Episode #374 – Full Transcript

Affiliate Disclosure

Transcripts

Podcast from:  https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/podcast/374-how-to-maximize-ketosis-should-you-have-sex-before-competition-do-power-poses-really-work-more/

[00:00] Introduction

[03:33] News Flashes/Book by Bob Cooley

[05:23] Barefoot Strong Book/Neurogrip Program

[07:26] Biohacks

[25:20] Special Announcements/Ben’s Adventures

[33:20] Listener Q & A/How To Maximize Ketosis

[41:49] Do Power Poses Really Work/Things Ben Does Before Giving A Talk

[0:52:41] How To Detox Your Home

[1:01:38] Having Sex Before A Competition

[1:00:04] End of Podcast

Introduction:  In this episode of The Ben Greenfield Fitness Show:  How To Maximize Ketosis, Do Power Poses Really Work, How To Detox Your Home, Should You Have Sex Before Competition, and much more!

Brock:  So I officially had way too much caffeine this morning.  Somebody just try to stay calm through this entire thing.  Deep breaths.

Ben:  Really? How much caffeine you had?

Brock:  I’ve had 2 enormous cups of coffee and I took NeuroMaster.  I don’t know if you’ve tried those.

Ben:  NeuroMaster?   

Brock:  It’s a supplement that’s supposed to increase BDNF but it does so by kickin’ in a lot of caffeine into your system.

Ben:  It’s supposed to increase your BDNF.  Your brain-derived neurotrophic factor? So I don’t even take NeuroMaster and I was able to just spit that out.

Brock:  There you go.  I can’t spit it out because my tongue will freak out half way through the sentence.

Ben:  That’s a great name, NeuroMaster.  I’ve never heard of this stuff.  I have to look in to it.

Brock:  It’s a Bulletproof thing.

Ben:  Oh, okay.  Got you.  Alright, well, there we go.  Nice little shout out for NeuroMaster.

(laughs)

Brock:  (laughs) Well, if you wanna cupped up on caffeine that is.

Ben:  Does that a lot of caffeine?

Brock:  Nah! I think it’s only 25 mg.  I think it’s just on top of the 2 huge cups of coffee I’ve had too that it’s causing a problem.

Ben:  Now, isn’t that the stuff that has a coffee fruit extract?

Brock:  Yes.  Yes it is.

Ben:  Okay.  Interesting.  I’m releasing a podcast episode in a couple of weeks with a guy named Darin Olien, I think is the last name.  He wrote a book about all these superfoods that he hunts down and he talked a lot about this coffee fruit extract that’s being more of like a longevity hack.  That’s interesting.

Brock:  Nice.

Ben:  Well, I am not hyped up.  I’m quite calm because I’ve got special blend diffusing in my office right now.  I’m blending this stuff called Purification, and my office is the most amazing.  Purification.  It is… let me see.  I’m looking at the label here.  It’s citronella oil? Rosemary oil which is good for memory by the way.  Lemon grass oil, tee tree leaf oil, so I’m not gonna get MSA while I’m talking to you.

Brock:  (chuckles) Thank goodness.  Not again anyway.

Ben:  Lavender oil, and myrtle oil.

Brock:  I’m not sure of myrtle oil.

Ben:  I think it comes from my great aunt Myrtle.

Brock:  That’s what I’m thinking.

Ben:  And her husband Clyde.  Who grow myrtle trees.  Okay, I don’t really have an aunt named Myrtle.  This is degrading pretty quickly.  We should jump into the news flashes.

Brock:  Let’s do it please.

News Flashes:

Brock:  In case you haven’t guess, it’s bengreenfieldfitness.com/374 where all of these good stuff.

Ben:  374.  Yeah, we’ve got plenty.  As a matter of fact, before we jump in to a few really interesting articles that I found this week, I’m constantly testing and trying and tweaking all these different things that I occasionally throw up on Snapchat or Instagram…

Brock:  You occasionally throw up on?

Ben:  I occasionally throw up on.  I throw up a lot on Snapchat.

Brock:  That’s what it’s for.

Ben:  Yeah.  Call my post digital barf.  Anyways though, I have certain things, certain books that I read, things that I tried, advices, etc. that I don’t get the chance to talk about too much on the show just ‘cause there’s so much.  So, I wanted to do a quick lightning round about a few things for people to try that I think will make their lives better, that made my life better this month.  What do you think, Brock?

Brock:  Do it.

Ben:  Okay.  Here we are…

Brock:  Go, go, go.

Ben:  Number one, an oldy-buddy-goody, it’s a book by a guy named Bob Cooley.  It’s called “Genius of Flexibility” and by the way, I’m gonna put a link for you for each of this lightning flash things that I discussed over in the show notes at bengreenfieldfitness.com/374.  So gist to flexibility, it’s all based around resistant stretching and I don’t know if it’s just a miracle or really good glue but I’ve been taking that book with me into the sauna and doing what is called resistant stretching which is a form of body weight training and stretching, and my body feels freaking fantastic every time I do one of this sessions.  So check out that book, “Genius of Flexibility”.  And it’s really interesting because different poses are supposed to also address, this sounds kinda woo but like certain emotions or certain chakra or meridians in your body, so it’s not just stretching.  It’s stretching plus woo.  So, “Genius of Flexibility” by Bob Cooley.

Brock:  Well, I totally by that.  I cry all the time when I’m stretching.  It happens all at.

Ben:  Yeah, you should have that look into.  I also have another book, two other books actually that I read this month that I think folks will really enjoy.  One is quite short read but kinda up there with Katy Bowman, a great biomechanist who I’m releasing a podcast with this Saturday as a matter of fact.  But this lady is right up there with Katy Bowman in terms of really doing a great job discussing biomechanics of, in this case, the foot and how to get what is called barefoot strong.  Some of the exercises in that book I’ve been doing while I’ve been brushing my teeth, while I’ve been standing in line, I’ve been podcasting.  And it’s an extremely short read, I bet most listeners will get through it in like an hour but it’s excellent.  And I’m gonna get her on the show too but in the meantime, snug her book, it’s very good.  It’s called “Barefoot Strong” by Dr. Emily Splichal.

Brock:  Cool.  Hey, with that help my plantar fascia? I have some trouble with it right now.

Ben:  A ton.  Yes, any foot related.  As a matter of fact, she talks about how to address the hip and knee and ankle biomechanics as well.  So “Barefoot Strong”.

Brock:  Sweet.  Done!

Ben:  Another training book that I recently read that I really enjoyed that I actually had the opportunity to write the foreword for because I like it so much.  It’s called “Neurogrips”, the Neurogrip Program.  It’s by former podcast guest Jon Bruney.  And he makes this things called “Neurogrips” that I now travel with that is little like push-up handles that allow you to do push-ups, balancing exercises, but essentially what happens is when you hold this handles and you’re doing a push-up or a plank, or you can also attach an elastic band to them and use them for any number of body weight exercises as well.  It turns on every single muscle in your shoulders, your arms, your core, and his new book has a whole training program and how to use these things.  So if you like to toy around with small portable but highly effective exercise equipment, this Neurogrips book and the Neurogrips by former podcast guest Jon Bruney, amazing.  So, “Genius of Flexibility” “Barefoot Strong” book, and The “Neurogrips” book, I’ll link to all of those in the show notes.  And then biohacks… well, actually one other thing before a few little biohacks I’ve been using.  One, a device for massaging your psoas called the PSO.  These folks sent it to me.  It showed up at my front door.  I thought it was yet another cheapo, made in China massage therapy device that was two balls taped together or some other play on a stick which…

Brock:  Hey, take it easy on China.

Ben:  Which everybody and their mom is doing these days.  Sorry.  Taiwan.  I said Taiwan.

Brock:  Yeah, that’s better. (laughs)

Ben:  (laughs) That’s much better.  So it’s a device for massaging your psoas which is the very tender area in either side of the front of your hips that actually quite difficult to get into with the foam roller, or even really in a very efficient way like a lacrosse ball or something like that.  You kinda lay over this device and just make love to it, and it massages your psoas and it hurts so good, but when you stand up, it’s amazing.  The release that it gives to your hips, and it’s even kinda reset my SI joints.  It’s called the PSO device.

Brock:  That’s what you think making love is? I need to talk to your wife.

Ben:  Yeah.  Well, you know, if you free up your psoas, you technically be a better love maker.  So, there’s that.

Brock:  Perhaps.

Ben:  And then four last things.  A video about Egoscue Training.  Egoscure is really a cool way to align your body to work on your posture.  And in my case I started doing this when I throw out my back two weeks ago flipping a tire in preparation for the upcoming Spartan World Championships.  I’ve been hobbling around like an old manfor the last couple of weeks but slowly rehabbing myself using things like that Psoas massage device and using things like this Egoscue video that’ll link to in the show notes.  It’s just 5 different very short exercises that again kinda like the barefoot book, you can while you’re standing in line, while you’re on work breaks, if you do the whole Pomodoro thing.

Brock:  I’ve been doing it while I make my coffee in the morning. It’s perfect time to do that.

Ben:  Yeah! There you go.  And we all know now that you make a lot of that.

