ROUTINE OF A CHAMPION | Interview with Badreddine | Athlete Insider Podcast #69
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i haven't been really sore for three months because this is smart training my periodization in my training is built upon reps until six so i don't go higher than six repsyo gorillas welcome to the athlete insider podcast by GORNATION my name is phil and today's guest is the dutch calisthenics beast bob brothers athlete from the netherlands i'm super happy to welcome you to the show badadin yeah thanks for having me um it's a pleasure to be here i know coronation has great athletes who can join the podcast so i'm i'm very thankful to be here that's super cool i'm also really happy that we made it and maybe i can just talk about and tell the people the the small story that uh that we have like i don't you don't even know it but like we follow you already since a lot of years so like i think already since since i don't know maybe 2017-18 something um but yeah like mainly because you have like a really really inspiring physique uh you have like a really cool lifestyle that also inspires me with the ice bath and all these like things that are really impressive and i think it was in november 2019 that you've been to the calisthenics cup in the netherlands um and you've done like i've just seen your numbers and i was like oh damn this is like them it's not only like a strong physique but it's also like somebody who's really really strong uh we will just uh fade in the the numbers here but i think it was 26 dips with 48 kg and it was a mix mixture between like really strong um weighted numbers but also like endurance so i was at this time i was already thinking yeah it would be really cool to to interview this guy and to learn about um how you how you combine and uh how you become this like complete athlete so yeah uh we finally made it big thanks already uh for taking the time and i'm just really looking forward to jump into this interview yeah me too so uh yeah um maybe let's just start with the question that's already uh like always super super interesting um how did you get in touch with the sport how did you discover calisthenics so yes it's a way back uh if you've been following me from 2018-19 before that i was already doing calisthenics for four almost five years and i started actually in the gym i did fitness for a year and then after a year i found out is this it you know i was already very buff for one year of training so i saw potential and then i came along a good friend of mine um now uh and he introduced me to calisthenics actually he was still is part of bar brothers and it was back in the day called bar brothers netherlands and we had a great team and a youtube channel back in the day so they introduced me to this sport and i quickly saw my potential actually um and they they were amazed as well how fast i progressed in calisthenics so from then i was kinda in love with the sport um and as a kid i already loved doing push-ups pull-ups sit-ups it was it was basic stuff for me i saw it in movies in an action movies from arnold schwarzenegger sylvester stallone you know jean-claude van damme these names you might know and uh yeah and then i came along ivan marchioli he came to the netherlands eva marchionne is well known for his muscle ups and i saw physiques from lazar dushan and some other athletes back in the day and i was like is this possible with calisthenics and i got so inspired and after a couple of months doing calisthenics i saw the the real gains come they came and it was different gains than fitness gains actually because it's combined with way more challenging mentally it was way challenging uh more challenging for me and that's that that was very addictive for me so yeah yeah oh so was it the the physique uh of these guys that you just named that pulled you and got you addicted to the sport or was it the performance or what was it what made you want to startbecause of the beginning years it's it's very uh normal to to when you see it as a young guy i was 16 17 somebody usually starts to change their body that's where it starts and then and then the mindset mindset shift came and um after maybe a year or something i saw i looked into bar brothers and i spoke with yvonne and then i saw uh that it's not really about the physique it's it's of course a tool to inspire people but it's actually about the mindset and um yeah i i think it's beautiful to inspire people uh that was always the main is the main goal of bar brothers and um yeah that's that's that was my it's my why changed in along the way my why changed in in inspiring people and uh more people joining the community and more people joining calisthenics training um instead of just focusing on the physique and of course training your physique is is uh is challenging as well but you have to uh i think working out is a great way to challenge yourself mentally um yeah it's overall known that it's it's a great way to challenge yourself mentally true and as i can see from from social media at least uh you're a big fan of challenges this is why you compete in like competitions but you also challenge yourself i guess with uh with as i said like the the ice ice bathing and maybe you can tell us like about your your mindset a little uh your have you always always been like a competitive person have you always been like folks focusing on on competition yeah i think um i think as a as a little kid uh i really like to be challenged and to join challenges and um and i couldn't re i didn't like losing so that's uh right now i i i know how to handle the losing better than back in the day but uh i get i used to get really mad when i lost even in in like simple gym challenges on school sim stuff like that and i i truly knew this this isn't my what i can do you know so i kept i kept improving improving and didn't share a lot with the people actually how i trained but i was like in the background i was working working working and it was never enough still now it's it's still not enough i'm i'm blessed of course and i'm thankful but i'm still very hungry after seven eight years now so yeah and are you more like a silent worker because i think i i mean you're not inactive on social media but you you don't share every workout right or like um how do you do it yeah people might might know where i come from because when i work out i'm in the zone so every uh camera people who talk can be a distraction at some days now i know how to handle it i just place the camera there or i ask somebody to record but it was a it was a long process to get used to that because i i needed 100 2 percent of focus for the training that's how i saw the best results and if you ask many people the best workouts they usually get have them alone you know the you versus you it's usually like this and yeah and then along the way it wasn't about me anymore you know you you see you inspire people so that shifts it was a mindset my mindset shift to understand that if you record it will inspire people even if it is a simple story that you're working out people will see and they will join and that was a great mindset shift for me to just stay active even though i have some breaks but i try to stay active yeah nice so yeah can you tell us about what you're working on right now like um what i would be also interested in i see the the the previous days you you you uploaded like um like i think it was five reps of 70kg pull-ups uh and like today you uploaded your extremely heavy dip how how many kg was that was it yeah it was 152 and a half kilogram wow but it's uh it's it's not my max um it's it's just a show it was a little update you know just show where i'm at but it's it's not even close to where i will be in a couple of months i've been working on pure strength that's the difference so right now is the perfect example when you focus on one thing you get super super good at that one thing so if i combine strength with endurance right now my strength might be not as good as my how do you say it will go down because you don't train specific strength anymore so you have to find blocks where you focus on certain parts like my skills i haven't touched skills in a while because my priority is strength right now so i'm um i'm actually working to a higher one rep max actually and yeah it's it's it's on the dips on the pull ups and on the chin ups and then i have a lot of side work exercises who support these three exercises how long is like one of these blocks um because as you said like you have strength you have endurance and skills is it like these three three blocks that you have yeah