#352 TRT Hot Takes

You can't be for TRT and against trans people. God gave you low T. You should have to live with it. So I guess we're getting canceled today, boys. I guess the last group of people that liked us, we're going to make hate us. But this is when I ask for hot takes, and when I say, guys, I need show stoppers. I need something to use in a thumbnail. That's what I'm asking for. I'm sure that there I'm sure this person had to have used ChatGPT. I'm sure that they had to say, what is the craziest take that I could make about TRT? But that's what I'm asking you guys for. Yes, is it ruining my life? Yes, is it this fun game where you say, I wonder if I can get Josh to say this on the podcast because I get to be anonymous and they can just be, you know, if anyone gets mad, they're going to be mad at Josh. And that's hilarious. But to be fair, it is hilarious. And so, um, yeah, hot take number one is ultra hot, but we are going to go through a wide range of hot takes today, cuz hot take number two for a lot of people who are going to be anti-TRT, they're going to say that, no, you're a cheater, you are absolutely on steroids, which I got a lot of hot takes and most of them were things like that. But I would say I got other ones that were like this. Not even a hot take, but TRT helped my depression. And so, the thing about this episode is we're going to talk about a really touchy subject, probably more touchy subject than we ever have. But the problem is, you're not allowed to talk about TRT to people. You can't be honest with your opinions about it. And obviously, I'm wearing sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt. I'm not a doctor. I am not educated in any way. I am an observer and that's really what you guys pay me to do each and every Thursday morning is to tell you what I see in the jiu-jitsu community, especially things that we aren't allowed to say. And especially during times that we aren't allowed to talk about them. And right now, I didn't realize, but this is the most hot button topic in jiu-jitsu right now is the TRT thing. And I had no idea. I really didn't. I I shared one hot take when I was asking for people's hot take and it was about TRT and then so many people scrolled all the way back in the story so they could put their own hot take about how you should be on TRT. And I I just didn't realize. And so, all that being said, this is for fun. This is not for educational purposes at all. Um, just like anything, this is just entertainment. It's the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show. We are just here to have a good time. If this offends you, please drop it in the comments. Please share it. Make a long Instagram post about how offended you are. Make a Facebook post, a Reddit post about how much you hate Josh McKinney. And then when people say, who? You can go, oh, you know, the host of the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show. And they'll go, what? You know, like, yeah, here's a link to all this BS that he's spreading. And then like, you got me, you know? So if that is the case, do that. If you guys want to take a really fun ride with me today, if you want to talk about things that we are not allowed to talk about and be honest, and this is going to be coming from a guy who's been in the jiu-jitsu scene for 17 years, been training basically every day for 17 years, been competing that whole time and has always been a natural athlete. Has never done any of the stuff that will help you win jiu-jitsu matches. It's a huge regret. I probably should have. We'll talk about that even. We'll talk about whether or not at 31, I should be thinking about getting on the sauce. But here's the thing, this is going to offend people. It's very important that you understand that genuinely, I don't care. So, get your estrogen checked, boys, because we're about to go for a ride. Let's get into this episode. I suck at jiu-jitsu. How do I suck less? If TRT is the reason you can't beat them, your jiu-jitsu is not good enough. Also, it's cheating. This listener, they nailed it. They nailed it. And the truth is, the he was on steroids or he was on TRT. I'm going to be using my perspective of he was on steroids, cuz in the adult division, you're not really accusing anybody of being on TRT. There are people, I'm not saying I believe this or not, but there are people who believe that you could go to a place like Victory Men's Health Clinic or go to a place like any of these other TRT clinics and you could get prescribed maybe a little bit above what you would call a therapeutic dose. Um, I think they call it like a super physiological dose. Um, and that's what they're selling. And there are people who say that. I would never say that because I don't make as much money as those companies and if they were to sue me, I don't that's why I would never say it. But I know I've heard people say that. And the thing is, in that in the older divisions, if it was easier to access doctor prescribed steroids and you were really, really, really wanting to win, even if you didn't necessarily need a therapeutic dose, even if you didn't necessarily need a little bit extra. But it's also like, it seems like a lot of these guys that I'm competing against don't have natural 45-year-old testosterone. It seems like almost none of them do. And what do you think that that social pressure is going to be if you are if you're competing in jiu-jitsu and you want to be good, or if you're just training in jiu-jitsu and you're 45, this is something that like, this is why this needs to be talked about. You're training in jiu-jitsu, you're 45, you've dedicated your life to this. Your body is beat down and a 45-year-old blue belt can get on TRT, completely change who they are as a person physically, and then beat you on the mat because they can just out physical you. How do you think that feels? I don't know how that feels. No one who's ever been on drugs, has ever been on steroids can beat me. The only guys that have ever beaten me just beat me with better jiu-jitsu. But no one's ever beaten me