June 18, 2025 • 34 mins
Transformation begins with strength—not just physical power, but the strength that reshapes your entire identity. When you commit to building muscle, you're embarking on a journey that changes how you look, feel, and carry yourself through the world.
This episode breaks down the five essential keys that unlock true physical transformation. We start with nutrition—the foundation that can deliver results even without exercise. You'll learn practical approaches to protein intake, meal frequency, and portion control that support muscle growth without complicated dieting rules. The simple truth? If you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, you're probably not really hungry.
Consistency emerges as the powerful second key, where the simple act of showing up—even for just 20 minutes when life gets hectic—creates unstoppable momentum. I share the "don't sit down" technique that's helped countless clients overcome the initial resistance to working out, and the spilled milk metaphor that perfectly illustrates how to handle inevitable slip-ups without derailing your progress.
Through progressive overload, recovery practices, and injury prevention strategies, you'll discover a sustainable approach to strength building that compounds over time. The real magic happens when these physical practices align with your deeper purpose—your "why." When motivation fades, discipline carries you forward, defined as choosing what you want most over what you want now.
The benefits extend far beyond aesthetics—improved memory, enhanced sleep quality, greater energy, and increased longevity all stem from consistent strength training. Ready to become someone people barely recognize in 8-12 months? It starts with these five keys and your unwavering commitment to transformation.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you're a driven, active person who wants to reach
and pursue a higher qualitylife with some ambition, then
guess what this podcast is foryou.
This is the Driven AthletePodcast.
All right, y'all got a reallygood topic this morning, because
I get a lot of questions forhow to build strength, like what
are the keys to buildingstrength?
(00:21):
Getting stronger, putting onmuscle mass, like you want to
lay down muscle tissue, justgetting down it's getting
stronger, right, and ultimatelywhat we see with that is there's
other things that trickle inthe life with that too.
Um, I mean, your physique looksbetter, um, you feel more
energetic, you feel better, youfeel more confident, um, your
clothes fit better, um, and youjust feel overall better sense
(00:43):
of yourself, like, of just likefeeling more, like I said, more
confident.
You know, at least that's whatI get from it too, you can carry
yourself in a different way.
Do that long enough over a longenough time horizon, oftentimes
, like for people that reallystick to it for a long time,
like I'm talking like at leasteight months, right, maybe like
a year of just consistency.
(01:04):
You're like a different person.
People don't even recognize you.
Months, right, maybe like ayear of just consistency.
You're like a different person.
People don't even recognize youanymore.
Right, carry yourself different.
You're interested in differentthings.
You're not doing the samethings that you used to do.
He's not really interested inthe things that used to be
interesting to you, and it'sjust a lot of areas in your life
.
It's just interesting how themomentum can carry into
different areas, but anyway.
So what are the five keys?
What are the five keys in myopinion, from what I've seen in
(01:27):
my own anecdotal training, thesuccesses I've seen personally
in my life when I've gottenimprovements in my strength, and
then the patients that we workwith that, when they actually
get their pain better and thenthey start strengthening and
getting more into fitness.
What are the key success forthem that we found?
So here are the five keys.
(01:49):
The first one, in my opinion,that you will get results, no
matter what, even if you just dothis by itself, is nutrition.
This is I can't overstate thislike what you consume and put in
, put in your body consistentlyfor your nutrition is the most
influential thing for somebody'shealth trajectory.
Wellness, all that stuff.
You have to support enoughcaloric intake and specifically
(02:12):
protein.
You have to have enough proteinto support the growth.
All right.
If you're trying to lay downnew muscle tissue and get
stronger, the protein intake isreally going to help support
that in the building blocks forgetting muscle strength.
We also I mean you also needother aspects of nutrition.
You got to lock in yournutrition.
A person needs to focus onquality.
(02:36):
I mean vegetables and fruit,appropriate carbohydrates,
because you need carbs.
You can't not eat carbs, right,and that I mean I'm not a
nutritionist, it's more of ahobby of mine, but I'm in an
interested hobby, right, aneducated hobby, I guess.
Things like quinoa I don't haterice, like brown and white rice
, and then I mean everyone'sdifferent, right, but I'm just
(02:56):
saying that those are options.
And then enough appropriate fat, which would be like avocados,
nuts, olive oil and I meanpeanut butter with oil in it
sometimes can be helpful forthat.
But all those things kind ofcombined, that all nutrition
package is, I think, the mostimportant thing.
If somebody were to lock intheir nutritional habits, all
(03:19):
right, they would see resultsand improvements in their
physique and the way that theyfeel without doing anything else
, and they would look like adifferent over a period of six
months.
Look like a different person.
The other big key that I'vesuggestions wise that I've heard
from experts.
Usually people get in troublewith portion sizes.
Just shrink the portion sizesand an example would be like for
(03:43):
like at every meal, right, andthen eat more frequently.
So have like five meals in aday.
A meal would be like a greekyogurt with nuts as a snack in
the afternoon before dinner.
Would be like one of your meals, all right.
So it would be like in themorning, have some whole eggs,
like organic whole eggs.
I do a little bit of cheese inmy eggs, I like cheese, and then
(04:04):
some kind of a carb you knowlike.
If it's like a whole wheat, Ido a little bit of cheese in my
eggs, I like cheese, and thensome kind of a carb If it's like
a whole wheat toast or like anoat bread toast with like an
avocado spread or something likethat.
So you're getting the fat fromthe avocado, the egg protein and
then the carb with the wholewheat, whole oat bread.
But, like I said, everyone'sdifferent.
If you have differentpathologies, different makeup
for yourself, it's unique foryou, all right.
(04:25):
Next one, let's say then you geta workout in, all right, you
get exercise, and then afteryour workout.
You have a protein shake.
I throw some fruit in there.
I throw frozen fruit in myprotein shake and like a little
bit of vegetables, like frozenbroccoli.
You can't even taste it, itjust adds, it makes them more
cold, it just makes it colderLike a smoothie, right, like a
cold smoothie.
And then I put like at least 30grams of protein and that would
(04:49):
be like your second meal, allright.
Third meal would be your lunch.
And this is me.
I don't know if I'm weird, butI usually have the same thing
for lunch every day.
I just don't care.
I enjoy eating for sure andgood food.
I'm just the kind of personwhere I can have the same thing
every day.
My goal with eating is to getthe right nutritional stuff in,
(05:09):
and if it tastes good, likethat's a well as a bonus.
But I'm not really eating it totaste good, um.
So for lunch I have, um, frozengreen beans, all right.
And then I'll have like, ifit's like quinoa with like
avocado mashed up inside of it,um, I'll have like, uh, organic
chicken tenders, chicken breastor something like that, or
(05:30):
chicken nuggets, like organicchicken nugs from a Costco I'm a
Costco guy, I mean I buy inbulk, um, and then, uh, an apple
, and I'll have a Greek yogurtwith nuts, um, and then that
would be like my lunch, allright, and I'll throw some hot
sauce in there or something.
Occasionally.
Even then I'm like I just gotto get it down, you know, let's
eat, I got stuff to do, you know.
And then the fourth meal wouldbe like a protein bar, or if I
(05:54):
don't have my Greek yogurt nutswith my lunch, then I'll have
that later for a snack, or likea handful of fruit and some nuts
or something like that, likeraw almonds or raw walnuts, um,
or maybe it's a peanut butter on, like like organic peanut
butter.
Um, on, uh, like some crackersor something like that.
As long as they're not like, Imean like, or get like good
crackers, right, just like alittle snack.
(06:14):
And then for dinner, um, samething that I had for lunch I'll
have like quinoa with avocadoand a chicken, or I'll cycle
meats and then I'll crushvegetables with that.
So vegetables would be likebroccoli, green beans, brussels
sprouts oh man, I'm drawing ablank Standard of spinach, All
(06:37):
right, so like a spinach salador something like that.
And oftentimes I find myselfthis is me, I'm weird, I got
three kids.
I'm running a business, I wantto exercise.
I got stuff, I got a houseproject I got to finish and I
want to get to bed early becauseI got to get up early.
I just eat the spinach raw.
I just get it out of the binand I just start eating it.
I just eat it.
I don't put it in a bowl, Ijust eat it.
(06:58):
I'm like I just want to getthis down.
I know it's good for me, um,but I'm usually my kids are
running around and throwingstuff around.
I got to make sure they don'thurt the baby and like make sure
that they're not falling downthe stairs, like we'll turn the
leaving sinks on and faucets andthen like throwing toilet paper
, like all that stuff.
