In this episode of Quah (Q & A), Sal, Adam & Justin answer four Pump Head questions from  the Sunday @mindpumpmedia Quah post.
   Mind Pump Fit Tip: Eat more protein to mitigate fat gain during a bulk. (1:36)
   Mind Pump Training Updates: Adding in unconventional lifts, hitting a 700 lbs. deadlift, and maintaining a healthy physique by doing less. (7:15)
   Arnold Schwarzenegger, the epitome of the American/immigrant dream. (19:29)
   The idea of exercise-induced 'hyperplasia' (growing new muscle fibers) is taught as a myth. (33:27)
   Weird compliments. (36:02)
   Seed, the BEST probiotic in the business. (45:34)
   Shout out to Patrick Bet-David. (46:30)
   #Quah question #1 - On your most recent podcast you talked about how cardio isn’t good for weight loss but if you are living a sedentary lifestyle and your job requires you to sit for most of the day, is it ok to walk on the treadmill at a steady speed for about 30 minutes? (47:21) 
   #Quah question #2 - When do you know it is time to change up your workout routine? (50:53)
   #Quah question #3 - What is the optimal dose of creatine? (55:18)
   #Quah question #4 - Do you see value in adding rotation to horizontal pushing or rowing movements just like you do in an Arnold press? (58:13)
   Related Links/Products Mentioned
   Visit Paleo Valley for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Promo code MINDPUMP15 at checkout for 15% discount**
   Visit Seed for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Promo code MINDPUMP at checkout for 30% off your first month’s supply of Seed’s DS-01® Daily Synbiotic**
   June Promotion: MAPS Cardio or Summer Shredded Bundle or the Bikini Bundle 50% off! **Code JUNE50 at checkout**
   Mind Pump #1952: How To Bulk The Right Way
    The Myth of Optimal Protein Intake - Mind Pump Media
   Visit Daily Dose Meals for the exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Promo code MINDPUMP20 for 20% off your first order, excluding subscriptions.**
    How Much Training Is Necessary To Maintain Strength And Muscle?
    Mind Pump #2090: Five Tips To Work Out Less And Keep Your Gains
   Watch Arnold | Netflix Official Site
   Fusion of myofibre branches is a physiological feature of healthy human skeletal muscle regeneration
    Mind Pump #2017: The Best Peptides For Fat Loss With Dr. William Seeds
   Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy – Book by Patrick Bet-David
   Visit Sleep Breakthrough by biOptimizers for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Promo code MINDPUMP10 at checkout**
   Why Cardio Is TERRIBLE For Long-Term Fat Loss – YouTube
    Mind Pump # 1172: Four Ways To Change Your Workout For Maximum Results
    Mind Pump # 1577: What To Do When You Are Getting Bored With Your Workouts
    How Phasing Your Workouts Leads To Consistent Plateau Free Workouts
    Mind Pump # 1612: Everything You Need To Know About Sets, Reps & Rest Periods
   Pros and Cons of Creatine – Mind Pump Blog
   Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube
   Mind Pump Free Resources
   People Mentioned
   DON SALADINO (@donsaladino) Instagram
   Andy Galpin (@drandygalpin) Instagram
   Dr. William Seeds (@williamseedsmd) Instagram
   Patrick Bet-David (@patrickbetdavid) Instagram
   VALUETAINMENT (@valuetainment) Instagram
    

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only 1 place to go.

With your hosts, Sal DiStefano, Adam Schafer, and Justin Andrews.

You just found the world's most downloaded fitness, health, and Entertainment Podcast.

In today's episode, we answered listeners' questions after a 46-minute introductory conversation.

So we're talking about fitness, current events, studies, and much more.

By the way, you can check the show notes for timestamps if you want to fast forward to your favorite part.

You can also ask us a question that we can answer on an episode like this 1 by going to Mind Pump Media on Instagram each Sunday and posting under the QUAH meme.

This episode is brought to you by some sponsors.

They make paleo-inspired supplements like collagen or bone broth protein, grass-fed meat sticks, and much more.

Go check them out, they're pretty awesome.

Go to paleovalley.com forward slash mind pump, use the code mindpump15 and get 15% off your first order.

This episode is also brought to you by Seed.

Use the code mind pump and get 30% off your first month's order of Seed's daily symbiotic.

We're also running a workout program sale this month.

The shredded summer bundle of workout programs is 50% off and the bikini bundle of programs is also 50% off.

If you're interested, go to mapsfitnessproducts.com and use the code June 50 for the 50% off discount.

1 of the challenges with going on a bulk is gaining body fat.

Now aside from strength training and exercising properly, here's something you could do to minimize fat gain.

