It’s the start of a new era, as Omar and Eric sit down for episode 201. In this conversation, the two pick up where they left off from episode 200, tackling the Cult’s questions that were too good, and too deep to cover last week. Specifically, we discuss how to compare the potential effects of dissimilar variables on hypertrophy, such as sleep, protein, and creatine using research. Further, we field questions on how you measure progress and deal with plateaus, and whether higher frequency training can provide unique advantages.

00:00 Introduction to a new era of Iron Culture (and reading comments)

15:11 Start of Q&A. Effect sizes in sport science research (protein, creatine, and sleep) and their application to practice

Tagawa 2020 Dose-response relationship between protein intake and muscle mass increase: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33300582/

Morton 2018 A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28698222/

Lanhers 2015 Creatine Supplementation and Lower Limb Strength Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25946994/

Lanhers 2017 Creatine Supplementation and Upper Limb Strength Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27328852/

Branch 2003 Effect of creatine supplementation on body composition and performance: a meta-analysis https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12945830/ 

Craven 2022 Effects of Acute Sleep Loss on Physical Performance: A Systematic and Meta-Analytical Review https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35708888/

44:55 Advice for people who love the iron game but may not necessarily have the best genetics and life situation for it (reframing our view of strength standards that we compare ourselves to)

56:58 Which variable(s) to adjust when strength plateaus

1:05:03 How important is it to have a high volume for a specific muscle group in a single session vs across the week?

Iron Culture Ep. 40- Training Frequency For Strength & Hypertrophy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDNvJaNeDw4&t=13s

Iron Culture Ep. 152-Effort vs Exertion, Frequency, and Qualitative Research (Q&A) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCg_4tQzbC0

Greg Nuckols’ in-house Meta https://www.strongerbyscience.com/frequency-muscle/

James Krieger’s in-house Meta https://weightology.net/the-members-area/evidence-based-guides/set-volume-for-muscle-size-the-ultimate-evidence-based-bible/

Schoenfeld 2017 Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: A systematic review and meta-analysis https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27433992/

Baz-Valle 2022 A Systematic Review of The Effects of Different Resistance Training Volumes on Muscle Hypertrophy https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35291645/

1:12:40 Closing out (and Iron Culture TikTok??)