Brian (1s):
Coming up on the GET, LEAN, Eat, Clean, Podcast.
Matt (3s):
Make sure you're measuring your protein. So many people are deficient in their protein intake just across America, across the board. And then when you're shopping, like are you hitting the grocery store and shopping the outside aisles, right? Where the refrigeration section is getting a lot of, you know, the clean carbohydrates in you. But one of the main things we focus on is just counting macros. Like understanding how to count macros at the end of the day is just a massive tool you to like operate and have a daily cadence as far as the selection of food. But obviously Whole Foods being the primary focus, getting the clean carbohydrates, something that's easily broken down too. But at the end of the day, we really focus on that protein intake.
Brian (44s):
This week I interviewed certified nutrition coaching specialist podcast host and owner of Full Fueled Matt Tack We discussed the importance of counting macros along with Prioritizing Protein, the Downside to Fasting too much, Using Testosterone, Replacement Therapy, Optimizing Sleep, and his one tip to get your body back to what it once was. Really enjoyed my interview with Matt. I know you will too. Thanks so much for listening and enjoy the show All. right. Welcome to the Get Leany Clean podcast. My name is Brian Gryn and I have Matt Tack on Welcome to the show.
Matt (1m 18s):
Hey Brian, thanks so much for having me. Looking forward to this convo.
Brian (1m 21s):
Yeah, thanks for coming on with Full Fueled. And I know you're a certified nutrition coach and performance coach as well. How long have you been in this industry?
Matt (1m 32s):
It's actually funny. So I've taken a few different narratives, but personal trainer, probably about 20 years ago, 15, 20 years ago, I started out in that, got into the business world, so really became an entrepreneur in a couple different rights of real estate and then specifically now focusing over the last four years on the functional wellness space. and we own a clinic here in Tampa Bay called the Lessi Functional Health. And then we coach some guys online.
Brian (1m 60s):
Excellent. Yeah, hopefully you didn't get too affected by the hurricanes coming. We did.
Matt (2m 6s):
Oh man, we did. And
Brian (2m 7s):
Oh, did you? Yeah,
Matt (2m 9s):
It was something else. I'll tell you what that was the were two powerful hurricanes that were completely different. Helene was not windy, didn't have a ton of wind, but brought a lot of water and then Milton just brought a ton of wind. So it was pretty crazy and pretty ca catastrophic to be honest with you. So all the way from Tampa Bay on down, it got pretty hit pretty hard.
Brian (2m 32s):
Wow. So did your clinic take some damage
Matt (2m 34s):
Or We didn't, the clinic didn't take any damage. Our home fronts did a little bit, not too bad. We, I would say relatively, considering the circumstances came out unscathed, we have a little bit of damage on the home fronts, but we just had to close down for a week. So, you know, when businesses come, you know, I always say when you're, when you are tracking a hurricane, it's like watching a NASCAR race go five miles an hour. It's super boring, but you're, all you're doing is listening this like terrorized fear from news os outlets, which rightfully so. You have to be prepared. The city of Tampa did a phenomenal job at just educating people and then asking them to get evacuated. We did evacuate.
Matt (3m 14s):
It was kind of eerie, like when you have to say goodbye to your house, Milton was expected to bring 15 foot storm surge in Tampa Bay. By the grace of God it didn't and it hit further south, but there was, you know, it did hit that hard further south, but we had to shut down for roughly around a week. And, you know, there's a lot of businesses that are either gonna go out or they have to just rebuild.
Brian (3m 40s):
Wow. So you, you left town, did you go somewhere north or?
Matt (3m 45s):
We actually went inland So. we went to Orlando, which was amazing. I can give a little shout out to the Renaissance Hotel at SeaWorld in Orlando. Phenomenal job. They, we have a dog, So, they opened up pets completely free and kinda utilized the space as an evacuee space. So it was just full of, and then they brought all of their staff in in the hotel too, so that they could take care of us. So it was a phenomenal experience while the storm was going on So, we didn't get to hit too hard in Orlando, so it was, and we were in a pretty robust hotel, so everything worked out there.
Brian (4m 24s):
That's good. That's good. And I'm glad, glad to hear you're back up and running.
Matt (4m 29s):
Yeah, we're back. We're full steam ahead now.
Brian (4m 33s):
Awesome. And I know you talk a lot about, you have a podcast, right? Full fueled.
Matt (4m 38s):
Yeah. Great job on that. A little bit of a tongue twister.
Brian (4m 42s):
Oh, the full fuel. Yeah.
Matt (4m 44s):
Full fueled. Yeah, we've been So, we got about 55 episodes in. Oh, cool. We focus on some pretty cool pillars that we fuel, fuel movements, leads, mi, mind, spirit and work. And we like bringing in the full fuel and movement piece quite a bit in terms of optimization, how people can live their best lives.
Brian (5m 6s):
Yeah, I noticed that and I was looking at like, I'm al I think I'm almost at 400 episodes, so, nice. Yeah. Yeah. And, and I know we talk about a lot of similar things, mindset, nutrition, you know, building strength. What are some of those main talking points that like you guys touch on as far as nutrition is? Well, well let's start, let's start with nutrition. I mean, there's so many different camps and maybe different ways to go about it depending on the individual, but what do you guys focus on when it comes to, you know, proper nutrition?
