Stronger Than Your Boyfriend
Stronger Than Your Boyfriend
Q&A 110: Daylight Savings, Processed Foods, Front Squats, Overtraining & Stubborn Calves
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In this episode, we answer five questions from our listeners:
- (0:51) Permanent daylight savings time & your health — Why the push to lock in DST could wreck your circadian rhythm, sleep, and mornings (and why sleep experts are against it).
- (10:43) How much processed food is okay? — There's no magic number. Prioritize whole foods, but context matters: your health markers, budget, access, and whether the question is really about diet perfectionism.
- (13:24) Can't hold the bar for front squats? — Skip the crossover grip and don't avoid them. Build front rack mobility with light holds, work fingers under the bar gradually, or use towels/straps as a bridge.
- (17:13) Am I doing too much in my workouts? — Signs of overtraining: disrupted sleep, joint pain, feeling run down. (Spoiler: if you're asking, you probably are.)
- (19:36) How to grow stubborn calves — Calves respond to lots of time under tension and higher reps.
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Welcome to the Stronger Than Your Boyfriend Podcast. We are Heather and Katie, owners of Barpath Fitness, here to help you dip through the bullshit and toxic Wow. Toxic with information. The permeates of fitness industry. Did you know that we don't pre-record these intros and use them over and over? I just don't.
SPEAKER_00You just actually roll with it and then you sound the same every single time. No, I know. That's why someone would think that, to be honest with you. But now you know. Now you know. Now you know. The more you know, and shooting star.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Today we have a QA podcast. Yes. We're gonna answer five questions.
SPEAKER_00We are. So let's answer them. And then if you want to ask us questions, join our Facebook group, stronger than your boyfriend. We're slide into the DMs anywhere on all the social meads. Slide right in.
SPEAKER_01Question one. Uh question one. What do you think about the push to make daylight savings time permanent and the impacts on health?
SPEAKER_00Ooh, this is a hot topic because be hot. You know, I guess the House of Represent uh representatives and the Senate, they have nothing fucking better to do than think about this, apparently, but it just passed in the House. I don't think it's gonna pass in the Senate, and here's why. I think making daylight savings, which is the time we're currently on, summertime, permanent is horrible. I think it will be horrible to our health because here's how shit works. Whether you know it, whether you like it, your body is aligned with the sun. We have a circadian rhythm, and when the sun comes up, we tend to wake up. When the sun goes down, we tend to go to sleep. Now I understand people stay up later than when the sun goes down, but that's because we have fucking blue lights everywhere. If we didn't have screens and shit, we'd probably just fall asleep because that's how it works. If we make daylight savings time permanent, when the days start getting shorter, the sun won't come up in the winter months until almost 9 a.m. And here's why that's stupid. You will feel like shit. And what I keep hearing people say is, oh, there's gonna be more sunlight. No, no, there's not gonna be more sunlight. This bill, this, you know, not changing the clocks doesn't magically make there be more sun. It's just the sunlight hours are shifted and it's shifted not optimally for health. I mean, all of this I've been reading about this, all of the sleep experts are campaigning against this because it will be very detrimental to everyone's health, health, and sleep. And I don't know if you noticed, but you sleep more in the winter months. So if the sun is up later, it's gonna you're gonna have a harder time falling asleep at night, and you're gonna have a harder time waking up in the morning. So, if anything that we're gonna make permanent, it should be the uh standard time when we fall back because that's more aligned with our circadian rhythm. I just I don't know what people think they're gonna do with what a half hour of fucking sun after work in the winter? Like, what do why? Like, get over it. It's only part of the year, anyways. Ranch over. What is your input on this? Wow.
