23 Solcast - Episode 23: Living in the Present Moment, Advanced Weightlifting Tips, Yin Yoga and A New Year

Affirm with me: As one door shuts, another door is opened. As one door shuts, another door is opened. As one door shuts, another door is opened. What does this mean? Well, it means that we can attach ourselves to the specific events of a result of a job interview or a business deal or whatever it is, and we get upset because it wasn't the outcome that we thought was, was best. And your attachment to that different outcome, which doesn't exist, is is what's causing your distress. So if you just, rather than creating this fake reality and being annoyed that it didn't come true, deal with the reality that you do have. Yes, you can plan for something and, you know, a positive result, but if it doesn't happen, the only reason you're experiencing that dissonance is because you would have preferred it to be this other reality which never even existed. So getting upset over something that isn't real is, uh, it's just pointless. So you never know when one thing going, let's say, bad in quotation marks, might lead you down the path to another thing. For instance, uh, there's an old story I read in a book. Who knows if it was true, but it illustrates the point. This guy goes into a high school and applies for a job as a janitor, but because he can't read or write, he got rejected from the job. So this guy's illiterate, couldn't be a janitor, just at a, you know, casual high school, not a very glorious job. But he went into the city the next day looking for work at and he got a job selling cigars and he made more money than he ever would, uh, cause it turns out he was a good salesperson, uh, selling cigars and amassed $30,000. Uh, it's an old story, so it's a lot of money back then, um, without knowing how to read or write. And you know, he'd applied for this job. It's what he thought was good for him. Happened, aka he became the janitor at the school, got the job, you know, he would have missed out on this other potential timeline, which was, you know, don't get the janitor job, but it ends up meeting a salesperson's job and turns out can make a lot more money doing that. But I never would have gone to that if I had just been accepted the janitor job. And I've had this as well. It's like applying for things or you know, events don't go your way, that leads to another reality in a way, a pivot point, butterfly effect if you will, uh, that leads you down to something you never would have done, which is amazing, uh, you know, if you'd got this other quote success. So always be aware in life, you know, as one door shuts, another door is opened. Every change that happens in our lives you can view it as a, you know, a negative, you know, this horrible failure or whatever, but you can also take it as, as one door shuts, another door is opened. And it's this different perspective. It's that, okay, whatever's happening in life is going to bring me closer to, you know, let's say my potential or my divine plan or, you know, what I'm meant to be here doing or the direction in life I'm meant to take. If you have that attitude, you know, you'll never miss opportunities and you won't be moping around. So you're not looking for, for other opportunities. But let's say you were really motivated and positive about it, is that, okay, whatever's happening is good. Let's keep on doing, you know, my 100, 110% with the reality that I have and not get worried about fake realities that didn't materialize. You know, you're concocting this thing up in your head, which is the root of your You know, your emotional dissonance, which some— which people experience as anxiety or stress, is thinking about fake realities that never end up materializing. Maybe they get worried about what's going to happen, or they predicted a future that didn't occur, and then they get upset that that predicted fake reality never materialized. Uh, you know, it's you can analyze the situation and make the best choice no matter what has just previously happened. If you experience, uh, anger or sadness or regret over a situation that's already happened, any, you know, emotional meandering about that memory is pointless because then you're just experiencing the event, uh, more than once and it's a negative event. So you just keep on replaying and replaying it and, you know, going back to it, getting upset when that's not real. You know, I think once you make that distinction, uh, you can kind of logic yourself out of a lot of the problems that we, uh, aren't really problems and the stupid things that we make up in our head. Which then cause us stress and anxiety and fear. And, you know, it's so much of your mental energy is like that. It's like mental recurring thoughts that happen throughout the day. And something like 90% of our thoughts are the same from day to day for most people because they're stuck in emotional triggers or just the routine of their day. They get the same thought when they walk past the kitchen. Or going into work, see the same people. Like, there's that— so much of that is the same thoughts for most days because most people are, you know, in some sort of work routine for the most part. And if you're— if those thoughts are negative, 90% of the same thoughts every single day are negative. So you can only imagine the effect that that will have on the brain and your life and your outlook and, uh, you know, your level of energy. If, if you're always just like, urgh, urgh, negative energy, this, you know, carry-on effect. Of course you're going to be stressed. Of course you're going to be unhealthy. Of course you're