🫡

Honestly dude Costco has been dropping the ball lately which is sad. I absolutely love Costco I wish I could be sponsored by them lol. Curious what you eat on a daily basis to get so lean? Or would you say most of your results are from training super hard?

@@zekedesmet I"ve struggled to eat all my life. I'm told that the orphanage didn't give us a lot to eat. I was put into gymnastics by age 4 and spent most of the days training. There I remember them giving us stuff to eat but don't remember what it was. I was very lean while in Ukraine from over training and under eating. And I was ok. I don't remember wanting to eat more. When I came to use my adoptive mom was very fit and ate very nutritiously (the adverb is not modifying how she at but what she ate). We never had sugary foods and never ate things with added sugars. We lived in a rented house on a farm and got lots and lots of eggs from chickens mom kept. After my adoptive parents divorced when I was age 9 or so we had to live on less. We also ate a lot of chicken, fish, beef and venison. I think we had bison from somewhere. I ate a lot of protein. The carbs were mostly from vegetables. We didn't eat bread or pizza. After I got beat up and wanted to gain a lot of muscle some guys in the HS gym said I had to eat a lot more and eat when not hungry. Wow. I struggled with that but did my best. I bought a bag of bagels, bananas, and peanut butter--my mom made her own peanut butter. I put that in my school locker and made bagel banana peanut butter sandwiches. I at something at breakfast to fuel weights before school. Then I bought some food for lunch and then ate that bagel sandwich before training abdominals later with a group of guys. After that workout I ate another bagel sandwich. They also got me a huge jug of whey protein and I mixed that up with water. I was lifting heavy but also training for gymnastics. I gain muscle easily enough that gymnastics exploded my arms and lats--I grew up on a bar and the arms and lats. P-bars were great for whole body but arms and chest and shoulders. I gained a lot of muscle before I started heavy weights. But I didn't eat a lot growing up in gymnastics until I started lifting heavy weights. I currently eat a lot of eggs (often Aldi's cage free) and bison in 1lb blocks and chicken. I bake a lot of skinless chicken breasts (Costco mega packs) and don't overcook them--buy a food thermometer and bake to about 155° and the temp will rise to about 162-165°. I hate overcooked food. I take chicken with me to lunches now and have a lot of salads and greens. I eat the chicken cold. I love baking sweet potatoes in the oven for 60-90 minutes rotating them mid way. I love letting them cool enough to handle (gymnast hands with callouses help handle hot stuff). I then mash these and put them in the fridge. There's a refinement to the Glycemic index and eating cold starches causes them to cause less of a glucose spike. It's called resistant starch as in resists converting to sugars too quickly. I eat cold cooked brown rice (bought my Rice cooker at Costco). I love Aldi's yogurt that is plain with no added sugars and no flavors. If you need to add sugar to anything use Allulose which is a calorie free natural sugar that is not metabolized as sugar. I learned that from the wife of a co-worker. She and I hit it off over nutrition. I work with her husband. For snacks I like apples with peanut butter. I like the bag of cashews and almonds and pecans and pistachios in their salt free roasted bags--Costco again. I do not count calories. I'm not into bodybuilding. I keep extremely active--construction work is great for exercise--but too many in the industry eat a lot of shit and get huge bellies. I also lift weights 4 days a week and train my abdominals 5-6 days a week. I did NOT grow up doing cardio much. Gymnastics training was cardio enough. But maybe in the past 4 months I've tried to run 3K to 5K. I've got some into wind sprints. Back to food. I love 93% lean beef and use that in homemade chili and use canned Bush's white chili beans, roasted tomato (diced). Chili is great to make in large batches. I use avocado oil and its spray can from Costco. I avoid saturated fats in meats. I do use that Pure Irish butter in green wrap at Aldis. I use that melted over vegetables. More on veggies--I grew up eating fresh locally grown veggies. I still try to do that. I don't worry about calories. I eat I think clean. I don't get hungry a lot. I do NOT buy bottle water but get it from the tap water in a metal bottle. I don't filter it though I could. I drink a lot of water and that keeps me from eating a lot. I've never obsessed with how my physique looks. I never got into bodybuilding. Gymnastics gave me an amazing physique and never really cared about aesthetics. Aesthetics just comes with my sport. BUT I did not build large muscular legs by design--we don't want to lug around heavy legs in routines! But after I got beat up I wanted to build up my lower body. My most muscle mass came from growing muscular quads. My calves were always excellent from gymnastics, but didn't want large quads. I've had muscular abdominals all my life and have always got a deep satisfaction from trying them hard. I'm 5'9" and stable at 180 lbs. My body fat has been less than 10 % all my life. When I was active in taking hard punches I was a wrestler measured me at 5-6% body fat--they can't compete I think at less than 7% body fat (body composition rule??) They liked seeing me train my abs that were shredded AF--they especially liked seeing me do dragon flags and had fun pounding down on my abdominals stretched out and under tremendous tension. It's a good feeling I enjoyed too. But soon to be 2025. I will drive soon to a camp fire with some families from work. I'm uncle Anton to their kids. Have a happy new year. We all need one.

