Skip Hill makes his SHR debut. Given his depth of knowledge about training, nutrition and competing in concert with his quick wit and sense of humor, you won't want to miss this one.

{mp3}https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/superhumanradio.net/components/com_podcast/media/mp3s/SHR_Show_2314.mp3{title}SHR_Show_2314{end-mp3}

Download Episode SHR # 2314

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Show Notes:

[3:45]- Why Skip started training and his views on insecurities in life.

[5:30]- Skip’s origins in competitive bodybuilding.

• He started in the 90’s as a natural.

[6:50]- Skips early influences.

• Porter Cottrell
• Ron Love
• Rich Gaspari

[8:50]- Skip discusses how experience and injury has altered his training perspectives as well as a couple of scares that changed his ability to train.

• Shingles.
• L4-L5 herniation- defecating in the shower is very humbling.
• The #1 help that Skip found for his herniation was stretching. This made chiro visits and inversion table therapy more effective, and it allowed the chiro manipulations to actually keep his body in alignment.

[19:00]- Are squats and deadlifts overrated for muscle development?

• It is a benefit vs. structural taxation matter.

[26:00]- Thoughts on Eldoa stretching.

[30:20]- Skip’s thoughts on yoga.

[32:45]- Listen to the old guy to prevent a lot of grief later in life.

[34:10] Skip’s top fallacies in bodybuilding

• Too much reliance on supplementation.
• Getting on AAS too early and not maximizing ones natural potential.
• Overthinking training.
• Being scared of carbohydrates.

[50:25]- Skip and Carl discuss the benefits of staying off of gear for as long as possible.

• Do not try to use gear to cover up inconsistencies in your training or nutrition.

[1:05:00]- Melanotan 2 discussion.

• Can increase ferritin levels, but this does not necessarily indicate iron absorption. You would need to get a TIBC test to measure direct iron levels.
• Melanotan can help protect against melanoma.
• Most doctors deal with a majority of bloodwork for average people high level athletes and bodybuilders should have different standards for a large chunk of their bloodwork.
• Thymosin Alpha-1- Antiviral peptide that should be held on hand in case of shingles.
• Taylor made health can prescribe this.

Where to find Skip

• Teamskip.com- because skin is overrated.
• EliteFTS.com
• Blood, Sweat, and Gear podcast on advicesradio network.

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Show Transcript

{spoiler spoilerID,Click to read Show Transcript,Click me to close}

[00:00:00] I just realized I'm kind of like a monkey. I see my own image and I smile at it you ever see a dog smiling in the mirror.

[00:00:28] That doesn't realize. That's its own image reflected back. That's me. Welcome back to superhuman radio. We have a really really good show planned for you today with a guy who's probably touched a lot of people's lives without realizing it. I actually think that if you played the game seven degrees to skip Hill it would be a very very effective game to play because what I've come to realize about this guy is that he's actually touched a lot of people's lives and whether their competitors or.

[00:01:00] [00:00:59] Just a fitness Enthusiast over his career and we're going to talk more about that with him now is I get my ugly mug off here and share the stage with him turn his microphone or how you doing. Skip doing well. I got a little nervous there when you open the show with skip has touched a lot of people.

[00:01:19] I'm like, whoa, where we Goin? Let me get myself into here in this day and age that is you have to be cautious with something like that. Right? I'm thinking myself. Bye. Oh life. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, let's dip your lives. Yes. No, but you have you know, like I didn't realize it. So, I mean you've done a lot of writing and we're going to talk about where you got started.

[00:01:39] I want to I want to know more about your journey and how you found the love of physical culture, but you know for years. I bought from True protein now true nutrition the team skip blend because I thought it was brilliant, you know Dairy protein egg protein and then one day I was talking to Dante and I said, who is that?

[00:01:58] He said skip him I [00:02:00] was like, oh, okay. I didn't know who it was and for years I was using this protein and so, you know, it's clear that you like to poke fun of yourself, but you're very cerebral about this process. Where did your journey start? How did you find physical culture? Oh, I found it.

[00:02:16] Like most do I was 14 years old insecure teenager and figured I get a little muscle and I'm not so skinny fat. Maybe I'll get a hotter girl friend and really I'd like to have a better story but that's just the reality of it. I'd like to think that over the years though. It has turned into our evolved into a much more personal Endeavor.

[00:02:40] I say. So how personal can it be when I have to put everything out there anyway with what I do and write about it and talk about it and things like that, but it's still a very personal and I it has less to do with pulling fine or hot-ass these days because I have been happily married for 25 years to a very cool woman.

[00:03:00] [00:02:59] We've managed for kids along the way as well to wow. Wow. Wow, so we I think a lot of us got started because we had some sense of inadequacy within ourselves. I. In 2006. One of the first interviews I did was with Porter Cottrell because he lives here in Louisville. And you know I said, you know, how did you find this?

[00:03:19] And he said I was a little flat-footed kid that got poked fun at and you know write and then I and then he saw Steve Reeves, I guess in Hercules and thought I want to look like that. So so all of us do have that deep down inside of us, would you agree that most of the people that find their way into physical culture find that because.

[00:03:38] They for the same reason some people by pit bulls because they want to be respected to a greater degree. Sure. I think there's I think there's no denying that I think though that are our group are subculture kind of gets a bad rap. Sometimes we're so insecure and we have such great physiques, but we're so insecure I think Society in general is [00:04:00] pretty insecure.

[00:04:01] I think though that sometimes the mainstream public. They're probably a little bit more comfortable in their thicker skin than we are in our thinner skin. I do like everybody gravitates it to it for that reason. We just want to be better. We want to look better and that I know as I've gotten older it's important to me and I started off to kind of maybe look a little older or you know have a physique that looked a little now it's the opposite.

[00:04:26] I have 49 this last weekend. Now I want I'm hanging on to my youth I'm fighting this aging process and it's important. Me that my wife does the same thing as well. So if you know, it's the same battle. It's kind of coming from a different perspective though as I've aged. I think the mainstream, you know, Arnold used to call them regular people I think and so we'll use that for now.

[00:04:51] I think regular people. They're more willing to accept the fact that they don't look great or they don't feel great. [00:05:00] And I think that one of the core qualities that I find in people who have gravitated to physical culture as a lifestyle. Is there not as willing to accept things that they feel that they have power to control which is really a wonderful attribute that most bodybuilders will power lifters to some degree don't really get credit for so so when did you so you started out at a very young age?

[00:05:29] When did you actually step on stage for the first time I stepped on stage for the first time when I was 20, so that was 1990. So it's been a little while I was I was I was natural which is not to imply that I'm not now but I was at romance. Oh, I just want to be clear on that stepped on stage first time at roughly a hundred and fifty three pounds at five eight and a half looked very pretty.

[00:05:53] Hey if there was a men's physique at have been all over that division. Yeah, that's for sure. I have the small waist didn't [00:06:00] train ABS because I didn't want him to get big, you know, that sort of thing enjoyed it it wasn't as. Complicated then because I didn't know then what I know now, so it was easy to go into the gym tear up a workout, you know eat what I thought was correctly and I felt pretty good about the process and then it just you know, you get in you start to OCD get obsessive with it to a certain degree and then it becomes I don't know sometimes I think if you do something long enough, you really have to fight to keep it in perspective and and remind yourself that I do this because I enjoy it not out of obligation.

[00:06:35] Because after the years go by its heart it's a fight. It's a challenge to not feel that obligation or that sense of that. It's almost a job Triton degree, right who was some of the people that influence you earlier. I love that. You said Porter Cottrell. He he held he did not want to but he held my two [00:07:00] months old oldest daughter when he was he was guest posting it to show in Michigan.

[00:07:07] I'm originally from Michigan from Battle Creek, Michigan and my wife is from Southwest Michigan as well. So we were at a show and he he was a good sport. So I have that picture Ron love. I mean your I'm old school, so. You know a lot of these guys I thought Rich gaspari was a God. In fact, I was very disappointed because I was a teenager and we got all of our information from the muscle Rags.

[00:07:31] Of course, there was no online or in anything like yeah. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, I called him rich gasperi and when I found out his name was gaspari, I was about as bothered as when I heard someone reference the word hypertrophy. I'm like, no, we're trophy that that's hypertrophic that's always said to me.

