August 17, 2025 • 53 mins
Summary:
In this episode of the Low Carb Consultant podcast, I interview Tanner Shuck, a seasoned strength coach and founder of True Strength. Tanner shares his journey from competitive CrossFit athlete to strength coach, emphasizing the importance of simplicity in training and nutrition. He discusses common mistakes people make in their fitness journeys, the significance of protein intake, and how to train around injuries. Tanner also outlines three fundamental nutrition principles and shares insights on client success stories, mindset, and his day-to-day life as a coach.
Find Tanner:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tanner_shuck/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Tanner_Shuck1
Website: https://www.truestrength.co/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Tanner-Shuck-Fittest-Agency-100092257945254/
Takeaways:
Simplicity in training leads to better results.
Many people prioritize flashy workouts over foundational strength.
Training around injuries is crucial for recovery.
Nutrition should focus on high protein intake.
Most overweight individuals under-eat protein and overeat processed foods.
Strength training is essential for building a solid foundation.
Eating for purpose rather than pleasure is key to success.
High protein diets are safe and effective for weight management.
Understanding basic human movement patterns is vital for fitness.
Mindset plays a significant role in overcoming challenges.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Tanner Shuck and His Journey
02:57 The Importance of Simplicity in Training
05:53 Common Mistakes in Fitness Training
09:13 Training Around Injuries
12:03 Client Issues and Nutrition Basics
14:52 Protein Intake and Its Importance
22:23 The Power of Protein
24:54 Nutrition Principles for Sustainable Eating
28:28 The Protein Test: Understanding Hunger
32:23 Client Success Stories and Mindset Shifts
33:10 Daily Routines: Training and Nutrition
35:19 Breaking Through Plateaus
35:37 Coaching Approaches: Community vs. Customization
36:13 Rapid Fire Questions: Insights and Preferences
Keywords:
strength training, nutrition, protein, fitness mistakes, injury recovery, coaching, client success, diet principles, CrossFit, personal training
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
All right, guys, we're rolling. So today on the Low Carb
Consultant Podcast, we're joinedby Tanner Shuck, A seasoned
strength coach, former competitive CrossFit athlete and
founder of True Strength. So with over 20 years in the
trenches of strength training, including winning the Dubai
CrossFit Championships in 2014 and 10s of thousands coached at
(00:33):
this point, Tanner blends hardcore physical results with
no fluff, no bullshit sustainable nutrition and
training strategies. He's known for his Straight up
strength and Natty Bolt programs, focusing on
simplicity, fun and measurable progress.
So Tanner, man, it's great to finally meet you and great to
have you on here. Hey, Max, it's an honor to be
(00:56):
here and I, I truly appreciate you inviting me on.
And dude, thank you very much for that, that awesome
introduction. Yeah, well, dude, awesome
introductions are for badass dudes like you.
So maybe before we get I I'm excited to get into the diet,
your diet philosophy, your training philosophy, how you
coach clients, all that good stuff.
(01:17):
Maybe before we go there, can you give the listeners just a
real brief background on yourself?
And I know we were talking aboutthis earlier before we even
started recording, but born in Oklahoma, raised in Alaska, now
you're, you've been in Dubai fora, a number of years.
Can you maybe give the listenersjust a brief background on on
how you got to this point? Yeah, I can.
(01:39):
I'll keep it pretty brief. So basically I've just kind of
played sports my entire life. I grew up playing football since
I was like 8 years old. I played football all the way
through college. I played college football at
Rice University and then my 3 best friends on my team, they
all went to the NFL. So I, I didn't cut it.
I can't, I wanted to play professional football.
(02:00):
I couldn't cut it. So then I just basically did the
next best thing at the time, which was I just got into
competitive CrossFit just cuz I,I just wanted a competitive
outlet. So got into CrossFit and that
just coincidentally brought me out to Dubai because of the
Dubai CrossFit Championship, Dubai Fitness Championship.
So at the time that was the second largest fitness
(02:22):
competition in the world, secondonly to the CrossFit Games.
So I came out in 2013. I did that competition.
I did well enough in that year to where I got offered a job
coaching CrossFit out in Dubai. And then the following year,
2014, I, I, I won the competition and I coach CrossFit
out here in Dubai for over six years that I became just kind of
(02:48):
uninterested or disenchanted with CrossFit.
And so then I just became a, in a personal trainer.
And then I just started focusingmore on social media as well.
So I was kind of, I was a personal trainer, started
focusing on social media. And then I've just gotten out of
personal training. I do online training now, But
that's kind of a pretty quick recap of my my story.
No, I love it that that makes sense.
(03:10):
And if anyone follows you, and Isuggest that they do, whether
it's your content on social media and YouTube, you got a lot
of good content on YouTube. I would say you are, in my
opinion, a big simple movement over flashy movement type of
guy. When did you realize, and I'm
gonna assume here, maybe it was when you were doing CrossFit,
but when did you realize resultscan really come more from
(03:34):
simplicity and not flashy plans?Yeah, I realized that quite
quickly, probably 6 or 12 monthsafter I stopped playing college
football. And then I got, I started
pursuing CrossFit. I I realized that quite quickly
because I came in to CrossFit asquite a seamless transition for
(03:55):
me because I already had a really good foundation of
strength that already lifted, you know, was very competent
with a barbell. And then I got into CrossFit and
I basically had no rhyme or reason or any kind of structure
to my training. I was following like CrossFit
main cider, whatever the popularCrossFit blog programming's of
the time of like 2012, 1314. And then I got worse at
(04:18):
CrossFit. I got weaker.
And so then I pretty quickly hadthe realization that, you know,
doing constantly varied functional exercises, you know,
what high intensity was, in my opinion, just kind of bullshit.
And you need to stop doing CrossFit if you want to get good
at CrossFit and actually start training like more traditional
strength conditioning where you have a lot more structure, you
(04:40):
have more, it's more planning and you just you stick to the
basics. You don't really deviate from
the basics. And then if you want some
variation in your training, basically just get that
variation through your met cons.But you need to stay strong with
basic barbell lifts, basic body weight strength.
So I realized that quite pretty pretty early in my CrossFit
career. Yeah.
(05:02):
And that again, that makes sensein when you're training clients
specifically or where people sign up to work with you,
whether it's in the community orone-on-one.
What do you think is the mistakea lot of people make in your
opinion? Whether it's athletes or someone
just trying to get stronger, build muscle, lose somebody fat,
What? What's the mistake in your
opinion people are making chasing flashy workout programs
(05:25):
over the fundamentals? Yeah.
Well, and I should there's kind of context to that.
And so when I had that, you know, I guess that fundamental
realization was I was trying to compete in CrossFit, all right?
And I think there's definitely distinguish between CrossFit,
you know, I guess the training program for everyday general
population people and then CrossFit as a sport.
(05:48):
So I was doing it for a competitive, you know, a
competitive outlet. All right, Yeah, I think
CrossFit in general, you know, the the brand, the exercise
regimen, I think it's one of thebest things that ever happened
to the fitness industry because it taught everyday general
population people basic barbell movements that put a barbell in
(06:09):
more people's hands than any other exercise regimen, you
know, ever. So there's some good parts about
that. But the biggest mistake that
most people make with their own health and fitness, especially
if they're just general population people, they've never
really, you know, came from any kind of athletic background, is
they don't understand how important it is just to get
(06:33):
stronger at basic foundational human movement patterns.
Specifically like a squat, A deadlift, a bench press, an
overhead press, a strict pull up, a strict push up, you know,
strict dips, some single leg exercises.
Those are just foundational human movement patterns that
should be trained consistently, you know, and, and just get
(06:56):
stronger at those. And I can guarantee you're going
to get way better results strengthening those movement
patterns each and every week. And then you can vary up your
conditioning however you like. And that's the biggest mistake
that people make is they prioritize novelty and variety
over the basics. And that's why you know, a lot
(07:17):
of these other, you know, fitness programs, fitness
programs like you call it CrossFit, F 45, Berry's, Boot
Camp, Orangetheory, doesn't really matter.
All of them work initially for for everyday general population,
people that are untrained, they all work all right.
The problem is, is like none of the programs, they do not
(07:39):
prioritize foundational strength.
They don't prioritize getting stronger at the basics nearly
enough. And so that's, that's the
biggest mistake that that most people make.
Yeah. And I would agree with that too.
So now, like I was telling you before we started recording and
used to own a gym in Las Vegas, I've trained a lot of clients.
And what I typically would see is, you know, new people would
(08:01):
come in, they would see people doing butterfly pull ups and
kipping pull ups and like the muscle UPS on the rings.
And they all want to do the fancy cool looking movements
because you know, they, they, they look cool basically.
But a lot of the times it's like, yo, man, you can't even do
a strict pull up. We, we need to be doing strict
pull ups, strict dips before we're doing like butterfly pull
(08:23):
ups. You know you're just going to
get injured. Absolutely.
They lack. They lack the basic requisite
strength to even do any kind of kipping or dynamic exercise.
All right. And that's why you see a lot of
injuries happen in CrossFit witha lot of kind of untrained or
beginner intermediate trainees because they've never built
(08:46):
that, that foundation of strength that they need to, to,
in order to do those more dynamic movements like the
butterfly pull ups or the kipping, you know, the high
volume kipping. That's a huge mistake.
People, they, they see somethinglooks cool.
Oh, I want to do that. But that's like, you know, when
you're a baby, you got to learn to crawl before you can walk.
You have to learn to walk beforeyou can run.
You have to learn to run before you can Sprint.
(09:08):
And the human body works the same way pretty much for
everything. So you should be able to do a
strict push up before you're doing a ring dip.
You need to be able to do a strict pull up before you're
doing, you know, those butterflypull ups.
It's quite, it's obvious to me, but somewhat doesn't have any,
you know, training background orhas never coached anyone.
You know, it's that's a very easy thing to miss.
(09:31):
Oh, 100%. And on that notion of injuries,
I kind of want to talk about this and get your, your two
cents because I know, you know, based off your content, you've
gone through a lot of different injuries, surgeries, you know,
and they, they injuries are going to happen right when
you're, when you're, and we can talk about, because I want to
get your two cents on this, you know, we can talk about high
(09:52):
risk, high reward movements. When you're doing high risk
movements, obviously, you know, the injuries are going to come
here and there. You know what, what would you
say? Like what's your advice for
people when it comes to trainingand movement when they're
injured or they're in like a recovery position?
(10:12):
Is it? And I'm sure you're probably
going to say it depends on the injury, but are you like one of
the people that say like, hey, man, we got to rest and rest and
recover as much as possible? Or what can we do when we're
injured? What are your thoughts on that?
Yeah, the first my, my initial thought and because I've, I've
had lots of injuries, all right.And it's not because of training
(10:32):
injuries or I was training incorrectly or, or overtraining
or anything like that. It was honestly just, I played
football for like 15 years of mylife.
I had, I had pre-existing injuries before I ever even
started CrossFit. You know, I had banged up
shoulders, I had a torn rotator cuff.
I had was missing a meniscus before I even started CrossFit.
I competed in CrossFit at a veryhigh level with like a pretty
(10:55):
much a, a bone on bone knee and then like a bum shoulder.
I was just able to kind of push through it.
But when it comes to training with injuries or around
injuries, the first thing that Iwould tell people is actually
train around it and never ever feel sorry for yourself.
(11:16):
So the mindset is more importantthan really anything.
And you can always train around an injury.
You should never stop training. Obviously, you don't want to
train through an injury. If you have, you know, if you
just came off an ankle surgery or a shoulder surgery, then you
need to let your ankle or your knee or whichever limb you need
to let that heal. But you still should do
(11:38):
everything you can to train around and continue to move your
body. That will actually facilitate
healing. So I'm actually big on just
having a mindset of gratitude. That's something that many
people overlook. You know, many people will,
they'll get discouraged or they'll feel sorry for
themselves. Oh, I have an injury.