I'm just like we're justcrushing food and getting out of
there.
You know, um, but that's just ayeah, so that that's like the
(07:20):
meal, but kind of a schedulethat we'll be on, and then I get
to bed.
You know, I've also heard thatit's a good idea for sleep
quality to not eat like twohours before you go to bed, so
that way all the blood isn'trushing to your system, your
digestive system, and rather itcan stay able to be dispersed
around your body and for yourbrain, where the brain recovery
is really important for sleep,for like clearing out trash
(07:42):
proteins, like amyloid plaquesand neurofibrillate tangles is
what I've heard, but anyway I'mnot going to get into that,
that's another podcast.
So all that nutrition that'slocking in your nutrition.
And my question would beanother one is like if someone
feels hungry, like all right,cool, if you're hungry, here's
an apple, have that.
And if the response is likewell, I mean I don't want to eat
(08:03):
that an apple, have that.
And if the response is like,well, I mean I don't want to eat
that, then the answer would beyou're probably not hungry.
That's a tough one to hear.
It's like if you're not hungryenough to eat an apple, then
you're not hungry.
Imagine if you were like on ahike, if you've never been on a
hike before, um, or like somekind of excursion, and you
haven't eaten all day and you'vebeen active all day.
It's hot, you're tired and youget like the leaders or whatever
(08:25):
is like.
Here you packed your own lunch,man, I think you'll eat
anything.
Right, like I'm just hungry.
I'm like I'm going to peanutbutter and jelly sandwich dry, I
don't care, like I'm orwhatever, it is right, kale
chips Sounds good, I'm justhungry.
That's what means to be hungry.
Right, like in the UnitedStates of America, everything's
so plentiful, which is a greatthing.
We just don't.
We forget that, you know.
But anyway, if you're nothungry enough to eat an apple,
(08:47):
you're not hungry.
Shrink the portion sizes andthat's going to be two good
rules of thumb to kind of guideyour nutrition.
And it's going to be tough tobreak habits and also what your
body is used to.
But once you get some momentumand that's going to be the next
one we'll talk about isconsistency.
But once you get that momentumand that's going to be the next
one I talk about is consistency.
But once you get that momentum,it's a lot easier to stay on
(09:07):
track.
And then, reverting back tothings you used to do if it's
like just snacking or eatingcookies and whatever, because
it's all good, it just won'tlook good Like it'll be like ah,
I just don't want to eat thatright now.
That's not my, that is.
Yeah, I'm not in the mood,right.
Or if I do, I just feel bad.
I just don't feel good if I eatthat stuff.
So it's also a good negativereinforcement to not want it
(09:28):
again.
And then you stay justconsistent and what's the
ultimate goal?
That's the other thing you haveto lock in your why before all
this too.
We'll talk about that at theend.
That's the overarching thing.
But anyway, that would be likelocking in nutrition, just ideas
that I've had.
But it's not going to feel good, it's going to be uncomfortable
, because you're not used toshrinking portion sizes.
You might be a little hungry,but you're not going to die.
(09:50):
If you're a little bit hungry,as in like I could have seconds
or thirds or whatever just stopand you'd be a little bit hungry
.
It sucks, but that's kind ofthe thought, because you're
re-educating your body to beokay with smaller portion sizes
and then eating more frequently,all right.
The second thing is consistency.
So the first one is locking innutrition.
(10:12):
The second one is locking injust staying consistent, just
showing up.
That's just get off the couchand put your shoes on something
I tell myself frequently if I'mlike working, I got, I got a
bunch of stuff I got to do Don'tsit down, just put your shoes
on.
Standing up, you switch yourgym shoes on and just start.
Don't even look at your look atyour phone, don't even look at
(10:33):
your computer, cause as soon asI do one thing, like one email
or one task I got to knock out,it turns into like 15 and I'm
like, well, now I'm 25 minuteslate, I'm like I don't have time
Right Squandered.
Well, just stand to keep, stay,don't sit down, put your shoes
on with standing up and juststart.
Just get on the bike, juststart.
That seems the best way toconsistently to be show, just to
(10:55):
show up.
That's all you gotta do is justshow half you know, I say half
the battle, just showing up.
I think like 75% of the battleis just showing up, cause once
you start, then it's like, ohyeah, now I, now I want to get
through my workout, right, um,you have to slip up.
I saw this, this cool thing,like I heard a good metaphor.
(11:15):
It was like, let's say, youhave a slip up, you miss a
couple of days in a row andyou're like I ate crappy on the
weekend.
Well, my all is lost, might aswell.
Just, uh, do whatever I wantnow, because everything is lost.
It was just a couple of days.
Someone isn't going to get fator out of shape by missing a
week or eating poorly for acouple of days in a row.
They had July 4th, barbecue,memorial Day, whatever.
Three days in a row of like noteating amazing and overeating.
(11:38):
Right, drinking.
You're not going to get fatfrom like one binge like that,
all right, the key is just toget back on the horse and just
show up again and it's okay.
Right, I've cause I've the samething happened to me.
I feel guilty, I feel like allis lost.
I'm a slob, like I'm weak, likeI can't believe I let that
happen.
Well, now I'm off the train,right slide.
(12:00):
Well, slip ups like that happen.
They're going to happen.
I would expect them to happenand, if anything, you could plan
for them to happen.
So it was like this was part ofthe plan.
Right, because everything'smoderation.
In my opinion, 80-20 rule, 90-10rule, would be aggressive,
80-20 rule being like 80% of thetime I eat well and work out
well, 20% of the time I kind ofjust let it loose and I live,
gotta live life.
(12:20):
Or 90% of the time you'regetting after it and 10% of the
time you're letting loose andgetting after it, you're having
fun and just living life.
But if there's a slip up, themetaphor would be like imagine
if you're pouring milk in a cup.
You have a whole jug and you'repouring a little bit of milk in
a cup just for a little drinkand you spill a little bit.
(12:41):
That's the slip up.
Now what do you do?
Do you say all is lost and youpour the whole jug out on the
counter and spill all the restof the milk out Because you
spilled a little bit thattriggered the whole rest of the
jug to be spilled out?
That would be extremely idiotic.
Like in the milk situation, whynot just put the jug down, put
(13:03):
the cap on, you take a napkin ora rag and just wipe up the
drips that you happen to spill alittle bit and just stay the
course?
That would be the mostadvantageous and most prudent
thing to do, right?
So anyway, I love that.
I was like as you spill alittle milk.
Now what are you going to do?
Pour out the whole rest of thejug just because you spilled a
little bit of milk out, likeeverybody?
(13:25):
Relax, just put your shoes on,stop standing up, don't sit down
, close the milk jug, wipe upthe drips and just got.
Just show up for anotherworkout.
That would be like part of theconsistency and then, over time,
um, you get momentum andsomething else that helps helps
with momentum If you are busy.
Cause that happens is what Itell myself.
Hey, kyle, if you're busy, ithappens and you have like 30
(13:47):
minutes remaining of like thetime that was allotted for this
workout before you have to doother things or you have a
meeting or something like that.
Still, just work out.
Work out for 20 minutes, it'sokay, that's better than not
working out, it's better thannot doing anything.
Just put your shoes on, get onthe bike and start getting going
and just you'll get a littlebit of a workout in, not the
(14:08):
whole day's planned workout, butyou'll get a little bit in and
that's better than not doinganything.
That also helps to buildmomentum, because the next day
when I have a day, another dayof workouts, you look back and
you say yesterday, yeah, I got aworkout in, I did 20 minutes
versus like I didn't even workout yesterday.
Might as well spill the wholerest of the milk jug, right,
that's, it's tough, but thegreat thing is that it builds
(14:31):
momentum.
A 20-minute workout is betterthan nothing the next day when
you look back, like I did workout yesterday yeah, let's keep
this train rolling right.
That momentum builds.
It also encourages a person atleast in my opinion for me,
anecdotally, and the people I'veworked with to stay locked in
the nutrition.
I was like, yeah, I've beenworking out and I want to
support what I've been workingout with my body, what I consume
(14:52):
, because I did work out onTuesday I had a 20-minute
workout.
I worked out my full workout onWednesday.
I want to make sure I'msupporting that fitness journey
with a good nutrition.
It helps to just reinforcebetter nutritional habits too
and maintain the consistency fornot workouts but also nutrition
and also momentum.
Momentum, I think, is superimportant and it can be very
(15:13):
helpful.
So ride that momentum and, ifyou can, the more wins you can
stack wins being like I ate good, I didn't deviate from the plan
.