[00:07:52] So yes, it's definitely an old-school influence. I like that in Jim's the atmosphere that I trained in. [00:08:00] You know, I want a garage style Jim. I just went to Miami Iron Gym last week and I fell in love with the place. So that's just my that's my thing. I'm an old guy and I like it old school. Those are my influence.

[00:08:16] I mean I could rattle off.  Probably rattle off a lot of guys. Or a lot of influences that you would know, but maybe that was have any idea and it sucks because when you have to start explaining who you're referencing its kind of you could just you just go never mind, right exactly the Whi there if you didn't know who it was so so it's interesting that you said that the journey is change for you because now it's about doing things that keep you, you know, like lifespan and health span all of a sudden become very important.

[00:08:50] Certain points for and so how do you see your training and and your diet how has it changed from when you all you [00:09:00] cared was acquiring more muscle to but now I want to live a long and healthy life as well. Right longevity. I think it's something that doesn't occur to almost anybody, you know in the in the younger years and I know it didn't myself and I had a couple.

[00:09:17] I guess scares or a couple things that kind of woke me up. The first thing was I got shingles real bad in 2004 to the point where I have postherpetic neuralgia phn which is for those who don't know you have shingles long enough. You didn't get it treated quick enough and it actually caused irreparable damage to the nerve Branch.

[00:09:39] So every 20 to 30 seconds of my life since 2004. I get kind of a quick little jolt zap. Yeah. Yeah, and and if I'm stressed it's worse if I'm tired, it's worse if I get out of a hot shower and it's cold like here in Florida where everything is freezing cold because they run the air conditioning too high or I'm in Colorado and [00:10:00] it's freezing and I you know, it goes from cold to hot same thing.

[00:10:04] But I think that was my first. Sign that you're just not doing things or you're not supposed to get shingles to the point where you have this nerve damage at 30 but was I 34 years old so that woke me up. I have had a long history of L4 L5 herniation. Is that. Without too much you can relate exactly without giving away too much information shitting in the shower standing up is just the worst most most pride zapping.

[00:10:37] It just it just takes you down to nothing. It's really. Very humbling, and I haven't had any injuries from a lower back in about three and a half years. I just did you okay? I have so many questions. And what I don't want to do is have a replay of the Arnold podcast where I steal all your time, but I have to ask you these questions.

[00:10:58] So, you know [00:11:00] just II shit standing up to but it comes out of my mouth. It's called verbal diarrhea. But anyway, so the first thing I want to ask you is more of a. Suggestion also but you need to look into a peptide called thymosin alpha 1 and you should keep a 3 milligram vial in your freezer at all times because if you ever do encounter an outbreak of the shingles and I'll make it go away in like a day.

[00:11:29] I did get it back last year briefly and got there quick enough because I had dealt with it before I know but yeah, definitely I will note the The L4 L5 stuff. It looks like all of us older guys. I have it. Um, I I haven't been able to use my inversion table since my foot surgery, but and might and it's gotten worse.

[00:11:49] I can feel the pain in my glutes now all of a sudden but you have you have you tried the inversion table. Do you use an inversion table of keep that decompression a little bit? I did have one in [00:12:00] Colorado and I did like it it helped but the number one thing that helped me. I thought it was.

[00:12:08] Adjustments for a long time that that originally helped but over the long term are over the Long Haul the number one thing that helped to the point where I haven't been to the chiropractor in a little over a year because I've been in Florida. It's the stretching in and it sounds so simple. It sounds like yeah, okay, whatever but the here's and this is why the Chiropractic adjustments realign your spine and everything's good for about two minutes and then the imbalance of the muscles start to pull against that alignment so it's kind of like.

[00:12:47] Kind of Band-Aid therapy in a sense. So when you stretch and you're able to get to where you don't have those imbalances whether you know left is pulling you out of alignment or you're right size pulling out of alignment, then you're [00:13:00] able to stay aligned and you don't and I mean I have not had knock on wood.

[00:13:05] I'm not only not had any issues for three and a half years, but I've been able to train heavy because I couldn't even train my legs heavy because of the intrathecal pressure. It was too much the abdominal. To inside from just doing a leg press was too much. My legs can handle a lot of weight, but my my core or my lower back can't handle that pressure.

[00:13:26] And now I'm to the point where I can actually I can handle that pressure and it's funny because if you've had horrible back pain or hold horrible back problems, which problems equal pay and I mean, that's what we remember is the pain even when your back is strong again. You don't have the key.

[00:13:46] Finn's right to push what because you're like that shit hurt man and what I don't want to go there again. Yeah, this could be the wrap. This could be the set. Oh, I didn't stretch today. Maybe it's not a good idea. It's just this constant [00:14:00] negative feedback and it takes a long long time to overcome that.

[00:14:04] I have L4 L5 compression and there's close to fusing if I don't do something about the content continually stay after them. I find walking. So I had I had to the first sign of a the compression manifested in a sciatic nerve problem at around 2009. No 2008 and I actually had dropped foot my right foot didn't want to like work properly.

[00:14:34] That time I was going through a divorce in the judge took my car away to give to my ex-wife so it forced me to walk to and from the gym every day. I was living in Phoenix at the time and walking cured it. It was amazing like to this day and I that's why I can't wait to get this stupid boot off my left foot so I can start walking again.

[00:14:51] How much of it is sitting how much you think contributes the you know, like I sit at this friggin desk. I hate it. I'd rather be a landscaper and be mowing [00:15:00] people's Lawns to be honest with you, but how much you know, I said that I say that. But if we were landscapers would be bitching hoping that we were sitting down behind a computer and having fun talking on a podcast.

[00:15:10] The sitting is its huge. And in fact, it's funny because careful what you wish for. I think I now have bad. I didn't have bad eyes until about two years ago. I didn't have chronic back pain until I started sending down as well. I think that that plays a huge part but I will say that I think the most important or the or the main reason is.

[00:15:34] Even when you train correctly and I said, I've said this for years and years and years. So the people who I've trained and follow me will know this repetition in and of itself is degenerative, even when it's done correctly. So if you squat, you know, 100,000 reps, even if you do them perfectly over time.

[00:15:54] Your knees and your back they're going to degenerate over we're just going to so I [00:16:00] think the, you know, correct biomechanics and warming up correcting everything that can prolong, you know, or or drag out the good time in the gym without paying it, but eventually I think it just it kind of catches up with you.

[00:16:14] Yeah, I have it now, but I don't have that pain in my lower back, but. If I'm not careful and I don't stretch I'll have it in as little as two weeks. I saw a really funny mmmm the other day. I had a I laughed out loud. It said my fondest childhood memory is not having back pain. Yes, I think of it.

[00:16:34] It's funny. It's like yeah, I get it. Now, you know if you haven't had it it really is difficult to explain it. I'll give my wife a hard time. Sometimes I'm like, you know, I know you've had four children and it's so painful. The ever had back pain. Yeah, and I don't know how it relates, but I know how horrible it is.

[00:16:53] And I remember lying in bed the last time and you almost the sounds [00:17:00] horrible, but I'm just trying to put it in perspective and give people an understanding you almost lie there and you go. I just don't care if I have to shit and piss. I'm just going to do it right here. Like I just don't care. It's backed last time.

[00:17:12] I see the my last episode. I was stuck on the toilet for three and a half hours I had. Mistake of leaning back to give my back a rest against the BET. And as soon as I would start to sit up my back would expect those vertebrae just go click. That's it. It just it was and I kept thinking to myself.

[00:17:29] I'm like, well, I haven't cleaned up yet. So if I just go to the floor not only is this going to hurt real bad, but it's going to be a disaster and I'm thinking to myself that three am I I just need to get to the floor. I don't care how painful it is. The only reason that I was able to get out of there was I.

[00:17:46] Wife give me three Percocets and I had to wait until that kind of exactly once it kicked in. I was able to.  slowly take care of my business and get to my bed. And I told my wife [00:18:00] I'm not eating and I'm not drinking until I can get out of this bed because if I have to go to the bathroom, I'm not getting up.

[00:18:07] Yeah, you just terrible. You know, I'm lucky that it's not as bad as it could be and as it once was but I I do when my foot heals. I do want to be able to squat and deadlift again. Do you still Squat and deadlift a you just stay away from those now, I'll be honest with you the cost of benefit to me these days.

