Do Relationships Affect Muscle Gains?

What is going on everyone? Welcome back to the channel. Nothing crazy going on today, we're just sitting down in my kitchen having a chat, talking all things training, nutrition, and life. Okay, so to make the video a little bit more engaging, I'm gonna overlay some footage that I got. Hopefully that makes the video a little bit more engaging. And yeah, let's get into it. Right, so first question is a big one. Okay, motivation comes and goes, but what are your keys to building discipline that that carries you through the lows. Right, so there's a few things here, such as knowing your weaknesses, remove temptations, have a clear vision of what you want, set yourself goals and a plan on how you're gonna get there, build yourself discipline up over time, okay? You're not gonna wake up in the morning and just be super disciplined and just be on point with everything, okay? It's gonna be a gradual process. Reward yourself, okay? When you hit a milestone or you do something that you're proud of, acknowledge it, you know, give yourself a pat on your back and reward yourself. And so way, shape, or form. Okay, this is going to rewire your brain and say, okay, you know, this— what I just did there, that's a good thing, so I'm gonna do more of that. But the number one thing for self-discipline, for me anyways, personally speaking, when it comes to productivity, diet, or training, is habit. Okay, there's an amazing book called The Power of Habit. I recommend you guys read it. But once you get in the habit of doing something, it becomes just effortless and second nature. So one thing I find very easy is working out. I definitely find that easier than nutrition or, you know, productivity. It's definitely going to the gym, training, weightlifting. Again, it's just wired into my brain. I kind of base my day around it. It's kind of like, it's kind of like the most important part of my day. It's like the anchor of my day, okay, is to work out. And I've wired that into my brain over the course of a few years. I absolutely love it. And so that for me is very easy. A lot of other things do not come easy to me, but going to the gym is very easy because I've built up the habit. And so my best piece of advice, personally speaking, if you want to build up your self-discipline is get into good habits. And I think it's safe to say that is across the board, that applies for training, nutrition, your whole life. So yeah, build up good habits. That's my advice for good self-discipline. Do you ever feel inferior against other fitness influencers or bodybuilders? No, um, just do your own thing. You know, if you're always comparing yourself to the next person, you're gonna be pretty disappointed, okay? Because in my case anyways, there's gonna be someone bigger and stronger than you. So just do your own thing, and yeah, make good content and enjoy doing it. What's the biggest mistakes you made when you first started out, and would you agree that the younger you start, the better? I'm not sure if this is about YouTube or training. With training, it was definitely following a bro split and program hopping, which is just like kind of going into gym and doing things randomly. So once I got on a proper program, a proper plan, progress just took off. In terms of nutrition, my biggest mistake was not tracking it, and again, kind of like training. If you're not tracking your training, you're just eating randomly without no goal. You're kind of just, you know, shooting into a barrel. Is that what the saying goes like? Shooting, shooting into a barrel? Shooting into the dark. So yeah, with training and nutrition, I would say tracking your workouts, make sure you're getting stronger, and tracking your calories and your macros, make sure you're either eating enough to gain weight, or if you want to lose weight, make sure you're in a calorie deficit. And in terms of the younger the better, um, yeah, for sure, you know, you're just gonna have more of a training age. So I only really took things seriously when I was like 21. I'm I'm 27 now, so I've only really had 6 really consecutive, consistent training years under my belt. So if I took things seriously maybe, you know, 3 years earlier, I'd be coming up to 9 years, 10 years. So yeah, you know, the younger you start, the better. But you know, obviously you don't need to be doing all this when you're 10 years old. And in terms of content creation and, you know, my career in the fitness industry, um, of course I made a ton of mistakes at the start. The main thing is that I did start. And in terms of the younger the better putting out information online, I would say not exactly. A lot of the guys that I follow online are all like, you know, Joe Rogan, Gary Vee, to name two. You know, they're all well into their 40s. Joe Rogan's in his 50s. So you build up more life experience and you've kind of got more to say and more to bring to the table. In terms of like content creation, doesn't really matter what age you start at. The important thing is just starting. What do you recommend doing when you've hit a plateau and also getting bored of the same workouts? Okay, so in terms of hitting a plateau, or plateau, We know we can't pronounce words on this channel, right? Just give me a break. First thing I'm gonna say is eat more, sleep more, okay? They're the obvious answers, and this goes back to what I said earlier on in the Q&A, is track your calories. So many people, especially these, these hard gainers, okay, they claim they're eating enough, they track their calories, and they're really not, okay? And same goes with the opposite, people that say I can't