Episode 430: Kris Gethin: Why Squats Are Overrated and How to Lose the Last 5 Pounds

Have you ever wondered if squats are really the holy grail exercise that everyone makes them out to be? In this Fitness Friday bonus episode, I talk with Kris Gethin as he reveals why he thinks squats are actually the most overrated exercise. We dive into powerful tips for pushing through a weight loss plateau and shedding those stubborn last 5 pounds. We even get into more of Kris' contrarian training wisdom and expert insights on everything from cardio and hunger to the most underrated exercises you should be doing. Kris Gethin, a renowned transformation expert and entrepreneur, has revolutionized the fitness industry with his no-nonsense, results-driven approach to bodybuilding and coaching. As the founder of Unmatched Supps and former CEO of Kaged Muscle, he has established himself as a pioneering force in the supplement industry while developing the innovative DTP (Dramatic Transformation Principle) training method. Through his podcast, he shares evidence-based fitness insights with a global audience, drawing from his extensive experience coaching elite athletes and celebrities. What we discuss: Kris' strategies for losing the last 5 pounds, including refeed days with healthy carbs Why Kris believes squats are overrated and not essential for building leg size How body mechanics influence which exercises are optimal for an individual Tips to curb hunger after cardio The mental aspects of dieting, such as distraction techniques and mindful eating The broader mental and physical health benefits of resistance training Thank you to our sponsor: Therasage: Head over to therasage.com http://therasage.com/ and use code Be Bold for 15% off TruNiagen: Head over to truniagen.com http://truniagen.com/ and use code HUSTLE20 to get $20 off any purchase over $100. Magic Mind: Head over to www http://www/.magicmind.com http://magicmind.com//jen and use code Jen at checkout. Air Doctor: Go to airdoctorpro.com http://airdoctorpro.com/ and use promo code HUSTLE for up to $300 off and a 3-year warranty on air purifiers. Bio.me: Link to daily prebiotic fiber here https://bio.me/?utm_source=Jennifer, code Jennifer20 for 20% off. Momentous: Shop this link https://www.livemomentous.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorDUIZz3psr1Qsq_n1yE8_6JTq_QUFabOO9lH65HDEXCIoJOPLj and use code Jen for 20% off To learn more about Kris Gethin: Website: https://www.krisgethin.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krisgethin/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/krisgethin Find more from Jen: Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagements

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

• 0:01Speaker 00

  Hi guys, this is Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it.

• 0:07Jen Cohen?

  Hey friends, you're listening to Fitness Friday on the Habits and Hustle podcast, where myself and my friends share quick and very actionable advice for you becoming your healthiest self. So stay tuned and let me know how you leveled up.

• 0:30Jen Cohen?

  It's easy to lose a lot of weight when you're very overweight. It comes down to when, you know, when you have that like last five pounds, right, to lose. What are some of the best strategies that you would suggest someone to do to lose that last five pounds?

• 0:47Speaker 02

  So it all depends on the individual, but I'd have to look at their program. So are they potentially overtraining? A lot of people think more is going to, you know, more activity is going to lead to less body fat. It isn't always the case because especially with females, the thyroid can down-regulate very, very quickly. So maybe what we do is throw in some refeed days. Healthy foods, like a lot of people think a refeed day is a cheat meal that turns into a cheat day, but it'd be like higher glycemic foods. It could be breads, it could be pastas, it could be sushi, for instance. Just to really up-regulate the thyroid, speed the, you know, speed the metabolism up a little bit, you know, through having extra calories and then bring it back down. You're kind of shocking the system a little

• 1:30Speaker 02

  bit. I'll usually do that on a non-training day, so there's no inflammation there. You do no cardio on that day. It's very difficult for some people to think like that, but that generally works. When I've had a male and female, let's say the husband and wife, and you know, they're both at the same sort of stage, I'd usually get a guy to do a refeed every 12 to 14 days. A female could be every six to seven days. I just find the metabolism tends to slow down a lot quicker.

• 1:58Jen Cohen?

  I also find that when you're doing too much cardio, you end up getting so much hungrier. So therefore you're eating more calories, right? Because you're like, when I'm doing, when I run, I get ravenous afterwards and I end up eating double the amount of food that I would have had if I just didn't do any cardio at all. So that's like the delicate balance, right? Like strength training doesn't make me hungry. It's the cardio that makes you hungry. And that's how when you're eating too much, like the whole calories in, like you're now consuming so many more because I did this intense cardio session. You know, like, how do you delicately balance that so you don't end up eating like a monster? But still feel you get that like release of the cardio, like to get that mental,

• 2:42Jen Cohen?

  you know, endorphin rush and that, that, all those dopamine, like the dopamine hit without like overeating, basically.