@@zekedesmet I forgot to say that I drink FairLife skim milk--a lot. And use (from Costco) vanilla whey protein and their Collagen Peptides Advanced. I also love Kirkland Oat Meal in a 10 lb bag. I like protein shakes and add frozen veggies and oats. I eat cooked oat meal cold--make some and keep in the fridge. Makes a good snack.

Thanks for such a detailed answer man. You ate super clean that’s wild. I could definitely up my game a bit but working on it slowly

Great tips man thanks for that

I’ll cook a gosh dang alien arm in a pan dude. Literally cook all my meals in that one single pan and it’s the best

I think I’ve seen that bar before. Mine was only like $20 and I’ve used it for so long. Also my buddy got a crazy nice one off FB marketplace for like $10 so used is a good option as well.

@@zekedesmet When I was age 16 I began to renovate an abandoned tiny house on the farm where my mom rented her tiny house. I made money working for the farmer from about age 13 to make money for gymnastics. But I liked the work and the farmer. He helped me waterproof the roof and we repaired the windows. His grandson came one summer to visit then asked to stay to help me turn the tiny house into my gym. I had my truck and we found lots of free and cheap workout equipment. I "stole" (extended borrow) some old still rings from the gymnastics academy. We vaulted the ceiling so I could install the rings high up. We got a of great gym equipment from Craig's list. But the GoFit I got after I moved to an apartment and I like handles to be high up as possible. I just love its design. May you make great gains in 2025.

Dude that’s so rad - your own tiny gym is so awesome. Also gymnastics creates the most insane physiques. It’s just the strength needed to perform at a high level and it’s crazy impressive

@@zekedesmet Yes. The farmer had electricity and water reconnected. But not a furnace that was too broken and he didn't want to get a furnace. The farmer's grand son was skilled at woodworking. He was 2 years older than me and in sports. He loved my physiqued and was more than happy to ask if he could stay a good chunk of the summer..He was off to college and that fall. We built pull up bars and dipping bars. We built me a vertical sit up station (to imitate vault sit ups). I made it very comfortable on my legs (behind the knee in particular) and I did a lot of hanging/dangling sit ups with heavy dumbbell. That tiny house was torn down the last time I made it where we used to live. I love working in construction.

@@zekedesmet Yes on gymnastics. I had the realization that I loved training in gymnastics more than performing or competing as a gymnast. It's a dangerous sport and concussions and broken vertebrae are not uncommon. Stress fractures are common--I have a high pain threshold and having sprains and broken toes and fingers didn't stop me. I've not had any serious injuries though. One time I did a reversal on a high bar release and came down hard into my abdominals and hung there folded over the high bar. And that is where a gymnast having extremely muscular abdominals saved the day. I came down hard into my lower abdominals. But I also clipped some ribs that got bruised. I think gymnasts might have among the highest relative strength of most sports. Thanks. Take care. If you do want to learn some about what I put my body through at the fraternity when I was age 17 you can email me. I'd rather not say in a public comment. I went to the frat house and most of the guys were shocked at want I wanted AND what I wanted THEM to do to me. But 2 frat guys followed me outside and we sat in my truck for a long time talking. They called a few friends and a group of guys from several frats took me to a house (not a frat house) where some of the guys lived. They had basement that had some weights. Bottom like--they were all in to do all that I asked them to do to me. And that was to beat the shit out of my abdominals held in any position they wanted to have me in. Things went down hill from there. But I don't want say more here. I don't know who reads these. But email would be better.

Swear it’s the best

@@zekedesmetI’ll take your word on it and pray I never find out

Good idea lol

Appreciate the support brother!

He eats those. he steals those

Dude straight to the dome 💀 hits so damn hard

@zekedesmet 🤣🤣🤣Been there

💀💀💀

LFG dude. What else is a homie gonna do at 2am hahaha

@ right 😂😂😂

Hahaha

Are you already adding different variations into your workouts? Also how long have you been doing that same workout? I’d actually highly recommend checking out my video where I did 100 push ups everyday for an entire year because that taught me a lot about seeing gains with calisthenics. If you are wanting to focus on maximizing muscle growth for a short period of time you can also add in weight lifting. Or what I did was weighted calisthenics

Yea for now that my channel is very small I think short videos are more suitable. But I definitely still make longer ones as well

Slaps my reality around a bit

Almost to 2025 which is wild. Would have loved to hit 1k before the new year but I’m very happy with the growth it’s humbling

@@zekedesmet i heard if the growth didn't happen slowly it would be overwhelming for any content creator - one of my favorites is German in Venice - he started in the pandemic i think when he lost his job - he is just himself in the videos - very little editing out it seems - just raw vlogs of his life

Absolutely huge

They don’t know dude they have no idea

Dude that means more than you know. Thank you my man!

