Iron Culture presented by MASS

A few years ago, the supplement industry was in such a state that simply putting effective ingredients at their proper dosage on a label, without a proprietary blend was revolutionary. Fortunately, today there are a handful of "evidence-based" companies that do this and do it well. However, in a competitive market, where do you go from here? What is the process? In this episode, we're rejoined by a registered dietician and DeNovo Supps founder and formulator, Ben Esgro. He has two masters, one in Sports Nutrition, the other in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. He gives a behind the scenes look at formulation and development. Also, Eric Trexler, Ph.D., a researcher with experience conducting and reviewing studies on supplements is back to give us insight into the research process of supplement science.

Weightlifting is the filet Mignon to the ground chuck of powerlifting and bodybuilding, the First Class to our coach seats on the Iron Game Express. Most people can lift weights, but weightlifting requires power, range of motion, and coordination that squatting or curling in the squat rack simply can't compare to. In this episode of Iron Culture, we're joined by Amy and Greg Everett of Catalyst Athletics, former champions in American Weightlifting, and now some of the most prominent coaches and content creators in the sport. Also, Max Aita returns, also a prominent coach working with Juggernaut Training Systems, who competed at a high level in both weightlifting and powerlifting. In this episode of Iron Culture, we explore the unique aspects, history, athletic demands, experience, and training philosophies of weightlifting, and compare and contrast them with the rest of the iron game.

In a perfect world, we would never need to rest between sets, because we would never need to stop lifting. Unfortunately, we live in an imperfect world, and we do have to consider rest. How long should we rest between sets? Why? What is the nature of fatigue? How do we reconcile research suggesting longer rest periods enhance hypertrophy, and other research suggesting rest-pause and drop sets can be just as if not more effective for hypertrophy? Join us in this duo episode as we get into the weeds and answer these questions.

Biomechanics is the understanding of the body's structure, function, and motion with physics to describe what we experience. As lifters, most of what biomechanics explains mathematically, we understand intuitively. But, in a complex dynamic system like the human body, sometimes what we experience, or our assumptions based on a limited understanding of biomechanics, can be counterintuitive and misleading. To clear up the confusion and address the popular tropes, we're joined by Megan Bryanton-Jones, PhD, the powerlifting biomechanist behind Kinetic Advantage. She joins us alongside returning guest, the PhD candidate and intellectual entity known as Andrew Vigotsky, on this episode of Iron Culture.

Around these parts, cardio has a bad reputation. Sure, in the greater fitness community, cardio (a fancy way of saying running, usually on a treadmill) has long been one of the cornerstones of any fitness regime. Want to lose weight? Do "cardio"! Have stubborn fat to lose? Do (slow) or (really fast) "cardio"! Whatever body composition problems you faced, cardio was seen as an essential tool. This has largely fallen by the wayside over the last decade, with its importance now seen as being grossly overstated for body composition. Some go so far as to call it useless and utter waste of time. Is this truly the case? In this episode, two men with grossly irrational fears of aerobic activity struggle to unravel the mystery behind the ever-elusive cardio question. Just kidding, they completely nail it.

In the lifting community, two words are often used interchangeably: periodization and programming. Are they, in fact, the same thing? As you will learn in this episode featuring special guest Dr. Mike Zourdos, they are surprisingly not synonyms. What develops from the conversation is a more thorough understanding of the two which will yield a better perspective on your training. Find out in what context both periodization and programming are useful and why Bulgarian style training sounds fun until you actually try to execute it. Don't say we didn't warn you.

If you're a long time listener of Iron Culture, you've been exposed to calisthenics, CrossFit, powerlifting, bodybuilding, strongman/woman, and more! Maybe, just maybe, it's influenced you to pursue multiple avenues of strength? If so, you might have had some head-scratching moments or found yourself struggling to juggle multiple goals simultaneously. In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Stefi Cohen and Max Aita, impressive multi-sport strength athletes in their own right, who have made careers out of helping lifters make simultaneous progress in multiple disciplines of strength. Join us in today's discussion as we learn how that balancing act is performed.

From lifting calibrated plates on competition spec bars in approved knee sleeves through the same three movement patterns to moving uncalibrated humans through a near-infinite combination of vectors and forces while covered in your shared sweat and blood in a half-off Gi. How did such an unexpected turn occur? It seems like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has taken the strength world by storm. Instagram feeds once populated by squats, bench presses and deadlifts are now populated by rolls, holds, and throws. Just what is going on here? Join us we sit down with two individuals who know a fair bit about BJJ: none other than Chad Wesley Smith and Dr. Melissa Davis, as we explore this recent iron game cultural shift.

Dig if you will this picture, of you inside with the kids. This is what it sounds like when gains die. At this point, it has been four weeks without access to gyms for most individuals. Exacerbating the painful absence of the gym is the abundance of free time at our disposal, leading many to struggle with their nutrition. Fear not because in this episode today, Iron Culture co-owners (and current hosts) Eric Helms and Omar Isuf overview what you can do to stay on track with your nutrition. Eric delves into what the literature shows when it comes to activity levels and hunger cues. A robust helpful framework is established to arm you with the tools necessary to better adhere to your nutrition paradigm. We're all going to make it, one deliciously grilled chicken breast and a steamed cup of broccoli at a time. http://www.nutritioncoachingglobal.com

"Nihilism: the belief that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value; used to explain the general mood of despair at a perceived pointlessness of existence." We've all been there folks, and many of the iron cult are without the iron and struggling. In this episode rife with coping-motivated banter and sarcasm, we dig deep and discover that the iron is in fact, always with us. Join us in this iron-forge side chat as we discuss how to turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones and find a will, and thus a way forward. What can science and history tell us about training in our current time? The hosts explore this question in today's episode.