We can’t believe it. 200 episodes. What else is there to say except thank you from the bottom of our hearts? It’s always a blast for us to hang out and chat, but it’s a huge bonus that so many people find value in our conversations. At the outset, we hoped we’d be able to provide both educational and entertainment value to our listeners, and it seems like we’ve succeeded. This episode is a bit of a celebration, as we reflect on what brought us here, and what it’s going to lead to. We have big plans dear listener, and I think you’re going to like them. Also, we squeeze in a little bit of genuine Q&A from the cult (we promise we didn’t make these questions up, seriously).   00:00 Intro: history of THE Iron Culture 3:12 🚨🔥Episode 200 🔥🚨 and a HUGE news reveal 16:25 The Helms review of the 2022 IPF Commonwealth Championships 31:30 The importance of the Sheffield Powerlifting Championships 44:15 What is Eric competing in next year? And starting some quickfire Q&As 49:02 How did Eric arrive at a minimum intake of 0.5g/kg/day for Fat? 52:29 What lift would you add to Powerlifting if you could? Iron Culture Ep. 91- Powerlifter vs Weightlifter vs Strongman...Who's The Strongest!? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyYqQiaE9RA 1:01:55 The effect of creatine on cognition and brain function Iron Culture Ep. 142- Myths and Facts About Creatine (New Research ft. Dr. Darren Candow) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcfTuJYW374 1:05:27 What questions should you ask your strength sport athletes? Iron Culture Ep. 195- Overreaching, Deloads & Tapers: Nutrition Considerations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o4IOjihkTI 1:17:11 Moving forward in 2023

An in-depth discussion on how protein influences satiety, debunking misconceptions about fat gain on high-protein diets and the impact of high-protein diets on energy expenditure. Understanding the complexity of hunger and satiety regulation in humans, exploring the influence of protein supplementation on appetite and weight management, and the impact of protein intake on satiety.

For many, research is taken to represent a framework for understanding concepts that can then be applied to their own training.  This can be taken too far when some hope to divine exact details that apply specifically to their own journey. Research isn’t meant to tell you (dear listener) how to train on a Tuesday.  What is the best way to properly utilize the current literature to better our own lifting journeys? Two hunks set out to explore this very topic. 00:00 Introducing another MONSTER episode (and reviewing reviews and continuing the feud with the macrofactor podcast) 06:56 How training to failure research is really conducted Warneke 2022 Influence of Long-Lasting Static Stretching on Maximal Strength, Muscle Thickness and Flexibility https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9174468/ Iron Culture Ep. 197: Training To Failure: A Comprehensive Overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa8Z-fUuiNU Halperin 2021 Accuracy in Predicting Repetitions to Task Failure in Resistance Exercise: A Scoping Review and Exploratory Meta-analysis https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34542869/ 34:00 The death of the “expert” (and Mr Train-to-failure) 44:01 Study designs: disconfirming hypotheses vs proving something to be true Iron Culture Ep. 196- How Much Training Do Powerlifters Actually Need To Get Stronger (Ft. Dr. Pak) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EJ0Qp6spGQ Bell 2022 “You can't shoot another bullet until you've reloaded the gun” https://sportrxiv.org/index.php/server/preprint/view/208 1:01:52 Barriers to research and the mistrust of science Monaghan 2001 Challenging medicine? Bodybuilding, drugs and risk https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9566.00180 Li 2022 Self-Reported Training and Supplementation Practices Between Performance-Enhancing Drug-User Bodybuilders Compared with Natural Bodybuilders https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36165879/ 1:21:00 Appeal to swoleness: researchers in sport science and the application of findings 1:32:40 How science can change practice: the BCAA example Hackett 2013 Training practices and ergogenic aids used by male bodybuilders https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22990567/ Iron Culture Ep. 182 - How to call out B.S. and Pseudoscience https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckzuycwnRH8  1:45:42 Concluding thoughts

In this episode we are excited to revisit an ever-controversial topic in bodybuilding, training to failure! Yes, we’ve discussed this before on Iron Culture, and yes, people have surprisingly (but maybe not so much when you dissect it…) strong feelings about training to failure. You may remember that one of the biggest limitations in the literature we previously discussed in our last episode was that there are different ways of defining failure. Should we be lumping together studies that use “momentary muscular failure” with studies that used “repetition maximums” or “voluntary failure”? Probably not. But great news, Martin Refalo a Ph.D. candidate at Deakin University specifically studying the effect of failure on hypertrophy joins us in this episode. Martin recently published a scoping review and a subsequent meta-analysis that specifically identified these differences in failure types and analyzed the literature based on these distinctions, as well as looking at velocity loss thresholds to provide new and important insights on this topic! Tune in to learn more!

