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Life Hacks - The Gym Edition

Jonny & Yusef from Propane Fitness join me for another Life Hacks episode. It's the new year and everyone is back in the gym so I figured that we'd go through some of our favourite exercise variations and training hacks to add a bit of spice into whatever your new program is. Expect to learn how to make bench press even more focussed on your chest, the ultimate skull crusher variation, Jonny's favourite Rep Scheme for muscle growth, how to get motivated if you're not feeling like training, what research shows as the most effective exercises for glute growth, how to make an even better pull-down machine and much more... Sponsors: Join the Modern Wisdom Community to connect with me & other listeners - https://modernwisdom.locals.com/ Get over 37% discount on all products site-wide from MyProtein at https://bit.ly/proteinwisdom (use code: MODERNWISDOM) Get 20% discount & free shipping on your Lawnmower 4.0 at https://www.manscaped.com/ (use code MODERNWISDOM) Extra Stuff: Bring your feet up for Bench Press to increase chest focus. Barbell chest-supported rows. Floor lying skull crushers. MYO Reps. Single arm rear foot elevated split squats. Step-ups for Glute development. Commit to some exercises for quality, rather than for load. Single arm pull downs. Landmine Press for shoulders. Reduce weight for one session if you’re struggling with motivation. Use small plates to deload a bar on the floor. Train at the same time every day, and the same day every week. Have 3 sections of a training session, A, B & C. Add calves in in between sets. They take a long time to grow. Watch Dopesick. Watch Midnight Mass. Watch World War 2: Road To Victory. Watch Locke. Access Propane's Free Training - https://propanefitness.com/modernwisdom Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom #gym #training #bodybuilding - 00:00 Intro 01:06 Upgraded Bench Press 07:51 Skull Crushers, Myo Reps & Simplified Split Squats 17:05 Best Exercises for Glute Development 25:04 Deep Lunges, Eccentric Speed & Landmines 31:56 How to Get Motivated, Barbell Hacks & Stimulants 50:42 Is Calf Training a Scam? 54:19 Netflix Recommendations 1:03:59 Who Should Be the Next Bond? 1:05:41 Where to Find Jonny & Yusef - Join the Modern Wisdom Community on Locals - https://modernwisdom.locals.com/ Listen to all episodes on audio: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

Chris WilliamsonhostJonnyguestYusefguest
Jan 17, 20221h 6mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:001:06

    Intro

    1. CW

      ... landmine press for shoulders and it's so safe.

    2. JO

      Just feels right, doesn't it? Just feel like the right thing to do.

    3. CW

      But that's because-

    4. YU

      (laughs)

    5. CW

      ... you've managed to take a movement that was supposed to be pressing vertically and made it go a little bit more close to a bench press. (laughs)

    6. JO

      (laughs) If you lie under it like that, then, and then just do...

    7. CW

      (laughs)

    8. YU

      (laughs) I would say don't use a pre-workout. These things are false economies.

    9. JO

      But I don't agree with that.

    10. CW

      Apart from the times when you injure yourself, which isn't usually due to the workout, it's due to something else that's going on, you almost never regret going to the gym. Another Lifehacks episode, Tools, Techniques and Tactics for a Productive and Efficient Life. We're going to go through a big list of things that we've used over the last couple of months, and everything will be linked in the show notes below. Because it's January, we thought that we would do some special gym training, little exercises that we've picked up, variations on workouts, maybe some kitchen hacks, but also probably some things from the internet and maybe some Netflix shows and such like that we've been enjoying. So, Johnny,

  2. 1:067:51

    Upgraded Bench Press

    1. CW

      what have you, what have you got for us?

    2. JO

      (laughs) So my, this is my exercise variant. Cool. Um, so this is, I guess if you are in a gym that doesn't necessarily have a chest press or something like that, um, or if you suffer from back pain consistently or an aggravated lower back and find that, for example, when you're doing bench or doing dumbbell variants, that like it irritates your back when they sort, you sort of cramp up. And it's a pretty simple variation, but it's one that probably people outside of the like strength training world might not have tried, which is just a, it's a bench press, normal bench press with your feet up, not necessarily on the bench, but not like s- straight out, um, so your feet aren't on the floor basically, you aren't applying any force onto the floor. And it basically turns it into chest isolation and completely removes your lower back, completely removes your, your lower body. Um, so just a good variation. Limits the, limits the load and very quick to warm up for.

