Iron Culture presented by MASS

Consider this episode a homecoming as co-host Eric Helms reminisces on Sacramento lifting culture. He is joined by fellow Sacramento natives Alan Thrall, Silent Mike, and Jim McDonald. A seemingly small city tucked away in Northern California, the soon to be infamous SacTown Boys explore the reasons why Sacramento has made such a strong impact inside the lifting community. From weightlifting legend Tommy Kono to Body Tribe in the present, Sacramento is home to a vibrant, diverse lifting community. The conversation also explores starting your own business, traversing the fitness industry and why Iron Culture is the world's friendliest Cult.

Over the last three decades, Randall Strossen was there for it all. World records in weightlifting at the Olympics and world championships, incredible performances at the Highland games world championships and the worlds strongest man; if he wasn't behind the lens as a photographer, he might have been the commentator, or written about the performances in Milo magazine or in his sport psychology column in Ironman magazine which ran for 12 years. Randall has a Ph.D. in psychology, founded IronMind in 1988, and Milo magazine in 1993. Thousands of lifters have seen what level of IronMind Captains of Crush grippers they could close, most serious strength athletes from prior decades owned a copy of his book Super Squats, and he took every iconic picture that adorns the covers of Milo magazine, which ran for 25 years from until 2018. Sit back and marvel at the rich iron game experiences and personal insights that Dr. Strossen had to share with Omar and Eric on this episode of Iron Culture.

Is Iron Culture big enough for two pro natural bodybuilders with PhDs named Eric (or was it Derek)? The banter heats up as metabolisms cool down this week as the cult leaders are joined by Dr Eric Trexler to discuss metabolic adaptation. Why is weight loss difficult to sustain? What is adaptive thermogenesis, the phenomenon we call metabolic adaptation colloquially? Is it the cause of our fat loss woes, or are it's effects overhyped? If it is overhyped, what really are the barriers to successful fat loss and fat loss maintenance? Join us on this episode as we discuss all of the above.

Doping: the topic every 19 year old in the YouTube comments section seems to be an expert on. Maybe it's more complicated and nuanced than the local internet culture would have you believe? In this episode, we have Ph.D. candidate Alex Kolliari-Turner on Iron Culture. He is a true expert in this field, doing his Ph.D. research on the long term effects of anabolic steroids on muscle. His research examining the impacts of steroids on anabolic signaling pathways and potential permanent retention of myonuclei may have wide-reaching impacts on how we view doping, doping detection, and the concept of being "drug-free". In addition to the hard science, Eric and Omar discuss with Alex advancements in anti-doping, how retrospective testing is changing the face of elite sport, and how different sports cultures, societies, and governmental structures impact how commonplace doping is, the reason and pressures behind the decision to dope, the source of doping, and its sophistication. Email: A.Kolliari-Turner@brighton.ac.uk Advertisement on Instagram: alex_k_t Advertisement on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10217450912977043&set=a.1014102405124&type=3&theater The papers he used in the discussion of the Podcast: Hoffman et al 2009 Position stand on androgen and human growth hormone use Kanayama & Pope 2018 History and epidemiology of anabolic androgens in athletes and non-athletes

In this episode, Eric & Omar are joined by firebrand Chip Conrad. A true physical culture enthusiast, Chip has been involved with seminal figures in our culture (Mel Siff, Tommy Kono, Jan Todd and Dan John to name but a few). Chip's unique approach to training stands in stark contrast to the modern fitness industrial complex. Combining aspects of different disciplines from strongman to yoga, Chip is a rare thinker and teacher. Listen to how he redefines what strength means, what the point of lifting is and the merit of early Van Halen. PS www.chipconrad.com (it'll be a real thing soon, we promise)

In this episode, Eric and Omar are joined by one of the most celebrated, revered, and respected pro natural bodybuilders, Brian Whitacre. Brian is a legendary figure, historically being the first to win both the WNBF Worlds and Yorton Cup Overalls the same year in 2015. The hosts discuss natural bodybuilding, economics, and what it takes to be a champion. Listen up, you might be surprised.

Brian Minor, MS, pro natural bodybuilder and national level USAPL raw powerlifter, is not only an impressive dual-sport strength and physique athlete, but he's also top of the bodybuilding and Powerlifting coaching game. As a thought leader in the evidence-based strength and physique community, he does an excellent job putting context and application to theory to help move practice forward. Join us in this episode as we get into the nitty-gritty of what progressive overload really means with Brian, and how it's often misunderstood.

At the edges of scientific understanding, pseudoscience is bred and born. When a topic is studied, but not yet understood, marketers plant the seeds of hype to suck you in. "This one weird trick", "doctors hate him", "the herb the FDA doesn't want you to have". The emerging field of gut health is an arena rife with such quackery. Fortunately, we have Dr. Gabrielle Fundaro as a guiding light. She has a Ph.D. in human nutrition, is a competitive strength and physique athlete, and was a professor at Georgia Gwinnett College before joining Renaissance Periodization as a coach and science communicator. As a gut health researcher and professional, she joins Omar and Eric to uncover the myths and truths, and to discuss how pseudoscience forms.

In this episode of Iron Culture, Omar leads a discussion looking inward to the academic journey of Eric Helms through his Ph.D. As we explore the science, history, and culture of lifting, it's important to not only consume the outcome of scientific research but to consider it in the context of the human experience of the researchers who dedicate years of their lives to sometimes uncovering ludicrously simple answers through intense and complicated study. Like lifting itself, exercise and nutrition research is a marathon not a sprint, and a labor of love. In this episode learn not only about autoregulation, the topic of Eric's Ph.D. but also about the experience of the academic pursuit of knowledge.

Iron Culture hosts a Roundtable discussion on strength development and the relationship between hypertrophy and it's relationship to a one-repetition maximum. We're joined by researcher Andrew Vigotsky who is currently pursuing his Ph.D., and also we bring back the ever jolly Greg Nuckols of Stronger by Science. Between them, they have not only personal experience with the iron, but more importantly, they've published academic peer-reviewed papers specifically on the multi-component factors that go into strength expression, from neuromuscular, to biomechanical, to technical and morphological contributing factors, including hypertrophy. Tune in to this episode for a deep dive on strength.