for from being on steroids. So if you're mad about this and you're on steroids, I promise, you can't beat me. So it doesn't it doesn't matter. But I do think of that perspective. I do think about when I get older, if I choose to continue to be natural, there are going to be guys that are going to be able to out physical me in a way that is incomprehensible for me right now. Because if somebody really starts to turn things up on me, yes, I'm going to pay for it for the next three or four weeks, but physically, I can still go it feels like as hard as I've, you know, ever I have not felt any physical, um, limits, like capacity limit, um, at 31. I've definitely felt a recovery, um, difference at 31 than when I was, uh, 21-year-old just training every single day, all day, right? And, um, so like I said, I'll talk to you guys more about me and, um, whether or not I should be on. And I'll tell you this, the hot takes per capita absolutely think that I should be that I should be on. Um, absolutely are like, man, I think we would like Josh so much better if he was on TRT. And so I don't know, maybe maybe I'll tell you guys my opinion on it and you can, um, I don't know, you can let me know. Uh, let's go to this one. I got this one, okay, so I got this one multiple times. This has to be somebody's joke or something, or everyone else came up with this at the same time, but I got this one a few times. We should stop calling it TRT and start calling it gender affirming care. People really did like the argument, like the jokes that it seems like per capita more more of the people that are on TRT right now, that age group, that demographic in America, that group, a lot of people liked the joke, thought it was humorous to say that group for whatever reason tends to have a very strong opinion on transgender people. And and they they they like to point out the the hormone the hormone replacement thing that's happening in both places. Again, I would never point that out. This is absolutely wild to be talking about on the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show. Maybe turn off this episode. Maybe let's not listen to this one. But it's going to get worse. Um, I'm just telling you, a lot of people made that suggestion. They thought it was really funny. It's a good suggestion. And enough people said it that like I have to put this in. Even if I, you know, even if I'm like, oh, no, I love TRT. I think it's the best. I've got to put this stuff in, right? Yo, so I got a new gi. It's really, really sick. Datsusara just sent me their Fun Gi number two. And, um, has a color stitching that I've never really seen before. It just the the gi looks really cool. The the obviously whatever artist they had design it took special care on this. And it's just such a unique design. I have worn it twice now and I have probably gotten 20 different comments on the gi. Everybody's like, hey, why is this shiny? Can I touch this? Can I put on your gi top? It's can I choke you with this a little bit? And so, um, it's definitely been the talk of the town. Only problem I had is I trained in it the other day, jump in the car. It's like one of the last nice days of the year out. And so I got the windows down. Jump in the car, still gi on, still sweaty. I got leather seats, no big deal. Um, and I'm going to drive home. And on my way home, I ended up having to roll up the windows because women were literally just trying to jump into the car because they were so impressed by this Datsusara gi. And so, if that interests you, if, um, being, you know, the coolest looking person on the mat interests you, being in one of the most comfortable gis that there is interests you, um, be sure to check out Datsusara. Um, be sure to check out DSgear.com and use promo code I suck at checkout and you'll get 10% off of your gi, your backpack, whatever you want from them. But be sure to check them out. Josh, you should get on TRT. This is great hot take. And I'm telling you, this hot take, I think I did in the hot takes ask, should I be on TRT? Nobody said no. Nobody said, no, Josh. I'd stop listening to the show. It would break my heart if you got on. And the truth is, my opinion on TRT, on just straight up steroids, on any drug that somebody needs to consistently be a good training partner for me, I think you should be allowed to do it. Take it, brother. So to act like I can sit on a high horse as a guy who's never done steroids and I can say, oh, well, I have never had any positive effect from it. Like that's not true. I've had a lot of training partners that I've trained with over the years that have been become much better training partners by getting on TRT or something different. Let me tell you, uh, guys a story. You have to understand, I really have been doing this, I know I look like I'm 12, um, but I've been doing this for a very long time. I started jiu-jitsu 17 years ago. One time, I'm 14 years old and we are, um, and you as a 14-year-old growing up in a jiu-jitsu space, all older men. I mean, literally, the guys closest to my age were 25 when I first started jiu-jitsu. I literally had no one even close to my age on our team. And, um, it was also a very popular MMA school at the time too. So, a lot of personalities, a lot of, uh, learning about life for old private school 14-year-old bull cut chubby Asian Josh McKinney. And so, um, one time, I'm talking to one of my friends and he is a I believe like a preschool teacher, kindergarten teacher, something very, very young. Um, but he's a blast, one of the nicest guys in the world. And, um, someone mentioned like, yeah, we're all in the locker room and someone mentioned about him, yeah, he's like, he got caught sleeping with somebody's wife. And I was like, oh, no, that's not good. And like, yeah, so and he goes, well, I'm going to have an MMA fight with the guy. And I go, what? And he's like, yeah, that we we agreed, we're going to have an MMA fight now. And I'm like, well, that's wild. This is a crazy like, I didn't expect this. And he's like, yeah, yeah, um, and like, well, what's the tell me about