How to Lose Weight and Build Muscle | Sal Di Stefano

Summary

In the Kwik Brain Podcast, Sal Di Stefano, author of 'The Resistance Training Revolution', emphasizes the importance of strength training for brain health and longevity. He dispels myths about aging and exercise, highlighting how building muscle can improve insulin sensitivity, hormone balance, and cognitive function. Stefano advises against extreme workouts, suggesting instead a balanced approach that fits one's lifestyle for sustainable fitness.

Takeaways

• 🏋️‍♂️ Strength training is the most effective form of exercise for improving brain power, insulin sensitivity, hormone balance, and overall health.
• 🧠 The brain is not separate from the body; a healthy and fit body leads to a fit and healthy brain.
• 💪 Building muscle increases insulin sensitivity and the body's ability to utilize glucose for energy, which is beneficial for brain health.
• 🌟 Hormone balance is closely connected to muscle development, and strength training promotes a youthful hormone profile.
• 🏃‍♂️ Strength training is highly versatile and involves learning new physical skills, which contributes to central nervous system adaptation.
• 📉 Resistance training is superior to other forms of exercise in increasing BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) in the brain.
• 🚫 The common misconception that exercise is punishing or should lead to exhaustion is incorrect; effective workouts should leave you feeling energized.
• 💢 Starting an exercise routine out of self-hatred is counterproductive; exercise should be approached as a form of self-care.
• 🌱 Motivation is fleeting; developing discipline through small, sustainable steps is more effective for long-term fitness adherence.
• 📉 As people age, they tend to lose muscle mass, which is closely linked to cognitive decline and overall health.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Exercise can be adapted to any individual's needs, making it a suitable form of self-care regardless of age or physical limitations.

Q & A

What is the relationship between exercise and brain health?

Exercise, particularly strength training, is beneficial for brain health as it increases insulin sensitivity, hormone balance, and learning capabilities. It also raises BDNF levels in the brain, which is crucial for cognitive function and can halt the progression of beta amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease.

How does strength training affect insulin sensitivity?

Strength training enhances insulin sensitivity, which is the body's ability to use glucose for energy. This is important for the brain as it operates on glucose. Building muscle increases the body's capacity to store and utilize glucose, which can lead to significant improvements in insulin sensitivity and is beneficial for brain health.

What role does hormone balance play in muscle development and overall health?

Hormone balance is closely connected to muscle development. Strength training signals the body to produce a youthful hormone profile with higher testosterone, balanced estrogen and progesterone, improved insulin sensitivity, and better utilization of cortisol, which contributes to overall health and fitness.

How does strength training contribute to learning and cognitive abilities?

Strength training involves learning new physical skills and adapting to various movements, which stimulates the central nervous system. This type of training improves proprioception, the ability to know where one is in space and time, and can lead to significant cognitive improvements.

Can you maintain muscle and strength with minimal strength training?

Yes, the muscle-building process occurs during recovery, so you can see significant gains in strength by strength training once or twice a week. Maintaining the strength that you build requires much less work than it took to build it initially.

How does muscle mass relate to metabolism and weight loss?

Muscle is metabolically active, so having more muscle can speed up your metabolism, which helps in burning more calories and staying leaner. This is important for weight loss as it buffers against the effects of an unhealthy diet.

What is the significance of grip strength in predicting overall health and longevity?

Grip strength is a proxy for total body strength and has been shown to predict all-cause mortality better than almost any other metric. It is an indicator of overall body strength and health.

How much muscle mass do people typically lose as they age?

People generally lose about 5% of their muscle mass every five to ten years. However, strength training can significantly reduce this loss.

What is the connection between physical activity, cognitive decline, and injury?

Physical activity is crucial in preventing cognitive decline and injuries. Inactivity can lead to rapid muscle atrophy and cognitive decline. Falls are a leading cause of death and injury in older adults, and maintaining strength and mobility through exercise can help prevent these.

How should one approach exercise to maintain motivation and discipline?

One should approach exercise with the mindset of caring for oneself rather than punishing oneself. It's important to start with an appropriate level of intensity that matches one's current fitness level and to set realistic, challenging goals. Motivation is a feeling that comes and goes, so it's better to rely on discipline and a structured plan that focuses on the benefits of exercise for overall life quality.

