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

Host (Ryan Hanley): Hello everyone and welcome back to the show. You thought Christmas was over and here I am giving you another present. This tremendous conversation with Jordan Syatt, one of my absolute favorite, go-to fitness thought leaders.

Host (Ryan Hanley): First caught Jordan's work when he was the personal trainer to Gary Vaynerchuk. Jordan has since gone off on his own and just the way that he delivers content speaks to me personally. It is no nonsense, no bullshit, straight down the middle content that is going to hit you right in the face if you are looking for easy comfort. But not in that influencer way. Not in that "look at how amazing I am" way. It is real world, real talk from a guy who has a real family, who really works out, who really was a weightlifting champion, but is, as he says, I think he says he's like 5'8". I mean, so this isn't some Adonis gifted by God individual who then tells you all these things you should be doing. This is a real guy doing the work, training real people, and delivering that message in a real way. And it absolutely resonates with me, and I know it will resonate with you.

Host (Ryan Hanley): So with all that being said, I give you your last Christmas present, Jordan Syatt. You can curse, you can tell stories, get contextual, all good. There's no guardrails on a conversation.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Amazing. Awesome. Awesome. I also really like that. I like your jacket, man. That's like something I would wear. I really like that a lot. That's awesome.

Host (Ryan Hanley): Straight Instagram purchase.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Really? Dude, it was late night. It's like Instagram knows when I've had a beer or two and I'm sitting on the couch by myself. It knows. It's like it knows. Smell it on me. It's like, "He's just enough. His inhibitions are down just enough that if we serve this ad, he's going to hit purchase right here."

Host (Ryan Hanley): Yeah. I honestly, I bet they do do that on purpose. Like, "All right, this time of night..." That honestly makes total sense. I'm not even a clothes guy. All my stuff, hand-me-downs. But I love that. That's nice. I really like it a lot.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Bro, I've had this for two years. I wear it. I live in Albany, New York, upstate. It's cold as shit, and my office is in my basement, and there's no heat. It's not real hot down here, and this thing is beautiful. You throw it on all the time. But here's the crazy part. I got divorced three years ago. My ex-wife had her hands in my clothing purchases a lot. So since I've been divorced, I gotta make all these decisions on my own. I'm a grown man, so I can do that. I have found, and I shit you not, the clothes I love the most — and I'm not a big clothes guy either — I buy off Instagram. Flux shoes. I found Flux shoes on Instagram. Love them. Don't buy another pair of shoes. They're my favorite shoes. Other than a pair of Nobles that I wear for lifting, flat bottoms, zero drop, wide sole. Dude, find them on Instagram. This sweatshirt, this is like $45 on Instagram. Instagram's got me so dialed in. It's unbelievable.

Host (Ryan Hanley): I just linked up Flux because I'm in the market for new shoes. That's perfect.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Yeah. Their trainers are nice, but these zero drop kick-around shoes are awesome.

Host (Ryan Hanley): I like that. Perfect. Thank you, man. Who knew this was going to be a big ad for the Instagram shop?

Host (Ryan Hanley): With all that being said, I want to talk about something. I want to start in a place, and you take this wherever you want. But I'm going to hit you with a scenario that I know a lot of dudes — I'm 43 — a lot of dudes my age are dealing with. Last January, it's cold as shit in upstate. We don't see the sun for like six months. Do you still live in New York, or where are you now?

Guest (Jordan Syatt): No, we're in Dallas.

Host (Ryan Hanley): Dallas. So screw you, but good for you. I know you used to be in New York when you were with Gary a lot. So you understand the weather in the winter.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Yeah.

Host (Ryan Hanley): You're up in Montana?

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Yeah. I'm used to that. Winter drag. Completely used to it.

Host (Ryan Hanley): Last January, it's like I hit a brick wall. I'm like, dude, I'm in shape. At that time I was lifting a lot. I'm in great shape. I shouldn't feel this way. And I hear one of the gurus, Huberman or someone, talk about testosterone and these at-home tests you can do. So I'm like, fuck it, I'm out of options. I go get it and my testosterone is 70, which puts me in the sixth percentile of all men my age.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): That's wild. I don't think I've ever heard of someone's being that low.

Host (Ryan Hanley): Bro, high-protein diet, workout constantly, eat good, do all the things for the most part, sleep good. Above average healthy 40-year-old, way above that in all other areas. 70. So I started taking oral. I use a company called Maximus. There's a bunch of companies out there, doesn't matter. I wanted to start our conversation around the role that testosterone plays, particularly in men's lives. Outside of taking a supplement like I do now — it's a natural increase, it increases the natural production of testosterone in the body before you go TRT. It's like a pre-TRT thing. What can we be doing? Because when I shared this with some of my other buddies that coach youth sports — because I coach my kids — dude, two or three other of them got tested and they were all super low. Not as low as me, but they were lower than they should be. So what are we not doing? What are the things that guys my age, late thirties, early forties, mid forties can be doing? It's changed my whole life, man. I'm a completely different dude today than I was a year ago because I figured that out. Where's your test at now?