Matt (5m 35s):
Yeah, you know what's funny about that? There's like so many rabbit holes that people can go down and there's so many apps, good, bad food, you know, one of those things we just, we really at the end of the day try to keep it really simple. So protein intake, make sure you're measuring your protein. So many people are deficient in their protein intake just across America, across the board. And then when you're shopping, like are you hitting the grocery store and shopping the outside aisles, right? Where the refrigeration section is getting a lot of, you know, the clean carbohydrates in you. But one of the main things we focus on is just counting macros. Like understanding how to count macros at the end of the day is just a massive tool that you can bring into your, you know, you just for, for you to like operate and have a daily cadence as far as the selection of food.
Matt (6m 26s):
But obviously Whole Foods being the primary focus, getting the clean carbohydrates, something that's easily broken down too. But at the end of the day, we really focus on that protein intake. So that protein intake being supplementary too. We, we definitely like the ISO 100, the hydrolyzed protein by ISO one hundreds by, man, I'm drawing a blank on the ize. Just being able to add that in as far as if you are getting protein deficiencies or you're more, more geared towards a vegetarian route. But those are just the big things that we go to right off the bat in terms of the nutrition, are you hitting your proper protein targets? Where's your goal weight at?
Matt (7m 7s):
And then establishing that protein intake and then shopping around the outside of the aisles. Right. Well we're, I'm a big believer in the various yogurts that have high protein intake over desserts. And so it's just that habit structure that we like incorporating into kind of building the mindset and the cadence day to day from what nutrition looks like.
Brian (7m 27s):
Yeah. Yeah. And, now you bring up protein. I just rebroadcasted my interview with Dr. Don Lehman and I don't know if you've had him on yours, that'd be a great one to get on. But you know, he's sort of the, I guess the godfather of protein and he's been studying it for like over, you know, 30 years. I know he was a professor at the University of Illinois And, you know, he talked about protein, but he also talked about like the leucine, you know, the amino acids that you're getting from that. The importance of just, you know, muscle protein synthesis and, and also, you know, having protein as the staple of every meal. you know, you're creating satiety and, and then you're just sort of setting yourself up to for growth, you know.
Brian (8m 11s):
'cause I think, you know, as we get older, you know, I'm sure your, a lot of your audiences, maybe, maybe not, but a lot of my audience is 40 plus. It's like, you know, you, you hear a lot about fasting. I used to be in that fairly big camp of fasting, but I've gotten a little bit away from that because, you know, first of all, building muscle as you get older, is it, it, it's more difficult. And if we're in a sort of like this catabolic state, if we're doing a lot of fasting, it's gonna be very tough to do that. So I think I, I like that you lead with sort of hitting, hitting your macros and making sure that you're getting enough protein because it's that much more difficult as we age to, to, to create growth.
Matt (8m 49s):
Yeah. That's so cool. So you and I are kind of in that same stage. So I, all of last year, actually I Guinea pig myself on fasting. Okay. And. what was funny is I lost a lot of muscle mass, a ton of muscle mass, and I was focused on more endurance type activities, so running kettlebell training. So a lot of functional training. And. what I found was actually I plummeted my testosterone levels. Oh wow. So, they went from probably mid sixes to, I was operating at two 80, really heavy brain fog. And so what I do now is just a little bit different approach. I I, same thing. I, I love the idea of fasting, but there's, there has to be within the operation of not losing extensive muscle mass.
Matt (9m 29s):
So what I do is I, I detox, so I try to do it once a quarter. I'll do a seven day detox, which is definitely, I'm in a major caloric deficit and then it's utilized through protein. And then I have detox supplementation. I actually use the EQU life detox. It's rather inexpensive and you can get 'em in seven day stints. And so that's something I do from, you know, kind of push myself, but allow my body and my liver to detox and cleanse. And it's been, it's been huge for me. But then I don't have to worry about fasting that 24 hours weekly and then intermittent fasting throughout the day. I'm eating actually quite a bit now because I've actually, over this past year, I started in January, I've actually packed on about 25 pounds of muscle, which is crazy.
Matt (10m 15s):
Wow. And it's a lot of eating because I'm very active as well. And a little bit has to do with TRT. So I got on TRT midyear this year, mid this year. So that was in June I decided to go on testosterone replacement therapy. But 25 pounds of muscle is, is pretty good. And I definitely feel a lot better. Yeah. So it's one of those things where I think you can operate in, you know, I like using the word a cadence, right? If you kind of set the objective of when you're fasting But, it doesn't have to be this daily or weekly thing. It can be actually a week, a quarter that you're like, Hey, this is when I'm gonna do my fasting or my detoxing.
Brian (10m 57s):
Yeah. A lot to unpack there. I would say that, yeah, 25 pounds of muscle man. I mean, I do DEXA scans on myself once or twice a year. And like, I remember when I started to eat more, 'cause that was the thing I, my fasting journey was not last year, it was like seven, eight years ago. I came out with a journal and just like wanted to test it on myself. Did a lot of just sort of intermittent fasting. I wouldn't say I did like a lot of like long-term fasting. Maybe a couple two day fasts, And, you know, I think it's, it, it, it's, it's a nice tool to have But. it can like, like most things, right? It can be, it can be overdone. And I just felt like I wasn't eating enough And what was getting almost too skinny and, and yeah, just started to consume more.
