Iron Culture presented by MASS

In this episode of Iron Culture, we do a deep dive on the topic of pre-workout carbohydrate intake. While the data on endurance training is relatively consistent in showing a beneficial effect on performance, it’s more complex for resistance training. For strength and power, what you eat prior to training is probably less important, but when assessing the ability to perform volume, the data indicate that eating prior to training can in some contexts make a difference. This then leads to a discussion on time-restricted feeding (AKA intermittent fasting), as many adherents don’t consume a meal before training. Specifically, we discuss a new year-long study on time-restricted feeding, the longest to date, to see how these two lines of investigation converge.

Watch Episode 1 Here: https://youtu.be/VHBTMm94yeM In this episode, we lean heavily into the history and culture side of Iron Culture and discuss ancient history, specifically, ancient warfare and its accompanying physical culture. For those who don’t know, Omar teamed up with the History Channel to host a series that just launched on the History Channel’s YouTube and streaming service titled “Ancient Workouts”. You can catch the first episode which is already out now, and in this episode, we discuss some of the coolest aspects of the show. Specifically, we evaluate the various tropes we have in modern times about the physicality, training, and diets of Vikings, Spartans, Gladiators, and others, and dissect how these tropes compare to actual historical evidence. If you didn’t know, Omar is actually somewhat of an amateur historian, so you’ll get the rare experience of hearing him go in on a topic, while Eric listens and learns.

This episode kicks off with a lively Q&A, diving into the nuances between effort and exertion. The discussion challenges traditional training frequency beliefs, emphasizing total volume over mere frequency. Listeners learn about personalized training approaches for optimal performance and joint health. The relationship between Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and muscle growth is explored, along with innovative strategies like cluster sets. Finally, the importance of qualitative research in exercise science is highlighted, advocating for a balanced understanding of both qualitative and quantitative data.

As it’s said, truth is stranger than fiction. On Iron Culture we’ve pointed out multiple fantastical, claims backed by pseudoscience that were just gimmicks designed to make you buy something. But sometimes, things that sound gimmicky are actually legit. In this episode, we cover a number of them, like the surprising effects of visualization (AKA motor imagery) training on strength, the effects of compression garments on recovery, and also the positive and negative effects of cold therapy.

Can you believe it’s been nearly 3 years of running the cult? By this point, most people in our shoes would have had their final Kool-Aid party, ran out of followers after inaccurately predicting the apocalypse too many times, or simply had the law catch up with them after too much credit card fraud and polygamy. But nay! We still stand (err sit) before you, preaching the gospel THEY don’t want you to hear. That’s right, this pirate radio station isn’t going anywhere (at least until one of the big corporations we hit up for an ad partnership on the daily finally responds)! Join us for this 150th anniversary Iron culture reflections episode…and thank you for listening!

We get questions all the time like “is squatting more than twice a week overtraining?” Or, “how much volume is overtraining?” But what is the actual scientific definition of overtraining, do lifters actually experience it, and what does overtraining result in? In this episode we do a deep dive on the topic of insufficient recovery, some of which falls under the umbrella of overtraining, and some of which falls under the umbrella of under-eating. Ultimately, by the end of this episode you’ll walk away with a true understanding of what overtraining syndrome, functional and non functional overreaching, mechanical overtraining, and low energy availability are, which should be on your radar, and what to do about them. 

Chad Landers has over 30 years of experience as a personal trainer. He started as a young trainer, working for others as an employee or a contractor, as most trainers do, but eventually became a gym owner. More importantly, his gym has survived in LA, an incredibly saturated and competitive market, through both the mid-2000’s financial crisis as well as the recent COVID epidemic. He’s prioritized value-based teamwork, developing relationships, evidence-based knowledge, understanding of history, good communication with a client-centered, individualized approach, and coupled that with a strong foundation of basic financial knowledge and planning. Because of this approach, he’s had the fortune of working with clients long term, had the experience of working with high profile clients, helped other trainers develop their careers, and he is essentially the model of how to make personal training a long term, feasible, and rewarding vocation. Chad Landers, the 2018 NSCA Personal Trainer of the Year, joins Iron Culture to share his knowledge in this enlightening episode. 

We’re back with Part 2 of our discussion on “What the Fitness Industry Gets Wrong About Obesity”, this time we move from a discussion about the divide between the diet and anti-diet narratives, and the role of the coach, and bring on a clinician. Dr. Spencer Nadolsky AKA “the doc who lifts” is an obesity and lipid specialist physician who works in the real world, on a day-to-day basis with his patients with obesity. He has to assess with each patient the potential risk and benefits of attempts at weight loss, what approach to use, and when medical interventions should be considered. Join us to learn how he has changed his opinions over time, the current state of the evidence, and how he constantly evolves his approach of communicating with his audience in order to hopefully educate, without doing harm. You don’t want to miss this episode of Iron Culture!

Returning guests Dr. Gabrielle Fundaro and Dr. Ben House discuss how the divide in the nutrition community spurred by the “diet” and “anti-diet” debates can potentially lead to inaction and subsequent unaddressed problems. When there is a passionate debate across a moral divide, data often goes by the wayside. This occurs when obesity-focused practitioners and researchers don’t acknowledge pathways to improved health other than weight loss, or the potential harm from weight loss attempts which are often unsuccessful. Further, it can occur when weight-neutral-focused practitioners and researchers don’t acknowledge that in some cases, weight loss is the outcome with the largest potential to positively impact health, or that multidisciplinary evidence-based approaches result in successful weight loss maintenance much more often than other approaches. In the middle is the trainer or nutrition practitioner who is aware of all the problems, but unsure of what tools will solve them, and is also worried that some of the tools have the potential for doing harm. In this conversation, we hope to equip you with the understanding of what tools are best in which situations, so you can become a part of the solution. [Further Information] https://www.deconstructnutrition.com/is-weight-loss-healthy/ [Dr. Gabrielle Fundaro] https://www.instagram.com/vitaminphd https://www.vitaminphdnutrition.com/ [Dr. Ben House] https://www.instagram.com/drbenhouse https://www.deconstructnutrition.com/

Are you useful? I don’t know, but we’ve got the author of this amazing book back on! That’s right, none other than physical culture revivalist Chip Conrad. This time, it’s storytime as we catch up with Chip after our last chat way back in July of 2019. Learn how he used to spend weekends at Mel Siff’s house talking exercise science in the sauna, how he interviewed all the strongmen champions competing at the Arnold Classic, how he has a more recent book that he wishes Omar and I would promote instead of his older one, and why he’s currently traveling across the US to train in the wilderness.