Latest / Cameron's Conversations: The last weight loss podcast you'll ever need. / Episode 94: The moan of the week
Transcript
- Cameron: Welcome to Cameron's Conversations. And in today's episode, we are going to be two grumpy old men. We're going to be true to ourselves. We are going to have we're gonna have a moan. So if you don't like moaning, then this is not the episode for you. This is the one where we're gonna do a little bit. I've done this before with Louis, wouldn't have had him on as well. He was the perfect example of a grumpy old man. ⁓ but I wanted to do another one where we talk about one of our moans from content or things that we've seen online that are winding us up at the moment. And I'm gonna open with the Pilates body thing right now. Now, I am not, to be clear, poo-pooing doing Pilates. That's great. And it can be for a lot of people a really nice way of getting into like the very early stages of strength training or doing more core related work that they really enjoy doing. That has a lot of value. But what really pisses me off is people that have I have followed online who have been coaches strength training for like 10 to 12 years really, really heavily and they've got into a certain kind of shape And then they've turned round and be like, ⁓ do Pilates to get into the kind of shape that I'm in right now. Which is a little bit mad because that's not what they did to get into that shape in the first place. It's just simply that they now do some strength training and some Pilates as well. So of course the base was built, all that muscle, all that body shape was actually built originally, was actually with strength training and training hard in the gym. And now they're selling you that, you know, if you do these little ab crunches, that that's going to get you like super, super strong and build loads of muscle. Now Pilates is good for many things, but for building lots of muscle, that's not one of them, right? Not not for someone who is able to train in the gym. You know, maybe doesn't need that super low intensity. So that is that's my gripe. Have you seen this kind of thing online? I feel like it's really popular right now. Harry: Yeah, I have seen lots of it. and it's funny because we can see through it, right? Like we understand like what Pilates will do, but yeah, we understand equally what Pilates won't do. ⁓ I've got a very similar one actually. I should probably think of some sit separate as well, but this is just one that's at the forefront of my mind that's something that I saw a couple of years ago now, but it was ⁓ it was someone who she was quite a Cameron: It's marketing. Yeah. Harry: Big fitness influencer, I suppose. and she is in incredible shape, and she brought out these ho it was like around COVID, in fact, so it was more than a couple of years ago. She brought out all of these home workouts, home workout programs that she was selling to her massive audience and probably made an insane amount of money. And I'm watching these videos and I'm thinking there's no way she's doing bodyweight glute bridges to to to build what she's got going on here. And I I Cameron: You've got someone who's like thirty years old, has trained for six, seven, eight years, and is doing a bodyweight glute bridge. And I'm like, most of my clients who if if they're listening to this who train it, train at home and maybe don't even have access to like super heavy dumbbells, will have probably done a bodyweight glute bridge for like a few weeks and then progressed from it, right? Like it's pretty easy to progress up from. So let's contextualize this. Imagine how bad your training would have to be if you were eight years in and you could only do that. But anyway, we'll gloss over that. Harry: No, I'm thinking, wow, if you're making good progress on bodyweight glute bridges twice a week, you are a muscle building machine. So I'm kind of Yeah. And I'm looking at this and I'm thinking, ⁓ and like the the the you know the the the content was always how I grew my glutes or how I do this and and it's I'm sat watching it thinking there's no way anyway her partner does something else Cameron: Yeah. Genet genetics are on point, clearly. Harry: Around fitness. I won't say because I don't want to give away who it is, but he he has an another kind of role within fitness that I also used to follow. And he was posting on his stories quite religiously, and they were training together in their home gym, which never appears in her content. She's always on the sofa or in the living room. They had a whole home gym full squat rack barbells loads of weight and there he is doing his little workout and in the background she was doing hip thrusts with a barbell with about 160 kilos on it and I was thinking ⁓ and I just thought you know what that sucks because it's like I understand I understand the marketing I understand whatever sh you know do what you're doing it's cool but it's one of those where I'm just like ⁓ just a little bit more clarity A little bit more honesty would go so far and like you know, yes, doing a home workout and stuff and getting people started into exercise, amazing, but setting the false expectation that they're gonna create buckets of muscle and change their body completely by doing the stuff that she was suggesting just isn't reality. And it's like really she should be showing what she has progressed onto and, you know, be proud that she's strong as an ox and like built up all of that power and all of this stuff. Like celebrate that. But it was like ⁓ she she probably felt like she couldn't even do that, which I understand. But that for me definitely was a moment where I said Cameron: Yeah. It it's almost like it it's very much palatability to market, isn't it? That's kind of what it is. It's like it it seems nicer, it even though it's dishonest, it seems nicer to be like, you can get incredibly strong toned legs by doing