In other words, a very high calorie diet that puts you in a surplus that has a good amount of protein will make you gain more body fat than 1 that has most of those calories coming from extra protein.

Even though studies show that there's a maximum benefit you can get from protein when it comes to muscle building.

You're actually less likely to gain body fat when your excess calories are coming from protein.

So it's just 1 thing you can do when you go into bulk to minimize fat gain.

Yeah, so it's like if you're already at 1 gram per pound of body weight, and you need to increase your calories by let's say another 300 calories, and you're like, do I do it with carbs or fat?

If you did it with protein, you're less likely to gain body fat from that than you would from the fat or carbs.

It's just a little more difficult cause you get satiated, right?

And so to up your, your calorie intake is going to take,

That's why if you're in a bulk, I was just going to say that Justin, it's hard when you're eating a bulk anyway because you're eating more calories.

If it's super high protein, it's even harder because protein's so satiating.

So a strategy you can use is to get a hyper-palatable protein shake.

So like the Paleo Valley chocolate bone broth, which tastes like chocolate donuts.

Yeah, you could have like a 20 gram shake with each meal, Or a 30 gram shake with each meal or something like that, right now you've just bumped your calories It's an easier way to take in the calories because it's liquid And you're less likely to gain body fat than if you added carbs or fats So have you ever experimented with anything like that

even higher though Then then let's say the the 1 gram per pound

of course No, I mean when I was competing in your when I'm pushing that many calories it was actually almost impossible not to be more than 1 and a half.

If anything, I had to be careful not to go too extreme with that.

But when you're eating that many calories and trying to hit protein intake, at that point I'm hitting 300 grams many times on a regular basis.

Now granted, remember I've talked about working my way up there and if I'm not dieting, if I'm eating how I am right now, I'm the other.

If I'm hardcore bodybuilder, me training like crazy, meal prepping, I'm super high on the protein intake because I know how crucial that is.

If I'm not my body, I'm just I'll naturally gravitate to carbohydrates sugars you know stuff like that and so yeah, I know I've experimented with that all the way and also Making sure that I when I go off of training with a high protein diet that I'm careful to not go to the opposite extreme right away because that's 1 of the fastest recipes for me to pare down and lose muscle.

So just by simply keeping that up or trying to keep it up as high as I can while I'm going the other direction makes a huge difference on me being able to retain lean body mass.

And I noticed you put like easily digestible protein.

Cause like also too, I mean, if you're doing that from like all animal sources and whole foods, like I can imagine some people having a hard time in terms of like, You know, maybe constipation or something being an issue like maybe upping their fiber intake alongside that might be good

You can add that to Your meals to help with digestion add your you know well cooked vegetables but mainly it's when people at when they go real high protein and then they add a lot of shakes on top of it, a lot of people don't realize that they don't digest their shakes very well.

So you hear people talk about how, oh yeah, if I have more than 1, you know, protein shake, I fart and whatever clears the room or I feel whatever.

I talked about the bone broth because it's mainly collagen.

Collagen is super, in fact, it's the 1 protein that's pretty universally recommended to people with gut issues because it's benefit in the gut, but also because it's easy to digest.

So it's like if you're going to eat that much protein and you're doing it with a shake because it's hard to get it from Whole Foods in a bulk, choose 1 that's really easy to digest.

But just to, again, hammer this home, if your fats are good, so the advice I'm giving here, if you're, if you could use an increase in fats, cause you need more healthy fats or essential fatty acids, we'll go there first, right?

So you can go 0 carbs, even on a bulk, but they're not, it's not ideal to go 0 carbs in a bulk because you tend to limit your strength and your performance.

Fats and carbs are okay, but hey, I got to add another 400 calories.

If you make it protein, you're less likely to gain body fat.

Protein has got this kind of thermogenic effect along with it.

So like a calorie is not exactly a calorie in this particular sense because protein tends to be utilized more for tissue.

It's a little bit more expensive to burn.

So it's harder to gain body fat on the same calories when the protein is high versus when the protein is lower.

But a lot of times, especially with women, they're afraid of gaining body fat.

It's like bump the protein up, even if you're at a gram of protein per pound of body weight, bump the protein up, and you're less likely to gain body fat.

Of course, combine it with really good strength training and kind of watch what happens.

How's your guys' training going right now?

I think I've been experimenting with some old school lifts and doing some things, trying to get back into some of the unconventional side of things a bit.

More like grip training, intensive grip training.

Yeah, getting back into, like we were having a conversation at lunch really about sleds and that was 1 of those things that I notice when I haven't done them for a while and then I get back into it.

And like what that just does for me from our overall like training volume in general, like I just don't, I feel like I'm way less volume in terms of for the week when I'm not, you know, incorporating the sled.

