Deadlifts Won’t Break You—Weakness Will: Why Lifting Isn’t Optional After 40

Well, everyone, and welcome back to the show. You thought Christmas was over, and here I am giving you another present.
This tremendous conversation with Jordan Syatt, one of my absolute favorite go-to fitness thought leaders. First caught Jordan's work when he was the personal trainer to Gary Vaynerchuk.
Jordan has since gone off on his own, and just the way that he delivers content speaks to me personally. It is no nonsense, no bullshit, straight down the middle content that is going to hit you right in the face if you are looking for easy comfort, but not in that influencer way, not like, look at how amazing I am way.
It is real world, real talk from a guy who has a real family, who really works out, who really was a weightlifting champion, but is, as he says, I think he says he's like 5'8". I mean, so this isn't some like Adonis, you know, gifted by God individual who then tells you all these things you should be doing.

This is a real guy doing the work, training real people and delivering that message in a real way.

And it absolutely resonates with me.

And I know it will resonate with you.

So with all that being said, I give you your last Christmas present, Jordan Syed.

You can curse, you can tell stories, get contextual. All good.
There's no hard rails on a conversation amazing awesome awesome i also really like that uh i like your jacket man that's like that's like something i would wear like i really like that a lot that's awesome straight instagram purchase it really just dude was late night it's like instagram fucking nose when i've had like a beer too and i'm sitting on the couch by myself it's like a nose it's like it knows i smell it I mean, it was late night. It's like Instagram fucking knows when I've had like a beer or two and I'm sitting on the couch by myself.
It's like it knows. I smell it on me.
It's like he's just enough. Like his inhibitions are down just enough that if we serve this ad, he's going to hit purchase right here.
Yeah. Honestly, I bet they do do that on purpose.
Like, all right, this time of night, that honestly makes total sense. I'm not even a clothes guy.
Like all my stuff, hand-me-downs. But like that's nice i really like it a lot oh i've had this for two years i wear it so um i live in albany new york so an upstate okay and yeah it's cold as shit and i my office is in my basement and there's no heat like not you know it's not real hot down here and this thing is beautiful and.
And you throw it on all the time. And here's the crazy part.

So I got divorced three years ago.

And like, maybe, I don't know what your relationship is like.

But my ex-wife, like, she had her hands in my clothing purchases a lot.

So like, since I've been divorced, I got to make all these decisions on my own.

Right?

Okay.

I'm a grown man, so I can do that do that i have found and i shit you not the clothes i love the most and i'm not a big clothes guy either i buy off instagram flux shoes i found flux shoes on instagram fucking love them don't buy another shoes they're my favorite shoe other than i have a pair of um nobles that i wear for lifting but like other than that flat bottom so like zero drop wide sole yeah dude find them on instagram uh this sweatshirt this is like 45 on instagram like it just instagram's got my like me so dialed in it's unbelievable i just i just looked up flux because because I'm in the market for new shoes. That's perfect.
Yeah.

Their trainers are nice, but

these, dude, these just zero drop

fucking kick around shoes

are awesome. I like that.

Perfect. Thank you, man.

Hey.

Who knew this was going to be a big ad for the Instagram shop? All right. With all that being said, dude, I want to talk about something.
I want to start in a place, and you take this or wherever you want. But, like, I'm going to hit you with a scenario that I know a lot of dudes, so I'm 43 a lot of dudes my age are dealing with and here's the scenario last january it's cold as shit in upstate we don't see the sun for like six months okay you you you still live in new york or where are you now nowhere in dallas dallas okay so screw you but good for you uh i know you used to be in new york when you were wicked a lot so winter.
Yeah, I grew up in Buckingham. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm used to that, like, winter drag. Completely used to it.
Last January, it's like I hit a brick wall. I just, it was like, I'm like, dude, I'm in shape.
At that time, I was lifting a lot. Like, I'm in great shape.
I'm like, I shouldn't feel this way. Mm-hmm.
and I hear one of the gurus Huberman or someone talk about testosterone and these at-home tests you can do so I'm like fuck it like I'm out of options and I go get it and my testosterone is 70 which puts me in the sixth percentile of all men my age that's's wild. I don't think I've ever heard of someone's being that low.
Bro, high-protein diet, workout constantly, like eat good. I do all the things.
Like for the most part. Sleep good.
Above average, healthy 40-year-old guy. Like way above average.
In all other areas, 70. 70 so i started taking oral i use a company called maximus i don't know there's a bunch of companies out there doesn't matter um so i wanted to start our conversation around one the role that testosterone plays particularly in men's lives and outside of like taking a supplement like I do now,

