Weights and Plates Podcast

Many people (most?) get into fitness because they want to look better. At least, that's a primary reason. It's a worthwhile goal -- looking better is a gateway drug to performing better after all, becuase your performance (i.e. your strength and conditioning) drives your body composition. There is a big breakdown in what many people perceive as the ideal or even just good body composition, however...

It's that time of the year again, the uniquely American feast that is Thanksgiving. It's a time of feasting and festivities, but for a lot of people the feasting doesn't end when the holiday is over... it extends over the next five weeks until the end of the year. As Dr. Santana points out, there is some research that shows people tend to gain a few pounds over the holidays, then go back to eating...

In today's episode, Dr. Santana and Coach Trent discuss a common mistake lifters make before they begin a set -- the unrack. As Coach Trent says, the set doesn't begin when you descend into your first rep, the set begins when you step on the platform . Getting your mindset right, visualizing a successful set, and unracking the bar with authority and controlled aggression is oftentimes the differen...

Many people who start barbell training say something to the effect of "I just don't want to get hurt" when asked about their fitness goals. It's understandable -- no one wants to get hurt -- but the statement displays some ignorance about the reality of aches, pains, and sometimes injuries that occur during hard physical training. When we train with barbells, we are pushing our bodies to the limit...

One of the interesting consequences of the success of the Starting Strength methodology, and the growth in popularity of strength training in general,  is that genetically average people are lifting weights and sticking with their program for multiple years. No longer are only gym rats and serious athletes dedicating themselves to years of sustained progress in the weight room -- now there are 55...

It's almost a cliche now, that a novice trainee running the novice linear progression should "do GOMAD" (drink a gallon of milk a day). This advice is one of the most misunderstood bits of nutrition in the Starting Strength method, but it highlights an important fact -- to gain muscle, most people will need to put on bodyweight while increasing their lifts (a small percentage of very overweight or...

Testosterone is one of the hottest topics in the health and fitness world these, specifically testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). While there are legitimate medical reasons for TRT, it is also abused by those looking for an edge in improving their strength and physique, and some low T clinics are happy to oblige. Dr. Robert Santana and Coach Trent Jones share their thoughts on the recent popul...

We've talked about how an overweight trainee should approach strength training with an eye toward "recomping," that is, changing their body composition with more muscle and less fat. But what about very overweight or obese trainees? Dr. Santana and Coach Trent discuss their experiences training obese people wanting to lose weight and get strong in their novice phase of training.   Online Diet Coac...

When the upper body lifts stall, the typical programming answer is "add volume." Some do this by increasing frequency -- the number of times you perform the lift each week -- and some do it by adding more sets during each upper body session. Others do both! It's not bad advice for a lot of people coming off of novice upper body programming. Many of these lifters have low press and bench press numb...

Burnout is a common complaint, whether it's from work, family, extracurricular activities, or all of the above. It happens in training too. Train long enough and you'll notice people in the community who were once avid lifters fall off the map. Some quit for good, or only sporadically train, others find different sports and activities to pursue, and those who remain tend to be lifers. Some people...

While there are many good reasons to lift barbells and get strong, many people are motivated at least initially by the prospect of looking better. Improving their body composition, which means building muscle mass and losing body fat. For the average person, getting strong requires a lot of hard work and dedication, more than most people expect. Achieving above average body composition requires ev...

In the gym coaching real people, the knowledge and experience gained from years of hard work under the barbell pays off -- a person who has put themself under the yoke and actively learned to troubleshoot problems and adjust training variables is well prepared to help other people do the same. On the internet, however, the biggest total (or the biggest bicesps) wins.    Dr. Robert Santana and Coac...

Strength training demands a lot from a trainee, especially after the honeymoon wears off (i.e. the novice linear progression starts to get hard). It's hard work, short but intense, and involves facing fear on a regular basis. As you advance into intermediate territory, the time between PR's increases, and requires patience and persistance. The stronger you get, the more you have to pay attention t...

There's seemingly no end to the "evidence based" coaches out there nowadays making all sorts of claims about you should train, backed up by scientific data. Have you actually read any of the papers they cite to back up their claims? It turns out, there are numerous problems with the field of scientific research, from the actual design of the experiments to the reporting of data, the publishing pro...

To quote Mark Rippetoe, "women are not a special population, they are half the population." In other words, women fundamentally train for strength the same way that men do -- the same principles of progressive overload, using compound barbell lifts that target the whole body, and nutritional principles apply. There are a few exceptions, however, and that's what Dr. Santana and Coach Trent address...

Dr. Santana and Coach Trent wrap up their mini series on post-novice programming with an important discussion on understanding why you missed reps. The novice linear progression cannot last forevever (or else we'd all be squatting 1,000lbs!), and as the saying goes, all good things come to an end. This means that at some point, you'll miss reps. What do you do then? Some people have the impression...

Dr. Robert Santana and Coach Trent explore the Stress/Recovery/Adapation cycle (adapted from Hans Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome) and how it serves as a guiding model for programming decisions in the intermediate phase of training.   Weights & Plates is now on YouTube! https://youtube.com/@weights_and_plates?si=ebAS8sRtzsPmFQf-   Weights & Plates: https://weightsandplates.com Robert Santana o...

The novice linear progression (NLP, or LP for short) is a fun time in the training career of a lifter. Never will you make as much progress -- and as fast! -- as you will during LP. It's also brutally hard, especially toward the end. Nevertheless, it comes to an end for every lifter, and people often spin their wheels trying to figure out what to do once the simple A/B program stops working. In to...

For a variety of reasons, the predominant form of exercise in popular culture is endurance training. Endurance is valorized in the media, with sports like swimming and running receiving prime position in Olympic broadcasts. Military films often depict the hero enduring through miles and miles of trackless jungle and urban wastelands. The overarching experience of endurance training is pain , and p...

You've tried the templates in the bodybuilding magazines, from the bodybuilding sites. You've tried lifting like the big jacked, ripped dudes on social media... and it hasn't worked. You don't look like them, and your growth has stalled out. For some reason we accept that in sports, we shouldn't expect to perform like pro athletes without elite genetics and many years of training, but in fitness,...

Happy New Year! To kick off 2024, Dr. Santana and Coach Trent discuss the biggest ingredient to success in achieiving your fitness goals -- consistency. All the talk about programming and training splits and macros is futile if you aren't taking action consistently to meet your goals. Many people struggle with consistency, however, so they dive deep into the factors that influence consistent actio...

Dr. Santana and Coach Trent share some of the lessons they've learend about training, health, nutrition, and human behavior in 2023.   Happy New Year!   Weights & Plates: https://weightsandplates.com Robert Santana on Instagram: @the_robert_santana   Trent Jones: @marmalade_cream https://www.jonesbarbellclub.com  

A meandering chat about dog training turned into an interesting idea for strength training. Trainees are not so different from dogs -- they have different personalities, different motivations, and different "drives" -- and therefore they will respond best to a program that most closely matches their individual traits. An enthusiastic endurance athlete who regularly runs marathons or cycles long di...

One idea in the fitness community that just won't die is that you need to do high rep sets (10's, 15's, 20's) when the goal is to build muscle. What so many people miss in this conversation, however, is that the context matters . To start with, the lift matters! Squats for sets of 10 or 15 are probably not a productive use or your time, because the fatigue generated from heavy compound lifts usual...

    Mark Rippetoe and Marty Gallagher Interview (3 Parts): Part 1: https://youtu.be/siaDQdpQPRQ?si=jBBEqMFP6drd1mKm Part 2: https://youtu.be/TxjibbKJ8UE?si=YilgpD6MG6bxAGZG Part 3: https://youtu.be/RIe_7ODKycQ?si=6t5M2L88a0J7DvGV   Weights & Plates: https://weightsandplates.com Robert Santana on Instagram: @the_robert_santana   Trent Jones: @marmalade_cream https://www.jonesbarbellclub.com