What's up, guys? Welcome to the Fitness Stuff for Normal People podcast. I'm Tony, and this week for the last time, I promise, I'll be without my co-host, Mariana, where today I'm sitting down in person with Derek for more plates, more dates. And honestly, I don't think I've held this much childlike excitement for an interview in my entire life. I've watched Derek on YouTube since I was just 20 years old

and I got to sit down with him today and have a phenomenal conversation. He and I have been going

back and forth for almost the last year trying to sync up dates for this podcast with him living

in Canada and myself in Southern California. It's a little challenging. And every time that we've

actually set up a date for the last three or four times, something unfortunately has fallen through, which prevented us from sinking up. But the stars recently aligned when he was in LA setting up distribution for his new energy drink, and we linked up at the Allo headquarters for this podcast. It was just a few days after Mariana had left back to Boston, which is why she couldn't make it. And I'm not going to lie, we had a little bit more than a bumpy start in getting everything set up. Once we got to the recording studio, we actually had to relocate and essentially build an entire new audio studio last minute. And as you know, I'm a coach. I'm not an audio engineer. So we messed a few things up in getting set up. So at times, Derek's audio can get a little bit

quieter in mind a little bit more loud, but I think that we did a pretty decent job leveling

things out. I just wanted to give you a heads up and apologize for that beforehand. I do need to

give you all some background first because this is a heavy conversation. For those unfamiliar, Derek

is not a scientist by training, but he's done

more for this industry than I think I can even come close to displaying through words alone.

Everywhere you look today, every podcast, every social media account, every other new book

written, it seems like, and even top professionals and educators are publicly talking about

optimizing hormones. H.R.T or hormone replacement therapy and taking

a more comprehensive approach to health, which is great, but it didn't always used to be this way.

I am not exaggerating when I say this. Derek is the guy who normalized having conversations

like this about hormones or hormone replacement, sexual wellness, hair loss, and other topics

that were considered too taboo to touch, but areas that every human being interacts with and wonders about on a daily

basis. It's normal now, but it wasn't back then. He opened up conversation about this when no one

else would. Today, he's the owner of Merrick Health, the Telehealth and Bloodwork Company, myself

and Mariana Hughes, and Swearby. The owner of Gorilla Mind, which is one of the biggest supplement companies in the world that specializes in neutropics and bodybuilding supplements. He's gotten to sit down on powerful platforms with people like Andrew Huberman, Joe Rogan, and so many more. And you might honestly just know him as the guy who leaked the Liver King steroid case. Yeah, that was it. The podcast today at times can be hard to understand because we focus on the topic of blood work and hormones, which is not a simple conversation. The podcast today at times can be hard to understand because we're focusing on the topics of blood work and sex hormones, which is not a simple conversation. There are even times when what he's saying is completely going over my head, and I promise there's going to be a few times where that happens to you soon. The stuff can get tough, but there's a lot you can take from this no matter what level of understanding you're coming into it with, from novice to expert. So if it gets confusing at times, just give it a few minutes, and I promise with context clues you can start putting things together and it will all start to make more sense. As we've talked about before, Mariana and I have partnered with his blood work company, Merrick Health, to create our own custom panel for the most comprehensive and affordable look into your health that we could put together. I want to make it clear, we take zero sponsorship or commission from this at all. We just wanted to give our listeners access to the best options available for their health. So we'll leave a link in our show notes below if you want to get your lab work done or check out the custom panels. And just a reminder, if you're a premium member that subscribes to our weekly research review, you get 10% off your first lab order with Merrick. And premium is just five bucks for your first month right now to join. So we'll leave that link down below as well. Before we jump in, I do have a quick note from our newest sponsor, The Strong Inside, and we'll leave notes for Legion Athletic, our sponsor from day one, in the show notes below not to waste too much of your time. Now, if there's one thing that we do not shut up about on this podcast, it's pro team. Because whatever your goal is, whether it's to lose fat, get lean,

build muscle, and get stronger, or even just live a higher quality and longer life,

protein is usually at the center of what you need to be focusing on when it comes to a dietary

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