not going to attract anything but negativity. So it's, it's really a question of reducing as much time as we can, avoiding that, those, the comparisons to fake realities, and also the regrets or the sadness over things that have happened in the past. You know, someone wrote in, they said, tips on recentering and living in the present. I think it's Well, there's two different questions there. Tips on recentering— that's just being aware when your mind is wandering, and you can recenter yourself by breathing. That's a good one. Whenever you find yourself mind wandering, just bring your attention back to the breath. It gives you that central point, uh, that you train as a mental groove to just go back to, uh, if you find your mind wandering and bullshitting and maybe anxious or scared or something, you can just go, okay, I'm feeling a bit strange. Boom. Let's go back to the breath. You know, stop entertaining these mental fantasies that we just kind of follow. You know, this thought that appears into our brain and then we're like, oh, hello thought. Oh, that makes me think of this. Oh, but that makes me feel this. And then you just go on this, you know, this pattern, this tunnel, uh, of bullshit. You can, you know, the skill of meditation and awareness. So you know, bringing it back to center, it's just detaching from that. And yes, your thoughts will come up, but then you just let them go. And yes, emotions will come up, and you can just let them go as well. And just being in the moment, you know, if you're doing exciting things, that helps a lot. You know, people, uh, enjoy traveling so much because it's like, it's new experiences. When you're having new experiences it's a lot easier to be in the moment, um, because you're getting so many new stimuli, whether you're learning a new skill, doing a new activity, going to a different place, just mixing it up. Your brain has to be aware of new things, and so you're more engaged and in the moment. And, you know, things like heavy weightlifting, uh, you're very in the moment. Uh, exercise in general, uh, just burns out all of that anxious energy. That can manifest as, you know, your mind wandering or whatever else. So recentering, just building that awareness of where your mind is and just taking it back to center. Yeah, and the other, living in the present. I struggle a lot with thinking about prior regrets or worrying about the future. I think it's kind of what I was talking about before, where realizing, you know, how silly of a concept it is, rather than thinking it's some kind of like past analysis that your brain needs to do, or, you know, future analysis to predict events, and you can maybe make a business decision. And that's true to a point, for the future prediction, but especially the past one. There's like, there's no logical reason why we would just analyze a fake reality over and over again. Those stories and things that we just go off on, on tangents that are never going to be real. So there's exercise, burning off the action synergy, realizing what a logically, you know, silly thing it is to do, to worry about the past. That's already happened or whatever else. Doing new things, new experiences, living in the present is the only thing that matters. And the concept I've probably mentioned before is time traveling. When you're here, you're in the present now, and then we'll, boom, we'll time travel, we'll leap into the future, and we'll try and analyze what's going to happen Or, you know, time traveling the other way. Let's go back into the past. Let's think about my past regrets, worries, choices I should have made here that I didn't make here. All of this nonsense, which is just a relic of your brain trying to, I guess, make sense of the past and predict the future to survive the most. But for the most part, it's pointless mental exercise. It drains us if we're stuck in the same negative ones all the time. That can be, you know, literally toxic to the body and the psyche and your energy in general. So do new things, create new thought patterns and more beneficial and positive thought patterns. Like, that's, that's kind of the benefit of affirmations. Is repeating things like that, you know, uh, as one door shuts, another door is opened. When we do that more to break up the negative thoughts and we fill our brain with positive thoughts, that has a natural uplifting effect about the— in the body. You'll be, you know, have a better energy going out into the world, and then your life will improve as well because you're— maybe you're practicing gratitude as well. You realize what you have in life performing these affirmations which kind of overwrite those previously negative self-help beliefs which don't help you for the most part. And then it kind of stacks again. You're putting out more good energy. Other people are going to receive, are going to respond with better energy. And that's one of the benefits of self-improvement in general is when you're healthier and, you know, more chill, Maybe you've done a bit of internal work so you don't worry about the things that don't matter anymore. You get along with people that are also like that, so there's like this stacking effect when you begin to associate with people that are more chill and happier to help and friendlier, which is cool. And you know, everyone, as you kind of go down this path, you realize that you Just be nice to other people, help them out as much as possible. Stop arguing over bullshit. You know, this life is short and we don't have a second to waste on arguing about dumb shit that doesn't matter. You know, road rage and all the offenses that people