Eat Train Prosper

Mike T. Nelson, PhD, MSME, CSCS, CISSN, is a research fanatic who specializes in metabolic flexibility and heart rate variability, as well as an online trainer, adjunct professor, Associate Professor at the Carrick Institute, presenter, creator of the Flex Diet Cert, kiteboarder, and (somewhat incongruously) heavy-metal enthusiast.  He has a PhD in Exercise Physiology, and a MS in Mechanical Engin...

Once again it’s time for the monthly Eat Train Prosper Instagram Q&A episode. This week is a monster ep with 27 questions answered. As always, thank you for the continued interest and questions submitted for this episode. These are some of our favorites to continue to do. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Life/episode updates 9:35 - Any changes to blood work panels since THC cessation? 14:18 - Pick only 3 mea...

We have heard the statement, “There are no bad foods.” But there are, however, contextually poor uses of various foods. In this episode we will break down when certain foods can be more appropriate, and less appropriate, and how these pertain to your goals. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Life/episode updates 16:05 - Understanding what your goal is can help you choose appropriate foods 20:43 - Potatoes are wond...

Part four of our series of episodes named the “Design Series.” So far we have covered the Upper Back and Lats, Shoulders, and Quads. In today’s episode we are covering Chest. We walk you through how we would approach program design for effectively training the chest based on three equipment availability tiers. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Life/episode updates  24:48 - What pushed Bryan and Aaron to work on t...

If you could only do 10 exercises for the rest of your life, which would you choose? That is the question we have been tasked with answering today. What’s cool is we landed on many of the same exercises OR very slight variations based on our individual preferences. 10 exercises to stay as jacked as possible for as long as possible. Here we go! TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Life/episode updates  23:39 - If you...

Kicking off the first of many Q&A episodes of 2024. The episode is a bit longer than typical, filled with questions and contextual answers for you to apply into your own diet and training. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Life/episode updates 14:48 - Upper push/pull day, does order matter? I.e., Chest/chest/chest then back/back/back, or better to do chest/back/chest/back etc…? 18:18 - What kind of ring is Aa...

This week we cover Aaron’s year long periodization that resulted in his best physique ever. We dive into the calorie changes, at which intervals, how much food increased or decreased. What hiccups occurred, and what indirect impacts helped or hindered the results. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Life/episode updates 12:07 - How it started 20:20 - The challenge of progressing in a surplus while traveling 26:11 -...

Kicking off 2024 with Part Three of the Eat Train Prosper “Design Series.'' In this episode we dive into programming for the quadriceps. In this design series we walk through how we would approach program design for various body parts based on three equipment availability tiers. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Life/episode updates 14:04 - The beauty and simplicity of quads 16:58 - Three movements to a...

Welcome to the final Eat Train Prosper episode of 2023. Our December Instagram Q&A episode. This Q&A is packed full of questions that are sure to help you kickoff your 2024 training and nutrition endeavors better mentally equipped with quality actional information. Thank you all for making our third full year of the podcast as fun and successful as ever. We are looking forward to kicking o...

In Part Two of the Eat Train Prosper “Design Series'' we dive into the anterior, and lateral delts at length. We paired the posterior delts in with last week's episode with back and lat training so we don’t cover the posterior delts again in depth. In this new series we walk through how we would approach program design for various body parts based on three equipment availability tie...

Part one of a new series of episodes dubbed our “Design Series” we kick off with Back and Lats. In this new series we walk through how we would approach program design for various body parts based on three equipment availability tiers. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Life/Episode Updates 18:00 - Aaron's walkthrough of topics 24:45 - One of the things that Bryan always thinks about when designing a program...

This episode is titled Thanksgiving Strategies where we cover our approaches to help ensure you don’t end up feeling negatively about decisions made on the upcoming American Holiday. Heads up this part of the episode is covered at the end. The first parts of the episode cover the November Q&A questions we couldn’t fit into last week’s episode. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Life/Episode Update 21:40 - Does...