it's a natural it increases the natural production of of testosterone in the body before you go trt it's like a pre trt thing um like what can we be doing because when i when i shared this with some of my other buddies that like coach youth sports because I'd coach my kids and stuff all dude two or three other than when got tested and they were all super low and not not as low as me but they were lower than they should be so like what are we not doing like what are the things that that guys my age you know 8 30s early 40s mid 40s can be doing to kind of like, it's changed my whole life, man. I'm a completely different dude today than I was a year ago because I figured that out.
Where's your test at now? 700. 700? Holy shit.
You 10X'd it? That's crazy. That's real.
And it's, what are you taking? I could go up and get the bottle. No, it's okay.
It's okay. No worries.
I don't know. It's okay.
And it starts, it's like inclinamide, E-N-C something. Okay.
Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah. So it's an, every day I put it under my tongue and, you know, it's just like a little tablet or whatever.
Just take one a day. And I've been doing it since March.
And the last time I got tested was August and I was at 700. That's amazing.
That's incredible. I mean, so just for context, like generally and whoever, whatever doctor you talk to is going to give you a different number.
And I'm not a doctor, but generally like under 200 or 250 is, is low. Um, and, uh, so to be 70 is very, very, very low.
Um, so I'm glad that you, you got tested and you got on something. And as long as you're continue to be monitored by a doctor or a medical professional, that's the most important thing.
Um, the, the major thing is a lot of people, what a lot of guys will do is they'll just say, I've got low testosterone in the same way that often women will say, I've got a slow metabolism, but they don't actually get checked for it. And so what you did is you did the right thing.
You got tested and that's what you need. That's like the first step.
You have to go get tested. A lot of people are very quick to go the TRT route and I don't have anything wrong with trt inherently but that shouldn't be your first step like first let's look at number one is your sleep actually before you even sleep how's your body fat yeah like if you have excess body fat that's one of the major never mind the major risks of dying early heart disease cardiovascular disease so many other health issues from having excess body fat but if you have high body fat, your testosterone is going to be at risk of being significantly lower.
On top of that, drinking a lot of alcohol. Now, some in moderation is fine, but if you're drinking a lot week to week, that's a major problem.
And with that often comes poor sleep and often will also come excess body fat. So higher body fat, minimal sleep, too much alcohol, smoking,

these are all things that just wreck your testosterone and your health as well,

but especially your testosterone.

They go hand in hand.

Not lifting weights, and a lot of dudes for some reason hate on cardio,

but good cardiovascular health will improve your testosterone as well.

So they all go hand in hand, but the major controllable factors are body fat, sleep, alcohol, biggest ones by far. From there, get that under control.
And for you, like, clearly, you're, you're lean, you're strong, you're muscular. It sounds like everything was already taken care of.
There might have been some either lifestyle, whether it was the stress from, who knows, the divorce, stress from whatever was going on in your life, because stress can have a major impact on it as well, combined with, I mean, if sleep was an issue as well, that also could have severely impacted it. But the major controllable factors, you want to get those taken care of first for you, since you clearly were like in such good shape already, it was probably like, what the fuck is it? Oh, you know, another thing is vitamin D, right? So if you're not getting sunlight, that can be a major component of it as well.
And, you know, you're in Albany, so you were just coming out of winter when you got checked as well. That also probably had a major component, assuming you weren't already supplementing with vitamin d3 um either way um most dudes need to get their basics in check before they start taking anything extra um and this goes for everything like this isn't just for um testosterone or trt this goes for every supplement like creatine for some reason as soon as someone wants to get healthy and fit the first place they go is gnc or vitamin shop or whatever supplement store it's the first thing to do it's like how about you go to the gym at least three times a week how about you get eight hours of sleep every night how about you get at least try and get one gram of protein per pound of your body weight like do that for a year before you go to the supplement store because you're going to drop hundreds of dollars in the supplement store and then you're not going to fucking use it and it's in the name like a supplement it's supplemental it supplements an already good diet it supplements an already good sleep schedule it supplements an already good workout program if you're taking these supplements and you're not doing the right thing then you're not going to make a difference and before you get the fat burners and that nonsense those don't work if they did everyone would take them if those worked then glp ones and we go via no zempic wouldn't be a fucking thing right now if the fat burners work stop buying that shit it's a waste of money no one ever was like you know what got me that six pack is the fucking green tea fat burner that i took from like stop it get your stuff in order before you go the supplement route and then once you've been consistent at least a least a year, at least, and usually like to say three to five years, then you can start doing this other stuff.
You're different because you're already in shape. You're already fit.
So I'm glad that you got checked, but first get checked and then get everything, all the controllables under control. And then from there, you can see what else you need to do.
Yeah. I have a feeling that it was stress because that winter I had founded a company and I exited from it in November of 2023.
So maybe like three or four months before that. And there was just a lot of tumult.
I think it had to do with stress, but it could have been vitamin D. Dude, we get 66 days of sun here.
And I probably wasn't taking enough vitamin D. But man, I was shocked when I saw that number I was like holy shit and for for those for guys for listening like I'm a different human today than I was a year ago like just in the way that I feel it's it's insane and and then you you talk about like that negative and and I'd love for you to comment on this like it's like it's it's such a negative cycle.
Right. So like I'm I'm my testosterone is not there.
I'm feeling down. So I'm not I start I stop working out as much as I want to because I don't have that natural energy and I'm questioning things.
And then then you don't start sleeping well. And then, like you said, then you start grasping for solutions.
And I hate that. Like, I hate going anything that isn't, like, natural first.
You know, that tends to be my way. But you do.
It's so easy to start going, well, maybe it's this supplement. Or maybe I just need, you know, maybe it's because I'm not taking, what's that, greens, athletic greens.
If I was taking athletic greens, everything would be fine. Yeah, yeah it's it's not so easy to go down that rabbit hole yeah i mean the reality is like it's it's much easier to take a pill than it is to work out and it is to put your fucking phone down and go to bed and it is to stay hydrated and to get your steps in it's much easier to take a pill um a lot of people like to point to individual ingredients, like seed oils or whatever it is, these major problems.
It's like, you know what the major problem is compared to any other time in history is that right now, it's like you've got Uber Eats on your phone. You can, you barely get any movement in.
Before we had to hunt for our food. Now you don't even have to go to the grocery store if you don't want.
You can order your groceries directly to your door. You don't have to move.
You can sit down in front of your blue light phone and look at it all day, all night, and you don't move. You don't lift.
You don't do anything physical whatsoever. It's like, it's not the seed oils.
That's your problem. It's like, you don't move.
You don't lift. You don't train.
You don't sleep. Like you, you are a sloth.
That's the problem. Get up, do something, stop looking for the most convenient thing and start looking for the most effective thing, which is movement.
Yeah. So you were, uh, you hold a bunch of power lifting records and have been a power lifter for a while.
I would love for you to talk about the impact of moving weight. I, I was played sports, but only I always lifted in connection to what I needed to do for that sport, right? I never was a power lifter.
I just never got into it until COVID hit. And I heard Tim, he was Kobe Bryant's trainer, Michael Jordan's trainer, Tim, fuck, he's got two great books, Relentless and Winning.
And I can't remember his last name. That's going gonna kill me that's all right i'll like i'll awkwardly wedge it in in post-production but um i heard him on an interview one time go like he somebody asked him a question and he said guys need to move weight and like he just stopped and like i think like that was like it was like so point blank the way he lived it.
So I said, fuck it, I'll start deadlifting. So I've gotten really into deadlifting.
And I try to explain to my friends the impact that it has on my body in a positive way. And I can't do it justice.
So I would love for you to talk about your journey with power lifting, why you got into it, what it's been like, and then maybe help some of the people listening who maybe just – their exercise, though any exercise, as you said, is good, right? their exercise may be just cardio or they're taking like a HIIT class and why why pushing

