#198: Charles Poliquin - His Favorite Mass-Building Program, His Nighttime Routine For Better Sleep, and Much More

Charles Poliquin is back for another round of the podcast. Charles (@strengthsensei https://twitter.com/strengthsensei) is one of the best known strength coaches in the world. He has trained elite athletes from nearly 20 different sports, including Olympic gold medalists, NFL All-Pro's, NHL All-Stars and Stanley Cup champions, and IFBB bodybuilding champions. His clients include long-jump gold medalist Dwight Phillips, NHL MVP Chris Pronger, and MLB batting champion Edgar Martinez, and the first women's wrestling US Olympic gold medalist Helen Maroulis, among many others. And as we creep up towards episode #200, his first appearance on the podcast is still one of the top-15 most listened to episodes http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/07/21/charles-poliquin/, and he's constantly requested by listeners for a round 2. In this episode, we allowed you to play host, and we selected your most popular questions on Facebook and Twitter. This time, Charles goes deep on several topics, including: His favorite mass building program of all-time Recommendations for older lifters His latest thoughts on hormones and diet How to differentiate a bad trainer from a good one, and a good one from the "best of the best" His nighttime routine for improving sleep Why most people screw up abdominal training Ketosis and muscle gain And much, much more! Enjoy! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Rhone Apparel https://rhone.com/tim. Dozens -- maybe even hundreds of you -- have asked me: "What shirts are you wearing in your recent YouTube videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfbB53gEAHA?" They're a very specific set of shirts from Rhone https://rhone.com/tim. I'm packing for a trip for seven to ten days, and I would say half of what I'm going to pack is from Rhone. These are the most comfortable shirts (and Rhone stocks way more than shirts) that I have ever worn -- at least for active wear. But you can even sneak them into a business casual event or dinner if you're a Long Island kid like me. Rhone https://rhone.com/tim has minimal branding, so you don't feel like you're walking around with some sort of billboard on your chest. They come with pure, melted-down silver in the fabric -- anti-odor technology so you don't smell like a musk ox halfway through the day. I love Rhone's shirts, pants, and shorts https://rhone.com/tim, and I've been wearing them pretty much every day for the past few weeks. Luckily, there's no risk in trying them out: free shipping and a 100-day return policy should help you decide if they're worth it. Plus, listeners get an exclusive 15% off for using the code TIM at checkout. Find 'em at rhone.com/tim https://rhone.com/tim. This podcast is also brought to you by TrunkClub http://trunkclub.com/tim. I hate shopping with a passion. And honestly, I'm not good at it, which means I end up looking like I'm colorblind or homeless. Enter TrunkClub http://trunkclub.com/tim, which provides you with your own personal stylist and makes it easier than ever to shop for clothes that look great on your body. Visit trunkclub.com/tim http://trunkclub.com/tim, answer a few questions, and then you'll be sent a trunk full of awesome clothes. They base this on your sizes, preferences, etc. The trunk is then delivered and you only pay for clothes that you keep. To get started, check it out at trunkclub.com/tim http://trunkclub.com/tim.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  At this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking.

• 0:06Speaker 01

  Can I ask you a personal question?

• 0:08Speaker 02

  No, we're seeing appropriate time.

• 0:12Speaker 01

  I'm a cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton.

• 0:23Tim Ferriss?

  Dozens, maybe even hundreds of you have asked me, what shirts are you wearing on YouTube videos for a very specific set of shirts? And they are from Rhone Apparel, R-H-O-N-E. And I'm packing for a trip for seven to 10 days, and I would say half of what I'm going to pack is from Rhone. These are the most comfortable shirts, and they have much more than shirts, that I have ever worn, at least for active wear, for getting out and about. And you can even sneak them in to, say, a business casual or a dinner if you want, if you're a Long Island kid like me. They have minimal branding. You don't feel like you are walking around with some type of billboard on your chest. Anti-odor technology, because I am a smelly bastard, and I can somewhat end up smelling

• 1:08Tim Ferriss?

  like a musk ox halfway through the day. They have pure melted down silver in their fabrics. And I love these shirts. I love their pants. I love their shorts. And I've been wearing them pretty much every day for the last few weeks, at least one item from them. So you should check it out. This stuff is not cheap, because it is made from premium materials. And if you want the best, you got to pay for the best, and that's just the way it is. But there's no risk in trying them out. They provide free shipping and a 100-day return policy. That is plenty of time to feel them out. So check it out at rhone.com/tim. That's R-H-O-N-E.com/tim.

• 1:51Tim Ferriss?

  You can get 15% off, which is exclusive for listeners of this podcast. You're welcome. Using the code TIM. You got to use the code, folks. And at that URL, rhone.com/tim, you will also see the shirt that I would suggest maybe starting with. It is the Scout Crew Neck Shirt. I like the red. I like the black. I'm wearing the red right now as I record this. And that is all for this sponsor announcement. So check it out, rhone.com/tim.

• 2:23Tim Ferriss?

  This episode is brought to you by Trunk Club. There are two types of men out there, you know who you are. Guys who love shopping for clothes but are short on time, category A. And those of you who hate it, category B. I am in the latter category. My fashion sense is also probably somewhere between homeless and confused with a dash of lazy added in. Either way, you can take heart. And I've used Trunk Club now and have found some of my favorite pieces of clothing that make me look a lot better than I would be able to handle on my own. And there are many reasons for that. But you can get clothing that fits perfectly and looks amazing without ever stepping into a store again, thanks to Trunk Club. And they make it very, very easy.

• 3:08Tim Ferriss?

  And the clothing is handpicked by a personal stylist, your own personal stylist. All you have to do is go to trunkclub.com/tim, type in your measurements, share your likes and dislikes, they'll pick your clothes from more than 80 top brands and ship them right to your door. You keep what you like, you send back what you don't. If you don't like any of it, send it all back. Doesn't matter. And Trunk Club is not a subscription service. This is what appealed to me, among many other things. I didn't want to constantly be getting dinged by things or have to deal with the headache of constantly getting boxes. It's not a subscription service. Shipping is always free and you have five days to try on the clothes. So, a couple of points here. Number one, get started today.

• 3:51Tim Ferriss?

  Go to trunkclub.com/tim, try it out. You get premium clothes, expert advice, no work, no risk. That is a winning combo. And I have found some of my favorite Espadrilles shoes from them, bright green. I do like the color green. And they actually work. I've had so many compliments on these shoes and more people ask me where I got them than any other pair of shoes I've ever had. And more shirts, I ended up keeping about, I would say, three quarters of my box, which I did not expect to do. So go to trunkclub.com/tim and check it out.

• 4:27Tim Ferriss?

  This is Tim Ferriss and welcome to another episode of the Tim Ferriss Show where it is my job to deconstruct world-class performers to tease out the habits, tools, beliefs, tricks, and so on that you can apply to your own life. In this episode, we have one of your favorites. We have Charles Poliquin back for another round. And in this episode, he is answering your favorite questions, those questions that were upvoted the most by you guys. Charles, you can find him on Twitter and elsewhere @StrengthSensei and StrengthSensei.com. He is one of the best-known strength coaches in the world. He has trained elite athletes from 20-plus sports, including Olympic gold medalists, NFL All Pros, NHL All-Stars, Stanley Cup Champions, IFBB Bodybuilding

• 5:10Tim Ferriss?

