Iron Culture presented by MASS

Joe Sullivan has been powerlifting for more than half his life. Starting as a young teen, Joe has been in and amongst the culture, starting with the USAPL, and eventually migrating to the untested side of the sport where he’s made his mark for the better part of the last decade. Most recently he set the all-time world record squat in the 100kg class at an astonishing 380kg, but it was a long road to get here. He’s overcome catastrophic injury, mental hurdles, and adversity that tie him deeply to powerlifting, and we were honored to have him on Iron Culture to share his candid perspective. He came from an era where raw powerlifting wasn’t the default, and when raw lifters identified with one another first and foremost, rather than with their federation. So sit back and enjoy this conversation where you get an insider’s viewpoint on the rapidly changing sport we know and love.  0:00 Introducing Joe Jeremey Hamilton record-breaking meet @220lb/100kg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHkMYQhoOVE Iron Culture Episode 180: Cultural Shifts in Lifting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRvaakZ4y6A 13:10 The rapid turnover and rise in raw/tested powerlifting 24:05 Joe’s perspectives on changes in competition judging standards 33:32 Powerlifter stereotypes from a decade ago and Joe’s shift to untested competition 39:53 Joe’s journey and lifting career 1:01:08 Joe’s comeback from injury and breaking squat records – “Adapt and Overcome” Joe’s bar bending squat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neYyq_ubavg 1:24:42 Reframing your mindset through your journey and separating yourself from where you once were 1:27:55 Where can you find Joe? https://www.theaodcollective.com/ https://www.instagram.com/joesullivan_aod/

What is the difference between a lifter who takes a hit, and keeps on lifting and the lifter who “used to bench 315 in high school?” Is it always that the former is harder working, more resilient, more committed lifter? How plastic are these traits? And are all “hits” the same? For some, when it rains it pours, and for others, they are lucky enough to get dolled out life’s curveballs at a pace they can handle. Ultimately in this episode, we acknowledge that when viewing advanced lifters who’ve been at it for a long time, we are to some degree seeing survivorship bias. Further, we discuss how self-efficacy can be best built, and how to deal with what is, and what isn’t in your locus or control. No matter what though, Iron Culture will continue to persist, demonstrating ultimate resilience, never missing a Monday release (and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise). 0:00 - Intro  10:55 - Instagram reacts: revisiting misinformation/disinformation Marton 2020 Science, advocacy, and quackery in nutritional books https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-020-0415-6 Iron Culture episode 132: Where does Bro Science come from? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFv5BkEp9mY Vigotsky 2020 Improbable data patterns in the work of Barbalho et al. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343051741_Improbable_data_patterns_in_the_work_of_Barbalho_et_al 35:30 - Question: “Why do some people get derailed when their routines get thrown while other people show resilience to unexpected challenges?” Transtheoretical model of behavior change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transtheoretical_model 41:45 - Adversity builds self-efficacy. Dealing with what is and isn’t in your locus of control 48:30 - Just-world fallacy and extreme ownership. “Maximise given the constraints” Iron Culture episode 27: Natural Bodybuilding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0AEvN2L9zU 58:20 - Practical applications for building self-efficacy and Eric’s experiences Iron Culture episode 83: You Are NOT An Advanced Lifter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9cwQsABQ98 1:15:15 - Responses to fight or flight signals and tips for coaches 1:28:24 - Framing and calibration of adversity and resilience in your journey 1:34:49 - Delayed gratification of lifting and the power of your environment Iron Culture episode 173: What is the Best Training Environment? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEIUIiL9z5Q 1:46:02 - Wrapping it up

Myth busting is a favorite past time of the “evidence based fitness community”, and pwning noobs with copious “um actually”s is just part of the job, right? Well, yes and no. While it’s more important than ever to combat mis and disinformation, it’s arguably just as, if not more important, to do so in the right way…which, spoiler alert doesn’t involve pwning said noobs. In fact, while those who use science to “dunk on the bros” do get more follows, props, and recognition, it likely comes from people already within the evidence based community, rather than without. So how does one make a true impact and change hearts and minds, rather than just preach to the choir? Join us to find out! https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-022-01702-2

What started out as a Q&A episode quickly evolved into an in-depth conversation surrounding the future of natural bodybuilding. To some inside the space, there are alarming signs of stagnation within the sport and in this episode, the hunks set out to examine if this really is the case. Drawing upon personal experience, a healthy dose of history and broad observations of general socioeconomic trends, the picture painted might not be so grim. There will always be an appetite for hunks being hunky. Oh and they also discuss carbohydrates before training.