[00:18:28] It's just it's just not worth it. I would like to I I love I love exhaustive training. This is like burning like you can take biceps and I could never try them again and be really happy because you know what it freaking hurts. I don't like it. I want to do exhaustive things. I want to swat until I feel like I'm just going to pass out.

[00:18:51] I want to pull Dead's I want to do bent Rose, but I don't think that the gamble is worth in part of the reason is because two is I do [00:19:00] fall into that category where and I've written about it for elite FTS which of course as you can imagine. It doesn't go over well when it's a group of you know powerlifters but or a large community about powerlifters, but I've said I don't know and I'm not convinced in my 35 years of being in this sport of bodybuilding that pulling dads and squatting is as king for back development and leg development as everybody thinks it as I know there are people cringing going.

[00:19:29] Oh my God, I like this guy for the last 20 minutes, but I don't know. I'm not saying they don't grow muscle. Not at all. But what I am saying is the people who religiously get locked into this. I must pull Dead's for big background end up with in my opinion not a very fully developed back from a bodybuilding standpoint big thick and raptors have sure big legs big glutes big hips from squatting strong.

[00:19:57] Absolutely. But I know too many people who can [00:20:00] out squat me. Who are a hundred and sixty a hundred and seventy pounds and you know, there are a lot of very good bodybuilders who don't Squad when I mean squat in a Smith machine because of my back and things like that, right but it's not it's not common.

[00:20:14] I don't want to gamble the cost to benefit. It's just not worth it to me anymore. Darcy Clark asks a question. If either of us have tried ELD oal dough. I don't even know what it is that is that like a barbiturate or something phenobarbital? Or something wouldn't have to get yeah, you're going to have to glorify God and you can clarify what L.

[00:20:35] Doha is we will we will definitely do the best to answer that question. But yeah, I don't know. What I'll do is I want to take a quick commercial break and when we come back, there's so many different questions that are running through my head right now. And if you have questions, if you're watching this on Facebook live, please post them because we'll work them into the discussion.

[00:20:55] You're listening to superhuman radio stay tuned. We'll be right back. Where's my music? Where's my [00:21:00] music? Look at us. This is what happens when I try to produce a radio show and a podcast at the same time. Welcome back. So I have to talk about something. So private my underwear. So I found this company called Mac Weldon Mac KW e LD o n.com and I Eliza always bought my underwear for me.

[00:21:23] I gotta be honest with you. Like I never wanted to shop on the way. It really wasn't interesting to me, but I found this website Mac well, Come they have the coolest underwear and socks and a lot of other good stuff for guys. But the thing I like about them the most is they've got the easiest website to navigate you can be on and off of their website like that fast and have ordered some great stuff.

[00:21:43] They have a sports line. They have casual wear. They've got everything and I have my I actually now have underwear and socks that pretty much match, which is something that's not ever been anything that I've been able to achieve. I [00:22:00] own and Eliza says my package looks bigger in them. I don't know if she's just being complementary but they do have a fuller cut fly.

[00:22:08] They have like a you know, a lot of underwear squashes me down. I don't want to be squashed down. I want everything to be able to kind of have a hammock to kind of stay in. You know and Mac Weldon, does it for me? And if you haven't tried Mac well, then you should and if you're a woman listening to this show you want your husband to look better or your partner look better go to Mac Weldon.com you.

[00:22:29] Code shr check out for 20% off. I promise you you will start to take interest in your underwear again and very very cool stuff. So dark, Darcy Clark said eldo was developed by a French surgeon named Guy voice where a guy Voya Aldo is an acronym for French when you translate it to English. It means longitudinal stretching with Asti articulated cooperation.

[00:22:56] I got to believe that means hanging with a weight at the. Move your body [00:23:00] pulling you apart. What do you think? What is that? I think words are those are Scott Stephenson words Carlin or words. They are not. Skip Hill words. So I have no idea. I have no idea now if he's talking about hanging are you talking about a version?

[00:23:15] You think that's what he's referring II got to believe it. Sounds like when you talk about longitudinal stretching means stretching the Long Way Osteo articulated cooperation means that the the hanging and then the bones are probably tried that they're trying to. Manipulate them and get them back into a certain position.

[00:23:32] But see I'm a I believe what you said this as you have. I have a friend who's a very very successful chiropractor. He's got a huge practice. And so he said to me Carl. Come on. Let me let me let me run you through the gamut as okay. So he takes a picture of me goes. Oh you got side to side scoliosis.

[00:23:54] Des.  And so I said, okay shows me the pictures to see how your spine goes this [00:24:00] way and that way there and I said, yeah, he goes, you know that I really can't be corrected. I said BS because know it most people can I said no I said if you pull a spine out of a person the dead body and hang hold it from the top does it have that curve in it anymore?

[00:24:17] No, Isis because muscle imbalances are causing the curve. So if you have somebody who's thoracic spine curves to the right? You need to do things to make the muscles on the left side pull harder.  So when you said that before I thought to myself, you know, I other than degeneration of the discs themselves and even that has reasons we could talk about because you and I have a an interesting path that crosses when it comes to iron I know about your position and I agree with you about Milano 10 to we'll talk about that in a minute.

[00:24:50] So. If you if you look at the spine and you say oh, you know, you have pelvic tilt will look at the muscles that are pulling it in that direction and [00:25:00] look at the muscles that are antagonists to that and work on those and get that sucker back. All spinal conditions could be corrected by looking at the muscles that are pulling the spine out of alignment.

[00:25:11] Yeah, I completely agree and I want to be careful with that statement though and say that that anything that is I don't want to injury related but I don't know about medical related things like like hereditary issues and things like that that I don't know. That's well beyond my scope but when it comes to just training related issues in your we're going to develop those imbalances.

[00:25:40] Over time anyway, especially without stretching and good luck getting someone to stretch before they have any issues. There isn't much proactive stretching going on out there. And I know some people will say but I do you're the exception the huge exception to the rule. If you do that. Most of us are looking at it almost worse than cardio.

[00:26:00] [00:25:59] Like I don't need that. I'm good. I have you know, I'm on a time crunch. I know I said myself many times like a she don't have the time today to end. I just think about that shower shedding or sitting on the toilet and or not being able to get out of bed. And I'm like, I just don't have a choice I have to do this because even when I started the stretching started to help there were times where I would back off of it and damn it if I didn't injure myself again.

[00:26:26] So the only thing the only thing that has kept me injury-free that has been consistent is as long as I stretch I have not injured myself. It's just that matter of fact. Yeah, I know. And who's the guy that the quarterback for the Patriots is the oldest quarterback playing right now, so I'm not a sports guy.

[00:26:44] So I yeah Grady. Yeah, so all he does is stretch. He doesn't lift. He doesn't do anything else. All he does is stretch and he's a funny looking like he stretches. He doesn't look like he lives. Yeah, right exactly. I'm a New England thing is going hey easy now, but that's the [00:27:00] truth. But it's true.

[00:27:00] He says he says I don't want to injure myself. I want to stay injury free. So all I do is stretch. What about yoga? You think more physical culture assists would benefit from. Yoga since that's more of a stretching type of a thing I do and I have been recommended to do it and the only thing that I have to respond to that is because I haven't done it is.

[00:27:22] It's yoga. I don't know how else to put it and I know this sounds really like I have. Bad case of toss toxic masculinity and maybe I do but man I started training in the 80s. I'm almost 50 years old. I'm I'm not going to do yoga. I'm just not going to if I had to I would so let's just say like my stretching didn't work or or something.

[00:27:43] Maybe I would try it because I would be desperate for something to work. So could it work it absolutely could but I think where I am now is I don't have any interest in doing that because it's just not it's not toxic Alima. Skill in enough, I guess no, no, I get it. I [00:28:00] also so I think part of the problem is that I attribute like resistance training to progress whether I'm lifting more four more reps or my body is changing the way it looks and I don't attribute yoga to anything because.

[00:28:17] I don't think you outwardly see anything from yoga, but maybe I'm wrong and I'm with you on that one. Like I think while you know, I don't know maybe I'll just go in and train chest today instead of doing the yoga class I was going to do yeah, I think some people will argue that you know, it's exhausting and it's a good workout.