  Champs. His client list is long. It includes long jump gold medalist Dwight Phillips, NHL MVP Chris Pronger, and MLB batting champion Edgar Martinez, among many others, and the lady who won the first gold in Olympic wrestling for the US. So, the list continues to grow. And as we creep towards episode number 200, what? How did that happen? His first appearance on the podcast is still one of the top 15 most listened to episodes. So you should definitely check that out. It is controversial and very, very fun and very, very dense. And he is constantly requested by you guys for a round two. So, here you have it. In this

• 5:52Tim Ferriss?

  episode, we cover a lot. He goes deep on several topics, including his favorite mass building program of all time, recommendations for older lifters, latest thoughts on hormones, insulin, of course, insulin is a subset of hormones, and diet, how to differentiate - oh, can't handle the syllables today - how to differentiate a terrible trainer from a good one, and the good from the best of the best, his nighttime routine for improving sleep - oh my goodness gracious, I need more sleep - why most people screw up abdominal training, ketosis, and muscle gain, and much, much more. So, I'm gonna go drink more coffee,

• 6:35Tim Ferriss?

  and I hope you enjoy round two with Charles Poliquin.

• 6:42Speaker 04

  Hi, welcome to the Tim Ferriss Show. Our first question is from Kevin James. He's asking for recommendations for older lifters, 40 plus, but with a lot of years of experience. He's asking what's the sets, what's the reps, what's best for this? He also points out there's not very much advice for experienced lifters. And he's also wondering, is it all downhill from here? Well, let's look at it this way. All systems in your body, your body will age. Your hair gets gray, your eyesight drops, your hearing drops over the years. So, everything drops and your muscle strength and muscle mass will also drop. But what's an acceptable rate of drop?

• 7:25Speaker 04

  The best way to measure that is actually go look at the World Masters Championships in weightlifting. And what you typically see is that the world record holders in their youth, when they competed in seniors or the Olympic Games or World Senior Championships, whatever they can do, let's say I age 34, they lose about 1% point per year. So, let's say if the guy did 200 kilos at his best at the Olympics in the snatch, 20 years later, he'll do about 160 kilos. And that's how you see the guy has kept on training really hard.

• 8:06Speaker 04

  So, some people advance the fact that it could be 1% per year after the age of 26, but a lot of it has to do with training methodology. So, you have to have realistic goals of what's good for your age group. The best place to find that information is actually Brooks Cubic, a series of books called Dinosaur Training Secrets. In Volume 2, which is called All Strong RU, which you can find on Amazon, he outlines lift-specific norms and age-specific norms.

• 8:41Speaker 04

  So let's say you're 60 years old and you want to know what's a good back squat when you're 60, go there, enter your age and the lift and you'll be able to see what's good for you. I think having realistic goals will appease your mind. You're not going to do at 70 what you did when you competed at the Olympics, obviously. So that's what I would do for you. But you will, as far as training recommendations, as far as sets and reps, because of declining hormone levels, your ability to recover from workouts is somewhat impaired. If you are on a hormonal replacement therapy and you have testosterone therapy, GH therapy,

• 9:21Speaker 04

  thyroid therapy and so on, you will lose some, but not as fast as one of your colleagues who's not had their hormones replaced. The next question is from Yasser Nadeem. He stipulates, "You said that one must be lean enough to earn carbs, 10% or less. I can one test their individual's insulin sensitivity and determine if they are lean enough to make good use of carbs or not." Well, the point is, is that if you're fat, you don't need to do any blood work to find out that you need carbs. So for a male, your body fat should be less than 10%. Less than 10% would mean that when you stand up, we can see your abdominals and you can see the linear albers.

• 10:06Speaker 04

  Therefore, you could see every row of abs. Most people think they have abs if they can see one. That's not abs. You could do blood work. The best blood marker to see if you deserve your carbohydrate rates is actually the HB1 EC. You could run that test for $14 to $40. It's always covered by insurance. There's many more sophisticated tests, but this one would be good enough. And you want to have your HB1 EC below 4.8. If it is below 4.8, you sure can afford carbohydrate rates. Now, you may want to eat carbs when you're 26%, but don't complain your body composition is not improving.

• 10:49Speaker 04

  If I put you on a deserted island and all I give you is protein and fats and fiber being if you want a carb, you're not gonna die. There's no such thing as an essential carbohydrate. So I think for most people, just sheer laziness that makes them verge on carbs. You, if you don't deserve them and you wanna get lean, then you gotta stay away until you get lean, but it shouldn't take you that long. Question number three comes from Joe Mulhern. He asks, "What's your best routine for mass? I'm confused about the best way to spend time between strength work sets, which feels like it adds up a lot of wasted time." I get this question every day. Tim asked me to talk about it. You've seen it at least

• 11:34Speaker 04

  10 times on Tim's Facebook page, about 25 times when people ask me what I, questions. And the last time I posted on that. What I've done for the Tim Ferriss listeners is that I've looked back at what I've done in the last 38 years and found the best approach for that. So in this, it's a book, it's an ebook, and I go over everything, all the types of splits you could do, because not everybody can commit the most time to it. I mean, obviously, the fastest way to gain mass is to spend a lot of time on it, but it's only good to a certain point. We have what we call the law of the mission returns.

• 12:16Speaker 04

  So I had to tell you which exercise to do, how to eat, what type of supplements. And I've actually filmed every exercise, so there's no guessing. And I've taken pictures. And the H exercise is actually filmed from two different angles, so it should be very clear for you to get that. I've never, ever sold my programs like that online. So I'm gonna make it available on my site for two weeks and then take it down. If you're interested, check it out. It includes 12 weeks of routines, autodidacting workouts, nutrition advice, everything you need. To get the book, go to strengthsensit.com/mass. So to answer your question, in a nutshell...

• 12:59Speaker 04

  Your muscles will grow faster if you spend usually two to three weeks working on training volume. Usually your reps will be higher than eight, up, it could be up as much as 50 for the quadriceps. And then you go two to three weeks on low reps because after a while, the amount of weight you can actually use for higher reps is what dictates how much muscle mass you're going to gain. So if you're weak for reps, it's going to limit how strong and massive you'll get. So from experience, I mean, I've had a lot of the sports where people need to increase muscle mass, whether it's rugby, or hockey,

• 13:39Speaker 04

  or American football. And I've found over the last 38 years, that the alternation of volume versus, which we call accumulation phases, versus intensification phases, is probably the most productive way to gain mass. And if you go to my website, strengthsette.com, I got all sorts of examples of mass building routines. Next question comes from Feder Bear, and please, I apologize if I don't have the right pronunciation. I only speak three languages, so I don't always know how it's pronounced. He says, in the last podcast, you mentioned Gochicola doing a good job against stretch marks. What dosage do you use? Usually, if it's a good standardized extract, like the one made by

• 14:19Speaker 04

  Gaia, G-A-I-A, you would take six capsules of 500 milligrams in divided dosage, so two tablets, three times a day. And it works wonders. The next question is from Bryce Lee. What injuries did you personally have to deal with a career of maximizing solar trophy? And how do you deal with them? It seems that no matter how careful we are, we inevitably run into injuries if we pursue our pre-trophy and PRs for the own sake as we age. The best way to avoid injury Is actually rotation in the exercises. My friend Matt Benning, who has two world records in the squat, has had zero injuries.

