How Should Women Dress At The Gym (And Other Things Nobody Talks About)

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🎓 ABOUT THIS VIDEO 
How should women actually dress at the gym, and what does that have to do with femininity, hormones, or steroids? In this episode of The Opticast, Nathan and Aubrey dive into femininity and body image, genetics and physique, and how to actually read your blood work and hormone data instead of chasing single markers, plus birth control and estrogen's effect on training. They also break down gym etiquette and culture, rules and courtesies that apply to everyone in the gym, along with practical wardrobe strategies through bulking, cutting, and competition prep. Whether you're a seasoned athlete or just starting out, this episode covers what matters for women's health and training, and for anyone navigating the gym.

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🧠 TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Welcome to The Opticast: growth and finding your why
00:55 - Femininity, steroids, and historical stereotypes
05:06 - Body awareness, genetics, and physique perception
09:46 - Menstrual cycle effects, and reading blood markers in context
12:56 - Birth control, estrogen, and personalized hormone management
17:12 - How often to test, and interpreting your blood work
20:28 - Reverse T3, tissue health, and genetics in blood work
27:16 - Gym etiquette: weights, cleanliness, and shared space
30:47 - Gym culture, community, and choosing the right gym
38:15 - Steroids as amplifiers: genetics and responsible use
41:20 - Dressing through bulking, cutting, and competition
46:23 - Talking enhancement with your partner
52:00 - Long-term, responsible enhancement, and final thoughts

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome everyone to another episode of The Opticast, the only God or Dame podcast on human optimization on the entire fucking internet. My name is Nathan. I am your host, and this is Opri, who is our co-host, our client, our my assistant, our support team, our manager of so many things inside of the OptiLab. Literally, guys, she's doing so much. And thank you guys so much for all of the support and the love that I've been getting from you guys. Absolutely fucking mind-blowing. Honestly, guys, we just keep fucking growing. We just keep fucking growing. We just keep fucking pushing and doing what we do best, which is help people find the reason for their why, and then help them fucking get it. Because we're not here to fucking help you get a six pack. I don't give a shit about your goddamn six pack. I don't give a shit about your fucking body. I'm here to change your life. And if I can't change your life, I'm not fucking interested. So today, dude, some really cool shit. Uh we're gonna be talking about women and etiquette. Okay? That's what we're gonna be talking about today. Gym etiquette and then women specific questions. So not etiquette for women, okay? I'm not I'm not as pretentious here to sit here and tell you like what we're supposed to do and shit like that. I I don't believe in that anyway, uh, in any way, shape, or form. And I hope you tune in tomorrow on our podcast, on our on our episode tomorrow for the series, should you do steroids? Because I'm covering the decision from the perspective of a woman. And also from the perspective of guys that talk about women, and from the perspective of women that don't even realize that they have bought into the guys' views of what the fuck femininity even is. Because, you know, we were talking about this yesterday. We were we were uh eating some sushi, and uh there was this woman right in front of me that was fucking bricked out, dog, like jacked, like big fucking traps, like wide fucking back and all of this stuff. And uh I was I was uh I was saying, like, man, like this is like she looks really, really fucking good and stuff. And we were talking about like, I still think the other chick is like more attractive and stuff. And it was like because she's like stocky and like blocky and stuff. And I was like, just like you, you know? And she was like, Yeah, man, I'm just like becoming blocky and like kind of like a man Jim bro and stuff like that. And I was like, Yeah, bro, I'm gonna fucking turn it into a fucking men's physique guy here, you know what I'm saying? And there's a there's an assumption that you know, women, they're gonna lose their femininity with steroids and stuff like that. And uh let me tell you, femininity is not that, right? Like, there's so many expressions of feminine femininity is not a round face and a soft voice. Like, if that's your concept of femininity, like you're fucked. Because what happens when you're born with a voice that's a little bit thicker? Like there's nothing you can do, right? Like there's there, you need to have a more expansive understanding of what femininity is. Otherwise, you're going to be absolutely crushed the moment that you start drifting away from that. But drifting away from that, usually, especially when it comes to enhancement and stuff, it just means that you are drifting towards your authentic self, the person that you want to become. And you are creating a sort of cohesiveness between who you want to become and your outside shell. So your presentation becomes more of who you are internally. And uh, I truly believe that that's a beautiful thing. And I believe there's multiple expressions of that. So just to not to get super biblical here, but you know, we talk so much about Proverbs 31, about that woman and stuff like that. And let me just tell you, Proverbs 31 does not mean what people think it means. It literally doesn't mean that at all. In the same way that Ephesians 5, 21, 22 doesn't mean what people think it means, okay? But there's so many expressions of women that are fucking baddies in the Bible. Dude, we're talking about a fucking prostitute that helps, you know, the fucking people of the Bible. Like whenever they were uh getting inside of the, I believe it was the Canaanites, it was a fucking prostitute that helped them out, and she was considered to be one of the greatest women, right? That was an expression of femininity. That was an expression of someone that did something for the glory of God. Bitch was a hooker, okay? What about what about Deborah? You know, we have this understanding of like, oh, femininity is just like being submissive and all this. Shut the fuck up. That is some fucking it's a it's a fucking nostalgic understanding of a view that was never true until 1960s America. Like 1930s, 1920s, is we're in really starties, 1960s, 1970s when it starts crumbling down because we realize, like, oh, that's fucking retarded. Women can't vote, they can't own credit cards. Like, that doesn't make any fucking sense. What are they less capable than men? And the guys were like, yes, that is correct. They are less capable than men. And I don't think that's uh that's uh that's true in the slightest, right? Especially when it comes to enhancement, guys like to talk about women's enhancement journey as if it was their own. You know, not to get into conversation about abortion, but it's her fucking body. It literally is her choice. We're not discussing a baby, we're discussing her actual body. Like she can do whatever the fuck she wants with her body, and guys are like, no, unless you're gonna compete at a high level, you don't need drugs. You don't need this motherfucker. You don't need drugs. You don't need to even need to bodybuild. And you know what else you don't need to do? Talk about this shit. You don't need to talk about any of this shit. So please, for the love of God, let's have a better understanding of uh femininity. Has your understanding of femininity or your expression of femininity changed as you uh started bodybuilding and started understanding and seeing yourself through a different light? Because women are much more aware and in tune to their own bodies and the changes that happened, which makes them fucking amazing to coach. I love coaching women so fucking much because, dude, they just catch the trends like weeks before the guys do. They're so used to seeing the fluctuations and they're like, oh, my period is coming. Oh, this is happening. Somehow there's some women that's still like they've been having their periods for 40 fucking years and they're still like, I don't know what's happening. And I'm like, bitch, it's the same day of the month every single month. How do you still not know? But those are the exception. The rule is that women are much more aware. So has your awareness like brought you to some different places or like started understanding things from a different uh perspective here or something that you can drop off to our ladies or our girlies that are watching us here in uh in tune to uh hearing my masculine voice. So please drop some some sauce here for us.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

I think that personally, my I guess women compare themselves to women a lot. I hear I heard sometime about advertisement. I think it was in a marketing class in college or something, but women will even on like women's targeted products, they will put a woman there because they know that versus like a really hot guy because they know women are always comparing themselves to each other, so they'll like look at the advertisement. Um they're more likely to look at it. And so I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