What are some free resources available for those interested in starting a strength training program?

Mind Pump offers free fitness guides at mindpumpfree.com, and they also provide a wealth of information through their podcast and YouTube channels. These resources can help individuals start a strength training program without having to purchase anything initially.

Outlines

00:00

💪 The Connection Between Exercise and Brain Health

The paragraph discusses the misconception that exercise is a punishment and highlights the importance of effective workouts. It emphasizes that the brain's primary function is to control movement, and that people often overlook the negative impact of their approach to exercise. The guest, Sal, a personal trainer and author, shares his expertise on how exercise, particularly strength training, can improve brain function by increasing neurotransmitters, reducing inflammation, and enhancing overall health. He also discusses the importance of starting with the right mindset and choosing exercises that are beneficial for both the body and the brain.

05:04

🏋️‍♂️ Strength Training: The Ultimate Exercise for Brain and Body

This section of the script focuses on the benefits of strength training for both physical and cognitive health. It explains how strength training can improve insulin sensitivity, hormone balance, and learning capabilities. The speaker argues that strength training is superior to other forms of exercise for building brain power. It also touches on the versatility of strength training, its ability to increase BDNF levels in the brain, and its potential to halt the progression of cognitive decline. The importance of engaging in regular strength training sessions for significant health gains is emphasized.

10:10

🚫 Debunking the Myth: Exercise is Not Just for Appearance

The paragraph challenges the common belief that exercise is only for improving appearance or athletic performance. It stresses that strength training is crucial for longevity and overall health. The discussion includes the role of muscle in metabolism and how being under-muscled contributes to obesity. The嘉宾 also addresses the importance of muscle health in relation to brain volume and cognitive function, and how grip strength can serve as an indicator of overall health and longevity.

15:13

👵 Age-Related Muscle Loss and Its Impact on Cognition

This part of the script discusses the natural muscle loss that occurs with aging and its connection to cognitive decline. It provides statistics on how much muscle mass is typically lost every five years and emphasizes the importance of strength training to counteract this loss. The guest shares personal anecdotes about the rapid decline in cognitive function due to inactivity, particularly in older adults. The conversation also touches on the broader implications of muscle health on mobility, independence, and quality of life as we age.

20:16

🤔 Finding Motivation and the Right Mindset for Exercise

The paragraph explores the psychology behind motivation for exercise and the importance of approaching it with the right mindset. It argues against the 'beat yourself up' model of exercise and suggests that people should exercise because they care for themselves, not because they hate themselves. The speaker provides strategies for maintaining motivation, such as starting with small, manageable steps and focusing on the overall benefits of exercise beyond just physical appearance. The paragraph concludes with advice on developing discipline and a lifelong relationship with fitness.

25:21

📚 Practical Advice for Long-Term Fitness Success

In the final paragraph, the guest provides practical advice for maintaining a long-term fitness routine. He discusses the importance of setting realistic goals, the value of consistency over intensity, and the need to adapt exercise routines to different life circumstances. The speaker also promotes his book and fitness programs as resources for those looking to improve their health and fitness sustainably. The conversation concludes with a reminder to view exercise as a tool for overall life improvement, rather than a means to an end.

📖 Encouraging Long-Term Fitness Through Education and Support

The paragraph emphasizes the role of education and support in fostering long-term fitness habits. The guest encourages listeners to start with small, manageable steps and to let their bodies adapt at their own pace. He also mentions his book as a resource for the average person looking to improve their fitness and health. The importance of approaching exercise with the right mindset and the value of having a supportive community are highlighted as key factors in long-term fitness success.

Keywords

💡Exercise

Exercise is defined as physical activity that helps improve health and fitness. In the video's context, it is discussed as a means to enhance brain function and overall well-being rather than a punishment. The script emphasizes that effective workouts should not leave individuals feeling incapacitated but rather more energized, highlighting a misconception about the intensity of exercise.

💡Muscle Mass

Muscle mass refers to the amount of muscle in the body. The script points out that as people age, they tend to lose muscle mass, which is a significant factor in both physical and cognitive health. It is used to illustrate the importance of strength training to combat age-related muscle loss and its impact on cognitive decline.

