#8 RYAN HILL | Choccy Milk and Gegenpress

I'm joined by ANOTHER guest! This time Ryan Hill was on the pod to discuss his strength training, programmes, nutrition and supplements. We also got chatting about being tactical geniuses at Football Manager!

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Transcript

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Right, hey up Brian, how are you doing? Hello, you alright? Yeah, good, thanks, mate. Thanks for coming on. Thank you for having me. Good man. Um yeah, especially short notice because Kane Haler was not wearable. I d then you couldn't couldn't do a podcast with him. I'd love to listen to it though. I'd love to listen to it too. If he's out there somewhere. I think um we'd have to get some refreshments in for him to like learn. How many pints of milk can he drink in one podcast? It's not enough memory on the on the laptop to record it or not enough storage space. Um so we'll get straight into it. Um, in terms of like um your fitness journey, what like got you into it in the first place? Um I always played sport when I was younger, so like football, rugby, I did a bit of cricket, and it was mainly I started training in a gym because I wanted to be a bit more physical when I played rugby. Um, so I just went to the gym with my dad, trained one day um like one body part a week. Yes. It was quite good because obviously I went with my with my dad, so I wasn't messing around. Um, and also I kind of learnt a lot, and then from then I just kept going on my own with with mates, um, and it kind of really kicked on, and probably about well, I started training with my mate Luke, and then it kind of really kicked on from there. And in 2024, I really started putting my foot down in terms of what I wanted from myself when I trained, so I started doing meal plans and um a bit kind of kind of been been a bit on it a bit more uh and demanding myself a bit more, and and I really loved it. I I I just like training in general, yeah, regardless of what context, whether it's training for sport, training for running. I just I just like training, I like seeing people work hard. So for me, I'm I'm interested in all different types. Um, I've done a bit of kind of sport specific training when I was up with full FC, watching them train, so that were really cool to see. But I can't I I for me and my training, I I I like the way I go about it. Yeah, it's fun for me. It's probably horrible to watch for other people, but it's fun for me. You can hear you from the opposite ends of the gym. So I don't notice it because I've got my headphones in, so I never I never noticed it. But it's funny. What um so yeah, in terms of like your training then, um what um what was like your goal over the last year or so, and what how did you sort of put your plan together in terms of your training and your nutrition? So so my goal really was just to put size on, um, try not to get fat. Didn't work. No, uh but try try try try and put some size on, um, stay healthy and just pro progress in the gym, progress my lifts, progress my body weight. Um, I was very fortunate that I had a coach, so I didn't have to think about any of it. It's probably it's probably the best decision I made was to get a coach. I'm biased with what I like to eat, with what I like to train, and that probably held me back for many years. Um, so having someone there just to say you're doing this, you're doing this, you're doing this, and I just followed the instruction was the best thing I did. It meant I I'd go in there, I already knew what I was doing, I knew what I was eating, um, and I just had to follow it. Um, so that was the best thing I did. So, yeah, uh I take my body weight up um until my appetite was slowing down, or until I kind of felt a bit too weighty and my performance was struggling, and then I took my body weight down um just a bit just to get um kind of everything back again, and then push up again, and that's kind of how I've just been doing it going up, rest a bit, up, rest a bit, up, rest a bit, and that's that's how I liked it. Um the only downside to that is when you've not got the body weight there, you you I know I know I know it's a big difference from when I'm eating those calories and I'm training hard to when I'm on kind of like my maintenance. Yeah, the energy that I have is just so less and so different. So I've just got to be a bit smarter with power training. But again, having a coach, they think about all that for you. So I just do what I'm told, which I think is the best thing I've done. Um, and obviously, kind of back in the last year, I kind of stopped training and and since then it's just really gonna help focus, get my health back on back on target, and then hopefully by the end of um kind of this summer time, I'll be able to go back into a gym and start that process again, which I'm looking forward to. Yeah, definitely, man. So in terms of like um terms like a structure of your programs, so if we look at like a normal week of your training block, what would that kind of look like? So what sort of would you just train like a certain body part on a certain day and then would you sort of like mix up your exercises or would you try and like do a bit of progressive overload? So it changed. Um it kind of depend it would depend on what I was able to train, um, how often I was able to train a week. I've done push, pull, legs, rest, push, pull, legs. Um I like that because it's quite nice. I I found it good, but I wanted to train a bit more frequently and train like my legs more frequently, my chest more frequently. So the last session, the last kind of block I did was upper lower rest. That was really good. Uh I found it the sessions were quite long, but I don't like loads of volume. I like there's nothing anything more than three sets that I find that I get really kind of bored with. So it allowed me to have less volume and train more frequently, which is what I wanted. Yeah. When I go back, I'm hoping to do full body every other day and train really, really frequently every body part as much as I can, just because I want to give it a try. I've heard it's really hard, so I'm probably setting myself up for torture here. But um, but yeah, I've I've I've been through I've tried loads of different variations of training, kind of just the body part each day. I've tried kind of upper lower, I've tried push full legs, I've I've tried loads of different different