"Should I cut my calories back during deloads?" This incredibly common question pops up all the time online, and there are a few things to consider when answering it. First, the purpose of a deload, technically, is to recover after an overreaching phase. What do we expect after an overreaching phase? Are these expectations compatible with a reduction in calories? Secondly, we need to consider the differences in total energy expenditure between a deload week, and the preceding training, which aga...
Oct 31, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 195
Mr Dr. Ben House is back on Iron Culture, but this time, he's fully indoctrinated. That's right, Ben is making a push to experience what it's like to get into bodybuilding stage condition. He's been collaborating with Eric in the process, learning to pose, reincorporating tracking after a long time away, and getting leaner than lean. When is he competing you ask? Believe it or not, he's probably not going to! Ben decided to do this for a few reasons, first to support a friend who is a competitor...
Oct 24, 2022•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 194
We're back with another Q&A episode! Our first question is about the utility, if there is any, of doing singles at a low RPE. Basically, if singles are a specificity tool, why do them light? Great question, and often, the premise of a question needs to be addressed to get a more useful answer. Then, we address the question of whether gains are linear, especially in advanced lifters. Just what the heck is going on when we see an advanced lifter seemingly make a slew of progress after a long p...
Oct 17, 2022•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 193
Alberto Núñez is back on Iron Culture, but he's changed. If you thought his prior appearances were him in his final form, you were wrong. He's fresh off his WNBF Universe pro overall win, meaning he's Mr. Universe. So forget the best bodybuilder on planet earth, or the best bodybuilder in the nearest 10 parsecs, or hell, the best bodybuilder in the Milky Way galaxy! No, this super Saiyan is the best in the universe. In this Big Bang of an episode, you won't learn how to get freaky quads, a wide ...
Oct 10, 2022•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 192
Intrinsic motivation: we talk about it's importance, but let's be honest, most people first step in the gym mostly or entirely for external reasons. That's not always bad, but one thing is for sure, it needs to change over time, or at least be complemented by other forms of motivation, or inevitably lifters quit. Even when the shift is made to focusing on personal progress rather than external goals or standards, it can go wrong. Having something to continually improve upon or strive to achieve ...
Oct 03, 2022•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 191
For more than two decades Elite FTS has been a household name for powerlifting information, equipment, and a sense of community. The progenitor behind Elite FTS, Dave Tate, honoured us at Iron Culture by joining us to share his story, wisdom and experience. Tune in to learn about the history of Dave as an athlete, thinker, and entrepreneur. Also you'll learn the history of Elite FTS, it's future, and what paths weren't traveled and why. Finally, we hear what lessons Dave's learned from decades u...
Sep 26, 2022•2 hr 10 min•Ep. 190
Full ROM is king, right? Well, more or less. But why? And are there any types of partials that are worthwhile? What if your goal is strength? What if your goal is hypertrophy? In this episode we're joined by two academics who helped answer these questions: Dr. Alyssa Joy Spence, an international grade powerlifter, powerlifting coach with TSA and lecturer at AUT who did her PhD thesis on the effects of stretching on powerlifting performance, as well as Milo Wolf, a strength and physique athlete a...
Sep 19, 2022•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 189
What does it mean to be "aesthetic", and is it possible to have an objective or universal definition of it? Obviously, there are attempts to do so in physique sport, but in society, as they say, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". In fact, even in physique sports aesthetic standards change constantly and new competitive divisions regularly pop up, judging standards change, and people frequently disagree. Moving beyond the possibility of an agreed-upon definition or standard, would having the...
Sep 12, 2022•1 hr 50 min•Ep. 188
Sigma nutrition radio has been a staple for evidence-based nutrition podcasting for the better part of a decade. But truly, even among other similar podcasts, it's in a league of its own. The guest list is essentially the who's who of nutrition academia, with interviews digging into the nuance of research coming directly from the sources, covering an incredibly broad span of nutrition topics. Danny Lennon started this endeavor on his own, but in more recent years, it's expanded to include Dr. Al...
Sep 05, 2022•1 hr 58 min
What happens when your passion becomes your career? From the outside, lifting as an occupation would be an enviable position for any lifting enthusiast. There are hidden drawbacks however as things such as financial incentives shroud over a once pure pursuit. How do you keep the fire lit after over a decade of lifting when seemingly all stones have been overturned? If you're a member of the Cult, perhaps one of the two Hunks atop the Pyramid, you turn on your penlight and you begin navigating th...