Guest (Jordan Syatt): 700.

Host (Ryan Hanley): 700? Holy shit. You 10X'd it? That's crazy. What are you taking? I could go up and get the bottle.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): No, it's okay. No worries. It's Enclomiphene, E-N-C something.

Host (Ryan Hanley): Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Yeah. Every day, I put it under my tongue. It's just like a little tablet. Just take one a day. I've been doing it since March. The last time I got tested was August and I was at 700.

Host (Ryan Hanley): That's amazing. That's incredible. For context, generally, whatever doctor you talk to is going to give you a different number. I'm not a doctor, but generally under 200 or 250 is low. So to be 70 is very, very, very low. I'm glad that you got tested and you got on something. As long as you're continuing to be monitored by a doctor or a medical professional, that's the most important thing.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): The major thing is a lot of guys will just say, "I've got low testosterone" in the same way that often women will say, "I've got a slow metabolism," but they don't actually get checked for it. What you did is the right thing. You got tested. That's the first step. You have to go get tested. A lot of people are very quick to go the TRT route, and I don't have anything wrong with TRT inherently, but that shouldn't be your first step.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): First, let's look at number one: your sleep. Actually, before you even sleep, how's your body fat? If you have excess body fat, that's one of the major risks of dying early — heart disease, cardiovascular disease, so many other health issues. But if you have high body fat, your testosterone is going to be at risk of being significantly lower. On top of that, drinking a lot of alcohol. Some in moderation is fine, but if you're drinking a lot week to week, that's a major problem. With that often comes poor sleep and often will also come excess body fat. Higher body fat, minimal sleep, too much alcohol, smoking — these are all things that wreck your testosterone and your health, but especially your testosterone. They go hand in hand. Not lifting weights. And a lot of dudes for some reason hate on cardio, but good cardiovascular health will improve your testosterone as well. The major controllable factors are body fat, sleep, alcohol — biggest ones by far.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): From there, get that under control. For you, clearly you're lean, you're strong, you're muscular. It sounds like everything was already taken care of. There might have been some lifestyle factor — whether it was the stress from the divorce, stress from whatever was going on in your life, because stress can have a major impact as well. Combined with if sleep was an issue, that also could have severely impacted it. But the major controllable factors, you want to get those taken care of first. For you, since you were in such good shape already, it was probably like, "What the fuck?"

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Another thing is vitamin D. If you're not getting sunlight, that can be a major component. You're in Albany, you were just coming out of winter when you got checked. That also probably had a major component, assuming you weren't already supplementing with vitamin D3. Either way, most dudes need to get their basics in check before they start taking anything extra. This goes for everything — not just for testosterone or TRT. This goes for every supplement, like creatine. For some reason, as soon as someone wants to get healthy and fit, the first place they go is GNC or the supplement store. It's like, how about you go to the gym at least three times a week? How about you get eight hours of sleep every night? How about you try and get one gram of protein per pound of your body weight? Do that for a year before you go to the supplement store, because you're going to drop hundreds of dollars and then you're not going to use it.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): It's in the name — a supplement is supplemental. It supplements an already good diet, an already good sleep schedule, an already good workout program. If you're taking these supplements and you're not doing the right thing, you're not going to make a difference. And before you ask about fat burners, those don't work. If they did, everyone would take them. If those worked, then GLP-1s and Wegovy and Ozempic wouldn't be a thing right now. Stop buying that shit. It's a waste of money. No one ever was like, "You know what got me that six-pack is the green tea fat burner." Get your stuff in order before you go the supplement route. Once you've been consistent at least a year — I usually say three to five years — then you can start doing this other stuff. You're different because you're already in shape. You're already fit. So I'm glad that you got checked. But first get checked, get all the controllables under control, and then from there you can see what else you need to do.

Host (Ryan Hanley): I have a feeling that it was stress. That winter I had founded a company and I exited from it in November of 2023. So maybe three or four months before that. There was just a lot of turmoil. I think it had to do with stress, but it could have been vitamin D. Dude, we get 66 days of sun here. I probably wasn't taking enough vitamin D. But man, I was shocked when I saw that number. I was like, holy shit.

