The Dad Bods and Dumbbells Podcast

Tips on Improving Mitch's Grip Strength to Discussing Middle Aged Men's Health Essentials

Barton Bryan and Mitch Royer Season 1 Episode 43

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Listeners gain actionable advice on improving grip strength, muscle recovery, and overall health as they age. Key discussions include the importance of specific exercises, dietary supplements, and regular monitoring of hormone levels to continue progressing in strength training.

• Addressing grip strength to improve lifting performance 
• Importance of protein, creatine, and omega-3 supplements 
• Regular blood work to monitor health and hormone levels 
• Flexibility as a vital component of a well-rounded fitness regimen 
• Strategies for nutrition to combat effects of aging

To Learn more about GLP-1s and Set Up a TeleMed Call with Solutions RX, use this link:

https://solutionsrxaustin.com/solutionsrxaustin-dadbods-and-dumbells

To Learn more about James and Mona De Lacey's Strength Programs, visit:

http://liftbigeatbig.com

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Dadbods and Dumbbells. My name is Mitch.

Speaker 2:

Hey, I'm Bart. What's up everybody?

Speaker 1:

Hey, thanks for liking subscribing and watching on. Youtube or wherever you watch or listen to podcasts on our website, all that good stuff. Yeah, I don't know if any of that exists, but I'm glad we have it. It all exists. I'm glad to be here In some way, shape or form. Yeah, it's all here. Hey this is great, great, let's uh, let's dig in.

Speaker 2:

First of all, shout out to our uh sponsors uh, first of all solutions. Rx great opportunity, local uh solutions compounding pharmacy here in austin dripping springs area you can get your. Your semi-glutide glp1 needs looked at, hair loss, anything that, any of the man stuff that's happening post 35 or 40 definitely, and I are in it.

Speaker 1:

There's also erectile dysfunction issues. Not that we have that, we don't have that problem yet but but they have it. We're talking about no shaving it. Hey, yeah, solutions rx. You know I've been dealing with weight loss. Uh, that's what I've been using semiglutide trizepatides, and they just make it so easy because you just do a telehealth call.

Speaker 2:

The doctor approves you. It's free to do the telehealth. So you just use the link in our show notes. That'll get you squared away and they'll take care of you over there and then you can get your stuff, I think, delivered to you within a day or so. So it's just like if you're ready to pull the trigger and get, why not you within a day or so?

Speaker 2:

So it's just like if you're ready to pull the trigger and get why, not, that's what I did, and the cool thing is like normally you'd have to go to your doctor and like go through a bunch of hoops. It would take weeks. This can literally happen in like a day or two.

Speaker 1:

And sometimes, when you go online, you don't know exactly what you're getting with solutions are X. You know exactly what you're getting, all certified very, very easy to use website.

Speaker 2:

You can scroll through and see what's available.

Speaker 1:

Do what we do, why not? I've lost 40 pounds. Let's go.

Speaker 2:

And I'm going to start using their hair loss treatments.

Speaker 1:

Dude, I'm way behind that. It's time. Yeah, it's time.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and shout out to Dr Carrasco above SolutionsRx. They're in the medical towers of sawyer ranch. That, dr carosco, at uh, at the dermatologist up there, he's been my doctor, he's great. Yeah, he does, he's. He's my dermatologist, and so he's.

Speaker 1:

That's why you look so good. I think you've kept your.

Speaker 2:

Uh, you kept your look you're almost about to turn 50 boyish glow, you don't?

Speaker 1:

look a day older, 48, you know butter me up, all right and then check out, lift big, eat bigcom. That is our boy, james and mona and girl mona yeah, the lacy, they are our um, our people that help us the power lifting people.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 1:

That's what I'm saying the power couple the reason that we're so strong is because of them, and the reason we're going to win all of our competitions we enter is because of them. So thank you, guys, for your help check them out lift big, eat bigcom.

