50% Facts

Another great Friday question from our Discord. Lucas Franco asks: How important/ over-hyped is "weak-point" training and do people/coaches over-obsess and misdiagnose them when the solution may be to just get stronger? That being said, when targeting weak points, do you look at the movement or the muscle for additional training (i.e. more triceps training for a weak bench lockout vs partial ROM v...

As with (pretty much) any story, the Chris Rock/Will Smith incident has more than one side. But does any of it matter beyond being an ugly incident in a crappy telecast of the Oscars? Does anyone bat an eye if the same thing happened in a bar on Saturday night? How many of us knew that Jada had alopecia and Chris Rock had Non-Verbal Learning Disorder going in? We try to take a look at what’s actua...

We got what was really a cluster of fun (and related) questions from Keith Honeycutt on our Discord: (See link below to join.) Will time travel ever be possible? Would you want to travel in time? When would you like to visit? If you could have lunch with anyone in the world alive or dead who would it be? (Excluding family and friends that have passed.) If time travel is possible in the future woul...

We’re not strongman competitors or boxers for that matter, but we do pay attention to what moves the needle on awareness of strength sports in the general population. On March 19, 2022, Hafþór Björnsson, the 2018 World’s Strongest Man met Eddie Hall, the 2012 World’s Strongest Man in a boxing exhibition streamed for free around the world. (Spoiler: Hafþór won by unanimous decision.) Both men state...

Another good question from our Discord. (See link below to join.) User “DrillPressed” asked if it was better to be confident and wrong or hesitant and right? And how do those states apply to the “fake it ‘till you make it” mindset? If you wait until you know exactly what you’re supposed to do, will you ever get started? Have a question for us? Hit us up on social media and use the hashtag #onegood...

Is there any science behind all the little things we habitually do before a big lift, a tough training session, a meet, or any other kind of performance? Do they help keep us calm, make us more likely to succeed, or better able to handle failure? We kick things off with a spirited discussion about olive oil, and episode 2 of Winning Time. Listener resources: Why Rituals Work. More about Winning Ti...

Why do some pro athletes end up doing silly exercises with coaches whose qualifications seem mostly revolve around their social media following? Is it clout-seeking? Is it boredom with more conventional programs? This question came from a member of our 3SB discord, and we take our best shot at breaking it down. Have a question for us? Hit us up on social media and use the hashtag #onegoodquestion....

The “Showtime” era of the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s probably saved professional basketball and created the NBA as we know it today. The sport was quickly falling out of the mainstream of American sports conscience. CBS was delaying the broadcast of games, and was thinking about dropping coverage altogether. Basketball was just boring. We took a look at the first episode of the 10-part HBO se...

Piggybacking on our previous episode where we took a 300 question personality assessment, we reflect on how different personality traits may influence how people train (and live their lives). Is it possible to change aspects of your personality by changing how you train, or vice versa? Have a question for us? Hit us up on social media and use the hashtag #onegoodquestion. Listener resources Take t...

So last year we took a test to see if either of us is a sociopath. We came out OK on that one, so we thought we’d give a full, 300 question personality assessment a go. No, not the Myers-Briggs. This assessment is from Personalityassessor.com and was developed by Nathan W. Hudson, an assistant professor of psychology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. The assessment measures five a...

We asked you for suggestions for a single question you’d like to hear us cover in one shorter episode. @arrogantfool asked us on Instagram, “How, as a dad who lifts, should we approach getting our kids under the bar? 'force' them? Just encourage?" We try to break this question down and offer up some strategies. Based on our experience, it starts with crossing your fingers… Have a question for us?...

Specifically, why does the general public get so excited about the bench press record? We kick around this question in light of the recent 804 lb. training press by Danial Zamani. We talk about being present for Eric Spoto’s 722 lb. recording-breaking press almost 9 years ago…in the very building where we are sitting as we record. We also discuss how fucking amazing Euphoria is this season, talk a...

Are big bulks or big cuts worth it? Will you get what you want out of them or do they (almost) always go bad. And if you’re on a bulk, how many glizzies can you eat in 48 hours? We throw out some opinions on this and share some ideas about sticking to extreme diets in general. Dean Saddoris of Caffeine & Kilos joined us in this discussion. You can find Dean on IG @deansaddoris.ck and at caffeinean...