@@zekedesmet ok

Dude I’ve seen so many different definitions for it I have no idea what’s what lol

But somehow it’s still tasty

I literally saw a video of jay cutler and he eats the same thing everyday. Pretty sure it’s a bad habit legends have lol

🫡

What can I say I’m a good boy 🐕

Try it first - then you tell me

He doesn’t know bro…so fire. I can tell.. just like breakfast

Dude it’s the best man

@ I also love the BAR S classic franks cut up mixed up with some eggs with some fresh chili peppers on the side and some tortillas…. Bro that’s ALSO FIRE

Bro shoot that sounds so good dude

Geez brother you went through a ton. I am incredibly blessed with my family and I should be even more grateful than I am. You have a really amazing journey you should make a video about your story if you haven’t already. You have a lot to share with the world brother. Thanks for your comment. Wish you the best year of your life in 2025 my man!

@@zekedesmet Thanks for your encouragement. I"m age 22 and part of my journey was learning that I was really born in 2002 and not 2021. All my life I was 1 grade ahead of my true age. Long story there but it took a lot.of work to undo the damage--I got my driver's license and even voted a year younger. Fortunately I was still eligible to vote at a year younger but just a bit less than a month. The lawyer our construction company where I work helped me do a lot of paper work. The US naturalization discovered a discrepancy between what my adoptive parents submitted and they found out the Ukraine adoption agency had said. It was a lot of hard work the company lawyer did on our behalf--she is amazing! I wrote up all that happened to me when I met with that PTSD counselor. He had me bring it to light and not let it bury--and as you said it did help others. I met with some middle and high schoolers who were bullied. I showed them my scars on my body and talked about my scares emotionally. It helped talking to them. And some of the older boys were also beat up and worse than me. I was fortunate that the older athletes did what they said they wanted to and that was to punch the fuck out of my abdominals the called "gymnast abs." I believed them and they only targeted muscle and not my face or worse. Each time my gym shorts would ride up my waist the would pull them back down. I worried sometime they would pull them off and learn I didn't wear underwear. After I got beat up I also learned I have OCD and behaviors around abdominal training--to cope with stress growing up and for the praise I got from coaches and older gymnasts. The night I spent at the fraternity house was both my rock bottom but also one of the most elated (maybe not right word) or most satisfying (closer) time. I let some guys in a fraternity take me past my limits in taking punches. That's a longer story and expect to write up what happened. Taking punches became and addiction in high school and I actively sought out some athletes I trained with to help me get in a quick workout. I'm still working on what drives me to let myself get brutalized. I'm making good money and love the people I work with in construction. The owners like me a lot and I'm Uncle Anton to some of their younger boys who love hopping in me and climbing. Learning only this summer that I'm a year younger than my grade has caused me to revisit all that happened to me--even becoming sexually active really at age 14 and not 15 with a female gymnast who was age 17. She didn't want to go to college without sexual experience. She loved watching me workout shirtless and I loved showing off to her. We would stay over night al the gymnastics academy hiding out. We did a lot of things in the nude. We talked about the original Olympic Games the guys (only guys back then) competing in the nude. She talked me into doing gymnastics in the nude. I don't think they had high bar and p-bars back then. But I found it fun. Trying doing hanging leg raises in the nude. But I was only age 14 going age 15 and not 15 going on 16. She left without saying goodbye. I don't know what love is but I did miss the sex and her playfulness. I have a lot more to process about what I put myself through going up after getting beat up. I've been more beat up at age 17 than at age 16. What I let them or had them do to me at the fraternity house was extreme and brutal but also satisfying. There is part of me that I'm still needing to figure out. I'm grateful that I have 1 year back and now age 22. The jump back 1 year made me feel like in the fall when we turn out clocks back 1 hour. None of my new friends and people I work with--those I regularly see--know that I was beat up. They know I did gymnastics but not that I got into getting beat up. I'll end this long comment with saying that guys on the wrestling and I watched 2 movies that influenced us as young guys. One is Fight Club and the other is Never Back Down. I saw Never Back Down maybe 4 times with the guys. Sorry to ramble again.

