What's going on is in gents, Robert Sykes, Keto savage.com. Today I've got special guest, repeat guest Colt Milton. He's a good friend of mine, actually have had him on the podcast several times and I met him for the first time in person this past month as we were driving through Montana to meet up with Crystal's family. So we got to work out with them and we just got to like hang out and interact Facetoface, which
was super awesome. Wanted to get him back on the podcast and talk about his guest posing experience that he just recently did, plus dive into some of his running endeavors for endurance running and then also some of his prep endeavors for future competition. So always a pleasure chatting with Colt. He's a great guy, a great friend
and a great guest on the show. Got no doubt that he will take something from it. So that further ado sit back, relax, enjoy the podcast with Colt Milton and we are live Colt Milton. How are you brother? You an absolutely incredible brother cuz talking to you, man. Glad to hear, man. I got the pleasure of seeing you and meet you face to face for the first time. What was that? About a month ago now I guess. Yeah, except the pleasure was all definitely mine though.
It was good both ways, man. It was good both ways we've known each other for now for shoot, man, I don't know. Probably 2 years I guess. No, no. Of each other for. Two years. Something, yeah, I've I've not not to be weird. I've known you a lot longer than you've known me, that's for sure. Hey, well, it's it's been all all good in Sunshine and Rainbow since we we met for sure when we when I was driving through. Man, we've been traveling so much. We're all kind of running
together in my mind. But we were driving through to meet up with Crystal's family, I believe was that trip. And then we stopped by your place in Montana because you recently relocated out there, which is beautiful country by the way. And we got to work at him and it was good, man. It was good. Good meeting you face to face, good scene interacting with you and I get getting some lift in for sure. Yeah, it was a long time ago, man. It was, it was a dream. Coming to really was.
I mean, your podcast got me through the pandemic, and I just learned so much from your books, from everybody that you've had on your show and from all of your experiences and following on you on Instagram for so long, so. To be able to have that first talk a while ago was an amazing experience and I'm just glad to be part of the Keto Brick family in a way. Hey, we are happy to have you as part of the family, man. And I have prompts to you too,
man. You you're doing all this training in your in your own home facility there, which I'd had the pleasure of training with you at and like people. I get. I get all these comments all the time about people that have very minimal setups and they just find excuses as to why they can't make that work for him. And you've got like you. You've got like one of those sheds for people. I'm trying to paint a visual
here. You've got one of those sheds that you can pick up at like Home Depot or Lowe's for a couple 1000 bucks. It's probably like 10 feet long, 8 feet wide, something super small, and you've got all of your equipment packed in there. Your mom painted it up, made it look super savage, and you're doing all of your training out of that little bitty shed and you're not making any excuses. So hats off to you there, man. Thanks bro.
Yeah, I guess you can say that we've really become minimalist. But at this point, hey, it's good though, man. Like that's all you need. Like for the past, I get when we moved to the Bryant location, we had that warehouse. We put all of our equipment in there for the longest. All we had was dumbbells, some freeway like barbells and then adjustable bench. Then we got that cable attachment set up and that's pretty much it.
I've got a squat and rack as well, but that is literally all I've trained with for the past five years now and I don't feel like I've been missing out whatsoever. Like if I'm traveling, I'll go to a gym, use some new equipment and stuff, but I've pretty much just using free weights and then some super simple minor cable work and that is literally all I've ever felt like I needed. Yeah, that's absolutely all you need. Most annoying question that I get is or most annoying complaint I get.
I guess I should say is I wanted to do this exercise, but this machine was taken. I wanted to do this machine, this exercise, but this machine was taken. And so that's why I was in the gym forever to get my workout done. I'm like, Oh my gosh, yeah, but like, you don't need to. You don't, You don't need to stick to a specific training regimen for a certain long, for a certain extended period of time.
You need to experiment with different ways and and trick your body and always give your muscles a reason to guess and to give me a stimulus so that they have a reason to grow totally agreement. I'd kind of like to talk about training and modalities for the first part of this podcast because I feel like I kind of brushed past the training component of like a lot of people kind of me with training questions. But honestly I'm super basic
with my training. So I don't really divulge a bunch of information about training that because I'm trying to hide anything but because it's all super simple and I feel like it's pretty rudimentary. But when it comes to training, like you've got a great handle on as well you you have, you make really detailed training templates for your clients, which are always posted on Instagram, which I appreciate. And you, you excel in that department like you find it very
fascinating. You you dive deep into the studies on training modalities and you're constantly trying new things. You developed your own brand with the skull bells. You've got your own patented dumbbell technology. Like, I kind of want to just peel the curtain back on your love and passion for training to start this conversation. Well, I guess my. Passion and love can for training could be, I'm going to quote 1st Corinthians 619 through 20.
Do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God? You are not your own or you were bought with a Christ. Therefore, glorify God in your body so. Personally, this is just where where our love for for bodybuilding happens happens to come from. But we believe that the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and it's not something that's really even our own. So we believe that we need to be good stewards of these bodies.
Our goal is to encourage those that are in the fitness space looking for answers to life to for motivation, to get past the times that are hard. Is to, is to, is to, is to look, is to look deeper than what's just on paper. And that's something that I really have to give your wife a
lot of credit for. Actually going through my last competition season, I remember her saying on a podcast that whenever your life is kind of going crazy or you're feeling overwhelmed, which competing can be overwhelming is to go to the songs. And so I went. So I. Started reading the Psalms and then Psalm 119 kind of just got me upset, obsessed with all the scriptures altogether. So that's been a big part.