weight or or pulling weight whatever is such an important part of the mix of of really kind of

hitting that hitting your performance and just being healthy in general. Yeah, I mean, I wrestled from when I was eight years old.
So I started, and I did a bunch of different sports, soccer, wrestling, baseball. But wrestling was the one that I really loved the most, and I started lifting because of that um listen there's like it's really important to do cardio as well that's important but if you're not lifting it's a big problem it's a big big big big big problem um if I had to rank the most important uh first I would say the most important for health and longevity is going to be walking as steps.
It's movement. That's by far the most important.
If we look at the longest living people in the world, it's not powerlifters. It's not CrossFitters.
It's not people who do hit or burn bootcamp or orange theory. It's the people who walk the most.
And we see this in Italy. We see this in France.
We see this in Japan. We see this in Switzerland.
The people who walk the most live the longest and healthiest lives. Now, from there, once we have that base covered, it's like, okay, so it's not just about how long we live.
It's also about the quality of those years. And the quality of those years, a lot of it comes down to how much strength we have, right? So if we want to not just elongate our life, but also live a better quality of life, one of the major things is bone density.
And as soon as I start talking about that, people are like, oh, dude, they tune out. They want to hear about how to get jacked and how to get ripped.
But it's like, if you have anyone in your life, 60s, 70s, 80s or older, one of the leading causes of death is they fall. It's just a regular fall.
But they fall and then maybe they can't get back up. They break a hip.
And over 70% of people who break a hip or break a bone after when they fall after they're like 60 or 70 years old they die because the the what it takes for the body to recover from that is astronomical so in terms of the quality of your life you absolutely need to lift in order to uh to maintain that quality never mind the the metabolic effects of adding more muscle which is going to burn more calories so it'll'll be easier for you to stay leaner year round. It'll be you'll be able to eat more food without gaining body fat, all these things that people like to hear from the aesthetic perspective.
But just purely from a as an individual as a human, if you want to actually, if you don't want to have someone living with you or being in a nursing home, like you got to lift weights. If you if you want to be able to compete with your kids compete with your grandkids, if you want to be able to, it's funny, in the research, they call them ADL activities of daily living, something as simple as opening up a jar, something as simple as like, if you were to fall, and you need to grab on to something, do you have the grip strength to do that? It's the simple things that when you're younger, ands i still consider younger but i bet by the time you get to your 30s and 40s you start seeing kids you grew up with who are adults now like like damn dude like what the fuck like fucking dad do anything dad but it's dad was like the least of it i mean like like they've got real problems like they they've got getting up a flight of stairs is a problem.
Like doing anything, and in their mind, they still think that when they're a high school football player, high school wrestler, high school baseball, lacrosse, that's how they think they are, but they're not. And it takes a big life-changing situation for them to realize it.
So if you want to live longer, move. If you want to live longer and better, move and lift.
I get a ton of shit from people for deadlifting. They're like, you're 40 years old now.
What do you need to deadlift for? You're going to get hurt. And I'm like, I look at them, I'm like, I'm not going to get hurt because of deadlift.
Correct. So you understand where I'm coming from.
coming I hear you but understand my perspective is when we're out on the field fucking around with the kids you know in the outfield you know I coach baseball um for my sons and like I'm like the reason I can run around and shag flies still is because I do this shit like and it's such a struggle to get through to people and and I I I'm not a fitness expert. It's not my job.
I just love it. And unfortunately, I can't stop talking because I have massive ADHD.
So I have to tell everyone everything I'm doing and thinking at every moment of every day. That's why I have a podcast.
It's like a therapy essentially. So, you know, like I try to explain to these dudes and they're all awesome guys, all former athletes, but like they're all carrying 20 to 40 extra pounds and they can't move.
They get to the end of practice and they're like exhausted. And I'm like, I could have gone for another two hours.
And that's not me bragging. It's, it's the truth.
It's, I don't want to be hunched over, you know, going and having to get fucking dialysis when I'm 60 years old. You know, I want to still be, I want to be popping with my grandkids.
Like I'm going to be out there helping my grandkids learn how to hit a baseball. Like that's, you know, and I don't, it's so hard to get through to people.
And it's, and it's one of the reasons I was so excited to have you on the show. I know there's so many guys that listen that are in similar life positions as me and they're not prioritizing this.
And so with all the work you do all the people that you work with like when you're trying to just crack get your foot in the door with them right like obviously maybe they've reached out so they have an interest but but they're still hesitant they're still how do you start to crack that door what's the mindset is there is there like uh uh uh i don't want to call it a pitch but like you know hey man like it's time to get off your fucking ass like let's go like how do we start to get through to those people to show them you don't have to be a power lifter you don't need to be benching 400 pounds that's not what we're talking about but just get in the gym and move some weights once in a while yeah so i'll i'll talk about that in one second because it's it's super important i will go back to like the people who are like uh you're gonna get hurt deadlifting um listen injuries happen all the time people get hurt stepping off a curb people get hurt picking up a bag of groceries like it happens all the time if you think it's it's dangerous to deadlift then you should see how dangerous dangerous it is to be weak being weak is way more dangerous than getting stronger in the gym. And yeah, absolutely, you could get injured deadlifting in the gym, and then you can ideally recover from that.
But if you're training smart and intelligently, which is what we'll talk about in a second, your likelihood of getting injured is teeny, tiny, minuscule. You're way more likely to get injured doing something when you're weak, like trying to pick up a heavy grocery bag or trying to pick up some luggage or playing with your kids or all of a sudden you try and do a sprint or you change direction.
And being weak is a way bigger risk factor for injury than getting strong. So yeah, could you get hurt deadlifting? Yeah, especially if you're deadlifting like an idiot.
But let's not fucking deadlift like an idiot. Let's do it intelligently.
So like you were saying, you don't need to be deadlifting 800 pounds. You don't need to be bench pressing 400 pounds.
I'd like you to get in the gym two to three days a week. And if you want, like, if you are listening to this right now, and you can't do 10 good push ups from the floor, you're fucking weak.
And that's not a dig. It's just like, cool, let's get you in the fucking gym.
You could just start with your body weight.

