Pharmaphobic
Pharmaphobic is a bold and thought-provoking podcast that challenges the status quo of health and wellness in America. Hosted by Dan, a veteran-turned-fitness professional, and Janie, a physician assistant, this show dives into the deep-rooted issues within big pharma, big food, and the healthcare system. With a mission to uncover corruption and promote sustainable, long-term health solutions, Pharmaphobic is for those seeking better answers, curious minds ready to question the system, and anyone eager to take control of their well-being. Join Dan and Janie each week as they explore practical ways to thrive, share transformative health insights, and inspire change. Follow Pharmaphobic on your favorite podcast platform and be part of the movement toward real health and wellness.
Pharmaphobic
Ep. 66 - Fat Camps? How About No!
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We found a woman documenting her fat camp stay on Instagram and couldn't stop watching. Four workouts a day, a goal of losing 2.2 pounds per day. It's basically The Biggest Loser with a communist twist, and it doesn't work any better.
Then we get into what we'd actually do. Real food, weights, steady state cardio, and the one thing every crash diet skips: education. If you don't know how to grocery shop on your own, you're set up to fail the minute you get home.
We close on adjusting your training as you age. Volume down, intensity stays. The boring stuff works. So why do we keep selling the extreme version instead?
Contact Daniel and Janie:
Email: info@achievethelifestyle.com
Website: achievethelifestyle.com
Instagram: @achievethelifestyle
Contact Daniel and Janie:
Email: info@achievethelifestyle.com
Website: achievethelifestyle.com
Instagram: @achievethelifestyle
Pharmaphobic is powered by Achieve the Lifestyle, a company dedicated to helping you empower your health, redefine your lifestyle, and all for the health of it. You're listening to Pharmaphobic, where we challenge the state of health in America. I'm Janie, a physician assistant, and I've seen how healthcare keeps people dependent instead of truly healthy.
SPEAKER_03And I'm Dan, a veteran turned fitness pro here to uncover the truth and explore simple and sustainable health solutions. From big pharma to big food, we're exposing the conflicts of interest, keeping us sick, and finding better ways to take back our health.
SPEAKER_01No fluff, no gimmicks, just real talk, real solutions, and a little bit of fun along the way.
SPEAKER_03Hello there. Welcome to another episode of Pharmaphobic, brought to you by Achieve the Lifestyle, where we help you become the strongest, healthiest, and most capable version of yourself. Guys, today is a very special day. First of all, our producers in studio. It's their anniversary. So we like to wish them happy anniversary.
SPEAKER_01Yep. What they just 17?
SPEAKER_0317.
SPEAKER_01Woo! Total?
SPEAKER_0317 years total.
SPEAKER_0111 married.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Good job, guys.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Are you guys like us and you got like your dating anniversary is like within a day of your wedding anniversary? I did that just to keep it simple.
SPEAKER_03That that is that was very smart on our part, by the way.
SPEAKER_01Our part or well my part.
SPEAKER_03It helped me out a ton because I just have to remember one day. Guys, before we move on, I have to introduce your personal guests conversing with me. We've been together for eight years. Married for four question mark. And she is the lovely co-host of this podcast.
SPEAKER_00Thank you.
SPEAKER_03And my lovely companion in life.
SPEAKER_01And special guest is Jamie Brown. Ah, Guten Morgen.
SPEAKER_03Oh, going back to your roots there. Okay, let's get into this. We got some stuff to talk about today. We're going to start with the health news. Um, some stuff that, you know, is out there in the ether that hopefully people don't catch any ideas. And then we're going to talk about some exercise today because we haven't talked about working out in a while. Some details, some finer points.
SPEAKER_01We're going to work out working out.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Finer points of strength training. Okay. First thing here that I have on my notes.
SPEAKER_01Chinese. First, I'm the realist. Sorry.
SPEAKER_03Here we go.
SPEAKER_01It's been a day so far.
SPEAKER_03It's been a early rising. Uh Chinese fat prisons. They're calling them Chinese fat prisons.
SPEAKER_01So I ran Chinese fat camps.
SPEAKER_03Or Chinese fat camps. Um, that's what they call them. Not us. They call them that. Um, I ran across this thing on on the on the interwebs, on the social medias.
SPEAKER_01Instagram.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, this lady is documenting her experience at a Chinese fat camp. So China has established these retreats, if you will, where people go for about four to six weeks voluntarily, they say. Um, uh, you know, it's China, so they say it's voluntarily. Where people go for four to six weeks and they pay too.
SPEAKER_01It's like six hundred dollars for a month.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for a month, where you're basically fed and worked out and and trained and and harassed and harangued into losing weight for four to six weeks. Um, they control your food, they make you work out three to four workouts a day.
SPEAKER_01So I I think it was two to three workouts a day. So it was like 19 a week on average.
SPEAKER_03Three to four workouts per day, I got on here. Um they got spin classes, they have um I saw some people lifting weights. I didn't see people lifting weights, but yeah, maybe they do have some weight training, but it's it's more like spin classes, boot camp style workouts, large group workouts. Um, and then they obviously control their portions and give them food, and then a lot of the food, like this lady's documenting what she's eating, it looks all like super whole food, but very tiny.
SPEAKER_01And they it's um you're locked down, like you're locked in.
SPEAKER_03So you're not go you're there, you're not going out because they don't want you to sneak in some snacks, they don't want sneaky snacking.
SPEAKER_01Sneaky snacks.
SPEAKER_03Sneaky snacks. Those are the worst kind of snacks or the sneaky ones, but they don't want you doing the sneaky snacking thing, so they lock you down. It's like you're in there.
SPEAKER_01So sneaky snacks would be like if you're measuring and weighing your own food, and say you're pouring granola and you want 30 grams, and there's 35, and you take the five grams, put them in your mouth, they don't count, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. Well, and here's the thing, and sneaky snacks stack up. They stacked. No, I know.
SPEAKER_01And and I think parents, because I know when I nanied kids and they would um they liked, I'm gonna throw this back. They like the chocolate pop tarts.
SPEAKER_03I'm seven years old. And you toast them, but they didn't like the crust.
SPEAKER_01So you still cut off the crust and then I would sneaky snack the crust.
SPEAKER_03They just like the gooey center, huh?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but the but it would be the crust and be like be um crusty, right? And then, but it'd have a little bit of the gooey chocolate on it.
SPEAKER_03And man, I can't tell you how many Pop Tarts I ate as a kid. I can't believe we used to call that breakfast. Oh, just put some Pop Tarts in it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and then now that one brand has the protein Pop Tarts, like the the play on it. You know what that gave that just gastric distress.
SPEAKER_03Stop it. Protein Pop Tart?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Oh, stop it, bro. What are we doing, man?
SPEAKER_01It's like get your protein.
SPEAKER_03I I can't believe now that I'm thinking about it, how many Pop Tarts I ate as a child. We were a Pop Tart household. Toaster strudels? We did those, but those took a little bit longer. They're not the same as the.
SPEAKER_01The icing packet in plastic to heat up. So heating up in plastic, amazing.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_01And then drizzle.
SPEAKER_03So you added sugar to the added sugars on the strudel. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Then we wonder why we are where we are. Okay. But do people still have Pop Tarts? Do they sell that still?
SPEAKER_01Oh, yes.
SPEAKER_03Oh, wow. Still in stores. Okay. Next time we go to the grocery store, I'm gonna look at them. I just want to see what they look like now.
SPEAKER_01And it's in that foil wrap.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Wrap them in aluminum, you know, just regular stuff. Well, anyway.
SPEAKER_01Just do a favor, throw them in the microwave. I'm just kidding. Sorry.
SPEAKER_03Sneaky snacks. Don't do that. Going back to the sneaky snacks, something to look out for because people start doing that, and then next thing you know, you stacked up a couple hundred calories of whatever, and there goes your meal plan, right? Right.