I think that a lot of women's women in advertisement plays double duty. Double duty that attracts the guys always there's always a fucking guy who just thinks like, man, inside of him, just it's kind of the guy who falls in love with a stripper. He's like, There's a chance, there's a chance it's gonna bring me that woman, and he knows that inside. He doesn't know that in his head, but it's true.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Well, and I think because of that, you whatever is popular at the time is what you're gonna want to be, right? But I think what I've kind of learned through my bodybuilding journey as we built my physique in a way that is conducive to how my body is built. I've like really grown to love my shape and love the development that I've gotten, not because I just because I look different than I used to, but because I feel like it actually accentuates and highlights my body in such an elegant way. Even though I'm like bulkier than, you know, maybe the the bikini model type chick, you know, that's really popular right now. And or even the wellness.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

I do feel like muscularity is kind of like popular right now. No, it it is, but uh I mean, if you're gonna the average person that decimated the fucking pog population, dog rest in peace.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

The yeah, the average person, they want to be toned but not too bulky. I feel like that's still very much a thing. Maybe it's not because I'm not super into social media and stuff, but so many things going in my head right now. Don't say them, please. Not yet. So anyway, I've just grown to really appreciate my own shape, my own body, and I love that I can build it. I remember talking to somebody about my arms. I've always had big arms. Even when I had skinny legs, I had big arms, and it's just my genetics. And so I'm like, screw it, I'm just gonna make them even bigger. Like I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna make them even bigger.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

And uh That's how I felt about my cock. I was like, dude, let's just fucking make it even bigger than it is, bro. Let's just fucking pull that bitch down just fucking.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Speaking of femininity. Oh my gosh. Yeah, so I think that that's one thing. I think also I think not really caring as much about like, oh, my voice is changing, or I don't know. Just looking at, well, what do you w actually want? You can maintain your same voice that you had, but just remember the way that you looked back then, you know? Like, do you do you want to keep looking that way or do you want to change the way your body is and but some fucking guy's gonna be like, but that is achievable naturally.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

And I'm like, yeah, by the age you become like 47. Not for me, brother. Once you're 47, you're gonna look that way. But what if you want to look that way within a reasonable time frame to like look better next year or some shit like that? Shut the fuck up with this slow rap. Yeah, I'm not sure. It's always the guys who are running shit as well who say that. We're like, take your time, just be natural. And then this guy, the guy is usually like, I spent five years natural before enhancing. And I'm like, bro, you spent five years natural because you didn't know what the fuck you were doing, you didn't know where to buy steroids. That's the only reason you were natural. It wasn't because you were like, I have already decided to become enhanced, and I will be disciplined to spend five years in natural space to then hone in the fundamentals to then become exponentially better at enhancement. Like, no one fucking does that. People talk as if that was the case. That is so not true at all. You just happened to be natural for a really long period of time before coming enhanced. Don't bullshit me. Don't bullshit a bullshitter.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Yeah, I think, yeah. I think uh I've I lost my train of thought, but yep.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

That's fine.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

That's fine.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

And now you guys know she lost her train of thought. I know you guys were wondering, has she lost her train of thought? She has lost her train of thought. Yeah. Amazing. So let's start with uh with our question here from our clients. So, big, big, big fucking question with 17 questions underneath the same question, which is obviously how every woman talks. So uh, let's go. What what do we got going on here?

SPEAKER_01 10:06

How do different phases of my menstrual cycle affect strength, endurance, and recovery?

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Let's go part by part.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Okay, because that's But I gotta do the full Okay, do the full one. How do different phases of my menstrual cycle affect strength, endurance, and recovery? Can hormonal birth control affect my muscle growth, fat loss, or recovery time? Do you have female clients do blood work for hormone levels after each push phase to see if their estrogen levels have returned to their normal levels that you determine during client onboarding for them?

SPEAKER_00 10:34

I have no idea who asked this question questions, but let's start breaking this uh book apart, okay? So, how do different phases of the menstrual cycle affect strength, endurance, and recovery? Theoretically, it does affect you a lot, right? Because you uh your testosterone levels are gonna peak at a certain time, your estrogen levels, your progesterone levels, and they all have an impact on this. However, when you look at the actual research, there is no measurable difference whatsoever. Like you could be in the day of your period, it could be the day after, it could be the day before, the week before, the week after. It doesn't fucking matter. Strength doesn't fucking make a difference uh there. So when if you are someone who notices that your strength declines a lot and during a certain phase of your period, that is just data for you to know when you're either going to have to push a little bit harder and you have to be very conscious of that, or that you're gonna plan a delo for that. Problem is if you're gonna plan a deload every four weeks, you're kind of spending 50 fucking like you're spending how many? It's 52 weeks, you divide that by four. No, 12. You're spending 12 weeks out of the year, which is like two to three growth phases for a woman. You're spending that in a deload. Like that doesn't make any sense, in my opinion, just fucking push. And I have all of my women pushing, unless it's an actual case of like PMDD or something like that, which in that case, it's like, okay, like you actually have a condition that needs to be like accounted for. But if it's just your levels fluctuating, then you're good to go. And also, when you're dealing with like enhanced women, like we are able to manipulate all of your hormones. So we can like literally for the people that run more intricate protocols, which is not the case with Aubrey, she just runs a flat one. But for the people that run more intricate protocols, we have a support for the follicular phase, and we have a support for the actual menstrual cycle, we have a support for like every single phase. Why? Because the hormones are gonna be different. So to stabilize every single one of those phases, we just bring the hormones a little bit more to like a baseline where the person feels good. Because the purpose for that person is not like fertility, right? So we're not trying to just make sure the fertility is preserved, we're making sure that this person feels good. And that usually happens when women are approaching like menopause. Um, whenever women are approaching menopause, that's a great time to start enhancement because you're able to just take control of the environment during perimenopause and you don't go through all of those fucking crazy swings that you would experience otherwise. So that is that is pretty much the answer to this one. Now, can hormonal birth control affect my muscle growth, fat loss, and recovery time? Absolutely, right? Because hormonal birth control, what HBC is gonna do is it's gonna basically shut down your axis exactly in the same way that a steroid would. So a woman who is on hormonal birth control but she is afraid of hopping on enhancements, let me tell you, it's too late for you. You are already enhanced. Like you truly already have replaced your natural production of hormones for the purpose of twisting them in such a way that makes it unlikely for you to become pregnant. Enhancement is just twisting it in such a way that you will be unlikely to become pregnant, plus the bonus of you feeling good and actually looking better. So if you're gonna have any type of hormonal birth control, enhancement kind of is like the way to go. Now, do you have to do enhancement? No, but if you're gonna do it, please, for the love of God, do it with care because you could shut down things permanently, right? You could theoretically not be able to reverse your fertility, though, I think that is extremely overblown. And I think it only happens with people who clearly have absolutely no fucking clue what they're doing. Like they really, really have bad protocols and stuff. Now, is it gonna affect your your muscle growth? Okay, just like from a physiological standpoint, I don't want to spend too much time talking about this type of shit, but like your IGF one, right? Your growth hormone, your liver is going to convert GH into IGF one, right? It's gonna make that transition. That transition depends on estradiol, right? So, like, just like your liver health is going to dictate your levels of IGF 1, which are gonna influence your growth and your development, your estradiol is gonna influence that. So if you crush your estradiol, you're gonna have less IGF 1. Women already convert less IGF 1 than guys. So a woman taking two IUs, she's gonna get less IGF 1 conversion than a guy on two IUs. But if the woman also has a crushed estradiol, she's gonna convert even less. So it's gonna have a direct effect on muscle. It's gonna have a direct effect on fat loss, it's gonna have a direct effect on her recovery time. So just from estrogen alone, progesterone is a whole other mess here that's gonna be influencing that as well. So absolutely, it does influence that a lot, which is one of the reasons why usually when women come to me taking hormonal birth control, we have a sit-down conversation. We talk about like what hormonal birth control actually does because most women have never actually heard what it does. Like they're just taking, like most women, they don't even know the hormonal cycle. Like they don't understand their menses at all. Right? Like I remember when I started studying this and you started learning, it was like, shit, like I actually didn't know this stuff. Like it was your thing, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:17

