The Most Positive Man On Earth - Rob Lipsett | Modern Wisdom Podcast 259

What's happening long term? You gonna be a YouTuber at 50 years old?

Joe Rogan's 52. He's the best YouTuber in the world. On paper, you know, he's killing it. Casey Neistat, Gary Vee, Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson is a YouTuber. All the people that I watch most on YouTube are all like in their 50s. So I used to think like, oh man, I can't be doing like these little vlogs forever. And in some way that's true, but I'll definitely always be online for the long term. I'm gonna be the world's oldest YouTuber.

Fantastic.

Yeah.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. I'm joined by the one and only Rob Lipsett. How are you, brother?

What's going on? I'm great. I'm happy to be here. Beautiful views. We're in Dubai. The sun's shining. Life is good.

Just dropped the Mercedes off?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice 2-day rental. That flex.

2020 has been mad, man. How's this year been for you?

You know what, I'm very into perspective and gratitude, and compared to, you know, what some people have been through this year, first of all, I haven't got Corona. That's great. And like, you know, I haven't lost my job, and I've still been able to remain a little bit of normality. So it's been great in terms of the context of things. Yeah, for sure.

What about stuff that you wish you'd been able to change looking back on 2020? Any areas that you thought were weaknesses?

For sure. So a really annoying thing was I did this like big series, like I got fired up, I got to episode 5 about me competing again. Yeah, going back to the Men's Physique stage, and I was like, nothing will stop me, I got this. And then Corona was like, and you're gone. So it was kind of funny that like I got on day 30 at a 90-day prep, a 90-day series, and it was going really well. And I was literally like, my favorite motto is, I'll either find a way or make one. Like, in other words, no excuses. Then I was like, apart from Corona, that's an excuse. So look, some things are outside of my control, but that's it. But no, I'm happy with the way things went, and I wouldn't really change much.

Yeah. So one of the things I'm fascinated with about yourself is that you seem to be quite an effective serial monogamist. So you've been in and out of a bunch of relationships that people who are fans of your channel will have noticed.

Yeah.

And you're able to balance those seemingly with traveling, with doing the YouTube thing. Like, every girlfriend becomes like a second videographer.

Oh my God, that's so true. I'm like, I got first date, it's like, right, so, um, how are you on Final Cut Pro? I was like, "Color grading skills, yeah." And, "What about, you know, do you know how to work a music bed?" No copyright music. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Yeah, yeah. So talk to me about that because people who just live normal lives struggle to keep a relationship together.

Yeah.

What's your principles for having a good relationship?

Yeah, so I was in, when I first started YouTube, I was in a 6-year relationship at the time. So I was like 18, we started going out, and then I started YouTube when I was 22. So, you know, we'd known each other for so many years. She was just like cool with it. She was really encouraging. And then, you know, obviously we parted ways and we're all good now. And then I was single for a bit, okay? And me and Mike talked about this. We're saying how it can be difficult to handle dating life, you know, being single, like, you know, dating a few different people, or maybe, you know, just seeing someone once. And YouTube, especially if you go— let's say you're on a weekend away with them and like you're in a cool place, you want to record it, you don't know this person well enough to be like, can you Hey, get a clip for me. Or it's like, you don't want to vlog it because like, I got about 10 other chicks on the go. They probably watch this channel. So being single and YouTube, especially if you're playing the field, is quite difficult. So having a partner that understands what you do is super helpful. And so Linda, the girl I'm with now, I've been with her 2 years. She is so good with it. Like, I'm like, fair play for putting up with me. So she's great, but yeah, you certainly gotta train them in. And I think being single with YouTube is actually more difficult. Why? In a sense. 'Cause again, the dating stuff, and also what I noticed when I was on my single stint is that dating takes up a lot of time. You know, DMing takes up a lot of time.

Swiping right.

Yeah, I'm like, I could be editing a video or clearing out my email inbox, I'm DMing you, you know, so, and you know, you're, you're, you're, so you're going on dates and drinking, you know, you might be when it's like when you first start seeing someone, you drink more of them because you get to know, know them. And like now we're happy to go for a meal without having a drink, you know, when you're comfortable with someone. But so, so I think being single is, um, it takes up a lot more time. So I think having a good person in your life helps with like business and YouTube or whatever it is.

One of the things I think is interesting is a lot of friends would be significantly more effective out of their relationship. We all know a buddy who's in a terrible relationship.

Yeah.

They're constantly being told by their partner, guy or girl, "Why are you not seeing me? You're seeing your friends. You're choosing your friends over me." And what that causes is people to not pursue their goals and aspirations and dreams because they have to keep this other person who's supposed to be a part of that journey they have to actually take a step away from that journey in order to keep that person satisfied.

Yeah.

So I think that's a misalignment. But what you also see is when people get into the right relationship, that, that actually can benefit and, and supercharge their progress. I would say on balance, I know more people in relationships that I think are actually holding them back.

For sure.

But I can believe that keeping them going forward, is that what you see?

Yeah, absolutely. And funny enough, is that'll actually turn your girlfriend off you. You know, if you stop focusing on your goals and, you know, you start simping over her and, oh, it's all about you, you know, that's not attractive. You know, like most girls in general, or most relationships, you know, they love to see their other half as someone on a mission, someone driven towards their goal. And Linda even says that to me herself, like, seen me just start the pancake company yesterday. She was like, sit her down right now. And I was like, oh yeah, you like those flipping pancakes, don't you? But seriously, you're right. Most relationships can derail people off their goals, and it's actually— that's going to affect your relationship negatively.

The thing about someone slowing their life down is so correct. It's kind of like when you first meet somebody, and you look from the outside in and you're like watching a roller coaster go by at a theme park and you're like, holy shit, look at all the loop-de-loops, it's so varied, I've never been on a roller coaster like this before, it looks like it's been really well thought out and quite established, and then after you've waited in line and decided to buy your admission, you actually find out that it's like the kiddies' Kermit the Frog ride.

Hey, I love that ride. That's the only ride I'm tall enough to get on.

But it's just doing the same thing. Doing the same thing over and over, and you thought that you were getting this extravagant, very adventurous, varied life. And you're totally correct, that kills a lot of attraction. I think as well, talking from a guy's perspective, one of the reasons that I get disinterested with girls is when I feel like I've got nothing new to kind of learn about them or no new insights. And again, if someone's constantly growing and learning and trying to do new things and on a mission, that's going to help to keep that spark alive.

Of course, that's attractive, you know, you're being driven and ambitious. That's just something that humans are attracted to, and for a good reason.

If you admire your partner, I think that's such a dangerous position to be in because you can't not be attracted to them if they fit all of the other criteria and you admire them. You're like, holy shit, like, being with you is going to make me a better person, and you're hot.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Yeah, yeah, the fucking double threat, isn't it?

Exactly, that's a double whammy. Yeah.

So what else, man? Like, do you guys ever Do you ever struggle with YouTube stuff? Does it ever kind of get in the way of the relationship?

Of course, for sure. And but I've gotten a little bit better about that, and I've learned from previous relationships is like sometimes just put the camera away.

What were the mistakes that you were making? Just trying to constantly get content when you should have been just enjoying?

