---
title: 'Workout / Nutrition / Supplementation Questions - ATHLEAN-X "Hangs out" with Fans'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=2dBx03oOgHA'
video_id: '2dBx03oOgHA'
date: 2026-07-01
duration_sec: 3079
---

# Workout / Nutrition / Supplementation Questions - ATHLEAN-X "Hangs out" with Fans

> Source: [Workout / Nutrition / Supplementation Questions - ATHLEAN-X "Hangs out" with Fans](https://youtube.com/watch?v=2dBx03oOgHA)

## Summary

Jeff Cavalier of ATHLEAN-X hosts a Google+ hangout with fans Jackson, Manour, and others to answer questions about getting in shape 60 days before summer. The session covers nutrition simplicity, supplement use, training consistency, and mobility issues, emphasizing long-term adherence over quick fixes.

### Key Points

- **Nutrition Followability** [00:49] — The number one criteria for any nutrition plan is adherence. If you can't follow it, it won't work for results beyond a few months.
- **Carbohydrates as Primary Macronutrient** [06:25] — Carbs are the major constituent of the three macronutrients and the most variable. Jeff advises a visual plate division: one-third protein and two-thirds carbs, with fibrous carbs doubled relative to starchy carbs.
- **Supplement Integration** [10:18] — For morning trainers, Jeff suggests a small pre-workout snack (e.g., a banana) 30 minutes before training, then taking pre-workout and having breakfast after. Post-workout can be a meal or a shake depending on schedule.
- **Overtraining Indicators** [15:07] — Signs of overtraining include dragging energy, inability to increase weights, and disturbed sleep. Biking to school, if done consistently and not causing these symptoms, is likely not problematic.
- **Consistency in Workout Timing** [17:58] — The best time for conditioning is whenever you can be consistent. Morning workouts can enhance fat oxidation, but consistency overrides minor metabolic advantages.
- **Mobility and Squat Depth** [22:45] — For squatting limitations, calf tightness (especially the soleus) is a common cause. Jeff recommends daily calf stretching with bent and straight knee, plus foam rolling for hips and IT bands.
- **Advice for Aspiring Fitness Entrepreneurs** [27:58] — Passion is the first ingredient. Jeff recommends formal education (e.g., physical therapy) to develop critical thinking and adaptability. The NSCA certification is the gold standard in strength and conditioning.
- **Dip Alternatives** [34:41] — For home gyms lacking dip bars, cobra push-ups (scoop under at the bottom) effectively target triceps when elbows are tight to the sides, mimicking upright dip mechanics.
- **Non-Supplement Pre/Post Workout** [39:01] — Inexpensive alternatives: pre-workout – banana with a little peanut butter; post-workout – protein source like egg whites, milk, or cottage cheese. Avoid heavy foods like steak post-workout.
- **Core Work Consistency** [46:14] — For ab work, Jeff recommends the Six-Pack Promise program on days without dedicated ab training. He does abs 6 days a week, often before dinner, ensuring he doesn't forget. Abs are resilient and can be done even on rest days.

### Conclusion

The video emphasizes that sustainable nutrition and training habits, not quick fixes, lead to year-round fitness. Jeff encourages fans to engage via Facebook and Google+ for future live Q&A sessions.

## Transcript

[Music]
what's up guys Jeff Cavalier aex.com uh
a little bit of a different setting here
and in a completely different
environment this is a Google+ hangout
what I decided to do was in the middle
of the week guys I've always been asking
now for more content from us at athletex
can we come up with uh another video for
the week and to make it somewhat
different and to also give me a chance
to interact with some of my fans and
some of the guys that are following affl
X in our Channel I figured let's do a
hangout so what we did was we posted
quickly over on our Facebook fan page
that we would be doing a h hangout here
today uh specifically really around the
topic of around 60 days to summer and
getting into shape when we know it's
sort of crunch time right we got to get
into uh the best shape we can I got all
my dogs here guys you guys know that
we're doing this live at my house um so
basically with the theme of 60 days to
summer we put it out there and we'
selected a couple guys to come in and
join me here on on this hangout and I'm
going to do that in the uh in the weeks
going ahead so you want to make sure
that you are a fan of our fan page which
is facebook.com ainex so you you get the
notice of this you also want to be
follow me on Google+ so you can get the
notice of this also so anyway with me I
have Jackson and uh manur two guys that
have foll the program for a
while so uh come here so we've got
Jackson and Jackson's a a a college
student right down at South Florida yep
and manour is the other end of the
spectrum manur is 40 years old uh he's a
father um you know two two kids as he
was telling me before we joined this uh
this hangout so two guys of probably
different goals or maybe the same goals
but different uh demands every day of
what they have to deal with that might
be getting in the way of them getting in
shape so I just figured let's throw it
right out to the questions so that I can
hopefully be of help to these guys
specifically in anybody that's watching
uh guys that can actually uh you know
feel as that they have the same issues
so Jackson let's start with you college
guy University of South Florida yeah I
got I haven't got the green on to go
with it um
I was uh me and my roommate were
actually just talking about this two
days ago how you can you can go from one
website and see uh like nutritional
information but then it doesn't matter
what you find you can find 100 180
degrees of something completely
different like whether it's like carbs
or you know that intermittent fasting
that you did a video on yeah like that
and um I think one of the the big things
that I have trouble with is trying to
figure out like
how like how many carbs to eat because a
lot of times I think that that can kind
of be the big like seesaw uh of where
you see your gains and stuff so I was
just kind of kind of we to get your idea
like of of nutrition um maybe a little
bit more than we have in the the portal
that's online yeah well when it you're
right when you know the there's
definitely nutrition like almost every
topic though you can cover weight
training the same way every is going to
have a different opinion unfortunately a
lot of times a lot of the opinions are
created uh I feel from marketing needs
right if you're gonna if you're gonna
sell a program and we have a program you
guys know we have athl X the guys have
used it you've used it you know that you
know the right program can deliver
results well in order to position
yourself uniquely a lot of times people