We are delighted to have Dr Patroklos Androulakis-Korakakis on Iron Culture! “Dr. Pak” is a researcher and lecturer at Solent University, coach at stronger by science, and finally, a lifting enthusiast himself. He did his PhD on powerlifting. Specifically, he conducted research to answer the question: “how much training do powerlifters need to do, to make meaningful increases in strength?” This question led him to conduct interviews and surveys with the best powerlifters and powerlifting coaches in the world to first understand what they consider “meaningful” strength gains to be, and then he conducted some of the very few longitudinal training studies on competing powerlifters to determine just how much work they need to do to get better. Join us in this fascinating look at the inner workings of his research, as well as some of the more recent research he’s currently involved with, bridging the gaps in terminology and application between science and practice.

"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 again, consisted of an overreaching phase. Finally, in this episode, we discuss other cases, for example “deloads” that don’t occur after overreaching, deloads following strength/intensity-based overreaching, tapers, and intro weeks. While the question is simple, the answer has a bit of nuance, so join us to learn these details! 00:00 Intro: addressing the “alliance” with Stronger ByScience 12:07 Eric’s damage control apology and appeal to the Iron Culture HR department 17:05 The effects of deloads on muscle hypertrophy: should you cut calories on a deload? Bjørnsen 2018 Delayed myonuclear addition, myofiber hypertrophy, and increases in strength with high-frequency low-load blood flow restricted training to volitional failurehttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30543499/ Vann 2022 Effects of High-Volume Versus High-Load Resistance Training on Skeletal Muscle Growth and Molecular Adaptationshttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35360253/ 39:22 The differences between deloading and tapering for competition and Damas 2019 Myofibrillar protein synthesis and muscle hypertrophy individualized responses to systematically changing resistance training variables in trained young menhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31268828/ Travis 2020 Preparing for a National Weightlifting Championship: A Case Serieshttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31373973/ 53:55 Change in energy expenditure during deloads Lytle 2019 Predicting Energy Expenditure of an Acute Resistance Exercise Bout in Men and Womenhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30768553/ Iron Culture Ep. 66- Cardio for Lifters: Everything that Matters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpjZCp6lX24 107:58 Closing out  

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, second to get the experience of what it’s like so he can be a better coach and also make more accurate representations in his content, and finally, he’s scientifically interested in exploring how to find one’s lower intervention point. Ben wants to know just how sustainable or unsustainable being in such a position is. Learn about not only his experience in this episode, and what he’s learned, but also how we integrate concepts like energy availability and body fat regulation in terms of practical application.  00:00 (Re)introducing Dr Ben House and how this episode came to be 9:26 Ben’s dieting journey Iron Culture Ep. 192- He's Not Just A Bodybuilder (ft. Mr. Universe Alberto Nunez) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kseqS8jFgbg 20:10 Ben’s experience of getting shredded 37:20 Getting to the summit and how it could affect your life Towards a Sustainable Nutrition Paradigm in Physique Sport: A Narrative Review https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31315180/ 49:00 🚨❗️ Officially entering monster episode territory❗️🚨 52:46 The physiological effects of getting lean Trexler 2017 Physiological Changes Following Competition in Male and Female Physique Athletes: A Pilot Study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28422530/ Longstrom 2020 Physiological, Psychological and Performance-Related Changes Following Physique Competition: A Case-Series https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33467243/ Iron Culture Ep. 14- Why Lifters Lose Motivation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErMpLl106Vw 1:03:33 Framing energy availability and what is “healthy”? Can You Stay Shredded? https://www.strongerbyscience.com/stay-shredded/ Iron Culture Ep. 146- What The Fitness Industry Gets Wrong About The Obesity Epidemic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfAbKeiAuII 1:10:41 Individual differences in metabolic adaptation and the ability to live in low energy availability 1:23:30 Is Omar getting shredded!? 1:31:35 Closing out and where to find Mr Dr Ben House Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drbenhouse/?hl=en Deconstruct Nutrition: https://www.deconstructnutrition.com/  