SPEAKER_01Um, no, I so I have trouble going to sleep early in general and waking up early. And so I was just on I was in Florida for a while and then I was in Indiana for a while, and so I it was like almost two weeks, and they're two hours difference, right? And so I was I got used to that schedule, and so then when I came back here to mountain time, it was so much easier for me to wake up at like six or seven a.m. Because that was you know, like eight or nine there. Right. So I it was really nice, and I found myself really liking it because I woke up at like six thirty and the sun would be up, and it was great. And I already had like a long work night the other night where I worked way too late and it screwed it up already, and that is what will probably happen if this happens. Like I will just have a harder time. So, my personal opinion is that it would suck. Um, I will probably be fine either way because my sleep schedule is just crazy and doesn't make any sense, but overall, I don't think I would enjoy this. And I I hear what you're saying and agree and like have seen the same things. I also know that they did this in the 70s. They did, my dad, yeah, it did not work out well.
SPEAKER_00No, because come on, guys. Listen, my dad was alive for this and wasn't like an adult from when this happened, and they tried this for like less than a year, and the other thing is you got kids, you want your kids to be starting school when it's dark. Like kids start school at 7, 7:30 a.m. It won't get dark for two hours after that. And you can't drop your kids off at the bus. Like all the moms freaked out back in the 70s for good reason. So they changed it back. It's not gonna work. Like I said, if you're gonna change it to any, if you're gonna permanently change it, it needs to be standard time. Yeah, you'll get more sunlight in the morning. That is better, regardless of what you may think. Like, I understand people have the winter blues, etc., but listen, you're not gonna get any more sun. You will still have the same amount of hours of sun. It's like I I don't understand why people are so obsessed with having it be lighter later. It doesn't, it's not even gonna be that much lighter later when we have the shortest hours or the shortest daylight hours in the winter. It doesn't, it's not gonna a half hour more of sun at night is not gonna make a difference. Yeah. What like like people think, and people are so excited about this, and they really shouldn't be. This is actually put really, really detrimental to health. I think, I mean, sleep is everything, and most people have a hard time sleeping. And people just don't realize realize it because they don't think about it. You don't think, oh, well, when is my melatonin production gonna start so that I can fall asleep? People aren't thinking about that, but that is what's gonna be affected. And if you're someone like me who I need to be asleep by a certain time because my body's just gonna wake up, I'm gonna be fucked. Like people, if you're I don't know, I mean, maybe you're a night owl, whatever, but it's not good for you. This daylight savings isn't good for you. And I want you to just think of it this way: whenever we change the clocks back in the fall, no one complains. Everyone feels fine. The only complaints I hear is oh, it gets so dark late now. Okay, or early now. Great. Every time that we fall or we move the clocks forward, people feel like shit. They've got headaches, they don't sleep well for two weeks. That shit affects us, and that's how you're gonna feel most of the year. So we need to not do this. I I don't think it'll pass in the Senate. If it does, I think we're kind of screwed. Also, if you're in Colorado, just think you're not gonna be able to start skiing until 9, 9:30 a.m. That's like a big thing here.
SPEAKER_01You can't do anything until 9 to 10 a.m.
SPEAKER_00in the winter. And obviously, we're only skiing in the winter here, but I mean, that's just one example. So I mean, obviously summers won't look look much different, but winters are important and I don't know. I it's not good. I don't understand the push for this at all. I like, I don't know, personally, I like when it's dark early, but yeah, aren't um Arizona, I know, is on standard time is Hawaii as well.
SPEAKER_01I think Hawaii is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's a few states that don't change. So and I like it. I like when it's um, yeah, I think this would be horrible. I think that I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I personally feel like it'll be harder for me, but it like I already I don't know. I kind of just adapt to things and tend to be a night out anyway. But yeah, I do think the majority of people might really struggle with this.
SPEAKER_00So And just think you know, in a state like Colorado where it does snow, you get that morning sunlight to kind of melt the snow off the road, you're not gonna get that anymore. It's gonna be more dangerous to drive. I know. Like all these it's a it's a can of worms that I don't think people realize when they're just like, oh, but we'll have, you know, the sun up later in the day. Well, that's a huge can of worms for everything.
SPEAKER_01What are the positives that they are talking about that they think will happen?
