Ep. 216 - Q&A: SFAS Durability, AFT Deadlift, Land Nav, Muscle Growth Myths, Dangers of Porn + More

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What's going on guys? Welcome to another episode of the Terminator Training Show. I'm Kevin Smith. Today's going to be a Q&A from this week's and maybe even a little bit of last week's ask me anything. Last week I did a non-Q&A episode about what was it? The only five things that makes guys fail, SVS. If you guys are interested in that, go check that out. It is episode 215, but we are back to Q&As and because of that, I have a couple of weeks lined up. Now, [00:00:30] I am not going to get to all of them. I've got some marked down that are better questions that I will try and get to as many as I possibly can. Just a quick big announcement about one of two huge sales that we run every year. Every single product on the website is currently 35% off for the 4th of July.

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Happy 4th of July. By the way, happy 250 years of America. Pretty huge milestone. But everything's marked down 35%. This is one of two sales besides Black Friday where we do a big solid [00:01:00] discount. I talk about my programs quite often in these shows. I also have episodes that discuss the programs in depth, but whether you are looking for hybrid fitness, selection prep, which kind of coincides with hybrid fitness, more of a run bias hybrid program or even just a hypertrophy program, a time crunch program, we've got you covered. I've also got a soft prep recovery guide and in the works it is almost done. It should be out in the next 10 to 14 days. I have the [00:01:30] standalone version of the personal development guide that is applicable to anyone who is prepping for any sort of Special Forces selection or is getting closer to being in a Special Forces unit or is already in Special Forces or is just looking to level up and develop themselves and be more successful, more fulfilled, have better habits, see better outcomes, have better mental health, support your fitness and your health [00:02:00] and your wellbeing.

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It is all going to be in one spot in this guide. It is not going to be the exact same as what's attached already. By the way, this guide is already attached to my current SFAS prep program, but it is not going to be the exact same. It's going to have some more things in it. It will still have everything that is in that program. It just won't be quite as tailored towards SFAS specific. It'll be more general for more people to benefit from. So stay tuned for that. I have been hard at work at that. I've been writing for [00:02:30] like four and a half hours already today. I probably spent six or seven hours on it yesterday and about the same the day before. It is really hard to write for that long without just hitting points of diminishing returns. But if I take some breaks and I work on the right things, then I can do it and it's all for the greater good.

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So super pumped to release that, stay tuned for it. And then after that, on deck is going to be my new and improved hypertrophy program. [00:03:00] That is also going to include some conditioning. I think there's a couple questions I should be answering at least one question in this episode that I should be answering on that. So I'll wait till then. But either way, that one is going to be sick. It's going to be very, very similar to how I train and it's not necessarily a hybrid program. The conditioning is going to be more so for health and wellbeing and general cardiovascular fitness rather than trying to chase big performance goals like my Jack Gazelle programs. But if you are in that boat, if [00:03:30] you're a former soft guy, if you're a little older, or if you just don't have hybrid goals, you want to get jacked and feel good and look good and be healthy, then that is going to be a sick program.

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So anyway, I think that's it for housekeeping. Oh, and also it is my dog's birthday on 4th of July. My female dog is turning 10. So that is pretty exciting too. We aren't actually a hundred percent sure that was her birthday. We know she was born early July. She's a rescue. So we just figured [00:04:00] why not. It was the first week of July, so why the hell not make it 4th of July? So happy birthday to my little girl who is 10 years old and she still sometimes acts like a puppy in a good way. And we take really good care of her. We walk her a lot and she has a brother, a companion, and she's a great little pup. So anyway, let's hop into today's questions. First question, what other special operations units interested you before sticking with Green Beret? [00:04:30] Good question. My initial inkling was Navy SEALs, but then I realized that I'm not very good in the water and to be a Navy SEAL, you have to be really good in the water.

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So that didn't last very long. Then I went to Army Ranger. Honestly, I wasn't even familiar. I had heard of Green Berets kind of very, very low key. I was not an expert by any means and it didn't even come to mind, but Army Rangers were a lot more of a [00:05:00] popular household name when I was going through my military signup process and the internet wasn't the same as what it is today. You could Google things and find out about them, but you weren't getting bombarded with things whether you're asking for it or not like you are with social media these days. So I was doing a lot of research on that. I went to a recruiter and asked if I could get an option 40 contract and he said that they didn't have any, but they did have 18 x-ray contracts. So I went home and obsessively [00:05:30] looked into Green Beret mission sets and what their training was like.

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I watched Two Weeks in Hell, probably like 10 times, which is a documentary on Discovery Channel that they made about selection way back in the day. And from there I was just hooked and sold. So probably a few days, maybe a week later, I went back to the recruiter and I'm like, "Yep, sign me up." And the rest was history. So not a whole lot of different special operations but a few and I [00:06:00] wouldn't have it any other way. I'm really glad I chose Green Beret. I think I would've been a solid ranger, but I just fit in my opinion better as a Green Beret right out of the gates than I would've as a ranger. Next question. Any tips for smaller guy 130 pounds lean to max three MDL. Max the three, I'm guessing he means the three max deadlift on the AFT. Yeah, I would try and get [00:06:30] bigger.

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I mean, that's not to say that nobody who weighs 130 pounds can deadlift 340 for three, but that would be pretty impressive if you could. I mean, honestly, it's like what three, one... Yeah, that would be a pretty considerable... I can't do math very well on the spot, but that would be pretty close I think to a three rep max deadlift. What would it be? 260 would be two times body weight [00:07:00] and then to get 140, it would be like 2.75 - ish, give or take times your body weight, which is not unheard of whatsoever. I've actually pulled almost three times my body weight before, but I am also a very strong deadlifter and that was conventional. I never really chased the hex bar day lift, but either way it can be done at your size. However, 130 pounds is pretty tiny and if you got a little bigger by lifting for hypertrophy, of course, keeping [00:07:30] some strength work in.

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If you want to get good at this lift, you should probably do this lift on a semi-regular basis. You can do a bunch of different deadlift variations that'll transfer over well to this lift too, but trying to get stronger, trying to get bigger, eating at a calorie surplus and not going too crazy with it. You don't want to gain like five pounds every week or anything like that. Maybe one pound per week, give or take, maybe not even, is a good rate of gain. So you want to be in a relatively mild calorie surplus. You don't need this massive surplus. [00:08:00] You don't need to get super fat in order to gain strength or muscle. But over time you will notice with solid training and consistent calorie surplus that you will get bigger and you'll get stronger. And if you keep doing this lift and honestly, if you're programming across the board is sound, then eventually you'll get there.

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I'm not sure what your starting point is, where you're at right now, whether you're close or really far away. So it's hard to answer perfectly as far as what I know about you and your training, [00:08:30] but generally speaking, getting bigger, stronger, and better at the lift, what you do by training properly and eating enough is the gold standard really for getting stronger at any lift. Next question, what is the difference between the soft prep recovery ebook and the new one coming soon? Lots of differences. Although the new one does mention and discusses somewhat in depth, more so wavetops, nutrition and sleep and stress management, the recovery [00:09:00] guide is all about that. So it's very, very in depth on all things you need to know about how to set up your nutrition, how to distroy your macros, how to dial in the best possible sleep that you can, some of the nuances of stimulus, recovery, adaptation, et cetera.

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And it talks a lot about little things that a lot of people really over-index with recovery, foam rolling and stretching [00:09:30] and other kind of gimmicky low effort stuff and why those are not completely useless, but also they are not the big needle movers like managing your training load and sleeping and eating and hydrating and managing your stress. The personal development guide is a lot more geared towards becoming a more effective human across the board. So a lot of the things in it will definitely indirectly or maybe even directly affect your training [00:10:00] performance, but it's also geared towards becoming a more productive individual, improving your mental health, becoming more charismatic, becoming more confident in your leadership skills, in your ability to hold yourself accountable, how to develop great habits, how to plan and prepare for things, how to keep yourself on the straight and arrow, how to use comparison like leverage comparison.

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[00:10:30] A lot of people say comparison's the thief of joy or don't compare yourself to other people. That is absolutely terrible advice if you want to be a hybrid achiever. Now, if you're emotional about it and you compare yourself to people and you're like, "Oh, I'm just a scumbag. I'll never amount to anything." That's one thing. But if you use comparison in the proper way, and this is just one example and this is also going to be in my newsletter that's coming out here shortly if you're interested in subscribing to that, there's a link down below, but if you use it properly, [00:11:00] you can use comparison to see where you stand and you can also use it to see what works for other people who are where you want to be or who have taken the path that you want to take to success. So it's got a bunch of different personal development subjects in there and activities and practical exercises, resources, et cetera.