Aug 29, 2022•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 186
"Evidence-based" bodybuilding peaking is somewhat of a misnomer, at least for all aspects of peaking at this stage of the game. Being able to construct a hypothesis based on physiology, is not the same as testing it. While we have empirical support that carb loading likely does enhance muscle size and appearance, the so-called "drying out" process that many bodybuilders partake in hasn't been studied, until recently. Join us in this episode as we discuss recent studies that assess the relationsh...
Aug 22, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 185
Joe Sullivan has been powerlifting for more than half his life. Starting as a young teen, Joe has been in and amongst the culture, starting with the USAPL, and eventually migrating to the untested side of the sport where he's made his mark for the better part of the last decade. Most recently he set the all-time world record squat in the 100kg class at an astonishing 380kg, but it was a long road to get here. He's overcome catastrophic injury, mental hurdles, and adversity that tie him deeply to...
Aug 15, 2022•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 184
What is the difference between a lifter who takes a hit, and keeps on lifting and the lifter who "used to bench 315 in high school?" Is it always that the former is harder working, more resilient, more committed lifter? How plastic are these traits? And are all "hits" the same? For some, when it rains it pours, and for others, they are lucky enough to get dolled out life's curveballs at a pace they can handle. Ultimately in this episode, we acknowledge that when viewing advanced lifters who've b...
Aug 08, 2022•1 hr 49 min•Ep. 183
Myth busting is a favorite past time of the "evidence based fitness community", and pwning noobs with copious "um actually"s is just part of the job, right? Well, yes and no. While it's more important than ever to combat mis and disinformation, it's arguably just as, if not more important, to do so in the right way…which, spoiler alert doesn't involve pwning said noobs. In fact, while those who use science to "dunk on the bros" do get more follows, props, and recognition, it likely comes from pe...
Aug 01, 2022•2 hr•Ep. 182
What started out as a Q&A episode quickly evolved into an in-depth conversation surrounding the future of natural bodybuilding. To some inside the space, there are alarming signs of stagnation within the sport and in this episode, the hunks set out to examine if this really is the case. Drawing upon personal experience, a healthy dose of history and broad observations of general socioeconomic trends, the picture painted might not be so grim. There will always be an appetite for hunks being h...
Jul 25, 2022•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 181
The lifting community is more siloed than it used to be, and it is larger, so it's understandable why today we have a broad and varied cultural landscape. It's also more complex now in the modern age, and you can find parallel communities in the same lifting discipline with very little crossover. Further, in each community, the changing of the guards seems to be happening at an increasingly accelerated rate. The lifters, coaches, voices, and perspectives of today in any given subculture, don't s...
Jul 20, 2022•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 180
Getting really really lean is something a lot of people do, from physique athletes to fitness models, to serious lifters with a lifting-related bucket list. But staying really really lean, is something very few people ever achieve, despite most who get shredded wondering at least once, "could I maintain this?" Why is it the case that most people struggle to stay shredded? Indeed, there are the few who seemingly can walk around shredded 24/7, and if you believe your Instagram feed, or are involve...
Jul 11, 2022•2 hr 2 min•Ep. 179
Examine is arguably one of the most important resources to the supplement consumer in existence. Haven't heard of it? Imagine a third-party, expert-informed, wiki page on human research on nearly every supplement in existence, organized in a clear, logical, and informative manner, and you've imagined Examine. Today, we sat down with one of its founders, Sol Orwell, to learn about how and why it started, and where its future lies. Given people are still falling for insincere supplement marketing ...
Jul 04, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 178
We are joined by the reigning 76kg world champion and now the strongest deadlifter on the women's side of the IPF, fresh after returning from the 2022 IPF worlds in South Africa. Jessica came away with a squat and deadlift world record, the latter of which she had to pull in order to win, tying the equipped IPF champion Agata Sitko, beating her on bodyweight, who had thrown her hat into the ring at classic worlds. What did Jess's build-up look like? How was the cut? How did nearly two days of tr...
Jun 27, 2022•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 177
Sometimes you just gotta shoot the s**t and talk some s**t. In this episode of Iron Culture, we discuss some of the recent insane competitions in the world of powerlifting. If you live under a bridge, you might not be aware that a ton of ridiculous numbers were put up across almost every weight class at IPF classic worlds as well as USAPL mega nationals. In addition to this, we both had some things to get off our chests. Omar shares that some of the snake oil, aka turkesterone, being sold online...