Let's get you doing stuff.

Let's get you using your body weight.

Let's get some dumbbells in your hands.

You don't need a full gym.

You just have some dumbbells, have your body weight,

master your body weight.

I mean, realistically, that's how we enter this.

Two to three days a week, master your body weight,

get some good squats in there, just body weight squats,

maybe put some weight into a backpack.

Put some weight into a backpack, hold the backpack squat, do some Romanian deadlifts, do some pushups, do some bodyweight rows. If you get a TRX straps, you can do some rows that way, like just move your body and get stronger.
You don't need to be doing 30 sets of exercises. You don't need to be having 12 different exercises per workout.
Two to three days a week, three to five exercises,

and two to three sets of eight to 12 reps per exercise.

You're good.

That's it.

Do that a couple days a week.

It could be 30 to 45 minutes per workout, and you're set.

One of the best things, best piece of advice I was ever given,

I have a friend who does Spartan races, and I was saying, you know, man, I hate running. I know I need to do it.
I don't do it enough a couple times a month probably. But I just don't like it.
I was like, but I do want to get out and move more. And he got, he sent me a link for a ruck vest.
So I wear 20 pounds in the front and 20 pounds in the back. And when I take the dog for a walk, I just throw the stupid vest on and we go around the block a couple of times and you come back and just, just, just that simple.
I mean, literally nothing. I'm not pushing anything.
I'm not pulling anything. I'm just wearing this vest going for a couple of laps around the neighborhood with the dog.
I come back, dude, no ankle pain. My foot pain pain's gone away i never feel like um like how many people do you know like they're like oh my back is tweaked my i was like i haven't had back pain in years this is probably three years ago that he said this i haven't had back pain in years years no back pain sitting in chair all day i work in front of a computer you know what i mean like that's my no back pain and like these simple little things that you can add into your day can can over time like compound into crazy benefits for your body and we just like you said we don't prioritize it we're like fuck it i'll watch another show in doordash the dog can just be on the chain and it's like ah i just want to like shake people sometimes i'm like dude you're dude, it's there for you.
Like it's this easy. Like you can do it.
But to the deadlifting point, and I just want to go back to this because it's just on my brain and it's my podcast so I can do whatever the fuck I want. You know, I'm like mad that I didn't learn about this exercise earlier in my life.

I've never found an exercise and, you know,

push back on me wherever this is wrong or right, whatever.