    3. CW

      So how does it replace a pec machine? Is it, it's just a bench press, right?

    4. JO

      It is, but it, so like, I guess it depends on how you would normally bench. But a lot of people, even if they're not a powerlifter, you'll see them kind of as the bench gets harder, they'll sort of like squirm and move around and like press their feet on the ground to try and like use their, the rest of their body to help the weight up. When your feet aren't on the ground, you can't, (laughs) you can't do that. So it's-

    5. CW

      I'm guessing as well, the, the angle is you're a little bit more flat as opposed to decline 'cause you can't get that arch in. Right. Okay.

    6. JO

      Exactly. Yeah. So you basically have to lie flat, which means that you can't get the, like the lower back cramping that sometimes happens. Um, it's also quite a good, um, like if you, if you don't really, if you're like scared of bench press and you want to just use light weight, but you want to still get something out of it, it's a good way of doing that as well.

    7. CW

      What's the reason biomechanically that this is harder? Is it 'cause you can't use your lat- your lats as much, you can't recruit?

    8. JO

      Like technically legs and lower body, there's no like, there's less stability because you're not, like you're relying on balance at the same time.

    9. CW

      Oh, okay.

    10. JO

      There's no force through the floor and yeah, you aren't in a, in a, in as much of an arch if you wanted to compare it to a powerlifting bench press. Have either of you ever tried it?

    11. YU

      Yeah, it's nice.

    12. JO

      Yeah.

    13. CW

      So I, the only time I would have done that would have been if I was doing bench press from the floor, like floor press.

    14. JO

      Like a floor press.

    15. CW

      Yeah.

    16. JO

      Yeah.

    17. CW

      Uh, that's the only time that I would have done that.

    18. JO

      Do you get, do you, have you, I imagine you have used it where like you're benching and your back like cramps up, seizes up?

    19. YU

      Yeah. It doesn't take much for my back to... (laughs)

    20. CW

      Yeah, I can imagine.

    21. JO

      I would have thought you'd have had that, Chris. You've not experienced that before.

    22. CW

      No, so my, my back doesn't really seem to be too extension, uh, perturbed, but it gets-

    23. JO

      Flexion.

    24. CW

      Yeah, yeah, a little bit worse when I go, when I go forward. Yeah, that's nice. I like it. Um, I need to try that. I might try that, try and add that in this week. Seth, what have you got? What's yours?

    25. YU

      So mine is probably one that we're all a fan of. Unfortunately, this is a sexist exercise variation.

    26. JO

      Can I guess what it is?

    27. YU

      Yes.

    28. JO

      Is it barbell chest supported row?

    29. YU

      My favorite exercise in the world.

    30. CW

      (laughs)

  3. 7:5117:05

    Skull Crushers, Myo Reps & Simplified Split Squats

    1. CW

    2. JO

      You curl up.

    3. CW

      Um, I got ... I, I had a few here because I thought that we were going ... I thought that we would have a couple each. So, the first one, which is my favorite, and I think I've ... during training with you guys, we've both done this, uh, skull crushers, but floor lying skull crushers. So most of the time if you're doing a skull crusher, which is a tricep movement, you would do on a bench. Um, getting yourself to the point where you have the EZ Curl or the barbell up here is actually a little bit awkward 'cause, okay, do I get it past to my hips, then I've got to kind of hip it to my chest, then I've got to push it up and then get it down. Dumping the bar is also really difficult. It's easier for you to go past the range that you're supposed to. You can't do dead stops from it. All of this is fixed by doing skull crushers from the floor because you lie down in front of the EZ Curl bar. It's already on the floor behind you. You can just put your hands behind you, take it up. If you fail a rep, the ... You're not going to drop it on your head. You're going to just push it up a little bit away from you. Drops on the floor. Uh, plus you can do some cool stuff, like it's easier for the person that's with you to do, uh, strip sets or drop sets 'cause they can just pull the weights off more easily, and you can do dead stop sets as well because you can just lower it to the floor, wait until it's taken all the momentum off and then go again. It's like that, for the long head of the tricep is number, numero uno workout exercise.