Brock:  I make a lot of coffee.

Ben:  So check out the video.  It’s a very short video.  You’ll memorize it after watching it a couple of times.  Kinda cool thing to have in your back pocket for quick standing exercises.  You can do almost like power poses which will be talking about later on in today’s show, but it’s called Egoscue, E-G-O-S-C-U-E.  So check that out.

And then finally, three devices that I’ve been using that I think folks should look into.  One is called a Circadia, C-I-R-C-A-D-I-A.  It’s two electrodes, one goes on one side of your ear, one goes on the opposite ear and induces a significant drop in plasma cortisol and salivary cortisol based on clinical studies that they’ve done on this thing, and also increases dopamine and serotonin.  So what it uses as the name would implies, circadia, would be any time you need to like settle down your body, de-stress, and take a nap or get to sleep, or just check out for a little while, you flip this thing on for about 20 minutes, and it’s amazing.  It’s one of the only clinically acceptable electro-shock, head devices that exist out there, and…

Brock:  (laughs) It sounds terrifying.

Ben:  I’ve been using it especially when I travel ‘cause I have a hard time napping sometimes when I travel. In airplanes too, it works really well as long as you can resist the embarrassment from the strange look that your seatmate would give you as you attach electrodes to your skull.  Anyways though, it’s called the Circadia.

Also, another couple of devices that I’ve been using, one is called a NanoVi.  A NanoVi, and this is a little bit more expensive but it’s an extremely cool new method for DNA repair and for regeneration of tissue and cellular membranes…

Brock:  You talked about this one like a month ago?

Ben:  I think we briefly brought it up.  Yeah, and it’s like this little device that I have sitting on my desk and it humidifies the air but at the same time literally exposes the air to specific frequencies that create a small amount of reactive oxygen species that when you breathe them in, jumpstart your body’s own oxidative stress repair mechanisms.  And I know you’ve used this before too, Brock, right?

Brock:  Uh-hm.  Yeah.

Ben:  Yeah.  You fell very similar if you’ve been walking along the beach or like walking through the forest after it rained.  It’s kind of that same sensation like just a clear head.  So I’ve been using that about 30 minutes a day, just on typin’ away at my desk.

Brock:  You guys use it a lot ‘cause that thing is not cheap.

Ben:  Yeah, that one is a little bit more expensive as is the other one that I’ve been using quite a bit called Live02.  And again, these are more biohacks.  I don’t wanna scare everybody away thinking I buy these expensive stuff to live…

Brock:  Yes.

Ben:  To live a fulfilled life.  But these cool things I’ve been using… there’s a lot of stuff shows upon my doorstep that I try or I buy and it doesn’t work, and everything I’m talking about right now does.  It’s called a Live02.  I have links and I have discount codes for most of these things in the show notes.  But the Live 02 is this bag on a stand that you put next to any exercise device like a bike, or an elliptical trainer, or a treadmill, or you can just put it next to a yoga mat and do body weight exercises while wearing the mask, but it allows you to with a flip of a switch in this little handheld remote, go from very low amounts of oxygen, same as if you’re training on top of a mountain, up to very high amounts of oxygen as in 100%.  So you switch back and forth from vasoconstriction to vasodilation and it comes with a bunch of protocols.  Like a protocol for clearing the head, and a protocol for reducing inflammation, and a protocol for increasing VO2Max or for increasing mictochondrial density and it’s a very cool device.  I discovered it at Paleo (f)x last year and was able to ride the bike and use it, and they sent me one to try.  And it’s amazing.  And so…

Brock:  And you never gave it back.

Ben:  I never gave it back.  I hope they don’t listening in ‘cause it’s still in my office.  I hope they don’t ask for it back ‘cause I love it.  It’s I’ve been using for a couple of times a week now.  So yeah, those are just a few little things I wanted to mention to folks.  I’ll put links’ over at the show notes at bengreenfieldfitness.com/374, but that’s my high horse of biohacks and books and little techniques I’ve been messin’ around with lately.

Brock:  Beautiful!

Ben:  So, I need better things to do.  I wanted to talk about three articles that I recently found.  One, speaking of low back pain.  It was a really great article.  Basically, the title of it is “A Comprehensive Guide to the New Science of Treating Low Back Pain”, and what they dive into is a review of 80 plus studies.  And this one is near and dear to my heart ‘cause like I mentioned, I just throw out my back so badly that probably during Spartan World Championships when I run fast the tire flip which seems to getting heavier in every race, like I think they’ve got it up to like 400 lbs. or something like that now.

Brock:  Woah! Really?

Ben:  I probably just gonna run past the tire and start doing burpees.  ‘Cause the last thing I wanna do is throw out my back right in the middle of the race unfortunately, so…

Brock:  Do they dock points for that?

Ben:  No.  What happens is if you can’t flip the tire, you gotta do 30 burpees, alright?

Brock:  And that’s it.

Ben:  Yeah, yeah.  So, it takes 2 minutes to do 30 burpees and maybe 45 seconds to flip the tire once then turn around and flip it again.  It takes a little while to get underneath the tire, deathlift out amount of weight like it’s slow going.  It’s not like a flip flip like it used to be in those races.  So, I know you’ll be there and also at Spartan World Championships, Brock.

Brock:  I will.

Ben:  And by the way for those of you listening in, we’re gonna be churning out some amazing podcast because Joe De Sena, the CEO of Spartan is flying in some of the top podcasters on the planet along with a bunch of fitness celebrities and athletes, and h’es calling it PodFest and Brock and I are gonna be there churning out videos and photos and audios and all sorts of cool stuff for you guys.  So that’s coming up quite soon.  That’s coming up next week.

Brock:  Yeah.  Damn.

Ben:  Yeah.  Anyways though, we digress.  So this article on low back pain kinda goes into this concept that we spend 90 billion dollars a year on back pain but frankly from spinal surgery to opioid based painkillers which are an epidemic now in the US according to dear Mr./Dr. Trump.  Is he a doctor?  I think he’s a doctor. (laughs)

Brock:  (laugh) Don’t…

Ben:  Present though.  Steroid injections… all those have been proven to be ineffective in a majority of cases and of course downright harmful in the case of somethings like opioid painkillers or spinal surgery.  So, they published a randomized controlled trial on low back paina and they found most of these things to be ineffective but at the same time there are a growing number of alternative therapies for chronic back pain that have been proven now to be highly effective and currently the American College of Physicians as of 2017 is now advising back doctors and patients or anybody who have low back pain to try some of these non-drug based therapies.  Like acupuncture, or tai-chi, or yoga, and things like the egoscue exercises that I was just talking about that would fall into that category.  Even things like spinal manipulation are discussed in the article and it’s a great little article that finishes with what is called the McGill Big 3 Back Exercises. The McGill Big 3 Back Exercises.  So the spine biomechanic named Dr. Stuart McGill, I’m actually interviewing next month for the show.  He’s got 3 exercises on there for people who have low back pain.  They’re great 3 exercises that I’ve been doing in the morning…

Brock:  Really simple things…

Ben:  So simple.  One is called curl up and there’s a great illustration in the article.  So go to bengreenfieldfitness.com/374 and go check out especially this quick little infographic but one is called the curl up, one is almost like a crunch with your hands underneath your low back, one is called a birddog which really a reach for your left arm, right leg, right arm, left leg, and extends your body.  And then one is just a basic side bridge but as a matter of fact, as simple as that may seem, just doing those 3 exercises everyday can be enormous for strength in the back and then banishing back pain.  I know it sounds simple and not quite as complex as some of the expensive biohacks I was just talking about earlier but sometimes simplicity counts.

Brock:  That’s true.

Ben:  So, it’s a great article.  If your back hurts or if anybody you know has a hurting back.  Come go read it.  It’s a really good one.

Brock:  Yes.  Yeah.

Ben:  And then a couple of things that don’t really have much to do with fitness per se but articles that I really appreciated and enjoyed.  One was about how to retain more form the books that you read, and I just posted on bengreenfieldfitness.com a book review from a recent book that I read called “Healing Is Voltage” which is just kind of about how the body is a battery and how to ensure that the cell membranes are kept at the correct electrochemical gradiants to allow for normal cell metabolism and I get on to everything from iodine, to sulphate, to pulse electromagnetic field therapy and a whole bunch of other things I learned from that particular book.  But I read a book a day.  It’s like my rule.  I was at a dinner with my wife last night and commenting how sometimes I almost wish I didn’t have that rule because even at the end of the day if I would finish my book I occasionally will avoid chatting with my wife about her day and instead I just dive into finishing the book I was supposed to finish.  I read a book a day and then the article I get into some of my speed reading techniques and I’ll get things out of books.  Go and read that article at bengreenfieldfitness.com.  You can see there kinda like a feed of all the articles that I write each week.  This particular article goes on how to retain more from the books you read in 5 simple steps.  Did you have a chance to check this article out, Brock?

Brock:  I did.  I did.  Honestly I didn’t get a lot from it maybe because I didn’t apply any of the techniques.

Ben:  Okay.  Yeah, I was gonna say.  ‘Cause you didn’t apply any of the technique.