But I've never found an exercise that you do not have to lift heavy, right?

That doesn't have to be heavy.

You just proper form, right?

Work through the exercise with proper form. Your entire body.
Like I get done. My grip is stronger.
My shoulders are stronger. My back is stronger.
My legs, my glutes, my hips, my abs, my quads, my hamstrings, my calves, my feet, like all the way down one exercise, right? Once a week, you know, cause I'm not trying to be trying to break any records, right? Once a week, I do this exercise. Once a week is all you need.
Once a week, it's all you need. Two more than that, and you're more likely injured.
Yeah, and I've never come across an exercise. And like you said, you can do RDLs.
You can just do the exercise with no weight. Like you said, just use your body.
And I just try to push my friends to say guys it's not where you start i'm not advocating in any way not being a fitness professional this is where you start but don't knock it till you tried it because it it changes like all of a sudden you walk into a room and your shoulders are pulled back for the first time in 20 years because you have the back strength and the posture to actually do that now people look at you differently they talk to you differently you you find people more you know just your your entire way that you operate when you when you have that that full body strength you start to notice how people interact with you because you're not slumped over you're not wearing clothes that are three sizes too big because you're trying to hide something that you don't like, right? You're just in this better position, which then equates down to the way you speak to your spouse, the way you speak to your kids, the way you handle situations. Like, I just can't advocate for this enough, guys.
And so I guess what are other exercises that that we can be doing once we get past body weight when we're getting started that these guys can get started with their things deadlifting i think is a little more advanced probably but like what are some of the lifting isn't more advanced man it's it's all about it's all about the variation that you use and where you start like when i'm working with someone who's brand new, I'll often just get... I'll put it this way.
What is a deadlift? What is it? In the most basic form, what is a deadlift? Just pulling weight. Standing up.
You pick something up off the ground. It is the most functional exercise in the entire world because all you're doing is picking something up.
That's it. How much weight can you pick up? That's what a deadlift is.
So I think everybody is, I would hope everybody listening is advanced enough to be able to pick something up off the ground. And it doesn't have to be a barbell with 400 pounds.
It could be a 10 pound, 15 pound,-pound kettlebell, right? It could be dumbbells.

It could be doing an RDL with a reduced range of motion. Rather than starting on the ground, you start at your hips.
Either way, you could do an elevated deadlift so it's a shorter range of motion. But pick something up.
Like, let's pick shit up that's important because you're going to pick stuff up in everyday life. So I'd rather you learn how to do it properly and get strong in that range of motion.
so I would say starting with a kettlebell deadlift or dumbbell Romanian deadlifts

really day life. So I'd rather you learn how to do it properly and get strong in that range of motion.
So I would say it's starting with a kettlebell deadlift or dumbbell Romanian deadlifts. Really, really great starting point for people who don't know how to deadlift and haven't done and don't feel confident yet.
So if you don't know what those are, fucking Google, YouTube, kettlebell deadlift, dumbbell Romanian deadlift. Like you're going to figure it out really quick.
From there, I would say goblet squats, another dumbbell or kettlebell exercise.

I mean, if we're talking about, you were talking about the confidence you get from deadlifting. There isn't a single exercise that I've found increases people's confidence more than deadlifting.
When you hit a deadlift personal record and you lift more weight, you feel like you are on top of the world and you could beat John Jones. in a fight.
It's just like you feel like you could just be an absolute demolition monster.