SPEAKER_00I the only one I read will People will stop bitching about the sun going down early. That's it. Seriously, that's it. That's the only positive is that people are excited about the sun being up later in the day. And I'm just like, okay, it doesn't mean you're getting more sun. If anything, sunlight for your health is far a hundred times, a million times more important in the morning because that sets up your circadian rhythm for you to fall asleep at night. That's why, you know, we talk about all the time for good sleep, go out in the sunshine every morning. As soon as your your eyes see the light, okay, it's morning. Your body's awake, it's producing the right hormones, and then it'll produce the right hormones hormones at night so you can fall asleep. There are no pros. That's the thing. The the only pro is it and not even it, I don't even think it will help um the the sad, you know, the winter blues, because you're just gonna feel that in the morning now. Yeah. And at night. So I don't know. It's I I think it's silly, and I think we're this is such a fucking waste of time. Like uh Can I I'm gonna say something quick.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So the only things that I read about, and I I was wondering if this, if there's like research behind this or not, but I'm not sure, is that the reason they want to do it is something about local uh boosting like local retail restaurants, like later night uh dinners, but trying to boost the economy. And it does say outdoor recreation, which I don't know if I agree with. I guess like there are some sports that go late, but also you bring up a really good point with the ski stuff because I did not think about that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but what do you let's be real, guys? What are we really doing outside in the winter? Like, come on. People are so unrealistic about this. People, oh yeah, I'll work out more if the sun is up later. Will you? Because are you doing it outside? Like, no, you're not because it's cold. Like, it's just there, people again, very unrealistic. I don't understand this at all. I don't understand where people just automatically think they're gonna get more sunlight. It it doesn't quite work like that. I don't really think people are gonna like living in Alaska, basically, in the morning, like where you're driving to work in the morning in the dark. And it's dangerous. Yeah. So you have a lot of opinions. That's that's good. No, I don't think people realize how much this will affect.
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, even just looking at the fact that they've done it before and it did not go well, is the kind of thing for me, is like historically, we've tried this.
SPEAKER_00Why are we trying it again? People's reasons are so silly to me. Um okay, ready for question two?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Okay. It's so hard to avoid processed foods. What amount is okay to have in your diet?
SPEAKER_00It is very hard to avoid processed foods, but then it's not at the same time. I don't know. I don't think there's a right amount. Again, your grown-ass adult, eat whatever the fuck you want. But obviously, we think whole natural foods are best. I personally understand that that's hard, especially when I'm gone during the day. I don't really have time to like sit down and heat up a meal that I've made. So I have some. I'll drink a protein shake or a protein bar or something here and there. I think if the majority of your diet is whole foods, you're fine. I think it's really hard to avoid processed foods in 2026. Yeah. Um, you know, it does require planning, especially now that we've got the pair the diarrhea parasite going around on the produce. Now it's like, well, the processed foods won't do that to you. Yeah, maybe don't eat salads right now, which you know, unless you I don't know, don't care, but yeah, I I don't know. I think a little bit here and there. Also, there's nothing wrong with some healthier ingredient crackers here and there, those are processed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think when someone asks what's okay to have in your diet, I think that's really, really an individual thing on so many levels. Yeah. One is on the health level of what does your blood work say? Like if you have issues with your kidneys, things like that, then that's a big big difference between if you're, you know, just like a pretty healthy individual. And then there's also the like okay on what front? Like, are you saying it's like good or bad? Is this like an emotional okay? Like I there's just a lot there. Um, yeah, you want to try to avoid processed foods when you can because eating whole natural foods is better for your body, but also there's no okay amount.
