Are Free Weights Better Than Machines, What Are The Best Carbs To Eat, How To Find Motivation

YouTube, what's going on? Welcome back to the channel. Welcome to this video. I just want to first apologize for my lack of content on YouTube recently. Uh, over the past couple of months, there's been lots of things going on. I created a new app, and so if you want to check out the new app, you can just head to erfclubhouse.com. You can feel free to check it out there, but just a lot of things going on. But One of my goals for the next couple of months is to produce more content on YouTube. I know I've said it before, but it really is hard, but I'm gonna do my best. And the way I think I've hacked the system is gonna be this. If you've been an avid follower of the YouTube channel, which if you have, I appreciate you, but you notice that I'm doing like a little walk and talk right now, which I used to do in the past. And I think I'm going to bring back the walk and talk, but I'm going to put a little twist on it because I think what I'm going to start doing is doing a Q&A whenever I do these walk and talks. And so what I want you to do is today I'm going to pull questions from my Instagram story, which if you don't follow me on Instagram, you can just do that at Eric Roberts Fitness. But I want you to drop below your question. And then what I will do moving forward on these Walk and Talk Q&As is I will pick 3 questions from the comment section below, and I will make sure that I get to those 3 questions and answer them during these, uh, Walk and Talks on YouTube. So if you want your question answered, just drop below. All right, and it's a little windy, so I'm hoping my mic doesn't pick up the wind, but if it does, I apologize in advance. The first question we're going to go over today is— and I'll put the question right here— but we're talking Free weights versus machines, and if one is well, I like how this question actually asked it, which is will you get different results? And the answer is going to be yes, you will get different results with free weights versus machines. Now, is one result better than the other? Depends on your goals. The way I typically go about answering this question is like let's take a leg press. Versus a regular squat or like a split squat, for example, right? On a leg press, you don't really have to stabilize the weight. You don't have to stabilize, you know, you moving through a range of motion because it's already on a fixed track and you're just moving the weight up and down. Whereas with a squat, you have to, you know, you— yes, you're moving the weight up and down, your body up and down, But you're also moving your stabilizer muscles. They have to be working in order to help stabilize you through the range of motion, right? So there's a couple of things here. Number one, just first and foremost, I like the idea of being able to stabilize and control your body through a range of motion, not just for like while you're exercising, but just for life in general. I think it's a good skill to be able to control your body. Through a range of motion. I also think, again, looking outside of just exercising, you know, we'll use the squat for example. A squat is a really good way to strengthen your hip stabilizers, okay? When you go, you know, you got into the real world outside of just the workouts, you want to be able to make sure, like, having strong hip stabilizers is a really good thing. Having strong shoulder stabilizers is a really good thing. And so being able to balance somewhat this— yes, okay, a machine, it might actually be easier, it might be able to, you know, um, that you, you take out the stability aspect of it, so maybe you could lift heavier weight or whatever it is. All those things are true. And let's say if your, if your sole goal was like hypertrophy, which is just building muscle, that's the only goal you care about, you don't care about, you know, better movement pattern, you don't care about better movement quality, you don't care about stable, uh, strengthening your hip stabilizers, Whatever the case may be, cool. Maybe that's all you do. But then you have to balance that with: Is that your only goal? And I don't. In the way I program workouts and the way I go about training in general, my main focus isn't just like build muscle and nothing else, especially for the clients that I work with and I coach. You know, yes, we want to build muscle. Yes, we want to get stronger. But we also want to have good movement. We want to be able to, you know, as we age, one of the main reasons people like check into a nursing home as they age is because. They can't get up and down off the toilet. And so like, if your sole focus is just, you know, doing machines to— it could be because it's easier or to build muscle or whatever it is. I think you're really missing out on a lot of what exercise is supposed to be in the first place, which is, again, yes, getting stronger, you know, building muscle, doing all those great things, but it's to actually improve the quality of your life. And, you know, not to mention, when you're doing— whether it's a squat, whether it's a dumbbell chest press or a barbell shoulder press or whatever it is, You know, you also have to use a lot of like core stabilization, core strength as well, which again, when we talk about like quality of life, longevity, there's something to be said for having a stronger core, having a more stable core. So this is not to say machines are bad, because they're not. And I use them in my training, and I use them in my clients' programs and the clubhouse and all that kind of stuff. But I will say, I would Usually veer towards, I don't know, anywhere between probably 60 to 70% with free weights, usually speaking dumbbells and barbells, and then maybe, you know, that 30 to 40% coming from like machines. And personally, I like using cable machines. I don't necessarily love doing like regular machines, only because the last part I'll say in this is If I'm 6'4 and I have long arms and you're