We take a look back at all of this year’s happenings and episodes. We talk about our favorite episodes of the year, our favorite answers from experts, and the answers we got the MOST wrong. Thanks to everyone who listened and special thanks to all our experts! We kick off the show talking about outsourcing, and “feeding the beast” of content creation. Hosted by Mike Farr (@silentmikke) and Jim McDonald (@thejimmcd). Produced by Jim McDonald Production assistance by Connor O’Neal. Theme by Aaron ...
Dec 25, 2019•44 min•Ep. 60
We were frankly confused. What are people talking about when they refer to Intuitive Eating? Is it a weight loss strategy or something else? We asked Miguel Blacutt to explain the role of intuitive eating. He’s a Masters student in Applied Physiology at Columbia University, works as research assistant to Jeff Nippard, and is currently collaborating with Dr. Andy Galpin. Here are some of our thoughts: Is it eating whatever you want whenever you want? Is it simple dieting without tracking? If you ...
Dec 18, 2019•51 min
We’ve always heard that muscle grows when you break it down through exercise, lifting weights, etc. In fact, we’ve always been told that it was the ONLY way, but is that really true? We asked Miguel Blacutt , someone who has been intensely interested in this subject, to catch us up on the latest research. He’s a Masters student in Applied Physiology at Columbia University, works as research assistant to Jeff Nippard, and is currently collaborating with Dr. Andy Galpin. Here are some of our thoug...
Dec 11, 2019•53 min
Ever since Michael Phelps won Olympic gold medals for swimming looking like his back had been attacked by a giant octopus, athletes have been having suction cups stuck to their bodies. Long before that people had tiny needles stuck all over them. Do these “treatment” actually do anything? If they help, are they a short-term fix or do the results linger? We asked Dr. Teddy Willsey DPT for his insight. Dr. Willsey, is a co-founder of Citizen Athletics, a doctor of physical therapy, a strength and ...
Dec 04, 2019•45 min
Way back in episode 15, we talked to Dr. Jordan Shallow – a chiropractor – about this question. This time we pose it to a physical therapist. We asked Dr. Teddy Willsey DPT for his insight. Dr. Willsey, is a co-founder of Citizen Athletics, a doctor of physical therapy, a strength and conditioning coach, movement enthusiast, and operator of Healthy Baller Physical Therapy in Washington, D.C. He has extensive experience in working with real athletes. Here are some of our thoughts: What’s differen...
Nov 27, 2019•18 min
Stretching is one of those topics that seems to get a major revision every few years. What’s the current thinking? We asked Dr. Teddy Willsey DPT for his insight. Dr. Willsey, is a co-founder of Citizen Athletics, a doctor of physical therapy, a strength and conditioning coach, movement enthusiast, and operator of Healthy Baller Physical Therapy in Washington, D.C. He has extensive experience in working with real athletes. Here are some of our thoughts: Does stretching make any difference to wha...
Nov 20, 2019•34 min
How many times have you felt twinge in your back while lifting – or even doing something that’s not strenuous at all – and thought, “What the hell did I just do to myself?” Since chronic back pain costs the American economy over $100 million a year, we wanted to look at the practical question of how to keep moving and avoid long-term pain. William Richards, of Fitness4backpain.com, joined us to walk us through the process he uses with his clients. William is a trainer who works with people who h...
Nov 13, 2019•57 min
We’re breaking format to offer this bonus conversation with a trans rights ally about the USAPL and its posture on transgender lifters. If you google “USAPL transgender policy” you’ll get pages of results from tons of mainstream media sites. How did this situation arise, and how are trans lifters pushing back? We asked Maria Rodriguez, CEO of Fear Her Fight Athletics and a trans ally, to give us her perspective on the situation. We attempt to explore multiple sides of this issue, realizing that ...
Nov 08, 2019•55 min
It seems like one of these diet documentaries pops up on streaming platforms every couple of years. Why do people get so upset when they disagree with the basic premise of docs like these? Many of our fitness industry friends are up in arms over claims in the vegetarian/vegan-themed documentary, “The Game Changers.” What’s the real danger if otherwise uninformed consumers actually believe these claims? We acknowledge that cherry-picked studies, anecdotes, and fear appeals are critical components...
Nov 06, 2019•1 hr 12 min
We kick things off talking about the WPO on ESPN and USAPL Raw Nationals. Would some kind of automated system could improve refereeing/judging in sports…or would that take the fun out of it? Here are some of your questions that we tackled: Why powerlifting? Is a well-developed back more important than well-developed legs? How do you train if you have no goals? What percentage should your last warmup be before a PR attempt? What’s the best way to combat self-doubt and negativity? What did we thin...