him? He's like, yeah, it's going to be at 185 cuz that's the lowest that this guy can make. And I said, brother, you're 135. And I remember he looked me in the eye and I was like, again, 14 years old. And he said, Josh, what God can't give you, man will provide. And I kid you not, he went from this guy that I was beating at 14, just beating down in practice, and he went from 135, 140 to 175 and so lean and so athletic and so strong. He immediately became my best training partner and was for years. I don't think his health fared too well. That's kind of the point. I benefited from it though. Probably wouldn't have been as good. And so, um, yeah, right now, I honestly, I know the hot take is, Josh, you should get on TRT. Right now, I literally it doesn't if it wasn't for you guys excessively pushing it, the thought wouldn't even cross my mind slightly. I don't wake up in the morning and go, oh, man, that commercial is flashing back in my head, you know? I'm tired. I'm exhausted. Honey, honey, wake up. I think my T is low. I don't do that. It doesn't happen for me. And so, the idea that, you know, like, oh, Josh, you should be on TRT. You'd have to understand, if I were to do it, it would not be for any therapeutic reason at all. It would be only to have a second life at a jiu-jitsu adult career and that's it. That would be the only reason that would make sense for me to do it right now. Because I'm 31 years old and my TR my testosterone levels just in my observation are fine. I don't hear the commercial and say, oh, this is me. I'm struggling right now. But also, on the other side of it, I really I'm super fortunate to be in a place where I can not have a very high stress level. My amount of sleep that I'm able to get. I don't always get that sleep. I do have a baby still, but I don't have a job that I have to be up super early for. There are definitely things that I'm able to do that I know other people aren't able to do that research does show is helpful for your TRT levels or TRT, I keep saying that, your testosterone levels. Um, but the thing too is like, I just think it's so easy to get into the mindset that like, it's one way or the other. It's different for everybody. I know for me, for a fact that if I was doing it, if I went in to get tested, I would only get in go in to get tested because I planned on getting on, right? Because what do you think they're going to tell you? Like I just told you guys, I feel good. But if I go into a place, they're going to ask me questions of like, hey, do you feel as good as you did when you were 18? Do you have the same sex drive that you did when you were, you know, 14? I probably not, you know, like, but I don't think that that is, you know, I don't know if that's a a perfect example of that because I was 14. I was supposed to, right? And so, that is like, but they would definitely, I promise you, gaslight me into being on. And so for me, knowing about it, I would only go in to get on. And I'm not saying that I never would do that. I'm saying right now it doesn't cross my mind. I promise you guys, if I ever do, I'll tell you. We'll document it. I will be honest about it. Cuz again, I don't care if you're on. If it keeps you on the mat, if it keeps you doing things that you should be doing and it's like the only way that you feel like it could be, it makes a lot of sense to me. Again, I'm not saying that means you should do it. But I I get the perspective, you know, I I get the perspective on both sides. Here's my problem is we act like it is this this choice that you need to make now. Like that really is the the social pressure that I will get from, you know, people I respect. And I understand that. I understand their perspective. But for me, I plan on living a lot longer than twice this 31 years. You know what I mean? I don't plan on dying at 60. I want to live a very long life. As long as I possibly can, as long as I can enjoy that life. And as long as I can bring value in that that's and I want to keep doing that. And so, the idea that I'm willing to trade that hypothetical future or potential future to win something today doesn't even it does not doesn't make sense to me because I've seen so many people win stuff today that is just that doesn't change their life. It doesn't do anything. But they made choices that will drastically change your life later. And that is that again, this is the perspective I'm going off of is not that would be me doing it is I would only be doing it to win right now. 10 years from now, could be different. I could be in a totally different place and I could have a totally different opinion. That is the beauty of life is as your perspective as life changes, your perspective changes. And so, on that note, let's get into a quick commercial break. The jiu-jitsu mats are really gross. If you really think about it. I try to not think about it. I've actually run into this problem of writing commercials for my friends at Sports Hygiene. It's so hard to write commercials because if I just really am honest with people and we all just sat for a second and we think about how gross the jiu-jitsu mats are. Just really we marinate on that thought in the same way that we marinate on all of the body fluids of our friends. And then you hear about a product from Sports Hygiene. You hear about their product Full Guard. And you hear about this idea of hypochlorous acid and how it can literally kill ringworm, it can kill staff, and it is good for your skin biome. And this idea that there is a spray that you could literally spray on in between rounds to protect your body from the grossness of the jiu-jitsu mat is unbelievable. And it just so happens that they love the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show and want to give a promo code to you guys and that is promo code I suck. And so, at checkout, when you are getting your case of Full Guard to just douse your body in because of how gross the mats are, be sure to use promo code I suck at checkout. Let's get back to the episode. If we let caffeine, creatine, saunas, ice baths, and meditation slide, why draw the line at hormones? Everything is performance enhancement. That is, um, an interesting thought. I think that, uh, for me, again, it's the it's just knowing the pros and cons. If you get prescribed nowadays, when I talk to my 30-year-old friends that get prescribed, they're like, oh, no, they told me explicitly there are no side effects to this. Like, brother, look at the positives. If it was that big of a positive and there were no side effects at all, why in I mean, we've had access to testosterone for a long time. Why wouldn't that why wouldn't that be what we all do? And why are all of my dad's old bodybuilder friends dead? My dad's 60. 