Episode #1-Holiday Festivities and Fitness

Speaker 1

00:00:09

Hello, everybody and welcome to Vegan Proteins Muscles by Brussels Radio. This is Taylor and I’m Giacomo Marchesi and this is our first ever podcast.

Speaker 2

00:00:18

Woo hoo. My name is Giacomo. I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, spent the 1st 27 years of my life there. Fitness was something I definitely was interested in at a very young age. Actually, my, my dad got me into playing baseball as a child, but I, I never really had a lot of confidence. It was helpful that my dad was a, was our coach. And so that, that reinforced the, the interest in, in being active as I, as I started to get older.

Anyhow, when I got into high school, my conductor was also a, a champion bodybuilder and they had just started a gym and in high school. So he, he took me under his wing and got me into the sport and then I stuck with it. I, I wanted to get into the tennis team. So I used lifting to, to get into spo, you know, sports in school. And then I, I took that with me, going on into my, into my twenties, eventually got into veganism because somebody close to me had a heart attack and I, I wanted to help

her. So I, I started to learn about ways that I could potentially be healthier and, and maybe reverse disease and that, that stuck with me. And after, after going vegan myself and realizing it was, it was helping me helping me as an athlete. And I, I felt better. I also wanted to show others and, and I met, you know, connect with others and connecting with others.

I, I learned that there was an ethical side to it too. And anyhow, that’s pretty much what we do at our time is, is we, we find ways to connect with others and show them what we do. This podcast thing might work. And so here we are.

Speaker 1

00:02:05

Hi, I’m Taylor and I have been vegan for 12 years. I compete in figure as a vegan. I coach people online and in person specifically vegans. I didn’t grow up playing sports or being athletic by any stretch of the imagination. I actually grew up very overweight. I became vegetarian when I was 12 years old. but I was obese until I was 17. And then I became vegan strictly for ethical reasons and I started losing a lot of weight and eventually decided to take up weightlifting because

I wanted the bodies that I saw women who weight lifted had. So I decided that that’s what I wanted to do and over the past eight years or so, lifting weights and being in the gym and fitness in general has become a huge part of my life and we really do live, eat and breathe the stuff that we’re here to talk to you about today. So that’s why we decided to do this.

We have been looking for a way to get our thoughts and messages out to people. A lot of people ask us for advice and have questions for us and things like that. But we’re really busy running vegan proteins.com and plant built and I’m not super comfortable in front of a camera for youtube. But I really do think that there’s a lot that can be talked about as far as being vegan and fit and strong and healthy goes and it’s really a dialogue that I want to open up for people.

So that’s sort of what we’d like to talk to you about. Ok. So what today’s episode is gonna be about is about getting through the holidays. The Thanksgiving is right around the corner. It’s coming up this week in the United States anyway. you know, followed by Christmas and then the New Year’s and a lot of people either completely lose sight of their fitness goals and their health goals or they set fitness goals that never actually come to fruition and we’re just gonna sort of talk

about ways you can avoid that ways to keep your sights set on, on your goals, and things like, like that today. So, Jma, why do you think, why do you think this happens? Why do you think that so many people just sort of completely let go of their goals through the holidays?

Speaker 2

00:04:29

You know, I, I think a lot of it has to do with timing. If you think about it all, all of these holidays are, are lumped into the, into the end of the year. Right. And, I mean, I’ve always found that being consistent is what’s ultimately going to get you to your goals. But, but everyone looks for those, those quick results and just getting their, their feet stuck wet with fitness and finding a way to stick with it.

So, how many people do you know, say, oh, and I’m just gonna enjoy myself and this is what I’m supposed to do for the holidays and they just, they just go wild basically because New Year’s coming along and you can just change it all for the New Year’s resolution. Like, what if people started before the holidays and stuck with it through the holidays and, and just made it a lifestyle, you know.

Speaker 1

00:05:16

Well, I mean, yeah, I think, I think that that’s the goal, is to keep training through the holidays. And I think of a lot of people who, you know, 678 months of the year, they have a pretty solid routine. But come holiday season, it just all sort of derails. and I think there’s a lot of reasons for that one. I think people are busy the holiday, like you said, it’s three holidays back to back and people have so much. Do people have so much on their plate? So to speak, that fitness sort of

takes a back seat to, you know, getting out Christmas cards and cleaning the house so your extended family can come over for Thanksgiving or whatever. And I think that’s part of the problem is that fitness slips lower and lower on the priority scale. And I think that happens to everybody from time to time, but when it’s happening for, you know, six or seven weeks through the holiday, you can do a lot of damage in six or seven or,

Speaker 2

00:06:18

I mean, and I, I think, I think what it really is is mindset. I mean, you know, it’s on the priority scale before the holidays start there. There are ways that you can definitely plan ahead, you know, I mean, obviously you can’t, you can’t foresee everything that’s going to happen when you’re visiting friends or family or traveling to somewhere where, you know, obviously your routine is gonna be out of sorts.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:06:43

But if you sort of, of plan for ways to improvise, you know, there’s, there’s things that you can do to, yeah, I think that one of the best tactics for the holidays is to have a game plan.