SPEAKER_00Right. I would say any amount is okay. It just depends on, like you said, what's your blood blood work look like? Are you healthy inside? Yeah. I mean, I would say if you're eating only processed foods, you probably aren't, but I don't know, you could be. Right. Um also what do you have access to? Like just what is okay, right? Exactly. There's a lot of there's a lot of things with that question. Yeah, the processed foods are the cheaper foods now. So if that's all you can eat, I would rather you eat than not eat. Right. But I think it to me this sounds like more of an emotional Right. That's where like I want to be perfect with my diet, maybe. Maybe which no one is. I eat some kind of a processed food every day. Um but I try to eat as many whole foods as I can. It's just, you know. It depends on the day too for people. Totally.
SPEAKER_01So three. Mm-hmm. Okay. I can't get the bar, I can't get the bar to rest comfortably on my shoulders for front squats. Should I use the crossover grip or just avoid them altogether?
SPEAKER_00Neither. I think you should still do front squats, and I think you should work on it. Both wrong. Yeah, both wrong. Avoiding them all together is cop out. Don't do that. The crossover grip I don't like. I think it is very unstable, and I don't think it's very safe to load up that grip. So I would just recommend doing some mobility movements and just being in the front rack position more often so that you can hold the bar there. That's pretty much how I taught myself. I just started light with front squats. I just did some holds. So what I would do is just unrack the bar and then just hold the bar for like 30 seconds. Just putting my shoulders and upper back and T-spine, etc., in that position just build helped build the uh build the strength and mobility that I needed. But again, I think it's just doing it more and more. And you might not be able to load it much at first, but if you can comfortably get into it, then you can start loading it.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, the workaround or the trick to get yourself there too is to use like towels or something. So instead of, or straps, if you have straps, so instead of just avoiding the grip altogether, you want to work your way down to it. So if you if you can get even one finger under the bar, I would say start practicing just like holding the bar, like Katie said, and working with the bar in that way. Even two fingers is actually pretty solid. If you can't even get there, though, that's when you would wrap a towel around each side of the bar or a strap and hold on with your hands and then work your hands down. Now, the the problems with that one is better because it keeps your shoulders in a similar position. The biggest problem with the crossover one is what it does to your front rack position. It changes it a lot, really. Because if you think about, I don't even know what to call that when you crop your shoulders up like in order to hold something, like oh yeah, like that position's called.
SPEAKER_00Well, you're kind of protracting your shoulders forward and stabilizing with your lats. It's kind of exactly like setting up for a bench press in a way, kind of. If you try to uh it's probably not really, not with the protraction, but yeah, it's I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. But it's if you try to do this position with your hands crossed, you automatically like lose a little bit of that shoulder, I don't know, stability. And so that's that's why it's not a good replacement for me. So I'd rather just get some towels and work their way down.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's why I'm saying you're not gonna be able to load that cross grip very much. I don't even know if that's what it's called, but that's what I'm calling it.
SPEAKER_01I don't know either. I've also seen people do the zombie one with their arms.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's a specific variation, I think. Yeah. But that's like more of a I don't even know what the point of that is. I don't either, but you can keep your shoulders cross, so it's probably a little easier, but I don't know. Oh no, I've tried it before. It's insanely hard to balance that. Yeah. It uh yeah, I wouldn't recommend. I mean, you could just to see, you know, just to feel out where you want that bar to rest on your shoulders. Yeah. But you know, like I was saying, either way, you're not gonna be able to load the cross grip very much, nor are you gonna be able to load the bar if you're using towels or just able to wrap one finger around the bar, but it's something. Yeah. So start there. Right. And once you can fully grab the bar with your hand, then I would say, okay, now we're in a good place where we can start loading it safely. But you yeah, you just have to work on the shoulders. Yeah, for sure. So work on the T-spine, work on shoulder mobility. I'm not gonna sit here and name a bunch of moves. You just have to hire us for that. Wink wink.
SPEAKER_01Right. Okay, question four. How do I know if I'm doing too much with my workouts?