The lifting community is more siloed than it used to be, and it is larger, so it’s understandable why today we have a broad and varied cultural landscape. It’s also more complex now in the modern age, and you can find parallel communities in the same lifting discipline with very little crossover. Further, in each community, the changing of the guards seems to be happening at an increasingly accelerated rate. The lifters, coaches, voices, and perspectives of today in any given subculture, don’t seem to be the ones of yesterday. More so, the time between “today” and “yesterday” feels like it’s getting shorter. Why is that? What role does social media play? Should we be concerned? Most importantly, what is the things that don’t change? How do we use this information to avoid a “dark age”? Join us today on this episode of Iron Culture as we discuss the wild world of lifting, from an almost anthropological perspective, ultimately coming away with a deeper understanding of what unifies and what also persists beyond any single person.

Getting really really lean is something a lot of people do, from physique athletes to fitness models, to serious lifters with a lifting-related bucket list. But staying really really lean, is something very few people ever achieve, despite most who get shredded wondering at least once,  “could I maintain this?” Why is it the case that most people struggle to stay shredded? Indeed, there are the few who seemingly can walk around shredded 24/7, and if you believe your Instagram feed, or are involved with specific sports at an elite level, you might think it’s a relatively innocuous achievement. Regardless of where you sit in terms of your observations, if you want to know what physiological, psychological, and environmental factors influence how lean you can stay, this is the episode for you.

Examine is arguably one of the most important resources to the supplement consumer in existence. Haven’t heard of it? Imagine a third-party, expert-informed, wiki page on human research on nearly every supplement in existence, organized in a clear, logical, and informative manner, and you’ve imagined Examine. Today, we sat down with one of its founders, Sol Orwell, to learn about how and why it started, and where its future lies. Given people are still falling for insincere supplement marketing today, this is a conversation that’s just as important as ever.

We are joined by the reigning 76kg world champion and now the strongest deadlifter on the women's side of the IPF, fresh after returning from the 2022 IPF worlds in South Africa. Jessica came away with a squat and deadlift world record, the latter of which she had to pull in order to win, tying the equipped IPF champion Agata Sitko, beating her on bodyweight, who had thrown her hat into the ring at classic worlds. What did Jess’s build-up look like? How was the cut? How did nearly two days of travel impact her performance? How do Eric and Jess operate as coach and athlete? And how did having two of her protein bars stolen by monkeys impact her mental state? Join us to learn all of the above!

Sometimes you just gotta shoot the s**t and talk some s**t. In this episode of Iron Culture, we discuss some of the recent insane competitions in the world of powerlifting. If you live under a bridge, you might not be aware that a ton of ridiculous numbers were put up across almost every weight class at IPF classic worlds as well as USAPL mega nationals. In addition to this, we both had some things to get off our chests. Omar shares that some of the snake oil, aka turkesterone, being sold online…get this…doesn’t even contain very actual much snake oil (aka actual turkesterone). Additionally, Eric lets off some steam about some bothersome trends in sports science...that’s right tune in for some serious nerd drama! This isn’t one to miss folks, what better way to spend your Monday than listening to us bitch and moan on a variety of topics!

Motivation is for the weak, commitment is for the REAL lifers! Right! Right? Well maybe not so much. Join us on an existential journey into what motivation really means. What are our motives to train, how does this relate to our identity, and self determination? In this episode we comment on our observations of long-time lifters’ motivation to train in the public eye, and how that intersects with the research on motivation, identity and meaning. You might just come away with a better understanding of the meaning of lift.