I've been feeling I've beeneating.
My portion sizes have shrunkfrom what I or, like a year ago,
whatever I used to eat, and I'mnot getting as hungry.
I'm okay, feeling like thisPerfect, that's how somebody and
(15:34):
you're crushing enough protein,enough caloric intake to
support your growth.
For sure.
That's when people will startdropping body fat percentage,
which they get leaned out.
The muscular definition ofmuscular definition of physique
will be more evident afterseveral weeks.
I'm talking about like at least12 weeks of time.
That's where we're going tostart, maybe even eight weeks.
(15:55):
You're going to start noticingchanges, right?
So ride the momentum.
Imagine if you did that for awhole year what that would look
like.
That's consistency.
That's going to be.
You're going to like be adifferent person that people
wouldn't even recognize.
And that's when the haters showup, which is awesome People you
wouldn't realize.
The reason is because they feelbummed about themselves that
(16:16):
they're not doing the same thing, which would be like yo, bro,
join me, or hey, let's do thistogether.
Strength in numbers, right, butanyway, that's the momentum can
be really helpful too.
And ride that train All right.
The third thing is progressiveoverload, and that is just
making things more challengingas you're riding your momentum
train to getting better andbetter, like to getting stronger
(16:37):
.
So, as you ride the momentumtrain, if you're doing, let's
just, this is easy.
Let's say someone has benchpress included in their whole
workout program.
Let's say someone's doing benchpress Week after week, a couple
weeks later, you have toincrease the weight.
You've got to make theresistance higher.
You've got to make the weightmore challenging.
This is appropriate levels,right.
(16:57):
The other thing that reallyhelps with this is phases, like
doing phasing workouts andphases.
Phase one of my whole year'sworth of journey.
You can do it in six months.
Let's say you have a six-monthfitness program that you want to
do Phase one, phase two, phasethree, phase four, phase five,
and in between then have deloadweeks, so like a four-week
(17:24):
phases over six weeks and then adeload week in between those.
That would end up being amultiple-month journey of a
fitness program and each phasechanges the sets, the reps and
the exercise choices, exerciseselection, and it shuffles
things up a little bit but ithelps your body not to get used
to things and that's whereyou're going to consistently
(17:45):
make the progressive overloadchanges you're looking for.
So phase one would be like ifit's an endurance phase of like
15 reps of all the exercisesyou're doing, the weight is
going to be less.
And then phase two might be astrength phase where it's like
eight reps, so it's like almosthalf the reps.
The weight is going to beheavier, so it's going to be a
heavier weight for lessrepetitions, right.
(18:07):
And then phase three, maybeeven less for like peak strength
, like three reps, three to fivereps that's peak power.
Our power would be like five tosix, depending on what you want
, like the peak phase or powerphase, and then weight's going
to be even more than that andthe rest time between sets is
going to be more.
This is for strength training,right.
And then a fourth phase mayberevert back to like an endurance
(18:29):
or strength again, maybe 12reps, and then the weight's
going to be a little bit lighterbut definitely stronger than it
was in the first phase, threemonths prior or four months
prior at the 15 rep scheme.
And that's how you would build.
You're going to be a differentperson after that.
I would promise you, as long asyou stay consistent, eating
(18:53):
enough protein to support thegrowth of strength and then
locking in your nutrition habits80-20 rule, minimum 80-20 rule,
90-10, you can grow into that.
And what I mean by that 90-10rule would be like during the
week you're locked in yournutrition.
You eat the same thingconsistently, same types of
things, consistently and notovereating, shrinking portion
sizes, having enough nutrition,working out three to four days a
week Um, they, uh.
(19:14):
The 90, 10 would be like on theweekends is when you have like
maybe Saturday night dinner.
You have stuff that you want toeat that's yummy, right Pizza,
cheeseburger, fries, likewhatever.
And then maybe Sunday nightsame thing or a Sunday brunch.
But Sunday breakfast and Sundaydinner would be locked in, and
then Saturday breakfast andlunch would be locked in.
(19:36):
So the only like meals that youlet it like, you just like
we're okay, we're just let itfly, like your cheat meals, I
guess would be called would beSaturday night and then Sunday
lunch or brunch or somethinglike that.
That would be like the twomeals over the period of what is
it Seven times three or seventimes five, right, 35 meals.
I mean that's a really lockedin schedule.
(19:56):
Two of the 30 meals that youhave during the week is you
cheated on?
That's really good, that's agreat schedule, right?
20% would be like.
I don't know if that's 10%, butI'm just saying like that's
kind of like a schedule would becool.
Um, it'd be like two extra meals.
Like a Friday night you alsolet it loose a little bit when
some friends and had some beeror drinks or whatever um, add a
third meal in.
And then, like Sunday night,same thing.
(20:18):
You ate a little bit extra thanyou normally would.
That's four meals over the 30to 35 meals during the week that
you let it go.
That's a great schedule to beon.
If you had that, you can makeit.
It can be done, I promise.
Having an accountability coachalso really helps, as in like a
trainer or a person you workwith.
That's like they're going tocheck in on you.
How was the weekend Did youhave?
(20:39):
Did you, what'd you eat?
You know they're going to askyou, right?
I just have a little voice inyour head during the moment but,
like, maybe I should.
Let's just push it, let's pushit, let's wait until that.
Tonight, only one meal, right?
It just helps with thatconsistency.
So that's progressive overloadfor strength, right?
Um, oh, one more thing I forgotto mention nutrition.
I mentioned, like, I cyclethrough meats.
So like, um, if I eat the samething, like chicken breast, I
(21:02):
love chicken thighs, oh yeah, Ilove chicken thigh.
Grilled chicken thighs oh yeah,I love chicken thighs.
Grilled chicken thighs is likeone of my favorite things.
Pork, fish, ground turkey andthen, of course, ground beef.
So, and then chicken.
Those five options of meat willcycle through like, this whole
week we're gonna eat chicken.
This whole week we're gonnahave pork.
This whole week we're gonnahave fish.
(21:22):
So that's an easy way to stayconsistent with like just
nutritional habits, all right.
So first thing, we got lockingin nutrition.
Second key consistency.
Third key progressive overloadmaking things heavier and
stronger.
Fourth thing is recovery.
There has to be deload weeks.
(21:44):
There has to be deload daysduring the week.
I'm an advocate for like haveone day, if you're really
getting after and training hard,one day a week where you don't
do anything.
Like the only thing you do isjust go for a walk, right, or
just walk around the grocerystore, right.
I didn't exercise todaypurposefully.
I love that.
I'm okay with that.
I've definitely worked with alot of people that are
overtraining and things justkind of like linger.
(22:06):
It's like you need like twodays off, maybe even take five
days off If they've beentraining really hard for a long
period of time and they haven'ttaken any breaks.
Overtraining can stifleprogress and it makes you feel
lethargic and weak and it'sgoing to stifle your progress
and that doesn't help withmomentum and consistency.
(22:28):
So it's important to be mindfulof maybe potentially taking a
deload week and, even better,with your progressive overload
mindset schedule in during yourphases, deload weeks or shock
weeks between strength phases,so that's purposeful.
Like I don't want to take aweek off.
Well, hey, this is part of theplan, this is what we wrote up,
this is the deload week.
This is purposeful.
And every time that I'd donethat I was in college training
(22:49):
really hard for football and thecombine and all that stuff for
football I always felt like Iwas being left behind, I'm like
I'm getting outworked.
But then when I came back thefollowing Monday I was stronger
every time and that was me likea young, healthy.
Young, early 20s,mid-20-year-old.
It's just important, right.
So if I felt like that, like ifan athlete feels like that in
(23:11):
their 20s, somebody in their 40sis definitely going to feel the
effects of improved trainingschedules it's really important.
So are there other parts ofrecovery?
Are we sleeping enough, man?
Like some of the experts thatI've heard and research and
stuff of human potential, justfunctioning and efficiency is
(23:31):
the first thing that we say isjust lock in your sleep.
We're not getting enoughconsistent, quality sleep.
Things compound.
There's a lot of recoverythings that happen during sleep
and one of the things I hear alot is brain recovery.
So like a lot of trash,proteins and other waste
(23:53):
products that we got to get ridof gets flushed out when we
reach REM or deep sleep, and ifwe don't achieve that level of
sleep, then all the waste andtrash products aren't going to
be flushed out as effectively asthey can.
So what they found is thatincreases the likelihood and
risk of Alzheimer's down theroad.