So that's something I started doing up again and it's helped kind of bring my energy levels up, my strength and all that too.

The sled is like, God, I wish I used it for my clients, but I never used it for myself when I was younger.

I wish I knew the benefits for, I mean, for muscle building, mobility.

I need the least amount of priming and warming up to do it.

I almost never or ever feel the day after like, ooh, that's a little tight there.

And then strength and muscle gains are great on it.

When I add the sled, then my other lifts tend to go up.

It's like this, it's like a weird combination of recuperative and performance, which A lot of exercises fall under 1 or the other.

So I do that probably once a week, but with my workouts, I'm going back into lower rep training, although I was sick last week, so I had to kind of back off and go real easy, but I'm going back to lower rep training just to see.

I have a goal of, I mean, who knows if this will happen and I'm not going to push it to the point where I hurt myself, but I'd like to get, I got a 605 pound deadlift, what, 4 months ago.

I'd like to 1 day get to like 700 if possible.

I mean, that's crazy being in your mid 40s and already been like at your peak of training for a long time to try and move 100 pounds up on your deadlift.

I mean, you do have, but I mean, I tell you what though, I mean, you do have that to your advantage which does help you.

I also think that it's an example of a highlights that you are already optimizing so much of everything else that it's hard to, I mean, that just shows you like, yes, hormones make a massive difference, but when you're somebody who's doing all the other big rocks it doesn't make as massive a difference as you would think it would.

Like people just assume like, oh, okay, he's on hormones now, so oh yeah, this, that, everything's easier.

Oh, it's like, no, it's like you were doing a lot of those, all those things before.

So of course it gives you a little more of an edge.

Uh, I definitely don't want to hurt myself.

Um, but I just, uh, it would be great just to be able to say that.

You know, I've had like a shitty past 2 weeks.

Ever since we moved to Asheville, I think I trained twice since then.

So I've had like really an off couple weeks.

We had people sick at the house, I've had all the normal excuses, but I just haven't been feeling in the, I haven't been in my rhythm again.

You looked like you had a good workout on, what was it, Friday?

You had your headphones on, you were getting up for it.

That was actually, that was a decent, that was probably my best lift since we've been back from Nashville, is that you're right.

So I'm starting to, you know, I didn't get sick.

Like you went through like a really nasty cold for a week.

I never got sick like all of you guys, but it felt like my body was trying to fight off whatever you got.

And so I just, every day I had like this kind of itchy throat and I didn't have the energy and stamina.

I wasn't getting the best of sleep because I wasn't breathing well at night.

And so I've just kind of been, I've been off.

So now thank God for the, you know, Don Saladino and shooting us all those meals.

I mean, that's been a lifesaver for me because having those meals already ready and so like at least I'm making good food choices right so like that's probably the biggest thing I know I brought this up probably a hundred times now on the show but you know it's this has been my journey like with health and fitness is in my 20s I swung the pendulum really hard left to right all the time.

It's like, I'm on, I'm jacked, I'm fit, I'm doing it all, when I'm not, eating like an asshole, not doing anything, and I would just allow my body fat and percentage and everything to just swing.

I'm very mindful of when I'm not in the rhythm, I'm not, you know, I'm not tracking my protein.

I'm not staying consistent with the training to really be mindful of how I allow myself to kind of go off the rails with nutrition.

And because of that, it's been nice, man.

It's like when I do kick it back up, it's like within a week, I already feel, you know, Katrina always complains or talks shit.

Like, oh my God, it's so frustrating watching you.

Like, I feel like I train always consistently.

You take breaks all the time and then you get right back in it, and it's like you're right back to shape.

And I just think I've really, really stopped those crazy swings, and so I don't feel that way.

You got that muscle memory just working for you.

I think the longer you do this, the longer you're consistent, the easier it is to get back into shape when you get out

Like I feel like that's not expressed enough.

You know, there's so much talk around getting older, how much it sucks.

You know, how, oh, you're an old man now, and oh, and the fear of being an older dad, and like, ain't gonna be able to move with your son.

And like, there's all this negative shit about getting older.

Like, I can't jump up and dunk a basketball like I was, but then I also haven't trained to do that, right?

I also know if I applied myself, I could do a lot of these things if I really cared.

But what I love is the ability to maintain strength and muscle and a physique that I trained my ass off in my 20s trying to get to where by default, I mean, bad shape me looks better than great shape me in his 20s working out 7 days a week every single day for years.

I know this needs to be communicated more.

I used to, you know what I used to say that I was wrong on?

I used to tell people whatever you do to get in shape is what you have to do to stay in

That's actually not true, with strength training at least.