Speaker 1

00:06:59

Always have a game plan, like, know what you’re going to allow yourself to do what you’re going to refrain from. You know, I think a lot of people look forward to certain foods around the holidays. I particularly like pumpkin pie quite a bit. so I know that that’s something that I’m going to eat on Thanksgiving or Christmas or whatever. I have these foods that I really, really love and that’s what I’m going to eat.

I feel like a lot of people get into this mindset through the holidays of like, I must eat all the food now because I’m not going to see it again for another year and I get it, these foods don’t come around that often, but like, it’s just food. If you read want pumpkin pie in March, it’s not impossible to make a pumpkin pie in March. And this mindset of eat all the food.

Now, before you never see it again, I think that sort of comes from a place of, like, restricting yourself too much and putting too many limitations on yourself. And then once the food is all in front of you, people just sort of fly off the handle and, you know, eat everything in sight and justify it as like, well, it’s the holidays. What people do.

Speaker 2

00:08:03

Yeah. Or, I mean, there’s this whole mindset of just save everything for dinner that way you can eat as much as you want for dinner, but then they’ve been starving all day long and by the time dinner comes they’re just, they’re just gorging on, on sweets and desserts when, you know, if you want a snack during the day, ha, have a snack, have something small to, to tie you over. And the other thing, I think that people definitely, get dehydrated during the holidays.

I mean, let’s, let’s say, for example, if you have something to drink, I mean, that’s gonna dehydrate you even more. You have to drink alcohol. Yeah, exactly. Because, I mean, that’s, that’s pretty common. Right. I mean, if there’s ever a time where you’re gonna have a drink socially it’s gonna be, it’s gonna

be a family meet up or a holiday or whatnot.

Speaker 1

00:08:46

Maybe there are a lot of holiday, holiday drinks, like spiced, spiced rum and, and eggnog and vegan eggnog.

Speaker 2

00:08:53

So, that stuff adds up too, actually. you know, if you had to choose one over the other, I’d, I’d say, you know, a cookie is gonna be a lot more satiating than, you know, a, a fruity cocktail.

Speaker 1

00:09:05

Well, I guess that depends on your family, I guess. but yeah, I agree. I think a lot of people undereat throughout the day or the day leading up to it thinking they’re like making room or whatever for this big meal and then they just end up overeating because your, your hunger hormones are high at that point. You allow yourself to go hungry for long enough.

Your hunger hormones are just yelling, feed me, feed me to your body. And a lot of times you know that they’re still, they’re still screaming, so to speak. Even when you’ve actually reached a point where you’re full, which is part of the reason why so many people overeat.

Speaker 2

00:09:41

I mean, those, those hormones are being triggered by not sleeping, which is enough, which is going to happen when you’re stressed out.

Speaker 1

00:09:48

Stress, stress through the holidays in general is huge. People are so stressed out all the time, you know, just worrying about every little thing through the holidays and it is a stressful time. It’s stressful with your time. It’s stressful for your wallet, it’s stressful all around. But stress takes a toll on your, on your physical self quite a bit as well.

So managing stress is really, really key to staying healthy through the holidays. You know, health isn’t just about your six pack. Health is about everything from inside of your brain to the tip of your toes. So

managing your stress is really, really important too.

Speaker 2

00:10:27

so I mean, how, how would somebody keep consistent and, and you know, what kind of foods would they, would they eat rather than, than trying to save up their calories, so to speak and then shooting themselves in the foot.

Speaker 1

00:10:38

I think one of the best things that you can do through the holiday season is to just maintain your routine in every way as much as you possibly can. If you’re usually in bed at midnight and get up at eight in the morning. Do that? Keep doing that. If you usually work out in the morning when you first wake up, keep doing that, do that straight through the holidays, eat your normal foods, maintain your routine as much as possible because the damage that people do during the holidays.