think they've been given but they've actually taken. And, you know, Excuse me, but that's what you get to. And that's— if we can all do that, then everyone will be a lot better off. Okay, uh, this is episode 22 of the Soulcast. We are brought to you by the Soul Coaching Program. So next year I'm gonna be launching a new round of coaching. Uh, if you want to have the information sent to you about that, go to www.solbrah.com, sign up to the mailing list. Info about that is going to be going out soon in the new year. Uh, it's going to be really exciting. And so yeah, if you're into that, then go check it out. So another affirmation, which I think is a good one, So we have, as one door shuts, another door is opened. The other one I like is, there is no competition on the spiritual plane. What is rightfully mine is given me under grace. There is no competition on the spiritual plane. What is rightfully mine is given me under grace. So what does that mean? It means that once you realize what, you know, feeling jealousy or envy or making someone your enemy and things like that, when you realize that that's what you take from the situation and it does, it, it just locks you into those negative thought forms. You know, you have to bless, bless your enemies, like truly believe and wish the best on them if if anyone attacks you is because when they are putting out bad energy to you and you reply with good energy, there's no way that bad energy can affect you really, you know. Yes, don't associate with people that are always trying to tear you down and things, obviously. But I'm saying if you can have the goodwill to honestly wish the best for your enemies, but even not wishing the best for your enemies, but realizing that anytime you feel like mentally slighted with someone else's success, or, you know, even just being mean to other people— there's, there is no competition on the spiritual plane because you're not fighting against anyone. You're just working for yourself. What is rightfully yours is given to you under grace. You know, it's kind of like minding your own business. Everything will come to you. You're going to put the work in. You're, you know, you're not worried about commenting on other people's shit or whatever else. There's no wasted energy on things like that. You know, you want to really try and help as many people as you can, bring everyone else up. A rising tide lifts all ships. The more that people are happy and succeeding and all the rest of it, the better off the whole world is going to be. So just, you know, raising up that, uh, that level of vibration on the spiritual plane and consciousness and awareness, you end up becoming more successful. You're not attached to those negative, insulting things you might think about someone else or comparing yourself to other people and all of that, which again is just like this mental exercise and futility. There's, there's no point to it. There's no, you know, that literally wastes calories in your brain every time you have a thought. So if you're wasting calories on that rather than could literally like direct it to recuperating your muscles more, or, you know, just in general, it's wasted energy. Some of the food you're eating is going towards negative thinking. Like that is just a, you know, that's a bad deal on that, on that equation. If you think about it. So Yeah, once you realize you just focus on yourself, uh, that's a really good thing to be at, and you'll be more successful because of it. I saw a little more about, uh, the idea of the island community or the beachside community, I think because a few other people— a few other countries going back into lockdowns. Which is, uh, must be depressing. Um, so I think a lot of people are really considering, you know, let's just peace out somewhere else if you can travel, that is. Uh, maybe they're seeing like other countries with, you know, more freedom, uh, to do what you want and the laws don't— aren't as restrictive. Maybe they're lockdowns, you just want to get away from the lockdowns, but also things like tax also things like, you know, maybe the government isn't going the way you would prefer. So it is possible to, you know, go to these other countries which have different laws and rules, you know, if that's your choice. But between living in some cold, dark lockdown city and chilling on the beach, why, you know, that's a very large quality of life change that is possible in today's day and age. That I think like the reason why you wouldn't necessarily do that, like maybe you had family ties or, you know, there's no community really, uh, if you just go off by yourself to some random tropical country. But I think that would be the benefit of, you know, everyone kind of conglomerating there, even if it was just a beachside city and kind of forming some kind of community. Um, that would go a long way to negate the effects of being away from your home. If it was like, you know, a vision of— I have a vision of like a just little hub on the coast somewhere. Everyone rents or buys stuff there. Least restrictions, best weather scenario, best tax scenarios. You also got to think about that. If you go to a lower tax city, you know, then your, your income might go up with the move as well, which is pretty cool if you can figure out some kind of— obviously if you're moving there, you're probably working online in some way. But having the community there, I think it's, it's really, you know, people keen. We just gotta find a place really and figure that out. People don't want to be fucking locked down in cages, man, and I don't— I agree with that. I would hate that. What do