So, and just clarity, right, ifyou want to be sharp and feel
(24:13):
good and like on it andenergetic and not lethargic or
foggy and just relying on abunch of coffee all the time,
what they suggest is lock inyour sleep.
I know for me personally and theoff chance that I get I mean I
haven't had unbroken sleep in along time.
My wife even more.
She's been, she's been a champwith that.
It was unbelievable with ourkids, right, because it happens,
(24:35):
kids come in, they have a baddream.
They got to go to the bathroom.
Baby wakes up all the time, gotto nurse, stuff like that.
But on like it was like man.
Last night was a good night'ssleep.
I feel so much better.
I feel more energy, a lot likeenergetic, sharp, focused, um,
ready to tackle the day.
So imagine getting thatconsistently, like there's
(24:57):
minimal excuse.
This sounds bad.
Before I had kids I didn't.
I didn't appreciate time,efficiency and um consistency
with locking in goals forbusiness and life.
So if somebody doesn't havekids, oh my gosh man, there's
like minimal excuse to like notbe able to lock unless I'm
(25:18):
missing something and otherthings happen in life.
I totally understand like bigthings, but there's a lot like
more likelihood of opportunityto be able to lock in your sleep
if you don't have kids.
And then same with timecommitment.
It's funny, like talking topeople that don't have kids and
they have jobs and like I don'thave any time, I'm like, oh my
(25:40):
gosh, I don't even know whatthat means, but that's just my
experience.
Once things start taking away,that's when you appreciate them.
So when someone's health istaken away and then they really
appreciate their health I'veheard that from a bunch of
people.
So I'm like I'm going to stayconsistent to maintain my
physical health, and mentalhealth is a huge part of that
too.
But anyway, back to the recoverything.
Locking, locking in the sleepis like one of the most crucial
(26:03):
things.
Day to day it just adds up andaccumulates and then deload
weeks and deload days during theweek and during phases.
The last thing.
That are the five keys if youwant to build strength.
All right, we talked aboutnutrition.
Two is consistency.
Three is progressive overload.
Four is recovery.
Five is just staying healthy,like not getting hurt.
(26:26):
Five is just staying healthy,like not getting hurt.
That's the fifth most importantkey.
A great way to stifle progressis by hurting your shoulder or
hurting your back or hurtingyour knee and orthopedic
injuries.
Like staying healthy is what Imean.
That's from working out.
We can minimize greatly thelikelihood of risk of injury by
training appropriately, qualityover quantity, fixing up
(26:49):
movement mechanics, not loadingup too quickly, too fast, like
doing it too much, too fast.
Um, and the good thing is likemomentum and enthusiasm and
motivation comes and goes, butwe don't want that to turn into
a hard, quick flash of intensity.
That's too much, too fast andat least to overload that.
(27:10):
People get hurt right, liketendonitis in their knee or
their back hurts right, or theirshoulder or neck pain,
something like that.
So what really helps to lowerthe risk of that Warm up?
I call it movement prep.
You got to prepare your body tomove in an athletic, strenuous
way.
Right, do some strenuous andstressful physical things.
(27:32):
We got an athletic stuff, yougot to prepare your body to
tolerate that at a best levelpossible.
Okay, and the warmup is the wayto do that.
And that would be like do afive, three to five minutes of
just low load cyclical movementsto get the blood flowing
through your muscles and yourjoints.
And that would be like the bikeor an elliptical and I'm a fan
(27:55):
of the assault bike because yourarm's going to fall too.
We're just cruising.
Just cruise and warm up for acouple of three minutes to five
minutes.
Then after that, do a routine ofsome stretching.
If it's dynamic stretches, mixthem with some static stretches.
I don't hate static stretching.
I know that it depends.
If you're and this is forpeople that are like weekend
(28:15):
warriors, that are like I wantto get in better shape but not
competing in some kind ofcompetition for, like, athletic
powerlifting or sprint trainingor something like that, I'm okay
with static stretching.
Hold it for like 20 seconds,like it's okay.
Whatever makes you feel likeyou need to get warmed up, as in
like I feel loose and warm.
Um, pretty personally, likepart of it is a psychological
(28:36):
game.
It's like I don't feel readyand I've just been ingrained
Some things I hold.
I just hold 20 second stretchesfor some stuff and I just feel
better that way.
All right, some things I holdfor five seconds and then
dynamic stretching would be justlike moving through an
elongated tissue positionmultiple times.
So dynamic hamstring stretching, dynamic quad stretch, dynamic
(28:58):
glute stretch, calf and anklestretch, upper body movements
and stretches, activationexercises to activate your
shoulder blades if you're goingto do overhead movements and
getting your low back mobility,getting in there and your
thoracic spine mobility and justgetting warmed up Okay, all
that stuff and then working intoyour workouts, all right.
(29:22):
Um, the second other thing weprobably just staying within
yourself.
If there's days where you feelgood and you're feeling getting
that you're really doing well,like I feel good, I feel strong
um, that's when people like, ifpeople start horsing around I'm
talking like young people theystart horsing around or just
trying to get cute and stuff inthe gym and doing crazy
acrobatic stuff or just heavythings.
(29:42):
That's when they get hurt.
So, stay within yourself.
Even if you're having a greatday and you feel good like I did
good, I feel good Maybe I'llthrow in one extra set of
everything or like a couple ofthings, um, that's totally fine.
Or an extra finisher rep set oflike sprints or something like
that, or burpees or mountainclimbers whatever to sprints or
something like that, or burpeesor mountain climbers or whatever
to finish the workout, to getyour heart rate up totally fine.
Just stay within yourself, um,because getting too cute, doing
(30:05):
too much in one time, that'swhen people get hurt.
So those are the five keys, inmy opinion, for um, uh, strength
and building strength, strengthimprovements and ultimately
that's going to lead to a betterphysique.
People, you're going to feelmore confident.
So this is what I hear peopletell me feeling more confident,
(30:25):
fit clothes, fit and look better.
You're gonna maybe even changeyour wardrobe.
It trickles the momentum ofthis stuff builds and it also
trickles into other areas ofyour life and it fortifies and
solidifies other things too, ifit's like entrepreneurial goals
or career goals, like, once youstart getting more um momentum,
it just trickles in um and uh.
(30:45):
People start feeling better.
This is a one of the bestthings.
There's so many benefits tostrength training.
That's gonna be another podcastof like memory improvement,
longevity of life, joint health,risk of injury is going to
decrease.
Sleep quality will startimproving because you're getting
stronger and strength training,working out, tying yourself out
(31:07):
, energy and endurance.
I said memory, and thencognitive health over a long
period of time as an example.
Those are quick things.
The last thing I was going tomention before I hang this up is
motivation comes and goes,enthusiasm and motivation comes
and goes in waves.
What doesn't come and go inwaves and what keeps you going
(31:30):
to the gym when you're notmotivated is discipline.
Discipline in the words ofJocko Willink.
I'm a huge fan Discipline leadsto freedom.
Discipline would be the thingthat gets you to the gym even
when you don't want to, or themomentum and the enthusiasm is
not there.
You're tired, you don't feelgood, but you have this plan and
(31:52):
you have a goal.
The battle the best definitionI've heard of discipline is the
battle between what you wantmost, between what you want now
what do you want now versus whatdo you want most.
What do you want most?
That comes down to your why.
That also really helps.
There's a whole other podcastconversation and the words of
(32:12):
Simon Sinek start with whythat's the best way to help
reach goals and what you want todo.
Why being like?
Why do you want to strengthenin the first place?
Why now If this has beensomething you've been wanting to
do or have been thinking aboutmulling around in your head for
years five years, 10 years,whatever but now it's like
you're starting why, whatchanged from a motivation
(32:35):
standpoint to start now.
And then the second thing, likewrite it down.
Write down your why, because ifyou read that every other week,
I know it helps me, it makes memore motivated and and we'll go
over that stuff I think,another podcast but it's really
helpful to lock in yourdiscipline as in like nope, this
(32:56):
is my why.
I want this goal to be in betterphysical fitness condition,
with a better strength andendurance and a better physique,
lower body fat percentage.
Why?
Because of X, y and Z, and Iwant that more than I want to
rest right now, and that'swhat's going to lead you to be
able to work out consistentlyenough.
(33:16):
That has been really helpfulfor me too.
I mean, the key is just writingit down.
There's other goal for me, too.
And then the key is justwriting it down.
There's other goal settingstuff too.
I definitely agree with goalslike writing down goals,
objectively measured, measurablegoals, smart goals, SMART goals
and an accountability coach.