We're not taught about it. We're taught like, oh, you're gonna get your period, and then whenever you have bad period cramps, they put you on the pill. Or once you need birth control, they're like, okay, here are the options. Pick which one you want. And then you're like, I guess I'll pick this one because I don't can't remember to take a pill. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Exactly, exactly. So the the for the pill specifically, it has so many problems like acne that comes with it and a bunch of other like mood issues and stuff, plus it can make you infertile as well. So, what we normally do is we usually just have you come off of the birth control with uh a lot of supplements and peptides to support the recovery of your axis. And then we're gonna go for the enhancement route if that's what you want to go, or just like TRT. Well, HRT for women, HRT for guys as well, if they're smart, but HRT as a whole, just covering every single one of our bases and then supporting fertility in addition to that, with things like our mywinositol or caspeptin or HCG or all of those things, right? So they're all raised to counteract that, but in general, people feel so much better with uh without birth control, like hormonal birth control. Like even like chylina, like a hormonal IUD, which is only supposed to have localized effects, it I see it going systemic in almost every fucking person. Literally, it has it, you see it in blood work, it's just like right in your fucking face. So I don't care that the science says that it's supposed to be local, it is really not local in all the people that I've that I've uh analyzed. So whenever they move to like a copper IUD, they usually feel better. They usually have less bloating, they usually lose weight and they they lose a lot of the water that they were holding as well. So like they look less inflamed in like one fucking week. So a lot of the issues that women are experiencing that they're trying to solve with a bunch of patch supplements and detox teas and whatever the fuck doesn't work usually is just your fucking birth control. So that's like one of the things that I like to do for people. Just like I like to get people off of like SSRIs and benzodiazepines and uh methamphetamines and amphetamines and things like that. So do you have female clients do blood work for hormone levels after each push to see if their estrogen levels have returned to their hormone level levels? Okay, so many implied things here. So, first, no, I don't have women do uh birth uh blood work after every single push. I find it extremely unnecessary. Like I just don't see the point of that. Like, I I it once I know how your body's gonna respond, I know how your body's gonna respond. Unless we have a different drug in place. Plus, with the protocols that we use at Optalab, like you are always going to regain her cycle. This bitch literally just texted me this week she's like halfway, a little bit over halfway on her push phase, just got her period, because that's how fucking effective we were at restoring her menstrual cycle and her fertility, like within like a four-week window. So it's super fucking effective. So I just don't see the reason. Now, if your coach doesn't know how to do that, or if you don't know how to do that, then I think that ordering these things like more frequently is a good idea. But you don't want to base it just off of estrogen. Like, get out of your head this whole idea of analyzing a blood marker, and if it's off the range or to their optimal levels, then you're good, right? Like, that's not how this works. So let me give you one example here. I got blood work done. My estradiol came back at nine, okay? My estradiol was crushed. Last time that my extradiol was this slow, I couldn't sleep. I couldn't fucking talk very, I couldn't via round light. I could, I was very sensitive to sounds. I literally spent more than like three days, like just fucking right awake. My anxiety was so high that I was on fucking benzos the whole fucking time, like all day long. And my restless legs, I had to also stack in GABA pentiness, some other medication, and all this type of shit. Right now, my astradal is at nine. How the fuck am I doing well? Like how I'm a little bit more irritable, like I'm a little bit more like emotionally disconnected from anything. Like shit just hits me and I'm like, yep, just it is what it is. Like, fuck this, fuck that. I don't have time for this shit. Just move on. Like, why? Because the context changed. The time of my life is different. The mindset that I'm approaching things with is different. But it's not just that, it's the other hormones as well. So when I look at things like my SHBG, my SHBG went up by two points, which means there's more free estradiol, which means the estradiol that was a seven on an SHBG of four, maybe it was just like, let's say three out of that seven that's really active. Right now on this nine, since it is higher, let's say that I have eight that is active out of the nine. So you have to read blood work as a conversation. You just literally look at a marker and you ask a question. Hey, where did this marker even come from? Like, where does reverse T3 come from? Right? How did they create it? Like, what is it even measuring? And it's like, oh, that's what is measuring. Okay, then I have a question to the antibodies. Okay, antibodies, can you answer this question for me? Oh, you can't? Let me ask iron. Can I ask iron? Okay, iron can. Let me check the CBC. Oh, I see some inflammation and stuff. Okay. Oh, but the ferritin is low. Oh, the ferritin is low. So there's non-systemic inflammation. The CRP is high, but the ferritin is low. But but ferritin literally is an acute phase like uh like marker, right? So it's gonna bump up your inflammation. So it didn't. So I need to ask another question. Like, what's the next question? If you don't know how to read blood work this way, you truly have no fucking idea how to read blood work. And you're like, you can join these fucking consultation calls with these guys that charge like $200 for a fucking like just review my blood work and shit like that. They're now looking at blood work in this way. It takes a lot of time. Whenever I'm teaching people to do blood work, whenever I'm teaching my students to do blood work, I literally teach them to sit with that shit for days. Like, literally just fucking sit, stare at it, ask questions, ask the person questions back. Just try to understand the context, the terrain and everything. If you can't do that for yourself, you're not gonna understand the context. So, like when you say, like, my like, do you check things against their estrogen levels? It's like you are assuming that they have one window in which they feel good. But there's so many things involved in how you're gonna feel good within that window that the window is truly meaningless on its own. Every single marker is entirely meaningless on its own. Look at the thyroid, right? We're talking about the the thyroid so much, but like T3, oh, your T3 levels are optimal? It's like 4.5 on the range? Good job. You know what that tells you? Fuck all. How much is it actually being like active in your tissues? How much is it being transported by MCT8 and MC10, lat one, lat two? What like what how what like what is actually like active in the cell? And once it's active in the cell, is it actually being kicked off? Like, because we know that PGC1 alpha is going to be kicked off without the adrenaline piece, but without the adrenaline piece, you can't really kick off the actual like thermogenic the metabolism side of things. So how do you know if that's actually playing a role? You don't, right? You need to, every single blood work is just a proxy, about as precise as a fucking waist measurement. You know, like you want to know what is exactly going on. It's just like the concept of like, oh, you're like, how do you help people maintain their optimal weight? It's like your weight's gonna fluctuate. There is no such thing as your optimal weight. Just like there's no such thing as an optimal waste measurement, right? So you have to understand that blood work needs to be a conversation. It's not a verdict. You don't receive your blood work and you're like, I know the answers. I literally got my blood work. You know, when I'm gonna have the answer to like what I'm gonna do. You probably in like a week or two. Is it because I'm stupid? Probably. But also it's because I'm analyzing like every single other blood work panel in their context. Why wasn't it elevated at that time? What changed here? I was like, ooh, my sinophils are higher. When exactly did we find mold in our house? But also, my sinophils also rise with pharmacology. So did it rise because of the drugs? Did it rise because of the mold? Mm-hmm. I need to ask a question. Huh? I could ask a question to my genetics. Is there an answer there? And then I find an answer to a different question as well. And I'm like, shit, right? Like I have a, you know, I have a fucking predisposition to uh, what is it that I was writing here? Yep, I have an uh an FTO gene, right? So it's I have an FTO gene and I have a TGF S7L2 gene as well, a variant there as well. So in this, like I'm predisposed genetically to have worse fucking insulin sensitivity. I literally have a predisposition to type 2 diabetes, homozygous, as a matter of fact, and no ALA variants to find to like keep me in check. That explains a lot of my blood work. But if I didn't have that, how the fuck would I know? I would just blame discipline. I would just blame, like, oh, I'm just being shitty with my diet or something like that. But at the same time, you look at my allel protein A, it's actually pretty fucking good. So that is a genetic marker. Is it really fucking good because T3 lowered it? Because nothing can really lower your lipoa. But T3 can. Is that causing some interference? You see the level of fucking detail that you have to be. That is what I do at consultations for people. That is why people pay me to look at their shit with a lot of attention to detail because I pay a lot of attention to the detail. What you can't do is just assume, like, oh, I figured out my test needs to be at this level, my estrogen needs to be this level, my progesterone needs to be. You don't fucking know that. There's no way that you fucking know that unless you have spent an obscene amount of time, not just with your own fucking blood work, but also with your own history, but also understanding the history of how these blood markers even came about, how they're measured, what are the things that throws them off and all of this type of stuff, right? Like there are so many variants here that I just find it a little bit uh I just want to push back on the question a little bit, right? Because it's not as simple as just measure the blood work, fix the blood work, and you fix the person. Nope. Why the fuck would there be so many people that have perfect blood work but feel like shit? Because tissue is what matters, tissue availability of the thing that you're looking at, not what is in the blood. And every marker is just a proxy. Every single marker is just a proxy. It's just giving you a hint, but it's giving you a hint within the context of how it was created, who the fuck created it? And what questions are were they trying to answer, right? Like, for instance, for reverse T3, how the fuck do you measure reverse T3? Dude, it's an inactive molecule. How are you gonna like measure something that is inactive? There's no reagent, right? Like, how are you gonna do that? It's fucking crazy, like how they figured out, but once we figured out, we basically understood they're like, oh shit. Through finding the marker, we understand that reverse T3 literally is not something that you can chase in any way, shape, or form. It is, in fact, just a marker of your conversion environment and uh the routes through which the deiodinization is happening, right? The removal of an iodine atom off of T4, whether it's shunting towards the active route with T3 or inactive route, that depends on several factors. Reverse T3 is just a readout of your context of those factors. It is not something that you chase. So if you try to fix the number, you are no better than a fucking doctor that just looks at you and is like, oh, your blood levels are like this, take a medication and now your blood levels are gonna be good. Do you feel better? No, you don't feel better. What did you accomplish? Fuck all. That is why I tell you that the purpose for us, for me at least, I don't know for other coaches, it normally isn't. But for me, I'm trying to give you a good life. I'm trying to give you a satisfaction, right? Aristotle over 24 fuck 23, 24 fucking hundred years ago, he knew that the good life is not the absence of pain, it is the presence of something virtuous that causes human flourishing, eudaimonia, right? So in the same way, having a good life and like feeling good and stuff, like that is not just not being sick on paper. Like, that is the floor of what we call optimization. You want to push for the ceiling, right? So that is the that's just a basic intro here on blood work. I literally recorded a two-hour lecture on uh blood work yesterday for some of my students, and uh, there's just so many misunderstandings when it comes to blood work, but there's also uh misunderstandings when it comes to women in the gym. You know, like guys will uh shit on women because they're like, oh, your leggings are showing everything and all this type of shit. And I was like, you don't have to look if you don't want to. And like you also shouldn't assume that just because she's showing that, that she wants to show that to you. Like, is it ridiculous that women are like wearing the most like obscene things and then they're like, how dare you look at me? Yeah, that's fucking retarded, right? I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna be fine with that. But at the same time, it's like, okay, she's doing RDLs. What the fuck do you want her to do? Wear like fucking baggy clothes in the summer? Really? Are you doing that? Because I ain't doing that shit. I'm not gonna do that. Fuck it. If I could, I would show up at the gym fucking naked without wearing shit, you know, because it's so fucking hot. You know, so um, when it comes to gym etiquette, I think there are a couple of things, and this is the transition, the second half of the episode here, where we're gonna talk about actual gym ethic uh ethics, right? The the the cultural side of bodybuilding, some some wife conversation, gym etiquette, some rants, and some uh awkward fucking wardrobe math for people who are cutting and stuff. So let's uh let's tackle the first question here.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