you do? What do you do? A few other things about the community. I think it would be good to have weekly meetings where maybe whoever's there that's in the space can just come meet, hang out, network, where people can bring up discussion points or, you know, do lectures to help others learn. The local networking and business connections that you could do if you just know someone instantly, that, okay, they do accounting, or, you know, this guy does small investment funds or something like that. Uh, it's so powerful and that connection and helping each other with deals helps everyone out in the long run, working to a common cause and a community that helps those around you win. That's how big families amass so much money is because they all work together. You know, they, they go in on property, uh, they buy businesses, they start businesses and everything is kept within the family and you act as a clan rather than just for yourself. And having that, uh, you know, that's, that's a real big hack in life. So it has some gumption, the idea, that's for sure. And we just got to figure out where we're going to go, see how 2021 goes. 2021 is going to be the best year of my life. Let's affirm that. 2021 is going to be the greatest year of my life. 2021 is going to be the greatest year of my life. Bring that energy forward to meet you in this new year. You want to shed every part of your previous mind that doesn't serve you. All of the things that you tell yourself why you can't succeed, all the bullshit relationships, all the time that you spent just spinning your wheels, let that fall away. 2021 is going to be the greatest year of my life. Do you want to be one of those people that's, oh, this lockdown fucked me over, and you know, it was the worst year of my life? Like, it's a perspective issue. Like, there is always a chance to do your best, and why wouldn't you try that and always believe that at every point? Because or want to do that and should just, you know, the circumstances are as they are. Am I going to waste mental energy and time worrying about it? No, I'm going to do my best regardless of what happens in the greater, you know, scale of community and not let that affect me and ruin my life as much as possible. Because you have to give yourself the best chance, the best fighting chance as we move into these kind of tumultuous times because it would be chaotic, that's for sure. Being able to ride the waves of it and just, you know, at least trying to ride the waves rather than just drowning and be like, oh man, this sucks, guys. Look at me, I can't, I can't do anything because of this situation that's external to me. Oh, poor me. Oh, I'm drowning. You're not even trying to swim, dude. You're just sitting there wailing. You know, it's, what's the point? There is none. There is none. And I want everyone to know that for 2021, because the new year, especially right now, it's all going crazy. That offers you a chance to just let all the bullshit fly away off your body, out of your mind, and visualize that. Visualize a bright light descending around your body and mind and burning away all that, that, that does not serve you. Visualize that. Affirm, 2021 is going to be the greatest year of my life, and it shall become. It's that simple. Obviously, you just got to think about it, you know. Oh shit, be right back. Uh, we'll go to a music break. What should we do today? I reckon if you can do it, do a handstand or a headstand, you know, on your elbows, as long as you can. It's pretty easy, do it up against the wall. But let's get some blood back to the head, the spine, move around a bit. Handstands are really good for you to do a couple times a day to just ensure the blood's being push back up as much as possible to the, to the head, spine, neck area. So we'll come back after the break. Phew, that was good. If you feel anxious, stressed, you probably haven't got enough blood in your head. You feel very zen after a headstand or a handstand. A little trick I like to do that a few times throughout the day, just kind of, if you think about yourself as like a, what do you call it, hourglass with the sand ticking down. The sand is your blood. Obviously, different halves of the hourglass are your upper and lower body. You can kind of tip yourself up, down. The sand, aka the blood, shifts down, and it's just good to move that sand around, move that blood around using the force of gravity. That's another thing. I was at a yoga class yesterday, and the teacher was talking about with yin yoga, which is the relaxed, long, deep holds of poses rather than like a you know, an exercise style yoga, the yin energy. Yin and yang, the hectic energy, the yin, and the yang energy, the relaxing. You got to have a balance of that. So that's yin yoga. She said a very good tip about the poses is like, with yin yoga, what you want is to— the assist of gravity to open up the fascia there. When you're really holding, uh, let's say a pigeon pose for a long period of time. It's really trying to release so much in the glute that you just fall forward and you, you're not holding yourself up, and the, the force of gravity is what's pushing you down into the stretch and just releasing and opening up that fascia that's, um, you know, been condensed together for such a long time. And I love this style of yoga because you really do make good flexibility gains And it's so restorative and so satisfying to sit in a position for, you know, 4 minutes and just really get deep and pay attention to how that feels and be conscious of what it is you're really trying to do, rather than like just getting into one yoga position and