Episode 265: The Top 20 Pre-Workout Meals & Snacks Ranked S to F Tier

0:00:11.0 Mike Vacanti: Hello, Jordan.

0:00:12.0 Jordan Syatt: What’s up, Michael?

0:00:13.0 Mike Vacanti: What’s happening, brother? We got a great pod ahead of us today.

0:00:16.2 Jordan Syatt: Dude, I’m stoked. What’s the plan?

0:00:17.0 Mike Vacanti: You’re gonna be… Actually, I don’t know if you’ll like this episode or not. I’m gonna like this episode. Our listeners are gonna love this episode.

0:00:25.1 Jordan Syatt: Oh, no.

0:00:26.2 Mike Vacanti: I think you’re gonna like this episode.

0:00:27.6 Jordan Syatt: All right, what do we got?

0:00:29.2 Mike Vacanti: I’ll tell you right now. We got a few things to talk about first, but we are ranking the top 20 pre-workout meal/snacks before a weightlifting session.

0:00:39.7 Jordan Syatt: Oh, nice. I like that.

0:00:42.0 Mike Vacanti: And obviously, there’s a high amount of personal preference here, which works perfectly in our S to F tier because we like personal preference. We’ll get a little science in the mix there, a little personal experience, some stories…

0:00:57.4 Jordan Syatt: Nostalgia.

0:00:58.2 Mike Vacanti: Oh, the nostalgia of pre-workout. We might have to throw a few of our own favorites in at the end if we have time here.

0:01:04.0 Jordan Syatt: Did AI put any Flintstone vitamins in there?

0:01:07.0 Mike Vacanti: No, AI did pretty terrible, though. So this is gonna be fun. Like, pretty not optimal.

0:01:14.0 Jordan Syatt: Interesting. I’m gonna assume more carbs and fat and…

0:01:17.0 Mike Vacanti: You might, yeah.

[laughter]

0:01:19.0 Jordan Syatt: You might like it.

[laughter]

0:01:26.0 Mike Vacanti: No, I don’t think you will. In general, it’s a lot of good foods obviously that we’re both fans of. But for pre-strength training nutrition, I’m not sure.

0:01:36.5 Jordan Syatt: Too much peanut butter?

0:01:38.0 Mike Vacanti: Brother, you’re good. You are good. Number one, banana with peanut butter. Top of the list. But before that, I got a couple of quick things that I’m gonna talk about because I don’t make content, and this is where I do. So for the first time ever, I used, not the cable lat pull, but a lat pull machine. My 2023 self would hate me for saying this, but instead of having like a straight vertical line of pull, you start with your grip in closer, so you get a bigger lat stretch, and then it automatically pulls a little bit wider. Feels so good.

0:02:19.0 Mike Vacanti: And I actually think, similar to how like a chest… Like a pec deck… Or even better like a pec deck not with the hands, with elbows on the pad is a good way to teach a beginner how to activate their pec, for people who can’t activate their lats or struggle to feel that squeeze, I think this machine would be easier as a teaching tool than a straight overhead pull-down…

0:02:50.0 Jordan Syatt: Wait, what machine is this? This is not the standard lat pull?

0:02:53.0 Mike Vacanti: No, no. All right, so you have your cable area, right? You got your lat pull, you got your seated row, or you got your lat pull and then you got your tricep push-down area that’s on the single pulley and then across from the lat pull is the seated row bench. And then to the right of the lat pull if you’re sitting in the lat pull, is your double cable pull, or your double pulley system. And often there is the pull up bar in the middle and then you got the same setup over on the other side with the four stations. This is over by the machines. I’ve never used the machine lat pull like this before where you literally start with an overhand grip with your hands maybe, I don’t know, two to four inches apart, and then you finish outside of shoulder width.

0:03:46.0 Jordan Syatt: Oh, I know what you’re talking about. So it’s got two handles?

0:03:49.0 Mike Vacanti: Yes, yes.

0:03:50.0 Jordan Syatt: Okay, got it. I know exactly what you’re talking about. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So it’s not the bar; it’s a machine with… I know what you’re talking about. Yeah, yeah.

0:03:58.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, yeah. Maybe we’ll throw a picture up there just for…

0:04:00.0 Jordan Syatt: What was the… Was it Hammer Strength?

0:04:02.0 Mike Vacanti: No, it’s on like, you’re pinning weight plates. It’s just like a normal machine.

0:04:09.0 Jordan Syatt: Do you know what brand the machine was or no?

0:04:11.8 Mike Vacanti: No.

0:04:11.9 Jordan Syatt: Okay. Interesting.

0:04:13.8 Mike Vacanti: But incredible. I did that as a warmup for weighted chins. Just to get the lats firing a little bit. Felt incredible.

0:04:22.0 Jordan Syatt: I like that. Hammer Strength has some good lat pull machines and chest-supported row machines that I like a lot.

0:04:30.0 Mike Vacanti: I’ll have to try them. They are plate-loaded, I assume?

0:04:32.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, they’re plate-loaded. Yeah.

0:04:34.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, I’ve never loved the resistance profile, and it’s been many years since I tried a plate-loaded machine like that. So maybe it’s different now outside of your standard chest-supported plate-loaded row. But like a low row or a high row, plate-loaded machines never felt incredible for me.

0:04:52.0 Jordan Syatt: Oh, I love those. Interesting.

0:04:55.0 Mike Vacanti: By the way, I started the Harry Potter Audible.

0:04:59.0 Jordan Syatt: You started it without me?

0:05:00.0 Mike Vacanti: I told you we were starting.

0:05:01.0 Jordan Syatt: You didn’t say that. You said, “We should,” or, “Should we?”

0:05:04.0 Mike Vacanti: And you said yes, and that was… Yeah, well, I made it 90 seconds in.

0:05:09.0 Jordan Syatt: Dude, you’ve gotta give it more time.

0:05:11.0 Mike Vacanti: No, it’s the voice actor. You’re not gonna be able to do it. It’s like unbelievably British.

0:05:17.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, that’s what it is… It should be read…

[laughter]

0:05:22.2 Mike Vacanti: With respect to my compadres overseas.

0:05:26.0 Jordan Syatt: It should be read in a British accent, I feel like.

0:05:30.0 Mike Vacanti: Well, I never watched the movies, and over my reading career, I had an American accent in my brain.

0:05:35.0 Jordan Syatt: You just Americanized Harry Potter.

0:05:37.6 Mike Vacanti: Of course.

0:05:40.8 Jordan Syatt: He’s from Texas. Little Whinging, Texas.