    4. JO

      That's for elbow pain as well.

    5. CW

      What?

    6. JO

      Like, I think elbow pain with normal, normal skull crushers can be quite bad for people if they, if they're consistently, like, passing their head.

    7. CW

      Too much extension.

    8. JO

      Yeah, or just too much going through the elbow.

    9. CW

      Mm.

    10. JO

      So yeah, the, the commonality here is lots of lying down.

    11. CW

      (laughs)

    12. JO

      And (laughs) lots of removing the lower body apart from a very specific part of the upper body and ... But the good thing is, lots of repeatability-

    13. CW

      All right.

    14. JO

      ... in each one of the exercises.

    15. CW

      Uh-

    16. YU

      So ... Oh, sorry, Johnny, it's yours.

    17. JO

      I just have ... I've got a couple more exercise variations that-

    18. CW

      Me too.

    19. JO

      ... I don't know.

    20. CW

      Me too. Johnny, have you, have you got any more?

    21. YU

      Uh, well, I, I've got some more fitness stuff, yeah.

    22. CW

      All right, hit us.

    23. JO

      Myo reps, you both know what those are?

    24. YU

      Vintage.

    25. CW

      No.

    26. JO

      (laughs) So it's something that, like, again, like, Yusuf and I'll, will just use all the time, but I think a lot of people won't have tried. So if you're short on time, um, or you wanna, like, add some assistance at the end of your training session, but you're, like, you're not that ... I, I ... Like, I don't really like doing curls, for example, or like arm, arm ... direct arm work or anything like that. Myo reps is basically, um, uh, I think it's by a guy called Börge Fagerli. Um, I think that's his name, or something like that. So you do an initial set, which is called an activation set. This is usually, like, 10 to 15 reps near failure, and then you take 10 breaths, and then do between three to five reps, 10 breaths.

    27. CW

      I have done this.

    28. JO

      Thought you might have done. 10 breaths, three to five reps, and you keep doing that until you hit, like, a close-to-failure set, basically, on an

    29. CW

      You strip the weight?

    30. JO

      ... repeat bug. You ... There are, like, variations where you can do that. But normally, if you do it properly, and this is what's so good about it, you, you get, like, five minutes in, and you've done so many reps, and you're knackered. And you're like, "Okay, that's all of that movement done," and then it removes all of the resistance of like, "Oh, I've got five sets of eight," or, "I've got three sets of 12," 'cause it's just done before you really know what's happened. And you can make it into a bit of a game, so, like, week by week you try and do slightly more weight or you try and do an extra set at the end or something like that, or do it in, in less time-

  4. 17:0525:04

    Best Exercises for Glute Development

    1. JO

    2. YU

      Yeah. Um, okay. So this is from a guy on, uh, Instagram that I follow who has some really cool, uh, infographics that explain breakdowns, Dr. Eddie Joe, PhD, uh, on Instagram, and he just breaks down what the sign says about strength training. And he looked at the exercises which recruit the most muscles, uh, most muscle fibers for glute development. So what are the exercises? And out of 100, which was the maximum of recruitment, the top three movements are all types of step-ups. So the number one, which I think was in the 90s, was step-ups. Number two was, like, contralateral crossbody step-ups, and number three was some other sli- type of step-up. So basically, overall... And the next closest thing was maybe RDLs or deadlifts. Way, way, way down were, um, hip thrusts, fucking kickbacks, uh, rear foot elevated split squats. Even lunges were quite... In fact, lunges might have been the next closest thing after, uh, after the step-ups. But basically, if you wanna have big glutes and if you want to develop your glutes and if you want to improve your lower back-

    3. JO

      ... just do step-ups. And the best way that I've found to do this is dumbbells held up (laughs) by, no, not that

    4. YU

      (laughs)

    5. JO

      Not that thing that athletes do where they go up, up. Um-

    6. YU

      Oh, the funky plates?