SPEAKER_01So they keep them very regimented, very strict. And, you know, for those of you who know anything about long-term sustainable weight loss, you can see how this probably is not setting people up for success.
SPEAKER_03No, so their goal, their intended goal, their stated goal, looking into it, is to lose a kilo a day. So 2.2 pounds per day while they're in the camp. Which is that's insane. Not recommended. No, if you lost that per week while you're in there, that would be like aggressive. Aggressive. But okay. But yeah, but you can handle it, right? Especially if you're, you know, you got plenty of uh love to go around, you know, to spare, right? Like 2.2 pounds a week would be, I would still be like, but okay, we can we can deal with it.
SPEAKER_01And as long as you're losing weight and um it's not just the scale you're monitoring.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you're monitoring body composition while you're doing that.
SPEAKER_01But what's more like real-time things that they can monitor? Energy level. Are you pooping regularly? Are you sleeping?
SPEAKER_03Oh, you're sleeping.
SPEAKER_01Because it's when we poop stops, sleep stops, energy stops. You need to stop dieting.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And referred to our last episode, the one before last, yeah, where we talked about deep dived into sleep and erection and all this stuff. Which, you know, usually sleep getting spottier is a sign that you're doing too much.
SPEAKER_01Which side note, I was talking to some MAs because my current practice is integrating with another practice. We're sharing space. So there was other MAs, and I we removed and I was helping put up samples and we had samples of Miralax, and I was like, anybody need to poop? Right. And somebody was like, I guess many of the receptionist MAs have trouble pooping. And I was like, you know, telling them very quickly, just offering, I was like, Well, if you ever want to check your gut microbiome, I can help you out with that, like no pressure or anything. And somebody was like, ooh, gross. And that sat with me. And I was thinking last night, when people are like, ooh, gross poop, right? Well, what is poop? Right? It's what your body don't want, right? It's waste. Right. So ooh gross poop, get it out of me. It's gross to come out of me. Or ooh gross poop is still inside. I'm like, ooh, gross, why is it still inside me? I don't want it in there.
SPEAKER_03Uh yeah, especially with the prevalence of colorectal cancer these days. If it stays in there, it's probably not gonna be good for you.
SPEAKER_01People are like, girls don't poop. Pooping's gross. I say constipation's gross.
SPEAKER_03Hold up, hold up, hold up. Girls don't poop. Don't don't, hey, don't break the I mean, that's not even cute anymore. Every single man felt what I just said because we grew up with that. Girls don't poop.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I would say, ooh, gross, it's still in your body. Let's get that out. Let's get that moving.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you want to make sure that that there's motility.
SPEAKER_01Anyway, sorry about that. Back to fat camps.
SPEAKER_03You all over the place.
SPEAKER_01I am. It's like I told you, Rolo got me up early. I've been up since like 4 45 um on a Saturday, which is just offensive to every single part of me. And then cortisol is just Yeah, I'm just like, I'm gonna crash hard. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_03Well, here we go. Back to fat camps. No, 2.2 pounds per day is extremely aggressive weight loss. So I think what the Chinese government has done is basically captured the essence of the biggest loser and put it into an offering for the general public. Right. If you guys remember, I mean, maybe you don't, I don't know if that stuff is still on TV, the show the biggest loser, where they would take all these morbidly obese people and they would put them in a competition with these two trainers, separate them into teams, and then they would basically judge them on who lost the most weight. And that person had a chance to win an inordinate amount of money, right? So it was like crash diet city, over exercise city. None of them were lifting weights. They were all just whooping their butts with these crazy boot camp style workouts and crazy restrictive diets for the amount of time that they were in there. So this is essentially this Chinese fat camp is that sold and marketed to their people.
SPEAKER_01And so the article of the woman who used on Instagram, I read her article, and she's originally from Australia, but she is traveling around Asia and decided to go to one of these as to lose some weight, but also as a little bit of um to do her piece. And one thing she mentioned that because in the US, question in the US, are we offended by the word fat camp? And do we automatically make an assumption that if we go to a fat camp, it'll be full full of ridicule and shame? That's a question. I think in the US we're more easily offended.
SPEAKER_03Isn't that movie heavyweights?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what there was a movie about fat camp. Like it's going to be.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, heavyweights. That's the movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the one where it's all these kids. Ben Stiller's like their trainer, and he's like this.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_03You know, the I know you. You know me. That is from that movie. Oh, God.
SPEAKER_01So is that from Dodgeball?
SPEAKER_03I don't know. But Ben Stiller was their trainer.
SPEAKER_01It's like, I know you, you know, you know that I know you.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. But Ben, he plays a similar character in this movie as well. He's like their trainer and he's just gnarly to them. Yeah. Pretty funny. So yes. But fat camp would be a full time.
SPEAKER_01I just would yes. In the US, we're like, oh, you know, body positivity. Uh, I feel like, and two things can be true. That being obese and overweight can be harmful health-wise. But you can, I know there's a lot of people who being overweight, they are overweight now and they've recovered from an eating disorder. So this is a better place for them than an extreme. But we can't blanket that scenario for everybody. Okay. It's just the same way. Like everybody who smokes is not going to get lung cancer, but we still tell people smoking's dangerous and to not smoke. Being overweight and obese may not cause you a health issue, but it also can have you can have very high risk of having a health issue related to that.
SPEAKER_03I think.
SPEAKER_01And so trying to improve somebody's body composition and a weight as a consequence of that is worth pursuing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I mean, being obese, overweight for chronically, right, for a prolonged period of time, it's going to lead to a health issue.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03The end. The end.
SPEAKER_01I was just following up with my surgical oncologist last week for my, you know, melanoma. And we were just talking, and he's like, I don't think we go off on rants when we on our appointments, because it's just like a quick follow-up, thank God. And then we just spend like 20 minutes talking. I'm like, he's gonna bill me for a 30-minute visit anyway. I'm gonna keep him in here for 30 minutes. So um he was saying, I said how I brought up how the body positivity movement has really harmed a lot of people. And he said, he does also um intraabdominal cancers and so ovarian cancer. He does a lot of ovarian cancer surgeries. And he's like, I cannot tell you how much I wish people knew that being obese and morbidly obese is an increased risk of cancers, specifically ovarian and breast.
SPEAKER_03I mean, it makes sense. It's like all these cytokines, inflammatory storms going on in your body. That too, but that's what I'm saying. But you have the inflammatory response of carrying excess body fat. Yeah. You have the stress of carrying all that excess weight on your frame, on your skeletal, you know, frame, and then the hormonal composition of it. It just makes sense that it would cause things like that.
SPEAKER_01So if you are offended by fat camps and us talking about this, then just realize facts don't have feelings. Check your feelings. The fact is being overweight and obese can cause metabolic health issues that lead to things like diabetes, hypertension, hybrid lipidemia, fatty liver disease, um what cancers, blood pressure issue. I said hypertension, um, osteoarthritis, mobility issues, dementia. And then those things can then cause kidney issues, and there's you know, consequences of consequences of consequences. Now China is doing something across the board to try to do their best to correct this. Now, a four to six-week camp isn't going to help the majority of people.
SPEAKER_03No, and it basically this thing supposedly costs anywhere from $600 to $1,000 a month, right? For a stay in this thing. But it's a big crash diet, right? They're just crashing them and over-exercising them. When you leave the fat camp, these people are probably didn't learn a single thing. The majority of the weight they lost is probably water weight and inflammation. Water, inflammation, and muscle, you know, because they because of the workouts. And like I said, the the workouts that they're showcasing, it's all spin, it's all boot camp style stuff. And it's the same thing with like the biggest loser, right? So it and 2.2 pounds uh per day. Jeez, man, if that ain't a crash diet, I don't know what is. That that's a crazy amount of weight to be losing.