0:05:44.0 Mike Vacanti: This is over the top, though. Like, it’s a dramatized… I would love to listen to Harry Potter if my old videographer, Ben, read it. I love his voice. This guy’s like trying… He might not even be British. He might be pretending to be British. The accent is so extreme.

0:06:02.0 Jordan Syatt: Is it super posh?

0:06:05.0 Mike Vacanti: It’s just annoying.

0:06:07.0 Jordan Syatt: Okay. All right. So we’re not doing the Harry Potter audio anymore.

0:06:11.0 Mike Vacanti: No, we should sit down and read the book, Jordan. We need to get our prefrontal cortices back online. And that’s how we’re gonna do it.

0:06:19.0 Jordan Syatt: Okay, deal. I’m in.

0:06:21.0 Mike Vacanti: Do you have anything for the pod today, Jordan?

0:06:23.0 Jordan Syatt: I had a really weird situation that I wasn’t sure I was gonna bring up.

0:06:27.0 Mike Vacanti: Perfect. That’s exactly what we all want to hear.

0:06:29.0 Jordan Syatt: I called you about it yesterday. You didn’t pick up.

0:06:32.5 Mike Vacanti: What happened?

0:06:33.5 Jordan Syatt: I had a very odd situation that I’ve never experienced before and I was just gonna call you and be like, “Dude, what is happening?” So I’m not gonna say any names.

0:06:43.1 Mike Vacanti: Okay.

0:06:43.6 Jordan Syatt: And people who listen to my podcast regularly will know who I’m talking about. But I had this very strange incident where, yesterday, I published a podcast with Sharon McMahon and…

0:06:57.0 Mike Vacanti: Is that the Minnesota woman?

0:06:58.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, the Minnesota woman. Exactly. Immediately, I get a text from someone else who I’ve previously had on my podcast. Two times, this person has been on my podcast.

0:07:13.5 Mike Vacanti: You’ve only had me on once.

0:07:15.3 Jordan Syatt: Well, you’re not flying out here, dude.

0:07:16.5 Mike Vacanti: What’s up with that?

0:07:17.3 Jordan Syatt: All right, you’re not flying out for the pod. I know you’re not. Anyway, this person has been on twice. And both times, we’ve spoken about geopolitical events significantly. Because that’s this person’s specialty, that’s what this person does.

0:07:30.6 Mike Vacanti: Okay.

0:07:31.4 Jordan Syatt: So this person texts me and says, basically to the effect of, and I could read it if you want, so it’s verbatim. Here, let me read it, so I get the exact text. I couldn’t believe this. It was so odd. This person says, “Really disappointing you would not air my podcast on Iran, but someone else who has more followers but zero foreign policy experience. I have no respect for you. Please don’t contact me again.” And I replied. I was like, “I did air your podcast.” I published it, and I literally sent this person the link. I aired it… If I give the exact date, they’re definitely gonna know. I aired it literally months ago. And then this person says, “I never saw it. Wish you the best.” I was like, “I aired your podcast months ago. We literally rushed it. We pushed it ahead because it was so time-sensitive.” And then this person says, “Whatever, it’s all good if you want to promote others, but also Sharon is very anti-Israel.”

0:08:40.0 Jordan Syatt: I said, “This has nothing to do with wanting to promote anyone. My podcast is and always has been, about having important discussions. I’m not sure where this is coming from, but I wish you the best.” And that was it. No reply after that. But I was so shocked by this interaction. I published your podcast literally the week after we had it.

0:09:08.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, one, that’s a crazy interaction. Two, slightly off topic, 99.9% of the times you call me, you’re just driving and trying to fill your attention span. And so the 0.1% where you actually have something to discuss, you gotta text me and say, “Bro, something important.”

[laughter]

0:09:33.0 Jordan Syatt: That was crazy, right?

0:09:34.0 Mike Vacanti: So three, how did they differ politically/how was their view on Iran different than Sharon’s?

0:09:51.0 Jordan Syatt: So Sharon is much more left and this person is much more right. So this person is also Jewish and very pro-Israel.

0:10:02.0 Mike Vacanti: That’s even weirder for this person to come at you with that much venom in the initial text message.

0:10:09.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. I was like, “What is going on?”

0:10:12.0 Mike Vacanti: And the “don’t contact me,” dude, that’s weird.

0:10:15.0 Jordan Syatt: It was so shocking to me.

0:10:18.0 Mike Vacanti: It’s kind of unhinged behavior.

0:10:20.0 Jordan Syatt: That’s what I was thinking, dude. That doesn’t make… Maybe you’re having a bad day, but…

0:10:27.8 Mike Vacanti: Really, really bad.

0:10:29.1 Jordan Syatt: But the fact that they hadn’t seen that I had published the podcast and I’ve been interacting with this person for months… Like we’ve been talking since, and I’m thinking, man, if you thought that I hadn’t published it, why wouldn’t you have just said, “Why didn’t you publish the podcast or are you going publish podcast?”

0:10:43.0 Mike Vacanti: Not to mention, it’s not that hard to look and see if your episode gets published.

0:10:49.0 Jordan Syatt: It literally was published the next week. It was so weird. I don’t know. But I have no respect for you, don’t contact me again. I was like, “Damn dude. This is crazy.”

0:11:00.6 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:11:01.0 Jordan Syatt: But then the adding at the end, the part that also really got me was, “Oh, and Sharon is anti-Israel.” I was like, “Well, number one, if you listen to the podcast that her and I had, it didn’t come across that way. Number two is, even if she is, let’s talk about it. I wanna have everyone on my podcast… Not everyone. I don’t want Nick Fuentes on my podcast, but let’s have people with differing opinions on the podcast, so that we can discuss. And maybe I would have Nick Fuentes on, so I could try and demolish him. But the idea of not having someone on because they disagree with you is just crazy to me.

0:11:36.0 Mike Vacanti: I’m sorry, bro.

0:11:37.0 Jordan Syatt: That’s why I called yesterday. It’s like, “Dude, you gotta hear this.”

0:11:39.0 Mike Vacanti: You gotta send a text with a call like that.

0:11:43.0 Jordan Syatt: Bro, literally as soon as it happened, I was like, “I wanna get off social media forever. I’m done with this.” This is crazy.

0:11:50.0 Mike Vacanti: Not because of me. I don’t want your audience blaming me when the day comes.

0:11:54.0 Jordan Syatt: No, it’s like…

0:11:56.3 Mike Vacanti: On your own accord.

0:11:56.6 Jordan Syatt: 60% you, 40% Instagram.