Those three things combinedhave a why have your goals
written out and laid out andthen have an accountability
(33:38):
coach or have a partner man.
You just increased thelikelihood of you reaching that
goal and achieving that by like90% versus just winging it.
That's the best way to lock itin.
But anyway, those are the fivekeys.
I'm always open to questions,comments, concerns or putting
opinions.
Don't hesitate to reach out toany of the questions and if you
have any battling, any pain,please don't hesitate to reach
(33:59):
out.
We'd love to at least talk onthe phone about or email me.
We can at least talk about whatyou have going on and how we
might be able to help you.
If you have any questions,don't hesitate to reach out and
we'll catch y'all next time.
If you're a driven, active person who wants to reach
and pursue a higher qualitylife with some ambition, then
guess what this podcast is foryou.
This is the Driven AthletePodcast.
All right, y'all got a reallygood topic this morning, because
I get a lot of questions forhow to build strength, like what
are the keys to buildingstrength?
(00:21):
Getting stronger, putting onmuscle mass, like you want to
lay down muscle tissue, justgetting down it's getting
stronger, right, and ultimatelywhat we see with that is there's
other things that trickle inthe life with that too.
Um, I mean, your physique looksbetter, um, you feel more
energetic, you feel better, youfeel more confident, um, your
clothes fit better, um, and youjust feel overall better sense
(00:43):
of yourself, like, of just likefeeling more, like I said, more
confident.
You know, at least that's whatI get from it too, you can carry
yourself in a different way.
Do that long enough over a longenough time horizon, oftentimes
, like for people that reallystick to it for a long time,
like I'm talking like at leasteight months, right, maybe like
a year of just consistency.
(01:04):
You're like a different person.
People don't even recognize you.
Months, right, maybe like ayear of just consistency.
You're like a different person.
People don't even recognize youanymore.
Right, carry yourself different.
You're interested in differentthings.
You're not doing the samethings that you used to do.
He's not really interested inthe things that used to be
interesting to you, and it'sjust a lot of areas in your life
.
It's just interesting how themomentum can carry into
different areas, but anyway.
So what are the five keys?
What are the five keys in myopinion, from what I've seen in
(01:27):
my own anecdotal training, thesuccesses I've seen personally
in my life when I've gottenimprovements in my strength, and
then the patients that we workwith that, when they actually
get their pain better and thenthey start strengthening and
getting more into fitness.
What are the key success forthem that we found?
So here are the five keys.
(01:49):
The first one, in my opinion,that you will get results, no
matter what, even if you just dothis by itself, is nutrition.
This is I can't overstate thislike what you consume and put in
, put in your body consistentlyfor your nutrition is the most
influential thing for somebody'shealth trajectory.
Wellness, all that stuff.
You have to support enoughcaloric intake and specifically
(02:12):
protein.
You have to have enough proteinto support the growth.
All right.
If you're trying to lay downnew muscle tissue and get
stronger, the protein intake isreally going to help support
that in the building blocks forgetting muscle strength.
We also I mean you also needother aspects of nutrition.
You got to lock in yournutrition.
A person needs to focus onquality.
(02:36):
I mean vegetables and fruit,appropriate carbohydrates,
because you need carbs.
You can't not eat carbs, right,and that I mean I'm not a
nutritionist, it's more of ahobby of mine, but I'm in an
interested hobby, right, aneducated hobby, I guess.
Things like quinoa I don't haterice, like brown and white rice
, and then I mean everyone'sdifferent, right, but I'm just
(02:56):
saying that those are options.
And then enough appropriate fat, which would be like avocados,
nuts, olive oil and I meanpeanut butter with oil in it
sometimes can be helpful forthat.
But all those things kind ofcombined, that all nutrition
package is, I think, the mostimportant thing.
If somebody were to lock intheir nutritional habits, all
(03:19):
right, they would see resultsand improvements in their
physique and the way that theyfeel without doing anything else
, and they would look like adifferent over a period of six
months.
Look like a different person.
The other big key that I'vesuggestions wise that I've heard
from experts.
Usually people get in troublewith portion sizes.
Just shrink the portion sizesand an example would be like for
(03:43):
like at every meal, right, andthen eat more frequently.
So have like five meals in aday.
A meal would be like a greekyogurt with nuts as a snack in
the afternoon before dinner.
Would be like one of your meals, all right.
So it would be like in themorning, have some whole eggs,
like organic whole eggs.
I do a little bit of cheese inmy eggs, I like cheese, and then
(04:04):
some kind of a carb you knowlike.
If it's like a whole wheat, Ido a little bit of cheese in my
eggs, I like cheese, and thensome kind of a carb If it's like
a whole wheat toast or like anoat bread toast with like an
avocado spread or something likethat.
So you're getting the fat fromthe avocado, the egg protein and
then the carb with the wholewheat, whole oat bread.
But, like I said, everyone'sdifferent.
If you have differentpathologies, different makeup
for yourself, it's unique foryou, all right.
(04:25):
Next one, let's say then you geta workout in, all right, you
get exercise, and then afteryour workout.
You have a protein shake.
I throw some fruit in there.
I throw frozen fruit in myprotein shake and like a little
bit of vegetables, like frozenbroccoli.
You can't even taste it, itjust adds, it makes them more
cold, it just makes it colderLike a smoothie, right, like a
cold smoothie.
And then I put like at least 30grams of protein and that would
(04:49):
be like your second meal, allright.
Third meal would be your lunch.
And this is me.
I don't know if I'm weird, butI usually have the same thing
for lunch every day.
I just don't care.
I enjoy eating for sure andgood food.
I'm just the kind of personwhere I can have the same thing
every day.
My goal with eating is to getthe right nutritional stuff in,
(05:09):
and if it tastes good, likethat's a well as a bonus.
But I'm not really eating it totaste good, um.
So for lunch I have, um, frozengreen beans, all right.
And then I'll have like, ifit's like quinoa with like
avocado mashed up inside of it,um, I'll have like, uh, organic
chicken tenders, chicken breastor something like that, or
(05:30):
chicken nuggets, like organicchicken nugs from a Costco I'm a
Costco guy, I mean I buy inbulk, um, and then, uh, an apple
, and I'll have a Greek yogurtwith nuts, um, and then that
would be like my lunch, allright, and I'll throw some hot
sauce in there or something.
Occasionally.
Even then I'm like I just gotto get it down, you know, let's
eat, I got stuff to do, you know.
And then the fourth meal wouldbe like a protein bar, or if I
(05:54):
don't have my Greek yogurt nutswith my lunch, then I'll have
that later for a snack, or likea handful of fruit and some nuts
or something like that, likeraw almonds or raw walnuts, um,
or maybe it's a peanut butter on, like like organic peanut
butter.
Um, on, uh, like some crackersor something like that.
As long as they're not like, Imean like, or get like good
crackers, right, just like alittle snack.
(06:14):
And then for dinner, um, samething that I had for lunch I'll
have like quinoa with avocadoand a chicken, or I'll cycle
meats and then I'll crushvegetables with that.
So vegetables would be likebroccoli, green beans, brussels
sprouts oh man, I'm drawing ablank Standard of spinach, All
(06:37):
right, so like a spinach salador something like that.
And oftentimes I find myselfthis is me, I'm weird, I got
three kids.
I'm running a business, I wantto exercise.
I got stuff, I got a houseproject I got to finish and I
want to get to bed early becauseI got to get up early.
I just eat the spinach raw.
I just get it out of the binand I just start eating it.
I just eat it.
I don't put it in a bowl, Ijust eat it.
(06:58):
I'm like I just want to getthis down.
I know it's good for me, um,but I'm usually my kids are
running around and throwingstuff around.
I got to make sure they don'thurt the baby and like make sure
that they're not falling downthe stairs, like we'll turn the
leaving sinks on and faucets andthen like throwing toilet paper
, like all that stuff.
I'm just like we're justcrushing food and getting out of
there.
You know, um, but that's just ayeah, so that that's like the
(07:20):
meal, but kind of a schedulethat we'll be on, and then I get
to bed.
You know, I've also heard thatit's a good idea for sleep
quality to not eat like twohours before you go to bed, so
that way all the blood isn'trushing to your system, your
digestive system, and rather itcan stay able to be dispersed
around your body and for yourbrain, where the brain recovery
is really important for sleep,for like clearing out trash
(07:42):
proteins, like amyloid plaquesand neurofibrillate tangles is
what I've heard, but anyway I'mnot going to get into that,
that's another podcast.