yeah usually it's it's endurance strength uh skills and then you have flexibility mobility as well um because that was uh still is one of my weakest points because uh you're so addicted to to making progress but actually the real progress when you're experienced at least is in these smaller things like flexibility mobility you can wait you can uh this is a way to get strength from a different uh like especially chin ups my mobility was right here with my chin up so i changed my mobility to get to here and my chin ups went up because i worked on my uh wrist mobility as an example and my pull-ups as well on my dips as well so i focus on technique i focus on strengthening my shoulders actually with with bands and stuff so my dips went up crazy because i i found ways to kind of hex in the system to work on the exit to get stronger in these exercises by not working on the exercise itself that's super interesting um how how do you find these weak links like um how do you do you film yourself do you hire a coach like what's the what's the best um actually when you have a coach um that can be a game changer especially for beginners when you have a good coach it will fasten your progress a lot some people do push-ups for example wrong for years and they then they stumble upon someone who taught them the right way or teach them the right way and they they make insane progress in these next months because they do the exercise right so um i live together with a physiotherapist which helps is a good friend of mine yeah yeah yeah i'm very lucky but that explains um these hacks and he can just see imbalances by looking at you how is your posture how we analyze movements how where are you at now how do you train do you train specific on exercises or um you might need a new exercise to improve because usually when you're uh i was at under 35 kilogram dip and that was kind of a plateau for me then i found out uh there are ways to get stronger in dips by just focusing on strength only the stronger athletes you see in calisthenics um they are super strong in these um uh like uh there's one guy a russian guy i think it's matthew matthews lat it's insane well i saw his podcast he explains thathe's just focusing on two or three exercises that's it that's it he's just doing that and he's killing it why because he's so consistent with these three exercises i know you can do one arm pull ups fold levers stuff like that uh which is a byproduct of these insane weighted numbers but you never see him do endurance because it might [ __ ] up with his his progress in his strength because your your system is built like that uh so i saw that i've been focusing on strength for three months consistently before ramadan i started i saw uh opportunity to join a one rep max competition so i started training three months ago then ramadan came i thought i my progress went down no my progress went up i saw a way in ramadan by training two hours before breaking the fast it improves uh uh i say uh ketosis you you come in a ketosis state uh you know keto from ketosis uh diet it's a thing in your brain and hgh it's human growth hormone which which you stimulate by big amount of percentages when you fast it's just shown in studies so i found that way which helps and then now i'm a month i think past ramadan and my my gains went insanely up it's it's insane and it's just the beginning yeah it's just the beginning so yeah right now specific training on strength and i see great results actually when i leave the the other stuff like endurance skills i leave behind i focus on strength and now uh the real gains start uh like the game change like this is the game changer for me you focus on one thing a lot and then you get insanely good of course you need good genetics to uh to get better in certain movements but when you found out your strong points and you focus on that you get insanesuper interesting uh i think i asked you like how long is one block for you how many months um do you already have a plan for that or will you just continue until you feel that you don't make progress anymore yeah it has to stay challenging for me and i have to keep seeing results so for me i used to i have blocks of focusing on like for example now strength when i get boring with strength then uh i think i will do some push-up challenges or something but i have next actually never focused on bringing my push-up to a certain number or whatever so that's a whole new world like i i can i can open and focus on that for for a while so coming back to a question a block can consist oflet's say at least three three weeks like at least three weeks two to two months two months something like that into two months uh i saw this block i saw the real gains after like two months and that's that's because i've been training all around as you as you know i've been training endurance strength physique uh hypertrophy which is way different than strength you know is is a different game and you get soreness i haven't been really sore for three months because this is smart training my periodization in my training is built upon reps until six so i don't go higher than six reps so if i go up i've i've just tested it i do sets with weighted pull ups above six reps i get sore the next day really sore so i found six reps is the max for me to train strength to improve on strength and not get sore so it's ideal actually you can just i make sure i don't train more days than four times a week actually so it's not you can't really train six or seven days a week uh on this level of uh of strength you can't it's just not idealbecause i would be like you talked about matthew which was also really like a really inspiring interview for a lot of people and uh i think his training approach is like really uh yeah inspiring uh whether you like it or you don't i would be interested in your opinion and uh like about his his injury you know like maybe he like i think you saw that he um uh like ripped his uh biceps at here at his biceps uh tendon uh like a few weeks ago um and i like i would be interested in your opinion about training like maybe not on the specific case of meth you know but the the the approach of training only few exercises but train them really regularly because um the the the disadvantage that could appear is that the body um like it doesn't get enough rest and uh is is like too much stress too much stress on the body because it's always the same exercise what's your opinion on that my opinion is that i talked about site work exercises so i really wasn't about my about site work exercises until i met a good friend of mine my roommate actually is a physio physiotherapist he taught me that if i don't do these side work exercises yes i will get inju injuries insane injuries in my sternum i had a sternum injury for two years insane i have to pop like you know these pops in your sternum or front shoulder pain stuff like that bicep pain in chin ups i don't have these pains anymore why because i'm two to three hours uh on each trainings my sessions are two to three hours uh per training session that's because after my training session i have to work on these side work exercises so this is a whole way of thinking next level you have to recover you have to uh see your trainingyour recovery as important as your training itself so if you don't focus on your recovery exercise and you're recording your sleep your nutrition your water you won't get to the next level it's a full circle it has to be 100 on everything that's why i'm talking about going to the next level to insane levels but if you're a regular guy just working out just do your thing but even on that you can just find improvements in these uh things like sleep and and sidewalk exercises so sidewalk exercise are built on on uh the movement specific movements like the dip the pull up and the chin up okay maybe we can go through these uh categories that you just mentioned i i know sleep was one of them nutrition water like maybe we can go through each one of them and then you can give some general advice that you would recommend to somebody uh like listening yeah perfect uh yeah let's start with sleep for example okay um i have an apple watch which which uh shows me that i slept um good deep hours of rest so good sleep my minimum is at least seven hours if you're training every week consistently for at least three or four times you need seven hours maybe you can maybe you can you have five hours but that stuff is just not healthy and optimal right so seven hours the minimum for me i sleep every night eight and a half to nine hours sometimes even longer so you can imagine sleep has