💡Brain Health

Brain health pertains to the cognitive functions and mental processes. The video underscores the connection between physical exercise, specifically strength training, and improved brain health. It suggests that exercise not only affects the body but also enhances brain function, dispelling the myth of a trade-off between physical and intellectual prowess.

💡Strength Training

Strength training is a form of exercise that focuses on improving a person's muscular strength. The script highlights strength training as the most effective type of exercise for boosting brain power, improving insulin sensitivity, hormone balance, and overall health. It is positioned as a versatile and adaptable form of exercise suitable for various fitness levels and goals.

💡Insulin Sensitivity

Insulin sensitivity is the body's ability to respond effectively to the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar levels. The script explains that building muscle can improve insulin sensitivity, which is crucial for brain health and preventing cognitive decline, such as Alzheimer's disease.

💡Hormone Balance

Hormone balance refers to the equilibrium of different hormones in the body. The video discusses how strength training can positively influence hormone levels, creating a youthful hormone profile that benefits both physical and cognitive health.

💡Neurotransmitters

Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers in the brain that facilitate communication between nerve cells. The script mentions that exercise can stimulate neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins, which are associated with feelings of happiness, well-being, and reduced inflammation.

💡Cognitive Decline

Cognitive decline refers to a gradual deterioration in cognitive abilities, such as memory and thinking skills. The video script uses cognitive decline as a key reason to engage in strength training, as it is linked to a decrease in muscle mass and an increase in body fat, both of which are detrimental to brain health.

💡Motivation

Motivation is the internal drive that encourages individuals to take action. The script challenges the conventional approach to motivation in fitness, suggesting that people should exercise because they care for themselves, not as a form of self-punishment, to create a sustainable and positive relationship with exercise.

💡Sarcopenia

Sarcopenia is the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength. The video uses sarcopenia as an example of how a lack of muscle mass can lead to a decline in overall health and cognitive function, emphasizing the importance of maintaining muscle mass through strength training.

💡Metabolically Active

Metabolically active describes tissues or organs that consume a significant amount of energy. In the context of the video, muscles are highlighted as metabolically active, meaning they contribute to a faster metabolism, which helps in burning calories and maintaining a lean body composition.

Highlights

Exercise as punishment versus exercise for self-care

Muscle mass loss with aging and its impact on health

The importance of effective workouts for overall well-being

The brain's role in controlling movement and its impact on fitness

The Kwik Brain Podcast's focus on mental and physical health

The connection between neurotransmitters, exercise, and weight loss

The unique benefits of strength training for brain health

How strength training can improve insulin sensitivity

The hormonal benefits associated with muscle building

The role of strength training in learning new physical skills

The versatility of strength training for different fitness levels

The impact of strength training on BDNF and cognitive health

How strength training can halt the progression of cognitive decline

The importance of maintaining muscle mass for longevity

The role of muscle in metabolism and weight management

The connection between muscle mass, brain volume, and cognitive function

The significance of grip strength as an indicator of overall health

The impact of inactivity on cognitive decline and aging

The mind-body connection and the importance of movement for cognitive health

Strategies for maintaining motivation and discipline in fitness routines

The role of exercise in managing stress and improving life quality

The importance of starting with small, sustainable steps in a fitness journey

The concept of using exercise as a multi-purpose tool for life's challenges

Resources offered by Mind Pump for free fitness guidance

The minimal viable return on investment for strength training

Transcripts

If you start exercising because you hate yourself, exercise is a punishment. How much muscle mass do most

people lose as they get older? Effective workouts are not the ones that make you feel like you can't move

anymore. In fact, that's ineffective. That's the opposite of effective. The primary reason we have a

brain is to control our movement. It's less about the secrets to keep yourself motivated and more about what

people tend to do to make this such a terrible experience where they don't want to come back. I'm very

motivated right now to work out. One of the leading causes of death is people get older. People know heart

disease and cancer. You know what else is up there?