• 15:03Speaker 04

  But if you look at his methodology, he has a lot of variation. He doesn't overuse exercises. So if you go to my website, strengthcity.com, I actually talk about overuse injuries. The biggest cause of injury is to stick to favorite exercise ad nauseam. I just did a tour with Matt and Ed Cones, a multiple time world champion in propelling. He's set over 72 world records. He's had a few injuries compared to Matt. And at Lawrence, he was discussing that if he were to start his life over, he would have varied his exercise selection more often. Because it's like anything else, if you don't change the pattern overload

• 15:46Speaker 04

  of the given exercise, your cartilage is always exposed to the same amount of stress. Proper warm-up, I think, is the most essential way to prevent injuries. Avoiding static stretching before lifting prevents injuries. Getting regular soft tissue work prevents injuries. But one thing that Dr. Robert Rakowski points out is that we live in a more and more polluted era. And he finds, and all my lifting coaches, colleagues who are over the age of 50, is people are getting injured more often and more severely than before.

• 16:26Speaker 04

  And one of the things that Robert Rakowski points out is toxic overload. Pesticides, heavy metals, and so on. So if you pay attention to eliminate all sorts of toxins and do things like chelation therapy, you diminish your toxic load, which should help you prevent injuries. So there's a biochemistry to it, but there's also the biomechanics of it. The question is from Jason Bartlett. He says like YouTube fitness experts or so-called experts, unrealistic workouts and expectations set by hand-handled people. That kind of sets up for unrealistic expectation and goals.

• 17:09Speaker 04

  He says, "How do we combat misinformation?" I agree with you. There's a lot of people on the internet that have no place being there, but there's no such thing as a board to look at the quality of what's on YouTube. However, I think what you have to look more to is that, as the person add results themselves, and are they good at training other people? So if I want to have an intelligent discussion with strength training experts, I know we're fine because they've produced athletes multiple times in repetitive fashion. So for example, Josh Bryant has very good books on weight training.

• 17:52Speaker 04

  And the information he publishes actually works. He's the lightest man to ever bench press 600 pounds. Guys like Paul Carter can give you good information at Kong. But to go on the internet for reliable sources of information can be rather confusing. What I think is a shortcut to do that is to take seminars with those guys. Because there's a lot of stuff you can't put in a book or that's, for example, with technique in a squat or the deadlift, you can't learn that through a book or by watching videos. What you think you're doing and what you're actually doing are two different things.

• 18:36Speaker 04

  So what I would do if I were you, instead of wasting your time on the internet watching stupid stuff that doesn't do anything, I would look at those guys and hire them for consults because there's a saying, "If you're too cheap to pay for information, you'll fall by the wayside." And most of the stuff that is there for free is actually worth nothing because a lot of people are trying to make a place under the sun and they'll say stupid stuff just to be different, but it doesn't mean that's any good. Like Tim says, you know, you could put underwear over your pants. But is it more, is it better or is it more fun?

• 19:19Speaker 04

  It's more fun for people to laugh at you, but it's certainly not more comfortable or better. So different and better are not synonyms. And it's better to use someone who has had time tried training methods. Then there's a peer reviewed, peer reviewed crowd, never produced anybody and only wait till it's published in Science with sixty papers. I wouldn't trust those guys either because they don't have any clinical experience. It's like basically consulting a virgin sex therapist. The next question is Marco Cuyacha asks, what differentiates between a good personal trainer for a great PT? Where should someone start if they want to become a PT?

• 20:04Speaker 04

  What are common mistakes PT make? What official certificates should the PT have to start teaching strength? What initial strength courses should an expert PT take? Thank you. Well, your ability to produce results is what distinguishes you in the field. So for example, Nick Mitchell and Ultimate Performance, they have established a brand by producing results. So if you go to the U P around the world, whether it's in Marvia, Spain, or if you're going to Manchester, UK, there's a wall full of success stories. And those success stories are always within about twelve weeks.

• 20:47Speaker 04

  So the best way to learn, in my opinion, is to offer to do free internship with a well-producing gym, like Shredded in Australia or Wolfgang in Prague. So seek out who has constant good results and offer to intern under them for free because you have no experience. And then they will teach you the system and they will point you to write books. I mean, your question is, it'd be very long to answer, but official certifications, in my opinion, don't mean much. I've seen people with lots of different certifications and it's still your ability. To produce results that makes a difference.

• 21:30Speaker 04

  And you have to learn how to do a training system. So if you told me, I want to be a great strength coach, I would say, go learn with Ben Prentice in Connecticut. He's produced years over years of NHL players, NFL players, Major League Baseball players. Because you can't acquire the stuff just in classes and just by books. You have to get somewhat, what I would say, in the trenches. And those guys that I strongly recommend are people who spent a fortune on education, and they will actually save you time. So if you go intern, let's say, a month for free at a UP, provided they accept you because

• 22:15Speaker 04

  they'll ask you to see, you know, some colors before you show up, you would learn far more than taking thousands of hours of certification courses. In the near future, I will produce videos for Idea, which is the largest certification company in the world, and those will be good to get your theory down. But if you listen to those videos, you'll have a good idea of what reps you should do, sets, so that you're prepared once you go into the field to maximize your results. But what makes a great PT versus a good PT is simply the ability to produce results. But you need to learn the systems from a world-class mentor.

• 22:58Speaker 04

  The next comes from, question comes from Daniel Mathews, Casimir Chuck, difficult Irish name. Which supplements do you currently use for improving sleep? Personally, I'm a big fan of magnesium threonate. I take six capsules at bedtime, mixed with two grams of theanine, T H A, N I, any. I will post a page to where to get these ingredients on the website. The next question comes from Marcus Beamer. There are many things you might regret, but what's the thing that comes to mind most often? Well, why would I change if I could do it again?

• 23:39Speaker 04

  I wish the four-hour week would have been published when I started my career. People tell me often, "You are very lucky." I got very lucky by working 20 hours a day for years on end. So when you work that many hours, and that doesn't include the training, so for years, for about eight months out of the year, I would only sleep three hours a night. I would say that's my biggest mistake. I said yes too often, and I should have been concerned more with the quality of the athletes I trained. The problem was is that when I would get hired, I would get the whole national team. Once I established credibility of being consistent with results, when I would negotiate with national team,

• 24:23Speaker 04

  I would tell national team, "These are the guys I'll pick, these are the guys I will train." So it would have saved me time on writing programs, administrating programs, monitoring programs, teaching technique, but you need to have a reputation before, so I spent a lot of time doing that. What I've learned over the last few years is that you get known that the jobs you turn down, not the jobs you accept. A few months ago, Ellen Marulis won a gold in Olympic wrestling for women. First time in America it did so. For weeks, I've been asked to do seminars, write books, take on more national team athletes, train foreign teams, and I said no to all one of these requests.

• 25:08Speaker 04

  Why? Because I'm really geared up. I don't do the four-hour work week, but I like to do the four-and-a-half-hour work day. And, you know, one thing I do regularly is I take a week off a month to rest, to read, and I take three months vacation a year. Probably having a child was probably the best thing for me to learn other prioritized things. So I really started to cut back on the amount of work once I had my daughter. But the biggest mistake I've ever done was to work far too much. Now, guys like Guy Reinerchuk will say you need to hustle. You do, but you...

• 25:47Speaker 04

  Should still favor quality over quantity. And if you want to understand the concept better, it strongly suggests you read the one thing and to read the four hour work week. It's just a mental outlook to what you do. The next question is from Jonathan Anderson. Thanks to Charles, I'm now big into omega threes to keep my remaining remission. Dr. Barry Sears says three to one EPA to DHA. And taking that ratio at about a greater expense. Is it worth it? Should everyone go on it? Well, Dr. Guignot, unfortunately passed away a few years ago, was probably one of the smartest guys in that topic. What we know is that it's actually better to vary the types of official.

