Pavel Tsatsouline on Diet and Nutrition

When you see gyms, you know, well, when you see gyms like mine that have all this equipment, all these different things, do you look at that as like that's excessive or unnecessary? Joe, that depends. That all depends on the circumstances. We're talking about CrossFit. Generally, like we talked about CrossFit early, I think CrossFit gyms, I love CrossFit gyms. I mean, they have a few things I think are not necessary, but not so many. But they have a lot of great stuff, high pull-up bars and platforms and so on and so forth. Those are essentials. But then beyond that is just whatever you add for yourself. And without knowing your training needs, your background, I don't really, I can't evaluate your gym. Right. But I can tell you that most people have too much stuff, and that becomes a problem of choices. So you come in, you have this and this and that, so what are you going to do? Right. You're just confused. What is it called? The Paradox of Choice or something like that. Yes, yes. Now, what about injuries? How often do you get injured from this kind of exercising? I've had a number of injuries in my life, all their contact injuries, like, you know, fractures and things like that. They're not from lifting. From lifting, things were old tweaks. All of them were tweaks. But, you know, tearing ligaments by falling and things like that. So you've never had issues with tendonitis or any of those things? Yeah, I've had a little some of that. Some of that. Training pull-ups, jay-havy and things like that. Things happen. What do you do to combat that? That's exactly what I got mine from. Sure. Yeah. Well, first of all, provided in the absence of medical restrictions, you just work around things. So you find things to do that work the area without aggravating it. That's, you know, that's kind of the age-old prescription for what you want to do. But I'm telling you that a lot of things we do are allowing a lot of people to get back in the game. People who have been really injured before. And I can tell you that the techniques, we use the strong first, gettable techniques and some other techniques. We have supporters amongst top healthcare professionals, people like Professor Stuart McGill, who is a top spine by mechanics in the world and who works with the elite of athletes and also the most broken down people. Greg Cook, who is a top physical therapist, people like that. So we have a very good track record of keeping people healthy. I like this old expression from George, the Russian line, Hakan Schmidt, strength cannot be divorced from health. I think that's a great line. That's a great line. That's a great line. I specifically have something with my bicep tendon. I think I got it from two things. I got it from training, doing a lot of chin ups, but also from archery. Because in archery, you're extending as you're drawing back at the same time and this particular muscle gets overworked because... Well, I have Dr. Mark Chang. I know, you know, Dr. Chang. He'll check you out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'll talk to him. What about your diet? I'm an enemy of nutrition. I didn't know anything about it. An enemy of nutrition? I hate it, man. What do you mean? It's such a confusing thing. I'm telling you, in training, it's really kind of funny about training. In training, like, I do my thing, you do your thing, he does his thing, but we kind of...it's cool. Right. In nutrition, it's like, it's the only way. Right. And there are so many different variables that it's very hard to keep track of. And so I just feel sorry for people in that field. I really do. It's an awful thing. You have to constantly be reading papers. You have to constantly be studying. And it's still hopeless. Yes. It's just really hopeless. It's such a, you know, the body is a complex system, but I think this particular silo is worse than others. Yeah. It's just so nonlinear and it's just so difficult to figure this out. Biological variability is so confusing too. With one person, the diet would be optimal. The other person, it would be terrible. You know, I think what we should do is focus, whether it's in diet or in training, we should try to focus on things that are more universal. So, for example, in terms of longevity, Dr. Nick Lane, who is a mitochondrial researcher, he made a very interesting point. He said, right now for longevity, so many efforts are directed at the genetic engineering, manipulation, whatever fooling around, trying to make this really, really customized. And he said, you know, it's really interesting. Why don't we try to focus on something that's been known to work, not just for any individual. It works for pretty much every species, which is mitochondrial health. And he says that if we find a way of extending the lifespan to 130 years old, he's pretty sure it's going to come from mitochondrial health. And the stimuli for mitochondrial health are pretty much well known. Well, there may be some more down the road, but now we do know. So, for example, in terms of nutrition, that's fasting. In terms of exercise, it is both aerobic steady state exercise and that type of work for fast fibers that I told you about. Anti-glycolytic training. And there's cold. So those are the stimuli, the primary stimuli for the mitochondria. So probably for nutrition, the same thing they should do for more things that work for everybody. And then I'm kind of on the margins, try to fool around with customization. What about you personally? What kind of diet do you follow? Back some years ago, I met a very interesting gent, Ori Halfmeckler, and he introduced me to his so-called warrior diet. And I was not interested in any kind of a diet, any kind of a body comp changes. I'm just not into that kind of thing. But what attracted me is efficiency. He said to sit once a day. And I thought, sure, I'll try. And this was long before the current intermittent fasting craze has begun. So I