I can't, I can't work out. It's hard.
I'm going to lose all my gains. You shouldn't think like that.
(12:00):
Don't be a victim. Just realize it's temporary.
You need to work around the injury.
You need to rehabilitate it correctly.
You need to have a positive mindset and just like do
everything you can to work around it.
That's really the best piece of advice that I could give anyone
cuz I can speak on that. I've gone through, I've had
this, I'm embarrassed to say it,but I've had 17 orthopedic
surgery, 17 again, it's a lot ofit's just freak accidents and
(12:24):
bad luck, but I've never, ever once stopped training, you know,
after any of my injuries. I just worked around it.
So that's probably the best advice.
And then again, I mean it, it does kind of it's a case by case
basis. I would need to know more about
the individual, their injury andI would, you know, I could tell
them how to best approach their training while they are injured,
but always train around it and continue to train.
(12:47):
Totally, yeah. And I've dealt with my fair
share of injuries too. Like I've got a puffed meniscus
and my knee that that I did running had happened running to
me like a few months ago. So I'm like dealing with that.
And I still still can't squat all the way below, below
parallel. But you know, there are other
(13:07):
things I can do like walking lunges, Bulgarian split squats
to like work the, you know, so it's just like, what can I do?
What can I do that doesn't hurt or cause pain?
And then kind of rotate those exercises into the program so
you can still get some movement in.
Because going back to what you're saying, 100% movement
facilitates blood flow and healing.
(13:30):
So if you just, if you just basically fucking give up
because you broke your leg, it's, it's, it's, that's not the
white right way to go about it. There's a bunch of other things
you can do if you can't, like ifyou got a broken leg or broken
arm, whatever. Yeah, absolutely.
And I mean, in some scenarios, like unfortunately in a lot of
with my injuries, I had to have a surgery to get it fixed, OK,
(13:52):
because I didn't want to never be able to do squats again.
I didn't ever, I didn't not wantto never be able to do an
overhead press. So I had to get my shoulder
taken care of. You know, I worked, I, I, I
trained through it as long as I could until there was just so
much pain and discomfort where Iliterally had to get something
done. But I did everything I could to
work around it and manage it. And so I definitely have
(14:15):
altered, you know, the way I train many, many, on many
different occasions. But sometimes I just had to get
the had to get things fixed. And then I basically let it
heal. I rehabilitated it and then I
got back to to training, you know, it's a proper training
again. But do you always can do
something like if with a meniscus, man, if you can't do
heavy deep back squats for a while, then you manage it.
(14:35):
You do split squats, you can do lunges.
Just like you said, you know, atsome point you might have to
make a decision. I might want to get my meniscus
taken care of. You might want to get it fixed,
you know, and then I have to take off, you know, 3-6 months.
Let it let it heal, and then youcan resume squatting in or you
can go do those exercises that you know previously caused you
pain and discomfort, but you know, you manage it.
That's that's that's the right approach.
(14:57):
Yeah, absolutely agree. I wanted to switch over to
training clients. What are the when?
So when you, because obviously at this point you've trained a
lot of people, you've coached a lot of people.
What are the typical client issues that you see coming in?
I'm sure it's, you know, weight to lose under muscle, maybe bad
eating habits. I'd love to chat with you on
(15:18):
your perspective around diet andthose types of things.
But what are the? What are like the typical client
issues you see when you have someone new coming in?
Yeah, it's the same as probably every every other trainer in the
world that same issues they dealwith most, most general
population people. That's going to be the majority
of your clientele. And most people are grossly
(15:39):
under muscled and probably grossly overweight, you know,
over fat, if that makes sense. Because they've never, they've
never built a foundation of strength.
They've never done proper strength work.
So they don't have a foundation of strength.
And that's what really everyone needs.
Like strength is the platform that really everything else is
built upon. And then, you know, nutrition.
(16:00):
It's really simple. Most people, their entire lives
have most people that are overweight.
I can almost guarantee any overweight, obese fat person,
the reason that they're fat is because they grossly under eat
protein and they grossly overeatlow quality processed foods that
are high in carbs and fats. That's it.
(16:21):
And so if they just have a fundamental mindset shift about
how they eat food and they learnto eat more for purpose and they
eat less for pleasure and they start lifting weights, that's
going to solve 99% of people's problems.
It really is. And I know that's very
simplified and I'm not trying tomake a gross oversimplification
(16:41):
of it, but if you really distillit down, that is, that is
people's fundamental problems. Yeah.
Is there a main, a main thing, one big main change you make
with most people that seem to deliver the biggest bang for the
buck in in in regards to results?
Yeah, it's eat more protein and lift weights.
Yep. That's pretty much, that's
(17:03):
pretty much the answer for almost everybody.
They, they, they grossly under eat protein.
If they just start eating more protein, you know, they're going
to be eating more for purpose. And then if they just start
doing proper strength training where they strengthen
foundational human movement patterns, then they're going to
get stronger. They're going to build muscle,
they're going to burn fat. And if they're eating more
(17:24):
protein, I guarantee they're going to feel more full, more
satiated, and they're going to eat less junk overall.
Yeah, that's those are the conclusions that everyone will
inevitably reach if they get healthy.
Yeah, for sure. And I'm curious in regards to
like males and females because Imean, I've had I've talked to
(17:46):
Doctor Ted Damon about protein, Doctor Nick about protein and I
had Fred Hon on who's like celebrity trainer out in New
York. Really cool dude.
But everyone has their differentthoughts on protein in regards
to requirements, whether it's like 1 LB of protein per gram of
or 1g of protein per pound of body weight or lean mass.
(18:07):
What are your typical? Let's start with the guys first.
What do you typically recommend for guys in regards to protein
intake? How do you go about it?
Is it what they want to weigh, what they're ultimately what
they weigh? Now how do you go about
recommending protein goal for someone?
Yeah, if you do, I'll, I'll giveyou some generalizations on that
and I'm going to tell you now I'm a super high protein
advocate. And So what I tell people, and
(18:28):
people might think this is crazy, but it's really not crazy
and I'll explain it. I tell people to try to get 50%
of their calories from protein. OK, 50% because I know that is
way more than they will get. But if they at least try to get
half their calories from protein, then they will most
likely be getting enough. So if they just get more protein
(18:49):
and like really the minimum requirements, that's what you
hear everyone say, you need to be eating 1g of protein per
pound of body weight. If you actually think about
that, that's like the minimum amount.
OK, So I tell people to go, oh, go above the minimum.
Why would you want to just do the minimum?
I'll always eat at least 200 to 300 grams of protein every day.
And I guarantee that is why I have been able to maintain a
(19:13):
very lean and muscular physique for 20 years.
OK, because I eat a high proteindiet.
It's really that simple. So I tell people, minimum try to
eat 1g per pound of your goal lean body weight.
So if you're 260 lbs and you know 7080 lbs overweight and
your ideal body weight is 180 lbs, eat a minimum of 180 grams
(19:38):
of protein a day. If you eat a little above 180,
that's a good thing. That just means you're eating,
you know, more protein than you probably need, but that means
you're going to have less room in your diet to overeat on carbs
and fats. It's pretty, it's pretty
straightforward in my opinion. And people say, oh, that's way
more protein than you need. But you never, ever hear any
trainers or dietitians or nutritionists say, oh, eating
(20:01):
405 hundred grams of carbohydrates is too much when
the reason that people are fat is because they grossly overeat
carbs and fats, not because theyovereat protein.
So if you just kind of have thatrealization, you know, you think
about it. If you just eat more protein,
the problem with people is they're fat, right?
And the reason they're fat is because they're eating more
calories in their body burns, They're eating in a calorie
(20:24):
surplus. And so if you actually want to
eat less calories, just eat moreprotein.
I know that might sound counterintuitive, but if you
actually think about what I'm saying, that's inevitably what
will happen. If you eat more protein, you're
going to feel so full and so satiated that you will by
default eat less calories and lose weight.
Do you follow me? 1000% I agree with you.
(20:46):
I think I agree with you more than you know.
It's it's 100% I agree with that.
If you prioritize protein, you'll be full, you'll eat some,
you'll eat a lot less of a lot of the carbohydrates and fat,
and you'll be able to adjust your body composition.
And honestly too, like the more lean protein you have, or the
(21:07):
higher protein, but the more lean mass you'll have, the lower
fat mass you'll have 1000%. Yeah.
And if you, if you, I don't evenknow why people would even want
to argue that or say, oh, that'stoo much protein.
You don't need to eat that much protein.
Like if you actually think aboutthat, if your body, it's, it's
incredibly, incredibly difficultfor your body to convert
(21:30):
calories from protein into body fat.
It's known as a process as de Novo lipogenesis.
No one has ever become obese from eating too much protein.
It has never happened. OK, it's incredibly challenging
for your body to actually convert surplus calories of
protein into body fat. It is incredibly easy for your
(21:51):
body to convert surplus caloriesfrom carbs into body fat and
surplus calories from fat into body fat.
Those are that's a very, very easy thing for your body to do.
OK doesn't like it's and you can't do that with protein.
You won't do it with protein. No person has ever gotten fat
from eating too much protein cause no person has ever been
(22:11):
able to maintain a long enough calorie surplus from eating too
many calories of protein to everget fat.
That's never happened. It never will happen.
So that's why I say the simplest, best piece of
nutrition advice I could give anyone.
Eat more protein. That is it.
Eat. More protein and everything will
(22:32):
fall in line after that. That's it.
So you just, and I, I work with a lot of, I've trained a lot of
people. Most people, I'm not trying to
call people, most people just don't have common sense.
They just don't understand it. OK.
And so the easiest way to communicate to people is just
distill information down to the most easiest way to understand
(22:53):
things. So you talk to people like their
three-year olds and that's why you just say eat more protein.
That's really it. And you'll never, ever go wrong
by doing that. 100% And I was telling you earlier, I was, I
was having a big conversation around protein with Doctor Ted
Naman. And he, we, we, he was telling
me about a study that they did with cyclists.
These dudes were eating, it was like a high protein study.
(23:15):
These dudes were eating 300, four, 100 grams of protein in a
day and they were seeing no likeI'll effects, like it wasn't
impacting kidneys. And that's what people when
people say like, oh, you're on ahigh protein diet but your
kidneys can't handle it. Like no, dude, that's bullshit.
That's bullshit. Like the study was like with
cyclists having 400 grams of protein a day.
(23:36):
Nothing was going wrong with them at all.
That's complete bullshit. OK, so high protein diets are
perfectly safe, all right? They've done studies that have
proven high protein diets have no detrimental effects on on
anyone's kidneys. As long as they're a healthy
active individual with no pre-existing renal issues.
Eating more protein is totally fine.
(23:57):
And that blows my mind because people think oh eating so much
protein is hard on your kidneys.But those same people will be
living off low quality processedshit food.
They'll be eating junk, they'll be drinking alcohol.
You know, like they don't think about just the most common sense
things like people are unhealthybecause they're eating low
quality garbage food that no humans ever evolved eating.
(24:19):
So it's like it's, it's mind boggling to me that people want
to argue that a high protein diet is bad for you.
What's bad for you is eating shit.
It's pretty common sense to me. A. 100% on On that note too.
I, I, I pulled a quote that I saw on Instagram from you.
I think he said if the food didn't exist.
(24:40):
I think it was he said if the food didn't exist 100 years ago,
don't eat it right. So how?
How do you 2? 100 years, now 200. 200 years,
yeah, yeah, yeah. That's that's what I think was.
His name? Yeah.