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 plateau (and no we aren’t talking about them jumping on gear)?   00:00 Intro: reviewing reviews and the obligatory banter 10:48 Giving everyone the boot: an update on Eric’s calf training Iron Culture Ep. 189 Stretching & Range of Motion for Strength and Hypertrophy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFrO2UQoIBg  Warneke 2022 Influence of Long-Lasting Static Stretching on Maximal Strength, Muscle Thickness and Flexibility https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2022.878955/full 17:50 Q&A #1 The function and utility of performing low(er) RPE singles Iron Culture Ep. 143 Everything You Need To Know About Velocity Based Training https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFLZz2k11D0&t=1983s 38:40 Q&A #2 Are gains linear or do they come in spurts in the advanced lifter? Bjørnsen 2018 Delayed myonuclear addition, myofiber hypertrophy, and increases in strength with high-frequency low-load blood flow restricted training to volitional failure https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30543499/  Bjørnsen 2019 Type 1 Muscle Fiber Hypertrophy after Blood Flow-restricted Training in Powerlifters https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30188363/ MASS Research Review https://www.strongerbyscience.com/mass/ Iron Culture Ep. 109 Empiricism vs Rationalism: What Do We Really Know When It Comes To Fitness? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT3KPnTgO7M&t=492s 1:20:01 Q&A #3 How do you know if you have actually plateaued? https://muscleandstrengthpyramids.com/ 1:29:44 Closing out with some Blueberry Bis

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 back, capped delts, or peeled to the socks like Berto, but you will learn lessons through his bodybuilding journey which apply to life in ways that would surprise you. Even the Watcher is mirin because Alberto is coming for the multiverse next!   0:00 Introducing Mr. Universe Team3DMJ YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8fhb7upVSZ0q-zK5snR9BA Iron Culture Ep. 191- Steroids, Staying Natural & The Tyranny of Progress https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp30-AeTITQ Berto’s Instagram post https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci-qBg_O6IB/ 19:40 Reflecting upon the journey of competing 27:41 Framing aging and the inevitable decline 42:29 Show day and the experience of being on stage Iron Culture Ep. 128- Book Bodybuilding & The Dog (ft. Ryan Doris) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Y93_jKSgU 53:44 Breaking down the competitors at the WNBF Pro Universe 1:11:20 The unique intricacies of bodybuilding and the motivations for competing 1:21:45 Berto finding satisfaction in his performances and the acknowledgment from his peers 1:25:28 The start of the 3DMJ community 1:35:02 Closing out   Where to find Mr. Universe Alberto Núñez Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nunez3dmj/ Team 3DMJ https://3dmusclejourney.com/

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 can provide a continuous staircase to personal improvement, but it can also be an overbearing presence invading every thought, making the inevitable plateaus experienced lifters face feel like failures. At these crossroads some lifters seek anabolic assistance, or quit. Sometimes one of these choices might be the right decision for an individual, but many times, both choices simply avoid the deeper issue. This deeper issue is also the reason some “noble” natties see themselves as morally superior to enhanced lifters, and why some spend so much time calling out those they believe to be fake. This is a deep one folks, well, once you get past the banter.  00:00 Intro: reacting to reviews Can You Stay Shredded by Greg Nuckols Eric Trexler Mike Zourdos Helms https://www.strongerbyscience.com/stay-shredded/ Iron Culture Ep. 109- Empiricism vs Rationalism: What Do We Really Know When It Comes To Fitness? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT3KPnTgO7M&t=492s 16:00 Natural or enhanced? The pressures of social media Iron Culture Ep. 188- Steroids, Aesthetics & Irresponsible Influencers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oF31sb3Db0 23:34 Intrinsic motivation, goals, and satisfaction tied to lifting What Is Strong? https://www.strongerbyscience.com/how-to-get-strong-what-is-strong/ 39:55 Comparing yourself to and living up to an ideal 49:38 The application of effort when enhanced and the psychological impact Health Science Explained Podcast Ep. 197- The path out of muscle dysmorphia https://open.spotify.com/episode/2CRNuQrn1MSmRpBdow2xwQ?si=a91fe465ed4c4712 1:14:04 The unintended consequences of our choices and the inherent issues of setting external goals 1:27:23 Being self-aware and the fragile social hierarchy in the lifting space 1:42:40 Wrapping up another monster episode