don't think Ori is getting quite the credit he deserves. So I pretty much just eat a large dinner, and don't worry about it. Do you snack at all during the dinner? Nothing? It kills me, man. Really? Yeah. And this has always been the case with you? No. Have you snagged or killed you or did you get older? No. Since I started this way of eating. So your body's acclimated to this one large meal? Yeah, it did. It did. And I just feel great when I do that. You've got to slam a lot of calories down on one meal, though, right? Yeah. What do you eat? Steak. Mostly. Of course. No chicken. Just say no to chicken. Say no to chicken? Just say no. Why? What's wrong with chicken? I just lame. I don't like it. You don't like it? What do you like about it? The taste or what it stands for? It's a weak bird. It is a weak bird. Can't even fly. Just say no to chicken. Helpless against coyotes. Just say no to chicken. Really? Yeah. Wow. What about fish? My wife makes me all eat it. Not out of choice. But mostly meat. Yeah. Yeah. But you understand what I'm telling you is just personal choice is not professional recommendations. Of course. I understand. Totally out of my wheelhouse. But what about vegetables? Vegetables are just kind of a necessary evil. I do eat them. What's necessary about them? You know, this is an interesting point. Same doc, Nick Lane, did some research and summarized some other research. Like why are fruit and vegetables good for you? And the party line is the antioxidants. And they almost convincingly concluded that's not the case. Because if you just try to isolate antioxidants, just give it to people, they don't have the same effect. So the current theory, it's quite, you know, and it's very likely it's true, is the plant toxins pretty much promote hormesis. Hormesis is pretty much resistance against stuff. So it's pretty much mild doses of poison that you take to make yourself stronger. So that's most likely what these things are good for. Yeah. But any time you hear about antioxidants, this antioxidants, that it's unless they're prescribed by a doctor to a particular patient, patient antioxidant supplementation might even cause cancer. So there's studies in that. Really? Yeah. That's just not something to shotgun or go to the pharmacy by all this stuff. No. You should know exactly what you're taking them for and it should be a specific requirement. That should be, you should get the recommendation prescription from your doctor. That is correct. Have you ever, do you know anybody that follows a carnivore diet? What's a carnivore diet? Carnivore diet is very recent. Within the last few years, people are eating only animal products. Okay. And the great benefit that some people have had is people with autoimmune issues like skin conditions, eczema, things along those lines, it seems to cure it up. People with severe arthritis, it's, I mean, by cutting out all plant foods completely, some people with autoimmune issues have found great results. Some people have found great results with depression, but it's extremely controversial. And, you know, it's also ideologically troubling for some people. Some people don't want you to eat meat at all. So if you're eating only meat, this is terrible. You're sending a bad message and. You think this is funny? Okay. It sounds like a fun diet, man. Sounds awesome. You're all in? I'm completely unqualified to comment on that. Right. But would you be interested in trying it? Would I be interested in trying it? When I see some more research in that I might, not that I'm a fan of vegetables or anything. So I'm, you know, I would consider it. You say vegetables with disdain. You say vegetables like cowards. You understand it's a necessary evil. You understand certain things. It's like your foam roller, Joe. You know, you just do it. It's not, you don't enjoy it. That thing next to you, the Tim Tam, that's what I use instead of a foam roller, that Jack hammer right underneath the tripod. Okay. That's that was invented by MMA coach for us a hobby. Okay. And more effective. So that's better than. Oh, quick to better than vegetables. I don't know better than foam roller. I think so. But you do, but that's what I'm saying. Like for a guy like you that talks about vegetables with such disdain, I would think. It's a necessary evil. You understand? This is the thing. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Well, the docs will tell you all this stuff about fiber and this and that. That's supposedly good. And again, that's, that's not my specialty. Right. But this other point about hormesis, which is again, building up your resistance, resilience to things. So it's very possible vegetables are evil and the small doses of this evil make us stronger. Small doses. Small doses. Well. Well, tiny, like a quarter of your plate. Yeah. Well, it should be more probably. Probably. I don't know. It's just a funny subject with you. You have an interesting relationship. I told you I'm an enemy of nutrition. I hate it. I just really hate it. I have a sympathy, deep sympathy for people who are in that line of work. Now, do you supplement with multivitamins or creatine or anything on those lines? No, I don't. And you know, creatine is definitely, supplementation is not my specialty either, but I can tell you creatine is one of those supplements that definitely has been tested extensively and while not for everybody, it does work. Yeah. So it's also been, for a lot of people. It's also been proven as a nootropic, which I think is fascinating. So it's very, it enhances cognitive performance. Again, out of my, I don't have cognitive performance. So you don't have any cognitive performance. I don't have any. So I'm not, not my thing. So. What about vitamins? Do you take any vitamins? No, there's, there's, there's no evidence. And again, if, if you would get a prescription from your doc that you're short on this, then you should. This is essentially not your wheelhouse. Absolutely not. Okay.