Lift Free And Diet Hard with Andrew Coates

Dr Emily Dow has been taking fitness and nutrition media by storm with her detailed and nuanced takes. She’s a great example of an emerging powerhouse with the education and credibility to help everyone, someone I was thrilled to have as a guest and share with everyone. Emily shares her expertise on: Is creatine safe during pregnancy Should people use creatine What are the proven benefits and over...

Author, personal trainer, and prolific fitness industry educator Dean Somerset returns as we film live in person (watch on YouTube or Spotify). Dean shares his experience with: Is it reasonable to expect to live completely pain free for life What acute factors increase injury risk His best practices to minimize injury risk How to communicate with clients dealing with pain How to manage and work ar...

Dr Katie Dabrowski returns to educate on the magnitude of the role metabolic health and obesity play in injury risk and rehab. Katie shares expertise on: Defining metabolic health The importance of addressing the full picture of a person and not just the localized site of pain and injury The mechanisms behind how excess body fat can increase injury risk and pain, and hinder rehab What “poor tissue...

Cody McBroom is a sports nutritionist, personal trainer, and founder of Tailored Coaching Method. Cody joins me to share his thoughts on: Will AI like ChatGPT help people get healthier, stronger, lose weight, or is it just another way for people to consume info without acting on it How will AI integration in fitness apps help end users How creating your environment helps Why “pre-deciding” is powe...

Jon Heck is a sought after strength and nutrition coach who’d previously worked for 9 years in Division 1 and NFL strength and conditioning. Jon joins me with lessons and expertise in: How to structure fat loss phases Working with people seeking to lose substantial body fat Why Jon always starts with strength training and step counts with fat loss Can you hold the simultaneous goals of high perfor...

Jason Brown returns in a unique episode where he opens up about some of the behind the scenes pressure and challenge of being a fitness professional including: His struggles with being pulled in multiple directions between coaching and educating Why he shut down his programming course after a successful launch Getting clear on what lights him up vs what doesn’t fulfill him and causes stress Alignm...

Cillian O’Connor is a strength coach with a masters of strength and conditioning who joins me to share his skill and philosophy about: Does your training split really matter Why trying to over optimize training programs and lifestyle usually leads to failure Why starting with an extreme approach may be an intentional or subconscious way to prove someone isn’t the type of person who can be fit and...

Dr Tommy Wood is a leading authority on neurodegenerative disease, cognitive health and decline, and related lifestyle interventions. Tommy has a medical degree from the University of Oxford, and a PhD in physiology and neuroscience. I believe every guest and episode are excellent, but this episode and topic are off the charts for importance and valuable information. Everyone should care about the...

Elizabeth Davies is the author of Training For Your Old Lady Body and famous for the quote: “Training for my summer body? Fuck no. I’m training for my old lady body. Dense bones, strong muscles, a healthy heart, good balance, functional independence.” Elizabeth joins me to share her thoughts and experience about: What is SkinnyTok and why it’s dangerous The cycles of body image standards and why c...

Sheridan Skye is a pre-and postnatal coaching specialist and educator and joins me to share her expertise about: Is resistance training safe for pregnant women Do mom and baby have better outcomes when the mother works out Why some physicians might be hesitant to advise their clients to workout during pregnancy Are there medical conditions where women should avoid or approach working out with caut...

Robert Linkul is the master of Training the Older Adult and returns with more lessons about working with this population, including: -How Robert’s own extensive medical history helps him relate to the injuries and restrictions of older populations -How we as coaches think about our own aging, and eventual shift into this demographic, and how we approach our training to prepare -Why he doesn’t plan...

Gareth Sapstead, my long time T-Nation writing peer joins me to talk about his new book (which I contributed to) and share wisdom and experience about:-Where to start if you look in the mirror and you’re not happy with what you see-How to approach your training and nutrition if you want to change your life-How social support matters if you’re aiming to change your life and health-Thinking in terms...