[00:28:33] I'm not going to deny that I'm not going to argue because I've never done it and I don't know. But it's not going to build muscle tissue, like grabbing a pair of you know, one 40s and press them. It's just not going to do that no argue, and I don't think anybody would argue that but it has to be put in the category as far as I'm concerned in relation to body building as just preventive.

[00:28:53] Yeah. Now that's not a bad thing. You know. The other thing too is when you're young and you don't have all these [00:29:00] these joint issues and everything doesn't hurt. It's difficult to find motivation to stretch and just because you don't have any issues. It's also though difficult because I don't think a lot of 25 year olds think to themselves.

[00:29:15] I'm going to be doing this when I'm 50, and I don't want everything to hurt. You have no reason. I think it will hurt because I have good form. I always warm up. I've had no issues. I thought all these same things but I'm telling you if you're going to be around for the Long Haul there's a lot of young kids and you know this car he'll be like, I don't know this skip guy or this car guy.

[00:29:36] They're so old like what am I going to learn from? These old guys, right? You're not going to learn anything. If you're not going to be around long enough as you're doing this college and you get married and all of a sudden you get fat like the rest of society don't listen to a word I say because it probably.

[00:29:49] Won't fall in line with your goals or your situation. But if you're going to be around for a while, you're a fool not to listen not necessarily to me but to someone who [00:30:00] has the experience in the ears behind them because we're already there. We already know what we did. I don't want to say we did everything right but relatively speaking.

[00:30:09] I've done everything right you've done everything right? It's that sort of thing. We've been through we know what works we know what doesn't work not just with us, but I've trained thousands and. Dozens of people from regular people to NFL players to professional bodybuilders. I've seen it all so decide if you want to listen and if you don't well good luck to you I so and that and that segue to the next question because I know that you're very successful coach you are both a successful coach from the standpoint of teaching people to train.

[00:30:40] But also getting people prepared to compete which is a unique type of Coach because you have to have a an intimate understanding of physiology and nutrition at the same time. If you had view of force to write an article about the top three things that everybody gets wrong whether their Weekend [00:31:00] Warriors to Serious athletes.

[00:31:02] What do you think those would be. Get rock from a competitive standpoint you just in general no, no in general because we're talking about regular people but there's got to be there's got to be an overlap but regular people and it could be about nutrition could be about training but maybe these are things that you've seen over and over again where you just feel like I should just have a t-shirt made that says, that's why I can stop saying.

[00:31:21] Um, well I see this will be off the top of my head. Of course. I've had no head no prep for this one Carl, but I don't know. I don't give anybody any prep and I think this will cover it quite well. What I'll do is I'll take I'll just take one thing from the top three. I'll take one thing from training one thing Contrition cool imitation starting with supplementation.

[00:31:44] Number one people think it's kind of a two-pronged answer I guess a response. People give supplements and I say supplements OTC supplements way too much way too much credit. I [00:32:00] guess I always say this I get no I'm sponsored. I get anything I want and everything I want for free. I make no bones about it.

[00:32:08] I tell people I tell my clients. If I get everything for free and I only use three things, what does that tell ya I'm not saying the rest of it is junk what I'm saying, though is for me at my level. It's not necessary and I'm back. I'm my foot is on the gas. I am making progress that I haven't made it in 12 10 12 years very healthy my bloods in order.

[00:32:33] Everything's great. I'm injury-free. So that's the first thing the OTC the other thing that because it's too far and is. Give that uses very very quickly want to jump to the dark side and that's disappointing at the same time. I have no regrets and I don't knock anybody for making that decision, but it would be better served to milk your natural potential as long as you can or at least long enough to where you know, you put [00:33:00] in six months or a year before you jump to it, because that all of a sudden when you do that.

[00:33:05] Your progress and your physique then is carried in my opinion by those compounds and as soon as you're not doing those you don't have much left from a training standpoint and this does not only goes for train but it goes for everything in generates. It's too many people overthink their training and they think that there has to be this secret either training protocol or exercise or everything else the people who make some of the best games in the people who go in.

[00:33:34] Let's pound shit. They pick up heavy shit and they put it down too many, you know kids we've all seen as too many kids going in doing, you know cable double front bicep curls on the lap machine. You're not big enough to do that. I know that sounds shitty, but you're just not you need to pick up a barbell and curl it.

[00:33:53] You need to not load the hammer, press up and instead pick up heavy dumbbells and press them you need to [00:34:00] make sure it's not necessarily old school, but you need to respect the basics. I think a lot of people are just complicating things far more than they need to be from a nutrition standpoint, you know, everybody's for the large majority of people are scared to death of carbohydrates.

[00:34:17] So from a nutrition standpoint, that's the thing that stands out the most. Carbohydrates are you know playing a significant and important role and I love to see Chris acedo being so successful again after anyone say again because he's always been successful right but to be training these people to high level and feeding them, you know much the way I do from a skip load shitload standpoint and it's funny because people were complaining and people may not even understand that reference if they don't understand Chris aceto or bodybuilding preparation at that high level, but the last couple years have been fun.

[00:34:50] In bodybuilding competition because people want to go back to the Antiquated torture the hell out of me high cardio. Look if I don't want me [00:35:00] because I don't feel like nothing isn't worth it. So I'm starting to catch some Flack for skip loading because this is you know, there's they say, well some people will say well you're just making it easy for that's not it at all and so to see Chris acedo come along and be.

[00:35:12] Speaking people much the way I have for years and he's done it for years to and no way. Am I implying that Chris acedo read what? Skip Hill does and Chris aceto is doing what skip those that's not it at all. But when you find out that you're doing these things are the things that you're doing that are outside of the box other high level very high level prep guys and nutritionists are doing it.

[00:35:34] It puts a smile on my face. I like that. So it's usually carbs people tend to freak out when it comes to carbs. Are they. Sensitive or you know get me going in and you know, whether it be glued everybody. Everybody's has gluten issues these days and yeah, we don't even know if it's really gluten wheat it's hard to tease out.

[00:35:56] What's really toxic in our food. That's why you got to stick to the basics [00:36:00] just like the training. So David Whiteside Thompson asked the question that I want the you. I have all the supplements. I want I only take 3, you know, what 3 supplements do you recommend especially as we age? So what what do you think the three thing and I don't even know if they're necessarily age related to be honest with you, but they were agree that they were yes, the three things that are pretty much like money in the bank.

[00:36:23] That will work. Um are you know, I say protein powder team? Skip blind works really really? Well. Yeah, so I didn't use that but I do believe that easr are important and they work and they're so cheap. So you have cost to benefit here. It's like even if you don't see the results in, you know, a couple weeks or a couple months.

[00:36:47] It's so cheap that you have to just trust it over time on paper. It works out. So perfectly that this is a really good supplement to use and the other thing is in, you know people like oh that was anticlimactic [00:37:00] but it's a whole food multivitamin from to nutrition. So those are really the only three things people say, wait, wait.

[00:37:05] Whoa. Whoa, what about a pre-workout? What about creative? I tell my clients all the time like you want to take creatine go ahead, but I'm not going to encourage you to do that because I just don't think. In the big picture it's worth the extra, you know eight pounds of water. You're going to hold and the potential 10 pounds are going to put on your bench.

[00:37:24] Somebody will argue and say well 10 pounds on your bench, you know over here that could be yeah, it could be it could be a gram and a half a muscle. I mean are we trying to quantify what 10 pounds from holding more water is going to really do. I don't think it's going to do that much. I wouldn't sit back and argue and say that.

[00:37:39] Completely not effective. All I'm saying is I don't like to split hairs like this because a lot of the people I'm talking to are doing so many other things, right? It just doesn't in the big picture. It just doesn't matter for anything your money could be better spent on food. Or your protein powder the most rewarding most anabolic of [00:38:00] everything is food, right and people I can you know, the young kids are like, oh my God, if another old guy says that you know food is is anabolic is drugs.

[00:38:08] I'm gonna puke I'm not making that connection. All I'm saying is it really is better to spend your money on because it just works. That's what every every hardgainer every hardgainer I've ever met. When you start to ask about nutrition, you realize two things either a they have no idea what they're eating or B.

[00:38:30] They eating way less than they need to be and it's just and it's shocking. It's like well, I'm a hardgainer. So I need to get on juice right now. Well it for the mr. OTC supplements is like a page and a half. Yeah. It's a it's a it's not working pal all the shit you're spending or all the money you're spending on this epic it isn't working.