Which transfers... You feel like you are on top of the world and you could beat Jon Jones.
And it's just like you feel like you could just be an absolute demolition monster, which transfers into your everyday life. I mean, when you pick something up that you've never lifted before, you hit a PR.
It's just like it's one of the greatest feelings ever. And it will carry over into your everyday life mentally, physically and emotionally.
Another great one is any type of squat. and the sort the the analogy or the metaphor here is like squats are very much like life and that when life gets you down you got to stand the fuck back up you got to carry the load and stand back up with that weight you can't just let it crush you and so yeah you could do it with a barbell or just hold a dumbbell or a kettlebell right in front of your chest and do squats like it's a great starting point lunges are an amazing thingian split squats are amazing.
They're a little bit more advanced, but reverse lunges, static lunges, forward lunges. These are all amazing.
Um, those are the major lower body exercises I recommend. Uh, deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, squats, and lunges.
Those are the, are the major ones. There are many other exercises, but those are the priority, especially when you're beginning.
And even as an advanced, like those are your compound. Those are the major lifts that you do.
Upper body pushups. I think everyone, everyone, men and women should be able to do 10 pushups relatively easily.
I think there's just like everyone should be able to do that. From there, we can do like dumbbell bench press.
If you want to do barbell bench press you're welcome to uh overhead press barbell dumbbell whatever uh dumbbell rows lat pulldowns i think i would like it if everyone is able to do chin-ups obviously that's a little bit more advanced i will say i think the two greatest moves for confidence deadlifts and chin-ups like when you can strap some weight around yourself or the when you get your first ever chin-up like oh my gosh you feel on top of the world uh so chin-ups or weighted chin-ups uh lat pull-downs dumbbell rows barbell rows seated cable rows these are all like and these are the exercises you'll use your entire life like they're really great strength training is very boring over a lot it's you do the same. You just try and get stronger with it over time.
So you do the same things over and over and over and over again. You have to be ruthlessly consistent with the basics nonstop.
I think one of the major reasons people struggle either to get started or to stay consistent is because they have this idea that they're supposed to look like a bodybuilder or look amazing or look or be like a professional athlete within a week, two weeks, a month. And this is why we see huge numbers of people going to the gym in January.
And then by January 16th, they're gone. And that's not a made up date.
Like there are one of the cool things about fitness trackers that we have now is we can track when people start being consistent with their exercise and when they fall off. And January 16th is like the fall off date for the vast majority of people.
And it's because they're like, I'm going to do it every day. I'm going to work out seven days a week and I'm not going to have a fucking carb ever again.
And after two weeks of January, they're like, all right, I can't do this anymore. It's like, okay, well, what if instead of doing every single day, you went two to three days a week and you did that for five years straight? Like you'd be better off than 98% of the people in the world.
So stop trying to go seven days a week. Stop trying to go as hard as you possibly can.
Just go a couple of days and be consistent. And that ruthless consistency will yield tremendous results.
So I go to this absolute steakhead gym. It's my favorite gym I've ever been to.
It's called ABC Fitness. Shout out if anyone's listening locally here in the Albany area.
And it's filled with 22-year-old steakheads. Just steakheads everywhere.
That's all it is. There's like two chicks and 200 steakheads.
And they're just flexing in the mirror. And I love it because I'm like the old guy there.
And I'm surrounded by all this energy because they're all, you know, slamming weights and slapping fives and flexing and shit. I love her.
I think it's great. I'm 100% into why your test went up because you're around all that.
Just osmosis. Like that's it.
Yeah, it is. So it's like their sweat and testosterone.
I was just 100% up and you're around all these 22 year olds who are just like their test is going crazy. That's why your went up uh so i so i hit my personal deadlift goal or my post-run deadlift pr 465 nice pull it so happy took me two years to get there you know bam just felt fucking amazing oh bam put it down great lift solid felt amazing and uh and the kid behind me comes up because it's's, and he got like six deadlift platforms kind of all near each other.
Comes up, slaps, like, dude, great lift. Was that a PR? I was like, yeah, it was like awesome work.
Turns around, he's got 505 pounds for 10. Woo, woo.
Like this, right? Just rips 10, like just blows me. And I turn around, I look at him.
I'm like, bro, you couldn't have waited like five minutes. Like you just couldn't have given me like five minutes before you just like threw my shin.
You know, we're laughing or whatever. It's the worst.
Just leps out way more than your pee. Yeah, it's the worst.
It's the worst. It's the worst.
It's the worst. It's the worst.
It's the worst. And I was like, oh, humility.
That's what that feels like. Gotcha.
Right? And I just did my daily dose. I want to transition to sleep because you mentioned it a couple of times.

And about six months ago, I started wearing a whoop strap.

All right.

I usually like this stuff because I find sometimes you over index on the numbers and less on the hurt beats. However, I have found by being diligent in the journaling feature of like what I do and how it impacts my sleep, it's been insane what I've figured out impacts and doesn't impact my sleep.
And then it has helped me. I was getting on average when I started like five and a half, six hours of sleep.
And now I'm getting like 7.15, say, now that I start really tracking. I feel great.
And frankly, my body like 7, 7.15 is really just where my body's like, hey, you're up, right? It's not like I'm not trying to get more, but maybe talk to me about just how sleep impacts our overall fitness and our energy and all these different things because I do not think there is enough conversation outside of the fitness and wellness world about I think like I get six hours sleep I'm just one of those people and I'm like no you're fucking not like the number of people from my research that are actually can live off five five and a half six hours sleep consistently and be successful I think is very small versus the people who try to pretend like they can live off that and they just get used to this constant state of tired. Yeah.
And then they're always over caffeinating. And what a lot of people don't understand is that many of these people who say that they only sleep four or five or even six hours a night, like, okay, are they taking Adderall? Are they taking V taking vivense are they on methamphetamines like there's like if you're prescribed that that's fine but people are prescribed testosterone and you'd probably want to know if someone was taking testosterone to see like what's going on from a muscular growth perspective it's like if someone is on that then they have a an advantage in that they are literally on a methamphetamine to keep them awake more.
It's like, okay, so that's, if you're not taking those, then you, you're going to be more tired if you're not getting sufficient sleep. It's just important to be aware of that.
Not to mention the genetic component, but what's been, you're 100% right in terms of, so I have a Garmin, I track sleep, I track a lot of stuff as well. I don't like to pay attention to the numbers very much because I'd rather just go based on how I feel what I will say has been a massive eye-opener it's the first time you don't tell it when you drink or anything you're not saying hey I'm drinking right now when I drink alcohol and if it's just like one beer or a couple of beers or one to two beers or like one glass of wine, I don't notice a difference.
But if I go past that. My Garmin knows it knows that I drank too much and my sleep quality will be shit, which is crazy because it that's it took that consistently of realizing, oh, I want to look into this more.
And a lot of times people, they say, oh, I'm going to drink so I can get a good night of sleep. Well, just because you get tired when you drink doesn't mean you're getting high quality sleep.
Your sleep quality actually goes to shit when you drink. So not only are you getting the negative effects of alcohol, you're also getting the negative effects of lack of sleep.
And I mean, this is sort of a crude analogy, but it does work. It's like, okay, if you have your laptop, right? And I'm on my laptop right now, or your phone for whatever the example is, you use your phone all day.
It might have a lot of productivity with it. You get a lot done.
But if you don't charge it, it doesn't matter how productive you were the day before because now you can't use it again. It's gone.
The battery's over. If you are not charging your battery, if you are not getting enough sleep, then it doesn't mean your workouts are worthless.
It doesn't mean your nutrition is worthless. But it does mean that your battery will not go up to 100% anymore.
Your battery, maybe it'll get up to 25 or 30%. It's like, okay, so you're putting in all this work and you're now more tired and you're only getting like a 30% charge.
What the fuck is the point of that? And for what, by the way? So you can scroll on Instagram more. So you can look at like at porn.
So also what for what for what are you what are you lacking in this sleep for what really is going into your life that is making your life better because not that you're only getting now five six hours of sleep put your phone down go to bed and it will actually it will massively enhance your ability to make progress and it will take from a 30% charge to a 90% to 100% charge. So since I've been tracking, so I have diagnosed hyperactive bipolar.
So I'm constantly either hypermanic or manic at all times, including right now, which I think I'm somewhere in the middle. And I did a test.