So all that nutrition that'slocking in your nutrition.
And my question would beanother one is like if someone
feels hungry, like all right,cool, if you're hungry, here's
an apple, have that.
And if the response is likewell, I mean I don't want to eat
(08:03):
that an apple, have that.
And if the response is like,well, I mean I don't want to eat
that, then the answer would beyou're probably not hungry.
That's a tough one to hear.
It's like if you're not hungryenough to eat an apple, then
you're not hungry.
Imagine if you were like on ahike, if you've never been on a
hike before, um, or like somekind of excursion, and you
haven't eaten all day and you'vebeen active all day.
It's hot, you're tired and youget like the leaders or whatever
(08:25):
is like.
Here you packed your own lunch,man, I think you'll eat
anything.
Right, like I'm just hungry.
I'm like I'm going to peanutbutter and jelly sandwich dry, I
don't care, like I'm orwhatever, it is right, kale
chips Sounds good, I'm justhungry.
That's what means to be hungry.
Right, like in the UnitedStates of America, everything's
so plentiful, which is a greatthing.
We just don't.
We forget that, you know.
But anyway, if you're nothungry enough to eat an apple,
(08:47):
you're not hungry.
Shrink the portion sizes andthat's going to be two good
rules of thumb to kind of guideyour nutrition.
And it's going to be tough tobreak habits and also what your
body is used to.
But once you get some momentumand that's going to be the next
one we'll talk about isconsistency.
But once you get that momentumand that's going to be the next
one I talk about is consistency.
But once you get that momentum,it's a lot easier to stay on
(09:07):
track.
And then, reverting back tothings you used to do if it's
like just snacking or eatingcookies and whatever, because
it's all good, it just won'tlook good Like it'll be like ah,
I just don't want to eat thatright now.
That's not my, that is.
Yeah, I'm not in the mood,right.
Or if I do, I just feel bad.
I just don't feel good if I eatthat stuff.
So it's also a good negativereinforcement to not want it
(09:28):
again.
And then you stay justconsistent and what's the
ultimate goal?
That's the other thing you haveto lock in your why before all
this too.
We'll talk about that at theend.
That's the overarching thing.
But anyway, that would be likelocking in nutrition, just ideas
that I've had.
But it's not going to feel good, it's going to be uncomfortable
, because you're not used toshrinking portion sizes.
You might be a little hungry,but you're not going to die.
(09:50):
If you're a little bit hungry,as in like I could have seconds
or thirds or whatever just stopand you'd be a little bit hungry
.
It sucks, but that's kind ofthe thought, because you're
re-educating your body to beokay with smaller portion sizes
and then eating more frequently,all right.
The second thing is consistency.
So the first one is locking innutrition.
(10:12):
The second one is locking injust staying consistent, just
showing up.
That's just get off the couchand put your shoes on something
I tell myself frequently if I'mlike working, I got, I got a
bunch of stuff I got to do Don'tsit down, just put your shoes
on.
Standing up, you switch yourgym shoes on and just start.
Don't even look at your look atyour phone, don't even look at
(10:33):
your computer, cause as soon asI do one thing, like one email
or one task I got to knock out,it turns into like 15 and I'm
like, well, now I'm 25 minuteslate, I'm like I don't have time
Right Squandered.
Well, just stand to keep, stay,don't sit down, put your shoes
on with standing up and juststart.
Just get on the bike, juststart.
That seems the best way toconsistently to be show, just to
(10:55):
show up.
That's all you gotta do is justshow half you know, I say half
the battle, just showing up.
I think like 75% of the battleis just showing up, cause once
you start, then it's like, ohyeah, now I, now I want to get
through my workout, right, um,you have to slip up.
I saw this, this cool thing,like I heard a good metaphor.
(11:15):
It was like, let's say, youhave a slip up, you miss a
couple of days in a row andyou're like I ate crappy on the
weekend.
Well, my all is lost, might aswell.
Just, uh, do whatever I wantnow, because everything is lost.
It was just a couple of days.
Someone isn't going to get fator out of shape by missing a
week or eating poorly for acouple of days in a row.
They had July 4th, barbecue,memorial Day, whatever.
Three days in a row of like noteating amazing and overeating.
(11:38):
Right, drinking.
You're not going to get fatfrom like one binge like that,
all right, the key is just toget back on the horse and just
show up again and it's okay.
Right, I've cause I've the samething happened to me.
I feel guilty, I feel like allis lost.
I'm a slob, like I'm weak, likeI can't believe I let that
happen.
Well, now I'm off the train,right slide.
(12:00):
Well, slip ups like that happen.
They're going to happen.
I would expect them to happenand, if anything, you could plan
for them to happen.
So it was like this was part ofthe plan.
Right, because everything'smoderation.
In my opinion, 80-20 rule, 90-10rule, would be aggressive,
80-20 rule being like 80% of thetime I eat well and work out
well, 20% of the time I kind ofjust let it loose and I live,
gotta live life.
(12:20):
Or 90% of the time you'regetting after it and 10% of the
time you're letting loose andgetting after it, you're having
fun and just living life.
But if there's a slip up, themetaphor would be like imagine
if you're pouring milk in a cup.
You have a whole jug and you'repouring a little bit of milk in
a cup just for a little drinkand you spill a little bit.
(12:41):
That's the slip up.
Now what do you do?
Do you say all is lost and youpour the whole jug out on the
counter and spill all the restof the milk out Because you
spilled a little bit thattriggered the whole rest of the
jug to be spilled out?
That would be extremely idiotic.
Like in the milk situation, whynot just put the jug down, put
(13:03):
the cap on, you take a napkin ora rag and just wipe up the
drips that you happen to spill alittle bit and just stay the
course?
That would be the mostadvantageous and most prudent
thing to do, right?
So anyway, I love that.
I was like as you spill alittle milk.
Now what are you going to do?
Pour out the whole rest of thejug just because you spilled a
little bit of milk out, likeeverybody?
(13:25):
Relax, just put your shoes on,stop standing up, don't sit down
, close the milk jug, wipe upthe drips and just got.
Just show up for anotherworkout.
That would be like part of theconsistency and then, over time,
um, you get momentum andsomething else that helps helps
with momentum If you are busy.
Cause that happens is what Itell myself.
Hey, kyle, if you're busy, ithappens and you have like 30
(13:47):
minutes remaining of like thetime that was allotted for this
workout before you have to doother things or you have a
meeting or something like that.
Still, just work out.
Work out for 20 minutes, it'sokay, that's better than not
working out, it's better thannot doing anything.
Just put your shoes on, get onthe bike and start getting going
and just you'll get a littlebit of a workout in, not the
(14:08):
whole day's planned workout, butyou'll get a little bit in and
that's better than not doinganything.
That also helps to buildmomentum, because the next day
when I have a day, another dayof workouts, you look back and
you say yesterday, yeah, I got aworkout in, I did 20 minutes
versus like I didn't even workout yesterday.
Might as well spill the wholerest of the milk jug, right,
that's, it's tough, but thegreat thing is that it builds
(14:31):
momentum.
A 20-minute workout is betterthan nothing the next day when
you look back, like I did workout yesterday yeah, let's keep
this train rolling right.
That momentum builds.
It also encourages a person atleast in my opinion for me,
anecdotally, and the people I'veworked with to stay locked in
the nutrition.
I was like, yeah, I've beenworking out and I want to
support what I've been workingout with my body, what I consume
(14:52):
, because I did work out onTuesday I had a 20-minute
workout.
I worked out my full workout onWednesday.
I want to make sure I'msupporting that fitness journey
with a good nutrition.
It helps to just reinforcebetter nutritional habits too
and maintain the consistency fornot workouts but also nutrition
and also momentum.
Momentum, I think, is superimportant and it can be very
(15:13):
helpful.
So ride that momentum and, ifyou can, the more wins you can
stack wins being like I ate good, I didn't deviate from the plan
.
I've been feeling I've beeneating.
My portion sizes have shrunkfrom what I or, like a year ago,
whatever I used to eat, and I'mnot getting as hungry.
I'm okay, feeling like thisPerfect, that's how somebody and
(15:34):
you're crushing enough protein,enough caloric intake to
support your growth.
For sure.
That's when people will startdropping body fat percentage,
which they get leaned out.
The muscular definition ofmuscular definition of physique
will be more evident afterseveral weeks.
I'm talking about like at least12 weeks of time.
That's where we're going tostart, maybe even eight weeks.
(15:55):
You're going to start noticingchanges, right?
So ride the momentum.