lose weight, they track the calories, they think they're eating a certain amount, and they're just not, okay? We as human beings are actually terrible at monitoring our food intake. So again, you know, if you're not getting the results you want, you got to be kind of real with yourself, be honest with yourself, and be more diligent. And then with sleep, this is something that you also kind of need to track as well. I actually started watching some Matthew Walker recently, and I really realized the importance of sleep. Like, it's just so huge when it comes to performance in sports, bodybuilding, everything. And it's even shown to make you more diligent with your diet. So when we're tired, our cravings go up, and you know, we're tired, we're looking for energy, and we make worse food choices. So I found that very interesting. Yeah, Matthew Walker's stuff is amazing. So eat more, sleep more are going to be my first recommendations. If you're bored of your workouts, I'd say get on a new program, but don't just program hop to a different one every week, okay? Give it time and be patient, because if you're constantly changing program, how do you know if you're progressing, okay? So you gotta have some consistency, especially with your compound movements. You could also be facing a little bit of burnout, okay? So give your CNS, your central nervous system, a break. Have a bit of recovery time, and you can take a deload. Which is basically when you cut your training volume in half, or some people just take a week off altogether and relax, okay? There's also something I like to call life deloads, whereas if you've got a holiday coming up or a vacation, some time off, and you know you're not gonna be training hardcore, you know you're not gonna have access to a proper gym, you can taper your intensity up to that week. So you increase your volume, your training gets more intense, and then on that week you have a kind of a planned deload. So life deloads are something I definitely recommend, and that's something that I do when I'm traveling, okay? I'll train super intense leading up to that, and then I'm gonna have a little bit of a deload during that holiday time. And then when I come home, ramp my volume back up again. So yeah, life deloads or deloads in general are great when you've hit a plateau. You can also just try something new for a little bit, okay? You know, there's so many different forms of exercise nowadays, different forms of training. Don't be afraid to just, you know, get outside your comfort zone and try something new. Like if you're always just doing, like, you know, less cardio, 45 minutes on the treadmill. And, you know, maybe do a HIIT class in your local gym one day, or maybe do some, God forbid, CrossFit someday. You know, go on a hike, something, just change it up a little bit. Lastly, to break through a plateau, do some priority training, okay? If you want to get better at squats, you're gonna need to prioritize them, right? So put them first in your workout, really focus on them, and make them a priority. When you walk in the gym or when you plan out your training goals for the week, You say, I want to increase my squat this week. Okay, you can't just concentrate on every single exercise. You'd be a jack of all trades. So prioritize the lifts or the exercises that you want to get really good at. Does your motivation to train change much when you're in a relationship? Okay, we've all seen those memes, single versus in a relationship, and there is a bit of truth to them for sure. But I think it really depends on what kind of relationship you're in. So in most of my adult life, I have been in a relationship and During those years, I've always, you know, been in my best shape. I was single for most of 2017 and '18, and of course, you know, I was still training away then. But when I was in a relationship, and I'm in a relationship now, it hasn't really changed much. But I do get it, you know, you're going on more dates, you're going on more meals out, you're sitting up on the couch watching Netflix, chilling out a little bit more. I do get it, but I think it just depends on the type of relationship you're in. And that is very important for me, the person that I'm with. Needs to be into fitness. They need to, you know, live a healthy, active lifestyle, as that's my career, that's what I'm all about. So yeah, that is like a deal breaker for me. But to answer your question, and no, it doesn't change, and I think it's about what type of relationship you're in. What would be your best tips to give someone to have a successful fitness YouTube channel? If you find out, please let me know. In today's day and age, what's really important, and what stood out to me is kind of production quality. Like, nowadays, really, people are leveling up with their editing and their content, their creativity in general. I still do think the most important thing is just starting. So picking up your iPhone, the iPhone 11 Pro, like, I started out to use the iPhone 5. The 11 Pro, like, y'all got no excuses. Honestly, it's better, it's better than like my Sony A7 in some ways, right? Okay, it's crazy. So the most important thing is obviously just start. But I think really informative and high production quality is what's gonna stand out these days. And again, just nailing the title and thumbnail, most important part of YouTube, unfortunately. You can make the best video ever, if you title and thumbnail it wrong, then it just gets no views. And again, you can do the opposite. You can make really crappy content but good title and thumbnail, people are gonna click on it. I think informative, high production