then holding it for like, you know, 10 seconds and not really settling into the position, not really having that conscious mental release where you put your mind into the connective tissue and let go. And then, you know, you even get used to how the position feels if you're like new to yoga. So, you know, find a couple of your favorite poses and hold them for a long period of time because it feels so good. You know, you'll probably clear some emotions that you'll be feeling, like stress or anxiety or worry about something. Sometimes emotional releases can come up when you're deep in a stretch, so just be aware of that. If you get a thought pop into your mind, it's usually because we've been holding tension, especially around the hips. If we are conscious— if we are always tight from sitting at a desk, the hip flexors are tight, you know, our body associates our physical position with what, you know, state we're in. That's why power poses work. You can If you stand up and raise your arms in the air and leap and go, yes! Ah, yes! Like, that amps you up because your brain is going, oh shit, what's happening? We must be winning some situation. That's good for us. Flood it with dopamine. Let's go. You know, you can hack your mindset by making sure that your body is in the right postures and being aware of that and conscious of that. Stretching. You get the release of the hip flexors. Like, that's, that's you in a fetal position. When do we do a fetal position? When we are really sick, when we feel threatened or scared, uh, you know, that's the position that we lie in, you know, when we're trying to curl up and be defensive and all that, protecting the vital organs. So if you're always like that, kind of similar at an office, like if you're hunched over as well and you have a low desk, uh, then you're always almost in a semi-fetal position just sitting up. Uh, so you're gonna get more anxious, stress, fear responses when you are— when you're conditioned physically for that position. So power poses are good. Yin yoga releases that— all the bullshit, the emotional tension that you've held on to. When you let go of it, a deep, uh, lunge jaw. Another one I like is lizard pose. Oh, that's a good one. Um, yeah, do more of it, uh, because I think it's something that kind of gets overlooked a little bit, especially if you're a lifter. Uh, if you want to make gains in lifting, do yoga. Simple as that. Like that, the extra strength you get, especially in the shoulders, the flexibility you get, you're going to be able to get into a deeper squat. You have conscious awareness of how that muscle is meant to feel. When you spend, you know, even if you don't call it yoga, you just sit in your room and you just check in with yourself. What, what stretches feel good? Where do I feel tension? If I move and in a certain way, does that feel good? If I put my arm down and then lean on it, you know, those kinds of intuitive deep releases as well. Even if it's not a structured yoga routine, that is yoga, you know. That, that's, that's just listening to your body and, and seeing what it needs, which is also good and a skill in itself. And then you're more aware of like, okay, if I have lower back pain or something, it's probably because my hamstrings are tight. And let me get into the hamstring position. Oh, that feels good, I haven't stretched them in a while. Boom. And then your lower back feels better. It's all these little skills that we can build, uh, to provide us with a better immediate toolset in managing, uh, our body and therefore our mind and therefore our spirit and etc., etc. Um, uh, okay, question here. How do you handle fitness life with girls, work, side hustle, Twitter, friends, family, etc.? Well, it's the fitness comes first, right? You know that you need to train. You know you're a better person when you train. You have enough time in the day if you cut out the bullshit. If you think you don't have enough time, are you watching TV? Cool, that's an hour probably that you can now go to the gym. And there's, you know, there's, there's no argument there with like should I spend this time watching TV or just aimlessly scrolling on social media? I guarantee you there's time in the day that if you really like, okay, you woke up, straight to the shower, breakfast, out the door to the gym in 15 minutes. That's possible. You will find time rather than sitting in bed. Okay, now I'm going to scroll. That's 10 minutes gone. Oh, now I'm going to just mosey in and, you know, have a, have a plan of action. Cut out the unnecessary bullshit. And I guarantee that there is, even me, I have unnecessary bullshit sometimes that I do in my day. Um, you know, it is possible and yes, we have work commitments and everything, but rather than seeing that as like, oh, you know, I've got to work for all these hours and now how will I have time to find the gym? It's like you find the time. There's again, there's no point like seeing yourself a victim of the situation. You've got to work. Maybe working on something else to get out of that, but at the moment you have this commitment to work. You've got to do it. You also have to train. Where can I fit in my training? Do I have to do at-home sessions? So, you know, if you really go to that upper limit, um, you can find time, and the fitness comes first because you can't do all the other shit if you're not taking care of your body and lifting. Yeah, I mean, it's just about scheduling your day. I don't do everything every day. Obviously I have rest days as well. How do you have a fitness life with girls? I guess it's everything. Like, you have the time you need to