Host (Ryan Hanley): For guys listening, I'm a different human today than I was a year ago. Just in the way that I feel, it's insane. And then you talk about that negative cycle. I'd love for you to comment on this. My testosterone wasn't there, I'm feeling down, so I start working out less because I don't have that natural energy. I'm questioning things. Then I don't start sleeping well. Then I start grasping for solutions. I hate going anything that isn't natural first. That tends to be my way. But it's so easy to start going, "Well, maybe it's this supplement, or maybe I need Athletic Greens. If I was taking Athletic Greens, everything would be fine." It's so easy to go down that rabbit hole.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): The reality is it's much easier to take a pill than it is to work out, to put your phone down and go to bed, to stay hydrated, to get your steps in. A lot of people like to point to individual ingredients — seed oils or whatever — as major problems. You know what the major problem is compared to any other time in history? Right now, you've got Uber Eats on your phone. You barely get any movement in. Before, we had to hunt for our food. Now you don't even have to go to the grocery store. You can order your groceries directly to your door. You don't have to move. You can sit in front of your blue light phone and look at it all day, all night. You don't move, you don't lift, you don't do anything physical whatsoever. It's not the seed oils. That's your problem. You don't move, you don't lift, you don't train, you don't sleep. You are a sloth. That's the problem. Get up, do something. Stop looking for the most convenient thing and start looking for the most effective thing, which is movement.

Host (Ryan Hanley): You hold a bunch of powerlifting records and have been a powerlifter for a while. I would love for you to talk about the impact of moving weight. I played sports, but I always lifted in connection to what I needed to do for that sport. I never was a powerlifter. I just never got into it until COVID hit. I heard Tim — he was Kobe Bryant's trainer, Michael Jordan's trainer. Tim, he's got two great books, *Relentless* and *Winning*. I can't remember his last name. That's going to kill me. I'll awkwardly wedge it in in post-production. But I heard him on an interview say, somebody asked him a question and he said, "Guys need to move weight." He just stopped. It was so point blank the way he lived it. So I said, "Fuck it, I'll start deadlifting." I've gotten really into deadlifting. I try to explain to my friends the impact that it has on my body in a positive way, and I can't do it justice. I would love for you to talk about your journey with powerlifting, why you got into it, what it's been like, and then help some of the people listening who maybe their exercise is just cardio or they're taking a HIIT class. Why pushing weight or pulling weight is such an important part of the mix for hitting your performance and being healthy in general.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): I got into it. I wrestled from when I was eight years old. I did a bunch of different sports — soccer, wrestling, baseball. Wrestling was the one I loved the most. I started lifting because of that. It's really important to do cardio as well. But if you're not lifting, it's a big problem. A big, big, big, big problem.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): If I had to rank the most important for health and longevity, it's going to be walking. Steps. Movement. That's by far the most important. If we look at the longest living people in the world, it's not powerlifters. It's not CrossFitters. It's not people who do HIIT or Burn Boot Camp or Orange Theory. It's the people who walk the most. We see this in Italy, in France, in Japan, in Switzerland. The people who walk the most live the longest and healthiest lives.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Once we have that base covered, it's not just about how long we live, it's also about the quality of those years. The quality of those years comes down to how much strength we have. If we want to not just elongate our life but also live a better quality of life, one of the major things is bone density. As soon as I start talking about that, people tune out. They want to hear about how to get jacked and how to get ripped. But if you have anyone in your life in their 60s, 70s, 80s or older, one of the leading causes of death is they fall. Just a regular fall. They fall, maybe they can't get back up. They break a hip. Over 70% of people who break a hip or break a bone after they fall when they're 60 or 70 years old die because what it takes for the body to recover from that is astronomical.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): In terms of the quality of your life, you absolutely need to lift to maintain that quality. Nevermind the metabolic effects of adding more muscle, which burns more calories. It'll be easier for you to stay leaner year-round. You'll be able to eat more food without gaining body fat. All these things people like to hear from the aesthetic perspective. But purely as an individual, as a human, if you don't want to have someone living with you or being in a nursing home, you got to lift weights. If you want to be able to compete with your kids, compete with your grandkids. In the research, they call them ADLs — Activities of Daily Living. Something as simple as opening a jar. Something as simple as if you were to fall and you need to grab onto something — do you have the grip strength to do that? These simple things. When you're younger, in your 30s and 40s — I still consider that younger — you start seeing kids you grew up with who are adults now. You're like, "Damn, dude, what the fuck?" They've got real problems. Getting up a flight of stairs is a problem. In their mind, they still think they're a high school football player, high school wrestler. That's how they think they are. But they're not. It takes a big life-changing situation for them to realize it. So if you want to live longer, move. If you want to live longer and better, move and lift.

Host (Ryan Hanley): I get a ton of shit from people for deadlifting. They're like, "You're 40 years old now. What do you need the deadlift for? You're going to get hurt." And I look at them and I'm like, "I'm not going to get hurt because I deadlift."

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Correct.