Speaker 2:

They also have great uh creatine monohydrate there you can get. They have an awesome protein powder that you can order on their website and they've got online programs that you can sign up for for very specific things like power lifting or just like developing your squad or building big glutes or big chest like developing your bench. All those types of things are available because that is what they do. They have the background to support that type of a strong.

Speaker 1:

So do us a favor If you are a listener, if you're currently listening go into the show notes. There are two links the solutions RX link, where you can get more information and get a free consult and then lift. Biggie big will be there as well. Thank you guys. So much for listening, bart, since we've been power lifting and trying to get our numbers up.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I got an issue okay, okay, so you've been working out.

Speaker 1:

I've been working hard and lifting heavy once a week at least, I was doing deadlifts and I was doing our Ohio State strength program. Yeah, power lifting and I get to the one rep. The three times you do one rep with big weight, it was like three 30. By the time I get to the second time I do it, I can barely hold the bar with my fingers Like the grip. It's like slipping every time I come up and when I woke up the next morning, my whatever. This isn't forearm. What's the back part?

Speaker 2:

of it.

Speaker 1:

This is the forearm.

Speaker 2:

Still, all right, my forearm he's pointing to the bed, to the inside you're watching, you can see which is kind of like the flexors you think about.

Speaker 1:

Popeye has this massive like forearm flexors, like you're looking at the video right there yeah, so he's not pointing at the extensors, which is the back of the arm.

Speaker 2:

yeah, it gets tan, tan and it's been sore.

Speaker 1:

It's been difficult to grip things.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, you're overdoing it Well, no, no.

Speaker 1:

Here's what I want to know, First and foremost one how do I keep my grip from slipping? Is there a technique? On my grip I don't have chalk. I try to use my wife's little things. You strap to your wrist and the leather pieces and they don't help.

Speaker 1:

I like to feel the bar in my hands, so if it's too much weight that I'm doing, or what can I do to get this to not be an issue, yeah, I mean it's a, it's a challenge, because you don't want the reason you can't lift something to be because your forearms burn out before your legs and back right.

Speaker 2:

Deadlift should not be a. The determining factor of whether you can deadlift something should not be because your grip is not strong enough. So you should start doing grip strengthening exercises. Okay, farmers, carries with heavy dumbbells like grab, yeah, or just you know, or um, you know, just there's a lot of things you can get on amazon that for like 10 20 bucks like those stupid little, like gripper things, yeah, but you know, shout out to my uncle chuck.

Speaker 2:

You know, everyone has that uncle who, like, came to visit. While you're driving, shout out to my Uncle, chuck, everyone has that uncle who came to visit and he would put your hand out to shake his hand and he would just crush it.

Speaker 1:

Oh, break your hand and you're like I'm nine.

Speaker 2:

Why are you trying to?

Speaker 1:

hurt me. Uncle Jeff, uncle Chuck for me, uncle Jeff for me, uncle Jeff for you. Everyone's got it. Crush my grip.

Speaker 2:

He's so, say, and it's hard to find newspapers, he said he'd say open up a newspaper, put your hand right in the middle and try to crumple up the paper. That's what he said to a ball. Okay, he's like, when you can do that, like in it, like so you. So you have this big open paper, you put your hands right in the middle and you just basically, like are using all your fingers to just squeeze and crumple in the ball.

Speaker 2:

It just, it just creates a lot of strength in your hands. That's not what I do, but that.

Speaker 1:

That was a cool concept.

Speaker 2:

I like that because it was a very simple, like practical thing you could do. You could do as a kid and not, and you know, and develop better grip strength. But there are.

Speaker 2:

You know you should probably get used to wearing you don't have to do the leather flap thing there. I use kind of a typical like wrist wrist wraps, where you it just it has a long kind of canvas or like type that you that you basically roll. And one of the things that you probably don't have is a is an olympic bar that rotates, where the plates don't have to rotate yeah, you know, if it's all, it does rotate the inside.

Speaker 1:

I have an Olympic bar, okay, great so that's key. Of course I do, of course. This guy. Obviously my wife bought it all, so of course it's good.