That's been a big part of of our journey and something that's to have been the most impactful, so something that we're pretty passionate about sharing. I love that man. I love that. I feel like regardless of one's, you know, stance on spirituality, faith, religion, if you simply view your body as a temple, then you can't go wrong. Because I think you're absolutely right. And thinking that it's not our
own necessarily. And if we made it even more tangible, like as you age, like if you you've got, you know, if you got elderly parents or grandparents for instance, their downfalls and poor health often times compromises your ability to live your life to the fullest because you're often taking care of them, which is I think is a is an honor. Like I'm excited to have that opportunity to take care of my folks, but I want to live a life that allows me to be
self-sufficient. Not that my parents specifically aren't because they're both very healthy, but like you owe it to those around you. So I'm trying to say to be as healthy as you can because you don't want to hinder their livelihood. You want to be self-sufficient. You don't want to be decrepit as your age. You want to make sure that you're doing everything you possibly can to bring the most value you possibly can into this world. And you can't do that if you're
crippled. Especially. 100% And you have the obligation if you have the knowledge too. Because knowledge isn't wisdom until it's applied. That's all wisdom is, is knowledge once it's applied. And if you know right from wrong, which is healthy foods versus unhealthy foods, it's not rocket science and you're not setting that example in a loving way, then I would argue that that's bad stewardship over that gift that you have to be able to
share somebody else 100%, man. I mean you've only got 1 body and you talk to anybody that's really, you know quote UN quote, made it in life. And oftentimes they will have made it in the financial realm or some other, you know, pillar of their life. But they've they've sacrificed their health in doing so. And more often than I think probably every situation where you see that their regret is that they haven't taken care of their body.
They may have all the riches in the world, all the money in the bank account, but if they can't, you know, move throughout their day-to-day without pain, then they're not even able to capitalize on all that wealth they've built up. So taking care of your body should always be first and foremost a. 100% and if it's if it's a temple that I don't think this is, I don't think there's any doctrine that you can necessarily build off of this. But this is just my opinion.
I think if it's a temple, I think it should look good too, on top of that. So 100%, man. Well, Speaking of that, you've got that component dialed in. I mean you are aesthetic as they say. You've got the you get the right proportions the symmetry. You got all the classic pose styled in we were we were going through some classic poses when I was there and hell, I don't even know all the classic poses near as well as you do. You get you get that part of the sport you know perfected.
So hats off to you there, man. Thanks so much. It's it's the it's my favorite part of this sport. But it's kind of my way of overcompensating for all my weak points too though, because. Us longer guys with the longer femurs, we can tend to not have the full round muscle bellies. Like, no offense, but you shorter guys are a little bit better at achieving. Typically speaking, whenever whenever I'm in an overall, I always lose to the middle weight guy or the lightweight guy. Always.
Even if I even if I win the heavyweight category. But I was just like, OK, if I'm posing against Robert, what's what's like the least way that I can be put to shame? I'm going to make myself look taller and bigger, so that was my entire goal. Hey, no, it worked, man. It worked. You out angled me in that lighting for sure. You've got the size and the shape, but you've also got the. Practice in that lighting every single day? Yeah, that's true. You've got that advantage over me as well.
I'm starting to work on the posing, though. I'm getting to the point in my prep where, like, I've got to get my routine dialed in and I'm trying to. I'm working with The Posing Coach for the first time now actually, so I'm having her kind of give me some tweaks and I'm super excited about that. You see that post that made on Instagram earlier today? No, I did not. You gotta check that out when you get a chance, man. I'm, I'm getting, I'm getting close, man.
I'm getting close. I can pull it up. Right now my I'm getting into the freaky status of Prep, which is exciting because it's like you start. This is what the Post is all about. You start going more inward, like mentally at this point in the prep. And I love it, man. This is where all that deep psychological work gets gets taken care of. I'm watching it right now. It's, you know, you know who you kind of remind me of is Benny Mobley. Yeah. Yeah, Do you know who? You know who?
Benny Mobley is yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, we just had them on our show, actually. That was our last episode that we published. But you so you kind of started off in like some classic poses and then you're hitting more of like what I see the heavyweight natural guys doing. Yeah, I'm trying to throw a little bit of mix of everything. There's some classic poses, some some more contemporary poses. Just kind of showcase all the strong points and hide the weak
points, you know, as they say. You you are standing so full, man. I mean, like you're you're as dice as I remember you being, but wow, I can't. I can't believe you how well you're holding. Well, I mean, I can't. I can't believe it cuz I know your diet. What's crazy is I haven't introduced refeeds yet. Like, I'm still just north of 2000 calories, but I haven't introduced any refeeds yet, and I haven't even started dropping protein yet.
Once I start doing that, it's really gonna get freaky. Wow. Yeah, that's that's one of the biggest things I learned over the last three weeks to excuse me the last three months was dropping protein versus a dropping fat. It all things being equal, do you think that it feels 10 times better dropping protein instead and and keeping your fats like? On paper, what most people would
consider to be very, very high. Yeah, I mean on paper like this week, next week will probably the last week that I increased protein and that will put me at about 55% of my total calories coming from dietary fat. So still a majority fat intake. Now on a gram to gram basis, my protein grams are higher than my fat grams at the moment. Now once I start dropping protein, that'll even out more, but still majority of my cars
are coming from fat. I can't imagine doing a prep anymore in which fat does not make up the majority of my caloric load. That would just feel utterly miserable. Yeah, and both of them still feel 10 times better than if I have carbs. Yeah, for. Sure to pick one of the other it would be it would be that. But having done both of them, now keeping the fats high, it's amazing how how much fat you can
get away with. If your insulin levels are very, very low throughout the day, yeah, I mean, I could totally get the argument of like the law. The loss of thermodynamics still totally apply to me. And I recognize obviously that fat has a higher caloric load per gram, less thermic effective food than protein obviously.
But when you look at it from a compositional standpoint, from how you feel from a mental acuity standpoint, from a hormonal regulation standpoint, like, I just feel like this is the smoothest prep I've ever done by far, no questions asked. And I I don't even feel like I'm going to prep man. Like this makes me, this makes wanting to stay in the prep seem easy and very compelling because it it doesn't hurt at all. But I recognize that's not what you would want to sustain
indefinitely, obviously. But this is how a Prep should be done because it's healthy, it's sustainable, it's totally manageable. And I'm not like an asshole to everybody around me because I'm not miserable. Absolutely, but there's a lot larger emphasis on the hormonal aspect of it. This is a more a meat based approach is a more natural approach and so the so the goal becomes less of eat as less as eat as little as possible and expend as much energy as possible.