Yeah, exactly. Like, I remember it was a few years ago, it was in 2016, um, me and an ex, we went to like Bali or something, and I was just like, it was my first time ever there, and I was like, oh, Bali, this is the YouTuber's dream! I need to vlog every day. I like, we ended up just not enjoying the trip, so I learned a lot of lessons from that one. So sometimes you gotta just put the camera down and enjoy the moment. And oftentimes, even in terms like videos, some of my most viewed videos are when you're just sitting down and talking about a topic, you know. So sometimes you don't need to show everything and, oh look, I'm driving a Mercedes, or, oh, I'm in Bali, you know. Most of all, people just want to be informed and educated or entertained. I actually took like this marketing course online. I studied business and marketing in college, but I dropped out. I learned more in this little online course, I swear to God. So I was studying this marketing course, and the key takeaway point I got from that is when it comes to social media and making people want to share it, you need to elicit an emotional response So it could be like entertained, motivated, inspired, informed, anything, you know, even if they find it funny, has to elicit an emotional response to make them want to share it, you know. So it's just, it's interesting.

Even if you're not a content creator, I think that everyone is kind of a pocket YouTuber now with the fact that they're constantly taking Instagram stories. Yeah. And it is, it is a balance, right? Because I understand that people want to show other people that care about them what they're getting up to. But again, as we said before, the balance between people being in relationships that are maybe holding them back— I would also say that most people are overusing their content creation, Instagram or Snapchat or TikTok or whatever it might be, when they go away somewhere. And you think, fucking hell, man, like, do you even watch— do you even go back through the archive of your IG stories? No. But you can go back through your memories, but you don't have the memories because you spent all of your time on your phone. So you're like flying all the way to Bali to not remember being there, but to tell everyone So it's like everyone else gets to go on holiday and you get to be a cameraman. It's dangerous, man.

Yeah, no, it is. And I used to not think that like phones and technology and social media was, you know, that was that effective on human life, or like in a bad way. I was like, oh, it's fine, you know, I think phones are great and stuff. But now this year, with the amount of shit that's gone on and how polarized we all are, I actually think social media and phones, we need to tone it down a little bit on them. So that, you know, this year, especially with the election in America, the pandemic worldwide, I'm like, I've never seen the internet go crazier. I know, it's wild.

And when people don't have anything to keep them calm and they've got no social connection, they go to that. I don't know whether you've ever noticed this. I did. I was with a girl in LA for about 10 days, and then I flew out to Hawaii on my own. And the time that I was with someone I didn't look at my— I was— my screen time was probably half an hour a day because we're constantly talking and going for lunch. The second that I was away from that person, my screen time was 6 hours a day, 5 hours a day, because the screen was a surrogate friend. I didn't have anyone with me on the flight. I didn't have anyone with me in Hawaii. I made some friends in Hawaii, but until that point, I was like, I don't want— what I'm hypothesizing is I don't want to be alone. Therefore, if I continue to use my phone and go on Instagram and watch YouTube and stuff like that, it will make me feel less alone.

Yeah, and I think I watched like some clips from Johan Harijot. Is that— I'm getting his right. Yeah, he's been on the show. Yeah. Oh, no way. Damn. Damn. What's up, Johan? Anyways, I watched some bits from him and it's how like we're the loneliest we've ever been and all that. And so just some really interesting stuff there. And yeah, it's like our phone's like a crutch.

There's a really interesting statistic from America. The study was done in 1950, and they asked Americans, what is the— how many friends could you call on in a crisis? And the most common answer was 2. And now in 2019, the most common answer was none. That's not the average, but it's the most common answer. More people had none than had any other answer, which is pretty scary. So yeah, I think that connection is something, especially in 2020, man, I'll be interested to see what happens. I wonder whether coming back out of lockdown and this pandemic, people will yearn for social contact so much more that maybe they become a bit more empathetic and they become a little bit more like together, you know what I mean? Bound together.

Yeah, I think they will. And that's me being, you know, Mr. Positive Optimist.

Unrelentingly positive.

Fuck you guys, I'm out of here.

Be a bit more English for a second.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or a bit more Irish. We're a begrudging nation. But I think that people are dying to go to festivals, people are dying to go to events and parties and stuff. So I hope so. Or maybe we'll just all be released out in the streets and fight each other.

Perhaps if you're Irish.

Yeah, that's the Irish way anyways. Yeah, I think growing up, I was actually— I've been in about 100 street fights.

Jesus.

Yeah, yeah.

Is that just like a rite of passage?

Pretty much, especially like when you're young. Once I got like around like 19, 20, I haven't been in a fight since then, you know, because that's when you get like, you have to go to jail.

Serious consequences.

Yeah, serious. But when you're young, it's crazy in Dublin. Like, someone drinks in the park, you know, and there's always a fight. And people just come up to me and they're like, you've got to punch him in the face. And I punch him in the face.

Sadly I do.

Yeah, I'm like, that's why my nose looks like this. It goes way to the left. I wish I didn't say that though because now everyone's going to notice.

Rob's nose does actually go a lot to the left.

YouTube career over. It's like, I can't watch this guy anymore.

Done with his unsymmetrical face. Talk to me about how your training style has changed over the last few years.

Yeah, so when I started off, like useless, like didn't know anything and information was not nearly as easy accessible as it is now. So like, you know, YouTube, YouTubers like me and Mike, they weren't really as popular. And you'd read magazines, which were— you'd read Kai Greene's routine, and you'd be like, alright, that's what I'm doing now. 16-year-old Rob, who's not on glorious amounts of trend, is gonna try Kai Greene's routine. So I remember I'd like a bicep day, a tricep day, a forearm day, a calf day, a chest day, a trap day. It would be about 10 days till I got around to hitting chest and legs again. So when it started off, it was useless because just there was not good information out there. But then as the years went on, better information started coming into the scene, so it got much better. And then around 2016, I was like prepping for my first show, and I was like fully addicted, and I was taking training like probably the most serious I ever did in my life. And then the last couple of years, 3 years, I've kind of like, you know, built a solid physique. I've learned how to incorporate that training and my diet into my lifestyle. And so now I'm like, I can finally enjoy myself a little bit. So I know how to like, you know, eat a meal out and kind of, you know, not, not, you know, like for example, if I'm eating a meal out, I'll know just save a few calories for it, do some cardio, know how to balance it really. So yeah, my training is a lot more balanced now. They're my 3 phases. So beginner noob, extreme, and now, you know, balance.

I don't think that people existing in 2020 can understand what 2010, 2012 world was like for fitness information. As you're trawling through bodybuilding.com forums and Teenage— and Teen Nation, Teenage, and Simply Shredded, yeah, and desperately trying to find like how much, how many grams of pre-digested aminos do I need to have before and after Pro— like all of that stuff, that whole world, it was kind of a bit of a glory era because no one knew what the fuck they were doing.

I agree. I, I kind of found it super interesting and enjoyable in a weird way. I was kind of like, will this supplement do anything?

Probably not. I'll spend £100 on it anyway though.

Probably not, but I'm gonna buy it.

Do you remember— I can't remember who was Jay Cutler associated with back in the day. Was it Nitroflex?

MuscleTech.

MuscleTech. Didn't they have a product where they were like, um, when you open the lid little particles of it are going to come out, so you have to not have the lid open for more than 5 seconds.

Do you remember that? Yeah, I remember. And there was another one called No Explode, you know, like the original.

That was my fucking go-to.

That and Jack 3D, it was just, oh, heaven. So it was so funny, when I'd open the tub of No Explode, me and my friends would take a sniff and we'd be like, get a whiff of that No Explode, boys, straight through the biceps.

The world is like pre-workouts. I've switched a little bit. I'm sort of doing more functional fitness now, and we just use NoCo or caffeine basically. Yeah, pre-workouts. But the world of like mad pre-workout seems to have died down a bit. In the bodybuilding world, is it like that? Sure, it's still going fucking mental.