    7. JO

      Yeah.

    8. YU

      We love that.

    9. JO

      Um, if you have your dumbbells by your sides, it means that you, your center of gravity is lower, so you're actually more stable. It's easier for you to balance. You are only on one foot here as you go up and go down. Um, I wouldn't go above about, well, depending on how tall you are, but I wouldn't get your thigh of the stepping-up leg to ever be really above parallel to the ground. You don't need to get a super, super amount of range here. You can just go from there and then push to it being straight. I would also do all of one side at once, and then I wouldn't do it alternating because just resetting each time, foot goes down, foot comes up, it's too complex. Just keep one foot on. And I think that this is a hack I learned from you guys, which is when you step down to the floor during step-ups, only put your heel on the ground because it means that you can't push off with your toes. You'll find yourself as you start to fail the reps, wanting to give yourself a lift off at the bottom. And I guess if you're going super, super heavy, it, it might give you a little bit of assistance and help you to add some more load. It's probably a pretty good movement to overload on because if you need to fail, it's quite easy. It's probably pretty safe on your lower back because you're in this perfect straight position. And also you've just got dumbbells on your hands, so it doesn't really matter. Um, but yeah, if you want to make it, if you want to go for the super-duper hard version, uh, only touch the heel on the ground so you can't kick off with your foot, and four by 12 on each leg.

    10. YU

      Brutal.

    11. JO

      Uh, oh, just totally disgusting. It's a cardio workout disguised as a strength workout.

    12. YU

      If you-

    13. JO

      Just make sure you go wa-bap, isn't it?

    14. (laughs)

    15. Wa-bap. (laughs)

    16. Well...

    17. YU

      (laughs)

    18. JO

      If you curl up your big toe on the first rep, so the foot that's on the ground-

    19. YU

      Yeah.

    20. JO

      ... you got the, the left foot on the box, ri- uh, right foot on the ground. Curl up your toes with your right foot, and then load the leg that's on the box first.

    21. YU

      Yep.

    22. JO

      And then step off. So much harder.

    23. YU

      Just keep that-

    24. JO

      Yeah.

    25. YU

      ... posture. Yeah.

    26. JO

      It is ba- 'cause y- obviously, this is the problem with movements like this, isn't it? Like, if you're aiming for a number of reps, you end up just doing anything to hit that number of reps, which feeds-

    27. YU

      This is why we need quality of movement rather than worrying about trying to load them heavily.

    28. JO

      Well, that, it feeds into my, my, my next hack/dash tip.

    29. YU

      Ooh, beautiful.

    30. JO

      Um, which is to have, uh, a split in your sessions where you have, um, well, if you care about how much weight you lift at all, have one or two movements in the session where you do just care about how much weight you lift, 'cause, for example, if you're trying to increase your bench press or your squat or your deadlift or something like that, I don't think you should necessarily be focusing on the quality of the contraction in your glutes and your hamstrings. You do just want to be lifting more weight or hitting your rep target. But all of your assistant stuff, I think in general, you, you get far more mileage out of yourself, your joints, your muscles, your connective tissue, and the exercise. If you say, "Well, okay, this rowing movement, like, I don't care how m- how many plates are on the machine. I'm going to go for, like, the, the best quality movement. I'm going to control the reps. I'm going to go for maximal contraction. I'm going to pause at the top, and I'm going to use half the weight that I maybe would have done." And it's a massive ego hit, especially if you train with people. You're using like two-thirds of the weight that they are. But if by the time you hit the weight that they are using now, can almost guarantee you'll be in a much better condition than them. So, just reduces your injury, rate of injury, um, and also how much longer you can use the exercise for as well.

  5. 25:0431:56

    Deep Lunges, Eccentric Speed & Landmines

    1. YU

      in a gym that doesn't have a pull-down machine, that only has cables, for example.

    2. JO

      Five minutes. Five minutes from your house.