It becomes less of that being the focus and more the focus of being. Let's do everything we can to absolutely optimize hormones and our digestion and our relationships. They did a mind, they did a study on mind pump that most people that your your relationships are more impactful to your health than exercise and nutrition combined. And I'm starting to see that you know, having kind of moved back semi close to where my parents
are located. Back from Portland to to to Jolly at Montana, which is basically we're out in the middle of nowhere, but we love, but we love it out here. And just reconnecting with some of like our old friends from church, our old family that we haven't seen in a long time. I felt a lot more relaxed on this prep and I've had to do way less cardio and have been eating way more food than ever before.
Yeah. And I mean like when you feel good you're you're going to just be more active throughout the day. You're going to have a higher neat expenditure, like everything's just better. And I think you're absolutely right in doubling down those relationships when you're in a prep. Like if you're if you're starting to become short with all those that are close to you, then it wears really heavily on
them as well. And one of my main goals with this prep was to not let Crystal, or anybody else for that matter, point to my prep and say, Oh yeah, he's in a prep right now. Excuse him, because I used to be that guy, man. I used to be that guy that nobody wanted to approach, and I don't want to be that guy anymore. And you just have to make that mental shift just as you make that shift of okay. I'm not going to deviate from my macros. I'm not going to deviate from my training.
The on switch has been flipped. You got to make that mental switch with regards to your relationships and how you interact with people on the daytoday basis, because that like it's not worth it to sacrifice all that just for a plastic trophy. Like you need to ideally be able to do all these things in tandem, in unison, in harmony with your life. Yeah, it's amazing what people do for for for a trophy over training. Too much cardio. I mean that kills your libido.
Like what is it like, Sorry if this is offensive to. I mean what the heck, you just had a sex therapist on your on your show so I don't think anybody can. But like too much cardio will kill your libido. So like if you. What sense does it make to smash yourself in the gym and then not have the energy to do things that, like, primal people really should do, right? Yeah, to optimize, to optimize or help it and everything else. Hey, no joke though, man. My libido is definitely tanked.
My libido is not optimal right now, but I'm OK with that this very finite period of time. Maybe you should get What's Her name back again. Talk more about, yeah. A buzzing thing, Yeah. Yeah, maybe that's what I need to do, for sure. Honestly though, I think a lot of it's just psychological. Like my hormones have have dropped for sure, with me being sub 5%. But honestly, like my head space is just focused on other things right now and that obviously is going to handle libido too.
It's just the chapter that I'm in, but I don't feel bad in this chapter. Like I'm embracing it and enjoying it and I think that's the main thing. Yeah, 100%. Talk to me about this, this guest posing man. So when I was there, you were, you were you had just done several shows and you had done like a reverse that from there. But then you were kind of doing like a little mini cut so to speak because you had a guest posing session coming up for a competition. How did that go down? Yeah.
So that started to date 109 days ago, but it was actually a goal from there to here because. You and I, after the last time that we recorded, set a date for a podcast for today. So I was like, all right, that's kind of around the same time as the show. It'd be fun if I ate a Keto brick every single, every single day. And so then I could talk about her, about how that went and talk about the results and how much fun that was.
So yeah, I would say of the on the keto brick side of things that my favorite flavor had to have been the blueberry woman. I mean, they're they're all amazing, man. I'll take a I'll take a keto break over anything else. It's not meat based, but that blueberry one was bombed, especially the texture I am. I'm happy to hear that.
Man. It's funny cuz like, I'm obviously gonna sound biased being the owner of the company and all, but when I'm in a prep, especially when I'm in a surplus, you know I love the bricks, then I'll eat 1:00 every single day then as well. But it's like, you know, I don't really look forward to, I mean I look forward to it, but it's like I'm just really looking forward to it.
Whereas when I'm going to prep like I am now and I'm in a deficit man, the brick is like, oh, I I, I look forward to that brick, man. I'm eating one meal a day right now and I have the brick with the rest of my meal. And I I cherish every bite of that brick. And I've been this week I'm doing the the Belle's brownie batter. Last week I did the PB Cup, but they're all good. But like when I'm going to prep the brick, like something about the texture, the flavor profile.
Like I'm just man my mouse water just thinking about it. Yeah, and see, for me, it's the same. For me, it's the same thing with Skull Bells too. In the gym, it's like, I'm not going to, if I go to a gym, I'm not going to use another curl bar. Curl curl bar. I make my own curl bar like I could, I could do that. I could curl with the one at home that has skulls on it. Yeah, man. But even on the dietary standpoint too, though, it's like no, I'm eating a keto brick.
This is this is the food that was made by a natural bodybuilder for natural bodybuilders that use a ketogenic diet like. I'm eating this every single day. I got fricking those keto. You guys put a keto brick sticker in every single shipment. So like, we got a million of those keto brick stickers and we just don't know what to do with them. So we got keto brick stickers like everywhere, man. Like on the back of my phone, on the back of my headphone case, like on my bags and stuff.
And it just keeps letting again like yeah, no, like this is. We're we're keto. We're on. We're on Team Robert Sites for life. Hey, man, I freaking love that. I love that. And like, like I was saying about thermodynamics earlier, I mean, obviously there's a lot of calories in a whole brick, but you should be consuming as many calories as you can effectively get away with as you're cutting body fat.
And if you can, take the guesswork out of where those calories are coming from and know with absolute certainty that they're accurate, they're consistent. They're hitting all your nutrient needs in tandem with the meats that you're consuming. It just one less thing to consume mental bandwidth and a prep, and any fewer options for decision fatigue the better. 100%, yeah, the whole, the whole mindset of eat less, move more needs to go away.
Because when you optimize your hormones and if you can really get your diet down if you can, if you can really mail it and really master it and really be consistent with it, then. That does 99% of the work for you, and the goal becomes bodybuilding, not weight loss. We shouldn't think of this sport as a weight loss contest. You should think of it as
bodybuilding. And if you're going to eat less and move more than, yeah, you're just going to get smaller and smaller, but you're going to lose a lot of fat and a lot of muscle. So comparing. So compare that to staying full and to optimizing your body so that you're getting glycogen from your from your fat so that you're full all the time and you're not. Full and then flat and full and flat and full and flat like you do with a high, with a high carb approach.
I'm just yeah, I'm never. I'm never looking back, especially after these last three months. Awesome, man. So you've been in a brick every single day for the last 104 days. Have you had any issues digestively speaking at all, or do you feel like 1,000,000 bucks? Nope. And actually, I stay away from the ones that have pea protein in them. No offense, but just because. I would rather have meat based protein and I do particularly well with whey protein, so I
pretty much stick with those. But gosh man, the toasted coconut almond one is balm. Like there's some days where I'm like, no, you know what this is a toasted coconut almond day. Yeah. And then and the blueberry is plant based protein as well. So I mean some of those are sprinkled in. And and they and they do fine. Yeah, I mean like I probably could.
I probably couldn't tell you to be completely honest, how I feel afterwards what kind of what kind of protein it was, if you like, if I did like a blind tasting or something. So certainly not certainly not a rocket scientist or an expert there. But all of them feel great. I don't work out after them though. I'm just one of those guys that has to have that has to have a completely empty stomach to work out. If I got anything in my stomach. I don't care what it is, ain't
happening, but I'm the same way. I prefer to train fast as well. I just feel better. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'll have it like earlier in the day. That'll be my first meal. Or if I'm doing one meal a day, then I'll just wait till night, whatever. And just like have it with my beef and butter or whatever else it is at a meeting. But having it earlier in the day, I find it to be very, very effective brain fuel.
So that's why I was. That's why I've been a big fan of the eutropic one, because of the Lions made mushroom in it. Very cool, very cool. One thing I've been doing differently with this prep I I did this last prep too, but I didn't compete last season, so I I I won't even say it. But in years prior I would do a whole bunch of volume foods as well. Like I would incorporate a lot of the Miracle Rice, I would have a lot more vegetation, just a lot of relatively nutritionally void but high
volume, low calorie foods. Whereas this go around I'm not doing that at all. Like, it's literally every single thing I consume is there for a specific nutrient profile and purpose. No excessive volume. And that's, interestingly enough, is significantly more satiating than years prior, when I would do three times as much of volume than what I'm doing now, A. 100%, Yeah. So you've so you're doing like a third of the amount of volume that you were when you used to compete.
Yeah, probably. I mean there are times where I would literally buy miracle rice by the wholesale, you know, 2 1/2 pounds sleeve and I would have an entire sleeve 2 1/2 pounds of Miracle rice with a meal which is just a ton of volume. Whereas now I literally don't do anything that's high volume, low Cal like I'm having the brick.
And then like this week for instance, I'm having four whole eggs with 250 grams of egg whites, 4 ounces of salmon and a pound of venison, and that's hitting my macros on the nose. And that is, I mean incredibly nutrient dense, but not really high volume under the OMAT approach. So like, no, no miracle rice, no, no, you know, mountains of lettuce or anything like that. It's just simply high quality, nutrient dense, low, relatively low volume foods.
My GI is better. My satiety through the day is better. I think honestly a lot of what was happening previously was that those high fiber foods were inhibiting the absorption of some of those nutrients. So I was consuming more overall volume, but I wasn't absorbing as much nutrition. So I feel like I'm just way better off for it now. Yeah, your body's not stupid. Your body knows if it's getting the right nutrients or not.
And even if you're eating all that and then throwing a bunch of calorie, excuse me, low calorie quote quote if we want it, if we want to use it, if we want to talk about it that way. Lettuce, fiber and trying to add more volume to it. Now your body has to go through way more work to digest that food that is more foreign than the nutrient dense food that you just described. Like the eggs, the venison, even the keto brick. And if and when you're consuming those nutrient dense foods, great.
But then you throw this storm on top of it, and now your body has to sort out. This mess that it doesn't really know to do it, so your body gets confused and so that's why you're going to be bloated and then you're going to be hungry again a couple hours later. That throws off your satiety signals 100%. Yeah, there's there's even bodybuilders that will. I don't know if you've heard these stories. There's people that will go to the extent of eating toilet paper because it's basically
just straight up fiber. Yeah, I do not want to be doing that. I'll leave that for them. I will leave that for them. I got to give you a shout out to man because I've been playing around with my electrolytes quite a bit to see, like when I'm leaning out and I'm lower calorie, lower body fat, my cravings for sodium tend to ramp
up significantly. And I've been, I've been tracking my sodium so that I can get that dialed in as I get closer and closer to these, you know, peak weeks and whatnot. And I'm taking in about 15 grams of sodium right now. And I'm no, I'm mostly using that Celtic salt that you hooked me up with when I was there with you. And that stuff is delicious. So I'll alternate between that and Redmond Real Salt. But that Celtic salt is just like something about that texture, man.
Like, it is absolutely freaking flavorful. It's all about the texture. Yeah cuz the smoky part of it's kind of lame, but it has a real good texture. Kids love it, yeah. Yeah. But I've been, I've been doing literally 15 grams of sodium a day for the past little bit, and that's a lot of sodium. I don't know what I need to figure out what my potassium is, probably about half of that, but lots of sodium and my body is just soaking it up, man, and I feel great.
I don't have any issues with blood pressure or anything like that. So there's just so many, so many presumptions about what is too much sodium, and it's all just context dependent. Yeah, 100%. My, my cravings for sodium go up to. And there there's there's a lot of people that actually believe in a carnivore diet that has no sodium in it, in it, and and they swear that it's better for autoimmune issues and for joint
issues and stuff. And I'm just like, OK, all things being equal, I love salt and it's great for body composition manipulation too, because I don't know how you typically peak, but the way I'll typically do it is if I if I'm going to be on YouTube or if I'm going to like pop up or like anything, you know, just like same thing.
I'll stop drinking water about for about 1/2 hour, pee twice, and then I take a little bit of pelted sea salt, pink potassium cave salt because it's got a one to one sodium potassium ratio. So I basically lit up on that and then pump for like 5 minutes. And then that's when my veins just like pop out everywhere and then breaking 10 minutes later,
they're gone again. Yeah. Now the sodium manipulation is is is key, but you don't have to do like a sodium depletion like a lot of people do fall in traditional peak week protocol like that's not necessary. You know it's a complete sodium with the deplete water like all that is you know not recommended just simply increasing sodium above baseline is all that you need and always staying hydrated. But yeah man, the sodium is is
key. And I don't know like I'll I'll manipulate my seasonings quite a bit as like a way to mix up the flavors and the different textures and flake sizes and types and some varieties of salt that just that does that, does it for me, man, I love it. That's awesome. Yeah. My my wife is super into seasonings, but it's just not my thing. I don't know. I just, I don't. I don't like them. I just, I just like. I just like the flavor of the beef.
Well, the you mentioned this this demographic in the carnivore space that are advocates for removing all sodium, and I'm not really sure where that stems from. I think their notion is that if you're eating, you know, an ancestrally appropriate carnivore diet, you know, these animals weren't seeking out sodium like we are.
But at the same time they were getting a lot more sodium naturally through the water, they were drinking, through salt licks, things of that nature and that we aren't doing with our demineralized water consumption and purification process. So I don't think there's, and maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think there's a super strong argument for advocating the reduction of all sodium. No, I'm not aware of anything at
all other than just makes. Kind of common sense that your body is, you know, made to be able to adapt to this kind of stuff. And so, yeah, if you take out all the sodium, I mean, you'll probably be fine. You'll probably live just fine. But is it optimal? I don't know. I like myself, yeah, I like my salt as well. But again, man, back to that, that guest posing. How'd the guest posing go that that's happened? It was. You were when we were there to get a training together.
You were how many weeks out from that show that you were posing at? I think I was like 4 weeks out and so I had not because we had just moved, man. So like we had, we had like just put that thing together like right before you got there and were working out with us. And so we've been shooting all of our YouTube videos out of there ever since. But during that amount of time I. Like sleep? Like, yeah, like right around there. My lower back was really starting to flare up.
I used to have some herniated discs from doing way too many deadlifts and not taking my recovery seriously, and it catches up with you as you get older. So yeah, dealing with some herniated discs and then when you and I did those deadlifts, actually that's what really set it up. I know I felt. I felt I felt I felt like such an idiot. I was like, I don't know I think I just got caught up in the moment. But I was lifting.
I was lifting a little bit more than I should have on my lower back so I was like crap so lower. So lower lower back was pretty much shot like I couldn't even. I I didn't even know if I was going to be able to guess pose. I just was about to call Hiro. But we were so busy with still getting settled in and with everything we have going on business wise. And I was about to call the the show promoter and be like I don't know if I can do this.
I might just like take my clothes off and do an abs and thighs and then go back and do the MC work or something but but but but I just I I I started praying a lot. I just made sure that my diet was 100% clean so that I minimized all my inflammation at all cost. I was Internet fasting maybe 1 mill a day 2 ice baths a day. Just everything I could think of to to.
To be able to be able to move better and so yeah last couple days I put together I don't know what what I guess the crowd said and the judges said was a pretty good housing routine. So it was it was a blast we made. It made a lot of fun. But I used the new version of the Zoo by the Scorpions. It's a really good song. It's like 10 times better than the original one and.
Yeah, yeah, so, so so walked out curling the Skullbells Skull Bar and then basically went between getting the crowd to sing the lyrics and hyping everybody up, doing most muscular poses and then the classic ones and everything. So yeah, it was it was fun, man. It was it was just a it was just a blast to be able to to give and not go in with a competitive mentality. It's two completely different,
what? Two completely different ways of thinking I'm a super nice guy if I'm there promoting the show and. Got clients this show or whatever. But like you don't want to be around me if I'm competing. So it's really hard to compete and coach. I've I've had multiple clients tell me that I'm a better coach if I'm not competing at the same show. Because if I'm competing like I'm just a, I'm a I'm a jerk and I'm winning at all costs, right.
I mean that's what you have to have and like that's kind of what you owe it. You owe it to yourself if you did the whole prep to finish strong in the win. But to be able to to pose, to pose on stage and show the artistic side of it and have fun and be a part of the event but not be judged, that was that was that was actually really cool, just a completely different train of thought. And that was the first time you'd ever done that right? Yeah, first time I'd ever guess pose nice.
Yeah, I would imagine going in without the stress of competing and being judged and being in front of a panel of judges and just go out there to have fun would be a massive relief and you could just simply have fun with it, which is what the sport should be all about. Yep. And not having to get peeled to the absolute bone to. I'm like, all right, comparatively speaking.
My physique now is a lot bigger and fuller and kind of more like golden era pumping iron kind of look is what I've been trying to make it look like, whereas before it was a shred fest and great. They told me I was the leanest
athlete the entire show. My first show I'd ever done on a ketogenic diet that was the NPC Northern Classic in 2022 in Federal Way, WA and and I was 175 pounds the week of the show and I'm $1.98 right now and I'm probably like about 5 or £10 above where I'd like where I'd like to compete at. But I don't know. I got down to where I've seen, like most other guest posers, be at and. And I wrote the show promoter was like, yeah, you're good in the bike. All right, great.
Yeah. No, I mean you got to, you got to be able to like balance the different compositions. I mean, you can't stay at, you know, competitive stage composition indefinitely, but to be able to kind of flux between that, know what you're able to do to get there, know how to get there, but then healthfully transition to a more manageable
composition. But one that you're still feeling really confident with, really proud of, like that's what's all about it. Like you don't want to operate on the fringe extremes at all times. Yeah. And then when you get down to 3% body fat, it's just, it's not sustainable. And then you're just a jerk and you're forgetting people's names and stuff and you gotta and you gotta sleep like 8 hours a day. It's just that ain't a way to live your life.
That's not a like, yeah, that'll get you the trophy, but I mean. That's that's just not sustainable long term. I think that you need to get to the point to where your to where to where your body feels okay and like you can function every day and that your your mental clarity is good and you're doing okay at your job and you're giving your family the time that they deserve. And to be any leaner than that, I just think it's selfish and not really realistic.
Yeah, no, I totally agree ma'am. You were also talking about doing a lot more running and where does that stand? Are you gonna still pursue the endurance aspect or is that not so much the priority right now? No, I am especially having just healed from the. Plantar fasciitis and the stress fracture having dropped a master press on it. The thing that you and I are dead lifting on, Yeah, that's I
thought I dropped on my foot. I think this is about my year anniversary for that and you're totally healed up now, huh? Yeah, it looks a little goofy, looks a little different than my other foot, but it's it's 100% healed. Very nice. Never thought, never thought it would happen. So what? What is the goal with the running? Are you wanting to to do like marathons, Ultra marathons? Like what is the the end goal there?
Yeah, the goal to start of the year was a marathon, and that is still the goal, but it's not going to come at the expense of my OCD pro card. And my goal for that is July of 2026. That's what I'll be. That's what I'll be competing next. So you compete in 2026 in the OCB federation for that pro card. Are you going to run between now and then? You're gonna do marathons between now and then, just not at the expense of the
competition. Well, they're taking a back seat to bodybuilding goals and that all kind of happened when I got injured, cuz after that is when the stress fracture really fractured up because. I I just did way too much training way too fast. I'm talking hour and a half runs. I would have haven't been tracking the amount of distance I've been running, but I've just been tracking the time and about an hour and a half. And I was doing that multiple times a week for a month
straight. And basically my my my legs got to the point to where my, excuse me, both of my feet just got to the point to where they would feel like they're being stabbed. A very, very sharp pain deep inside each of my feet. And so for that reason, I had to take quite a significant time off of running. And after having Bart K on our show and Steven on our show and doing some consulting work with them, I started realizing how much cardio was hurting my
bodybuilding goals anyway. And after this guest posing experience, I'm like, wow, like I came in way more muscular than I ever had before. Way more way fuller. After having quit cardio, that was scary, quitting cardio. Did not want to do that and I did not believe I would be able to to stay lean. But here again, you take a step back and look at the big picture.
It's 10 times easier to stay on your diet if your cardio is reduced, if you're not in that high elevated heart rate all the time, and making your cortisol levels go through the roof. So having that part of my training kind of cleaned up and being able to adhere to my diet better, I found this prep a lot more enjoyable. So, so as far as cardiovascular training goes, if I can do a marathon this year, great. But in the meantime I'm taking my physique and my and my diet
quite a bit more seriously. Nice. Yeah. I feel like like I like the headspace one has to get to to be an endurance runner. But from a strictly physiological standpoint, I do not think endurance running is. The best outlet for longevity, for health, for body composition, for anything. I think it's yeah, it for people that do it and love it, you
know, more power to you. I think it's a great outlet, but I don't think that is the best way for anybody to reach or maintain optimal health by any means, right? Yeah. And we and we still and and my dog and I still go for one run every every every Sunday. That's what we do every every Sunday is a rest day and we'll go for about 15 minutes to an hour. Nowhere. Nowhere, nowhere over that.
But it's in here. Again, I know it's not the best cardio but to your point if it's something that you love doing, I just love it, man. There's just nothing like going, OK, we're going to go this time and just get lost. And you get, you get some of the deepest like prayer and spiritual experiences when you, you know, don't have your, don't have, don't have your phone with you, and this is and it's just you and God and your dog and nature.
Yeah, no, for sure, man. Like I I like the idea of running for preparation for hunting season. Like when I go out in the mountains out West, like I'm carrying my rifle, you know, several layers of clothes, my pack. If I get an animal that I got to pack it out, you know, I'm, I'm putting in 60 miles a week, you know, through the mountains at high elevation, at high elevation. So for that reason, running is a great. You know, precursor to that. So for that reason I like it a lot.
I think it's very applicable training, but I I just, I preferred the actual act of hunting out in the mountains more so than the actual act of running in preparation to hunt out in the mountains. If that makes sense. Totally 100%. But I think it's, I think it's great. I feel like anybody at any point in time should be able to stop whatever they're doing and just pick up and run and run like anybody should be able to run a
mile or two. On a whim and just be able to function as a human, human being to do that, like, I think that should be a prerequisite, so to speak. But I don't think that that's necessary to run significant distances from a health standpoint. Like when I look at people that are struggling with body composition, they just become slaves to the treadmill. You know that that's probably the least effective way to improve body composition. Just spend countless hours on a
treadmill every single day. You know, not paying any attention to resistance training or diet or other forms of cardiovascular activity. They just simply, mindlessly slog miles out on a treadmill. That's just not really. Not really the best means to an end. Yep, Kills your kill, kills your hormones. It ramps up your appetite and it makes you lose numbers on the scale. But you're faking yourself out. You're losing a lot of fat and you're losing a lot of muscle.
And it's not, and it's not sustainable. So great, you get to, you get to your weight loss school at the at the end of two months and then now what? Now you have to reverse diet out of that and the and the and the look that you got isn't going to be sustainable. Yeah, totally. When I was doing my 2020 prep during COVID, all the gyms were closed, so I couldn't use a steering master. So I was running as my form of cardio, and I looked noticeably flatter throughout that prep
than I do now and now. My cardio, like all I've done this entire prep, is like the most I've done is 220 minutes sessions a week. So a total of 40 minutes throughout the course of a week broken into 220 minutes sessions on the Stairmaster, which is pretty minimal cardio as far as cardio is concerned for most competitive athletes. And I think because my cardio is so minimal, I'm able to keep
that fullness. I don't have near the fluid retention and inflammation that comes the result of excessive cardio. Yeah. When when when you were over here and I asked you how much cardio did and you said like basically nothing. I was like, that's why, like I I wasn't even surprised. I was like, yeah, because I just quit doing cardio too and I'm kind of feeling the exact same way. It just it scientifically speaking, yeah, I get it. OK, it burns fat, but it burns the licogen.
OK, now your workouts suck and there's A and and there's a big picture that you got to factor everything in. Yeah, 100%. Now that said, this weekend I'm not going to be doing any running, but my folks are coming into town. We're going to be putting up a fence around the perimeter of my property.
So we're going to be digging posts, driving T posts, pouring concrete, like that's going to be an excessive caloric expenditure and it's not going to entail any, you know, structured running cardio whatsoever. But I am. I'm curious to see how my body feels throughout the end of that. Absolutely. It'll be good. What's in the pipeline for you, man? You've got you get the competition season pretty much knocked out. You had several shows this year.
You had the guest posing. You get the goals to run a marathon but not distract from the OCB pro card. But you're not doing that until 2026, so that's quite an offseason, which is great. I think people need to hear that. I just want to. Embellish that a little bit more. Like people need to take time off between shows, Especially as a natural athlete. There's no good that's going to come from competing every single year.