• 26:31Speaker 04

  There's an axiom you should respect is that the more you're dealing with inflammation, the higher the EPA ratio to DHA should be. So a lot of brands will sell you a six to one ratio. And that will bring down inflammation better than the three to one ratio, actually. If you're concerned with brain, so let's say if you have ADD, ADHD, borderline personality, all the studies on brain disorders show that a high DHA omega three product is better. So usually you want to eight DHA to EPA to one EPA ratio. But there's no magical official.

• 27:13Speaker 04

  And the other thing we know not from research, it's better to take products like omega three avail from Designs for Health, who has also mixed in D1, D3, sorry, K1 and K2 into the product because those actually increase absorption. You don't need as much large quantity. And of course, you supplement this important fat soluble vitamins. The next question is from Rowdy Lee and he asked me, you're not a big fan of foam rolling, isn't foam rolling a massage? Thing, my beef against foam rolling is that it would be trying to build a bridge one pebble at a time.

• 27:57Speaker 04

  It takes far too long. So there's such a thing as a principle of training economy. I mean, Tim is big on that, whether you four hour body or any of his books. It's like you have to have maximum return, least amount of time.

• 28:10Speaker 04

  So people waste tremendous amount of time foam rolling. The amount of time they waste on foam rolling could be trying to get flexible could be done in a good 20 minute active release session or Rothing technique or the Voila method. There's a lot of stuff out there that exists to get rid of adhesions and improve range of motion. So, and let's say if you have a good active release practitioner and you're foam rolling because you have a tight shoulder. If the guy does a good job and let's say you're the worst case scenario, you're about as flexible as a crowbar. Within five treatments, you'll have 100% range of motion.

• 28:54Speaker 04

  And if you're a complete certified idiot, you will still maintain those gains for six weeks. So, six months, I'm sorry. So, in my opinion, to go see a very good soft tissue practitioner and invest the time and money into that will save you all these countless hours of foam rolling. Because you will, you will have the results and it'll be more permanent if you see a soft tissue therapist. Next question comes from Clay Stenman, asking me, do you have a lifting plan for body transformation? Even to sell, I'm sure a lot of people would like to buy it. Well, like I said, I've done a mass program.

• 29:36Speaker 04

  And the thing with the mass program is that people get so obsessed with fat loss that they should actually be focusing on mass and strength. Because if you increase your muscle mass, you become more insulin sensitive. Therefore, fat loss is accelerated. So when people come in, and if you look at the research, one of the fastest ways to lose fat is actually bodybuilding programs. I mean, they did a study on obese teenagers. And one group did one hour of cardio, one group did one hour of weight training. And the mid-group did halfway training after cardio. And it turns out that the group that did cardio got fatter. And the group that lifted weights for an hour got not only leaner, but also gained some muscle mass.

• 30:22Speaker 04

  And the group that did the intermediate program had a mixture of the two extreme groups. So in my opinion, for body composition, actually focusing and increasing your muscle mass works far better than trying to focus on fat loss. The next question is from Lee R. Parry. He says, considering the magnitude of the supplement industry, how do we know which supplements are more effective or at all? How do we know if they even work? Well, you could go on PubMed and Google a supplement and then you'll find the research that backs it up or tells you it doesn't work. A lot of times supplement companies make what

• 31:00Speaker 04

  I call extended claims. There's a good website called ergolog.com, there's a subversity.com, there's examine.com, and those websites will tell you the real deal. Of course, there's a strong commercial bias. Do supplements work? Yes. But one of the major things that dictates the quality of supplements is other made. So if you buy a supplement in Canada, which has very strong regulatory laws on supplement making, you'll get a good product because it's the trouble you can get in if you produce a crap supplement is far too extensive. And the government does all the testing for you before you get approved over there. That's

• 31:43Speaker 04

  why one of the reasons why I use ATP Labs. It's made in Canada, and because it's made in Canada, I know the quality is very high. So, for example, Norway is very strong on protecting their own supplement industry, but because of the high quality of Canadian supplements, you can actually ship Canadian-made supplements into Norway and they pass customs. But it's not true for supplements all over the world. The UK is probably the country where they make the worst supplements. They do have strong legislation, but it's never been applied. And they estimate that if the UK were to put that law into action, 80% of supplement companies in the UK would be closing their doors. So depending on where

• 32:28Speaker 04

  you live, you may have access to high-quality supplements or not. If you're going to buy supplements, I strongly recommend you buy them from a health practitioner, because health practitioner brands have far more severe self-imposed restriction on quality control. And one trusts most of the stuff you see on the internet because of that. Next question comes from Gabe Rivera. He says, when squatting, high bar or low bar? Heeled, weightlifting shoes or flats? Training with or without a belt? A lot needs to drift forward or has to drift back? These topics are not agreed upon universally, please explain why? The goal being maximal strength in my protein.

• 33:08Speaker 04

  Well, Gabe, here's the reality, all the forms of squats you talked about are good. The only thing I'm not big on is squatting with a belt. I think you should allow your core to develop at the same rate as you develop your hip and knee extensors. Because let's say if you like to do slalom skiing, if you always train with a belt and you ski without a belt, your core muscles are not matching your leg strength, so you could get into trouble. If you're a wrestler, you're not going to be allowed to wear that belt when you go to the mat. So the trunk muscles should evolve at the same rate as hip and knee extensors. On my website, I've got plenty of different ways you could squat.

• 33:50Speaker 04

  I've actually filmed over 188 forms of good squats. So there's a lot to choose from. And going back to what I said early on about Ed Cone, he also thinks that you should have the area squats more often to stay injury free, like Matt Venning. The next question is from Sam Sinclair. He says, "Charles, a heavy set guy, 240 pounds, trying to reduce fat. Loves lifting but training five days a week, can't shift it. Mostly paleo. Okay, post 8pm, wine and crab food is a battle. I don't expect miracles, but what would you tip from a master?" Namaste. Well, Sam, let me break it to you. All lean you are comes from the choices you make.

• 34:34Speaker 04

  So if you're 80% good and 20% terrible, well, don't expect to have 100% results. What I would suggest you do, there's one tip I'd give you, is only take on one habit per week. So for example, chewing. Lean people chew their foods 45 times, fat people chew their foods 15 times. So you could get one of those counters that bouncers use to control on the people that went to the bar. And just do this, start on this Saturday because you won't have any excuses. Chew your food and every time you take a chew click, uh, clicker and see what happens. And you will find that you rush to swallowing your food.

• 35:15Speaker 04

  So the low cost tip for fat loss is actually chewing your food. And even if you're trying to gain muscle mass, it's true too. Most people inhale their foods. Nothing you have to pay attention to, so it's a bonus tip, is do you actually eat in front of the screen? Are you on Facebook while you, are you answering emails? So mindful eating is another way to lose fat. And then most people who are not doing mindful eating and sit in front of the screen, consume far too many calories. There's a very good study from France where they looked at, uh, female college students the first year. And their dietary intake versus eating mindfully or vicious eating in front of, let's say, something like Facebook.

• 36:00Speaker 04

  And the people who were watching screens while eating, on average, gained seven kilos in the first semester of school. So paying that, you know, and, you know, most people eat alone. So eating in company of, of other people else, uh, being mindful what you're eating. And not rushing to your meal is probably the best tip I can give you on that. The next question comes from Dean Laster. Odd is you fit workouts of individuals with different needs, body types, stages in life. Odd is you encourage positive building habits to accelerate one's progression. What are three to five best practices you recommend for someone to adopt to, for staying fit for life?

• 36:46Speaker 04

  Well, that's a lot of questions, Dean, but let me answer them one at a time.