stuff, and and I found the one that I've enjoyed the most probably was upper lower. Okay. Um, but again, that's just for me. My sessions were were roughly just over an hour. I wasn't doing load ridiculous amounts of volume, um, and I meant I could train quite frequently, and I looked forward to those rest days. Um but yeah, I think it just depends on the person. Um I I like I like I said, I I don't like volume, so the less volume I do the better. Other people might like doing 10 sets of chest, um, so they might prefer different so it it it really just depends on on personal preference and how often you can get into a gym. But like I said, my my future plan is I want to give full body a go, see if I like it. If I do like it, I'll stick to it. If I don't, I'll do something else. And as for exercises, I I keep them the same really for six months. Yeah. So for example, I I'll do RDLs for six months straight, and I'll try and progress that as much as I can, even if it's two and a half kilo either side, I'll and I'll just I'll just try and progress that and then I I I you kind of know you kind of run into a war. You might find it with your own training that you just you know you've hit your limit with that, and then you'll swap it for something else. So I swapped RDLs for I think I swapped them for deadlifts in the end, and and then I'll do that for six months, and then I'll swap it for probably RDL again or something like that. Yeah, yeah. I I I I I pick an exercise that I like, I stick to it for months at a time, I try and progress it as much as I can, but when I I know I've hit the limit with that exercise, or usually it's it's my body, I might get like, for example, on a chest press, I might get some joint pain. Okay, and then I know right, this is probably as heavy as I can go on this, I'll swap it for something else. Or to be honest with you, sometimes it's just I get a bit bored of that exercise after doing it for about six months. I'm ready for a natural switch anyway. But I usually try and keep it as long as I can, really milk that exercise as much as I can, and then swap it for something similar, and another machine, another variant of it. Um, and and that that's just how I've how I've done it. I I don't see the point in chopping and changing your exercises every session. I just think it's hard to gauge on if you're getting better or not, if you're changing up every so often. So I try and keep everything as same as possible. Sounds horrifically bored, but that way I know I can tell if I'm getting stronger, if I'm getting weaker, if things need to change. If I need to keep pushing, I can do. So I just I just try and keep it the same, really. Yeah, because you want like it's that consistency as well. And I just say if you're kind of doing the same thing week on week, but then having a little bit of progression each week, then that's just like a really good way of measuring your progress, isn't it? Yeah, and over time you can I I almost compete with myself in the head. Like if I know what I what I did the week before, I'll know kind of what what the bar is, so I can keep resetting that bar. If I go into an exercise and I don't know what that bar is, you can almost sack it off really and just half half parse it. So whereas if I know I did 40 kilo and did eight reps, I know I've got to match it or do better, otherwise I know I'm half parsing it again. So it's it's a good way of keeping yourself accountable, I think, as well. But that's something that I found in myself, um, how to keep myself accountable. So I just you I just keep doing that. In terms of like um in terms of like tracking what you've done, do you like have an app on your phone or do you like use pedestrians? This is this is um I'm I'm because I can I'm just I'm just I'm borrowed, like I have a book. That's how nerdy I am. Yeah, well that's fine. I I for me I don't like going on my phone in the gym. Yeah. Because when I were younger, I I'd play footy manager in the gym. Like when I was like young, when I was 17, 18. I'd just play a game on my phone in between set, and then I'd start training with some people and I started getting bullied for it. So other than turning my music on, changing and changing the song, I I don't go on my phone that's on do not disturb. I don't want any sort of kind of like to look here at all because that I just get distracted too easy. Yeah. So I'll have like a book, I'll have the exercises, and then in like on one side, and then lines with just reps and and weight. Years ago, I used to do that. I just I just find that a lot younger. I find that I'm not going on my phone, I can I can I can I can accurately log it, and I'll have like so for that six months block that's usually a page, maybe page and a half. Yeah. So I can go back to look at where I started and where I was, kind of gives me a bit of like picks me up a bit to know what I started on and where I'm at, but also I can kind of accurately look if there was any like a bad week, uh and I know it was just a bad week, but but yeah, I I find books a lot better, and this is going to sound a bit like I'm a loser here, but when you go to big gyms and see big blokes, they've all got books as well. So I just thought I'll copy what they do because they clearly know what they're doing, and I don't know the crowds, yeah. Yeah, so so yeah, I I that again that's personally for me. I I know there's apps on the phone that do the exact same thing, but I know if I go on my phone, I'll just get distracted. I'll go on I'll go on social media something, and I just don't want to do it. When I've got my headphones on and I'm in the gym, I just want to focus on what I've got to do. So the book just keeps me focused. Um and again, I spend I'm actually I've done it before where I've been on my phone. I can I it just I'm in the gym a lot longer. When I'm in the gym, I want to be in and out. I just want to be in and out. So that book, there's nothing fascinating about a book. I write a number of what I've done and I've put it down again and I'll just sit and rest for a bit and then crack on. So I'm able to get in and out of the gym a lot quicker as well. So yeah, I know that works for me for other people prefer apps and each of their own. I get that. But I just I just know if I go on the phone, that's it about it. Yeah, it's it is it is easily distracted because your rest period can suddenly end up in like five minutes, can't it? If you're looking at your