Eric Helms is possibly the most humble man in the industry.He is a coach, athlete, author, and educator. As a part of the 3DMJ Team he coaches drug-free strength and physique competitors at all levels. Eric has competed since the mid 2000’s in natural bodybuilding, unequipped powerlifting and recently in Olympic lifting. He earned pro status as a natural bodybuilder with the PNBA in 2011 and competes with the IPF at international level events as an unequipped powerlifter.Eric has published multiple peer reviewed articles in exercise science and nutrition journals and writes for commercial fitness publications. He’s taught undergraduate and graduate level nutrition and exercise science and speaks internationally at academic and commercial conferences for fitness, nutrition and strength and conditioning. He has a BS in fitness and wellness, an MS in exercise science, a second masters in sports nutrition, and is a strength and conditioning PhD candidate at AUT in New Zealand.In this interview I pick Eric's brain about his online coaching practice. We go into detail on two topics that I believe are the most under-discussed in the industry - progress tracking and the adjustment decision making process. Eric explains exactly what data he looks at, and the different principles that he applies when making decisions for his powerlifting and bodybuilding clients.Show Notes:- Andy's marvellous introduction of Eric. [0'00 ]↓ ON AUTOREGULATION [3'08~]↓- What are the uses of RPE training? [6'05]↓ ON ONLINE COACHING [12'10~]↓- What kind of clients do you work with? [12'15]- How did you get started in the industry? [17'10]- On client communication - E-mail vs video messages, note taking, spreadsheets etc. [19'05~]- "The pros [of online coaching] so greatly outweigh the cons in my opinion that it's worth it. [24'45]- How often do you get clients to check in? What specific data do you ask for? [28'00]- On the pitfalls of body-fat measurement devices: "It's an issue of validity and reliability." [33'30]- How do we tell the difference between muscle loss, fat loss, and water fluctuations? [37'05]- "It's very important if you ask someone to weigh in every morning - especially when you are dealing with physique athletes, who are more prone towards body image and disordered eating type of behaviour - to contextualise why. [To explain] that we do not care about the day to day fluctuations..." [39'40]- On the kind of data that Eric bases his adjustment decisions off of [41'20]- On the mechanical inefficiencies of getting leaner - "Believe it or not, as you lose fat off your ass, your bench [numbers] will go down." [42'45]- "Trying to discern how much of the weight change is muscle and how much is fat is very difficult." [45'00]- On muscle mass change in competitors when dieting for a competition: "At the beginning of the diet, you're probably putting on a little muscle if you're doing things right, in the middle you're probably not seeing much change, and then towards the end you're losing muscle, almost unavoidably if someone is 4 or 5% body fat (if you're a male). So really you're trying to keep as much as possible over the course of it, as a net."- "It's not all just nutritional math..." [47'40]- Eric's explains his fat-loss guidelines. [49'00]- "The way I track and make decisions for a bodybuilder is different than for a powerlifter..." [50'40]- On faster vs slower rates of weight loss. [54'00]- Where you can catch up with Eric and his team. [58'30]- When I say 'punchable,' who is the first person that comes to mind? [61'45]- If you could grant one wish for the industry, what would it be? [62'30]For links to the resources discussed, check out the show notes here: http://rippedbody.com/podcast-eric-helms/

Danny Lennon is the man behind the Sigma Nutrition podcast, which has grown over the last couple of years to become the best podcast on nutrition. Danny is a sports nutrition coach from Ireland, and he's interviewed so many people over the last year that I thought it was about time that people found out more about the man himself. We get into some interesting areas on improving diet compliance for coaching clients, and the nutrition mistakes of MMA fighters. I really enjoyed this interview and I hope you do too.The content can be quite technical and so there are a lot of coaches, academics, and trainers that really appreciate the work he does in getting his interviews out there.Show notes:- The challenges of describing to people what you do. [~1'05 ]- "If you keep putting out good stuff and keep helping people then eventually things take off." [~6'30]- How did you get into the industry? [~7'10]- "I don't think that people that aren't actually coaching should be writing about it." [~12'10]- "Some people want to have more complex plans than they actually need." [~13'50]- What would you say is the key value that people derive from coaching? - "It depends on their current level." [16'00]- "When coaches try to write their own training program, they second guess it all the time." [~17'30]- "It's important to have skin in the game." [~18'40]- How do you help to give a wealthier client the same level of buy-in without unfairly charging them more? [~24'40]- "None of my coaching is based on an hourly rate or fee per hour of time..." [26'05]- What do you mean by, "a traditional, punch yourself in the face, contest diet?" [~29'15]- The mistakes that MMA fighters make with their nutrition [~31'30]- "There is no way they can perform at their best with a low carbohydrate diet." [37'50]- Why should I not take my fat intake really low? [43'15]- Highlights of the EPIC Summit in Birmingham [~45'00]- The value of making industry connections in person [~47'40]- What has been your most rewarding experience thus far in your job? [54'10]- "I think everyone kind of feels like a fraud in what they are doing to a certain extent when they are starting out." [~57'35]- "When you start putting the emphasis on good quality content, and you keep repeating that over time, eventually, people start to take notice." [~60'40]- When I say "punchable" who is the first person that comes to mind? [61'50]- Tim Ferriss' podcast - praise and criticisms from a biased fan. [~63'40]- "It's not about the endpoint, it's the journey that people have to enjoy." [~68'00]- Charging per vegetable change in a meal plan!? [~72'50]- If you could change one thing about our industry, what would it be and why? [74'55]For links to the resources discussed, check out the show notes here: http://rippedbody.com/podcast-danny-lennon/

