Maybe I wasn’t clear, I wsm’t suggesting you only party in your 20’s. For me the training part is non negotiable and you should do that in every decade. But getting all serious in your 20’s and missing out on partying would be a deff NO from me.
depends on the person, the party and the vice. Plenty of ways to party hard and not get fat, definitely not healthy though 
Mate, I live in America. You don’t even have to party to get fat. We make cheeseburgers that use donuts for a bun and then deep fry them.
Yeah, I’m getting a chuckle out of this whole conversation, because unfortunately the norm here is that you’re already fat by the time you hit 20.
With bacon!
That is unfortunately also the norm for a lot of other countries too and it only seems to get worse
There are loads of kids i notice on the school run that are already fat (proper fat) by the age of 10. Shocking but then you see their parents and you understand why.
Dudes! Sorry I haven’t been real present for a fantastic conversation.
On the alcohol front, and I’m not saying beer is a health drink, but that’s definitely not what is making Americans fat. Our rate of obesity has continued an upward trend over the same timeline our drinking has declined (precipitously with Gen Z). In fact, the French, Italians, Greeks, and Japanese are heavy drinkers… and don’t look like us.
For the kids piece, it’s legit sad: nearly a quarter of American kids is obese. Think about difficult that even is to pull off in such a short timeframe on earth. Sure we’re sedentary, but dear God. I’m a big believer that our psuedo-foods are to blame (and I don’t care how much Mike Israetel tries to semantics his way around it).
Anyway, I think being a kid when you’re a kid is the way to go. That means doing everything (maybe not fentanyl): play sports, try to talk to a girl, drink beer with your friends, etc. How are you going to be a grown person if you haven’t tried out the human experiences?
In the training world, I had an incredible arm and then back day the last couple days. I bought one of those walk pad treadmills for under my desk, so maybe that will be cool. I’m about to go on another insane road show, but my team has filled out so life should start slowing down a bit there.
My kids are happy, almost ready to go back to school, but we’ve been doing random stuff like slept outside the other night (and my back didn’t give up!) and we’ve got a couple little vacations coming up.
Today will be chest and shoulders and I’ll report back!
I personally think it’s a form of child abuse and should be treated as such, there’s a kid in my daughters class who can’t be any older than 6 whose already morbidly obese and I do mean morbidly obese.
(and I don’t care how much Mike Israetel tries to semantics his way around it).
Oh my god thank you. Same with Layne Norton, who conveniently enough just started selling his own processed food protein bar…
Our food environment in the states is toxic and subversive. It’s really like the Matrix when you switch to single ingredient foods, because you start to realize how much “not food” is out there pretending to be otherwise. You go to a grocery store and like 95% of the store ISN’T FOOD. My own local grocery store has a “health food section” that is ALL stuff in a box. All the produce and fresh meat is OUTSIDE the health food section. I’ve actually called them out on that, with no response.
I learned how to eat from television, which taught me that Captain Crunch was part of a complete and balanced breakfast and eggs were going to give me a heart attack. And then we raised a mess of kids under these guidelines, while the snack food companies employed the same individuals from the tobacco industries to find ways to engineer foods to be hyperpalatable and market them directly to children. Foods are now legit tastier than our brains can comprehend, they’re constantly coming out with new flavors in some sort of arms race, and our little dopamine addicted brains just keep on smashing snacks, and meanwhile our bodies are starving because there are no nutrients in ANY of this “not food” so we end up eating a TON of it so that we’ll eventually feel satiated.
Yes, as a parent, we have a responsibility to raise our kids right and protect them, but so many parents aren’t even aware of how unfair the battlefield is right now.
Even people who try and educate themselves become unstuck as they use TikTok or youtube to learn what is healthy and whats not.
I’m always amazed at the fat people in my office that are always using the latest ‘fad’ diet or some stupid idea. They speak to me and ignore all my advice but then comment about how good my eating is and how it must be easy going to the gym and playing sport etc. when you are so healthy. They miss the point that you do those things to get healthy not the other way round.
@T3hPwnisher I’m not as familiar with Norton’s rebuttals, but I can guess.
Israetel had a few gems to prove our standard diet isn’t inherently problematic I found ridiculous.
First, as they all do, he pointed out that it all comes down to caloric balance. Very strawman, as nobody is arguing that it doesn’t. This doesn’t sidestep the point that Frankenfoods disrupt this balance in every way possible: they’re very calorically dense, they’re hyper palatable (circumventing your own intake control processes), and there exists at least some evidence the disruption to your hormonal and microbiome function impacts your caloric expenditure.
He goes on to argue none of these food manufacturers wants you to get fat, sick and die, because that would be bad for business (interestingly, he doesn’t apply the inverse to pharmaceutical giants). Nobody is making an argument about intent: I don’t believe anybody is having a board meeting where the goal is to see a diabetic Timmy and we build a strategy to get there. They want to maximize profit; we all get that - unintentional (and unimportant) consequences can be fat and sick. It’s the exact same as the tobacco industry - nobody wanted to kill your mom as a goal, but clearly accepted that as a side effect to profit.