What are some gym etiquette rules that people seem to miss? Are there any that are more obscure?

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Yes, so one that people seem to miss, fucking putting your weights back. Just put your fucking weights back, dog. You clearly have the strength to put them in the machine, so you also have the strength to put them back. Now, are there some rules that are more obscure? Yeah, I think so at least. When you put the weights back, put them where they fucking belong. Don't put the 45er sitting in front of a fucking tenth, you know? Like, don't put a full fucking donut on the same quarters. Like, that doesn't make any fucking sense. So that pisses me off a lot. But you know what pisses me off most? This is not Jem Etikett, uh, I think, but I I've seen other people complain about it. When you wipe the machine, I don't want anyone to wipe the machine for me ever. It's it's it's soaking wet. It takes forever to fucking dry. I don't want to like have to dry the machine. So I literally have a towel that is the only purpose for that towel is not to like dry my face or sweat. The purpose of that is just to me wipe the fucking machine after people have quote unquote cleaned it. I don't want you to clean the machine. That shit pisses me off. So that is one of the gym etiquette things that I think it's in it's in place here. Another one that's pretty good, you don't own the gym. So if someone comes to you and they say, Hey, can I work in with you? Your answer should be always yes. Every single fucking time. You know? Like I've had people that I was like, hey, do you mind if I work in with you? They're like, I do. And I was just like, How many more sets you got? Oh, just 12. It's never 12, but it's always like two. But I do about like 12 minutes of phone use in between the sets. I'm also gonna be using three machines at the same time. That's another one, dog. Using multiple machines at once, do that if the gym is empty. If the gym is not empty, don't put your fucking water bottle in one place and then your towel in another place and your backpack in another place and keep rotating between these three. If you want to do a fucking circuit bullshit workout, go to Planet Fitness or somewhere that people don't give a shit about the workout ethics, you know, and the the order of the exercise and shit like that. But if you're in an actual gym, like, come on. I feel like that's uh that pisses me off. Another gym etiquette piece here has come to my attention. Uh, that uh, you know, whenever you are a personal trainer, it's pretty common that, you know, you're gonna rent the space for use of uh of the equipment and uh you're gonna be training people there. So you're literally using the gym with your client. Um, you're you're literally training them in that space. So you're renting the space out and you're paying a share of it to the person. Great. I've been approached by gym owners before who are like, hey, just FYI, if you're gonna get any clients who are part of this gym, you need to pay me like 50%. And my answer was like, basically, fuck you, excuse me? What do you mean? I'm not renting your space, I'm not training anyone at the gym. What the fuck am I doing? Just because I happen to stumble upon people? So the ethics, I think it also goes the other way. Provide a space where people want to be around. Don't provide a space to fucking take people's money out of their own pocket, out of their own fucking sweat. You didn't DM people, you didn't make an offer, you didn't do shit. You're just trying to outcompete people by enforcing a rule that just doesn't exist on any gym in the fucking planet. Also, I've been to bodybuilding gyms that they're like, hey, we don't, we don't cut it off, we don't talk about drugs. And I was like, you're the bodybuilding gym that doesn't talk about fuck you, man. Like that that is fucking ridiculous. So I think the ethics also goes both ways, you know? All these other gyms that are like you can't train barefoot because of our insurance. Motherfucker, I've read the insurance policy. I know that it's bullshit. I know it's just a fucking preference that you guys got. Like it's just nothing to do with like the actual gym. So I think there's uh several, several of these things that are in place when it comes to like the gym and stuff. Yeah. I don't think it's a problem to stare at people. You know, if I see someone that looks good, I fucking clock him the entire fucking time. I'm literally looking. It's a gym, bro. You're probably a bodybuilder. You just show up on stage on a fucking thong and just like flexing your glutes in front of everybody. If you have big delts, big traps, big arms, I'm gonna look. I don't care if you're a guy, woman, trans, grat fucking turtle, I don't give a shit. I'm gonna stare. If it looks nice, I'm just a kid. I'm just like, look, a fucking Down syndrome kid. Look at it. Why does it look that way? Like I'm just this way when it comes to like people who look fucking good. So I don't think that's a problem whatsoever. Does it make people uncomfortable? I don't know. I never asked. So I don't know. What do you think? What what are the what are some gym ethics stuff?