Brian (11m 45s):
I've had quite a bit of people on the podcast, Jay Feldman, Georgie Dink off, these are people from like the pro metabolic side of things. Yeah. And So, they have an interesting perspective and I, I believe a lot in that. So I've just tried to consume more And, you know, when I talk about consuming more, I don't mean like, I'm like going to like fast food restaurants. Yeah. you know, I'm eating, eating, like, like you said, like whole foods, right? It's tough to overeat whole foods, like no matter what macronutrient you're looking at, like if you're eating like solid carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables, you know, even some starches, like it fills you up.
Brian (12m 26s):
Like potato is a filling, ma filling food. I think it's one of the more satiating foods out there is just like a boiled potato. So, you know, protein obviously is a big one, but you know, you focus on that and even if you feel like even if you try to overeat, it's very difficult. But, it's a lot easier to overeat on just processed foods and things that have like 80 ingredients or like, you know, going out to restaurants, And, you know, eating, eating these fried foods and things like that. So
Matt (12m 60s):
Yeah. One thing, one hack that I've come up with that I love, because there's really two things that the American, like a standard American diet is deficient in and that's fiber and protein. And so one thing that I've done, I'm like, well how can I get my fiber intake through carbohydrate sources? And berries are, you know, typically red berries too. You have raspberries and blueberries are really high in fibers. I tend to go towards re strawberries. I love strawberries. And so I incorporate that kind of middle of the day activity and in the mornings as well where I'll just cut out fresh strawberries and dump a load of those and maybe some spinach with some chicken.
Matt (13m 42s):
So that's, that's actually how I have been incorporating more like whole food sources. But then with the mindset of getting like proper 40 to 60 grams of fiber into my diet as well. 'cause that's such a, such a crucial thing. Another thing to think about from kind of a pro metabolic approach is I love the idea, you know, when you're in the fasting state, you're obviously increasing autophagy, but you're decreasing mTOR. And mTOR is such a useful tool into, you know, muscular production. And so it's a give and a take in that situation. So I tend to be the same way.
Matt (14m 22s):
Definitely know those guys' names. So that's awesome. You've had 'em on your podcast mTOR. I lean towards, you know, how can I increase the efficiency of my mTOR and then giving my body a rest too. So like that restful period is typically, I try to target that towards a sleeping state. So I try to wind down my eating 7:00 PM try not to eat after 7:00 PM and then I'll pick usually up around seven 30 the following day.
Brian (14m 47s):
Yeah. I honestly, I think like for most people, if they just hit stop their eating window around seven, you know, let's just say seven o'clock, that's, you know, I would say most people, maybe I'm wrong on this, go to bed maybe around 10. For me it's 10, 10 30, I give myself three hours and, and right there alone is, is just a good sort of hack. Just like, 'cause most people aren't eating healthy things past that time. Right. So it's like you're, you're giving your body some time to rest and digest and also avoiding those sort of empty calories that usually get consumed later on in the day. Yeah.
Matt (15m 26s):
And a lot of 'em, you know, it's drinking, you know, sodas or, you know, whatever you're adding to the repertoire. I, I found, this is a hack that I've recently done. I, you know, I you, some people can look at it, you know, you go into those calculators, but Kos and there's another one that Aldi makes, but they make this a pro version of their Greek yogurts. Okay. And they have like 25 grams of like, protein in it. And. what I love is that I usually substitute that for a dessert. So I, you know, don't get me wrong, I, I love my desserts. So like, there's occasional times where I'm like, I am gonna splurge. You gotta live life a little bit.
Matt (16m 6s):
So I'm not gonna be like, I'm the cleanest version, you know, alive. But nine times out of 10 on a weekly basis, six outta the seven days a week, I'm actually eating a yogurt just for, 'cause I do desire some level of like, sweet me too. And so I go to the yogurt and I still get an additional 25 grams of yogurt or 25 grams of protein in that yogurt and it satisfies my appetite or that urge to just eat something sweet. So just a little hack.
Brian (16m 35s):
Yeah. Actually, speaking of that desserts, 'cause I do like desserts is my wife just made like, you wanna say it's yogurt, or not even yogurt, it's, I am sorry. It's more like soft serve ice cream, sort of just using two ingredients, bananas and like a tablespoon of like quality peanut butter. And she took like, I don't, I wasn't there, you know, she just literally used a good blender and, and it came out like almost like ice cream with like two ingredients. And
Matt (17m 3s):
Does she freeze the bananas? Yes. Is that what she did? Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
Brian (17m 6s):
Oh yeah. So like, if the bananas are getting bad and I don't, you know, we, we would rather not than eat 'em, then we'll just freeze them and then she'll just make, you know, just homemade ice cream if you want to call it that. But it's just two ingredients, honestly. If I would eat it over anything out, like it's, it's that good, it's it and it, it's like so simple and easy, which I think goes into another like hack is cooking for yourself. Just like once you start doing that, I think that like, it's a game changer. I think it's been a game changer for myself and my wife. Is that something that you do a lot? I know you're, you're like, you have an office there in Tampa and stuff and you're probably seeing a lot of patients there, but is that something that you do?