Brock:  (laughs) No.  It’s actually really cool.  And I thought of many of these.

Ben:  Yeah, and briefly… but go read the article.  One is called, Have a purpose for reading, see yourself as a teacher, meaning as you read imagine that you would have to teach that knowledge…

Brock:  Yeah, I like that one.  That’s my favourite.

Ben:  It’s great.  Yeah.  Number 3 is to highlight and make mental connections.  Meaning that you basically have a highlighter and a pen on hand when you’re actually reading which I always do along with dirty finger nails from folding every pages.  I visualize and imagine, and it encourages people to visualize and imagine.  So what that means is that as you are reading, you visualize yourself having a conversation with the author like an imaginary conversation about the things that you’re reading.  So that one is interesting.  And then finally, immediately apply one piece of new knowledge.  And that’s something that I always do.  Like the barefoot book I was talking about, right? As soon as I finished that book, I set it down, I had my pen, I had my highlighter, I went through the sections I highlighted, I actually try the next morning all those exercises from the book.  So cementing that knowledge in my mind and having read a book a day for… gosh, almost 7 years now and use a lot of these techniques, you know, it really allowed me to I think progresses as a human to become kind of like a more complete human able to do a variety of different things because I’m not just reading the books but I’m practicing what’s in the books.  So, it’s a great article.  It’s on medium.com.

And then finally, my friend Ryan Holiday, I don’t know if you’ve read, have you read any of his books like “Trust Me, I’m Lying”, “Your Obstacle Is The Way”?

Brock:  I have not.

Ben:  No? He’s a really good author and what he does is for 5 years in a row he’s written his piece for a website called thoughtcatalog.com which is a great website but it reflects on what’s he’s learned in the past year.  And he’s kind of a young guy.  He just turn 30 but I think he’s wise beyond his years in terms of his writing.  And the title of this article is “How To Live A Full Life and Leave Nothing on the Table By 30 Years Old” And he goes into a whole host of tactics.  I believe there’s, gosh, like there’s 40 different tactics for living a full life.  I think it’s well worth a read like for example, one is when you’re looking at a job or career to not ask what will pay the most, or what will teach you the most.  Because what ultimately (laughs)… What you’d say?

Brock:  I’m just saying “meeeh” because that’s not very ground breaking.  It’s like every self-help book in the world has said that.

Ben:  Okay.  All right.  Fair enough.

Brock:  Honestly, I’m scrolling through the list right here and I’m kinda yawning.

Ben:  Well, no.  I mean, look at it this way like one is ‘hell yes’ or ‘hell no’ is too simple, right? There’s that book “The 50th Law” which is all about, it’s not a ‘hell yes, don’t do it’ but what he said is ‘most of the best decisions I made’ would have failed that test. ‘I was scared’, ‘I had doubts’, ‘I didn’t know if it was what I really wanted’.  Life is complicated and life decisions are about winning the odds not black and white certainties.  And I think that’s good advice and sometimes it isn’t.  And sometimes you don’t know the answer right away.  Sometimes depending on your gut isn’t the answer even though you do here that a lot of these days like ‘trust your gut’, ‘if it’s a hell yes, do it.  If not, walk away’.  Whereas, I think sometimes it can be a little bit more complex than that.

Another one that he has is interesting, I know you’re not super impressed.

Brock:  Not so far.  I’m still scrolling.

Ben:  Drive across the United States.  He said no one should die before they have done this.

Brock:  Oh I see.  You can see all the billboards, saw a new stuff on the freeways?

Ben:  Because America is apparently an amazing country drive across some…

Brock:  Because America’s saw all your new stuff while you’re driving?

Ben:  Yes.  Put all your screaming children and your loved one in an RV and drive across the country staying at cheap motels along the way.  It’ll change your life forever.

Brock:  Exactly.  And eating at Burger King.

Ben:  Right.  Let me give you one more.

Brock:  Yup. (chuckles) I’ll try not to poo poo it.

Ben:  Avoid competition.  Sometimes competition makes you better but more often than not, it just eats up resources.  Don’t spend precious years of your life in trench warfare or in a stalemate.   Go where there is no competition.  Seek out the blue oceans.  That’s a great book by the way, “The Blue Ocean Strategy.” The best way to do that: Be you, do only the things you can do.

I think sometimes we get caught up in everything from tweeter wars to form blog post strolling to just arguing and trying to be right when in fact sometimes avoiding competition can allow you to get more deep work done.  So anyways…

Brock:  Yeah.  I’ll go with that one.  I starting to take it as don’t be a ‘me-too’ sort of thing.  Like if you’re starting a business, don’t start it based on, “Hey, does that guy had a good idea? I’m gonna do that too.”

Ben:  Yeah.

Brock:  Do something different.  Find a new niche.

Ben:  Well, as much as you hated the article, Brock, I still recommend everybody to go read it.

Brock:  (laughs) Yeah, I know.  Go, read it!  By all means.  It’s not a bad article.  It just didn’t change my life.

Ben:  You’re such a hater.

Brock:  Yeah.  I am.

Special Announcements:

Ben:  Well Brock, life I mentioned, you and I are both gonna be at Spartan World Championships putting on a ton of great content for folks.

Brock:  Spartan World Championships!

Ben:  Are you all right?  You just got really far away.

Brock:  I was shouting into the distance trying to make it sound epic.

Ben:  Running around the room in your cape.  So anyways, in addition to that though, a few other places where you can join me for some fun.  First of all I just book two speaker ex in New York City.  I’m gonna be speaking at David Bouley’s Test Kitchen which is an amazing brand new test kitchen in New York City where they teach people how to eat amazing healthy food and I’m giving a presentation there called A Biohacking Adventure along with Chef David Bouley, one of the best cooks on the planet in my opinion.  So that’s gonna be November 29th in New York City.  And the night before, November 28th in New York City, I will be speaking at this fantastic place that everybody needs to add to their bucket list to visit.  It’s called the Alchemist Kitchen.  And the top floor of the Alchemist Kitchen is a shop for botanical medicines and herbal remedies, and herbal tastings, and a whole plant beauty products and like this cool little coffee bar but in downstairs, it’s like vitamin IVs and cryotherapy and saunas, and like a little hacking chamber.

Brock:  Cool.

Ben:  And so, I’m gonna be speaking there on the 28th.  So if you happen to be in or near New York City or wanna travel there, look for me then.  November 28th at the Alchemist Kitchen and November 29th at Chef David Bouley’s Test Kitchen.  In addition to that, November 10th through the 13th, my wife and I will be presenting at the Weston A. Price Foundation which is a great conference to go to if you like to eat super tasty food like pork drench in lard (laughs) which is Weston A. Price Foundation is all about.

Brock:  That’s all it’s about, yeah.

Ben:  Like pork drench in lard.  Check that.  It’s November 10th through the 13th.  Also, it’s coming up quickly but the Biohacker Summit in Helsinki, Finland.  I’m bringing my whole family.  It’s one of my favourite places on the face of the planet to go visit.  It’s an amazing conference with blend of plant foraging and biohacking, and it’s also a very very cool event to go to.  December 7th through the 9th, the XPT Experience in Kauai, Hawaii where me and Bryan McKenzie and Kelly Starrette and Laird Hamilton and Gabby Reece, we’re gonna be teaching people things like underwater workouts and advance breath work instruction and kinda like an enhance recovery tactics and a whole lot of other things.  So that’s the XPT Experience…

Brock:  I really wanna go to that one.  That seems so cool.

Ben:  In Kauai.  The other one that you should really wanna go to is the Runga Retreat in Panama.  Where twice a day you do hot yoga, it’s a whole digital detox.  I’m there to teach nutrition and fitness, but you basically just do yoga and adventuring and learning and eating amazing food for… you gotta choose how long you wanna stay.  A week or up to 2 weeks in Panama.  And now we do have a discount code but also special goodies if you go to bengreenfieldfitness.com/374 and check out the show notes for this.  For the other conferences, most of them is I’ve got fat discounts for.  So, get all the details there over at bengreenfieldfitness.com/374 and then a couple of other things.

Brock:  Is it time to pay the bills? Shall we pay the bills?

Ben:  It’s time to pay the bills with our…. have you been to MeUndies?

Brock:  I’m wearing MeUndies.  That’s all I own, man.

Ben:  I am now wearing MeUndies as well and they feel, they’re like the most comfortable underwear I’ve ever worn.

Brock:  They’re so soft.

Ben:  I don’t know what the fabric is that they make them out of it.  Something like eco- friendly Modal.  Yeah, M-O-D-A-L.  It’s like this magical… it must come from shaved unicorns or something like that ‘cause it’s amazing.

Brock:  I believe so, yes.

Ben:  Yeah.  And so if you visit their website right now, you can see some of the undies that they have.  What I like are their matching undies where a couple can get undies that actually match.  So, for example you could get polka dot undies, or you could both get space cadet undies and you know, ‘cause…

Brock:  Ben and I are currently wearing matching undies.

