Which is better for muscle growth and strength gains: unilateral exercises, where you work one side at a time, allowing for more focus on that particular muscle, or bilateral exercises, which lets you use heavier weights? Today, we're breaking down a new meta-analysis looking into this, and give you our practical takeaways. We also answer a few listener questions, see the timestamps below. One final thing: We have a Reddit community now! Join us at r/strengthlog/ . Timestamps: 03:45 - Unilateral...
Jan 20, 2025•31 min•Ep. 41
Last week , we gave beginners to the world of strength training our ten best insights and tips, to make the journey to success in the gym easier. Today, we answer some of the most common questions beginners have about starting to lift weights! Timestamps: 03:40 - Question 1: Protein is important. But how important are carbohydrates and carbs? 07:30 - Question 2: Do I really need to follow a program from day 1 as a beginner? 11:20 - Question 3: When can I count myself as strong? 15:00 - Question ...
Jan 13, 2025•45 min•Ep. 40
If you are a beginner in the gym , wanting to learn how to lift weights, get stronger, and become more muscular, this is the episode for you. How should you plan your training? What exercises should you do? And which equipment is worth your money? In short, we discuss the ten things you should know for a successful strength training journey—tips that can save you from years of mistakes. If you already are a loyal listener, we believe this one has good stuff to teach you, too—it’s quite easy to f...
Jan 06, 2025•40 min•Ep. 39
Do you have a New Year’s resolution prepared? Setting and chasing goals can be fun and inspire you to become better, but it’s way too easy to set the wrong kind of goal—and then fail after just days or weeks. Whether you want to lose weight , hit a new PR in the gym , or create the habit of working out a few times per week, this is the episode for you. We discuss evidence-based methods for goal setting, that will increase your chances of success, boost your motivation, and make you feel better a...
Dec 30, 2024•28 min•Ep. 38
We have a great episode for you today, powered by awesome listener questions! How about planning the road from a 100 kg bench press to a 200 kg bench press? Or what about active recovery, is it really a thing to sweat about? Ten questions, all in all. See the timestamps below. Timestamps: 05:10 – Question 1: How would you plan the road from a 100 kg to a 200 kg PR in the bench press? Roughly! 15:50 – Question 2: What is active recovery, and does it work? 20:10 – Question 3: My feed is overflowin...
Dec 23, 2024•57 min•Ep. 37
The standing overhead press (also known as a shoulder press or a military press) is one of the most popular barbell lifts in gyms all over the world. But it’s also a lift many people struggle with, ultimately abandoning it in favor of the bench press. So, how do you become a strong, successful overhead presser ? In this episode, we’ll break down the best practice technique, look into some small details that might make a big difference, and talk about the most common questions people have about t...
Dec 16, 2024•55 min•Ep. 36
One of the biggest mistakes you can make in your training is not following a training program . Today, we’re discussing why this is the case and how to find the right workout routine for you! There are many factors you might consider when picking a training program. We run through the following and give you our opinion on how much they actually matter: Your age. Your sex. How strong you are. Your training goals. Your experience level. How you train today. Will you enjoy the new program? How many...
Dec 09, 2024•41 min•Ep. 35
Which exercise is better for building your glutes and quadriceps, the barbell squat or the hip thrust ? And which is better for improving your jumping and sprinting performance? Today, we're discussing a new study that looked into these questions. And we follow that up by answering the following listener questions on hip thrusts versus squats: Why do training discussions always seem to be either or, never both? If I'm only gonna do one of them for a big beautiful butt, which one? Is it productiv...
Dec 02, 2024•40 min•Ep. 34
If you want to become really strong, you’ll also need to become bigger . But how much does your muscle mass correlate with your strength levels? And how should you train to optimize either one? This is a fascinating topic. To kick things off we have a new study examining the correlation between chest muscle thickness and bench press 1RM. Yes, yes, we know. Every person who confuses correlation with causation ends up dying. But hear us out! To broaden the discussion, we also answer a bunch of gre...
Nov 25, 2024•45 min•Ep. 33
How many sets should you do weekly for the biggest and fastest gains in strength and muscle size? How many workouts per week ? Is the sky the limit, where more training always leads to more muscle growth? Today, we cover a new meta-study that hints at what the upper limits of muscle growth, strength gains, and training frequency might be. *** Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button! You can also follow us on Instagra...