Imagine if you did that for awhole year what that would look
like.
That's consistency.
That's going to be.
You're going to like be adifferent person that people
wouldn't even recognize.
And that's when the haters showup, which is awesome People you
wouldn't realize.
The reason is because they feelbummed about themselves that
(16:16):
they're not doing the same thing, which would be like yo, bro,
join me, or hey, let's do thistogether.
Strength in numbers, right, butanyway, that's the momentum can
be really helpful too.
And ride that train All right.
The third thing is progressiveoverload, and that is just
making things more challengingas you're riding your momentum
train to getting better andbetter, like to getting stronger
(16:37):
.
So, as you ride the momentumtrain, if you're doing, let's
just, this is easy.
Let's say someone has benchpress included in their whole
workout program.
Let's say someone's doing benchpress Week after week, a couple
weeks later, you have toincrease the weight.
You've got to make theresistance higher.
You've got to make the weightmore challenging.
This is appropriate levels,right.
(16:57):
The other thing that reallyhelps with this is phases, like
doing phasing workouts andphases.
Phase one of my whole year'sworth of journey.
You can do it in six months.
Let's say you have a six-monthfitness program that you want to
do Phase one, phase two, phasethree, phase four, phase five,
and in between then have deloadweeks, so like a four-week
(17:24):
phases over six weeks and then adeload week in between those.
That would end up being amultiple-month journey of a
fitness program and each phasechanges the sets, the reps and
the exercise choices, exerciseselection, and it shuffles
things up a little bit but ithelps your body not to get used
to things and that's whereyou're going to consistently
(17:45):
make the progressive overloadchanges you're looking for.
So phase one would be like ifit's an endurance phase of like
15 reps of all the exercisesyou're doing, the weight is
going to be less.
And then phase two might be astrength phase where it's like
eight reps, so it's like almosthalf the reps.
The weight is going to beheavier, so it's going to be a
heavier weight for lessrepetitions, right.
(18:07):
And then phase three, maybeeven less for like peak strength
, like three reps, three to fivereps that's peak power.
Our power would be like five tosix, depending on what you want
, like the peak phase or powerphase, and then weight's going
to be even more than that andthe rest time between sets is
going to be more.
This is for strength training,right.
And then a fourth phase mayberevert back to like an endurance
(18:29):
or strength again, maybe 12reps, and then the weight's
going to be a little bit lighterbut definitely stronger than it
was in the first phase, threemonths prior or four months
prior at the 15 rep scheme.
And that's how you would build.
You're going to be a differentperson after that.
I would promise you, as long asyou stay consistent, eating
(18:53):
enough protein to support thegrowth of strength and then
locking in your nutrition habits80-20 rule, minimum 80-20 rule,
90-10, you can grow into that.
And what I mean by that 90-10rule would be like during the
week you're locked in yournutrition.
You eat the same thingconsistently, same types of
things, consistently and notovereating, shrinking portion
sizes, having enough nutrition,working out three to four days a
week Um, they, uh.
(19:14):
The 90, 10 would be like on theweekends is when you have like
maybe Saturday night dinner.
You have stuff that you want toeat that's yummy, right Pizza,
cheeseburger, fries, likewhatever.
And then maybe Sunday nightsame thing or a Sunday brunch.
But Sunday breakfast and Sundaydinner would be locked in, and
then Saturday breakfast andlunch would be locked in.
(19:36):
So the only like meals that youlet it like, you just like
we're okay, we're just let itfly, like your cheat meals, I
guess would be called would beSaturday night and then Sunday
lunch or brunch or somethinglike that.
That would be like the twomeals over the period of what is
it Seven times three or seventimes five, right, 35 meals.
I mean that's a really lockedin schedule.
(19:56):
Two of the 30 meals that youhave during the week is you
cheated on?
That's really good, that's agreat schedule, right?
20% would be like.
I don't know if that's 10%, butI'm just saying like that's
kind of like a schedule would becool.
Um, it'd be like two extra meals.
Like a Friday night you alsolet it loose a little bit when
some friends and had some beeror drinks or whatever um, add a
third meal in.
And then, like Sunday night,same thing.
(20:18):
You ate a little bit extra thanyou normally would.
That's four meals over the 30to 35 meals during the week that
you let it go.
That's a great schedule to beon.
If you had that, you can makeit.
It can be done, I promise.
Having an accountability coachalso really helps, as in like a
trainer or a person you workwith.
That's like they're going tocheck in on you.
How was the weekend Did youhave?
(20:39):
Did you, what'd you eat?
You know they're going to askyou, right?
I just have a little voice inyour head during the moment but,
like, maybe I should.
Let's just push it, let's pushit, let's wait until that.
Tonight, only one meal, right?
It just helps with thatconsistency.
So that's progressive overloadfor strength, right?
Um, oh, one more thing I forgotto mention nutrition.
I mentioned, like, I cyclethrough meats.
So like, um, if I eat the samething, like chicken breast, I
(21:02):
love chicken thighs, oh yeah, Ilove chicken thigh.
Grilled chicken thighs oh yeah,I love chicken thighs.
Grilled chicken thighs is likeone of my favorite things.
Pork, fish, ground turkey andthen, of course, ground beef.
So, and then chicken.
Those five options of meat willcycle through like, this whole
week we're gonna eat chicken.
This whole week we're gonnahave pork.
This whole week we're gonnahave fish.
(21:22):
So that's an easy way to stayconsistent with like just
nutritional habits, all right.
So first thing, we got lockingin nutrition.
Second key consistency.
Third key progressive overloadmaking things heavier and
stronger.
Fourth thing is recovery.
There has to be deload weeks.
(21:44):
There has to be deload daysduring the week.
I'm an advocate for like haveone day, if you're really
getting after and training hard,one day a week where you don't
do anything.
Like the only thing you do isjust go for a walk, right, or
just walk around the grocerystore, right.
I didn't exercise todaypurposefully.
I love that.
I'm okay with that.
I've definitely worked with alot of people that are
overtraining and things justkind of like linger.
(22:06):
It's like you need like twodays off, maybe even take five
days off If they've beentraining really hard for a long
period of time and they haven'ttaken any breaks.
Overtraining can stifleprogress and it makes you feel
lethargic and weak and it'sgoing to stifle your progress
and that doesn't help withmomentum and consistency.
(22:28):
So it's important to be mindfulof maybe potentially taking a
deload week and, even better,with your progressive overload
mindset schedule in during yourphases, deload weeks or shock
weeks between strength phases,so that's purposeful.
Like I don't want to take aweek off.
Well, hey, this is part of theplan, this is what we wrote up,
this is the deload week.
This is purposeful.
And every time that I'd donethat I was in college training
(22:49):
really hard for football and thecombine and all that stuff for
football I always felt like Iwas being left behind, I'm like
I'm getting outworked.
But then when I came back thefollowing Monday I was stronger
every time and that was me likea young, healthy.
Young, early 20s,mid-20-year-old.
It's just important, right.
So if I felt like that, like ifan athlete feels like that in
(23:11):
their 20s, somebody in their 40sis definitely going to feel the
effects of improved trainingschedules it's really important.
So are there other parts ofrecovery?
Are we sleeping enough, man?
Like some of the experts thatI've heard and research and
stuff of human potential, justfunctioning and efficiency is
(23:31):
the first thing that we say isjust lock in your sleep.
We're not getting enoughconsistent, quality sleep.
Things compound.
There's a lot of recoverythings that happen during sleep
and one of the things I hear alot is brain recovery.
So like a lot of trash,proteins and other waste
(23:53):
products that we got to get ridof gets flushed out when we
reach REM or deep sleep, and ifwe don't achieve that level of
sleep, then all the waste andtrash products aren't going to
be flushed out as effectively asthey can.
So what they found is thatincreases the likelihood and
risk of Alzheimer's down theroad.
So, and just clarity, right, ifyou want to be sharp and feel
(24:13):
good and like on it andenergetic and not lethargic or
foggy and just relying on abunch of coffee all the time,
what they suggest is lock inyour sleep.
I know for me personally and theoff chance that I get I mean I
haven't had unbroken sleep in along time.
My wife even more.
She's been, she's been a champwith that.
It was unbelievable with ourkids, right, because it happens,
(24:35):
kids come in, they have a baddream.
They got to go to the bathroom.
Baby wakes up all the time, gotto nurse, stuff like that.
But on like it was like man.
Last night was a good night'ssleep.
I feel so much better.
I feel more energy, a lot likeenergetic, sharp, focused, um,
ready to tackle the day.
