Mitch:
What's up, everyone? Episode three, what's new with MPA and Matt Porter, right over there, somewhere. I think he always ends up over here, but it's weird when I record this because I'm pointing the opposite direction of where you look. So without further ado, what's new, Matt? Saw last weekend, you snuck in a show again. Tell us about that.
Matt Porter:
Oh yeah, I [inaudible 00:00:23]. Spur of the moment again, I did the Tournament of Champions in Diego. I wanted to do the Excalibur, which is this weekend, because it's a bigger title and it's just a really prestigious name. Unfortunately, I have prior obligations with some stuff, with appointments and all this other stuff. So I had to do the Tournament of Champions and break Rachel's leg to do it. She wasn't excited or thrilled I was doing another show. But I wanted to go out on a better note, meaning not just play per se, but just feel better out on the stage. Because as everyone knows, the first show was very painful for me. And that's exactly what we did.
Matt Porter:
So we went to San Diego, last minute type of thing again, registered the day of the show, and just felt way better, like it was amazing. So I had no issues as far as breathing or lung problems. I was able to enjoy the stage, pose. After I was done posing through pre-judging, I ran off stage, and I was ready to do cardio. That's how good I felt, and it was just a great way to ended it. Fortunately, I was able to win my class in the overall, and that's always great, but my main purpose for that was to enjoy and really take in the moment, which I wasn't able to do last time. So it was pretty cool, man. I filmed more. I was doing the YouTube compilation, so I filmed more footage leading into that show too, which isn't a whole lot, but it was only eight days more of dieting because of that Thanksgiving, and then it was literally like eight day prep again. But, yeah it'll be cool. So it went really well and I ended my year, my season, on a [inaudible 00:02:13] note.
Mitch:
Yep, indeed. Good. Because you didn't indulge for Thanksgiving. So were those eight days of prep difficult at all? But you prep year round, pretty much.
Matt Porter:
Well, that's the cool thing about it, because it's like, after the show I was like, "Oh, man, I'm going to eat some food." And then I was like, "What am I doing?" I've been doing... My prep is my normal diet for last two years, so it was like, this is just another day. So I had some food after the show, but I'm like, "Who am I trying to kid?" I'm not going to rebound and blow up like I used to in the old days. I'm like, "I'm just going to back to my normal... " That's just the way I live. That's just normal. So it was cool the day of the show to feel 100% not ill, and it was just a normal day, as if I was going to do cardio or if I was going to go work out. That's what the pre-judging was like. It was literally just going to work out, drinking water. It was pretty, pretty awesome just to go in there and not feeling dehydrated and super, super tired, [inaudible 00:03:14] carb depleted and that's just [inaudible 00:03:16] all the time. So it was just like a trip to me, to be able to go there and embrace it and enjoy it just as a normal day. So yeah, [inaudible 00:03:24] was like we talked last episode, nothing major, man. I had some rolls, I had some sweet potatoes.
Mitch:
I saw you had cake. I saw you ate some cake.
Matt Porter:
Oh, after the show. Yeah, they had... Actually, it was really cool. The muscle contests had like a bunch of sheet cakes, like chocolate, like a bunch of cakes right after the show. So after you get done, you can take your trophies and stuff backstage. They had a bunch of cakes for the competitor, so I had twice of whatever it was, it was delicious. But yeah, I had one slice of cake, which I felt I deserved or so.
Mitch:
Oh, for sure, competing with pneumonia and then doing it again, like a week later, you deserve a couple of pieces of cake in my opinion.
Matt Porter:
I'm a little mad, I didn't sample all of them. I just had that one slice. They had like several different varieties. So that's pretty cool.
Mitch:
Yeah. No, it's awesome man. So taken, obviously, rest of the year easy, and then just roll into 2018, see how things go as far as competing again.
Matt Porter:
Yeah. So for 2018 or now until [inaudible 00:04:35] just resting, back to my normal HRT regimen, giving my body healthy as possible when I do blood work to make sure everything's okay, like I always do anyway. And just take it a little easy with cardio and weights because I was doing a lot for being thick and hindered. So I mean, it's not the healthiest thing to be ill and still training at a capacity you're probably not ready for, but I had to push it. So yeah, I was going to have some downtime probably January, and then decide what experiment series I'm going to do because I'm going to continue that where I do an individual compound and do blood work with it, DEXA scans. And basically, just discover what certain things do by themselves over the TRT. So that's the plan...