Ben:  That’s right, yeah.  And they have an exclusive offer.  Just for us.  We get 20% off on our first pair and free shipping for MeUndies.  And 100% satisfaction guarantee meaning that if you leave tire streak in them after you’ve used them and decided that you don’t like them, you could simply send them back tire streaks and all, and you can have a full refund.  So that’s kind of a no brainer.  Yeah, you know what those are?

Brock:  Yeah.  Those skid marks.

Ben:  Yeah.  Skid marks.

Brock:  Is that the colloquials you guys use where were the heck you were born?

Ben:  I guess so.

Brock:  Nice.  I learned something.

Ben:  Meundies.com/greenfield, meundies.com/greenfield, 20% off, free shipping and they’re 100% satisfaction guaranteed.

This podcast is also brought to you by something that shows up at my doorstep once a week.  Just tickles me pink and it’s…

Brock:  Is it that kitty?

Ben:  It’s a kitty.  Yup, I got a new kitten every week.  It’s amazing.

Brock:  Nice!

Ben:  Now, it’s food.  Which I don’t ‘cause those are kittens to be.  So for example, on the menu this week is seared barramundi and sushi rice with avocado…

Brock:  Barramundi!

Ben:  Avocado, tempura, and roasted broccoli.  Creamy polenta and mushrooms with soft boiled eggs and grana padano cheese, and roasted eggplant pita with tomato and bell pepper.  These are just a small sampling of the things that Blue Apron will send to your house along with how to make these with handy-dandy ingredient list and recipe instructions.  They send everything to you and you simply cook, and it all winds up tasting amazing.  Even if you can’t cook, you get to post and pretend that you can and impress your friends.  And you get your first 3 meals free.  You go to blueapron.com/ben.  That’s blueapron.com/ben, and you know what they say about Blue Apron, Brock?

Brock:  Uhh, crap.  I can’t remember the catch phrase.

Ben:  Blue Apron, a better way to cook.

Brock:  Oh, yeah.  It’s a good one.

Ben:  Someday you’ll see me on the super goal commercial for Blue Apron thing.

Brock:  There you go.

Ben:  And then finally, this podcast is brought to you by Organifi which we’ve talked about before on the show which making some of the tastiest green juice powder on the face of the planet but now they’ve come out with not a green or orange, or blue, or brown, or black, or white, but a red.

Brock:  Black used to be good.

Ben:  Yeah, black would be good.  A red powder.  A red juice powder.  It’s called, get this, red juice powder.  And it’s…

Brock:  Surprise!

Ben:  It’s a acai, beet pomegranate, cranberry, raspsberry, blueberry, strawberry, along with 4 different adaptogenic herbs: cordyceps, ginseng, reishi mushroom, and rhodiola.  And they’re kind of marketing it as like an anti-aging high antioxidant blend.  I am saying it’s just an amazing thing to put in your smoothie in the morning if you want a little blood boost.  It’s all just like their green juice powder, organic, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, so there’s no steak or eggs or milk in your red powder.

Brock:  Thank god.  Geez.

Ben:  And you get 20% off.  You go to bengreenfieldfitness.com/organifi.  That’s organifi with an “I” and you get 20% discount if you use code Ben.  And will also put all of these discounts in the show notes as well if you go to bengreenfieldfitness.com/, what is it, Brock?

Brock:  374.

Listener Q & A:

Margot:  Hi Ben, I just listened to your podcast to January 18 with Dr. Dominic D’Agostino.  He states that BCAAs and MCTs enhanced the synergistic effects of exogenous ketones if I understood correctly.  And I get it that there are some ketone salts that have these supplements already added to them.  I take ketone salts with just potassium added.  I wondered if I could get the added benefit of PCAAs and MCTs by mixing my own concoction or even adding ketone salts to a protein powder and then adding some MCTs in the form of coconut oil that would certainly enhance the taste but would it do anything to the effectiveness of the ketone salts either diminishing it or enhancing it?  Thanks.

Brock:  That Dom D’Agostino is one smart man.

Ben:  Smart man.  He’s a strong man too.  He can deadlift by the way.

Brock:  He is! He’s a very large man.

Ben:  Yeah.  He deadlifts a lot of weight fasted.  In ketosis ‘cause he crack the code.

Brock:  Yes.

Ben:  You know, I’ve chatted with him a few times on the podcast and that’s certainly one thing that we got into how when you consumed medium chained triglycerides along with ketones, what it can do is it can almost like increase the effectiveness of the ketones by causing the liver to produce even  more ketones.  And that’s why when you look a lot of supplement companies these days that are making like these exogenous ketones that you would drink or that would be in powder form.  And they’re actually getting very tasty.  Now they used to taste like ass, and now they taste like chocolate ice cream or lemon sorbet…

Brock:  with just a hint of ass.

Ben:  With just a hint of ass.  That’s right or hint of ass later on if you overdo it especially the ones with the MCT powder in them.  They’ll add MCT powder for example to enhance the effectiveness of said ketones and so that’s certainly one thing that would be… even if you don’t get one of those blends that has MCTs or medium chained triglycerides in it.  You can actually enhance the effects of it by getting your hands on some MCT powder which is pretty easy to find or MCT oil and actually taking those along with the ketones like in the smoothie or stirring them into a cup.  Now Margo, also asked about BCAAs and whether those would be good addition.  And I would actually say no to that and a lot of people get into this called BCAAs thing but in fact there’s kind of a problem in my opinion with branched chain amino acids. U  For example, those are just 3 amino acids, right? Lucine and Isolucine and valine.  And sure, when you increase your blood levels of amino acids, you do indeed stave off things like central nervous system fatigue.  Central nervous system fatigue can often set in and it’s not bonking or running out of carbohydrate or sugar as a lot of people think that it is but in many cases, it’s when your blood levels of amino acids become very low, tryptophan is able to cross the blood brain barrier and make you kind of sleepy during exercise and the idea is that by maintaining higher blood levels of amino acids during exercise you are able to take on fewer carbohydrates while enhancing your ability to not have to breakdown lean muscle and keeping this tryptophan from crossing the blood brain barrier.

Now, one of the issues with BCAAs is first of all,  if you were to take those like at rest, when you’re not exercising, what they’ve shown is that circulating levels of BCAA and there’s really a compelling study about this done in 2015 can predict the development of type 2 diabetes and plasma levels of BCAAs can actually cause insulin resistance and spike your blood glucose.  And so there’s some metabolic effects when you jack up your amino acid levels with just these 3 amino acids.  Now if you were going to take amino acids, what you should instead considered doing is taking a whole amino acids source.  And that’s important for 2 reasons, not only because if you’re using something like amino acid at rest, the branched chain amino acids can cause some metabolic issues but also the essential amino acids or whole amino acids can allow you in a much more efficient way compared to BCAAa to do things like stave off muscle catabolism because it’s every amino acid or all your essential, your 9 essential amino acids rather than just 3 amino acids.  It’s also…

Brock:  It’s like eating a steak.

Ben:  It will.  It also includes all the BCAAs.  So basically what happens is you get all the benefits of the BCAAs however there’s lower levels of lucine so you don’t get the insulin resistance setting in and then you get all the benefits of the anabolic effect of having theanine and valine and phenylalanine and tryptophan and isoleucine and methionine in the correct ratios rather than just lucine and isoleucine and valine.  Can I think of any other words to say that ends with –in?

Ben:  Vaseline.  Yes, we'll throw that in there as an essential amino acid.  Anyways, so I recommend, if you're going to combine an amino acid with something like ketones or ketosis, you use essential amino acids rather than branched chain amino acids, especially if this going to be something that you do for the purposes of exercise.  It's even more important.  So, yes.  Amino acids, but in the form of essential amino acids.  Yes, MCT oil or MCT powder.  Another thing I would consider to be caffeine, I think we talked about this a couple of weeks ago on a podcast about how…

Brock:  Caffeine makes everything better.

Ben:  When you consume caffeine, just not as much as Brock does, it increases plasma ketones.  And so when you consume caffeine, unlike a ketogenic diet, you enhance, not only the ketogenic effect of medium chain triglycerides in this study, but also the effect of the exogenous ketones that you might be consuming.  So that's another strategy, would be to use caffeine.  So those would be kind of like your top three, right?  Like caffeine, essential amino acids, and then some type of a medium chain triglyceride source.  That make sense?

Brock:  Mhmm.  Yeah, totally.  I like it.

Ben:  Okay, cool.  So that all being said, I did want to, I didn't mention this in the introduction, but I do have this this little device that I've been using that's fascinating.  And it allows you to measure your level of ketosis by measuring the acetone in your exhaled breath.  Which, it's basically this sensor that detects acetone in your breath.  You breathe in, then you blow out into this device, almost like you were testing your blood alcohol levels, and not only can it analyze the acetone in your breath, and they've got a correlation algorithm that approximates your blood ketone levels based on your breath acetone levels, but it also is able to measure the rate at which you are metabolizing fats.  And so you can see exactly how many, like I measured it this morning and based on my metabolism this morning and my state of fat burning, I am apparently going to, over the course of today, burn 0.16x pounds of fat as fuel based on the level of ketosis that I'm in.  So it's a fascinating device, and it's called a Levl, L-E-V-L.  I will put a link to it in the show notes, but it's a very, very cool little device that again is just a quick way without having to prick your finger or bleed to measure your level of ketosis.  And there's a lot of people that kind of raise an eyebrow about whether or not you can correlate breath acetone measurements to blood ketone measurements, but it's looking like there's actually a pretty good relationship between breath acetone and the ability to be able to measure the amount of fat that you're burning and also the ability to be able to approximate your levels of ketosis.  So there you have it, a little device you can add into your protocol, Margot.