will change the position that's sort of
followed in order to be completely
unique right and it makes for good
thought or for you know uh debate of oh
no no you're training that way you need
to train completely you know a different
way um and if they can support it with a
couple you know a couple claims it
actually might sound convincing to you
you know but the fact of the matter is
there really there really are certain
ways depending upon goals to achieve
what you're trying to achieve and I
think when it comes to nutrition there's
no two ways about it when I think but
the number one criteria for any
nutrition plant and we can get into the
specifics a little bit in a second here
but any nutrition plan it has to be the
followability I kind I don't even know
if that's a word but I say that all the
time if you can't follow it it ain't
gonna work okay because you're not
really looking for at least my guys
aren't looking for shortterm results to
to look good for three months out of the
year and unfortunately I see that all
the time there's guys that look good for
literally three or four months and then
they spend the whole rest of the winter
either on a bulking program or whatever
they want to call it but they look like
crap for seven months out of the year so
if you're gonna have a program that
allows you to look good all the time and
not just for summer like the theme of
this video then it's got to be something
that you can follow so now my question
to you would be from a followability
standpoint you know what works for you
could intermittent fasting work for you
year round have you tried intermittent
fasting all yeah I did um and it was
actually after I saw your video I was
like I've never heard of that um yeah
but I tried it and yeah it's it's
probably not a longterm thing because
you just get ravenous like when you
haven't had your meal forever yeah I
mean and so the answer though is that
intermittent fasting done for a period
of time it certainly works like there's
guys that have used it that will get
results from it but my my question and
and always back and return is well
that's great you know do it short term
and again for the theme of this of this
video you know get ready for summer
maybe a guy wants to try that but if he
can't sustain that for the entire summer
he not going to sustain the look so I'm
always about trying to find long-term
Solutions so in the followability we
always want to make the nutrition as
simple as possible and you mentioned
carbohydrates being something that uh
can fluctuate for you I mean the reason
being is that the carbs are always going
to be for the most part uh the major
constituent of the three macro nutrients
in your diet right from fats to proteins
to carbohydrates so especially because
there's sort of two broad categories of
carbs your star two carbs and your
fibers carbs so they're going to make up
the most meaning that you're going to
have the most fluctuation between
percentages in that category you know
the carbohydrates so I kind of try to
break it down though instead of
measuring out your your macronutrients
to the gram of trying to is is there a
way that I can influence your decisions
on what to eat in a more broad sense
because that's just going to make it
easier for you if you have to count your
Macros every single day the likelyhood
that you're going to continue that year
round and look good year round is low so
yes there's an education component and
as you become more uh educated on it
you're going to be you know more
familiar without having to actually
measure but in the grand sense what I
like to say is when you're looking at
how to how to create a meal you should
look at your plate right as a way to
sort of visually divide that and for me
I always start with the protein because
I think that you need guys need to have
protein in every meal a constituent of
that should be protein and from there we
build off of that so the rest we
basically have like one third of that
plate covered by protein the rest of
that plate the twoth thirds should be
comprise your carbohydrates and I just
say of that two-thirds of the plate you
should double the amount of F of starchy
carbs so let's just say for I love sweet
potatoes so for me it's like sweet
potatoes is my starchy carb put double
the amount of your fibrous carbs on top
of that could be broccoli could be
spinach could be uh saut mushrooms could
be you know more of your starchy
carbohydrates it's gonna act as a as a
appetite suppressant you know it's going
to fill you up because of the the fiber
in the in the fiberous carbs and it will
still leave you feeling satisfied and
full because you're talking about a big
plate full of food right you got 2third
of of you know uh two times the amount
of your starchy carbs in fibrous carbs
and you have a big portion of protein
too so again I try to stay out of those
specific uh macronutrient numbers
because I feel that's where guys get
hung up and that's where results stop so
what I would recommend is if you're if
you're visually going for that in every
single meal then you need to start to
play around with your uh your your two
to two to one ratio there of your
fibrous to startg carbs if you find that
you're still either retaining too much
water or you find that you're still kind
of holding on to too much fat then maybe
that ratio needs to come a little bit
higher than two to one maybe it needs to
be more like three to one right or or or
two to a half you know just start to
favor it a little bit more start at one
meal like I would say start at dinner
because that's tend tends to be where
guys will maybe eat the wrong kind of
carbs uh there's really limited food
options when you're talking about
breakfast there's not so many meals that
people eat for breakfast but at dinner
there's so many different types so I
would start at dinner make your
modifications there and then see how
your body reacts over the course of the
next few days you know and then if
you're liking what you're seeing that
the direction you're going in then stick
with that if you don't like the
direction you're going in then kind of
shift that ratio but your protein
constituent should stay the same and
everything else should sort of stay the
same so it gives you an opportunity to
tweak your Macros without having to
break out you know the the calculators
to do everything mathematically to the
te because the second you as a student
don't have the time to do that you're
going to eat the wrong thing because
it's just easier to do it that way right
so we got to make sure you dialed in
making it simple perfect I'll jump over
to manur and then we'll go back uh for
another question manur what is uh what's
the question you have for
us um I just started taking the
supplements how do they um you
know H how how can I use them sort of
with the meal
plan that's a good question um you know