[00:38:49] So what do you think? Just help hope it might be this next one. Yeah, right. It's not logical to approach it from that perspective because it's all so [00:39:00] simple all it that makes it so simple but you know, the other thing is that I see a lot of people who want to compete or they want to have a physique that looks like they could compete.

[00:39:14] They're spending hours in the gym. And when I talked to them and I asked them. Well, you know, how much protein are you getting? They don't know and I asked him how many meals they're eating. They don't, you know all we know I eat three meals a day that and I say, you know, the heroic effort that you see professional athletes producing in the gym is important but what you don't see is the rest of the day they eat every 2 to 3 hours and they do that for days weeks months and years and and that unfortunately, Not sexy no secret chemicals, but that is the reason that they build the muscle that they build I've seen it in myself when I'm when I'm eating on my game my body start changing very quickly, but then life gets in the way.

[00:39:58] It's like well I'm going too fast [00:40:00] today because I really have all these things to do and then all of a sudden I stall I start to regress it's the culmination of Decades of eating that make bodybuilders. Look the way they do. Yeah, I always tell the hardgainers when you're not eating on a Saturday night because you don't want to have to have gas when you're trying to you know, smash dimes or whatever.

[00:40:22] It is. You're doing on a Saturday night when you're 25 years old people who want to get huge are eating. Yeah. All right, you're so young. No. No, that's good. It's this consistency that people don't understand. They're like, well, I do it Monday through Friday and then you have beers with your buddy and I'm not saying you know that you can't drink or what but there's nothing helping when you drink alcohol.

[00:40:50] Nothing in that alcohol is helping you to grow or get bigger, right? So you can justify it. You can say it's calories what people who want to get. They're [00:41:00] eating and their training and their resting. They're not doing what you're doing on the way or what most people are doing on the weekends. The other thing is the training.

[00:41:07] I can't leave a hardgainers typically want to train more which is you think okay that logically that makes but it it's not you need more rest in the fact that you didn't pick your parents very well is the first problem. I thought I always tell my mom. I'm like, I love you, Mom. But your shoulder your shoulders you gave me a shock.

[00:41:29] Like what the hell was I thinking when I went through the parents the door? Oh my God. Haha is just tend to train them and it's a bodybuilding mentality. I get it. Well, I don't know if this is enough protein. So I'm going to eat more. I don't know if this is enough training. So I'm going to train more we tend to err on the side of more is better when in reality if you're a hardgainer, you probably have a problem with recovery anyway, and especially if your natural I mean, Natural guys come to me in there like I'm training six days a week and I'm I'm training, you know, it sometimes [00:42:00] even double down like how how are you recovering right from this?

[00:42:04] Like, right. This doesn't even make any like, holy shit. And then all you do is you start to cut their training back and you don't even change anything else and they just start recovering and growing in their life. You keep if you keep adding bricks and you don't let the cement. You have a wall that's going to fall down.

[00:42:20] The other thing I wanted to say is I am so happy. You said EAS and not BCAAs because going back to the bricklayer analogy using BCAAs is like calling. All your Italian buddies into work, but not given many mortar and Bricks got you know, everybody shows up for work and they're like, oh, how do we build a wall?

[00:42:43] You're stimulating your stimulating the work to be done, but you're not good. EAS is what no one should be using BCAAs. I'm sorry, you're stopping short. You should be using essential amino acids because they not only stimulate but they give the building blocks to do the job. Right? [00:43:00] And I think you know, I use BCAAs like a lot of people did early on because it was.

[00:43:04] So you learn for everything? Yeah, exactly. They're relatively inexpensive but when study after study is showing the benefit I'm looking at it you're on. Well, there's no real good reason to sit here in doubt this anymore. So I made that made that change to I want to I want to take next commercial break and we'll be all last one of the show and when we come back, I want to talk about gearing responsibly since you said like give you a body chime and then but there's also another problem that that people use.

[00:43:34] Here and they think somehow it's going to protect them against stupid decisions and bad choices and that in my humble opinion is a real threat to a lot of the younger guys out there. So let's take a quick commercial break. We'll be right back with more of skip pill and stay tuned. I'm producing a podcast.

[00:43:52] I'm producing a video doing it all.  Okay, so as we were going into the break I alluded to what I want to talk [00:44:00] about today.  that there's a. People out there that's go right to the Gear as you pointed out earlier and they don't give their bodies a chance to even develop a base of muscle and strength.

[00:44:15] But they also think that being on gear and this is true of men on HRT, by the way to which I'm one, you know, we think that because we're taking testosterone that somehow we can be Reckless. We can drink more alcohol we can sleep less we can eat crappy or food and if anything the key. The complete opposite is probably true.

[00:44:36] What do you think? You know not only I want to point out one more thing, please that you benefit from by not taking your right away to and that is.  You develop a better core understanding of nutrition and training because you can get away like you said earlier you can get away with so much [00:45:00] more.

[00:45:00] You can do things wrong. Really. And still benefit, you can't do that without the gear now. You can do things. You don't have to do things perfectly when you first start out because pretty much any stimulus will be enough of a stimulus for you to grow for some length of time. But even then that'll come to a stop.

[00:45:21] So I just want to point that out and I know you feel the same way. I just want to make sure that the listeners on that too. But yeah when it comes to, you know trt or even being on gear, I mean you can certainly get away with that. You're just missing out. I guess this is how I look at it. You're missing out on such an excellent opportunity because the hormone environment I guess creates the environment for you to not just grow but even just it makes it a little bit easier even to get leaner because it changes your testosterone to estrogen ratios to so I you know.

[00:45:57] You can in a lot of people do they just [00:46:00] waste it whether it be trt or anything else, but it's just such a an opportune time to be able to take advantage of such a positive. Especially if you're older and you've just gotten on trt. Maybe you're not even cycling but you've got to your tea and I think half of the problem is is we feel great.

[00:46:15] We have this libido. We have this general feeling of like I just feel so much, you know so much better and that sometimes involves things that we've done for so long or if people have done it for so long that means. A couple more drinks or you're single and you're trying to get you trying to build, you know relationship or something.

[00:46:33] I know myself with clients. It's difficult with my mail clients when they come out of a divorce because they're typically making these huge changes, especially if it's midlife. They're making these huge changes are drop awake. You want to be in great shape, but the second they get any type of serious relationship.

[00:46:52] Yeah, they have all these excuses and they start adding up very very quickly because they want to be out trying to [00:47:00] you know, build that relationship. So to speak that takes going out and eating and they think eating and drinking and and things like that. So yeah it I completely agree with you, you know, when it comes to tier 2 in cycling I think is the same but I think when you get into cycling, I would like to think that people are more serious and more focused and dedicated.

[00:47:21] When they're cycling, but not everybody is specially when you start young I mean and I've had these discussions with people at my gym and I know what they've wanted to talk about gear.  And I've said, you know do how many days a week do you train? Do you train every day? You're supposed to give and you know taking the day off here and there because you feel like you need an extra day to recover.

[00:47:43] Do you get to sleep early? What time do you go to sleep? Like are you doing all these other things? Because if you're not don't start juicing now because you because you have a window of opportunity whether it's a six week or [00:48:00] six month cycle that you're going to run to squeeze everything out of it.

[00:48:03] And if you can't go into that already saying I've been doing it this way for six months now without a hiccup. I'm able to leverage what I'm about to do then don't even bother if you can't do all the other stuff that is required with. Density then why would you add anything to to the mix unless you think that it's going to cover up your lack of consistency and then it's not going to end well for you, it's just not and I do think that's what a lot of people think and you can tell who thinks that who doesn't because the ones that actually stick around and stay involved for years and years and years.

[00:48:39] They knew better. The ones who don't basically will take the Cycles do their gear and they'll get away with it for a little while and when they no longer can and the only other option then is making sure that they're embedded a certain time. So they have the Sleep making sure that they're eating when they're supposed to they're not they're not as interested in the [00:49:00] game in the lifestyle anymore and they move on.

[00:49:02] No, you're right. So talk about your prep coach service and also your distance coaching service if if people. Wanted to hire you to work with them. They don't have to be Desiring to be competitive athletes. They can just be regular people who want to look good. Right Mo. Most of them are us getting going through a divorce.