0:12:03.0 Mike Vacanti: Whoa, 60?!

[laughter]

0:12:03.2 Mike Vacanti: 60, that’s a big number.

0:12:05.9 Jordan Syatt: No.

0:12:07.1 Mike Vacanti: That is a big number.

0:12:07.6 Jordan Syatt: It’s just stupid drama. Like what is this? What is this?

0:12:11.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. And way more than there used to be.

0:12:13.5 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:12:14.4 Mike Vacanti: 2016 was just…

0:12:18.0 Jordan Syatt: Prime time.

0:12:19.0 Mike Vacanti: Love of the game.

0:12:20.3 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Just arguing over fasting.

0:12:25.6 Mike Vacanti: Sure. But less total arguing than there is now.

0:12:29.1 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Agreed. Yeah.

0:12:31.8 Mike Vacanti: I’ve actually done a good job lately of not consuming which…

0:12:35.0 Jordan Syatt: Oh, that’s amazing.

0:12:36.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, you feel even better. Although, subject transition, I hadn’t been feeling incredible for a few days and I figured out why. So this is going to be interesting to maybe seven people.

[laughter]

0:12:54.1 Mike Vacanti: But it was fascinating to me, and I’m actually gonna give quite a bit of backstory here. So I was reworking my schedule a few weeks ago because I wanted to increase my training frequency. Basically, I wanted to change my work schedule. Since I started my business, I work seven days a week. Even if on the weekends, I’m not working a ton of hours, often a weekend day is program design, like day where I’ll block out a 4 to 5 hour window, but just for the purpose of trying something new, like having a full family weekend I wanted to rework my schedule so I can get all of my work done, 90% between Monday and Friday. And then Saturday and Sunday, I’ll do some emails in the morning. Coach Gary obviously, but then the rest of the day, it’s just family. And so in doing that, I thought I’d like to train an extra day just because more caffeine, feel better after workout, I have a great long computer work stretch after strength training sessions usually, and so I wanted to get on a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday split.

0:14:00.0 Mike Vacanti: If I’m going to be training four days a week, it’s like I may as well try and gain strength and muscle because I’m not going to be training at that volume and stay at maintenance, like kinda not what’s the point, but it’s more fun to make progress, right? And if I’m going to be cutting, I’d rather be on 3x a week, than 4x a week for various reasons. I actually like both, from a programming perspective but for myself, I’d rather be 3x week. So I increased my food intake by, I don’t know, maybe close to a 1000 calories a day, and you might be thinking, “Wow, that seems like a lot. Why if you’re going from maintenance to muscle gain phase, would your increase by 1000 calories a day.” One, it wasn’t overnight. And two, when I start to increase my calories, I have more energy, and I want to do more cardio, I want to do more other things. I want to go on a lots of walks. I just feel better on higher intake, so my calorie expenditure is going up too, so really, I’m probably in a 250-a-week surplus, but my exercise activity calorie expenditure is going way up too. So my food intake went up a solid amount. Call it 700 to 1000 calories plus per day.

0:15:00.0 Mike Vacanti: Rewind a few months ago, I randomly threw an electrolyte, like a Liquid IV strawberry into my pre-workout drink. Partly because I wanted the carbs, partly because I wanted the taste. I was trying something new. I hadn’t been eating a ton of calories in the few days around that time.

0:15:27.8 Jordan Syatt: Those have carbs? The liquid IVs.

0:15:29.6 Mike Vacanti: They’re sugar-free, and there are some that have like 17 g of carbs.

0:15:33.8 Jordan Syatt: Okay.

0:15:34.7 Mike Vacanti: But 500 mgs of sodium or 550 somewhere in that range, which is the primary reason I was doing it, and my training performance, I felt way better in the gym with the liquid IVs. It was like sweet, I’m going to keep doing this. Fast forward, when I increased my calories, I continued with the same pre-workout concoction and started to notice, what ended up being symptoms of having too much salt. One was that I’d pee like five times in a 90-minute window, which is just bizarre because I’m drinking a lot of water with the salt, and then I was getting bloating, like abdominal bloating, which I never get, like ever. I’d never really…

0:16:17.3 Jordan Syatt: Like discomfort?

0:16:19.3 Mike Vacanti: Discomfort but also visual… Yes, both.

0:16:23.3 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, yeah.

0:16:24.0 Mike Vacanti: And so reduced went back and forth with Grok and figured out this is what was going on. I actually figured out what was going on and then just asked Grok, does this make sense? I basically dropped the liquid IV and felt infinitely better. So essentially what happened is the extra 1000 calories a day, I’m getting more sodium from the extra food, but it’s winter here. I’m not doing high intensity cardio. My strength training sessions aren’t like circuity, sweaty. They’re like real workouts where you’re trying to build strength and muscle, and so I’m not sweating out more than I was before. And so something to thing about, a PSA, that I’d never thought about and I think that I think pretty deeply about these things is that when in a surplus, you’re getting more sodium via food unless you’re eating unbelievably clean and not salting your foods, which most people aren’t. You’re getting more sodium via food, and so the need for electrolytes or extra salt goes way down. And I learned that the slightly uncomfortable way for a few days there.

0:17:32.0 Jordan Syatt: That’s a good lesson.

0:17:33.9 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. I think so too.

0:17:36.4 Jordan Syatt: When I see people who don’t work out and they have a significant amount of weight to lose and they’re having these electrolyte drinks…

0:17:44.6 Mike Vacanti: Salt packets.

0:17:45.8 Jordan Syatt: I’m like, “What are you doing?” That’s not who it’s for.

0:17:52.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:17:52.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Interesting. Well, good. I’m glad you figured that out.

0:17:53.4 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Me too. Me too. And then had an insane lift this morning.

0:17:56.0 Jordan Syatt: Oh, good.

0:17:58.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:17:58.7 Jordan Syatt: Your split is upper, lower, upper, lower?

0:18:00.0 Mike Vacanti: It’s actually chest and back, legs and abs, shoulders and arms, legs and abs.

0:18:07.2 Jordan Syatt: Oh nice.

0:18:07.8 Mike Vacanti: And the Tuesday is quad-dominant and Friday is hip-dominant. I have a close-grip bench on my Thursday, so I’m getting some chest there and I also have weighted chins on my Thursday, so I’m getting some chest and some back on the second day as well.

0:18:30.0 Jordan Syatt: Nice. And you did four sets of hanging leg raises.

0:18:33.0 Mike Vacanti: That was brutal. It wasn’t even brutal while doing it. The DOMS was like the worst I’ve had in a decade, it felt like.