    3. YU

      For, for example, if the gym is only within, you know, a couple of minutes of your house, and you-

    4. CW

      (laughs)

    5. YU

      ... then you can get really ni- and, in fact, I might start doing this instead of pull-downs in the future, which is just a, a deep lunge with the cable overhead and just doing single-arm pull-downs. So, the way that I would do it, for the people who are lucky enough to see this on YouTube, is you'll have an orange-

    6. CW

      Are you wearing orange jogging bottoms?

    7. YU

      Yeah. You like them?

    8. CW

      No.

    9. YU

      So (laughs) , so a, a deep lunge.

    10. CW

      Yep.

    11. YU

      Arm overhead, so right foot forward, left foot, left hand

    12. CW

      Is back knee on the ground, though?

    13. YU

      Uh, you can, but I just, I'm flexible enough to just do it in a deep lunge with my foot on the floor.

    14. JO

      So your back foot is elevated?

    15. CW

      Lovely.

    16. JO

      Back foot is off the ground. Sorry, your back knee.

    17. YU

      My back knee is, yeah, just 'cause it feels nice and stable.

    18. CW

      That's a good exercise. So, I have a buddy, uh, Alfie, who's adamant that a, kind of a similar movement, but sat on the floor, uh, with both cables attached at the top, two handles, and then allowing yourself to basically do a vertical, kind of like a pull-down, like, like a close-grip pull-down. But because it's on the cables and because you're not locked into a seat, it allows you to play around with that angle and that stretch that you get at the very, very top.

    19. YU

      That's a John Meadows exercise.

    20. CW

      Is it?

    21. YU

      They're called, called Stretches. Yeah, lovely as well.

    22. CW

      Yeah.

    23. YU

      You can also do that with, if there's like, a, a seat bit (laughs) , you can put your foot on there.

    24. CW

      Uh, I know what you mean.

    25. YU

      So, so that then you can hinge-

    26. CW

      Yeah.

    27. YU

      ... while keeping it reliable.

    28. CW

      Uh, this is something that I think, it was such a good, um, cue that was given by a CrossFit coach, and his argument was your concentric should be quicker than the eccentric on everything that you do. That if you're doing bicep curls and you're lowering the weight down, you can lower it as slowly or as quickly as your program demands.

    29. YU

      For nine seconds.

    30. CW

      (laughs) Yeah, for nine seconds like that other one. But, um, you need to contract it quicker than that. And I think that just generally, when I've seen people training, I fig- they're forgetting about tempo. Not everything needs to be a tempo movement, not everything needs to be like a four-second eccentric. But if you were to take a little bit more care about how you're lowering the weight down, and then you use power on the way up. I've also seen, this may be bro science, but that if power is load, whatever, load, distance, and speed pulled together, that moving a heavy weight more quickly recruits more power. So, that should mean that you get more muscular.

  6. 31:5650:42

    How to Get Motivated, Barbell Hacks & Stimulants

    1. CW

    2. JO

      Nice.

    3. YU

      This is one that I got from Elliot Hulse, of all people, which is, if you are having one of those days where you're just like, "Oh, I just cannot be bothered to do the session that I've got," and it's particularly if you've been following 5-3-1 for the last seven years, as you should be, and you're long Bitcoin, then there is a point where the numbers get to the point where, like... And we've all experienced this, like, Thursday night before your squat day for heavy threes, and you're like, "Oh," like, "I don't know if I can even face getting out of bed in the morning because I've got this, this thing coming up." If your training consistently starts to feel like that, just go in and say, "Right, I'm not allowed to lift more than 60 kilograms for three sets of 10 for everything," and, like, you have to just turn up, go through the motions. You're not allowed to give it any intensity, not allowed to... Like, it's literally you just turn up and just go through the motions. Like, you can even have that face, just... And he's, and he's right, that by the end of that session, you'll be so, like, fired up to actually do it properly again that solves the problem. Whereas if you try and push it, when something in you is just like, "Oh, I'm exhausted," you're only going to burn out faster.

    4. CW

      So, what's the, the principle here? That if you're struggling with motivation, reduce the load, move through the session, and use the, whatever, like, latent desire to train properly to... Like, the boredom kicks you into the, the next session correctly?