[00:49:21] We find themselves at 50 and were like man, I gotta look good. If I'm going to play this game, they don't even want to step on a stage, but they want to look like they can. Yeah, absolutely, you know I started off in the online community message boards, basically the brutal Message Board area where you actually had to earn the respect of the community and things like that.

[00:49:44] And you know, it was all about bodybuilding. It was bodybuilding prep it was contest for and that's all it was and I built my my reputation, I guess in my name in that I guess. Um subculture or in that area from there though. I [00:50:00] realize and this is an I don't want this to sound like a shot to the body building War because I don't want to bite the hand that is fed me very well and I still enjoy working with competitors, but I'm going to be brutally honest and tell you the two main reasons that I did start to move away from it is.

[00:50:17] Competitors can be how should I say? It's the narcissism and the don't they don't sometimes care that there. Best shape of their life and better than they were before if they take second. It's your fault and you're a fuckup and they're going to go, you know, they'll end up working with somebody else.

[00:50:34] And the other thing too is these a lot of these competitors 99% of competitors are also self-proclaimed prep guys online prep guys. Yes, they want to work with you but equally as important to them as they want to suck as much of your experience over. You know, I've got 35 years someone else could have four and they want to learn as much as they can for me for no other reason than to go charge clients and work with them and [00:51:00] pretend to be this experienced Guru.

[00:51:02] You know, I saw I say self-proclaimed because if someone calls me a guru. I don't know that I deserve that type of label, but I'm not going to argue with him because I didn't say I was a guru they did. So if you want to kill him, if you have to tell people to call you, like I had a guy come on my show years ago, and he told me that he would prefer that I call him the greatest formulator in the world.

[00:51:31] I swear to God, this is true. And I did it. You know, I could I'm not about Ambush radio. I want people to feel comfortable. I want I. Sure people who come on the show to look good not for me to look good. But I'm like if you have to tell people like like that. Oh god father of podcasting is stuff.

[00:51:45] Like I never I never said that ever ever ever in my life. And Scott McNally was the first person to say, you know that I that Colin or is the The Godfather of podcasting a fitness podcasting and I don't even know if I feel comfortable with that to be [00:52:00] honest with you because I think it relies more on the fact that I'm Italian and I grew up in a neighborhood where I may have known John Gotti you.

[00:52:07] Right, but I won't admit it because that could be incriminating. But yeah, I was young I was young but he did he roamed my neighborhood. I knew his son John Jr. Who I don't think is doing well nowadays. But anyway, but you know, it's really funny. It's like if you have to tell somebody that you're a guru chances, are you are not a guru, you know, exactly.

[00:52:28] So that was that's, you know, part of the competition part. The other part is there's not a lot of.  There's more. Money in mainstream, there's more potential for clients and when you know, I had noticed I'm like I built a pretty good reputation, like people outside of bodybuilding who may not be competitors, you know reproaching me left and right.

[00:52:51] So when I got to this trt issue I had the blood issues in 2013 and I shifted gears. I thought to myself I'll make you know, I'm starting to get [00:53:00] older these younger competitors may not relate to me as much they're going to relate more I think to the Matt Porter. Listen, and that type your so I thought you know, this is opportunity for me to kind of shift my demographic a little bit stay relevant and you know my 40 and 50 year old demographic who's that trt.

[00:53:21] They're going to you know, I guess gravitate more towards working with me because I'm dealing with the same things and that's exactly what happened and let me tell you for anybody and I would think that it would seem logical but 40 and 50 year old men. I have plenty of money the large majority of plenty of money to spend because they're establishing at careers and they've got families and they've got 401 K's and they want to spend money because that is important to them.

[00:53:47] They've gotten a little taste of the Tea Party and they're like, oh hell yes. So now I got to get my nutrition my training. Who am I going to call? I'm going to call this guy? Skip hell because he's dealing with the same thing. He puts a lot of information out there. [00:54:00] He talks about it. I want to hire him.

[00:54:02] So wait a minute. When did you start? So when did you start? Party, I started to your team 2013 but to be completely transparent. I am no longer trt real as of about a year ago. Here's the reason why I started trt in 2013 I was living in Colorado is living at roughly 9,000 feet and I knew that I had different parameters for rbc's hematocrit and hemoglobin, but I was still all of a sudden after years and years and years of being in range even while I was out.

[00:54:33] I was a high normal range. I was never a Terrain all of a sudden. My doctor called me. He said hey, you know, I got your results back to the bottom because I didn't blood work religiously twice a year for forever and he said, you know, it's not your blood work. They made a mistake. I'll call you in a few days.

[00:54:48] I'll have the correct test. I'm like, okay, he called me back. He's like hey, these are your numbers. You got to come in. We got talk about me. Late to what he's talking about. So anyway, I go [00:55:00] in and they're just horrible. They're just horrible numbers and I can't tell you what they were because I don't remember because I've done so much blood work since then, but they were off the chart if I had to guess as an example, they were probably my hematocrit might've been like 58 instead of the high end of 54.

[00:55:15] So, you know people might freak out there like, oh my God - 50. Well, I lived at 9,000 feet so I can actually probably go to 55 if I needed to but 5859 with pretty hot and you have to understand that it. Never Been High ever even when I was on competing for years. I mean there were times where I stayed on for three and a half years, you know because my blood wasn't great.

[00:55:33] I felt great. So anyway, I made this decision and it was an easy one for me. I said I'm not going to not going to gamble. I mean, you know, I'm in my 40s. I'm in great shape. I my wife's freaking awesome my kids. I've got a great life here, you know making a good living. I like to ride motorcycles go to baseball games.

[00:55:48] I mean I can stay in good shape running trt. I can hold a lot of this muscle because I've already built it and I'll just stay in great shape. Did that for five years then I moved to Florida because you know old [00:56:00] people move to where Sunshine is apparently as much as we love Colorado. I'm hoping so to I'm hoping to do the same thing myself.

[00:56:07] Go ahead. I'm sorry. It's it's awesome and we love it. But she had an opportunity out here. We jumped on it where empty nesting to but anyway, I get down here and I just I am in good shape and I'm running materiality and. Check my blood and my blood is like really like my numbers are low. I'm like, wow, this is kind of weird.

[00:56:25] So I talked to a couple people I said, hey, you know, what, if you know, this is this elevation because obviously the elevation would impact it we know that right, but it was really low like not dangerously low, but really low like it made me think so I'm like, I'm gonna play I'm gonna not say anything.

[00:56:39] I'm gonna run a cycle here for 8-10 weeks and I ran a cycle and my numbers were great. So I extended the cycle. My numbers are. With an awesome. So I'm like, well, I am just going to go back on cycle and I've been a not on but I've been back cycling on and off for about a year [00:57:00] and my blood is like it was for all those years.

[00:57:02] It's within range. It might almost say I nor was the high altitude that was actually affecting you more it definitely it was but what I couldn't understand was I had lived in Colorado for 21 years, but I only lived. Six or seven thousand so I think once it I got up there to 9, you know, it's not just that 3,000 foot disparity.

[00:57:23] There was just something there that just wasn't right and it was off. So look I'm not going to I could sit here and try to analyze it but the truth is I'm happier than a pig in shit go. I can go back to side with and I'm enjoying my training now because me, you have to understand that even if you're in great shape and you're doing the same shit.

[00:57:43] You've always done in the same weights. It gets boring. You're just it's not very motivating. So at 49 when I can go back and go and pound it. Like I was when I was in my late 30s early 40s and understand I don't have my back injuries right now. I'm able to pound some shit. [00:58:00] I'm growing this is awesome.

[00:58:01] I'm in love with this shit. Right. It's a high. You know, what's awesome now, I will say just for the record if someone might be thinking well, if you have bad blood even though you really like everything right now. Are you going to gamble with it? If your blood comes back back? No. No, I'll go back to trt.

[00:58:18] The only reason I'm cycling now is because I feel comfortable the fact that my blood is is good and I'm running won't you know, I have might an animal and it's and I want to talk about that. I want to talk about that. So you and I are dr. Going to begin with it appears. I mean, I'm. I love German.

[00:58:34] Are you really? Okay? So I'm a I'm a I'm a huge fan of Milano tend to for a variety of reasons. And in fact, I'm getting ready to do a podcast about this on we started a new episode. It's every other Friday called the pep talk where I have. Dr. Carl page on my show. He's part of the international peptide Society.