Speaker 2:

So you want to wrap those things around and then you kind of roll the bar until you get that squeeze, that pull, and then you kind of anchor down on there and then you hook your hands in from there. So when you're pulling, half the weight is being absorbed by the pressure on the wrist, so you're not lifting the entire bar with your fingers.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it seems like I was lifting with my fingers, yeah, and so you're just like as you're getting tired from doing multiple sets.

Speaker 2:

The other thing is you probably need to rest longer in between sets so that you don't get up to your one rep max like already fatigued.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so that you don't get up to your one rep max already fatigued. And I had also done squat max or squat as well. Yeah, but that doesn't affect your bar. It doesn't affect the bar, it shouldn't affect your grip strength though. My leg strength, though right Sure.

Speaker 2:

But then why is your grip giving out before your?

Speaker 1:

leg, that's true.

Speaker 2:

Good point.

Speaker 1:

Good point, you're the expert, sorry.

Speaker 2:

But I understand the challenge of this. You don't want some piece of the movement to fail because your grip is not where it needs to be, so you've got to play around with some grip options. You cannot wear grips in powerlifting competitions, from what I know, so you're going to have to develop your grip strength I need chalk, chalk can help.

Speaker 1:

The other thing is a vice versa grip. Can you do? Do that in competition.

Speaker 2:

You can okay the challenge with that stacy suggested, there is an opportunity to tear your bicep with the arm that's turned. Um, it doesn't happen all that often, but you know when you're these biceps aren't tearing baby.

Speaker 1:

They're strongest.

Speaker 2:

And there you go so you can play around with like a okay forward and then a reverse grip and you kind of figure out one tends to feel more natural than the other side. Yeah, so when I do it I'm my left hand is over the top and my right hand is is kind of underneath, okay, and that grip, like I it, there's just a, there's a, there's a kind of a grip, there's a clamping of that, the hands kind of. It locks it in and it makes it easier to pull heavy weight I think.

Speaker 1:

I think what would be helpful, I think, ultimately, is I need to work out with you we need. We need to go los campeanos or whatever it's called and I would really love for you to see it and then we can work out together and you could, we could really get a good idea, because I I trust that. Um, I just want to make sure I'm doing it the right way too right. I think that's a great idea I can pull a ton of weight I know, so don't be and let's go beyond.

Speaker 2:

It says a ton of weight. Don't be discouraged when you're like how is?

Speaker 1:

this chubby guy be with receding.

Speaker 2:

Ever since you beat me in arm wrestling, I am aware of your freakish strength, your man. I appreciate I appreciate that.

Speaker 1:

Um, so I had a question come up to me and can I just finish the point.

Speaker 2:

Uh, this thing is this is for anybody out there listening Like when you have something that's a a weak point right, like maybe doing bench, you mean like the whole time you're just feeling your shoulders, your triceps or or squats. You're just, you know this. You, you know you're supposed to feel your quads and glutes, but you're feeling somewhere else adductors, hamstrings, whatever, like that is your body telling you that something is needs to be looked at. Like that. You know, if you're the mind muscle connection, it's very much that's kind of comes from bodybuilding. But you know, if you, if you're not feeling it in the muscles that you're supposed to feel it in, if you're not fatiguing the right muscles, then there's probably imbalances in there that you need to look at. So just be, you know, don't be dumb or or like, just turn the brain off. Like, be aware of like, if I'm benching and I always just feel my shoulders and I never get a chest pump from bench, that's a problem.

Speaker 2:

You're going to eventually have shoulder problems, right? So you know part of the bench press is a power movement of the upper body. You know there's a lot of muscles involved but the big muscle mover of that lift is the pec. So pec should be engaged big time. You know there's shoulders, there's triceps, there's a bunch of rotator cuffs that are stable. The lats do a lot of stabilizing of the shoulder blade, stuff like that. But you gotta feel that chest yeah, that's all good stuff, man.

Speaker 1:

Thank you what was it. So my question was I had a buddy from you.