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So there's a little bit of overlap with certain things, but for the most part it's a completely different product and it is going to be [00:11:30] freaking awesome. I'm having really a difficult time not including more things in it because I want to just include absolutely everything, but I know not everyone reads absolutely everything and it could be overkill and it can be a little intimidating if it's too long or too much. I am trying to determine what absolutely needs to be said and what can be left out. I'm also considering potentially doing a part two, but for now I am wrapping up the original or [00:12:00] the current one that's about to come out and it is going to be freaking awesome if you want to go and set yourself apart from the crowd in pretty much every area of life. If you want to be as far from normal as humanly possible, which by the way, if you want to be successful, outstandingly successful, not just like kind of, "Oh cool, he accomplished a few things, but like really set yourself apart, then you can't be normal and you can't do what normal things do.

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If you want to be extraordinary, you can't just be [00:12:30] ordinary, literally by definition, extra ordinary. You have to do things that are extra and that guide is all full of that kind of stuff. So stay tuned. Next question. Thoughts on Thor three HPW trainers at group? So this is hard to answer as a universal answer. It's almost the equivalent of asking, what are your thoughts on doctors? There are good doctors. There are great doctors. There are world-class doctors. There are mediocre doctors. [00:13:00] They're bad doctors and there are doctors that I would rather have my son who's about to be born, he's not even born yet, do surgery on me rather than this doctor. So of course that's kind of an exaggeration, but it depends on who we're talking about. Some Thor three trainers are fantastic. Other ones are mediocre. Other ones I absolutely would not want anywhere near a computer [00:13:30] that is writing my program to hopefully succeed in some sort of fitness goal.

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I am buddies with a couple of them still and I've had some great experiences with them. But for the most part, I would say as a generality, a lot of them are very vanilla and/or cookie cutter in that they don't really have a robust view of continued education. And one of the major downsides of Thor guys is that they don't have experience going through the things [00:14:00] that they are helping guys prepare for. They're just trainers and they work with tactical athletes, but tactical athletes are going through some very arduous and demanding things. So a lot of the programs are like written as if they are writing programs for someone with a general goal. Maybe it's to get stronger and to get more fit, but it's not quite specific enough to be tailored perfectly for a selection process or a school that you might be preparing for.

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It is a lot [00:14:30] more cookie cutter and they just kind of like take a template that they gave the last guy and the last guy and the last guy. They might tailor it a litle bit, but for the most part it's just like same for everybody. And that's just been my experience. Here's the deal in order to be great in your field and this goes for fitness as well as elsewhere, you can't just rely on your original education. You can't rely on just basic 101 level learning [00:15:00] and a lot of people just have the disposition that as long as they show up and they do their job, then they're good. And of course, this does not just apply to Thor three trainers or it doesn't even apply to all trainers. It applies to a lot of people. Most people are cool with checking the block, being mediocre, getting the job done, living for the weekend, whatever.

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They are not endlessly curious individuals that go above and beyond and way out of their way to invest [00:15:30] their time, invest their money, invest their bandwidth into building a very robust widespread level of education and learning the nuances that are required to build elite programs and be an elite trainer. So honestly, like most, I would say I'm not sure if this is a requirement for Thor three trainers, but I think most of them have their CSCS, which is a very prestigious strength and conditioning certification or strength and conditioning [00:16:00] education that you get from college. But at the same time, that is not enough and I don't have my CSCS. In fact, I have very few fitness certifications, but I pride myself in going well above and beyond and well out of my way to make it so that no one who listens to me talk or looks at my program or sees my content or listens to my podcast episodes would ever guess that I don't have a lot of certifications.

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I have a bunch of very niche ones that [00:16:30] would not necessarily get me a job in a gym because it's not nationally accredited, but oftentimes the really niche ones are super, super beneficial. They're way, way, way more in depth and way more relevant to what I'm doing. And I have spent lots and lots and lots of hours reading and talking with people and going to seminars and listening to podcasts, listening to audio books and everything in between to try and make my education as robust as humanly possible [00:17:00] in this field. And I'm very experienced as well now that I'm coaching a lot of people and I've made a lot of programs for a lot of people and seen some of the results and heard from some of the results and I try to iterate, get a little bit better each and every time. And I'm not saying I'm like better than all thor trainers by any means, but that's just an example of the difference between someone who has the education in that field and then just kind of uses that and doesn't really continue it or further it versus someone who is endlessly [00:17:30] curious and just obsessed with being as top tier as humanly possible.

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So all that to say, some great, some not so great. It's pretty hard to identify whether they're great or not unless you have a good bit of fitness savviness, but just kind of look out for the fact that just because someone has a Thor three trainer or master trainer or whatever have you next to their name, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are well equipped to show you the right way. [00:18:00] Next question, what wallet are you rocking? This guy asked me every week what wallet I'm rocking. I am not exactly sure what the brand is called. It's bull something. It's got this little bull icon on it and it's definitely a minimalist wallet where you kind of put the cards in. It's got this little button that you push up and the cards pop out. It's got a little money clip and then it has a couple slots that you can put other cards, your ID and things like that in.

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So my wife just got this for me for, what did she get it for me? [00:18:30] Father's Day. I'm not a dad yet, but I'm going to be a dad soon and I guess I am a dog dad, which definitely does count, but I'm not a human dad yet. I will be in a few weeks. But anyway, wife got it for me, really like it. Takes up a lot less space. I used to have like a flip wallet that was just a little more bulky. I didn't dislike it or anything like that, but this one is awesome and it's bull something. I honestly can't remember. I know there's a few different wallet brands with bull in the name, but it's got like this little [00:19:00] cool bull image on it and it is definitely no bullshit. So thanks for asking. Next question, what is your opinion on Zurcher squats?

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So me personally, I don't program zircher squats very often because I think there are many, many great exercises for the legs that are a little bit better than searcher squats, some of them a lot better. That being said, that doesn't mean it's a bad exercise. What my opinion is on it, [00:19:30] honestly, it's just really hard to answer questions that ask what my opinion is on something or what my thoughts are on something without any further context. So if you added some context, what are your thoughts or what is your opinion on Zurcher squats for someone with this goal or someone looking to do this or someone who is trying to improve X, that would give me a lot more context and I'd be able to give you a better answer. That being said, surgery [00:20:00] squats are not the best hypertrophy exercise at all. They would be not even in the top 10 as far as quad hypertrophy.

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Typically, most people do squats to either improve their strength in their lower body or to grow their quads. Maybe to a lesser extent, their glutes, their adductors, those are definitely going to grow as well. And it also does depend on how you execute. Are you doing a low bar squat, high bar squat, front squat, or in this case zercher squat. But that is [00:20:30] most people's goal with squats and zertu squats definitely will make you stronger in general, but it's not going to place the best tension on your quads in a way that's going to make them as jacked as possible. You're usually going to be limited by stability like any free weight exercise. You're also going to be limited by how deep you can go. You can't bring the quads to as fully lengthened position as you can with something like a hack squat or a pendulum squat or really [00:21:00] deep leg press or even a belt squat.

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If you execute these lifts properly, most people don't do it anyway, but if you do execute them properly, you have the mobility for it and/or you wear some squat shoes, you can get to where your calves or your hamstrings are literally touching your calves and that is full range of motion on a squat. Very hard to do with zero squats just because of the setup. Also, you're going to be limited by the fact that it's really uncomfortable to hold the load in the crux of your arms. Not that that's a bad thing necessarily, but if [00:21:30] your goal is hypertrophy and you're limited by your upper body, in this case your arms, your elbows being uncomfortable, then you're not going to be able to push your legs as close to failure as is necessary to make it an optimal hypertrophy exercise. That being said, it is a great unique exercise that can be really fun to learn and it's going to make you generally strong.