Matt (17m 52s):
Yeah, so one of two things, I'm actually on the op side. So Dr. Alessi handles in clinic, he's the doctor and I handle the business side of things. But so what we've done is one of two things. And so, and I always approach this a little bit differently because some people are worried about sodium. But one thing that I've done is at like your local grocery market, typically they're gonna have like pre grilled chicken cutlets that are like, already cut up for you in bags. They a little, a little bit higher on the sodium side. If you're not worried about that water retention, I'm not worried about sodium at all. But if you're worried about like some level of water retention, then maybe you wanna go a little bit cleaner out And, you know, make your chicken and pre-program all your meals.
Matt (18m 38s):
But if you're not pre-programming your meals, that is a great way to actually just have something throughout the day. So I'll have those, those are already pre grilled and then I'll have some spinach and like I said, I put some strawberries. I also like the 92nd rice packets, the 92nd rice packets that just allow me, you know, when you get jasmine rice, it's your body's able to easily absorb that and break that down from a carbohydrate source. So I try to, if I need efficiency in my day, I try to find things that my body can break down relatively easy so that it's not working against itself. And so that's where I, you know, if, if a hyper efficient, we have linked up with a great company here in Tampa Bay.
Matt (19m 25s):
I think they deliver all over the nation though, and it's called Nutrition Solutions. And they have high protein meals. They have some great, because they all grass fed meats, venison, they have great, great meats and So. we had actually Chris, the CEO of nutrition solutions on our podcast. And that's something we've taken advantage of on a week to week. So if we wanted some efficiency, even more efficiency where we add meals and we can just buy it from them, they have some great options for us to just be hyper efficient in that. And it's, they're all pretty high in protein. You can get some leaner stuff too. Yeah,
Brian (20m 1s):
I mean I think nowadays there's so many options for these, the, these meals getting delivered to your door. It's like you really can't go wrong. I mean, I like nutrition solutions, I've heard of them and there's definitely better, there's definitely like great options like that. We tend, I tend to get a lot of meat from force of nature if you're familiar with them. Yeah. So, so a lot of ground meat. I think like ground meat is another great little hack. It's not as expensive as just buying like steaks all the time. And you can just make so many things with ground meat. It's such like a, it's like a flexible way to just, you know, make anything from like meatballs and just add it in with whatever you want.
Brian (20m 42s):
And the cool thing about like force of nature is that they, they add in some organ meats in there as well and you won't even know they're in there. So like you have kids and they're like, you want them maybe to get a little bit of organ meats in their, in their life. I'm sure they're not gonna wanna sit there and eat liver or, or heart, but they'll add it in and you no clue. I mean, you could have guests over and say, oh, you just had some heart and liver that'd be like, oh, I didn't even know it was in there.
Matt (21m 8s):
Yeah, that's, that's a hack, man. I'm gonna check that out. I, i, I get my meat and I wholeheartedly agree with you on the approach of getting the ground meat. I love, I that's like a super hack too when you can, when you can make even a couple days worth, right? I I recently started doing these like mini Chipotle labels and I'll just, you know, cook up the rice and then I'll put some lettuce in, you know, lettuce off to the side so it doesn't get in. But then you can just blend that stuff together. You get a little Chipotle label throughout the day. It's super easy to make. You have your ground meat there, it's fresh ground meat. I get mine from Spread Oaks Farms. It's a farm here Oh nice. Right at the Florida Georgia line and have that shipped on ice.
Matt (21m 51s):
But you know, it's next level when it, you know, that's that I think that's going above and beyond for some people because they're like, do I want to get shipped or just go to the grocery store? But like if you do wanna like plan ahead, you know, some get some meats, it's great to take like force of nature or, or spread oaks farms and just get it delivered to your doorstep because the meat does taste differently. I don't get it. It tastes wildly differently than what you buy in store. So store it's sometimes cheaper.
Brian (22m 22s):
Yeah, yeah. No, it's, it's a great way to go. I mean it's force of nature's grown too. It's, it's all over now, but originally you just had ordered online, but Now I think you could actually get it in in some stores. Okay. Maybe talk a little bit about, and I know you mentioned you getting on TRT, when did you start that?
Matt (22m 42s):
So I started that, you know, backstory a little bit. I wanted to do it, I wanted to like, so I told you I had like kind of pretty much plummeted my testosterone levels. I think it was, you know, to be honest with you, I like, I Guinea pig myself, Dr. Leslie and I Guinea pig ourself on a lot of things, right? And so one thing I did last year was I did a lot of fasting and I did a cold plunge every day. Oh wow. So I would get up in the morning and I would get up for a three minute cold plunge. I would go directly into my plunge. I don't know if that was the healthiest thing, to be honest with you. Probably not. I've of like, I've changed, I've changed my tune on what cold wa the cold water approach. I actually tend to go towards like more heat therapy and infrared saunas now because I, I, like even last night worked hard.