Nov 18, 2024•34 min•Ep. 32
In the last episode , we established that you can build more muscle mass while losing fat —even if you’re not a beginner in the gym. Let’s follow that up with a bunch of great questions on the same topic, sent in by our fantastic listeners! Timestamps: 05:50 – Question 1: I'm trying to be in a caloric deficit to lose body fat and lower my body fat percentage. How long can you be in a deficit of around 500-800 calories daily before the effect diminishes? Does the metabolism decrease by a lot? 12:...
Nov 11, 2024•39 min•Ep. 31
We’ve already done three episodes on fat loss (see episodes 20 , 21 , and 22 ). Now it’s time to tackle the holy grail: How to build more muscle mass while still losing fat ! Most know that this is quite easy for overweight beginners. But what about the rest of us? Can it even be done without cycles of bulking and cutting? Let’s discuss it! To help guide us, we will also answer a handful of questions on the topic from you guys. *** Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star revie...
Nov 04, 2024•31 min•Ep. 30
Do you gain more muscle and strength when you change your exercises regularly, or can you keep doing the same ones all the time? That’s the topic for today, and to kick the discussion off we have a fun new study on this subject! The researchers wanted to see if varying exercises (for the same muscle group) are superior to just doing the same exercises all the time, and recruited 90 untrained women to do so. The results? Expected and surprising at the same time! *** Do you like what you hear so f...
Oct 28, 2024•37 min•Ep. 29
It’s time to wrap up the mini-series on training for bigger arms, with your best questions on how to succeed. Should you, for instance, train your arms daily for better gains? And how do you train if one of your arms is in a cast because it’s broken? You guys had so many good questions today! See the timestamps below. And don’t miss the last one, where we discuss muscle asymmetry between the left and right arm. Having one arm that’s bigger and stronger than the other one, is quite a common worry...
Oct 21, 2024•47 min•Ep. 28
The triceps are one of the biggest muscles in the upper body, and for big-looking arms, they are more important than your biceps—making up around two-thirds of the muscular volume in your upper arms! Training the triceps is not as straightforward as training the biceps, and if you want big, strong triceps, you’ll need to know the tricks of the trade. In this episode, we give you a quick anatomy lesson, followed by exercise selections and our recommendations for sets and reps. In the next one, we...
Oct 14, 2024•30 min•Ep. 27
Here we have it, every man’s (and quite a few women’s) biggest dream: bigger biceps! Is it enough to only do pull-ups and rowing exercises for maximum bicep growth, or should you add direct bicep work too? After a short anatomy lesson, we present you with everything you need to know about building big, juicy upper arms, including exercise selection, training frequency, and different approaches on how to include bicep training in your workout routine. Next episode, we’ll flip the coin and talk ab...
Oct 07, 2024•43 min•Ep. 26
Wow, you guys and gals really sent in a bunch of great listener questions today. Thank you for making this podcast both informative and fun! How about talking about the concept of progressive overload for older lifters? Or about the often-claimed importance of having a balanced physique to avoid injuries? See the timestamps below for all listener questions. Also, we have merch now! Check out strengthlog.com/shop for t-shirts and coffee cups. We’ll add more products and prints soon. Timestamps: 0...
Sep 30, 2024•45 min•Ep. 25
Last episode covered the three best fitness supplements to spend your money on, and three that might be worth it under special circumstances. We flip the coin today, talking about the most overhyped supplements for strength and fitness. Either because they have been shown to not live up to the claims of the supplement companies or because they can’t be deemed safe for human consumption yet. Does this mean that it might be worth your money if we don’t mention a specific supplement in this episode...
Sep 23, 2024•30 min•Ep. 24
Which supplements are worth your money, and which are not? In this episode, we’ll examine what the science actually says about fitness and strength-related supplements, to give you our list of the best ones. When all is said and done, not many supplements remain that are worthy of your money—the opposite of what supplement companies want you to hear. However, we hope you’ll be interested in this knowledge. But! There are a few that will help you become bigger and stronger. And they are mostly qu...
Sep 16, 2024•48 min•Ep. 23
In the final episode of our trilogy on fat loss, we discuss crash dieting. Crash diets—also known as very-low-calorie diets and semistarvation diets—are very popular, and we’re here to tell you exactly how stupid it is to go on one and expect sustainable results. Especially if you care about your muscle mass, which we do believe most of our listeners do. But can you do a successful crash diet, and how would that look? And what’s the superior alternative? If you haven’t listened to parts 1 and 2 ...