quality is the current, the current go-to in the fitness industry. So yeah, I need to do a little bit more of that myself. What body fat percentage do you have to get to start seeing abs. It is gonna depend on a few things. Number one being the individual's genetics. We're all predisposed to hold body fat in different places. I hold body fat around my chest, especially the lower chest and the middle of my chest. And I notice when I get really lean that my chest looks a lot bigger 'cause it pops out, it's got more definition. The lower back is also somewhere that I hold it. And I actually don't hold too much on my abs where the next person will be the complete opposite, okay? They'll hold it all in their belly and they'll have like nothing really on their chest and shoulders. So everyone is very different, and genetics is going to be the biggest factor there. And also muscle and size is going to play a big part too. So you see people that have a lot of muscle, there's going to be muscle pushing up against their skin, so they're going to look a lot leaner, and they're probably going to be able to get abs showing a lot at a higher body fat percentage than someone who's skinny fat. Around between 15% and 10%, you're going to start seeing some abs, and then 10% you should have a good six-pack, and then below 10%, you're starting to get shredded. How are you able to find the time to work out when you have other huge commitments in front of you? So again, I just make it a priority. And I watched this Instagram clip that The Rock— again, you know we love The Rock on this channel— I watched a video that he put up on his Instagram, and he talked about how his workouts anchor his day. And he is someone who I, I don't think there's anyone who's got more going on than The Rock. I actually really don't, okay? And so if he's making that a priority, I just really think that shows how important working out is. And again, it's just hugely important to me. Like, it goes so far beyond just building muscle or looking good. It really just improves your mindset. It improves your whole day, your mood. Everything— working out is— and exercising is just one of the most important things you can do. And so I just say make it a priority. And, and I don't think anyone that makes working out a priority regrets it, even The Rock. So yeah, just say I make it a priority. It's kind of like getting a workout in if it's not a rest day. Like, that's kind of like the most important thing in my day, which I know sounds ridiculous, but it kind of is, you know, because again, it just has a huge knock-on effect on my day. How to calculate your maintenance calories. So there is a lot of kind of calculations, and you know, you multiply your body weight by this amount. You take away your body fat percentage. You know, I remember back when I first started out, I would like look all this up and I'd do it with a pen and a paper. And like, it was so old school. I loved it. I loved it in a way. But nowadays you can just Google TDE calculator, which is your total daily energy expenditure calculator. Again, you just put in all your details and it'll do it up. My app, Lips of Fitness app, again, you know, a little plug here. It also does that, and it also, it gives you macros for the whole week and daily and builds a meal plan around them. So again, check out my app, it's in the description box. It'll help you with that. But yeah, you know, Google TDE calculator. But again, if you want a more detailed plan, you can hit up my website below. So yeah. Have you ever done the keto diet? When I first started dieting, like when I was kind of young, I was like 20 or so, I wanted to like get lean. I was like, okay, I'm just gonna cut out carbs, see what happens. I didn't really know much about like calories and macros and being in a deficit. I just thought carbs, right, I'll cut them out of my diet and see what happens. What happened was I got really lean. Okay, why? Because I removed an entire food group from my diet. Okay, by default your calories are gonna drop massively. So it wasn't the fact that I removed carbs make me lean, it was the fact that I dropped a ton of calories, okay? So with that, I felt really weak, and I did lose a lot of fat, but I also felt kind of weak and kind of stringy. Then when I learned about including carbs in your diet, um, you know, I felt a lot more full on my cuts, and I retained a lot more strength. Now with the keto diet, that is a very high-fat diet, and I've yet to give that a proper good go where I don't just drop carbs and keep fat, you know, normal, and protein where it's at, but actually consciously increase my fat. I've yet to give that a proper go. Again, I'm not like too much of a believer in it. I know like a lot of people say it gives them a lot more mental clarity. I get that, you know, if I have a huge bowl of oats in the morning, I feel sleepy. But at the end of the day, it's just gonna be down to a caloric deficit. So whether a keto diet helps you stick to that deficit, or if you like carbs in your diet, whatever you train better on, it's gonna be down to personal preference. And like, don't say either has some magic to it, okay? If you start saying, you know, certain approaches are magic Well, then, you know, you just become— it just all becomes a bit quackery, okay? And just a load of BS. All right, rule number 1 is get into a caloric deficit, set your protein intake, carbs and fats, do what you personally prefer. So, man, that's my take on it. But again, you know, keto diet, I'm— I see how some people like it. It helps with their appetite. Protein and fats is very satiating. And you know, maybe