No, it's, it's gone down completely. And the reason for that is that meth is now banned. What a shame. Yeah, I'm like, oh God, I could do with some meth right now. Everyone's like, wait, you aren't on meth? But so basically the ingredient was 1,3-Dimethylamine. L9. That was the one in Jack3D that— a craze that made everyone go wild. And then obviously I think some chap in Australia snorted some pure 1,3-D and he like passed away or went crazy or something, and they're like, all right, we gotta ban this. And then they banned all the other like mad ingredients in it. And so now it's like, it's pretty chill. I know, yes, there's always one guy that ruins the fun for everyone. Yeah. And so I actually came out my own pre-workout in, in 2020 And like, I did a collaboration with Ghost, which is the company I'm sponsored by. So that was a good highlight in 2020. I was like, made me feel kind of productive, you know, it was cool. It was like a childhood dream. It's like my name on a pre-workout. Like young Jim Rob would dream of that, you know. But so basically I got to design the ingredient profile, the flavors. Obviously the flavor was whiskey sour. It's the only whiskey sour pre-workout in the world. Nice.

In the world.

And so I got to design the ingredients and it was pretty basic, you know, it was like um, it was like beta-alanine, caffeine, you know, arginine, a few other bits in there. Um, but it was very, very minimal ingredients.

What are the most common mistakes that you see people making with training? Like, yeah, we obviously spend a fair bit of time in the gym and you get a ton of questions from people, like, what are the lowest hanging fruits that everyone fucks up?

Yeah, so I'm gonna talk about training and diet here. So I've worked with thousands of people over the last 7 years in terms of training is people copying other, other people's plans, you know. And especially a beginner will see an advanced trainee, especially if they're huge on Instagram or they're a top bodybuilder, and they'll just copy that routine. And it's like, if you're a beginner, ideally you want to just be coming to terms with the main compound movements first. You just want to be getting familiar with doing your form right, you know, instead of like getting caught up in supersets and drop sets and all these, these, uh, you know, mind-muscle techniques and all this, you know. You just want to be getting good form down and doing the main movements regularly, okay? So then you compare that to the training routine of a pro bodybuilder, it's just night and day. So that would be, in terms of training, that would be the biggest mistake I see. And people also following training plans that they can't sustain. So it's like, if your coach gives you an— someone, a dude who has kids and a 9-to-5 office job gives him a 6-day-a-week training plan that he's not going to stick to, it's just going to be all over the place. Whereas they give him like a 3-day full body routine that's like, you know, 3 hours a week, an hour, an hour in the gym every session, he's going to progress that much more because he can stick to it and actually track it properly.

Is there a way that people can predict whether or not they're going to be able to comply with the training routine?

Basically, you just look at someone's schedule, you know, and their training age, and then it's pretty simple like that. You know, how many times a week can you realistically make it to the gym. And so that would be— there are two training things that are probably the most common, especially for beginners. Then in terms of diet, here's the two, okay? Rex, my dad, okay? People think there's like magic foods that do certain things, and they think there's like healthy foods that they have to eat, whereas for the most part, of course I recommend eating many whole foods, sticking to a good nutrient-dense diet. But for the most part, in terms of body composition, that's going to come down to your calorie and your macronutrient intake. So your protein, carbs, and fats. So your body doesn't necessarily see like potatoes or white rice, it just sees carbs, you know. So as long as you're getting those basics in, you're focusing on your total daily intake, which brings me on to my next point. That's the bread and butter. That's the main thing. No bread, no bread. Yeah, no bread and butter ever. So that's the main thing is is focusing on— instead of focusing on certain foods, focus on, you know, the calorie and macro intake per day. Another one is timing. People get obsessed over timing, okay? Be it intermittent fasting, 6 meals a day, you know, post-workout 15-minute anabolic window. Oh, I have to have a certain food pre-workout that gives me a pump, right? Again, focus on what you eat in the entire day. A lot of lies have been made up by supplement companies saying You need to drink this shake 14 minutes after your workout or your arms will disintegrate. Okay, so we've been led a lot of lies about timing of the nutrients you take in. And even like people with intermittent fasting, I like intermittent fasting, I do it myself, but it's mainly just out of convenience and schedule and fit your lifestyle. People say like it has magical benefits that will change your life. If calories are equated, fat loss will be the same. And that's just a fact. So, you know, people like to make things more complicated to sell the secret.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more.

And it's so basic. So they're the most common mistakes I've seen after training thousands of people for years.

What's the dumbest diet you've tried?

I think, yeah, yeah, probably be— Keto people, don't get offended, okay? First of all, the dumbest diet I've tried was keto. And again, it was more like really low carb. So when I first started out, I went on my first cut. I didn't really know much about my calories and macros, so I was like, I'm just gonna get rid of carbs. I was like, I'm just gonna ditch carbs, man. That's just doing it. Yeah, yeah, goddamn carbs. That's what's making me fat. Okay, so I stopped eating carbs, and of course I lost loads of fat because my calories were so low. And I was like, oh yeah, it was the carbs making me fat. Not realizing that all that matters in fat loss— not all, but the main thing— is being in a calorie deficit, of course. So I didn't realize that, you know. I was like, oh, it was the carbs, I knew it was the carbs. But I didn't know by default the calories shot down. And then obviously educated myself on, you know, dieting down properly and including carbs in your diet. So the next cut I went on, I looked completely different. I got just as lean, if not leaner, and I've held on to so much more muscle strength and felt better. And it was way more sustainable. You know, I managed to stay lean pretty much as long as I like because I wasn't crash dieting and removing an entire food group from my diet. You know, if you remove an entire food group from your diet, be it if it's significant, you're going to lose fat because of calories, not because you've removed this certain thing. You know, people say, "Oh, I stopped eating bread." 'You know, I lost loads of weight, it was probably the bread.' I was like, 'No, bitch, it was the calories.' You know? So that's it, and that's definitely the dumbest diet I've followed. But I do know people who just, you know, they understand that calories is the main thing, but they still like keto just because they, personal preference. So keto people, calm down, okay? I'm with you partially. She stares at microphone.

Oh no, please, for the love of God, stop messaging me. Me.

Yeah.

Have you heard of the fitness menopause?

No.

Right, so this is something that I came up with.

It's odd.

It's, it's slightly odd, but I think everybody goes through it, right? Um, fitness menopause is when you get toward the end of your 20s, especially as a guy, but also as a girl who's trained for a significant period of time, maybe started training in your late teens or early 20s, and you start to realize that actually what you're doing might not be making you fitter, but it might make you look fitter. And you become chronically aware of your own mortality as you approach 30. You realize that like going up a set of stairs tires you out and you're out of breath and you can't touch your toes. And actually my ankle hurts a bit and oh, my chest like is super tight all the time and blah blah blah. And what you do is you start looking toward different styles of training. Yeah. So you start looking toward yoga or Brazilian jiu-jitsu or CrossFit, or you go back to doing dancing that you used to do as a young girl, or whatever it might be. And there's a ton of—

Back in the day when I was a young girl.

When you were a young girl, yeah. A young ballet dancer in Ireland.

I'll talk about that after.

Getting the shit kicked out of you.

Yeah. No one ever punched me in the face. I don't know why they punch me in the face when I'm all about me too. Yeah, I know. I was just there Irish dancing in the field. What are you going to take?

So this is something that I see, especially amongst my buddies and me. That we've all kind of made these little transitions, but you and Mike are both locked in hard on a long-term journey of bodybuilding. Have you ever been tempted, like, I'm gonna try some martial arts, I'm gonna try some CrossFit, I'm gonna try some endurance sports?