phone. If you've got a good footy s footy manager saving you doing tactics there for an hour doing the tactics on that, so I think what's quite useful as well if you have like a watch, for example, and then you can like you know you do your setup, yeah, and it'll can't your rest period for you. And that's like a really good I find that a really useful way to like focus. Yeah. Because sometimes you've got no concept of time. Oh yeah, it's easy, it's easy to get lost in it, especially in like if you're in a big gym and you can't really see a clock. So easy just to be sat there five minutes, or if you're talking to somebody, it's so easy to be there five, ten minutes in in between, and then all of a sudden, like you you just throw it again, it just throws you off a bit. I've done it before where I've had ten minutes rest and I've gone into it, and I'm like, what I've what I was planning to do for like a second or third set, I'm like it's really light now, but I've had like ten years of respite. So um, so yeah, but uh I've never I've never timed it, I just go to kind of when I feel like I'm ready, when I'm not dying, and I've got my breath back. Um but to be fair, I probably should time it. My res if I timed it though, my recipe is like 10 minutes long, and I'll probably I mean I probably shouldn't be 10 minutes long. Yeah, definitely. It's definitely it can be useful, definitely. Um then so obviously like kind of that seat training sort of thing. Um what about your nutrition? So uh what kind of are you? I'm guessing you'd like need a load of protein, uh, but then you'll need carbs as well. Yeah, so what it's the carbs that kill that kills me. I mean I'm I I'm terrible with my digestion shock, and it always has been. So it's it's finding what I like to eat, but also what digests comfortably for me. I think one thing I tried at the start was white potato. I just get bloated. So I had to swap that for sweet potato, and then I was eating about 800 grams of sweet potato a day at one point. Um but again I like sweet potato, it's easy to cook, it's easy to prep. I can make it the night before and just eat it up. So it's it's it was actually sweet potato was a dream for me. Then I got a rice cooker, and that's just as easy. So yeah, I think at one point I was on about 400 grams of carbs, 200 plus of protein. I think the highest fat were about 80 off the top of my head. But like I said, I'd my food were written out for me, so I know what I'm eating every day. Um, I don't have to faff around putting it on my fitness pile because I just eat the same thing every day. I have an off plan. I think I had an off plan like once, uh once or twice a week. Um that worked for me, but I I I have preferences to kind of what I like and what I dislike. I don't like fish, so I don't eat it. Okay. Um I I like chicken and I like uh kind of lean mints again because it's easy to cook for me, so because I'm not great in the kitchen, so anything that's that makes it easier for me is better. Yeah, of course. Um so I add a lot of oats as well, because again, easy easy to prepare. I had a lot of cream of rice or grill or grill as it's known as, but again, it it's just powder, so I could take it to work and it meant it looks like prison foods. Not that I've ever been to jail, but it tasted alright. Actually, yeah. To be fair, like that and I I'm gonna try rice pudding as well when I get back because you can get like rice pudding uh in powdered form and and and again just add water to it. I reckon that's probably gonna be a bit nicer than cream of rice, but it just I'd eat it and I'd it it almost like it didn't like fill it didn't fill you up. So you just eat you could eat like 200 grams of it and not feel bloated and go and do a session 20 minutes later. So it was really good in terms of my nutrition around around training, it were really good for because it was really high in carbs and really low in fat, so it meant I could eat it before I trained. Yeah. And I'd be really carved up for the session. And then and then I could eat it again when I got home. Because it's again so easy to prepare, because when I get home, last thing I want to do is stand up and make food because I'm just too tired and I've got no energy. Um so it was just a really easy thing. And one thing I did do, I think, kind of middle last year, I had a car, uh a drink with carbs in as well. Okay. Oh right, okay. Shake it and then you could add a bit of orange juice to it as well and it makes it taste better. Yeah, yeah. I've got a picture of you doing it. Yeah, I used to feel it everywhere. I used to spill it everywhere. But it's basically basically what that is is a Luke Saiy sport. It's got about I think I had about hundred grams of carbs that I drink during my session and it released it really quickly. So it meant 'cause I used I used especially on like lower body days, like after RDLs and a leg press, I'm I'm absolutely done. Like I've got nothing left. So all that gave me was just a bit more energy just to finish off the session, really. Um and then drive myself home. But but yeah, I I definitely noticed a big difference with that as well, because there'd be times when I forget it and I'd just be on water, and I'd just be sat there kind of in between on like my third exercise, just sat there like absolutely dying. I ruined. So it's hard, isn't it? Because you've got like you've got to train hard to do that. So having that good nutrition. Yeah, especially in the summer as well, like that it zaps you. Like when you train in the summer and it's warm in the gym. So just having that bit of carbs there to help you in your session, I found it like a massive difference. Like compared to just water on its own. Oh yeah. Like a bit bit bit of carbs, uh, some EAAs. I just found it like massively helped me. Because otherwise I'd I'd just be dying. Especially like when it's warmer, like in the summer, and you'd like obviously you're sweating more and you're losing more salts as well. Yeah, oh yeah, well, I think the last time I trained I didn't take carbs, and that it was probably last summer. I had some EAAs. And again, I felt really good. I felt like I wasn't I didn't feel as flat as I don't know about you, but like when I'm like towards back end of my session and I've got no energy, I just feel flat. My whole body just feels weak. Yeah. I felt like I had a bit more, like another 10% I could have given um when I had when I took that EAA or all