It’s not really about the holidays. You don’t have a big meal on Christmas and Thanksgiving and gain 20 pounds. It’s not about the holidays. It’s about everything in between the holidays. It’s about the Christmas parties and the candy dish at the office that’s full of Christmas junk and the potlucks at Thanksgiving. It’s all of the things in between that are what are going to derail you more than anything.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:11:35

So the more you can stay on your regular routine, the better off you’re gonna be come January 1st and, and allow yourself some room and realize that that you won’t be able to stay, you know, you shouldn’t be so regimented where, you know, maybe you’ll wind up beating yourself up if, if you fall off your routine.

Speaker 2

00:11:54

and more importantly, find ways to improvise and those are the things that you can do to plan ahead. Say. Well, I mean, holidays, for example, gyms are notorious for shortening their hours during the holiday.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:12:05

So check, find out what those hours are they’re open and closed or say, you know, that you’re going to be somewhere else, but you’d like to get some sort of exercise in so it can be your regular routine, find exercises, you can do super set, anything superset and to get as much work as much working out in as you can in a shorter period of time too, if you really are crunched for time.

Speaker 1

00:12:29

So, Giacomo, let’s talk about Thanksgiving since it’s right around the corner. It’s Saturday, so Thanksgiving is in five days or something like that. I know we sort of talked about this a little bit yesterday between the two of us. You’ve mentioned that you are planning on counting your food on Thanksgiving.

So, why don’t, why don’t you tell me a little bit more about how you plan to do that because there’s a, there’s a few different approaches that you can take here than that I would recommend. And we’re both doing something a little different this year. So we’re gonna talk about that.

Speaker 2

00:12:59

Well, the way I usually go about my day and keeping consistent with that is to get a certain amount of protein, a certain amount of carbohydrates and a certain amount of fat in every single day and fiber. And basically, it doesn’t matter what I eat really. I mean, yes, I, I try to eat foods that are more nutritionally dense, but if I want to fit something in I can is what I’m trying to say and I want to fit Thanksgiving

in that way, basically. Just make sure that it’s, it’s within, within reason. I mean, I’m not trying to, to hit these numbers exact, but, you know, you know, so pretty much.

Speaker 1

00:13:39

So, how do you think you’re gonna do that when you’re like, eating other people’s vegan home cooking and you don’t really know 100% what’s in it.

Speaker 2

00:13:46

Well, you sort of get a feel for these things after a while. I think the more that you keep track of it, what you’re doing and you, you understand what you’re eating, I think the easier it is to, to figure it out, like, I mean, put it this way, if I’m, if I’m eating an avocado, I know I’m eating a fatty meal. If I’m eating a piece of fruit, I know I’m eating a carbohydrate dense meal and I can sort of eyeball that as well as well as the sizes of the portions.

Speaker 1

00:14:13
But, you know, you’re not going to be 100% spot on.

Speaker 2

00:14:16

Probably not. And it’s not really a big deal. I mean, it’s, it’s one day, but if I, if I sort of plan ahead in my mind, I know that I’m gonna be within, within reach of my goals instead of just feeling like I’m totally derailed and I have no game plan whatsoever.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:14:31
So, so tell me about your game plan, for the past, I don’t know, two years or so.

Speaker 1

00:14:37

I have counted my way through pretty much every single holiday and it’s mostly worked out. obviously I competed last year and figure I was prepping through the holidays. So I was pretty meticulous about what I ate during Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s and it did work out. But for me, I feel like I’m so on point with everything that I eat every single day.

I do the same thing as Giacomo. I also aim to get in a very, very specific number of carbohydrates, fat, protein and fiber throughout my day. And I’m so on point with it every single day all the time. So I feel like for me, it’s a good exercise for me to not count things all the time. And for a lot of people, when they put everything into my fitness pal all the time and then they have cheat meal or a cheat day or whatever, they just fly off the handle, eat everything in sight because there’s

that mentality of I need to eat this. All right now because tomorrow I have to be back on my plan or whatever and I don’t agree with that. So for me, it’s almost a, a learning experience in mindful eating. And that’s kind of what I’m planning on doing through the holidays is I’m just gonna eat what I want to eat. That’s there. Everything is gonna, we’re hosting Thanksgiving this year, which is awesome because everything is gonna be vegan, fully vegan.

Thanksgiving. No, having to ask everybody 1000 questions and not trusting the food. So I’m going to eat pretty much whatever I want for that day. And knowing that I’m cooking 90% of the food. It’s going to be foods that I’m happy to be eating anyway. And just sort of self monitor my fullness. I know what it feels like to be full. I know what it feels like to be hungry.