So imagine getting thatconsistently, like there's
(24:57):
minimal excuse.
This sounds bad.
Before I had kids I didn't.
I didn't appreciate time,efficiency and um consistency
with locking in goals forbusiness and life.
So if somebody doesn't havekids, oh my gosh man, there's
like minimal excuse to like notbe able to lock unless I'm
(25:18):
missing something and otherthings happen in life.
I totally understand like bigthings, but there's a lot like
more likelihood of opportunityto be able to lock in your sleep
if you don't have kids.
And then same with timecommitment.
It's funny, like talking topeople that don't have kids and
they have jobs and like I don'thave any time, I'm like, oh my
(25:40):
gosh, I don't even know whatthat means, but that's just my
experience.
Once things start taking away,that's when you appreciate them.
So when someone's health istaken away and then they really
appreciate their health I'veheard that from a bunch of
people.
So I'm like I'm going to stayconsistent to maintain my
physical health, and mentalhealth is a huge part of that
too.
But anyway, back to the recoverything.
Locking, locking in the sleepis like one of the most crucial
(26:03):
things.
Day to day it just adds up andaccumulates and then deload
weeks and deload days during theweek and during phases.
The last thing.
That are the five keys if youwant to build strength.
All right, we talked aboutnutrition.
Two is consistency.
Three is progressive overload.
Four is recovery.
Five is just staying healthy,like not getting hurt.
(26:26):
Five is just staying healthy,like not getting hurt.
That's the fifth most importantkey.
A great way to stifle progressis by hurting your shoulder or
hurting your back or hurtingyour knee and orthopedic
injuries.
Like staying healthy is what Imean.
That's from working out.
We can minimize greatly thelikelihood of risk of injury by
training appropriately, qualityover quantity, fixing up
(26:49):
movement mechanics, not loadingup too quickly, too fast, like
doing it too much, too fast.
Um, and the good thing is likemomentum and enthusiasm and
motivation comes and goes, butwe don't want that to turn into
a hard, quick flash of intensity.
That's too much, too fast andat least to overload that.
(27:10):
People get hurt right, liketendonitis in their knee or
their back hurts right, or theirshoulder or neck pain,
something like that.
So what really helps to lowerthe risk of that Warm up?
I call it movement prep.
You got to prepare your body tomove in an athletic, strenuous
way.
Right, do some strenuous andstressful physical things.
(27:32):
We got an athletic stuff, yougot to prepare your body to
tolerate that at a best levelpossible.
Okay, and the warmup is the wayto do that.
And that would be like do afive, three to five minutes of
just low load cyclical movementsto get the blood flowing
through your muscles and yourjoints.
And that would be like the bikeor an elliptical and I'm a fan
(27:55):
of the assault bike because yourarm's going to fall too.
We're just cruising.
Just cruise and warm up for acouple of three minutes to five
minutes.
Then after that, do a routine ofsome stretching.
If it's dynamic stretches, mixthem with some static stretches.
I don't hate static stretching.
I know that it depends.
If you're and this is forpeople that are like weekend
(28:15):
warriors, that are like I wantto get in better shape but not
competing in some kind ofcompetition for, like, athletic
powerlifting or sprint trainingor something like that, I'm okay
with static stretching.
Hold it for like 20 seconds,like it's okay.
Whatever makes you feel likeyou need to get warmed up, as in
like I feel loose and warm.
Um, pretty personally, likepart of it is a psychological
(28:36):
game.
It's like I don't feel readyand I've just been ingrained
Some things I hold.
I just hold 20 second stretchesfor some stuff and I just feel
better that way.
All right, some things I holdfor five seconds and then
dynamic stretching would be justlike moving through an
elongated tissue positionmultiple times.
So dynamic hamstring stretching, dynamic quad stretch, dynamic
(28:58):
glute stretch, calf and anklestretch, upper body movements
and stretches, activationexercises to activate your
shoulder blades if you're goingto do overhead movements and
getting your low back mobility,getting in there and your
thoracic spine mobility and justgetting warmed up Okay, all
that stuff and then working intoyour workouts, all right.
(29:22):
Um, the second other thing weprobably just staying within
yourself.
If there's days where you feelgood and you're feeling getting
that you're really doing well,like I feel good, I feel strong
um, that's when people like, ifpeople start horsing around I'm
talking like young people theystart horsing around or just
trying to get cute and stuff inthe gym and doing crazy
acrobatic stuff or just heavythings.
(29:42):
That's when they get hurt.
So, stay within yourself.
Even if you're having a greatday and you feel good like I did
good, I feel good Maybe I'llthrow in one extra set of
everything or like a couple ofthings, um, that's totally fine.
Or an extra finisher rep set oflike sprints or something like
that, or burpees or mountainclimbers whatever to sprints or
something like that, or burpeesor mountain climbers or whatever
to finish the workout, to getyour heart rate up totally fine.
Just stay within yourself, um,because getting too cute, doing
(30:05):
too much in one time, that'swhen people get hurt.
So those are the five keys, inmy opinion, for um, uh, strength
and building strength, strengthimprovements and ultimately
that's going to lead to a betterphysique.
People, you're going to feelmore confident.
So this is what I hear peopletell me feeling more confident,
(30:25):
fit clothes, fit and look better.
You're gonna maybe even changeyour wardrobe.
It trickles the momentum ofthis stuff builds and it also
trickles into other areas ofyour life and it fortifies and
solidifies other things too, ifit's like entrepreneurial goals
or career goals, like, once youstart getting more um momentum,
it just trickles in um and uh.
(30:45):
People start feeling better.
This is a one of the bestthings.
There's so many benefits tostrength training.
That's gonna be another podcastof like memory improvement,
longevity of life, joint health,risk of injury is going to
decrease.
Sleep quality will startimproving because you're getting
stronger and strength training,working out, tying yourself out
(31:07):
, energy and endurance.
I said memory, and thencognitive health over a long
period of time as an example.
Those are quick things.
The last thing I was going tomention before I hang this up is
motivation comes and goes,enthusiasm and motivation comes
and goes in waves.
What doesn't come and go inwaves and what keeps you going
(31:30):
to the gym when you're notmotivated is discipline.
Discipline in the words ofJocko Willink.
I'm a huge fan Discipline leadsto freedom.
Discipline would be the thingthat gets you to the gym even
when you don't want to, or themomentum and the enthusiasm is
not there.
You're tired, you don't feelgood, but you have this plan and
(31:52):
you have a goal.
The battle the best definitionI've heard of discipline is the
battle between what you wantmost, between what you want now
what do you want now versus whatdo you want most.
What do you want most?
That comes down to your why.
That also really helps.
There's a whole other podcastconversation and the words of
(32:12):
Simon Sinek start with whythat's the best way to help
reach goals and what you want todo.
Why being like?
Why do you want to strengthenin the first place?
Why now If this has beensomething you've been wanting to
do or have been thinking aboutmulling around in your head for
years five years, 10 years,whatever but now it's like
you're starting why, whatchanged from a motivation
(32:35):
standpoint to start now.
And then the second thing, likewrite it down.
Write down your why, because ifyou read that every other week,
I know it helps me, it makes memore motivated and and we'll go
over that stuff I think,another podcast but it's really
helpful to lock in yourdiscipline as in like nope, this
(32:56):
is my why.
I want this goal to be in betterphysical fitness condition,
with a better strength andendurance and a better physique,
lower body fat percentage.
Why?
Because of X, y and Z, and Iwant that more than I want to
rest right now, and that'swhat's going to lead you to be
able to work out consistentlyenough.
(33:16):
That has been really helpfulfor me too.
I mean, the key is just writingit down.
There's other goal for me, too.
And then the key is justwriting it down.
There's other goal settingstuff too.
I definitely agree with goalslike writing down goals,
objectively measured, measurablegoals, smart goals, SMART goals
and an accountability coach.
Those three things combinedhave a why have your goals
written out and laid out andthen have an accountability
(33:38):
coach or have a partner man.
You just increased thelikelihood of you reaching that
goal and achieving that by like90% versus just winging it.
That's the best way to lock itin.
But anyway, those are the fivekeys.
I'm always open to questions,comments, concerns or putting
opinions.
Don't hesitate to reach out toany of the questions and if you
have any battling, any pain,please don't hesitate to reach
(33:59):
out.
We'd love to at least talk onthe phone about or email me.
We can at least talk about whatyou have going on and how we
might be able to help you.
If you have any questions,don't hesitate to reach out and
we'll catch y'all next time.
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