0:18:41.0 Jordan Syatt: That slow controlled eccentric.

0:18:44.2 Mike Vacanti: Mm-hmm. That’s right.

0:18:45.7 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. When you do it, it’s not that bad, but the next couple of days you’re like, “What the fuck?” Getting out of bed, you’re like, “Oh my God.”

[laughter]

0:18:51.0 Mike Vacanti: When I did, it didn’t feel like a lot… When I told you about it, I wasn’t like this was so much volume. I did two sets normal and two sets with a rotation on it. It felt like, okay, that was a good, like I’m introducing this movement back in, and then for three days after, it felt like I had knives stuck in my stomach.

0:19:11.0 Jordan Syatt: What are the ab moves that you’re doing in this program. You have the hanging leg raises. What else do you have?

0:19:16.0 Mike Vacanti: Single-arm plank reach, weighted pike, overhead sit-up, Russian twist. That’s on one of the days.

0:19:24.5 Jordan Syatt: Oh man, that’s just one day?

0:19:26.1 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, it’s kind of a lot of ab volume.

0:19:27.5 Jordan Syatt: Damn!

0:19:28.1 Mike Vacanti: And not for aesthetics at all by the way. Purely for strength and function, like get my daughter out of the crib, and like feel unbelievable doing it. Do it on one leg, just for fun. Body saw plank, hanging knee raise, hanging raise with twist.

0:19:46.0 Jordan Syatt: Holy shit, dude. That’s some real ab work with this program.

0:19:50.2 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:19:51.2 Jordan Syatt: Nice.

0:19:51.7 Mike Vacanti: All right. Let’s rank these pre-workouts. Unless we have anything else here.

0:19:55.5 Jordan Syatt: No.

0:19:56.3 Mike Vacanti: Should we give any prefaces here?

0:19:59.0 Jordan Syatt: This is a list provided by AI, and we’re gonna go through and rank them S to F.

0:20:03.8 Mike Vacanti: Banana with peanut butter.

0:20:04.0 Jordan Syatt: Banana and peanut butter. I’m gonna give it a D.

0:20:09.0 Mike Vacanti: I agree. How come?

0:20:10.5 Jordan Syatt: The carbs will be great, like it’ll feel good, from the banana, and if it’s Skippy, then you’ll get a little bit more carb in there, which will nice. If it’s the natural PB, then no not so much. I don’t think it’s going to make you feel sick at all. It’s not going to make your actual session be worse, but in terms of the complete and utter disrespect for the protein, that’s just insane to me that there is maybe 7 g of protein, maybe if you’re having a lot of peanut butter. So yeah, it’s just wild. This is a D. This is not even close to a sufficient pre-workout for strength training.

0:21:01.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Completely agree. In order of importance, I would say protein is the highest in your pre-workout. Carbs are probably second highest. And there’s other factors that we’ll get into here, but providing a pre-workout meal/snack option with essentially no protein. It says the peanut butter is a good source of protein fat, it’s not. Peanut butter is like, I don’t know, 70% fat and 15 plus percent carb, and 12% or 13% protein. Very little. Terrible option. There is also something to be said about… And we’re going to have to make assumptions here, but the closer you are to a training session, the less that you want to have (a) a lot fats and (b) a lot of fiber. Now, healthy fats and fiber are both amazing, obviously, but right before a strength training session, those slow digestion which isn’t what you want when you’re trying to squat 300 pounds, like you don’t want to be digesting broccoli when you’re going heavy, right? So D.

0:22:00.0 Mike Vacanti: Number two, Greek yogurt with berries. And it says add honey if needed for extra quick energy.

0:22:22.0 Jordan Syatt: Ooh, this made it way better. Greek yogurt, berries with honey. Man, that… Is that an S-tier right there?

0:22:31.8 Mike Vacanti: It might be.

0:22:32.7 Jordan Syatt: I think that’s an S-tier dude. That’s great.

0:22:35.9 Mike Vacanti: On paper, it for sure is.

0:22:37.6 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. I love that. I think it’s great. I’ll regularly do it. I’m giving that S-tier. It tastes good. It’s not going to make you feel like shit. You get plenty of energy. Right macros. That’s an S-tier pre-workout.

0:22:49.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. I’m also gonna put it in S-tier. It’s not the one seed within S-tier, and if I’m going to steelman why it’s not perfect, I would say a little bit of fiber in the berries. Personal preference is honestly the main reason why it’s not my absolute favorite.

0:23:11.7 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, yeah. Same.

0:23:26.0 Mike Vacanti: It’s a little more volume, and I’ll tend to go more traditionally unhealthy just for less volume and taste/ease of speed of eating it too.

0:23:27.6 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, I would say for me the fiber is an issue. For me, it’s that Greek yogurt sits in my stomach pretty heavy.

0:23:34.2 Mike Vacanti: That too.

0:23:34.9 Jordan Syatt: And so it’s like that’s where a lot of my thoughts are with these pre-workouts how does it actually make me feel. If you feel great and you can squat heavy, deadlift heavy, and do all this stuff with Greek yogurt in your stomach, amazing. I can’t, but I can’t much of it. And this would have to be a significant amount of time before. I couldn’t do this 30 minutes before. I’d have this like 90 to 120 minutes before the workout to have some time to digest it.

0:23:59.0 Mike Vacanti: Yes, completely agree with both of those points. Especially think about 30 g of protein via Greek yogurt versus 30 g of protein via 4 ounces, 5 ounces of cold water and protein powder, like one of them actually feels like it sits in my stomach whereas the other feels like nothing.

0:24:19.5 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. It feels like you’re just drinking water.

0:24:20.0 Mike Vacanti: Oatmeal with banana and protein powder.

0:24:23.0 Jordan Syatt: Oh man, this is another S-tier.

0:24:27.5 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:24:28.4 Jordan Syatt: This is another S-tier. This is another one where I’d have to do it significantly before the workout just because oatmeal sits heavy. So yeah, I love this one. I would probably put this one above the Greek yogurt one. This would be higher S-tier.

0:24:45.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:24:45.3 Jordan Syatt: But yeah, this is an amazing one.

0:24:46.0 Mike Vacanti: I’m with you spot on with the ranking. If it was just protein powder and banana, I could go pretty close to the workout. If it was just protein powder and oatmeal, I could also go pretty close to the workout. Like instant oats, no more than 50 grams of carbs via oats if you’re having three or four packets of oatmeal, that’s a lot of volume to sit in your stomach, and unnecessary depending on one, how big you are and two, what kind of training volume you are about to do. You don’t need that much… There’s a balance between having enough carbs pre-workout and having so many that it’s unnecessarily high amount.