work, your career, you have your fitness time, taking care of yourself, cooking your meals. Also sleeping comes under this category. These These are the non-negotiables that build everything else up in your life. Like you will be a better friend if you've taken care of your body and you feel good and you feel healthy. You'll be a better partner. You know, like, oh, I don't have time to go to the gym. I've got to spend time with the missus. That to me is the most pathetic mindset because one, you have a responsibility to your partner to be attractive and take care of yourself into old age. I believe that. Like if you're in a committed relationship and you know, you're both working out because you want to be the best you can be for your partner, that's like a nice wholesome thing and responsibility you have in a relationship. If you're really serious about it and you respect the other person, that's one side of it. So even if you have that, you know, spend the quality time together, both go to the gym, uh, that's possible if you know, if, uh, if you've got like a wife scenario. Go on hikes on dates, do something active with girls if you're dating, just single. Then again, like the side hustle, the Twitter, friends, family. I usually do all my work in the mornings and, and, you know, even a little coffee date to see your friends, 25 minutes, catch up, then boom, you go somewhere else and do some work. Like it's it's still possible. It just has to be done smartly and not like completely wasting time all the time. Um, the non-negotiables come first. Like, you will need to find stuff to cut out of your life. BS. Uh, if your sleep is not being prioritized so that you're getting, you know, 9 hours every night, um, your fitness, your food, you know, and time for yourself. As well. That's a, you know, a priority is your downtime because then you can relax and unwind and really be yourself rather than being stressed all the time. You know, that yin yang balance. They're all non-negotiables. If people get upset that you're taking care of yourself, then they really don't have your best interests at heart. If they like try to shame you for working on your business rather than coming out like for the second night in a row or something like that. Maybe you just want to hang out with someone and catch up, but you don't want to go for drinks because you know you'll feel shit in the morning or whatever. Like if someone gets upset at that, they're just upset that they see it as an attack on them because you want to like make progress or whatever, but that's just ego talk. So you know, your friends should always want you to, you know, I'm always saying you're getting in this gym to the lads. You know, happy for people. I'm not upset if people cancel plans, like, that's life, and you should be supportive of your friends doing that, even if it means you'll see them less, you know, like, you'll still see them, but you should encourage that people take care of themselves, I think, and not get upset about things. Other things that I like to do that kind of help I'll cook my meals before I get out to dinner and making sure that you've eaten and then maybe you just have some bread and sparkling water when you're out. You're still there, you're still enjoying the company, but you're not eating out that, you know, that lower quality food for your main meal. Or, you know, if you're going to a party, I'll prep my rice and steak to go there and, you know, hang out with people but not hamstring ourselves with the bad food, the drinking, whatever else. With girls also, if quality, quality girls will recognize that and, you know, do it with you or do it in their own time, allow you your time to train. If a girl is getting upset that you're going to the gym, then, you know, I just wouldn't accept that. Like, if you want to be in a— you want the person that you're going to be developing a relationship with to want to have that as one of their passions and not shame you for it or get upset when you are taking care of your body and, you know, honoring the, uh, the meat suit that we are. Inhabiting, uh, in this game or this journey of life. You have to respect it. You have to train. You know, no man has the right to be an amateur in terms of physical training. Uh, one of the big dog philosophers said that. Might have been Aristotle, can't remember. But Epicurus— Epicetus, I'm not sure. Um, but the idea is that you know, it's, it's so beneficial for you to be training that it's non-negotiable. It's just this base level thing that you should be doing in respect to the body that you're inhabiting. And as a man, as a woman, pushing yourself in that realm, if you're not doing that, then you're not developing in one of the core aspects of being a human. And you won't get all those crazy benefits that come from being stronger, burning up the unused, you know, energy, peace of mind, the endorphins, the muscle mass, all of these things which we know come out from working out. So, you know, your priority to create that fitness lifestyle and just have that as time that you don't budge on and scheduling the other stuff around it because it's all possible. You just have to make sacrifices about things that, you know, maybe you don't watch TV ever. You know, it's, it's not necessary. If you have these other better things to be doing with the limited time in your day, then just do that. It's a value analysis. You pick the one with the most value. It's going to do the best for you. Even you can watch TV. There's enough time in the day to do the things that you need to take care of. Work out in 45 minutes, meal prep on the weekend so