• 36:51Speaker 04

  Adapt training programs based on goals first. So what do you want? And based on what you want, I give you an estimate on how fast you can do it. So, you know, people will show up and say, I want to lose 55 pounds by when? In two weeks for my nephew's bar mitzvah. Hey, I don't have holes in my hands and my feet. I can't do miracles. So I always put that back into the reality. I want to bench press 400. How much can you bench press? 95 pounds. Well, let's take the next seven years to get there. So to increase strength, for example, if you are gifted within seven years, you could triple your strength.

• 37:34Speaker 04

  If you're not gifted, you can multiply your strength by 500%. Very few people do that because they don't know how to train. But if you go see a great lifting coach, like they'll say John Bros, he'll triple your strength in seven years because now he knows how to do it. And I could tell you right now, he doesn't use peer reviewed scientific papers to decide how to train. So this is the things experience versus reading the research. Once I know your goals, then I make everybody do the Braverman test, which is a way to see which neurotransmitters you are gifted at producing and which one you're not at.

• 38:17Speaker 04

  And based on your neurotransmitter makeup, I will make you train heavy, a lot of variation, no variation. And I teach that in my advanced program design classes. It takes three days to learn this. But neurotransmitter profile is key into deciding what you need to do. How do I encourage building positive habits? Well, the most important thing is that you have to look at progression, not perfection. So what do you do for an habit? One, well, you know, if you have an appointment with a dentist and you know you're going to be charged if you don't show up, you know, give 24 hours notice, you don't miss your dentist appointment. But people are not.

• 39:02Speaker 04

  Treating their body properly. So the most important habit is to actually have regular training hours. According to some research in Slovakia, some better people do better doing early morning workouts or evening workouts because depending on the time, they make the androgens throughout the day. So a good clinical setting, I mean, tip I could give you is your sex drive. If you wake up under a TP every morning, you need to take a handstand, take a piss, you probably make your androgens very early. So you should train in the morning. Some people are have a greater sex drive in the afternoon, then they should train in the afternoon. So optimizing that makes a difference. Also, recording

• 39:44Speaker 04

  everything you do. Tim Ferriss talks about these two weeks experiments and all that stuff. That's great to do because if you don't live consciously, you don't know what really works. And then by having accurate journals of what you do, you'll be able to figure out what's best for you. Next question is from Peter Lamb or Lama. Is there a way to combine strength training and long cardio sessions? I've got two goals for three months. Run a half a marathon in less than two hours and increase my bench press from 70 kilos, three sets of eight to 90 kilos, three sets of eight. I weigh 90 kilos and I'm 46. Well, Peter, there's an Inga and proverb, if you only got one ass, you can't sit on

• 40:26Speaker 04

  two horses. To go for three sets of eight to 70 kilos, up to 90 kilos is a realistic goal. But if you do train for a half marathon at the same time, it's going to take three to four times the time it takes. So what I suggest, you pick one goal and work on it. And then once you back up with that goal, move on to the next goal. It's like in the movie The Last Samurai, too many minds. You really have to concentrate on one goal at a time. There's a famous Norwegian weightlifter, he's an exercise physiology professor, who was top ranked at the Olympic Games in weightlifting, and he trained for the marathon for a year,

• 41:08Speaker 04

  and then claimed he had a pretty decent weight. But he could do the pretty decent weight because what people don't understand is that, yes, larger muscles lift heavier weights, but the main reason why you're strong on a pound for pound basis is actually that you develop the ability to recruit high threshold motor units. So

• 41:30Speaker 04

  The key lesson from that, build your strength first and then work on your endurance. Next question, Jeff Garza. There's a contingency of people online claiming Europeans and protocols lack scientific basis. How do you respond to these people? Thanks. All right, clinicians are always ahead of the curve. So for example, in February 2008, in the Journal of Applied Sports Science Research, they published a paper, Cluster Training: A Novel Approach to Develop Maximal Strength. So remember the February 2008. I first did cluster training when I was 14 years old. I learned it from my coach, who learned it in 1968.

• 42:13Speaker 04

  When that article was published, I tried to go back and find where it came from. And apparently, it was used in 1948. Some records of it, of guys who prepare for the 48 world championships were using cluster training. So if you look at it, you have 60 years between guys figuring out it's a great training method versus 2008. How many Olympics is that? If you only count Summer Olympics, you divide by four, that's 15 Olympics. If you add the Winter Games, you multiply by two, we're up to 30 Olympics. I've had plenty of my Olympians that, when I started to coach for the Moscow Olympics, who've been doing cluster training.

• 42:58Speaker 04

  So if I waited for the research, so from 1980 to 2008, we're looking at 28 years. 28 years divided by seven is four, times two, right? So I would have wasted 14 Olympic Games, waiting for research to happen. You look at, for example, Arnold Schwarzenegger's training. I'm pretty sure that he didn't use peer-reviewed studies to develop his physique. One of the things he's credited with is point deflection training. So he figured out that if you overload different points in the biomechanical curve, you create more accuracy. Now, research can demonstrate that it's great.

• 43:38Speaker 04

  One of the things I've been advocating since 1982 was to lower weight slowly to create more strength in my periphery. And I was recommending often to do five seconds lowering. The first study to be published to confirm that was published in 2016 by Perre and his colleagues. Again, I would have wasted so many Olympic cycles not doing it. I've been advocating to change positions to in leg curls since I started strength coaching in 78. And the paper that shows that turning your foot outward recruits more the bicep femoris, and if you're turning your foot inward, you recruit more the medial hamstrings, was published a few months ago.

• 44:21Speaker 04

  So again, those haters can say whatever you want, but there's such thing called observation. And then you look at anybody that's any good, they will tell you also how not to train. Because what's the best way to train? Because whether I talk to John Meadows or Dave Tate or Ed Combe, they will say, I've tried this, didn't work. So, you know, these people are obsessed with results, and they've tried many things to get there. And then they, after a while, they figure out what works and what doesn't. So I don't really care when they say... And then the thing too is that a lot of people say, oh, there's no research on that. For example, leucine. I recommend much higher doses of leucine than my colleagues.

• 45:06Speaker 04

  And then I've been attacked. There's no papers. And yes, there's papers, but they're in French. And actually, those two French papers use real training programs. A lot of these studies on supplements, the program that the subjects do is not even a workout, it's more like a warm-up. But the two French studies I like on using leucine, people do 20 sets per body part and measure different doses of leucine, and the highest dose at the... Greatest results and they tested out at the thirty grams. So the point is there often there is research when they claim there's no research. You just don't know how to look for it. For example, Shishandra has eighty eight synonyms. So if you just Google, go and comment and search under Shishandra, you'll find X amount of studies.

• 45:51Speaker 04

  But if you go through every synonym, you'll find more studies. Holy Basil has hundreds of synonyms and you could search for early Basil and research. But if you look under Tulsi, the Sanskrit name, you'll find countless numbers of papers. So those people who make those claims that are not scientific, they only have one thing in common. They've never produced results and haters will always hate. And I guess it's frustrating to them that they've got great results and they don't have any. So you pick on that, but all the training I do is based on science. And this is a thing also has common sense. I don't need a study with double blind at a full speed front kick

• 46:36Speaker 04

  with a pair of construction boots with tilt toes will damage your testicles. If you want to be part of the possibly placebo group, go ahead. But you know, there's such a thing as common sense. So that's why you never meet, see me engage in disputes with those guys. Because one of the things, one of the things my father taught me is you have to play fair. And those guys are nitwits, so I don't engage in debate with them. The next question comes from Preston Parish. I once heard him say, if you're in strength training and can't get a female client to do twelve pull ups in twelve weeks, then you're not very good and you should quit. Training plans to get women to do twelve pull ups. Best exercise to help with twelve pull ups.