has effects on your testosterone for male meals insane insane sleep is the most underrated thing sleep is what what athletes has to focus on if you fix your sleep usually stuff around your training will improve immensely if you have sleep problems attack the problem sometimes i know you have private things you have work you can't really uh but there's still choices like you choose for the job there's still choices so i i have a choice i made a choice i work from home so i can build a routine to improve my sleep so i build a routine to improve my sleep to go um and not too bad later than 12 p.m or something you know don't go later if you go later you [ __ ] up your sleep you [ __ ] up your training you [ __ ] up your training you [ __ ] up your goals you [ __ ] up your results you know and at the end i train for these results because i'm competing so i have to beat these guys eventually so that's how i think the night before i make sure um i have both a routine to improve my sleep if i uh don't stick to that routine or find a way to improve my sleep then it's actually not the sleep i have to focus on but the the routines before it's it's it's a whole uh it's all part of the process finding what works best for yousuper interesting um yeah super super nice like uh that's super cool also like um in these days like uh especially a lot of people are saying yeah uh i don't know hustle you have to hustle uh like sleepless waste of time also like this quote from uh schwarzenegger like back in the days um that's like you just have to sleep faster like six hours isn't enough like there are a lot of um opinions uh flying around this is why i'm super interested in in in your advice and in your experience that you feel like a big boost through sleep um it's super cool yeah yeah the i i know the six hour or the five hour and stuff like this um i don't know how these guys do this but maybe it's genetics maybe it's your body getting used to five or six hours and maybe these guys when they sleep five or six hours they have insanely good deep sleep so have their faces in their sleep where they get more advantage more recovery than somebody who sleeps 10 hours and one hour of deep sleep so it's it's so different per person i can't really say that six hours is bad but i take seven hours and it's literally a minimum for people who work out a lot it's like a mini man yeah and i think i i have read or my roommate have read has read um studies about sleep and yeah it's it's been studied it's it's known well known that it's very important and people who overwork and do less hours when you speak to them most of these guys they end up in burnouts or any other mental problems they would say maybe it's a sacrifice it is a sacrifice on your health actually you sacrifice your sleep you sacrifice your health that's it but it's a choice i'm just looking at the optimal way to to improve uh overall health and fitness yeah yeah and there are like factors that we didn't consider now for example women need more sleep than uh than than men uh this is like uh something that has to be considered and as you'd like talked about a quality of sleep i think i read like a book where it was also mentioned that uh if the body is so intelligent and so sensitive while sleeping that if you sleep and there is like a just a little light on your foot for example that you don't get into deep uh sleep as bad as good as you if you would be in like a completely dark room so like sleeping in a completely dark room uh and like there are different things that you can improve like the the air like the humidity etc etc um that can improve this quality of sleep so um yeah yeah i sleep close to a window but the curtains are always closed sleeping hygiene is very importantstaying hydrated before you sleep is very important building a routine as i said preparing your mind to get uh to sleep putting your phone away very important these things are so basic for me but not for a lot of people they can improve their sleep by just these things putting the light down having of course the sound but you don't i live in close to the city usually i have these sounds but eventually you get used to it living in the city actually but the ideal way is getting the dark the room dark as possible your brain knows when it's light like these uh your brain knows when it's light when you wake up you need as much sunlight because it sends a signal to your brain to wake up to get energized when you sleep insane it has to be dark your brain works like that so having talked about sleep which is something super interesting and important for you we can go to the next topic of your routine of your uh like just lifestyle um and one thing that you just just said like was hydration water what can you tell us about thatyou have this minimum of two liters a day of water for a healthy man i think where a regular man has to drink at least two liters but um it may differ per person some people drink one and a half liter one liters but it's different when you work out you need you lose weight more than um than a regular poor person on an office job maybe or with a less active lifestyle um for me i need three to four liters it sounds a lot but i drink three to four liters i really need it and you see insane results in in skin in energy levels um and i'm fasting right now it's it's like 4 p.m and i'm fasting actually and i steal my hunger by drinking water which helps a lot so and i drink coffee so it dehydrates so i have to keep up with my water intake um so yeah it's it's it's a very different per it's very different per person how much liters of water you need you can test it out and what is realistic for yourself to drink you know and i have a big i would say the stuff in your body where the pee goes in it's very large you know the the organ where your p goes and you know for mine is very big so i can store a lot of pee and actually wait with being but a lot of people they really have to go to the toilet every 50 minutes and you see women all the time they don't drink a lot because they it's for them it's annoying to to find a toilet for us we can do we can do our uh being everywhere we want every tree we want so it's um yeah it's it's it's really looking what what works for you uh most athletes i i really recommend uh two and a half to three like if you train three four times a week just test it out see how your body works sometimes it takes some days to get used to more water in your system because especially people who are have struggles with gaining weight um drinking water fills you up so you can eat less and if you can eat less then yeah you can gain weight and if you want to gain a weight then you might drink a lot of water so it's it's you can go endless you have to look at a individual there's no certain perfect leaders i just look at rangers ranges of drinking water normal person two liters somebody works out two and a half to three maybe maybe four i hear some people drink five but i think i think or they do a lot of cardio or um um they they just need it i don't know or work out seven to ten times a week like pro soccer players they train almost every day if you ask them how much water do you drink usually it's it's maybe four or five liters so it depends on what sport you do how much you lose in in sweating and for me i i am doing pure strength now i need less water actually than i did in the park so when i train endurance i sweat more i really need a lot and right now it's it's just chilling i do a set i rest for three to four minutes and i do the set again so it's like really chill training now now what's your opinion on sweetened uh drinks yes it's uh it's actually a great tool to lose weight especially um cola zero coke zero um i know there's aspartame you know these these bad things but i think it's you need a huge amount to has to have to make it have uh insane bad effects on your body that's what i think uh i've seen it as a great tool to to lose weight to steal your hunger to drink zero calorie drinks um for pre-workouts i use coffee so uh yeah that's that's my might be interesting to know i just drink coffee in the morning and before workout sometimes i forget my coffee before workout it's no problem sometimes i forget my headphones in the workouts no problem it's just all tools you know to to uh to uh to reach your goals and you shouldn't get dependent on them i guess so uh i think there are people who always drink a red bull before a workout or like that always uh i don't know yeah um if if a routine can always also be like a prison that's maybe like a thought that i want to bring into this thing here into this conversation because it's really good if you have like a a routine where which supports you and which brings you like to more performance to more happiness and life and structure but you should always you shouldn't you shouldn't get dependent on it and you shouldn't uh fall into a deep depression if you don't get your um coffee uh in the morning uh and i see that for a lot of people who are like super dependent on coffee yeah yeah they're they are actually addicted so they're they're basically uh junkies you know uh they're they're like drug addiction drug addiction because caffeine is at work and if you're addicted to coffee you're actually addicted to a drug that's it and uh i just like the taste um but i i feel after drinking coffee i have to keep drinking sipping water because coffee dehydrates and dehydration leads to many bad things actually your body is how much percent above 90 made of made of uh liquid water so you you have to adjustwow um yeah coming to the next uh topic of your uh routine the next part um let's talk about nutrition and especially i would be super interested about about your style of fasting because you said that you don't like you didn't eat today or that you're still fasting so maybe you can tell us more about your nutrition yeah um i'm a fair believer of um getting to know your body throughout the years um that's that's like the main key to to getting uh at your best getting to know your own body because there's no perfect way to do a diet whatever i'm no fan of diets my diet is everyone has a diet but not like written down and stuff my mind is like our lifestyle and intimated fasting is a way to of my lifestyle it's just a part of my lifestyle so for me umfasting is a tool to lose weight and to have more folks in the morning so i have built up in the year i've been fasting since 2018 or 19. so it's it's a long time actually but in the beginning it's super hard for me to work uh to to fast until 11. i was so hungry at 10 or 9 i was so angry i was like i need food i need food but if you can steal your hunger yeah then i think that's a great strength to build if you can steal your hunger that's why you know the ramadan muslim i'm muslim as well so i do the ramadan too um i know ramadan is more uh more about it's about more than just fasting of course it's about the belief and and more getting closer to god but about the fasting uh there's actually great benefits uh great benefits to fasting um if you do it at least 16 hours uh a day so eight hours window of eating uh 16 hours of fasting right now i'm fasting actually for 18 hours you have to find a sweet spot while fasting what fits for you you have to find a sweet spot there's no perfect hour you have to eat or or or break your fast you have to find the sweet spot for yourself my sweet spot is between 16 and 18 hours that's my sweet spot and i have some days i just need breakfast i i really like i really need egg whites or whatever to to uh for my body i just feel wrong to not eat i'm not getting too hard for myself i eat my breakfast the next day i'm fine i can fast again but i also have blocks why why i have a family stuff or i want to eat breakfast with this person you know i have a social life as well so i take time to eat breakfast no problem i'm no robot to do this every day i just adjust adapt adjust that's what i do that's my lifestyle it's actually a great way to look at things uh but it's very challenging to um to find some people will never find what fits for them they keep sticking to some diets they drop with the diets you see a lot of people they stick to a diet they get shredded two months they're super insane shape and then they get insanely fat after this diet they get like you go extreme you get extreme back you know what i mean so um balance i don't know right now i don't really have balance but i kind of have balance you know um so i have you need to find the sweet spot that's that's all i can say fit what fits you and it's a great uh journey it's a great journey to find outand i also think it's like different like as you said it's different from person to person but it's also something where um people when they start they are so motivated they think they have to do it to an extreme and then they can't keep up the the diet and the thing so they um they don't see that like adjusting because it took you years to become that like uh that known to your body that uh like just exploring your body and like developing this lifestyle in this routine and um yeah that's something that you would recommend definitely to people as well to just listen to their body and to develop from from year to year yeah yeah i actually haven't tested out many diets because i never i've never never been a fan of dieting it really didn't fit for me but for some people it's a great start to really change their lifestyle to change their nutrition so it's not a really bad thing but i don't think it's meant for for a lot of people that diets just don't worka guidance would be way better just a guidance somebody will go and guide you through a healthier lifestyle that would sounds way way better for me and for many people would work uh better so somebody who really enjoys pizza and he he just really needs needs pizza or or other delicious foods but this guy says you can't eat it you know because you have to lose weight he says it with a good reason because you want to lose weight and you have to stick to this program to eat but you want to get old and happy what about that you know what about your uh feeling about eating you you have to feel good that's the whole other thing it's not just about the body it's about enjoying the whole lifestyle of getting healthy so it's very important that you keep enjoying your and foods way to like change the pizza is to make a pizza yourself for example you know make a healthier pizza um that's a way but uh it's very hard to beat like the unhealthy pizzas they're just the best they're just that's yeah or my homemade pizza from italian grandmother or uh or for my mother you know they're just the best there's there's just no no question about it homemade food is very unbeatable but i just have to think about your comment on the coke zero or something like to steal the hunger um and maybe uh yeah exploring the the the possibilities that you have like for a homemade um calorie like there are so many i see these on tick tocks you know like uh healthy burgers in 30 seconds you know like and then somebody shows a recycle something there are ways but i i just have to support your um your message that there is no better pizza than the unhealthy one but maybe you can find a solution for you that makes you happy for some people it's no i i wasn't really fan of of of vegan uh the the vegan diet and the the soya burgers and stuff like that uh but i've i've tasted actually amazing vegan food and there are ways to uh to make um they look soft the food looks unhealthy but you can make it healthy but this is just the spices and the way you make it so there is many many ways but again you have to find uh in nutrition a sweet spot of combining maybe unhealthy but unhealthy if you can stick to healthy diet please stick to it but realistically seeing looking at most people i speak or see on youtube whatever the main reason they can't stick to the diet because it's too extreme it's way too extreme for many peoplesomething i didn't even ask you how old are you i'm 25 25 so i see like a lot of the athletes that i interview but also a lot of people in the community they say yeah i can eat whatever i want like workout is the most important thing and they are 18 19 20 21 um and they feel like they can eat anything and still make progress and have like insane insane results what are your thoughts on that is it's because of the age does it change uh i don't know with yeah it has all to do with growth so your hormones your testosterone gets higher so for a beginning you know it's insane my little brother uh he has insane physique too he has the same genetics people accused this guy he trained two months but two months with with me and with my friends train hardcore it you can change literally uh your body in two months more than somebody with trains two years that's how crazy how fast something can go in a certain period of growth of a certain parent of age uh some people uh they they see insane growth when they're 14 you know like matthew i saw i think old videos of him he was 15 40. insanely strong insanely strong why because i think that's that's that's why he kept growing that's how we saw like he he kept getting stronger and better built you know that's the age but for somebody uh it could be 18 or 19 when they get the growth for me uh i think it was 16 or 17 where i started fitness and i i gained yeah about maybe 10 kilograms in a very short time very but you're not shredded to shred it you're just lean or bulky you know a lean dog you know you're kinda kind of fat and lean kinda lean you're lean but you're getting stronger that's that's possible you can't be shredded you know actually there's you there are young athletes who are very shredded and they keep growing that's a strange thing you would say it's not possible but i think it's possible because they're in their growth it's insane what what growth does to your body and to your um yeah yeah it's it's saying it debunks every uh scientific scientific thing about gaining muscle in a certain period what's naturally possible it debunks everything but people with knowledge i think they understand that that if you're in a growth period when you're younger years that a lot of things are possible you can grow uh like 10 centimeters in a year it's possible why i don't know it's your genetics you can grow like from 180 to 190 you see these these things you see these guys you see them last year they have grown insane they haven't used anything so it's insane how the body works it's very different that's true and it's super individual so yeah yeah individual yeah as you as you couldn't say yeah you have to drink 2.27 liters per day because it's individual per person it's the same for for nutrition you know you can't like vegan diet isn't good for everybody like um there are people uh who need a lot of protein for their lifestyle and for their goals but they don't have like they can't eat beans or they have like a soda um intolerance or something so it wouldn't be for them you really you really make your life harder than it should be like literally yeah so health wise it's definitely um yeah you have to listen to your body how you have to study it you have to maybe invest into like a coach like physiotherapist like you did or like look for for a physiotherapist on the street to become friend with uh or like you have to invest into a nutritionist or like it depends um yeah yeah try to uh yeah we've covered uh sleep uh water and nutrition what else like tell us some more uh secrets uh to to your uh 1 52.5 kg dip and like to these uh crazy numbers and physiquehow do you say what can i say well the strength part is actually makes sense if i explain that i haven't done anything besides strength these couple three months that's what's my focus so how i am built todayin endurance strength flexibility statics everything is the result of eight years of combining everything yeah so right now my my focus is strength but i see uh physical results as well because it's uh it's a different way of training so six reps is actually hypertrophy as well you know if you doif you do 15 reps or 12 reps i would be sore like the next day that's i want to explain that if you focus on strength for a while you can get sore when you change your rep ranges so maybe beginners uh when they stick too much to in a rap range of 10 to 12 like or 8 to 12 they're a hypertrophy i go to a free range which is well known and you stick for that for a while your body gets used to it but if you train with me and you do 20 sets of eight to 12 you know instead of three or four i'm guarantee you're gonna grow or you're gonna feel sore or whatever growth is not parallel to uh i would say to soreness in some degree it is but i don't think uh soreness if you're sore it's necessarily means you're growing but in my experience usually uh i grow if i get a little bit sore maybe maybe a little bit sore sometimes super sore when you insane numbers like 1000 push-ups in a hour you know of course the next day you're going to feel your chest it's just but i have no secret secrets i i believe there is there are uh with every athlete there are certain things they use um not not used in steroids but tricks or hacks with uh that that works works insane so my tip to everybody study as many athletes preferably somebody who looks your same body but the body type as you study them study their exercises study their way of living so the the progress they make study uh look at the stories yeah that's a that's that's a great thing to get better yourself try these things see if it works for you you know picking random workouts from from youtube [ __ ] exercise you can see a lot of routines i try these exercises i make i let a beginner try this it makes no sense because there's no periodization in your training you know there's no way how you see progress um i think there are general workouts that people can just take you have mad bars these apps there are plenty of people who have seen amazing results with these apps or the system from the bar builders they launched a big program it has changed i get still get people they message me look at my transformation i follow the system insane results and there there you have the haters or the people who tried it and it's way too hard you know it's way too hard the program for them but you see it's very very different and it's it's it's again a journey to find and learn about your body yourself so observe adjust uh reflect and give yourself feedback record yourself learn that's that's that's that's like maybe the secret learn keep learning keep learning keep adjusting find what works for you don't stop at best this guy amazing physique you look at him i just copy his stuff and it doesn't work of course doesn't work you don't know anything about what he does or exactly what he does so it's it's very it gets crazy and crazy here every every year like on the social media these [ __ ] workouts that people share they're actually not doing these workouts i believe that and if i have to share my workouts on my story they actually make no no [ __ ] sense they make no sense for a lot of people there are some workouts i do i start with 100 kilo dips okay okay i go to the push-ups i do 150 kilogram push-ups okay then next i do 100 muscle ups after these muscle ups i go wrong around five kilo kilometers i've done this stuff it makes no sense for people but is that the best way to build muscle you know [ __ ] off with the best way there's no best way that's the whole point i want to actually share with people there's no best way there's a best way for you there might be a best way for you but there's no general best way for everybody there isn't that's maybe the secret yeah and this is maybe also the point of the of these interviews and this podcast because you see like matthew sharing his advice you see uh an endurance athlete like max true sharing his uh his approach and advice it depends on the the goals it depends on the body type it depends on um on the lifestyle you know like some people are working night shift uh some like they you know like there are so many things that can influence um the the the reason why this the work of butter is like not not the right the one that i should follow and um this is like yeah i i think you you brought it to the point i really yeah so this this this for example somebody who works night shifts and and that guy has has found a way for uh to make it work with night shifts with different shifts i i really would like to these people to show up and share their experience with other people because there are so many people who look uh you look at ways they are still looking for ways to adjust their training with work with getting enough sleep everything but if you find find a way uh please share it with people and really there are people so many people are still looking like for me i have an office job i work administration for me it's very flexible and it's very easy to go to my kitchen kitchen cook an egg but if you don't work home or have a physical job and you burn 3 000 calories yeah it's so much different than me sitting on this chair and doing my work it's so much different and and and for example somebody who works night shifts has an ectomorph body type like really skinny don't don't don't get a weight easily they don't gain weight easily night shifts poor sleep ectomorph body man all these things are so bad you know in in disadvantage uh to build musclethen even for these people there's hope there are people who make it work maybe not the ideal way but they make it work so we have to find a way to make it work and if if you like getting sick of looking for something that works then you might uh have to take a different job man maybe take a different job or move to a certain city where you can maybe sleep better or have a better lifestyle i know it's it's it's easier because i live in the netherlands you have many more opportunities than maybe i don't know india for example you know mumbai or whatever the um in india maybe it's way harder to to get certain foods or to get this job you know we live in a western society over here you have yeah better opportunities than certain countries so it's a big audience of mine are from india for example if i tell them to eat this to eat this they can't get this that stuff from the supermarket they just have basic stuff like not everybody i don't want to put everybody in one bubble but i just see observe i see what happens and it's very hard for some people to find and financially to find the right nutrition what works for you and it's very challenging challenging for a lot of people we actually have it quite easy in this and then maybe in germany too in netherlands supermarkets everywhere maybe not the best quality food but yeah you can make it work did you walk through supermarket get some bananas blueberries milk and oatmeal you have a great [ __ ] meal it beats every protein shake out there oatmeal milk bananas blueberry boom power meal easy yeah it's not it's it's it's actually uh quite simple the idea is simple but it's hard actually to adjust and to say make it work for yourself that's hard that's a hard part but the idea is simple it's not rocket science it's not a rocket science yeah so how would you describe your nutrition like uh do you eat i think you eat a lot of fruits and vegetables or like how can you describe it i'm looking around around now right now with what works um i got to be honest i'm kind of a cheater like i cheat a lot donuts i ate cookies i ate all this stuff i eat chocolate i love chocolate you knowbut it it has effects on on my workouts on my energy levels everything so when you look at it that way you feel way better when you put good stuff in your engine in your body so what i eat for example what if i eat your breakfast i i eat fruits lately i've been eating for me it's fasting so it's my breakfast actually is in the afternoon my breakfast is an afternoon so oatmeal blueberries fruit or i start with eggs usually it's oatmeal fruits or eggs eggs i combine with turkey you know these stuff you can buy in the in the supermarket turkey how do you say these sliced turkey sliced turkeysometimes i eat sandwiches just um whole grain bread usually uh with sandwiches i make it delicious with some sauce just [ __ ] it eat some hot sauce you gotta make it enjoyable come on don't don't count these calories of stars of course you want to go next level you have to count this but i'm not a bodybuilder and most people are not bodybuilders so please eat normal put some salt on your sandwich turkey whatever good meal eat some fruits on that tomatoes tomatoes i think the greatest the greatest advice i can give people on nutrition is look for examples on youtube look at people day of eating look for these examples try to look in your supermarket what is possible for me to eat every day just find a way and or or go get a coach who can help you in nutrition of course that's that's i would say if you have a good coach just invest in a coach your life will be way easier and you all somebody a good coach will give you the right knowledge about what works for you and stuff like that but continually after uh afternoon i have breakfast usually almost every day i have some kind of meat or fish usually meat now because i just feel amazing and get strength from meat i don't know so many people can probably debunk that with with scientific knowledge but just just eat these meat salads cucumber celery lemon tomatoes put it together i have a salad i have meat and i have some carbs maybe some bread i just say you have this lebanese bread they like flatbread any kind of bread sometimes i have potatoes and pasta i like it one thing i want to say is that when i eat home i eat different than when i'm living alone it's so it's so different because when i'm at home uh at my parents i just eat whatever they make but i have to adjust the rest of the day on that on that meal because it can be whatever it can be unhealthy too uh on my page on instagram i have put a i think a nutrition highlight and you see a lot of meals meals meals and they look delicious and they are healthy but it's just the spices you use to make to give the color like plain rice you can you can make it the color you can make it like yellow you can make it red with some with some stuff and yeah you eat with your eye you know what i mean so plain rice chicken and broccoli yes it works but it's not realistic to eat that every day for many people you have to make it enjoyable um nutrition is the hardest part for me to explain to people because it's subject subjective subject subjective um it's not objective it's not this is the best this is best there's not a way the best way for everybody so it's very subjective i think nutrition yeah it's it's so hard it's still a learning process for me everybody somebody asked what do you eat i can give this it works for me but it might not work for you and then yeah you know but as a coach you can find a regular line what works for a lot of people and you can from there adjust what they like you know there's always a way to coach people uh but a lot of people don't have the the money to invest in a coach there's a lot of fun and they don't just don't want to invest in it but i would say please please do you can invest in in a pair of shoes of 300 euros but not in your health okay fine good luck good luck yeah that's reality people who have so much uh money uh they have money but they don't want to invest in the right things it's same with everything it's same with sleep you know you have time for like four hours of screen time every day on your mobile phone but you don't have time to sleep two hours more so it's like everything in life is about priority and focus and um yeah acting on your goals wow super super cool um yeah i think uh we're we we can slowly come to an end of the interview we have like uh so many super interesting topics uh covered i could continue talking about these uh for a long time uh because yeah it's just uh so many things you can take into consideration so many um just seeing the the night shift guy so many uh cases you can go through and talk about like special cases um but maybe we can we can come back to to um to these topics and yeah like when people put some comments underneath which topic would be interesting for them to continue on we can do a second episode um yeah we always have some quick questions quick answers at the end of every interview so uh yeah be prepared for uh for a few ones what's your favorite foodokay i'm going for one thing i really really enjoy after a heavy workout pasta with a lot of sauce mix it and uh meat meat just i would say minced meat yeah like you know yeah that's that's good yeah like it's a kind of bolognese like uh spaghetti bolognese kind of yeah yeah yeah fresh tomatoes is even better like salt fresh tomatoes true yeah this is almost unbeatable that's true no added sugar like uh good nutritions yeah it's great nice are you more a dog or a cat personyou know a good friend of mine has a one of the most famous dogs around is a sami eight it's a white one with a lot of uh white fluffy hairs who looks like a beer a little bit okay i really really love that dog and many more other dogs from my friends actually but i will go with a cat okayno explanation now i don't know i just they're very selfish and you would say dogs are way more sweet sweeter and stuff like that but um yeah i don't know cats are a cleaner yeah for having in a home it's it's it's well yeah the the the stuff dogs put in the mouth uh cats keep themselves clean you know yeah i go for cats okay cool uh what athletes inspire youright now or back in the day right nowi have to call a name or what kind of yeah because i want to go to the next level actually in strength which is my focus now it's insane to see matthew dipping this insane numbers i know it's possible for me it's just a matter of time i will get there i just know i'm already there on my mind i'm already there i can dream about it that's insane i visualize i can adjust i can i know i get i'm very strong in depth for example or pull ups i can get there so i think it's great i don't even follow him that's that's crazy but i saw his podcast i saw his numbers i'm impressed you know i'm not not i'm not impressed a lot i have to ins that's because you're an athlete yourself you're striving for the best to get impressed you have to say you have to see insane