2698: Why Everyone Should Try Bulking (Even You!)

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• Everyone, regardless of their primary goal (even fat loss), should try a period of 'bulking' or eating in a calorie surplus to build muscle, which significantly speeds up metabolism and makes subsequent fat loss easier.  Copied to clipboard!
• The term 'bulk' is often avoided by those seeking leanness, but a controlled surplus (or 'reverse diet') builds the metabolic machinery necessary for sustainable long-term results, often increasing resting metabolic rate by 500-800 calories daily in average clients.  Copied to clipboard!
• Trainers should always believe their clients' reports on diet and adherence, as punishing them or assuming dishonesty when results stall due to severe under-eating or overtraining is an ineffective and damaging strategy.  Copied to clipboard!
• When cutting calories, the primary training goal is muscle preservation, which is best achieved by lowering training volume, reps, and intensity, rather than trying to increase volume to burn more calories.  Copied to clipboard!
• Teenagers require a shift in parenting style from setting boundaries and administering punishment to engaging in open conversations as they transition from the 'coach' phase toward the 'friend' phase around age 15-18.  Copied to clipboard!
• Deep tissue massage, often overlooked until later in life, can significantly accelerate recovery and training capacity, a benefit recognized by figures like Jay Cutler.  Copied to clipboard!

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The Universal Benefit of Bulking

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(00:02:20)

• Key Takeaway: A calorie surplus (bulk) benefits everyone, even those aiming for fat loss, by building metabolic machinery.
• Summary: Shifting clients into a reverse diet or mild bulk is recommended even for those prioritizing weight loss, as building muscle first makes the subsequent deficit phase easier. The term ‘bulk’ is often avoided, but it simply means eating in a surplus with the intent to build muscle. Building muscle increases the body’s resting metabolic rate, making it easier to achieve a calorie deficit later.

Metabolism Boost from Muscle

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(00:05:06)

• Key Takeaway: Building muscle causes complex hormonal and physiological changes that significantly increase metabolic rate beyond simple caloric burn calculations.
• Summary: A faster metabolic rate, influenced by strength training and muscle gain, makes maintaining a calorie deficit much easier. Experienced coaches routinely see clients’ metabolisms increase by 500 to 1,200 calories daily through this process. This metabolic increase is more sustainable than trying to burn the same amount through hours of endurance cardio, which the body adapts to by slowing metabolism.

Psychology of Scale Fluctuations

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(00:11:14)

• Key Takeaway: Fear of scale movement prevents many from adopting the beneficial bulking/reverse dieting phase.
• Summary: People fear bulking because the scale may not immediately drop or might even increase slightly due to water retention or nutrient intake. For overweight individuals, any perceived gain is interpreted as failure, leading them to abandon effective long-term strategies for quick, unsustainable cuts. This insecurity mirrors the skinny individual’s fear of losing size, leading both groups to make poor nutritional choices.

Trainer Mistakes and Client Trust

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(00:14:14)

• Key Takeaway: Early coaching mistakes often involve overemphasizing calorie math and deficit over strength gains, leading to client plateaus.
• Summary: Early trainers often focus solely on calorie deficits and cardio, failing to prioritize strength gains which are crucial for motivation and long-term metabolic health. Trainers must always believe their clients’ reports on intake, even if the numbers seem off, to build the necessary relationship for eventual honesty and effective programming. Seeing clients stall at extremely low calories forced coaches to realize the importance of building up the body first.

Green Juice Benefits and Bioavailability

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(00:24:20)

• Key Takeaway: Organifi Green Juice provides highly concentrated, bioavailable phytonutrients that contribute to a feeling of overall health and efficiency.
• Summary: Regularly using the green juice supplement leads to a noticeable feeling of improved vitality and health, distinct from stimulant effects. The product’s ingredients are broken down into a powder, making the phytonutrients highly bioavailable compared to consuming large amounts of raw plants. Missing these concentrated nutrients, especially when relying on less plant-dense meals, results in a noticeable drop-off in feeling well.

Dead Hang Challenge Critique

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(00:26:36)

• Key Takeaway: A two-minute dead hang is not a reliable universal proxy for overall strength or health due to weight and endurance factors.
• Summary: The idea that an average 40-year-old should achieve a two-minute dead hang was disputed, as grip endurance varies widely based on body weight and specific training focus. While hanging is beneficial for shoulder mobility and grip, it measures endurance more than absolute strength, unlike a heavy lift. The results of the internal challenge showed that highly trained staff significantly outperformed the hosts.

Historical Strength Anomalies

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(00:34:48)

• Key Takeaway: Pre-steroid era athletes like Abbye Stockton and Paul Anderson demonstrated incredible strength feats highlighting the power of genetics.
• Summary: Abbye ‘Pudgy’ Stockton in the 1940s achieved an impressive physique and strength (like a 135-pound one-arm overhead press) without modern supplements or competition structures. Paul Anderson, competing in the mid-50s, squatted 900 pounds and clean-pressed 440 pounds without belts or wraps, feats that remain competitive even today with modern enhancements. These historical examples underscore the significant role of natural genetic potential in elite strength.

UFC White House Event Analysis

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(00:39:48)

• Key Takeaway: The UFC event at the White House is viewed as politically astute marketing targeting a core demographic, despite being in poor taste.
• Summary: The event is seen as a smart political move by leveraging the UFC’s core audience alignment with the current administration’s base, similar to historical ‘bread and circuses.’ While some find the location distasteful, others argue that politicians engage in far greasier activities, making this a clever use of social media as the modern ‘Coliseum.’ The stacked fight card, potentially featuring Conor McGregor and John Jones, adds to the event’s appeal.