    5. YU

      A- absolutely, yeah.

    6. CW

      Do you ever do that, Johnny? Do you ever... Well, you know, 'cause you are pres- you are basically controlled by a man on the other side of the internet with your training, aren't you?

    7. JO

      It's worse than that, actually. I'm controlled by a very intricate spreadsheet that I don't understand.

    8. CW

      That is run by a man.

    9. JO

      So, I tell the spreadsheet every day how I feel. Seriously.

    10. CW

      And then the spreadsheet tells you-

    11. JO

      And then the spreadsheet says, "Well, this is what you should do." So, it's kind of a- adjusted and adapted for me.

    12. CW

      Do you-

    13. JO

      I, I have a, I have a, uh, one actually. My ne- It's weird. My next one is very linked to that.

    14. CW

      Okay.

    15. JO

      But I'll let you go.

    16. CW

      Um, this is the most overused hack of all time, so if people haven't already seen this, I'll be very surprised, but we haven't used it before. James Smith and Sonny Webster got into a fight on Twitter about who was able... Uh, sorry, on Instagram, about who was able to use this first. But just, if you have a barbell which is on the floor and has a lot of plates on it, stick a small plate under the closest-to-the-collar plate that's on the floor, roll it up and over it, and it means that you can de-load the bar so much more easily. You'll save your lower back. And you've always been in that position, especially if you've b- if you're in a gym which isn't built for powerlifting, where the pl- the rubber Gym Eighty plates, or something. They're like a gold plate, and it's with rubber that makes you stick. It's like Teflonized rubber or some shit. And it just doesn't come off. And, you know, this is impossible to get off. Roll the barbell up, kick it onto a plate, pull everything off the end. There you go, you've only got one plate left. Do the same on the other side. You've de-loaded a bar far easier. Now, you could go to a gym that has a bar jack or, like, a bar rack, like a Laico thing, to properly kick it up, but I actually think that this is probably quicker.

    17. JO

      As a... For a tip for people who've, like, never been to the gym before, this is the first year they're going to the gym, I've seen it happen so many times where people don't appreciate the... Like, if you strip all the one side of the barbell, if it's, like, on a rack or, like, an EZ Bar, for example, on a preacher curl, you'll see people strip one side of it, and then it goes woof, like that. And the, the end of the-

    18. CW

      Straight into the face.

    19. JO

      Into, into someone else lying on the bench next to them, or, or whatever.

    20. CW

      (laughs)

    21. JO

      So, like, unload barbell. When they aren't on the ground, unload them evenly. I- e- one side after the other.

    22. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    23. YU

      Learn basic physics.

    24. CW

      (laughs)

    25. JO

      Very basic.

    26. CW

      Moment arm.

    27. JO

      It's... Do you know why I think that s- slightly, it's slightly forgivable, is the barbell, especially a 20 kilo, like, a six-foot barbell, you look at it and think, "That can probably, that can b- That'll probably be all right." Like, it doesn't look immediately like that's in, uh, that person's in imminent danger. But-

    28. CW

      My ability to judge how much weight, like, how much weight the fulcrum or whatever needs in order to flip it over, I have no idea. Absolutely no idea. I always err on the side of caution 'cause I've seen this happen one too many times. And you're, that's the equivalent of being a server in a restaurant and dropping the glass. Uh, everyone, "Oh, hey!"

    29. YU

      Yeah, like, what's the cost benefit-

    30. CW

      Yeah.

  7. 50:4254:19

    Is Calf Training a Scam?

    1. CW

      Uh, what have I got here? Um, this is just one that I've had. So Tyneside where I train at in Newcastle has just got a, um, seated calf raise machine. So the ones that work as you're sat down, you load the plates on the front, the pad sits on the top of your knees. (coughs) And we've just found that adding that in, in between what e- there is nothing that you're doing that can't have calves added in in between, but no one can ever be bothered to dedicate ending some... All right, maybe if you're doing squats or rear foot elevated lunges or something like that.

    2. JO

      Mm-hmm.