A grab bag of topics, including conversation about a new study linking moderate, “short term” calorie restriction and its impact on life span and “health span.” We also take a look at a motorized lunch box/ice chest that will follow you around so you don’t have to carry it, rate the Super Bowl halftime, and stand in judgment of a workout video posted featuring the star of the new Reacher series, b...

Maybe the biggest fitness mistake is not committing to being fit, but what were the biggest mistakes we made once we made that commitment? Where did we waste our time/money/both? Listen and see if you did some of the same crazy stuff we did. Dean Saddoris of Caffeine & Kilos joined us in this discussion. You can find Dean on IG @deansaddoris.ck and at caffeineandkilos.com, along with our gym manag...

Sam Schaefer is an adaptive and inclusive trainer, a fairly recent below-the-knee amputee – but and first and foremost, he’s an athlete. He shares the story of how he pushed himself forward through over nine years of constant, unrelieved pain, and how the decision to remove part of his leg was easier than most of us would think. Now, he now hopes to help shape how competitive organizations and the...

Standing at the crossroads of the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics, a few weeks from the NBA All-star game, and a likely delayed MLB season, this seemed like a good time to debate which sport is the most athletic. We came to a consensus pretty quickly on the most, but the next sports on the list are definitely open questions. Dean Saddoris of Caffeine & Kilos joined us in this discussion. You can f...

This discussion started with a basic question: If Olympic weightlifting is really leaving the Olympics, will a mass audience ever be able to watch it again, and will it even survive? This brought up a larger question: Which of the current (or future) underground sports would actually work on TV or streaming? This one got a little off the rails, but it was worth brainstorming what makes a sport int...

Roadrunner -- A Film About Anthony Bourdain, was released in July of 2021. It documents the rapid rise of a middle-aged chef, turned writer, turned TV host who took us along as he sampled foods that most of us would never taste…in locations most of us would never see in person. Though he lived a successful life that many found people found inspiring, Bourdain took his own life. The film touches up...

Due to some production scheduling stuff, we’re flipping the script this week and dropping a Topic Thunder episode on a Wednesday and a regular episode on a Friday. Is nothing sacred? And speaking of sacred, which sports should allow its athletes to use TRT while competing? Is it always cheating? Is there any way to truly monitor TRT to make sure the system’s not being gamed? Dean Saddoris of Caffe...

After our conversation with Garrett Fear in the previous episode, we kicked around some additional ideas about the viability of powerlifting as entertainment for “gen pop” audiences. We also talked about what we watched during our holiday break. Is anyone else finding Boba Fett boring? Join our Discord for free! Check out our gym (Third Street Barbell) at ThirdStreetBarbell.com and subscribe for u...

Can the next generation of powerlifters (and powerlifting promoters) finally bring the audiences (and sponsor money) the sport has dreamed of? Garrett Fear thinks so, and he gives us some insight into how it might work. We kick it off with talk of PC vs console gaming and standup comedy. You can find Garrett on Instagram @notnotgarrettfear Join our Discord for free! Check out our gym (Third Street...

If a sport requires a physical performance that is measured against other competitors, can bodybuilding really be a sport? Or is the actual sport in the preparation? Or is it more like a pageant or even a dog show? We’re totally unqualified to answer these questions, but that didn’t keep us from having opinions. Dean Saddoris of Caffeine & Kilos joined us in this discussion. You can find Dean on I...

Full-length Wednesday episodes return next week!   As powerlifters, we've observed the impact that CrossFit has had on general fitness, weightlifting, powerlifting, etc. On balance, its influence has been pretty positive, right? So why did/do so many people hate and make fun of it?  Dean Saddoris of Caffeine & Kilos joined us in this discussion. C&K has been heavily associated with both CrossFit a...

Which one thing do you think we’d be better off without? Is it a social media posturing? A training method? A useless supplement? Or is it just the ways that “fitness” is sold to us? Dean Saddoris of Caffeine & Kilos joined us in this discussion. You can find Dean on IG @deansaddoris.ck and at caffeineandkilos.com, along with our gym manager, Kyle Castro @kyle.castroo. Check out our gym (Third Str...