Sep 04, 2024•26 min•Ep. 22
In part 1 , we covered the basics of fat loss. Today, we continue this miniseries on training and eating to lose fat by answering your best questions on the topic. Is starvation mode real? How do you deal with the lack of energy on a caloric deficit? Is it a myth that strength training burns fat? How do you avoid regaining all the weight you’ve lost? See the timestamps below for all questions! Timestamps: 05:20 – Question 1: Should my approach to losing weight differ if my goal is to retain as m...
Aug 29, 2024•38 min•Ep. 21
Losing fat is the most common fitness goal for both men and women. It’s most commonly expressed as wanting to lose weight , but it’s fat we want to lose – not our hard-earned, important, beautiful, and sexy muscle mass! In this episode, we teach you the basics about eating and training to lose fat. Should you count calories? What should you eat? How much protein ? In the upcoming part 2, we’ll explore the subject further with the help of your best questions. Have a question you want answered? Le...
Aug 22, 2024•38 min•Ep. 20
For optimal quad growth, it’s probably not enough to just train squats, leg presses, or similar exercises. This has been bro science for decades, and today we will discuss a new study that confirms this . The study had the participants train the leg press with one of their legs, and leg extensions with the other one. And the results of muscle growth in the quadriceps differed enough to make a long-term difference in your training! Want to try a great leg workout? Check out this article , then do...
Aug 15, 2024•26 min•Ep. 19
Training volume is a never-ending topic of debate. How many reps should you do when you want to become bigger and stronger? How many working sets? We focused on reps in episode 5 , so today it’s time to focus on our favorite way to measure training volume: the number of working sets you train at or close to failure for any given lift or muscle group. We kick things off with a new study from Brazil on football players with plenty of gym experience, that measured the effects of different weekly se...
Jul 02, 2024•41 min•Ep. 18
There’s been much ado about bench press in this podcast. In episode 6 , we talked about the mistakes you should avoid if you want to become a great bench presser. But that episode focused on the negatives, and today we feel much more positive. What are the best practices of training the bench press , that you should implement immediately in your own workout routine? We’ve gathered our 10 best tips on how to increase your bench press , no matter if your goal is to build bigger pecs or to compete ...
Jun 26, 2024•44 min•Ep. 17
You asked, we answered. And what an amazing bunch of questions you sent in! Thank you for both listening and contributing to the podcast. The timestamps for all questions are listed below. We’ll discuss yoga, sleeping positions, high-rep training for squats and deadlifts, rest days, and more! Timestamps: 04:30 – Question 1: Do you think the sleeping position matters for muscle growth? 08:45 – Question 2: I want tips on calluses in the palms of my hands! What do you do to keep them at a reasonabl...
May 23, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 16
How much does the lifting tempo you use in the gym matter? Well, a lot, at least according to a new meta-analysis that lays the foundation for today’s episode. The study showed that lifting weights intentionally slowly leads to slower strength gains, while lifting them as fast as possible leads to faster ones. But what about injury risk? The eccentric phase of the lift? Take our hand and we’ll show you the way to faster gains! *** Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review...
May 16, 2024•26 min•Ep. 15
Strength training and enough protein are the keys to stimulating muscle growth. Recovery and sleep matter, too, of course, and we’ll cover those subjects in future episodes. But today we’re talking about protein, buddy. Because everybody loves protein. How much protein should you eat daily for muscle growth? Does the amount change if you’re also trying to lose weight? How much protein can you use for hypertrophy from a single meal? And what are the best sources of high-quality protein? In this e...
May 08, 2024•38 min•Ep. 14
If your goal in the gym is to train for muscle growth , you just need to know the basics and a few core principles. In this episode of The Strength Log, we'll break it down for you: How fast can you gain muscle mass? What causes your muscles to grow? How often should you train a muscle group? How many weekly sets should you hit your muscle groups with? How many reps should you do in each set? How long should you rest between sets? What are the best exercises when training for muscle growth? That...
Apr 30, 2024•31 min•Ep. 13
Compound exercises are the closest thing you’ll ever come to a shortcut in your strength training. These lifts will not only work a single muscle group; instead hitting several at once, saving you time. Compound lifts will enable you to train all major muscle groups quickly and with fewer exercises, compared to working each muscle separately with isolation exercises. This episode discusses the benefits of focusing on compound exercises—and a few cons—and gives exercise suggestions for all muscle...
Apr 25, 2024•29 min•Ep. 12
