The Masters Athlete Survival Guide
We explore thriving as an athlete after 40. Each episode, we’ll dive into tips, hacks, and inspiring stories from seasoned athletes and our personal experience. Whether you’re a weekend warrior or a competitive pro, this podcast is your playbook for staying fit, strong, and motivated
The Masters Athlete Survival Guide
How We Use YouTube To Lift Better, Hurt Less, And Stay In The Game
We riff on how YouTube became our most useful training partner and where it can lead you astray. From fixing a good-morning deadlift to building finger strength and dialing recovery, we share channels worth your time and the BS meter every masters athlete needs.
• using video to improve deadlift setup and bar path
• climbers’ methods for finger and tendon strength
• warm-up volume for longevity and pain control
• simple hydration and electrolyte habits
• spotting fake weights and risky advice
• tailoring popular programs to masters needs
• caffeine strategy without the crash
• building a personal system from curated channels
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New episodes come out every other Thursday!
Welcome to the Masters of Athletes of Bible Company, where we explore the secrets to thriving in sports after 40. I'm John Catalinus, and along with Scott Fike, we'll dive into training tips, nutrition hacks, and inspiring stories from seasoned athletes who defy age limits. Whether you're a weekend warrior or a competitive pro, this podcast is your playbook for staying fit, strong, and motivated. Let's get started. Ooh, the remix. I like this remix.
SPEAKER_01:Let's do that again.
SPEAKER_02:Who hired the DJ for Award Studios? Nice. Nice. I apologize. We're out of the box. We're having technical difficulties.
SPEAKER_01:It's what happens when you hire the old people that we are.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you know, it's sad. They just came out with like a new version of the recording device we use that's like it's all Bluetooth and super simple, and there's not even really any buttons on it, but whatever. John is now Sir Mixelot. I am Sir Mixelot. I hung back. God. Scott. John?
SPEAKER_01:Do you want to touch my fingerboard? I would prefer not to. I mean, I've seen it sitting there on the high-end table that is in uh this recording studio. Because I think we're in what recording studio three today? Oh yeah, this is three. Yeah. And I'm looking at it, but next to it is also one of the wrist rolls. Yeah. So one of those table or table tennis.
SPEAKER_02:Table tennis. One of those tennis elbow rubber. I don't know what you call those.
SPEAKER_01:Like the old when you you'd see your mom when you were growing up wringing out a dish towel type of thing. Say yes, John. Yes, John. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:No, yeah, it's it's it is the it's a big ru it's a big latex tube that you twist like you were wringing out a dish towel, and it's for tennis elbow and whatever I get from lifting heavy things. Grip hand. Yeah, and grip hand. Um, so I have that fingerboard. I see that. I do. I own one now. I got a fingerboard. I thought it was just for like loose change. Yeah. I was gonna put on my dashboard. Hey, before I get into where I was going with this, did they stop making pennies?
SPEAKER_01:That is what I've seen. Is that true? Now the question becomes how the hell do you go to the store, your Wegnans or your Topps or Kroger's or whatever your local grocery store is? Kroger's. Is Kroger's a thing? Kroger's. Okay. And you're ready to pay for something. You say, that'll be$1.78. But wait a minute, you don't have pennies. So it's gonna be$1.80.
SPEAKER_02:What the hell? Did they round up? Did they just artificially raise prices?
SPEAKER_01:I have no idea. Or do they round down if it's a dollar seventy-six? I don't know. Oh, it's a dollar seventy-five today. Yay, coupon.
SPEAKER_02:I'll tell you what, grandpa. I don't think I've carried cash in five years for anything other than knowing I was going somewhere where I had to tip or something. So I mean it folding cash, yeah. Folding cash, sure. But but coins? And I thought about this today because I walk past a salvation army guy, and I hate walking past like I I want to give them stuff every time. I do. I I do. I'm that guy, why not? I mean I'm not even 100% sure where the salvation army is. What's wrong with that? I don't even I'm not 100% sure where that money goes, which I usually care about, but I don't because it's a thing. But um my first thought was I don't have any money. Like the guy should say, What do you put in the kettle now? Yeah, yeah. It's like can you can you accept plastic? Like I want him to sit there with like square or something.
SPEAKER_01:What's your Venmo?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. I bet you, you know, I'm gonna ask that one time.
SPEAKER_01:But here's the thing Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, all of those things, yeah, they don't give because they all have fees, and I understand that's how they make their money. Um they don't have discounts for charities, organizations because like when we set up for Love Like Done, yeah, there is no discount. You still get tagged with uh you know 10 cents plus X percent.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I believe that because I feel like I've donated to things before where there's the check box. Like, would you like to donate an additional dollar forty two to cover the fees associated with this donation? Um, yeah, so that was that was my thoughts today. Are there still pennies? Back to my fingerboard, which is not a coin holder. You sure? It's it's is it a charcuterie? Yes, you put pepperoni in the little slots, nice, yes, it's a wall-mounted charcuterie, a little cheese, yeah. Absolutely. My favorite charcuterie, by the thing, since this is this whole thing has already gone off.
SPEAKER_01:Way up the fucking rails.
SPEAKER_02:Um, I have a friend whose daughter did it like for realsies during the pandemic. Like she would make boards and deliver it, and and they have a whole scheme and there's things they do. Raspberries with white chocolate chips, like one stuffed in it.
SPEAKER_01:Stuffed into it. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_02:That sounds good. You know, it would be fiddly and it would take forever, but I I could make a whole popcorn bowl of those and then just immediately stick my face in it. It's so good. So good.
SPEAKER_01:So, in terms of a master's athlete, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I don't know. I don't know where that this has got nothing to do with it. That's quick energy. Yeah. There you go. I saved it for you. I'm trying to get this train back on the rails. Okay, so there's my fingerboard. Your fingerboard. I uh bought that fingerboard at the uh recommendation of Tammy McClure. I reached out to one of the better one of the legends. Yeah, she's a good grip person. She's a nice person. She tends to wear interesting shoes designed by her cousin, I believe.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, her cousin designs them to match her outfit.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so that's cool.