Host (Ryan Hanley): So you understand where I'm coming from. I hear you, but understand my perspective. When we're out on the field with the kids — I coach baseball for my sons — the reason I can run around and shag flies still is because I do this shit. It's such a struggle to get through to people. I'm not a fitness expert. It's not my job. I just love it. Unfortunately, I can't stop talking because I have massive ADHD, so I have to tell everyone everything I'm doing and thinking at every moment of every day. That's why I have a podcast. It's therapy essentially. I try to explain to these dudes. They're all awesome guys, all former athletes, but they're all carrying 20 to 40 extra pounds and they can't move. They get to the end of practice and they're exhausted. And I'm like, "I could have gone for another two hours." That's not me bragging. It's the truth. I don't want to be hunched over and having to get dialysis when I'm 60 years old. I want to be popping with my grandkids. I want to be out there helping my grandkids learn how to hit a baseball.

Host (Ryan Hanley): It's so hard to get through to people. It's one of the reasons I was so excited to have you on the show. I know there's so many guys that listen that are in similar life positions as me and they're not prioritizing this. With all the work you do, all the people that you work with, when you're trying to crack the door with them — obviously maybe they've reached out, so they have an interest, but they're still hesitant. How do you start to crack that door? What's the mindset? Is there a pitch? "Hey man, it's time to get off your fucking ass. Let's go." How do we start to get through to those people to show them you don't have to be a powerlifter? You don't need to be benching 400 pounds. That's not what we're talking about. But just get in the gym and move some weights once in a while.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): I'll talk about that in one second because it's super important. I'll go back to the people who are like, "You're going to get hurt deadlifting." Injuries happen all the time. People get hurt stepping off a curb. People get hurt picking up a bag of groceries. It happens all the time. If you think it's dangerous to deadlift, you should see how dangerous it is to be weak. Being weak is way more dangerous than getting stronger in the gym. Absolutely, you could get injured deadlifting in the gym. And then you can ideally recover from that. But if you're training smart and intelligently, your likelihood of getting injured is teeny tiny, minuscule. You're way more likely to get injured doing something when you're weak — trying to pick up a heavy grocery bag, trying to pick up some luggage, playing with your kids, all of a sudden you try and do a sprint or change direction. Being weak is a way bigger risk factor for injury than getting strong. So yeah, could you get hurt deadlifting? Especially if you're deadlifting like an idiot. But let's not deadlift like an idiot. Let's do it intelligently.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Like you were saying, you don't need to be deadlifting 800 pounds. You don't need to be bench pressing 400 pounds. I'd like you to get in the gym two to three days a week. If you are listening to this right now and you can't do 10 good push-ups from the floor, you're weak. That's not a dig. It's just like, cool, let's get you in the gym. You could just start with your body weight. Let's get you doing stuff. Let's get you using your body weight. Let's get some dumbbells in your hands. You don't need a full gym. Just have some dumbbells, have your body weight, master your body weight. That's how we enter this. Two to three days a week, master your body weight. Get some good squats in there — just body weight squats. Maybe put some weight into a backpack, hold the backpack, squat. Do some Romanian deadlifts. Do some push-ups. Do some bodyweight rows. If you get a TRX strap, you can do some rows that way. Just move your body and get stronger. You don't need to be doing 30 sets of exercises. You don't need to be having 12 different exercises per workout. Two to three days a week, three to five exercises, and two to three sets of eight to 12 reps per exercise. You're good. That's it. Do that a couple days a week. It could be 30 to 45 minutes per workout and you're set.

Host (Ryan Hanley): One of the best pieces of advice I was ever given — I have a friend who does Spartan races. I was saying, "Man, I hate running. I know I need to do it. I do it a couple times a month probably, but I just don't like it. But I do want to get out and move more." He sent me a link for a ruck vest. I wear 20 pounds in the front and 20 pounds in the back. When I take the dog for a walk, I just throw the vest on and we go around the block a couple of times. You come back and just that simple. I'm not pushing anything. I'm not pulling anything. I'm just wearing this vest going for a couple of laps around the neighborhood with the dog. I come back, no ankle pain. My foot pain's gone away. How many people do you know say, "Oh my back is tweaked"? I haven't had back pain in years. This is probably three years ago that you said this. I haven't had back pain in years. No back pain. I sit in a chair all day. I work in front of a computer. No back pain. These simple little things that you can add into your day can compound over time into crazy benefits for your body. We just don't prioritize it. We're like, "Fuck it. I'll watch another show and DoorDash. The dog can just be on the chain." I just want to shake people sometimes. I'm like, "Dude, it's there for you. It's this easy. You can do it."