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It'll strengthen your lower body, your hips, your posterior chain and if you want to do something unique and challenge yourself and learn [00:22:00] something cool and strengthen your lower body and your posterior chain, then zerch your squats can be fantastic. I would say if you have discomfort holding the bar, which is totally reasonable in the crux of your arms or your elbows, arms, elbows, then I would consider wearing some elbow sleeves or even if you have knee sleeves, you can slide your knee sleeves up over that area. That way it's not the bar directly on your skin and that can help. But again, it just depends on your goals mainly and if [00:22:30] you provide your goals next time you ask about a certain exercise, I can give you a lot better answer as to whether it should apply to you or not, but some principles usually help and if those apply to you, then do Zerti squats.

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If you're trying to get jacked legs, I would choose a different lift. Next question, how important is a pump in terms of muscle growth? Love this question. All right, the textbook answer, the thinking in a vacuum answer is that pumps don't [00:23:00] matter for muscle growth and technically that is correct. They don't really matter. You can still grow muscle without having a pump. You can get really, really jacked without ever getting a pump. That being said, almost every single super duper jacked person in existence has gotten pumps most of the time they train because it's often a byproduct of good sound quality hypertrophy training. Not so much strength training like pure strength training, power lifting, strongman [00:23:30] type stuff. You might get a pump in certain cases, but for hypertrophy training, it's almost always a byproduct, especially if you're doing higher rep stuff, especially if you're doing a lot of short overload where you're getting most of the tension at the short position or the contracted position.

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And it is not a bad thing by any means. I would say the pump is, even though the textbook will tell you it's not necessary or it's not relevant, I think the pump is extremely beneficial for [00:24:00] a few different reasons and they're all mostly indirect reasons. One, they feel good. Most people who train really enjoy the feeling of getting a pump. Also, they make you look more jacked temporarily. They almost give you a little preview of what you might look like six months, a year, a year and a half down the road if you continue training the way you are. Yes, it goes away after an hour, two hours, depending on what you're doing and depending on lots of different things, but it [00:24:30] is still cool. You'll look cool, you feel cool and guess what? The most important aspect of training, the absolute most important aspect of training is consistency/adherence.

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So if you're doing something that feels good and looks cool and you enjoy it and it's not detrimental, which getting a pump is definitely not detrimental, then you're more likely to continue doing that thing. So it's almost helping you [00:25:00] stay consistent, which is a big win. Another thing about pumps is this is kind of broscience, but it's also very much experiential from my experience as well as the experience of a lot of other smart people who have been coaching for a long time. You'll notice that if you have a pump in muscles that are surrounding a joint that is involved in a certain lift, you are much less likely to injure that joint in that lift or [00:25:30] it to become a long-term type of nagging injury and also it's usually going to just feel better acutely. So for example, if you have a quad pump and a hamstring pump before you go into squats, you'll notice a lot of my programs before you get into heavier squats, depending on the program, but some of them, before you get into heavier squats, you're going to do some leg curls.

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You might even do some leg extensions, you might do some hip thrusts or 45 degree back raise to just get a pump in your general lower body. And when you go into [00:26:00] squats with a pump in those muscles, your knees are usually going to feel better. Your hips might feel better and that is a win. And also, even though there's no data or science that I'm aware of that proves this, you're also less likely to injure those parts of your body. Generally, a pump means you have a lot of blood flow and also a lot of awareness. When you have pumped up muscles, you're kind of thinking more about, you're more aware of the muscles you're using and that kind of keeps you more focused. So that's another pro to a pump. [00:26:30] Another couple of great things about a pump, there's, I would say two more.

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One, it kind of is an indication that you are at least doing something somewhat right. So if you do a set of squads and you don't have any quad pump whatsoever, let's say you do a set of eight to 10 squats, any kind of squat and there is zero quad pump. Does that mean you're not working your quads at all? No. However, it does mean that you're probably not placing all that much tension on the quads and/or you're just not [00:27:00] training very hard and you might have some room for improvement. Conversely, if you have a great quad pump and it feels amazing, like just crazy engorged blood flow to your quads after a set of squats, that's a pretty good indication that you're executing squats in a way that's putting a lot of tension on your quads. You're probably training pretty hard and those are all good things.

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That's all a really solid litmus test to determine whether you're doing something beneficial or not. [00:27:30] Lastly, getting a pump is not just a product of training properly. It's also a product of preparedness, the condition that your body's in. You'll notice at least a lot of people notice when they are either not eating a lot of carbs or they're in a severe calorie deficit, they're trying to lose a bunch of fat, it's much harder to get pumps. When you are eating a surplus or you're just eating a lot of carbs in general, you might notice that you get way better pumps and [00:28:00] also hydration sodium especially has a lot to do with the pumps. Sleep the night before, if you have a really, really bad night of sleep, it might be kind of hard to get pumps. Whereas if you're really well rested, really well recovered, you might see bigger pumps and that is kind of just confirming that you're doing things right around training and/or with your overall nutrition.

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If you can get a pump, usually you're generally healthy, you've got good blood flow and you are well fueled going into that training session, well hydrated, going into that training session and for [00:28:30] many, many different reasons, that is good. You're going to perform better, recover better, probably make more gains and that's all good stuff. So is it directly a factor? No. Is it indirectly a factor? If you think outside the box a little, use some critical thinking skills, don't think inside a vacuum, which you should always do in fitness, then yes, it absolutely is a really good thing and I would continue to at least maybe not chase it. A lot of people will take this overboard. I should definitely mention [00:29:00] this. A lot of people kind of take it overboard and they chase the pump. You'll notice, well, most people won't notice this, but the fact is a lot of short overload exercises, lifts that you feel the most, that you have the most tension in the contracted position, like a dumbbell lateral raise or a seated calf raise or a leg extension or a leg curl, those lifts often produce more of a pump than something like a stiff like a deadlift or a fly [00:29:30] or even a mid-range exercise like a squat or a press.

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And just because those lifts cause more of a pump doesn't necessarily mean they're better lifts. In fact, typically stretch overload exercises are going to be more hypertrophy inducing even if they don't cause as much of a pump. That being said, certain cases like hybrid training, you don't necessarily want to overdo your stretch overload lifts because they're more fatiguing, they're more damaging, they'll cause more soreness [00:30:00] So you want a good blend of multiple different lifts, but a lot of people who quote unquote chase the pump will do a ton of short overload exercises and they'll wonder why they look super jacked after they train because they have this sick pump, but they don't gain a whole lot of muscle. They're just kind of chasing something that shouldn't be directly chased. It should be kind of accepted as a byproduct of training. It's almost like instead of chasing fatigue and sweat, like I talk about all the time, like with this workout, I want to chase fatigue and sweat.

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No, you want to chase [00:30:30] progress and quality and soundness, but a byproduct of good solid training is oftentimes fatigue and sweat. It's not the goal, it's the byproduct and the same goes for pumps. So I think that covers everything. Super cool question. I love talking about this stuff. I could talk about it for like an hour straight, but we will move on to some other questions. Next question, what is your favorite club in the bag? Oh yeah, loving it. So this is going to be a toss up for me. I would say number one, [00:31:00] 1A, and then I'll get into 1B. 1A is going to be my 58 degree wedge, mainly because I used to be a terrible wedge player. If I had a full wedge shot, so I hit my 58 about 110 yards, like my stock 58, 110, 108 yards. If I was inside that, let's say I was 80 yards out or 75 yards out or 60 yards out, which I find myself in that situation quite often at certain courses that I play and I had to take less than a full swing.

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[00:31:30] It was a complete nightmare. I would much rather be 170 yards out and have a full eight iron in than an 80 yard wedgeshot in. Now, because I've guess what, practiced, it's crazy what happens when you practice. I am very confident inside 110 yards. So it doesn't matter if I'm 105, 100, 90, 50, whatever have you. I am going to use my 58 in almost every case. Once in a while I'll use a 54 if I want to keep it really low, but I've learned to kind of [00:32:00] flight down my 58 as well. So like 95% of the shots that I take inside 110 yards are with my 58 and I have just got, it's honestly become my best weapon. It's become my best yardage or best part of my game is approach from 110 and in and also around the green. I am a believer in getting really, really, really good as far as short game is concerned with one club and that club for me is the 58.

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A lot of people, [00:32:30] it would be more common to be like this, but a lot of people are more advocates of using multiple different clubs around the green depending on the situation. And I totally understand that and I see the point to it. However, I would much rather just focus on being able to hit a ton of different shots and be really good at them with one club, my 58, than be pretty good decent at a lot of different clubs. There are certainly situations where I won't hit my 58 around the green, but [00:33:00] it's very uncommon. Almost always whether I'm in a bunker, whether I'm hitting a 30 yard pitch shot, whether I'm chipping right next to the green, typically I am going to hit my 58, one of various different shots.