things to get impressed so i think it's very inspiring to see humble insanely strong athletes i think what what do i see i see the best at least like it's same numbers and insane um uh how do they say and same work they show in same work and they are usually very humble especially power lifters you know many powerlifters i meet they're very humble but they're so strong and those people who talk i think you can talk but you have to prove yourself there are many athletes in the in the calisthenics game who have a little bit of ego i don't really like it i don't think it's a great example staying too humble is is not good as well because i think it's good to be proud and show what you can and talk about yourself and your achievements but yeah i think uh i think i'm gonna follow him and then see what his life he has an injury i saw it even on a big uh fitness page you saw the he ruptured his biceps but right now i think it's great to see his work uh back in the day uh i was very inspired by ivan marchioli his muscle ups physique wise uh it was back it was lozanov novovich from barbaros founder of barbarous dujon very inspiring um they have been working for a long time so it's it's it's great to learn from people from my experience but yeah and i think adam raw back in the day inspired me to do weighted calisthenics as well yeah he's one of the og's uh too but i've not really followed him for a long time so i don't know what's up with him yeah yeah but something i want to add like i think it's uh super difficult uh to be honest to be an athlete and um to perform on a really really really high level um and to be because you need and like the difference between between an athlete and an influencer is quite high because you need i think different different personality traits um like uh when you are an influencer you have to talk into the camera a lot you have to like show everything you tend to also be seen more i don't know ego because you you show everything but this is kind of your job so i i i don't totally understand you but through these interviews i'll also learn that a lot of influencers um who see their first role as an influencer um when you talk to them in such conversation they also they also like really like us but they need to be this like um uh how to say like outro energized yeah yeah extremely energized and and yeah it's it's it's their living most of the influences they're living so their life literally depends on it it's their job it's a kind of acting um it might be very good for me to learn acting a little bit and seals you know can work way better than staying real you know i'm not gonna say i'm real i just am who i am i saw that and i've seen people respect that uh showing a different side than just working out and uh the beast edition that you knowyeah but it's true it's also something that i really really like and appreciate about the calisthenics scene is that everybody like most of the people are really really um humble they love to share their their advice also like you um you know like we didn't know each other first we didn't have like a pre-talk or something it was just um jumping into the cold water with this interview and it's like i i never know what kind of person is like i'm expecting on the other side because um from the photos that you post like you look like a you look like a i don't know like just like somebody who is like so far ahead like uh you you present your physique somebody asked from the community was like i have to smile why are you always naked on your social media um but like yeah you know like it's you you people with a picture it's so hard to show your personality because i didn't know who i expect and i'm like totally positively surprised if i can already say um yeahwhy are you always naked i if you look at my page i actually wear clothes thanks dogs t-shirts uh long my hoodies everything i wear it but these [ __ ] are haters here they're haters and they're the only thing they can see when they see this they don't see the hard work they don't see the inspiration they don't look at the comments they see why is this guy always be goodokay yeah yeah i have no offense to the guy that uh come on it's a perspective you have to look you know whenever i see somebody on the street or whatever pictures i see a good body natural or not yeah sometimes i care but usually not there is a lot of sacrifice uh been done to achieve this level that's it there's been a lot of sacrifice dedication hard work and um yeah that's why that's why uh these insane athletes are humble too the yeah that's it yeah it's i don't know i can't really explain but uh maybe because of this insane work they got humble but they have been humbled before through uh uh experience like i i had to get humbled in some competitions by some strong russian guy you know i have to i had to get humbled to get here if i didn't get humbled i might get maybe a bigger ego or whatever i'm not getting a huge ego and will not be good in the long term it wouldn't be not good for our personal being you know cool thanks for sharing um yeah uh what's your favorite skill like from the really the skill arsenal that there is in in calisthenics with front lever plan she said wrong is muscle up a skilli will like later i will also ask you about your favorite exercise i think muscle up of course it's kind of a skill um but let's stay with the kind of static skills with like skillfrom i don't know manmy roommate just just came in we made friends my friends and he's aesthetic beats beast and um my front lever is super straight because of him he knows how to train skills specifically andi would say i really enjoy a lot a really nice 10 second to 15 second front lever super straight um having calls of 47 centimeters you know combination my my front levers are weighted front levers actually you know people don't know this but the calls are a big big point in calisthenics but i'm not gonna go in that subject it's for a different time we can make a calf episode uh which is weight on the the most uh like heavy lever in in in calisthenics when you do front lever planche whatever yeah uh yeah favorite exercisei would say weighted dips i knew it why because it's it's the main compound movement for me where i get the most uh how do you say um energy from motivation from uh yeah that's that's thing that the dip is my bench press you know that's that's some people would say bench press because they really enjoy lifting the heavy stuff but uh for me it's a way to dip that's it yeah it used to be the muscle up it's usually made of muscle up but now i'm just going for so it's such a high number that i'm just so addicted to weighted dips nice yeah nice what's your goal with the weighted dip like uh what kg number do you have in in mind when you're satisfied i would say i'm gonna i'm gonna get 160 very soon on the 60 kilograms uh my body weight is 88 kilogram 88 88 89 i'm 177 so it's like very easy for my heightso uh yeah uh waited dips umwhat was the question again uh what's your uh goal for the way to dip play future goal i would say first goal on 60 when i've done that it's not even the limit i believe so i can go higher it would be would be amazing to have numbers who are very hard to beat as an all-round physique endurance skills flexibility yeah i look at all these things when i just look at athletes when you focus just strength i would say it's not super easy but it's way easier than uh doing everything so an all-round athlete can still run can still do this you know the daily stuff but if you're just pure strength you know it's it's not yeah it's way easier to just focus on one thing that's it it's way easier when you could do more things i would believe that people maybe not people but more respect i i have more certain respect for somebody especially calisthenics at least we take legs seriously i don't know it's just it's just it's just a complete it's your build you know your legs is 50 of your body and uh just train them okay just train them whatever just train them and don't skip them i have many more respects for people who just look at the whole complete thing you know do you make an excuse for freestyle or i use somebody who doesn't like freestyle at all because like legs are not not another role at all at alllegs play a role in almost everything in those signs maybe push-ups they don't but um every pulling movement every static legs to really make make a difference in how hard something gets um i'm used to having heavy heavier legs yeah maybe not super tall or long but they're heavy from the beginning so i got used that's why for me it's easier to say that