Kyle:  Hey, Ben.  I just had a question.  When you go and do public speaking, or like for example when you did your TED Talk and when you have to present in front of people, what are some strategies that you use to get into that kind of presenter mode?  Any kind of tricks you do?  Do you do some type of breathing exercises?  What kind of mental preparation do you do?  Anything can be greatly appreciated.  Thanks, Ben.  Love the show.

Brock:  I know you do a lot more presenting than I do, but my techniques for getting ready to do a presentation usually involve beer.

Ben:  Yes.  You're…

Brock:  I'm guessing yours do as well?

Ben:  Beer.  I did this when I interviewed the folks at Human Garage. We both did a shot of Jaeger prior to the podcast.  And it actually was a fantastic podcast, and the gentleman who gave it to me swears by it for decreasing sympathetic nervous system activity, and that's kind of a no brainer 'cause we all know alcohol is a downer.  However, it's very seldom that I'll shoot back whiskey, or Jaegermeister, or vodka, or anything else.

Brock:  I did notice you did seem a lot more charming and good looking during that interview.

Ben:  Thank you.  Appreciate that.  Anyways though, this whole idea behind power posing, guess what?  It's bunk.  And it's a perfect example of a claim that's made that's really based on flawed science.  So there's this gal named Amy Cuddy who is famous for a TED Talk which is among the most popular TED Talks of all time, and now even a book she wrote on the back end of that TED Talk that proposes that a person can, by assuming two simple one-minute poses, embody power, and instantly become more powerful, and get in a surge of hormones, and increase their confidence.  And what she said…

Brock:  We should clarify though, just before you get into what she cites, is the part that was that was debunked was the fact that the hormones, hormone levels were not affected.  The actual cognitive effects of it were not debunked.  Like people actually were feeling more more powerful, there was just no physiological response.

Ben:  Well in the paper from 2010, what they report on is they say that the results of that study confirm their prediction that a nonverbal display, a.k.a. a power pose, would cause a neuroendocrine and behavioral changes, particularly elevations in testosterone, decreases in cortisol, and increased feelings of power and tolerance for risk.  Whereas people who didn't power pose exhibited the opposite pattern.  And so people took this and ran with it for a while, and power posing became very popular.  But then in a paper that was published in 2015 in which an outside team of researchers using a sample population that was five times larger than the original group found absolutely zero effect to power posing, when it came to that same hormonal effect, they actually, this was something called p-hacking, which is also known as “the garden of forking paths” in statistical science, where they're able to report what seems to be an impressively large effect, but the variation is so high that it's really not statistically significant.  It can all be ascribed to just chance fluctuation.  So basically there isn't a hormonal effect.  You can't increase your testosterone, it would appear, with any type of power pose.

Although at the same time, as you've just alluded to, Brock, it may actually make you feel more confident.  When I interviewed Jordan Harbinger from The Art Of Charm, he has like the doorframe technique where before you walk into a room, you do a special pose to open up your shoulders and allow you to feel more confident.  So that's certainly something that you could try.  But I, Kyle asked about what I do.  I don't really have a power pose that I do at all.  I don't.  It's just not something I've ever done.  I'm not flex, well when I was a bodybuilder I guess I did.  I would flex backstage to get my pump on.

Brock:  But that had more to do with your calves.

Ben:  Oh, dude.  When I was bodybuilding, you'd be backstage doing pull-ups and curls, you do everything you, like what you do before a date when you're in high school, you crank out your 50 push-ups before you walk out the door so you look nice and ripped for your date, that's basically bodybuilding…

Brock:  When I was dancing, we did exactly the same thing before we went on stage.

Ben:  Yeah, exactly.

Brock:  ‘Cause you want to look as swole as you can.

Ben:  Yeah, swole.  So I, however, no longer do that want to public speak.  But there are a couple things that I that I do do.  One is that there is a technique called box breathing, and this is one I picked up from Commander Mark Divine of the Navy SEALs.  It's very simple.  But if I'm a little bit nervous before I go on stage, I literally just do one single minute of four count in, four count hold, four count out, four count hold, and I'll occasionally, instead, do alternate nostril breathing, which is very similar.  You breathe in through your right nose, out through your left nose.

Brock:  Hillary Clinton loves that one too.

Ben:  I'm sorry.  Not many people have a right nose and a left nose.  In through your right nostril, out through your left nostril, and then vice versa.  And really that's it.  And then I get up there and I talk.  Now that being said, I've been stage speaking since I was, like my parents put me in speech and debate classes, and like on stage speaking, and summer theater and acting from the time I was seven years old.  I was on the speech and debate team in college.  So I've kind of like always been a little bit comfortable getting on stage just 'cause Id id it from such an early age,  But there are a couple of books that I read that really helped me out as well.  For example, I am an introvert and there was a book by Susan Kane called “The Power of Introverts”.  And in that book she discusses how it's a myth that you need to be an extrovert to be a powerful stage speaker.  And instead, as a guy named Malcolm Gladwell, who's a fascinating author, also gets into speaking isn't act of extroversion, it's a performance.  And so when I get on stage I look at the same way as when I used to be, I acted in in Pride And Prejudice in college theater, and another in another one was Arsenic And Old Lace, a couple of those, I had like more starring roles in.  I was the villain in Arsenic And Old Lace and I was was one of the main army captains in Pride And Prejudice.  Just about every every theater production I've been in, I've had some kind of a role or I've had to speak, I've had to talk.  And when I get up on stage, I go into that same mode.  I am an actor when I step up there.  And as long as I'm able to say, “Okay, Ben is now the intelligent and informed,” whatever, hacker, nutritionist, longevity expert, whatever…

Brock:  Whatever character you're assigned.

Ben:  Right.  Like that is my character, and I'm not saying be fake, but at the same time you have to think of it, especially if you're introverted, more like a performance where you're going into a new persona as soon as your feet touch stage, and you stay in that persona until you get off stage, then you go curl up in a fetal position and suck your thumb and hide from people.  But ultimately, “The Power Of Introverts” is a really good book that kind of goes into more detail about what I've just highlighted.  And then another really good one, because I tend to use slides when I speak, but if anyone who's seen me speak in most cases, and this is occurring on an increasingly more frequent basis, my slides are just photos with like maybe two or three words on the photo and very few slides.  And the simpler that your keep your slides, the fewer the words, the bigger the pictures, and the fewer the slides, the more effective in striking your presentation can be.  Versus having a bunch of slides and just, there's one thing that annoys the hell out of me when I'm sitting in a class or [0:50:05] ______ , when someone has all the slides and they're just reading the words.

Brock:  They just read it.  Ugh!

Ben:  Why didn't you just e-mail these slides to me and save me a plane ticket, and a hotel stay, and the conference fee.  So when I prepare a presentation on PowerPoint, mostly I just go with photos and a few words because it accomplishes two things.  Number one, it keeps people locked in 'cause they have to listen you rather than just seeing a bunch of words read, reading through that slide, and then tuning out as you go through that slide.  Number two is it forces you to really learn your material and to know what you're talking about 'cause you know you're just kind of like speaking off of photos and very few words.  And when I prepare a PowerPoint presentation, sure in the presentation itself I have the notes section that I'll use in PowerPoint were I'll actually have my notes written to me and I can study those before I get up on stage.  But once I'm up on stage, I don't have access to those notes anymore that I have associated with each slide, and then it's just the pictures and a very few words.  And I learned this from it from a good book called “Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs”.  “Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs” is one of the better books I've ever read on presenting, and on making PowerPoints and on slides.

Brock:  And I believe the first chapter of that book is about wearing jeans, sneakers, and a turtleneck.

Ben:  Exactly.  Which is why you always see me in a black turtleneck these days.  Everybody knows that that's my favorite thing to wear when I actually do put on a shirt.  So there you go, Kyle.  Those are a few of things I'd look into.  Power Of Introverts by Susan Cain, Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by, I believe, Steve Jobs, and then the box breathing.  And then by the way, that Egoscue video that I mentioned earlier in today's podcast, apparently that's kind of similar to what Tony Robbins does.  When he steps on stage, from what I understand, is he uses something very much like this Egoscue video that I mentioned.

Brock:  So Brian Bradley's in Tim Robbins, Tony Robbins' is inner circle.  I believe he goes around does presentations with him.

Ben:  Is that the guy in this Egoscue video?

Brock:  Yes.

Ben:  Okay.  I didn't know his name.  Okay.  Interesting.

Brock:  Yeah.  We should get him on the podcast.  He's a really cool guy.