0:25:20.0 Mike Vacanti: Whole grain toast with almond butter and banana slices.

0:25:37.0 Jordan Syatt: Whole grain toast with almond butter and banana slices. I’m gonna give this a C.

0:25:44.0 Mike Vacanti: Okay. A little bit more carbs than the banana and peanut butter?

0:25:48.3 Jordan Syatt: A little bit more carbs. You get a little bit more tag-along protein. There are some proteins in the bread. So it’s a little bit higher, still not… I wouldn’t consider it great in any way, shape, or form, but it’s slightly better than just the banana with peanut butter.

0:26:03.0 Mike Vacanti: I’m with you. I’m good with this and C. I, again, going for wholegrain pre-workout versus this is where… Before and after and even during depending on the kind of session you’re doing is when I’m most okay with less healthy food options for the sake of what feels good for you. I’m going to save the wholegrain stuff for lunch later on. I just take some white bread or even sourdough bread which I find lighter than a wholegrain wheat bread and some jam on there. I’d prefer more carbohydrate source instead of the almond butter if it’s pre-workout. If it’s a rest day, give me protein with toast and almond butter, but before a training session, I don’t really want those fats. I think C is a good rating.

0:26:58.0 Jordan Syatt: This is the problem with AI scraping the whole internet because so much of the internet says that nut butters are a great source of protein. I wonder if it would change if you had subsequently prompted it to being I want you to, don’t take information from random health sites. I want you to take it from the most science based approach to this. I wonder if it would be next to the nut butters.

0:27:28.2 Mike Vacanti: Maybe. But I don’t… We’re at a point with AI where I don’t think we need to tell it to be correct. It should be…

0:27:35.1 Jordan Syatt: No, no, no. Correct. I agree. I’m just saying this is one of the issues with AI. Like, especially that first answer. It seems like it’s just scraping the most prominent answers, which is like, I don’t know, on Livestrong or whatever these forums and whatnot or random health articles where it’s like nut butters are a good source of protein. It’s like you’re just getting this from marketing. This isn’t from actual science.

0:27:57.7 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, that’s exactly what’s happening. Chicken, rice, and vegetables.

0:28:02.0 Jordan Syatt: Bro, that’s great. I would say, I guess it depends which vegetables. If it’s raw broccoli, that’s a really bad beat. If it’s like, you know what would be great… For example, I’m thinking of like a Chipotle bowl. You got chicken, rice and then some of those fajitas, the bell peppers. That would be way better in my opinion.

0:28:27.6 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:28:28.0 Jordan Syatt: So it depends which vegetables. I’m gonna give this an A. I’m gonna assume that someone’s not picking cruciferous vegetables and are instead picking, whether it’s corn, or peppers or something like that which is much easier to digest.

0:28:43.5 Mike Vacanti: And cooked over raw.

0:28:44.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, yeah.

0:28:45.8 Mike Vacanti: Like even like cooked carrots that are super soft aren’t gonna sit in your stomach and aren’t gonna like… I don’t know this to be a fact, but I would imagine the thermic effect of food of cooked carrots is lower than raw carrots.

0:29:02.0 Jordan Syatt: Interesting.

0:29:02.6 Mike Vacanti: Raw carrots just seem like your body would burn more energy digesting and I don’t want that to be happening while I’m trying to lift weights. A is a good place for it, and I’m even okay with some… Like what’s going to happen if by adding more vegetables is let’s just back this meal up further away from the workout. We’re not doing this 30 minutes before. Let’s do it two hours before. As we get closer to the workout, I’m removing more of the vegetables and perhaps I had a rice with honey drizzled over it and grilled chicken and some barbecue sauce. That was a nice solid amount of carbs. A lot of them are pretty fast digesting. I prefer white rice, but yeah, that’s a solid pre workout meal. Protein smoothie, whey/plant protein, banana, berries, water/milk.

0:29:56.0 Jordan Syatt: S-tier.

0:29:57.1 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:29:57.3 Jordan Syatt: S tier. Yeah, that’s S-tier. That’s amazing. And that one I could have 30 minutes before. Like that’s… I’m in a rush. I gotta get it done. I don’t have the time to prepare a meal. Like that’s, that’s a great one. The only drawback is you gotta clean your blender.

0:30:11.9 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:30:12.7 Jordan Syatt: That’s it. That’s an S-tier.

0:30:14.0 Mike Vacanti: If we look at the life of Syatt Fitness though, are you really cleaning your blender or you just leaving it in the sink and perhaps filling it with water?

0:30:22.1 Jordan Syatt: No, I’m cleaning it. That’s the deal with my wife.

0:30:25.2 Mike Vacanti: No, no, no, no. We’re looking at the, the life of Jordan, not Jordan in his current…

0:30:30.6 Jordan Syatt: Oh like in the overarching history of Jordan. Okay.

0:30:34.3 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:30:34.5 Jordan Syatt: So not married. And like I can’t just leave this. If I was single or when I was single, I would just put it in my sink and just fill that thing up and then probably come back a few hours or a day later next time I’m about to use it, maybe throw a little bit of soap in there quickly clean it out, not super well and then make my next smoothie.

0:30:59.0 Mike Vacanti: Wait. Shoot me straight. You’re batting 100%? You would clean the blender instantly before your lift in your current rendition of who you are?

0:31:09.0 Jordan Syatt: Right now, so I do juice a fair amount. I clean it immediately. My rule is I clean the juicer… I haven’t blended something in a minute. But juicing, I clean it… I clean it before I drink it.

0:31:24.5 Mike Vacanti: Wow.

0:31:25.5 Jordan Syatt: It’s sort of a bitch. Like listen, in terms of juicers, it’s like the easiest juicer to clean, but it’s still sort of a bitch. And I’m the only one eating it or drinking it. And so I’m not gonna make my wife clean that up. You know what I mean?

0:31:39.7 Mike Vacanti: I’m not coming from a place of make her clean it up. I’m coming from a place of you do it immediately versus you do it 45 minutes later or even you do it after you drink the juice.

0:31:49.1 Jordan Syatt: Knowing my wife, if she sees it in there, she’s cleaning it.

0:31:53.3 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. So her big five… What is it? Orderliness is higher than yours.

0:32:01.1 Jordan Syatt: Oh, dude. Yeah. Way and like… So if I sit down to drink the juice and then she comes into the kitchen and sees it in the sink, she’ll just immediately not even upset. Like, she’s just like, I need to clean this. And I’m like. I feel bad because I’m like, I’m literally the only one using this. So there’s no way I’m going to let you clean that when it’s a bitch to clean and you’re not even using it for your benefit.