it's possible than somebody who built better bigger legs throughout the throughout the years you know my legs didn't really grow in size they just got more divine and stronger uh but uh yeah yeah i i don't know better you know i've been heavy all my life and and they have been big uh all my life so in freestyle umso can we make an excuse on freestyle legs no [ __ ] off no no excuses train your legs okay yeah bring your legs [ __ ] off okay just relax go on or maybe it's even a split or whatever you know straight aesthetic stretching training then okay yeah thank you uh yeah pull up push push push uh do you have a favorite movieoh did somebody ask this no no it's like the the quick questions that i always ask okayoh [ __ ] this one this one movie it's it's a mafia movie i really liked it it's not godfather's but it's the it's the other one with the with the guy who moves the meat uh and is in a drugs carter oh man so bad it's this stuff i don't watch a lot of movies but i have some favorites i like the revenant i like batman the first one the latest one i i don't really like i like the the old batman it's very motivating to see this guy you know as well well-built successful superhero batman i don't know no i don't know it's very hard question for me it's okay i think the revenant and batman are good movies yeah and i think it fits your scheme of um competition competition like oriented and uh like um just just this mindset of of not quitting um i i yeah just my my thoughts uh spoken out uh what's the the uh yeah your favorite your favorite music genrewhat music do you listen touh yeah you have these spotify things where you can see what's the most listened number i would say it would go tor b apple but i have moments with a lot of uh trans music uh what what's this this kind of style is this always listens maybe hard stuff i don't know you know is this this bra yeahnice what's the best calisthenics event you've been at so faractually one of my greatest most enjoyable was the one in berlin oh i competed i didn't get first three plays because i was a beginner back in the day my example was yvonne in eva marculi and competing but it was calisthenics in bremen it was this park uh i know no was it brim no no bird it was in berlin yeah it wasn't burning i think the kali games i guess what was it cali games it's a good thing but i i had like uh 30 squats with hundred kilogram without training uh i came i was fourth place actually with with the legend eva marchioli and some other german strong dude i'm gonna pass him no problem but he was on the place on the the podium too um but a very big guy i don't know some guy from germany very strong guy and some other dude as well but when i saw them on the podium was like just give me some years and i will be there too nice yeah yeah so that was my favorite one uh because it taught me a lesson that i wasn't actually afraid to compete uh because i felt like i wasn't ready but i was already insanely strong but somebody had to tell me even told me i see potential please do something with it if you're if you don't do it you're kind of wasting opportunities maybe or chances to learn so he taught me certain things about competing and so far it it brings the best out of me so these challenging events i get very very exciting and motivating motivated when i join these competitions very i get so strong in the competitions i get nervous but very good nervous so i get pumped actually so it's a very good advantage for me to compete why when i see these people i get certain good pressure to come to get stronger to compete even better and some guys they have they have their training they get 10 muscle muscle ups for example they compete they get six or seven why they're nervous they rush into the the sets and the reps and they're they're not getting the 10 or even more for me it's opposite i usually get more in competition than my training yeah i get so much energy from these people you're surrounded by the people you need actually everyone is doing the same over there but just in it in their own way yeah wow nice i'm i just realized like because you also talked uh so much about ivan who was also who also played a big role in in our brand history because he was kind of the the first big supporter that we had of our brand uh he was the the first guy uh wrapping the never give up only pull-up shirt anduh and i was like i still i will never forget the situation in bremen where i never sold a shirt before in my life just to just to friends in school who wanted to support the the the first shirt um and he was i wanted to gift him a shirt i want to say here here i really admire you yeah i would love to to give you this shirt as a gift and he wanted to pay for it and he didn't he didn't stop like saying yeah man i want to pay for the shirt how much do you get from me and i was like he is like this yeah and i was like so stunned uh imagine like he was the the the god you know like he had he was like the the calisthenics guy back then for muscle ups everybody knew him so um yeah this is why i have to smile that ivan has like also played such a big role and saw the potential in you so so much other athletes as well people have never seen muscle ups in their life and ivan i would say millions of people actually have seen a muslim in their life because of him he was literally the starter of muslim maybe not the founder but he was one of the first ever online seeing muslims yeah like i think muslims are literally an art of seeing when you see him it's just insane nobody beats him everybody can discuss but nobody beats the beauty of his muscle up because he's 190 centimeters and just flows like it's just natural as if it's natural and of course you have some other strong athletes upcoming and you have people who do 40 50 kilogram muscle ups i don't care nobody gets close to yvonne the way he does it in the amount he does it so people can do three or two like him but not 20. he does 20 like the first rep it's insane i think he's he just just found his strength and he's been doing it and focusing he is still the champion muscle ups i hope he makes a comeback even if you see this make a comeback but uh yeah it's insane how much people inspired with muslims surereally really nice i really enjoyed this interview last question to you uh what's your message to the calisthenics community what is something that you want to tell the listeners after all this useful advice about your routine about your lifeif you're afraid to start don't be don't be afraid make the step go to the park don't be afraid to to talk to people and ask questions that's that's a that's a big advice i used to be so alone and google and use google for my only information but please ask around send the ants to people if you have questions just gather information adapt to your own and seo for you you can get with that and just don't give up on the first day or the first week if you don't get results stay consistent and yeah never give upnice thanks a lot for this interview um yeah how can people get in touch with you how can they find you do you offer some uh some coaching something like uh yeah yeah you can find me on youtube brother vds um on instagram it's my main channel uh that's the biggest audience i got i mainly active on instagram so instagram youtube um yeah that's it so uh i will be more active on youtube very soon but instagram to stay up to date you can always message me and see if i can help you i do offer coaching but i'm in preparation for some competitions so that's main parity with working 40 hours a week so yeah it's very hard to coach more clients than i do right now but you can always see maybe your experience athlete i really enjoy working with experienced athletes i get very energized to see progress on them so yeah cool we will link all the social medias in the description so uh yeah thanks to everyone listening to this till the end uh i really appreciate everyone uh listening to such a long interview but i think it was fully packed with uh useful advice so um yeah first big thank you goes to really to you buddhadin i was really an honor to talk to you uh when it went like super super well and i learned a lot for myself as well and got inspired so i'm gonna head to the to the workout now directly after this being fully pumped and yeah thanks thanks a lot for your time yeah kill your workout thanks a lot and uh hopefully till the next time hopefully yes so if you have any further questions leave them in the description i think it would really be interesting to dive deep into one specific topic after after this one so yeah thank you thank you.