bodyweight glute bridges. When the reality is, is any coach pretty much who has any level of experience is going to say to you, You can't. Right? You we can't do that. If you have got sort of lower back issues and things like that and you're taking things very cautiously, there's a place for them. Absolutely. I start a lot of people who are kind of new into training, like maybe on a bodyweight glute bridge, but very quickly I'm saying to them, right, let's get the heaviest dumbbell. That's very often my note actually when I put that in the training plan is like, what's the heaviest dumbbell we have? We're probably going to be using that. Like that's likely is not because your glutes are so powerful. And also in a glute bridge, anyone who's done a floor group glute bridge rather than just like hit thrust, it's quite a short movement as well, isn't it? It's like a really, really short movement. It's not particularly like you're squatting down nice and low and it feels like quite a long movement. This is very, very short distance to travel in powerful muscle groups. But it's it's palatable. And that's the thing is like people then are like, ⁓ well she's in really good shape. She must know what she's talking about. And the sad thing is is she probably does know what she's talking about. But what she's displaying is this very aesthetic, very Instagram y like sort of like, ⁓ well you can do these things in your like living room. And it's like you can absolutely get strong in your living room. You absolutely can. But you definitely can't do it by doing bodyweight glute bridges. And I think I see a lot of that. It's the same when you see people like they're kind of like showing you these kind of like bodyweight workouts. I think that can be a great place to start. I have lots of clients to do bodyweight stuff and then build up. But then people think like, ⁓ that's all that person has ever done. And that's simply not true. And I I can actually think of someone who I know, because she trained in a gym that I used to train in, who was strong as anything. She was super, super strong. And it I started posting tons of really like heavy Pilates content because she's obviously leaning into that. And it's really cool that she's doing that. But I did see a post and the rest of it's been great. But then I saw a post that was like, ⁓ this is how I got into this kind of shape. And I'm like, I think in reality, you're in a calorie deficit for a period of time because she dropped a little bit of weight and she'd already built a ton of muscle. Cause I mean, she trained in the GM I saw, so I knew that she was strong, like she was lifting a lot, she could do like pull ups and stuff like that, which is a really good standard for for female. That's phenomenal to be able to do that. And then she's kind of like going on like posting. And this is not to me be like, it's great that she loves Pilates, but it's a bit like ⁓ Harry was in another episode was talking about doing a bit of running. I think you said he he was 100% certain he was gonna do an ultra. That that's right, Harry, wasn't it? That's okay, maybe maybe exaggerating that one a little. But ⁓ I think like it's a perfect example. Like if Harry was to be then turned round in like six weeks' time when he started running for six weeks and be like, ⁓ like Harry: Mm-hmm. ⁓ no, I'm really I stopped giving sweat. Cameron: The reason I have muscle mass is like because I like, you know, I've been running. It would just be bullshit. Yeah, just exactly. Like, or if Hy starts doing a glute bridge workout, then like with body weight, like and he's like, ⁓ that's how it got strong. Yet like eight weeks ago he was posting himself doing an incline press with two plates either side. It's like, mm, this is a little bit sus. So that's my my pet peeve is like the dishonesty. I have no issue with someone being like, I bloody love running. Cool. Strength training doesn't have to be your favourite thing. Like, I love lots of other stuff as well. Harry: Print workout. Yeah. Cameron: But like I'm not gonna sit there and pretend that like that isn't the foundation of it. Or if I've even if I've not doing as much let's say someone stops doing as much as they were, if they've trained for ten years, that baseline doesn't just disappear overnight, right? Like it doesn't. That's not the reality. So I think it's really important. So that that's my moan, but we'll we'll stop on that one. 'Cause we could won for days about this one. But it winds me up. It's like it's just it's just a little good. You've got your match on that thing. Harry: Yeah, I I I've got one more little point. One more little point to make. You remind me of something told about dishonesty. You got me on a rant now. I remember at my old gym, I was I was personal training with someone and I saw this girl on leg press and at at the gym it was like really common there for people to to video their sets, which I'm all about. And they used to have tripods behind the front desk at the b ⁓ gym where you could just borrow a tripod, put your phone in it and record your sets. Great. So she had a camera recording herself. Didn't think anything of it because pretty much everyone did. Cool. but I remember looking over at the leg press, and she had load it was a plate-loaded leg press, and on one side she had not fake weights, but she had put ⁓ well, let's say it was, I don't know, six plates. She put six 20 kilo plates on one side, and the camera was on that side. On the other side of the leg press, no plates. And I thought. Cameron: No not fake weights. Harry: What's she doing? Why she loaded it like that? And I thought that's really weird. Didn't really think much of it. And then when she started doing her sets, she was faking how hard it was. And again, I can see when someone's faking it or working hard. And she was faking how hard it looked. And then she would just stop, go to her