Latest / Wits & Weights | Strength & Fat Loss Over 40 / Epic Q&A - 30 Nutrition & Training Questions Answered with Spartan Efficiency | Ep 300

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Epic Q&A - 30 Nutrition & Training Questions Answered with Spartan Efficiency | Ep 300 · Wits & Weights | Strength & Fat Loss Over 40

• 0:01
  Philip Pape: Have you been hitting the gym for years but still don't look like you lift?
• 0:04
  Philip Pape: Are you confused by all the conflicting advice about protein timing, cardio killing gains and whether creatine is worth it?
• 0:11
  Philip Pape: Like King Leonidas facing the seemingly infinite hordes of fitness misinformation, do you wish you could just cut through it all with a simple this is science.
• 0:21
  Philip Pape: Today we're celebrating our 300th episode by standing against the Persian army of fitness myths, not with 300 Spartans, but with 30 razor sharp answers to your most burning questions about building muscle, losing fat and optimizing your metabolism.
• 0:36
  Philip Pape: From whether Instagram physiques are achievable to killing junk food cravings and training to failure, we're going to cover it all today with the brutal efficiency of a Spartan phalanx.
• 0:45
  Philip Pape: So prepare yourself for glory.
• 0:47
  Philip Pape: I mean gains, because tonight we dine on protein.
• 1:02
  Philip Pape: Welcome to Wits and Weights, the show that helps you build a strong, healthy physique using evidence, engineering and efficiency.
• 1:09
  Philip Pape: I'm your host, philip Pape, and today we are nerding out and celebrating a massive milestone our 300th episode.
• 1:18
  Philip Pape: That is right 300 episodes of science-based, no-nonsense fitness and nutrition advice to help you build muscle, lose fat and optimize your metabolism, and so much more.
• 1:28
  Philip Pape: And what better way to celebrate that than to channel our inner Spartans from Zack Snyder's visually incredible, if historically questionable, epic 300.
• 1:40
  Philip Pape: Just as King Leonidas and his 300 elite warriors held the narrow pass at Thermopylae, we'll be using the narrow pass of scientific evidence which is pretty narrow at times given all the influencers that are out there to fight back against the Xerxes of fitness myths, the immortal supplement hucksters, the cardio and carb fear mongers and the eat clean or die zealots.
• 2:04
  Philip Pape: We may not have rippling CGI enhanced eight packs, we might not fight in anything but red capes and leather speedos, but we do have some weapons peer-reviewed research evidence, practical experience that are far more effective in the real world.
• 2:20
  Philip Pape: Before we dive into this battle against fitness myths and confusion, I want to take a moment to thank you taste of what people are experiencing with the show.
• 2:47
  Philip Pape: We have one review from Matko Haig who says Philip helped me with my workouts.
• 2:51
  Philip Pape: I was afraid to push more weight because of my injuries, but that's what helped me feel a lot better.
• 2:55
  Philip Pape: I listen to all of his podcasts now.
• 2:57
  Philip Pape: Love to hear that when someone takes the advice and helps improve their life with it, including getting past some of those fears.
• 3:04
  Philip Pape: Another reviewer, jeff, said Philip does a fantastic job breaking down the fitness industry and helping listeners navigate weight loss more effectively.
• 3:12
  Philip Pape: His recent episode on how carbs, fats and proteins function in the body was especially insightful.
• 3:17
  Philip Pape: I highly recommend his podcast for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of fitness and nutrition.
• 3:22
  Philip Pape: Yeah, that was a fun one, that episode.
• 3:24
  Philip Pape: We explored what happens when macros go into your body.
• 3:26
  Philip Pape: I love to nerd out on that stuff.
• 3:28
  Philip Pape: Then we have a review from Alblamb.
• 3:31
  Philip Pape: Love the research-based advice and the vantage point from an engineer.
• 3:35
  Philip Pape: Feel like we speak the same language.
• 3:36
  Philip Pape: Super informative if you're looking to learn how to actually learn how the body works so you can create the adaptations you desire and not waste time on lies and fad diets.
• 3:45
  Philip Pape: Definitely worth a listen.
• 3:47
  Philip Pape: So those are just a taste of the reviews that have come in and I want to thank everyone who's ever submitted a review.
• 3:53
  Philip Pape: If you want a shout out and I haven't given it to you hit me up, send me an email.