SPEAKER_01:First woman ever deadlift on an axle bar. Yeah. Three times her body weight. No, that that I did not know that.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, did it at the Arnold. Oh, I just reached out to her because she's smart and and good. So she suggested Not a Masters athlete, though. Oh well, you know, we all have our flaws. Um shout out to Tammy. Yes, Tammy. But where I got to the asking her about a fingerboard was I I've got and and you and I, we did grip in the gym the other day. Yes. And I and I started to get that thing, and man, I hope there's a name for it. Like when your finger goes a little sideways and then completely cramps up in a the weirdest thing. Oh, that shooting pain. No, no, like my finger, my hand would stick like one would be sideways. It's a cramp, but it doesn't feel like a cramp.
SPEAKER_01:For the non-subscribers for the visual podcast. John is holding his hand up and his one finger is pointing forward. Yeah, thanks.
SPEAKER_02:See, we don't need video, we just have you. We have like a narrator. Um, so I so I looked on YouTube to figure out how to increase finger and tendon strength.
SPEAKER_01:Nice.
SPEAKER_02:And uh there's two channels. There's something called Hooper's Beta. The guy is uh is a physical therapist and a rock climber.
SPEAKER_01:And he puts up rock climbers are legit hands.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, and this guy yeah, this guy's got all the things. But I mean he's he's he does some grip stuff. Like I've seen him use grip implements, but he's mo you know, he's a climber, he's he's using grip implements to train climbing. Right. But he's just really intelligent about you know the PT aspect of of hand strength and forearm strength and all that stuff, shoulder mobility that those guys apparently care about. Not like us. Maybe I should talk to them. I can't picture you like rock climbing, rock climbing, soloing up El Capitan. No, well that's funny. Thanks for bringing that up because the other channel I looked into was Alex Honnold, and I watched a thing on on his like how he trains his hands and how he uses his hands, right? And I and I watched that YouTube channel for a while, and when he got to the point where he said, you know, there was one crack in L Cap where I got to like rest for a while. So what I did was I took my hand, shoved it a crack, turned it sideways, and made a fist, and it pretty much locked it in there, and then I could and then I could just hang out. I had a little bit of water, and I'm like, now have you seen that documentary?
SPEAKER_01:I haven't seen the documentary, but I've seen others of people climbing it. Yeah. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that that that document, please. Yeah, that documentary like hurts my soul. It's so like terrifying. Like some of the shots looking down is like without fear. But so I'm thinking, well, you know, Alex must know a thing or two about a hand thing because his like his life depended on that. 100%. Which led me to what I kind of want to talk about today. YouTube. Oh yeah, yeah. YouTube is a tool that I think I wish existed when I was like a collegiate athlete. When I was a collegiate athlete, there were a handful of books, and a lot of them were written by Russians. Stone tablets, right? Yeah, exactly. I uh Yuri Sadiq brought them down from the mountain and taught us how to throw a hammer. Yeah. No, but like now, uh as I'm doing this, as I'm looking up the 800 videos on finger strength, tendon, the morphology of your hands. I'm like, like this Hooper's beta guy who uh is a PT. He's his the content, like I you don't I don't even know what I would ask a doctor that I couldn't just look up on YouTube, which you know uh it's probably a blessing and a curse because I don't know if you know this, but PubMed will or or uh all that other web uh MD stuff will tell you that you either have a bloody nose or you're dying of brain cancer.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. No, and you know what, John, it's funny you bring up YouTube. Um, you know, everybody does the wormhole thing where they're watching a video or they're watching this or that. When we first started training it, uh I think it was even 1.0, compound 1.0, my deadlift was terrible. Yeah, it was absolutely you're not supposed to agree that fast. No, it wasn't. Now you can agree. Yes, it was. Thank you. It was terrible because it was all basically a good morning. I mean, and to that point, there's a picture somewhere, and you were there of me doing a good morning basically with 600 pounds.
SPEAKER_02:It was the strongest good morning I think I've ever seen in person. But oh, by the way, it was meant to be a deadlift. Let's clarify there. It was, it was. It wasn't like we were doing good mornings, it was just like let's reach down, not bend our knees and bend at the waist, Scott.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know that old adage you heard when you're growing up. Lift with your legs, lift with your legs. Lift with my negs? Your legs. Oh, your negs, send out your dead. Um yeah, that went left. It did go left. I'm not I'm not quite dead yet. Kabink, he's dead now. So we started watching, and that's what I got into the really getting into some YouTube stuff. And I think you sent me the first one, and it was Alan Thrall from Untamed. I love Alan Thrall's. He sent me, and I watched his deadlift setup video without exaggeration, probably 25 times. Then we went into the gym the following week, and it just started changing everything over again. And I think that's where YouTube has paid benefits for me, like Alan Thrall, Brian Schule, um, and I know I'm saying his last name wrong, but these guys are they're younger guys, they're phenomenal, phenomenal athletes, they're gym owners, and they're doing these things that were sort of unconventional in the way that they were setting up for stuff. And you know, it turned into the mantra that you say to me when I go into a comp or when I'm about to leave for a comp. Go through it in your head, practice your cues, do your setup. Have fun storming the castle. Have fun storming the castle. Yeah, you filthy canigot. Um, wow, we are really going into Monty Python tonight. Folks, it's been a long week. Sorry, it has, and you know, Thanksgiving's coming up, all these things. Anyway, that's where I started my whole kind of YouTube journey was with those two. Now I find myself, because I'm you know 55 years old, the joints don't always work the best. So now and it's gonna sound weird, but like Mitch Hooper, who I initially was not a fan of, I'm really a big fan of the Hoopers now, for like the content that he puts out in his YouTube channel. Um the Stoltman brothers. And you know, it's like, oh, well, of course, because you know, Tom Stoltman and Mitch Hooper, they're both world's strongest men. Yes, but no. That's what put my them in my mind. But the stuff they put out as to how to sort of tweak a little bit to change the direction in which my shoulder might be hitting, or you know, turn your foot out a little bit because it's gonna take some of the pressure off of a sciatic issue that you might have. Yeah. So YouTube, I agree with you. If we'd have had YouTube 30 years ago, I think it might have been a little different because there was more even with the the excellence of the books that were out there, yeah. Those books, you know, phenomenal black and white, pictures, but they were pictures. Yep. Now you got a video and you can see what the joint looks like under pressure somebody's overhead pressing or pulling, or you know, it let's go to grip. John Sigleiski, one of our friends who is an ungodly talented. Come on, John. He you know, he just started a YouTube channel, and I don't remember the name of it, but true shout out to John.
