Iron Culture presented by MASS

As you all know, we at Iron Culture have succeeded in becoming lifting cult leaders, which basically means we've failed at our previous attempts at having respectable jobs  (sorry mom). However, the good news is that we are experts on failure because of this. In this episode we do a deep dive on failure in resistance training, building on prior episodes to help you understand why this seemingly st...

We're back with another completely legit Q&A episode from 100% real listeners. Once again, thank you, Tommy, Tanya, and Tyrone. Omar was the highlight of this one, as the second question was specifically about using "questionable" marketing tactics, but in the name of good, to distribute evidence-based information, and whether doing so was ultimately helping people, or discouraging critical thinki...

Recently, the first systematic review and meta-analysis on the effect of autoregulation on strength and hypertrophy was published. In this episode we explore why this publication almost sent Eric into a proverbial dark cave without a pen light, never to return, and what realizations helped him find his way out. In this episode, we discuss that the promise of autoregulation is really Individualizat...

The hype around Vitamin D supplementation has waxed and waned over the years in the lifting community, but has overall, landed in a place where it's more or less universally seen as a positive supplement. But what is the state of the data? What can you expect as a lifter out of vitamin D supplementation? How do you measure vitamin D status, how reliable are these measures, and should we even be me...

Turkesterone and ecdysterone have garnered a lot a of interest as of late, and a number of notable folks in the evidence based community have done a great job pointing out the lack of evidence supporting their efficacy. For newer lifters, you might not be aware, but this isn't the first time these compounds have been hyped up beyond the evidence. Is this hope and hype founded? In this episode we'r...

Exercise selection, a multi-layered piece of cake that you don't have to eat all of to benefit from, but really, who eats just part of a slice of cake (weirdo)? For hypertrophy, it can be as simple as having a few compound exercises for each major muscle group, a few isolation exercises to round them, smaller muscle groups out, and training through a full ROM. But, what about the folks who tell yo...

Watch the Episode Here: https://youtu.be/99e5iFWZwEQ Deloads, sometimes called unloads, light weeks, or simply incorporated as phases of a periodized plan, are frequently discussed in the evidence-based community, but they actually have very little direct research behind them. If that's the case, why are these phases universally used? What principles are deloads based on? What sectors of research...

In this episode of Iron Culture, we're joined by Alex Tilinca. Alex is a young competitive physique athlete with an already impressive amateur career thus far, seeking to get nationally qualified this year and hopefully compete at the national level in the NPC in the Classic Physique division. He's also a prep coach at Scooby Prep, the well-known prep coaching company started and led by Jason Theo...

In this episode of Iron Culture, we do a deep dive on the topic of pre-workout carbohydrate intake. While the data on endurance training is relatively consistent in showing a beneficial effect on performance, it's more complex for resistance training. For strength and power, what you eat prior to training is probably less important, but when assessing the ability to perform volume, the data indica...

Watch Episode 1 Here: https://youtu.be/VHBTMm94yeM In this episode, we lean heavily into the history and culture side of Iron Culture and discuss ancient history, specifically, ancient warfare and its accompanying physical culture. For those who don't know, Omar teamed up with the History Channel to host a series that just launched on the History Channel's YouTube and streaming service titled "Anc...

We're kicking off 2022 by listening to the people. We, your humble cult leaders, are benevolent theocratic overlords, who want your voice to be heard (so long as you say and ask things that we approve of beforehand). That's right, we're back with another question and answer episode! In this episode, we discuss the differences between effort and exertion, what the latest data on frequency suggests,...

As it's said, truth is stranger than fiction. On Iron Culture we've pointed out multiple fantastical, claims backed by pseudoscience that were just gimmicks designed to make you buy something. But sometimes, things that sound gimmicky are actually legit. In this episode, we cover a number of them, like the surprising effects of visualization (AKA motor imagery) training on strength, the effects of...

Can you believe it's been nearly 3 years of running the cult? By this point, most people in our shoes would have had their final Kool-Aid party, ran out of followers after inaccurately predicting the apocalypse too many times, or simply had the law catch up with them after too much credit card fraud and polygamy. But nay! We still stand (err sit) before you, preaching the gospel THEY don't want yo...

We get questions all the time like "is squatting more than twice a week overtraining?" Or, "how much volume is overtraining?" But what is the actual scientific definition of overtraining, do lifters actually experience it, and what does overtraining result in? In this episode we do a deep dive on the topic of insufficient recovery, some of which falls under the umbrella of overtraining, and some o...

Chad Landers has over 30 years of experience as a personal trainer. He started as a young trainer, working for others as an employee or a contractor, as most trainers do, but eventually became a gym owner. More importantly, his gym has survived in LA, an incredibly saturated and competitive market, through both the mid-2000's financial crisis as well as the recent COVID epidemic. He's prioritized...

We're back with Part 2 of our discussion on "What the Fitness Industry Gets Wrong About Obesity", this time we move from a discussion about the divide between the diet and anti-diet narratives, and the role of the coach, and bring on a clinician. Dr. Spencer Nadolsky AKA "the doc who lifts" is an obesity and lipid specialist physician who works in the real world, on a day-to-day basis with his pat...

Returning guests Dr. Gabrielle Fundaro and Dr. Ben House discuss how the divide in the nutrition community spurred by the "diet" and "anti-diet" debates can potentially lead to inaction and subsequent unaddressed problems. When there is a passionate debate across a moral divide, data often goes by the wayside. This occurs when obesity-focused practitioners and researchers don't acknowledge pathway...

Are you useful? I don't know, but we've got the author of this amazing book back on! That's right, none other than physical culture revivalist Chip Conrad. This time, it's storytime as we catch up with Chip after our last chat way back in July of 2019. Learn how he used to spend weekends at Mel Siff's house talking exercise science in the sauna, how he interviewed all the strongmen champions compe...

Another duo episode? Some say it's because we've burned every bridge with every guest we've ever had on, but the truth is we just can't get enough of each other. In this episode we discuss how mental fatigue can impact training, based on some interesting research on the topic, and how being distracted in certain ways can potentially help skill acquisition. After this brief research review, we dive...

Velocity-based training, you've probably heard of it and have a vague understanding of what it is, but don't fully grasp it. That's about to change with this episode as we bring two experts on to discuss it, both of who are literally doing their Ph. D.'s on topics related to it. Landyn Hickmott, MS is a powerlifting coach, semi-pro hockey player, creator of RTS's new velocity-based training course...

The creatine kingpin, Dr. Darren Candow is back to update us on what's happening in the world of creatine research and explain the many myths that still prevail despite decades of published studies. How can creatine both dehydrate you and cause water retention? Does creatine really cause hair loss? Do you need to load creatine? Does it matter if you take it pre or post-workout? And is the optimal...

In this episode of Iron Culture, we address the questions "How long can I keep progressing or maintain my peak as I get older? and "What can I do to stay at my best for as long as possible?" After our previous metabolism myths episode, where we discussed how many age related effects come much later than most think, we wanted to do a follow up to focus specifically on performance, recovery, and how...

We've had medical doctors and physical therapists who specialize in lifting to dispel exercise-specific fears and myths around risk, outdated treatments, and reductionist narratives multiple times on Iron Culture. But, do you ever wonder why they have to dispel these myths in the first place? In this episode, Dr. Conor Heffernan, the strength historian, is back to teach us about the origins of the...

Hard work is undeniably an essential element of success in the iron game and life. Yet, while that is true, just like telling someone who is depressed to "cheer up", telling someone struggling with their progress to "try harder" doesn't help. Despite that, so much of our signaling on social media, our shared community values, and our identities as lifters come down to expressing, celebrating, and...

It's all downhill when you hit years old!" is one of the most heard phrases by not yet middle-aged lifters at family events. But is that true? In this episode we address "metabolic myths" related to energy expenditure changes over the lifespan, so-called "differences" between the sexes, and also cover some crazy realities like the true extent of individual differences in energy expenditure, and ho...