Yeah, so, so I've done, um, a good few MMA sessions here and there because I'm mates with all the lads in SBG in Dublin. That's one thing I really miss about Dublin as well. And I, I love it, you know, it's always fun. But I kind of just gravitate back towards the pump life, you know. I think it's just like my favorite style of training. But with that said, I do like changing things up from time to time, and I do also like kind of enjoy more like activities, like going on hikes with the missus, you know, a bit. I'm not that like hardcore bodybuilding as I was maybe in like 2015 and '16, where it was like all about as much gains possible. I actually was— used to be a slight eating disorder, as a lot of people in the fitness industry do. And I was afraid to like eat out even, you know, because I was like, I can't track this, you know. And so I definitely went through a hardcore phase, and now I'm a bit more relaxed with things. And funny enough, results are the same, if not better, you know.

So, so I think a lot of people probably need to know, yeah, that the neuroticism that brackets between what they want to do and the effort that they do to get it. That the way that you feel between those can be very different, and you can still get the same results. Remember, I did this, I did this post a while ago that said the difference between the girl who obsesses about going to the gym all day and thinks that she needs to be super motivated and gets really worried and works herself up and believes that she needs a ton of motivation and then finally drags her ass to the gym that night and the girl who just goes because she goes. Yeah, the results at the end are precisely the same. They're literally the exact same thing. But the difference is one of them's had to use that obsession across the board. And I think that that's like the number one trick of motivation, is that for a lot of stuff you don't actually need to be motivated, you just need to do it. Yeah, and that sounds very circular, but it is the truth. Yeah, the end goal is that the outcome is the outcome. And you can achieve that as long as you do the thing, regardless of how much— and that with the eating disorders and the classic body dysmorphia that I think is pretty rampant in the fitness industry. All of that stuff is people who are using something quite negative to put them in a good place, but they could still get to that good place without having to feel all the negativity.

Yeah, and that's why I said like the most common mistakes I see are, you know, people getting caught up the timing and the certain foods, and it's like, dude, none of it makes a difference. Like, I hate to break it to you, you know, it's not going to make even a measurable difference, you know, where especially for most 99% people— like, if you're top 1% bodybuilder or athlete, you know, yeah, okay, it's good to position some, you know, protein and calories around your workouts. But for Jim, who, you know, just works in the office, has a wife and kids, and he just wants to get in better shape you know, get shredded down a bit for summer. So you'd be wearing a white top.

Got you. What do you think that YouTubers, fitness YouTubers, know about making content that most other content creators don't?

I think that they know well about informing people, because, you know, fitness, unless you're like showing off your physique, you know, what are you talking about? You got to give information, really. And so that's a thing I think a lot of vloggers Like, you know, you see some vloggers in LA, they're like, you know, young kids or whatever, and I'm sure they're blowing up, but they go about their day and you don't really give anything to your viewers. I think that's one thing that fitness YouTubers and the fitness industry is good at, is informing people and being as educational as possible and showing off your knowledge. And, you know, we're just being ragged on the fitness industry there. By the way, I love the fitness industry and the best people I've met in my entire life Mike, for example, yourself, you know, Mike, have been connections made through fitness. So I think you'll actually find an extremely positive community on the most part because everyone's exercising, working out. I think exercising regularly, you know, doesn't have to be like super extreme, you don't have to be a bodybuilder, but I think exercising regularly is possibly one of, if not the best thing someone could do. Actually, like, I'm Rob Lipsett and I believe in fitness. You know, I think it is the most important thing. Like, when people are like, Rob, what's the most important part of your day? I'm like, getting a session in, working out, you know? And it's not like I'm not half as impressive as Mike or a lot of these guys, but just how it makes me feel, you know? And it kind of like anchors my day in the sense it's like once I get a good workout in, like, the rest of the day just flows well. You know, and some, some to look forward to when you wake up as well. And so I think the majority of people would be a lot better off if they did some form of resistance training, including some YouTubers as well, probably. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's interesting, man. I don't know, like, personally for me, I've started watching, um, a bunch of stuff from probably the same kids you're talking about in LA, and some of it is like enjoyable, mindless watching.

Yes.

But it's a I just saw a thing that afterwards I feel a bit guilty.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Oh, I feel guilty after going on TikTok.

Oh God, that's— dude, we were—

mind-numbing.

We were with a girl out here and my buddy George asked to see her screen time and she was averaging 9 hours a day on her phone. 3.5 hours every day was on TikTok. And apparently he was just sat there like watching and the way that she was moving was just like flick, flick, flick, flick, flick. And I, I would go out and say on a limb TikTok is the least value-adding platform ever created.

I would probably agree with that as well. Like, there's a few accounts, like motivational ones or ones about like business, but they're very hard to find. The majority of them—

dancing. Yeah. And people making their swimming pools turn green.

Oh, I haven't seen that.

Have you not seen it?

You obviously spend a bit more time on it than me.

Yeah, maybe I do. Honestly, man, like, it really does sort of fucking concern me that how much can you get across in the space? What's the maximum a TikTok can be? 15 seconds? 30 seconds?

Something like that.

Short.

Yeah.

So you're right, you have to get through a lot of crap for a small length duration of something that might be slightly informative.

Yeah. And you know what concerns me about that screen time of the person you mentioned there? 9 hours is probably more than they sleep.

They'll spend more time on the phone than they are asleep.

That scares me as well. And sleep is another one. I'm not a good sleeper. Like, I—

what's that mean?

Like, as in I struggle to get— I have so much energy when it comes to the end of the day. I'm like staring up at the ceiling like, can't fucking wait for tomorrow. And I just end up not sleeping. And I always wake up early. That Corona kicked in. That's fine. I always wake up early, like, just automatically. Like, I wish some days I I could sleep in, but I, I really struggle at getting to sleep early, um, which is really bad and something I need to focus on and will massively help your fitness as well.

Huge.

And everything. See, I watched— it was when I really got enlightened on sleep was it was Joe Rogan podcast.

Yes, number 1109.

Yeah, you can tell that.

Send it to a lot of people.

That is impressive. But it was like the first time when I was like, well, sleeping's cool. Yes, I was like, Stephen's dope as hell, dude.

I would love to know how many people got red-pilled on sleep by that one podcast.

I think it's one of the most viewed JRE episodes.

Fucking unbelievable. If you haven't listened to it, 11:09 on Joe Rogan. Watch it on YouTube or listen to it. Dr. Matthew Walker, who wrote Why We Sleep. Yeah, and he's @thesleepdiplomat on Twitter. It's just— yeah, such a fucking good name.

I changed my bio to Chief Pancake Inspector at Fuelcakes. But yeah, no, I got red-pilled on sleep there and it's sick. I never thought you could make a subject about lying down in the dark so interesting.

One of the things that I think is why that resonated with a lot of people, and you're seeing a lot of sleep technologies now come about.

Dave's coffee. Yeah. Whack!

I've kind of no idea why I'm not sleeping. One of the reasons I think that people really resonate with it, and you're seeing stuff like sleep masks and different binaural beats that help you go to sleep, the ChiliPads mattress topper, different types of fancy mattresses and pillows and weighted blankets, all of this sleep technology. The reason that I think that's getting so much attention is that it's one of the few things that's ubiquitous across all of society. Everyone needs to sleep, everyone, right? Everybody also probably needs in one form or another to have a bit of fitness in their life. Everyone also needs to look at their diet. No one's not moving, eating, or sleeping. Everyone's doing that in one form or another. So that's why the broadness of the market that you can access is so big. And I think that, yeah, Matthew Walker, I honestly wonder how much of the sleep industry he and other people like him have kicked off.

Yeah, the way he said sleep industry there, I'm like, is it like the fitness or gaming industry where they like make beef about each other? Like, heard Matthew Walker only sleeps 7 hours per night. I looked in his window last night, I saw him awake lying on his phone.