I know what it feels like when I’m gorging myself. And I think that learning how to get through the

holidays without obsessing over every gram of everything is going to be really good for me. And I feel like I’m a big believer in counting. I’m a big believer in tracking what you eat. But there is a level of obsessiveness about tracking that you see, in a lot of people who do count their food, they get very, very obsessive over it to the point that it takes away from their day to day life.

And luckily I don’t feel like I’m like that in general, but it’s just, I, I want to focus on my family. I want to focus on the holiday because that’s what these holidays are really about. It’s not about eating the most tofurky and, and things like that. It’s about spending time with your family and being thankful for what it is that you have, and to me, I think not focusing on the food so much is really going to allow me to do that a little bit better.

Speaker 2

00:17:16

Yeah. And, and, you know, eating intuitively and that is definitely the way to go. And I, I mean, I’ve noticed for you, Dani, you, you’ve been doing this for, for a while, actually been begging me to, to keep a little, keep track of my food instead of eating the same things every day. And, and for me that was working for a while. But, but like, like you’ve taught me, it’s just not, it’s not sustainable for the long term.

And no, not at all. And you know, you can do it. But don’t you wanna, like you said, not consume yourself with this and you know, enjoy, enjoy the company and enjoy different types of food. So, but what’s interesting for me, why, why I’m taking this approach is because I, I feel like, I’m actually enjoying enjoying it a lot because the more that I counts stuff and, and it, it teaches me and it

reinforces me to understand what I’m eating and, and how it impacts my, my meal plan for the day. And, and I’m kind of, I’m, I’m definitely finding some, some satisfaction in that.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:18:18

Maybe, maybe for like Christmas, I would do, I would do it a little differently for you’re still learning how to track your food and kill your food.

Speaker 1

00:18:26

And hit your macros and, and things like that. So, yeah, I mean, I think getting through a holiday eating there’s, there’s a lot of different ways you can learn to be good at it and like anything else, it takes practice and time. And I think doing that, you doing it this way through the holidays will be perfectly fine. As long as I don’t have to calculate all your food for you. Then we’re cool. You can do it however you want.

Speaker 2

00:18:50

And here’s another question, Dani, what, what about traveling? What about when you’re, you’re not go, you’re out of your routine and you’re on the road for sometimes even days. What about exercising?

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:19:01
Then we travel a lot.

Speaker 1

00:19:03

We travel quite a bit. Eventually we’re gonna do a full episode on how to stay in line with your goals while you’re on the road for extended periods of time. But I don’t have a ton of experience traveling through the holidays per se, but I can use the knowledge that I have from traveling at other times to, to sort of work our way through this here, traveling and getting your workouts in is not easy.

There are things you can do, especially with our workouts where we’re, you can’t, the work type of workouts we do. You’re not going to do them in your room, you’re not going to do them in your hotel room with a jump rope and a five pound dumbbell. It’s just not gonna happen. We lift really heavy weights, compound movements. We need to get to a gym.

You can check out the gyms in the area of where you’re going before you go and call them a lot of times we call gyms when we get to a certain city and just talk to them over. Hey, I’m, I’m in town for a few days. Can I get a pass? how much is it gonna cost for me to have a pass? Sometimes they’ll do something cool and sometimes people will just say, oh, that’s fine.

Just come on in and we’ll let you train here for the week. And of course, that’s always awesome. And we always try to, you know, repay those people kindly by mentioning them on social media and things like that. Other times people, you know, they’ll, they’ll charge you 20 bucks to come in for the week and then you have access to the gym for the week again. Like Giacomo mentioned before, gyms have odd hours during the holidays.

So always check that out. If you’re staying at a hotel, you’re kind of running the gamut when you’re staying at a hotel. We always try to find a hotel with a fitness area, but we’ve seen some really scary fitness areas that are like a treadmill from 1963. And, that’s it basically in a dingy yellow carpet.

Speaker 2

00:20:50

I mean, of course, you could always pay for a four or five star hotel. But, I mean, not everyone can afford that and we certainly can’t.

Speaker 1

00:20:56

Yeah, some of the nicer hotels definitely do have nicer gyms and we’ve seen some decent gyms at pretty middle of the road hotels as well. But I’d say in general we don’t rely on hotel gyms.

Speaker 2

00:21:08 Definitely not.

Speaker 1

00:21:10

there are some workouts that you can do in your house, in your hotel room if, if we’re doing cardio, which we don’t do a ton of and we mostly just do really intense hit cardio. I mean, you can do that outside. You don’t need any equipment for that to do some sprints.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:21:29

And as long as you don’t fall in a manhole runs as long as you don’t fall in a manhole like I did last time.