65. He's about to turn 65. Cool thing for his birthday we're going to talk about in a second. Actually, it's for my birthday, but we'll say it's for his birthday too. Um, but really cool thing if anyone even listens to this episode. I'm sure everybody hates me by this. I'm just really we won't even get into it. But, um, you know, I get the argument that how do you go with that is the one performance enhancer that you're you shouldn't be allowed to do. And I mean, if you've ever rolled with a guy before he was on and then a guy after he's on, it's a performance enhancer. It is a recovery enhancer. But that's what it's supposed to be, right? It literally one of the biggest things that when you talk to guys that get on is they'll always be like, man, I sleep so much better. Like that's a huge huge positive in a lot of people's life. And then if you look, maybe you say, well, what about the pros and cons of not sleeping? The cons of not sleeping are like, you die earlier. And so, you want to sleep. So then you go, well, for me specifically, is there kind of pros and cons? But you have to understand that there are actually cons. I was at a, uh, um, I was in a wedding. And I know this will shock you guys, like, Josh, you have friends? It was a jiu-jitsu student's wedding, okay? Take it easy. And so, we actually were friends. We've actually been friends since we were kids. So it was before either of us ever did jiu-jitsu. But, um, still a jiu-jitsu student's wedding. A lot of guys, I want to say that there were like 12 total groomsmen. This dude, my boy Chris, a lot of friends, very likable guy. Um, and, uh, a lot of people call him the president of Grainy City. And so, we are, um, for his bachelor party, we watched the fights. We watched, I don't even I don't ever watch the UFC, guys. If I'm being honest with you, it's like, there's not enough jiu-jitsu in this for me. And so, I generally don't I generally don't partake. But I went and watched with those guys. And at one point of the night, the idea of, uh, of TRT, the concept of TRT came up. Somebody asked a question, nobody had an answer. And, yeah, I I've done a lot of research into this. I know, you know, I just know so many people that are on. I've heard so many things. I have some information, but in my mind, I have 1% information, right? And we start I start talking about it. I'm talking about this one guy. And it was the only time in the night the entire room was quiet, listening to one person talk. And they were all listening to me talk about TRT. And the one thing, and I remember just I could feel the shock in the room. And, um, you know, like, I I was kind of listing the positives. Like, yeah, this does happen, this does happen, this does happen. And, you know, like, there these things can happen to people. I've heard of these things, um, happening to people. I've heard of really, really young guys being infertile, um, because they got on at a certain time or really young guys, uh, um, even being impotent because they got on and it messed them up. Um, and so there are definitely some risks. And this is the conversation we're having. And they're like, um, uh, one of them goes, but yeah, but, um, once you're better, what about when you get off? And I go, oh, my brother, you don't get off. You're on this for life. This is your new testosterone. This is replacing your chance of making testosterone. This is what you are eventually for most people, they're on estrogen blockers after a certain point. Why? Because your body starts to produce more estrogen to balance it out. That's what your body does. That's what homeostasis is, is your body is always trying to find balance. And so, if you put something into your body that causes a significant change, you cannot be shocked when it causes a significant change. And when your body tries to balance back out, it's hard. And that was the conversation. And like I said, everybody was quiet. Everybody had heard the commercials. There is a lot of money behind this. This episode could easily, most likely, probably shouldn't even monetize it. Most likely will be demonetized. Um, but that is because there is a lot of money behind this. There is a lot of encouragement. And this is not to say that you shouldn't be on. It's not to say that you as an individual don't have reason to be. If you did your research, you probably go, no, whether or not. And there have been people that I know, and just to be totally transparent with you, that I know and care about a lot, that at certain times in their life, I've given the conversation of like, hey, maybe TRT wouldn't be a bad idea for you. Maybe you are actually a really good candidate. And some of those times it happened. Some of those times it's a life-changing thing. And so this is not for me to say that I know better for you guys or anything like that. But it is just saying that in a group of regular guys that were all around my age, I was the only one who had any information besides what they heard on a commercial. And that doesn't that doesn't feel safe. That does not feel safe for something that you're willing to at this time in your life put in your body and you're not going to be able to get off of if you want to continue to feel good. Hey guys, Josh here. I've been getting so much good feedback from the Rob Bernacki instructional jiu-jitsu for imbeciles that we have been giving away for free. But I have bad news. We're