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 176
Motivation is for the weak, commitment is for the REAL lifers! Right! Right? Well maybe not so much. Join us on an existential journey into what motivation really means. What are our motives to train, how does this relate to our identity, and self determination? In this episode we comment on our observations of long-time lifters' motivation to train in the public eye, and how that intersects with the research on motivation, identity and meaning. You might just come away with a better understandi...
Jun 13, 2022•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 175
In this Q&A episode, we address a few great questions, the first of which, on how does periodization for hypertrophy works, resulted in a deep dive by Mr. Dr. Eric Helms on the topic. You'll learn about the definition of periodization, how it applies to hypertrophy goals, the rationale for periodizing specific variables, and what gaps we have on this topic. Finally, we discuss what we do know, and logically what's reasonable to periodize and how. To wrap up, we answered questions on what gym...
Jun 06, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 174
Your training environment, it's a variable we all acknowledge as being relevant and important, but it's rarely discussed in depth. In this episode, we give this topic the attention it deserves. What are the pros and cons of commercial gyms of various types? What are the pros and cons of home gyms? Collectively, we've both been personal trainers in multiple gym and studio environments, and personally, we ourselves have trained in a wide array of commercial, boutique, hardcore, specialty, military...
May 30, 2022•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 173
Saturated fat, it gets a lot of attention, but there's not much consensus in this attention…at least in influencer conversations. However, the research on the health impacts of saturated fat are reasonably consistent in terms of scientific consensus. Beyond the impact of saturated fat on health, often in bodybuilding circles discussions on the effects of saturated fat focus on testosterone. However, does saturated fat have a meaningful effect on testosterone? In this episode we're joined by retu...
May 23, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 172
This week we are joined by new IPF super heavyweight 2021 world champion and 2x US national champion Jesus Olivares. We're all familiar with Ray Williams, one of the most impressive lifters of all time, who holds the highest IPF total currently at 1112.5kg, which he put up in 2019 at the age of 32. Amazingly, Jesus put up an 1110kg total just recently at Powerlifting America nationals at the tender age of 23. He's only a few weeks out from Worlds and we were fortunate enough to sit down and lear...
May 16, 2022•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 171
Training, it's the most fun thing we all do in our mundane lives, and we're ok with that! But unfortunately, it's only about 4-8 hours of the week and typically not every day. So, what's an easy way to improve our quality of life? Train twice a day! In this episode, we actually discuss the intriguing research on two a day training for lifting. While it's not something that makes sense in most cases, that isn't to say it's a universally bad idea, depending on your goal and your situation. In this...
May 09, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 170
We're back with another Q&A episode, with just one trendy commercial break. That's right, we had to shill the 5-year MASS anniversary sale going on until May 3rd because let's face it, no corporation except one we're a partial owner of would sponsor us. But we do cover a range of questions in this episode, the first being how to address lagging body parts and setup muscle group specialization cycles…oh and 3DMJ has a new course for this…OK, so just one commercial break AND one integrated ad,...
May 02, 2022•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 169
The world of rehab is full of assessments and treatments. Some are legitimate, others less so, but the confusing part is that some of these assessments have a logical basis, connecting movement to function, can be improved with an treatment, and this coincides with the natural time course of healing. But was the assessment actually measuring the dysfunction or injury in some way, and did the treatment actually positively impact recovery beyond the placebo effect? To answer these hard questions w...
Apr 25, 2022•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 168
Mike Tuchscherer has been on Iron Culture multiple times to speak as a thinker and coach, but this time we brought him on as an athlete. For those who don't know, Mike has been competing since 2003 and has competed at the highest level. He is a two-time single-ply junior national champion, a single-ply collegiate national champion, a two-time single-ply open national champion, a four-time open raw national champion, a single-ply junior world champion, and to top it off, he's a world games gold m...
Apr 18, 2022•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 167
Powerlifting has exploded in popularity over the last decade within the lifting community. From deadlifts being frowned upon at commercial gyms to your favourite fitness influencer now entering a local powerlifting meet for clout, the rise of powerlifting has been well documented. However, beneath this meteoric rise has been some signs that this rapid expansion within the community might be coming to a halt. Why did powerlifting become popular in the first place? If powerlifting IS regressing po...
Apr 11, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 166