Yeah. So how do you, how do you
balance diet simplicity for a client with long term
sustainability and compliance Meaning like, because I know a
(25:00):
lot and I, I would love to hear how you navigate this with
clients. Because I'm sure a lot of
clients will come in and say, OK, I'm going to eat my protein,
I'm going to eat more eggs, chicken breast, beef, whatever.
But I would assume a lot of the pushback you get from clients is
I have to eat like this forever or for this long.
How do you help them make thingssustainable for the long run?
(25:25):
Yeah, I talk to them like they're stupid, OK.
And so again, it kind of goes back to explaining things to
like a three-year old. And I've said this on numerous
podcasts and I'll, I'll happily share it on yours.
I tell people to follow 3 fundamental nutrition
principles, OK? And you've already said the
(25:45):
first one. So, and I'm fully aware for
context that these are generalizations, these are
blanket statements. But if you follow, if you just
follow these principles and you actually think about what I'm
saying, you will never fail. And so that that principle,
number one, I tell people, if the food did not exist 200 years
ago, do not eat it. Another way to think about that,
(26:09):
just think about how your grandparents, parents, parents
ate. Think about what foods they had
access to in their lifetime. And if the food did not exist in
their lifetime, chances are that's probably not a real food
and you probably should avoid it.
So you eliminate. If you follow that rule, if you
don't eat foods that didn't exist 200 years ago, what you're
doing is you're eliminating all low quality processed packaged
(26:31):
foods. You're not eating foods with a
long ingredient list. You're not eating foods with
chemicals, preservatives, artificial ingredients.
If you're eating foods they comein a package that have
ingredients on it that you don'teven know what those ingredients
are, you probably should not eatthat because I can guarantee you
humans did not evolve eating those processed packaged foods.
(26:52):
So that's principle number one. I told people that if they just
cut out processed junk food, they're going to be way more
successful. Principle number 2 is actually
it's the same thing as principlenumber one.
I'm going to say the same thing in a different way, and that is
if the food did not directly come from an animal or was not
(27:12):
directly grown from the ground, do not eat it.
In other words, you want to be getting the majority of all your
calories from high quality animal foods and high quality
plant foods like fruits, vegetables, potatoes, rice, even
sourdough bread, high quality bread.
Humans have been eating bread for thousands of years.
(27:35):
You know, that's a, that's a good food that humans can eat
and they can digest it just finewithout any, you know, probably
digestive issues if it's a high quality bread.
That's what I tell people. And that's just another way to
think about, damn, if this food didn't come from an animal or it
wasn't grown from the ground, don't eat it.
And it's so that's going to get them to basically eliminate all
the low quality processed junk food and just to focus on real
(27:56):
foods. So that's principle #2 it's
really the same thing as principle number one.
I'm saying the same thing again in a different way, just so
people can understand it and conceptualize it.
I love it. And then the third principle I
have, we've already alluded to that every time you eat
prioritize protein. And if you, if you think about
(28:17):
this very simply, every time youeat, ask yourself, where is the
protein in this meal? All right.
And then I tell people to use the protein test.
I'm not sure if you've ever if you're familiar with a protein
test or not. What is it?
It's, it's very simple. So this is what I use with all
my clients and I've put this outon social media more times than
(28:38):
I can count. Anytime that you think you're
hungry or you're having a craving, you want to eat
something, don't eat anything immediately.
Don't do not just give in to that, that, that, that that
impulse. Ask yourself, all right, am I
actually hungry? And the way you can actually
decipher between true actual hunger versus just some
(28:59):
impulsive bullshit craving is you give yourself a protein test
and you say, all right, right now in this moment when I think
that I'm hungry, am I hungry enough to eat a piece of pure
protein like a piece of chicken breast or a hard boiled egg or a
piece of steak? OK, And if pure protein does not
(29:20):
sound appetizing to you in that moment when you think you're
hungry, you're not actually hungry because I guarantee if
you were truly hungry, you'd be willing to eat a piece of
chicken or a hard boiled egg. All right.
But if it doesn't sound appetizing to you, then you
really don't need to eat anything at all because you're
not actually hungry. So I used protein as a as a way
to tell people, hey, are you really hungry?
(29:41):
Are you willing to eat protein? If you are go eat protein
because we already discussed you're never going to get fat
from eating protein. But if you're not willing to eat
protein, then what's going on isyour, your mind is playing
tricks on you, OK? It's like self sabotage.
And that's what that's what happens to most people, OK?
They eat for pleasure, they eat out of boredom, they eat for
(30:01):
entertainment. Especially in today's society
with, with how food has, you know, the way food is made
today. We're an obesity epidemic,
especially in the United States.More people are fat and sick now
than they ever have been 100 years ago.
People had never even heard of obesity.
No one even knew what obesity was because there weren't fat
(30:21):
people everywhere. So if you just kind of think
about it like that, it's to me again, it's, it's obvious, it's
common sense, but most people have never have never thought
about it like that. If you actually just got it from
a logical, you know, perspectiveand evolutionary perspective, it
makes a lot of sense. Oh, it makes a it makes a ton of
sense. And now just you explaining the
(30:44):
protein test, that makes all thesense in the world to me.
Like if I think that I'm hungry,right?
Of course, of course you want toeat 5 Oreo cookies.
Who wouldn't want to eat 5 Oreo cookies?
But if I asked myself, OK, couldI slam 5 hard boiled eggs right
now? No, that sounds gross.
(31:06):
Then I'm not really hungry. You know what I mean?
And when you were, when you werewalking through that?
I, I kind of do this with my daughter.
I have a nine year old son and asix year old daughter.
And she'll come to me 'cause I work from home, she'll come to
me sometimes during the day and say, Dad, I want a snack.
And I'll be like, no, like let'sgo to the fridge and I'll cut
and I'll take out the bag of hard boiled eggs and I'll say
(31:27):
we're going to have two hard boiled eggs.
And she's like, no, I don't wantthose.
And I'm like, then you're not hungry.
You know what I mean? You want this snack, You want
this snack, but if you're not willing to eat these two hard
boiled eggs, you're not really hungry.
So we're going to hold off for alittle bit.
You know, some people might freak out like, oh, you're
starving your daughter, but no, fuck that, man.
Like then she's not really hungry.
She just wants a snack. No, what you're doing is being a
(31:48):
good father. You're actually conditioning
your daughter to eat for purpose.
That's what you're doing. In terms of like client success
stories and I kind of want to get into like your in a little
bit. I want to get into like your
day-to-day. I know you're super busy, but
how are you training? How are you eating now?
I'm sure people would love to know kind of like what your
day-to-day looks like. But going back to some like
(32:09):
client success story stuff, is there one standout coaching
success story that that you tellpeople about or that pops up in
your mind in regards to dude, this guy lost this amount of
weight or this guy saw these results or he got this strong in
this amount of time? Is there any particular client
that was Dude that was crazy. Man, I've had, honestly, I don't
(32:31):
know if there's like anyone thatreally like just jumps out to me
immediately. And I don't, I, I say this with
absolute humility, but I've, I've helped a lot of people, you
know, if they're, if they're willing to help themselves and
they're willing to kind of adopt, you know, a different
mindset where they just learnt to eat mainly for purpose and
they, they look at food as fuel,not just, they don't look at
(32:51):
food for, for pleasure or entertainment.
That alone changing your relationship with food can be
life changing for people. And so, you know, once I just
tell people to like, use those nutrition principles, prioritize
protein, eat only real foods that have always existed.
Like I get clients amazing results as long as they're, as
(33:12):
long as they're bought in and, and, and they will, they will
follow that advice. I've had man, dude, hundreds of
clients like completely transform.
And that just comes down to to the lifting weights, strength
training, building muscle, eating more for purpose and
getting in enough protein. So I, one particular client, I
don't really have anyone like I can, I think of my one client,
(33:33):
John, he's 50 years old. He actually just had his first
kid as a 50 year old man. And this guy's 100% lifetime
natural. He's still deadlifts over £500.
He can still bench press 315 forfive reps all right.
And all he does is he, he actually kind of follows a, a
(33:54):
modified CrossFit program because he came from a CrossFit
background. He liked, he liked CrossFit, but
he then he just, he stopped seeing results with it.
And so then he got back more into traditional strength and
conditioning and prioritizing strength.
But he's, he's an amazing guy. Like when I started working with
him three years ago, he was 46 or 47 and he wasn't in terrible
(34:15):
shape, but he wasn't in great shape by any means.
He had a good gut, you know, he could probably do maybe 6 strict
pull ups. Now he can probably do 20.
He deadlift more than he's ever been able to deadlift as a 50
year old man. He can pull £500.
He's just dude, he's just a very, very healthy guy.
Like chronologically he's 50 years old, but biologically he's
(34:39):
healthier, stronger, fitter thanprobably most 20 year olds.
That's one guy that kind of jumps out to me.
But I mean that's it's, I have lots of clients similar to that.
You know, so it's, and, and that's great too in terms of
like, like who doesn't want to be the 50 year old dude that can
(34:59):
do those things? Who doesn't want to be that?
Like that's that's exactly what my game plan is 1000%.
Good. And that's, that's awesome.
It should be. That's mine.
Too. It should be everyone's goal to
be honest with you. Why wouldn't you want that?
Who wouldn't want that? I had a question in terms of
your day-to-day. What does a typical, typical day
look like for you right now in terms of what you eat, when you
(35:20):
eat, when you fit in your training?
What does that look like? Sure, I usually wake up probably
around 5:00 or 5:30 AM 'cause I I work a lot, but I usually
start first thing I want to do is get out of bed and I'll eat a
high protein breakfast. I try to get in 70 to 100 grams
of protein for my first meal of the day and that sets me up
(35:43):
really nicely because I might not eat again until 12 or two or
three PM sometimes. Can that that keeps me full and
satiated for a good, you know, 6to 8 hours.
So my typical breakfast is goingto be 3 or 4 whole eggs.
I might throw in some additionalegg whites just to get more
protein. And then I personally really
enjoy fat free Greek yogurt because it's basically just it's
(36:03):
more pure protein. It's a high quality protein and
then I'll have some kind of carbohydrate that it's usually
like sourdough breads, like toast.
I'll have toast with my eggs andthen I'll have like that kind of
that I have Greek yogurt and I mix it with some orange juice.
All right. So it's like I have like a
smoothie. I might throw in some like
blueberries with that. I'll drink a big glass of water
(36:24):
and you know, one or two cups ofcoffee and then I'm good to go.
Then I'll work usually for four to six hours, try to get as try
to be as productive as I can because I'm most productive in
the morning. Most people are.
And then I work out around midday, somewhere between
usually 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM. And that will always consist of
usually some kind of strength training or it might just be
(36:47):
conditioning that day. I usually now the way I train
because I, I work out probably six to seven days a week,
depending on how I'm feeling. But I'll, I'll only lift weights
three to four days a week. And then so the days that I'm
lifting weights, I'm, I'm doing basic compound lifts and I'm
always focusing on getting stronger, whether it's at my
deadlift, my squat, my bench press, my overhead press.
(37:08):
And then I fit in, you know, strict pull ups, weighted pull
ups, strict dips, you know, on those upper days or lower days,
or sometimes I'll have total body days, depending, depending
on what I'm doing. The days I'm not lifting
weights, I'll sit right there onmy rowing machine or on my, my
assault bike and I'll just get after it and I'll just do very
simple, you know, conditioning. Because I've discovered that
(37:31):
nothing really offers me more value for my time as far as
improving my overall aerobic fitness.
Then, you know, doing intense rowing intervals or intense, you
know, assault bike intervals. I don't do nearly as much, you
know, random workouts as I used to when I was competing in
CrossFit 'cause I just didn't really feel like I was getting
much value out of it. And it was kind of taking an
(37:52):
unnecessary toll on my body and my joints.