Speaker 2:

Is from. This is from a buddy. This is a listener.

Speaker 1:

Uh, good friend of mine does your buddy have erectile dysfunction.

Speaker 2:

Do you want to talk about it? I don't think so, but I've never checked Ask him this and he can go to SolutionsRx for those issues. We'll get SolutionsRx James Montgomery on the podcast to talk about.

Speaker 1:

Very nondescript, but you can get it all at SolutionsRx. So the issue is we're in our 40s now and my friend is in his 40s too. Supplements that should be daily, supplements that are meant for recovery, joint pain, like peptides, I think. We hear a ton of stuff but we don't know exactly what needs to happen within just hey, aches and pains of being old. He doesn't work out on a regular basis, but he still has shoulder and knee pain and knee issues and stuff. And so what do we need to be with that information? What needs to be a daily, you know, daily, whatever it is. And then what could help with those feelings and those pains? Maybe it is, hey, it's time to start working out, because that might help, but I I wanted to hear your expertise on it it's a tough one to like address, like you know, in a holistic way.

Speaker 2:

Uh, because there's so many angles to it and everybody's a little different. Right there are people walking around that are very type a, that are very like that, just kind of like thrive in fight or flight. You know, make some really. You know, work work horses. They just work all the time. Their brains are always thinking, they're always doing stuff.

Speaker 2:

They're just yeah right and those people are have a really hard time getting into like parasympathetic rest and digest which means their body's full of cortisol and inflammation and stress, and and those people work start working out and they get addicted to working out and then that's even what gets worse and worse got it, you know, so yeah I mean, there's just so many different variations to like why somebody might feel achy or, or, you know, feel like they need some sort of supplementation. Yeah, I will say just in general things that are, you know, improving your protein intake on a daily basis.

Speaker 2:

Okay, yeah will help your body rebuild muscle tissue. We will tendons allow more. You know cellular rejuvenating processes. You know the mitochondria need different. You know the amino acids to kind of reform and all. So there's, there's benefits to being on the higher side of protein intake. So that's a, that's a generally high protein, and that's women and men.

Speaker 2:

And the older we get, the harder it is for us to metabolize protein, so you actually need a little bit more as you get older to get the same amount of effect. Okay, because it's called sarcopenia, like the inability to maintain muscle mass even with the same amount of protein. Anyway, so that one Creatine, creatine, creatine, creatine.

Speaker 2:

Yep so that one creatine, creatine, creatine, creatine. If you're not working out, there's still a mental, like cognitive, benefit to creatine. They're looking at it for, like older people, before they have any signs of dementia, to help prolong or keep the brain healthy. Omega-3 fatty acid you get that from fish oil, yeah, but, but just a supplement a couple thousand.

Speaker 1:

I take one of those fish oil.

Speaker 2:

I do two a day. I get them from costco. You can get a big big thing from costco.

Speaker 1:

They're great. I wonder if solutions rx has it. They do, you know, they do.

Speaker 2:

I just checked because I had a client ask me about it. But yeah, so those are just like easy three, like get your protein. Protein powder is just an easy way to get high quality protein. Whey protein is just from milk right, yeah, you know, curds and whey, that's just milk, dairy. But that protein is very easy for us to take in, absorb and turn into all the essential amino acids that we need. That makes it easy for us to.

Speaker 2:

now, if somebody has you know, digestive issues around whey protein, then go ahead and try p or some other option what is it?

Speaker 1:

p protein what's that?

Speaker 2:

it's just vegan protein oh but you need twice as much to get the same amount of protein and it's a lot.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, sounds like a lot of work.

Speaker 2:

It's a lot of work, but I mean for some people like they just, but for whatever reason, whey protein doesn't doesn't gel well with their stomach well, I mean honestly the, the powder creatine yeah man like diarrhea really yeah, almost instantly.

Speaker 1:

Wow, it's great that's it. So I'll take, so glad I'll do a scoop or two of creatine in a little water. I tried the gummies.