phone and check it. And I thought, ⁓ no. She's recording the leg press from a certain angle. So you could only see the plates on one side. So it looked like she was doing six plates each side. Cameron: Inside of the machine. Harry: When she wasn't, and I just thought, this is horrendous. And like, she wasn't even getting a workout out of it. She was literally doing it for the video. And I just thought, I you know, I don't know where she posted it or what she did with it or anything like that. But like, it just made me think, like, you never know what you're necessarily watching. Like, she could have been a personal trainer that was going, Look, look how strong I am, look how much I'm doing on the leg press and whatever, by my programme. And in reality, I'm stood there watching, thinking. And she was doing it completely shamelessly as well. I mean, fair play to her, but yeah, another one for dishonest. Cameron: It's mad, isn't it? Like, I think this is a thing. Like, I mean, what what I think Harry and I tried to do, and don't get me wrong, we're definitely not the best content creators in the world by any means. But like, it's just a bit honest with it as well. Like, I I always joke to clients and I was like, if I was like that, if I was gonna edit anything, I'd edit my facial expressions, let's be honest. ⁓ but that would be the place to start. But this is it, is like, like you say, like when you actually look at it through that lens, like it is a bit nuts that people will do that just to impress other people. And it's also so unhelpful because like I honestly think being quite open about where you are, like as an example, I've gotten to a point where I've been really strong in Bulgarian split squats before, but I've had an adductor strain, so I'm right back down in weight right now. I'm doing fifteen kilos either side, and I've been up to thirty-eight kilos either side before, which is pretty solid for a guy that weighs as much as I do. I'm not super, super heavy. So like that's a really, really good level. But I was speaking to a client about this and I was like, I'd happily show that online as well. And someone there'll no doubt be some like numpty online who'll ⁓ he's only doing fifteen is the kilos either side. I'm like, yeah, absolutely. That for me isn't super, super heavy or strong. Maybe for a PT or whatever, but it's because I'm recovering from like a like a low level injury. Like, that's real life. Like there's no point pretending that it's all like 'cause at least that's honest, but yeah. What what's your moan? I mean, you've already managed to get one with the fake weights, but ⁓ yeah Harry: Yeah. I think ⁓ I think for me it's well there's there's so many, isn't there? I think I'd probably go along Cameron: Gotta pick one. You're you're limited to one. We've got to minimise 'cause otherwise we j we'll end up in a care home. We'll be at this so long with our moans. Harry: I'm gonna talk about sewing a little bit ⁓ dangerous. It's a bit polarizing at the moment, but I wanna talk about electrolytes, I think. I think I think there's a massive buzz around them at the moment and it's completely unnecessary. I think I I I I don't understand all these people doing their morning routines and smashing down electrolytes at half past five in the morning. ⁓ I don't Cameron: ⁓ yeah. It was kind of good. Harry: Think the majority of people need to be doing it. Now, there is nothing magic with electrolytes. They're nothing crazy, they're nothing special. Most of them are basically salt. So when you add it to a glass of water, you're effectively just drinking salty water. Now, if you've been sweating a crazy amount because you've been doing some crazy endurance thing. The perfect perfectly reasonable, right? You're doing long endurance stuff where you are sweating loads, perfect sense. Replenish those electrolytes that you sweat out. But if you're waking up after a day in the office and then a gym session in the evening and you feel like you need an electrolyte, I'm sorry, you probably don't need one and actually you're just consuming a load of salt. but at the moment it seems like they are just being peddled. an insane amount and I don't really get it. I don't really get it. ⁓ don't know what your thoughts are on it, but I d I just don't think it's needed. Cameron: Yeah, I I agree. I think it's like super Instagram y right now for me to like film a glass of me like putting my electrolytes in to do my like day in the life. ⁓ which is really funny because I was I was gonna plan I wasn't gonna do a day in the life today, but after the fiesta I'm sulking, so I'm gonna do a different reel today. I've decided I'm gonna talk about something else on Instagram. I'm I'm too upset to do ⁓ a day in the life of me just sitting in my car looking depressed. But that's that's not a very good day in the life, is it? Anyway, anyway, we're gonna move on. Harry: Mm-hmm. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Yeah. Cameron: But I think that a lot of people have now kind of got like it's a bit bandwagony. So I have a client who has electrolytes probably four days a week. And the reason we do that is he has them during his training and has a bottle that he has like ju during and if there's anything left he'll finish it. Because he plays squash in quite a warm environment and he plays like three to four times. And we know for him he is a like Sort of, well, no, was gonna say ninety kilo male, he's now like in the seventy sevens, so he's cause he's dropped a lot of weight. But he's a really, really tall guy, he's got a lot of muscle mass, he's playing at a really, really high level, and he's in a really warm sports court, playing very intensively. And we know when he finishes that probably within like twenty four hours he's playing again, and he also goes to the gym a couple of times a week. So we know in his case he is likely to be expending a lot of