about to switch the free giveaway from our friends at BJJ Mental Models. And so, if you have not gotten Rob Bernacki's jiu-jitsu for imbeciles, this is a conceptual course on learning jiu-jitsu. And the amount of feedback that people have felt the need to give me. I didn't create this course, but still to tell me how much it has helped them has been so interesting. I mean, pretty quickly it made me go, oh, this is this is something that I should start to pay attention to even more than I realized. People love Rob Bernacki's way of explaining jiu-jitsu. And like I said, this is the last time we're running a commercial for this course. And so, the next free giveaway is about to change, um, in the coming weeks. But for right now, you can still get your free copy of jiu-jitsu for imbeciles at BJJmentalmodels.com/I suck. And be sure to check the link in the description and get in on that free course. Let's get back to the episode. Hot take. Low T is real. But somehow every gym has like 18 dudes clinically low. What are y'all doing? Eating plastic? The plastics thing, right? Maybe they are eating plastic. This is a fantastic hot take. Um, but aren't we all eating plastic all the time, every second? It's crazy. And, I mean, there is everyone knows that this that our current generation has lower testosterone than like every generation before us. And maybe it is plastics. But there are a lot of things that we do differently now that we don't we didn't do then. You know, there's to me, again, there's so much research on what can increase your testosterone, what can decrease your testosterone that isn't that isn't hormone replacement. And there's of course a ton of debate on all of those things. Um, but something that's really interesting to me is, uh, there is a community, um, effect on your hormones. Meaning that for young men, if you and I will try to cite this research so you guys don't have to say cite this research. But, um, I'll try to. Most likely I won't. But anyway, um, there is research that says that being around other men that have testosterone will increase your testosterone. And in theory, it makes a lot of sense, right? You if you were the only man around and you had the highest testosterone around, there would be no reason for you to it would theoretically wouldn't be harder hard for you to find a mate. But in that in this world that really a lot of testosterone, um, a lot of testosterone motivated actions are very frowned upon now. Maybe that's part of it. To me, um, in my hippie way of looking at everything, maybe it isn't microplastics. Maybe it is. But maybe it's not that. Maybe it's the way that we live. Cuz it does seem as though better sleep and lower stress can really help increase your testosterone levels. And there are certain dietary things that can too. And so, the things that we are doing can have an effect on our testosterone. And keep in mind, this is all coming from me to watching my dad go through all of jiu-jitsu. He started at 48 completely natural and continue to be natural and continue to be natural until he's now what, 64, about to turn 65. And again, to me that's like, that has been my example. And I see where he's at health-wise. And, you know, I mean, right now, why not at 65, why not get on the super juice, right? But, um, I see that he's there now and he didn't have to sacrifice stuff. He didn't have to be in this position at 65 where he has health-related problems that he's going, ah, was this from the TRT that I started in my 40s, you know? And it was pushed to him then too. And so, um, let's go on to the next hot take. I this person actually says, I don't even think this is a hot take. And I agree. This is just an interesting thought. But they should allow steroids in its own division. They do that in bodybuilding. They have like, um, tested divisions and, you know, I don't know. I they have a different they have different names for them. Um, but I think they do that in other sports too. I guess, I don't know. I think it's silly. Um, I think that it's a choice. I think you're making for me. I actively made a choice as a competitor and said, I know that there is a chance that I am sacrificing glory by not doing these steroids. But I also know that everybody that I'm surrounded with has felt pressured to make this choice to do steroids. And I I can just see it. Like, they have and then have lost enough that they they allowed that pressure. They're like, you know what? You're right. Everybody's on. And I remember always seeing that and I go, I just don't know if I would feel good about winning if I had to to justify it with that everybody's on. I just like, I just always wanted to try to do it without because what if it's possible? And no one else is trying it. And so why wouldn't I? And so, that was that was my my thought on it. And I knew that I was competing against guys that were on. I knew that I was competing against guys that were able to train more than me because they were able to recover so much better than me. I knew I was able to compete against guys that were shredded in a weight class that I really had to work hard to make and I still just looked like a normal dude. And I accepted that. Just have better jiu-jitsu. Quit being a baby. That's your answer. To be totally honest, if you want if you choose to be natural, it's your choice. No one's making you be natural. It's very easy to get on testosterone. Very easy. You could do it. I never regret losing. I don't. I never regret choosing not to. And, um, I just know that that's like, but you have to I I never I never made that excuse. That was never the excuse. The excuse was that if I had better jiu-jitsu, I would have beaten those guys. And I look back now, knowing way more jiu-jitsu and knowing way more about it, and I totally agree still. It had nothing to do with being on. It had everything to do with not being as good. And that is whether you choose to be on or choose not to be on. The obsession with what other people are doing is not healthy. We're talking about keeping your stress levels low. Not only can