SPEAKER_00Well, if your sleep is all messed up, if your joints are hurting, if you feel run down, you don't know why. If you're for a long period of time. Yeah, if you're if you're just doing a bun a shit ton of cardio and you're strength training like four to six times a week, I'm gonna say you're probably doing too much. You'll know. That's the thing. If you're asking this question, you probably are. You know what I mean? Answer. You typed this out. Yeah, you type this out, so you are doing too much. Now in my almost mid-30s, I get the joint pain because I do a lot of the same movements, like chin-ups. So if I'm doing too much, my elbows will start to hurt will start to hurt, and I'm like, oh man. So I gotta just back off the volume. Yeah. So like that, I don't say I like it, but it's like a very clear sign, like you're doing too much, because I'll just ignore it half the time. But it hurts, you know, I don't want to hurt myself. So you know, and then I think a lot of people are they easily just push push through fatigue if they're you know, like they're uh they work really hard at their job and they're you know, type A, they accomplish a lot of things, so they can just push through the fatigue of working out, right? So, but you'll know like your body will eventually just shut down if it's too stressed. Yeah, and you don't want to get to that point. No, you want to listen to the signs before that point.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think we have a couple of different episodes and blogs. One of them's about overtraining and under training. Oh, we should link those. I can't remember what the other one's about. Yeah, I'll add them to the show notes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we totally should because it goes a little bit more in depth about those two topics. Yeah, I think we have like a signs of overtraining one, yeah, because obviously you want that sweet spot because you can under train too. I would say most people aren't under training unless they're just walking in the gym and walking out, or if their form is just nowhere near where it should be, or if they're not doing any type of compound movement, maybe, but most people are probably overtraining, especially that listen to this podcast. So if you type this out, I'm gonna guarantee you're doing too much. So okay.
SPEAKER_01Question five I can't get my calves to grow. What do you suggest if they're such a stubborn muscle group for me?
SPEAKER_00Ah man, is it bad to say, like, I don't really care about my you know? I mean, I care about this person and them getting their bigger calves. It's such a man thing to want. A man type this out. I know that because only men care about their calves. And I'm like, why don't you care about the rest of your chicken legs? Why do you care about the calves? Is because you can wear long shorts and cover up the rest of your chicken legs? Long shorts. Well, one, you have to train them. Yeah, you have to train them, and I do think calves are a very stubborn muscle group. Yeah, I think you know what I think. Well, I not that I have ginormous muscles in my calves, but they were very small to now just small. I feel like hiking kind of helped. Yeah. Going uphill here. That could make sense. Um, and then I was jump roping for a while. That helped. Yeah. Just a lot of stress on those calves. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01When I I've always had massive calves.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Sorry. All the dudes are jealous of you.
SPEAKER_01Um part of it is um, I used to teach step robics many, many, many moons ago. And you're not supposed to step like this, but I would, I was just so excited when I taught, I would step on like the ball of my foot. So yeah. Basically, do a calf raises for like 45 minutes straight. Oh, yeah, that'll do it. And I think that they just like really, and I was kind of young when I did it. So I think they just really, I don't know, turned on or something. And now I train them and they get big and they're already big. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00The common theme is a lot of time under tension because the calves have mostly the muscles in the calves have mostly type two muscle fibers, which are those slow twitch muscle fibers, so they respond really well to endurance. Yeah. So I I mean, yeah, you do want to train them through, you know, full ranges of motion, like strength training. And you should still do all the reps, like, you know, down to six to eight, all the way up to 20. But I would say more often I'll have my clients do the higher reps because I know this, but man, if you wanna, I think you should do like the unconventional shit for calves, like start jump roping, or you know all who always have really big calves, male men and women, because they just walk all the Yeah, they do. I am women too. But I don't know if that's just maybe that was the the male people that I was looking, like saw.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, now I'm going to pay attention when I see people that deliver mail. Yeah, well, maybe it's just a few that I've seen around my own. I also feel like a lot of the people that deliver mail though, because I live in the like downtown, they're just like driving.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, no, they get out. Some some of them walk. Okay. Like in the neighborhood. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Maybe not downtown. Yeah. Downtown, they just like pull up. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Go to the front desk, which is like five feet away. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Maybe not so much.
