Episode 348: Ebenezer Samuel Shares No-Nonsense Advice on Building Muscle, Burning Fat, and Healthy Eating for Life

Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins.

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It's not about what quote-unquote diet you're following.

It's about, again, what I said, and that's why if i were sitting where you were and you were interviewing me i would say that it does make a difference about the amount you eat yeah not so much and what you eat is what i would say not exact not not necessarily the time you're eating it and all that other stuff that goes with it yeah like all of the the the time you're eating it has like

i i think bodybuilders do bodybuilders do multiple meals right what i'm saying the time like if you don't eat until noon or whatever I'm saying that I think the more that that those are also based on your body can't break down food like

we overeat and therefore we're stuck with all this food in us because we're not we're not digesting it because we're eating so much of it so like having enough time to digest your food is really good for your system yeah it's interesting because to to bring the conversation um full circle that's like intermittent fasting is part of where you get the whole calories and calories that idea because it's like oh i'm gonna take my calorie i'm gonna take all my calories in like two to in like two meals based in whatever it is four hours right yeah for I think eight's a beginning I think eight for beginners yeah or most people yeah I

think I believe it I believe it's eight you're right but but you but but that and so that gets reduced to calories in I think I think calories in calories out was a very mean it's like a well-meaning idea and it was basically the way people are telling you to eat is so complicated.

So it's like, let's just reduce it to this.

But then we get so reductive with it that it kind of becomes counterproductive in its own way.

How about, like, what's the best?

How about this?

What's the best way to eat

if we want to build muscle and lose fat and just, you know,

feel better and look better?

What would be, in your opinion?

I would say you want to have like four meals a day, day, right?

And each meal, you want to aim for 20 grams of protein, okay?

Which is, and try to get this from a natural source.

Make sure to get something green on your plate, right?

And then get, you know,

three to four ounces of a carb.

And if you do that, right, you, and then you want to have, you want to ideally have some kind of water on the side.

And if you do that, um, not some kind of water.

I have this water.

BLK water.

water blk water but blk and blk water is actually perfect right

um so i think you want to i think if you do that it checks a lot of boxes um and then and then and again there's a variety in there right because you're told your guys a protein can be eggs or chicken or fish right um and your your green vegetable can be something different every time you're checking a lot of boxes in terms of getting fiber in your system which is really good um you're checking a lot of boxes with um with the protein which your body needs we're not eating enough fiber though as a society.

So,

how do we, I mean, we should up that for sure.

Yeah, I think it's interesting because

I think we've come a long way in the fiber conversation.

And it's funny because I love white rice,

which is, I can't.

I know, so

you've had it like five times since we've been here.

I mean, to be fair, I don't know if they have brown rice.

They probably have brown rice.

I probably could ask for it.

I've kind of enjoyed just getting away from brown rice.

But I think we.

By the way, white rice is supposed to be better than brown rice.

Did you you know that?

I haven't heard this.

Oh, this is.

It's a new.

You should Google it.

You should do a story on it.

I heard that

there's a whole myth about brown rice versus white rice.

I don't remember what the myth exactly is.

I can Google it right now and tell you.

But I had someone on here recently who told me about this.

And it's pretty amazing, actually.

I'm going to Google it.

White rice versus

uh brown rice i was a brown rice person too i've heard i've heard i have heard the thing that brown rice is overrated compared to coke to white rice like it's not markedly better

it's not marketably better it's not yeah white rice tastes so much better too i'm also asian so i'm kind of like i know well i was gonna say i mean you're you're naturally gonna probably live to 177 because of just all the rice you're eating but hold on brown rice versus uh white rice.

Okay,

if you look at the breakdown, it's actually

the fiber content in brown rice is like minuscule higher.

But yeah, it's basically a little bit higher,

like between one gram and two grams more fiber.

And then

I'm not finding it properly right now.

I'm going to look it up and then get back to you on that.

But from what I heard, it's not that much different.

White rice is, see, again, there's another, I think what happens is something gets traction and then everyone just follows the,

you know, follows that.

And this could be happening right now with the broker.

I heard something about white rice, and now I'm following that whole thing.

So don't take my word for it.

I think I could have sworn I heard someone mention that to me.

And I, and they were like a dog, they were a leading nutritionist.

So

I'll try to find that information.

So, so that, but that's like, that's again why I'm big into like, it's like, if it's like, if you, if you kind of loosely follow, if everybody loosely followed what I'm saying, right, they're covered.

But choose your own carb.

Don't let, don't let, don't let the internet choose it for you, right?

Yeah.

Choose your own, choose your own mixed vegetable.

Like a sweet potato versus a white potato.

It's like, it's like a russet potato.

Yeah.

It's like at a high level, if you're like

planning to try out for like, you know, or like a competition or something.

Exactly.

But then that matters.

Right.

So for the average person who wants to like look a little bit more lean and healthy and fit, have white rice or brown rice.

It's not going to make it, it's so nominally different.

It's not, it doesn't make a difference.

Okay, let's talk about aging and muscle, like keeping, how do we do this and do it well?

Because we do break down more muscle as we age.

So how do we

so, so, and that's interesting because the, the older we get, the more precise we have have to get with all

with all this stuff, like the healthier we have to eat.