you not care about things that you have no control of, you definitely can't care about other people's opinion about you. Those things those two things will increase your stress level exponentially because there's all kinds of crazy stress people out there who just want to throw it on you. And them having a strong opinion about you is one of their ways of doing it. People are going to be in the comments of this podcast calling me gay and I feel nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sometimes I'll giggle if they do it creatively. Sometimes I'm like, okay, that was impressive. But it doesn't affect me in any way. I don't know these people. Why would I care? Even if I did know them, I don't care. It is an empowering mindset that keeps your stress levels way, way lower. And on that same, um, on that same note, here is our next hot take. And you guys are going to love this one. And then after this one, I have a crazy huge announcement for you. Listen, you are motivated to work out because you were on TRT. Stop shaming everyone who isn't a drug addict. Now, I totally agree with this. If you are on TRT, if you are on Ozempic and you are shaming other people, if you go onto Ozempic, start body shaming people because they eat unhealthy. Or because they don't work out. They're not in the gym every day like you are. Here's the thing. You shouldn't be recommending to be in the gym seven days a week. You were only in the gym seven days a week before the TRT. If you were, it's different. Then maybe lecture people. But I've never seen that. I've never seen the people that go right into the you're all lazy mindset after they got on and then be like understanding like, oh, wait, I am now in a completely different playing field as everyone else. So, really, if you want to be like me, you should just get on TRT also. It's like, well, no, I had to do the work too. Yes, but you literally took something that motivates you to do the work. So that is again, a harder thing for the natural person. And so, do what you want. But don't get on people that choose not to. Don't don't be as somebody who doesn't drink, I a lot of my friends drink. The only people that I don't like being around are the people that don't that can't be comfortable with you not drinking. That are just like, they try to shame you for not drinking, right? And it's so similar is like this this well, I have to make up for it to show you that it's not that I'm on. And it's like, who cares if it's that you're on? You can still it doesn't change the physical world. You know, it doesn't but you don't need to shame other people who can't do that because they're not taking the the secret stuff. And so, yeah, what a what a terrific terrific hot take. All right, huge I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show announcement coming to you right now. Do not you don't want to click away. This is going to be big and it is time sensitive and spots are limited. Take it away, Josh. Hey guys, Josh here. Just wanted to interrupt the show real quick and tell you about the biggest news that we've ever had on the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show. So, we finally have scheduled the dates for the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience. What this is going to be is a way to take your jiu-jitsu to the next level. I got some of the best coaches. Myself and seven other of some of the most unique perspectives, but also some of the most familiar faces on the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show. Guys that I will be revealing over the next few weeks and you will get to hear about this insane coach lineup. So, if you want to hear more information about the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience, about the free coffee that you will be drinking, the included dinners, about the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show episode that you will actually get to be a part of, the first ever of its kind. And a whole lot of other stuff that I just can't tell you guys just yet. But if you are interested in finding out more, just continue to listen to the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show. But if you want to be lucky enough to be one of the people to secure their spots, go to the link in the description. It goes through Head Nod HQ. This is my gym. This is where the event will actually be at. And all you have to do is go there, check out from right now until January 1st, we're doing 100 bucks off the price. And so, the time is now. Once we sell out of our 50 spots, we will be done. Ideally for me, we sell out before January 1st and then I can just focus on making the event as awesome as possible. I promise you guys, you are not going to regret this. This is going to be a an experience for getting good at jiu-jitsu that I don't believe has ever been put together before. And it's going to be one to remember. It's going to be one that you're going to schedule every single year. But you are going to want to be part of the first inaugural I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience, February 20th through the 22nd. We'll reveal coaches soon, but I promise you, you are not going to regret getting your spot right now. Let's get back to the episode. You can say TRT isn't steroids all you want, but if your traps start touching your ears, you're not on a therapeutic dose, champ. I mean, yeah, we've been really, the TRT opinions, there are just a few of them. We've been hitting them. It's like, yes, Josh should be on. Everyone should be on. Why aren't you on? You're cheating in jiu-jitsu if you take any hormone at all. And there is no exception and you're a cheater. And then like, there is this, the person who understands that it is a spectrum and it is not yes or no. Let's say you have a thyroid condition. Is it wrong then your body does not produce testosterone anymore? Is it wrong for that guy to do testosterone? Right? Is it wrong for him? Could he easily take a certain amount and be on a therapeutic dose that's very monitorable? Yes. Could that be