SPEAKER_01The Amazon people though, they like walk all the floors. They run. They go all the floors and deliver all the packages. The other day I got it, I got Amazon was like, You have a package. And I looked down and it wasn't there. And I was like, okay. And there was a picture of it outside of a door. And I live in a condo building, a high-rise condo building. And I was like, shit, it's not my door. So then I like put a thing out and I went to the front desk and all that. And I was like, I have to find this package. So I used the clues in the picture because it didn't have like the address plate, but it had like a light that's like a scone. And so I was like, okay, where in the hallway is the light on the left side of the door? And that the paint is green. And I actually went down the front desk and asked, and he was awesome. He was like, Oh yeah, it's it's gonna be on this side of the building and it's gonna be on these floors. So we narrowed it down to like eight floors. Yeah. So I ended up walking eight floors instead of you know, whatever. And it was at like a totally different number that didn't even come close to my number. Good job at Amazon. Get your shit together.
SPEAKER_00Were your calves burning? Yeah, because I took the stairs. Yeah, I seriously I think people say, okay, well, having big calves is genetic. And yeah, it is. But I also think, like, okay, randomly my mom has really big calves, but she was a catcher, and I think that's why. Yeah. And I was also a catcher, so I don't know where that got lost. Uh so that sucks. But I think a lot of the genetic looking calves are more so about what those people did as kids. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like if you did the uh I don't know. Well, and I also did dance in high school and I wore dance shoes. Yeah, yeah. You're always on the ball of your feet with dance shoes.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I don't know. Yeah, I'm trying to think about I have a client who she used to be a dancer. Now I'm gonna look at her calves next time. But I think she has like really like muscular, sturdy legs, so she probably has big calves. Yeah, I would think so. Yeah, I'm just be like, I need to do research for this episode to confirm. Yes. Yeah, but seriously, probably just sports ball, any sports ball that you've played. Yeah, or not sports ball like me. Yeah, dancing. I feel like dancers probably have the biggest calves, right?
SPEAKER_01Because they're on the balls of their feet all the time. It depends if you're like a professional dancer, a lot of times you are well underfed because you have all the pressure to look a certain way, especially like ballet or something like that. Yeah, yeah. So then your muscles just atrophy. But you know.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's a whole other subject. That's a whole other topic we could go on and on about. But yeah, I think that if you want to grow your calves, Chad, I think you should take up jump roping. I really do. I love it. Let's jump rope. Double Dutch.
SPEAKER_01Let's let's see everybody double. Let's make a shirt that says let me see your double dutch, Chad. Did you ever try did you ever do double dutch? Is that the one where there's two people holding the rope? Yes. And then you're or yeah, and then they they do it like this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and let me just tell you, I think it's pretty prominent in black culture, like with the kids, because my black friends growing up were so good at double dutch, and they would do that at recess, and then I tried, and it was embarrassing. But yeah, I've only seen that at recess.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, I don't think we ever did it. We only did the single rope. I did the macarina at recess once and got by a bee while I was shaking my hips. Well, you went to school with only white people. I did, yeah. I went back and visited my hometown the other day. Yeah. And the actual hometown I was born in, or well, okay, I was born in the town with a hospital, but the Horn hometown I actually grew up in didn't have a hospital or a grocery store or anything. That place does not look great. Uh but the town we moved to, which is what I call my hometown because it's where I went to uh middle school, high school, you know, all that, and my parents live there. That town is actually like super adorable now. They have like all these little stores and coffee shops open in the last year, so proud of them. Yeah. Cool. Kind of hope that they keep crushing it and bringing that town back.
SPEAKER_00So they're not doing double dutch there. I know that. No, probably not. They will not have big calves, no. Alright, all right, anywho. Okay, uh, that was five questions. That was five. You should ask us questions because these are always fun. QA's are one of my faves. Yeah. Yeah? Okay, okay, peace out.