You’ve seen Iron Culture MASScasts before, but none quite like this.

In this very special episode of Iron Culture, we’re co-publishing the most recent episode of MASS Office Hours, which is a live podcast run by the good people over at the MASS Research Review (Dr. Eric Trexler, Dr. Eric Helms, Dr. Mike Zourdos, and soon-to-be-doctor Lauren Colenso-Semple). The MASS crew does this live (and totally free) Q&A every Wednesday night on YouTube. They also offer episodes to all major podcast platforms so you can catch the replay at your convenience.

In this episode of MASS Office Hours, Dr. Eric Trexler and Dr. Mike Zourdos answer questions submitted by listeners and viewers in the live chat. Topics include response variation, individualizing training, movement screens, rest days, protein intake recommendations and consistency across the week, the interference effect, exercise variation and joint pain, muscle and strength loss during deloads, volume cycling and “resensitization,” the effects of alcohol on metabolism and body composition, the pros and cons of caffeine, and much more.

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to their channel on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform!

Time stamps: 

0:00 Introduction

6:32 Response variation and individualizing training prescriptions.

27:36 Using movement screens to assess capability or injury risk

34:23 Doing a little bit of exercise on a “rest” day

39:10 Protein intake recommendations and consistency across the week.

51:23 Rucking and the interference effect

57:37 Exercise variation and joint pain

1:07:06 Muscle and strength loss during deloads

1:12:25 Volume cycling and “resensitization”

1:22:31 Effects of alcohol on metabolism and body composition.

1:27:42 Recommendations from Eric’s bookshelf

1:30:49 The pros and cons of caffeine