SPEAKER_01 31:57

I think you covered it. I think for me, putting stuff away where it actually lives is really important to me because I go and look in the places where stuff is supposed to live when I need a piece of equipment. Um, I also think not waiting in between your sets, like on your phone and getting lost. I know that it's easy to get lost. And so set a timer. Or don't go on Instagram while during your workout. Yeah, just don't you're probably gonna have better execution anyway.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

No, not better. There's research on this, literally.

SPEAKER_01 32:26

Okay, there's research on this, literally. Get off your phone and just stand there and stare into the rest of the gym or go talk to someone for a minute, or just you know, drink some water. So I would say those are my two big ones. And yeah, if you're gonna, I would say if you're in front of the mirror doing dumbbell weights, pick a spot.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

Yeah, dude, pick a spot. Pick a spot, don't stand right in front of the fucking thing, dog. No one wants like you don't look that good.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

Yeah, and grab your weights, go over to your spot and stay there and do your work, and don't just be taking up every single inch of the mirror.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

I actually don't like when people trade in front of the mirror. I think it's counterproductive. We talked about this when we were training at home, but uh, you need to develop, just like with posing, you can't be dependent on the fucking phone because a judge is not a phone. Like you can't be dependent on that. You need to actually learn to internalize the cues to be able to pose well. Same way with training, you need to develop proprioception is like internal perception of where your body is and where it lands that doesn't depend on a mirror, right? You need to be able to just like close your eyes and just like figure out exactly where to move and stuff without what it looks good. What looks good in a mirror have like fuck all to do with like how you're actually executing and whether you're stimulating the muscle or not, you know? Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

Yeah, those are my two big ones, I think. I actually like to I always wipe down the equipment and clean the equipment. I think that that's pretty standard at every chip. You're the only one because you don't like when it's you know.

SPEAKER_00 33:52

I don't like to sit in a wet bench.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

I mean, yeah, but I never my it's never whenever I show up, it's never really wet. And even if it is, it dries within like 15 seconds.

SPEAKER_00 34:04

Okay, number number one, I don't have the patience to wait 15 seconds. Number two, it does not dry within 15 seconds. It takes so long. I literally seen people that this they don't get one sheet of the little like wet thing to like wipe it out, they get like a bunch, and then you just like soak it. You can see it running.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

Okay, yeah, that's that's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00 34:24

That happened to me, and I was like, I literally told the guy I was like, oh, you don't have to. It's like, no, I insist. And I was like, you fucking insist. God damn it, I want to bunch up my fucking head through.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

One wet wipe, guys.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

Just yeah, just one wet wipe. Yeah. All right, next question. What are some aspects that make the gym good? Is it just the equipment, facility, staff, or other gym goers? Okay, so I think that uh community is severely underrated. I used to train from home and then I started training at commercial gyms that had no community, even bodybuilding gyms that have absolutely no fucking community here. Uh, and then when I went to a gym that actually had a community, like had people that talk and don't just like stare into the ground and pretend that they're better than everybody else. I fucking hate those people, just be kind. That had a great effect in my performance and how often I wanted to show up to the gym and give my best. And then, like, the people would just like see you when they're like fucking hyping you in the middle of a set, you're doing a crazy set, and they're all just watching you and shit like that. That shit pumps you up. So I find the community to be severely underrated. That would be the number one thing. The second thing that I would say is the equipment. A good equipment makes a big difference. I remember training at this gym that the equipment didn't fit my anatomy at all. So I had to go train chest at another gym in another city just because the machines were there, you know? Now I train at a gym that every machine fits my body. So I find that to be very, very important as well. You know, you're probably not as fucked as me, but in terms of like your anatomy, but I find that to be extremely important. You know, there's some machines, man. That fucking strive row, gosh, beautiful. The fucking the convergent body master inclined crossover press that we just got. Fuck, man, that shit lights up my teddy's. That shit is good. The uh, there's a lateral raise machine that I forgot the brand now, that literally you get the tension all the way from the fucking bottom, man. Incredible, incredible. You don't even need to use the lateral. I find that to be, man, it just pumps you up to like actually train really, really hard. And then there's a machine that like always nags you, always hurts you, always like annoying and shit. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do, you know. Like, I I I have some machines that I'm like, fuck me. Every time I see them, but they build my physique. So price of admission, so to speak, you know? When it comes to the facility, in my opinion, very subjective here, but in my opinion, uh dude, a gym that looks dope, that pumps me up. That really pumps me up. And I don't even make videos at the gym anymore. It's literally just for the vibe. I think the vibe really like has something to it. Just imagine if you went to a bodybuilding show that's in a fucking park with no like music or anything like that. You would understand the vibe really does mean something, you know? Uh so that's what I'm saying here, just in the gym context. What about the staff? Yeah, I think the staff really matters. Yeah. Like once I had this guy, this gym owner, literally show up to my face and just be like, cut it out. No talk about steroids, cut it out, cut it out. I was like, Well, fuck you. I would never respect you again in my life. You just don't talk to an adult like this. Uh so I think it's uh it's extremely important. But there's also like very, very kind people in several gyms. And I I think you shouldn't be um, this is just a note for everything in life, but like, you shouldn't just be led by like what other people are saying about the staff and stuff like that. Because I had other gyms that people were like, man, that guy fucked me up. Man, this guy just tried to do this, this guy did that, this guy did this, and they painted him as a fucking demon. And uh, but with me, I never saw anything. So if he just changed his ways and he's a good person now, I'm good. For some people, there's no such thing as repentance, there's no such thing as second turns or anything like that, which I'm like, I just wonder if in your life that was actually applied towards you. Because if it was, I'm fucking sorry, but it shouldn't be. Uh, people should have an opportunity to change and grow, right? So I just uh just don't take uh other people talking about other people, gyms, and stuff like that for what they are. Just go there and try it for yourself, you know? Because when when we're talking about steroids, it is true that for the majority of people, steroids are just amplifiers for the overwhelming, almost every single person, they're just an amplifier. You know what steroids did to me? Not that. Steroids just fucking just equalized everything for me. They literally were fundamental in like making me a sane human being. Like, that is not supposed to happen. They're not supposed to change it, but it did to me. Why? Because I fucking tried. And once I tried, I found that to be true. Don't be scared. You know, going back to the conversation of a woman, it was like, oh, women viralize, women do this. I was like, do you know what steroids they were taking? Do you know what doses they were taking? Do you know how long for they were taking? Do you know, like, oh, they're like, oh, my clit grew so much. I'm like, how big was they clit before that? Like, oh, I had so much acne. Did they have acne before? Have you checked their genetics or do they have a predisposition to that? Like, how is their diet? Like, you don't know so many things. So just don't assume that because something happened to other people, it's gonna happen to you as well, you know?