Ben:  Sounds cool.  Alright, we'll do it!  Anyways though, so those are a few of my recommendations, Kyle.  And I'll link to those books for you, as well as a really cool little box breathing app that will teach you how to box breathe effectively if you do need an app to get yourself to do a four count in, four count hold, four count out, and four count hold.  If you need an app to walk you through that, because I think it'd be impossible to breathe without an app, then…

Brock:  Exactly.  You can't do anything without an app.

Ben:  Go to the show notes and grab the app too.

Brock:  And grab a turtleneck.

Jason:  Hey, guys.  My question is regarding DIY projects.  Whether you're painting part of your house, doing minor some plumbing, gluing something together, all these different products tend to, you go to Home Depot or Lowe's, tend to have a lot of toxic compounds.  Do you do these DIY projects and try to find the lowest toxin products, like a low VOC paint, or something that doesn't have any toxins in it?  Do you contract it out to someone else so you don't have to touch it?  What do you do?  Thanks, guys.  Really appreciate the podcast.

Ben:  I just wear a tinfoil hat.

Brock:  Of course!

Ben:  Pretty sure I'm good to go.  I think that protects you against everything.

Brock:  Protects your noggin.

Ben:  Yeah.  Well first of all, I'm not a DIY-er.  I don't do a lot of DIY projects.  My wife does a lot of that stuff.  I do get concerned about her sometimes.  Like she does a good job going outside to glue things and to do all her painting, and she's restoring a camper right now and she's out there with the masks that you see people wearing when they're on airplanes, and she probably gets exposed to more toxins than I do.  My freaking office, I've got like these essential oils diffusing and I've got this fancy little HEPA air filter called AirDoctor, which just sweeps all the air in my office extremely efficiently.  I don't get exposed to that much, but there are some definite things that you should do if you're wanting to kind of ensure that you don't get exposed to many toxins while you're cleaning things up.

So a few of the recommendations that I have.  One would be when it comes to things like fabrics, couches, chairs, things along those lines, this would be less of a DIY project but more of just a rule for you when you're adding furniture to your home is you want to look for something called PBDEs.  PBDEs.  These are called polybrominated diphenyl ethers.  And they're essentially flame retardants to keep things from burning down.  So if your house catches on fire, you're screwed.  But otherwise, you're going to be very healthy.  Because these PBDEs can accumulate in your body over time and they can act very similar to estrogens.  So you would want to, there are furniture companies out there that produce low PBDE furniture, that are toxin-free, including like the glue that holds the wood together to the cushion fabric.  So look for PBDE furniture, PBDE-free furniture if you're adding furniture.  For paints, a traditional latex paint is going to have chemicals like ethylene glycol and butoxyethanol, and those will continue to seep into your home long after the walls dry.  But you could use, for example, an all-natural paint.  Like have you ever heard of milk paint, Brock?

Brock:  No.  Is it actually made out of milk?

Ben:  Yeah.  It's made out of milk protein and minerals.  And so you can find very biodegradable, toxin-free paints like this.  But look up something like milk paint for things like painting projects.  For wood, obviously I think many of us know that the sealants, and the stains, and the glues use on wood, and cupboards, and wood floors, those out gas.  They out gas what are called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, and those evaporate at room temperature and can spew a lot of toxic molecules into the air.  And if you're using what's called a pressed wood product, that's kind of a double whammy because those also emit what's called formaldehyde, which is, really it's a human carcinogen, as pleasant as it smells.  But you can get what are called plant-based wood finishes.  And you can also get water based stains.  And in many cases both plant-based wood finishes, although some plant-based wood finishes aren't always toxin-free, most water-based stains are.  And you can also get, when you're looking at wood, what's called formaldehyde-free wood.  So for stains, use a water-based stain.  For a paint, use like a milk-based paint.  And those would be a couple things you could do from a painting and a staining standpoint.  Carpets, you want to be careful with those.  Those also will churn out a ton of VOCs, like styrene, and formaldehyde, and propanadiol, and vinyl acetate.  And so for carpets, you would want to, and this is what I did in my house was, oh I almost said “hoose”.  Like you, Brock.

Brock:  “Hoose”?

Ben:  Yeah.  You want a hundred percent wool if you're going to do carpets.  And there are companies like Nature's Carpet, for example, I think is the one we used where they actually just used totally undyed, totally wool carpets.  And of course even if you're laying the carpet, you would still want to keep all the windows in the doors open and really air out the room, or just plant one of these HEPA air filters like this AirDoctor that I recommended.  That, by the way, we get a 50% discount on the AirDoctor with my special link.  We locked that in for all of our listeners once I started kind of promoting their standalone HEPA air filter so.  So get one of those air filters when you're cleaning, one of these AirDoctors.

Ben:  Yeah.  You want a hundred percent wool if you're going to do carpets.  And there are companies like Nature's Carpet, for example, I think is the one we used where they actually just used totally undyed, totally wool carpets.  And of course even if you're laying the carpet, you would still want to keep all the windows in the doors open and really air out the room, or just plant one of these HEPA air filters like this AirDoctor that I recommended.  That, by the way, we get a 50% discount on the AirDoctor with my special link.  We locked that in for all of our listeners once I started kind of promoting their standalone HEPA air filter so.  So get one of those air filters when you're cleaning, one of these AirDoctors.  But also attention to the carpet.  And then finally, for filtration systems, yeah, you have things like like the AirDoctor, but then also there are a ton of different living fern and palm plants that host microorganisms that feed on volatile organic compounds, or plant-based filters.  And if you look up the NASA clean air study, what we did was we just identified which plants would grow well in our area of the world and we added these plants into our homes.  So if you walk into our house, not only, well the way we have things, I've got the standalone HEPA air filter in my office, and then we have a central air filter called an AllerAir, that's like a combination of, I believe it's ozone, a negative ion generator, and a HEPA air filter that filters everything that kind of goes through the vents, and then we have all these plants, and then there's a large connection of tinfoil hats when you walk in the door, a collection of tinfoil hats to your left that you can just removed from the coat hook and place on your head to complete the picture.

Brock:  And complete your ensemble.

Ben:  That's right.  So I'll look into that.  And then of course you should also look into detox strategies.  I mean I have a podcast, I'll link to it in the show notes, but it's like 17 different things that I did in 2017 to ensure that I was detoxing my body.  And a lot of these little things add up.  I mean it sounds silly, but doing things like a weekly or a monthly coffee-based enema, or spending time in a sauna a few times a week.  I'm in the sauna almost every day these days just sweating for 20 to 30 minutes, which is great for red blood cell production, and growth hormone, and collagen, and beauty, and skin health.  But it's also really good for removing toxins through the sweat.  You can use things like rebounders or vibration platforms to move lymph, and to move blood, and also have a little bit of a detox occasion effect.  Dry skin brushing, coconut oil pulling.  I go into a lot of these techniques in that particular podcast, but ultimately if you're kind of constantly thinking about “how can I how can I clean up my body, how can I sweep out my body”, you don't have to do like a two week long water fast every year.  You're instead just doing little mild methods of detoxifying your body just kind of throughout the year.  It's kind of like exercise for me.

I exercise a little bit every day.  It's pretty rare I'm going to do a two or three hour exercise session.  I exercise, gosh, like an hour-ish a day 365 five days a year.  My body responds really well to that versus throwing down a really hardcore exercise session every once in a while.  Same thing with detoxification.  I do little things everyday.  Coconut oil pulling, or dry skin brushing, or rebounding, or sauna, sweating, cold soaks, enemas, things like that to actually help with detoxification.  So I would not neglect the cleaning up of your body even if you are trying to do your home projects in a clean environment.  You're still going to get exposed to some stuff.  So those are my recommendations for Jason.  Brock, did I miss anything?

Brock:  No.  I'm super glad you brought up plants.  I'm a huge believer in plants.  Like my office is chock full of bromeliad and dracaena plants, and that's exactly why I have them is because apparently they suck up 94% of acetone when they did a study in one of those places where ladies go to get their finger nails done.  It actually sucked up 94% of the acetone in the air.  So if it does it there, it's going to be good in my office.

Ben:  Yeah.  Especially for a guy like you who wears all that fingernail polish.

Brock:  Yeah.  I got to have my mani-pedis.

Benny:  What's up, guys?  This is Benny Gifford from Colorado Springs.  And I'm wondering about this idea of peaking for race where for, I don't know, like three or four days, you have a lot of sex, or you ejaculate a lot through whatever method.  And then about two or three days before it's time to compete, you cut it all off, I don't know, to increase testosterone, or apparently there's a lot of ayurvedic study around this.  I don't know.  I'd like to hear the physiological side of this, if there's been any clinical proof or, I don't know, any reason to actually do it.  And Ben, I know you are kind of tampering with this, so let me know if you've results on that yet.

Ben:  You know, I actually did think we were going to get through the whole podcast without using the word ejaculation.  Benny just ruined it for us.

Brock: We often do, but not today.

Ben:  Yeah.  So have you heard about this?  About reducing your ejaculatory frequency?

Brock:  Unfortunately, yes.  It seems to be all the rage over the last couple of years.

Ben:  It's called, what's it called?  The retention method?  Something like that?

