but just because I'm short. That is bullshit. Complete bullshit. Honestly, some of the best Green Berets I've ever met, the absolute most studly killer dudes, are well under 5'7. Let's put it that way. There are plenty of dudes that I know that are way bigger studs at 5'6, 5'7, 5'8 than dudes that are 6'4, 6'5, 6'6. Not a lot of 6'6 guys in group, but you get the picture. So it is not this limiting thing that a lot of people think it is. Are you at an advantage for everything? No. There are certain parts of the obstacle course, especially the ladder, the very tall ladder, that are gonna be a little difficult, especially if you're short and scared of heights. I feel for you. That's not gonna be easy, but guess what? Courage is being scared, but still doing it anyway. Still having it in you to do it anyway. And plenty of short kings have done that successfully and moved on to the next. There are other obstacles that being short is not super advantageous for, but it's still doable. During team week, especially if the rest of your team is taller than you, it's gonna be a little awkward carrying some things if you're doing like a team carry, team high carry, maybe a team low carry, but it's still totally doable. You just gotta believe it's doable, and then you gotta go and put the work in, just like anyone who's taller than you would do. And then you go show up, and then you show up as prepared as possible, and you follow instructions, and you put your best effort into everything, display how well you prepared for it every single time you go out there and you go crush it. That is all there is to it, regardless of your height, regardless of your skin color, regardless of your background, regardless of whether you're an 18x-ray or not. Everybody is on the same playing field, you go, you either perform or you don't perform. If you perform to standard, you get selected. If you don't, you don't. And if you're a little shorter, you can still perform to standard. It is totally doable. So get that shit out of your head. That short kings have no hope, or you're always gonna suck at running, or the tall guys are always gonna crush you. It is not how it works. So, with that, that is going to wrap it up. Thank you guys very much for tuning in. I will be back soon with another episode that got me super fired up for the rest of the day. So, thank you guys for the awesome questions, and thanks for tuning in. If you're still around, you guys are the OGs, and I greatly appreciate every single one of you. So, anyway, I'll be back with another episode soon. Until then, Terminator Out. Thank you for listening. If you like this show and want to start crushing your goals, please subscribe so you don't miss an episode. And for more fitness content, follow me on Instagram at Terminator underscore training, or check out my website, TerminatorTraining.com. All right, guys, Terminator Out.