SPEAKER_01 38:58

Yeah, I would say that I think what makes a good gym is a couple things. One, intentionality. So, like if they are trying to cater towards a certain group, yeah, everything about that gym caters to that group. So um, you know, our gym has excellent equipment, and that's like a big staple piece of what they say they offer.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

And the vibe is pretty good, the community is pretty good, the staff is friendly, you know.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

And they also have stuff for recovery. So they have a lot of helpful things for recovery. Um, they've got, you know, a kitchen for you to use for your meals. I mean, it really is for the bodybuilder. And so you can go, and there is a buddy of ours that was gonna be there all day for an event, and he's like, you know, I got everything I need here. I can I can hang out comfortably all day. Yeah. Um, and so intentionality. And then another thing is a gym that listens to the people that go there. So if if we were to say, you know, hey, this equipment is broken, or this, you know, we really want to see XYZ happen, or can we start having extra, you know, an extra stand of wet wipes or whatever, you know, it would show up. Yeah, you know. So I think a gym that listens to the people that actually go and listens to feedback is gonna be really high on my maintenance and cleanness is also super important. Yeah. I think that it I think that has to do with like having it be comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

So there's a lot of some people don't like that dope, honestly. Some people are like, I like the grimy fucking old basement type of Dorian Yates gym with no AC. If that's you, bro, that's awesome. I've it's it's not my vibe. Yeah, it's not my thing.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

It's not really my thing either. I I want to be comfortable when I go to the gym. You know, I want it to be clean, I want stuff to be where it needs to be. Yeah, I wanna be able to kind of relax and focus on my the only thing that should be uncomfortable is the actual set.

SPEAKER_00 40:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

I agree.

SPEAKER_00 40:57

There's no reason for anything else to be uncomfortable, you know. If it helps you get in the mental space to like be able to push yourself, fucking great dude that. But I do find it interesting that sometimes there's an overlap, you know, in the Venn diagram of the people who train at these types of gyms and the people who say things like, you shouldn't need a pre-workout to train, you shouldn't need music to train hard. And I'm like, it yeah, for you, your pre-workout is your environment, bro.

SPEAKER_01 41:21

Brother, you should have just become a Marine. Like, yes. Go into the military for a little while, it'll scratch that itch and then come find us once you're ready to be more leveled out. Okay, next question. How do you pick and size your clothes when you go through cuts or bulk phases? Right now, I have to toss almost my whole wardrobe, but I want to buy clothes that I know will not be too small when uh for when I bulk, for example.

SPEAKER_00 41:49

Yeah, so I remember who asked me this question. This is funny. Uh, he actually changed so fucking much that it's fucking crazy. Yeah, dude, it's insane. But uh dude, uh I just have two wardrobes. That's it. So I just have certain clothes that I wear whenever I'm slimmer and clothes that I wear whenever I'm bigger. And in the clothes that I wear whenever I'm like growing and stuff, they're oversized. You know, like this shirt, this shirt is gonna last me for like, I don't know, like a couple of years. Hopefully not. That's what we're trying to do, right? But we uh Next year we'll have to give it away. That would be awesome, right? But I will still keep it. I wouldn't give it away because I'm gonna like fucking go through a fat loss phase eventually that's gonna be digging pretty hard. And I don't wanna be walking around like a fucking gas station little guy just flabbing around with my clothes just floating everywhere. I just want to have clothes that actually fit my body, you know?

SPEAKER_01 42:36

Yeah, and I think that you're not gonna people buy clothing frequently. So I guess if you're someone that like buying a few years, we never buy shit for 10 years.

SPEAKER_00 42:44

We never buy shit, period.

SPEAKER_01 42:46

Yeah, I don't buy, yeah, I don't buy clothes frequently, and I think that my body has not changed fast enough for me to need to go buy new clothing. I mean, maybe some very specific things, like some very specific dresses, like I can't wear during a bulk versus a but like my normal day-to-day clothing, my body's not changing that rapidly. And if I was getting that big, I mean, good grief. I'm not gonna get any smaller. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like I'm not gonna I don't know what's gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 43:16

That's another thing. It's like, do you really need to buy clothes? Yeah, like are you really getting that big? Buy some gym, like I've had to buy some new gym clothes, like my my sports bras and stuff, anything that goes around my Yeah, you put on 30 pounds of like actual fucking tissue because you actually like grew over the course of like three years into this, you know?

SPEAKER_01 43:37

Yeah, so like your back growing, okay, like I gotta get rid of my clothing that goes around my rib cage or just stop wearing it. Yeah. And so that's a thing. But I'm not gonna during a cut, like I'm not gonna go have a different type of workout clothing that I'm gonna wear versus when I'm bulking. Yeah. I don't think the body changes are that drastic for me anyway.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

There are certain clothes that I don't wear when I'm cutting.

SPEAKER_01 44:03

Like what?

SPEAKER_00 44:04

Like just your bigger bag? No, like my cutout shirts and shit. I don't like to wear them when I'm cutting. Because you don't like the way they look? Because I I just I feel like I just look small. Okay. I look ripped, but I look small.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

Yeah, that's fair.

SPEAKER_00 44:19

But I never I never get compliments like, dude, you look like a freak. So always the company was like, what the fuck? Are you prepping for a show? And I was like, no, I'm just 15% body fat, but these body fat these areas that you're looking at look pretty like clean. Yeah. Just genetics.

SPEAKER_01 44:34

So don't buy buy like two different two more things. If something's super uncomfortable, buy two items of that type of clothing. Fuck that. This is America.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

Spend five grand in clothes every three months, bro.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

So much.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

America. Capitalism.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

Honestly, keep your old clothes that look kind of crappy. And as your body changes and you start to look better, that's what I noticed. I kept my same stupid gym clothes that I had been wearing since I was like, whatever, 20 years old. And once my body started looking so much better in those crappy clothes, I was like, oh my gosh, changes are really happening. Yeah. Because you can go, girls can go and buy those like those booty sculpting shorts. But I'm like, how are you gonna see your progress? If like as soon as you start to change, you go buy these things that are supposed to enhance the way your butt looks. You need to wear the old flat buttons leggings so that when your butt actually grows, you can see the difference.