Speaker 2:

I just can't handle them no, and gummies are not very accurate in terms of like getting their necessary dosage per gummy. Yeah, because it just it's all like kind of melted, you know, it's like yeah, you can get creatine gummies that are like, and you can get pill creating pills too, but um, and you might try to take creatine with in a smoothie, where you're not just like drinking it.

Speaker 1:

Putting down straight, that might help with your digestion. Can I mix with whey and creatine? Totally, most people do, it doesn't matter. A couple scoops of creatine in your protein, that would help a help a lot.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, these are all and then just getting a better night's sleep. I mean, the reality is that we all want to do more to get more results, and sometimes the answer is actually do less, because you're already doing too much and your brain is on overdrive and you're texting and you're just living in fight or flight.

Speaker 2:

So sometimes the answer is do less, sleep more. Yeah, eat better, drink more water right and work out. Yeah, you know, you knock out those things and then you still have issues with pain, or or just comfortable, or just feeling like you're low, low energy, then it's probably like, hey, you know what, go get blow work done, see what your, your testosterone or your.

Speaker 2:

If you're low energy, then it's probably like, hey, you know what, go get blow work done, see what your testosterone or your. If you're a woman progesterone, estrogen, testosterone levels are A lot of women, especially getting their 40s, they're going to have like their testosterone levels are going down, so women have testosterone too. It's usually like healthy levels are like 50 to 90, whereas we're like 300 to 900.

Speaker 1:

I'm like a thousand. Calm down bro.

Speaker 2:

But anyway, like those things, so those things will matter, you know, for women and for men to like make sure your hormones are in an optimal place Got it. Peptides are something that are kind of like.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I want to know about peptides.

Speaker 2:

So this is the problem, like the FDA came, came around. I think it was like early, like 2024, maybe it was like late 2023. And they say, because all these compounding pharmacies and places were selling peptides, bpc 157, yep, uh, you know there's a bunch of like ones out there, you know, and that's kind of like the rogan universe, like you know, rogan's on a bunch of peptides and you know, you know, and they're great, you know, and that's kind of like the Rogan universe, like you know, rogan's on a bunch of peptides and you know, and they're great.

Speaker 1:

Do you know that? I mean, I didn't know. He talked about peptides. I know testosterone for sure.

Speaker 2:

He's on TRT but he's also like talking about like peptides for recovery and like so BPC one five seven is a is a recovery peptide. It's supposed to help speed up recovery shoulder because they have pain in the shoulder dang I don't know if that's true I don't know, it's a good idea or not but. I mean I literally a guy told me that and yeah I just like my shoulder.

Speaker 1:

Does that work? It's like stuck. Yes, he has just got like.

Speaker 2:

And then stem cells are big, yeah, great so, but all that stuff is kind of you know, the weird thing is, like, you know, 20 years ago you're like, well, that's pseudoscience, but it's like, but the fda just made it so hard to get anything that's kind of new and healthy that it's hard to know if it's like bs or if it's actually like just too too modern in terms of like the sphere of where it comes from, for for like for it to be approved. And then you're going, okay, like is it? Because the big pharmacy, big pharma once, doesn't want it, and you know, and the little guy's trying to, there's ways to get it through if you go through like websites that order, like it is a research only so you can get.

Speaker 2:

This is how people can get steroids too. You can go to like these websites where you like. Order. You get like a vial of testosterone cpn8 as a for medical, like research use only we do not recommend this.

Speaker 1:

This is not a recommendation. This is just like.

Speaker 2:

So this is how people and I have heard of doctors that will get peptides for their patients, you know, through the same means and they just have them sign waivers like hey I, what I'm giving you is is officially for use. Only you have to be okay with that.

Speaker 1:

That seems a little dangerous. I don't know All that to say. Okay, so what I hear you saying is we need to get on omega-3. You need to get a supplement. Go to SolutionsRx, get omega-3. A multivitamin, daily vitamin, does that matter?