I'm, I'm 37 right now. I'm not not trying to go be the
fittest man in the world anymoreand I don't I really I'm the
kind of guy I need structure andprogression.
Everything I want everything that I do to be objective and
measurable. And like I know if I'm getting
(38:13):
stronger, if I'm lifting more lifting, lifting heavier weights
on my squats and my deadlifts ormy presses, I know that I'm
getting fitter if I'm able to row 2000 meters faster than I
was last month. Does that make sense?
A. 1000%. I do strength training where I
prioritize compound movements. I only do a probably about 10
exercises total. And then I do all my
(38:35):
conditioning on a rower or a salt bike.
Running is good too. Running is fantastic.
Sprinting is incredible. I personally don't do that
because I've had some injuries that prevent me from running.
So I just, I do what I can and Ijust, I do it vigorously.
You know, I train with, you know, with, with the right kind
of intensity. Yeah.
(38:55):
And I know you were colluding tothis a little bit earlier, but
going back in terms of talking about competing in CrossFit and
having a structured workout program, competing in CrossFit
or competing for the CrossFit Games, it's that's completely
different because that type of training will requires more of
like ready for ready for anything type of programming,
(39:16):
more randomized, right? But not a lot of people are
trying to compete. Maybe you have some some
athletes in in the gym right nowthat you're coaching that are
trying to compete for the games or, or whatever the case is good
for them. But in terms of general people,
general people don't need to be doing constantly varied workout
(39:39):
like work workouts. They need a structured workout
program that incorporates constantly varied functional
movements performed at a high intensity 'cause that that
structure is actually gonna get you results.
And I think that's what you're what you're saying.
Yeah, you would. Yeah, precisely.
I think you and I are saying thesame thing.
We might be saying a little bit differently, but we're saying
the same thing. And just I always think about
(40:03):
everything I do with my clients and myself.
I ask myself what is going to give me the most value for my
time, What is going to give me the best return on my training
investment And the answer to that inevitably.
Ends up getting stronger and then doing some form of
cardiovascular activity conditioning you know that you
(40:26):
enjoy doing. OK, so the way I train and the
way I train most of my clients, I give them probably 75 to 80%
dedicated progressive strength work and I'll give them 20 to
25% kind of shorter, more intense conditioning or I'll
just tell them to go for a walk.If people don't like doing
conditioning, if they don't wantto do CrossFit workouts or they
(40:47):
don't want to do rowing intervals, good for I don't tell
them to do that because the truthfully, it doesn't matter
what you do, just what matters. You probably do something to
kind of, you know, train your system or to, you know, increase
your your physical activity level.
Getting stronger is really the most important thing because
that's what preserves your muscle mass.
And that's really the most important thing as far as
(41:09):
overall health and longevity is staying strong and preserving
your muscle. You don't do that doing 100
burpees over a box, OK, You preserve your muscle.
You preserve your muscle by strength training, lifting
weights, and then do whichever form of cardiovascular activity
that you enjoy doing. So you stick with your program
(41:31):
so your training is sustainable.And a lot of people, they're
gonna, they'll discover this if they haven't discovered it
already, the longer they follow kind of these exercise programs
like CrossFit, it could be Barry's boot camp again, it
could be F45 or anything like that.
They will get results initially.And any form of physical
(41:52):
activity or any form of exerciseis better than not than no
exercise for sure. But if you think about it, how I
think about it is like what actually gives you the most
value and the best return on your investment?
That's strength training. And then I personally, like I
said, I enjoy doing, you know, intense rowing intervals,
intense assault bike intervals, because that's just what it
(42:13):
gives me the best return on on, on, on my time.
But I don't tell people they have to do that, but I do.
I insist that people lift weights to get stronger because
I know that's going to improve the overall quality of their
life, their health, their longevity the most.
And then man, just do whatever, do whatever kind of exercise or
cardio that you enjoy doing that, that that's completely up
(42:34):
to you. That's personal preference.
Absolutely, 100% agree. And just so the listeners know,
I just wanted to do a quick timecheck here.
Just so everyone knows, Tanner'sgot a a client call that he's
got to jump to. I've got us about 9 or 10 more
minutes. Does that sound about right for
you? Yes, Sir.
OK. So I was going to go into some
rapid fire question Q&A here, ifyou will, but I got AI had a
(42:56):
couple questions here before I kind of get into the some of the
rapid fire stuff. And this is going to tie back to
what you were saying around prioritizing strength.
What would you say like if someone's going through like a
plateau, whether it's a strengthplateau, right?
Whether it's their bench, squat,deadlift, like what would you
say are the two exercises that are absolutely non negotiable
(43:19):
and why that can help them breakthrough any sort of a
plateau? Again, this is a generalization
and This is why it's case by case.
But let's let's I'll answer thisquestion under the assumption
that it is a healthy able bodiedindividual with no pre-existing
injuries or limitations. And that answer is very simple.
(43:41):
It's going to be some kind of squat variation and some kind of
deadlift variation. Those are the the 2 best main
compound exercises that you can do that allow you to lift the
most weight through the largest range of motion that can be
progressively overloaded for a very long period of time.
(44:04):
Meaning they are trainable. So it would be a squat and a
deadlift. And also, if you just think
about that in the terms of living your, your life outside
of the gym, every human, every person, they need to have the
fundamental ability in the fundamental strength to be able
to stand up from a chair, to getout of bed, to walk upstairs, to
(44:26):
be able to pick a heavy object off the ground.
Standing up on the chair. That is a squat.
That's all the squat is, your ability to stand up, picking up
a heavy object off the ground, that is a deadlift.
Everyone needs those fundamentalabilities.
So a squat and a deadlift are really the the two.
(44:46):
If I could only do 2 exercises for the rest of my life, it
would probably be a squat or a deadlift.
And then it would either probably be a a, it'd probably
be a strict pull up. That would be all the one that I
would that I would give people like those are the those are the
two exercises that offer you themost value that are gonna tell
your body to maintain, preserve as much muscle mass as possible.
(45:11):
All right, And then a pull up, apush up or a dip.
Those are very, very important as well.
Because if you have a good levelof relative strength, that means
you're able to move your body weight, body weight strength.
If you can do pull ups or 15 pull ups, I can guarantee you
you're not going to be fat, all right?
And that means you're going to be healthy.
(45:31):
So if you can squat, if you havestrong legs and you can do a
pull up, that means you're goingto be strong and lean.
If you are strong and lean, chances are you're going to be a
healthy individual. Yeah, makes perfect sense.
And then real quick in regards to like your coaching, because I
want the listeners to be able toreach out to you, but kind of
understand the two different areas in which they can work
(45:54):
with you. Because I think you offer both
community driven programming andcustom one-on-one.
What makes an individual a better fit for like a structured
program versus needing full customization from?
You it really just depends on the individual and what level of
coaching they want, how much support, communication,
accountability they want. I do, I have like basically, you
(46:18):
know, training subscriptions that really anyone can follow
their, their pre written programs that prioritize basic
foundational strength, squats, deadlifts, presses, pull ups,
rows, dips, bench press, things like that.
And if you just follow any of those programs and you're a
healthy able bodied person, you can make, you know, tremendous
(46:39):
progress. If you wanted custom coaching,
you know, that is where we, I, Ispent a lot more time with my
clients. All right, I, I designed
completely personalized programsfor them and I spend a lot more
time with them. I actually coach them, you know,
with online, they have to send videos, I'm giving them feedback
every single week. And that, that higher level of
(47:00):
coaching people generally do getbetter results because they're
actually getting coached and they're everything is
personalized for them. People don't need that.
It's more of a want rather than a need.
So I do both. I spend most of my time on, you
know, my, my more my custom coaching.
Just it's a obviously a much larger demand of my time and
I'm, I'm communicating and speaking with my clients,
(47:21):
checking in with them on, you know, a weekly basis or
day-to-day basis. So those are the two options.
But if I was going to tell anyone, if this is the first
time you've ever heard about me or, or even wanted to know any
more anything else about me, just go look me up on YouTube
and consume few of my YouTube videos and you will quickly
discover what I'm about. That's what I would tell people.
(47:45):
Yeah, before we wrap up here, I got some rapid fire questions
here for you. Feel free to elaborate on any of
these, whatever the case is. But real quick then, thoughts on
alcohol? Cut it out.
That's the single greatest thingyou could do for your life.
Like alcohol, if you actually look at it, it is a poison.
(48:07):
It's a toxin and alcohol will delay your progress or
completely stagnate your processprogress if you if you're
consuming it regularly. When you, when you drink
alcohol, your body is very smartand your body will allocate all
of its resources to metabolize and excrete the alcohol from
(48:28):
your from from your system as quickly as it can.
So when you, when you drink alcohol, especially if you have
anything really more than two, two drinks, you stop building
muscle, you stop burning fat. It tanks your testosterone.
It negatively affects your sleep.
And then how do you feel multiple days?
Multiple. Days it's like.
(48:49):
It throws off your body, it throws off your brain chemistry.
And all the hangover is that is your body's way of telling you
stop treating me like a piece ofshit.
Stop doing that to me. And so just have enough common
sense to listen to your body. I would cut out alcohol.
I don't drink alcohol. I stopped drinking when I was
like probably 28. And when I did that, every
(49:10):
aspect of my life got better. So alcohol and my if you're
truly serious about, you know, health and becoming the best
version of yourself, I would cutit out and I would tell yourself
there's probably a lot better ways to enjoy your life rather
than poisoning yourself. A. 100% I agree with you. 5
foods you can eat for the rest of your life and why?
What would they be? Red meat, eggs, high quality
(49:33):
dairy, potatoes and fruits. Red meat is the highest quality,
most nutrient dense food on earth.
Eggs are a very close second. Dairy is a very close third.
Those are all high in protein, have a complete amino acid
profile. They're complete proteins.
(49:55):
Humans evolved eating them, mostpeople can digest them and
you're basically be be covering all your vitamins and minerals
with those 3 foods. Potatoes, there's a really good
carbohydrate source. It also has a very good nutrient
profile. And then fruits, amazing.
You got fiber and again, your whatever vitamins, minerals
(50:15):
you're not getting from those other 4 foods you can probably
find in fruits, vegetables are totally fine as well.
But if you're asking me top five, those, those are my top
five. Like I could eat those top five
foods and only those five foods for the rest of my life.
And if you did that as well, you'd probably be a very healthy
individual. Top Ten exercises You got 10
exercises you can do for the rest of your life.
(50:38):
What are they? Don't think of exercises as
specific exercises. Think about movements, movement
patterns, movement patterns. I always tell people think about
movement patterns. Don't think about specific
exercise, but it's going to be asquat, A deadlift, a bench
press, or some kind of horizontal push is going to be
(50:58):
overhead press or some kind of vertical push.
It's going to be a vertical pull, like it'd be a strict pull
up or like a lat pull down. You need to have a horizontal
pull as well. That could be a row.
So there's six right there and then some kind of single leg
exercise. So that could be a step up, a
lunge, a split squat. And really I don't even think
(51:20):
you need more than that. OK, if you're basically doing,
if you're doing squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead
press, strict pull ups, strict push ups, strict dips, I forget
rows and you know a single leg exercise, there's nine right
there, give or take. But those are pretty much the
only movement patterns that I incorporate in my own training.
(51:45):
I'm not big on doing isolation movements.
I have done them. You can do them and there's
nothing wrong with them. But never prioritize isolation
exercises over compound exercises and don't
compartmentalize your training. Don't think, get, get, stop
having body part thinking. Get rid of that.
Train your body as a system, because your body really is it's
(52:05):
one interconnected system. And if you strengthen your body
as a system, you're going to getway stronger.