Mitch:
[inaudible 00:05:24].
Matt Porter:
... right now.
Mitch:
Cool. So everybody can look forward to the compilation video of the last two shows, and what you went through, and then the experiment series coming back. That's awesome.
Matt Porter:
Yeah. Yeah, I think it's important. I think people enjoy seeing what certain things do whenever... I'm a good subject because I'm pretty... It's almost like a clean slate whenever you're just on HRT. That's kind of your norm. And then, adding one thing will change the parameters obviously. So anything I notice as far as physical strength, all that stuff, will be attributed to the additional compound because I always keep my diet the exact same, pretty much and all that business. So yeah, I think it's a good learning experience for the audience.
Mitch:
Yeah. And you really treat yourself... It really reminds me of a university or clinical study to where you know your control, so you have your base control, then you just implement one thing, see how it affects it, take that out if you don't like it and then do it again. So it's actually... Yeah, it's really cool. It's like a one man university clinical trial.
Matt Porter:
Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty cool. I keep things really consistent, so...
Mitch:
Nice.
Matt Porter:
It makes... Like with the [inaudible 00:06:40] and experiment, I know I didn't conclude that, people were wondering... some of them were like, well where's the final video? Things just happened to where I went into that secret prep, and then I got sick and all that [inaudible 00:06:57]. But I can tell you what the Primo did from a physiological standpoint. I didn't accrue new muscle or rekindle old muscle per se because I was on a hypocaloric diet, so calorie deficit. But it hardened me up and I dropped a little bit more body fat I'd say. But I just basically hardened up, my physique, got it more caustic, a cosmetically harder look. So yeah, it just tightened me up a little bit, was like a hardener, not really a muscle builder because I wasn't eating at [inaudible 00:07:23] or all that I will say.
Matt Porter:
So yeah, that's pretty much what [inaudible 00:07:28] did, and another interesting thing that it did was it naturally lowered my estrogen, like extremely low. So like my 200 milligrams of testosterone, usually puts my estrogen at like a healthy 40 to 50 level. When I added the Primo, it went down to like 0.5, almost non-detectable. So it was like a strong AI. So that was an interesting thing that it happened to me, and maybe people could take from that, that maybe they can hypothetically 100 milligrams, 200 milligrams of Primo alongside their TRT or testosterone to minimize aromatase activity, without running a Letrozole or Arimidex, which is really harsh on the lipids and lowers IGF-1 levels. So [inaudible 00:08:13] and a DHT derivative could possibly be a replacement for an aromatase inhibitor.
Mitch:
Oh, that's cool.
Matt Porter:
So that's kind of cool.
Mitch:
New information to me [crosstalk 00:08:23]. So speaking of experimenting, roll into some questions that people are asking for some leg experimentation and all that kind of stuff. The post on your Facebook page got tons of action. Thank you, everyone. We appreciate these questions, no matter really what they are. There's a lot of them, so we're not going to be able to get to them all, but we are going to answer a few of them, and then maybe we can drag them over into the next episode or... [crosstalk 00:00:08:51].
Matt Porter:
Yeah, you can send them all over.
Mitch:
Yeah, we can be like the new singular with rollover questions.
Matt Porter:
Yeah.
Mitch:
So let's see here. First question is going to be from Julian. Julian wants to know your thoughts on high-volume training and training advice overall to help with leg development.
Matt Porter:
Yeah, it's funny because I've always had a good upper body, and my legs in my opinion were always a lagging body part. Mainly after 2008 when I... Or 2008 when I injured my knee, never was able to train full capacity until the inflammation went down and had a host of problems. But I will say this, I used to train legs very heavy. I used to front squat four plates, back squat five plates. And I will tell you this, when it started to lighten the weight on squats, and I would go [inaudible 00:09:53] or a very low below parallel and go high reps. So two plates and just rep it out for 20 plus reps with very, very low and controlled. I do that sometimes three times a week, so high frequency, high volume. And I tell you what, my legs responded much better to that than they did once a week, heavy, heavy, heavy weight.
Matt Porter:
So I really, really fully believe that high volume legs and high-frequency, which sounds like a crazy thing... with lightening the weight, going very, very low, low as you can if you don't have any hip, lower back or knee problems and really filling the rest. So if you can control that squat, 225, 185, 275, whatever your strength is, then you can get sets of 20 reps. I think it's phenomenal for leg development because you got to think whenever [inaudible 00:10:48] parallel, now your glutes and your hamstrings are getting targeted and of course, your quadriceps. You're developing everything pretty much in your entire lower half. I really feel that's really effective.