Welcome back to the Kwik Brain Podcast. Your question for today is how do you lose at stubborn weight and

build mental muscles? If there was one thing that you could do that's going to help you to be able to lose

weight, to be able to stimulate neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin and dorphins, reduce systemic

inflammation, and so much more which you want to know the head that tool is. So I'm excited to do this. I'm

going to be in the Mind Pump Podcast studio with the host of Mind Pump. We just did an episode, Sal de

Stefano. He has been a personal trainer since age 18. Yeah, a long time. Wow. And he's also the author of this

book, The Resistance Training Revolution, which I recommend all our quick readers go online and get their

copy. Thanks for being on the show. Yeah, I appreciate you having me on. Thank you. Thanks for coming on our

show earlier. Yeah, thank you. This is one of my favorite podcast studios ever. Thanks for letting me

record this conversation. Thank you. So we're talking about before we started the film, like so outside, you

have this amazing gym and you and your partners. We just did an episode on your show. Make sure everybody follows

Mind Pump and we'll put links in our show notes as we always do to your YouTube, to your book, to all your

socials at gymquit.com, full or slash notes. So fitness, this is something that we don't talk a lot about, but we

do say this is one of the keys to having a limitless mind. Where do you start? Is there like one exercise?

I'm curious about things like if there's a favorite exercise, especially when it comes to building brain

power and BD and F and all that good stuff. But then also, how do you motivate clients? Yeah, that's great.

So I think we should start with this massive myth or misconception that the mind or the brain is somehow

separate from the body. I remember when I was a kid, how people thought working out or building muscle could

potentially, you know, it was connected to like the dumb jock, right? Like, oh, someone's very built, obviously

not very smart or then the smart nerd is not very built type of deal. That's a huge myth because what makes the

body healthy and fit also produces a brain that is fit and healthy and can process faster and can learn things

better. I think we know this now, but people tend to not make the connection. Okay, so the question is, what's a

great exercise or form of exercise that is going to be best for the brain? Now to be clear, any activity that's

appropriate is better than no activity. So improving your health activity is always a good thing. But which

one, if you had to pick one, and most people only pick one because most people are not fitness fanatics, you

know, if they were, they probably work in the industry that I'm in. Most people aren't going to dedicate a ton

of time to exercise. So people want the best, you know, biggest bang for their buck. Okay. When you look at all

the data, and you consider all of it, and I'll get through some of it, strength training, trumps, any other

form of exercise when it comes to brain power. And I'll go down the list here for you. Let's start with insulin

sensitivity. Okay. Or your body's ability to utilize glucose, right? For energy. The brain runs on energy.

And we know that, I mean, Alzheimer's has been referred to as type three diabetes. And we can see there's a

strong connection between insulin resistance and cognitive decline. Muscle serves as a storage vessel for

glycogen, which is what we turn sugar and carbohydrates into. When you build muscle, you have a greater capacity

to utilize glucose or at least to store it. In fact, there's studies on severely obese individuals where they

have them lose no weight at all. All they do is build a little bit of muscle. And they have significant

improvements in insulin sensitivity. And this is good for the brain as well. So there's, there's that one. You

also have hormone balance, which is much more closely connected to developing and building muscle than it is

to, let's say, improving endurance or flexibility or stamina. Now, why is that the hormone profile that your

body produces or needs when it is in an environment to build muscle when it's told the build muscle, which is

what strength training does, right? It sends the signal that tells your body to get stronger, build muscle. That

hormone profile is what we could loosely refer to as a youthful hormone profile. So higher testosterone,

balanced estrogen, progesterone, we talked about insulin, right sensitivity insulin, an up regulation of

androgen receptors, up regulation of growth hormone receptors, a better, more healthy utilization of

cortisol. cortisol starts to look more natural when we're in this kind of muscle building state where it

rises in the morning and it starts to drop in the evening. There's also the aspect of learning that occurs

whenever we do with physical activity. So a lot of people think, yeah, you work out, your muscles are what

gets stronger, your bones get stronger or things get looser. And that's what ends up happening. There's just

as much central nervous system adaptation, if not more, that occurs from learning new skills, physical skills,

as there is muscle or physical, let's say, skeletal muscle adaptations. Strength training is one of the

forms of exercise where I can move in any plaintive movement. I have an almost limitless amount of

exercises. It trains proprioceptive ability, right? My ability to know where I am in space and time. It's not a

repetitive motion over and over again, right? You learn how to ride a bike. There's definitely a skill. If I

ride a bike for exercise, there's definitely skill involved with that. But after a while, it's the same

repetitive motion, same thing with running, same thing with swimming, another forms of exercise. With strength

training, I mean, I can move in the sagittal plane. I can move in the frontal plane. I can move in the

transverse plane. I can strengthen train fast or slow, controlled. I can strengthen train for endurance, the

stamina or maximal strength. It's incredibly versatile. In fact, it's the primary form of exercise that rehab

specialists use for people who need to rehab from serious injury. It's also the form of exercise I can use

on anybody. I don't care what your limitations are. You might not be able to run. You might not be able to

cycle. You might not be able to do other things. But there's a way I can use resistance training on your body

to build strength. And that builds the brain. It builds the brain in tremendous ways. We know that it increases