Host (Ryan Hanley): To the deadlifting point, I just want to go back to this because it's on my brain and it's my podcast so I can do whatever the fuck I want. I'm mad that I didn't learn about this exercise earlier in my life. I've never found an exercise — and push back on me wherever this is wrong or right — but I've never found an exercise that you do not have to lift heavy. It doesn't have to be heavy, just proper form. Work through the exercise with proper form and it hits your entire body. When I get done, my grip is stronger. My shoulders are stronger. My back is stronger. My legs, my glutes, my hips, my abs, my quads, my hamstrings, my calves, my feet — all the way down. One exercise. Once a week. I'm not trying to break any records. Once a week, I do this exercise. Once a week is all you need. More than that and you're more likely to get injured. I've never come across an exercise like that. You can do RDLs. You can just do the exercise with no weight. Just use your body.

Host (Ryan Hanley): I try to push my friends to say, "Guys, it's not where you start. I'm not advocating in any way. I'm not a fitness professional. This is where you start. But don't knock it till you try it." It changes everything. All of a sudden you walk into a room and your shoulders are pulled back for the first time in 20 years because you have the back strength and the posture to actually do that. Now people look at you differently. They talk to you differently. You find people more... just your entire way that you operate. When you have that full body strength, you start to notice how people interact with you because you're not slumped over. You're not wearing clothes that are three sizes too big because you're trying to hide something you don't like. You're in this better position, which then equates down to the way you speak to your spouse, the way you speak to your kids, the way you handle situations. I just can't advocate for this enough, guys.

Host (Ryan Hanley): So I guess, what are other exercises that we can be doing once we get past body weight, when we're getting started, that these guys can get started with? Deadlifting, I think is a little more advanced probably. But what are some of the...

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Deadlifting isn't more advanced, man. It's all about the variation that you use and where you start. When I'm working with someone who's brand new, I'll often just... I'll put it this way. What is a deadlift? In the most basic form, what is a deadlift? Just pulling weight, standing up. Pick something up. You pick something up off the ground. It is the most functional exercise in the entire world because all you're doing is picking something up. That's it. How much weight can you pick up? That's what a deadlift is. I think everybody — I would hope everybody listening — is advanced enough to be able to pick something up off the ground. And it doesn't have to be a barbell with 400 pounds. It could be a 10 pound, 15 pound, 20 pound kettlebell.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): It could be dumbbells. It could be doing an RDL with a reduced range of motion. Rather than starting on the ground, you start at your hips. Either way, you could do an elevated deadlift. So it's a shorter range of motion, but pick something up. Like let's pick shit up. That's important because you're going to pick stuff up in everyday life. So I'd rather you learn how to do it properly and get strong in that range of motion.

So I would say start with a kettlebell deadlift or dumbbell Romanian deadlifts. Really, really great starting point for people who don't know how to deadlift and haven't done it and don't feel confident yet. So if you don't know what those are, Google it, YouTube it: kettlebell deadlift, dumbbell Romanian deadlift. You're going to figure it out really quick.

From there, I would say goblet squats, another dumbbell or kettlebell exercise. If we're talking about the confidence you get from deadlifting, there isn't a single exercise that I've found increases people's confidence more than deadlifting. When you hit a deadlift personal record and you lift more weight, you feel like you are on top of the world and you could beat Jon Jones in a fight. You feel like you could be an absolute demolition monster, which transfers into your everyday life. When you pick something up that you've never lifted before, you hit a PR, it's one of the greatest feelings ever. And it will carry over into your everyday life mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Another great one is any type of squat. The analogy or the metaphor here is that squats are very much like life. When life gets you down, you got to stand the fuck back up. You got to carry the load and stand back up with that weight. You can't just let it crush you. So yeah, you could do it with a barbell or just hold a dumbbell or a kettlebell right in front of your chest and do squats. It's a great starting point. Lunges are amazing. Bulgarian split squats are amazing, a little bit more advanced, but reverse lunges, static lunges, forward lunges, all amazing.

Those are the major lower body exercises I recommend: deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, squats, and lunges. Those are the priority, especially when you're beginning. And even as an advanced lifter, those are your compound lifts. Those are the major lifts that you do.

Upper body: push-ups. I think everyone, men and women, should be able to do 10 push-ups relatively easily. Everyone should be able to do that. From there, we can do dumbbell bench press. If you want to do barbell bench press, you're welcome to. Overhead press, barbell or dumbbell, whatever. Dumbbell rows, lat pull-downs. I would like it if everyone is able to do chin-ups. Obviously, that's a little bit more advanced.

I will say I think the two greatest moves for confidence are deadlifts and chin-ups. When you can strap some weight around yourself or when you get your first ever chin-up, you feel on top of the world. So chin-ups or weighted chin-ups, lat pull-downs, dumbbell rows, barbell rows, seated cable rows. These are the exercises you'll use your entire life. They're really great.

Strength training is very boring. You do the same shit, you just try and get stronger with it over time. You do the same things over and over and over again. You have to be ruthlessly consistent with the basics nonstop. I think one of the major reasons people struggle either to get started or to stay consistent is because they have this idea that they're supposed to look like a bodybuilder or be like a professional athlete within a week, two weeks, a month. This is why we see huge numbers of people going to the gym in January, and then by January 16th, they're gone. That's not a made-up date. One of the cool things about fitness trackers is we can track when people start being consistent and when they fall off. January 16th is the fall-off date for the vast majority of people.

They're like, "I'm gonna do it every day. I'm gonna work out seven days a week, and I'm not gonna have a fucking carb ever again." After two weeks of January, they're like, "Alright, I can't do this anymore." Well, what if instead of doing every single day, you went two to three days a week, and you did that for five years straight? You'd be better off than 98% of the people in the world. So stop trying to go seven days a week. Stop trying to go as hard as you possibly can. Just go a couple days and be consistent. That ruthless consistency will yield tremendous results.

Host (Ryan Hanley): So I go to this absolute steakhead gym. It's my favorite gym I've ever been to. It's called ABC Fitness, shout out if anyone's listening locally here in the Albany area. It's filled with 22-year-old steakheads, just steakheads everywhere. There's like two chicks and 200 steakheads, and they're just flexing in the mirror. I love it because I'm the old guy there and I'm surrounded by all this energy. They're slamming weights and slapping fives and flexing and shit. I love it. I think it's great.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): It's why your test went up. Because you're around all that. Just osmosis. That's it.

Host (Ryan Hanley): A hundred percent. Their sweat and testosterone. And all these 22-year-olds whose test is going crazy. That's why your test went up. So I hit my personal deadlift goal, my post-traumatic deadlift PR: 465. Nice. Pulled it. So happy. Took me two years to get there. Felt fucking amazing. Put it down. Great lift. Solid. Felt amazing.

And the kid behind me comes up — they got six deadlift platforms all near each other — comes up, slaps me, "Dude, great lift. Was that a PR?" I was like, "Yeah." "Awesome work." He turns around, he's got 505 pounds and rips 10 reps. Just blows me away. I turn around, I look at him, I'm like, "Bro, you couldn't have waited like five minutes? You just couldn't have given me like five minutes before you just threw my shindig?" We're laughing.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): The worst. Just lifts way more than your PR. The winner to me. And I was like, "Oh, humility. That's what that feels like. Gotcha."

Host (Ryan Hanley): Right. I just did my daily dose.

I want to transition to sleep because you mentioned it a couple times. About six months ago, I started wearing a Whoop strap. I usually hate this stuff because I find sometimes you over-index on the numbers and less on the repeats. However, I have found by being diligent in the journaling feature of what I do and how it impacts my sleep, it's been insane. What I've figured out impacts and doesn't impact my sleep. It has helped me. I was getting on average when I started like five and a half, six hours of sleep. Now I'm getting like 7:15. I feel great. My body's like, "Hey, you're up." It's not like I'm trying to get more.

Talk to me about how sleep impacts our overall fitness and our energy and all these different things. I do not think there is enough conversation outside of the fitness and wellness world about this. I think people are like, "Oh, I get six hours sleep. I'm just one of those people." And I'm like, "No, you're fucking not." The number of people from my research that actually can live off five, five and a half, six hours sleep consistently and be successful is very small versus the people who try to pretend like they can live off that and just get used to this constant state of tired.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Yeah, and then they're always over-caffeinating. What a lot of people don't understand is that many of these people who say they only sleep four or five or even six hours a night — okay, are they taking Adderall? Are they taking Vyvanse? Are they on methamphetamines? If you're prescribed that, that's fine. But people are prescribed testosterone, and you'd probably want to know if someone was taking testosterone to see what's going on from a muscular growth perspective. If someone is on that, they have an advantage in that they are literally on a methamphetamine to keep them awake more. If you're not taking those, you're going to be more tired if you're not getting sufficient sleep. It's important to be aware of that, not to mention the genetic component.

You're 100% right. I have a Garmin. I track sleep. I track a lot of stuff as well. I don't like to pay attention to the numbers very much because I'd rather go based on how I feel. What has been a massive eye-opener — you don't tell it when you drink. You're not saying, "Hey, I'm drinking right now." When I drink alcohol, if it's just one beer or a couple of beers or one to two beers or one glass of wine, I don't notice a difference. But if I go past that, my Garmin knows. It knows that I drank too much. My sleep quality will be shit. That's crazy because it took that consistency of realizing, "Oh, I want to look into this more."

A lot of times people say, "I'm going to drink so I can get a good night of sleep." Just because you get tired when you drink doesn't mean you're getting high quality sleep. Your sleep quality actually goes to shit when you drink. So not only are you getting the negative effects of alcohol, you're also getting the negative effects of lack of sleep.

This is sort of a crude analogy, but it does work. If you have your laptop, right? You use your phone all day. You might have a lot of productivity with it, you get a lot done. But if you don't charge it, it doesn't matter how productive you were the day before because now you can't use it again. The battery is gone. If you are not charging your battery, if you are not getting enough sleep, it doesn't mean your workouts are worthless. It doesn't mean your nutrition is worthless. But it does mean that your battery will not go up to 100% anymore. Your battery might get up to 25 or 30%. You're putting in all this work, and you're now more tired, and you're only getting a 30% charge. What the fuck is the point of that?

And for what, by the way? So you can scroll on Instagram more? So you can look at porn? For what are you lacking this sleep for? What really is going into your life that is making your life better? Now that you're only getting five, six hours of sleep, put your phone down, go to bed, and it will massively enhance your ability to make progress. It will take you from a 30% charge to a 90 to 100% charge.

Host (Ryan Hanley): Since I've been tracking — I have a diagnosed hyperactive bipolar. I'm constantly either hyper manic or manic at all times, including right now, which I think I'm somewhere in the middle. I did a test. I've never been a big pot smoker, but there are days when even when I'm doing all the right things, I get to the evening and my body — if I jump into a hyper manic state late in the evening, I literally just can't calm down. My brain is a thousand miles an hour.

My doctor actually said, "Try pot. Try smoking. Try a little J before you go to bed." I was like, "Yeah, okay, I'll try anything." What I found is yes, it does narrow my world and it does help me calm down, but to your point, I get shitty ass sleep. So it's like, would I rather ride the manic wave, maybe come back downstairs and get a little more work done, and just eat the fact that the next day I'm gonna be a little tired? Or be zero productive when I'm high and go to sleep a little earlier, but then sleep like shit throughout the night?

The cool thing about this is it literally shows you where you're at and when you drop into REM. I can see for the first four hours of sleep, I'm basically not even recharging. To your analogy, the battery's plugged in, but no juice is getting into the mind.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Exactly.

Host (Ryan Hanley): To my girlfriend's chagrin, the number one indicator of high quality sleep: sexual activity before bed. Number one. Out of all the things I've done. I'm not trying to be funny, although it may be for some people, and it may be unfortunate for some of the women out there if you're not into that with your husband or partner. But the number one absolute positive indicator — and my Whoop strap will confirm it — is sexual activity before bed. I drop almost immediately into high quality sleep and will sleep for a tremendous amount of time. I'll be 90 to 100% recharge.

Guys, if you aren't doing some of the things Jordan and I are talking about, you most likely haven't felt 90 to 100% recharge in a while. The first time I saw 93 on my Whoop for recharge, dude, it was like being 15 years old again. My brain is functioning. I'm ready to crush the day. I'm doing push-ups in between calls. I'm like, "Let's fucking go!" It's crazy. We operate — I think most people are probably just operating 40 to 60% sleep recovery and they just think that's normal. It doesn't have to be.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): That's the scary part. Correct. It doesn't have to be. And I also think — and by the way, I struggle with this — there's constant dopamine coming in through social media and scrolling. When you were talking about either being hyper manic or smoking weed, something I try to do is because the default is any boredom, boom, pick up your phone. Keep the phone away and pick up a book. Or go on a walk, listen to an audiobook, something that doesn't have light in your face. Reading a book, you still get a dopamine hit, but it's not like scrolling on Instagram or TikTok. It's a much, much, much less of a hit. That can be super helpful for improving the bedtime routine, which can then help get better sleep as well.

Host (Ryan Hanley): Yeah. The Whoop strap, when I first got it, it was kind of like a Hail Mary pass. "Hey, I'm struggling to figure out why I'm low energy and the testosterone thing." I've heard people talk about it. It's not super expensive. I'll try it. I can't take it off now. It also becomes — and I think we all need to find these things in our lives — it becomes a reminder. "Hey, do the right thing, man."

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Correct.

Host (Ryan Hanley): You're going to get yelled at in the morning if you don't do the right thing. It's going to blink in your face, "Hey, you didn't do the right things yesterday or last night." You were screwing around. You had three beers instead of zero beers or one beer. The first couple months, it definitely doesn't change what you do. But as you start to feel better more consistently, you're like, "Maybe I don't need to have a drink tonight. Maybe I'm good. I don't need to do that. I'm all right. I would rather wake up." It's not worth it anymore. At first you think you can't live without it.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): It's funny. I remember I worked with a client. This must have been 2016, 2017. She came to me and she was having like 12 to 15 drinks a week. She was like, "I'm not willing to give it up." I was like, "Okay. That's up to you." For the first three months, she made zero progress. Didn't lose any weight. She was like, "What the fuck?" I was like, "Here, I have a challenge. You don't want to give up 12 to 15 drinks a week, which is fine. But if you can't give it up for 30 days, then I would say you've got a drinking problem. How about for 30 days, just no alcohol. Just for 30 days. After 30 days, go back to doing what you're doing." She's like, "Fine."