His face mask was lying half off, he's such a noob. Yeah, no, that would be— that would also be good. I'd love to find Matthew Walker, have a bunch of beef like the Game Changers documentary. Debating about different stuff.

Oh, that was a load of shite. I couldn't make it through that one either. That was cherry-picking at its finest.

Yeah, man, that's a whole other rabbit hole for us to get down. But yeah, I think—

Yeah, I don't actually want to anger the vegans. For people that want to save the animals, they're the most angry, violent people I've ever come across in my life.

So there's an interesting article I read recently recently about this, right? You have two ends of the scale. One is an end which is very newsworthy but polarizes people. That's the ones that you're talking about. So PETA, that'll throw pig's blood on people wearing Canada Goose and stuff like that. Then at the other end of the scale, you have people who are doing animal change but very reasonably. But the problem is that it's not as newsworthy because it's not as speculative, it's not as attention-grabbing. So if you're making, for instance, a reasonable argument factory farming for animals that never see the light of day. There's not many people other than farmers that are defending that. No, no, no. It's such a reasonable argument. Yeah, that it almost doesn't need to be said and would quite easily convert people. Yes, but because it's so reasonable, it doesn't make headlines. Yeah, and on the other end, the one that does, and what happens is inevitably all of veganism gets branded by its most extreme elements. Yes, when we're talking about the left versus the right, the right gets branded as racist that wear KKK hoods, and the left gets branded as feminists with purple hair. Like, it's not— like, the middle is the fattest section of both of those groups. The same with the animal change stuff. Yeah, but unfortunately, the reasonable, well-thought-out vegan movement that's trying to make really good progress in terms of animal welfare gets totally, like, dissuaded by someone that will spray-paint the side of a Land Rover, like outside of a farm, you know what I mean?

Yeah, it's crazy. And it's like, it's a catch-22 because it's like, you know, that's what people hear about. But what people should be hearing about is the reasonable argument, but they don't. So yeah, you know, and that's the same with anything, like even with politics. I'm sure most people are reasonable people that listen to both sides, but we always—

they don't make headlines.

They don't make headlines. So we always just hear about the extreme left and the extreme right.

So I tweeted the other day, reasonable people rarely make headlines. What's your advice for to someone that wants to start a successful YouTube channel?

Right, consistency, quality.

Weekly, monthly?

I would say at least twice a week. And like, that's, that's the hardest part. Yeah, that's the hard— I, I have only uploaded like once per week the last like few weeks. I'm gonna pick it up now when I need to like focus on something, like be in a competition or you'll launch a new brand. I, I dial it in, but consistency is what will build a relationship with your viewers because they're seeing you regularly. And it's like, you know, like let's say you watch a series like Game of Thrones or something, it's like out every week, you know, people follow the story. That's kind of like what they want with YouTube, watching, you know, your life or the information you put out. They want to like follow it and they want it to be regular, really. And so consistency and obviously quality stuff that gets shared and elicits an emotional response is really the way to go. Of course, that's, you know, very easier said than done. Of course. But yeah, I think building that community is super helpful. And I think YouTube is the most powerful of all social medias in terms of like me, for my, you know, the pancakes, the training plans, my book, whatever it is. And YouTube has made the most sales for that because when people look at an Instagram pic of you doing an ab selfie, that's it, you know, it's a still image. Whereas we're doing 60 frames, 60 still images per second here. You know, so people get to know you a lot better and they build that relationship with you. And it's like, there's a lot of people in the fitness industry that like put my physique to shame, but you know, they can't string two sentences together. They can't talk to a camera, you know. And so, you know, they've been less successful, whatever you define that as, and you know, in the fitness industry industry. So because, yeah, they're, they're not, they're not talking to their viewers.

I said this to Mike. Yeah, I was so fascinated to see what would happen if fitness Instagram had started a YouTube channel and if fitness YouTube has started a podcast. Because I've got this theory that most creators max out at the top of the curve of what they can produce.

Yeah.

Now I have a challenge being less verbose. I like to talk for an hour and a half So when I start vlogging, my little clips that I've been trying so hard out here, and I was asking Mike, I'm like, dude, how do you get what you need to say into 20 seconds? Like, it's so difficult. That's my challenge, to become less, like, verbose. Whereas I would hazard a guess that tons and tons and tons of Instagrammers, especially in the fitness world, would be so found out if you asked them to sit down for an hour and have a conversation.

Exactly. That is so true. And one thing I've been saying this for a year is I need to get on the podcast hype because I can fucking go on and on for hours. But I think in terms of what we just mentioned there, YouTube, Instagram, and podcasts, I think podcasts are without a doubt the most informative and what really gets you a captivated audience. If someone listens to you speak for 3 hours, they're going to be invested.

What's your average view time on YouTube?

I wouldn't know the average, I'd have to go into analytics, but most of my videos are between 20 to 40 minutes long.

Are they really? Yeah, yours are a bit longer.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.

So you want maybe 10 minutes, 5 to 10 minutes-ish on an average watch time?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So the equivalent on it, let's say that you're doing a podcast, the analytics on the back end of Apple Podcasts connects for me a 70 to 75% completion. So you're talking about a 45-minute average listen time. And that's because when you put a podcast on you're not constantly being hit by other temptations. There's not a thumbnail for the what's up next, and you're not able to swipe down and have a little bit of a look about.

That's so true. It's like being a kid in a candy store. You're like, oh, you see tits in the thumbnail and you're like, all right, Rob, I'm out of here.

Shut up about Dubai, Rob. Yeah, there's a booty selfie over here.

Yeah, I can't compete with that.

Yeah, so the retention that you get on audio is significantly better. But I think that you're right, like, YouTube is, in terms of enacting change and developing an audience, definitely the most powerful. Another thing I learned a couple of years ago is the potential for VR to change people's perceptions. So you gotta think, everything that we're doing really is being mediated by a flat screen. Yeah, whether it's a still image, whether it's a video, whether it's a really good video, whether it's short, long, whatever it is, but there's like an upper bound on how immersive that can be because it's only ever a flat screen or maybe a big TV or whatever. But they did studies where they showed people the effects of tree felling on a VR headset. Tree felling, knocking down trees to make paper, and it permanently changed their approach to paper wastage. So basically the The point is that as we get into more and more immersive technologies, into AR, into VR, into holographics, into whatever it might be, that that is going to raise the ceiling of how much impact we can have. Like, if you think, it's quite difficult— back in the day in World War II, Hitler would have been using oratory, but it couldn't have been recorded and replayed because not everybody would have had a TV. You'd have used the radio, but you don't get the visual with it. You would have been reading stuff, but that that paper is quite unengaging. And now what we're doing is slowly raising that ceiling of persuadability of the platform. And then when AR and VR come along, augmented reality, virtual reality, it's just going to go through the ceiling. So when you get the opportunity, man, virtual reality training sessions, get your headset on and train with Rob Lipsett.

Yeah, yeah, you know the owner of bodybuilding.com, that's what he's invested massively in.

No way, is it really?

He's invested in, I don't know the exact ins and outs, but something like a VR gym or something. And like, you know, he's obviously— he's part of it. Yeah, for real, you know, like, like, this is the next step. And one of my favorite— I'm actually really into, you know, this whole AI and virtual reality world. I think it's super interesting. Watch us, Ready Player One. Yeah, I'm pretty much Sam Harris. So I think it's super interesting, and like I said, I think it's, it's one to watch. Are you a simulation guy? So it's my favorite question.