Matt Porter:
And just recently, whenever I quit bodybuilding for that two and a half years, I was able to, luck would have it, squat again. I don't know if losing weight or whatever helped the inflammation in my knee, but I look to be a little bit more mobile and flexible. And I think for these last shows I was actually more balanced, where my legs, obviously could still be bigger, everything could be bigger. But in the grand scheme of things, I looked pretty balanced, like my legs and my upper body. And I think it's just for me being consistent with my squatting, and I've done what I did in the past with going too heavy with two plates and high reps, twice a week. So yeah, that's my best advice for me personally. So you'd have to figure it out, just take notes and try this stuff out for eight weeks, and see how it works for you.
Mitch:
That actually ties in perfectly to another question that I saw that was asked. You briefly touched on it in your answer, [Marissa 00:11:54] is asking the best exercise or exercise combinations to really bring in that glutes and hamstring tie in, not necessarily trying to grow the quads but bring up that hammy... or just the hammies and then the hammy-glute tie in.
Matt Porter:
This is something that I named, or I don't know if there's a name for it, I'm sure everyone... people have done this exercise, but I just call them pulse squats. So take a dumbbell and put it where it's sitting flat or vertically up, so a 50 or 60 pounder. If you put it underneath a [Smith 00:12:31] machine, so you would do Smith machine squats. And that dumbbell height, that's how low you're going to go. That's very, very low. You aren't going to be able to go heavy. And so, you're going to drop down in your squat, and have your butt hit the top of the dumbbell, and you're just going to come up midway, not fully up, just midway and back down. Midway, that's your pulsing, from midway to down to your strip that ham and glute tie in without fully extending and locking at your knees. You're just going to the midway and back down, and you're going to pulse that for sets of 20 to 30.
Matt Porter:
So you're going to drop down in the hole and then, just go to midway, back down to the dumbbell, midway. Do pulsing squats, do those and you can do them on a Smith machine. I think that's the safest route. And you can do them on regular barbell squats without a Smith machine, but you're a little bit more unstable. I think that's phenomenal because you're really isolating that area. And then of course, lunge, any type of lunge creation is going to be exceptional for that ham and glute tie in. Whether you do stationary lunges freeway, stationary lunges on a Smith machine, single or walking lunges, which are great but has its risks because you can be off balance for one step and tear your meniscus or some something stupid, even lightweight because you're not balanced. So yeah, I would try the pulsing squats that I just talked about.
Mitch:
That sounds like it really, really burns.
Matt Porter:
It is. It's constant tension.
Mitch:
[inaudible 00:00:14:01], that sounds like it'd be one intense exercise, right there. So there you go Marissa, pulsing squats. Bill Miller has the most difficult question I see on this list. Mr Bill would like to know, sriracha or honey mustard? Or excuse me, nevermind. Messed that up. It's sriracha or spicy mustard?
Matt Porter:
I was going to say if it's honey mustard, then definitely sriracha because honey mustard has sugar. Sriracha over spicy mustard, but I'm going to have to say Dijon over sriracha because I just love Dijon mustard. But if I had the spicy mustard, I would go with sriracha.
Mitch:
Nice. Let's see here. Next one. [Cody 00:14:42] has a Keto question. Cody started Keto nine days ago. He's got no carb up but planned until Saturday. Is it best to minimize saturated fats, or does it matter this early on if I have 10% fat to lose?
Matt Porter:
Okay, so he will embark on a ketogenic diet, and they're above 10% body fat. Personally would not have them carb up until at least three weeks, at least maybe three to four weeks of steady, consistent ketogenic phase eating. Some people right out the gates will do it at a week into the diet. I want to see leaner, and I want to see more fat adapted. So doing it 10 days, two weeks, I really don't think that's necessary, unless you're at below 10% body fat. If you're higher than that, I would like to see a little more body fat first, and then I'd also like to see be more Keto adapted first. And that usually takes... a metabolic shift is usually like three weeks. And whenever you do carb up, ideally, I would like to see you do low fats and just carbs.