life-changing for him? Is that only possible because we live in the modern day? Could that have happened in the 1400s? No, it can happen now though. And are we is he not should he not be allowed to be on? Right? I think that you it can't just be so black and white. Next hot take, cheating for sure. Only people who say it isn't are the people on it. Again, okay, let's say this. I will say technically at adult black belt in the gi at the worlds, it's cheating because they test and they explicitly say you can't be on. But nowhere else cares enough to test. And so is it even cheating? Is it it's not even in the rules. There's no enforcing of it, right? It's like the idea of out of bounds at ADCC, right? It's like it doesn't exist. So you can say it's out of bounds, but it's just not cuz out of bounds doesn't exist. That old lady in the wheelchair, she should have been sitting so close. And so, the idea that, you know, like, that it is just like, well, if you have any testosterone that is not your own in your body, then you're a cheater and you deserve to die. I just don't think you can make that claim. I just think that's too it's just too black or white in a in a world with nine billion people. And so it's like, you can't be so black or white with these things. There are people and and again, there are people whose lives literally have been changed because they're able to get on. Now, here is I've been throwing a ton of different warnings throughout on you guys. There is I should have like named these characters. Um, but there is also a thing where your life is changed and then you go, oh, I'm young again and you don't take the wisdom that you've earned and apply it to your life and you go, well, I'm young again. Why wouldn't I just do exactly what destroyed my body in the first place because now I'm on. And then you destroy your body that second time. Those guys can't come back, brother. I just I'm telling you, physically, you see it and they just cannot they they they get more muscle to abuse their joints even more. And it's like, oh, no, you should have just taken the muscle and cruised, brother. You could have just cruised. And so, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go on. Let's go on. We have two more hot takes. And I will it's crazy that I threw in the biggest announcement in I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show history, the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience in the middle of the most ostracizing, most likely our modern listener ever. But honestly, at this point, if I didn't make fun of the TRT guys, who would I be? I wouldn't be the guy that you guys like. And so, hopefully, you guys don't use your roid rage and try to kill me, but I promise it's harder than you would expect. Last second to last hot take. Clinics be like, are you tired? Do you need more energy? And the guy's like, yeah, I have a job. And boom. Now he's on 200 milligrams a week. Listen, if you come to jiu-jitsu, if you come to jiu-jitsu, you're a middle-aged dude and you're sad and you're tired and you're not motivated. One, I really do believe in my heart that this is the perfect thing for you. I really believe that. I think that getting a consistent schedule, getting around motivated people, getting training jiu-jitsu, of course, but I think the community aspect at a really good school full of disciplined people will rub off on you and will probably change your life. But here is the problem. I am both a jiu-jitsu coach and a salesman. And so, I can't even tell you. I who look at things from an outside perspective all the time, can't actually take a step back and tell you for sure that that's true. But I know that I believe it in my heart. I know that if a dude comes in and I see that, I know that I'm like, dude, we're going to get you in here. We're going to get you in here consistently. You're going to be around really, really amazing dudes and it's going to change who you are as a person. And, um, if you stay consistent, if you do the work. And so, that is kind of that kind of for me is the mindset is like, can can I can I sell this to this guy because I know it's going to help him. If here's the other thing. I have nothing else to sell. Like jiu-jitsu's the only thing that I'm that I really believe that I have besides Jesus Christ that will change your life. And I don't think you want me to sell that for you right now. I'm just going to sell that you came into the martial arts school. We'll just keep it about jiu-jitsu right now. And so, I don't think that I am going to like like I don't even it does not feel wrong to me to do that is what I'm trying to explain. And so, imagine you own a TRT clinic. And the one thing that you prescribe to people is testosterone or a different a peptide or whatever. I'm sure of. Uh, uh, a pill that you insert into you, uh, something. I get it. It's not all the same. It's you're not on. Everyone's on testosterone replacement. You're not on testosterone replacement. I understand. I'm talking about all the other guys who aren't on the one thing that has no side effects and, um, is perfect for you that they just discovered and it only costs, you know, 79.99 a month. What a perfect price. Um, but here is the thing. When you do that, when the when you go there, that's what they're going to sell you. That's what they have. That is the drug that they deal. And so, no, you're not going to walk in and they go, nah, brother. You're the one guy whose testosterone is what it should be. Like, okay, well, what what should it be? Cuz I always hear people throwing around numbers and then they'll be like, yeah, but that's way lower than it should be. I'm like, I don't know. Is it? It seems like everybody's is there, right? And so, yeah, that is the thing. You got to remember, you are being sold a product by a salesperson that literally has a script that was written by the best script writers to help them sell the product that they have. My product is jiu-jitsu. Their product is testosterone. You have to understand that. And so, whether that means that you should