You're going to build way more muscle.
You're going to be way more successful.
That that's actually a really good way to look at it because I
know everyone wants to train like the bis and the Tris or,
you know, whatever the case is. But if you that that's a really
good way to look at it. If you look at your body as a
(52:26):
system, it can grow and develop as a system.
That's that's awesome. Think about what just again, it
all goes back to what gives you the most value for your time.
OK, Hey, and I I really apologize, Max, I got I got I
have a client. He's he's here in the call.
I got AI apologize. I got a run.
No worries, real quick, I'm going to put everything in the
show notes. Where can people find you online
(52:48):
and get in contact with you? They can look me up on YouTube,
my name is Tanner Shuck, or theycan just check out my website.
True Strength dot COWWW dot truestrength.
That's one word. TRUESTRENGT, h.co.
Perfect, perfect man. And like I said, I'll put
(53:10):
everything in the show notes. Thanks guys for listening to the
Low Carb Consultant podcast. We'll catch you guys on the next
one.
All right, guys, we're rolling. So today on the Low Carb
Consultant Podcast, we're joinedby Tanner Shuck, A seasoned
strength coach, former competitive CrossFit athlete and
founder of True Strength. So with over 20 years in the
trenches of strength training, including winning the Dubai
CrossFit Championships in 2014 and 10s of thousands coached at
(00:33):
this point, Tanner blends hardcore physical results with
no fluff, no bullshit sustainable nutrition and
training strategies. He's known for his Straight up
strength and Natty Bolt programs, focusing on
simplicity, fun and measurable progress.
So Tanner, man, it's great to finally meet you and great to
have you on here. Hey, Max, it's an honor to be
(00:56):
here and I, I truly appreciate you inviting me on.
And dude, thank you very much for that, that awesome
introduction. Yeah, well, dude, awesome
introductions are for badass dudes like you.
So maybe before we get I I'm excited to get into the diet,
your diet philosophy, your training philosophy, how you
coach clients, all that good stuff.
(01:17):
Maybe before we go there, can you give the listeners just a
real brief background on yourself?
And I know we were talking aboutthis earlier before we even
started recording, but born in Oklahoma, raised in Alaska, now
you're, you've been in Dubai fora, a number of years.
Can you maybe give the listenersjust a brief background on on
how you got to this point? Yeah, I can.
(01:39):
I'll keep it pretty brief. So basically I've just kind of
played sports my entire life. I grew up playing football since
I was like 8 years old. I played football all the way
through college. I played college football at
Rice University and then my 3 best friends on my team, they
all went to the NFL. So I, I didn't cut it.
I can't, I wanted to play professional football.
(02:00):
I couldn't cut it. So then I just basically did the
next best thing at the time, which was I just got into
competitive CrossFit just cuz I,I just wanted a competitive
outlet. So got into CrossFit and that
just coincidentally brought me out to Dubai because of the
Dubai CrossFit Championship, Dubai Fitness Championship.
So at the time that was the second largest fitness
(02:22):
competition in the world, secondonly to the CrossFit Games.
So I came out in 2013. I did that competition.
I did well enough in that year to where I got offered a job
coaching CrossFit out in Dubai. And then the following year,
2014, I, I, I won the competition and I coach CrossFit
out here in Dubai for over six years that I became just kind of
(02:48):
uninterested or disenchanted with CrossFit.
And so then I just became a, in a personal trainer.
And then I just started focusingmore on social media as well.
So I was kind of, I was a personal trainer, started
focusing on social media. And then I've just gotten out of
personal training. I do online training now, But
that's kind of a pretty quick recap of my my story.
No, I love it that that makes sense.
(03:10):
And if anyone follows you, and Isuggest that they do, whether
it's your content on social media and YouTube, you got a lot
of good content on YouTube. I would say you are, in my
opinion, a big simple movement over flashy movement type of
guy. When did you realize, and I'm
gonna assume here, maybe it was when you were doing CrossFit,
but when did you realize resultscan really come more from
(03:34):
simplicity and not flashy plans?Yeah, I realized that quite
quickly, probably 6 or 12 monthsafter I stopped playing college
football. And then I got, I started
pursuing CrossFit. I I realized that quite quickly
because I came in to CrossFit asquite a seamless transition for
(03:55):
me because I already had a really good foundation of
strength that already lifted, you know, was very competent
with a barbell. And then I got into CrossFit and
I basically had no rhyme or reason or any kind of structure
to my training. I was following like CrossFit
main cider, whatever the popularCrossFit blog programming's of
the time of like 2012, 1314. And then I got worse at
(04:18):
CrossFit. I got weaker.
And so then I pretty quickly hadthe realization that, you know,
doing constantly varied functional exercises, you know,
what high intensity was, in my opinion, just kind of bullshit.
And you need to stop doing CrossFit if you want to get good
at CrossFit and actually start training like more traditional
strength conditioning where you have a lot more structure, you
(04:40):
have more, it's more planning and you just you stick to the
basics. You don't really deviate from
the basics. And then if you want some
variation in your training, basically just get that
variation through your met cons.But you need to stay strong with
basic barbell lifts, basic body weight strength.
So I realized that quite pretty pretty early in my CrossFit
career. Yeah.
(05:02):
And that again, that makes sensein when you're training clients
specifically or where people sign up to work with you,
whether it's in the community orone-on-one.
What do you think is the mistakea lot of people make in your
opinion? Whether it's athletes or someone
just trying to get stronger, build muscle, lose somebody fat,
What? What's the mistake in your
opinion people are making chasing flashy workout programs
(05:25):
over the fundamentals? Yeah.
Well, and I should there's kind of context to that.
And so when I had that, you know, I guess that fundamental
realization was I was trying to compete in CrossFit, all right?
And I think there's definitely distinguish between CrossFit,
you know, I guess the training program for everyday general
population people and then CrossFit as a sport.
(05:48):
So I was doing it for a competitive, you know, a
competitive outlet. All right, Yeah, I think
CrossFit in general, you know, the the brand, the exercise
regimen, I think it's one of thebest things that ever happened
to the fitness industry because it taught everyday general
population people basic barbell movements that put a barbell in
(06:09):
more people's hands than any other exercise regimen, you
know, ever. So there's some good parts about
that. But the biggest mistake that
most people make with their own health and fitness, especially
if they're just general population people, they've never
really, you know, came from any kind of athletic background, is
they don't understand how important it is just to get
(06:33):
stronger at basic foundational human movement patterns.
Specifically like a squat, A deadlift, a bench press, an
overhead press, a strict pull up, a strict push up, you know,
strict dips, some single leg exercises.
Those are just foundational human movement patterns that
should be trained consistently, you know, and, and just get
(06:56):
stronger at those. And I can guarantee you're going
to get way better results strengthening those movement
patterns each and every week. And then you can vary up your
conditioning however you like. And that's the biggest mistake
that people make is they prioritize novelty and variety
over the basics. And that's why you know, a lot
(07:17):
of these other, you know, fitness programs, fitness
programs like you call it CrossFit, F 45, Berry's, Boot
Camp, Orangetheory, doesn't really matter.
All of them work initially for for everyday general population,
people that are untrained, they all work all right.
The problem is, is like none of the programs, they do not
(07:39):
prioritize foundational strength.
They don't prioritize getting stronger at the basics nearly
enough. And so that's, that's the
biggest mistake that that most people make.
Yeah. And I would agree with that too.
So now, like I was telling you before we started recording and
used to own a gym in Las Vegas, I've trained a lot of clients.
And what I typically would see is, you know, new people would
(08:01):
come in, they would see people doing butterfly pull ups and
kipping pull ups and like the muscle UPS on the rings.
And they all want to do the fancy cool looking movements
because you know, they, they, they look cool basically.
But a lot of the times it's like, yo, man, you can't even do
a strict pull up. We, we need to be doing strict
pull ups, strict dips before we're doing like butterfly pull
(08:23):
ups. You know you're just going to
get injured. Absolutely.
They lack. They lack the basic requisite
strength to even do any kind of kipping or dynamic exercise.
All right. And that's why you see a lot of
injuries happen in CrossFit witha lot of kind of untrained or
beginner intermediate trainees because they've never built
(08:46):
that, that foundation of strength that they need to, to,
in order to do those more dynamic movements like the
butterfly pull ups or the kipping, you know, the high
volume kipping. That's a huge mistake.
People, they, they see somethinglooks cool.
Oh, I want to do that. But that's like, you know, when
you're a baby, you got to learn to crawl before you can walk.
You have to learn to walk beforeyou can run.
You have to learn to run before you can Sprint.
(09:08):
And the human body works the same way pretty much for
everything. So you should be able to do a
strict push up before you're doing a ring dip.
You need to be able to do a strict pull up before you're
doing, you know, those butterflypull ups.
It's quite, it's obvious to me, but somewhat doesn't have any,
you know, training background orhas never coached anyone.
You know, it's that's a very easy thing to miss.
(09:31):
Oh, 100%. And on that notion of injuries,
I kind of want to talk about this and get your, your two
cents because I know, you know, based off your content, you've
gone through a lot of different injuries, surgeries, you know,
and they, they injuries are going to happen right when
you're, when you're, and we can talk about, because I want to
get your two cents on this, you know, we can talk about high
(09:52):
risk, high reward movements. When you're doing high risk
movements, obviously, you know, the injuries are going to come
here and there. You know what, what would you
say? Like what's your advice for
people when it comes to trainingand movement when they're
injured or they're in like a recovery position?
(10:12):
Is it? And I'm sure you're probably
going to say it depends on the injury, but are you like one of
the people that say like, hey, man, we got to rest and rest and
recover as much as possible? Or what can we do when we're
injured? What are your thoughts on that?
Yeah, the first my, my initial thought and because I've, I've
had lots of injuries, all right.And it's not because of training
(10:32):
injuries or I was training incorrectly or, or overtraining
or anything like that. It was honestly just, I played
football for like 15 years of mylife.
I had, I had pre-existing injuries before I ever even
started CrossFit. You know, I had banged up
shoulders, I had a torn rotator cuff.
I had was missing a meniscus before I even started CrossFit.
I competed in CrossFit at a veryhigh level with like a pretty
(10:55):
much a, a bone on bone knee and then like a bum shoulder.
I was just able to kind of push through it.
But when it comes to training with injuries or around
injuries, the first thing that Iwould tell people is actually
train around it and never ever feel sorry for yourself.
(11:16):
So the mindset is more importantthan really anything.
And you can always train around an injury.
You should never stop training. Obviously, you don't want to
train through an injury. If you have, you know, if you
just came off an ankle surgery or a shoulder surgery, then you
need to let your ankle or your knee or whichever limb you need
to let that heal. But you still should do
(11:38):
everything you can to train around and continue to move your
body. That will actually facilitate
healing. So I'm actually big on just
having a mindset of gratitude. That's something that many
people overlook. You know, many people will,
they'll get discouraged or they'll feel sorry for
themselves. Oh, I have an injury.
I can't, I can't work out. It's hard.
I'm going to lose all my gains. You shouldn't think like that.
(12:00):
Don't be a victim. Just realize it's temporary.
You need to work around the injury.
You need to rehabilitate it correctly.
You need to have a positive mindset and just like do
everything you can to work around it.
That's really the best piece of advice that I could give anyone
cuz I can speak on that. I've gone through, I've had
this, I'm embarrassed to say it,but I've had 17 orthopedic
surgery, 17 again, it's a lot ofit's just freak accidents and
(12:24):
bad luck, but I've never, ever once stopped training, you know,
after any of my injuries. I just worked around it.
So that's probably the best advice.
And then again, I mean it, it does kind of it's a case by case
basis. I would need to know more about
the individual, their injury andI would, you know, I could tell
them how to best approach their training while they are injured,
but always train around it and continue to train.