Josh Hillis returns with more of his eating skills mastery and shares thoughts on: -The sheer number of holidays and special occasions that end up justifying off track eating behaviour -How to approach special occasions without falling off track -Understanding the skill of being able to notice when you’re full and stop -Understanding the skill of being willing to sit with the feeling of wanting mo...

Dr Natasha Barnes returns to share her expertise on climbing and strength training and how these principles apply broadly to everyone, including thoughts about: -Are lighter climbers better climbers -The problem with focusing on weighing less as a performance enhancer in climbing -Is disordered eating more prevalent in climbing and weight class sports? -Are more climbers coming around to the value...

Dr Lauren Colenso-Semple is back to tackle a series of current trends, narratives, and pseudoscientific claims in fitness and wellness, including: -Is there any quality human research on “wellness peptides” -What are wellness peptides -Why are they becoming more popular -Is there any evidence to suggest that muscle building is any different for women than men -Is there any evidence that birth cont...

Susan Niebergall - author and one of the most visible female fitness authorities in the industry - returns to share her wisdom on aging, strength, recovery, metabolism, and redefining what women should strive for physically. In this episode, Susan and Andrew discuss how cultural messaging pushed generations of women toward being skinny instead of strong, how strength training changed her recovery...

Nick Shaw — CEO of RP Strength, author, and IFBB Pro Bodybuilder — returns to the show to discuss how the “science-based lifting” space evolved from education into competing ideologies. In this episode, Nick and Andrew break down what actually matters for building muscle, why online hypertrophy debates have become tribal, and how context — including training age, anthropometry, and life constraint...

Please enjoy this rare bonus Saturday episode with Stefan Gehrig, founder of KNKG - my favourite gym bag and duffel company. Stefan also holds a PhD in Muscle Biology and worked in research studying muscle wasting disorders before pivoting into entrepreneurship. While he no longer works directly in academia, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to ask valuable questions about his expertise in mus...

Alex Effer is a clinical exercise physiologist and biomechanics educator. Instead of getting your biomechanics education from TikTok, this episode brings one of the industry’s most thoughtful teachers to break down what actually matters - and what doesn’t - when it comes to understanding how your body moves. THIS EPISODE COVERS: How much a basic understanding of biomechanics actually matters for t...

Luke Hanna holds a Master’s degree in Obesity and Clinical Nutrition and a degree in Sport and Exercise Science. He has become one of my favourite authorities on evidence-based nutrition. Luke joins the podcast to break down the controversy surrounding the new American food pyramid - what it gets right, where it falls short, and why most people won’t follow it regardless. THIS EPISODE COVERS: The...

Dr. Christle Guevarra is a board-certified physician in family and sports medicine and an expert in GLP-1 agonist medications and other weight loss drugs. Christle returns to take us through a deeper dive into the rapidly evolving world of weight loss medications, including new drugs in development, societal implications, influencer narratives, and what patients should actually be thinking about w...

Dr. Supriya Joshi is a gastroenterologist, hepatologist, and lecturer at the University of Toronto. She joins the show to share her expertise on liver health and to clarify many of the misconceptions surrounding alcohol, fatty liver disease, insulin resistance, supplements, and environmental risk factors. In this episode, Dr. Joshi breaks down what Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is, why...

Brad Stulberg returns to the show to share lessons from his newest book, The Way of Excellence. In this episode, Brad joins Andrew Coates to explore what excellence actually means for everyday people — not elite performers chasing perfection, but normal humans trying to live well, work with purpose, and avoid burning out in a noisy, overstimulating world. This conversation unpacks the difference b...

Jonathan Goodman is one of the most influential thought leaders and entrepreneurs in the fitness industry. After years of building businesses and platforms, Jonathan has now made writing books his primary focus. In this episode, Jonathan joins Andrew Coates to unpack the ideas behind his new book, Unhinged Habits, and to challenge some of the most sacred advice in personal development — especially...

Shona Vertue combines her background as a strength coach, yoga teacher, and psychology graduate to coach and educate people across the world. In this episode, Shona joins Andrew Coates to explore what yoga and Pilates actually are, what they do well, and where they may fall short if used as the only training method—especially as we age. This conversation moves beyond surface-level takes to examine...