Oct 30, 2019•46 min
A couple weeks ago, Eliud Kipchoge ran a sub-two-hour marathon. The first time a human has ever done that. That got us thinking…what is powerlifting’s nearly unbreakable record? Kipchoge had a number of advantages: running with others who were pacing him rather than running against him; vehicles with lasers discovering the best path to run in; and some special shoes not yet available to the public. Because of these factors, his record is unofficial. Are some powerlifting meets similarly skewed a...
Oct 23, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 50
So you’ve found yourself in the company of women. What do you say to turn the opportunity into a date? More importantly, how do you avoid being a turnoff? We asked Tripp Kramer to help us help you conquer this issue. Tripp is an internationally known dating coach and founder of Tripp Advice ( http://www.trippadvice.com ), a men's dating advice company. He is also the creator of the popular YouTube channel "Tripp Advice", which teaches men how to become more attractive to women and host of his ow...
Oct 16, 2019•37 min
Friends, dates, relationships…all pretty essential to most of us, right? But a lot of us suck at finding good places to meet potential partners. We asked Tripp Kramer to help us help you conquer this issue. Tripp is an internationally known dating coach and founder of Tripp Advice, a men's dating advice company. He is also the creator of the popular YouTube channel "Tripp Advice," which teaches men how to become more attractive to women and the host of his own weekly podcast entitled "How To Tal...
Oct 09, 2019•44 min
Injuries can be huge setbacks for competitive athletes. Everyone has a certain window of time in which they can play their best. Time out of competition is time lost that can’t be recovered. For some, they can end a career. The question dovetails well with episode 46’s discussion of workload management, but obviously that’s not the whole story. Dr. Ramsey Nijem gives us insight from his doctoral thesis, as well as his work with professional athletes. There are some great takeaways for coaches, a...
Oct 02, 2019•49 min
How do you balance the strength and conditioning work of an athlete with the practice, and actual performance, of their sport? Dr. Ramsey Nijem gives us insight from his doctoral thesis, as well as his work with professional athletes. There are some great takeaways for coaches, athletes…and even powerlifters. Here are some of our thoughts: How is exertion in a game setting quantified? How much is based on personal observation versus some automated system? What role does sleep play? How much do f...
Sep 25, 2019•58 min
If you’re strength and conditioning coach, you probably want to work with athletes. If you can, you probably want to work with professional athletes. How do those opportunities come about? And will striving to get there make you an all-around better coach? We asked Dr Ramsey Nijem, who a few year ago became probably the youngest every head strength coach in the NBA, to break it down for us. Here are some of our thoughts: What are the degree requirements? Which certifications are really necessary...
Sep 18, 2019•55 min
We’re breaking format again! This time we’re doing an open AMA, or in this case Ask Us Anything. Normally we like to have an expert backstop our opinions…or correct us…but this time we’re flying without a net. Here are some of the questions we took on: What do we think of marijuana and CBD? Will technology ever be used to judge squat depth in meets? What are our least favorite foods? What’s the cost of living in Sacramento? Try this cost-of-living calculator Did Mike’s powerlifting background he...
Sep 11, 2019•55 min
The medium of podcasting has grown enormously in the past few years. How do you get started? And is it really right for you? Being veterans of the podcasting game, Jim and Mike field questions from listeners such as: How much does it cost to get started? What are the tech requirements? Are podcasting and YouTube really all that different? How do you keep a consistent release schedule? How do you differentiate yourself from the crowd? How do you know when it’s time to move on? Here’s the basic po...
Sep 04, 2019•1 hr 7 min
We’ve heard for years that WHEN you eat can make a huge difference. We’ve also heard that WHEN we eat carbs…or fat…or protein…can be critical to making the biggest gains, or losing the most weight, etc. What’s the actual story? Here are the additional angles we came up with: Are there time windows for maximizing gains (or weight loss)? Does timing matter more for some people than others? Do you need to build your life – and your workouts --- around your meals? Can you eat so much protein at one ...
Aug 28, 2019•35 min
Your body turns food into energy, but how does that work? Can you use tricks and hacks to overcome your body’s natural tendency to be either fat or skinny? Here are the additional angles we came up with: Does eating six times a day rev up your metabolism? Do crash diets crash your metabolism? Does just losing weight slow it down? How do you keep from quickly regaining weight when you hit your goal weight? If your metabolism can truly be broken, can you fix it? Dr. Mike Israetel comes in at about...