BDNF in the brain. All activity does, but strength training has this kind of unique ability to cause it to

rise on a kind of continual basis. In fact, when you compare other forms of exercise, strength training is

superior. It's also the only form of exercise that's been shown to halt the progression of beta amyloid

plaques. No other form of exercise. All exercise benefits. But strength training has been shown to

actually stop. And in fact, there was one study out of Sydney, Australia where the researchers said it looked

like it might even start to reverse. We just didn't do a long enough study. And they think it had to do with the

insulin sensitizing effects of strength training. And then here's the main reason why I would choose strength

training. You don't need to do a lot of it to reap its benefits. The muscle building process happens in the

recovery process. So you could strength train once a week or twice a week. And you'll see significant gains

in strength. The muscle loss or reverse adaptation that can happen from not being active is much slower with

strength than it is with other physical adaptations. And maintaining the strength that you build requires way

less work than it took to get there. Some studies show it's about a fourth, some studies show one ninth of the

work required to build strength and muscle is needed to maintain it. So this makes it uniquely suitable for

modern life, uniquely suitable for the average person who you know they don't live to work out that work out

to live. So that's what I wrote this book about is really about that about why this misunderstood form of

exercise has been labeled as just the way to look good or maybe improve athletic performance. But in reality,

it's the ultimate form of exercise for longevity. Amazing. Do you have too much to read but too little

time are your shelves full of books that you haven't read yet and become shelf help, not self help. And

that's why I created the quick reading course. 15 minutes a day, 21 days will absolutely transform your

life. Just go to quickbrain.com forward slash reading. Use the code podcast 15 and you'll get instant access.

So we're talking about exercise leading to blood flow, the neurotransmitters, the BDNF, potentially lowering

inflammation. Also, let's talk about for weight loss because you know, we had Dr. Daniel Aiman on the brain

doctor and he said as your as your waistline expands your brain actually shrinks. That's right. And there's

so many people that want to lose weight and a lot of people will go to running or cardio. There's a different

connection there that people aren't making. Right. So we refer to the chronic health epidemic as the obesity

epidemic. But really what we're looking at as a smoke, what we're failing to look at is the fire. What's

causing this in the first place. Obesity itself is an issue, but it's the fact that we're under muscled.

That's the big problem. Muscle is metabolically active when you have more muscle, you have a faster metabolism.

Now, this buffers you against the ills of modern life. When you look at studies on diets, they'll put people on

what would be considered unhealthy diets, high in sugar or high in certain fats that aren't good for you. When

the calories are below with the person burns about 95% of the negative effects are erased. In fact, some

scientists like to poke at the health industry by going on terrible, what would be considered terrible diets.

I'm just going to eat McDonald's or I'm just going to eat food from the 7-11. But I'm still going to lose 30

pounds and I'm still going to show improvements on all my blood markers. And they do. And how do they do that?

They don't eat a lot of calories. They burn them off. Muscles metabolically active. It speeds up the

metabolism, which allows you to eat more and stay leaner. I mean, if I could do anything right now to

solve whatever the obesity epidemic or help people lose weight, it would be simply to speed up people's

metabolism. If I could do that right now and people just continue eating the way they do, they would be much

leaner. So when it comes to obesity, and you mentioned the study about waistlines, really if you look further

in the data, it's less muscle that's connected to lower brain volume, which makes sense. Body fat is not nearly

of an active organ on the body as muscle. Muscle requires a lot of brain power to move into function and

to control and to maintain body fat, not nearly as much. In fact, when you look at the scans of obese

individuals, you don't just find lots of obesity or lots of body fat. You find sarcopenia. You find low levels of

muscle mass. And then one other thing to add to this, they've very clearly, this is backed by data. There's