• 2:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, for sure. Good question. So one thing that I do suggest is what I suggested earlier is have an essential amino acids. Have an essential amino acids that's going to feed you. Of course, it's not going to be filling, but it will help feed you and stabilize your blood sugar levels from dropping too much. And then when it does come to your food, then make sure that you're eating as much volume as possible without having a density of the calories. So it could be your vegetables, it could be your salad, you could throw, you know, some fruits in there if you want, mix it up and make sure that you eat that first before you consume anything else. The one thing that I found has been very, very helpful for me is there's a book called The Slow Down Diet, phenomenal book. There's a lot of science that is

• 3:31Speaker 02

  associated when you're eating the meal that you are in contact with your senses, your smell, your taste, the sight, the feel, the texture, being grateful for the food of where it came from to get in front of your plate. Because a lot of people look at a meal and go, God, boring bland chicken and rice again. I'm bored of it. Well, you have to be very thankful because there's a lot of people in this world that don't even have that opportunity to choose what they can eat. But make sure that you put in a fork down between bites. You're not distracted. You're not scrolling on your phone. You're not in that sympathetic state. You know, you're in your parasympathetic resting state. And digest and the chances are people get more fulfilled than they would if they were distracted

• 4:13Speaker 02

  or just wolfing down that food and without the fibre first. The other thing I was going to add is having carbonated water, had some electrolytes in a carbonated water, that is filling, you know, usually when I go to bed, I'm really, really hungry. I'm like, God, how am I going to sleep? I'll usually have like a carbonated drink. You know, that could be carbonated water with electrolytes, you know, I'm not associated with this company. I've got an update here. You probably know about this company through Sean Wells. You know, I don't like taking in artificial sugars, anything that has some soda, some carbonation. It could be a Zevia, really, really helps the cause as well.

• 4:50Jen Cohen?

  That's so true. I found that to be a really good hack. Like if when I'm really hungry, like having like some type of like sugar free soda like takes the edge off, I guess.

• 5:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, it's that carbonation. It just keeps, it keeps you fulfilled and to a certain extent, it keeps you distracted as well. So I was watching a TV show last night. I was like, God, I feel like chewing on something. I just went and got myself an apple. Would that be fulfilling or attracted to a lot of people? No. But that distraction can help. You go, okay, I've even forgotten about it now. That's a lot of the things that we require. It's just distraction.

• 5:26Jen Cohen?

  I totally agree with you. I think I'd, we eat out of boredom a lot of times or out of thirst. Like if, if, if we're thirsty, we, we think it's hunger. So then we end up eating.

• 5:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. Like I have that typical meathead jug with me right now, you know? Yeah, I got, I gotta keep up appearances, you know?

• 5:45Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, of course you do, Chris. I see that. I see that. What would you say is the most overrated exercise? And the most underrated exercise?

• 5:55Speaker 02

  Overrated, I'd say squat, you know, because, uh, you know, typical for men, they'll say you gotta do your bread and butter lifts, your bench press, your deadlift. And of course the squats come in there, you know? Am I saying it's bad? No, it's not bad, but it is overrated. Everybody says you must get squat to get big legs. It's not the case. When you are squatting, you are using a lot of stability muscles. Of course you Going to be exerting a lot of energy just to hold it with stability because you're using your core. You're using pretty much all your upper body as well, where you could potentially get a lot more out of those leg workouts, those glute workouts, et cetera, just doing a leg press, like a forty five degree leg press. There are obviously a lot of other exercises, but I'd say that is the one that is probably most overrated.

• 6:40Speaker 02

  A lot of people don't have the structure for it. Maybe you've got narrow hips or maybe you've got really, really tight Achilles tendons. So you tend to bend forward when you get to the bottom, when your hamstrings are parallel. Well, that's obviously not going to be good for you. You know, I've got very tight Achilles tendon, so it's not good for me. I'll stick to leg press and, you know, my legs are probably my largest muscle group, you know. I'd say that that's probably one. Did you have something that you was gonna say?

• 7:04Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, I was gonna say, it's really funny and I'm glad that you said that, right? Because you know what's really interesting? Nobody will, nobody usually says that. And you know, this is why I don't love working out with trainers. Because if I'm working out with trainers and they give you a specific exercise, they'll say like, do this front squat, right? Say, but my body mechanics won't allow me to go as low as they want me to go. Or it's because my hips are not, are uneven or whatever that my body mechanics, my anatomy is, is why I can't do it. It has nothing to do with the strength I have or whatever it is. And like, people don't take that as an okay efficient, like, like a sufficient answer, right? They're like, no, no, no, you must go much lower, you must, but like, sometimes the truth is like,

• 7:49Jen Cohen?

  your body structure does not do that particular exercise well. That could be, that's okay. Like, I don't feel we have to kill ourselves just to prove, just to prove a point.

• 8:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly. You know, you've got people like down in LA, a good friend of mine, Mike O'Hearn. He is phenomenal at squatting and you can see he's built for it. He'll go ass to the grass, as it were, and with an extreme amount of weight. But then he'll have other people like six times Mr. Olympia, Dorian Yates, never squatted because it just didn't suit his structure. So of course, like, we all have different personalities, different characteristics. Some people may respond better to keto, other people carnivore, other people just a plain balanced diet. You have to kind of figure out specifically what works for you, or at least your trainer should.

• 8:34Jen Cohen?

  Right. You know, it's like also, like, what do you think of a hip thrust?