• 47:22Speaker 04

  Very simple answer, Preston, just go on YouTube and search under chin up performance. I give you numerous tips on how to improve chin up performance. A lot of the reasons why people can't do chin ups is they don't know what to recruit. In my upcoming membership site, I will actually give actual programs to do that. And I have to demonstrate the exercise. So the podcast is not the best way to learn that. But the information will be available on my membership site. The next question is from Morgan Brown. If you only had to pick one important factor between sleep, food, and exercise, which would you pick and/or how would you prioritize them? Well, Morgan, that's like asking me for optimal health.

• 48:04Speaker 04

  Should I prioritize my liver, or my heart, or my brain, or my adrenals, or my kidney? All of those are important. You don't have a brain, well, forget. You don't have a heart, forget. If you don't have a liver, you're not gonna live very long. So you can't prioritize so much. Let's say if we look at prisoners at Club Fed,

• 48:27Speaker 04

  they can sleep as much as they want. Is the sleep restful? Probably not, because maybe your roommate wants to kill you. The food, food is prison food, so it's not the greatest. But they do have plenty of opportunity to exercise, and they have weight rooms. So in that case, you could argue, people can get a good physique. And if you look at the book of J.L. Strong by Josh Bryant, some pretty good physiques were built behind bars. But then again, you say to the guys, we'll make you safe, and then we'll give you paleo foods. Well, these guys will grow a lot. I'm not sure taxpayers would agree with that thing. But you can't prioritize them. You can't say, I'm just gonna sleep to muscle growth, or I'm just gonna exercise to muscle growth, or I'm just gonna eat to muscle growth. You need all three.

• 49:12Speaker 04

  Next question is from Ryan Riley. Cryotherapy seems to be an interesting topic because of the extreme nature. What are your thoughts on trying it just for the experience? Meaning, I don't have any good reason to go, but it intrigues me. What benefits comes from it from the average person? A few years ago, actually in 2001, it was very fashionable for pro teams were sold on buying cryo suits. So the guy would train, put the cryo suit on. It cost 150 grand, and they claimed it was good for recovery. So this strength coach from our rugby team said, hey, should I invest into that? I said, well, based on the quality of your weight room, I would take that 150 grand, buy yourself some real dumbbells and some real equipment.

• 49:57Speaker 04

  That is more important than cryotherapy suit. And he says, why? You know, I said, well, first, first things come first. So if you get a choice between cryotherapy and a good weight room, get a good weight room. He said, okay, let's say if I've got a good weight room, would you buy the cryotherapy suit? I said, no. Because unless you want to train yourself to be a Navy SEAL and withstand extreme temperatures, if you use cryotherapy post-exercise, it will increase cortisol and it will actually slow down your progress. He said, do you have any papers on that? I said, no. But I said, buy one and tell me how it worked. And then turns out that we keep getting the same call.

• 50:40Speaker 04

  And all those cryotherapy suits that were bought in 2001, they're all in storage in sports clubs. They don't work. It slows down his recovery. Some people argue that you could use cryotherapy short-term to increase healing your tissue. Colleagues of mine have said, yeah, it's a good thing because you get reactive hyperemia. So you increase blood flow to the body parts. But to be fair, I don't have enough practical experience or have read enough research on it to validate its use. But I can tell you one thing, it does not increase recovery post-workout. It actually slows it down.

• 51:25Speaker 04

  Next question is from Andres Carso Be Yo Yo. Top things you've learned in the last two years? In the last two years, I've reinforced the importance of measuring your transmitters for improving program selection. So some people are driven by variation. Some people do better. With manipulating, manipulating workloads. Some people do better by keeping the program more constant, have less variation. So keeping that in mind, when I train people, I use that. I've been doing that since 2001 on a regular basis.

• 52:07Speaker 04

  But I'm more and more convinced because I've taught the system to students. The reason why I count as being one of the most important thing I've learned in the last two years is that many of my students, once I started to create that class, started doing that and they were all, 100% of them reported that they had much faster results when they, once they've applied the system. So that would be number one. Number two, it's more like how vital sleep is. I've always known it to be important, but in the last two years, there's more and more research. And for example, if someone wants to increase their testosterone naturally, the single most important factor is actually sleep.

• 52:50Speaker 04

  And we sleep far too less with also very poor quality because people read them on messages before bed and look at screens. So avoiding screen time is very important for sleep quality. And then the next question is that, what is, you know, that it's not well known amongst the scientific world, goes back to point one. I know well how to use neurotransmitters to maximize training response. However, in the Mas book I wrote, I use a 70% rule. So, you know, from the last 38 years, I've made it so that it will maximize training progress

• 53:33Speaker 04

  regardless of your, because I'm not psychic and I'm not going to write you an individualized program. So people wanted a program that would work for most of the population. And that's what I did. But a lot of it has to do with what's the optimal amount. If I don't know who you are, what's the best variation? It's the best I could do for the last 38 years. Jonathan Hyde asks, for someone who's wanting to start coaching in the strength and conditioning world, would you recommend something other than CSCS? What search would open up the most doors? Again, it's asked to do with who did you learn under? Go see a strength coach that is, that's produced a lot of athletes consistently over

• 54:17Speaker 04

  the years. No cert will do that for you. And expect to work for free. Ben Prentice was telling me that people come to his office and say, I want to train pro athletes. But the guy has zero experience. So his classic answer is, don't we all? So you have to apprentice. And if it does involve counting reps, if you went to work for me and you said, I'm very keen, I would first assess, how much do you know? I would assume, I would expect you, sorry, to know your basic mechanics, you know, know your basic physiology, know how loading parameters. That's the homework you need to do on yourself, by yourself, before you show up.

• 54:59Speaker 04

  And probably the first thing you would do is just count reps. And then I would teach you to select load. Why is Ben Prentice the best strength coach in America? Because one of the things I taught him was application of strength program design. I only let him start writing programs after two years. You know, so it's like wax on, wax off. You gotta do your basis, basics before you want to be a strength coach. And there's no cert that will do that for you. Devon Sprankill says, what are your thoughts on intermittent fasting for trying to gain lean muscle? In my opinion, it's a waste of time.

• 55:44Speaker 04

  Some people claim fantastic gains from doing that, but I've never seen any evidence of that. If you look at the research, both brain and muscle performance are negatively affected by intermittent fasting. So I'm not keen as that. There's not a single animal in the world that will voluntarily fast. And if you look at anybody big, really big and really strong, one thing I tell you, they don't fast. And, you know, you don't grow muscle overnight.

• 56:14Speaker 04

  It's consistency of effort that matters. One of my early mentors was Bill Starr and he will tell you, and I fully agree with him. But he told me that luckily I was seventeen years old, was that the biggest thing to gain strength and size is consistency. And that is particularly true for eating food. Now on the internet, people claim all sorts of things about intermittent fasting, but I've never seen any visual proof of that. And then they met anybody who said, hey, I'm an intermittent fasting type of guy and here are my results. So, uh, in my opinion, it's a waste of time. Shane Quinnell, what is the most effective, efficient way to increase strength in a squat

• 56:59Speaker 04

  and deadlift when eating a plateau? My website is full of information on how to break those plateaus and that thing, so you would have to go to StrengthSays.com. But in a nutshell, you have to vary your loading parameters, but the biggest mistake I see in people eating plateaus is because they've been doing one type of squat and one type of deadlift since Jimmy Carter was president. Variation of overload in the strength curve is probably the most neglected factor in overcoming a plateau. So you could overload the bottom of the strength curve by, let's say, pausing the squat, or you could use chains to match the strength curve, or you could use bands, you could do explosive work.