one metric that will predict all cause mortality better than almost any other metric, and that's a grip strength

test. Now, there's nothing magical about strength in your hand. Really what it is is it serves as a proxy for

total body strength. So that right there, they could test your grip strength and predict with better accuracy

than almost think about that. Almost any other single metric, of course, there can be extremes, but if you

come in with high blood pressure or cholesterol or lipids that are off, a strength test will tell them more

information. And that's because we just don't have the strength of the muscle and our bodies are only ever as

strong as they need to be because it's expensive tissue. We evolved in environments where energy was hard to come

by. It was hard to get calories. Our bodies will only keep as much muscle as it thinks it needs because

otherwise you're just a calorie expensive machine. It would make no sense to have a V8 engine when gasoline is

$20 a gallon. So our bodies are like, you don't need the muscle, then we're not going to keep it. I mean, if

you've ever had a cast or a brace on a limb for two weeks and you take it off, you know how fast things can

atrophy. So that's the real issue. And it's not just the amount of muscle. It's also the health of the muscle. We

do have these ways of testing this now, but they're not widely used. Muscle can also be healthy or not healthy.

It could also be infiltrated with fat. It could be less useful in terms of utilizing glycogen. So think of like

a filet versus a ribeye. And we don't test for that yet. But when they do look at that and look at muscle quality

and health, very strong connection between that atrophy of the brain, loss of cognition, it's all connected. So

if you're only going to exercise a couple days a week, which most people, if we're lucky, we'll get them to do

a couple days a week of structured exercise, make it strength training. You're going to get way more in

return for those couple hours and you will with almost anything else. That makes sense. When you talk about

atrophy, I've just entered my fifties. How much muscle mass do most people lose as they get older? The

percentage is very on the individual, but it's in the five percent range for every five years or decade or so.

But here's the problem. They've done grips. So remember, grip strength is a proxy for total body strength, right?

A college student today, they've done this recently. So I think the last five years, college student today has

the grip strength of a 65 year old in the early 80s. Really? Yeah. So our starting point is so low and you're

still going to lose muscle mass as you get older. By the way, if you strength train, you significantly thwart

that muscle loss. So you said you're 50. I mean, you could build a tremendous amount of muscle and strength

at 50. Your age will impact your max potential, maybe not at 50, but let's say at 60. You might not be able to

reach, you know, barbell squat like you would when you were, let's say 25 or 30, but it's not going to be too

far off. And you'll definitely be a lot stronger than you would be if you didn't do strength training. By the

way, this is also connected to things like bone mass. And, you know, here's another thing, mobility and

cognitive performance and function are also very strongly connected. One of the leading causes of death

is people get older, people know heart disease and cancer. You know what else is up there? Falling down.

Yeah. Falling down and hurting yourself. If you've ever taken care of somebody who's in advanced age, who has

suffered an injury, has to stay in a hospital bed. Broke a

hip. But what's more alarming is a decline in cognitive health. I remember the first time I experienced this. I

had a client who was in her late 70s. She was already in early signs of cognitive decline. And she worked out

with me for a couple of years. And yeah, I don't know if you could tell that she was still going now. Looks like

we're maintaining pretty good. And she would see me once or twice a week. Her daughter hired me to train her.

Well, anyway, she ended up falling on her own at home and then she couldn't come work out. She got hurt or

whatever. Six months, she was in rehab, bed rest. It was a bad injury. I ran into her at the grocery store. Her

daughter had taken a grocery shop. This is six months later. Remember I trained her for two years. She didn't

recognize me. That's how fast the cognitive decline happened from the inactivity. I saw this happen with my

own grandparents during the pandemic. During the pandemic, of course, grandma grandpa old. Let's keep

them. Let's not get them sick. Keep them away. Whatever. That lasted for about eight months. Finally, like, look,

we need to be around them. They're not doing so well. They need to be around people. They need to move. And it

looked like my grandparents had aged eight years. It was, it was scary. Like lack of movement. Lack of

movement. You know, and the brain is a part of the body. It's very, it is a part of the body. So this separating

of them. And that's just how we learn in Western societies. We take a system. We go deep on it. And I get

that. But then we forget that it's all connected. I mean, is your cognitive performance going to be affected

by stress in your life or a spiritual crisis? Of course. It will also be affected by your inability to move and

function, have mobility and strength. And moving will help reduce that stress. The primary reason we have a

brain is to control our movement. So it's not just a mind, body connection. There's definitely a body, a

body, mind connection. Yes. When we're talking about motivation. And so I'm very motivated right now to work

out at this moment because of all the reasons that you've listed. Do you have a way of getting clients?