Speaker 2:

I'm not as convinced that multivitamins are that. You just multivitamin, does that matter? I'm not as convinced that multivitamins are that. It's just you know. You just pee most of that stuff out. I think you got to look at blood work. See where you're deficient. If you're deficient in vitamin d, vitamin d is another one. Fat fish oil is vitamin d for most people on the planet. They're, they're they're deficient.

Speaker 1:

Oil is really good for your brain health, yeah right.

Speaker 2:

So there's a lot of inflammation in the brain that you do not want because that can cause, you know, stuff later on. Fish oils help reduce inflammation. They help a lot of things because brain is mainly fat.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So, like the fish oil helps to like keep the brain healthy. So fish oil creatine and protein, well, and vitamin D for 99% Fish oil. Vitamin D, creatine and protein.

Speaker 1:

Well, and vitamin D for 99 fish oil, vitamin D, creatine and protein.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think those are. Those are kind of like the most people will tell you any podcast for like somebody who's like a expert in health is going to just mentally tell me, tell you that those things at this point are are good, are good things to be doing. The other I say on that is just that you do your blood work, yeah, get um. The other thing I say on that is just that, uh, you do your blood work, yeah, get your blood work done. And shout out to um, medina medicine, this is, this is a doctor, he's an internal medicine doctor up in cedar park and it's all virtual and you know you, you have.

Speaker 2:

He spends, he'll spend over an hour in a consultation with you and then he'll have you go do blood work but instead of going through your insurance and paying a lot of money and then like this is not approved, you can't get that, you can't. He, he pays for it runs this huge lab of of all these, this blood work for, like all you know, all these markers around, like autoimmune disease and stuff like that, and then you just pay him like 120 bucks for that wholesale cost of the lab, the blood work. He makes no money on it, he just, and then he spends 30 minutes with you going over all your over your stuff, yeah, and then you know from there you can make recommendations on hey, your vitamin D is low or hey, this looks like you've got more information.

Speaker 1:

Hey, if you sign up three other people and they sell those supplements then it will be this. No, no, not a pyramid. I mean, it's kind of like a pyramid, you're the top.

Speaker 2:

He's a doctor that does not work through the healthcare system. He just does. He's like let's look at your blood work, let's consult on it, let's come up with some ideas on how we might be able to prove it. And then, three months later, you do blood work again, and so I literally just got my blood drawn today.

Speaker 1:

I was going to ask about that. I was a little concerned. So that's because I have kind of a little sweat you got a track mark. Yeah, it looks like I'm doing heroin. Can you see that on camera? It looks like you've done heroin once. Let's just be honest.

Speaker 2:

So first of all, I go to LabCorp in the East Riverside location and you walk into the Walgreens and there's a sign on the door that says we're closed. And it says Go to James Casey location to get your blood work done. So now you have to get back in the car. You've been fasting for 12 hours, so you're annoyed.

Speaker 2:

I was definitely annoyed, you're pissed, I'm pissed, so I get there. They were very nice, apologize, whatever. A couple minutes later I'm sitting down to get my blood work done, this guy comes up and he oh and he puts the needle in, and he puts the you know the vial.

Speaker 1:

There's no, nothing coming out yeah, he missed your vibe because he went too far, he missed. And so when you pull out and you just got.

Speaker 2:

So that's why there's like a little bruise, like bruise now I've had it done like where they literally bruised me.

Speaker 1:

Oh, the whole are yeah, cuz they were like jabbing away and I'm like. I could probably. I mean, you have great veins too like.

Speaker 2:

I know it's like, it's not that hard, the easiest thing ever.

Speaker 1:

I find that dudes that do it yeah, they just don care. Uh, women are a lot nicer, except for so. When my wife was in nursing school, side note uh, she had to do ivs, yeah. And so she's like, hey, would you and we were, you're married. So of course I'm like, yeah, honey, whatever you want. She tested, she practiced ivs on me, because I have pretty good veins too yeah um, and so there's a rule of thumb that I found this out later.