You know, taking two 3-4 years off in between shows is the way to go, but what are you going to do in that? In that gap in July of 2025, the goal is to repeat making the open natural as much of A successes as it was first time that I had ever helped in promoting A bodybuilding competition. And it was, it was a ball. We were just talking backstage that like my my client that was there and the other hand handful of guys and gals that that that
did the show. There were 12 competitors total and yet there were three people in each category and so everybody was able to to compete against somebody else. We did something really, really different with the women's categories. We did figure bikini and bodybuilding and that's it. We didn't do women's physique or Wellness. So there were three women's categories and three men's categories and it didn't, it didn't even feel like a competition.
Everybody got first place, second place, third place. So no one had to be on stage by the by themself but it felt more like a family, more like a movement. That's what I love about the the about the smaller natural shows. So having gone back and forth and and and done NPC and the smaller natural shows drug tested within the with within the NPC the the smaller natural shows.
There's just, you know the federations like NANBF and I NBF, there's just like a camaraderie behind it and everybody's got this health first approach. And you see I see that in the MPC too. But I I don't know, I I feel like it's more like like it's like it's kind of more the passion and why everybody's there at the at these small and natural shows. So yeah, this one's not this one was very strictly drug tested and I think everybody passed and let's see. Yeah. So listen, I'm sorry.
Were you gonna say something? What do you think of Wellness as a category? Like that's a relatively new category that NPC started promoting, and you've seen a couple federations follow suit. What's your opinion of that in its totality? You know, I haven't gone into the Wellness category super deep, to be completely honest. My wife is she, she's straight up women's physique slash bodybuilding. Here again, I kind of think of women's physique and and women's bodybuilding as being very
similar in natural bodybuilding. And I I I've trained bikini, I've trained pretty much every other category besides Wellness, and so I I just don't know a whole lot about it. I haven't had anybody ask me and so I've just been focusing on everything else. Yeah. I I haven't had any competitors do that category either. So I haven't dove as deeply into it as it probably should, but it seems like there's becoming so many different categories now that it kind of. I don't know if it's a good or
bad thing. I don't know if if having more categories gives people more outlets and that's a positive or if it simply dilutes the the competitor class that's there on stage. I'm not really sure which way it's leaning. Yeah. Everybody's entitled to their own opinion. And just my personal opinion is I think it's overwhelming.
You know, it's like like I bring, I bring my mom to a bodybuilding show or something And like trying to explain like the difference in the categories is it's it's like I don't, I don't even know how to explain it, you know?
And then she's like, well, why did why did this person get first place in this category but second place and that one is like, well, because they're looking for bigger this or bigger that or they want you to be harder, they want you to be, they want you to be softer, whatever. Having 3 categories for for both really simplified things. Yeah, yeah. I think that I think going simple just makes a lot more sense.
And when you've got people doing multiple categories and they're winning each category, that's kind of weird too, because it's like you can't really optimize for a specific look if you're doing multiple categories. And for you to win all of them, it's like, OK if the judge is just biased or? What's going on there? Like if there needs to truly be multiple different categories, there needs to be a defined look and one competitor shouldn't be the top person in each of them.
Yeah, I had 100% agree with that. So I don't know. It's interesting. There's definitely a lot, a lot going on in the sport. It's weird too, because you get the the natural federations and the the untested federations in like a bikini competitor at a NPC or IFBB league for sure would be. Destructive in physique on a natural stage, you know, it's like totally different look. Yep, 100%, Yeah, same. Yeah, same thing in men's categories too.
So, yeah, So to get back to your your last question. So yeah, my goal is just to guess pose at that again. And I just want my physique to be better than it was this year. That's it. I don't care if it's a little leaner, a little harder or a little, little, little better balance. I was pretty happy with my balance in my symmetry overall. So I don't know, just something something to improve over last year and just kind of nice knowing that not being judged here again.
Yep, same thing in 2025. And then 22,026 is when you say okay heck with this, everybody back off. This is here. I'm becoming a pro but want to pay off. Just want to want to pay off some credit card debt and just, you know, have our kids be a little bit older and have some time to build up some more muscle and just make sure that when you get it, we can focus on it and nail it. And that is which show in 2026. I don't have a specific show yet.
Well, let me know which one it is and I'll plan on doing the same show Okay. No, no, no, no. I have to do a different one then. No, wait, but you're already an LCD Pro, right? No, no, not OCB. So I'll be doing my first show this year will be an OCB show, so I could become an OCB pro with that show, but that's not the one I'm peaking for. So we'll see what the other competitors look like there. But all the other shows this year gonna be inbfw and BF? Okay. Well, as long as I as long.
Hey, if I'm gonna be a pro, I wanna pick a show that you're not trying to bring your pro card at because that would definitely shatter my odds of being able to accomplish. The No, man, We got to step on stage at the same time, bro. That's what That's what the people want. That's what the people want, I'm. Trying to get all these people that are in the cuz like you look at if I lose you in the overall, I won't be able to live
with myself. I mean, you look at like the golden arrow body, but in kind of like you were describing earlier and all of these guys, like there was just so much camaraderie there. I mean, they'd all trained together. They don't go to the beach together. Like there was just a a friendly vine there and it's like you don't really get that anymore it seems. So I think we need to bring that
back. Like all these people that are in the ketogenic space that have, you know, endeavors of competing, we all need to be on the same page. Everybody's in the natural federations or whatever. I wish to all come together and have like this collective, you know, camaraderie. I think that would be a massive positive yeah absolutely. And that was the whole goal with the open natural too was in was so. So Hairo Chang is the is the gentleman's name.
Have you ever heard of him Hairo Chang oh he he's he's kind of he's kind of a legend in the in in natural bodybuilding in the in the Pacific Northwest. But he so he grew up in Columbia we've we've done three podcasts with him on on on our show and so he talks a lot about like how they used to do bodybuilding shows back in back back in his day and when what the way that he grew up like they would do this on just like just like throw together basketball games on the weekend just like
everybody would come together and then and then they would have a bodybuilding show and somebody and and and and somebody would win. I think they've had like a strength aspect of it too kind of like they used to it with Mr. Universe right. How if there was a tie they would have they would do like a curling contest and see who could curl the most weight but but it was but it was it was a teamwork A camaraderie thing. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was a health first thing, not
who's better than him? That's good, man. I think, like, I think people get so much wrapped up in their own ego with this sport that it becomes like this do or die mentality. And there's certainly a place for that. And I could totally get behind
that. But I feel like if you adopt this philosophy of just, you know, friendly competitive camaraderie, kind of like I said earlier, like you, you inherently want to be better than the person on stage, but you want them to be the very best that they can be. Because I mean. If you want to be the best, you got to beat the best. And I feel like if everybody is collectively getting better, it just makes you better.