like 5'3 and you have short arms, how is one machine supposed to fit both of our structures? Yes, you can adjust and do this, that, and the other, but the truth is when you're doing dumbbells or when you're doing even like a barbell, you can kind of adjust the movement to how you— how it needs to fit your structure. A little bit more, whereas a machine, it's just that one fixed path. So that's my 2 cents on machines versus free weights. Again, no real right or wrong, no real better or worse. I would just usually say for the majority of people, and especially for beginners, which this might contradict what some people might think, but I really like using, you know, your, your own weight Plus barbell, dumbbell, because you can really learn how to do these movement patterns through like learning how to move your body through space and a range of motion, which I think is really important. So that is the first question. Hopefully that answer helped you. Second question is going to be, um, how my favorite source of carbs and how tall am I? So I'll answer the tall part first because it's pretty easy. Um, 6'4. I am 6'4. 6'4. So that's how tall I am. Um, when talking about my favorite forms of carbohydrates, it was actually a pretty good question, and I'm not sure I've ever spoke about this. Um, well, I have, but probably just not a ton. And that's going to be my favorite forms of carbohydrates that I personally eat are going to be a mixture of carbohydrates that store in your muscles and then carbohydrates that store in your liver glycogen. And stick with me here. So there's 2 main ways that your body stores carbohydrates. Usually it's either going inside of your muscles or it's going inside of your liver. Now you can only store but so many carbohydrates inside of your liver, and so that's a different topic for a different day. But the other form of carbohydrates, they all get stored basically as muscle glycogen. And just think of muscle glycogen as like energy for your muscles, so to speak, right? So when I'm thinking of the form of carbohydrates that I want to use— there's an empty beer bottle over there right outside of the gym I go to. That's pretty, uh, pretty funny. But when I'm thinking about the carbohydrates I want to use and I want to eat, my main forms are going to be white rice. Love my white rice. I have at least 2 to 3 times a day. Sweet potatoes and regular potatoes, oatmeal, Rice Krispies cereal and Rice Krispies treats, cream of rice, which if you don't know what cream of rice is, you're missing out. Rice cakes, which I personally love rice cakes. I love the caramel ones. Those are like the fucking best. Also, white cheddar is pretty underrated as well. But I like my rice cakes as well. I said oatmeal. Um, yeah, those are my main sources of carbohydrates. And then on top of that, um, really all kinds of fruit— banana, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry. I like raspberries as well because those provide a high fiber count, so I like those as well. But those are my main forms of carbohydrates. And so between those 2 forms of carbohydrates The fruit is usually more stored as liver glycogen. And again, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but that's just how it gets stored. And then all the other carbohydrates I mentioned are stored as muscle glycogen. And again, if you're somebody who you want to have good quality workouts, you want— I'm trying to find the right lighting here, huh? You want to have good quality workouts, you want to have high performance, you want to be able to You know, push yourself in the gym, having this muscle glycogen is really, really, really important. And that's why, like, carbs are not a bad thing. I promise you, they're actually really important, especially if you wanna have really good workouts. So those are my main forms of carbs. And again, usually more of those, like, starchy carbs, whether it's like your rice or your potatoes or your oatmeal, or yes, like even bread, those forms get more stored as muscle glycogen. And the other, again, whether it's like fruit or maybe more like the sugary stuff, gets more stored as liver glycogen, which again isn't necessarily a bad thing, but more muscle glycogen is usually going to be better. So the majority of your carbs you probably want getting stored as muscle glycogen. So that was a really good question. Um, and then the last question, again, put up right here, is going to be what are some hacks that I have or Some tips, tricks that I can use, or more so that you can use when you're just lacking motivation. And I really just think the first part of this answer is just going to be you have to be able to understand and comprehend and, and realize that motivation is not going to be there all the time. I'll be honest with you, today I just don't— I don't want to do anything today. Um, I just, I really just love to lay in bed. I'm somewhat sick. You probably can't tell, but like somewhat sick, don't feel the best, um, and I just want to sleep all day. And like, probably after I do this, I'm going to go back to sleep, to be honest with you. But you know, I was able to get up here, get my walk in. I was able to do some other work earlier in the day today. And it's just, you're not going to be motivated every single day. And it's really important you understand this, because if you solely rely on motivation, man, you're going to be let down every single time. And you have to understand, you just have to do the things that you're supposed to do, even and especially when you don't feel like doing it. And it's such a simple concept and it's somewhat cliché, but it's the truth because you just have to be able to, I don't know, call it grit up or call it do whatever you do. And listen, I'll give you some tips, like some practical tips here in a second. But the mindset more so of like, stop waiting to be motivated, stop relying on motivation. It's like that one friend who you can't ever rely on. They tell you they're gonna be there at 10 AM, they're not there