it depends
on it really again like so you're you
what what's it what's your typical day
like because you you're a father you
gota you gotta go to work what is your
typical day like when do you like to
work
out uh I train in the morning usually so
first thing in the morning yeah so I
usually get up and then you know I'm not
sure like do I skip breakfast and just
take the Pre-Workout or yeah so in terms
of working out in a completely fasted
State I personally can't do it I I I
find myself dragging if I don't have at
least something so what I would
recommend to you and you know in the the
the Pre-Workout alone is not going to be
all that satisfying but what I might do
is literally just take like like a
banana or something just something
really quick it's not considered your
breakfast so I'm not saying eat your
breakfast first it's just something to
put into your stomach to just give
yourself you know a little bit of
nutrition and also if you're the type
that gets distracted by hunger you can
kind of get that out of the way by
giving yourself at least something and
then take your pre-workout so the RX one
will you take then workout you should
take it around 30 minutes before you
work out but you work out after that and
then after you're done you'd have your
breakfast now going throughout the rest
of the day you can either there's two
options you can either have your
post-workout right there after your
breakfast it depends upon how much time
you have before you got to get out the
door but you could either have your
post-workout right then and there take
your breakfast with you to work if you
you know and eat it an hour and a half
or so later or you could eat that as
your your breakfast as your post-workout
and then treat your post-workout more as
a um as a meal replacement shake maybe
midm morning or um you know in the
afternoon as a mid as a mid-afternoon
snack so we've had guys do both and get
incredible results out of it so you know
you do have that that that window of um
of opportunity after you're done working
out out but provided you're following
the meals on the athletex meal plan that
are all structured you know in the same
way that our supplements are we giving
you what we think you need and and you
know not the stuff that you don't you
can use that as a
post-workout uh your one of your meals
as a post workout so you don't have to
feel so restrained to having the rx2
immediately after you're done but we
have guys do both and they get
incredible results and of course at
night always before you go to bed uh rx3
you the uh overnight recovery
is that similar to how you've been using
it or you have you been doing it
slightly
differently um yeah I'm kind of I've
been kind of you know sometimes I'll go
back and forth between skipping
breakfast and taking rx2 or taking or
having breakfast and then not taking rx2
but rx2 is like I think that tastes
great you know and I love mixing it with
fruit and stuff so right right I
definitely want to get it in in my body
I just you know I wasn't sure the best
you know best way to do it because of my
my trading schedule
yeah great by the way what's that the
new formula is great it's it's it tastes
like candy if I told you how long we
worked on that you would be uh you
wouldn't believe me I mean we have I've
said before you know on our videos and
it's funny because I got a lot of
feedback on this past week's video uh
about my my take on some of the other
supplements that are out there but you
know I take this stuff really seriously
as you guys understand and um I uh you
know when I came up with uh these
formulas I really tried to do the best I
could and we did we had some early
feedback from guys that didn't like the
taste um and we worked hard on trying to
perfect that so I appreciate the
feedback because I know how much went it
to try to make sure that they were uh as
good as we can make
them um Jackson I'll go back to you
what's another thing that's sort of on
your mind actually Ryan just uh just
joined us and when he tuned will be able
to get his take too what's up
Ryan I don't think you can hear us yet
so while he's figuring out his audio uh
Jackson what's your question uh I know
that sometimes you talk about like
making sure of not overtraining or like
adding things into to the workout uh
program because you try to have it all
Incorporated uh one thing I've been
doing a lot though is like biking to
school uh and it's only maybe four miles
but you know it's like eight miles there
and back sometimes I have to go twice so
that's like 16 miles of biking in a day
do you think is that like becoming too
much um should I try to drive more or is
it still healthy to do
that there's there's two things when it
comes to overtraining the first thing is
you have to uh do a self assessment so
do you find that you're you're dragging
you know at the end of a day or do you
find that when you're about ready to hit
your next strength trending workout you
don't have the ability to exert the
energy that you wish you would or that
you're uh even that your weights aren't
increasing at any point because your
strength levels aren't going up um do
you find that you have Disturbed sleep
that you can't really sleep well at
night um those are sort of indicators
that you might be overtraining um and if
that's the case I would start looking at
some of those other things you know some
to some guys that and maybe to you that
that bike ride is nothing because you do
it so often you know so it's really not
taxing you in a way that would that
would cause you to be overtraining uh
especially if in all the other areas
you're uh you're excelling you know that
you're not seeing any of that um but you
can you know you can kind of gauge that
yourself it's it's funny because I was
just having a discussion with someone
about this um
yesterday it tends to be that the the
the the type of conditioning in cardio
that leads to the most overtraining is
sort of that midlevel um mid-level
exertion so the guys are training really
hard like they do with athl burst
training right it's it's brief it's
intense it is both anerobic and aerobic
uh it gets the benefits of both and then
it gets you out of the gym it's it's a
nice uh it's a nice uh you know partner
for the strength training workouts
because it doesn't lead to high high
volumes and you know eventually
overtraining the low like real low
intensity stuff the stuff where you're
like on a Sunday walk with your
girlfriend I mean that that you know
that's not even high enough intensity to
cause any type of over training you
could do that for six hours in the day
and it's just not there's just no
intensity there so you know your bike
ride I'm sure would probably fall into
that range that potentially could do
that but if you're not seeing any of
those sort of uh um indicators of of
overtraining then I would say no you
don't you don't have to you don't have