Matt (23m 29s):
I about two and a half hours of basketball and then soaked in a tub felt way better than I would've like coming out of a cold plunge tub. So, but before that I, I wanted to use just supplementation to increase my testosterone naturally. And that was through zinc, magnesium and Uganda where, and omegas were like the, were the three supplements that I would take on a daily basis to increase those. And it did, I got a couple points higher, so I went from like about two 80 to four 60. Wow. But you know, as always in what we preach is like what's the optimal zone of testosterone and then where, where's your free testosterone levels are at?
Matt (24m 11s):
And I just wasn't, I wasn't happy being within that four 60 range. And so I decided we had a PA on our staff. I decided to get prescribed testosterone replacement therapy in June. And that was really the reasoning as to why I wanted to bump it up because I wanted to stay within like the 900 to a thousand range. I typically operate about 1100 and then 3% of that being my free, you know, the freeze being the most important. So my free was less than one and I think it was about one and a half percent of when I was at 400. So it still wasn't a good range. Now that I've been on TRT, I'm at a roughly around 1100.
Matt (24m 51s):
I get my blood work done about quarterly now and then I'm operating within that 3% free range of my total testosterone level. So it's been great. It's been amazing as far as like is just the way I operate, you know, my client mind clarity, you know, libido, all the things are great. So that's, but the reasoning as to why is because I wanted to start living within an optimal range. Not just, not just that. Oh yeah, probably I'm in a standard, the standard deviation of like what the average is. It's probably between four to 500. I don't wanna live that way.
Brian (25m 30s):
And is this something you'd go to and take every, is it, is it, how does it work? Do you go every month, every three months, or
Matt (25m 38s):
How does that work? So, so there's a, there are a few different ways for TRT, right? So you can get pellets and those are a direct insertion, right in the, like a lower spine area. They just make a small incision and put in pellets and that's a direct release. So you can get those done every six months. I chose a little bit different route. And the reason why, because research shows that a subcutaneous is, is, is a, is like a better approach in terms of like how you can operate on a day-to-day basis. So I do mine every other day, But, it is direct injection, so I typically put it glutes are right behind my tricep.
Matt (26m 21s):
There's a fatty region right above your tricep that you can put it in. I, I stray away from the naval area for some reason I was getting a, like a little like fatty tissue underneath the epi epidermis from it. And I think it was just a reaction that I was having and it happened a couple times, so it didn't happen in the other regions if you do the glute or behind the triess or just above the triess. So that's, that's what I do. I do every other day and I do 200, 200 mls is what I'm on. Typically people range from, you know, one 20 to one 60. But I, I te i, I went the 200, that was what was prescribed to me and that's given me a really, a really good ebb and flow day to day.
Matt (27m 10s):
And one thing I have changed a little bit, so I was doing it in the morning, but there was a little bit more research. So there's a, there's different research that comes out and then you just kind of, you gotta honestly just pick, you know, what, what do you think's best? So subq has 40% higher retention as of recent. A lot of people go intramuscular, but subcutaneous has higher testosterone retention. So I decide to go subq. And then the other thing is, is that it has basically a 24 hour rise and so I decided that I would start taking it at night. So Now I was taking it in the morning, Now I do it about 8:00 PM at night and then it'll peak out the following day, 24 hours.
Matt (27m 56s):
And then I'll do it every other day. So that's, do
Brian (28m 0s):
You think this is something you'll, sorry, do you think this is something you'll be on, you'll be on for like the rest of your life? Or do or do you, do you foresee it just for like, you know,
Matt (28m 12s):
I, the rest of my life for sure now there will be as is everything. you know, Peter Atia talks a lot about this in his book Outlive and I, he, he is, he's kind of like on this a roadmap of there probably needs to be a period that you need to kind of lay low on some things, right? And that includes, includes supplementation, right? Your body kind of recognizes it and doesn't start utilizing it to its fullest capacity. So maybe you take some things for six weeks drop off or two and then, you know, you provided a different cadence But, it will be something I'll be on the rest of my life. I don't know when I'll probably drop off whether it be for like a month or two and then get back on it.
Matt (28m 58s):
But as of right Now, I haven't kind of made that decision quite yet. I'll probably vary that off of my blood work on kind of the timing of all that But it is for the rest of your life. So that, that is one of the things, right? It lowers sperm count. So if you're trying to have kids, I wouldn't recommend getting on TRT if you're, you know, in the middle of trying to create some offspring. So that's one of the things for me, we're done having kids. I got three girls. So there's the, it doesn't really, you know, really take effect in that capacity for me. So as long as you're getting blood work and you're still operating and you feel good, I would say it's an ev it's for the rest of my life commitment.
Brian (29m 41s):
Okay. Yeah, it's interesting you mentioned the, the coal plunges. I actually have a plunge in my, that I got for, for my house and I'm definitely, I definitely use it. I try to use it in the, like a cor not overuse it, I guess, like you said, like it is a stressor, you know, it is a stressor. And so I, I definitely don't, I don't, I try not to like overuse it. I'll just use it when I'm feeling like in that mindset or, or want just to mix it up a little bit. But I do agree with you, I think like sauna and, and, and hot therapies a great way to go and probably something that you could do more on a regular basis. I know there's people who probably do plunge fairly often, so is that something that you sort of switched up?