Speaker 1

00:21:36

but calling ahead finding a good gym, finding one that’s close to where you’re going because if you’re already in a city you’re unfamiliar with, you don’t want to be traveling all over the place and places that you’re not super, super familiar with and bringing some food, particularly for vegans who are traveling. I feel like this is huge.

Speaker 2

00:21:54

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. there, I mean, and, and you’ll, you’ll find, you’ll find snacks that, that are easy to, to pack on the road that, that you wind up enjoying and that are your go tos.

Speaker 1

00:22:05

But I mean, a lot of times people are going to their family’s house and for most vegans, they’re maybe the only vegan in their family and maybe their family doesn’t understand that they’re vegan. So it’s hard to find food even when you get there. So, some things that we like to travel with are like, precooked packets of rice and beans. Those are really, really good. I mean, you can make a straight meal out of those. I think it’s, I think it’s just Uncle Ben’s.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:22:31
I don’t know they’re, or yeah, it’s an orange package.

Speaker 1

00:22:34

I think it’s just Uncle Ben’s and they make a bunch of different, precooked rice and some rice and beans. You gotta check the label. Not all of them are vegan, but quite a few of them are, they’re very tasty and you can just mix them with some, you know, steamed broccoli, which you can find pretty much anywhere and you have a complete meal there.

Speaker 2

00:22:50

How about, how about the, the packaged Tofurky deli slices? Those, those are pretty easy to go and you can get a little bit of protein into make a, make a sandwich.

Speaker 1

00:23:01

Yeah, we do typically travel with some tofurky slices. Cliff builder bars are a good emergency food to have on hand. Obviously, things that you can find anywhere like packaged nuts and bananas and apples like Giacomo mentioned are really good as well.

Speaker 2

00:23:19

But the packaged stuff is good because it keeps too. I mean, sometimes you might have food that you need driving late and something stays in the car over night. I mean, the, the deli slices are not going to spoil overnight.

Speaker 1

00:23:29

And of course, you can travel with protein powder as well. typically it’s pretty easy to find your carbs and fats when you’re on the road or even in an airport. These are pretty easy things to find, but protein powders in general, vegan protein powders, you’re not gonna find those everywhere. And if you’re trying to hit specific numbers for the day, you know, some individual packets of like plant fusion or raw fusion or something like that are a really good thing to have pro tip.

You can bring protein powder on the plane. A lot of people don’t know this and think you can’t bring food on the plane. You can actually bring any food on the plane as your carry on as long as it is not liquid, which peanut butter and hummus both qual quantify as liquid. So don’t bring those on the plane, but you can get those little Justin’s.

Justin’s peanut butter packs a little individual ones. And since they’re less than whatever the small amount you’re allowed to bring is you can bring those on the plane. They make some little hummus packs too. Now that I bet you could bring as well, but we’ve even brought, you know, a one gallon Ziploc baggie full of protein powder.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:24:33

I don’t recommend that probably looks a lot like we’re trying to smuggle drugs because Yeah, I mean, if, if you have stuff that’s packaged and sealed, you’re less likely to be searched.

Speaker 2

00:24:42

Not that you can’t get let through. But it’s just gonna, you know, you don’t want to add an extra 10 minutes and have someone search your belongings and rummage through your bag.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:24:52

So I would suggest the packing not the most convenient thing, but my point is you can bring all that stuff on the plane.

Speaker 1

00:24:58

And I know that when I talk to people, a lot of people are shocked that you can bring food on a plane. You totally can, which also helps with dealing with horrible plane food. When you’re traveling.

Speaker 2

00:25:13

The next thing that we’d like to talk about is our fit find of the week.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:25:17

There’s a new, there’s a segment that we’re gonna try and do every week and this week they’re the versa, grips, versa.

Speaker 1

00:25:24
Grips, pro versa.

Speaker 2

00:25:25 Grips pro.

Speaker 1

00:25:26

So let’s talk about what those are. I had heard about versa, grips for a really long time. And basically they’re kind of like wrist wraps that you would use for heavy deadlifts or heavy rows, they wrap around your wrist and then there’s a big tail hanging from it that you wrap the bar up in and it just helps. So you don’t have to hold on so tightly with your hands.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:25:48

And I’ve been wanting to find them forever and I’ve been telling you that they’re useless because I didn’t know how to use them properly.