one day I'll give it a go. Could be a fun experiment for this channel. Is there such thing as good and bad protein, or does not matter where you get it from so long as you hit your goal? Yes, there is. Certain proteins have higher quality and more bioavailability. So for example, egg whites and dairy would have a big amino acid profile and are classed as more bioavailable and again higher quality proteins. But the main thing is really just the total number at the end of the day. And if you're eating, let's say, you know, over a gram of protein per pound of body weight, which is a very general recommendation, if you're eating that much, then all your bases really are covered because you're kind of eating more than you need. And that the main thing is going to be the total number of grams of protein you eat a day. So again, protein quality is of course a real thing, it is of course important, but if you're eating enough protein, the total amount is what's really going to matter. So again, vegans, go easy on me, right? I, I'm with you guys. As long as you're hitting your macros, I'm cool with that. What has been your favorite trip this year? As always, I think it is the Maldives. There's just something crazy about that place that it just doesn't seem real when you're there. You're just like, am I in, am I in a simulation? Like, that, that's I kept thinking I was there. Maldives is very chilled, very relaxing. I definitely just recommend going there as a couple. It's not somewhere you go with the lads. But after that, I'd say Bali is amazing. Again, it's absolutely beautiful. There's a big buzz around the place and yeah, it's great. How would you deal with minimizing muscle loss if not able to train for a long period of time while sick or on holiday, etc.? My two recommendations are going to be get in sufficient protein and calories. And 2 is do what you can, okay? Doing anything resistance-related, push-ups, anything that doesn't, you know, hurt you or injure you or, you know, make your sickness worse. Or even if you're on holiday, you can do bodyweight workouts. Literally just do what you can, and that will help with retaining muscle. There's actually a very interesting study done, and when you've gained muscle naturally over a long period of time, it's actually quite difficult to lose, okay? So again, don't worry about it too much and just do what you can and focus on getting back into the gym when you can. How do you smile so flawlessly while hardcore flexing your abs? I'm not sure if this comment was serious or not. This is a picture that was commented on. Funny enough, the story behind that is my first men's physique show, I remember I had a posing coach and he said, what you got to do is basically learn how to do that. You learn how to keep a happy face, smile and flex and stomach vacuum, flex your abs as hard as possible when you're on stage. And I honestly practiced that. For weeks, and I think it must have carried over to Instagram. So that is how I learned from my first men's physique competition and my posing coach. Oh, would you look at that? Having a nice little sip of Ghost. Discount code Lipsett, link in the description box. Also, in regards to competing, that got asked a lot. I'm 100% doing it next year, preferably around May or June. You know, win or lose, I don't care. I'm just gonna do it, right? I know the standard is so high in physique nowadays that it's pretty much like bodybuilding. I'll probably get smoked, but again, I don't care. It's about the content, it's about the videos. And I'm gonna hire in a Nabil, basically, because that's how I work best, I think. You know, sometimes I do get a creative block where, you know, I find it difficult to whip out the camera and vlog, but I think I work really well with a videographer. So someone to show up at my house every day and say, hey, you know, it's time to go, it's time to vlog, and someone that I can have a bit of banter with. I think we can make some amazing videos. So yeah, get ready for that. Best advice on how to stick to a healthy diet. As I mentioned earlier about self-discipline, all those things, you know, know your weaknesses, remove temptations, get into good habits, all those really apply for diet. But another thing I'm gonna say, to be more exact, is get good at cooking, okay? Learn how to make your meals taste good. Or again, you'll use a meal prep company like NutriCrunch, whatever it may be. That's such a plug. Whatever it may be, you can't just have a bland diet as you're not gonna stick to it. So learn to cook with, you know, vegetables, spices, make your meals come alive, make them a lot more tastier. And again, learning to cook was something that has just helped me massively, and it's such a healthy habit to adopt. So along with the self-discipline things that I said earlier on in the video, I think learning how to cook is something that every adult should do, and it's gonna, it's gonna help you a lot with sticking to a healthy diet. Tips on first bodybuilding competition. So I've competed twice, okay? Second time went a lot better than the first time. Second time we took home trophy. First time we didn't even place. So what changed, right? First time I freaked out. I was so nervous, made so many changes. I took so much different people's advice and I was just a big mess come peak week. Second time I competed, made a plan, stuck to it, and really didn't change much things at all. If you're ready, you're ready. Okay, so many people think that— if this goes for any diet, really, not just bodybuilding— so many people think that, all right, you know, one week before Ibiza, I'm gonna completely