Matt (30m 29s):
It definitely is something I switched up. It was like, same thing with you, it's one, it's a great stress. Like I'm gonna do something intentionally like really difficult. you know, that's a, that's mainly the benefits from being an anti-inflammatory every day, you know, go stepping into fight or flight. Like I, I don't know, like I, maybe there's some people that, you know, see the benefits of that. For me, I, I just tend to stray towards, if you infrared sauna hands down, you know, 25, 30 minutes of that on a weekly basis, two to three times a week I think is, would create more benefits.
Matt (31m 11s):
I mean that if the infrared penetrates four, four inches underneath the epidermis, so you're the cardiovascular pole and flow, the, the blood flow that you're getting from that is gonna be way more intense than basically shutting your down, shutting your body down for a couple minutes and then when you get out you just feel lively. Like it's cool, but I just don't think the benefits outweigh something that of like a, an infrared sauna.
Brian (31m 39s):
Yeah, I mean what I noticed with, with the plunge, it's like I, I tend, I, if I do it, I do it on an off day, I don't do it around any resistance training because you know, you're, you're causing inflammation when you lift, you know, you're causing muscle tear and like to go into a cold after that is not smart because you're, the the, you know, you're, you sort of want, you want that inflammation when you're, when you're lifting. And so I know people have talked about you want to keep it like at least four hours away from any lift, you could do it, you could do it pre but the thing about it is, is like it can take a lot outta you. Like, it, it, it's, you know, I'm sure like yeah, you get that initial sort of adrenaline burst, which, you know, and and mindset wise it sort of gets you in a great mindset.
Brian (32m 26s):
But like it can, after a little while you can sometimes feel a little bit run, you know, tired after that because you, you're sort of in that fight or flight mode.
Matt (32m 36s):
Yeah, for sure. you know what's funny about that? So I did all of mine pre-workout actually. Oh did, that's how actually I did mine. Yeah. It was a, it it is pretty intense pre-workout. It really is. But the real reason why, and you touched on this a little bit, is you don't wanna do it like right after a workout because especially if you do it, if you're, the goal of your workout was hypertrophy, you basically shut that off. Like it, it shuts off your hypertrophy. So Right. I'm like, ha, I I would rather get the max gains that I possibly can than rather like shut off all that circular flow to like basically the muscles that, you know, I I like, I just basically worked out and I work out extensively through hypertrophy though all my training sessions are circled around getting the max hypertrophy.
Matt (33m 29s):
Right. So for me that was, that was hands down like some of the reasoning behind that was like, you know, I I don't really wanna do that. Actually I wanted, like I, I want efficiently repair, but I, I don't want to, I don't wanna shorten that. So that was one of the, the, you know, great point. 'cause that was one of the main reasons why I kind of, I kind of stray away from a little bit more of the cold plunge. But I, I still do it pre-workout, so I always do it pre-workout when we do, we actually have it at the clinic now. So I did have one at my house as well, but we moved them over to the clinic. So when I, when I have meetups at the clinic, I'll, I'll have all the guys jump in the cold plunge and then we'll go workout.
Matt (34m 9s):
Got
Brian (34m 9s):
It. Well, and the one thing about doing a pre-workout is it brings that I had another individual on, but that talked a little bit about this But it brings that body temperature down and like you'll, you, you'll probably be able to get more outta your workout because you know, that's what sort of prevents you from like sometimes pushing harder, right? Is that rise in body temperature and like, you know, that fatigue lever. But like I found like I could go, my, my workout sessions could actually be stronger sometimes because it puts you, you know, puts you in sort of that, I don't know if like decreases your body temperature to a point where like you can push harder through.
Matt (34m 45s):
Yeah, no it does notice that. Yeah. Yeah. Because you're, you know, everything operates off your central nervous system. So when you kind of bring down to a lower than a, you know, subdermal temperature, you're then you're going into something where basically you're increasing that thermal temperature that you have. Yeah. You, you tend to be able to, you know, push a little bit more weight just because you're like gradually rising that over the course of your workout. So you do have to be like careful because you are more injury prone, right? Because like the whole idea of having a, a less rigid structure going into maybe a workout or a hobby is like being somewhat limber and loose, right?
Matt (35m 30s):
So when you, when you do have that core temperature that's like, you know, subdermal after you do have to be a, a little bit more careful because you're, you're definitely a little bit more rigid as you go into the workout. 'cause your body's your body's definitely tense.
Brian (35m 45s):
Yeah. I would definitely recommend for someone that just is starting out, just start with like maybe some cold showers and just, and, and, and, and start that way. And I, and I would recommend out to, for me, for someone that's starting out, maybe just do it on, on some off days and And, you know, it's a good place to start. But like you said, infrared's a great place to go. Is there anything else like sort of hacks that you like to use just to, you know, you know, you do hot cold. Anything else? What about like anything for sleep?
Matt (36m 15s):
Sleep. I'm working on sleep. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm, I'm struggling as of, I don't know the past probably four or five months I did wear a whoop band and so I tracked data with the whoop band and I was getting quality sleep. But there's something going on with like my nasal, like I, I don't know what it is. So this is very recent. I have colonial silver, right? So if, if you've ever used Colonial silver, it's a, it's a great tool for coughs colds where you can just spray it up in your nose. 'cause silver attaches to all bacteria, right?