(12:47):
Totally, yeah. And I've dealt with my fair
share of injuries too. Like I've got a puffed meniscus
and my knee that that I did running had happened running to
me like a few months ago. So I'm like dealing with that.
And I still still can't squat all the way below, below
parallel. But you know, there are other
(13:07):
things I can do like walking lunges, Bulgarian split squats
to like work the, you know, so it's just like, what can I do?
What can I do that doesn't hurt or cause pain?
And then kind of rotate those exercises into the program so
you can still get some movement in.
Because going back to what you're saying, 100% movement
facilitates blood flow and healing.
(13:30):
So if you just, if you just basically fucking give up
because you broke your leg, it's, it's, it's, that's not the
white right way to go about it. There's a bunch of other things
you can do if you can't, like ifyou got a broken leg or broken
arm, whatever. Yeah, absolutely.
And I mean, in some scenarios, like unfortunately in a lot of
with my injuries, I had to have a surgery to get it fixed, OK,
(13:52):
because I didn't want to never be able to do squats again.
I didn't ever, I didn't not wantto never be able to do an
overhead press. So I had to get my shoulder
taken care of. You know, I worked, I, I, I
trained through it as long as I could until there was just so
much pain and discomfort where Iliterally had to get something
done. But I did everything I could to
work around it and manage it. And so I definitely have
(14:15):
altered, you know, the way I train many, many, on many
different occasions. But sometimes I just had to get
the had to get things fixed. And then I basically let it
heal. I rehabilitated it and then I
got back to to training, you know, it's a proper training
again. But do you always can do
something like if with a meniscus, man, if you can't do
heavy deep back squats for a while, then you manage it.
(14:35):
You do split squats, you can do lunges.
Just like you said, you know, atsome point you might have to
make a decision. I might want to get my meniscus
taken care of. You might want to get it fixed,
you know, and then I have to take off, you know, 3-6 months.
Let it let it heal, and then youcan resume squatting in or you
can go do those exercises that you know previously caused you
pain and discomfort, but you know, you manage it.
That's that's that's the right approach.
(14:57):
Yeah, absolutely agree. I wanted to switch over to
training clients. What are the when?
So when you, because obviously at this point you've trained a
lot of people, you've coached a lot of people.
What are the typical client issues that you see coming in?
I'm sure it's, you know, weight to lose under muscle, maybe bad
eating habits. I'd love to chat with you on
(15:18):
your perspective around diet andthose types of things.
But what are the? What are like the typical client
issues you see when you have someone new coming in?
Yeah, it's the same as probably every every other trainer in the
world that same issues they dealwith most, most general
population people. That's going to be the majority
of your clientele. And most people are grossly
(15:39):
under muscled and probably grossly overweight, you know,
over fat, if that makes sense. Because they've never, they've
never built a foundation of strength.
They've never done proper strength work.
So they don't have a foundation of strength.
And that's what really everyone needs.
Like strength is the platform that really everything else is
built upon. And then, you know, nutrition.
(16:00):
It's really simple. Most people, their entire lives
have most people that are overweight.
I can almost guarantee any overweight, obese fat person,
the reason that they're fat is because they grossly under eat
protein and they grossly overeatlow quality processed foods that
are high in carbs and fats. That's it.
(16:21):
And so if they just have a fundamental mindset shift about
how they eat food and they learnto eat more for purpose and they
eat less for pleasure and they start lifting weights, that's
going to solve 99% of people's problems.
It really is. And I know that's very
simplified and I'm not trying tomake a gross oversimplification
(16:41):
of it, but if you really distillit down, that is, that is
people's fundamental problems. Yeah.
Is there a main, a main thing, one big main change you make
with most people that seem to deliver the biggest bang for the
buck in in in regards to results?
Yeah, it's eat more protein and lift weights.
Yep. That's pretty much, that's
(17:03):
pretty much the answer for almost everybody.
They, they, they grossly under eat protein.
If they just start eating more protein, you know, they're going
to be eating more for purpose. And then if they just start
doing proper strength training where they strengthen
foundational human movement patterns, then they're going to
get stronger. They're going to build muscle,
they're going to burn fat. And if they're eating more
(17:24):
protein, I guarantee they're going to feel more full, more
satiated, and they're going to eat less junk overall.
Yeah, that's those are the conclusions that everyone will
inevitably reach if they get healthy.
Yeah, for sure. And I'm curious in regards to
like males and females because Imean, I've had I've talked to
(17:46):
Doctor Ted Damon about protein, Doctor Nick about protein and I
had Fred Hon on who's like celebrity trainer out in New
York. Really cool dude.
But everyone has their differentthoughts on protein in regards
to requirements, whether it's like 1 LB of protein per gram of
or 1g of protein per pound of body weight or lean mass.
(18:07):
What are your typical? Let's start with the guys first.
What do you typically recommend for guys in regards to protein
intake? How do you go about it?
Is it what they want to weigh, what they're ultimately what
they weigh? Now how do you go about
recommending protein goal for someone?
Yeah, if you do, I'll, I'll giveyou some generalizations on that
and I'm going to tell you now I'm a super high protein
advocate. And So what I tell people, and
(18:28):
people might think this is crazy, but it's really not crazy
and I'll explain it. I tell people to try to get 50%
of their calories from protein. OK, 50% because I know that is
way more than they will get. But if they at least try to get
half their calories from protein, then they will most
likely be getting enough. So if they just get more protein
(18:49):
and like really the minimum requirements, that's what you
hear everyone say, you need to be eating 1g of protein per
pound of body weight. If you actually think about
that, that's like the minimum amount.
OK, So I tell people to go, oh, go above the minimum.
Why would you want to just do the minimum?
I'll always eat at least 200 to 300 grams of protein every day.
And I guarantee that is why I have been able to maintain a
(19:13):
very lean and muscular physique for 20 years.
OK, because I eat a high proteindiet.
It's really that simple. So I tell people, minimum try to
eat 1g per pound of your goal lean body weight.
So if you're 260 lbs and you know 7080 lbs overweight and
your ideal body weight is 180 lbs, eat a minimum of 180 grams
(19:38):
of protein a day. If you eat a little above 180,
that's a good thing. That just means you're eating,
you know, more protein than you probably need, but that means
you're going to have less room in your diet to overeat on carbs
and fats. It's pretty, it's pretty
straightforward in my opinion. And people say, oh, that's way
more protein than you need. But you never, ever hear any
trainers or dietitians or nutritionists say, oh, eating
(20:01):
405 hundred grams of carbohydrates is too much when
the reason that people are fat is because they grossly overeat
carbs and fats, not because theyovereat protein.
So if you just kind of have thatrealization, you know, you think
about it. If you just eat more protein,
the problem with people is they're fat, right?
And the reason they're fat is because they're eating more
calories in their body burns, They're eating in a calorie
(20:24):
surplus. And so if you actually want to
eat less calories, just eat moreprotein.
I know that might sound counterintuitive, but if you
actually think about what I'm saying, that's inevitably what
will happen. If you eat more protein, you're
going to feel so full and so satiated that you will by
default eat less calories and lose weight.
Do you follow me? 1000% I agree with you.
(20:46):
I think I agree with you more than you know.
It's it's 100% I agree with that.
If you prioritize protein, you'll be full, you'll eat some,
you'll eat a lot less of a lot of the carbohydrates and fat,
and you'll be able to adjust your body composition.
And honestly too, like the more lean protein you have, or the
(21:07):
higher protein, but the more lean mass you'll have, the lower
fat mass you'll have 1000%. Yeah.
And if you, if you, I don't evenknow why people would even want
to argue that or say, oh, that'stoo much protein.
You don't need to eat that much protein.
Like if you actually think aboutthat, if your body, it's, it's
incredibly, incredibly difficultfor your body to convert
(21:30):
calories from protein into body fat.
It's known as a process as de Novo lipogenesis.
No one has ever become obese from eating too much protein.
It has never happened. OK, it's incredibly challenging
for your body to actually convert surplus calories of
protein into body fat. It is incredibly easy for your
(21:51):
body to convert surplus caloriesfrom carbs into body fat and
surplus calories from fat into body fat.
Those are that's a very, very easy thing for your body to do.
OK doesn't like it's and you can't do that with protein.
You won't do it with protein. No person has ever gotten fat
from eating too much protein cause no person has ever been
(22:11):
able to maintain a long enough calorie surplus from eating too
many calories of protein to everget fat.
That's never happened. It never will happen.
So that's why I say the simplest, best piece of
nutrition advice I could give anyone.
Eat more protein. That is it.
Eat. More protein and everything will
(22:32):
fall in line after that. That's it.
So you just, and I, I work with a lot of, I've trained a lot of
people. Most people, I'm not trying to
call people, most people just don't have common sense.
They just don't understand it. OK.
And so the easiest way to communicate to people is just
distill information down to the most easiest way to understand
(22:53):
things. So you talk to people like their
three-year olds and that's why you just say eat more protein.
That's really it. And you'll never, ever go wrong
by doing that. 100% And I was telling you earlier, I was, I
was having a big conversation around protein with Doctor Ted
Naman. And he, we, we, he was telling
me about a study that they did with cyclists.
These dudes were eating, it was like a high protein study.
(23:15):
These dudes were eating 300, four, 100 grams of protein in a
day and they were seeing no likeI'll effects, like it wasn't
impacting kidneys. And that's what people when
people say like, oh, you're on ahigh protein diet but your
kidneys can't handle it. Like no, dude, that's bullshit.
That's bullshit. Like the study was like with
cyclists having 400 grams of protein a day.
(23:36):
Nothing was going wrong with them at all.
That's complete bullshit. OK, so high protein diets are
perfectly safe, all right? They've done studies that have
proven high protein diets have no detrimental effects on on
anyone's kidneys. As long as they're a healthy
active individual with no pre-existing renal issues.
Eating more protein is totally fine.
(23:57):
And that blows my mind because people think oh eating so much
protein is hard on your kidneys.But those same people will be
living off low quality processedshit food.
They'll be eating junk, they'll be drinking alcohol.
You know, like they don't think about just the most common sense
things like people are unhealthybecause they're eating low
quality garbage food that no humans ever evolved eating.
(24:19):
So it's like it's, it's mind boggling to me that people want
to argue that a high protein diet is bad for you.
What's bad for you is eating shit.
It's pretty common sense to me. A. 100% on On that note too.
I, I, I pulled a quote that I saw on Instagram from you.
I think he said if the food didn't exist.
(24:40):
I think it was he said if the food didn't exist 100 years ago,
don't eat it right. So how?
How do you 2? 100 years, now 200. 200 years,
yeah, yeah, yeah. That's that's what I think was.
His name? Yeah.
Yeah. So how do you, how do you
balance diet simplicity for a client with long term
sustainability and compliance Meaning like, because I know a
(25:00):
lot and I, I would love to hear how you navigate this with
clients. Because I'm sure a lot of
clients will come in and say, OK, I'm going to eat my protein,
I'm going to eat more eggs, chicken breast, beef, whatever.
But I would assume a lot of the pushback you get from clients is
I have to eat like this forever or for this long.
How do you help them make thingssustainable for the long run?
(25:25):
Yeah, I talk to them like they're stupid, OK.
And so again, it kind of goes back to explaining things to
like a three-year old. And I've said this on numerous
podcasts and I'll, I'll happily share it on yours.
I tell people to follow 3 fundamental nutrition
principles, OK? And you've already said the
(25:45):
first one. So, and I'm fully aware for
context that these are generalizations, these are
blanket statements. But if you follow, if you just
follow these principles and you actually think about what I'm
saying, you will never fail. And so that that principle,
number one, I tell people, if the food did not exist 200 years
ago, do not eat it. Another way to think about that,
(26:09):
just think about how your grandparents, parents, parents
ate. Think about what foods they had
access to in their lifetime. And if the food did not exist in
their lifetime, chances are that's probably not a real food
and you probably should avoid it.