to worry about okay perfect thank you
hey Ryan you with us yeah can you hear
me I can how's it going awesome good
how's it going you up here up here up
here Wisconsin where it's cold yet oh is
it still cold there yeah it's still
50 today so I mean it's getting better
we just got our first warm day here so
did where you connect it right yeah yeah
see more no uh we're down in Fairfield
County
so okay gotta yeah my question uh now
when you do e burst trading Jeff do you
recommend doing it in the morning for
the best results or do you recommend
doing it you know in the afternoon like
after work or something it's funny you
my answer to this question is always
whenever the hell you're going to do it
you know because as long as you don't if
you're consistency is the key for
anything you know whether it's following
a workout program or whether it's you
know following a specific part of a
workout program be it conditioning or
weight training it's consistency right I
mean especially I could tell you just
from a standpoint of you know I never
saw results personally in my own
workouts until I got consistent about it
and and it wasn't until I actually
started caring about uh the outcomes so
we're sort of caught in this catch22
where you don't care because you don't
see the results you know what I mean
you can't stay motivated so you got to
have that turning point where you're
able to finally start seeing results
because then you're like oh I actually
look better from the work I'm putting in
I want to continue to do this it makes
consistency a lot easier I think that's
the key to a program like a x is if we
can generate results like you guys have
had you know you start to see you start
to feel more uh more uh inspired by that
to stay with it but in terms of specific
conditioning um again it falls in that
same thing whenever you can do it so I
have guys that will write to us and tell
us they got great results doing it first
thing in the morning um a guy like manur
probably who works out first thing in
the morning if he doesn't do it then
he's probably not g to do it because you
got two kids by the end of the day he
things come up you know we always kind
of let things get in the way and it the
the chances that you're going to get
that workout done go down so I would say
that if it works for you best in the
morning and that's when you're going to
do it then definitely do it you know we
know that from on a
um in a fasted State you're going to be
able to you know uh depending upon again
the intensity that you're doing it at
hopefully at a high intensity you're
going to be able to get a little bit
more fat oxidation more quickly so if
you are that type that needs that extra
little boost there then yeah then try to
do it in the morning but again if the if
the difference is do it in the morning
and get a little bit of extra boost or
or don't do it in the morning but just
make sure I'm consistent with it and get
the the additive benefits of it then
make sure you do it where you're going
to do it consistently okay and then um
kind of to piggy back off that if I'm
doing like an ax2 workout late at night
one night and then I want to do it early
in the morning is that really going to
affect my results I mean how much time
should you loot between those I mean sh
if I'm doing like um a Tuesday night
night workout then I don't have time
Wednesday night but Wednesday morning I
mean is it gon No it should no because I
mean well are you are you a supplement
user or are you an AR absolutely all
right so I mean if you if you are you
know taking the recovery at night again
and optimizing and doing the things I
always tell you guys to do to actually
value your sleep because it's really
where you grow you grow during your
sleep not in the gym you know I can't
understand that enough is the gym is the
stimulus but the only place that you
actually do the growth is when you're
sleeping if you're taking the
supplements and you're you're you're
using them and optimizing your recovery
you know you got to remember too that
even if you're doing another strength
training workout the next day and even
if it's early in the morning um the way
we try to design those is to not be
doing them in the same uh the same
muscle groups right you don't want to
hit the same muscle groups right there
back to back so so you want to give
yourself the opportunity to switch up
the area of focus so that uh we talk
push pulling you know if you do a a
pushing muscle group one night you're
doing a pulling muscle group the next
night you actually could have the the
benefits of um enhanced recovery because
you're working the antagonistic muscles
to the ones you just used so you're
getting almost like a stretching effect
on the muscles that you work the night
prior an active stretch of the muscles
you were the night prior okay no big
deal it's totally totally fine sure okay
cool we just had uh who joined us John
yeah I joh can hear me yeah I can hear
you oh cool y you sporting the athlete
next
gear on the
hat I think we lost him yeah I think so
he froze in time oh yeah I am oh all
people are gonna think that I
put
do me a favor turn down your um um turn
down your uh uh um your your your your
signal on the upper right hand side of
the screen there where those bars are
turn it down just like one notch or so
and should improve your connection
hopefully
okay so what's your uh what's your
question sorry about
that um hit mob hit
Mobility um are you I I have really bad
hit
Mobility yeah I play
baseball
okay that's not a good combination for a
baseball
player that's not a good combination
player so what's what's
upil it's a lot of in my hip flexors
yeah and I can't I can't squat down low
very
well and let me guess you're a
catcher no or an infielder um I in first
base okay you got you gota be able to
squat yeah so what's what are you what's
the
problem um I'm I'm really tight down
like I can't squat or anything but are
you finding that you're having
limitations squatting like you can't get
down low
enough yeah you know most likely not a
hip flexor issue because as you know
when you when you squat down the hip
flexors are shortening so either a glute
issue with which is rarely um you know a
problem and more likely an ankle issue
and when I say ankle you got to look at
the muscles at Cross the ankle so most
likely a calf issue uh tightness in your
calves do you do you stretch your calves
all or do you know if you have tight
calves yeah I I have really tight calves
and really tight hips yeah I
mean yeah you you definitely have to I
mean in calf stretching is one of those
things that you have to do every day
it's it's again it goes back back to
what I was talking about with with Ryan
about consistency you have to do calf
stretching every day because it's it's
one of those muscles that again is being
relied on daily as we work uh as we walk