Sometimes they procrastinate. They don't prioritize it. I know there's not one pill or a secret that... No,

actually, I'll tell you. Because I got really good at this towards my career. And my co-host, the same. And we

didn't work together, by the way. At the end, we just came to the same conclusion. It's less about the secrets

to keeping yourself motivated and more about what people tend to do to make this such a terrible experience where

they don't want to come back. So the first thing is the amount of intensity that you need to apply to get your

body to adapt is appropriate to your current fitness level. So to use another type of adaptation of the body,

like the skin's ability to tan. If you've been living in your mom's basement for 15 years, how much sun exposure

do you need to start to elicit a tanning response? Anything beyond that causes what? Someburn. Someburn is

not going to get you a tan any faster. In fact, it's going to take a lot longer because you surpassed your

body's ability to adapt. And I get it. Social media does this, right? We highlight the beast mode and beat

yourself up and like you have to survive your workout, right? Effective workouts induce adaptation. Effective

workouts are not the ones that make you feel like you can't move anymore. In fact, that's ineffective. That's

the opposite of effective. You should feel at the end of your workout, more energized than you did before you

started. You should not feel like you just survived. Like, oh my god, I gotta go lay down on the couch. You

went too hard for your body. You got to set the adaptation signal emotion and then leave it alone. That

alone demotivates people like crazy because they go and they try and it's like, I'm going to go through hell

every time I go workout. No. This needs to be a good experience. The second reason why people lose the, you

know, call it motivation or discipline to continue is that they start for all the wrong reasons. They look in

the mirror and they say, I look gross or I'm fat or I'm inadequate. I hate myself. I hate myself. If you start

exercising because you hate yourself, exercise is a punishment. This is why what I just referred to earlier

as the beat yourself up model initially feels cathartic. Initially, when I get off the couch and go beat the crap

out of myself and I come home and I tell people I had a great workout. Well, yeah, I hate myself. Of course,

it's going to feel good at first and it won't last. I promise you that much. Instead, go with the following

framework. I'm going to care for myself. Not that I hate myself and you should be honest. You can say, look, I

haven't been taking care of myself. I deserve to be taken care of like somebody I care about. I'm going to

go to the gym and I'm going to take care of myself. Number one, that feels a lot better. Totally different

mindset. Number two, it also feeds into number one. I'm more likely to train myself appropriately because I'm

doing this to take care of myself. This also applies to diet, by the way. I know we're not talking about diet,

but if I'm trying to lose weight because I hate myself and I'm trying to diet in a way because I hate myself,

well now diet becomes restrictive. If I'm eating because I care about myself because I want to take care of

myself, it is not restrictive. In fact, balance, which everybody talks about this with diet and exercise, you

got to create balance, right? Because what does everybody's workout and diet look like on or off? I'm

doing it. I'm not doing it at all. Balance is baked into caring for myself because usually that means I'm eating

something healthy. Sometimes that means I'm having a pizza with my kids because we're enjoying a movie

together. So those two things alone will make the biggest impact. And then there's a third thing. The

third thing is this. Here's the structure. And I'm going to start with this. Motivation is a feeling. Stop

worshipping the feeling of motivation. It's going to go away. Just like you can't be happy all the time. People

who worship happiness end up addicted to drugs or distractions. Motivation is wonderful when we have it.

And by the way, I don't need to tell you to work out when you're motivated. I've never had a client have a

problem going to the gym when they're motivated. It's when they're not motivated that becomes a challenge.

Okay, so what do we do then? Well, here's what you do. Start like this. Ask yourself what you could do now.

What's one step I can take forward with fitness? That is challenging. It has to have some meaning. Otherwise,

it's not going to be worth anything to you. But also realistic forever. That's the context. What is

challenging yet realistic forever? Whatever that is and you have to be honest with yourself, whatever that is,

that's the perfect step. Start there. And then here's what will happen. You'll do that once it becomes a

habit. Once it becomes a behavior, then you ask yourself again, what's the next step I could take that is

challenging yet realistic forever? And then here's what's going to happen. I'm going to sound like a wizard

now to your listeners. Okay, here's what will happen if you do what I'm saying. You're going to take that first

step and it's going to take a while before you take that next step. And that's okay. You're going to stay there.