the card drink. So I think that really helps. I think it's a really easy way of just leveling up your set your your training sessions, I think. It's just a drink. It's one of my gripes at the gym. But honestly, I it makes me angry when people walk into a gym and don't take any water or any fluid at all, yeah, it stresses me out. I'll do like I understand, like, especially like complete beginners who might not necessarily know, but I'm kind of like um jolt some water, and they're like, No, I'm alright, fine, fine. I'll just like really start sending me over the edge. I get so annoyed, like you're training for an hour, where's your fluid? Like, what are you what are you surviving on? Is it just pure like emotional hate for something getting you through your session? It's the same with like when people drink monster. Like, I I like a monster before a session, it does the job, gets you up. When people drink it during a session, crosses the line for me. I I I couldn't think of anything worse than drinking a monster during a session. I see quite a few people doing that. Oh, it stresses me out. Like before a session, I know there's some people that like, oh you can't be drinking monster. Well, alright, bar it off. But like I could say a lot worse, but but um keep note. But when when when they're drinking it during the session, I just think just get life, go drink some water, you're not hard. Like, I just want and then oh what drink it? Fill up the can with water. That is out of line. This should be banned for me, because that's that is just wrong. It's wrong. I uh it's different breed, isn't it? Oh I could sit here and talk about that all day. Yeah, it stresses me out. When don't bring in when I don't bring the fluid and the and the drinking monster during the session, they're two things that just that just get me get me angry. Like really angry it it affects me a lot, keeps me up at night, those things. But yeah, just yeah, don't like them. See them next time you're just like watching them during your respiratory. I just I just think like baffles me. Like, because as well as that, because I don't I drink monster and like my digestion is terrible, but I'm fine all the time when I drink monster. You're telling me they're drinking monster and they they can do leg preps without any worries, no. No, absolutely not. I don't buy it. Probably just used to it, aren't they? I don't buy it. Speaking of um Monster, um we did ask some questions, and one of the questions Julia asked me to ask you is what's your favourite flavour of Monster? It's a hard question to answer that. Other energy drink brands are available, by the way, just to put it out there. We're not sponsored. We're not sponsored by Monster. No, but we will accept sponsorship. Exactly. So please get in touch. It's hard because I do like a Mango Loco, but it's very boring. So a Pacific Punch is up there. That's probably my go-to, but I don't mind the Lucasaid uh the Lucasid, the Lewis Hamilton Zero Sugar one. Alright. I didn't think I'd like that, but that actually that's actually really nice. So my answer would be the Lewis Hamilton one or the Pacific Punch. Now the one that overrated, alright, and I'll text on the sanda for this. White monsters, I think is rubbish. I think it's absolutely rubbish. It just tastes like neutral. It's just I just I don't drink that and think, hmm, yeah, good beverage tastes. I think like so. I like I nowadays I stay very well clear of energy drinks, but probably when I was in the late teens, early twenties, I did used to probably drink monster maybe every other day of the day. So back then, I don't know if you still do it. It was like um it was called Ripper, and it was like the yellow monster logo on the black background, and it kind of tasted of like tropical fruit. They've got so many flavours. So that was really nice, and then I don't know if you still do it, but they did a Valentino Rotti one. I think I've seen that one. So that's like um Is it yellow? Yes, it's like yellow. Yeah, that one was alright. That's alright, that one. Yeah, I think it's got like grapefruit flavour and some other like I I need to educate myself on the flavours because I'm I'm very basic. Like Pacific Punch is a well-known favourite, but I like I before I recession that used to be my go-to one, that or the Lewis Hamilton one when I had to drink zero sugar ones. I'll tell you what's completely wrong though, just the bog standard one, the black one. Oh, the bug who drinks the black one? Yeah. What psychopath drinks that? I I think if you're drinking the black one, you you totally don't rate yourself, you don't like yourself, you just you just love to drink pure hatred. I used to work for the guy years ago and he had two cans of monster every single day. Day, every day. Your bowels, mate. Shot through. Shot through. I don't know how people can drink that day. I had I had two a day once early in the week. I had two. I got home and I just felt terrible. Oh yeah, I can imagine. Felt terrible. I just hated myself. Why did I do that? Oh, thought, give me a bit of energy, gets me through my shit. Felt horrible. I really really hated myself, but so maximum for me is one a day now. That's all I can handle. Joe Howarth drinks two energy drinks a day, so he has a um I think one of them's like a normal Red Bull, and then the other one is like a Tes a Tesco um brand Red Bull for the drive home. They're they're rocket fuel them though, you know. Yeah. I remember you could you could buy those like cheap, like I think like 60 pence energy drinks in a can. You'd get like a boost energy drink. Yeah, they're like fake Red Bulls. I remember drinking one of them and like I was I was off my rockers. I could run a I reckon I I reckon young me could have drank one of them and done the marathon. I've I've eaten I I remember like um a Geno Total Warrior. Yeah, yeah. Like they give out Red Bull during it, and I one one time I did it, I like mistakenly like drank a Red Bull before it, and instantly like my throat and my mouth just felt like really dry and I felt like really dehydrated. So not ideal if I'm not doing that again. I couldn't think about worse than running after you've drunk like busy drinks. Yeah, no, I just I just don't think I could do it. No, I I definitely haven't made that mistake since then. They're too old for that now. Yeah, I reckon when I was when I was younger, I reckon I could have drunk a monster and been able to do