    3. CW

      But y- y- no one is looking at the calf machine.

    4. JO

      Or, or calf raises.

    5. CW

      In between calf ra-

    6. YU

      (laughs)

    7. CW

      Yeah, when you're training calves the other thing that you should really look at is adding calves in in between sets.

    8. JO

      (laughs)

    9. CW

      But if you're doing like a bench press or if you're doing anything upper body, just get four or five rounds of an easy calf machine or set the, uh, leg press up and do calf raises on the leg press in between.

    10. YU

      So someone sent me... I must have tweeted something about calf training or having small calves, and someone tweeted me a bunch of studies that are like, "We compared a group of people over 16 weeks training calves heavy twice a week versus heavy three times a week, or, um, light and heavy, or, um, progressively doing this and, and all of them showed zero muscle growth." (laughs)

    11. CW

      No way.

    12. YU

      They can't come up. (laughs)

    13. CW

      No fucking way.

    14. YU

      Across the entire study like any... And it's just basically like, ah, so calf training is just a scam then, is it? Like-

    15. CW

      Why is that the case, do you think?

    16. JO

      I, it becar- yeah, that can't be true.

    17. YU

      It just so hav- so one theory is that they're so heavily genetically determined and that they v- you basically are training them all the time because you're getting so much loading from walking them- walking around with them that they're that kind of muscle that have already hit their limit, um, unless you were to go absolutely ham on them. Like it might just be that to get big calves you need to, you need to do a Chris and like between any set of anything-

    18. CW

      Yeah.

    19. YU

      ... go and sit on the seated calf raise.

    20. CW

      Yeah. Well, it's interesting because obviously the achilles rehab that I did, I went from having a calf that was basically... that didn't exist, total muscle wastage, to now I overshot it and the calf of the leg that I recovered is now bigger than the calf of the leg that I didn't.

    21. YU

      (laughs)

    22. CW

      (laughs) Which is why I'm thinking about calves a little bit for the first time ever. Um-

    23. JO

      The...

    24. CW

      What do you say? What, what, what, what?

    25. JO

      Just that one of the coaches from 3DMJ, Jeff Alberts, has got a, like a side-by-side comparison of like... I mean, and this is probably 10 years of calf training, but he has legitimately turned very average calves into like a strong body part for him.

    26. YU

      So there's an interesting point because Jeff Alberts is all about mind-muscle connection, isn't he? He's Mr. Longevity Bodybuilder. Like he's in his (laughs) like his fifties.

    27. JO

      In his 50s and still going, yeah.

    28. YU

      Yeah. He's all about like getting the most out of a set of ten as you possibly can.

    29. JO

      So, how long was the study for?

    30. YU

      16 weeks. So, or like eight weeks.

  8. 54:191:03:59

    Netflix Recommendations

    1. CW

      we've watched or seen recently? Any cool stuff?

    2. JO

      I got one.

    3. CW

      Let us...

    4. JO

      Well, I'm watching it at the moment called Dopesick on Disney+. Are you worried that we've already had that, Chris?

    5. CW

      No.

    6. JO

      No. So it is, um, it's recommended by Dan, Mr. Digital Audio Broadcast. Um, it's about, uh, OxyContin, the sort of the creation and distribution.

    7. CW

      Not the... Is it the Wessler family?

    8. JO

      ... uh ...

    9. CW

      It's the something family, isn't it?

    10. JO

      Something family, but yeah, I can't remember the name of it. But yeah, pharmaceutical business produces this, this OxyContin drug, which is, an, an opioid that they claim has, like, slow release and all that sort of stuff, and isn't addictive. Um, and it's about, like, the, um, the consequences of that. And it is bit of a, bit of a slow start, but...

    11. YU

      Is it a documentary or-

    12. JO

      No, no, it's a, it's a series. It's a drama series. Um-

    13. CW

      Based on, I'm gonna guess-

    14. JO

      Well, it must be true, right? 'Cause OxyContin-

    15. CW

      Theory or actually based on reality, yeah.

    16. JO

      ... is real?

    17. YU

      I've had oxycodone. It's a powerful drug.