0:32:25.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Jordan’s doing the right thing. Well done, Jordan. Protein smoothie. I’m gonna give… I don’t like that… I’m gonna give it an S because the banana. Here’s the thing with berries, and I guess I haven’t fully thought this through. I use berries when I want a relatively low carbohydrate meal that is high in both satiety and micronutrients. When I’m thinking pre workout, I want dense, I want small. I want dates, I want honey. I’ll settle for the banana. The banana’s not the best option, but mango, I guess a little bit better. I’m thinking in terms of how much room it’s going to take in my stomach per calorie. And so I’ll give this bottom of S tier… Yeah.

0:33:14.3 Jordan Syatt: That’s interesting.

0:33:15.5 Mike Vacanti: The fact that it’s liquid and blended up, I think makes it a little bit better. But I feel like this is sitting in my stomach more heavily than a lot of other options that I could go for.

0:33:27.9 Jordan Syatt: I also feel like you’re thinking about this in terms of big man calories as opposed to smaller person calories.

0:33:35.4 Mike Vacanti: Let’s go median American calories.

0:33:37.3 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. I mean, I love the berries. They don’t sit heavy in my stomach.

0:33:41.9 Mike Vacanti: Egg omelet with whole grain toast and avocado.

0:33:47.5 Jordan Syatt: I’m gonna give this a B. It’s higher fat than I would like. We’re gonna assume whole eggs. And obviously, we don’t know how many eggs are included…

0:33:59.3 Mike Vacanti: Three.

0:33:59.6 Jordan Syatt: But like, okay, so maybe you’re getting 24, 25 grams of protein with the tagalongs from the bread in addition to the eggs. It’s just ideal. It’s not as much as I would really like. I’d like more protein, a little bit lower fat for a pre-workout. So it’s a B. It’s good, but it’s definitely not great. And yeah.

0:34:24.8 Mike Vacanti: I’m gonna give it a B also. And I’m gonna put a sliding scale between A and C. The further you are away from the workout, the closer it gets to A tier. The closer to the workout, the more it’s a C. And then if you’re doing any smart adjustments on the omelet, one whole egg or two whole eggs and some egg whites. Half an avocado versus a whole avocado. Like doing anything to make sure you’re getting at least 25 grams of protein, if not 30. And bringing the fats down a little bit is going to make that a slightly better option.

0:34:59.1 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Well said.

0:35:00.7 Mike Vacanti: Apple or orange with a handful of nuts.

0:35:04.0 Jordan Syatt: Ugh. It’s a great snack in general, but not pre workout. This has to be…

0:35:14.0 Mike Vacanti: I don’t even like it as a snack. I like an apple as a snack and I like a handful of nuts as a snack. I’m not going carb plus fat no-protein snack. That’s just degenerate. That’s like trying to lose lean mass while you’re hiking in the mountains.

0:35:34.2 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. At best, this is a D. At best. And I’m like really close to F. This is a D minus.

0:35:41.1 Mike Vacanti: Beautiful. I like it. Let’s increase the tempo. I think you’re spot on there. I don’t think anything else needs to be said. D minus. Cottage cheese with fruit.

0:35:49.0 Jordan Syatt: It’s really good. Add a little bit of honey would take it up to S tier or maple syrup or something. I’ll put it A.

0:35:57.4 Mike Vacanti: I think it’s an A. I’m knocking non whey protein dairy sources in my mind like yogurt and cottage cheese as pre workout options. And I’m trying to figure out why I’m subconsciously knocking those down a peg.

0:36:11.0 Jordan Syatt: Slower digestion.

0:36:12.1 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, but aren’t they the same speed of digestion as whey protein powder?

0:36:17.2 Jordan Syatt: No.

0:36:18.1 Mike Vacanti: It’s slower?

0:36:18.5 Jordan Syatt: It’s slower. Yeah, for sure.

0:36:19.9 Mike Vacanti: Oh yeah, the casein and the duh… Yeah. So that’s why. Speed of digestion and volume. I think the combination of those two.

0:36:28.3 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:36:29.1 Mike Vacanti: Wholegrain crackers with cheese or hummus.

0:36:31.6 Jordan Syatt: Dear Lord.

0:36:32.9 Mike Vacanti: And it says carbs plus protein combo. That’s portable and light.

0:36:37.2 Jordan Syatt: Holy shit dude. This is like those… You know what this is getting it from. It’s those like those things that look like Lunchables then that call them protein boxes. And they’ve got like cheddar cheese and salami…

0:36:51.9 Mike Vacanti: And grapes.

0:36:52.7 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Yeah. Yes.

0:36:55.2 Mike Vacanti: It was one of my… I made an Instagram rant about this in 2013 where I just took a picture of it at Starbucks. I was like, this is absolutely… This protein box is trash. Protein bistro box, I think it was called. It was like 390 cals and 13 protein. I was like, all right, this is 52 calories from protein. 390 total. Trash.

0:37:19.4 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. I’m going to give this an F.

0:37:22.1 Mike Vacanti: F. Fail. We’re not grading on a curve here. Or actually we might be. Sweet potato with turkey or chicken.

0:37:29.1 Jordan Syatt: I’ll give that an A.

0:37:30.5 Mike Vacanti: I agree.

0:37:31.2 Jordan Syatt: I’m not giving it an S just because it doesn’t seem like that enjoyable to me.

0:37:34.7 Mike Vacanti: Oh, it’s high on my enjoyability. But I’m still A.

0:37:38.0 Jordan Syatt: I don’t know. That’s just… Like it tastes good, but like just purely sweet potato with chicken. I would like something else in there.

0:37:46.6 Mike Vacanti: I’m more of a fast digesting carb pre-workout than a complex carb guy pre-workout, and sweet potatoes are a decent amount of volume per calorie. I mean, sure… Two hours out. If we’re gonna do this meal, do like a big size meal of it and then train two, two and a half hours later. Okay. But not an S.

0:38:07.3 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:38:08.0 Mike Vacanti: Rice cakes with peanut butter and honey.

0:38:10.2 Jordan Syatt: F. F.

0:38:13.0 Mike Vacanti: I’m gonna tell you why it’s not and why this is your own biases.

0:38:16.8 Jordan Syatt: I heard rice cake and I went F immediately. I didn’t hear the rest of it.