• 8:38Speaker 02

  Hip thrust, yeah, okay. You know, I understand there's a lot of females doing it because it's trendy to get a bigger butt and more developed glutes these days. It works again, it's the same sort of thing. Some people feel it, some people don't, you know, so you have to kind of see, you know, what works, you know, like there's a lot of exercises that, for instance, Sybil, who you just spoke to on here earlier, that she does for her glutes that, you know, if she does squat, she doesn't feel anything. So that's an exercise she'll put to the shelf.

• 9:06Jen Cohen?

  And you know, that's, that's how I feel about hip thrusts. I always feel like it's uncomfortable, it's awkward, it takes a long time to get into the position. And then, you know, people are giving me shit because they're like, how are you not doing a hip thrust? I'm like, I don't like it. Just, I have other exercises that are giving me a way bigger bang for my buck. But there's all these like absolutes out there, like you absolutely have to do a hip thrust, you absolutely have to do a squat. No, you don't. There's so many varieties that like, if they fit you and suit you better, that you can do them. But that's why when you said that, I loved it because what most trainers are like, no, no, no, you must do this. There's no way around it. Like, that's ridiculous. It cannot be that way.

• 9:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, for sure. Yeah, you wouldn't catch me doing a hip thrust. It's, I guess I'm a little bit too manly for something like that. And it's an embarrassing, and it's an embarrassing looking exercise. So I couldn't do it.

• 10:01Jen Cohen?

  It's beyond. I, I, I agree with you. I agree with you. And it takes literally 10 minutes to get in and out of that position. I could have done 50 other things that would have been way more beneficial in that timeframe. You know what I mean? Like, it does, and I, I never know how my neck should be. I'm always, I'm always hurting my neck and like my ankles are not positioned properly. It's like, oh God. So what do you think is the most underrated exercise that people are just not doing enough of?

• 10:27Speaker 02

  I'd say isolation movements. A lot of people focus on compounds where they're using multi-joints assisting movements, you know, like, you know, your bench press, your shoulder press, leg press, things like that. But I think it's very important, especially as you are thinking long-term for your long-term health span, is doing isolation exercises first to pre-fatigue the muscle. So you don't have to go as heavy on your compounds and place a lot of stress on your joints or your connective tissues such as your tendons and ligaments. So I think overall isolation, so as an example, if I'm going to train chest, I'm going to maybe do some cable crossovers, I'm going to do some peck deck, and then maybe I will work on go onto the dumbbell press.

• 11:09Speaker 02

  Because now I don't have to train as hard, like I don't want to go really heavy on the dumbbell press because that's going to put a lot of strain on my elbows. And your tendons can be like an elastic band in the sun. It kind of dries out over time and then it becomes very vulnerable. So, uh, you know, I'm always thinking forward because, you know, I'm 50 years old now. I want to be doing this when I'm 70, I want to do this when I'm 80 because it is very therapeutic. It isn't just for aesthetics, it's for emotional release, it makes you feel good. So, you know, a lot of people, when they go through different ups and downs in life, maybe they've lost a loved one, maybe they've, you know, they've got gone through a business deal, they've got sued, whatever, they will leave the gym because they're thinking too much about the aesthetics and they're thinking, well, I can get that back.

• 11:54Speaker 02

  It really helps your lifespan and obviously the health span of your brain. You know, you need to ensure that you're doing some sort of activity. And then, of course, there's the longevity aspects with it as well. We know that grip strength and, you know, squatting strength, we'll call it that. It could be leg press is associated with longevity, but it helps with your bone density. There's so many aspects of it that people are amiss. You know, it helps with emotional stability. I've gone to prisons before where we've done talks on the utilization of the weights area that they've got there to help them. Because they've got, you know, a lot of these people have anger issues and now they're confined. And sometimes they just get worse, but that generally works out to be therapeutic and a release.

• 12:39Jen Cohen?

  Wow, so how often would you say you should work a body part? I mean, because we talked about overtraining, right? More is not more. What would you say to get the biggest bang for your buck? What should be the schedule that someone should do?

• 12:55Speaker 02

  So for the most part, let's say if you're training. Four or five times a week. It shouldn't last any more than forty five to sixty minutes, dependent on that body part. So if it's legs, for instance, and you require more oxygen to rest between the sets, then maybe it's sixty minutes, but forty five minutes is is usually the sweet spot. That could be four or five days a week. I generally, especially for the larger muscle groups, I generally only ask a client to train it once a week. It's all about quality and breaking down the muscle tissue. So I'll challenge people, look, come and train with, come and train legs with me. See if you want to train legs again four days later. You probably won't, you know, so you really want to break that muscle tissue down. No distraction, not

• 13:37Speaker 02

  on your phone, not conversing with other people when you're in the gym, and really focus as if it's your job on breaking that tissue down and do quality. Don't think about the quantity, do quality. But now if we're talking about smaller muscle groups or stubborn muscle groups, we could be talking about calves, we could be talking about arms, then maybe we can do that twice a week, you know, you could do it on a Monday and a Thursday, for instance, just to make sure that you're focusing more of your efforts there. Maybe that's your higher calorie days to really force and push growth.