Speaker 1:

She put it in perfect right. And I don't like needles, I don't like blood, all that stuff. I'm a classic loser where I'm like she puts it in and then just okay, got it, yanks it out, boom, all bruised Because she was supposed to hold pressure.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, she forgot to hold pressure. It was just so leaky, it was just like oh, big old bruise.

Speaker 1:

Never let it down.

Speaker 2:

Now she's a huge healthcare professional. Now she's the best.

Speaker 1:

If you ever need a shot or anything, she's the gal. It never hurts. So anyway, there you go.

Speaker 2:

So in a week his like a week we'll have a doctor. His name is Dr Omar. Dr Omar and I will get on a call. We'll go over the blood work. We'll look at what it was last time. So it's like testosterone levels.

Speaker 1:

How is your T?

Speaker 2:

1,100.

Speaker 1:

Dang dude, let's go bro.

Speaker 2:

It's like you're bragging. You don't need to go to.

Speaker 1:

SolutionsRx for that problem, but some of you might.

Speaker 2:

But sometimes you can look deeper into that. Your total T might be high, but if your free testosterone is low, that's because you have more sex hormone binding globulins that are attaching themselves to the free testosterone, and so your free testosterone is actually where you get most of your ability to recover and build muscle, it's not your total testosterone. If you're somebody who has a high testosterone amount but your free T is low, that still may mean that you don't have adequate available testosterone to build muscle. That's usually a reflection of high cortisol or inflammation or just like too much stress, and so that's probably so. One time I went in there and that was the case just like spilling the beans on my blood work and he's like, yeah, this is low and your, your, your free testosterone is not where we want it to be.

Speaker 2:

And so I said, okay, I'm going to take a week off of training. So I just took a week off. I stopped taking just any caffeine, I just tried to just rest, just nothing that might create stress. Just try to rest for a week and just to kind of bring everything back down. And then next time I tested, it was fine.

Speaker 1:

Did it. It balanced out. I didn't test that next week. What about Zens? Is that going to do like? Is that going to create cortisol? Is that going to cause like these issues?

Speaker 2:

I don't have enough information on that. Oh good, I would guess it's great for you to keep doing it. Ride that one all the way through your grave. That's what I'm going to do.

Speaker 1:

That's the plan, because there's no way you can stop.

Speaker 2:

You know it's funny. I think everyone tries their best in some way to make a healthy choice, like I'm going to do sugar-free.

Speaker 1:

Instead of sugar, I'm going to take Zens instead of smoking a cigarette.

Speaker 2:

I would love to smoke a cigarette, but I'll take a Zenz instead, and you know, at some point you just ride out like I believe that grass-fed red meat is really good for you, even though red meat maybe isn't Speaking of.

Speaker 1:

Go to aprimalcom.

Speaker 2:

Aprimalcom. There you go.

Speaker 1:

Get your meat.

Speaker 2:

All right, this has been detailed.

Speaker 1:

No, I love it. This has been detailed. No, I love it.

Speaker 2:

I love it, but like, that's the thing. Like, because when you start to peel back the layers of your specific health this is why there's so many great like you know programs out there they're just going beyond the typical. Go to the doctor, you get nine minutes with your you know physician's assistant, or maybe even an actual MD, and then they do blood work. And then you get a call from like the physician's assistant or a nurse. It says everything looks fine, everything's in range. Well, your creatinine levels are high, or like well, I'm on creatine. They're like oh, that's why. And then they check the body. They're like you're good, we'll see you in six months.

Speaker 2:

Like what does that do nothing right? Like getting a little bit more in depth looking at blood work and this is something that I I I try to do with my clients is, you know, I just say, hey, if you wouldn't mind, send me your blood work. I mean, I can't as a I'm not a physician, I can't advise you on this, but I can at least take a look and and give you my perspective on just what I'm looking at here and what and what, what I'm seeing, and so anyway, but that's, that's hopefully what a doctor is doing for you is like giving you a little bit more nuance to like hey, you know this. This is interesting that this is out of range, but these are in range.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, right, yeah, and I think I think it's about time, right, like you specifically want to know fitness wise. Why are things, why do things not feel right? Why am I sore all the time? Going specifically to do blood work about that or like just to see what these levels are and to know somebody in the fitness space that we like. Hey, that means you should probably take an omega-3 or do whatever. I think simplifying it as much as possible is just hey, it's easy to do an omega-3 pill, some vitamin D, creatine and protein, those four things as staples.