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I would say yeah, that is probably number one, but a very close second or 1B would be my seven iron. For whatever reason, I am more confident with my seven iron than any other iron. I tend to hit it very straight and I'm just really, really comfortable with [00:33:30] a seven iron. I have a lot of when I pull the seven iron out, I'm like, "Okay, I think this shot is going to be at least pretty damn solid." The other day I was playing by myself at a course down the street and I think it was like 198, maybe 200 yards or so, which is about my stock full swing seven iron. I might have had a little wind at my back. Typically, I hit my seven iron like 195 - ish and especially when it's warm out like it is right now. And I hit a [00:34:00] seven iron off the TV as a par three and it went to like three feet.

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It literally never left the flag. I thought it was going to go in and I was going to be upset because I was playing with myself and you don't want to get a hole in one by yourself because there's no witnesses. But either way it was awesome. And just generally when I step up to hit a ball with my seven iron, I just feel really, really confident. So I would say those are probably the top two. My three wood is also very trusty, but I don't hit that as often. I might hit it two, three, four times around. [00:34:30] The seven iron gets hit more often. The 58 is by far besides my driver and putter, you put every hole generally unless you chip in. So you hit your putter probably more than any other shot, any other club and driver probably second, maybe not. I feel like I hit more shots with my 58 than my driver.

(00:34:50):

Definitely hit more shots than with my 58, depending on the course. But I think that is kind of accurate and I love it. So yeah, great question and I'm going to keep [00:35:00] getting better at all my clubs, but it's just cool to go from really sucking at a certain distance or a certain part of your game to being really, really good at it through practice. So that's probably why I give the nod to 58. Next question, how do I know if my body is durable enough for SFAS? You go to SFS and hopefully you don't get hurt and hopefully your performance doesn't bleed off. Ideally, if you have a solid training plan, you could use mine, you could use Rock Run Lift, whatever have you, you could use any different plan [00:35:30] if you want. My plans are the best. I'm just going to say that, but either way if you are making progres, you're able to meet standards and you're able to follow the program without just running yourself into the ground, then you're probably durable in the sense that maybe not like anti-injury durable, but a little bit of an aspect of that, but you're durable enough to continue to put the work in without significant drop-offs in fitness.

(00:35:55):

So the general definition of durability is not just not getting [00:36:00] injured, it's also being able to perform repetitively for a longer period of time without massive drop-offs in performance. So like if you crush the first couple of gates during gate week and then you just fall off a cliff and then by land nav you're just destroyed, you're not durable. Or if you crush gate week but then you get some sort of overuse injury during SFAS or during LandNav, then you're not very durable and there's no like durability test per se other than being able to follow a program and not get injured and [00:36:30] see solid performances. That doesn't mean you're going to get better every single workout. A lot of people think they are. That is not how it works. You're going to have ups and downs. You want to trend better for sure, but if you're not getting injured and you're not just destroyed and getting worse when you're preparing for selection, that's a pretty good indication that you are at least baseline durable.

(00:36:51):

Now all that to say, if you're following a program and you are getting worse, that doesn't always mean that you're not durable. It could mean that the program is absolutely terrible [00:37:00] or it could mean that outside the gym, which I guess would mean you're not durable, but outside the gym, you're all over the place and this is very, very common. Most guys I come across that are preparing for selection, they probably have the training down. Even if it's not sound training, they still do it and they still train hard and they're serious about it, but they are all over the map outside of training. I talk about this stuff till I'm blue in the face. It's hard to make it exciting. It's hard to make people listen, but it's critically important for most people. [00:37:30] Some people are genetic freaks and I talked about this a little bit last episode.

(00:37:35):

You can get away with a lot of debauchery outside the gym, but most people are not like that by definition. If you're a genetic freak, you're not like most people. If you're not a genetic freak, you're more like the norm. And if you're more like the norm, you're not this crazy outstanding, super gifted athlete. Then guess what? Sleeping well, eating well, managing your stress well, ensuring that you don't have this crazy ridiculous training program are all going [00:38:00] to be massive, massive factors in your potential success as well as your durability. When you're underslept, you're underfed, you're not hydrated well, you are way, way, way more likely to A, get injured, B, get worse as you continue training despite the fact you're continuing to train hard, you're just regressing or you're just staying the same. So again, there's no real perfect way to know that you're durable enough other than to go to SVS, give it a whirl and give it your best shot.

(00:38:29):

And if you're prepared well and [00:38:30] things go your way, then you're durable enough and that's that. Next question, best strategy for unknown distance runs and rucks at SFAS. I have talked about this in the past, but it's been a while, so we'll rehash it. You are about to go to SFS where you won't have your watch. You won't have a smartwatch, let alone a watch at all. So you're going to need to be really in tune with your body. You're going to have to pay attention to when you're training [00:39:00] runs and rucks. It's kind of the same for both. Runs are a little different. I'll get into one of the main nuances here in a second, but paying attention to your body and not just zoning out or not trying to distract yourself or not trying to compartmentalize or listen to music, listen to other stuff.

(00:39:15):

Not to say that you can't do that for any of your training, but it's really important to be more in tune with your body. It's also really important not to just rely on your watch for every single decision you make. If you're always looking down at your watch, A, it's going to be a stressor. Looking at your watch five, [00:39:30] seven, 10, 12, 20 times every single minute. Think about how many minutes you're out there, that adds up and it also takes autonomy away from you. It takes awareness away from you. You're only deciding things based on what your watch tells you your heart rate is or your pace is, and that is not a good thing whether you're training for SFAOs or not, you want to be more in tune with your body. So just being mindful when you do your training runs, your easy runs, your hard runs, your repeats, your rucks, et cetera.

(00:39:58):

The main difference between runs [00:40:00] and rucks is that for the runs, you're going to be running ideally around your threshold pace most of the time. So that's kind of the pace that you want to get used to being able to identify that you're about that pace by feel. And generally that's going to be like tempo work, threshold work that you do in your prep. And sometimes for some people it might be beneficial to either put some tape over their watch so they can't look at it and they just do it by feel and then they have the watch on so they can look at the data after and compare [00:40:30] it to what they thought it was or maybe even put it around your ankle or maybe even sometimes don't use it at all. There's lots of different ways to go about it and this is not necessary for everyone.

(00:40:40):

If you're disciplined enough to not just always rely on your watch, that's fine too. But getting used to running at that threshold pace is critical because that's about what you want to run for the unknown distance runs at selection because if you go too much past that and let's say you think it's the short run but it ends up being the long run and you're like, [00:41:00] "Okay, I just got to hold on a little longer and oh, by the way, a little longer is like double what you've already run," then that's not going to be a good time. Typically when you go too far over your lactate threshold for too long, it's not just as simple as a slight dial back. It's usually you hit a wall and you have to really, really dial your pace back. It's not a good time. You're not going to put your best numbers up.

(00:41:21):

You're going to really underperform based on what you'd otherwise be capable of if you had paced yourself properly. So paying close attention [00:41:30] to what your threshold pace feels like is huge and you do that by training consistently and being mindful of it in training. For rux, because you're not going to be going all out at your threshold pace, all out and threshold pace are not the same, but you're not necessarily going to be maintaining this same pace unless you're a complete stud and you can run the whole thing, in which case this doesn't really apply to you. Just go run it and crush it. But for most people that are not freaks, you're going to be doing a little walking, you're going to be doing a little running, [00:42:00] you're going to be doing a little trotting. Generally speaking, a good pacing strategy is to walk on the uphills, run on the downhills, run or trot on the downhills depending on your fitness levels.

(00:42:13):

And for the flats, it's a little bit of a wildcard. If you're pretty fit, you can run most of the flats, if not all the flats. If you're a little less fit, but you know you're still capable of meeting the standards, you're capable of hitting a 12 minute, 12:30 pac, 12 mile [00:42:30] ruck. Then you might walk most of the flats, but just having some sort of pacing strategy like that, and I would use terrain, not necessarily step count, would be a really good strategy. And ideally as you get close to selection, or maybe not even right before selection, but maybe four weeks out, six weeks out or so, you do a little bit of a spot check and see where you're at and make sure that you're able to meet those standards for that spot check. If you're really, really concerned about it, you could do it.