anything. Whereas now I feel like I need to recover after I've drunk it. I'm the same with alcohol. Oh that's I'm terrible with alcohol. I could I'm really bad. But like now, I like if if even if I have like three beers, I'm like, oh yeah, I I'm genuinely I I don't think I can have it. I I reckon I've got two sessions in me a year. Mine are very few and far between compared to like the previous years. I've got a stag do next month and it's three nights in Lisbon. So it's gonna be like it's gonna obviously be like really. So you're gonna go back to back every back to back each night. I ain't got a choice, have I? I don't think I mean I I d I don't think I can do it, but it's like I think when you get back, that's it's gonna hit you back at one. Yeah, yeah, it'll take me like a week to recover. It's a flight home as well, like that's gonna be a rough week, isn't it? I couldn't do back to back, mate. It's alright like when you're abroad for some reason while you're still out there, but like he's a bit of sun in it, it's yeah, but like you say, the flight home will be awful. If you come out to like what it Manchester Airport, Leeds Airport, and you just all of a sudden you just feel terrible to break away. Um what'll right, in fact, before I get on to other questions, so obviously we've talked about your training and your nutrition. What about like supplements in general? Um, because that it's quite a complex subject. Um there's so much about it though, isn't there? There's there's so many different supplements nowadays that you can take. And um I remember I did my dissertation on creatine, so creatine when a hydrate for me is like, yeah, I think anyone can take it, it's safe to use. Don't believe any of the BS about it hurting your kidneys, so don't do that. It's cheap, it's good, take it five, you know, five gram a day sound. Um I think uh mass crap me a vitamin, is it D3 and K2, or is it is it the other way around D2 and K3? I want to see uh you know I don't I always get the way whichever one round it is, whichever one round it is, that one, because we don't get enough sun. I'll quickly uh quickly Google it. That one because we don't get enough sun. So definitely take that one. Well you well, you need vitamin D. Sunlight gives off vitamin D. Yeah, so so take that because unless you live abroad, you you need it. Yeah, you've got K you've got K2. K2 and D3, yeah. Um I'd also take some magnesium and zinc again, it's important. Don't get enough of it unless you're eating like loads of mushrooms a day. I don't think anyone does. But yeah, bit yeah, vitamin D, especially in our country in winter, definitely. Yeah, yeah, oh god, yeah. Yeah, I'd yeah, definitely take it. Thing is, with these sort of things you can take year-round as well. It's not like you've got to supplement it for six months and then stop and give your body a break. You could do it year-round if you really want to. Exactly. Um, but again, what what people get caught that it's easy to go to a supermarket and buy these things, but always check the ingredients because it's they get underdosed a lot. So, like you probably need if you went to Saintsburg's and bought some vitamin D, you probably need to take two or three tablets to actually get the correct dose. Um I use a day of vitamin D is something stupid, it's like over 5,000, I think I use that. Um so yeah, but they're the kind of the main ones to take. I I obviously used to take a lot of digestive um digestive tablets because my digestion were obvious obviously working over time with the quantity of food I was eating. Um so yeah, I'd I had to take that. Um but there's just there's so much out there, so I'd always do a bit of research and it's easy to go on Google and type it in. You can use Chat GPT now, but it's always good to look at some studies as well. Um that's definitely a key a key one, I think. Because like there are lots of stuff on Google that Yeah, it's it's easy to look at what your favourite influence is taking, but exactly. It's always it's always good to look at what you need from a supplement. And and a lot of people think supplements are just the magic pill, but they're just not, they're just there to help your everyday lifestyle. Yeah, it's your lifestyle and your diet. Yeah, like if you if you're gonna take an aswagandha, that's not gonna magically make you sleep, it's just gonna help with with your with your lifestyle. So don't expect anything. I because I remember when I first started taking supplements, I first started taking creatine, I thought it was gonna work wonders for me, it just doesn't. So don't expect loads from these things, but they will help. Um and again, do your research beforehand, but supplements are something that I looked into when I was in college and and and union. They're really it's really fascinating. There's so much garbage out there though, like so much garbage, so it's easy to fall into that trap. So for people that have them and people will do, like you're bound to fall into the trap because there's so much rubbish out there. Um but yeah, like pro so I think what was that? So I I had those supplements, I had a protein powder. Um I used to get mine from the same place because I just preferred that place. Again, for my digestion, I never had any issues with it, and the flavours are pretty good as well. So it sticks to what you know. Yeah, I always got I was born, I always got chocolate flavoured, uh flavoured stuff, and obviously cream of rice, again, I got it from the same place. Um but yeah, if you find a good brand as well, that's another one. Like if you find a reputable brand, I was gonna say a well-known brand, and you find it now you're getting into it. Like it's it's easy just to go on my protein and get a deal, but if you can find a brand that's reputable, got some really good athletes associated with it, then I'd probably stick to them. They also give out a lot more codes as well, I've noticed over the years. You get 20% off if you if you fit if an athlete sponsored. Oh my protein are uh yes, um My Protein, uh trained by JP, they all have athlete codes where you get like 10 to 20% off. Yeah, and they get the commission for it. So that's that's why you see it on the like Instagram buyers. Uh I don't mind either, because I get money and people that are like her getting commission, so it it it's kind of a win-win. Yeah, of course, yeah. But if you can find a good brand that you like agrees with you and isn't