[00:58:55] We talk about different peptides that are not the typical Bro Science type peptides [00:59:00] and I started using Milano 10. With regularity about a year ago after while a so three years ago. I wrote a Blog about a study that showed that high doses of Milano tend to literally obliterated or ethereal sclerotic plaque actually causes not only a reduction in the inflammation in the intima.

[00:59:23] But the body reabsorbs the plaque I thought wow, this is Magic and the same happens with sunshine. This is why people who go oh, you know vitamin D. Keeps you from developing plaque because people who live by the equator, they don't have heart disease know they don't have heart disease because of the Milano court and system is being activated by sunlight.

[00:59:42] It's naked naked pound all the vitamin D. They want that's not the answer. It's the Milano corn system. So, you know son is so important to us and we have all these stupid. Dermatologist telling people SPF and don't let your kids go. It's like wait, we evolved feel like millions of [01:00:00] years the sun influenced us now.

[01:00:02] We're like, oh son is bad nonsense. But anyway, right. So I take 25 micrograms of Milano tend to post workout. With five I use of oxytocin. I use a bunch of different peptides post-workout and I do that because Milano courtin there's formal out of court and receptors on every cell that completely suppress what is considered chronic inflammatory response.

[01:00:29] So melanotan to is a very powerful small doses. You don't have to worry about even getting tan or now. I get tan because I have so much melanin in my skin that just using 25 micrograms a few times a week makes me darker, but if a light skinned person probably wouldn't see the tanning effect of it.

[01:00:48] But but you discovered something that I discovered to and that. Sunlight and melanotan to raise ferritin levels.  [01:01:00] Did you not discover that as well? Yeah. Yeah, and it was concerning because I had a friend in Colorado. This is kind of how it started. I had a friend in Colorado who hit me up and he said hey, you know, I was at the doctor's I'm giving you the cliff notes version here quickly went to that the hospital basically the ER because I.

[01:01:18] Dizzy and stuff like that and I did my numbers and he had like I don't even know a 60 or 62 hematocrit was just off the chart right? But again, this is in Denver, Colorado. So he said he was running down what he was on he was only on trt and that sort of thing and I said, oh, let me guess they went for the PRT said no, they weren't for the melanotan laughing like well, I don't know why they would make that connection and he's like, well, you know, I stopped it because he said this was like a week ago.

[01:01:43] I stopped it and it's only been a week and my numbers have dropped almost. Points and I'm like what so I kind of just dismissed it and thought you know, it's typical you have to understand bodybuilders that we don't think we're so fucking smart. We're smarter than any other doctor out there and doctors are stupid and that sort of thing so I [01:02:00] try not to do that.

[01:02:00] But at the same time it just didn't logically make any sense. And hey now, I know a lot about Millennials have been on a pretty much straight since those six. My wife has had melanoma and has had three surgeries and I've had long discussions with when I consider to be quite. Yo, Top Doctors cancer, you know surgeons things like that dermatologist in the Denver area about melanotan and they completely agree with why I think that melanotan and Stan efforting feels I think he has a lot of the same theories as well that it kind of helps to protect.

[01:02:38] It doesn't protect you completely but it does help to protect people to some degree from Yale. It was created it. The reason melanotan 1 and to exist is because Arizona State University created it as a way for fair-skinned people to bulletproof themselves against developing melanoma in son. I mean, so [01:03:00] it we know that it actually has that hormetic know that I think a lot of people think that they just came up with this drug because.

[01:03:08] You know to make people tan tan and make us horn people. Yeah, exactly. There are people that are out there that even think to and you can find websites. If you Google it who say that the melanotan to actually causes skin cancer and I tell you there's just the internet is a great place because it has a lot of really good information, but it's also a shitty place because.

[01:03:30] Then you get crap information that you have to sift through and sometimes I feel really bad for people who don't know they've a critical thinker than our critical better. Yeah, exactly so that you end up with people just not knowing basically what to believe. But the point is is it came down to that melanotan and that was the first this is probably probably let me but let me tell you but let me tell you but let me tell you the real the real story behind this that you can actually now you and you may know this already.

[01:03:58] I'm assuming you don't but I'm but you probably [01:04:00] do. So melanotan to raises ferritin levels. Okay. Ferritin is a protein produced by the body to shuttle iron around you can raise ferritin levels without increasing iron intake if you take large doses of Vitamin C. It will raise ferritin levels and and doctors will think.

[01:04:20] Oh my God, your ferritin levels so high and you can go I'm vegan. I don't understand. Well, whatever you're doing. It's so ferritin can be elevated independent. Of iron introduced into the diet and does not indicate absorption of iron at all. So in order to truly this and see I started following iron overload last year because I believe that in guys like us who we eat a omnivore diet, you know, we eat a lot of red meat what actually causes aging and the phenotypic all signs of aging muscle soreness degeneration of the peripheral nervous system.

[01:05:00] [01:05:00] Skin changes in skin quality and texture, you know, those all are from metabolic debris and what I mean by metabolic debris iron is one of the worst it's like every cell has a Shard of iron in it. It's rusting it's causing. It causes rapid oxidation. We talked about antioxidants being good. Well, nothing oxidizes the body more than I earn nothing damages mitochondrial function more than iron.

[01:05:27] And so. I said to myself. How could something. You know, this is the critical thinking how could something so important to us sunlight?  Cause this malady and in actuality sunlight actually all causes the the break down and release of iron overtone over time, but it raises ferritin. It doesn't raise iron.

[01:05:50] So doctors need to not only trust test for ferritin levels, but they must do a test called Ti BC, which is direct. It actually measures the iron and [01:06:00] plasma not the carrier that carries iron and when they do that they go. Oh man you farrington's high, but your iron is fine. I don't understand that.

[01:06:08] I've never seen that before. Well, you've never looked at both of them at the same time before wait. A lot of this comes down to the fact that. Doctors deal with the everyday average person and a lot of that blood work is 90 95 percent the same they don't deal with, you know, melanotan or they don't deal with people who are using.

[01:06:30] Yeah, you know, super physiological levels of you know hormones and things like that. So, you know, I'm the one and I because I completely agree with you on the other hand. I think that's why I'm not as hard on doctors as most people in the industry are. They don't have the experience with our demographic and they shouldn't be expected to now at the same time.

[01:06:50] The doctors should be understanding enough to not sit there and lecture on something that they don't know about. They should be more willing to admit that they [01:07:00] don't know about it then to act you know, doctors are funny like that. I always laugh and say I could go into a doctor. I know whether a doctor is an asshole and thinks he knows everything because if I go into a doctor that.

[01:07:11] No, I'll have to do is ask them. Hey, if you had to could you change the oil filter in an airplane? And if they say yes, then I know that it's a fucking rights red flag because they a lot of times they just act like they know everything about everything. It's almost an ego thing. Yeah, and that's that's very off-putting to me because I don't want to sit and listen to a doctor who doesn't have experience on that.

[01:07:34] I've had them say flat out. Well, you know when you got one I got shingles. Well, it's because you're taking steroids. I'm like, well, I guess we're done here. He's like, what are you talk? Mike you don't know shit about me. You don't have a file on me. You don't have anything. All you did was walk in you might as well stop black that my son was gay.

[01:07:50] You just said I'm on steroids. So you and I are done here right? He's like well, well, well, hold on my apologies anything else and then we and the truth of the matter is stored [01:08:00] shingles Shing the shingles virus. There are people who have the shingles virus and never have a single outbreak in their entire.

[01:08:08] Right there, the virus will stay dormant and it lives in the ganglion of the nerves and so you have to reach a level of of stress in your life where that is fires it and makes it come forward. There's people out there who have it's called herpes zoster. It's a form of herpes virus. There's people have herpes zoster their entire life they die with it.

[01:08:29] No one ever knew it because they never had a single outbreak. Yeah, their immune system was good. Mine went in the shitter. I was in between shows and that's what it was. I thought oh, it's just ait's and pains because I just competed, you know two weeks ago and then all of a sudden my wife says, oh you got a couple Source here and you're like, what are you what are you talking about?

[01:08:49] And I remember being in the gym that day and I hurt so bad that I actually thought to myself. This is I bet this is what cancer feels like this just feel really bad and [01:09:00] then I went into the doctor and they said, you know, it was it's funny because in typical bodybuilding men. Please she says well this is you know, worse the worst case of shingles.