SPEAKER_01Right. Um and the thing is, is that they the article that the woman posted is like this one woman didn't lose weight or gained a pound or something like that. She didn't go down, she either stayed neutral or gained. And they were, you know, did you snack? Did you but the thing about these camps is that, especially with women, as we've talked about numerous times, when you put them in a high stress environment, in like over-exercising, restricting food, they're away from their home. If they're not sleeping well, maybe they feel stressed in that environment or not supported, then they're gonna be inflamed. They may hold on to some extra water weight, weight won't budge, or maybe they plateau. And then that's not what they're expecting in the fat camp. And then they're gonna double down on them, which is then going to worsen it. Extrapolate that to somebody who's outside of the camp just in a caloric deficit by themselves. I was just having this conversation with my mother. When you do a severe caloric restriction and you over-exercise and you either start to gain weight or you can't budge, and then your solution is to double down and restrict calories further or increase volume of exercise more, you're not, you're not gonna see the results you want. It's you're doing too much. You need to peel back, you need to nourish your body, you need to train appropriately, which is what we're gonna talk about later, and sleep and manage stress. And those things aren't really talked about in they're not drastic enough.
SPEAKER_03They're not drastic enough. So people don't feel like they're gonna make the changes that they want to make because they're these things yield, they trickle, the results trickle in, and then eventually they stack up to a lot of momentum, right? Versus something drastic like this fat camp is doing, or the biggest loser for that matter, and what you just said is what they used to do in the biggest loser. If somebody was holding on to weight, they didn't, they expected them to lose 10 pounds in one week and they didn't, they're like, oh, you're messing, you know, they would kind of shame them on the show and then cut their stuff, check that they're not snacking. It was crazy. The biggest loser, like if y'all can go back and watch biggest loser, and here's another thing I'll bet you about the biggest loser, because none of the the contestants are really in the public eye anymore. I bet you they all gained their weight back. And then some, you know, and and maybe one or two might have kept it off in some ways.
SPEAKER_01I just don't want to be in the public eye because we were just, you and I are just having this conversation this morning. Like it's exhausting for people to comment on your body.
SPEAKER_03No doubt, no doubt.
SPEAKER_01But so maybe they have kept the weight off, but they're just tired of being known for what do you weigh?
SPEAKER_03There's a couple of them that they've like checked on them and they gained the weight. Well, that too. Yeah. Because I mean, it just listen, guys, it doesn't work. It doesn't, these crash diets, these extreme exercise measures, don't work, right? And the whole thing with these Chinese fat camps, first of all, let's talk about why they feel the Chinese government feels that they have to do these things. I'll commend them on being proactive because their obesity rates are skyrocketing.
SPEAKER_01And they're they're doing some other things too, especially in schools. They have, I can't remember what they call them now, um, like a three-year program where they really educate about nutrition and exercise at a young age. Because I have the stats for obesity for adults and children. I don't know if you do.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, uh, go for it. Because, like, so basically, Chinese, you know, China has experienced this crazy economic development since like the 80s. They went from like this agricultural type of thing, you know. Remember that they're an authoritarian nation too. They are a communist, authoritarian nation. Don't be fooled by their capitalistic tendencies. Um, it is a dictatorship. They went from this cultural kind of poor country, third world country to this crazy emerging economy that we know now with all these advancements and all this stuff. And then people started getting more um modern jobs and tech jobs and all this stuff. So sedentarism in Chinese cultures increased. No gone are the bicycles that you used to see in the old videos of China. Now people are in cars and they're working behind computers. And then, you know, fast food and ultra-processed fruit made its way into the Chinese market because now it's a big emerging economy that can afford our trash, literally our trash. So now they they want to buy it. And we talked about this in previous episodes, how we export this culture of like uh modernism and opulence, and and people think that eating our food is like a sign of like, oh, we're we made it too, because we're eating, you know, friggin' Pop Tarts and all this crazy American stuff.
SPEAKER_01KFC. Yeah, it all need to calm down. Oh my God.
SPEAKER_03How many KFCs did we see in Europe, y'all? I can't, I'm still I'm shocked that people still eat that. I'm like, it's to see that many abroad, I'm just like, whoa, people eat all this.
SPEAKER_01It's like the because they're all owned by the same thing. It's like KFC Taco Bell.
SPEAKER_03And Pizza Hut.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and Pizza Hut. It's all yep.
SPEAKER_03It is, but anyway, you know, they start eating our trashy fast food and stuff, and then now they have exponential increases in obesity. What are the numbers? Yeah, interesting how that works, right? You start eating more processed foods and obesity goes up.
SPEAKER_01They predict that by the year 2030, 65% of adults in China will be overweight and Or obese. 65%. So over half. And that's in six years.
SPEAKER_0365%. Four years. 60, yes, four years. So 65%?
SPEAKER_0165% of adults. Overweight or obese. But this is interesting. Their marker for obesity based off BMI starts at 28, where ours starts at 30.
SPEAKER_03This is also interesting. They're predicting that they'll be obese by 65% by 2030.
SPEAKER_01Overweight and obese.
SPEAKER_03Okay. We are 70% as of a few years ago, and we ain't acting like these people. They think it's it's an it's an emergency, right? They're starting all these initiatives now.
SPEAKER_01So exactly what Dan said, they think that this is increasing due to the 80s that began the Western fast food influence. So Western fast food influence, but also modern economy rapidly changed from what Dan said, more labor-intensive jobs to more sedentary jobs. And then the slowdown in economics recently has caused people to seek out more fast, cheap, easy food sources. Um and then with the children per UNICEF, and I'm gonna say Peking, P-E-K-I-N-G.
SPEAKER_03P-E-Peking.
SPEAKER_01Peking? Yeah, that's a place to try university. Um, China's rate of overweight and obese children has quadrupled since 2000. So in 26 years, it has quadrupled.
SPEAKER_03So what?
SPEAKER_01What's the you have um no? Well, here. Yeah. So US, so I was like, okay, that's a lot about China. How does it compare against US? Because we're America. We're we're America. How does that relate to us? So US adults, like Dan said, 70% of us are overweight or obese, where right now China is 50%.
SPEAKER_03That stat is old, by the way. The 70% overweight and obese adults here is an old stat. Now, parentheses here. That's that's maybe 2021, I think is is that that stat from parentheses. With the rise of GLPs, I guess now they're gonna put them in Medicaid and stuff. Some people might argue that this obesity uh numbers might go down, to which I say you might not be uh you might be right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so but obesity goes down, but let's keep an eye on what goes up.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly. That doesn't mean we're gonna be healthier. Let's keep that in mind.
SPEAKER_01So by 2030 projects in US, 75 to 80 percent of us will be overweight or obese, and 65% of them will be overweight or obese, like I started it out. Children, ages two to nineteen in the US, 36%. And this was this I found this weird because our stats are from like 2019 to 2023, and China's stats are 23 to 26.
SPEAKER_03So their stats are more recent, which Well, we're we're covering the sun with our thumb. We don't want to acknowledge how bad it is.
SPEAKER_01That, but also I just think that they do a better job at keeping tabs on their people.
SPEAKER_03Oh, they all they keep tabs on their people now. They keep they keep tabs on them jokers. Okay.
SPEAKER_01So in the US, 36% of our children are overweight or obese. So that's about a third, a little bit more than a third, which is consistent with what we've known.
SPEAKER_03What do you have it at? 36%. Oof. Last 20, uh 2019 it was 20%. Yeah. So now we're at 36. Good job, guys. Good job. Good job.
SPEAKER_01No, oh, so sorry, that wasn't overweight or obese. We said one in three children will be in pre-diabetic.
SPEAKER_03So a third. Good job, guys. We're doing great. We're doing great.
SPEAKER_01And then in China, um, 29%. So they're not too far behind us, about 7% behind us. So yeah. Um, anyway.
SPEAKER_03Oh they they see this as an emergency, right? They're like, okay, they're doing camps it is.