• 3:57
  Philip Pape: Philip1l at witsandweightscom.
• 4:00
  Philip Pape: Every time I hear from a listener, it just makes my day.
• 4:03
  Philip Pape: It motivates me to keep creating content that helps you achieve your goals.
• 4:07
  Philip Pape: All right, let's get into today's q a extravaganza, because we are tackling an epic number of 30 questions Ranging from supplements and training to nutrition, to recovery.
• 4:17
  Philip Pape: It's all the things.
• 4:18
  Philip Pape: Some will be quick, others a little bit more detailed, but I'm going to try to keep them very Efficient and actionable so you can apply them right away if they're relevant to you.
• 4:26
  Philip Pape: Just real quick, before we actually get into the questions.
• 4:30
  Philip Pape: If you have a question about anything in this realm, I want you to go to witsandweightscom slash question.
• 4:37
  Philip Pape: That's the easiest way to get it to me and then I will definitely answer it personally via email and on a future episode, and I'll give you a shout out.
• 4:45
  Philip Pape: You can let me know if you don't want that.
• 4:46
  Philip Pape: Again, go to witsandweightscom slash question and I'll help you out.
• 4:52
  Philip Pape: All right, spartans of the iron, let's prepare for glory.
• 4:55
  Philip Pape: Today, as Delios would say, the Oracle's words stand as a warning.
• 5:00
  Philip Pape: Except in our case, the Oracle isn't some mystic priestess with questionable fashion sense, but our very own listeners who've sent in their burning questions.
• 5:08
  Philip Pape: I organized these into some categories and we'll approach them with the precision of a Spartan at least I hope so and instead of spears and shields, we're going to have research and evidence.
• 5:20
  Philip Pape: Remember no retreat, no surrender is great for the movies, but knowing when to adjust your approach is really the smartest strategy when it comes to fitness.
• 5:30
  Philip Pape: So let's start our battle against misinformation with some supplement questions from Helene, and she asked question one is creatine only for people who lift?
• 5:39
  Philip Pape: Absolutely not All right.
• 5:41
  Philip Pape: Creatine is pretty amazing, one of the most studied supplements.
• 5:45
  Philip Pape: It is known for how it benefits your training and your performance, but it has advantages for anyone who wants to boost performance in general not just lifting, including includes athletics, sprinting Um and it also has cognitive benefits that we're discovering.
• 5:58
  Philip Pape: Studies show that it may help with brain function, especially when you're stressed or sleep deprived, kind of in a way that we see adaptogens help some people like ashwagandha.
• 6:07
  Philip Pape: So, whether you are lifting or you want to just have more mental energy, I think creatine is great for anybody of all ages.
• 6:13
  Philip Pape: You take five grams a day.
• 6:14
  Philip Pape: If you want the cognitive benefits, you potentially want to take more 10, 15, perhaps 20 grams a day.
• 6:19
  Philip Pape: Kind of depends on your size as well, but it is one of the few supplements that I recommend to everyone and has solid evidence behind it.
• 6:27
  Philip Pape: Question two is caffeine necessary when you lift?
• 6:30
  Philip Pape: No, it's not necessary, nothing's necessary.
• 6:32
  Philip Pape: Is it helpful?
• 6:34
  Philip Pape: Yeah, I think caffeine is one of the best pre-workouts that exist.
• 6:37
  Philip Pape: That's totally natural.
• 6:38
  Philip Pape: It's found in black coffee and it's found in a lot of pre-workouts.
• 6:41
  Philip Pape: We know from the literature it can increase your power output.
• 6:44
  Philip Pape: It can improve your endurance, it can enhance your focus.
• 6:47
  Philip Pape: I mean, anybody knows this I drink caffeine in the morning.
• 6:49
  Philip Pape: I can tell that's my most focused time of the day.
• 6:51
  Philip Pape: Obviously there's other aspects and reasons why you don't have to do it.
• 6:55
  Philip Pape: It's like you don't have to eat before you train no-transcript.
• 7:10
  Philip Pape: But for training purposes, take it 30 to 45 minutes before.
• 7:13
  Philip Pape: Remember that it has diminishing returns if you drink it a lot and you get adapted to it, but it can be a good tool.