Matt (36m 56s):
So like it actually eliminates it almost instantaneously and you can buy it at Amazon Cordal silver is great. So I spray that in my nose and ears and I almost get like instant relief. But I do need to work on my sleep. So I'm gonna start, I'm gonna get the ora ring and I'm gonna start tracking that. I didn't love something around my wrist when I was sleeping, so I figured maybe a, a ring would be a little bit better 'cause I want to track my track, my sleep habits a little bit better and so I can become a little bit more efficient in that area. I do have a, one of my main hacks is just like setting a bedtime. So I have to get to bed before 10 o'clock. It's just like, it's a, a non-negotiable for me.
Matt (37m 37s):
'cause I do get up early so I'll get up usually around the 5:36 AM I have been sleeping in a little bit, so I don't like lying to people at all. A super transparent what I like the past, I would say through the hurricanes, it's just something I've been doing. I've been like sleeping in towards, I guess you can call it sleeping in is probably 6 15, 6 30. Yeah. But I usually am at like a little bit more of an early bird where I like being in that 5 15, 5 30 window. And, but one of the ways to do that is really just to like set a really solid like bedtime, like routine of getting in bed. Yeah.
Matt (38m 17s):
One thing I have eliminated is I put my phone in the kitchen, I turn it off and then I've got an alarm by my bed that has birds singing when I wake up. So that's something I've just done differently to like kind of build better sleep habits. But colloidal silver I think is a, like an amazing tool to utilize throughout the week and just spraying it up your nose, spraying it in your ears just to remove that bacteria so that, you know, if you feel like a small cold coming on or if you just want to prevent a cold. I think it's a just a great way to, to be proactive about that stuff.
Brian (38m 52s):
Interesting. Yeah, I've heard of, I've heard of Colo, so I've never used it myself. Sarah Banta I've had on the show and she, she sells, I know that's one of the products she sells. It's like a natural antimicrobial agent. And so I could see how that could help with that. So that's something that you've been utilizing, but I do agree with you, like as far as for sleep is like have going to bed the same time and also getting up at the same time really helps. I think sleeping away from your phone is great. I mean, like you said, like set an alarm, a different alarm other than your phone and that way you're not even close to it.
Brian (39m 32s):
'cause I think, you know, for the most part, most people are attached to their phones throughout the day.
Matt (39m 37s):
Yeah. For, and this is the reason why I did this. It's not because I'm crazy about EMF and all this, you know, the real reason is this. And I thought about it and I'm like, if I look at my phone and touch my phone, it has a negative energy. I'm just like, man, this thing. Like if I could actually get rid of this thing for like just two or three hours, but it's always attached to me. And so there has to be a point in time where it's like, just away from me, it's like the best friend that I don't want around me Right. All the time. And I really thought of it like that. I'm like, do I want, do I wanna wake up to this thing that just like, is kind of, has a little bit negative energy associated to it, right? And then it forces me to like check a text or an email or something like first thing in the morning.
Matt (40m 18s):
And so that's why I truly did it because I'm like, I don't wanna wake up next to like negative energy. I just want like positivity. So when I wake up I don't have to like, touch something that is naturally going to like, deplete me throughout the day. So yeah, it's just one hack that I decide to do probably two or three months ago and just, I honestly love it.
Brian (40m 41s):
That's awesome. Well I And now you have three girls that are what? All under the age of how, how, how old are they?
Matt (40m 48s):
Eight, seven, and five.
Brian (40m 49s):
Yeah. So that could be affecting your, you know, just a small detail, right? Small
Matt (40m 55s):
Detail for sure. How many kids you got?
Brian (40m 57s):
We don't have kids. Oh, okay. We have two dogs who I'm gonna pick up. They're getting groomed right now, so it's nice and quiet here. Although there are, they're great dogs but no kids right now. But How old are you Matt?
Matt (41m 9s):
I'm 39.
Brian (41m 10s):
Oh, you okay?
Matt (41m 11s):
You're young. Yeah,
Brian (41m 12s):
You're young. Yeah. What a, what a I, I'll just end on a few questions. Like, do you have any favorite supplements? Supplements that you use?
Matt (41m 22s):
Uganda is one of my favorite and Creatine's the next I would say Uganda and creatine are the two. Okay. And then I do, I do use this Chaga mushroom, it's a liquid chaga mushroom that I don't know if I've actually seen, I like, I've used it for the past couple months. I don't know if I've seen any like, great effects from it. Sure. Maybe I have if I got off of it. But I do, it's like kind of a liquid that I, that I use there. But I use Naga a protein and then I usually get about 10 to 15 grams of creatine in me on a daily basis. Either intro workout or post-workout.
Matt (42m 3s):
So those are, those are the main. And then obviously protein, protein, I've gone more towards the hydrolyzed, like I said earlier, the hydrolyzed just has really low impact on the gut, I think. I think, I won't say for sure, I think it's more bioavailable to be honest with you. I think I can credit a lot of like my muscle gain to it because I do consume about 225 to 250 grams of protein in a day, you know, and there's always like, hey, how much is, how much of like protein powder is bioavailable based on like, if you're eating chicken, steak, you know, whole food sources.