(00:42:58):

You could just pre-plan [00:43:00] your route and not wear a watch or just put it on your ankle and look at the data after. Is that necessary for most people? No. But if you're really, really worried about it, it could be a good strategy just to kind of see if you can run these things based on feel and meet the standards. If you can and you're six weeks out, four weeks out, you're usually going to be good to go. So yeah, I mean, a lot of people do stress about this, but if you're fit enough and you're able to exceed the standards in all the runs, all the [00:43:30] rucks and you run your race, not somebody else's race, you don't link up with some random guy that you don't know who says that they run the same five mile time as you. Who knows if they're even able to run that same five mile time, if they're slower, if they're faster, if they're going to have a good day, going to have a bad day.

(00:43:47):

A lot of guys will kind of pace based on someone else who they think is about their same fitness levels, not the best idea. It's also a terrible idea to, if you know that you are not a stud runner or a stud rucker, but you're [00:44:00] able to meet the standards, it's a really, really bad idea to take off out the gates on a run or a ruck at full speed, set a 400 meter PR in the first 400 meters of an unknown distance runner ruck along with the absolute super studs. Run your race, be disciplined enough to trust your pacing and your body awareness. Stick with that. Ideally, keep a nice, steady, consistent effort and pace and go crush. [00:44:30] That's really all it comes down to. Thinking about it too much is just going to stress you out. And plenty, plenty, plenty of guys have gone to SVS a little bit worried about these things and guess what?

(00:44:41):

They show up on game day, they get the job done and they move on to the next. Next question. I'm signing an 18X later this year. How well prepared does SFPC get you for LandNav? In my experience personally, it got me sufficiently prepared. I didn't do any LandNav prior to [00:45:00] going to SFAS. Honestly, it wasn't really an option. They might've had Orienteering Clubs back then, but I had never heard of Orienteering Clubs, but there was no Land Ave Muster run by TFUDU or the equivalent of TF Vudu. There was nothing like that. So you could probably go out and do it on your... You could go out and do it on your own if you had the gumption for it, but I didn't do that. I did grow up at least spending a decent amount of time out in the woods. I was not like a big hunter or fisher.

(00:45:28):

I didn't go and navigate using a map [00:45:30] encompass with my dad and go camping or whatever growing up, but I spent some time in the woods so I was somewhat comfortable with it. But the instruction at SOPSE was enough for me to grasp it and I got enough reps in at SOPSE to do well. I found all my points at SOPSE and I was pretty confident going into Land Ave. I also did pretty well in the practical exercises. I think a lot of people don't understand how much before you even get to the star course at selection [00:46:00] itself, you get a lot of reps. You're doing practical exercises quite a bit. So it's not like you just finish gate week and then you launch into day one of the star course. It's kind of like a crawl, walk, run. There's a cadre led land nav segment.

(00:46:14):

There's also multiple different day and night PEs and ideally you also use those to gain confidence, gain skill, practice things, get a feel for what you're doing, where you're at and then you go into the star course feeling good about it [00:46:30] and you just execute the exact same way you've been executing all of your practical exercises. At SOPSE, it's even more of that. So is it enough for everybody? No. There were guys in my SOPSI class that bombed LANEV at selection, but if you learn things pretty well and you are able to put things into action that someone tells you to do or that you are told to do and then you try it once or twice and you're actually mindful of it and you try to grasp it and you try to learn [00:47:00] it, then you should be totally fine. However, there are great resources for prior to going to SOPSE, getting some good solvent instruction and getting some reps in.

(00:47:13):

And I talked about these last episode in the Land Ave section, but you could go to the Muster, you could go to Delanica, Georgia, if you're already in the military. I think you have to be in the military for this, but you can go to Delanica Georgia where they have fifth RTB. There's an old Delta guy that has a Land Ave course [00:47:30] down there. Is it overkill for selection? SFAS? Yes, it definitely is. But if you can Land Ave down there, you can definitely land nav at Hoffman during the star course. You can join an orienteering club, you're going to learn some different terminology. Civilian Land Ave's a little bit different as far as what they call certain things, but it's still Land Ave and you're still going to get reps, you're still going to get more confident. And like I mentioned a million times last episode, to be confident, you have to also be competent and to be competent, you need evidence that you are skilled at something and [00:48:00] you only get skilled at something by actually doing that thing.

(00:48:03):

So that is my thoughts on LandNav. For the most part, 18X's are set up for pretty solid success, but if you find yourself a little bit uncomfortable with sense of direction, if you haven't spent much time in the woods, if you don't even know what a map encompass looks like, then I would probably get some reps in before you go and you'll be even more confident. Next question, why is masturbation bad for you? Okay. So this might sound like a funny question, but [00:48:30] you've probably heard or seen some of my content that mentions why porn is not a good idea at all. It's very destructive. The act of masturbation itself is not usually an issue. If you're addicted to it, you do it all the time, that's one thing. However, that is not the problem. The problem is the stimulus that most people use for their masturbation and that is porn.

(00:48:58):

Here's the deal. Just like [00:49:00] any other zero effort, zero pain, zero resistance, like very, very accessible sources of entertainment, dopamine, pleasure. If you do these things too often, it's going to degrade your mental health. You're getting all these very, very low effort, quick dopamine hits, extremely high dopamine hits. You probably feel most people, at least after they watch porn and they jerk off, they probably don't feel very good about themselves for quite a while. [00:49:30] And if you're doing this stuff too often, it's going to build up. It compounds and it makes your mental health, it makes your ability to focus, it makes your motivation, your drive, degrade over time. It just does. If you're doing it on a very, very rare occasion, that's one thing. But if you're doing it on a regular basis, which most people do because this stuff's very addicting, then it's very destructive.

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Furthermore, it also gives men or boys in this case, like in some cases, boys can [00:50:00] acces this stuff these days because the internet is not very restrictive. It's pretty easy to find this stuff. It gives them a very distorted image of what real sexual encounters involve. It is an act. A porn video is an act. It's not real life. It's not how things go in real life. The women don't look like most real women. The things that they do don't really reflect what a real interaction would be like. So you're getting [00:50:30] this extremely, extremely pumped up version of what it's like in real life and because the effort is so low, a lot of men or boys will just revert to that instead of actually going out and putting effort in and struggling and putting themselves out there and actually having to be charismatic enough and likable enough and trustworthy enough to build a relationship with a woman such that she is interested in going home and getting into bed with you.

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So [00:51:00] it's the easy rout. And lastly, although this is not like the last thing, but it's the last thing I'll talk about is it is a source of sexual dysfunction in a lot of young men and probably middle-aged men and maybe even old men. But either way, young men as a young man, as a healthy young man, you should be able to perform in the bedroom. And if all you ever do is watch porn, you get this distorted image of it and the real life interaction doesn't live up to your expectations, [00:51:30] then you're probably not going to perform the way that you want to. It's going to be embarrassing. And oftentimes because it's embarrassing and just going by yourself alone with no one around opening up your computer or your phone or whatever and throwing a porn video on is way, way easier. It has no stakes.

(00:51:49):

It's not going to be embarrassing if you mess up and that is a long-term problem, a serious long-term problem. A lot of young men have sexual issues, [00:52:00] which never used to be the case and a lot of that has to do with porn. So again, not masturbation necessarily, but the stimulus for the masturbation is a massive problem. And if you're doing this on a regular basis, it is not serving you in any way, shape or form. So I would strongly recommend trying to... It's a major vice and I would really, if you have this vice, I would really go to work on trying to squash it and try and go out into [00:52:30] the world and meet women and talk to them and develop relationships with them. And that is honestly the way that men and women are supposed to interact. It shouldn't be this fantasy land on a computer, zero effort thing.

(00:52:43):

So those are three really, really big reasons why there are definitely more and I'm not an expert on this subject, but that is what I have gathered over the years and it totally makes sense knowing the mechanistic nature of quick dopamine sources, it [00:53:00] makes total sense and also just the fantasy versus reality distortion that porn represents. Next question, is it worth investing in home gym equipment for extremely busy schedules with limited time to train? I mean, I would say not only is it worth investing, it is probably a top three thing you could ever invest in. Here's the deal. Fitness, being fit, capable, strong, lean, muscular, [00:53:30] cardiovascularly capable is basically like the linchpin of being an effective human being. A lot of people will argue this, but when you're fit and you're strong and you're capable, you feel better all the time. Mentally, you feel better physically, you're more confident, you are better able to focus on things.