[01:09:11] I've seen in a while. I'm like, what's that? Yeah, I thought it was something only old people get right was. Well, you got it like why I can't cuz I've got a bodybuilding show in a week. She looked at me laughs because and you don't like what I mean, you know, she goes if you do that and you don't start this medication right away, you're going to wish you were.

[01:09:27] Dying is like no shit. So there's so there's a pound right? There's a peptide called thymosin alpha 1 and it's an antiviral peptide. And if you have any type of virus working on you, you take one and a half milligram. Every third day usually you just need two shots. I've had people write me that I've talked about it.

[01:09:52] They the soon as the outbreak of shingles started. They literally kept it in their freezer just in case and they took a shot and they said they [01:10:00] didn't get the normal outbreak. It was literally gone the pain was gone and it was literally gone in like a couple days. It was completely back to normal.

[01:10:06] So everybody who has shingles should search for the peptide. It's an alpha 1 you can definitely have your doctor prescribed it for you. They can order it through tailor-made Health in here in Kentucky. They are the only FDA approved compounding pharmacy that can fill prescriptions for peptides everything CJC 1295.

[01:10:32] They have it you can get it through your doctor. Now. You don't have to go black market the thymus and Alpha 1 if you have parvovirus and you get our outbreaks from time to time, they have a human version. That if you have shingles keep thymus and Alpha One in your freezer take one shot as soon as you know that you're getting it and watch it what you won't even have the full outbreak.

[01:10:52] You just won't take it won't happen.  Nice. Yeah, it's cool stuff. So what have we have we missed anything [01:11:00] on this discussion today that you want to get out there to the public plug your website, please first of all,  well team steam skip that calm but I also write I'm a columnist and a coach for.

[01:11:13] FTS have a lot of articles there that I fancy myself, you know witty humorous sometimes handsome and I have Coach logs. I mean I detail pretty much everything that I'm I'm doing and they've been there since I started trt in 2013 because I started writing for them in 2013. So if you are interested in tier 2, you can always go back and see exactly what I was doing diet training everything.

[01:11:37] Right through today basically and what I'm doing now and see the changes and all the details so, you know, it's about it. I obviously you can listen to The Blood Sweat and gears podcast out advice is Radio, you know, we got together at the Arnold had a good time exchanging. So tell everybody that color it so tell everybody.

[01:11:57] What a what a microphone hog. I am [01:12:00] I remind myself I recognize when I walked out. Glass because like I didn't let anybody have a word in edgewise. It was like the Carlin or show. Oh, I don't I don't think so at all. I think what happens though is and that's what I was talking about. The dynamic was we had so many people on the panel from so many different podcasts and.

[01:12:22] You know, some of us are supposed to like our job is to talk more and to be entertaining or to be funny and I would laugh and say I'm not the smartest guy on my podcast. I'm there to be funny and entertaining. So there's there's not a when we got there. We all got together. There was no there was no Dynamic.

[01:12:41] There's nothing we could really do. So I'm like, okay, I'm looking around and I'm like, okay Vijay. He's an alpha. He talks a lot. He's in then he's comfortable from the microphone my car on. His shit, he clearly and I even ask them like I have Scott Stevenson and sit next to me. I'm like Carl doesn't like a podcast like every day right [01:13:00] you guys.

[01:13:00] Yep, and he's got a lot of them. So I'm like, okay, so I'm trying to feel out who's gonna who wants a microphone because there was only for Mike's right, right something like that. So now I ordered it was good. I think it went really well is really fun to get together and meet people face-to-face that I've worked with for four years and years and years and I haven't worked with you, but I've known you and I know your name.

[01:13:21] I know that you how much respect comes behind not only your name of the things that you know in the experience if you've had so to be able to sit down with you I was flattered to be on a panel with people that are so well respected. So and and Scott McNally if you're listening to the podcast, when is that going to drop?

[01:13:37] I want to see I want to see and hear because I know what somebody did a video to of it. So I'd like to I can't wait for that to be a. I'd be surprised if it wasn't out this week. I anticipated it last week. So I would imagine it would be sometime this week, but we'll see. I'm sorry it took so long for me to have you on the show when I left.

[01:13:55] I thought why haven't I had skip Hill on this show. I'd read his stuff on [01:14:00] it on Dave Tate's website. I used his protein powder for years. Like I didn't even know who Skip was. I was like team. Skip this stuff is really intelligently. Laid out protein powder and then and I texted Scott McNally of a says.

[01:14:13] Can you connect me with what? Skip Hillary's like? Yeah sure and next thing. I know we were texting it was it was a lot of fun a lot of you know, I'm certainly flattered. I appreciate you having me on and I said it was nice. It was nice meeting you I'm going to be there again. Next year's first time.

[01:14:26] I've gone first actually I've never been to the oh and that's the first time I've been to the Arnold. I've been in the sport for 35 years. Yeah, it's good good to see people up there, but it's a Madness. It's just I get sensory. Hello time one of those people that when I'm in a crowd like that, I actually become like all my energy gets drained from me.

[01:14:44] Yeah. Yeah. I did very anxious there were times. I went back to the hotel room and just sat there and had room service and I'm like, but that's what old people do ya say. I called my wife and she laughs she goes I know he'd rather be here where it's piece of climate, you know, I'm having a having a good time, but I could only take it [01:15:00] in in small doses on this a so, I'm 60 now.

[01:15:04] I'll be 61 this year. And and so I. Tell you that I still listen to Lincoln Park when I train so there is no so there is like a 16 year old stuck in here. I still feel like that kid, but my body doesn't want to cooperate anymore. For some reason. It's like, you know, it's funny you say that because I feel the same way if I don't look at myself in the mirror, I'm in the gym training.

[01:15:27] I do I feel like a million bucks, right and then you just you know, you're reminded birthdays are the worst because they do they remind me of my age. I just turned 49 on Saturday and you're right. Don't get me wrong. I like happy birthday. Happy birthday. Thank you. I appreciate it. But I'm like, oh my God, I'm 49 like oh my God for real.

[01:15:45] So yeah, it's kind of tough. I I wonder what would happen. I wonder what would happen if you raise the child devoid of birthdays. And they never knew how old they were and they didn't know how old you and Mom were and I wonder if like if you didn't give [01:16:00] somebody that information would they live longer?

[01:16:03] You know, you may well be right but you'd probably be charged with some form of neglect government have to step in and you know consequence you for not staying inside the box. I don't know very it's very possible because we just tend there's such a medical point. I even said I'm like - I'm. Well, I feel great.

[01:16:23] I'm in good shape. And then I thought God it's still kicking my ass when I when I had my birthday. How do people who are not in shape. Oh who don't take care of themselves or aren't successful or don't feel very good about them to how do we deal with this? Shit? They don't even know. I don't know.

[01:16:39] I've come to the conclusion that they don't know because like if I go out and drink, Alcohol, like I got drunk one night. I feel like crap for like two or three days and I'll say to Eliza you realize like we have friends that that's what they do all the time. They're always drinking and partying they have become accustomed to living life [01:17:00] at a 4 and those of us who know what it feels like to live at a 10 will like oh man.

[01:17:04] I don't want to feel that way but they don't they don't have a perspective of what it feels like to live at a 10 so they're like, oh, this is cool. I'm okay Yep. This is normal. Exactly. It's always tell people to it. Know what good food is diet for a little while because then go to Burger King.

[01:17:18] That shit's going to taste really really good. I know plain oatmeal. I love plain oatmeal with a little salt and a little cinnamon in it and nothing else. But because your palate changes when you want you start to equally listen Skip it's been great having you on the show, and I promise we'll have you back on.

[01:17:33] And stay in touch with me. Okay, so we can have you back on it. It's got some fun stuff. All right, take it easy. I'm going to just try to do this without making a fool of myself. I look that's it for today. Tomorrow's Tuesday. We have the blueprint power our tune in for that and Wednesday. I'm hoping to do a show about vitamin A because you know, I'm a huge proponent of taking vitamin A but too much is probably no good, and we're going to try to dig into that on Wednesday.

[01:17:59] So we'll see you [01:18:00] then. Thanks for watching

[01:18:09] today.

{/spoiler}