Matt (42m 44s):
I do think it, that has a decent amount of bioavailability because it is able to be broken down a lot easier. So I am, I'm just a big believer in the hydrolyzed protein. I think it's really, really low impact on the gut. you know, I think I've had, you know, without getting too granular, like solid stool, you know what I mean? So that's a good thing to measure as far as like how healthy you are. And, and I think that, you know, a lot of that comes through the, like the fiber intake as well. But the hydrolyzed protein, I, I, you know, I, I've recommended this to so many people just because I really think has an adv kind of advanced from where I was last year.
Matt (43m 25s):
you know, getting into, I, I I was at, so just to give you kind of like case in point, more of a runner last year, this year I've kind of picked up more strength training, but I went down to about 173 pounds and today I'm sitting at roughly around 2 0 6. So that's where, and that 173 was like kind of mid last year where I was at my leanest. But that's where kind of things have like grown. And I would say just being hyper efficient with my protein has drastically helped that. Yeah. What was the brand you liked for the protein? The hydrolyzed it, it's called, I get it on Amazon, it's called ize iso ISO 100.
Matt (44m 8s):
Yep. Okay. ISO 100. And I would recommend getting like more of a, like a plain vanilla chocolate or I, I get the peanut butter and the reason why is because they do, anytime you go into like the real creative stuff, it seems like they're adding colorings that you're probably not gonna want. Yeah. And so if you can keep it relatively clean, you know, I, that's the way I approach it. So I try to keep, you know, keep it somewhat vanilla across the board when I'm taking my supplements.
Brian (44m 45s):
That makes sense. Yeah. This question I ask to most guests on the show is, what one tip would you give someone who's maybe looking to get their body back to what it once was, you know, 10, 15 years ago? What one tip would you give that individual? If they're just starting out?
Matt (45m 2s):
Yeah. If they're just starting out, you know, I always go, what what gets track gets measured. And so, you know, to typically people wanna just dive right into the gym and say, I'm gonna work out, but then they don't really have a plan for that, right? Yeah. And so I always start like, the biggest thing is your nutrition first. you know? And so, you know, whether it's through yourself or somebody like us, it's how can you understand how to track macros of like making decision making while you'ree. So like how much, what is my BMR right? Your, your basal metabolic rate of like, how much should I be eating on a daily basis to just like, for maintenance activity and just getting those daily wins.
Matt (45m 50s):
Like, and so when you're in the morning, maybe you're tracking the next day, but taking a reflection period of like five minutes of like, did I win yesterday or did I lose? Right? And if I lost yesterday, why was it and how can I win today? And a lot of that just comes down to like tracking, did I overeat? What did I do? And so really setting the baseline and getting a true understanding of like where you're going But. it really, it really comes down to like nutrition. How am I eating? How am I effectively tracking my macros and do I know how much I actually can eat to hit the maintenance? 'cause everyone has that goal weight too, right? It, you know, you ask anyone what, what's your goal weight?
Matt (46m 32s):
Well, I want to be, you know, my high school weight, I was 185 pounds and I was lean and I was jacked. I felt really good. Right? Well then, like, that's how much protein you need to get in a daily basis. A hundred, 185 grams of protein, right? And so it really comes down to that. So when you can start tracking those, those can be wins, right? And so I would say start tracking things like really understand, take the time of like what you're digesting and putting into your body because it goes a long way. And as that compounds and you, you win a couple days a week and then it becomes three days a week and four days a week, and then seven days a week, hey, things change. Things can drastically change in 90 days.
Brian (47m 13s):
Yeah. Yeah. That's great. No, I love that. And like small wins, I'm all about that, right? You gotta, you gotta, you gotta build momentum, right? And just creating, you know, even if it's like saying yourself, like you said, maybe I'm gonna start tracking what I'm eating. Or maybe it's just like, I'm gonna go for a daily walk. you know, like it's simple little daily wins and they sort of sit you on your, on your way to success, whatever that looks like for you, you know, whatever that health goal is or anything. So. Well this is great Matt, where's, where's the best place for people to find you?
Matt (47m 45s):
Yeah, we have our full field podcast. We're in every syndication source. The two three main I would say is YouTube, Spotify and iTunes. And then I'm on Instagram at Human Optimizer and then Matthew Tack on Facebook. Those are the two social sources I typically post on. So. And then if you're in Tampa Bay, we'd love to have you. Okay. Anytime. Brian, you're, you're down here. We're at a Lessi Functional Health here in Tampa Heights.
Brian (48m 10s):
I mean, I love, yeah, I'm usually on the other side 'cause that's where my parents are, but Now I know Now I have a good contact out on, on, on, on the west side. Yes.
Matt (48m 22s):
Yeah.
Brian (48m 22s):
Of this state. Yeah. Well this was great Matt. I appreciate you coming on sharing all this knowledge and I'll definitely put Links in the show notes for people to check you out and learn more about your, your podcast and everything you guys are doing there in Tampa. So.
Matt (48m 36s):
Oh, please do. Thanks so much, Brian. Really appreciate it. Great conversation. Thanks
Brian (48m 40s):
For listening to the Get Lean Eat Clean Podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen to mine and I appreciate that. Check out the show notes at Brian Gryn dot com for everything that was mentioned in this episode. Feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member that's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again and have a great day.