(00:53:53):

You're usually more driven. You want to achieve more. Also, having some sort of fitness [00:54:00] routine where you do it on a regular basis is a great way to just build discipline. You probably don't always want to train. Sometimes you might not feel like it, or you might be tired or it might be a little inconvenient, but when you do things anyway, do things that are beneficial, which by the way, training's one of the most beneficial things you can do despite not wanting to, you become more disciplined. If you're only doing things based on what you feel like or what you don't feel like, your life is on a path to destruction. You sometimes have to do hard things that you don't feel [00:54:30] like doing. Honestly, the more often you do that intentionally you go out of your way to do that the more you're going to build discipline and being a disciplined individual is literally the highest form of self-respect that there is.

(00:54:42):

So if you respect yourself and you want to give off the perception to others that you respect yourself, which is very, very important, then maintaining some sort of fitness habit would be a really good idea. And a lot of people will say like, "I have all these crazy lofty fitness goals. [00:55:00] I'm not saying this is you, question asker, but in general, I get this a lot. I have all these lofty fitness goals. I'm trying to train for selection or I'm trying to become a really good hybrid athlete. I'm trying to do this, this and this. I'm trying to get my power lifting numbers up, whatever, but I refuse to purchase a gym membership or I refuse to stock my home gym with anything other than a pull-up bar and bands and a kettlebell. And it just does not make sense. These same people will go and spend $75 a week on Starbucks drinks, [00:55:30] milkshakes with a few shots of espresso.

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They're frappuccino, whatever the hell they call them. They will buy streaming services. They'll go to strip clubs. They'll pick up bar tabs. They'll do all these things that have no returns or negative returns on their investment, in which case it's not actually investing, it's spending, but they think that a gym membership is too expensive or home gym equipment is too expensive and that is so backwards and distorted. [00:56:00] I can't even begin to explain it. So yes, if you value being an effective, well-rounded individual who takes himself seriously and wants to prove to yourself that you respect yourself as well as others, that you're a self-respecting individual, then maintaining your fitness should be right up there with any priority you have in life. In fact, I would argue that it should be number one, even if you have a newborn at home, [00:56:30] even if you have all these other obligations, guess what?

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When you keep yourself fit, it improves your mental health, it improves your physical health, it improves your effectiveness day-to-day, your capability. You're going to show up as a better version of yourself to raise your kid or be there for your wife or do your job at the highest level. So in almost no case would I ever say that investing in either [00:57:00] a home gym or a gym membership would be not a good idea. I actually can't think of a single case. So yes, I would for sure invest in a home gym and I would also consider getting some solid equipment, not just getting, like I said earlier, a pull-up bar, some bands and a kettlebell. Yes, you can get more fit than you are right now arguably, unless you're really fit right now. But if you're kind of starting from scratch, you can get more fit than you are now using very minimal equipment.

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However, if you have serious [00:57:30] fitness goals and you want to look great, feel great, perform great, and you take things that you do seriously, like you really are serious about your habits and what you do on a regular basis, then setting yourself up for success with some more equipment would be a really good idea. And it depends on your goals as far as what you should get, but either way, just know that investing in home gym equipment is almost never a bad idea, especially in your case where you have a busy schedule and you probably can't [00:58:00] get to the gym as often. Being able to go out in your garage or your basement or wherever you set it up is going to be a massive thing for you. So a thousand percent yes. All right. Next question. Is it harder to perform in cold temperatures like 32 degrees or hot temperatures like 90 degrees, significantly harder to perform in hot temperatures than cold temperatures for pretty much everything I can think of.

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Now, if we're talking extreme cold, like negative 32 degrees, like if you're in the Arctics, then yeah, there's [00:58:30] going to be some limitations to that. It's going to be tough to perform at your best. However, 32 degrees freezing is fantastic weather. It's a little cool for running, but it's definitely a lot more performance friendly than 90 degree weather. And definitely for rucking, when you have a ruck on, especially if you have a ruck and a uniform on, it kind of traps the heat in so it's really hard to cool yourself and maintain a reasonable core temp. So the colder it is in general, unless we're talking really, really extreme, [00:59:00] the better for rucking. Most endurance world records have been set in 40 to 50 degree weather. Rarely, if ever, does any endurance world record get set in 70, 80, definitely not 90 degree weather, because no matter how fit you are, no matter how well adapted you are to the heat, it's just going to be a stressor that is added onto the thing you're already doing that is already stressful.

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That's an additional stressor that is just going to limit performance. It's going to make [00:59:30] it so you have to be a little bit more in tune with the logistics as far as hydration, keeping yourself cool, moderating your pacing, listening to your body, and so on and so forth. So for sure, cooler weather is much better. As far as temperature is concerned, the absolute temperature is not the most relevant factor in regards to how much it's going to affect your performance. It's actually the wet bulb globe temperature, the WGBT. However, most weather apps [01:00:00] Does don't involve that. They don't include that. So the next best thing is the dew point. All weather apps will include the dew point. If the dew point's up over 70, you're going to have a real rough go. It's up over 75, seriously, seriously rough go. So let's say it's 85 degrees but very humid typically, not always, but typically the dew point has a lot to do with how humid it is.

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So you might notice if you are trying to beat the heat and do early morning workouts and you live in the south, it's really, really humid in the morning. So even though you're beating the heat as far as absolute [01:00:30] temperature, you're not always going to beat the heat as far as the dew point because it's going to be closer to the outdoor temperature. If it's 85 degrees and the dew point's 77, it's still going to really suck. If it's 90 degrees but the dew point's like 60, it's still going to be pretty tough, but nowhere near as much as that higher dew point. So if you have any option as far as going to ranger school or selection or something else that's going to occur with a ruck on your back that is very, very much performance driven. I would opt [01:01:00] for cooler weather over hotter weather any day of the week.

(01:01:02):

A lot of people are like, "Oh, I don't like the cold, but I'm totally fine with hot weather. Okay, cool. But what are your ruck times in cold weather versus hot weather?" Yeah, you're going to be cold in the morning, in the evening as you get up or as you wind down for the day when you're not moving, if you go to selection in say February, but you're also going to be at a massive advantage as far as performance as well as safety is concerned when you're doing your timed events as well as going out in the land of course, as well as team week. Team [01:01:30] week is very, very common for heat cats. The May class, I'm not sure how many heat cats they had, but they definitely had a good bit. And usually the May selection class is pretty notorious for that because it's just really, really hot here in North Carolina in May.

(01:01:43):

Even though it's not summer yet, technically, it's still really hot. And the thing about spring class is unless you go out of your way to do passive heat training or you live somewhere that's already really warm, which is kind of rare, most places in the United States aren't super warm until May, [01:02:00] June-ish, then you're going to show up not heat adapted. And when you show up to a very, very hot event without having adapted to the heat, times are going to be tough for you. And it's also not safe, not just for performance, but it's also not safe. So if you're interested in learning more about heat training and preparing for hot weather events and how the heat affects you and basically everything in between, I will link in the show notes my heat episode that I did probably a year and a half ago or so [01:02:30] where I discussed all of that in great detail.

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Next question, if I'm sleeping and recovering properly, can I lift and run five days a week? Sure. I mean, the number of days you do each thing, I've talked about this a lot, but to rehash it, the number of days you lift, the number of days you run, your split, just your general overview of one week of training doesn't really mean almost anything. Yes, there are certain splits. [01:03:00] If you ask me, could I run 10 days a week and lift 10 times per week, like two days every day, lift twice a day, five days a week, I'd be like, all right, maybe not. But just the simple fact that you're running five times a week and lifting five times a week doesn't really mean much. If your programming is solid, then this might be totally fine. If your programming is terrible, regardless of how many days a week it is, then it's probably not fine.