obviously like sweat. So therefore like salt in your sweat if you like to keep things simple and obviously water. So it makes a ton of sense for him to have that. If he was just training twice a week in the gym, it would make no sense to do that at all. And even then we don't have him having it for breakfast every single day because it's just not necessary. Like in that case you might actually be getting in more than you need as well. And I think there's been a I think I've actually seen a couple of ⁓ sort of in in the world of con I sort of like influencers or coaches who are like quite into the science of it kind of be a little bit critical almost like what Harry's saying exactly the same is like is this necessary and is it appropriate? Probably not. And I think this is like a perfect example. It's like in my client's case, does it make sense to have electrolytes in his week? Sure, it does. Does it make sense to have them every day? No, because he doesn't need them every day. And even he's probably a upward example because he plays such an intense sport. I would probably benefit from having them like a couple of times a week after basketball, maybe if I know I'm playing basketball the next day. There maybe be a little bit of merit or like during from a performance perspective, because you know, a game's only 40 minutes long, but when I'm actually in a training session, it's often an hour and a half to an hour and forty five. So actually you've got 105 minutes in a warm sports hall. Like it's pretty sweaty to say the least. ⁓ it's not a pretty picture when I walk out of those those sessions. So like there's utility there, but I 100% agree. You've got people who go to the gym like twice a week for 40 minutes in an air conditioned gym, being like, right, I need to smash back electrolytes. And I totally get it. Harry: Mm. Cameron: Because I can promise you, if it had been more of a thing when I was 19, I would have been doing it hundred percent. Hundred percent Yeah do it doing it five days ago. But like the thing is is that it's just not necessary for the goals. It's again, it's one of these things. It's like carb loading. Like people like, ⁓ should I carb like have carbs before a gym session? It's like for most people it's just not necessary. Like it's just not necessary because the duration of their session is not long enough in which there would be a benefit. Harry: A hundred percent. I would have been doing them five years ago. Cameron: Whereas if I have someone who's doing a twenty kilometre run, yeah, there is a benefit because they're running for that long. They might be running for an hour and a half, two hours, right? So there's a huge difference. But I agree. I think it's very trendy. And again, it's that classic thing of like someone in really good shape who's really quite into the running or going to the gym or whatever, like has them, they have them every morning for breakfast and people are like, ⁓ that must be important. And actually it's like, probably isn't that important. And it's not the reason they're in the shape they are, but our brains don't work that way. We associate behaviours with what people do, right? Harry: Yeah, and people people take them because it's like they view it as like giving them energy in the morning and it's not the way it works. But like bearing in mind, like what I've just said, I I do take them. ⁓ if I'm I'm I sweat a lot. It doesn't take me much to as soon as I'm doing anything that's slightly slightly higher ⁓ intensity honestly. You should see the state of me when I come out of any Cameron: Doesn't quite work that way. At least at least you're not like a firefighter in like a in a hot protective uniform. That would be really silly, wouldn't it, Harry? Harry: 'Cause where you've got that kit on Obviously, it's designed to keep heat out, but what it also does is keep heat in. I I can do anything, and I am absolutely dripping. And there's been mm so many times I have got back to the station, I've taken my kit off, and it looks like I've jumped into a swimming pool fully clothed. Like my t-shirt, my jaw, if I've got like joggers on, they are absolutely drenched, completely soaked through because I've sweat, I've had so much sweat. Now, in that instance, electrolytes 100%. I keep them in my kit. kit bag for that exact reason. I also have them if I do like if I play football, I'll have one after. If I'm doing some form of cardio that I know I'm gonna get very, very warm and very sweaty, I will also do them because my t shirt will be drenched through. So I use them in that capacity. I'm not gonna take one on ⁓ a Monday morning to to get me get me going. Cameron: Yeah. Do you you mean you didn't take them before your podcasting, no, mate? You didn't you didn't take them before this? ⁓ that that ex that explains it all. That explains it all then, yeah. I think that's another good one, isn't it? But yeah. Well, there is our weekly moan. Mike this is more of a re like regular feature, even for our own benefit. I quite enjoy talking about that. Having a moan. Harry: No, I'm afraid not. No, it's just straight caffeine for that. Yeah. Cameron: But hopefully that was helpful. If you are struggling with your own weight loss right now or fed up of trying to guess what supplements you need, having no certainty on what you need to do nutrition wise, and just generally fed up of feeling overwhelmed and making no progress, then if you jump into the notes in the description, the show notes, then you will be able to see a link to one to one coaching to book a call, or you can drop me a little message on WhatsApp as well. If you have any questions, any suggestions for future episodes. topics and of course if you are interested for coaching you can ask anything about it in there. Otherwise we're going to let Harry get back to his electrolytes and ⁓ me going back to crying about my car. So we'll speak to you soon.