Yeah, Nick Bostrom's simulation hypothesis is very, very hard to refute. Like, it's— for the people that don't know what it is, it's a 3-step argument that justifies why we're not in root reality, i.e., why we're living in a simulation. Here's another interesting thing for you that adds to the simulation argument.

Hit me.

Okay, so have you heard of the Planck length?

I have not.

Right, so the—

wait, is this how much I can hold a plank for?

Yes, it is. That's— it's actually how long your plank is.

What about side planks?

Yeah, so the plank length is the— it's created by, I think, Max Planck, and it denotes the smallest length that exists. So below this, there is no smaller amount. It sounds bizarre because you should be able to just continue halving stuff until it gets smaller, but that's not. Now, the way that that relates to the simulation hypothesis is that you would not be able to simulate a universe with unlimited fidelity or an unlimited resolution. So you remember your old CRT TV, if you went up right close to it, you could see the pixels.

Yeah.

And then now we've got retina displays that our eyes can't pick up, but if you had a super magnifier, you would be able to see that as well. And the argument is that the reason that there is a minimum length within the universe, which is the Planck length is because that's the resolution that the universe is created at.

Yes, we are living our best simulation right now, people.

I mean, have you heard the fine-tuned universe argument as well?

I haven't heard that one, but wait, but before you got— so, and now I'm gonna butcher this, okay? I'm gonna push this, but what's the, the study? They studied something like neurons or energy and it changed the way it moves when people looked at it.

So that's quantum theory.

Yeah.

Observing a particle means that you can't basically see the motion and the position of something at the same time.

Yeah.

And observing it forces it to go into one or the other. Now, the specifics of that, like, this is where that looseness in the system is where people like Deepak Chopra, who I fucking hate, like, they slot in all sorts of weird quantum spookiness about like energy and spirits and stuff like that.

Yeah, I read Secret. Yeah, I think that's fucking— No, get her off! Get him off the podcast!

This is it over now. But yeah, it's, uh, that is, that's an interesting one. This thing to do with fine-tuned universe, right? So there is a number of different universal constants. One of them's gravity, one of them's the weak, uh, strong and weak forces. One of them is a slight push away that all of the matter in the universe has. And the only way that we could have this particular universe where matter is pushed apart so much that it, it counteracts gravity, but isn't pushed apart so much that it allows gravity to bring things together— the level of fineness, the knife edge that that's on for absolutely everything is so, so unbelievably precise. It's like one part in a trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion if it went left or right, more or less, that the universe wouldn't exist.

Yeah.

And that as well is another thing where people just think it makes a fucking good argument that we're in a simulation.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I believe it. Yeah, but it's not like change something. It's like, it's like, hey, all right, we just live our best through the simulation.

Did you listen to Nick Bostrom, the guy that came up with the simulation hypothesis, on Rogan, where Rogan didn't get the argument?

No, I— that'd be me now. I don't think I've heard that. Was it on Lex Fridman?

Nick, I'm not sure. Yeah, he's like a Swedish guy, bald head.

Oh, he was. Yes, I did listen to it. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So on Rogan, he tries to explain like his crowning work, right? This simulation thing, tries to explain it to Joe. And I've been a fan of Nick. Superintelligence is my favorite book on AI, which is what Sam Harris relates to.

Yeah.

Um, and I'm like, fucking yes, Rogan's gonna nail this. Nick Bostrom's amazing. Nick gives 1 hour of press per month. That's what he allocates out of his schedule, 1 hour of press per month. So to get him out to LA to record with Joe in the studio, you know, probably took up like 4 months' allowance or something. I'm thinking this is gonna be unreal, and the final hour is just a fucking loop of Joe not understanding the simulation hypothesis, and it's so painful. And someone commented below saying, I wish I was living in a different simulation where Joe Rogan understands simulation hypothesis. It's so fucking funny, man.

That's quality. And as a podcaster yourself, like, who do you look at as the GOAT?

Like, yeah, yeah, he's unbelievable, man.

Yeah, the reason I'm glad you said that, because some people try not to say that as if they're like, they're saying like the ground hero. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, they try to say like some fucking unknown podcaster.

So I think Like, the best guys that I admire are the ones that are the most precise speakers. But what Rogan does particularly well is he asks the question that you would have asked if you'd had 30 minutes to prepare, but he just continually does that throughout an episode.

Yeah.

And what you hear is him say the thing that you wanted to know without knowing that you wanted to know it.

Yeah.

And you're like, "Oh yeah, that is where I wanted the conversation to go to." Yeah. He very rarely interjects and forces something to go left because he preps, but he doesn't prep too much. It means that he's always just happy to allow the conversation to flow and he'll gently try and guide it towards— so he's great. Sam Harris is phenomenal. Ben Shapiro is the most precise speaker on the planet. He's fucking lovely. Love him. So good. Jordan Peterson's out of rehab, so that'll be interesting.

Yeah, saw that. He's coming out with a new book. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I emailed Penguin Random House yesterday. Let's see what happens.

Nice.

So yeah, there's some good guys, but I do think—

the intellectual dark web.

Did you see that Sam Harris handed his membership card back in? I shit you not.

I'm like, give it to me.

Yeah, it's the most like— it was so fucking interesting. I don't know, Trump Derangement Syndrome's fully got Sam.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's very— he's gone full left, you know, like, fuck. Very much to the left.

I just think he's— he was so blinded by the fact that he didn't like Trump.

Yeah.

And then, I don't know, man.

Do you know what? I saw the funniest point made to, um, people, Biden voters. They're like, name, name one reason to vote for— name a few reasons to vote Biden without mentioning Donald Trump.

Well, it's the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? Yeah, yeah, that's it. And Getting in off of— can we really say in 2020 that the best politicians of the leaders of the biggest nation on the planet both should be as incompetent as those two?

Yeah, yeah, there's something off.

Yeah, I don't know.

I just don't know how it got there.

Yeah. How does Ireland work? Who's in charge?

Funny enough, I follow American politics more than Irish politics. So we have a Taoiseach, which is like our prime minister.

What?

It's Irish for like prime minister, pretty much.

What's it called?

Taoiseach. So I speak Irish. Like, 'Cunna s'atá tú, tóimhé go maith, tóimhé as erin agus robóirte san am domh.' That—

what was that?

That— hey, what's up, man? You know, Rob is my name. How's it going?

I'm good.

I'm from Ireland.

Christ.

Yeah, yeah. Wow. So like, like Taoiseach. Taoiseach.

Yeah, prime minister.

So we have a prime minister, and like, of course, you know, that is the person who runs the country pretty much, has the final say. We also have a president. That doesn't really do much.

Okay.

Yeah, I know. Yeah, it's strange. It's like just the president. He just mainly goes to rugby matches and like, you know, kind of like makes a dress. He's a legend. He's got my Miggle D Higgins, and he's like, he's like a poet. Well, his name is Michael D Higgins. Everyone calls him Miggle D. Why? This is an Irish name called him. And so he got his chills. So I want to be president of Ireland one day.

I was going to say, if you consider considered that as a retirement?

Oh, definitely. Yeah, for sure. So I don't want to be teacher because it's too serious. I'm like, if you could just slide me into the presidential role, that would be great. And so the goal would be— I'm actually quite serious about this— so the goal would be to have just a huge focus on health and fitness and become the strongest, fittest nation in the world. I, I truly do believe in fitness. I swear to God. If I became president, okay, first of all, I'd have a YouTube channel as well. Like, why doesn't Trump vlog?

I'd subscribe.

I'd subscribe. You know, it's like, can we just get those Twitter rants on video, please?

That would be something.

So I would do, you know, weekly vlog as the pres, you know, and I'd just go—

Go to rugby.