• 57:44Speaker 04

  It doesn't matter, but probably the best program to improve your squat, deadlift is a program you've never done. Again, I will reinforce, don't be cheap, open up your wallet, and hire somebody who's good at improving your squat. Again, books will do something, reading on the internet, something, but I would say, for example, your squat is terrible. Go to Las Vegas, book an appointment with John Bros, he'll look at you, he'll say, okay, your squat is terrible because of this and that, and he'll write you a program. And the amount of time that you're going to waste on the internet trying to find a solution will be offset by investing money. Your deadlift sucks. Find Ed Combe, go see him. There's a lot of good coaches out there, or your bench press is terrible,

• 58:28Speaker 04

  go see Josh Bryan. He's the expert at improving your bench press. But face-to-face consultation is the surefire way to improve a lift. The next question is from Kieran Donal. What has he been improving of in the past that he no longer believes? Perhaps a scientific study updates. Actually, probably what I've changed over the years is that I used to use very short cycles, like two weeks, and then a colleague of mine convinced me to go to three-week cycles. And from experience, I may do only five-day cycles. So I realized that, you know, basically, strength training is like learning a foreign language.

• 59:12Speaker 04

  So you need to change the stimulus. If you repeat the same words over and over again in the same order, you're not going to get strong. So a good example I'll give you is, let's say if you're learning English, and I show you in writing, "Did he really say it?" You have no idea, because there's no intonation of the meaning of the sentence. But if I say, "Did he really say it?", it implies, is it him or not? Or, "Did he really say it?", you get the drift. So depending where I put the emphasis on the words, the meaning of the sentence is completely different. It's the same with strength training. As you, as time went by, I realized that you need to put the emphasis on something different.

• 59:56Speaker 04

  And one of the things that I find works for everybody is much shorter training cycles. I don't like to go more than two weeks or four workouts being repeated. The next question is from Jason Conine. What new insights did he gain training women's wrestlers Helen Narulis and Elena Pyroshkova for the Olympic Games in Rio? Well, thanks for the question, Jason.

• 1:00:24Speaker 04

  Two years ago, I announced on Facebook I was gonna start working with wrestlers. And it was amazing the amount of hate posts I got, which would say something like, "You don't know anything about wrestling. What are you gonna make them do? Train biceps." You know, "Athers, gonna be haters." So I used that as a good motivation to show that I could train wrestlers. And Helen Maroulis came in first, won an Olympic gold, first American wrestler to do so in history. And she beat a girl that only lost twice in 20 years, or 16 years. But Chen lost a single fight in 12 years. And Helen, as you can see in the videos on YouTube, mangled her. She overpowered her.

• 1:01:07Speaker 04

  And then when I was looking for the fight online, I kept getting text messages or WhatsApp messages from my students telling me, "Congratulations." And they would write statements like, in Sweden, all they talked about was, "Oh, she dominated everybody with strength." So it was one of the best public displays I've ever had about people could relate the effect of strength training on Helen's win. And yeah, Helen didn't do so bad. She came in fifth. And since then, I get asked every day to work with more wrestlers of different countries. But what did I learn? When I first started working for the two athletes, I asked them, I was like, "What are your norms for strength training?" And there was none. So I've done norms for strength training for sports all my life.

• 1:01:52Speaker 04

  So I said, "Okay, let's look at that." And again, I didn't have any double-blind studies, but I figured out if you get strong at chin-ups, that should help you with takedowns, snapping the neck, reversals and so on. Because the lats and the elbow flexors are prime movers in those movements. So I've only trained for the world championships, Helen, for three times, six weeks.

• 1:02:18Speaker 04

  And when she started with me in January, she could do zero chin-ups. And she did two super heavy chin-ups with 27 kilos, five days before she left for the world championships. Which she won. For Rio, I trained her six weeks on Christmas, six weeks in the spring. So the total of strength training was about 12 weeks in preparation for Rio.

• 1:02:47Speaker 04

  And she managed to do two pull-ups on the rings with the 30 kilos the day before she flew out to Rio. And she won the Olympic gold and everybody credits strength as being one of the major factors why she won. It's not the only factor. I mean, this woman doesn't have mindset, she has soul set. She's very driven, very smart. She learned Japanese so she could understand what the culture is telling her opponent between stops, right? So the thing is, is that what I learned is that there's some basic lifts that do transfer to wrestling. The most important ones are squats and deadlifts and chimps. So if you drive those lifts up, providing everything's equal,

• 1:03:30Speaker 04

  you should have a transfer into the wrestling mat. Number two is that I was amazed at the misconceptions that are still surrounding wrestling. So people would laugh at her because she lifted weights. But once she won the world championships, and lifting weights very close to competition. People say you shouldn't do that, you're gonna be too heavy, you have to cut weight. But I've got a few tricks up my sleeve on how we got strong and not put on any weight. And then for the world championships, for, sorry, for the Olympic Games, she decided to keep training up to the competition, which in wrestling is avoided like the plague. But once she won the world championships, you would see on Instagram all her competitors

• 1:04:14Speaker 04

  taking videos of themselves training, but the methods they're using were horrendous. It was quite funny. I mean, it was a cure for depression to look at those DVDs and videos. And for example, when she beat the Swedish girl, you know, again, in Sweden, they said, you know, she's far superior by strength. So the insights are one squat, deadlift and chins increments will improve transfer on the mat. Number two, you need, there's value in training close to the competition. And number three, based on the response I'm getting, now people are valuing how much strength training can do for a competitive sport.

• 1:04:59Speaker 04

  Next question is from Ryan the Sync. What's his process in learning new languages? Again, I think it's exposure. So everywhere I go, I make it a habit to learn at least how to say hello, goodbye, thank you, no problem. And I learn basic sentences because if you go to a restaurant, you know, they'll ask you, do you want bottled water? Do you want tap water? Do you want the water with bubbles, no bubbles? We drink coffee. So if I go, let's say to Slovakia, I'll go on being translator, write down these sentences. I have a local person teach me the correct pronunciation.

• 1:05:40Speaker 04

  And let's say if I'm riding a cab, I'll look at ads and try to guess what they are. So I'll write them down, go back, go on being translated, write down what the ad said, and then pick it up. But the more languages you learn, the easier it is. And I was in Prague with the owners of Wolfgate and having dinner. And one of the tricks that helps in learning languages, I pay attention when my friends are speaking and I try to slow down internally the conversation. And then, so now I say, okay, this word must mean this. So I remember the guy was ordering a drink. I said, that must be orange juice.