So I've never been a big pot smoker,

but I really, there are days when,

even when I'm doing all the right things,

I get to the evening and like the body,

my body does not, like if I'm hypermanic,

when I get, if I jumped to hypermanic late in the evening,

I literally just can't calm down.

Like my brain is going a thousand miles an hour.

It's not all I can do for it.

And I've tried a bunch of different stuff. So my doctor actually said, try pot, right? Try smoking.
She's like, try a little J before you go to bed. And I was like, okay, I'll try anything, right? It's no problem.
So what I found is, yes, it does narrow my world and it does help me calm down. But to your point, I get shitty ass sleep.
So it's like, okay, so would I rather ride the hype, the manic wave, maybe come back downstairs and get a little more work done and then just eat the fact the next day that I'm going to be a little tired and maybe be productive or I'm zero productive when I'm high and go to sleep a little earlier, but then sleep like shit throughout the night, which is which I have literally the cool thing about this is it literally shows you where you're at and when you drop into REM. So I can see for the first four hours of sleep, I'm basically not even recharging.
It's like the like to your analogy, the battery's plugged in, but no juice is getting into the membrane. Correct.
Yes, exactly. To my girlfriend's chagrin, the number one indicator of high-quality sleep, sexual activity before bed.
Number one. Out of all the things I've done, and that is not a joke.
I'm not trying to be funny, although it may be for some people, and it may be unfortunate for some of the women out there if you're not into that with your husband or partner or whatever but um the number one number one absolute positive indicator and my my whoopstrap will will confirm it is sexual activity before bed drop almost immediately into high quality sleep and we'll sleep for a tremendous amount of time and i'll be 90 100%. And guys, if you aren't doing some of the things that Jordan and I are talking about.
You most likely haven't felt 90 to 100% recharged in a while. The first time I saw like 93% on my whoop for recharge.
Dude, it was like being 15 years old again my brain is functioning i'm like ready to crush the day i'm like doing push-ups in between calls i'm like let's fucking go like oh my god it's crazy guys we we operate i think most people are probably just operating 40 to 60 sleep recovery and they just think that's normal and it doesn't have to be that's the scary part correct it doesn't have to be and I also think people and by the way I struggle with this is um constant dopamine coming in through social media and scrolling and so when you were talking about either being hyper manic or or smoking weed um something that that I try and do is like because the default is any any boredom boom pick up your phone, facing your phone. It's like keep the phone away and pick up a book.
Or like if you can, go on a walk, listen to an audio book. Something that doesn't have light in your face.
And reading a book, you still get a dopamine hit, but it's not like scrolling on Instagram or TikTok. It's a much, much much less of a hit and that can be super helpful uh for improving uh the sleep like the bedtime routine which can then help get better sleep as well yeah yeah it's uh the whoop strap when i first got it it was kind of like a hail mary pass like hey i'm struggling to kind of figure out why i'm low energy and the testosterone thing and I was like I've heard people talk about it it's not super expensive I'll try it and I can't take it off now like I'm I'm I'm it's also becomes and and I think we all need to find these things in our lives like it becomes a reminder hey do the right thing man like correct you're gonna get yelled at in the morning if you don't do the right thing like it's gonna blink in your face hey you didn't do the right things yesterday or last night or whatever like you were you were screwing around yet you had three beers instead of zero beers or one beer right like and it has started you know the first couple months it definitely doesn't change what you do but like as you start to feel better more consistently you're like maybe i don't need to have a drink tonight maybe i'm good like i don't i don't need to do that like i'm all right i would rather wake up it's not worth it anymore it's it's it's it's like at first you think you can't live without it it's funny i remember i worked with a client this must have been 2016 2017 and she came to me and she was like she was having like 12 to 15 drinks a week and and she was like i'm not not willing to give it up.
I was like, okay, I mean, that's up to you. We worked together.
For the first three months, she made zero progress. Didn't lose any weight.
And she was like, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck? And I was like, here, I have a challenge. You didn't want to give up 12 to 15 drinks a week, which is fine.
But here's what I would say is if you can't give it up for 30 days, then I would say you've got a drinking problem.