you have your meals ready so you're not wasting time. I say wasting, it takes like 12 minutes, 15 minutes to create a wholesome meal, especially if you stack things like I'll just put my meat in the air fryer, then I'll go have a shower while the air fryer meat is cooking, the rice is boiling. When I come back, there's not much active preparation time really. If you again focused about it, see what efficiencies you can create and then meal prep at once as well. Eggs takes, you know, it's a very quick meal to create. There's found time that you can get that you're not currently taking advantage of if you think that you have no time. So it really just— how bad do you want it? Do you want to be jacked? Then get your sleep. Do you want to be jacked? Then make sure you have the meals ready. And if you want to be jacked, you have to go to the gym. There's no compromise there, and you have to do what you have to do, or accept that you won't get the results that you want or the progress that you want. You can't have it both ways. You can't get upset that you don't have the results for something you didn't put in the work for. There's no free lunch. If you want something, you have to have the attitude of, I can get it, and then put in the action to step forward to whatever that goal is. That's all it is. That's all it is. Uh, so a couple points I want to mention. Mentality of more intuitive training and advanced bodybuilding tips. Intuitive training— this is when I'll go in, I'll usually think about the muscle group that I haven't trained, you know, I trained the most amount of days ago, um, so it's like the freshest muscle group. Uh, let's say it's chest, and I'll go in and I'll do a workout. I'll do a warm-up set, but I'll feel what I want to do that day. Maybe I want to do 10 sets of 10 of heavy incline press. Uh, as long as I know— and once you kind of get deep in the gym, you can play with this a little bit— once you know what it feels to get a good workout, and you know you have a large exercise library, shall we say, you know you can just go in there and you don't necessarily have to abide by a structured set and rep scheme. It's more intuitively feeling how the body feels, you know, what do you feel like doing that day, what's feeling like you're getting a really good pump from, what is your body saying to you that you want to do that day. And as long as you're stressing the muscle and eliciting that hypertrophic response, the set and rep ranges, you know, that, that's basic and intermediate stuff. But when you play with it a bit, when you get some, you know, skill in the, the skill of working out and knowing how your body feels and how muscles should be pumped up and and what kind of volume you should be doing roughly. To get to that upper level, you have to just, you know, mix it up and shock the body in ways that you haven't, you know, really felt before. Supersets are a great one for that. If you want, you know, more of an advanced bodybuilding tip, if you're just doing, you know, a set of bench and then just chilling, waiting, what you can do to get that slow progressive overload is introduce some supersets. Go to your bench and then maybe go do a lat pulldown machine. I love supersetting chest and back, it was a favorite of Arnold's. You know, you do a chest exercise, instantly go over and do a back exercise. Some of my best workouts are those antagonistic kind of groupings, and I'll do 3 different exercises for each muscle group um, you know, incline press into lat pulldown, um, dumbbell press into like a dumbbell chest press on a bench, uh, into a seated row. Um, those kinds of combinations, still upper body. So if it's something you haven't experienced before, even just supersets of, of the, the same muscle group, if you're training your triceps So if you're doing a close grip bench press, when you finish that, go over to the tricep rope pulldown and bang out a set of 10. And you obviously, you'll have to go lighter to, you know, first get used to the superset, but it's a great way of pushing more blood into the muscle, eliciting the high level of work from the muscle, more volume, more reps, that progressive overload. So that's one way to introduce it when you kind of get a bit deeper into the gym. The other thing is, it's, it's— Tom Platt said this, it's like bodybuilding is more mental than physical at the upper end because you need the ability to push yourself past the point that you exhibited before. You have to also mentally connect to the muscles and will yourself to grow. Every rep you have to be concentrated in. You have to get the most juice out of the squeeze. When you're doing the bicep curl, look at your bicep. Imagine that there were more muscle cells forming at the edges of the muscle that you see with each rep. Visualize that and feel that. Look at what angle your arm is coming up at, what angle your bicep feels like it wants to flex at, you know. That's gonna elicit the most pump, that's gonna elicit the most muscular contraction, awaken the, the muscle cells within. You may have, but you're not really connecting to that well. It's that mental connection that will bring muscle gain alone. The more you focus, the more energy goes into the workout. As you get more developed into it, you have to realize that it's not just about 4 times 8 of a bench press and then I do my 4 times 12 of this. It's going in, pushing your body to the limits, your new limits, thinking about every exercise You know, you can do a barbell curl, but if you're not engaged with it, your delts will be doing most of the work. Like, think, I'm doing a barbell curl, I want to develop