• 1:06:19Speaker 04

  And the guy was surprised I picked up because the word was not at all similar to what we have in our language. So learning languages is like strength training as well. I mean, it's repeated exposure. So I found that the Pimsleur method is probably the best method to learn. Hiring somebody to teach you, and again, don't be cheap. Sometimes people do it for free, they'll do it as a trade. But in my field, How many times do I say, stick your chest out, put your elbows under the bar,

• 1:06:56Speaker 04

  lift your chin. So all these sentences, I write them down, being translate them, verify with a local if it's, because sometimes being translate doesn't do a good job. That's rare, but they do a pretty good job most of the time. And I say, teach me those sentences. And because I keep repeating them throughout the workout, they sink in. But now I know the word, the verb strengthen, I know back, and I know a bunch of words. And the, another thing I do is I try to read the menu and understand what it means. And I was in Montenegro last summer, and they had sometimes the English and Serbian menu. So I learned quickly how to say chicken, beef, and whatever. Then I went on the coast and had the choice between Russian

• 1:07:42Speaker 04

  and Serbian and Cyrillic. But I've taken Russian before, so I knew how to read Cyrillic. And then so I would read the Serbian menu. And I knew how to order ribeye and all that stuff because I had fertilized myself in the capital, but Gorica with the menu. And even my hosts were surprised how quickly I could pick up stuff. So it's just a matter of having an open mind and be keen. I mean, I like learning foreign languages. I used to have many employees and they wouldn't even bother to say thank you and please. And I think that's quite rude. The least you could do is let me say thank you and welcome when you go to a foreign country.

• 1:08:26Speaker 04

  The next question is from Kyle Koolinan. What's your favorite book? I probably would say the one thing is my favorite book because it teaches you what to focus on and what's most important. And Night Change for me was the Four Hour Work Week. I'm not doing that to kiss Tim's ass, but I think the concepts in the book are very important to master. The next question is from Joshua Batali Bazi. What is Charles Polkren's one thing? The one thing is to finish my membership site. I've been working on it for the last three years. It took me far longer than what I thought. I've learned quite a bit during that process. It's not as simple as people think. But I'm very proud of being able to open it in January.

• 1:09:11Speaker 04

  The thing with the membership website is that there's a lot of confusion on the market. I can't teach seminars 365 days a year, so I kinda listened to my friend John Verratti. I decided to make guidelines of what I'm willing to do and what I'm not willing to do. I'm willing to educate a lot of people, but I can't travel so much. And then my information is valuable, so I created a membership site. And I've had quite a few colleagues look at it. And the interesting comment I've had is I have too much information. So for example, we filmed 188 forms of squat. I was gonna leave all the squats there. They told me, no, just show five new ones a month. Because people get overwhelmed and they stop going.

• 1:09:53Speaker 04

  And my goal is to make it the best website for strength training and nutrition on the web. I'm very confident in doing so. And the people who have seen the content are blown away because there's things that I will teach in there through video that you can only get in my classes. I mean, it's really hard to write about these things. A lot of times it's demonstration is key in learning. Next question is from Chaz Christian and Sinelli. What is your crowning achievement? I'm not sure if you're asking me, what is it that I'm most proud of? What I'm most proud of has not occurred yet. I do something, I don't think it's the end of the world.

• 1:10:32Speaker 04

  Like, you know, last summer I had two athletes win medals at the Olympic, one in triple jump, one in wrestling. That's great, but eight minutes later I'm looking at my next goal. So I don't believe in crowning achievements. A crowning achievement is what people talk about when you're dead. I intend to be on this planet for far longer, so I don't have a crowning achievement. Everything I do is part of a pathway. Otherwise, your life is not worth living. So that is all. Thank you for listening. On my website, willavstringsensense.com/timferrers/resources for the addresses where to buy some of the products or books I've mentioned.

• 1:11:14Speaker 04

  And for you, if you are interested in buying the Ultimate Mass Program, it will be stringsense.com/timferrers/mass. And you'll be able to have access to it. Thank you for listening and best of luck in all your training endeavors. Thank you.

• 1:11:34Tim Ferriss?

  Hey guys, this is Tim again. Just a few more things before you take off. Number one, this is Five Bullet Friday. Do you want to get a short email from me? Would you enjoy getting a short email from me every Friday that provides a little morsel of fun before the weekend? And Five Bullet Friday is a very short email where I share the coolest things I've found or that I've been pondering over the week. That could include favorite new albums that I've discovered, it could include gizmos and gadgets and all sorts of weird shit that I've somehow dug up in the world of the esoteric as I do. It could include favorite articles that I've read and that I've shared with my close friends, for instance. And it's very short.

• 1:12:16Tim Ferriss?

  It's just a little tiny bite of goodness before you head off for the weekend. So if you want to receive that, check it out. Just go to fourhourworkweek.com, that's fourhourworkweek.com all spelled out, and just drop in your email and you will get the very next one. And if you sign up, I hope you enjoy it. This episode is brought to you by Trunk Club. There are two types of men out there, you know who you are. Guys who love shopping for clothes but are short on time, category A, and those of you who hate it, category B. I am in the latter category. My fashion sense is also probably somewhere between homeless and confused with a dash of lazy added in. Either way, you can take heart.

• 1:12:59Tim Ferriss?

  And I've used Trunk Club now and have found some of my favorite pieces of clothing that make me look a lot better than I would be able to handle on my own. And there are many reasons for that, but you can get clothing that fits perfectly and looks amazing without ever stepping into a store again, thanks to Trunk Club. And they make it very, very easy. And the clothing is handpicked by a personal stylist, your own personal stylist. All you have to do is go to trunkclub.com/tim, type in your measurements, share your likes and dislikes, they'll pick your clothes from more than 80 top brands and ship them right to your door. You keep what you like, you send back what you don't. If you don't like any of it, send it all back. Doesn't matter.

• 1:13:42Tim Ferriss?

  And Trunk Club is not a subscription service. This is what appealed to me, among many other things. I didn't want to constantly be getting dinged by things or have to deal with the headache of constantly getting boxes. It's not a subscription service. Shipping is always free and you have five days to try on the clothes. So, a couple of points here. Number one... Get started today. Go to trunkclub.com/tim. Try it out. You get premium clothes, expert advice, no work, no risk. That is a winning combo. And I have found some of my favorite Espadrilles shoes from them, bright green. I do like the color green and they actually work. I've had so many compliments on these shoes and more people ask me where I got them than any other pair of shoes I've ever had.

• 1:14:26Tim Ferriss?

  And more shirts, I kept, ended up keeping about, I would say, three quarters of my box, which I did not expect to do. So go to trunkclub.com/tim and check it out. Dozens, maybe even hundreds of you have asked me, what shirts are you wearing on YouTube videos? For a very specific set of shirts and they are from Rhone Apparel, R-H-O-N-E. And I'm packing for a trip for seven to 10 days and I would say half of what I'm going to pack is from Rhone. These are the most comfortable shirts and they have much more than shirts that I have ever worn, at least for activewear,

• 1:15:04Tim Ferriss?

  for getting out and about. And you can even sneak them in to say a business casual or a dinner if you want, if you're a Long Island kid like me. They have minimal branding. You don't feel like you are walking around with some type of billboard on your chest. Anti-odor technology, because I am a smelly bastard and I can somewhat end up smelling like a musk ox halfway through the day. They have pure melted down silver in their fabrics. And I love these shirts. I love their pants. I love their shorts. And I've been wearing them pretty much every day for the last few weeks, at least one item from them. So you should check it out. This stuff is not cheap because it is made from premium materials. And if you want the best, you gotta pay for the best and that's just the way it is.

• 1:15:48Tim Ferriss?

  But there's no risk in trying them out. They provide free shipping and a 100-day return policy. That is plenty of time to feel them out. So check it out at rhone.com/tim. That's R-H-O-N-E.com/tim. You can get 15% off, which is exclusive for listeners of this podcast. You're welcome. Using the code TIM. You gotta use the code. And at that URL, roan.com/tim, you will also see the shirt that I would suggest maybe starting with. It is the Scout Crew Neck Shirt. I like the red, I like the black. I'm wearing the red right now as I record this. And that is all for this sponsor announcement. So check it out, roan.com/tim.