and uh the this the tight situations
that have built up and developed over
the the years um are not going to be
something that's undone with either
inconsistent work or um you know not not
a severe enough Focus to it so so some
of the things I like to do obviously you
got to make sure that you're stretching
your calves out both with a straight
knee and a bent
knee so there's a difference right when
we're when we're stretching the uh the
gas rock out you want to make sure you
have your knee straight to get the Solus
which I think is going to be more of an
issue for you is is probably underlying
Sol is tightness you're going to want to
have a bent knee so you can go to like
the easiest way to do it I always
recommend is go to like a a a step in
your house you know hold on somewhere
just let your ankles kind of drop off
the back of the step make sure your
knees are locked solid locked out so we
can make sure you're you're maximizing
gas Rock stretch there you can tighten
your quads to actually do that let your
your ankles just drop over the you know
over the edge of the step just like that
you know and get a good stretch in
through the uh through the ankles and
then after you stretch that then bend
your knees so squat down same position
bend your knees and squat down so you
can get the Solus involved and again I
think that for most guys who are going
to Short change their cap stretching
they sure as hell AR going to put an
effort into their solia stretching and I
think that's where you know guys can
totally uh benefit so if you that out
you know and then as far as the the hips
go um don't underestimate foam rolling
for the hips too you know I'm talking
about side of the hips IT band and and
the glutes do you do any foam rolling at
all no I've never done it no you got to
get one I mean they're very inexpensive
they're only about 20 bucks or so you
know you roll R out your glutes you roll
out your uh uh IT bands you just kind of
lay on the side of it and use that to uh
to do it because it's not always about
the flexibility of a muscle or how far
you can stretch point A to point B but
it's what's the quality of the muscle in
at all points in between there's a big
difference just being able to pull this
side further away from that side doesn't
necessarily do anything to improve the
quality of that muscle in here if this
is all filled up with Kinks there's
nothing that's going to get that out
other than kind of rolling those Kinks
out
you remember doing that after weight
training right after yeah yeah I think
it's a great time for it you recovery
wise okay all right that's
cool who uh man do you have another
[Music]
question is manur there yeah I'm here
you got another question
um
you didn't prepare for this or
something I'm sorry I'm getting
interference as you guys know I kind of
did let me just recap while he's
thinking of this question I I literally
um announced this uh last minute up on
Facebook I thought it' be a cool thing
to do as a different type of video that
we could put out uh for our fans and did
it here kind of last minute announced a
Google+ hangout these guys uh were
selected uh from the group that posted
and uh here we are and you know
answering their questions so if these
you know we might do some more of these
throughout um you know the months
ahead so what what uh what's what do you
got is he still
there I think he's think he lost
connection
um anybody else have a
question um I got one
okay um as only being 16 yeah and I've
been running my own workout programs and
stuff do you have any advice on becoming
a fitness entrepreneur like
yourself uh you know I think you you
probably got the uh the first ingredient
which is to have a passion for it you
know I think if you have a passion for
uh for Fitness um it's going to consume
you uh it's something that literally
consumed me from high school so right
around your age right a little bit
probably 15 years old was really when it
first but um if you've got a passion for
it you'll find that you wake up every
day thinking of new things to do and and
uh new ways that you can make yourself
better and then at that point when
you've kind of you know figured out what
is helping you you become so excited
about it you want to tell other people
right so uh in this day and age with the
fact that we live in this you know uh
world of such access through things like
Google+ Hangouts and the internet and uh
YouTube and everything else like it
becomes a lot easier to spread your
message to people right you know so I
think if you've got the passion in terms
of an educational standpoint I'll never
um I I would never trade in my my uh uh
education as a physical therapist
because it Mak it makes me look at
things completely differently you know I
remember how I looked at things as as a
guy that was that just liked working out
um in high school you know I used to go
to the gym and do everything that you
got played Sports and I like I like to
work out but it wasn't until I became a
physical therapist that I was forced to
like look at things a lot more uh uh
critically you know or or in I think in
a way that could be way way more
productive um I think one of my biggest
strengths is as a PT from being a PT is
the ability to adapt on the Fly come up
with variations for exercises you know
listen to what someone's Uh current
situation is and come up with a an
exercise on the spot that would allow
them to still see the benefits of what
that exercise is despite the fact that
they might have a limitation because you
shouldn't just have to throw in the
towel if you've got a uh an exercise
limitation right or I mean like maybe a
sore shoulder or a bum knee you know
I've been working out with two bum knees
for the for the last you know five years
but it I'm still able to do what I have
to do uh because there's other things we
can do there's other ways we can train
them that don't just bang away at those
at those a so if you could and you can
steer yourself down the road of of of
physical therapy and having that sort of
knowledge dude I would definitely go for
it you know and it's going to make you
look at things a lot differently but you
don't have to depart from your initial
love which is strength and conditioning
all right thank you Jeff any certif any
certifications you recommend for
personal training wise I've been kind of
like dangling with the idea of getting
more involved in that than I am right
now and I'm the one who ask my personal
training questions to see if you're
coming out with some kind of
certification for athl act sometime
future yeah well the good news is we are
actually um it's something as you can
imagine it's it's a it's uh there's a
lot that goes into it because we're not
trying to create um you know uh a
weekend certification course you know
like come and then you leave and all of
a sudden you're you're certified and can