too expensive, you're on to a winner because anything they kind of produce is going to be of somewhat good quality. There's more testing now, and there's more like legislation around kind of the quality of stuff that goes out, so it's only going to get better as well with with what they produce. So definitely. And if if, for example, you've run out, you can always get some chocky milk as well. Chalky milk, um, dog food, raw chicken, raw chicken, you know, stuff like that. Always great. Exactly. Well, when you're speaking about um kind of like supplements in supermarkets can be underdose, you can always ask one of um Mr. Halo's mates, they definitely won't be underdosed, well they're some pain stack, yeah. Completely and utterly overdose that. Right. What we'll do, get some questions up on here. I've wrote them down. Um I've got one for you. Who's gonna win the Premier League? I didn't think we could bottle it. I think we already have bottled it. I think it'll do it. Yeah, I I think I think I think this game at Weekend's gonna be big. Yeah, um we were awful last week and then against Bournemouth, and then yeah, that was quite I saw you know what, I saw some uh on Instagram the week actually, it was like we're six points top of the league in April and we're in Champions League semi-final, and yet I'm really sad. What a team, but um so um Julia asks an author couple of questions. What's your opinion on peptides? I I think I think again the same with supplements. I've seen a lot of young kids talk about peptides like the Ness, it's gonna change everything. Peptides are basically supplements that help your body um with functions. So, like there's one peptide that increases your mitochondria in your body or improves the efficiency in which the way they work, that's not gonna make you add 10 pounds and make you massive. Not yeah, it'll help contribute towards it, but it's not gonna it's not gonna change the game for you. And they're so expensive. Okay. So again, it's easy to buy peptides, um, it's easy to get them. Most of the time, they're not from a reputable source. So if anyone's listening to this and you want to buy peptides, make sure you get them from a reputable brand. I think one called Pro Farm Pro Pharma or Pro Pharma Peptide, something like that. I might be saying it wrong. That's a reputable brand. Um it's not gonna change, it's not gonna take you to the next level. But I I'd be looking at supplements and peptides last. Yeah, get your sleep sorted first, get your nutrition sorted first, get your training sorted first. All if all those things, things are literally nailed on, you're doing them perfect every single day. That's when I look at supplements and peptides. Absolutely. But people look at peptides like it's a cure, it's not, it's it's there to help you if all the other things are doing well, you're doing them bang on. Yeah, I think a lot, so like, yeah, you like your nutrition, your training, your sleep, they're kind of like the most important elements they're your foul, they're your foundations. But I think a lot of people have it flipped the other way around, and like you say, um they'll be absolutely on it in terms of their supplements, but not necessarily in terms of their nutrition. Yeah, yeah. They look to them as the answer, but they're not the answer, they're not the cure, they're they're things that are like additional stuff that you can add on to really but if the others aren't nailed, I wouldn't even consider supplements or peptides at all. Yeah, exactly. And like so for the price of of some of the stuff as well. Is and if if you aren't doing the other things, but you're happy to pay like 30, 30, 40, 30 quid a go for supplements and peptides, you you've you've got it all wrong, and they need to go back to the drawing board. But I'm not against peptides, I'm not against anyone using it, as long as again they've read into it, they're using it correctly, it's when people don't use stuff correctly, that's when I get wound up. Yeah, but each of your own absolutely do what they want. Just like, yeah, do a bit of research and yeah, get your shit together there, basically. Yeah, yeah, basically, yeah. And then her other question um is what's your favourite pre-workout meal? I thought it was what my favourite pre-workout is, because that that would be a good question. Pre-workout meal, I'm not right sure. Answer that as well. I'll do both. Um I'm younger, I used to like rice crispies. With milk, of course. I thought you meant Rice Krispies squares for a second. Nah, I I I I I I used to like a bowl of rice crispies. Okay. Um it was quite high in the glycemic index, so it gave me a bit of kind of energy um straight away. And it wasn't it's quite high carbs, not terrible for that, but I used to put a bit of sugar on it because it tastes better. Um probably when I was training last year, it was probably it depended because it depended on what shift I was working. If I used to enjoy oats or cream of rice, I would prefer cream of rice because again, that digests a lot faster for me. Yeah. So it really for me it's what digests fast enough. And cream of rice was the most the thing that digested quickly for me, so it meant I could go train. But yeah, uh young Ryan would like cereal. Uh last year I liked Ryan Ryan. Ryan Ryan enjoyed the cream of rice for like 45 minutes before or half an hour before I set off the gym. Future Ryan, probably six steaks and a full bowl of mash or something, I don't know. But but yeah, just whatever digested um comfortably for me and had the most amount of carbs. Sorry to interrupt you. Why he must be still outside his song he's just messaged me saying shout out to cream of ice. Um I'm just trying to get you that sponsorship part, so yeah, um pre-workout. Uh there was one called Total War, which was like 20 quid. It was an absolute buy, and it it it really had a really good panel. It didn't it sting you up, but it didn't like make you like want to rip your face off. So that was for 20 quid that was that was good. Naughty Boy is probably the best tasting one I've had because they did really good flavours, and you didn't have all like the bits at the bottom as well. I hate I hate that. Awful, isn't it? If anything, isn't it? The most brutal tree I had were called Edge of Influences. If George has listened to this, George will know as well. Because I trained here at Selby. We had Edge of Insanity. Wilson. Yeah, we had Edge of Insanity, and