Aug 21, 2019•38 min
Seems like society makes a lot of rules for guys. Should not eating soy be one of them? Soy contains phytoestrogens…chemical cousins to one of the human female sex hormones. Should we be worried? Here are the additional angles we came up with: How much estrogen is in soy? How much would you need to consume for it to be a problem? Do guys have estrogen in their bodies anyway? Are guys exposed to estrogen in other ways besides food? What does having too much estrogen do to a guy’s body (Boobs? Low...
Aug 14, 2019•36 min•Ep. 40
Many people would love to be professional e-sports gamers. How do you get to that level? And how do you stay in good shape when you’re spending hours and hours a day playing games online? Here are the additional angles we came up with: What are some common physical issues associated with extended game play (other than weight gain)? Is there an ideal age for becoming a pro gamer? How do you become a pro anyway? How do you manage stress around tournaments? What physical activities are the best for...
Aug 07, 2019•44 min
The existence of weight classes and coefficients drive many people to do last minute weight cuts, but many don’t make the best choices when making these cuts. If competition is about being your best, are you setting yourself up for a sub-par performance? There are many ways to cut, but which ways are optimal? We cover these points, and the questions below, in this very compact episode. How much is too much to lose for a 24-hour weigh-in? Or a two-hour weigh-in? Are laxatives a good idea or will ...
Jul 31, 2019•27 min
Once again, we take on this question with that help of guests Eric Helms and Omar Isuf. With the known injury rates of many sports…including or maybe especially strength sports…maybe we should all just…be bodybuilders? Unpacking this question inevitably leads to more questions: Can you actually call bodybuilding a sport? Is bodybuilding style training actually safer in terms of injuries? Do you have to use performance enhancing drugs? Is the “bodybuilding lifestyle” actually healthy? Does bodybu...
Jul 24, 2019•1 hr 2 min
Our digestive system has all kinds of stuff living in it that we can’t see with the naked eye – and even if we could, it would still be inside of us so... Anyway, does any of this stuff we’re carrying around affect how fit we are? Dr. Jimmy Bagley is an Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, and Director of the Muscle Physiology Lab (@musclephyslab), Co-Director of the Exercise Physiology Lab, and Research Director of the Strength and Conditioning Lab at SF State. His department has conducted studi...
Jul 17, 2019•42 min
We take on this question with that help of previous guests Eric Helms and Omar Isuf, who joined us in studio. Eric holds a BS in fitness and wellness, an MS in exercise science, a second masters in sports nutrition, a PhD in strength and conditioning, and is a research fellow for AUT at the Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand. Omar is a successful YouTube content creator from Canada, a partner with Mike Farr and Bart Kwan on Kizen Training, as well has pursuing other business ventu...
Jul 10, 2019•1 hr 2 min
When weight-loss diets work, they work by creating a caloric deficit and not through any other magic. We’ve established that with our experts on the show already. We’ve also established that cutting out a whole category of nutrient --like cutting carbs in a ketogenic diet – can accomplish a calorie reduction. But what if you cut everything but meat? You may be accomplishing the goal of reducing calories, but at what nutritional cost? Jason Phillips joined us to ponder this diet and share thought...
Jul 03, 2019•33 min
No guest for this quick bonus episode. We sat down to brainstorm a little about our mission with this show in light of changes coming to the categories in Apple Podcasts. Our main category “Fitness and Nutrition” is being split up, and “Self-help” -- in which we're also listed -- is going away. Mental Health is being added as well as Self Improvement (under Education). These changes are supposed to occur later in this Summer (2019). That prompted us to discuss what self-help means, and ponder a ...
Jun 29, 2019•39 min
Keto diets have been the new hotness for a while, but do they actually make sense for most people? Is it a better diet for athletes, couch potatoes…or both Jason Phillips joined us to unpack this fat-laden diet choice. Jason is the founder of iN³ Nutrition and the Nutritional Consulting Institute. Jason has written for several publications including Men’s Fitness and his own book, Macros Explained: Your Ultimate Guide to Macronutrient Prescription for Health, Performance, and Aesthetics and Macr...
Jun 26, 2019•54 min
VR games are probably never going to replace lifting weights, but could they make cardio more fun…and more likely to get done? Dr. Jimmy Bagley is an Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, and Director of the Muscle Physiology Lab, Co-Director of the Exercise Physiology Lab, and Research Director of the Strength and Conditioning Lab at SF State. His department has conducted studies using VR games to test how humans respond to exercise performed in virtual reality and augmented reality environments....
Jun 19, 2019•32 min