The guest on the show today is a good industry friend of mine, Greg Nuckols.Greg is the content manager for Juggernaut Training Systems, one of the biggest strength training websites in the world. He's also the owner of Strengtheory.com, a site that has exploded in popularity over the last year due to the quality and originality of the writing that he's putting out. In addition to being a very well educated and exceptional writer, he’s also an elite level powerlifter, with best lifts including 755 pound squat, 475 pound bench and 725 deadlift (so over 1900 pounds total). Greg holds one all-time world record, he used to have two more but those were beaten in the last year, and I know he is itching to get those back.I hope you enjoy this somewhat rambling conversation between two friends. We cover a lot of topics, not just on lifting, but on business, ethics, beer and Greg's terrible taste in music.Show notes- Greg’s surprising music taste confession-On beards & hipsterism- Q) What do you do? - "I try my hardest to not sound like a drug dealer"- Stephen Hawking, Wall-E, Big Boys Aren't Afraid To Cry- Greg's lifting world records & how genetics played their role- 'The Art of Lifting' and 'The Science of Lifting' - Greg's books- The credibility hit we take when recommending fitness products- Q) If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be and why? - "More transparency"- The power of honesty - "When I started doing everything wrong with my website is when things started taking off."- Don't do this for the money - "If you computed my hourly earnings over that 2.5-yearr span, even taking out all the social media stuff, I guarantee you I've averaged less than $3 an hour. You have to embrace the grind. You have to love what you are doing. If money is what drives you, you're going to have a bad time."- Sleep & stress - "The two best strength gain periods of my life were where I was sleeping an average of 11 hours a day."- Greg answers this commonly asked question: "If you know what you are doing with your training, why aren't you any stronger than you were two years ago?"- The importance of 'buy-in'- Andy's ultimate buy-in tool to get Greg shredded... and why it fell through.- Beer talk. "I don't make enough money to become an alcoholic drinking the beer that I like to drink."- The importance of training environment for strength and muscle gains. "The longer that you can think of yourself as weak, the less chance there for your brain to get in the way of you continuing to make progress, and I think that is a big benefit of training in a gym with really strong people."- "Beating my hero, Tavis Mash, flipped a switch. 'I went from thinking, 'I'm done,' to 'I can do anything!'"- How taking fake steroids can gain us size and strength if we believe they are real.- Why it's sometimes best to turn down business.For links to the resources discussed, check out the show notes here: http://rippedbody.com/podcast-greg-nuckols/

My first guest is Chase Erwin. Chase is physique competitor and trainer based out of Little Rock Arkansas. He coaches people online also.Today you’re going to hear us talk about both our training histories, the experiences that made him the coach he is today, how he overcame being skinny, and we discuss what really makes him tick – why he loves his job.Show notes: http://rippedbody.com/podcast-chase-erwin/

Welcome to the Rippedbody.com Podcast. I’m Andy Morgan founder and head coach at Rippedbody.com, and I will be your host.I originally started this podcast as an excuse to reach out to the best coaches and researchers in the fitness industry. I wanted to steal an hour of their time to ask questions so that I can refine my craft as an online nutrition and training coach.It has become much more than that though.Frankly, I’ve enjoyed doing this a lot more than I thought. I’m touched by the positive feedback these free-flowing interviews have received, so I’ve decided to do more.You’re about to listen to the first season.This is your chance to get to know these people, because in the coming seasons we will delve into much more specific topics with them, so that you can get a broad range of opinions from the top experts, on what matters for muscle growth and fat loss.These interviews are here to complement the no-nonsense nutrition and training guides on the site.We’re in our seventh year now at Rippedbody.com. I’m amazed and supremely grateful to say that as I record this, the site has been viewed over 11 million times, and our free nutrition setup guide has been downloaded nearly 60,000 times.If you haven’t read that yet, head on over to rippedbody.com and enter your email address, here: https://rippedbody.com/podcastNow one last thing. I coach people online, full time, and have been doing so since 2011. This is the main source of my income, and I love it. If I don’t my clients results, I get fired. This means I can only afford to talk and write about what works.So you’re not going to hear any one-sided dogma, nor will you get any supplement sales talk thrown at you, only solid, evidence-based, no-nonsense nutrition and training advice.