So how about for 30 days, just no alcohol?

Just for 30 days.

After 30 days, go back to doing what you're doing.

She's like, fine.

In 30 days, she made more progress.

And like she made a huge amount of progress.

She literally made none in the first three months that we worked together.

Huge amount of progress.

And she was like, holy shit.

She was like, it literally was all. It wasn't just the alcohol.
alcohol it was the alcohol and then what she did after she drank all the alcohol and then uh and so from there she didn't quit alcohol altogether because it was still important in her life but she went from 12 to 15 drinks a week to like three to five drinks a week and then she continued to make amazing progress while still being able to drink in moderation and so what happened there was it took her feeling and getting the results to finally be motivated enough to realize that that amount of alcohol just wasn't worth it for her. So it's people wonder, it's like, well, how do you get motivated? It's like, well, you don't wait for motivation to happen.
You got to take action. And then from those that actually get results.
And from those results, then you get motivated to take more action. It's people wait for the motivation.
It's like if you're waiting for motivation, you're gonna be waiting forever. You've got to take action when you're not motivated.
And then from there, you get results. And then with those results, you get more motivated.
Yeah, it's like, it's almost as if we're waiting for something to give us permission to make the change, right? Like I had a buddy say to me one time, and this was a while ago um you know i'll you know and he had all the thing overeating uh big pot smoker big drinker and he's like ah i'll change when something happens to me and i'm like bro what the what's that stupid you're gonna change when you have a problem like an artery burst or a fucking aneurysm then you're gonna change like why don't we like why don't you just dial it back 10 and see how much better you feel like right to start there and you know again i'm not a fitness professional and i'm no one's coach so i'm not trying to like make people you know i'm just trying to help them but like it that i i do feel like a lot of us are sitting there you know excusing away things we know are maybe excessive Right right? And again, I'm not going to judge anybody. I like to have a few drinks.
You know, like I said, I will occasionally when I do need to land the ship still, you know, spark up a J or something just because I know that that will help me at certain times. But I use them as tools.
I think of them as tools, not as I'm doing this because I need to change my mental state. It's more like, you know, there are tools in the tool belt

to help me be successful as much as I can.

And if I understand the impact that they have on me,

then I can use them accordingly as necessary, right?

If that makes sense.

Versus like, I need some life event to happen

to give me permission to start making changes in my life.

It's like, that's not the right way to look at it yeah i also feel like for someone saying that there is a very often people don't think it's going to happen to them like oh that that's not going to happen to me that wouldn't happen to me people have this false idea that like that happens to other people not to me and a really common one with this is blood pressure. I talk about blood pressure all the time because it's literally called the silent killer because in the United States it kills over 700,000 people a year because they don't know they have it.
They don't know that they have it. There are no symptoms of a high blood pressure.
And so maybe you grow up and you hear like your dad has high blood pressure and so all of that, but you don't, you don't think that you're ever going to have it. And you often might not even consider yourself as someone who maybe you're, you're fit and you work out and dah, dah, dah.
High blood pressure doesn't discriminate. It doesn't matter if you're fit and healthy.
Like that can help, but there are genetic components to it. There's so many things that, that impact it outside of, uh, your current health habits or your body weight.
Like there are people who are overweight who have good blood pressure and there are people who are super lean and look healthy and fit that have very high blood pressure. And people just have this idea that, oh, it's just, it's not gonna happen to me.
And so if that's you, I mean, good luck. Like, cause you're gambling.
You're gambling're gambling, you're gambling with your life and you're, you're giving yourself a gamble being like, well, that's not going to happen to me. It's like, I pray it doesn't happen to you.
I truly pray it doesn't happen to you. But statistically at some point it's going to happen.
Like something's going to happen statistically. Otherwise like people would be living forever.
So, and we can look at the data, look at the statistics. And if we look at your health habits look at your body fat like your diet like you're going to become a statistic sooner rather than later if you don't at least start checking it jordan you have in my opinion the best most honest real instagram account when it comes to health wellness fitness mindset that I've come across.
I'll fanboy for just a second and let everyone know I've been a fan for a very long time. I think the way you approach it, I obviously love your style, but dude, I just pray that you keep doing this work.
And it doesn't seem like you're going to stop, but I pray that you do because I think your voice and your approach

is what we need right now. We need more people who are cutting through so much of the bullshit,

so much of the nonsense. And I just appreciate the hell out of you, man.
This conversation I've

been waiting for for a while and just so glad we got. I talked to you in another four hours, but

I want to be respectful of your time and of the audience. If people want to just get into your world, where's the best place? And if they want to work with you, how do they do that? Yeah, so I'll start.
Thank you for the kind words. I sincerely appreciate it.
It means the world to me. I wouldn't think about hiring me or buying anything from me.
I would just find my free content first and see if that's helpful because that's really everything you need before you decide if you want to pay me. I have a podcast, the Jordan Syatt podcast, and my Instagram, Syatt Fitness.

If you could put it in the show notes, that'd be great. Everything will be in the show notes,

guys. Yeah, that's it.
Thank you. Awesome.
Bro, appreciate the hell out of you. Thank you so much.

Thank you.