SPEAKER_01They're and then they're trying, and because they are a dictatorship, like Dan said, that they can do this, they're trying to set the tone in regards to employment and finding a partner like for marriage, that being overweight or obese is not not to be had. And now let's take a quick break. Have you heard about collagen and how amazing it is for your skin, hair, nails, digestion, and joints, but have no clue which one to choose. I've been there. A few years ago, I stumbled upon Bub's Naturals, and let me tell you, I've been hooked ever since. Here's why I swear by them. Bub's Naturals keeps their quality standards sky high from the start to finish. Their collagen blends perfectly in coffee or really any other beverage you love. Plus, they've got convenient to go packs so you can stay on track wherever life takes you. And it doesn't stop there. They'll donate 10% of all of their proceeds to charities that support veterans. How awesome is that? Oh, and they've leveled up their electrolytes too. The Mixed Berry, that's my absolute favorite. It's light, refreshing, and not overly sweet. What sealed the deal for me? Their electrolytes are NSF certified, made right here in the USA. And just like their collagen, every purchase helps give back. So do your body a favor, head to BubNaturals.com and use my code JANG20 at checkout for 20% off every time you order. Tired of looking like you lost a fight with a powdered donut every time you work out? Yeah, I was too. That's why I ditched the messy chalk and switched to chocolates. Chocolate is a new, clean, residue-free grip enhancer that goes on in seconds and lasts for hours. No clouds, no cleanup, just a rock solid grip. Whether you're crushing it in the gym, dominating on the pickleball court, or hanging on a rock face like Spider-Man, chocolates has your back. I even hit my 350-pound deadlift PR at SummerStrong using chocolates, locked in, zero slip, total confidence. Ready to level up your grip game, head over to chocolates.com and use code Jane Brown to snag 10% off your order.
SPEAKER_03So let's talk about this for a second. Asian cultures, if you think that we, you know, all body shaming and all this stuff, which by the way, going back to the body positivity thing, I think we're gonna put a fork in body positivity now that uh a lot of people have pointed out to this how the body positivity talk has died out now that it's GLPs for everyone, like Oprah said, um, body positivity all of a sudden doesn't matter, right? We're good. Hey, take this, boom, you're done with it. No more body positivity because you're gonna be skinny now. But anyway, um, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans are way harsher on being overweight than we are here. They really see that as shameful in a way, you know, and they really question character and stuff when people are overweight. Whereas there are other cultures, you know, if you look more like Middle Eastern type cultures, being overweight is seen as a sign of opulence, right?
SPEAKER_01So it is a little bit over there too, because that when I was looking at it, the rates of obesity in children, males are higher than females because the chubby baby boy is like a sign of like is preferred.
SPEAKER_03Where are you talking? In China?
SPEAKER_01In China, yeah. And the obesity rates are higher among the more affluent population in China as opposed to in the US, obesity rates are higher in the poorer communities per stats, which you can go either way with that. But um so prior to the Western influence of fast food, China had faced years of like famine, fam famine.
SPEAKER_03Famine.
SPEAKER_01Famine, yeah. And so it's almost like we see this a lot where people have had no food and this then they swing and almost like over consume or hoard food.
SPEAKER_03Especially with when when they bring in the ultra-process.
SPEAKER_01Yes, exactly. Because it's like we have so much stuff. Like when we talked about one of your co-workers when who was from Russia, who's like, you guys have so much food.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And if he he's coming from a place where his options were limited, and now you have so much, you can't blame anyone for being like, I want to try it all.
SPEAKER_03You know, he he he's about that life, he's about trying it all, but also he's been struggling with his with his body composition since he's been here. And he's not the only immigrant that I've spoken to that once they came here, they started struggling with weight, with health issues, and where they've been partaking uh liberally in our food.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I'm not saying like, oh, we should, you know, have food be scarce, you know.
SPEAKER_03No, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01I'm just saying we we should just be better educated because you know it's America, free will, right? That's what makes us um we have the right to choose. That's what makes us unique in America, right? However, is it is it I don't know, I don't know how to say this, but the powers that be in the US, is it truly we have the right to choose and the freedom to choose if we're not being told whole truths?
SPEAKER_03You're not being told how detrimental a lot of this easily accessible food is to you. One, people are acting like the only option we have to make food easily accessible is to make it ultra-process crap.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I don't buy that for one second. I don't believe you. I'd rather trust the Chinese buffet around the corner than trust the fact that you tell me like this is the only way to get food to all the people. Again, I always go back to we're putting rockets in the moon, we're building AI nonsense all over the place. We can't figure out how to get these farms to in here, you know, we're giving up farmland to AI data centers, but we can't figure out how to get people more access to actual food. I don't believe you, bro. So that's my whole thing. With that argument, it's like, oh, this is the only way to make sure everybody gets no, it's not. You're lying.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I like the way my friend Danielle says it, like, and I agree with her 100% on this. You know, everyone has a right, like you have your you have agency over your own body.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01Put put in your body what you want, but know what the consequences are. And that's where the problem comes in. Because if there's not informed consent, if full truths aren't given, and you're like, well, if I would have known that, I never would have started doing that or chose that.
SPEAKER_03And I think a lot of, I don't think anybody purposely chooses to eat themselves sick. I've said this before too. I I I don't think they know just how bad it is because they're not being told just how bad and detrimental this stuff is, right? So people will say, like, oh, it's not that bad. I'll just have it now and I won't have it. And then next thing you know, you're starting to have issues, but you're still not connecting that this stuff because nobody told you that this stuff was that bad. And it's getting worse by the moment. All the fast foods, all the processed garbage in the shelves at the stores, it's getting worse by the day. They're finding cheaper ingredients, they're finding more chemically altered, more genetically modified stuff to put in there. And they're it's getting worse, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I uh I can just thinking of what's something in the grocery store that you're just like, why is this even a thing? Like, why is this available? And the thing that comes to mind for me is the marshmallow whipped marshmallow for that. What is it, like marshmallow whip or mellow?
SPEAKER_03What's it called? Uh well, even freaking whipped cream is ridiculous. It's not that's there's no cream in there. There's no dairy.
SPEAKER_01But I'm just like, why do we need this? And some people may like, I love my peanut butter marshmallow puff sandwiches. And it's like, but it's not, it's like not real.
SPEAKER_03It's like fake, like, uh yeah, and I'm and I'm not we're not advocating for taking this stuff off the market, right? Hey, freedom. Well, uh some of the chemicals it just shouldn't exist. Yeah, no, no, no, no doubt. And some of the chemicals in these foods should not be allowed to enter human bodies because they're clearly toxic, right? And they're clearly detrimental. Some are known carcinogens. The manufacturing processes for some of these foods involve known carcinogens. We'll get that into that later. But it is what it is, right? It's like, hey, free market, you you want to sell poison, go ahead. But what I don't like is the idea of not telling people that it's poison and fooling people into think, oh, this ain't bad. Just count your calories, bro. Just make sure you eat the 100-calorie pack.
SPEAKER_01What are they putting warnings on now that they're supposed to put warnings on? Some food. Oh gosh, I can't remember that now.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Anyway.
SPEAKER_03I don't. Well, anyway, let's what I wanted to get into with this fat camp stuff is looking at the biggest loser, this methodology, how would we do a weight loss program, okay, using weight loss, even though we are body composition people, we're not weight loss people. How if we, if you called us to host the biggest loser, and not host, be trainers on the biggest loser, what would our team be doing to get them to lose weight? Because here's the thing these shows and these fat camps are not thinking about what comes after. You're gonna put these people into a system that is clearly unsustainable. And in doing so, you'll get this upfront short-term gain, right? But the long-term benefit, it's actually gonna be a long-term detriment because you're gonna put them in a position to where they're gonna quickly rebound, and then it's gonna be harder to re-lose the weight that they're gonna rebound on, right? So if you call us and be like, hey, you guys are gonna have a team on the biggest loser, let's do it. How do we what are we gonna do with these people?