Yeah, you go to rugby. I'm like, "Right boys, going to the Ireland match today. Come on!" Again. Yeah, yeah. They're like, "So you're going to match on this weekend?" Does he even work?

Yeah.

And so you get a sick house, you get the Irish White House.

Like, all right.

Yeah, the Áras an Uí Bhraon. Yeah, it's in Phoenix Park. It's like right in the biggest park in Ireland. It's great. And so I'd be president and I'd encourage really huge focus on health and fitness. That's going to improve the mental health of the nation. It's going to make people more productive. I'd get people in the right jobs as well. So it was going to be a lot more motivated, motivated, and the economy would increase in turn. And again, the health bill would come down massively. And so I'm like, there's not— I don't hear enough politicians talking about hitting the gym. Dead serious, by the way. None of politics talking about calories, not enough politics about, you know, mental health, and not enough politics about doing something passionate about. People are like, oh, this is too cliché, you know, what about GDPR? And I'm like, no one knows the fuck GDPR even stands for. So that's it. That's it. Rob Lipsett for president. I'm 28 now. You gotta be 35 to run.

So give me a couple years. 7 years and those will be policies.

Yeah, in 7 years I'm like, I'm like, what's 28 and what's 35?

The swollest nation in the world.

Pretty much like a nation of warriors as Irish are meant to be.

So there is like an interesting point there. The fact that the difference between our parents' generation and ours is so vast. Right? I don't hear my dad talking— when my dad talks about health and fitness, he'll talk about walking the dogs. Like, that's everyone's mom and dad, right? Still now.

Yeah, of course.

But when we're parents, that's not going to be our view of the world.

No, no.

And I wonder, there will be a point at which the level of awareness of health, fitness, mental well-being, diet, sleep, everything, how you accrue wisdom, how you deal with negotiations, everything, social media, full works. That's going to continue to take over the old world. Um, and I wonder whether or not— I don't think that there's going to be another shift, at least in the next 100 years, in terms of insight, as much as there was between our parents' generation and ours.

Yes.

So I think the gap is so wide between them and us. I don't think that there's another one really to come, or at least I can't see.

Me neither. And so what year were you born in? 1988. Yeah, so I was born in '90, so around that area. We've lived in both non-phones and phones. I think that's the biggest transition in the history of mankind, really. You know, so I don't think— like you said, I don't think the two generations will be so different because now it's going to be like phones to phones.

Yeah, you know, your kids, you're going to be able to teach your kids how to use whatever the technology is.

Exactly.

You're going to have an understanding around the fact that that you probably don't need to use it too much, but everyone's mum or dad has said, I can't log into my Amazon account, or can you help me set up online banking?

They do not— my parents do not have Amazon. They didn't—

do they not?

No.

My dad's on my account, so I see all of the stuff that he orders.

It's like, Dad, it's online blow-up darts.

It's all just DIY kit. It's constant, like, Dad, another drill? What do you need another drill for?

That's awesome.

Yeah, that's awesome.

Yeah, but yeah, that The difference is just insane. And I think I was looking at the curve in technology progression and it's like it's on an exponential peak. It's just going insane. And I'm just like, when are we getting singularity? When's that come?

So fucking hell, don't get me down this rabbit hole.

Okay, yeah, right.

It's just— there's a book that you can listen to called The Precipice by Toby Ord. And it's the best book on existential risk, which includes misaligned artificial general intelligence, that you will ever hear. Get it on Audible, everyone, if you haven't already. Please go and get it. And that— they did a study at a conference of artificial intelligence researchers, and the average time that was presumed for us to hit singularity is 50 years.

Yeah, I love it.

So it's within our lifetime.

That's mad! And I'm so glad to say that. I'm like, I can't wait for our robot overlords. I'm like, finally some shit's gonna get done around here!

Yeah, I know.

Wish they'd show up a bit sooner.

Waiting for these stupid technology to arrive.

These humanoids.

What do you think is the biggest difference between American and British YouTubers?

That's so funny. And I'll lump Irish in there as well, even though there's very few Irish YouTubers. And it's so funny because Irish are very begrudging that when someone does something different, they're like, what the fuck do you think you're doing? You know, so I— when I started, like, so much hate. They're like, who's your man think he is in the gym lifting weights, doing his fucking bicep curls? What? And I was just like, fucking look, I got fired. I dropped out of college, I got into a nursing school. But so the difference with Irish and British YouTubers, I think American YouTubers are so, hey, what's up guys? You know, so animated, whereas Irish and British are like a bit more chilled, a bit more homely. And so there's like certain appeals to both as well, but Americans are just like Baltics, they're so in your face, you know, it's just so outrageous.

Yeah, they are. It's I don't know whether they think this about us, but whenever I see Americans on TV, even just Doris in the street, yeah, they always sound so media trained. They always come across and I'm like, that sounds so much cooler than whenever I see like Janice, 63, from Wigan, like talking, giving her thoughts on lockdown. She's taking the terrier to the corner shop.

Yeah, yeah, there's always a terrier with the bloody red eyes.

This is going out to the world. Like, you're an ambassador for this entire nation. What the fuck's going on?

But maybe an ambassador for a week.

Yeah, perhaps.

But yeah, no, it's so funny. And do you ever watch them? It's on— it's a podcast as well, but their Instagram account is so funny. The All Gas No Brakes podcast. Oh my God, it's so funny. It's just outrageous. Like, people are like, why, Claude?

That's so funny. All Gas No Brakes is something that I need to get into more, but they're so popular and it's come out of nowhere.

It's a certain humour, the way they edit it as well is just hilarious.

As your platform grows, how do you deal with negativity and criticism online?

I think I actually care a bit less about it as it grows. It just kind of— you get kind of used to it. Like, the first time you ever get a mean comment online, you're like, what? Be like, why did you say that to me? How could this be happening? And then like you just get so used to it and now I find it really funny. Like first of all, I actually get very little hate online. Like half the, you know, if there ever is a negative comment, like sometimes it's joking, you know, like, and it's just like you got to learn to laugh at yourself. I think that's a huge skill to have is just learning to just laugh along with things and just, yeah, you know, it was pretty funny. And then And when you see someone who's like, they curse, like, "Yo, fuck you, wanker," blah, every name under the sun, you're like, "You can't take that seriously. You can't get offended by that. If you get offended by that, you're an idiot." And so that's it. You just kind of get used to it and you just understand that some people are bored and they just have a bit too much time in their day and just give them a bit of empathy. It's their simulation. Yeah, they've got their simulation on. Difficulty setting extreme, and they're like, ah, God, well, I need to rip on Rob Lipsett for a little bit.

I need to start again with a better skin upgrade, new outfit, blah blah.

I need to purchase some add-ons in the App Store. So I really don't mind at all. And funny enough, you never meet a hater in real life, you know.

And that's an interesting insight.

Yeah, yeah, you never meet a hater in real life. So it's just weird when people people have like these anonymous accounts. Do you know what I like about it too? It's like when you're a kid, you do, you know, the— I don't know what you call them in the UK. Like in America they call them a doorbell ditch, and I'm calling them knickknacks.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So you have to go open your ring doorbell, run away. It's kind of like that, you know, kind of like it's just kids like, yeah, or prank phone call, just leaving a little comment anonymous and running away really. So it's not something to take too seriously at all.

What's happening long term? You gonna be a YouTuber at 50 years old? What's the plan?