SPEAKER_00 45:31

Yeah, I like that. The only thing that I haven't hacked yet is uh fucking suits.

SPEAKER_01 45:36

Oh yeah, that's expensive.

SPEAKER_00 45:37

Yeah, because no, I mean I've I've heard people people are like, oh, this brand is pretty good for suits for guys that are bigger and everything, especially like in the legs and the glutes and stuff like that. And I was like, cool, but I want to drop 700 bucks on this bitch. But that's how much people spend on suits. Yeah, but that's not how much Nathan spends on suits. When are you gonna wear a suit? Nathan and weddings. I haven't worn a suit in weddings. I just show up with a shirt that's literally half open because it can't close, because I refuse to go to a store to try on clothes because it's so frustrating because they all look like shit on me. So yeah, I just uh I haven't hacked that part of me yet. But I will go, I won't go to the store here, but I'll go all the way to fucking South America and find someone that will tailor me some clothes uh for me to wear. So I'll do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:22

That's a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 46:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:23

Yeah, just don't buy blood work, uh blood work panel and instead buy a suit. Same price. Why not both? Both. Could be. All right, next question How did you approach your wife about training? Do you have do you have to ease her in? Did you have to ease her in?

SPEAKER_00 46:42

Did you have to ease her into it? Holy shit, you read it three times differently. It didn't match the actual thing. I'm like, and that kids is how textual variants come about. So if you were having this question, you were last night wondering, huh? I wonder my why P45, well, not P45, uh uh P54, P52 look so different, right? P52 is our earliest manuscript that we have of the of the New Testament. And like, why does it look so different in the text compared to like uh some of the other manuscripts, right? Some of our codexes and stuff like that. So you were wondering, this is exactly what happens. You read it, you think that's what it is, you just say it out loud, you write it, and it's not the actual thing.

SPEAKER_01 47:16

And let me tell you, if you were wondering what Nated's special interest is, other than this bodybuilding and blood work and that kind of stuff, yeah, there you are.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

Uh man, textual criticism is fucking dope. I'm telling you, there is no way for me to explain this to you guys, but I have spent like I I've had projects that I worked on before. I worked for the Münster Institute and uh as a volunteer uh with a project called the Greek Paul Project, like transcribing manuscripts for the uh actual like scholars to then put together the text of the Greek Bible that then becomes the English Bible, right? So very, very like foundational stuff, but you spend time with these crazy manuscripts. And like I remember just like staring at it and just being like, why the fuck is there a dot here? And then just like opening papers and like books that monographs that have literally been written about like trying to explain the significance of the dot whenever it's here, whenever it's there. Like, what could the scribe have been doing? Could it be that that he was conversing with someone and it's just switched and the ink just dropped? There's like so many theories and stuff. Fuck, that shit is nice. God, that is so fucking cool. But there's no way that I can make this sound interesting in the slightest. Like the interesting ones are always the versions that are like super significant of variants in between texts, and those are the ones that people don't want to talk about because it's kind of like saying, like, hey, uh, once you understand that, you understand that like the Gospel of Mark literally ends and Jesus doesn't come back from the dead. Like, pretty important variants there, right? Like, that's uh that's one that's pretty fucking interesting. Or the ones where they change uh Junia, the the apostle, the female apostle, the only female apostle that we have, and they change her name to Junia as a guy, right? Because of how like fucking like in that system of like you couldn't have a woman that would be an apostle. So therefore there isn't one, right? Because there couldn't be one, because they're all guys by definition, you know? And it's like how that affects it, those are fun, but those are also conversations that I feel like my religious people who are listening to this, they're already getting a little bit uncomfortable. So I try to not bring it up.

SPEAKER_01 49:09

So let's move on and talk about your wife. Yeah, so let's talk about my wife. How did I go to the gym?

SPEAKER_00 49:14

Yeah, so he he was uh he he this question wasn't about like uh actually like trying to get your wife to train. Uh, this was quite this was a question about like you starting your own training life and then like having conversations with your spouse about your your change in priorities and your schedule and stuff like that. So that was the that was the concept of this one. I remember because we had a conversation about this. So for me, it wasn't just it wasn't really the training because like I kind of just obligated her to do shit with me. Like we were just like, I would just, you know, bully her until she started going for walks uh all the way to the gym to train at fucking like 5 a.m. with me when we were in college still. So yeah, and it led to uh us being here today. So uh it worked. But I I I wasn't a very wise person, I was just uh extremely focused in my studies, which is completely different than where I am today. I am super wise and I don't study at all. So literally described so mature. So no, I didn't I didn't ease her into it, but she also was very she was very like active and stuff. And I always told her that her body looked good and she like already had an edge. Like she already had like shoulders and chest muscles, dog, as someone who is natural and arms.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

From the push-up challenge, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:28

She was doing a hundred push-ups a day, you know?

SPEAKER_01 50:30

No, it was it was one January one was one push-up, and then every day of the year you added a push-up, and I got to where I could do 42 like really good military grade push-ups. So proud. And then I c cut my back open and had surgery.

SPEAKER_00 50:44

Do you guys know what military grade means?

SPEAKER_01 50:46

No, I don't know, but it's the one where you go like almost all the way to the ground. Like they weren't girly push-ups. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:51

Military grade is not a measurement of quality. People use it as if it was a measurement of quality, but it's a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 50:56

I thought that there was a specific form they had to use.

SPEAKER_00 50:58

Yeah, there well, there are forms because you can only purchase from some specific companies that have certain specific like authorizations and stuff, but it's not a measurement of the quality. Actually, military grade is like the bare minimum that gets the job done.

SPEAKER_01 51:10

No, I meant the form of the push-up.

SPEAKER_00 51:12

The form of the push-up? That's what you meant by military grade? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 51:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:16

Oh, I was just talking about something different. I wasn't even talking about what you were talking about. I was just like taking this moment to educate people on what military grade actually means. Because that is a pet peeve of mine. That's not what it means. Also, the saying, you can't have your cake and eat it too. You absolutely can. You purchase it, then you have it, and then you eat it. So therefore, you can. The true saying is you can't eat your cake and then have it too, because you ate it, okay? So then it disappeared.

SPEAKER_01 51:39

But, anyways, you guys, the thumbnail, the the the timestamps for this video are gonna be absolutely insane.

SPEAKER_00 51:46

Oh no, you guys need to listen to the podcast that I did with Dre lifts. Dre dog, I taught him Hebrew on camera. Yep. In Hebrew without translating at all. I mean, he learned it, he spoke Hebrew for the first time. I first I first taught him Portuguese, but he was like, he already knew Spanish, so I was like, okay, let's just do something hard. But in any case, so but I did have to ease Aubrey into the enhancement side of things. So for that, it worked because I was also easing into it. So I wasn't coming into enhancement again as an adult now from the perspective of let's fucking bodybuild, right? I was coming from the perspective of like, I'm just gonna fix my hormones just like I fixed for so many people. Because for the longest time, I never had the insight. Let me just do this shit myself here. So I just did it. So that's how I approach enhancement. So the conversation was like, hey, just FYI, I'm starting TRT tomorrow. Why? Because true fucking men and real human beings that have a spine or fucking backbone don't ask their wives for authorization. And same thing for women. You don't ask your husband for authorization on things like your fucking health. That is insane. That is such a dude, it's such a turnoff, it makes my dick internalize, fucking desensitizes, dude. Fuck your fucking nicotine pouch.