go off on your way and I mean there's
there's a lot of places out there where
I don't want to name name specific
groups and names but you know there
there are lot lots of areas that are
utilizing that type of certification
program and um unfortunately you know
they're creating some dangerous training
environments for people that don't know
any better you know uh and we wouldn't
we're not We're not gonna do that you
know we're gonna kind of raise the bar
on the the standards for that but one
group that I think that does do a good
job of that currently and the one that
I'm actually part of and it wasn't that
I made the um that I made the uh uh
decision to even join them over all the
others it was that it was what was
recommended to me at a very early stage
coming out of college was the national
strength and conditioning Association so
the NCA I think they are the gold
standard in um in strength and
conditioning right now of all the
organizations I know there's a lot of
them out there but they're the ones that
kind of uh I think hold the highest
standards you know you have to be a um a
college grad you got to hold a degree in
a related field um you know they they
kind of have their requirements a lot
more than that there's there's a more
EXT a testing phase um you know there's
they do it I think they do it right you
know and and uh again I'm I could say
things about them if I wanted to it's
not like I'm an ambassador for them I
just that's the organization that uh I
was told to join as I said first coming
out that's the one that we actually
interestingly from Major League Baseball
um the strength coaches are all required
to be members of the national strength
and conditioning Association okay that's
any indication for you I would say that
that's the one held in the highest
regard y okay cool yeah except we kind
of like holding off you know as far as
getting certified I mean I did it
part-time here and there but I mean just
with my fitness knowledge but um I mean
yeah I just curious if you're coming up
with something that's kind of good it's
good to hear that's cool so yeah yeah we
will uh the time frame I'm not quite
sure on yet but we uh uh as I said
because we're gonna all the stuff that
we have to put together to to do it um
is is pretty massive but it's definitely
something the works because like you
there have been so many guys have been
writing in I know I have a lot of
trainers that follow my stuff and um I
think it'd be a cool opportunity to not
just provide some sort of certification
but uh get a little bit more uh direct
time with the guys like you who Wanna uh
want to take it to that next level yeah
that'd be
cool um anybody else did uh did man find
his way back in here or
no no I think he's gone he gone how
about Jackson what's up with you any
other questions yeah um I actually have
two I think one of them will be really
easy to answer uh and it's just what um
what would your workout or exercise
alternative be for dips like upright
dips I've been doing decline bench press
but I don't know if you have like
another recommendation other than
that for what reason medically or or
because you're just looking for a
different a different no because I like
I either have the option of going to the
USF Gym and waiting forever for all of
the equipment or I can go to my um
apartment gym which doesn't have a place
that I can do dips but I take my
dumbbells and I I can do most of the
stuff there but I can't do the dips like
they don't so you're your environment
would be a home training environment
yeah yeah
um put me on the spot like I said I can
come up with exercises on the Fly for
anybody that needs any kind of what
about pushing what about pushing two
benches together yeah Ian you can do
that what I would actually recommend one
of my favorite things is the um uh we
call them those Cobra push-ups where you
scoop
under right so now if you come from the
top the first part of the exercise is
actually as you come down is just a a u
really upper chest into shoulders but
mostly upper chest then when you come
underneath the the the bottom Point here
and you push up and through that's all
triceps especially if your elbows are
nice and tight to your side right you're
going to want to make sure that your
elbows are tight kept tight to your side
slightly behind your body because the
triceps will you know also extend the
arm behind the body this way right you
know so what you want to do is focus on
that latter part because it's that it's
that push up and through that's going to
work all triceps for the most part and
then come back down now if you push back
up and out of it you're really working
shoulders and then back into the upper
chest again but if that's not the target
of what you're looking for at the time I
always thought it I always thought it
was more of like a chest exercise like
it seems it's really a great exercise
for that whole pushing you know uh uh
muscle group you know action so you're
going to be obviously in any uh push
action you've got involvement of uh
shoulders chest and triceps but that
last part of the of the exercise just
swooping up and through and really
extending and pushing straight you know
straight down as your elbows stay tight
to your sides that's really highly uh
tricep oriented so I would I would I
would for me that would be one of my
favorite because I still love a tricep
push-up but I think you get more uh more
benefits from the actual uh swoop up
than you do from just a regular pushup
okay because you're decreasing the
involvement of the chest that way if you
stay straight straight like this doing a
tricep push-up you're still going to
have heavy involvement of the chest
you're still going to get front delt so
you want to make sure you can kind of
eliminate that a little bit and that's
why we add that little upward scoop well
I was what I was thinking though is that
like the upright dips were were more for
chest than they are for triceps or is
that incorrect no no no incorrect
upright upright dips you're really
trying to uh Target triceps with that
that's why again you kind of got to look
at it like um uh you know if you look at
the angles right the angles Against
Gravity so gravity we know acts straight
down so if you're looking at the Angles
and you're doing an upright dip if your
elbows are straight here and you're
standing nice and tall and you're
pushing up you're really focus on mostly
just the triceps to do the lifting part
of the exercise to push your body up
against Gravity the more you start to
lean forward if you start to do this
there's more gravity now hitting the
back of your you know more surface area
for Gravity to act on so it's going to
start acting more in this direction here
more surface area across the back and
then by tilting you're exposing now the
chest to actually the pushing exercise
almost like the it's like a um it's like