With strength training, the amount of training and volume that you need to, let's say, build 5 pounds of muscle, and let's say bench press 200 pounds, you need maybe a third or less of the volume and training to maintain.

In fact, some studies show even less than that.

Some show a little more, but the point is less.

So it's like, you mean I could get in shape and then like just to stay in shape, I can kind of maintain it with way less work?

Sometimes I feel guilty, but I also think it's important to communicate this on a podcast like this, is that, you know, I'm really not neurotic about my fitness at all.

Like, I hit the big blocks or the big rocks, I take care of it.

I allow myself to have this freedom of having drinks and going off a little bit, of not training for 2 weeks.

It's like, and then I can get right back in it.

It's like, you know, it's wild that when you've laid that solid foundation of years and decades in this case for all of us of training, actually how easy it is to stay and maintain a good, healthy physique and stay in good shape.

I think we really over complicated the hard part.

If at least I feel selfishly, I feel that way.

I feel like I don't have to think about it hardly at all just to make sure I get in and I, you know, another really big 1 that has helped me as I've gotten older that I didn't do in my early 20s that I do now is prioritizing the big lifts.

Like I was a typical 20 year old teenage lifter where it was like the beach muscles, the curls, all the cool, I love new machines, I was so into machines.

So hammer strength was out, I was like, you know, I was doing stupid shit by like trying to get strong on a hammer strength.

Like, I don't even mess around with that stuff anymore.

It's like, as long as I can bench, squat, deadlift, overhead press, and I can do all of those right now, cold, not lifting for 2 weeks, stronger than what I was 10 years ago, you know, or in the middle of my 20s.

Like, and that has maintained this amount of lean body mass on me and strength more in my 40s than I ever had.

And just for, you know, if you do start to feel bad as you get older, all you gotta do is look at your peers at the same age who don't exercise.

I saw this happening in mid to late 30s with some of my peers, people who are my age, that I, friends and family, and you see their health.

Because you get away with it when you're 20.

If you don't work out in your 20s, you're not going to be ripped.

But if you're not like obese or whatever, you're okay.

But then like 30, mid 30s, I started seeing people like, oh my God, what's happening?

Now, people are starting to get on medications, and oh, my doctor said I need to do this stuff, and I'm like, holy cow, dude, you're 43 years old.

That's when it gets away from you completely.

Yeah, dude, it's really, or I can't do that anymore.

I mean, it really, it compounds in both directions.

So if you were the person who chose not to make any healthy choices, not exercise, not doing that stuff, all through your teens, 20s, and 30s, it's now compounded and it's very obvious when you start getting in your 40s and your 50s.

Maybe if you were somebody who has always made that a part of your life, even if you weren't hardcore about

but it's been a part of your life that you've made an effort to eat better, to train, to get strong over the course of decades.

Like it's compounded now and there's a there's a massive difference between those types of bodies today.

It's why, and we see it, it's obviously way more at the forefront for us in our 40s now than it was when you were, like you said, 25.

you guys know anybody that in their 20s, I'm sure you do, in their 20s, they just went too hard.

Like party, drinks, straw, and they got away with it for whatever reason.

They were like good looking and fit enough and they got away with it.

And then, and then you start to see like, now if you see these people now, you're like, oh, you, you went too hard in your twenties.

I mean, this is kind of top of mind for me right now.

Not if we were, I don't know if we were intending to go this direction or not.

But my stepdad came over, he was over yesterday.

He came over, him and his wife, and I hadn't seen him in a few months.

And we had just redone a bunch of stuff in the house and furniture and everything like that.

And when we did this, we were also moving the old bookshelf in case and we had out these books that I used to make for Katrina and I when we first dated.

We're dating 12 years now and I used to do our first year or second year or third year of like photos of all of us.

And so he's like, oh my God, I've never seen these.

And he pulled them out and they were like going through like all these photos of her and I 12 years ago when we first met.

And they're like, oh my God, it's so crazy.

You guys are in your 40s and you guys are in way better shape, look younger and better right now.

And I'm like, oh my God, it's like the best compliment

And I mean, that's hard to say too, considering that I obviously have had a much better physique at 1 point, you know, over the course of the 12 years.

But when we first met, when Katrina and I first met, I considered myself a fitness person, I was 10 years into my career of already being a personal trainer and stuff like that and I was in relatively good shape.

But even then, when I look back at some of these, you know, beach photos of her and I, when we both would have considered ourselves in good shape, that doesn't even come close to what I think like out of shape looks like now in our 40s.

And that's all because of the cumulative effects but also because of the wisdom of how to train your body right, how to eat right.

See all Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth transcripts on Applepodcasts

2103: The Optimal Dose of Creatine, the Ideal Time to Change Your Workout, the Value of Adding Rotation to Exercises & More