SPEAKER_02:He he's this I believe it's holy bleep, John. I actually believe that's the name of the because that's uh the chant from him lifting, I don't know, a refrigerator's worth of stone.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. But you know, we saw videos that he would post on his other social medias of him holding a license plate that's hanging off of his rack and holding himself in an L off the ground. I mean, just so again, we go to the grip. But we found this out later, John is his own lifter, he's a rock climber. Right.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, and you know, like I remember struggling with my deadlift, and uh, you know, it was when Wes a went. Yeah, occasionally. And and Wes was in the gym, and uh he actually pointed me at a video because he recognized that even though like he was right there, like I don't know, that year he was what sixth strongest man in the world? Yep, two years ago. That the ability to kind of look at a video, stop it, rewind it, stop it. And that frame by frame thing is so important. Yeah, I'm I'm a I'm a big fan. So my my first I don't know, this is probably a lie. One of the first people I subscribed to on YouTube was uh Brian Algeru. Yeah, that's who I meant. I know, and uh the reason I did. Do you remember when we worked out at Iron and Stone with uh Brett? Yeah, and he was being like virtually coached by him. Training for um US Marshals. Yep, yep. And he would do these insane kids. I I call them supersets, but they weren't supersets. I mean, it was like go from overhead pressing to walking lunges with way too much weight to jumping rope to sprinting. Yeah, they were true grinds, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I think that's kind of what led us to it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I was gonna say that laid the foundation for I think both of us to be more on the on the gas tank fit side of strength with that level of stuff. But I would have never discovered that if it wasn't for YouTube. Yeah. Never because I didn't know any strong guys go into the gym and and keep weight in a plane, like you know, like a powerlifters. Power lifters, yeah. Yeah. Um, so that was one of the I think one of the first YouTube things. And what a what a gift. Because I I mean I think back and I know this is dumb, but it's it's unfortunately true. My only shot put training quote unquote video in college was a flip book. It legitimately was like a Perio Brian 19, whatever that was, 50, 60 something. Yeah, you know, 80 page flip through and kind of fan it so you can see like a moving picture. Yeah. Yeah, that would that was it, and you know what? That was kind of a big deal.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, because it was, you know, it was the augmentation of or the precursor of video.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Because the average Joe like us couldn't go out and buy the, you know, go to the training center and see the the video that was on eight millimeter or whatever.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, my it's funny because as my college coach used to take video with the shoulder-mounted VHS 60-pound, you know, camera. Oh, the the mega bricks. Yeah, like basically old school VSC VCR player on your shoulder with a yeah, and uh the quality was never there. You uh like I just remember you couldn't really pause because it would get like super kind of weirdly blurry. So there was not always a good way to illustrate, like a hey, you see what you're doing right there.
SPEAKER_01:But to that point, like when my son was playing hockey, we had the little, you know, you you'd record it onto a thumb drive type of thing, and then you'd burn it onto a CD.
SPEAKER_02:What's a C D, grandpa?
SPEAKER_01:Shut up, old man. You're older than I am. It's true. But it's the same thing.
SPEAKER_02:I think it's like 40 days on my birthday, by the way.
SPEAKER_01:The progression that keeps moving forward. Yeah. You know, there you could do it, but the big thing was we'd always have to shut the audio down because somebody'd be in the stands recording it, and you'd hear what the Yeah. And the the person recording it would go, Um, you're on video. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. I actually have a fair amount of video from when I were first started uh Master's track because Charles, Dr. Charles Inferno, was kind of obsessive about that, and we would take a lot of video. Useful, I don't know. Fun to watch, absolutely. I mean, it's just a captured memory.
SPEAKER_01:I think that's the nostalgic beauty of the videos from when we were doing stuff. I'm gonna sort of disagree with it. I don't know. If you watched it, you're right, you couldn't always stop it. Yeah, but at least he could say, okay, let's run through that again. And I want you to watch what happens here. You know, we did that in high school with you know, football games and stuff like that. But now you've got people, you know, vis a vis YouTube. Vis-a vision. Vis-a vis.
SPEAKER_02:You know, I am a reasonably intelligent human being. I don't think I know what vis-a-vis means. So don't ask the doctor. Okay. Uh not a doctor.
SPEAKER_01:Not a doctor. You know, you're sitting there and you watch these things, but they are useful in that sense because you do get some value out of it. I mean, I can remember in high school we'd record or they would trade game films with the other high school. And, you know, coaches say, All right, after practice, go in, shower, do what you need to do, meet me down in XYZ study hall. You'd walk in and there'd be soda sitting there, there'd be popcorn, and there'd be Cheetos. Not a sponsor. Even back then. I was very excited that you worked that in there like that. I had to, I that was that was a long game plan for that one. I like it. I mean, but in all seriousness, he he did have, you know, like popcorn, Cheetos, that type of stuff sitting there. So we we'd be mowing through food, and he's talking through this stuff, and again, yes, there was some value to it. Yeah, we may not have realized it, you know, 40 years ago.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but well, the other thing is that and you just dislodge this memory. Like, I think I did some filming for our JV football team, uh, because I didn't play. And uh with those cabs, yeah, but the camera, like back day, and like picture being today, you'd have to be like 2,000 yards away for the The lack of quality of these videos.
SPEAKER_01:Well, like you were up in a a scissors lift somewhere by the lights. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And basically it's like up on top of the press box. And literally it looked like, oh, so those ants are us and those ants over there. Just look at the colors, folks. Look at the colors. And now, I mean, now with YouTube, and I give people credit, but the the the way people produce content, it's not just, hey, I'm gonna set up a tripod and film myself lifting in the gym. It's 19 different angles and computer graphics. But it's not the the influencer stuff.
SPEAKER_01:We're not talking about that. I'm not that influencer bullshit. Yeah. You know, the that I'm an influencer. No, you're an idiot with a cell phone.
SPEAKER_02:I really thought I saw someone legitimately do using fake weights the other day. I'm like, look, I'm doing account, and it was, I don't know, 585 bench or something like that. And the bar's not acting like I think the bar should. And like, you know, there was a vocal strain, but I could I mean I mean you've seen people lift heavy, right? You kind of get a vibe for what it looks like it just I'm like you can't fake what the muscle looks like. You can't fake any of that. And I'm like, this is there are fake weights. There are fake weights. This looks like it's probably 225 with a bunch of foam in between.
SPEAKER_01:Well, dude. The one guy who was putting up his stuff from the compound that's no longer a member. Oh. When he's putting up 25-pound bumper plates and calling them hundreds. Yeah. You know, whatever. You know, it's an ego lift. But you know, what I love about Sunday? Sunday, Sunday is that uh you have the ability to look at what's going on. I mean Yeah, I agree. There's a guy that I I I actually had to look up his name because he just he sort of pops up into my feed. His page is called NJ Sports Science. Okay. Okay. Nick Jankov Jankov S K I S.
SPEAKER_02:Whatever. We should probably not give him a shout-out because I think we've just mangled his name.
SPEAKER_01:NJ Sport Science. That's our shout out. At NJ Sport Science on YouTube. Okay. He talks about hydration, he talks about rest. He talks about proper, you know, proper warming up. There's a lot of stuff that he does that really fits into what we've talked about. But it's it, you know, it's coming from a guy who he's putting it across all athletics. So we've sort of fallen into some niches with weightlifting, with pickleball. Yeah. You're welcome at 23 minutes. So it's those things that we've sort of fallen into. And you know, we've had a bunch of guests who are much more intelligent than we are pushing stuff out in different directions. But this is what this guy does for a career. And he looks at the sports science behind it and he really puts it in a in layman's terms. And I love that about him.
SPEAKER_02:I love that about you, that you love that about him. And you know, it's funny because what I was just thinking, it's a little bit of spoilers, but our our next episode features uh Adrian Blewett Wilson and uh monster, monster female masters athlete. But so, you know, you look through like you have to subscribe to her if you want to learn how to warm up to lift because oh yeah, you know, this is I don't mean this as an insult, but it is tedious. It is tedious. She takes so much time to warm up every joint in every direction in meaningful movement. And it's like, I don't know, I walk in the gym, grab a white monster, and start like hanging and banging, brother. While somewhere Hulkster is saying, That's my man. Which also means why after we competed the in the one strong man, it took me a week to recover because I was so broken.
SPEAKER_01:You're still not recovering.
SPEAKER_02:I'm never gonna recover, probably.
SPEAKER_01:But you're right, you know, when we talked to Adrian, she said if I lift for an hour, 30 minutes of it is warm-up.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And, you know, I do some warm-up, at least I humor myself and say that it's a warm-up. I learned something from her. I really did.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And you know, I'd like to, I'd like to call bullshit. I would. I would like to be like, come on, that's pointless. But then, you know, how many world championships? How many all Americans? Like, I mean, she definitely like she she backed up her.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, she walks the walk as well. Yeah, damn it. But then she said, you know, I that's that's part of what she credits her longevity too. And you know what? Subscribe to her channel and see what it is.
SPEAKER_02:Uh it's at Adra Sue on Instagram, by the way. Yep. Um, she'll be on our next episode. So here's here's where the other part, the other end of this. So if Adrian's like, you know, putting it down, just it is what it is. Brother. Is there a Web MD concern when it comes to training video? Uh any YouTube videos for any of your pursuits?
SPEAKER_01:Uh we've got a really, really good friend, uh JT Sowards. Oh, Jesus Christ. JT no pun intended. No. JT is uh one of the truly beautiful people that we know. You know, very spiritual, strong AF. Um I think he's I know he's in his fifties. I I think he's a little bit younger than me. I think that's true. And uh it's funny, if you watch JT, if you watch all his stuff, you can see where you know, you get some serious training in there, and you can see where he does some warm-ups. But if you watch some of his stuff, he's picking up weight with his teeth while he's balancing a uh uh curved squat bar over his shoulders, holding, you know, kettlebell in each hand on a skateboard. Is that a duffalo bar, by the way? Thank you, Duffalo. I couldn't think of the name of it. Duffalo Bar. And it's like Yeah, on a skateboard. What? Yeah, I've seen him do in in that's not an exaggeration. No, it's not. It's not. But again, one of the nicest people I think we've met outside of our you know our normal hangaround group uh in some of the events we've been to.
SPEAKER_02:But if you look, I mean, YouTube is is the digital library, right? It's the library. Oh, yeah. So I mean, some people go there for information, some people go there to be entertained. I so I mean Are you not entertained? JT stuff is just like, wow, that guy's strong. Wow, that guy's insane. And then you meet him, it's like, wow, that guy's nice for someone who's strong and insane.
SPEAKER_01:But you know, to your to your question about the Web MD, and and I JT was the first one that popped up in my head, him and his brother. But with the Web MD mentality, you've either got a bloody nose or you've got brain cancer and you're gonna die tomorrow, yeah, type of thing. Yeah, there's some stuff out there where you know the guy's telling you, I do one set of one repetition without warming up.
SPEAKER_02:Right. And it works, and I put on 400 pounds of muscle.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And you're like, what are you on? What are you on? You know, it's entirely impossible for people to get away with this. I don't know. I just when I when I when I when I was a rich man, la da da no, sorry. When I think about this YouTube itself, it's like anything else. You've got to sort of weave out and weed out all of the garbage that's out there. That's why I stick with some of those people. One of the people that I stick with, who again was world's strongest fan competitor, whatnot, it's called Big Laws Official. It's Lawrence Shalet. He is like it's this master's athlete sort of run into it. And he brings up some of the stuff that's happened in the past, but he does a great job sort of addressing some of that Web MD mentality that you see in in the internet right now. And I'll say, All right, so this is what he's doing right now. It's not necessarily going to work for everybody, but this is the process that you need to think about. When you do that, it's like anything else we do. We say you've got to think about what works for you. If it's, you know, sitting on the couch eating Cheetos, not a sponsor, not a sponsor, then that's great. If it's, you know, like four or five years ago, I was still training five days a week, killing myself, burning out, you know, with grinds and everything like that. And when I started working with Tony Calla, she said, Scott, I want you to look at some of these things. One of the things you're gonna find is you can't do that anymore. You need to take your time and, you know, okay, you're gonna work out tonight. Now it's in the recovery, and that's where I start looking. I think that's my next wormhole, so to speak, with my YouTube searches, is going to be I've done the workout. What do I need to do now? You know, maybe a little bit of the nutrition, but my nutrition is sort of dictated by some of the medical issues that I deal with. But I want to look at how much hydration is the right hydration. Should I be substituting in electrolytes instead of it just being plain old water? What's the the sort of rest that I'm doing?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. You know, I'm funny. I'm sitting here looking through my subscribe list for YouTube. Please don't share that. No, it's great. It's it's I don't do weird things. Can you do weird things? Here, here's how innocent I am when it comes to YouTube. Are there inappropriate things on YouTube? I don't, I've never seen anything. On YouTube, no, but I mean, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_01:On the internet, yes, then the algorithm gets picked up by the internet.
SPEAKER_02:Alex Bromley. Okay. Uh Alex is the one who taught me how to cut weight. Wait, I that that should be a WebMD mentality. You know what I mean? Don't follow Alex. No, I need to defend Alex because Alex gave me the recipe for how he cut a bunch of weight for a comp, a w a water cup, which I which I followed. Water cuts aren't bad. Did I overdo it? The way you did it. Did I also add magnesium citrate to it? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Dude, when we walked in for you to weigh in and there was seven million pounds of food in that bag.
SPEAKER_02:Do you remember the picture I sent? I found this picture the other day. The picture I sent you of all that laid out on a table in my hotel room, just like me like salivating over top of it. And like smelling it, like sniffing it. What we don't tell everybody is I was out to dinner when he sent that picture. I know, right? These guys are out to dinner. These guys are out to dinner, and I'm trying to cut weight, so I'm literally I'm you know what the joy of that evening was brushing my teeth and getting that flavor from the yeah, and then making sure I spit it all out because you know, that's the thing.
SPEAKER_01:But like so you want any toothpaste calories.
SPEAKER_02:I follow Alex Bromley because uh again, I started with the the cut with him, and I think he's got some decent content. I mean, he's one of those guys. Uh and I just saw that uh Dr. Inferno started this too. You know, stand in front of a whiteboard and sort of give you some stuff.
SPEAKER_01:That's becoming a lot of you know, one side the other. Like uh the books when I was originally started teaching were called Point Counterpoint. Yeah. And Jane, you ignorant slut. Yo, yes. I just came across that the other day too. Back to my real point from John's counterpoint.
SPEAKER_02:This is really not a focused podcast, I apologize.
SPEAKER_01:But it it's when you look at it, I love the way on the the whiteboards where you get these people who really are intelligent folks. This is what you're seeing, you might not want to do this, this is what I recommend. That point counterpoint is huge.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's it's and it's also kind of amazing that uh the way people share what they know because like I think sharing is caring. People right now are afraid of AI taking over. You don't say, but here's the thing that I think is the bigger problem. At some point, there's gonna be so much content out there, I don't need a lot of stuff, like I don't need experts because I can go dig up stuff. I uh you know, I think it's gonna be diminishing returns sometime when it comes to like I needed to like I didn't need a coach to tell me how to lose weight, I found a YouTube video.
SPEAKER_01:Right, but you know, again, we go to it, you found a YouTube video, that's great. How do you tailor it to John Cannelized?
SPEAKER_02:That's that's I mean, that's the trend. That's where that individual is. Is this applicable to me?
SPEAKER_01:But you know, I mean, what six, eight months ago we had our our special guest, Hal, on as uh a guest. And even with the incredible information that we got out of it, and you know, it's only as good as the information you put in, it still couldn't tailor it back to us completely. And I think that's where hiring a coach.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I see what you're oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah, I mean, the thing with interviewing AI, I mean, it was cool and it was eye-opening, and I I recommend you all dig up that episode. And if you're gonna listen to anything, listen to that one because it's mind-blowing that this is just an AI thing. Yeah. But you're right, the answers were most of them were expected. Generically specific. Not yeah, not super generic, but definitely that's why I say generically specific. Yeah, and and maybe there's there's probably better models now out there since that's the way it works. But like like a real coach would ask you ten other questions to get to where you should be. And track your numbers for you. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, so oh, the other one I'm I'm seeing I follow is uh Ryan Humeiston. I don't know. You do. He's the one that that awoke my inner chemist and decided to make my he broke powder. Yeah, he he did uh he did a uh uh video of what really matters in pre-workout and what if he were to make a pre-workout, what it would be like, and I ordered all the chemicals and made it. And it's amazing. Oh yeah. Oh, it's so good. Oh yeah, it's so good.
SPEAKER_01:I I I can attest to that being the only other person that's ever tried this stuff.
SPEAKER_02:No, it is the best pre-workout ever. And you know, it basically you can get regular or diet because you can add beta-alanine or not, if you want the tingles or not.
SPEAKER_01:But I I have to claim a little bit of credit. You said, you know, you you need it needed version 1.0 needed a little something. Yep. So I said mix it with a monster energy drink. Yep. It's so good. Then your heart, it's so good. You put that heart monitor on and it goes from you know 50 something to 190 something in a blink.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I I take zero credit for anything other than ordering the chemicals and blending it, but I gotta tell you, it's so good. It I don't know why every product out there isn't just that, because it is so good. Um, as soon as I figure out how to like make caffeine more powdered, it's gonna be perfect. My uh I have caffeine chunkiness problems.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but I mean again, even with that, it's you took it and you pulled the beta beta alanine out of it, you know, so because we know what that makes us feel like in that sense. And it's that mentality of take it, tailor it, not mark, and put it to yourself. Now, you know, I subscribe as being a uh guinea pig, and we never talk to the institutional review board to see whether or not you could test it on human subjects, but oh good point. I'm I'm still alive, so you know I'm still lifting weights, I haven't keeled over yet. We're like the Wright brothers of uh work. Is this supposed to fly? Yes, is the room supposed to spin?
SPEAKER_02:Maybe. No, it you know, if you ever see me in real life, feel free to ask me for some because I probably have some close. Um and I was just looking through my list. So I so there's lots of, and I think you could probably guess a lot of them because I think a lot of the the people I follow for training are the are you know the the the biggies, you know. We've talked about a lot of them, they're gonna be able to do that. Yeah, the people with a million subscribers. Um what what's funny is that I think there's probably six or seven pickleball people I follow too. And that is You are just I know well it and it's funny because yeah, it's technique and it's learning how to play the game, but there's two people that sort of talk about what you said where it's like, how do I recover? How do I avoid injury? And I mean, I think it's targeted for maybe uh this is gonna be filled with hubris, but maybe slightly at less athletic people than myself. You know, it's like don't fall. If you fall, you might die. You know, I I think I'm a little bit I'm not quite sure it went that graphically bad. Yeah, it did not. It did not, but uh you know, like the one is uh an older lady, and by older, I mean I think she might be 75. So she's speaking 10 years older than you. Oh crap. It's almost my birthday. Um is it though? But yeah, so I watch a lot of that, and then I so here's here's a and then I have some guilty pleasures sprinkled in, and here's the worst one. Here's the worst one because it has absolutely no context in my life. I found this woman who was basically living the van life out of her Prius. Nice back when I had a Prius for a while. So I follow and and I found her because I think I was looking for like, I don't know, how do you store a bicycle in a Prius or something? Something like that. Something John. Yeah. I doubt she was as big as you. So yeah, absolutely not. And you're not huge by any stretch of the word, but I know, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I remember you and I went to uh to pay respects to a friend's mother, I think that passed away, and we both got in your Prius. Yeah, that was awful. I I don't know how the car was able to drive.
SPEAKER_02:I think that's probably what broke it. I mean, so shout out to Tim Malally. Tim Millaly and I did a competition, uh a Highland Games competition in Florida once. We flew into Tampa and rented, we thought it would be great. It was a Yugo, wasn't it? No, it was uh it might have been a Camaro convertible. It was something like that. No back seat, tiny trunk, because it's a convertible, right? So the top is eating the thing. And A, we have like all your highland years. We have all our equipment. And the second thing is uh, you know, both of us are a little too big for this vehicle. And if it was, I think if it wasn't a uh convertible, we may not have fitted in it, but it was uh it was a good time. Shout out to Tim. So all right, we talked about all this content on YouTube, and it's great. And I can't believe someone hasn't tried to figure out how to significantly monetize it. I feel like that's somewhere in the future where they're just gonna be. I think some people make some money out of it. Yeah, I know the the the content creators do. I mean, through ads and through sponsorships and all manner of things.
SPEAKER_01:But I think it also drives the extra.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think YouTube actually pays them over a certain number of subscriptions and clicks and stuff like that. But I wonder if we're gonna get so like, is it is this our drug of choice? And is at some point YouTube gonna like put a big gate in front of it and say, Oh, you gotta pay$7.99 a month to get on YouTube? And I only think of that because I'm turn currently obsessing about getting uh Apple TV and I can't wait, I'm waiting for the price to come down.
SPEAKER_01:You you raise a good question. I mean, it has a lot of people. I'm a podcast host. I'm not very interested in that. I'm not sure about that. Yeah. Um, yes, your host, but the very intelligent was where I was going with the not sure. Yeah. I think like everything else, somebody's gonna try to monetize it to a greater extent. But if you think about things like Facebook or Instagram or, you know, a lot of the social medias, they keep it free because it's what draws in the other sponsors. And, you know, yes, you can have paid ads, yes, you can put something on there and whatnot.
SPEAKER_02:And, you know, you see those, but I I just I would be surprised because I think you get more people looking at more stuff, which is more data that they can sell to the people that care about on the dark web data stuff. Well, not even dark web stuff. Like how do the like the like if I were a snack shaded web? If I were a snack manufacturer, who would I target my Cheetos at to? Not a sponsor, but right I would probably do them to the masters athlete. Yeah, see, like for example, like so you you know my insanity right now is uh like gift suggestions for my birthday, which I think is in 40 days. Um, and I I put the most ridiculous things up.
SPEAKER_01:But he put up a Gravitron amusement park ride.
SPEAKER_02:If you don't know what a Gravitron is, it's that big UFO-shaped thing that's spun around and pinned you to the walls. And that was one of the few rides I would go on. It's it was only$75,000.
SPEAKER_01:Well, for the record, your friends and I talked about it at one point. Yeah, see? And realized it wouldn't fit in the back of the studio, so we couldn't get it.
SPEAKER_02:No, I understand. I do. That's the that's the problem. A lot of the stuff is too big, but whatever. But yes, we have talked seriously about a trebuchet. Oh, I'm building I'm totally building a trebuchet. Totally. So let's see. We've done flamethrower, we've done plasma cannon, trebuchet's next. And then again, we're gonna play trebuchet target practice. No, I think tarbuching compound trebuchet bowling. Put out pins, launch bowling balls. Oh yeah, I know, I know I'm a genius, I know. You're welcome. Well Tim Alally, you need to talk. Well, here's the thing. I follow like three people on YouTube that have built and designed trebuchets, and one engineer, I love this kid. He's in England, and I literally would give him money. Um, he did so many variable tests, like, should this arm be longer? Should this be this? And then he he does the math part that I immediately skip through because I don't understand it because I'm a scientist, not an engineer. I pretty much know how to build a trebuchet. It it really right now the problem comes from scale. Like, could I whip one together this weekend that would throw things uh I don't know, 150 feet? Sure. Do I want a 20-foot tall one that's gonna throw like Volkswagen Beetles? Yes. Yes. I told you we have a 600-foot field right by the compound. That's our limiter. Oh, you know what's happening. This is happening. This is happening. But I mean, so that there's that side of YouTube too.
SPEAKER_01:But that's that's the the the brain drain mental let go wormhole that we all fall into. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's that downside that everybody needs. Whether it's watching, you know, people goof up and pickleball, or it's building tribuchets and showing flaming balls into the lake, whatever.
unknown:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's y'all need something.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah, and it uh it's funny because I'm such a I'm such an internet whore when it comes to like putting stuff on Facebook and stuff. Yes. But it it drives me also a little insane to see people buried in their phone and not like interacting with humans. That bothers me sometimes.
SPEAKER_01:You know where it bothers me is when you see it when you have a group of people out. Yeah. And I think that tends to be, and I hate to say it, it tends to be a younger person's thing. Well, everybody's younger than us. 80% of humanity is younger than us. All right, that'll go with. Okay. So for that 20% of humanity that is our age or older, yeah. We'll say 24% because some slightly younger. Oh, nice. Yeah. They're the ones that tend to talk. They're the ones that are using athletics as social activities as well. So I don't think you see that quite as much.
SPEAKER_02:No, I know. I know. I I just I I'm I'm as we're talking, I'm wrapping my head around my my YouTube usage. Um like that. Well, you you brought up the you know, the the diversion side of it when we're not using it for uh, you know, a training tool. I cannot watch like people fall down. Like, like, for example, I can't watch like those skateboarders that run the long rail and then like face plant. It it gives me the weirdest, like I watch it. I don't I shouldn't say I can't watch it, I watch it all the time. But like I get this like like shiver throughout my body, like it it's oh oh it's the worst. Yeah, I know what you mean because I I was the same way with um you know, like soccer or hockey with um the ball or puck hitting certain parts of oh, or like or like the Clint Millarchuk, like like oh almost decapitation, I felt like as a kid.
SPEAKER_01:We actually live in a yellow submarine? No cute story. I was up in northern Canada, just north of a place called Manawaukee, yes, real town, and we were there for a tournament. Yeah, uh one of Ben's teammates is out on the ice, he fell down, and somebody skating over the blue line, and that one tenth of a millimeter of paint caused the person to trip. The skate came up and same thing, cut you know, this young man's eyelid. Oh, wow. Oh, yeah. And to John's point that I'm not a real doctor, they pull him immediately. We get him off the ice, and we're, you know, taking inventory what's going on with him. And the medic there says, Is there a doctor here? This young man looks at me and says, Ben's dad's a doctor, but I don't think he's a real doctor.
SPEAKER_02:Wow. In the moment, bleeding out, having that humor. That's the way I want to go. I want to go with one of those kind of not a doctor. Throwing shots at Scott. Thanks. Basically, that would be that would be outstanding. No, I just uh I watch those videos. And you know, I think it leads to it because I end up I will watch like a video on someone training, and then I'll watch something on recovery, and then invariably there's like injury scroll down, man and then injury leads to Chinese women getting hit by like or almost getting hit by buses. That there's a lot of videos of that out there, people not paying attention and walking out in front of like buses and subways and stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, where did that one come from?
SPEAKER_02:Well, so yes. Let me ask you the question. Oh god. I am still a virgin, I know. Yes. Any other questions? I need bleach. I need bleach for my mind. Oh, I think you need it for your hair.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, because I'm bald. Thanks. The only one that has less hair than me is you.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that's true.
SPEAKER_01:So here's the real question. We've we've really gone all over the place with this. This is one of my favorite ones. Yeah, with this YouTube thing. This is like Debbie Deb, look up weekend.
SPEAKER_02:You know, look up weekend.
SPEAKER_01:We talked about you know the pros of it, the cons of it for lifting for sort of mental diversion. YouTube. Yeah. Yes or no? Good, bad?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, great. I'm sorry. You know, if you wanted to stick me on a desert light island with six drinks. Oh damn it. Um, YouTube would be a part of it.
SPEAKER_01:And monster energy drinks. You know, don't even tell me no. You'd be so full of shit. Ghost.
SPEAKER_02:All right, all right, I'll take that. Uh yeah, I'm not I'm not monster anymore. Moving away from ghost. Ghost. Ghost, I think, is the is the drink of choice these days. And and I I said this to Karen, so it's true. Uh I think that in January, you know, when people make like New Year's resolutions, I think I'm gonna give up ish energy drinks.
SPEAKER_01:Ish. Until the weekend of March 8th when we're at the Arnold.
SPEAKER_02:Maybe oh loophole. Maybe I'll give up. Maybe I'll give up buying energy drinks.
SPEAKER_01:So basically now what you're saying is every time you come over to the compound, Scott, there's none in the fridge.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I don't know. Or we go to the Arnold and they're just like handing them out to Harry K. Yeah. Yeah. We we did something where we talked about my nine energy drink afternoon, didn't we? Many, many times. Yeah, that I never go in there again. That's kind of like that you wake up in the morning and you've drank a whole bottle of whiskey. Uh I had the same level of regret.
SPEAKER_01:Told that to my sister-in-law who's uh uh an MD, a real doctor, and she said, He had how many? I said, It's nine over the course of the day. She goes, one of those is not good for your heart. I'm like, You mean when he was walking up the side of the building jittering? Yeah, we we kind of figured it out. Yeah, and I'm not an We actually did call John multiple times to make sure he wasn't dead.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it was. I mean, I'm not a calm person to begin with, but my brain was every, everywhere. You were more than a little bit wired. Yeah, and you know the the worst part is it's not a crash. It's a it's a suddenly you stop feeling good.
SPEAKER_01:Like suddenly I feel bad. Well, the worst for me is all right, so let's say have a two, three energy drink day at some point. The next day, yeah, if you only have one. Yeah. You think it kind of kicks it back in? Oh, I don't know if it kicks it in, but I tell you what, the caffeine headache that I get, oh my god. Just split my head with a mallet. It just feels so bad. No.
SPEAKER_02:Well, there was a YouTube video, and actually uh no, there's a YouTube video, and actually Buddy Morris, the trainer, uh extraordinary. Yeah, your former friend. Yeah, he's I hope he's still my friend. I haven't talked to him a long time. I doubt it. Yeah, I doubt it too. Damn it. Um there's a lot of research out there. For the Cardinals or something, yeah, Arizona Cardinals. Uh uh, as far as I know. Again, he's saying maybe we're not friends. I don't even know what we worked for anymore. Um I am a terrible friend. He suggested and pointed me to some research that 100 milligrams of caffeine before competition increases focus without the jitters and all that jazz. And I used I did that. Um Track was drug tested, so I didn't, I was too afraid because I'm too much of a wuss. I was afraid to get like win a national champion and lose it because I took over 100 milligrams of caffeine, which was the thing at the time. I don't know if it's still on the list, but it certainly was then. I don't think so. But but Highland honestly, it would be the second half of Highland after lunch, where like I was would your only three events out of the nine in unfocused and dragging, and I'm already planning on how do I go home. And I don't know if you've ever heard this about me, but it might have been slightly whiny. Like, is this gonna end? Where are the pipers going? Can I shoot one of them? I'm so shocked to hear that I know I never heard that of you. I know. I'm self-aware. Um, so no, yeah, to bring it back home. YouTube, yes. Um, with an asterisk. I think you need to self-educate to the point that you have a bit of a bullshit meter. I think that's a life statement, though. Yeah, well, I don't know. Uh that's very true, but I don't think people necessarily approach life that way either anymore. I mean, I've seen a lot of people make a lot of arguments that I I won't say. Like, I nothing injures me more mentally than when I hear someone talking about something I know a lot about and they're absolutely like die in the wool, this is the answer, and I know it's wrong. It's like, ugh.
SPEAKER_01:I am so hard resisting the urge to say, is there something you don't know a lot about with that ego of yours?
SPEAKER_02:But I didn't say it. I I resisted the urge. You know, but you thought it, and I think that's mission accomplished right there. When you're when you're thinking of panintelligence, pan intelligence? I almost want to. Are you talking about my dog? Pan intelligence. I have a wide breadth of intelligence, and and now I know that you've finally figured me out 40 days before my birthday.
SPEAKER_01:You are the reason we put a garage door in the compound. Your head would be. Your head giant never would fit through a man door.
SPEAKER_02:I I don't have an ego per se, do I? Not at all.
SPEAKER_01:Wait.
SPEAKER_02:Was that cricket I just heard in the corner?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Great. Well I have to give you credit though. We are about 55-ish minutes into this podcast. Yeah. And you still haven't mentioned that you have a world record or had I had a world record.
SPEAKER_02:I had a world record for what, a year? Yeah? Yeah, a world record for a year. Whatever. Whatever. I should probably I should probably try to reclaim that. We're gonna go to the Arnold. We are, but they're not doing the two by five. I'm sure it's gonna be the three by four. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, you're right. All right.
SPEAKER_01:However, folks, yes, look for the on the scene podcast that we will record. Oh, are we doing that again? Yes. Okay. Different group of gangs. Okay. Um different dupe of what? Different group and gang. Oh, okay. But, you know, maybe, just maybe, we may have a wandering man on the street interview. Oh. While we're uh we're competing. You want to do it? Or or maybe we put a microphone on John while he's competing. Oh, that no one no one needs that. No one I need that for comic release.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no one needs that.
SPEAKER_01:But I mean, in all seriousness, you know, we talk about Masters Athletes and the survival guide and whatnot. You're in the middle of a world championship event. You know, you and I are competing at this, and that's what are we doing at that moment? You know, instead of a reflective. Damn it. How about an introspective while we're in it?
SPEAKER_02:Nice, great. So I'm gonna basically buying t-shirts, drinking free energy drinks, and podcasting at the same time. That feels like a that feels like the next step to influence her, doesn't it? Right? Like, um You are not an influencer. You feel influenced, don't you? Yeah, ready watch. Eat Cheetos. Not a sponsor. See, look, I made him not eat Cheetos. But that's Pavlovian. Oh. Big difference. Maybe I'm Pavlonian. Pavlonian? Isn't that the country below Estonia, north of Lithuania? Right by Lev. Yeah. All right. I I apologize, folks. I hope you got something meaningful out of this. But uh And I hope you had some fun listening to Tammy. Buy a fingerboard. Listen to Tammy. Buy a fingerboard.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, talk about going full circle. That was good. Thanks. I am and I mean this. I am truly impressed. That was good.
SPEAKER_02:And this is why we need the garage door going to the gym. Alright, folks. Talk to you later. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post it on your social media, or leave a review. To catch all the latest from us, you can follow us on Instagram at Masters Athlete Survival Guide. Thanks again. Now get off our lawn, you damn kids.