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna need one year.
SPEAKER_03I'm gonna need a year. But well, but okay.
SPEAKER_00So longer time frame.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, longer time frame. But what are what are we putting in place day one and day two and day three? And it what's the foundation, right?
SPEAKER_00Not take them out of their natural environment. What's the purpose of that?
SPEAKER_03No, you uh sometimes you need them to like almost need detox them a little bit. So I'm okay with like taking people into a retreat. Detox at home. No, no, no, no. But I'm talking about like because you need to teach people how bad it is. So we're if we're gonna seclude them, we're gonna take them off and put them in a different place and be like, okay, you're you're stuck here now, you're in camp, ours is gonna be health camp, and these your opposing team is in fat camp, you know, it's like, what are we gonna do? I I think taking the 30-day eliminate the BS from your food approach and be like, let's say 30 days to eat home cooked, whole food, simple ingredient meals only. So we're talking fruits, we're talking vegetables, we're talking, you know, simple and complex carbs like potatoes. Janie, Janie will tell you about them, potatoes, you know, and meat, basmati rice and jasmine rice. We're eating plenty of meat of all sorts, red, fish, chicken, whatever meat you want, eat it, you know, and then learn about leaner cuts of meat versus fattier cuts of meat, you know, seasoning with simple stuff, all this stuff. So you're almost cleansing the palate, right? And you're readjusting to what actual food tastes like. That would be the first where I would start immediately. Because you you can, once you go back and you eat some ultra-processed crap, you're gonna be like, ooh, that don't taste right.
SPEAKER_01Now, I don't know if they did this on the the biggest loser or if they do this in the fat camps, but is there like a I would want a classroom component?
SPEAKER_03I don't think they have that. I think they just feed them the education's missing. It's do, do, do, do, do.
SPEAKER_01So it's more like, okay, we're gonna take out all the BS from your diet, but you're gonna be the one preparing your meals.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You're gonna be the one to figure out how to get this from the grocery store. That's why I said don't take them out of their environment. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03No, I mean you take it.
SPEAKER_01Because when you take them out of their environment and just give them everything and then be like, okay, go home and do it. How?
SPEAKER_03Ooh, you just made a good social political point there when you're handing everything out. Does it actually teach people?
SPEAKER_01But I understand what you're saying. Yes, take them away. And yeah, I can see that some benefit. But then there needs to be, okay, now how do we apply this into your home?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. No, no. So you you're right. You're absolutely right. So you're like, hey, we're gonna eat regular food, so simple ingredient, whole food-based diet. That's where I start right off the rip. For the time that you're here, that's all you're eating. But yes, teach them how to cook it, how to prepare it, how to pick it, where to get it from, how to put it together. Yes, because if you're, man, the people that we work with that don't cook or don't want to cook or don't know how to cook, their chances of success are drastically reduced. I don't know, and some frickin' whiz nutritionists saying, like, I can do it. I just you gotta count your calories harder, bro. Shut up. I don't know how to get you healthier if you're eating out all the freaking time, especially in the US. I'm sorry. Yeah, it doesn't happen. You need to eat more at home. You need to have more control over what you're cooking, your portions, what you're putting in it, all this stuff. So, yes, education, this is how you cook, this is how you source is a vital part of that.
SPEAKER_01We set somebody up for failure when we say, Don't eat this. And then they go to the grocery store and then on their own and they're like, So then what do I eat?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so we're teaching them how to navigate a grocery store.
SPEAKER_01Like, don't have margarine. All right, well, which butter's good? You know? And we get a lot of that in holy health, where it's like, okay, I hear not to do this, but then what do I do? You know? And so t teaching them how to do it. So that's why I said don't take them out of their home. It's not too much different than um we had we both had a friend who was in a toxic relationship. She's gotten out of that marriage, but remember, she was like, I just need to go on vacation. I just need to go on vacation. And when she went on vacation, her stress would be gone. She'd be like, Oh, I feel so good. And then she'd come back and everything would come back. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, there's a difference between escapism and how is this not escapism?
SPEAKER_01I can't lose weight unless I remove myself from my day-to-day.
SPEAKER_03Yes, the fat camp is escapism. Girl, come with me to this hypothetical situation. If we're doing the biggest loser.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03So we're we got them for 30 days, they're with us, they're out of the home. But you mentioned setting up the environment, right? You gotta learn to navigate the environment, how to live in the real world. In the real world, there's BS everywhere. You go to work in the office and they're bringing in pizza for lunch, or there's this donut stand there. You go to church and there's all the little snackaroonies over there.
SPEAKER_01Publix cookies.
SPEAKER_03You know, public cookies and Dunkin' Donuts, donuts, and all this stuff, and you're out there in the snack table instead of being listening to the words, son. You know, you're over there at the snack table. You're like, I can hear the pastor. No, no, no. Sit your butt down. So anyway.
SPEAKER_01I would do education and then I would do a transition period where we um, because if there's no limitations, we go home with them, not like stay in their home, but we facilitate them. Okay, we're gonna go grocery shopping with you to help you out. We're gonna talk about meal plan. We're gonna see what's your schedule look like. Do you have to take the kids to school? Do you have pets? Is your partner helping? Like what's all this.
SPEAKER_03So, how to adopt principles of health into and shape your environment so that it follows the principles. What we always talk about. These are the principles, they're non-negotiable. You just have to figure out how to apply them to yourself.
SPEAKER_01Because the way we meal prep is not gonna work for another couple who probably has two dogs, no kids, both work.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Even though all the things are the same, it's not like because just everyone's situation is different. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Agree. So, but I would start there. It's like, hey, listen, if we're here, you're on an island with me for this biggest loser show. It's like we're gonna learn how to eat real food, first and foremost, and you're gonna learn how to eat it, and you're gonna learn how to cook it, and you're gonna learn how to source it. Okay. And you will, so education right off the rip while you're doing a palate cleanse, if you will, from all the ultra-processed food. Second thing that I would invest in is weight training. Yes, sleep is obviously a part of this, but weights over excessive cardio. Okay, so we're gonna hey, we're gonna work with these freaking weights, and we're gonna learn how to train hard with resistance, right? How to exert yourself, how to push yourself, how to put on some muscle. We're gonna learn all about that. The boot camp style workouts, maybe you won't even see them. Because what the other thing that I would do is aerobic basework. That's it. That's the modalities we're picking. We're picking resistance training and we're picking aerobic base work. What does that mean? Increasing step count, less time sitting on your butt, 30 to 40 minutes of dedicated heart rate zone training at a very controlled pace that doesn't make you feel like you're dying, right? That can come later. That can come later when you've already built a little base. Then we can exert you a little bit more, right? Now this is starting there right off the rip is a terrible idea.
SPEAKER_01This gets tricky though, because literature will show that high intensity interval training is more successful for weight loss in the short term.
SPEAKER_03It is, but remember what we're doing.
SPEAKER_01I no, I know what we're doing, but I'm saying I I agree with you. I'm just saying this is where people, because they don't hear the in the short term part, they just say high intensity interval training is best for weight loss. So why am I not doing it right off the bat?
SPEAKER_03Yep. Now, if we lay out, you know, because you're Focusing, you said it in the short term. If we lay out the long term, the people that do better are the people that lift weights and do plenty of aerobic base work. And then you sprinkle, sprinkle in the HIIT training. Just yeah. When you're ready for it, when you're ready for it, on day one of being overweight and not having moved in years and not having done anything relatively intense in years, you are not ready for it. Right. So when you're ready for it, we'll bring in some intelligently designed H training, which would mean bike intervals, rower intervals, things like that, maybe some, you know, medicine ball work and things like that. You know, we're not gonna get into some crazy cross-fitty, high-roxy type of situation. We're not doing that because I want people that are gonna feel good about what they're doing. They can make things simple enough to where they can challenge themselves, but make things, here's this word that you've never heard before, sustainable.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So we have a friend that we met at Sorinick SummerStrong who we're gonna see next week. Um, Jenny. She's a strength coach. I think that's how I say her name. And um her partner is going to do a high rox comp in August or in the fall, right? And it's May. They're starting now. Guess what they're doing to get her prepared for it?