Speaker 1

00:25:55

So similar to plain wrist wraps, these wrap around your wrist, they velcro on your wrist and then there’s a rubber flap that comes out. It’s about as long as your fingertips or so. And unlike regular wrist wraps, they are super, super easy to grab the bar with, you can wrap each one of your hands without use of the other hand. If you’ve ever tried to wrap things up with wrist wraps one hand, like, let’s say you’re wrapping your right hand, you use your left hand to wrap it up and then your

poor little left hand has to try and wrap itself up and it’s just always hard and awkward and hard to get a good grip. But with the versa grips, you can very, very easily just hook that little rubber flap around and become it’s made out of rubber. It has a ton of traction.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:26:38

It doesn’t need to wrap around three or four or five times just that little hook and they’re really easy to, to take on and off too.

Speaker 2

00:26:45

They don’t dig into your wrists either. Like the other wrist straps. That’s, that’s pretty major actually. I mean, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten ripped up skin just from, from putting the other wrist straps on.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:26:57

Not to mention in between sets, they’re definitely a lot, a lot harder to hold on to when we went to the Olympia, which was in September.

Speaker 1

00:27:04

We went to Las Vegas to see the Mr Olympia and the Aversa Grips had a booth there and I tried them on and I loved them and we got them and then Giacomo got a pair too. Just probably so that he could prove me wrong and say they were terrible.

Speaker 2

00:27:16
But I was still skeptical.

Speaker 1

00:27:17
What do you think, Jacko?

Speaker 2

00:27:18

Well, I gotta say now that I actually know how to use them properly. I, they’re indispensable, especially helpful for back exercises when you want to take your biceps out of the, the lifts and your forearms for that matter. And it gives you a hook grip. Exactly. And with that hook grip you without your forearm and your bicep in the exercise is a lot easier to isolate and focus on the muscles in your back when you’re training for hypertrophy. specific.

Speaker 1

00:27:43

Exactly. It doesn’t take your biceps and forearms out completely, but it does take them out quite a bit to really, really focus on your back. And I wouldn’t recommend this for powerlifters because powerlifters you can’t, you straps and competition. So why would you use them when you’re training for a competition? Powerlifters should be working on their grip strength.

I mean, everybody should be working on their grip strength, but when you’re specifically trying to build part of your body like your back and you’re not, your main concern is not how much can I lift raw, these versa grips have been awesome also, I’m dealing with what they call medial epicondylitis, which is also called golfer’s elbow. No, I’ve never touched a golf club in my life.

But interesting, it’s basically from holding on to the bar too tightly and a lot of exercises and I’ve sort of pulled a tendon and it hurts a lot actually. So I have to be very careful. Any rowing, any pull downs, any curls, any elbow flexion whatsoever really hurts for me and the versa groups have taken so much of that pain away. It still hurts a little bit.

Speaker 2

00:28:48

I mean, it’s, it’s the nature of the beast too because when you’re training your, your muscles and your joints and your tendons and your ligaments all at the same time, your muscles are going to grow a lot faster than your joints can support.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:29:00
And so eventually they’re gonna start to, to ache, stretching, foam, rolling, mobility work that all helps.

Speaker 1

00:29:07
But once it’s happened, doesn’t just go away. So this has allowed me to, the, the grips have allowed

me to train through this without making it worse at all. And probably the best thing about them is they’re not leather. so many gloves, so many straps, so many things that we look at that are gym equipment are made with leather and these are not. So they get the vegan seal of approval. We absolutely love them. Moving on to our Q and A. We’re going to try and take a few questions from

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter every week and answer them for you on the radio. So this question comes from Facebook, a guy named Nathan says a bit confused about the meaning of Brussels in this context, meaning in muscles by Brussels care to explain. I am a vegan from Bell, its capital is called Brussels Googling for Brussels only turns up that as a meaning. So for me, it would be awesomely appropriate, but I feel I am missing some other meaning here.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:30:07
So Jack Ma, what does Mussels by Brussels mean that’s actually a pretty funny question.

Speaker 2

00:30:12

Well, I, I honestly didn’t realize that the word Brussels is regional. I just assumed that was the name of the, the vegetable. Yeah, apparently Brussels are called sprouts in the land of Brussels sprouts sprouts.

Speaker 1

00:30:28

So when we say Mussels by Brussels, we mean Mussels built by or vegetables or just Mussels built by being vegan. That’s, that’s what we’re saying.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:30:38

We also didn’t know, I didn’t know until after we sort of came up with the slogan and had shirts printed that Mussels from Brussels is Jean Claude Van Damme professional badass because he’s from Brussels.

And yeah, we, we didn’t know that not a guy you want to piss off.

Speaker 1

00:30:59
This was not a play on jean-claude Van Dam or the capital of Belgium. This was just about building

muscles with plants. All right.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:31:08

So hopefully that clears up any miscommunication there our next question is from Nick Nine Doors on Instagram.