be or shouldn't be on, just understand if you go in, you are getting sold. That is that's what their business model is. That's how they make money. They don't make money by telling you everything's good, brother. You just you just keep doing you, brother. You're doing great. You don't need us. You don't we don't need your money. Go off, be free with your high testosterone levels. I've never heard of anyone having that interaction. And so, I mean, I will say this. I will tell you guys this. I'm going to be honest. I lied to you. I did go in once and get my levels tested. And it was really awkward cuz they test my levels and they said, sir, your levels are so high. You are a danger to yourself and society. And then they recommended that they could put me on estrogen to try to balance things out. Like, could we put you on testosterone blockers? And obviously, I went like green, Hulk smashed my shirt exploded and I like ran out of there. Um, but, uh, yeah, that was the time. So I lied to you guys earlier. That was the one time that I got my levels tested. They broke the needle a few times trying to actually get the blood. And so then I had to do my own, uh, needle to draw the blood. Now, last hot take. TRT is the adult version of entering cheat codes in Tony Hawk Pro Skater. Is it cheating in jiu-jitsu? I don't think so. Is it cheating in life? Sometimes it feels like it. Sometimes it seems that way. Man, these dudes have some motivation. I got to, you know, wake up extra early to compete with these guys. But here's the thing. Everybody's journey's different. If you don't want to do it, if that is on your heart, know that there are people that actually do the things that you want to accomplish, that have accomplished the things that you want to accomplish and have done them naturally. At this point in life, they're probably few and far between. But there are people who have done it. So just know that that is an option. Know that there are side effects to anything that you do and take. Does that mean you don't take them? Are there things that I know the side effects to that I don't do all the time that I know aren't great for me? Of course. Of course I do. I think that if you decided to research the things that you do, we all do these things. But everything is a choice. Every day you make a choice in what you're doing. And that choice can greatly affect your future. And at 30, people just don't think about it. I've had too many conversations with my friends that go, oh, I don't care if it took 20 years off my life. I feel so good now. Like, yeah, you're you're an idiot. You are so stupid because here's the problem. You know nothing of what it feels like to be 60. You just have some idiotic 30-year-old opinion on what it feels like to be 60. And so you saying, oh, at 65, I'll be happy that I felt good in my 30s. Like, no, you won't. You will hate yourself for that. You will say, I wish that this wasn't what my life is. If you had long-term repercussions, which people are going to be lecturing me that there aren't. Come on. Come on. Know that there are. Understand that most likely, you will not be the exception and that there will be long-term repercussions to everything that you do when you're young. Whether good or bad. Just know that is how life works and know life goes on. It's a long game. I have so much perspective that I get from my dad where it's like, friends that I told you guys about my friend Chris, we've been friends since we were kids is our dads played professional softball together. That was their version of jiu-jitsu. And traveled the country doing that. And it was this fun thing that they got and as I grew up, occasionally we would walk the park and people would stop and be like, oh, Big Mac, which I guess was my dad. And, um, I guess is it McKinney? I guess that was the, you know, there's no A in McKinney. I don't know. But they would always come up. They would always reminisce about these amazing times that they had. And they had this really cool community. They had this really cool journey. I actually got to a couple years ago, my dad got and his team, one of the years of his teams, got inducted into a, um, a professional softball Hall of Fame. And so it was really cool to get to see that. And to me, obviously, like it's professional softball. Maybe 40 years from now, maybe when I'm 60, nobody even cares about jiu-jitsu anymore. Maybe jiu-jitsu's just like, ah, that was a cool thing that we used to do. That used to be big. That used to be awesome. But maybe not. Maybe it that time, maybe in my 60s, I'm going to be very happy that I tried to make choices to let me enjoy that period of my life. And hopefully, like I said, I can be of value to the community then too. And I'm not just a old guy who said, this is how we used to do it. But I can be of value to that current group of people because the thing is, people change, society changes and everybody is different. And so, when we're talking about something that is this hot, that is, you know, cancelable for me. That is the thing that we have to remember is it cannot there is no way that it is black or white. There is just no way. It's important to find humor in things. It's important that we all group together and make fun of individuals who need to be made fun of. And I feel like that's what we did a great job of today. And, um, besides that, I hope you guys liked today's episode. Um, I hope that, uh, I hope it encourages you to, um, abuse all kinds of drugs. Uh, no, I'm just joking. I hope it just gives you some perspective. Um, hope it made you laugh. Of course, obviously, we always do these things with a good sense of humor. And I hope you want to get to be one of the 50 people that sign up for the I Suck at Jiu-Jitsu Show experience. Like I said, we're starting now. Who knows if this is going to sell, but hopefully, I hope it does. Um, hopefully it sells out before the beginning of the year and the price goes up. And most importantly, I hope that today's episode helps you guys suck just a little bit less at jiu-jitsu. Have a great day, guys.