Rock Recovery Center’s Integrity

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(00:46:06)

• Key Takeaway: Rock Recovery Center staff demonstrate genuine care by providing extensive, unpaid consultation to inquirers before they commit to treatment.
• Summary: Ben and Tom at Rock Recovery invest significant time helping individuals who only inquire, offering free consultations and support for weeks without immediate revenue. This commitment shows they prioritize helping people struggling with addiction over simply generating business revenue. The recent conversion of Ben Bueno to Christianity further highlights the personal commitment of the center’s leadership.

Exercise and Vulnerability in Conversation

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(00:47:55)

• Key Takeaway: Working out alongside someone naturally opens up passive communication and vulnerability, leading to deeper conversations.
• Summary: Exercise creates an environment where individuals subconsciously seek to break down barriers, leading to more open and honest dialogue than typical static conversations. Trainers must balance providing effective workouts with allowing space for these valuable, vulnerability-inducing conversations. The hosts noted that their best client interactions often occurred during the actual training sessions.

Teen Daughter’s Workout Questions

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(00:50:09)

• Key Takeaway: Running after a workout reduces the muscle-building signal but improves endurance.
• Summary: A teenager questioned if running a mile post-workout would ruin her session, leading to the explanation that it trades muscle-building potential for endurance gains. The father noted her sudden, intense interest in fitness, contrasting her desire to build muscle with her fear of losing it. He plans to wait for her to initiate joint workouts to avoid pushing her away.

Navigating Teen Parenthood Stages

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(00:52:04)

• Key Takeaway: Parenting must transition from setting boundaries to having conversations as children age past 15.
• Summary: The transition from the ‘coach’ phase (around 15) to the ‘friend’ phase (around 18) requires parents to adapt their style. Parents often get stuck in the parenting style they are naturally good at, neglecting the neurological phases their children are moving through. Successfully navigating this requires awareness and adaptation to the child’s current developmental stage.

Son’s Overtraining and Pain

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(00:53:38)

• Key Takeaway: Teen athletes often overtrain due to high volume in both school sports performance classes and practice.
• Summary: Justin’s 15-year-old son is experiencing shoulder pain due to overtraining from weight training classes combined with gymnastics practice. The son was initially resistant to deep tissue massage but is now realizing its potential for relief. He is learning to differentiate between alarming pain signals and tightness that can be managed with mobility work.

Value of Deep Tissue Massage

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(00:55:38)

• Key Takeaway: Consistent, deep tissue sports massage unlocks higher training volume and intensity by speeding up recovery.
• Summary: The hosts admitted they both dismissed deep tissue massage as non-beneficial until their late 20s or 30s. Sal credits consistent nightly massage for over a year with enabling him to train at the high volume and intensity required for his competitive phase. Increased blood flow from massage speeds up recovery, a practice also utilized by bodybuilders like Jay Cutler.

Teenage Appetite and Growth

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(00:57:32)

• Key Takeaway: Teenagers entering growth spurts can suddenly consume six full, high-protein meals daily.
• Summary: Teenagers are known to dramatically increase their caloric intake, often eating six full meals daily, heavy in protein. Justin noted his son is rapidly filling out, becoming a ‘beast,’ which was unexpected for his personality type. This rapid growth necessitates significant nutritional support.

LMNT Electrolyte Promotion

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(00:58:10)

• Key Takeaway: LMNT electrolyte powder is effective because it contains sufficient sodium, unlike most competitors.
• Summary: LMNT is highlighted as an electrolyte powder that contains enough sodium to genuinely impact hydration levels. It is sugar-free and contains no artificial sweeteners, leading to better gym pumps for users. Listeners can receive a free sample pack with any purchase via the provided link.

Training Strategy During a Cut

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(00:58:42)

• Key Takeaway: To maintain muscle during a cut, training should focus on lower volume, heavier weights, and longer rest periods.
• Summary: The goal during a cut is fat loss while preserving existing muscle mass, which requires less training stress than building muscle. Trying to increase volume or intensity while in a deficit leads to muscle loss, as the body cannot recover adequately. The ideal approach mimics a strength training regimen with longer rest periods, letting natural strength decreases dictate lower volume.

Programming the Top 8 Lifts

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(01:03:56)

• Key Takeaway: The top 8 exercises can be programmed across five days by pairing two exercises per session for 30 minutes.
• Summary: The ‘Grade Eight’ program involves squat, deadlift, incline press, overhead press, row, lateral sled drag, windmill, and perfect sit-up. A suggested five-day split pairs a major lift with a secondary movement, such as Day 1: Squat and Incline Press, and Day 2: Deadlift and Overhead Press. This structure fits perfectly within a 30-minute daily window.

Daily Exercise for Older Adults

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(01:05:19)

• Key Takeaway: Daily exercise is feasible for a 59-year-old if intensity and volume are strictly controlled, such as using a MAPS 15-style routine.
• Summary: Exercising daily is acceptable if the workouts are low in volume, perhaps only involving one or two strength exercises per session. The key is to undulate intensity, ensuring hard days are followed by less intense or mobility-focused days. Training for an hour daily, plus cardio, would likely be too much cumulative stress.

Managing High Hematocrit on TRT

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(01:06:56)

• Key Takeaway: High hematocrit and hemoglobin levels caused by TRT are easily managed by giving blood.
• Summary: Elevated red blood cell counts on TRT pose risks like blood clots, but the fix is straightforward: blood removal. This can be done via prescription from a doctor or by donating blood, which is generally recommended for men once a year for health benefits anyway. Bodybuilders often schedule blood draws two to three times annually to manage high levels.