Speaker 2

00:31:17
Dani. Is it possible to train for a competition without a trainer?

Speaker 1

00:31:24

Is it possible to train for a competition without a trainer or a coach? Yeah, it is possible. There are lots of people who have trained for competitions completely by themselves and some people are successful with it. I don’t particularly recommend it, especially, especially, especially not for first time competitors. we’re talking about bodybuilding, figure bikini physique shows specifically here.

I’m assuming that’s what they would be asking me. I wouldn’t recommend it for a first time competitor. There’s a lot that goes on behind the doors of competing that you wouldn’t actually know until you go through the process yourself. you can create your own workouts, you can create your own diet. But the number one reason that you would probably want a coach at the very least for your first time competing is because the amount of second guessing that you will do of yourself and

your body on the way to stage, it will absolutely make you crazy. Part of the reason that you pay a coach is to keep their eye on you and you trust them to keep you on the right path. If you’re trying to figure that out for yourself, you can, you can completely drive yourself crazy.

Speaker 2

00:32:35

It’s almost impossible to be objective when it comes to analyzing yourself. I don’t care how much, you know, I mean, we, we are coaches and we have a coach for, for that very reason coaches have not only that we, we don’t have to think about what we’re doing, but like you said, so we, so we don’t have to second guess ourselves. And like, and especially for first time competitors, if nothing else, just so that, you know what the protocol is for, for competing.

Like, well, like, for example, my very first show, which a lot of people don’t know about. I didn’t realize that as a bodybuilder, I needed to do a routine. I just thought that I would go on stage and strike a pose or 10 and then walk away and hopefully with the trophy. But knowing that I was happy, I did it. So

I got, I got to the show and after we, we did our, our prejudging, which is where everyone is just poses and, and whatnot, the show promoter said, OK, so just come back tonight for your

routine because I wanted to know I was like, when is everyone gonna get their awards? I said, what do you mean routine? You have a song, you know? Oh, and can I have your song? What a song? I was like, I thought this was a bodybuilding show. I thought I just had to flex my muscles.

Speaker 1

00:33:43

Ok. Well, that just makes you an idiot. Granted we’ll give him this. It was before the internet was really a thing. That’s, that’s true. This was, it’s not like he just knew from being online 13 years ago. But aside from even that there’s things like that you don’t know how the schedule’s gonna run. you don’t know how, what your tanning protocol is, but the expediter, I mean, all sorts of things, but more than anything even leading into the show, people don’t understand that

different categories are looking for very specific things and a lot of people, men and women, although I do, I mean, I work more with women, but I, I’ve seen it in both men and women. They just think that they’re gonna die it down and step on stage and win a trophy and it’s like, no, you need to have the muscle, you need to have it in the right places because judges are looking for a very specific shape and that’s the shape you need to build in this body building competition.

So, you know, if you decide that you want to train for figure, but you don’t have any laps going on, you’re not gonna do well, but you wouldn’t necessarily know that without somebody there sort of helping you through it. So, yes, you can compete without a coach. And I think that after a few rounds of it, with somebody looking over your shoulder, I think a lot of people could probably coach

themselves into their own shows because you learn your body and you learn how to get there and all that stuff. But in general, for your first time, I highly recommend having a coach.

Speaker 2

00:35:08 Definitely.

Speaker 1

00:35:09
All right. Our next question comes from Instagram. Nit ply asks, what are the costs in competing?

Speaker 2

00:35:17

What are the costs involved in competing? Are we, are we talking money over here or sacrifice money?

Speaker 1

00:35:24
I’m sure they’re talking about money.

Speaker 2

00:35:26
It’s, well, let’s see. It’s expensive, it’s really expensive.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:35:30
So there’s the registration fee, the registration fee, which is around around $50.

Speaker 2

00:35:34

Then, then there’s also the polygraph, the lie detector test to make sure that you didn’t use any performance enhancing drugs, steroids or anything like that because we compete in natural shows. That test is usually around $45. So just a sign up is $100 right then and there, your outfit, if you’re, if you’re a guy, it’s a lot more affordable.

Speaker 1

00:35:59
It’s a lot cheaper for guys.

Speaker 2

00:36:01
I mean, opposing trunks are at the absolute most, maybe 45 bucks.

Speaker 1

00:36:06
But sometimes you can find a woman’s suit anywhere from 100 bucks to well over $1000 depending

on what you’re looking for. I got a pretty middle of the road suit and it was $300 and I’m gonna wear the hell out of that thing.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:36:21

Yeah, I mean, depending on the two, you also need heels which hes like, for example, the tan is like 100 and 20 bucks.