Next, he tells us there’s no such thing as a “food scientist” making these things addictive. Then he goes on to explain that it’s just a team of folks that keep trying different combinations, having people taste test them, and iterating until they have the product people will buy the most of. I don’t even know the point he was trying to make, because that sounds like… science… with food. And when the goal is to have someone knowingly and compulsively continue a self-destructive behavior we call that… wait for it… addiction.
Finally, and maybe the silliest, he tells us these foods aren’t addictive because (in a single experiment) they found that eating junk food did not acutely light up dopamine receptors in the brain as much as we’d see in a (undisclosed amount) dose of heroine. I don’t even know where to begin with this. First, show me your math - where is this study and is it replicable/ credible. Second, not being as addictive as heroine doesn’t equal not addictive. Third, lighting up a dopamine response center is not the singular marker of addiction. It really doesn’t matter, though: the existence of 600 lbs Americans indicates an addiction. When you compare our ingredients with what thinner countries eat, you’ve got a pretty well-controlled population study.
@aholding88 I totally hear you, but I also have a little empathy. Fat parents feel like hypocrites/ helpless. They see it as a “why should I hold my kids to a standard I won’t meet” rather than as a form of protecting the children. It’s a really tough situation.
@rugby_lifting basically the same point - people have not found a way to lean into personal accountability here. I really do blame government (and medical school) support from food lobbies. These are institutions of trust - it’s very hard for the general public to say “what do you know?” And forge their own path.
Pretty solid chest and shoulders workout yesterday even though I was smoked and it was after work instead of morning. I haven’t done my abs or cardio the last couple days.
Slight Decline DB
30/15
45/12
60/10
70/8
80/6
90/4
100/8 - these were solid
65/15ish - very controlled
Machine Flye
3 sets ramping up
Superset (3 rounds)
Great arm workout full of giant sets yesterday and an absolutely brutal squat-less leg day today. It doesn’t look like anything on paper, but it hurt… but not in my back, knees or elbows!
Standing Leg Curl
This is a plate loaded single leg machine. So I went up a 10 at a time, doing 12 reps each time, then I did a long drop set all the way back down from there. I did 12 each drop, even if half the reps were partials.
HS Hip Thrust
I had never done this before this program, but pretty gnarly cramp after the leg curls.
1pps/10
2pps/10
3pps/ 12 I think + 2pps/ 8ish? + 1pps/10 or so
Adductor
Another one I never previously did but am definitely getting something out of.
A ton of warm up sets
2 sets to failure around 20 for the first one and 15 for the second. A couple forced reps at the end of each.
Leg Extensions
2 x 15 to warm up
Then BFR x 4
Leg Press
I’m really making sure I get deep and get my knees into my armpits on these, especially without the squats - I feel like I can take it.
2pps/10
4pps/21 - had to use my hands to get out of that last rep
2pps/30
On that last set, I put my feet at the bottom of the platform and did a v stance and tried to just pump them out. I had to take a couple little breaks
Machine Leg Press
I added the thick orange band on these. I did 20 reps each set, adding weight as I went, but the tempo changed.
Set 1 was 20 straight reps
Set 2 was 15 reps + 5 paused at the bottom (with more weight)
Set 3 is 10 and 10
Set 4 5 and 15
This was horrible! Highly recommend.
@davemccright I am greatly enjoying Scorpion. There’s not a ton of barbell work (or really much at all), at which I’d normally turn up my nose, but I’m working hard and my body feels fantastic.
It looks really sweet from what you’ve shown in your log! I think it’ll be really sweet to run back to back with the forthcoming Subzero program. Cris is a smart guy and it’s awesome to see him continuing John’s legacy!
Edit: sorry, @T3hPwnisher but I really really love those David protein bars. I just tried them for the first time last weekend and I’ve probably eaten 10 of them since. Although it’s probably the only processed thing I really eat aside from protein and carb powder. It tastes delicious and has 28 grams of protein and is definitely crazy convenient as an addition to a lower protein meal or as a snack
It’s not me you have to apologize to, haha.
To whom he must apologize, barbarian.
I jest.
Anyway, no crazy updates today. Pretty solid back workout - I’m finding the groove in a lot of these movements and getting some good cramps in my lats.
fixed that for you…oh wait a minute I was thinking about me
It’s me! Because now I’m awaiting a delivery of them. How could I resist?
I show the documentary ‘Fed Up’ to my students to start the Nutrition unit. They cite a study where they have cocaine addicted rats sugar water. After an introductory period, the COCAINE ADDICTED rats chose sugar over cocaine. I know they’re rats, but if that doesn’t show you the power of sugar, then I don’t know what will.
@Frank_C that’s incredible and I think really illustrates the point: we don’t have to go much further to identify addiction than to observe compulsive self-destructive behavior.
I had a chest and shoulder workout that was fantastic - I wish I’d written it down but now I don’t remember everything. It started off with a superset of machine flyes and machine press that was simply brutal… then into all the regular pressing. Great stuff.
Today was a hamstring workout that was really more of an active recovery.
It’s my son’s 15th today! Time is marching.
Happy birthday to the mini version of you! Is he driving yet?