
Sapien's Playground - Medicine, Psychology, Truth Seeking and Fascinating Experiences
Follow along for a journey of meaningful and passionate exploration in sorting out between truths and untruths about achieving optimal health and psychological well-being through nutrition, exercise, sunlight, sleep, psychological development, etc.
My name is Maxim and I am a medical student who is all about exploring, seeking truth, challenging old narratives and thinking out of the box to ultimatively find out what can really make us happier, healthier and stronger as humans! Enjoy listening to all the deep, meaningful conversations and productive discussions on this trilingual show!
Latest episodes

Mar 11, 2022 • 1h 1min
#20 - Bedtime Story (5) - Nutrition and Physical Degeneration - A Comparison of Primitive and Modern Diets and Their Effects by Weston A. Price - CHAPTER 3 - Isolated and modernized Swiss
In the section "Bedtime Story" I will read a chapter from a book for you which I personally found interesting and find worth sharing with you!
Please excuse if I my misspronounce some words, since English is not my first language and I could potentially make mistakes in the pronounciation.
Our first book will be "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration - A Comparison of Primitive and Modern Diets and Their Effects by Weston A. Price" and in the fifth episode I read Chapter 3 of this book. Enjoy listening!
Find me on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/monky_caliplayground/
Find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPruchnewski
More free stuff (books, videos and PDFs): https://linktr.ee/sapien_health
Sapiens Playground on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmNDo81K7jX7Thk0_NF_xng
Listen to Sapiens Playground on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IcilHhRDVTiVxGO5uuYlp?si=ab520e5d7fc24a3a
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/sapiens-playground-a-place-for-true-health-unbiased/id1534777361
You can text me at sapiens.playground@web.de for podcast inquiries or any questions you have.

Mar 7, 2022 • 1h 58min
(ENG) - Ep.19 - Sergio DiPasquale aka New Era - High-Reps-Calisthenics as a Tool to Become Undefeatble and Find Deep Meaning in Life - A Philosophical Discussion
Welcome back to Sapien's Playground!
Growth means "to open yourself up to the possibility of failure". That is one of the many powerful and vehemently profound quotes from today's episode with ultra-passionate elite Calisthenics-Athlete and language-student Sergio DiPasquale aka New Era. Sergio is an insane beast, a true leader who dominates the field of endurance-style calisthenics. His unstoppable drive behind the work he is doing and the mindset with which he keeps approaching his passion for training has been an invaluable inspiration for me as well as many of his followers and students. Our conversation and exchange of ideas yields, as far as I'm concerned, some enormously useful potential for people to be better able to comprehend the mechanisms and value systems which underlie our fundamental state of existence. The discussion turned out to be more philosophical and deep than I intended it to become, however, I believe that it genuinely helped me to better understand the person in front of me and I am genuinely grateful that the discussion went into that direction. I am certain that you will find something of huge value in that episode, especially if you are just as passionate about calisthenics and bodyweight training as we are. Rememeber to always keep going, no matter what it is that you are currently pursuing!
Enjoy listening!
Follow Sergio on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sergdp_newerabarbarian/
Sergio's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/SergioDiPasqualeAKANewEra
His Facebook-Account: https://www.facebook.com/sergio.dipasquale.3
Find me on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/monky_caliplayground/
Find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPruchnewski
More free stuff (books, videos and PDFs): https://linktr.ee/sapien_health
Sapiens Playground on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmNDo81K7jX7Thk0_NF_xng
Listen to Sapiens Playground on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IcilHhRDVTiVxGO5uuYlp?si=ab520e5d7fc24a3a
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/sapiens-playground-a-place-for-true-health-unbiased/id1534777361
You can text me at sapiens.playground@web.de for podcast inquiries or any questions you have.

Mar 5, 2022 • 1h 15min
(GER) - Ep. 17 - Daniel Pugge - Teil 1 über Covid, Maßnahmen und, was wir hätten anders und besser machen können.
Herzlich willkommen zurück auf Sapiens Playground! Heute hatte ich die Freude, mich mit Daniel Pugge über eine Bandbreite an verschiedenen Themen auszutauschen. Daniel Pugge studierte Sportmanagement in Köln, ist Trainer Coach, Ernährungsberater und führt zwei YouTube Channels. Im ersten Teil des Gesprächs reden wir hauptsächlich über Covid, Maßnahmen, Risikofaktoren und, wo man hätte ansetzen können, um evtl. besser mit der Lage umgehen zu können. Daniels ruhige, sachliche und balancierte Herangehensweise ist sehr angenehm und zeigt auch seine Offenheit für Diskussionen und, seine Meinung jederzeit anpassen zu können. Viel Spaß beim reinhören!
Daniels Haupt-YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LowCarbSportDE
Daniels Zweitkanal auf YT: https://www.youtube.com/c/DanielpuggeDe
Daniel Pugge auf Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielpugge/
Mehr Infos über Daniel auf seine Website: https://danielpugge.de/
Sein Buch "Keto Quick Start": https://danielpugge.de/2020/02/19/keto-quick-start-buch/
Sein Buch "Eat Smart - Be Fit": https://danielpugge.de/2020/02/19/eat-smart-be-fit/
Folgt mir auf Insta: https://www.instagram.com/monky_caliplayground/
Folgt mir auf YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmNDo81K7jX7Thk0_NF_xng
More free stuff: https://linktr.ee/sapien_health
Der zweite Teil des Podcasts: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0gp2dthOaSsIWl3tn3KivF?si=Wx_kgBgDSQiAbmI4Pl1fbg
Alle Episoden auf Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IcilHhRDVTiVxGO5uuYlp?si=8d10e6043c094b01
Sapiens Playground auf Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/sapiens-playground-a-place-for-true-health-unbiased/id1534777361
Für Anfragen, etc. könnt mich gerne erreichen unter sapiens.playground@web.de .

Mar 4, 2022 • 55min
(GER) - Ep.18 - Daniel Pugge - Teil 2 über Ketogene Ernährung/Low Carb im Sport und Körpervermessung zur Leistungsoptimierung
Herzlich willkommen zurück auf Sapiens Playground! Heute hatte ich die Freude, mich mit Daniel Pugge über eine Bandbreite an verschiedenen Themen auszutauschen. Daniel Pugge studierte Sportmanagement in Köln, ist Trainer Coach, Ernährungsberater und führt zwei YouTube Channels. Im zweiten Teil des Gesprächs gehen wir näher darauf ein, wie sich Low Carb anwenden lässt in Sport und, welche Verbesserungen in der Leistungsfähigkeit Daniel bei sich und bei seinen Kunden erfahren hat. Wir besprechen, was Daniel für Körpervermessungen täglich vornimmt (HRV, KFA, RR, etc.), um sein Training besser anpassen zu können. Seine ruhige, sachliche und balancierte Herangehensweise ist sehr angenehm und zeigt auch seine Offenheit für Diskussionen und, seine Meinung jederzeit anpassen zu können. Viel Spaß beim Reinhören!
Daniels Haupt-YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LowCarbSportDE
Daniels Zweitkanal auf YT: https://www.youtube.com/c/DanielpuggeDe
Daniel Pugge auf Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielpugge/
Mehr Infos über Daniel auf seine Website: https://danielpugge.de/
Sein Buch "Keto Quick Start": https://danielpugge.de/2020/02/19/keto-quick-start-buch/
Sein Buch "Eat Smart - Be Fit": https://danielpugge.de/2020/02/19/eat-smart-be-fit/
Folgt mir auf Insta: https://www.instagram.com/monky_caliplayground/
Folgt mir auf YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmNDo81K7jX7Thk0_NF_xng
More free stuff: https://linktr.ee/sapien_health
Teil 1 der Folge mit Daniel Pugge: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4qsFQ1vPOmrvJDnBVMIxwD?si=5e3e5ce375c64b23
Alle Episoden auf Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IcilHhRDVTiVxGO5uuYlp
Sapiens Playground auf Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/sapiens-playground-a-place-for-true-health-unbiased/id1534777361
Für Anfragen, etc. könnt mich gerne erreichen unter sapiens.playground@web.de .

Feb 22, 2022 • 1h 32min
(РУС) - Эпизод 16 - Сандро из Star Bars Gym про оптимальный подход к силовым тренировкам, значимость разминки и лучшие методы в изучении элементов
Привет всем и добро пожаловать на первый русский эпизод на моём подкасте Sapiens Playground! Сегодня мне удалось поболтать и заснять интереснейший разговор с тренером, воркаутером и одним из создателей Star Bars Gym, Сандро. Он работает вместе с Дмитрием Доценко в плане своей тренерской деятельности и при этом они ещё снимают много интересного контента на YouTube.
Мы обсудили оптимальные подходы и их вариабельности и особенности в плане силовых тренировок, как лучше и безопаснее всего обучиться элементам, и почему всё таки стоит инвестировать больше времени в разминку и разогрев до начала самой тренировки, чем вы думали. Много ещё других интересных тем затронули, получилось очень интересно, и я уверен, что для каждого из вас найдется что-нибудь полезного и используемого для ваших тренировок и для прослеживания прогресса!
Инстаграм Сандро: https://www.instagram.com/sandroneuron/
Инстаграм Димы Доценко: https://www.instagram.com/morlantau/
Их общий YouTube канал: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUb_HZNIDtcKmTgHvsrSKug
Подписывайтесь на мой инста: https://www.instagram.com/monky_caliplayground/
Sapiens Playground в твиттере: https://twitter.com/MPruchnewski
Смотрите эпизоды в YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmNDo81K7jX7Thk0_NF_xng
Обращайтесь с вопросами и приглашениями на подкасты: sapiens.playground@web.de
Интересные книги и бесплатные PDF-файлы: https://linktr.ee/sapien_health

Feb 12, 2022 • 16min
(ENG) Ep.15 - Message to Society - You Decide Which World You Want to Live in
Hello everyone.
Today it's me, Maxim Pruchnewski, recording a quick message for the people out there and to all citizens of the world concerning some of the issues that I have been extensively thinking about over the past months. Feel free to share this around because I wholeheartedly hope that this will reach many people and make them at least look at the current issue from a different, more fundamental perspective. This thing shall not divide us. It shall not split us and make us hate each other. This thing has to stop.
Much Peace and Love,
Maxim
Find me on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/monky_caliplayground/
Find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPruchnewski
More free stuff (books, videos and PDFs): https://linktr.ee/sapien_health
Sapiens Playground on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmNDo81K7jX7Thk0_NF_xng
You can text me at sapiens.playground@web.de for podcast inquiries or any questions you have.

Jan 27, 2022 • 1h 7min
(ENG) - Ep.14 - Interviewing Dr. Peter McCullough MD, MPH on Everything Regarding Vaccine Safety and Efficacy, Early Treatment of COVID-19, Masks, Lockdowns and Mass-Deception by Media Propaganda
Welcome back to a new episode on Sapiens Playground! Today I had the overwhelming honor to talk to Dr. Peter McCullough, MD, MPH, who many of you have probably heard on the Joe Rogan Podcast. It, thus, surprised me even more that Dr. McCullough was willing to set aside some time to come onto my podcast which clearly indicates how much he is interested in spreading that important message which he has been trying to deliver for the past 2 years, essentially.
Dr. McCullough is an internist, cardiologist, epidemiologist managing the cardiovascular complications of both the viral infection and the injuries developing after the COVID-19 vaccine in Dallas TX, USA. Since the outset of the pandemic, Dr. McCullough has been a leader in the medical response to the COVID-19 disaster and has published “Pathophysiological Basis and Rationale for Early Outpatient Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection” the first synthesis of sequenced multidrug treatment of ambulatory patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the American Journal of Medicine and subsequently updated in Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine. He has 51 peer-reviewed publications on the infection and has commented extensively on the medical response to the COVID-19 crisis in TheHill, America Out Loud, and on FOX NEWS Channel. Dr. McCullough has two years of dedicated academic and clinical efforts in combating the SARS-CoV-2 virus and in doing so, has reviewed thousands of reports, participated in scientific congresses, group discussions, press releases, and has been considered among the world's experts on COVID-19.
As you might have guessed by the title, we talked all things COVID-19, hence this podcast will obviously not be uploaded on YouTube for reasons which I probably don't have to expand on.
Dr. McCullough was generous enough to give me 1 hour for asking him as many questions as I could manage. Fortunately enough, that was enough time to go through the most important topics and questions that I intended to ask him in the first place. We went all the way from discussing early treatment to questioning mandates, restrictions and lockwdowns. We also spend a good chunk of our conversation talking about the increasingly conerning issues regarding vaccine safety and efficacy and Dr. McCullough always cited a good amount of data, numbers and studies to back up his claims and statements.
Please share this episode and help us spread this very important information because it could prevent a lot of future harm and potentially save many lives, for example if people and doctors would finally start properly treating patients and would also come to realise that there is much more to be skeptical about, than to believe, at least when it comes to vaccine mandates and all these insane restrictions.
Enjoy listening!
Dr. Peter McCullough on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petermcculloughmd/
Dr. McCullough's Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mccullough-report/id1562849542
Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monky_caliplayground/
More free stuff (books, PDFs, videos): https://linktr.ee/sapien_health
Follow me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmNDo81K7jX7Thk0_NF_xng
Listen to Sapiens Playground on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IcilHhRDVTiVxGO5uuYlp

Jan 24, 2022 • 1h 58min
(ENG) - Ep.13 - Discussing the Lipid Energy Model and Encountering Challenges in Med-School with Dr. Nick Norwitz, PhD
Aaand we're back with another great episode on Sapien's Playground!
This time I had the pleasure to have a nice talk with Nick Norwitz PhD, who has now also decided to attend Harvard Medical School to further pursue his passion of helping people to become healthier by changing diet and lifestyle.
Nick's enthusiasm for the topics we discussed today is truly contagious and it was really pleasant to have a conversation with a fellow medical student who is encountering similar challenges on the way and who is also getting confronted with uncomfortable situations and recognizing the immense potential in regards to improving patient care in the future.
Furthermore, we had a great discussion on the topic of lipids and the lipid energy model which was originially put forward by Nick's colleague and friend Dave Feldman. Unfortunately, we were not quite able to get deeper into atherosclerosis and talk about its pathophysiology, which is of very big interest to me for various reasons, however, I'm sure that consitutes a good topic for a part 2.
Having introduced you to the topics of the podcast, enjoy listening and I hope that you will also get caught by our enthusiasm and appreciate Nick's unique and highly scientific approach of seeking for truth by constantly asking questions and staying very curious, as opposed to fighting about who is right and who is wrong thus getting trapped into a certain ideological niche that seems to have a clear answer for everything.
Follow Nick Norwitz on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicknorwitz
The link to the recent Lean Mass Hyper Responder (LMHR) - Paper "Elevated LDL-Cholesterol with a Carbohydrate-restricted Diet: Evidence for a `Lean Mass Hyper-responder’ Phenotype": https://academic.oup.com/cdn/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cdn/nzab144/6446805
Learn more about the human body on Nick's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLTZUJSEulehPtF_ytFiU_A
Nick has also written a Mediterranean Keto Cookbook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1589239911/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=dbs_a_w_dp_1589239911
Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monky_caliplayground/
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPruchnewski
Listen to Sapiens Playground on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IcilHhRDVTiVxGO5uuYlp?si=8f5f23e245bd4468
More free stuff (Books, PDFs, Videos): https://linktr.ee/sapien_health
Find me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmNDo81K7jX7Thk0_NF_xng

Jan 21, 2022 • 1h 38min
(ENG) - Ep.12 - Vegan Myths and Why Eating More Meat Will Probably Making You Healthier with Dr. Shawn Baker MD
Good day everyone! I am super happy to welcome you back to another great episode on Sapien's Playground. I had the pleasure to sit down and talk to the popular, yet pretty controversial figure, doctor and carnivore-proponent Dr. Shawn Baker.
Primarily, out discussion was tackling two fundamental and nowadays highly debated questions: Is meat really so harmful or are there maybe actually some great benefits derived from eating more animal products? Secondly, what about veganism and vegeterianism? What is the reason for their huge popularity and can it be considered as healthy as it is being promoted and pushed forward by the media and also most physicians? Get ready to learn why most of the vegan propaganda is not grounded in any high-quality science, why Dr. Baker believes that eating more meat will make you healthier and what else is important to stay strong and resilient into old age. I very much apologize for the suboptimal video quality and also for the audio lags between me and Dr. Baker. I hope that, nonetheless, the podcast will be enjoyable and of some value to you guys.
Dr. Baker on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SBakerMD
His YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ShawnBakerMD
You can support his work and work with him on https://community.revero.com/
Revero Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4XAF85sFRuwMahLj5YqqLd
Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monky_caliplayground/
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPruchnewski
You can contact me at sapiens.playground@web.de
More free stuff (books, videos, PDFs): https://linktr.ee/sapien_health
Listen to Sapiens Playground on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IcilHhRDVTiVxGO5uuYlp?si=81eda7a84f394d6f

Jan 19, 2022 • 1h 38min
(ENG) - Ep.11 - Importance of Evolutionary Thinking in Medicine and Why Humans Probably Evolved as Hypercarnivores with Raphael Sirtoli
Welcome back to Sapiens Playground! I know that it has been quite some time since the last episode with a guest, but now I'm back with another fascinating conversation about evolutionary biology with PhD candidate Raphael Sirtoli. He was been engaged in different fields of science and has researched a broad spectrum of different topics, such as cancer, paleoanthropolgy, evolutionary biology and molecular biology. Raphael currently works together with a great team of scientists and doctors in a medical clinic. Hopefully, you will also appreciate his unique approach to looking at things, especially in medicine, physiology and nutrition, through an evolutionary lens.
We start off by talking about Raphaels story which should once again teach us the lesson that there is probaly so much more in nutrition and health that we are yet to understand and find out and that we ought to be more humble as opposed to jumping to conclusions too quickly, without giving it some thorough thought.
In the main part of our conversation we mostly spend some time discussing the paper that Rapahel published together with his colleagues Miki Ben-Dor and Ran Barkai some time ago. The name of the paper is "The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene" and I would definitely highly encourage everyone with some interest in evolutionary biology and the history of human species, to read that piece of work. I promise, that you will extract a lot of value from going through it: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.24247
Before wrapping up with some final questions from my audience, I decided to ask Raphael a few devils-advocate-questions, since this is what science is all about, namely - questioning your own hypotheses and staying skeptical even in regards to your own research.
Enjoy listening and I am convinced that you will be just as enlightened at the end of the podcast as I felt!
Find Raphael on Twitter: https://twitter.com/raphaels7 @raphaels7
The medical clinic he is working for at the moment: http://Pero.pt
PhD candidate in Health Sciences --> ESR 14 (early stage researcher) in the Marie-Curie European grant system: https://itn-treatment.eu
Writer at https://thepaleodiet.com/author/raphael-sirtoli
The paper by Raphael Sirtoli, Miki Ben-Dor and Ran Barkai: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.24247
Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monky_caliplayground/
I'm also on Twitter now: https://twitter.com/MPruchnewski
Listen to the podcast on my YouTube-Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmNDo81K7jX7Thk0_NF_xng
More free stuff (books, PDFs, videos): https://linktr.ee/sapien_health
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