And yeah, I mean, so isn't building muscle when we're older.

Like, I believe after 40, especially for men,

sarcopenia becomes like a major issue.

I think

the two things we want to do

are, or there are three things we want to do.

First off,

and this is this is kind of one of those things we're told it we're told by kind of modern fitness, right?

Is you've got to do the

kind of big exercises right you have to lift heavy okay and older people should definitely try to lift heavy i think every human on the planet should work up to being able to deadlift like their body weight plus at least 50 pounds um and that's not unattainable right and you have to take your time to work up there so i think older older people shouldn't be afraid to lift heavy they should do that um

at least twice a week, right?

When you say heavy though, right?

Like the other, the fear is that

especially as you get older like you're gonna pull your put your back out or you're gonna hurt you're gonna injure yourself for like injury injury prevention yeah um

so you're saying that shouldn't be something that we focus on yeah

i think um i think two things one i think for a lot of or do challenging stuff but go ahead yeah yeah exactly it's mainly like challenge yourself like again working up to that heavy part working at working up to say your your body weight plus 50 pounds on a deadlift you you might might want a trainer for that right um you want somebody around who can kind of help you um master your form or you want to like watch like a clinic i'll give on the deadlift online with you in like three weeks right um but um

i just i just think don't be afraid of of heavier weights right and you and the key is like is the rep scheme right is um like it's it's like you learn you learn with lighter weights how to how to kind of get your form down but then you you've got like at some point you want to um challenge yourself right um and you're going to keep the reps low you're going to do like one or two reps and that's fine i think a lot of people get caught up in again more work right so it's like oh i'm going to do sets of like 12 and 15 reps i'm going to tone you know except toning really doesn't is kind of toning doesn't really exist right and it's like again don't talk about that i think people don't real you and i may think that but most people don't realize that so why don't you talk about that it's called toning myth is that that's a myth yeah i honestly don't even i barely even know what the word means right it's not it's not and it's it's funny because when you read um

um women's magazines do women's magazines say it i don't read that's all they say is like you know tone your you know upper body toning your arms the word tone or toning is like synonymous with uh you know abs You know what I mean?

Like, it's a very common word.

It's interesting because we, because we literally, I'm actually trying to think back to the last time I used it in men's health.

I've been in men's health for four and a half years now.

And the answer is never.

Because women use the word toning.

I don't think men ever use the word toning.

Yeah, I think

it's almost like it, I feel like it got caught up in societal kind of

because

of that whole, oh, well, well,

we can't say build muscle to women, right?

And we can't, and bulking freaks them out, right?

So here, we're going to get get them lifting weights because it's gonna tone them, whatever.

I don't, I, I, I honestly don't know what the word means.

Um, it means like, yeah, not like kind of like

it's like again, the opposite of flabby would be toned, I guess.

I don't know.

I guess these are all like, this is exactly my point, and that's why I wanted to talk to you and have you on is because I think so much of

everything is all marketing and

branding, and it not, it's not necessarily accurate or true.

It's just what we've been conditioned to think because we see it and hear about it all the time, especially with social media.

And every ding-dong now on social media is a fitness expert, which is a problem.

Yeah.

Because most people are getting paid for everything that they're doing, or

they have no clue what they're doing.

So either option is terrible.

So having someone who's a trusted resource like you, who actually takes it super seriously and like learns about this constantly is i think a really important

thing to to talk about because yeah you get like you get like analysis paralysis on and overwhelmed at all the different information that's out there yeah and i think i think that is what that is what yeah you're right it is so much kind of like marketing and and spin and it gets it gets confusing for people that's why i like i'm confused and that's what i do for a living practically you know what i mean i don't even know anymore i'm like i'm like i don't know maybe that maybe I'm like the brown rice, white rice thing.

I'm even confused because I'm like, okay, well, I mean, this trusted resource told me, and then I look and now I can't find it.

But then I'm sure if I, I don't have the time right this second.

But you, if you dig around long enough for anything, you can back up that

resource, right?

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, because the internet, the internet is a treasure trove of confirmation bias, which is really cool.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Yeah.

But I think toning is is like toning is like the woman way, and don't take that the wrong way.

But it's kind of

off my podcast.

I'm just joking.

I mean, it sounds like it's in all the women's magazines.

So it's basically like, because I feel like we, I feel like guys try to like cut, rip, shred.

It's basically the equivalent to that.

It is cut, ripped.

Okay, so for guys, it's cut, rip, shred, build.

Yeah.

Women, it's tone.

What else?

Chisel, maybe.

It's mostly just tone, isn't it?

Tone.

Yeah.

Tone or burn, yeah, burn, burn's a big one, yeah, yeah, we actually like burn fat, tone your midsection, yeah.

So, so they're like, let it's like, yeah, and our, yeah, the guy terms, if you will, are just edgier versions, yes, yeah, but it's in, yeah, but the men's magazines do have way better workouts that are more effective.

I will say that.

That's why, you know, I have you here today, because

the truth of the matter is, I do know enough to know that

women are kind of like kind of shown and taught to be lifting lightweight, very lightweight, and they actually, or no weight, and they believe that's actually going to get them to their goal.

When the truth of the matter is, you do need to lift heavy and heavier and challenge yourself because that's how you get results.