it was like I think it was quite a sour flavour. For 20 minutes, you feel like you can run through a wall. You genuinely you you you're like pumped. That's what it says on the tender. For the next hour, your face is on fire. Yeah, you're sweating so heavily. I remember he was on the like cable fly, and I just sat on the floor, I was sweating. My face was like itching, and we're both just sat there like hating ourselves. So if you want one that's really high stim, edge of insanity, yeah, it's a bit it's about 40 quid, I think. And if you want a cheap one, Total War, it's pretty good, 20 quid. Naughty Boy is a bit expensive, but it's good taste. And I also liked MVP, but my mate Luke will sh will back me for this. It just turns into rocks. If you leave it in your bag, it just goes really hard, so you've got to like smash it up a bit and then it and then it doesn't dissolve well, so there's loads of power there, but in terms of like the ingredients and what it has, really spot on. But that was like 40 quid as well. So I would say naughty buy or total war for the for an average day person. But if you want to get really out of your head, edge of insanity. Edge of insanity, you can't hear it. Just don't take more than two. Absolutely horrible. Or just a general monster, like I'm I'm um at one point I couldn't be bothered buying pre because I just couldn't be bothered. So I just bought a monster before I went to the gym, but then I realised it's like two quid a day on monster. Oh, it's not done it. Yeah, I'll probably be cheaper getting pre-workouts. Yeah. Good man, right, cheers to that. Um, yeah, before I ask you the other questions, uh yeah, cheers to Julia for all in questions. And just reminds me, thanks to everyone who listened to Julia's episode last week. Really appreciate really appreciate it. Um literally about 45 minutes ago, she finished High Rock singles in uh Warsaw. So she's done HyROX doubles a few times, but that was the first single absolutely smashed it. We'll Warrior. Yeah, we'll get her on in a few weeks' time uh to talk about it. Yeah. Because she's doing Cardiff in two weeks' time doubles pro. And then I'm and I'm doing singles. My question for Julie is do you just want to chill out for a minute and not do anything? Always on it. Hyrox, high rocks, high rox, marathon. I'm quite happy with just lying in bed. Uh I'll ask her, I'll ask her next time she's on it, definitely. Right, uh, we've got a question. This is probably the most technical question, so you'll have to think quite hard. So it's from Rob, um, and he says, on football manager, what formation do you use? And do you either sit back or do you go Gegan Press? Right, well, it depends what team you're doing. Yeah. Because if you've got a team that isn't technical, I'm going Gergampress. Because you've got to outwork teams. Um so for like Leeds, for example, in the Premier League, I'm going Gergampress. But also a bit because I like Marcelo Bielsen, so I won't I want to mimic that. Oh yeah. But you yeah, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna beat City by keeping possession. So and formation again, that really just depends. I I did a five at the back the other day, which I never really do. But I love I I quite enjoyed it. Um but if if I had to be on an average, I look at my overall careers um over the years that I've been a football manager. I would say the most used formation and tactics would be a four-three-free control possession, which might throw a few people off. Okay. And and yeah, that that would be like if I if I didn't know what to do, I'd just go to that. That's my safe one. It's it never does me wrong, it always gets me to like a good point where I can then expand it a bit more. But yeah, to answer your question, Rob, I'm boring, I go 4-3-3, control possession. Um, but then that gives you you know, you can do you have wing backs, do you have inverted wing backs? You know, again, it's it's a difficult question to answer that. But my real most recent one is uh York City one, and I've gone four three three control possession, and I've played with wing backs and inside forwards. But I might change that when I get to league one. I again it depends on the team and the players. I I normally do gag and press and formation. Yeah, normally I do four, two, three, one, so I've like a number ten. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll have like a number ten, uh two inside form uh inside forwards, I'll have like a box of box midfielder and an anchor in the middle. Yeah, and then yeah, I like an anchor. Do you know do you know what? I'll tell you what, Rob, if you want an absolute cheat code to any team, Geganpress 3-4-3, it's an absolute cheat code. The middle of the three is a deep line forward, the other two are advanced forwards. Your wingers uh the the wide players in the floor are defensive wingers, and and then everything else at the matter. But the Gagan press with that formation, I did the space cream, I didn't lose for three years. Well, that's initially immediately that's just it. Yeah, yeah, but I had with Charleston and and players like them in a four in a four-free championship. Yeah, there will be. But I I I think it were like 2024. I had with Charlison, I had Mickey van der Ven and Romero like my two best players. I I had no midfielders other than Papasarr, because Madison was always injured. And I had to use I think I sold Hung Winsong for 100 million straight away, because I thought 100 million for like someone who's 30, like get in. And I had to other than Porrow, I had to use like um who's the is it Oderbert? Wilson Oderbert. Yeah, I had to use him as a left mm defensive midfielder. Okay. And I won the league with them. Which again it's Tottenham, so it's not too difficult, but it was the fact that we went on like a three year, didn't lose the Premier League game for three years. So that's a cheat code. Is that your best ever save? I did about nine seasons, I won nine Premier Leagues, eight Champions Leagues, uh FA Cups and I don't know how many of them, but I did three back-to-back invincible seasons in both league and champions league, didn't lose a game. I drew a f I drew a couple, but I didn't lose any games. That team, Matthias Tell will always be a legend in my eyes. Him and Papasar were with me for the they both rejected offers from Real Madrid as well. It meant really proud to be to be their manager, really proud. And then I left for the