transform. No. Okay, especially if you're stepping on stage, you ideally want to be ready kind of 3 weeks out. I'm actually saying you want to be ready that far in advance, right? So 3 weeks out, you want to be looking really good and just chilling. Literally the next 2 weeks getting a little bit leaner, and then peak week you're relaxed, you're not rushing things, and you're ready to go. So I would say give yourself plenty of time and be ready pretty much 3 weeks out. That applies for Ibiza as well. I'm currently trying to bulk, but I often struggle to get in enough calories. Do you have any advice on how to overcome this? I die a little bit when people say this because this is the opposite problem I have. Y'all have seen the food challenges. The best advice I can give you is Eat your favorite foods. Why? Because you're gonna be able to eat more of them. And eat calorically dense meals. Like, you can make shakes, oat bowls, big pasta dishes, whatever your favorite food is, you know, just customize it to have more calories in it. Like, if you're making a rice dish, you know, add some oil to it. If you're having oats, put some honey, peanut butter on it. You're making a shake, honey and peanut butter, whole milk, also great. And get your favorite meals and just customize them to have more calories into it. But rule number 1 is just eat your favorite foods because you're going to eat more of them. Funny enough, a lot of people actually do have this problem that they can't eat enough, especially when they've got a physically demanding job like yourself. But yeah, eat your favorite foods. Enjoy. I'm jealous. Do you count your calories every day? No, I do not. I remember when I first got into MyFitnessPal, which is the app that I use to track my calories and macros, I actually got like addicted to it. And I'd say I tracked my calories and macros pretty much every day for maybe just under 2 years, you know, it'd be the odd week here or there, but I was so consistent with it, it was crazy. And that built such good habits with me, believe it or not, that I could like look at a bowl of oats and be like, 40 grams of carbs, 2 grams of protein, 3 fat. Like, I was like a robot. Like, seriously, I look at food and I'd see a nutrition label and numbers instead of food. So I got really good at kind of like estimating just by looking at things, and that's something that still stands me to this day. And so if you've never tracked your calories or macros, don't get obsessed with it, but it's definitely a really good thing to do, and it's a big eye-opener for a lot of people. So nowadays, again, you know, I'm a lot more relaxed. I eyeball things. I'm a lot better with knowing what I'm putting into my body. But again, when I really want fast results, I do get more rigid with my tracking. So I don't do it every day now, but I still do it a lot, and I enjoy it. It's like a little— it's like a little game on your app, on your phone, you know. It's like calorie gain. It's like, oh, you've ate too fucking much today. Do you ever follow a split other than legs, push, pull? I do, of course. Definitely ran some really good 3-day full body programs, some really good upper, lower, upper, lower programs, 4 days a week. But when I'm on point with everything, what I've seen the most results with and what I really enjoy is legs, push, pull, legs, push, pull, 6 times a week. And again, there's another question here about one of my ebooks. Coming back. They will be back in the next 2 weeks, within the next 2 weeks, I imagine. The reason this year I took them off my site is because I wanted to concentrate on promoting my physical book and my new app, but they've both done really well. So the ebooks, they're just like $9.99 one-off things. So many people bought them and really enjoyed them, so they will be making a comeback. So yeah, legs push-pull is my favorite split. I find it really enjoyable to do. And yeah, that ebook will be coming back soon. What's your favorite kind of music to listen to when you work out? Probably like old-school Eminem, rap in general. Like, even just like if I'm having a bad day, I'm feeling a bit demotivated, I'll put on some Eminem or some something with lyrics that kind of gets me going, gets me like aggressive, gets me just ready to take on whatever goal I'm working on. So yeah, that's the type of music. And you can also follow me on Spotify. I'll I'll link that in the description box. I've got like 13,000 or 14,000 followers on that thing. Again, it's like I'm not promoting anything on it, like it's got no benefit to me, but you know, if you want to listen to music I listen to, my Spotify is in the description box. How to deal with people talking bad behind your back? That's an interesting question, and you know what, like being online, I'm so used to people talking behind my back. People are taking time out of their day to talk about you, well, that's a compliment, okay? That's how I look at it. It is a compliment. They're giving their focus and their energy. And like, people are always like, 'Oh, I have no time to do this. I'm such a busy life.' But yet they find it to talk shit, you know? It reflects on them, not you. So yeah, don't worry about it. Stay positive and stay in your own lane. Alright, people, so I'm gonna finish things up here. I hope you enjoyed this little kitchen talk. My camera is telling me we went over 40 minutes, so I'm gonna have to edit this all down now. But yeah, Leave a thumbs up if you liked it, if you found it beneficial. A few cool projects are coming your way, so stay tuned for them. And thank you for the support. I'll see you in the next one. Keep it real. I love you guys.