[laughter]

0:38:22.4 Mike Vacanti: I’m gonna remind you, you gave peanut butter and banana a D. And what we have here is…

0:38:28.4 Jordan Syatt: But enjoyability is a factor.

0:38:29.9 Mike Vacanti: Okay. We have a faster… Is part of the equation. We have a faster digesting carb source plus an additional amazing pre workout carb source. Top three, arguably in honey.

0:38:44.0 Jordan Syatt: What’s on top? Is there a peanut butter?

0:38:45.5 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. So yes, peanut butter…

0:38:47.5 Jordan Syatt: At best, this is a D. At best, this is a D.

0:38:49.8 Mike Vacanti: Then peanut butter and banana’s an F.

0:38:52.0 Jordan Syatt: No, no, no. No, no, no. Because it’s still just… Listen, the issue with peanut butter and banana was there is no protein. This doesn’t add any more protein.

0:38:59.5 Mike Vacanti: It doesn’t, but it adds more carb and faster digesting carb.

0:39:03.7 Jordan Syatt: I still would best D. And peanut butter, banana is still D.

0:39:07.7 Mike Vacanti: Cool. Are you willing to admit that you’re just letting your own personal biases against rice cakes completely take over all logic that you previously possessed?

0:39:14.7 Jordan Syatt: Yes. It’s taking over like 60% of my logic.

0:39:18.6 Mike Vacanti: All. All logic. All of your faculties have been taken over.

0:39:22.4 Jordan Syatt: You’ve been hijacked completely.

0:39:26.2 Mike Vacanti: Number 13, scrambled eggs with veggies and toast.

0:39:31.4 Jordan Syatt: Scrambled eggs. How many scrambled did it say?

0:39:33.8 Mike Vacanti: It just says protein packed with added micronutrients and carbs.

0:39:37.6 Jordan Syatt: Jeez. All right, let’s assume three eggs.

0:39:44.1 Mike Vacanti: Mm-hmm.

0:39:45.3 Jordan Syatt: So you’ve got 18 grams of protein with a little bit from the toast. So maybe 22, 23 grams. I’m gonna give this a B.

0:39:52.6 Mike Vacanti: Think B is charitable because one, the veggies we don’t really want or need in our pre-workout. You can put veggies in every other meal. You don’t need them in your pre-workout meal. Two, we’re scraping to get to enough protein. Three, the whole eggs pre-workout and the added fats slow digestion even more. I’d opt for eggs at a different time of day, or I would opt for a combo of egg whites and whole eggs. Or if I was in my solely focused on macronutrients, calories, how it feels around my workout, and 0% on micronutrients. I would just go 30 grams of protein via egg whites and then toast with jam pre workout. And you’re about to just have insane pumps.

0:40:35.8 Jordan Syatt: That’s way better.

0:40:36.5 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:40:37.4 Jordan Syatt: Eggs for dinner are very underrated.

0:40:39.6 Mike Vacanti: Hugely underrated.

0:40:40.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:40:41.3 Mike Vacanti: Breakfast for dinner.

0:40:42.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:40:43.0 Mike Vacanti: We used to do that as a kid.

0:40:44.3 Jordan Syatt: It’s amazing.

0:40:45.2 Mike Vacanti: Protein bar.

0:40:46.0 Jordan Syatt: It depends on the bar, but let’s assume good macros. Like, let’s assume you’re getting at least 25 g of protein.

0:40:55.1 Mike Vacanti: Let’s rank a few. Let’s… Quest bar 20 protein, 24 carb, 8 fat.

0:41:01.3 Jordan Syatt: I’m going to give a Quest bar a B plus. The reason I’m not giving it the A is because they fuck with my stomach. Purely just based on the macros it’s good but I don’t ever feel good which might even knock it down even more just because I just don’t feel good. But purely macro based. It’s a B plus but if I take into how my stomach feels after, it’s knocking it down to a C plus.

0:41:26.5 Mike Vacanti: This is how much Jordan Syatt hates rice cakes. He just took something that makes his stomach feel absolutely awful and gave it a B plus and gave rice cakes an F. That’s crazy.

0:41:37.7 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, but that has 20 g of protein.

0:41:40.6 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, yeah, I’m gonna give it a B and my stomach feels fine on them. Yeah, I don’t like that… We’re net carbing… I don’t even know what Quest bars are. Maybe 4 grams net carbs. So, so many of the carbs are fiber which you don’t really want pre just it’s fine, it’s on the go, you’re in a pinch. Great. Highly convenient. Which we haven’t been ranking based on convenience but that could bump it up. Do you have to be at home in your kitchen to do this? Or if you’re doing an afternoon workout, you’re running there from the office. You can have a protein bar. Cool. I think B is right. Now let’s rank the MET-Rx bar.

0:42:20.7 Jordan Syatt: That’s an A. Objectively that’s an A.

0:42:23.6 Mike Vacanti: 30 protein. The apple pie one only has 9 fat and it’s got like 50-ish protein, maybe more carb.

0:42:31.7 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, I mean it’s objectively an A. They taste really good. They don’t fuck with my stomach.

0:42:38.7 Mike Vacanti: Don’t have all that fiber, they don’t have sugar, alcohols.

0:42:40.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, they’re really good. They’re just harder for people who are more limited on calories just because…

0:42:47.4 Mike Vacanti: Like 400 cals.

0:42:48.5 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, it’s huge. But I mean you could take a little bit like of the end off, drop it down closer to like 325 or something. Yeah, exactly. Still getting plenty of protein and carbs in there. So yeah.

0:43:00.6 Mike Vacanti: That’s smart. Can save the end for post workout. Oats with chia seeds, whey protein, banana, and blueberries.

0:43:09.5 Jordan Syatt: I mean that in my mind is… The only reason I’m going to say A and not S is just because like super high fiber might be really sitting in your stomach and I love fiber but like immediately pre-workout that’s a lot. Especially with the chia seeds and like and again, they’re all great. Like, I literally had that for breakfast today, but I’m not working out until this afternoon or evening, so it’s like, that’s… It’s amazing. But for pre workout, I’ll give it an A.

0:43:37.4 Mike Vacanti: I think this can be an S if it’s just a little bit of chia seeds and then I would either throw a little honey or a little brown sugar on top just for sweetness and a little extra carb. Even though you’re getting a lot of carb. I don’t love mixing protein powder in with something like this. I think it’s like a… I think it’s like a one plus one equals zero kind of thing versus having 6 ounces cold water with protein and then having my carbs over here. I’m getting two things that taste good instead of one thing that tastes like, not quite as good, but to each, I mean, that doesn’t make a difference physiologically. An A, if not a high A.