Holy dang dude that would be so weird to find out you are a different age man. Also you got some wild stories especially in the gymnastics scene. I did some very basic gymnastics stuff but I was never that good. Absolutely wild man you definitely need to document your life somewhere it’s interesting

@@zekedesmet Wild is the right word growing up from age 13 without a parent in my life. Discovering I am 1 year younger really hit me hard. I had no idea how to feel. Then I told my boss one day and he asked what the means for everything official about me. He started to list things that were government related that had the wrong birth year. Social Security, my driver's license, voting, etc. He could tell I was out of my depth (right word?) and said he'd make an appointment to meet with the lawyer they use. We she and I met she raised more and more things that need changing. She said she would get the ball rolling and would let me know what I needed to do. But then my life was unwinding knowing I had so many horrible things happen to me as kid even younger than we thought. At age 14 having sex with a female gymnast age 17 was overwhelming. I feel I grew up too early but happy I never got into porn. But one huge thing was that I sent lots of naked pics of me showing me shredded and with my junk out in the breeze and worse. But the woman I'd been sexting with was not what she presented. I was hit with financial demands or she would share my photos. I went into a panic as I had no money. I'm very open with my body in person and have no shame (and no reason for shame). But finding out for weeks this woman was someone else who know so much about me was scary. I didn't know what to do but just deleted all my social accounts. And I hoped for the best. I didn't give my last name--Wilson is not my last name. And when I was adopted Anton was changed to Anthony. After HS I changed back to being called Anton. I don't know what happened to those threats and gave up the email account with that. And I lived in fear wondering what would happen next--and US naturalization was behind me but I worried I would somehow be deported. In my community immigrants are not welcome except for some farmers who like cheap slave labor. Back to my age change. I'm happy to know that I was smaller than other boys in my grade because of my abs. In the orphanage I'm sure I didn't eat well. Living mostly on my own by age 13 I saw I gained muscle easy and didn't eat. But yeah--weird. And since then I feel I got a year back. I've been working in construction for 2 years and it's the most stable I've been in my life. No one I work with knows that I badly abused my body. I grew up shirtless and shoeless. As my body took more and more abuse I felt very ok to keep the shirt off as my abdominals looked more and more beat up. I visited to the U of I looking quite beat up and got the questions I wanted. I feel that being 1 year younger also means I made stupid mistakes because I was younger than I thought. I feel lucky that I've survived some of what I went through. I didn't tell you all that I went through the night visiting the fraternity. I will share with you personally--email if you want to know what I endured at the fraternity house. I don't want to share this publicly. But I'm ok sharing some in the email. It's the end of 2024. We don't know what 2025 will bring of course. I wish you well as you move forward. Don't look back with regret but look back to learn lessons to bring you to a better you. I'm a hugely optimistic person through it all. Maybe my Ukrainian background and what keeps my countrymen going in the Russian war. We all need a good year.

I wish it was

Pause 💀

@@zekedesmet a little less then half way....right side maune 3/4ths down

Yo I’m gone 💀

@@zekedesmet did you see it?

Bro no way dude I see it - what did I eat! 💀

Dude ima raw 🐕 till the day I die. Actually I occasionally have green powder but it’s not much. Lol

Raw 🐕

Yo pause 💀

@ lol

Hahaha

Get this comment to 1000 likes

Dude I hadn’t heard of that stuff before it looks crazy. Looks like it would taste nasty haha

@ yea probably is disgusting but you should try I’d definitely watch

Gosh dang it dude - I hate that it’s actually such a good idea. I’ll write it down and research a bit

@ yea I think you should do research first I don’t know if it’s smart to od on it 😂 but shilajit is interesting over how much benefits it claims to have. You could review it that would also be good video

Yea might be a video I save for a potential in the future haha it just looks so nasty 💀

You need to learn to share lol

@@trixie9867 lol rip

Yep haha

@@zekedesmet trixie spot everything. sniff it all out

Yea it’s good stuff

I’ve been taking it mid day

@@zekedesmet if your productivity goes down - you've got something to blame - i'd take it after your done with having to do the most productive things in the day

lol I swear you commented before I clicked publish

yes.... and Zeke De Smet is for entertainment purposes only - fitness - try at your own risk

@ you know haha

I haven’t trained l sits in a while haha. So shaky on those tall weights. They have a rounded edge so it was ridiculous

@ yea I’m starting to work on calisthenics skills not that I’m a bit more confident in my self

Dude that’s awesome man - I never focused heavily on skills. Mostly just workout with body weight. I’m going to focus mostly on strength and then I’ll learn skills once I’m jacked lol

@@zekedesmet hey so off topic but. I’ve got a buddy who is getting way too big and I’m trying to get him to start working out with me. He lives in a diff state and was wondering if you have a way to convince him to start on it

Shoot man that’s a tough one - I’ve always put habits over short term results. So if you can convince him to start doing 5 push ups a day maybe over time he will scale into working out more. Other than that it really comes down to pure negotiation which is a rabbit hole in and of itself. “Never split the difference” is a great book written by an FBI negotiator depending on how committed you are lol

Stoked to have you here!

She cooked

Thank you!

I don’t think eating the same thing daily is for everyone but I still love it