what happens with a incline a flat bench
versus a a sit up a stand up U seated uh
seated press when you're laying flat
gravity is working all across your
muscles here so you're working mostly
chest as you start to raise that incline
up now gravity is working straight
through here which is the shoulder so
now they're going to have to work
against gravity but the chest is sort of
taken out of the equation so it's sort
of a way to think about how your body is
positioned against the force that you're
pushing against yes we're using the
dumbbells but we're always Fighting
Gravity too so the more upright you are
in a dip the more you're going to work
your triceps the more forward you are
the more you're going to work your uh uh
chest oh well that's that's good to know
I was I always thought it was more of
like a chest one but no Lean Forward
just lean in more lean in more and
forward when you do your when you're
trying to Target if you're doing it for
a chest related workout lean in more to
get more chest and then so when you want
to try to isolate that you know as much
as you can we know that it's still going
to work all of your muscles there
they're all that's why they all work
together but when they're when you're
upright you're GNA favor the triceps
more yeah well I have another question
but I'll let John or Ryan if they have
if they have one we'll go with one more
uh one more across the board and then
we'll uh we'll call it a
day so whoever wants to go first
um what uh he's choking under
pressure no I got the question it's a i
supplements aren't really an option for
me uhhuh because I really don't have
that much money y um what would you
suggest for a pre and
post I mean I think you know and it's
interesting because you know that when
it when it comes to supplements I get
that question all the time is if
supplements are absolutely necessary to
results and it you know really depends
because it depends on what your goals
are you know when I did a video a while
back on
um the topic of food versus supplements
you know you look at a supplement like
uh like creatine you know and if you're
desire if you're a believer in creatin
monohydrate or or crealine or whatever
you know just the the base effects of
creatin and you want to experience the
benefits that research shows that it
will give you it's going to be damn hard
to do without supplementation because
the amount of let's say steak that you'd
have to eat to get the the adequate
amounts that have been shown to benefit
you would would be almost impossible you
know to do that now you're going to get
not not just that you're going to get
all the extra uh the extra stuff that
comes with that so like the saturated
fat from the from the 16 pounds of steak
that you'd have to eat to get your your
creatin you know to equate to a five
gram dose so the idea is um
supplementation depending upon what your
goals are is sometimes more more
necessary than others um and it
certainly makes things more convenient
but there's a lot of guys like you that
are in your situation that don't have
the the means yet to be using them so I
say you know pre-workout you got to make
sure that you've got some sustainable
energy you don't want to load up too
much pre-workout you know even RX1 we've
only got a limited amount of calories in
there it's not about loading yourself up
with calories it's just giving yourself
good quality food um to have some uh to
sort of set the stage for your workout
to have enough energy to go through I
always used to eat a banana myself um
just have a banana maybe a little bit of
peanut butter
uh the you know the the peanut butter
providing a little bit of protein I
always like to have all three components
but the uh the peanut butter will
actually with the fats will actually
slow down the absorption a little bit of
the banana so you're looking at a more
high glycemic carb uh slow it down
slightly with the peanut butter sort of
like a perfect mix uh pre-workout again
you're not you're not loading up too
much it's it's really kind of a small
quantity but it will get you through
post-workout wise um again you want to
make sure first and foremost you get
protein after your workout uh I talked
about that in the video how carbs can
kind of interfere people have different
views on on how much carbs should be
involved in that post-workout um you
know uh drink or meal um first and
foremost you need you need to find
protein so it could be something uh as
boring as uh I don't know like a
um some egg whites or a glass of milk or
um you know cottage cheese you know like
something you know you got to make sure
you get your protein right and you know
if you if you if you again I I prefer in
that time I I prefer post-workout Shake
but you know if the limitation is there
then you gotta find you gotta find
suitable Alternatives uh I just wouldn't
I wouldn't go in and start eating
something like is uh um as tough to
break down say a steak you know
post-workout because a little bit it's
going to be a little bit harder for you
to assimilate that and and digest it so
I would I would probably stick with more
of the types of foods that I that I
suggested all right
thanks all right I got h two quick
questions Jeff um number one to pigy
back off the protein the women's protein
I'm trying to get my my girlfriend to
they know I'm trying to explain the
difference between women's bodies and
men's bodies and soy protein and
whatever what I guess what how do you
explain like the way the way that works
compared to what athlet the three-step
stage of athlet x men works so from how
the women's protein differs from the
three steps of RX1 123 yeah exactly I
mean we we uh we don't from a protein
standpoint we use uh isolate protein
over there way isolate protein um
because we we find that it's it's the
best but it's the highest quality
protein out there and the requirements
are going to be the same from a woman or
a man um at least in terms of the
quality of the protein um you know
I think that there are definitely
opportunities for um you know whether it
be a pure isolate or or a concentrate or
a blend we use a blend in ours because
we sort of have you know the the the
different stages even in rx3 we have a
blend of casin and way isolate you know
the fast acting way and the slower
digesting casin um but for our woman's
blend because we're sort of treating it
like a post-workout posttraining blend
it's just the way isol it
so I mean there's not much different she
could get away with doing rx2 but we put
other ingredients into rx4 that would be
more uh appropriate for a woman so we
you know we put extra calcium for you
know for uh bone density reasons we
actually put in res veritol and some
other ingredients that a lot of women
are already taking CoQ10 things that
women are already probably taking for
the heart benefits or for the anti-aging