Well, you know what, okay, so you mentioned this before and you're like, oh, you don't want to be being a YouTuber at 50. And I was like, maybe I do. You know, I'm like, I used to think that. I was like, okay, I don't want to, you know, be doing this forever. I'm like, Joe Rogan's 52. He's the best YouTuber in the world, pretty much, like on paper. You know, he's killing it. Casey Neistat, Gary Vee, Jordan Peterson is a YouTuber. He's got more subscribers than me. He is the most happy YouTuber, Sam Harris. And then I'm like, wait, all the people that I watch most on YouTube are all like in their 50s. So I used to think like, oh man, I can't be doing like these little vlogs forever. And in some way that's true. Like, you know, I won't be— might maybe turn into a podcast or, you know, something like PragerU, that style of video. I love that. But I'll definitely always be online for the long term. Now of course I'm setting up companies along the way. The pancake venture.

Tell me about that.

So that goes live today at 10 PM Dubai time, which is 6 PM Ireland/UK time. So basically I'm always making protein pancakes on my channel, and my first ever viral video, over a million views, was how to make protein pancakes. And at the time, I mean, I'm living in like a hostel and I'm trying to start YouTube because, yeah, I've had no job and I I dropped out of college, and so I'm just trying to like make it as like a YouTube fitness YouTuber, like a personal trainer. And so I'm making a video like how to make perfect protein pancakes from scratch, and there's like 10 different ingredients. They're really good and they blow up. And you know, so now to this day, it's like a thing with my channels, like, hey, you know, watch this Rob Lipsett making protein pancakes. And so I'm like, I'll just make my own protein pancake company. You know, and so it's great. It's been up, the Instagram page has been up 48 hours. It's got like 11,000 followers and it goes live today. And like, I can't wait to see how it does, but I want to turn that into a household name. Like, you know, I want to get that in supermarkets. I want everyone to be starting their day or finishing their day with that. I love breakfast at night.

What's special about that? It's the macros?

The macros are amazing. And I'm not saying this, most of the time when you buy like protein pancakes off a supplement company, it's like the protein is super high, yes, but it tastes like shit.

Yes.

And then this one, you can't notice the difference. I— truth, hand on my heart— when I got the first sample, I sent it back and looked at the nutrition and ate them, and I said, 'Oh, they have actually sent us the wrong thing. These are just pancakes, there's no protein in them.' I go, 'Send them back to the lab, they obviously just sent us like the wrong mix.' And they're like, 'No, That's the nutrition profile. And I'm like, what? I'm like, I need to double-check this. And then, and so they just taste amazing with having like insanely good macros, like the protein to carb ratio is within a few grams. It's all gluten-free as well for people that, you know, are into that. And really all like organic and natural ingredients, like very, very wholesome. And then they just taste amazing. And it's a cool brand, it's called Fuel Cakes. And so I modeled it around 1950s cereal boxes. Yeah, it's really retro.

I like the brand.

I didn't want to make it Celltech 9000 protein pancakes, Fuel Cakes, you know. I'm just like, I'm gonna have a bit of fun with this and something that like my sister can, you know, have, give to her mates, and just something that everyone likes. And so yeah, I've got big visions for that. I think it's probably going to be the biggest protein pancake company in the world. It's my delusional self speaking again, but you know, I Call me delusional, I'm having a good time. But so that's launching tonight.

Where can people go if they want to get them?

At fuelcakes.com.

And where do you ship?

Worldwide.

No way.

Yeah, it ships out of London worldwide. So I've got people fulfilling orders for me. So yeah, it's a big operation and I'm very confident in it. So I got that as well. And then my online coaching app as well. So, um, that's, that's huge. You know, it updates updates your training. They use a bit of AI as well, actually, so that updates your training nutrition plan every month. I've got loads of people kill it on that. Got my book. I'm sure I'll write another book again in my lifetime. I want to do like an X-rated version. Like, Penguin are my publishers, and I was like, I gave them the first book and they're like, first of all, why are you swearing in a fitness book? They're like, second of all, this is way too complicated for like someone just to walk in and grab it off a bookshelf, start to download. So I want to make like a fitness book with like swearing and very complicated. So that, that's, that's then works. But look, to answer the question on what I'll be doing, will I be on YouTube when I'm 50? Probably. I'd like, I hope so. I'd like to be.

Maybe we haven't seen anyone really do that. Obviously YouTube's only been around for an amount of time, so you don't have people that have been on there for forever. Yeah, you have authors who've written books. Richard Dawkins wrote The Selfish Gene in like the 1970s.

Yeah.

And he's still writing books now. He wrote like a kids' atheist book a couple of years ago. So you can see this trajectory.

But it will—

for him— yeah, it will be fascinating. Like Santa's Not Real and Neither's God.

Yeah, who knew? The book you need to read, you little fucker.

So, but I am going to be fascinated about what happens with YouTube, you know. Are you gonna have people with like a 200 million sub account because they've just accrued subs throughout their entire life? Yeah. PewDiePie gonna be in 50 years?

Oh my god. And you know what I find very interesting about if I really like a YouTube channel— so do this with even like one you just find, or a larger one, like, or whatever— go to videos, okay? And instead of like clicking sort most popular or sort newest to oldest, sort oldest to newest. Oh God, very interesting.

Do not do that on my channel.

Oh, please do it on my channel if you want a good laugh. Seriously, like, it's hilarious. But you'll go into like Casey Neistat or, you know, Joe Rogan, and you see like they've been uploading for 10 to 12 years. Like, I'm like, I didn't know YouTube's even that old. Like, it's crazy. So it'll be interesting if YouTube is around, if we have no nuclear subs. Yes, if it says like—

well, it doesn't really matter because all that we're doing is working up to our robot overlords. Yes, to come in.

The boys.

Once they've done it, everything becomes totally pointless.

Yeah, exactly. But it'll be interesting in 20 years, like it will say like Joe Rogan, whatever, like last first vlog 35 years ago. And you know what I think that's super cool about YouTube as well is like you can watch stages in your life in HD. HD. Like, I think it's amazing. You may cringe at some old clips, but I think it's amazing at the same time. Like, I watched like some trips I went on in 2016 and '17, and I'm like, I'm so glad I have this on camera. I'm so glad. And I think what's gonna happen is, like, everyone, everyone's on Instagram. Everyone, everyone uploads their trips. I think everyone is gonna start being a vlogger and uploading like things on YouTube. I think there's gonna be like an app. There already is, but they're going to be better. An app that like puts all your videos from a trip together and makes it into a vlog. And I think people are going to upload on YouTube the same way they upload on Instagram.

That's probably the reason that YouTube creators— there's so many fewer YouTube creators than there are users. Yeah, main reason being that the barrier to entry to make a video is significantly higher than it is to take a photo. Yeah, and just upload it to a platform like Instagram. Yeah, so actually that's a perfectly good argument that if you find a way that you can expedite and make easier and better the content to publishing process. Yeah, like it is, you know, you said about like I've got to vet my girlfriends to make sure they can use fucking Final Cut Pro and they understand what Creative Commons license is.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

If that's the case, then there's a lot of other people who have that challenge. They're like, right, okay, I have some cool shit that I've filmed, but it just goes on your Facebook or into your Instagram story and it goes away.

Yes.

But no one ever watches that again. It's not evergreen, right? So yeah, that's a good one, man.

Yeah, I think a lot of people are going to be uploading a lot more trips and memories to the end line and things are going to be huge. So yeah, to answer the question, long-winded, I'm going to be the world's oldest YouTuber.

Fantastic.

Yeah.

Fantastic. There will be one of those actually at one point.

Yeah.

Fuelcakes.com. Rob Lipsett on YouTube. Rob Lipsett on Instagram.

Yeah. And RobLipsett.com.

Yeah, brother. Thank you so much for today. It's been awesome.

Thanks so much. I had a blast. Cheers.