So you eliminate. If you follow that rule, if you
don't eat foods that didn't exist 200 years ago, what you're
doing is you're eliminating all low quality processed packaged
(26:31):
foods. You're not eating foods with a
long ingredient list. You're not eating foods with
chemicals, preservatives, artificial ingredients.
If you're eating foods they comein a package that have
ingredients on it that you don'teven know what those ingredients
are, you probably should not eatthat because I can guarantee you
humans did not evolve eating those processed packaged foods.
(26:52):
So that's principle number one. I told people that if they just
cut out processed junk food, they're going to be way more
successful. Principle number 2 is actually
it's the same thing as principlenumber one.
I'm going to say the same thing in a different way, and that is
if the food did not directly come from an animal or was not
(27:12):
directly grown from the ground, do not eat it.
In other words, you want to be getting the majority of all your
calories from high quality animal foods and high quality
plant foods like fruits, vegetables, potatoes, rice, even
sourdough bread, high quality bread.
Humans have been eating bread for thousands of years.
(27:35):
You know, that's a, that's a good food that humans can eat
and they can digest it just finewithout any, you know, probably
digestive issues if it's a high quality bread.
That's what I tell people. And that's just another way to
think about, damn, if this food didn't come from an animal or it
wasn't grown from the ground, don't eat it.
And it's so that's going to get them to basically eliminate all
the low quality processed junk food and just to focus on real
(27:56):
foods. So that's principle #2 it's
really the same thing as principle number one.
I'm saying the same thing again in a different way, just so
people can understand it and conceptualize it.
I love it. And then the third principle I
have, we've already alluded to that every time you eat
prioritize protein. And if you, if you think about
(28:17):
this very simply, every time youeat, ask yourself, where is the
protein in this meal? All right.
And then I tell people to use the protein test.
I'm not sure if you've ever if you're familiar with a protein
test or not. What is it?
It's, it's very simple. So this is what I use with all
my clients and I've put this outon social media more times than
(28:38):
I can count. Anytime that you think you're
hungry or you're having a craving, you want to eat
something, don't eat anything immediately.
Don't do not just give in to that, that, that, that that
impulse. Ask yourself, all right, am I
actually hungry? And the way you can actually
decipher between true actual hunger versus just some
(28:59):
impulsive bullshit craving is you give yourself a protein test
and you say, all right, right now in this moment when I think
that I'm hungry, am I hungry enough to eat a piece of pure
protein like a piece of chicken breast or a hard boiled egg or a
piece of steak? OK, And if pure protein does not
(29:20):
sound appetizing to you in that moment when you think you're
hungry, you're not actually hungry because I guarantee if
you were truly hungry, you'd be willing to eat a piece of
chicken or a hard boiled egg. All right.
But if it doesn't sound appetizing to you, then you
really don't need to eat anything at all because you're
not actually hungry. So I used protein as a as a way
to tell people, hey, are you really hungry?
(29:41):
Are you willing to eat protein? If you are go eat protein
because we already discussed you're never going to get fat
from eating protein. But if you're not willing to eat
protein, then what's going on isyour, your mind is playing
tricks on you, OK? It's like self sabotage.
And that's what that's what happens to most people, OK?
They eat for pleasure, they eat out of boredom, they eat for
(30:01):
entertainment. Especially in today's society
with, with how food has, you know, the way food is made
today. We're an obesity epidemic,
especially in the United States.More people are fat and sick now
than they ever have been 100 years ago.
People had never even heard of obesity.
No one even knew what obesity was because there weren't fat
(30:21):
people everywhere. So if you just kind of think
about it like that, it's to me again, it's, it's obvious, it's
common sense, but most people have never have never thought
about it like that. If you actually just got it from
a logical, you know, perspectiveand evolutionary perspective, it
makes a lot of sense. Oh, it makes a it makes a ton of
sense. And now just you explaining the
(30:44):
protein test, that makes all thesense in the world to me.
Like if I think that I'm hungry,right?
Of course, of course you want toeat 5 Oreo cookies.
Who wouldn't want to eat 5 Oreo cookies?
But if I asked myself, OK, couldI slam 5 hard boiled eggs right
now? No, that sounds gross.
(31:06):
Then I'm not really hungry. You know what I mean?
And when you were, when you werewalking through that?
I, I kind of do this with my daughter.
I have a nine year old son and asix year old daughter.
And she'll come to me 'cause I work from home, she'll come to
me sometimes during the day and say, Dad, I want a snack.
And I'll be like, no, like let'sgo to the fridge and I'll cut
and I'll take out the bag of hard boiled eggs and I'll say
(31:27):
we're going to have two hard boiled eggs.
And she's like, no, I don't wantthose.
And I'm like, then you're not hungry.
You know what I mean? You want this snack, You want
this snack, but if you're not willing to eat these two hard
boiled eggs, you're not really hungry.
So we're going to hold off for alittle bit.
You know, some people might freak out like, oh, you're
starving your daughter, but no, fuck that, man.
Like then she's not really hungry.
She just wants a snack. No, what you're doing is being a
(31:48):
good father. You're actually conditioning
your daughter to eat for purpose.
That's what you're doing. In terms of like client success
stories and I kind of want to get into like your in a little
bit. I want to get into like your
day-to-day. I know you're super busy, but
how are you training? How are you eating now?
I'm sure people would love to know kind of like what your
day-to-day looks like. But going back to some like
(32:09):
client success story stuff, is there one standout coaching
success story that that you tellpeople about or that pops up in
your mind in regards to dude, this guy lost this amount of
weight or this guy saw these results or he got this strong in
this amount of time? Is there any particular client
that was Dude that was crazy. Man, I've had, honestly, I don't
(32:31):
know if there's like anyone thatreally like just jumps out to me
immediately. And I don't, I, I say this with
absolute humility, but I've, I've helped a lot of people, you
know, if they're, if they're willing to help themselves and
they're willing to kind of adopt, you know, a different
mindset where they just learnt to eat mainly for purpose and
they, they look at food as fuel,not just, they don't look at
(32:51):
food for, for pleasure or entertainment.
That alone changing your relationship with food can be
life changing for people. And so, you know, once I just
tell people to like, use those nutrition principles, prioritize
protein, eat only real foods that have always existed.
Like I get clients amazing results as long as they're, as
(33:12):
long as they're bought in and, and, and they will, they will
follow that advice. I've had man, dude, hundreds of
clients like completely transform.
And that just comes down to to the lifting weights, strength
training, building muscle, eating more for purpose and
getting in enough protein. So I, one particular client, I
don't really have anyone like I can, I think of my one client,
(33:33):
John, he's 50 years old. He actually just had his first
kid as a 50 year old man. And this guy's 100% lifetime
natural. He's still deadlifts over £500.
He can still bench press 315 forfive reps all right.
And all he does is he, he actually kind of follows a, a
(33:54):
modified CrossFit program because he came from a CrossFit
background. He liked, he liked CrossFit, but
he then he just, he stopped seeing results with it.
And so then he got back more into traditional strength and
conditioning and prioritizing strength.
But he's, he's an amazing guy. Like when I started working with
him three years ago, he was 46 or 47 and he wasn't in terrible
(34:15):
shape, but he wasn't in great shape by any means.
He had a good gut, you know, he could probably do maybe 6 strict
pull ups. Now he can probably do 20.
He deadlift more than he's ever been able to deadlift as a 50
year old man. He can pull £500.
He's just dude, he's just a very, very healthy guy.
Like chronologically he's 50 years old, but biologically he's
(34:39):
healthier, stronger, fitter thanprobably most 20 year olds.
That's one guy that kind of jumps out to me.
But I mean that's it's, I have lots of clients similar to that.
You know, so it's, and, and that's great too in terms of
like, like who doesn't want to be the 50 year old dude that can
(34:59):
do those things? Who doesn't want to be that?
Like that's that's exactly what my game plan is 1000%.
Good. And that's, that's awesome.
It should be. That's mine.
Too. It should be everyone's goal to
be honest with you. Why wouldn't you want that?
Who wouldn't want that? I had a question in terms of
your day-to-day. What does a typical, typical day
look like for you right now in terms of what you eat, when you
(35:20):
eat, when you fit in your training?
What does that look like? Sure, I usually wake up probably
around 5:00 or 5:30 AM 'cause I I work a lot, but I usually
start first thing I want to do is get out of bed and I'll eat a
high protein breakfast. I try to get in 70 to 100 grams
of protein for my first meal of the day and that sets me up
(35:43):
really nicely because I might not eat again until 12 or two or
three PM sometimes. Can that that keeps me full and
satiated for a good, you know, 6to 8 hours.
So my typical breakfast is goingto be 3 or 4 whole eggs.
I might throw in some additionalegg whites just to get more
protein. And then I personally really
enjoy fat free Greek yogurt because it's basically just it's
(36:03):
more pure protein. It's a high quality protein and
then I'll have some kind of carbohydrate that it's usually
like sourdough breads, like toast.
I'll have toast with my eggs andthen I'll have like that kind of
that I have Greek yogurt and I mix it with some orange juice.
All right. So it's like I have like a
smoothie. I might throw in some like
blueberries with that. I'll drink a big glass of water
(36:24):
and you know, one or two cups ofcoffee and then I'm good to go.
Then I'll work usually for four to six hours, try to get as try
to be as productive as I can because I'm most productive in
the morning. Most people are.
And then I work out around midday, somewhere between
usually 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM. And that will always consist of
usually some kind of strength training or it might just be
(36:47):
conditioning that day. I usually now the way I train
because I, I work out probably six to seven days a week,
depending on how I'm feeling. But I'll, I'll only lift weights
three to four days a week. And then so the days that I'm
lifting weights, I'm, I'm doing basic compound lifts and I'm
always focusing on getting stronger, whether it's at my
deadlift, my squat, my bench press, my overhead press.
(37:08):
And then I fit in, you know, strict pull ups, weighted pull
ups, strict dips, you know, on those upper days or lower days,
or sometimes I'll have total body days, depending, depending
on what I'm doing. The days I'm not lifting
weights, I'll sit right there onmy rowing machine or on my, my
assault bike and I'll just get after it and I'll just do very
simple, you know, conditioning. Because I've discovered that
(37:31):
nothing really offers me more value for my time as far as
improving my overall aerobic fitness.
Then, you know, doing intense rowing intervals or intense, you
know, assault bike intervals. I don't do nearly as much, you
know, random workouts as I used to when I was competing in
CrossFit 'cause I just didn't really feel like I was getting
much value out of it. And it was kind of taking an
(37:52):
unnecessary toll on my body and my joints.
I'm, I'm 37 right now. I'm not not trying to go be the
fittest man in the world anymoreand I don't I really I'm the
kind of guy I need structure andprogression.
Everything I want everything that I do to be objective and
measurable. And like I know if I'm getting
(38:13):
stronger, if I'm lifting more lifting, lifting heavier weights
on my squats and my deadlifts ormy presses, I know that I'm
getting fitter if I'm able to row 2000 meters faster than I
was last month. Does that make sense?
A. 1000%. I do strength training where I
prioritize compound movements. I only do a probably about 10
exercises total. And then I do all my
(38:35):
conditioning on a rower or a salt bike.
Running is good too. Running is fantastic.
Sprinting is incredible. I personally don't do that
because I've had some injuries that prevent me from running.
So I just, I do what I can and Ijust, I do it vigorously.
You know, I train with, you know, with, with the right kind
of intensity. Yeah.