Brock:  It's got all kinds of crazy names.

Ben:  Yeah.

Brock:  I don't know about you, but I've got like at least seven different friends on Facebook that have invited me to join their private group for non-ejaculation.  I'm just like, “Come on, guys.  Keep it to yourself.”

Ben:  You know what?  I've done it before where you have sex, you don't ejaculate, and honestly if this is like morning sex or midday sex, and then you go out and you try to hit the gym after, or you do anything physical after, you do feel a bit stronger.  I don't know it it's because you're so freaking frustrated that you didn't get to cum, or that you retained your chi, as a lot of these Daoists or these ayurvedice principles will teach.  But yeah, there's this idea of abstinence being something that may actually allow you to perform better with the idea being when you ejaculate, you give away a lot of your chi, a lot of your life force energy.  And so you have the decision of whether to gift it, shall we say, to someone or keep it to yourself prior to a big competition.  And they've studied this idea of sexual intercourse before competition.

Like there was one study that they did at the University Hospital in Geneva, and they found that sex had zero detrimental influence on the maximum workload achieved or the athlete's mental concentration.  However they did show in this study that the athletes had a higher post-effort heart rate after a maximal stress test on the morning of having sex.  Meaning if you were going to have sex, you should not do it in the two hours prior to your competition.  Because I know how many people will wake up before triathlon that begins at 7 AM in the morning, and the first thought that goes through their mind is, “I need to have some sex.”  I don't know about you, but I think most athletes are kind of like in and out of the bathroom, the port-a-potty, and racing around trying to get to the starting line not trying to get it on.  So don't have sex two hours before your competition.  That's one thing.  There was another study that was a randomized crossover study that showed that sex up to 12 hours prior to an aerobic test had no effects on maximum aerobic power, what's called oxygen pulse.  So based on research, there doesn't appear to be a very detrimental effect from having sex like the day before or the night before.  But when you look at traditional Chinese medicine and his view of “qi” in relation to sex, “qi”, life force energy, prana, chakra, whatever you want to call it…

Brock:  Have you been watching Iron Fist?

Ben:  I have.

Brock:  You've been watching Iron Fist.

Ben:  That and Star Wars.  But the daily energy deposit of your qi, in traditional Chinese medicine, comes from what's called “jing”, J-I-N-G, jing.  And that's the term used for the overall amount of energy that you kind of come into the world with.  So you're born with this X supply of jing, and every time you you spend your qi, you give away a little bit of your jing.  And so what traditional Chinese medicine and some of these classic Chinese texts give us are sexual frequency guidelines to ensure that you're not basically draining your jing too quickly.  Draining your jing would be a great name for a band, by the way.

Brock:  I keep my jing in my MeUndies.

Ben:  Right.  Exactly.  So in traditional Chinese medicine, in men, jing is said to be very potent in your semen, and women in their eggs.  So every time a man ejaculates, he would lose some jing in the form of millions of sperm.  And every time a woman ovulates, she would also lose some jing in the form of of a single egg.  But in traditional Chinese medicine, the male gives a lot more of it away than the female during sex 'cause the male is ejaculating, and hence this idea that some athletes have, or the superstition that some athletes have of just like not having sex prior to a race.  And it's also reason that resting and tapering might work is 'cause you're just like, you're not draining your chi quite as quickly.  I'm not going to deny the fact that we have this inherent life force and energy that we may not be able to measure, but that is still kind of like seeping through us.  And we wouldn't want to drain that too quickly.  So you wouldn't want to overtrain prior to competition, you also wouldn't want to over-sex prior to a competition if you were to follow these pieces of advice from traditional Chinese medicine.  And I'll put a link in the show notes, but there's actually a table.  Like if you're between the ages of 30 and 40, if you're in good health, you can have sex up to once per day, or ejaculate up to once per day.

Brock:  Nice!

Ben:  If you're in average health, you would reduce that to every other day.  So you're not draining your jing too quickly.   And then the minimum amount would be every eight days.  At least every eight days you'd want to ejaculate.  But then like between the ages of 40 to 50, it increases to every 16 days that would be the minimum that you would ejaculate.  And then if you're in good health, you wouldn't have sex any more than every three days.  And if you're in average health, you wouldn't have sex any more than every four days.  So this is all based on the traditional, it's actually kind of like a famous traditional Chinese medicine classic that really gets into healthy sexual activity, and this is the classic text that a lot of these semen retention protocols are based on.  And there are people who have done not only the, what's it called?  What's the “no sex, no porn”, have you heard that one?

Brock:  Yeah.

Ben:  It's got a name.

Brock:  Tim Ferriss made that popular…

Ben:  Yeah.  He made that popular for a while.  But there are also people practice this semen retention strategy to see how much better their workouts become, or how much better they's do in a race or something like that.  And there's a few other benefits, a few other side benefits.  First of all, in tantric sex, semen retention or kind of like getting yourself just to the edge and then having your partner kind of pinch you, or performing like a like a kegel-type exercise, which would be like squeezing all the muscles down there, that apparently can assist with increasing, not that any of us have a problem with, shall we say, premature ejaculation, or being, what do they call the people who can last about 30 seconds?

Brock: 16 year olds?

Ben:  Yeah, 16 year olds.  No, there's like a name for it when a guy only lasts like 30 seconds in bed.  I think it's called like a, is it called a “Luke”?  I think something like that.

Brock:  I've never heard that.

Ben:  Like I'm sure we can find it on urbanDictionary.  So, yeah.

Brock:  You keep talking, I'll look for it.

Ben:  A Chase Clark on Emily.  I don't know.  I'm sure there's a few other phrases for it.  But anyways, so there's that.  It can assist you with being better at tantric sex.  There's a really great book called “The Multi-Orgasmic Man” that I've read, and basically that book also goes into how to become, how to like block your sympathetic nervous system response during sexual activity by experiencing an full orgasm without the emission of any seminal fluid.  That's basically what the book teaches you to do.  I have not cracked the code on exactly doing that yet, but a couple of time while experimenting with it, I've accidentally orgasmed without actually ejaculating and it is very interesting that the male body is able to do that.  And there's also this idea, and I think this is not proven by science, but they say an ounce of semen is considered to be equal in value to 60 ounces of blood.  And so if you were going to compete at altitude, you wouldn't want to give way blood beforehand, right?  And so they say that semen might actually also be like draining your blood.  I don't think it takes that much blood to produce a little bit of semen.  And if anything, the improvement in your power to weight ratio by getting rid of some of that semen might actually offset the loss of blood.  I'm just theorizing.  That would be an interesting experiment, actually.

Anyways though, so those are those are some of the ideas behind semen retention.  And the last thing I should say is that there's this article called “Science Discovers The Physiological Value of Continence”, and that article says, “Semen contains substances of highly physiological value, especially in relation to the nutrition of the brain and nervous system.”  And it says there is a remarkable similarity of chemical composition between the semen and the central nervous system, both being especially rich in lecithin, cholesterin, and phosphorus compounds, which would indicate that seminal emissions withdraw from the body substances necessary for the nutrition of the nervous tissues.  Which basically means you're going to get dementia if you ejaculate too much.  I think.  But none of that is based on science.  The only science that exists out there shows that basically you just shouldn't have sex two hours prior to competition.  And aside from that, you should be good.  Now of course there's all these external variables, right?  Like I don't know about you, Brock, but when I have sex, sometimes it's accompanied by a couple glasses of wine and staying up an hour and a half later than I would normally.  And so there's things like that that could detract from your competition just as much as, say, the ejaculation itself.  Plus there's the complete exhaustion of those infamous psoas muscles we were talking about earlier.  So there's that.  Anyways though, any luck finding out any other terms that would relate to a premature ejaculation?

Brock:  I found a horrifyingly long list.

Ben:  Oh, boy.  Well?

Brock:  Shall I read some of them?

Ben:  Let's hear it.

Brock:  Ciao, PME, gone in 60 seconds, quick shot, fun gasket.  This is a good one, dropped yogurt.  I'm going to skip that one.  That's upsetting.  Bluetooth, [1:12:44] ______ , premie, sparkplug, barf.  Nope, not going to read that one.  The Sooner nation, Snuffaluffagus.

Ben:  I like Snuffaluffagus.

Brock:  Isn't that the guy from Sesame Street.

Ben:  The big, hairy elephant from Sesame Street.  Well…

Brock:  Wad blower, cum-in-handy, waller man, not going to read that one, all your base, peachy-13.  It's really hard editing this on the fly, so I'm going to stop.

Ben:  Yeah.  Alright.  Well, Benny…

Brock:  This can get upsetting really quick.

Ben:  Hopefully that give you a lot to work with.  And I'll put that chart on ejaculation frequency in the show notes should anybody want to try that.  And if you're listening in and you've done a lot of semen retention, semen retention, leave your thoughts and your experience over at bengreenfieldfitness.com/374 and we can have a fascinating discussion about this.  And in the meantime, speaking of blowing your mind, we have a new review left for today's show.  And this is the part of the show where if you hear your review you leave in iTunes read on the show and you e-mailed [email protected], that's a [email protected], with your t-shirt size, we'll send you a handy dandy Ben Greenfield Fitness Show gear pack with a beanie, a BPA-free water bottle, and an amazing tech t-shirt that you can work out in and look amazing in.  So that being said, Brock, you want to take this one away?