my biceps here, how can I best do that? Can think about the biceps doing the work, not the shoulders. And obviously the shoulders will to some degree, especially if you're going heavier. But if you're not— like, if you're just curling the bar without mentally connecting to the muscle groups you want to work, then you're just going to end up wasting a bit of time or not getting as much out of each rep. So you really have to be there, focused, engaged, high energy. Your energy of course will fluctuate day to day, but as much as possible when you're in the gym, if you have wireless headphones, great, put a playlist on, but then leave your phone in your locker or, or nearby and you don't touch it for for the 45 minutes that you're in there because your phone will be there after. You can catch up to all the other stuff. You're in the gym, be in the gym. Don't watch the TV in between sets. Every set, think, how did that go? How do my muscles feel? Maybe do a bit of just body weight flexing or contractions to really push more blood into the muscle. You know, contractions in between each set really, really help pump. So try that as well. Balls-to-the-wall training, really, you know, pushing your mental— what's the— Arnold said this as well, is loosely, I think, not an exact quote, but the champion is the one that can go through the most mental pain and endure the most pain in bodybuilding. When your muscles want to stop because they're burning, the lactic acid buildup, you can just as easily mentally force yourself through another few reps, which are going to elicit new growth. But if you just stopped and not got those extra 3 reps, then the workout's not as good. When you're at those upper levels and you really need to be pushing your body to, to get those, you know, you have to earn the muscle cells that you create Newbie gains come pretty quickly at first, but the, the longer and longer you train, the slower it comes. It's not impossible. I think people like neg about how much muscle they can build. I think everyone, as long as they're supporting their body with what it needs, can give themselves the best chance of putting on the most muscle. And as long as you're training for the rest of your life, you're always going to be improving. So even let's say your genetic cap, which is pointless to worry about because, okay, you have your genetics, you can't change them. Let's do the best you can with your genetics. It's not, oh, I think I have bad genetics. And the other thing, if you think you have bad genetics, then your body is going to respond in turn. Oh, I'll never be able to grow as much muscle. If you think that every day, do you think that's going to result in more muscle? Is that going to give you the best chance? No. Again, affirmations. I am a high test male. I put on muscle effortlessly. Everything I eat lowers my body fat and promotes hypertrophy. Those kinds of emotions, affirmations, even though they seem silly, they overwrite bullshit things like, oh, my genetics are bad, I'll never I'm never going to put on muscle. Like those, again, going back to the point, they're pointless. If you can't change it, there's no point wasting emotional energy on it. Your genetics are your genetics. Let's do the best you can. Let's support our testosterone as much as possible. Let's make sure we're getting enough recovery. All of those things. Anyone can build a body that, you know, an amazing physique doing that stuff. It just, you may think you have low test, best, but you're consuming seed oils all the time, which is super inflammatory. Your body fat is super high. You never get sun. You know, you don't get enough zinc. You're not eating enough meat, enough quality fats. You're not getting enough vitamin D. Like, those things all contribute to your natural potential of, of bodybuilding. You're not getting enough sleep. Massive one. People don't know how to sleep. This— everyone's sleep is fucked up. That's like, that literally lowers your body fat and gives you muscle if you did nothing else, if you just fix your sleep. So there's, there's lots of things that people aren't doing and living unhealthily in general, alcohol, uh, that will lower your maximum natural genetic potential to put on muscle. And that's all changeable. So, you know, don't doom. It never helps anyone. This episode of the Soulcast is brought to you by my new merch that's up on the Teespring store. The URL you can get to, uh, on my Twitter, on my Linktree. If you go to solbrah.com, there's a section for merch which will take you to the store as well. But we've got some sick new designs up: Soulcast International, the Serpent Slayer tee, Soulcast ones are still on there. So yeah, go check them out. I think you'll like them. New different colors. So go ahead to the store if you want to get some merch. So I wanted to finish this episode with a poem reading. This is called Invictus by William Ernest Henley. Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the horror of the shade, and yet the menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. So that has some actually pretty cool themes that we were talking about before. No matter what is going on around you, you are the one in control. Of you. You are in control of your attitude and your spirit and your soul. And no matter the external circumstances, that will always be the case. That does it for episode 23 of the Soulcast. Thank you for listening. Merry, Merry Christmas to all of you. I wish you love and light. And I hope you have a good time over the break. Let's go into 2021 with our best energy. Thank you for listening to episode 23 of the Solcast.