SPEAKER_03What? All the bass?
SPEAKER_01Getting her working on expanding her aerobic base. Yeah, that's where and she's starting now. I know some of y'all out there doing high rox comps, and you're like, it's in two weeks. I'm getting ready. Not good.
SPEAKER_03No. And and then here's the thing with the high rock stuff we always talk about. It's a season thing, right? So I'm gonna train for this race. So your volume might go up, your training might change a little bit, but remember that you don't want to live there, right? Because you're preparing to peak for this event. And then once you're done with it, you come back to something more normal, more sustainable. And then as you plan out your next one, then you'll be like, okay, this is how I'm gonna ramp up. So there's a whole periodization scheme there that we can get into. We'll say I'll save you on that. Just know I'm just saying that just because you're training for a high rocks doesn't mean you're doing high rocks every day.
SPEAKER_01There's this isn't just something we think. This is known amongst seasoned, well-educated strength coaches, personal trainers.
SPEAKER_03So those would be the approaches here, going back to it in our version of the biggest loser. Now, what would I expect to happen when you do a full-on cleanse of 30 days, meaning you cleanse out of all the ultra-processed stuff out and you just focused on eating? And we're not even counting calories or macros yet. We're just making sure you're getting enough real protein, making sure that you're eating real food, simple ingredient, whole food-based diet. Okay. We're making sure that you learn how to source and put these things together. If you don't know how to cook, you're gonna learn the day type thing. We're putting the weights in and we're putting the aerobic base work in, meaning steady state cardio that you'll actually, you know, you can listen to a little podcast while you're at it. You know what I'm saying? That sort of thing. Maybe watch a little movie, whatever, whatever you want. Start there. What's gonna happen? Once you leave the camp and you take these strategies with you, you'll be able to sustain that. So you'll be doing more work consistently. The other people that are over here crash dieting, like these Chinese fat camp people, you know, with the restrictive calories, like eating freaking 1200 calories a day type thing and doing four workouts a day, what do you think is gonna happen to them? They're gonna leave fat camp and they're gonna lay on their butts because they're tired.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And not to mention, in in a place like China, where the population is huge and the living um quarters are tend to be smaller. Do they have an oven at home or do they just have a hot plate? Do they have access to a gym or do they need to be working out at home? All these things need to be taken into consideration.
SPEAKER_03Here's one uh little thing to close this out on the Fat Camp thing. There was a 21-year-old China, she's uh, I think she was um Taiwanese. No, she was Chinese influencer. 21 years old, had a bunch of followers. Oh notice how I'm talking about her. She unalived. She unalived. She's 300, she was 344 pounds.
SPEAKER_01She tried to lose 100 kilos.
SPEAKER_03She tried to lose 100 kilos. So she wanted to lose basically almost 200 pounds in this over 200. 200 pounds at at one of these camps to motivate her followers, and she passed away. She passed away. Basically, it was too much, right? So, guys, just don't. Just don't. All these crashes I man, and people give in to this so much, you know, that it it's here's what it comes down to. If you are a hundred pounds overweight, like morbidly obese right now, you didn't get there. You didn't, you didn't go to bed one night and woke up a hundred pounds overweight.
SPEAKER_01You didn't get there in four to six weeks.
SPEAKER_03That took years. What makes you think that in you're gonna reverse that in months? It's gonna take a hot minute. Just know that as you implement these strategies, okay, and certain people can be more drastic than others. Some people just have to change one thing at a time. I've worked with people that can wake up the next day and they're like, boom, everything's changed. It's over. Know where you're at. Okay. Um, we don't want to put pressure on you to make drastic changes overnight. If there is one drastic change that I would recommend that everybody do, it's the food. It's the food. Kick all that BS out of your life, right? Yep. Get into the whole food thing. Get into the real food thing. Start there. Don't even worry about the macros. Don't even worry about the calories. Eat real food first. That would be the only drastic change that I would recommend, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But if if you start implementing these things, what matters is that you can keep doing the work for a long period of time. Okay? Open-endedly. Think, hey, this pace that I'm carrying right now, I could run 100 miles at this pace. Because you're gonna need to be able to do that. Right? So real food, weights, steady state cardio, that's where you start. Figure out how to implement that and then just stick to the plan. Don't worry about the crash diet stuff because all your people, let's say you get into this with a friend and the friend says, I'm gonna crash diet. They gonna be, they they gonna jump on your bandwagon when they see you winning and winning and winning and winning and winning. You know what I mean? So just take that for what it is. Hey, biggest loser, if you ever want to do another season, holler at us because we're gonna win the long-term battle. It'll be boring footage, I promise you. We're over here, people happy, like, hey, you eat your steak today? Yes, sir, I did. You went on your 30-minute walk? Yes, I did. You lifted them weights, yes, I did. Okay, go to sleep, baby. You're good to go. While the other camp is over there killing themselves and not losing a damn pound. Anyway, um, I wanted to point out something here. We'll say this, we'll table this second thing. Let's talk about working out since we're already on this topic. Let's talk about your current workout situation, your current workout um stress. Janie is going through changes.
SPEAKER_01You just highlighted me like that. Okay, so yeah, so I've been having to re-ramp my workouts because offensively so I'm not in my 20s or early 30s anymore, which is rude. And I used to be able to handle a lot of volume. I used to be able to handle a lot of stress on my body, and now my body just don't want to do that anymore. And also jujitsu. So I like jujitsu. I want to do jujitsu, but I can't handle the volume in the gym and the volume of jujitsu. So I have to find a balance, right? And I thought I found that balance a year ago. But your girl changing. And so that balance doesn't work anymore. And so I'm 41. So obviously, some hormonal changes happening. Um, I also had a miscarriage in January, and that also caused some hormonal changes. And so just coming back from all of that, so I did a little bit of bodybuilding with my friend.
SPEAKER_03Which I think you need, which was great.
SPEAKER_01And that that worked great. And I did it for a four to eight week cycle. I can't really remember. And it was just a great break that I needed. Um but then I'm like, okay, I missed kind of that explosive movements, right? And so I asked her to put some of that back in, and I said, and I want to do more of the high weight, low rep. Like, I really like that, like getting strong. I want to get strong again. Not that you're you can't get strong with bodybuilding, it's just different.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's very different.
SPEAKER_01And I think that's a good thing. You have a performance mindset. Yes.
SPEAKER_03You have a performance, there's a difference between bodybuilding and performance, right?
SPEAKER_01And so the problem is is that it was just too much volume because I can lift a lot of weight, and I'm not saying that to be like, look at me, but I'm just like, I can. I can lift a lot of weight. So my my volume needs to be lower.
SPEAKER_03Yep. So we're let's go through the rules of it. You have volume, meaning the amount of work that you do per session per set. So, you know, high volume set would be like a set of 12 to 15 reps versus a lower volume set, which, you know, six, fives, threes, whatever. So let's make that distinction. And then you look at your volume for the session. You know, this is five exercises of three sets each in a session versus seven, eight exercises of four sets each in a session. You see how the volume, and then it's three workouts over the week versus five to six workouts over the week and so forth, right?
SPEAKER_01So, what I was finding is that Monday, Tuesday, I'm fine. I'm great.
SPEAKER_03Because you're starting the week off. You came off rest days.