Brock:  I guess I do?  The title of this one is “Mind&Bowel Blowing”, and it's five stars from Leah SH.  And it goes like this:  “The May 3rd 2017 blew both my mind and my rectum.  Finally someone offers a scientific approach to health, spirituality, and [censored] my pants.”

Ben:  What were we talking about on May 3rd, 2017?  Do you know?

Brock:  I don't know.

Ben:  I'm guessing it had something to do with like enemas and constipation.

Brock:  It must've.

Ben:  Probably.  Mind and bowel blowing.  Alright.  Well Leah, great review. And again, just e-mail and we'll hook you up with a tech t-shirt, beanie, a water bottle.  For the rest of you listening in, we're going to put a link to the calendar in the show notes.  All those crazy things I talked about in the introduction, the book by Bob Cooley, and the barefoot book, and the Circadia device for sleep, and the Neurogrips, and all that jazz, we'll have that in the show notes.  Everywhere I'll be speaking, like the New York City events and the Biohacker Summit in Helsinki, discounts on all that stuff.  We'll also give you guys resources for that Egoscue video I mentioned, the books that I mentioned about presenting, some tips on detoxing your home, and detoxing your body.  And of course, no podcast show notes would be complete without our special chart on ejaculation frequency.  So you can check…

Brock:  You can just put that in all of them from now on.

Ben:  All that out at bengreenfieldfitness.com/374.  Brock, goodbye.

Brock:  Goodbye.

 

 

Sep 21, 2017 Podcast: 374 – How To Maximize Ketosis, Should You Have Sex Before Competition, Do Power Poses Really Work?

Have a podcast question for Ben? Click the tab on the right (or go to SpeakPipe), use the Contact button on the app, click Ask a Podcast Question at the bottom of this page, or use the “Ask Ben” form at the bottom of this page.

In the intro to this podcast, Ben discusses the following:

Genius Of Flexibility book by Bob Cooley
This Egoscue Video
The PSO device for psoas massage
The NanoVi for DNA repair/longevity
LiveO2 for hypoxic/hyperoxic training
Circadia device for sleep
Barefoot Strong book by Dr. Emily Splichal
Neurogrips designed by former podcast guest Jon Bruney and his new book on how to use them

News Flashes [3:22]:

You can receive these News Flashes (and more) every single day, if you follow Ben on Twitter.com/BenGreenfieldInstagram.com/BenGreenfieldFitnessFacebook.com/BGFitnessBenGreenfieldFitness.com/Snapchat, and Google+.

Special Announcements [25:15]:

This podcast is brought to you by:

-Blue Apron –  Check out this week’s menu and get your first THREE meals FREE—WITH FREE SHIPPING by going to blueapron.com/ben

-Organifi Green Juice – Go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com/organifi Discount code BEN for 20% off your order!

-Me Undies – To get your 20% off, Free Shipping AND their 100% Satisfaction Guarantee and get the best and softest underwear you will ever own, go to: MeUndies.com/GREENFIELD

-PodcastOne Survey – There are two easy ways to being the survey: Go to www.Podcastone.com/mysurvey OR go to www.podcastone.com and click on the Survey Banner. If you’ve filled a survey out in the past, we thank you, but we still need you to do it again.

Click here to follow Ben on Snapchat, and get ready for some epic stories on his morning, daily and evening routine! What did you miss this week? A clay mask, a park workout, a morning routine change-up, an epic post-race salad and more.

Ben’s Adventures:

-NEW! Click here for the official BenGreenfieldFitness calendar.

-Ben is racing on the Spartan Pro Team for 2017! You can catch him at any of these races below and you can click here to register:

-Lake Tahoe, Spartan World Championships, September 30 – October 1

-Oct 13-15, 2017: Biohacker Summit, Helsinki, Finland. This event is the focal point for learning faster, performing better, living longer, and enjoying more what you wake up to do every day. Discover the latest in wearables, internet of things, nutrition, digital health, and mobile apps to increase performance, be healthier, stay fit, and get more done. Get your tickets here!

-November 10-13: Weston A. Price Foundation Wise Traditions Conference, Minneapolis, MN. I’ll be speaking at the 18th annual conference that covers everything from hormone health, adrenal and thyroid health, natural fertility, degenerative diseases, to traditional diets and food preparation & more. Learn how to improve your health through food, farming and the healing arts. Click here to register. 

November 28: Advanced Brain Biohacking for Cognitive Performance at The Alchemist’s Kitchen, in New York’s Bowery neighborhoodDiscover from America’s top personal trainer little-known tools, techniques and tricks you can use to maximize cognitive performance, enhance IQ, increase working memory, and upgrade your mental hardware at “The Alchemist” at 8:00 pm.

-November 29: “A Biohacking Adventure” with Ben Greenfield and Chef David Bouley – Join us at Bouley Test Kitchen for a biohacking adventure! The experience is part of “The Chef and the Doctor”– our series of health-focused, multi-course culinary experiences featuring world renowned doctors and Chef David Bouley.

-Dec 7-9, 2017: XPT Experience, Kauai, Hawaii. Join me, Brian Mackenzie, Kelly Starrett, Julia Starrett, Laird Hamilton and Gabby Reece, for an epic, all-inclusive performance living workshop this Dec 7, 8 and 9 in beautiful Kauai, Hawaii. Come and join us for pool training, underwater workouts, gym training, breathing instruction, outdoor workouts, recovery biohacking and much more! Get your tickets here.

-Dec 11-23, 2017: Runga Retreat, Cambutal, Panama. This retreat spans 8-days and centers around fostering heightened awareness, presence, and connection with others through a mandatory “Digital Detox” – or no cell phones, computers, and other technology. Yoga is offered twice per day, everyday. There is also an off-site adventure ranging from hiking volcanoes to white water rafting or zip lining. World-class spa treatments are available and 100% of the food are suitable for vegetarian, vegan, paleo, gluten-free, or ketogenic dieters. Get your tickets here, and use code BEN for $10 off.

Giveaways & Goodies:

-Click here to get your own GreenfieldFitnessSystems.com gift pack, handpicked by Ben and chock full of $300 worth of biohacks, supplements, books and more. All at 50% discount!

 

Take the hassle out of health with my complete nutrition guide, exact daily routines, and 12-week detox program. Sign up now for instant access.

Email*

I'm interested in…*

Fat loss Gaining muscle Having more energy Motivation and willpower Racing and competition Biohacking my mind and body Anti-Aging Injuries/Pain Just help getting started! Other/Anything else

YES, HOOK ME UP!

-Grab your Official Ben Greenfield Fitness Gear package that comes with a tech shirt, a beanie and a water bottle.

-And of course, this week’s top iTunes review – gets some BG Fitness swag straight from Ben – click here to leave your review for a chance to win some!

 

——————————————

Listener Q&A [33:20]:

As compiled, deciphered, edited and sometimes read by Brock Armstrong, the Podcast Sidekick.

How To Maximize Ketosis

Margot says: I just listened to your interview with Dom D’agostino where (if I understood correctly) he said that you can enhance the synergistic effects of exogenous ketones if you mix them with BCAAs and MCTs. I take ketone salts that only have potassium added. I was wondering if I could get the added benefits of BCAAs and MCTs if I add them in my own concoction. Or even by added the ketone salts to a protein powder and then adding some coconut oil. That would enhance the taste but would it do anything to the effectiveness of the ketone salts?

In my response, I recommend:
My article on BCAA’s vs. EAA’s 
How to get into ketosis
The Levl device 

Do Power Poses Really Work?

Kyle says: When you go and do public speaking, for example when you did your TED talk, when you present in front of people, what are some strategies you use to get into that presenter mode? Any tricks you do? Any breathing exercises? What kind of mental preparation do you do? Any examples would be appreciated.

In my response, I recommend:
This Egoscue Video
Power of Introverts by Susan Cain
Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs
1 minute of box breathing

How To Detox Your Home

Jason says: When you are doing DIY projects around the home, like painting the house, minor plumbing, or gluing something back together – all these products tend to have a lot of toxic compounds in them. Do you do these DIY projects and look for low toxin products, like a low VOC paint or something that doesn’t have any toxins in it? Do you contract the work out so you don’t have to touch it? What do you do?

In my response, I recommend:
How To Biohack Healthy Home book
AirDoctor
17 ways I detoxed my body in 2017

Should You Have Sex Before Competition?

Beni says: I am wondering about this idea of peaking for a race where for 3-4 days you ejaculate a lot (or have a lot of sex) and then about 2-3 days before competition you cut it all off to increase testosterone (or whatever). Apparently there is a lot of ayurvedic study around this. I would like to hear the physiological side of this. Is there any clinical proof or a reason to do this? Ben, I know you were tampering with this so let me know if you have seen results with that.

In my response, I recommend:
-This chart on ejaculation frequency:

 

 

 

Ask Ben a Podcast Question

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *