The Strength Log

How many calories do you burn lifting weights , and do you burn more calories if you use light or heavy weights? Also, should you even care about that when the main reasons for strength training are to build muscle and become stronger and healthier (plus look better naked)? Knowledge is power—and in today's episode, you'll learn what researchers have discovered when measuring calories burned durin...

Which is better for muscle growth and strength gains: unilateral exercises, where you work one side at a time, allowing for more focus on that particular muscle, or bilateral exercises, which lets you use heavier weights? Today, we're breaking down a new meta-analysis looking into this, and give you our practical takeaways. We also answer a few listener questions, see the timestamps below. One fin...

Last week , we gave beginners to the world of strength training our ten best insights and tips, to make the journey to success in the gym easier. Today, we answer some of the most common questions beginners have about starting to lift weights! Timestamps: 03:40 - Question 1: Protein is important. But how important are carbohydrates and carbs? 07:30 - Question 2: Do I really need to follow a progra...

If you are a beginner in the gym , wanting to learn how to lift weights, get stronger, and become more muscular, this is the episode for you. How should you plan your training? What exercises should you do? And which equipment is worth your money? In short, we discuss the ten things you should know for a successful strength training journey—tips that can save you from years of mistakes. If you alr...

Do you have a New Year's resolution prepared? Setting and chasing goals can be fun and inspire you to become better, but it's way too easy to set the wrong kind of goal—and then fail after just days or weeks. Whether you want to lose weight , hit a new PR in the gym , or create the habit of working out a few times per week, this is the episode for you. We discuss evidence-based methods for goal se...

We have a great episode for you today, powered by awesome listener questions! How about planning the road from a 100 kg bench press to a 200 kg bench press? Or what about active recovery, is it really a thing to sweat about? Ten questions, all in all. See the timestamps below. Timestamps: 05:10 – Question 1: How would you plan the road from a 100 kg to a 200 kg PR in the bench press? Roughly! 15:5...

The standing overhead press (also known as a shoulder press or a military press) is one of the most popular barbell lifts in gyms all over the world. But it's also a lift many people struggle with, ultimately abandoning it in favor of the bench press. So, how do you become a strong, successful overhead presser ? In this episode, we'll break down the best practice technique, look into some small de...

One of the biggest mistakes you can make in your training is not following a training program . Today, we're discussing why this is the case and how to find the right workout routine for you! There are many factors you might consider when picking a training program. We run through the following and give you our opinion on how much they actually matter: Your age. Your sex. How strong you are. Your...

Which exercise is better for building your glutes and quadriceps, the barbell squat or the hip thrust ? And which is better for improving your jumping and sprinting performance?  Today, we're discussing a new study that looked into these questions. And we follow that up by answering the following listener questions on hip thrusts versus squats: Why do training discussions always seem to be either...

If you want to become really strong, you'll also need to become bigger . But how much does your muscle mass correlate with your strength levels? And how should you train to optimize either one? This is a fascinating topic. To kick things off we have a new study examining the correlation between chest muscle thickness and bench press 1RM. Yes, yes, we know. Every person who confuses correlation wit...

How many sets should you do weekly for the biggest and fastest gains in strength and muscle size? How many workouts per week ? Is the sky the limit, where more training always leads to more muscle growth? Today, we cover a new meta-study that hints at what the upper limits of muscle growth, strength gains, and training frequency might be. *** Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-s...

In the last episode , we established that you can build more muscle mass while losing fat —even if you're not a beginner in the gym. Let's follow that up with a bunch of great questions on the same topic, sent in by our fantastic listeners! Timestamps: 05:50 – Question 1: I'm trying to be in a caloric deficit to lose body fat and lower my body fat percentage. How long can you be in a deficit of ar...

We've already done three episodes on fat loss (see episodes 20 , 21 , and 22 ). Now it's time to tackle the holy grail: How to build more muscle mass while still losing fat ! Most know that this is quite easy for overweight beginners. But what about the rest of us? Can it even be done without cycles of bulking and cutting? Let's discuss it! To help guide us, we will also answer a handful of questi...

Do you gain more muscle and strength when you change your exercises regularly, or can you keep doing the same ones all the time? That's the topic for today, and to kick the discussion off we have a fun new study on this subject! The researchers wanted to see if varying exercises (for the same muscle group) are superior to just doing the same exercises all the time, and recruited 90 untrained women...

It's time to wrap up the mini-series on training for bigger arms, with your best questions on how to succeed. Should you, for instance, train your arms daily for better gains? And how do you train if one of your arms is in a cast because it's broken? You guys had so many good questions today! See the timestamps below. And don't miss the last one, where we discuss muscle asymmetry between the left...

The triceps are one of the biggest muscles in the upper body, and for big-looking arms, they are more important than your biceps—making up around two-thirds of the muscular volume in your upper arms! Training the triceps is not as straightforward as training the biceps, and if you want big, strong triceps, you'll need to know the tricks of the trade. In this episode, we give you a quick anatomy le...

Here we have it, every man's (and quite a few women's) biggest dream: bigger biceps! Is it enough to only do pull-ups and rowing exercises for maximum bicep growth, or should you add direct bicep work too? After a short anatomy lesson, we present you with everything you need to know about building big, juicy upper arms, including exercise selection, training frequency, and different approaches on...

Wow, you guys and gals really sent in a bunch of great listener questions today. Thank you for making this podcast both informative and fun! How about talking about the concept of progressive overload for older lifters? Or about the often-claimed importance of having a balanced physique to avoid injuries? See the timestamps below for all listener questions. Also, we have merch now! Check out stren...

Last episode covered the three best fitness supplements to spend your money on, and three that might be worth it under special circumstances. We flip the coin today, talking about the most overhyped supplements for strength and fitness. Either because they have been shown to not live up to the claims of the supplement companies or because they can't be deemed safe for human consumption yet.  Does...

Which supplements are worth your money, and which are not? In this episode, we'll examine what the science actually says about fitness and strength-related supplements, to give you our list of the best ones. When all is said and done, not many supplements remain that are worthy of your money—the opposite of what supplement companies want you to hear. However, we hope you'll be interested in this k...

In the final episode of our trilogy on fat loss, we discuss crash dieting. Crash diets—also known as very-low-calorie diets and semistarvation diets—are very popular, and we're here to tell you exactly how stupid it is to go on one and expect sustainable results. Especially if you care about your muscle mass, which we do believe most of our listeners do. But can you do a successful crash diet, and...

In part 1 , we covered the basics of fat loss. Today, we continue this miniseries on training and eating to lose fat by answering your best questions on the topic. Is starvation mode real? How do you deal with the lack of energy on a caloric deficit? Is it a myth that strength training burns fat? How do you avoid regaining all the weight you've lost? See the timestamps below for all questions! Tim...

Losing fat is the most common fitness goal for both men and women. It's most commonly expressed as wanting to lose weight , but it's fat we want to lose – not our hard-earned, important, beautiful, and sexy muscle mass! In this episode, we teach you the basics about eating and training to lose fat. Should you count calories? What should you eat? How much protein ?  In the upcoming part 2, we'll ex...

For optimal quad growth, it's probably not enough to just train squats, leg presses, or similar exercises. This has been bro science for decades, and today we will discuss a new study that confirms this . The study had the participants train the leg press with one of their legs, and leg extensions with the other one. And the results of muscle growth in the quadriceps differed enough to make a long...

Training volume is a never-ending topic of debate. How many reps should you do when you want to become bigger and stronger? How many working sets?  We focused on reps in episode 5 , so today it's time to focus on our favorite way to measure training volume: the number of working sets you train at or close to failure for any given lift or muscle group. We kick things off with a new study from Brazi...