England job and I got sacked. I got sacked. I don't even know. I think I got to semi-final, got beat by France because I had a really bad uh you know, you just get a regen, you just think, how are you worth that much money? Yeah. I just had terrible regens, I got to semi-final, got beat 1-0 because I part of the bus. And yeah, I got sacked. And then Tottenham was still flying after me, so I'm a bit disappointed. Noticed actually, like, um literally, like every time there's a national tournament, every manager of every country, apart from the one that wins, yeah, got sacked. And that's a bit like on the what annoyed me was so I was the only uh the only tech English I went with that Spurs role, because I really enjoyed that Spurs role. And the job went up, and I thought, oh I'll apply for it. Sean Dyes got it, but fair enough, more experienced than me. Next time, I don't know who got it. I think it were he's in championship. It won't carrick, it was just a championship manager got it over me, who would won like six Premier Leagues at the time. I would I was a few men of the FA. Maybe you're outspoken, not a yes, man. No, that's what it is. Yeah, yeah. I just don't want to win, that's why. So I I once did a save with Barnsley, got them from League One so got them into Europe and I got offered the Liverpool job, so I thought, you know what, I'll accept it. And then the person who succeeded me as Barnsley manager was Cristiano Ronaldo. I did that with uh I did one with Scarborough Athletic, I I did Bradford, Bradford City is a good save from like league two all the way to the Premier League kept him up uh by the skin of my teeth, like it was the most stressful time of my life was managing Bradford in the Premier League. I don't know how I kept him up, and I thought, you know what, I want to resign. I'm it's it honestly stressed me out too much. Resigned, I thought I might get a mid-table Prem job, maybe a top championship team. The next job I got offered was League One Swansea City. I was human. I took that job with the most like bitter like yes. Uh I'd done a Scarborough one, Scarborough's a good one, but I then I left for Carew. Then I left Carew for Leeds, and then Leeds had like Hall Palmer and played like that, so that was sick. Alright. And then I did the Burton Albion Safe. Cheat code for Burton Albion, they've got five-star training and five-star youth facilities in League One. Okay. So it's a really good one. So I did not know that. The youth team, the youth the plays I had from I didn't have to make a sign-up for like two years. So I had like really good youth. Spring Young Save. That was insane. But yeah, I've I've had it before where I've done like uh like a Blackburn save, and then the next manager they're getting after me is like Carl Ancelotti, or I think I think on one of them that brought in was it Chab Alonso? It was either Chabi Alonso or the other one. Spanish midfielder. Oh Shavi. So like Blackburn Rovers. A bit rogue, but fair enough. Yeah, a little bit. I think um I think my best football manager save was FMO7. Oh yeah. So back when I was like instead of revising for my GCSEs, I was like unbelievable on football manager. So I did a save with Linfield. Was that the Irish one? Northern Irish. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just getting it out there. Sorry. Um but yeah, they're like it's all like semi-pro, won the league, got, and then you know, you enter like the Champions League qualifiers in like late June, early July. So like got into the Europa League used to be called the UEFA Cup. So I've got into the UEFA Cup. Um and then what I've done is like I'd sold all my best players to like English football league clubs, Scottish clubs, made like a couple of million out of it all, and then had enough money to become like full-time, fully professional, and I was just bought like all the best, like exactly, and then just yeah, money-making machine and dominated cutters yeah, I love that. My best save was in 2019 lead save when I was in championship, took them to Prem, won a couple of Prems and I got the England job. And I had Calvin, Connor Goldson was the lead skipper at the time, so he got an England call up from me. Paddy Bamford, and we got to the final against France, and we were like one nil down, it was like the 70th minute. And I I looked to the bench and I brought on Patrick Bamford for Harry Kane. And I I knew at that point this could either make or break my international career. Patrick Bamford in a 90th minute scored to equalise in the 91st minute, he got red carded. So we went to realistic. Yeah, so we went to extra time, and I I remember I think I played counter-attack after that. Literally everyone was at the back. Oh, I think Trentane, yeah. Yeah, I think Trent got me the winner, so we won 2-1. So that was my that was probably my favourite and best career mode because I had like this terrible leads team. And I managed to like skimp my way up and buying cheap players who actually were really good. I was like a bargain hunter save. Yeah. But I just got really like Connor Golden, who was like for like 5 million quid, was worth like 50 million when he was in his 30s, and I think I sold Calvin Phillips for like 80 million to Chelsea at one point. Wow. Um because he weren't playing for me anyway. But yeah, I was I I gave some players caps just purely because he played for Leeds and not because they were good enough. And Patrick Bamford were one of them, but it turned out to be an absolute genius decision. Genius decision from me. There's uh one final question from Waggy. Um, this weekend will leave you up to any bars and nightclubs. Uh oh called. Actually, that's that question, I just made it up for it's an hours. Right yeah, I won't be doing that, but I'll be using a leaf blower all week at the end. Um right, mate, really appreciate you coming on. No, thank you for having me. Really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it very much. We'll we'll get you on again. We'll get you on kind of like back end of this year once you're back in your training. Yeah, yeah. Um once you're doing your full body every other years. Yeah, every year. If I survive it, it's uh if I can digest food again, that'd be great. If we survive, brilliant. If any like any drink energy drink companies or chockey look manufacturers want to sponsor us, yeah, come on. Give us a sponsorship deal. Give us a sponsorship deal, right mate. Appreciate it.