In 30 days, she made more progress than she made in the first three months. Huge amount of progress. She was like, "Holy shit." It wasn't just the alcohol. It was the alcohol and then what she did after she drank all the alcohol. From there, she didn't quit alcohol altogether because it was still important in her life, but she went from 12 to 15 drinks a week to like three to five drinks a week. She continued to make amazing progress while still being able to drink in moderation.

What happened there was it took her feeling and getting the results to finally be motivated enough to realize that that amount of alcohol just wasn't worth it for her. People wonder, "How do you get motivated?" You don't wait for motivation to happen. You got to take action. From those actions, you get results. From those results, you get motivated to take more action. People wait for the motivation. If you're waiting for motivation, you're gonna be waiting forever. You got to take action when you're not motivated. Then from there, you get results. With those results, you get more motivated.

Host (Ryan Hanley): It's almost as if we're waiting for something to give us permission to make the change. I had a buddy say to me one time, a while ago, he had all the things: overeating, big pot smoker, big drinker. He's like, "I'll change when something happens to me." I'm like, "Bro, what the fuck is that? You're going to change when you have a problem? An artery burst or a fucking aneurysm? Then you're going to change? Why don't we just dial it back 10% and see how much better you feel? Let's start there."

Again, I'm not a fitness professional. I'm no one's coach. I'm not trying to make people do anything. I'm just trying to help them. But I do feel like a lot of us are sitting there excusing away things we know are maybe excessive. I'm not going to judge anybody. I like to have a few drinks. Like I said, I will occasionally, when I do need to land the ship, still spark up a J or something because I know that will help me at certain times. But I use them as tools. I think of them as tools, not as "I'm doing this because I need to change my mental state." They're tools in the tool belt to help me be successful as much as I can. If I understand the impact they have on me, then I can use them accordingly as necessary. Versus, "I need some life event to happen to give me permission to start making changes in my life." That's not the right way to look at it.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Yeah. I also feel like for someone saying that, very often people don't think it's going to happen to them. "That's not going to happen to me. That wouldn't happen to me." People have this false idea that that happens to other people, not to me. A really common one with this is blood pressure. I talk about blood pressure all the time because it's literally called the silent killer. In the United States, it kills over 700,000 people a year because they don't know they have it. There are no symptoms of high blood pressure. Maybe you grow up and you hear your dad has high blood pressure, but you don't think you're ever going to have it. You might not even consider yourself as someone who — maybe you're fit and you work out. High blood pressure doesn't discriminate. It doesn't matter if you're fit and healthy. That can help, but there are genetic components to it. There are so many things that impact it outside of your current health habits or your body weight. There are people who are overweight who have good blood pressure, and there are people who are super lean and look healthy and fit who have very high blood pressure. People have this idea that, "Oh, it's not going to happen to me." If that's you, good luck, because you're gambling. You're gambling with your life. You're giving yourself a gamble being like, "Well, that's not going to happen to me." I pray it doesn't happen to you. I truly pray it doesn't happen to you. But statistically, at some point, something's going to happen. Otherwise, people would be living forever. We can look at the data, look at the statistics. If we look at your health habits, your body fat, your diet, you're going to become a statistic sooner rather than later if you don't at least start checking it.

Host (Ryan Hanley): Jordan, you have, in my opinion, the best, most honest, real Instagram account when it comes to health, wellness, fitness, and mindset that I've come across. I'll fanboy for just a second and let everyone know I've been a fan for a very long time. I think the way you approach it, I obviously love your style. Dude, I just pray that you keep doing this work. It doesn't seem like you're going to stop, but I pray that you do, because I think your voice and your approach is what we need right now. We need more people who are cutting through so much of the bullshit, so much of the nonsense. I just appreciate the hell out of you, man. This conversation I've been waiting for for a while, and I'm just so glad we got it. I could talk to you another four hours, but I want to be respectful of your time and of the audience.

If people want to get into your world, where's the best place? And if they want to work with you, how do they do that?

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Thank you for the kind words. I sincerely appreciate it. It means the world to me. I wouldn't think about hiring me or buying anything from me. I would just find my free content first and see if that's helpful, because that's really everything you need before you decide if you want to pay me. I have a podcast, the Jordan Syatt Podcast, and my Instagram, Syatt Fitness. If you could put it in the show notes, that would be great. Everything will be in the show notes, guys. That's it. Thank you.

Host (Ryan Hanley): Awesome. Bro, appreciate the hell out of you. Thank you so much.

Guest (Jordan Syatt): Thank you, man. Thank you.