    18. JO

      There's oxycodeine-

    19. CW

      What's the difference between oxycodone and OxyContin?

    20. YU

      It, I think it's the trade name, 'cause I've never heard OxyContin being used in the UK. It might be-

    21. JO

      OxyContin, I think-

    22. YU

      ... maybe the re- the slow release or-

    23. JO

      I think, yeah.

    24. YU

      ... formulation or something.

    25. JO

      I think that's it.

    26. CW

      What was the one... 'cause they had to change it so that people couldn't snort it anymore. Is that the difference between oxycodone and OxyContin?

    27. JO

      So in this OxyContin, they, like, the thing that supposedly slow release is the coating of the tablet. But people put the tablet in their mouth for a bit, take it out, crush it, and snort it.

    28. CW

      (laughs)

    29. JO

      So (laughs) so... But, like, the pharmaceutical expert thing is just, like, a sugary coating around the edge of the pill. But yeah, so I, I g- I mean, this was a thing, it, like, keeps shooting back between, like, 1995 and present day where there's, like, a lawsuit being, being billed against them. And I haven't finished it yet, but so good.

    30. CW

      Yeah, I've heard that before. It was being a... Dopesick was being advertised on the central roundabout in town.

  9. 1:03:591:05:41

    Who Should Be the Next Bond?

    1. CW

      I think, on balance, Tom Hardy makes for... You remember when, you remember when it went from being Pierce Brosnan and everyone couldn't believe that you were gonna have this, like, hard guy, it was gritty, Daniel Craig was running off the side of buildings, he was coming out of the water, he was, like, jacked? And now think, 'cause that was... I think he first became Bond in 2006 or something.

    2. JO

      Yeah, that's exactly right, yeah.

    3. CW

      Um, so think about the fact that from then until now, looking at Daniel Craig and comparing him with the potential of Tom Hardy and thinking, hang on, Daniel Craig was, like, the hard, aggressive dude.

    4. JO

      Mm-hmm.

    5. CW

      And then you see just how much more extreme, uh, movies have got. Like, the standard's really been raised. But I think to go, to lean into it would be a better way. But I also think that it would be quite cool to ha-... I think having a Black Bond would be pretty cool. That would be like-

    6. JO

      Yeah, Idris would smash it as well. Would be a certain -

    7. CW

      Yeah. He's a sick guy.

    8. JO

      Yeah.

    9. CW

      He's got an awesome voice.

    10. JO

      Yeah.

    11. CW

      Um...

    12. YU

      I do know who Tom Hardy is 'cause he, he played-

    13. JO

      Yeah.

    14. YU

      ... Bro... Uh, Charles Bronson.

    15. CW

      Yes.

    16. JO

      Yeah, he did.

    17. YU

      Which-

    18. CW

      He did, yeah.

    19. YU

      Which in itself, like, if you're having Bronson and it's now Bond, that's...

    20. CW

      He's got a real, uh, repertoire. He plays the Jewish gangster in Peaky Blinders.

    21. JO

      Yeah.

    22. CW

      He's got the Welsh accent. He's done all sorts.

    23. JO

      He's the Kray twins.

    24. CW

      Yeah. He's both of them.

    25. JO

      Yeah.

    26. CW

      (laughs) Uh ...

    27. JO

      He's Wayne Bane in the, in The Batmans. The Batman.

    28. CW

      Serious guy. Serious, serious guy. Uh, gentlemen, thank you. We made it. Where should people go

  10. 1:05:411:06:17

    Where to Find Jonny & Yusef

    1. CW

      if they want to check out what it is that you guys do?

    2. JO

      I think if you just wanna run any online business, propainfitness.com/modernwisdom. We show you how to do it for free. If you want macros and calories, propainfitness.com/calculator. (instrumental music)

    3. CW

      We made it.

    4. JO

      That's it.

    5. CW

      Peace. What's happening, people? Thank you very much for tuning in. If you enjoyed that episode, then press here for a selection of the best clips from the podcast over the last few weeks. And don't forget to subscribe. Peace.

Episode duration: 1:06:18

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