0:44:18.2 Jordan Syatt: I think I prefer it in the oatmeal, the protein powder. I think it tastes better for me.

0:44:24.3 Mike Vacanti: That’s wild. What protein powder and what oatmeal?

0:44:27.6 Jordan Syatt: Legion cocoa cereal recently.

0:44:30.2 Mike Vacanti: Okay. I haven’t mixed those in with anything, but…

0:44:33.7 Jordan Syatt: Super good.

0:44:34.4 Mike Vacanti: By the way, that’s the only protein powder I’ve consumed in, like, six years, and I’ve never taken a single cent from them.

0:44:42.6 Jordan Syatt: I have. I’ve taken numerous cents.

0:44:46.5 Mike Vacanti: Many cents.

0:44:47.7 Jordan Syatt: But it’s the only protein powder I’ve had since I started working, since before I started working with them. Which is what… Was that 2020? 2019?

0:44:56.8 Mike Vacanti: You’re asking me.

0:44:58.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, because you were with me when I was like, should I work with them? Remember?

0:45:00.8 Mike Vacanti: Oh yeah, yeah. I do.

0:45:01.8 Jordan Syatt: We were in my building. Must have been 2020.

0:45:05.1 Mike Vacanti: I think we were in your apartment.

0:45:06.3 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, we were on level two.

0:45:08.8 Mike Vacanti: I thought we were in the apartment. I remember being on that low couch. And what kind of oatmeal?

0:45:15.9 Jordan Syatt: Just typical rolled oats.

0:45:17.8 Mike Vacanti: There we go. So I’m picturing, like, kids oat meal, like peaches and cream.

0:45:23.7 Jordan Syatt: Oh, no, no, no, no.

0:45:25.1 Mike Vacanti: Like, vanilla protein or…

0:45:25.7 Jordan Syatt: It’s already flavored.

0:45:26.8 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:45:27.4 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. No, I just mean, like standard…

0:45:29.2 Mike Vacanti: And those are so good.

0:45:30.5 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, those are good by itself.

0:45:31.1 Mike Vacanti: All right, let’s rifle through. We got a mentorship Q&A. Turkey sandwich on whole grain bread.

0:45:36.1 Jordan Syatt: Man, nostalgia wants me to give this an S-tier. Like, I’m giving this an S. This was my, like, pre-workout all through high school. I love this one.

0:45:49.2 Mike Vacanti: I’m good with S. Like, you can ruin it by going heavy cheese, heavy mayo, bacon…

0:45:55.3 Jordan Syatt: Heavy avocado. Yeah.

0:45:56.1 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Like you can put too much fat in there. You can also make it too big and dense and go too close to the workout. But if you do it right, this could be an S-tier. Somewhere between A and S, definitely.

0:46:06.9 Jordan Syatt: I like to wrap, like a turkey wrap that was always good. It’s hard to overdo it on a wrap.

0:46:12.1 Mike Vacanti: I’ve become… Nostalgia has this for sure at an S. I’ve become more cautious about deli meats.

0:46:19.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Same.

0:46:20.3 Mike Vacanti: Colon cancer risk, things of that nature. I have such a hard time believing that like a high quality deli turkey is as bad for cancer risk as like hot dogs, burnt bacon, salami.

0:46:35.4 Jordan Syatt: Agree. Completely agree.

0:46:37.0 Mike Vacanti: I did a little back and forth. There’s like some studies that show deli poultry is worse than deli red meat for cancer risk.

0:46:44.5 Jordan Syatt: That’s crazy.

0:46:45.3 Mike Vacanti: Like can’t be right.

0:46:46.7 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:46:47.1 Mike Vacanti: That has to be big red meat. Just trying to… But…

0:46:49.8 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. That doesn’t make sense to me at all.

0:46:53.4 Mike Vacanti: No. And I hope it’s not true because deli turkey like a couple of times a week is delicious in a great way.

0:47:01.3 Jordan Syatt: It’s incredible.

0:47:01.9 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:47:02.4 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. It’s lean. That just doesn’t make sense to me.

0:47:05.1 Mike Vacanti: Greek yogurt parfait with granola and fruit.

0:47:08.0 Jordan Syatt: Feel like that’s an S.

0:47:09.4 Mike Vacanti: Granola makes low S probably. But I love the granola addition. Getting more carbs in. If it’s lean Greek yogurt, you can make it really low fat. Avocado toast with eggs.

0:47:20.0 Jordan Syatt: Dude, I love avocado toast so much. Not pre-workout.

0:47:25.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

0:47:25.6 Jordan Syatt: And especially that’s a super high fat, very low protein.

0:47:29.3 Mike Vacanti: It’s not a pre-workout meal. And it’s also not a fat loss meal.

0:47:32.9 Jordan Syatt: No, it’s not. No, it’s not. I mean it’s a very nutritious meal. Highly nutritious. But that… Yeah, I would probably give this… I feel like this has to go like a D plus.

0:47:47.3 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, I’m with you. I’m with you. And it’s like 14 g of protein, 40 g of fat. You’re just… What are we doing here?

0:47:56.3 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:47:56.8 Mike Vacanti: Two more. Rapid fire. Brown rice with lean beef or salmon. And it does say higher calorie option for intense lifting days, two to three hours prior.

0:48:06.9 Jordan Syatt: Interesting. Yeah, I’d give it an A.

0:48:09.3 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. You’re getting protein, you’re getting carb.

0:48:11.5 Jordan Syatt: I would prefer white rice, just my own preference. And like brown rice, it can be fine, but in a large enough quantity to get enough carb there. It definitely wouldn’t feel great in my stomach. I can have larger quantities of white rice and feel great whereas larger quantities of brown rice is too much for my stomach.

0:48:29.0 Mike Vacanti: Even if you’re a big brown rice person, I feel like white rice is objectively better pre workout.

0:48:36.7 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Correct. Jasmine rice dude. Yeah.

0:48:39.4 Mike Vacanti: Incredible. Lastly banana with a scoop of protein powder mixed in yogurt.

0:48:43.8 Jordan Syatt: I would say a low S tier.

0:48:48.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, high A, low S. Amazing. Great list. We got a Q&A with the fitness business mentorship right now, so we’re signing off. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Please leave us a five star review, Spotify, Apple, like actually please do it this time. You’ve probably heard us say it like seven times but today’s the day. Just a little written review. We love Mike and Jordan, five stars and like the YouTube video. We’ll see you next Tuesday.

0:49:13.3 Jordan Syatt: See ya.