Matt Porter:
So keep the fat in check and just focus on carb up, period. And then as you get leaner, like super lean, in this digits, you can get by with a little bit more and be more lenient and have more fats and cheat, like pizza, pretty much junk during your cheats because at that point you're more fat adapted. So what happens a lot of the times is [inaudible 00:16:20] as fuel. Whenever you have like a pizza or whatever, for the saturated fat from a pizza, you're basically still in a ketogenic state, while the glucose or the carbs from pizza are going glycogen, while you're still burning ketones, your body's really efficient at burning fat at that point.
Matt Porter:
You start... your body's like a machine, it starts utilizing ketones from the cheese and all the fat from the pizza, but it is replenishing glycogen from the dough and all that stuff. And you can still be in a ketogenic state, mildly or get right back into the next morning without being thrown off your diet. But that's going to take weeks and weeks, getting lean first and strict out crazy [inaudible 00:16:59]. So I would wait three to four weeks, get leaner, get more fat adapted. And then whenever you do your first carb up, keep the fat very low until you're very, very lean, and then you can get more lenient.
Mitch:
Nice. Well, let's go ahead and roll up the last question that we have time for today. Last question is going to be from Kyle for today. Kyle [Glickman is 00:17:22] is wanting to know how do you track your training, if you do? I'm assuming that means are you writing down your workouts? How do you keep track of what's working for you, what's not working? And does that differ from... And I don't think it will differ, tracking your training and tracking your training, but he's wondering if it would be different from a Natty to a non Natty tracking your training?
Matt Porter:
Personally, I haven't been tracking my training lately. Obviously, I've been trying to train the best I could with my illness. But I think if you're trying to get progressively stronger, then it's... you need to be adamant about tracking your trainings and logging it. So your major lifts for strength, bench press, military barbell, squats, dead lifts. I would be tracking those and then seeing if you're progressively getting stronger in them, and note penning them in a log or journal. As far as every single exercise, every machine, I don't know if I would really bother with that too much, but I would do your major lifts and really see if you are progressing, getting stronger. And then if you do plateau, move on to different free weight compound movements and graduate from the other one, go to new ones and then start there and record those. And then, switch back when you start plateau. You can only get so strong before you to start risking injury.
Matt Porter:
But me personally, I've had so many weird like shoulder [inaudible 00:18:52] and this the lower back, and it's, I've got to train instinctively. So like I might have something in my mind before going to the gym, then I get to the gym, and it's totally different because something hurts. So I have to really train by feel, and it's also fun for me to do that. So yeah, sometimes all train, very slow tempo, very controlled reps, slow eccentric or explosive concentric. Sometimes I'll train more ballistic, so it just depends for me. But I would recommend whether enhanced or natural, to definitely track your compound list and see if you are making progress as far as strength. That's very smart, just to know if you're moving in the right direction.
Mitch:
So that pretty much does it for today, guys. I appreciate all your questions. I apologize if we didn't get to any of them, or some of your questions, we will try to roll them over into the next episode. So for episode three, I appreciate everybody checking this out. Matt, I appreciate you here as always with your Raiders hat. Go Raiders, how they going to do this weekend, by the way?
Matt Porter:
They're going to win. They're going to beat the KC Chiefs. They've been on a losing streak with the Kansas City Chiefs, so... [crosstalk 00:20:06]
Mitch:
Yeah, the Chiefs, they were really, really good at the beginning, and it was like, Ah, they're going to make a run. And then now, they're worst than Green Bay and we don't even have our quarterback.
Matt Porter:
The whole [inaudible 00:20:17] is like [inaudible 00:20:20], and then this year they all suck. So it's like a battle of shitty teams. San Diego started coming up as Kansas City was going down, and now, yeah, Raiders and San Diego are battling it out. I think [inaudible 00:20:34] KC loses then it's Raiders and San Diego that battle for that first spot. So it'll be cool. Hopefully, they don't [inaudible 00:20:41] penalties and we win, but we'll see.
Mitch:
Well, and hopefully, Carr doesn't break his leg the last game of the season again this year.
Matt Porter:
Yeah, he's kind of a weenie. He's not very fast and scrappy, but he's a good, accurate thrower, but he's just slow and gets easy-
Mitch:
Yeah, that's funny.
Matt Porter:
... unfortunately.
Mitch:
Right on. All right. Well again, guys, appreciate it. We will see you for episode four next week and for episode three, we are out.
Matt Porter:
Yes, sir.