SPEAKER_01Wednesday and Thursday, I'm dying. I can't like, I'm like, I can't make it to jujitsu, or I'm like two rolls into jujitsu and I'm like, I'm spent the rest of them. So then I feel then this starts like this whole spiral in my mind because I'm like, I'm a bad training partner because I can't like give them a good role because I'm spent. Okay. Um, and plus I don't like feeling that way. I like feeling very strong and powerful, even you know, four or five rolls in. Um and then my sleep's a little bit, you know, disrupted. My then it throws my appetite off because I'm just so I'm like, okay, something's got to change because I'm obviously not recovering. And with my work schedule, I can't, I need to work out on certain days. So I need to be able to take advantage of the time that I have when I have it. And so what's what has that led to? That's led to me taking more rest days, rightfully so, but I'm not being as consistent as I once was or I want to be. And what we've talked about repeatedly on this show is consistency is key. So my lack of recovery is leading me to fall off on my consistency. So 10, 20 years ago, I just would have been like eff it and push through. My body's not letting me do that anymore. And so I need to figure out how to optimize it because how do I stay consistent in the gym and consistent in jujitsu jujitsu? All right, I need to pull back the volume on both and increase the intensity in both as appropriate.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So quality over quantity has to happen. So better quality jujitsu training sessions, but also better quality workouts. The way to have better quality workouts is to account for volume and things like that. Also, you need to be on a good program, but making sure that you're doing stuff that you can push hard, but you're not killing yourself to where your next workout sucks.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I'm very much the type of person, especially on days that I work, I'm like, I go to the gym, I just do what I'm told. Right. So I'm like, I'll just do it and I'll do it. And Dan called me out on it. Thank you, babe. Love you. Because he's like, girl, you spent two hours at the gym. And I'm like, I did. Because I'm moving slowly through it because I'm so spent. I'm still doing it, right? So in my mind, I'm like, I'm doing it all. So it's just taking me longer because I can't be as efficient.
SPEAKER_03Start there. Red flag number one, two hours in the gym. You know, if you're doing some crazy powerlifting program, yeah, but but that's your body saying you don't want to get active. Exactly. Yeah. So if you're doing some crazy powerlifting program, even the West Side guys wouldn't spend two hours. And these dudes could squat 800 pounds. You know, they're trying to squat a thousand. And even them, it's like Louis Simmons would judge it, be like, it took too long, you're out of shape, or you're doing something wrong because it took too long. Because they know when you start working out, you have this window of like optimal push. And then anything after that is a downward trend, right? He would rather 40, 50 an hour here, go home, rest, eat, recover, and then come back and do another little workout, he would call it, right? He'd rather see that than see you be there for two and a half hours. So first sign you're you're messing up. If your workouts are taking too long because you're kind of lollygagging, uh dragging your feet along, or you just have that much stuff to do where you, oh, I need to rest. Now you're you're messing up, right? It's too much in one sitting. Even these crazy Olympic weightlifting workouts and crazy powerlifting workouts, remember that these people are training for something different. These guys have to work up to really heavy weights. They're taking a lot of time in between sets because they're gonna lift some heavy, heavy.
SPEAKER_01And also they're like high-level elite performers.
SPEAKER_03Yep, yep, yep, yep. That's all they do is do this sport, right?
SPEAKER_01I'm just I'm just trying to get a workout in.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and that's nine, and that's 100% of the people that listen to the podcast. That's 99% of us. Um, we're not talking to some professional athlete, right? They have that kind of time, they have, they need that kind of thing, whatever. And even they would tell you that if the workouts take too long, it's a red flag, right?
SPEAKER_01The other thing, too, is that it's not just gym, gym performance. It's also um Rolo's getting old, right? And so he's becoming a little erratic with his bowel movements. So waking up in the middle of the night or like super early in the morning. So my sleep isn't as great as it as I want it to be. So that's also influencing my recovery. I can't change Rolo's bowel movements, but I can adjust my workouts to not be as demanding right now because I know that I'm not recovering as well, right? So it's taking that into account too.
SPEAKER_03Yep. So you adjust, you make adjustments, you don't abandon shit.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_03Now, here's the thing what I would suggest with people that are kind of going, you know, there's seasons to life, right? Janie's kind of crossing a bridge here because she's 41 now and it's she came from this high performance background where she was doing CrossFit six days a week, or she was doing strongman or whatever.
SPEAKER_01You, you know, and don't make it sound like I'm like going over a hill or something.
SPEAKER_03But but we kind of are. We kind of are. We kind of are, you know, it's different. And I and I went through this. I'm two years older, so I already navigated these waters, right? And I navigated the trying to do a lot of jujitsu at a competitive level and trying to do high volume workouts that I already navigated these waters almost 10 years ago, right? So it uh here's another one. I don't coach my wife. So she's having a realization, and then she asks me for advice. I'm like, okay, here we go. Here's what I learned 10 years ago, right? You know, so anyway, it um there's as you go on in life, you're gonna have to change stuff, right? The training methodology that you're using at 30 might not be the one you're using at 45. It might change. Principles remain the same. We want to get stronger, we want to maintain muscle mass, we want to, you know, train hard, meaning we were chasing things where we can put out high levels of effort. You know, what was a back squat with a straight bar back then now might be a belt squat or it might be a freaking single leg movement, like things change, but you figure out what you can safely work really hard at, and then you make that adjustment, right? And because you need the, you know, you need to push to keep getting stronger. Now, straight bar deadlifts from the floor might become rack pulls or trap bar deadlifts instead, that sort of thing. One thing that seems to be universal is volume considerations. As we age, you know, if you were a five to six workout a week person, that might not be sustainable as you start getting older. So what can't change is the challenge, right? It needs there needs to be a certain amount of strain, you need a certain amount of tension to continue to maintain your muscle mass, to put on muscle, and to continue to get stronger. So what we do is reduce the volume. You can't have high-intensity workouts, meaning heavy, you know, trying to push for strength or trying to push for high levels of conditioning and a high level of volume. These things are inverse, right? If the intensity is high, you drop the volume. Especially the stronger you get, the more you're gonna have to adjust your volume. Janie's pretty strong. So four sets of stuff, you know, it's not gonna work for you long term. I'm the same way. I've discovered I can lift heavy every single week and not take a D load, and I'm fine. The minute that I raise my volume, I'm sore, I'm beat up, that sort of thing. So, and not the heavyweights didn't do it. It was the high repetition stuff that do it that get me every time. So you're turning a corner where you're transitioning into a similar thing where your volume can't be that high. So, what do we do here? Take workout days away, you can, you know, five-day workout weeks in the gym, probably not. Three to four, three to four, three to four. I got really stupid strong over the past couple of years with three days a week. Like I pulled a 580 pound deadlift the other day because I was training some boys and they were lifting heavy, and I was like, you know what? Let me get in there. Cold. I pulled a 530 cold, and then I went, they went to 580 and I pulled that too cold.
SPEAKER_01Do not recommend you guys do that.
SPEAKER_03I do not recommend you do that. But the point was there. It's like, hey, the strength is up at 43, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So you should be able to do things like that, like stay really strong. But I got to that level of strength with very low volume, three days a week. So I I responded really well to that. Now, three to four days at most. Now, those workouts, if you're in the four day, it's not two hour workouts, we're talking about 45 minutes, 50 workouts. So it's like a little of workout, like really intelligently designed. When you look at workouts, if you're pretty strong and you start looking at four sets of stuff other than big lifts of low reps, like, okay, we're gonna do four sets of trap bar deadlifts. What we're looking for is one hard set. So people call this a working set. So when you see, oh, he only does one set, you know, people listing their workouts, that's a working set. They work up, they use the other three sets to work up to a really hard set. Once you do your really hard set, let's say, matter of fact, what I tell people that I program for, if I tell you to work up, you know, and I put five sets on the program and you hit your really hard set by set three or four, forget about the fifth set. You're done. You already got, you already met the intent, right? Same thing with accessory work. So let's say I you I program three sets of six to eight reps or eight to ten reps of, I don't know, dumbbell, you know, smaller movement type stuff, lunges, that sort of thing. One set, you go, hey, 75%. So it's kind of just you test in the waters, like, oh, it's kind of hard, but I could do it, no problem. All the reps look the same. Cool. Just a little hard breathing. Okay, go into the next set, you increase it. Give me like 85%, be like, okay, that won't put a little hair on my chest, but I'm not dead. And then the last set, that's the working set. You hit that hard. Okay, I'm trying to shoot for a PR, or I'm gonna go for this really challenging weight. I'm done with it. And I'm like, yo, that was crazy. You know, like where the reps start slowing down and you grind it out a little bit, you put it away. That's it. You're done. One hard set, okay? Not three crazy sets. Not, oh, I'm gonna do four sets of 12, super high volume because it's an accessory. You can do that with your arms, you can do that with small muscle movements like upper back work, face pulls, that sort of thing. But the other stuff, no. So you change it. So I was telling Janie, one hard set. If there's three sets, you're not doing three hard sets. You're doing work up, work up, one hard set.
