Beware of BS Exercise Physiology Data - Use Critical Thinking Instead

Dec 2, 2025

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In this episode, I talk about the modern tendency to obsess over “science says…” posts—like the viral claim that slapping your quadriceps ten times will wake up your motor cortex, spike your stretch reflex, and increase vertical jump by 18% and sprint speed by 12%.

I describe why these numbers raised my hackles, walk through the reality of neural activation and theatrics we see from athletes like Karsten Warholm and Noah Lyles, and explain why a 12% speed boost would mean my 60-year-old 400-meter time drops from 60 seconds to 53.8, which is royal screaming BS. You’ll hear reactions from world-class masters sprinters like Lion Martinez and Cynthia Monteleone, and my reminder that most of these studies are done on minimally conditioned college kids getting paid $60—not real sprinters suddenly finding new superpowers.

I also broaden the discussion to our habit of oversimplifying fitness with VO₂ max numbers, zone-two worship, HRV scores, and morning heart rate, when the truth is much more nuanced. VO₂ max is highly constrained by genetics, zone two is overrated, and walking and zone one deliver tremendous aerobic benefits—just look at Eliud Kipchoge spending 83% of his training there.

I emphasize that intuitive readiness to train—your bounce, your warmup feel, your own voice—will always beat a wearable metric, and even the “best” performance booster (a gun to your head!) won’t give you a magical 12% sprint increase.

This show is all about using critical thinking, not getting intimidated by data, and remembering that nothing is more powerful than your own intuition.

TIMESTAMPS:

There is some validity to the idea of waking up the central nervous system and priming it for a peak explosive effort, but Brad has some problems with "facts" that are on the airwaves. [02:06]

We need to apply critical thinking to these scientific insights that get pounded down our throat every day. [05:26]

V02 max is overrated and Zone Two is overrated. [08:57]

Always come back to the intuitive approach which is the foundation of making correct training decisions. [12:51]

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