Yep, absolutely. So yeah, I would absolutely love to share the stage with you in 2026. That would be incredible. But you'll have to keep in mind I got, I got a big chip on my shoulder, man. I've I've gotten second, third place a lot and come really close so many times and still haven't got it. So definitely, definitely going to be out for blood. Well, 2026 may be a little earlier than I would want to
step back on stage. So there may be that gap between us there, in which case you you won't be on stage and me, but we'll we'll definitely have to make that happen at some point for sure that or best case you get your pro card by then and then you're there as a pro and then I'm there and that's when I become a pro. Hey, there you go. I'd be all about that as well. I'd be all about that, man. Well, awesome, Cole. I'm always excited to chat with
you, brother. Always excited to figure out what you got going on and what's in the pipeline, what's coming up as far as the business goes. Anything new and exciting there? For sure. Yeah, we're going to be launching our new underwear line that is going to be called Skull Bells Undies. So I think that you usually schedule your podcast quite a ways out in advance. So it might be out by the time that this one drops.
But yeah, they are 100% cotton because if it if it's made with synthetic materials that can apparently take your testosterone levels when my clients told me that. So I was like, great, We'll go with cotton underwear. And so far, everybody's excited about the idea. So skull bells undies? Undies. Those are the ones that you're typically wearing. And all your Instagram posts? Your skimpy underwear. Oh, Yep, Yep, that's about that skimpy they're classic. They're. Pretty skimpy, man.
They're pretty skimpy. It depends if it's like that. Usually I'm pulling it up, pulling up a bit higher if we get. If we got like a glute pump or something, Yep. Well, I'm. I'm have to get some of those myself, man. I'll rock some school bill undies. I'll rock the skimpy underwear with you. I'll send you. I'll send you a pair. You'll like them nice, nice and when are those launched? Cuz they're a tentative release date yet? Nope. Just waiting to hear back from
quotes from our suppliers. Nice. Very cool. That's exciting. What about anything on the Skull Bells front? From a equipment standpoint, Yep. Working on straight bars. That's our next job. Straight bar bells. So knock curl bars. Like, you can use them to curl depending on what kind of curl you're doing. If you're doing like a drawing to curl, that's the one I'd like to use to use a straight bar for. Otherwise, Yep, that's our next.
That's our next work order and still working on the cable attachments. So we got a couple of those in stock. Aside from Skull Bells, our new podcast is Carnivore Coaches Corner. That's myself, Mark Ennis who is my Co coach.
Kind of goes over everyone's meal plans with me, but more so from a health and a hormonal standpoint, cuz that's where he specializes in. And then Jonathan Griffiths, The three of us do this one together and you were gonna get Jonathan Griffiths from the UK on your show. Yeah, yeah, we got it scheduled. Heck yeah. I can't wait until that one drops.
It's this is This is why I wish you podcast you you published your podcast a little bit earlier because then I'd be able to listen to it sooner because I would love to hear you guys talk man. Yeah no that that guy is he is he is absolutely brilliant. So so the three of us have have have a show called Carnivore Coaches Corner. I'm just pretty much on all podcast platforms, I think. And then our show, we're still going strong after three years.
Now we tend to focus more on faith, family and fitness. It's a podcast that you can listen to specifically when you work out, so we try to keep that in mind. It's called the Super Set your-life.com Podcast. Love it man. Love it and prompts to you on the the equipment to I use your school bills rope attachment literally every single time I train. Usually for tricep work, but I use it for, honestly, lots of different movements and that thing feels great.
I love that it's longer than the standard rope. And I mean, it's honestly one of my favorite pieces of equipment. Thanks man. And you like to sit down when you do your tricep extensions, right? Yeah. Oftentimes, like I'll do like a skull crusher variation with the rope and I'll put the the bench at like a very slight incline and that allows me to kind of lock in and get more of a stretch on the long head of the tricep and that feels great. Doesn't really cause me any
tendonitis whatsoever. And with those rope attachments that you make like it just it feels really good. So I just rock. That is one of my main tricep staples. Awesome. All right. Well, I gotta, I gotta try it that way because I see you do it. But I've never tried it that way. So now I'm now I'm going to. Yeah, it's gonna have a shot. Yeah. Thanks. Give it a shot man. Awesome brother. Well, I will link out to all of your different websites,
platforms, business endeavors. Make it easy for people to find you. And tell your wife I said Howdy. I appreciate the two of you and your entire family. You kiddos more than you know, so keep doing what you're doing. Great seeing you in person the other day. And if you ever need anything for me, man, you know how to get a hold of me. Oh man, just. And I just had to say thank you. Not just for your time here right now but for but for even make.
I know it was out of your way for you guys to come stop and see us. You didn't have to do that. And it just meant it meant the absolute world it it really really did man every every single every every single client situation lesson business lesson that we talked about when it was it was it was actually a blast just to be able to talk and not record anything for a change but but but after you left man, I was I was I was writing that stuff down and Nah man, every
every single word that you said. It's just it's really impacted me and you know, helped it keeps me, keeps me going every day, keeps me keep, you know, keeps, keeps, keeps the, keeps the dream right in front of me, so. That's all about man. Like I there's there's people that are in this space that are here for the right reasons. I want to be one of those people. Like, it's all about the true connections, like real people talking to real people, doing the right thing for the right reasons.
And you know, the Facetoface component is, in my opinion, far superior than just as simple DM over Instagram. So anytime I can meet somebody in person. Shake a hand, be there in real life. I mean, that's that's what I want to do. So it was an honor and a pleasure to get to see y'all interact with y'all face to face, get a workout in and all that good stuff, man. So if you're ever in Arkansas, hit me up and we'll make it happen, brother, we will.
Absolutely. We'll make it happen on these days. Sounds good. Cool. Take care man. Till next time. Alright. Thanks man. You too. Bye. Bye.