You do your own makeup, you can do your own makeup and your own hair.

Speaker 1

00:36:32

But a lot of people prefer to get that done professionally because the way you would do your makeup or hair for day to day, it doesn’t even come close to how much drama they need so that they can actually see it from the stage.

Speaker 2

00:36:43

You graded on it too. I mean, it’s, yeah, that’s part of your score. If people don’t even realize that they just think they’re judged on their, their, you know, the size of their muscles in the shape of that.

Speaker 1

00:36:52

And that doesn’t even remotely take into account. You know, your travel. If you’re traveling to a show, you’re lodging. If you’re staying at a hotel, you training, if you have a coach, going into it, your gym membership fees, your posing classes. Oh, my God, that’s huge.

I, if you don’t know how to pose, take posing classes, it’ll be so worth it. But it is not free. So basically just one competition can run you anywhere from maybe $400 to several $1000. So even at the cheaper end it’s not cheap.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:37:25
I mean, I’d say 400 even is, is, low.

Speaker 2

00:37:29

Yeah, because I mean, I, even if it’s a local show you’re not gonna want to wake up and drive there from your house, you’re gonna want to get settled right next to wherever the venue is most likely.

Speaker 1

00:37:38

So, the very short answer is that it’s expensive competing in bodybuilding, figure bikini physique, they’re very expensive.

Speaker 2

00:37:45
Whatever you think it is double it.

Speaker 1

00:37:47

Yeah, that’s a good, that’s a good way to think of it. Whatever you’re expecting to pay double it. Ok. So we just got a question on Twitter. Just this very second from Shroom Factory. The question is when attempting to gain weight, is it best to eat fewer, larger meals or frequent smaller meals? Go ahead, Jack Ma.

Speaker 2

00:38:05

Was that when attempting to gain weight or lose weight, attempting to gain weight, attempting to gain weight? Is it better to eat fewer meals, larger meals? I, you know, meal optimization is definitely somewhat important, but it’s not a deal breaker. It’s, it’s helpful to space out your meals for a number of reasons.

I’d say most importantly because you can only digest so much protein at once and when you’re trying to gain muscle, you definitely wanna make sure that you’re getting a certain amount of protein in.

Speaker 1

00:38:35

Right. But I think more than anything, it really depends on your own preferences. Do you like to eat bigger meals? Is it hard for you to get all your food in? Because if it’s hard to get all your food in, you’re probably gonna be better off eating smaller meals more frequently. But some people don’t have that problem and, and they’ll get all their food in for the day and, you know, three squares.

Speaker 2

00:38:55

So some people don’t have time either to just eat five meals a day. I mean, it’s not necessarily practical for, for most people to be eating all the time.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:39:05

I mean, let’s say you have a job where you’re, you’re on the phone, you can’t just be snacking away at your desk all day long, drink, smoothies and things like that.

Speaker 1

00:39:12

Well, actually smoothies are a really good way to get calories in because it’s just so much easier to get down if you get really full. But I would say the ideal, the ideal number of times to eat specifically for muscle protein synthesis and growing muscle would be 4 to 5 times.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:39:28

Yeah, I mean, even three is not, you know, three is not the end of the world, but 4 to 5 is about as many as, as many times as muscle protein synthesis can be stimulated throughout the day, I believe.

Speaker 2

00:39:40
Yeah, I’d say so any more.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:39:41
And that I, I think it’s just a bit, a bit excessive unless that’s what you’re more comfortable with.

Speaker 1

00:39:47
If you enjoy eating small, frequent meals. Who are we to tell you not to?

Speaker 2

00:39:50 Yeah.

Speaker 2, Speaker 1

00:39:50

However, you can get your food in whenever you, whenever you’re hungry, eat well, if you’re trying to gain weight, even when you’re not hungry, you probably got to eat.

Speaker 1

00:39:58

So, yeah. All right. So hopefully that answers it for you. It’s really up to your preference. Just make sure you get it all in one way or the other.

Speaker 2

00:40:08

Thank you, everyone for listening to our very first podcast. We’ll be doing these hopefully biweekly and we’ll have lots more to talk about. Please stay in touch with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Let us know what your questions are and we’ll be happy to answer them next time.

Speaker 1

00:40:25

If there’s any topics that you’d like to hear us cover, feel free to let us know on any of those places that Jack demo just mentioned. There’s a lot that we want to share with you. We just want to know what you guys wanna hear. So get in touch with us and thank you so much for listening to our first podcast.