(38:55):
And I know you were colluding tothis a little bit earlier, but
going back in terms of talking about competing in CrossFit and
having a structured workout program, competing in CrossFit
or competing for the CrossFit Games, it's that's completely
different because that type of training will requires more of
like ready for ready for anything type of programming,
(39:16):
more randomized, right? But not a lot of people are
trying to compete. Maybe you have some some
athletes in in the gym right nowthat you're coaching that are
trying to compete for the games or, or whatever the case is good
for them. But in terms of general people,
general people don't need to be doing constantly varied workout
(39:39):
like work workouts. They need a structured workout
program that incorporates constantly varied functional
movements performed at a high intensity 'cause that that
structure is actually gonna get you results.
And I think that's what you're what you're saying.
Yeah, you would. Yeah, precisely.
I think you and I are saying thesame thing.
We might be saying a little bit differently, but we're saying
the same thing. And just I always think about
(40:03):
everything I do with my clients and myself.
I ask myself what is going to give me the most value for my
time, What is going to give me the best return on my training
investment And the answer to that inevitably.
Ends up getting stronger and then doing some form of
cardiovascular activity conditioning you know that you
(40:26):
enjoy doing. OK, so the way I train and the
way I train most of my clients, I give them probably 75 to 80%
dedicated progressive strength work and I'll give them 20 to
25% kind of shorter, more intense conditioning or I'll
just tell them to go for a walk.If people don't like doing
conditioning, if they don't wantto do CrossFit workouts or they
(40:47):
don't want to do rowing intervals, good for I don't tell
them to do that because the truthfully, it doesn't matter
what you do, just what matters. You probably do something to
kind of, you know, train your system or to, you know, increase
your your physical activity level.
Getting stronger is really the most important thing because
that's what preserves your muscle mass.
And that's really the most important thing as far as
(41:09):
overall health and longevity is staying strong and preserving
your muscle. You don't do that doing 100
burpees over a box, OK, You preserve your muscle.
You preserve your muscle by strength training, lifting
weights, and then do whichever form of cardiovascular activity
that you enjoy doing. So you stick with your program
(41:31):
so your training is sustainable.And a lot of people, they're
gonna, they'll discover this if they haven't discovered it
already, the longer they follow kind of these exercise programs
like CrossFit, it could be Barry's boot camp again, it
could be F45 or anything like that.
They will get results initially.And any form of physical
(41:52):
activity or any form of exerciseis better than not than no
exercise for sure. But if you think about it, how I
think about it is like what actually gives you the most
value and the best return on your investment?
That's strength training. And then I personally, like I
said, I enjoy doing, you know, intense rowing intervals,
intense assault bike intervals, because that's just what it
(42:13):
gives me the best return on on, on, on my time.
But I don't tell people they have to do that, but I do.
I insist that people lift weights to get stronger because
I know that's going to improve the overall quality of their
life, their health, their longevity the most.
And then man, just do whatever, do whatever kind of exercise or
cardio that you enjoy doing that, that that's completely up
(42:34):
to you. That's personal preference.
Absolutely, 100% agree. And just so the listeners know,
I just wanted to do a quick timecheck here.
Just so everyone knows, Tanner'sgot a a client call that he's
got to jump to. I've got us about 9 or 10 more
minutes. Does that sound about right for
you? Yes, Sir.
OK. So I was going to go into some
rapid fire question Q&A here, ifyou will, but I got AI had a
(42:56):
couple questions here before I kind of get into the some of the
rapid fire stuff. And this is going to tie back to
what you were saying around prioritizing strength.
What would you say like if someone's going through like a
plateau, whether it's a strengthplateau, right?
Whether it's their bench, squat,deadlift, like what would you
say are the two exercises that are absolutely non negotiable
(43:19):
and why that can help them breakthrough any sort of a
plateau? Again, this is a generalization
and This is why it's case by case.
But let's let's I'll answer thisquestion under the assumption
that it is a healthy able bodiedindividual with no pre-existing
injuries or limitations. And that answer is very simple.
(43:41):
It's going to be some kind of squat variation and some kind of
deadlift variation. Those are the the 2 best main
compound exercises that you can do that allow you to lift the
most weight through the largest range of motion that can be
progressively overloaded for a very long period of time.
(44:04):
Meaning they are trainable. So it would be a squat and a
deadlift. And also, if you just think
about that in the terms of living your, your life outside
of the gym, every human, every person, they need to have the
fundamental ability in the fundamental strength to be able
to stand up from a chair, to getout of bed, to walk upstairs, to
(44:26):
be able to pick a heavy object off the ground.
Standing up on the chair. That is a squat.
That's all the squat is, your ability to stand up, picking up
a heavy object off the ground, that is a deadlift.
Everyone needs those fundamentalabilities.
So a squat and a deadlift are really the the two.
(44:46):
If I could only do 2 exercises for the rest of my life, it
would probably be a squat or a deadlift.
And then it would either probably be a a, it'd probably
be a strict pull up. That would be all the one that I
would that I would give people like those are the those are the
two exercises that offer you themost value that are gonna tell
your body to maintain, preserve as much muscle mass as possible.
(45:11):
All right, And then a pull up, apush up or a dip.
Those are very, very important as well.
Because if you have a good levelof relative strength, that means
you're able to move your body weight, body weight strength.
If you can do pull ups or 15 pull ups, I can guarantee you
you're not going to be fat, all right?
And that means you're going to be healthy.
(45:31):
So if you can squat, if you havestrong legs and you can do a
pull up, that means you're goingto be strong and lean.
If you are strong and lean, chances are you're going to be a
healthy individual. Yeah, makes perfect sense.
And then real quick in regards to like your coaching, because I
want the listeners to be able toreach out to you, but kind of
understand the two different areas in which they can work
(45:54):
with you. Because I think you offer both
community driven programming andcustom one-on-one.
What makes an individual a better fit for like a structured
program versus needing full customization from?
You it really just depends on the individual and what level of
coaching they want, how much support, communication,
accountability they want. I do, I have like basically, you
(46:18):
know, training subscriptions that really anyone can follow
their, their pre written programs that prioritize basic
foundational strength, squats, deadlifts, presses, pull ups,
rows, dips, bench press, things like that.
And if you just follow any of those programs and you're a
healthy able bodied person, you can make, you know, tremendous
(46:39):
progress. If you wanted custom coaching,
you know, that is where we, I, Ispent a lot more time with my
clients. All right, I, I designed
completely personalized programsfor them and I spend a lot more
time with them. I actually coach them, you know,
with online, they have to send videos, I'm giving them feedback
every single week. And that, that higher level of
(47:00):
coaching people generally do getbetter results because they're
actually getting coached and they're everything is
personalized for them. People don't need that.
It's more of a want rather than a need.
So I do both. I spend most of my time on, you
know, my, my more my custom coaching.
Just it's a obviously a much larger demand of my time and
I'm, I'm communicating and speaking with my clients,
(47:21):
checking in with them on, you know, a weekly basis or
day-to-day basis. So those are the two options.
But if I was going to tell anyone, if this is the first
time you've ever heard about me or, or even wanted to know any
more anything else about me, just go look me up on YouTube
and consume few of my YouTube videos and you will quickly
discover what I'm about. That's what I would tell people.
(47:45):
Yeah, before we wrap up here, I got some rapid fire questions
here for you. Feel free to elaborate on any of
these, whatever the case is. But real quick then, thoughts on
alcohol? Cut it out.
That's the single greatest thingyou could do for your life.
Like alcohol, if you actually look at it, it is a poison.
(48:07):
It's a toxin and alcohol will delay your progress or
completely stagnate your processprogress if you if you're
consuming it regularly. When you, when you drink
alcohol, your body is very smartand your body will allocate all
of its resources to metabolize and excrete the alcohol from
(48:28):
your from from your system as quickly as it can.
So when you, when you drink alcohol, especially if you have
anything really more than two, two drinks, you stop building
muscle, you stop burning fat. It tanks your testosterone.
It negatively affects your sleep.
And then how do you feel multiple days?
Multiple. Days it's like.
(48:49):
It throws off your body, it throws off your brain chemistry.
And all the hangover is that is your body's way of telling you
stop treating me like a piece ofshit.
Stop doing that to me. And so just have enough common
sense to listen to your body. I would cut out alcohol.
I don't drink alcohol. I stopped drinking when I was
like probably 28. And when I did that, every
(49:10):
aspect of my life got better. So alcohol and my if you're
truly serious about, you know, health and becoming the best
version of yourself, I would cutit out and I would tell yourself
there's probably a lot better ways to enjoy your life rather
than poisoning yourself. A. 100% I agree with you. 5
foods you can eat for the rest of your life and why?
What would they be? Red meat, eggs, high quality
(49:33):
dairy, potatoes and fruits. Red meat is the highest quality,
most nutrient dense food on earth.
Eggs are a very close second. Dairy is a very close third.
Those are all high in protein, have a complete amino acid
profile. They're complete proteins.
(49:55):
Humans evolved eating them, mostpeople can digest them and
you're basically be be covering all your vitamins and minerals
with those 3 foods. Potatoes, there's a really good
carbohydrate source. It also has a very good nutrient
profile. And then fruits, amazing.
You got fiber and again, your whatever vitamins, minerals
(50:15):
you're not getting from those other 4 foods you can probably
find in fruits, vegetables are totally fine as well.
But if you're asking me top five, those, those are my top
five. Like I could eat those top five
foods and only those five foods for the rest of my life.
And if you did that as well, you'd probably be a very healthy
individual. Top Ten exercises You got 10
exercises you can do for the rest of your life.
(50:38):
What are they? Don't think of exercises as
specific exercises. Think about movements, movement
patterns, movement patterns. I always tell people think about
movement patterns. Don't think about specific
exercise, but it's going to be asquat, A deadlift, a bench
press, or some kind of horizontal push is going to be
(50:58):
overhead press or some kind of vertical push.
It's going to be a vertical pull, like it'd be a strict pull
up or like a lat pull down. You need to have a horizontal
pull as well. That could be a row.
So there's six right there and then some kind of single leg
exercise. So that could be a step up, a
lunge, a split squat. And really I don't even think
(51:20):
you need more than that. OK, if you're basically doing,
if you're doing squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead
press, strict pull ups, strict push ups, strict dips, I forget
rows and you know a single leg exercise, there's nine right
there, give or take. But those are pretty much the
only movement patterns that I incorporate in my own training.
(51:45):
I'm not big on doing isolation movements.
I have done them. You can do them and there's
nothing wrong with them. But never prioritize isolation
exercises over compound exercises and don't
compartmentalize your training. Don't think, get, get, stop
having body part thinking. Get rid of that.
Train your body as a system, because your body really is it's
(52:05):
one interconnected system. And if you strengthen your body
as a system, you're going to getway stronger.
You're going to build way more muscle.
You're going to be way more successful.
That that's actually a really good way to look at it because I
know everyone wants to train like the bis and the Tris or,
you know, whatever the case is. But if you that that's a really
good way to look at it. If you look at your body as a
(52:26):
system, it can grow and develop as a system.
That's that's awesome. Think about what just again, it
all goes back to what gives you the most value for your time.
OK, Hey, and I I really apologize, Max, I got I got I
have a client. He's he's here in the call.
I got AI apologize. I got a run.
No worries, real quick, I'm going to put everything in the
show notes. Where can people find you online
(52:48):
and get in contact with you? They can look me up on YouTube,
my name is Tanner Shuck, or theycan just check out my website.
True Strength dot COWWW dot truestrength.
That's one word. TRUESTRENGT, h.co.
Perfect, perfect man. And like I said, I'll put
(53:10):
everything in the show notes. Thanks guys for listening to the
Low Carb Consultant podcast. We'll catch you guys on the next
one.
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