You'll notice improvements. You'll notice. You're going to feel better. By the way, pay attention to all the

benefits that come from it. Not just the scale. In fact, I tell people throw the scale away because we tend to

ignore the other potential good and bad signs that our body is telling us because we start. We always worship

the scale. Okay, throw the scale away. So you take this one step. Notice the benefits. I feel better. I have

more energy. I'm sleeping better. Okay, this is cool. And here's what will happen. You'll do that for a while.

And then when you're ready, you ask yourself again. And then when you're ready, you ask yourself again. The time

between steps starts to become shorter and the steps naturally become larger. Here's what's happening. You're

developing the skill of discipline. You're building a skill that is going to last with you forever with this.

And this is how you develop a lifelong relationship because it's a relationship. A lifelong relationship

with exercise and with fitness. And the last thing I'll leave you with is this. Your workouts, your fitness. The

best way to utilize it is to use it like a multi-purpose AI Swiss Army knife. Okay, use it to improve the quality

of your life regardless of the context of your life. Okay, sometimes that means I'm getting good sleep, lots

of energy, not a lot of stress. I'm going to go see how strong I can get. I'm going to go push myself in the

gym. Sometimes that means, oh man, I lost my job going through a divorce. I'm not getting good sleep. Maybe I

got a new baby. I got to go and just get rid of a little stress and just feel better. So my workout's not going

to be as intense, but again, I'm caring for myself. If you build that kind of relationship with exercise, it

will last for the rest of your life. If it's always about chasing the PR, pushing yourself, you're going to

have those moments in your life when it's not going to work out for you. So those steps right there are what

I've found to be the keys to successful long-term commitment. So many actionable ideas. I love it. Do you

have courses for our audience? We have workout programs. They're called maps, muscular adaptation programming

system. I believe we have 13 or 14 of them now. You can find them at mapsfitnessproducts.com. But I tell people

this, look, we do five podcasts a week. We have a YouTube channel where we also show the podcasts on

there. And then we also have a YouTube channel where we demonstrate exercises and give it so it's a separate

channel. We also have free fitness guides at mindpumpfree.com. Don't buy anything from me. Listen to

all the free stuff that we provide. When we've given you so much value and we've changed your life and you're

like, okay, now I want to go to the next step. I want to follow a structured program, then come pick the right

one. But for now, we give so much free stuff. We coach through free channels the way we used to coach our

clients. So do that first. Check that out. Yeah, I love it. We'll put links to all the courses to the free links

that you mentioned. Thanks so well. It's your social media also at gymquick.com for such notes. The book also

is an amazing guide. It's not only do you have all the documented research, but you have like step by step. Is

there a minimal viable return like in terms of, is it like two, three times a week? No, no, no. It's just a

little more than you're doing now. They even have studies that'll show one, five second isometric

contraction. A day will yield strength gains. So yeah, and look, if you're doing nothing now a little bit,

we'll get your body. Think of it. Again, I use the tanning analogy. Just train yourself appropriately. Go

to the gym and practice exercises. Stop trying to beat yourself up. Get better at the squat or the deadlift or

the bench press or whatever. Do just a little bit and let your body adapt. That by the way, that's not the

slow way to get there. People confuse, they think it's a trade off. It's like, oh, there's a fast way and there's

a slow way. No, no, no, it's yes or no. There's a right way and then everything else is a total fail. That book,

by the way, I wrote for the average person. So it's literally like I am communicating to the average person.

And my goal with it is to get people to be able to do this on a long term basis. I'm not trying to create

fitness fanatics or bodybuilders or extreme athletes. They're already bought in. I'm not talking to them. I'm

talking to the average person just wants to live a better life, wants to reap the benefits of feeling fit

and healthy and having optimized hormones. And that's who I'm talking to with that book. Amazing. Follow Sal,

everybody. Get a copy of the book. Get your resistance, strength training in and subscribe to the Mind Pump

Podcast. Thank you. Thanks for being on the show. Thank you so much.