Properties or you know the other reasons
why women take that healthier skin
healthier Nails you know things that
guys may not necessarily care about so
much but we sort of put that in the
blend with the protein but by and large
it's a it's a it's a way U it's a way
it's a way isolate protein pattern so
she could she could theoretically use RX
too but I think you know I don't know if
she wants to get the benefits of
crealine and some of the other things we
put in there sure and then um other
question here real quick is sometimes
when the exercise calls for 10 to 12 um
you know sometimes using weights that
you know make me fail other than like
nine eight maybe sometimes 10 I might do
myself a favor by using a little heavier
weight and failing in eight to 10 rather
than 10 to 12 or is that do me a
disservice uh yeah the if you do the
um um if you I always say when you don't
your muscles don't know the difference
of you know whe whether you are counting
out 8 9 10 11 12 they don't know the
difference all they're looking for is
perceived exertion so
if you can beat them up and you're using
a weight that you were hoping to get 10
to 12 out of but you w up getting nine
you know don't no worries you don't have
to worry about that um you just have to
uh know that what you did in that set
you gave it all you you gave it all you
had okay so I never get hung up on
numbers ever ever never I mean I just
use it as a guideline I say 10 to 12
should be your range because that's
where we want to get you like I find if
you're working out and you're and you're
failing in like the 3 four five range
you're really not Focus so much on
hypertrophy as you are um as you should
be so let me give you the range of 10 to
12 but I personally almost in all my
workouts never consistently hit 10 to 12
reps all the time okay
cool and then uh Jackson got one more
yeah my last qu um for the I think it's
called the six-pack promise or something
like that uh that's on the the portal do
you recommend doing that with the
program because there I never really
remember reading anything about using it
in conjunction or if you're just
supposed to get the majority of the core
from the actual exercises no yeah I uh
we get that question a lot I definitely
um we included it now with athle x uh
because I think it's a great thing to do
um you know directly I do ab work uh six
days a week so I always treat it
separately from my ab Works my ab
workouts now if it's a dedicated day on
athletex that already has just AB
training in it no need to do additional
AB training but on the days that doesn't
have direct AB training on it you can do
the six-pack promise and really again it
goes down to consistency me personally
I've always done AB uh ABS consistently
but for just literally seven eight
minutes a day that's it and I usually
like to treat it on its own time you
know I like to treat it in its own
separate part of the
workout so I I'll do it like if I can
I'll work
out people don't want to leave me
alone
so anyway if um if I if I had to that
was a guy calling in a question from the
uh from the Google
Hangout if I had to if I had to uh do it
separ if I could do it separately I
would do it separately I would do like
my my workout let's say in the morning
mid morning afternoon whenever and for
me a little trick I do I do my ab work
right before dinner because I know that
I'm never going to forget to eat dinner
in a night and if I'm not going to
forget to eat dinner then I shouldn't
forget to do my my abs so I'll do a
little seven minute 8 Minute routine
perfect from the six-pack promise you
know you pick one of the shuffle
workouts do that workout and then go eat
because you know that you've not
forgotten to do it and again for me just
like everything else consistency is key
on the sixth day you just prefer to do
abs don't do any running or anything
like that yeah I just do abs yeah even
even if it's a rest and Recovery day
yeah right I always allow myself one day
to do nothing to do absolutely nothing
no training nothing but uh from a from a
a workout standpoint if it's an off day
um I I will still do my abs and not and
not consider that a training day because
abs are so
resilient they're they're they're
constantly firing they're constantly you
know used to the the work that they have
to do um so I would I would uh not
consider that really a dedicated app
session you know the thing with abs too
is very rarely are you soar the next day
from them you usually just soar during
the the seven eight 10 minutes that
you're doing them and as soon as you
stop you feel fine so uh they're very
very resilient okay cool cool all right
guys well we went uh pretty long here
but um I appreciate you guys following
um me and watching all the videos and
your support and being over on Facebook
and uh um it's it's huge I mean the athl
x is really uh I know I don't get an
opportunity to get on YouTube and do a
lot of commenting and replying to
comments and I wish I could do a lot
more of it I do but uh I spend all my
time trying to create the videos that
you see ultimately on Saturdays and to
come up with and maybe do some um you
know create new programs and new things
that you guys want to see um that at
times I don't get a chance to do enough
of this but this is something I'd like
to do more of it gives me an opportunity
to get in here maybe in the midweek and
uh and do this So for anybody that's not
watching um or or for anybody that's
going to be watching this later if you
wanted to be a part of something like
this I'm usually going to announce this
kind of over on my Facebook page so if
you're not already over there as a fan
would just be
facebook.com aanx and um we'll kind of
announce when we're going to do this
maybe a little bit more of a heads up I
know Jackson said he kind of skipped out
of a class I'm gonna get killed by his
Professor for you know getting him out
out of class so you know but I mean you
know I don't know how much how much
notice I can give but we we'll probably
announce the topic and then have you
guys who are interested jump on and have
the opportunity to uh do this so I can
answer your questions directly because I
really do like to do it I just don't get
as much chance as I can to interact back
with everybody so uh yeah yeah we
appreciate that I'm sure so actually see
the the Creator you know actually do
something like this face to face pretty
NE dude I love it I love do a large
thing yeah I love it I love I love doing
it and I and uh I love doing the videos
every week so um I'll uh I'll get to
work on doing that because it's almost
it's almost Friday we shoot him on
Friday so uh it's almost coming up so um
no uh no heads up yet on what it's gonna
be but I can tell you it's a pretty cool
one I already got it in my head cool so
we'll see you guys on Saturday with that
work out absolutely take care all right
guys thanks Jeff
app