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Even if you are recovering well and sleepy enough, like you said, you are in the question. [01:03:30] So be very, very mindful of when you're looking into starting some sort of training plan or a program or whatever. The really important variables aren't necessarily the number of times you do each thing per week. It's not a complete non-factor. It can be a proxy for effectiveness of a program. Generally, if you're lifting and running and you're trying to improve in both, probably a little bit less than that. Typically, I recommend [01:04:00] capping it at four days a week lifting. If you can't make gains on four days a week lifting, it is not because you're not lifting enough days per week. It is definitely something else. Running to maximize your running gains, doing it more often is usually a good idea. Most runners run almost every day. They might take a rest day every week or every other week or every 10 days, like high level runners, but running is a little different than lifting.

(01:04:26):

The strongest human beings on the planet, power lifters, [01:04:30] strong men, those two avatars are the strongest people on the planet. Most of them lift three or four days per week. The most jacked people on the planet, bodybuilders, most of them lift five, sometimes four, periodically six, but I would argue they'd get better results if they lifted four or five days a week. So if you're trying to get good at both, I know I said this doesn't really matter, but I'm kind of telling you it might matter just depending on what your programming looks like. But if you're trying to get good at both [01:05:00] and you're lifting five days a week and running five days a week, you are most likely shortchanging yourself. You'd probably get better results from A, really, really good programming of course, but B, cutting that lifting down to for most people, honestly, on a hybrid plan, most people are going to get the best results on three days a week, full body or some sort of full body variation.

(01:05:23):

Maybe you do either three balanced full body days, or maybe you do a lower biased full body day, an upper biased full body day, a balanced [01:05:30] day, or upper lower full, something like that. That is just in my experience, what I've seen pan out for the vast majority. Some people definitely can get away with four, but like I said, if you can't gain any strength or muscle on four days per week and you think you need five in order to spark those gains, it is not the number of days per week you're training. It never is. So just remember that. Next question, best weight loss strategy before [01:06:00] starting SVS/SFRE prep. I'm low-key big boy. All right. So I am really happy that you're asking this before you start prep because that is number one is to get it out of the way early and not necessarily get it out of the way, just check that block.

(01:06:17):

But the sooner you can get to where you want to be as far as body composition, that is the main thing, not necessarily body weight. Body weight is kind of a proxy, but body composition is kind of what you're shooting for. The sooner you can get there, the [01:06:30] sooner you can start eating at maintenance, which is usually going to be ideal for performance and recovery. Now, if you are in a deficit, that doesn't mean you're not going to recover and you're not going to perform at all. I personally right now am in a deficit and I've hit PRs on certain exercises the last few weeks straight. And do I feel like I am super jacked and huge and strong? No. I feel really skinny. However, I still train hard and I still eat enough. I'm not in this crazy, crazy deficit. I recover [01:07:00] a little bit slower, but for the most part, I feel pretty good.

(01:07:03):

And that can be done. That being said, if you are a few months out from selection, you ideally want to not also be cutting. Being in a cut is a stressor. It increases your injury risk depending on how severely you're cutting. If you're in a massive deficit, it greatly increases your injury risk. It's going to reduce performance. It's going to reduce recovery, especially for endurance style stuff, but also in the gym. Different people experience different performance [01:07:30] decrements depending on a lot of different variables, but in general it will. Either way, if you start early and when you're a few months out from selection or SFRE in your case, or both, you go to SFRE and then you have however much time until selection and you're able to eat generally at maintenance around those times, you're going to maximize your potential performance and your potential recovery.

(01:07:52):

So how would you do it? I would start yesterday and hop into a reasonable calorie deficit, making sure that [01:08:00] you are not in a carb deficit. A lot of people will, the first thing they do is cut carbs. Most people are eating so much fat that they could cut 25, 30, 35, 40, 50 grams of fat out of their diet right now and they'd still be eating plenty of fat. Typically what they do is keep their fat high or wherever it's at. A lot of people aren't even aware of their fat or they are aware of it. They're just eating double what they need or more. And they cut carbs [01:08:30] because when you cut carbs, the scale moves faster. Carbs are involved in your body holding water. So for every gram of glycogen in your muscle cells, which you get by eating carbs on a regular basis, you're holding three to four grams of water.

(01:08:47):

So if you change nothing about your calories whatsoever and you just drop your carbs down to zero, you'd lose weight very, very quickly. But if you're not in a deficit, you are not actually going to lose body fat. You're just losing [01:09:00] water weight. And with that water weight goes glycogen. Glycogen is critical for high performance, recovery, vigor, getting pumps, feeling good in the gym, training hard, generally feeling like a capable person throughout the day. And so even though you're losing weight on scale, you're not going to feel great. It's also involved in hydration because like I said, it holds water and generally if you're consuming enough sodium and other electrolytes, you're also going to be well hydrated [01:09:30] if you're eating a lot of carbs. So all that to say, don't do what most people do and immediately just cut carbs. I would try and keep your carbs as high as they possibly can be in the confines of also eating enough protein and enough fat.

(01:09:44):

Generally, if you're in a cut, about a gram per pound of body weight of protein would be a good target. You don't need that much, but I would lean towards a little higher protein when I'm in a cut just to kind of preserve muscle as well as help with satiation. Protein is generally more satiating [01:10:00] than fat and carbs, not always, but in most cases. As far as fat is concerned, you can go down to 0.25, 0.3 grams per pound of body weight and be totally fine. Can you go lower than that? Yes. Should you go lower than that? Not necessarily and not for a long period of time. If you're at maintenance or if you're in a calorie surplus, you can definitely go lower on fat than that. But if you're in a deficit, you want to be mindful of not going too low. But a lot of people are eating 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, one [01:10:30] gram of fat per pound of body weight and either don't know it or they just think it's okay.

(01:10:35):

And if you have performance goals like serious performance goals or body composition goals, if you want to be jacked and shredded, eating as many carbs as you humanly possibly can is a good idea. So basically you make sure the protein and the fat are good to go, make sure they're not too low, make sure they're also not too high and then fill in the rest of your caloric allotment with carbohydrates. And in your case, I would say shoot [01:11:00] for a 300-ish calorie deficit. If you want to lose weight a little faster, sacrifice a bit more performance, not too bad, but drop weight a little faster, 500, 600 calorie deficit is acceptable. And I wouldn't hold your deficit for too long if you have a ton of weight to lose. I would do like 12 weeks in a deficit, two, three, four weeks at maintenance. 12 weeks in a deficit, two, three, four weeks at maintenance.

(01:11:23):

You can go up to 16, but for a lot of people, especially with performance goals on the side, that would be a little bit longer than [01:11:30] I like. And then again, once you get to your body composition that you want to be at, that's when you go back to maintenance and you start, you're going to notice that you feel better, you perform better, and all things will be slightly better than they were when you were in a cut. And you're also going to be hungrier. You're going to be more insulin sensitive. All these things are really, really good when you are training for performance and/or body composition. And that is body composition's not as important for SVS. It does serve as a proxy for [01:12:00] your potential performance and your health and your wellbeing. But the most important thing is that you perform too standard and that you crush and eat amp maintenance is the best way to do that.

(01:12:08):

That was a long answer, but very important. All right, let's do a couple more questions. How often do you play golf? Do you schedule it during your off days? I play golf on... I don't really take days off, to be honest with you. I work pretty much every day. I can't remember the last time I took a full day off. I'm not saying I recommend that, but I just love my job so much [01:12:30] and I wear a lot of hats and I have a lot to do and I have a lot to produce. So I work basically every single day. However, that doesn't mean I don't play golf. I usually play golf twice a week. I usually practice another two or three times a week. Sometimes it's like one golf session per week and three or four practice. Sometimes it's three golf outings per week.

(01:12:53):

It just really depends. But usually I just play first thing in the morning throughout the week. There's nobody at the course and [01:13:00] I get 18 holes in in two and a half hours and then I go and work for the rest of the day. Oftentimes I work for a couple hours before I play golf and then I continue working after golf. It's almost like a little break and I usually do it on rest days from training. On weekends, typically I will play with a buddy on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. In fact, this weekend I am playing for the first time Pinehurst number two on Sunday afternoon with a buddy who's a member over there. And we are walking [01:13:30] and it is supposed to be 102 degrees out when we tee off. So more to follow on that, but it's Pinehurst number two. I cannot turn that down.

(01:13:39):

It's really hard to get a tee time on number two, even for members. He's a member. Usually he gets tee times on three, five, one. Those are less prestigious courses. They're still great, but they're less prestigious. They're less expensive and he can get tee times on those pretty much whenever he wants. But getting one on two, also four, eight is a little easier, [01:14:00] but they're just way more difficult to get tee times on. So not something I could ever pass up even though it's going to be an inferno. And so I'm super pumped for that. But yeah, generally a couple days a week and then get some practice in. Usually after I train, I just stop at the driving range right after and hit some balls, do some chipping and putting and call it good. You get way better at golf when you practice more.

(01:14:25):

Playing is definitely a great way to get better at it. But if you're playing a ton and not practicing much, [01:14:30] you're going to lack a little bit in the skill department just because you're not hitting enough of the same shot over and over again to really build a lot of skill to it. There's certain aspects of playing on the golf course that help your game. You're going to have weird lies, you're going to be in weird situations that you don't necessarily practice and you got to figure it out on the course. But if you want to get really good at golf, definitely favor practicing over playing. And with practicing, I would favor short game putting and chipping over ball striking unless you're [01:15:00] for whatever reason really, really good at putting and chipping and you're a terrible ball striker. That is usually not the case for most amateurs.

(01:15:06):

It wasn't the case for me. I've always been a pretty solid ball striker even when I got back into it after taking a lot of time off. But I never really put a lot of effort or emphasis on my short game. And that's pretty much all I did last summer. And I've been doing a lot this summer as well. Probably this summer's 70 / 30 short game to ball striking, drivers and irons, et cetera. Last summer was probably like 90 / 10 or 85, 15. And [01:15:30] it made a massive difference in my game in my handicap. So that is my general golf approach. All right, we'll do two more questions. One, would you recommend prioritizing strength training more than running in the queue? Not necessarily. I would recommend just a balance. If you're really, really jacked and strong and you're terrible at running, then I would prioritize running and rucking more.

(01:15:55):

If you're the opposite, if you're just a running stud and you could [01:16:00] lose a minute off your two mile and still crush everybody, then I would definitely prioritize strength training more. However, in general, you want a good blend of both and you want a good blend of both when you show up to your unit, to group. What a lot of people do in the queue is really heavily prioritize strength training and throw cardio out the window. Oftentimes they hop on these mystery PEDs, they get super jacked and strong and they lock up after half a mile [01:16:30] on a two mile test. And that is not a good look. Even if you do pass the two mile on the Q course and you show up to groups super jacked and strong, but you can't keep up with your team when you guys go out for runs and other team workouts, that is a terrible look as a fucking new guy.

(01:16:46):

If you show up as a fucking new guy and you can't hang with your team, you are setting the worst possible first impression imaginable. You should be striving for if you're in the Q course during language school, which is the last phase [01:17:00] before you go to your group, you should be striving to be as fit as humanly possible so that when you show up to your team, you are outstanding. People see you perform in training and they're like, damn, this dude is disciplined. He takes this job seriously. He takes himself seriously. He definitely puts in the work. That is what's up. Because here's the deal, you're not really going to be able to bring much to the table when you first show up. You're going to be really good at your MOS, your MOS [01:17:30] skills as far as what you learn in the Q course, not necessarily your ODA MOS.

(01:17:34):

You're going to have to learn that on the fly. Hopefully you have a senior that can teach you the ways, but you don't have a lot of experience. You have no experience in SF. And if you're an 18 X-ray, you have no experience whatsoever in the military. If you're coming from the regular army or another job that is kind of similar, then at least you'll have that experience. But either way, you don't have much to bring to the table. Really the biggest thing to bring [01:18:00] to the table as a new guy is to set a really good first impression and show the team that you took yourself seriously in the Q course by maintaining your fitness, maintaining exceptional, well, well, well beyond the standard fitness. So all that to say, should you prioritize one or the other unless you're very, very lopsided, then I would go more balanced.

(01:18:21):

And I've got a lot of different programs that are great for the Q Course. T850 would be fantastic. It's a subscription-based program so you can hop on, hop off. When you go out to Cam McCall, [01:18:30] you can kind of hop off it. You don't get charged, then you hop back on when you're back and so on. You could do Jack Azelle 3.0. That would probably be the top balanced program for the Q course. If you are weaker at running, this is still kind of a hybrid program, but it's more so run biased. Two and five mile would be a good option. If you've just finished two and five mile and you got more running work to do, or if you want to just bias running, you just enjoy running and you want to be really good at it, but you're already generally strong, you're not just blowing off your strength, then run advanced would be a solid option.

(01:19:00):

[01:19:00] Jack is L 2.0 is also another great option. It's more hypertrophy biased. So yeah, prioritize both. Prioritize the one that you're a little worse at a little bit more, but you shouldn't be too lopsided in one direction. And also don't forget about being an athlete. Don't forget about power and jumping, skipping, hopping, change of directions, maybe doing some short sprints once in a while. It's not all about just being able to run fast five miles and ruck 12 miles fast and [01:19:30] lift a lot in the gym and do a lot of calisthenics. You also want to be generally capable. You want to be able to jump. You want to be able to sprint for short durations if you have to. You want to be able to land from jumps or from jumping off something. And a lot of guys kind of neglect that. I personally did early on in my career.

(01:19:47):

I was very, very two-dimensional. I trained for strength and I trained for endurance and that was basically it. I didn't even do any hypertrophy work, which I would argue that hypertrophy work. I've talked about this in the past, but hypertrophy work should be [01:20:00] like the number one goal if you want a long lasting career because it is by far the most longevity friendly way to train. It's also the least likely to injure you if you do it properly. And being strong is super important. You get strong from doing hypertrophy training, kind of a blend. You train mostly in the five to eight rep range for most lifts. You get a blend of to lug me out after like an hour, hour and 15 minutes. But anyway, when you are training in that five to eight rep range, you're getting a nice blend of strength [01:20:30] and muscle growth.

(01:20:32):

And if you choose the right exercises, you recover well, you execute lifts properly, then you're setting yourself up for long-term success as far as longevity is concerned. You are about to go into one of the least longevity friendly jobs in existence. And most of it is not in your control. Travel, shitty food, shitty sleep, high stress, high stakes, lots of pressure, jumping from airplanes, going and wearing kit for hours and hours and hours and [01:21:00] doing weird stuff when you're in that kit. It definitely takes a toll on your body. So if you're also just destroying yourself in the gym by only training in the one, two, three rep range, trying to get as strong as possible, which by the way, like I said, I did most of this early in my career and all you're doing is just straight line endurance stuff. And also you're not keeping yourself together when you possibly can outside the gym with your lifestyle habits.

(01:21:24):

It's going to take its toll on you. It's going to run you into the ground. And training is one of the few variables [01:21:30] that you have control over that can affect significantly your longevity. So I know this wasn't the question and I am getting a little bit on a tangent here, but it's very, very important to focus on hypertrophy like bodybuilding training, not becoming a pro bodybuilder, not taking a bunch of PEDs to get as jacked as possible, but bodybuilding style training is by far the best baseline training to have throughout most of your career. You can go into strength phases. If you're into Olympic lifts, you can definitely [01:22:00] do phases like that. But I think the meat and potatoes, the fallback should always be, or the underpinning of your entire lifting training should be mostly bodybuilding, trying to gain muscle, choosing lifts that fit your body very well, that stimulate your muscles very well, that don't beat you up and don't smoke the shit out of you all the time and really, really focusing on executing lifts properly.

(01:22:26):

So that was a non-asked for little tangent, [01:22:30] but I think it's really important just for guys that are either in the Q Course or about to be in the Course or even guys who are in group and are feeling seen and they're like, "Oh shit, I've been training like an idiot. This beating me up. No wonder I feel terrible all the time. I should probably intervene. Yes, you should intervene. It took me way too long. I wish I intervened with myself a lot earlier, but you live and you learn and I know a hell of a lot more now than I used to. And I'm a lot less stubborn and I lift with a lot less ego. I train with a lot less ego. [01:23:00] I identify myself a lot less by my fitness levels. I mean, I literally identified myself as the fit guy throughout most of my career.

(01:23:09):

Everybody knew me as that and I ate it up. But there's a point where you have to kind of decide what's most important to you. And if you care about not only having a long-lasting effective career, but also feeling good for your life after your career, which oh by the way, there's plenty of it, then being smart with your training is [01:23:30] one of the most important things you can do. So that is a good one to end it on guys. Thank you very much for tuning in. Little longer episode today, but some really good questions and got me thinking. So anyway, hope everyone has an awesome 4th of July. Till next time, terminator out.