till 1 PM. Like, it's just— or they don't show up at all. Like, that's what motivation is. And so number one, first and foremost, stop trying to be motivated every single day. It's never gonna happen. Now, what are some hacks that you can do? Well, there's a couple of things. I, I like not overwhelming yourself because one of the main reasons people struggle is because they overwhelm themselves with how much they think they have to do. You think you have to do an entire hour-long workout. You think you have to go, you know, get an hour-long walk in right now. One of the really cool things about literally this walk and talk Q&A right now is like, I was just like, man, I just want to— I want to get more YouTube content out. Actually, this is great. I wanted to get more YouTube content out, and it was really a big barrier for me because I was like, God, I don't Not that I don't want to, but I was like, the thought of doing like a 40-minute YouTube video and then editing it and then this, that, and the other, I was like, I just don't wanna fucking do that. But then I was like, wait a minute, I don't have to do that. Like, I can come out here and get a walk and just talk into my phone. People probably look at me like I'm crazy. I'm just talking into my phone, but I can do this. And so as opposed to thinking you have to do an entire hour-long workout, you know, make it a Make it a 10-minute walk. Or, you know, as opposed to thinking you have to meal prep every single meal every single day, just meal prep breakfast, or just have a protein shake and call that your meal prep. Like, you have to just break down the barrier, whatever your mental barrier is. Usually it's being overwhelmed with the thought of doing everything. Just remember, something is always better than nothing, and you have to just get started. Get your ass started. Like, one of my biggest hacks for people is, um, in, in the workouts that I program, we have like warmups, right? Usually takes 5 minutes max. And so I tell people, hey, instead of thinking of doing the entire workout, just do the warmup and do the first exercise, right? So let's say you're doing lower body and we have like 5 exercises. We do the warmup and then we do like 5 exercises after that. I tell people, just do the warmup and the first exercise. If you want to just like bail out, After that, cool. Like, it's better than you doing nothing, right? But you got started. That's the most important part. And usually what happens is people will get started because you're already there, because you're already working, because you're already sweaty, and this, that, and the other. You got yourself there, which is way more than half the battle. And then you want to usually keep going after that. Like, that's a little hack to like get yourself motivated. So things like that. Don't overwhelm yourself with what you need to do. Start smaller. If you don't want to, you know, cook dinner, just again, like, have a protein shake, for example, and take it from there. So that would be the first hack. Second hack, it sounds kind of weird, but like, you gotta remember, remember what you don't like. And what I mean by that is like, if you really have that, like, you had that feeling, you looked in the mirror one day or you saw a picture of yourself and you were like, holy shit, who the fuck is that? What am I looking at? That same picture, I would— if I were you, I would put that picture up on your wall or put it as your screensaver every single fucking day. You know why? Because every single time you don't feel like doing it, remember, that's what you're— that's what you're accepting. Every single time you choose not to stick to your diet, not count your calories, not work out, not get your steps in, that place that you were in, that you really fucking hated, that you wanted to change from. Every single time you don't do what you're supposed to do, that's the person you're accepting that you're going to be. And the whole reason you started doing this in the first place is because you didn't like where you were, you didn't like who you were, you didn't like how you look, you didn't like how you felt. And so if you can just be in the moment and remind yourself why the hell you're doing this in the first place and make the decision based on not how you feel in the moment, but make the decision based upon what is going to make you feel the best and feel the most proud when you wake up tomorrow morning. If you can truly understand not making decisions based on how you feel, you'll win forever. And that's why I said earlier, it's like you have to do the shit you're supposed to do, even and especially when you don't feel like doing it. So if you can truly recall upon those things and remember those things and, you know, feel that feeling of when you saw that picture of yourself for the first time, or feel that feeling of when you couldn't get up and down off the ground to play with your kids, or you couldn't fit in the airplane seat, or you couldn't lift a water bottle over your head and you were, you know, essentially rendered useless because you couldn't fucking do anything for yourself. It's like, you gotta remember those times, man, because those times are what can— it can be a really, uh, powerful tool. If used correctly. People are like, oh, just love yourself. It's like, it's really just not how the fuck this works. Like, yeah, love yourself after you've put in all the hard work. And of course, always, you know, you don't need to think of yourself like a piece of shit, but those like negative feelings can really be used for positive actions. And so that is my 2 cents on motivation and what you can potentially do to harness it and utilize it as much as possible. So Guys, that was the walk and talk Q&A for today. Really hope you enjoyed. Again, if you want your question answered, just drop below in the comment section of this video, and I'll be picking 3 questions just like I did right here. So hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you next time.