SPEAKER_01Which was what I was doing.
SPEAKER_03Which is what you were doing.
SPEAKER_01What I was doing, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So things like that, that's where you start accounting with how much time you spend in that zone where you're trying to kill yourself, right? Things that might change, simplifying movements. Remember, the body's not gonna respond. It doesn't care what movement you do, it cares about what you elicit, right? So if you are doing a back squat and you're straining against really heavy weight, you'll get stronger. If you're doing a leg press and you're straining against really heavy weight, you'll get stronger. The body doesn't care what movement you do, it just cares that you elicit the strain, right? So changing the movements, but that meet the intent is crazy. Crucial. Yep. So if you come from somebody like Janie, where she, you know, she was snatching, she was cleaning, jerking, she was back squatting, deadlifting off the floor, all that stuff. And I was there too. But then we change it, be like, hey, we're hey, straight bar deadlifts off the floor. I'm gonna save those for Summer Strong. Yeah. I'm not gonna do them the rest of the year. I'm not pulling off the floor the rest of the year. So what do I do? I go to the trap bar. Boom. Trap bar feels better. Go crazy on the trap bar, you know, raise it, lower it, pull it from it, play around with it. But keep pushing there. You change it. Bench pressing with a straight bar. I don't do that. I'm out. I'm out on bench pressing with a straight bar. Now I pin press with a multi-grip bar. Shoulders feel awesome and I can push really hard and feel great after I do it, right? Things like that. Some people might be like, hey, I'm not doing as many free weights. I'm going to more machine-based stuff. Cool. Just work really hard with the machine-based stuff. You know, um athletic movement type stuff. Hey, I don't free sprint anymore. I do sled drags. Okay, cool. Things like that. So you change the movement to something that feels better, but you keep the intent. Right. So just a few things to consider there with working out.
SPEAKER_01What else do you think we could share here that people having intention for your ex for your workout, right? Because like I mentioned earlier, how I was like, I would just the days that I work, I'd be like, whatever, just tell me what to do, I'll do it. You dissociate from what are you trying to accomplish. And I'm not saying that you have to like make a big deal of you know what am I trying to achieve, but you should have a goal when you work out. And so what is my goal? Be stronger, you know, for the long term. So longevity, right? But I also want to be able to participate in my day-to-day, and I don't want my workouts to completely destroy me, which is what was happening. And my workouts weren't the hardest workouts I've done, right? So something was mismatched. And so um what I think that everyone should do, and I need to start doing this, is when I go into the gym, all right, get my mind right, let's get it to the gym, not use it purely as an escape. And what am I, what is my intention for this? What am I doing for this? Because when I don't do that and I just work out to work out, I'll find myself using the same weights. So I'm not progressing, right?
SPEAKER_03Now you're just yeah, now you're just doing volume basically.
SPEAKER_01And now I'm just I'm just doing movement, like what did what do they call that? You're don't mistake activity for achievement or something like that. Yeah, I'm like, I'm just doing activity.
SPEAKER_03And listen, you'll have days where you'll you're gonna push yourself through a workout that you didn't really want to do. But if you're having a lot of days where you're like, I just don't, I don't feel like doing this workout, like you're dragging yourself into the gym and it's taking you two hours. Yeah, then you're gonna do it.
SPEAKER_01And that's another thing too, is I love working out, love it. And I was finding where even on my days where I don't go into the office, I was like, do I want to go to the gym? Do I want to do this workout? I don't really want to work out, but I would still go. And because sometimes I still feel that way, but I'm there for five minutes. I'm like, oh no, my mind's right, I'm ready, right? But it wouldn't happen.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and and there I think there's seasons, I there's things that you have to do, right, to get your body right. Like I think, you know, there's move like lunging and things like that. Everybody should be able to do that, and it's good for you. Everybody should be lifting weights, et cetera, et cetera. There's movements that are good for you that you should always include in your exercise program, but the flavor of your exercise program might change through with the seasons. You know, like me, I think Janie should be more in a little bit of a bodybuilding phase when you're doing a lot of performance. Sometimes you develop weak points, right? Like people who spend too much time doing bilateral work, heavy squats, that sort of thing. And then they don't get on one leg, they don't lunge, they don't do Bulgarian split squats, they tend to have issues with their hips and their back because their hips are kind of locking up, even though they can squat a lot. Um people who, you know, do Olympic weightlifting that, you know, they might have like really strong legs and that sort of thing, and they might be mobile up top, but they might have like their little muscles, you know, biceps, triceps, that sort of thing, are might be unbalanced. Again, same thing. So you should be able to do, you should go through a season of bodybuilding and slowing down and just kind of building up the weak points and that sort of thing. Hey, you're banged up, you're older. Hey, let's switch it over to a more bodybuilding flavor. Should you always keep something athletic in there? Yes, you should always be at least doing some form of plyometric, some form of jumping, some form of throwing, even though your program is gonna have a bodybuilding flavor to it, right? And some people that have been bodybuilding a long time and doing only machine-based training, you need to get over here and get your lunges on. You need to get over here and get your free weights on, you know, and do that sort of thing so that you learn to move your body by itself and do some more performance-based stuff. The best programs are a mix of that evolved through all that. That evolved through all that through these principles. I'm not talking about doing some crazy ass CrossFit workout, though. I'm talking about, hey, you should have some sort of athletic performance-based metrics, you should have some sort of bodybuilding in there, and you should have some sort of big lift type thing that gets you stronger overall.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_03And it just changes when when we turn 50 and we come on here for episode number 300 or whatever of pharmaphobic, and we're telling you, like, hey, we are doing this other thing now, which like I would love to be able to sprint in my 50s. Yeah, that's that's coming. But anyway, let's close it out.
unknownYep.
SPEAKER_03Um, guys, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us. Janie, where can they reach out to us?
SPEAKER_01They can DM us at achieve the lifestyle on Instagram.
SPEAKER_03Best way, because they go down.
SPEAKER_01They can email us at info at achieve the lifestyle or visit our website at um achievethelifestyle.com.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, guys, if you need help with any of this stuff, we we do more than just talk smack on the internet. We uh we actually coach people, right? We're not influencers, we're not here to just talk smack and get in front of cameras. This is meant to be helpful, and we actually coach people. So you should reach out to us if you need some health coaching, some exercise coaching, some nutrition coaching. You need to get your blood work and your gut right, we're your people. Yep. Um with that in mind, I'm gonna close out. Till the next one. Don't jump into no drastic Chinese fat camps and stay pharma-free. Thanks for listening to the pharmaphobic podcast. If you found this conversation interesting, which I know you did, make sure to follow us on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. And also make sure to check us out on Instagram at Achieve the Lifestyle. And if you're interested in pursuing a stronger, healthier, more capable version of yourself, check out our website at achieve the lifestyle.com.
SPEAKER_01The pharmaphobic podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views expressed are those of the hosts and guests and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before making any medical or wellness decisions. While we discuss pharmaceutical, holistic, and alternative health topics, our content is not a substitute for professional medical guidance.