Once again it is time for our (mostly) monthly Instagram Q&A episode. We cover 18 questions mostly around training and some personal questions this month. In next week’s episode we will cover 4 remaining questions that we couldn’t fit into today’s episode. How to gauge RIR? I find it so difficult, I just take every set to failure… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deDlhPmT2SY https://www.youtube...

This week's episode covers two larger questions. First, how do we recommend programming cardio around hypertrophy work for serious lifters like physique athletes? Then our individual approaches to rest days. Are we fans of active vs. passive rest days, how do we change our nutrition, any additional activities to facilitate recovery, etc. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Life/Episode Updates 24:39 - Cardio f...

Which is best? Rotating exercises, rep schemes, and intensities week to week? Keeping all of the aforementioned variables identical? Or is it possibly some combination between the two? This week we dive into a 2014 study that aimed to answer that question. In typical Eat Train Prosper fashion, we provide additional important insight into the design choices of the study, as well as our own personal...

Last weekend Bryan wrapped up his 50 mile bike race in Utah which he has been working towards for numerous months now. We recap his awesome first timer performance and he shares notable moments from the race, his lessons learned, and what lies ahead for him with new cardio pursuits. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Life/Episode Updates 15:37 - Race recap: Bryan's initial plans 18:04 - Bryan learns more abou...

Push Pull Legs, more commonly referred to as PPL is a popular training split that divides the body into thirds and is repeated twice per rotation. This particular training split has a lot of upsides, but it also has some downsides that present some interesting wrinkles when designing a PPL cycle. Bryan’s upcoming training cycle will be PPL based, so in today’s episode we present our PRO’s and CON’...

This week is our October Instagram Q&A episode and as always we have a gamut of topics to cover. We detail exactly what we both eat in a day, the optimality of a full body versus body part split training for hypertrophy, the impact on stimulus to fatigue ratio for training near failure or to total failure, how to reduce cardio volume while maintaining the higher level of fitness achieved, and...

In today’s episode we provide some advice and actionable takeaways derived from recent (and an applicable older) research regarding planned deloads. Then we dive into a recent infographic from Chris Beardsley and his plausible theory on why relative training intensity needs to increase as your training age increases. Links to resources discussed in this episode: https://sportrxiv.org/index.php/ser...

This week on the pod we present our reasons and cases for why we are not big fans of using percentage-based programming. Playing devil's advocate we also disclose when we believe there is a strong utility for using this style of programming.  Work 1:1 with Aaron ⬇️ https://strakernutritionco.com/nutrition-coaching-apply-now/ Done For You Client Check-In System for Coaches ⬇️ https://strakernu...

This week on the podcast we are doing a deep dive into both our current training protocols. Aaron in his Fat Loss Camp, and Bryan accumulating lots of cardio volume as he prepares for his 50 mile race in early October. There is a fair degree of new things in this episode that we haven’t previously shared before so this episode should be insightful for those curious. Thanks for listening! Work 1:1...

This week is our monthly listener Q&A episode which is a favorite for all of us. This months question topics range from signs of overtraining, early morning pre/post training meals, improving sleep quality, flywheel training, and when warrants changing training for a client in a deficit. Thanks to all who sent in questions! Work 1:1 with Aaron ⬇️ https://strakernutritionco.com/nutrition-coachi...

This week on Eat Train Prosper we are covering why you should not give up on your body composition or gain making goals just because you’re into your late 30’s, 40’s, or even 50’s. Many of the commonly held beliefs about plummeting ability to achieve significant hypertrophy are simply not supported by the evidence. We cover which areas to put your emphasis and efforts into, and what are the ACTUAL...

This week we have Brandon Kempter on the podcast. Brandon is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, with an MSc degree in Sports Nutrition Science, and has been competing in natural bodybuilding and coaching for more than a decade. We are excited to have this conversation with Brandon because of his unique positioning of personally competing at a high level, whilst coaching at a high level. This episode...

Another fire episode of our monthly Instagram Q&A series. We cover 22 questions in this episode ranging from: drawbacks to using cuffs for cable y-raises and lateral raises, the utility of mini cuts, upper body strength limiting lower body gains, and fears navigating a gaining phase with a history of being overweight. A big thank you to everyone who submits questions to become part of these mo...