SPEAKER_01 53:06

Did you swallow it? No, but I got a massive chunk of nicotine in my throat. Woo!

SPEAKER_00 53:11

If I had swallowed that shit, dude.

SPEAKER_01 53:13

Yeah, and if you're especially when when women are sick, when they've literally, they can't even remember what good feels like because of how long they've been sick, and then they get to the point of okay, you have a real solution, and they're like, okay, well, I just have to like talk to my husband and like make sure. I'm like, what is he gonna say? He's gonna say, No, I want you to continue to suffer, or I want you to go try another band-aid fix that may or may not work.

SPEAKER_00 53:39

I had a woman that we talked, and her husband told her that uh, you know, maybe maybe this can't be fixed. Maybe this is just the way that it is. And I was like, wow, you're an electrician and you know about this? Wow, that's pretty cool, man. That's awesome. You are so knowledgeable, very smart. Uh but yeah, like I didn't I didn't ask. Now, when it came to like actually doing drugs, like doing steroids and shit, I also didn't go full bore. Like, if you look at my sheets, because I tracked everything from the first TRT injection that I've ever done. I tracked every single week and I did blood work so fucking consistently. I literally started TRT with 60 milligrams a week, and then I just very, very slowly titrated it up. And once I got to my cap or like I feel really good, and I was like, dude, I feel so good. My my my life started falling into alignment and my thinking became clearer and things like that. And that's when I realized I was like, dude, I always wanted to do bodybuilding. I'm at a place in my life where I can't afford to do bodybuilding. I have the time to do bodybuilding, and I have some time. Like I have, I can really do this for 10 to 15 years if I play my cards right and I'm not so focused on the here and the now, right? I'm focused on the long term. I can do this for like 10 to 15 years, and then after that, I still have my whole fucking life ahead of me to just live life and do whatever the fuck outside of bodybuilding. So I was, I decided like I'm gonna do this shit seriously. That's our approach, her. So it wasn't from the point of like the fucking retard at the gym who's like, hey, I'm uh I'm gonna do a cycle of DECA. And you're like, what? Are you doing steroids? Like, yeah, like, like you're just retarded. So I don't know how you can talk to your wife, like, because I just don't understand how you can talk normally. Uh, but uh for the people who are going into this with a little bit more uh maturity and clarity on what they're trying to get out of this experience. And if you are considering steroids and you are needing some clarity on the decision process, on what are the things that you need to consider, you need to go on my channel on the playlist and click should you do gear? Should you do steroids? Whatever the fuck the playlist is named, and actually just watch all of the videos because I'm walking you through so many different questions and angles to consider, not just the fucking, oh, you're gonna have to do blood work, you're gonna have to do supplements, you're gonna have to take medications, uh, uh, it shortens your lifetime. Like every fucking person knows that. I'm talking about the real shit that matters, how people are gonna see you, how your interactions with yourself are going to change, how your perception of the world is going to be affected by a fucking needle. That is the real stuff that matters. So we're going to level significantly deeper, and this series comes straight out of the book that I wrote on enhancement. It was a steroid guide, right? The only steroid guide of its kind. And I wrote it for my clients specifically, and I made this available for every single one of you so you guys can make better decisions for yourself. I'm not saying enhancement is good, I'm not saying enhancement is bad in that series. I'm saying what it is, what will happen, and what I have seen happen with countless people in front of me and in forums and everywhere on the internet, and how my read is of the whole process and the cultural milieu that we live in steroid use. So uh just something for you to consider. So, but yeah, I don't, I I think if you're gonna approach your spouse, just come in with that maturity and that mindset and uh the the very clarity and like what you want and what you want, don't want out of this, it's very, very good. Be aware that sometimes things go in opposite directions, you know. Like I've had uh uh I've had several people that experience this, but your the fact that like if your spouse doesn't do this as well, odds are they're gonna develop some feelings about you uh that are not gonna be good because now all eyes are on you. Now you don't look as good as the as her or as him, and that like affects your confidence and your like uh your your sense of self. So some people are then pushed to join the journey, some people were pushed to sabotage the other person's journey. Literally, there are spouses out there putting fucking oil in their guys' foods just to fucking not make them like make them not get progress, which is insane. Literally had to happen with a client.

SPEAKER_01 57:38

But why are you in a relationship with a person like that?

SPEAKER_00 57:40

And if you are like you have bigger problems to deal with, true, but at the same time, like you know, to uh to to borrow from the the whole uh uh polyamorous scheme, like once you have like kids and you have shared bills and you have a bunch of other shit, like it's not as simple as just like, oh, you put oil in my food, oh I'm not gonna be with you anymore. No, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 58:00

That's not what I'm saying. But but you don't have the even if you're in a relationship with someone like that, you can stay in relationship with them, but but you have to change. Like the people within the relationship have to change because if you don't, eventually someone's going to not be there anymore.

SPEAKER_00 58:17

Yeah, no, for sure, for sure, for sure. Yeah, no, for sure. The long term, yeah, no, that makes sense. Uh, but I do think that uh you uh should you should just be aware that things can backfire, right? Like it can, it can, it can, they can totally perceive what you're doing, what you're doing for yourself, just because you want to you literally want gender confirming therapy. You want to be more of the person that you are on your inside, and you want your outsides to match that and express that. And it currently it doesn't. So you want gender affirming therapy. That's what the fuck you want. So from that perspective, like it's entirely about you, it has nothing to do with that person. But that person might take it as like, why do you want to look good? Wait, you you haven't had it needed to look good at this state this whole time, and then you go hunting for signs. What are some of the things that connect here? Like, we also like our sex life is not as good. And now you want to look good? Like, why? Like, like these types of things, they fucking happen in the real world. So just be aware of this and go in with a cool head, but also don't be the person that's just gonna like, oh, I'm just gonna hide it from her. Like, no, you should probably like tell her, especially because it's a medical decision that you're making, uh, right, which is why you don't need to talk to anyone about it. But like, at least with your spouse or your partner, I feel like it's very, very important to just be on the same page about what the fuck you're doing, you know?

SPEAKER_01 59:31

I think that yeah, you need to approach it from the only one that's gonna stop you from doing this is ultimately yourself. So think through your own values, go watch that playlist that Nathan's talking about, and then approach your spouse with patience and have some type of clarity around why you want to do this. If you just, if you come and you have no reasons and they do have a problem with it, you're gonna, you're not gonna have a leg to stand on and you're not gonna be able to communicate or converse about this in a healthy way. So actually think about it. And I think that just spending the time thinking about it is going to one, open up some really good conversations for for you and your spouse, but I also think it's gonna give you your own clarity for why you want to do it. So if you face challenges or you have to spend six months or maybe a year conversing over and over again with your spouse about something, it's like you you understand why you want to do this, and that can kind of help give you that patience you need as you talk through things.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:36

Yeah, yeah, I agree. I like that a lot. I think that's a good place for us to uh leave people at because right now it is uh it is time to go. Guys, thank you so much for uh being here with us tomorrow. Another episode of Should You Do Steroids Friday, a banger interview that you guys have been waiting for for a really long time and a special surprise inside of that interview as well. So excited to be sharing it with you guys fucking finally. I'll talk to you guys soon. Peace the fuck out. Peace.