Speaker 2:

I think that it's not to do an omega-3 pill some vitamin D, creatine and protein those four things as staples. I think that it's not going to hurt you. It's only going to help you, especially as a guy, if you're working out at least a couple days a week being on 5 to 10 grams of creatine.

Speaker 2:

Doing 50-gram protein shake a day like one shake with 52 scoops of 25 grams of protein, which is usually about a scoop. Um, that's just going to give you a little bit more protein in your diet. It's going to give you the creatine in your muscles and you'll probably eat less too, because you're full I mean, that sounds like those things. Yeah, drink water hydrate, yeah those are all great things yeah, well, I appreciate that.

Speaker 1:

I hope that helps you guys understand a little bit more of what makes your body tick. I think always make sure you're lifting make sure you're maintaining muscle mass and then make sure, ultimately, that you are knowing what your body needs at its particular time, because our bodies are changing. We're in our 40s, you're about to be in your 50s and things are changing, so let's stay on top of it I know, just realized and this is the scientist in me like we can't stop without saying this.

Speaker 2:

So we talked about nutrition, one pillar Exercise. Second pillar, recovery, sleep, that kind of third pillar. The fourth pillar that may be affecting how your body feels is flexibility.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I was going to ask about that.

Speaker 2:

Range of motion or mobility, mobility, and so if you're somebody who's just notoriously tight, you might be strong as hell, but you're really just like speaking to me baby, yeah, yeah like that's another like pillar to address.

Speaker 2:

You think about like the four pillars that hold the building up right. You got, you got folk. You gotta look at how am I doing? Am I exercising enough? Am I doing push, pull legs or like, am I hitting the primal movements? Am I resting? Am I getting enough nutrition? Am I taking general nutrition supplements? All that's kind of under that same umbrella. And then the the fourth one is, you know, that kind of mobility, flexibility, just health of your joints and that doesn't mean you need to go join yoga, yoga or or you know, there's simple movements.

Speaker 1:

We all learn them in gym class.

Speaker 2:

Well, and but there's, you can warm up, you can do mobility exercises before you exercise and then you can go back to the mat and you can go stretch for 10 minutes five minutes and walk out of the gym or out of your garage and be a lot better off for it, versus like I go to the gym, I do two sets of warm-ups and I just push heavy weight and as soon as I'm finished my heavy weight, I walk out of the gym, I sit in my car, I drive to work and I sit for like nine hours.

Speaker 1:

Dude, you're speaking to me.

Speaker 2:

Baby mobility, let's go got so long, so where it's so far to go, anybody?

Speaker 1:

hey, that's good man, we're getting it. And, uh, I think, if anything with dad bods and dumbbells, I think we understand that ultimately, there's things to do. It's not as hard as it sounds, so let's do it together.

Speaker 2:

Start with? I mean, I think just start with one pillar.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Like, just think what's the thing that I probably need to address the most, yep, and just start there. Start with one. You know, if you need to work out, start there. Start working out a couple of times a week. You know, push some weight around, pull some weight around, do some exercises. Then you know, if you know you've got that done, you've got. Yeah, I mean nutrition might be the next step. Then you got recovery and then maybe you're looking at mobility or stretching, something like that. So I mean, just don't try to take it all on at once.

Speaker 1:

You're not going to complete that well I love that so all right buddy well, I appreciate you guys for listening and watching. Please like, subscribe, comment, share any ideas, any suggestions, any questions you have, please reach out to us and go to the show notes.

Speaker 2:

Look, find out more about lift big.

Speaker 1:

Uh, eat bigcom, or solutions rx baby, yep, all right, love you guys peace.