• 7:19
  Philip Pape: So yeah, it's not necessary, but it can be a helpful tool.
• 7:22
  Philip Pape: Question three which macro is the most important?
• 7:25
  Philip Pape: So this is like asking which wheel on my car is most important.
• 7:32
  Philip Pape: Right, they're all necessary.
• 7:33
  Philip Pape: But if I had to rank them, I'd say that protein is definitely at the top in terms of physique development.
• 7:36
  Philip Pape: We know it is essential to maintain and grow muscles.
• 7:40
  Philip Pape: It has a high thermic effect, meaning it burns more calories when you eat it.
• 7:43
  Philip Pape: It satiety, so it fills you up.
• 7:45
  Philip Pape: But really you want to balance your macros for your goals and that usually looks like a good balance of protein, fats and carbs.
• 7:52
  Philip Pape: Carbs fuel performance and recovery fats, support hormones and hormonal health.
• 7:57
  Philip Pape: The most important macro is probably the one that you're currently neglecting, and for a lot of people that is protein.
• 8:02
  Philip Pape: For others it might be carbs.
• 8:03
  Philip Pape: So take a look, track your food, know what targets are and you can get in the ballpark in terms of muscle protein synthesis.
• 8:25
  Philip Pape: It maybe gets a little bit overplayed in terms of its benefits, because if you're eating enough overall protein that 0.7 to one gram per pound of body weight you're already getting plenty of leucine.
• 8:32
  Philip Pape: If you have it from whole food sources or whey protein, whey protein is very high in it and for most lifters, if you you know, isolated leucine supplementation has minimal added benefit, kind of like EAAs, right, you're kind of wasting your money on that.
• 8:45
  Philip Pape: You might as well just buy whole protein, enjoy eating food and definitely creatine, like we mentioned before.
• 8:51
  Philip Pape: If you're fasted training, which I recommend to almost no one a small dose might provide a theoretical benefit, but then I would again just have protein, just regular protein anyway, because some people don't consider that breaking the fast.
• 9:02
  Philip Pape: Regular protein anyway, because some people don't consider that breaking the fast.
• 9:04
  Philip Pape: But yeah, it's found in pre-workouts.
• 9:06
  Philip Pape: So if you use, like Legion Pulse, for example.
• 9:09
  Philip Pape: L-leucine is in there, along with a couple other evidence-based compounds that we know can be helpful for a little bit of a boost in performance.
• 9:18
  Philip Pape: All right.
• 9:18
  Philip Pape: Next question Number five is creatine safe for people with high blood pressure?
• 9:21
  Philip Pape: So this is a good one.
• 9:22
  Philip Pape: Another creatine question, because people wonder about the efficacy, the safety, some of the symptoms.
• 9:27
  Philip Pape: The research currently says that it does not impact blood pressure in most healthy people and some actually show improvements in cardiovascular markers.
• 9:36
  Philip Pape: Obviously, if you have pre-existing hypertension, consult your doctor.
• 9:40
  Philip Pape: This is not medical advice.
• 9:42
  Philip Pape: Any supplement you're going to start, you should know your conditions, what the potential side effects are.
• 9:46
  Philip Pape: Talk to a doctor, monitor your blood pressure.
• 9:49
  Philip Pape: If that's a concern when you begin supplementing, start with a lower dose, stay well hydrated and also remember that creatine causes you to retain water, which is normal.
• 9:58
  Philip Pape: It's not a blood pressure concern by itself, but for anything you're concerned about, it's good to consult a doctor and also track these things.
• 10:04
  Philip Pape: Get the blood markers whatever makes sense.
• 10:06
  Philip Pape: Take your blood pressure, all right.
• 10:08
  Philip Pape: Question number six ATP versus creatine.
• 10:11
  Philip Pape: Why do some people, like Frank's saying, use ATP instead, and is it a viable alternative?
• 10:16
  Philip Pape: All right, atp, which is adenosine triphosphate supplements, that is the let's cut out the middleman approach, since creatine works by helping your body generate ATP faster.
• 10:27
  Philip Pape: However, oral ATP supplements have really low bioavailability because your digestive system just breaks down most of it before it even reaches your muscles.
• 10:37
  Philip Pape: There are studies that show some modest performance benefits, but they're very inconsistent and they typically require much higher doses than creatine.
• 10:45
  Philip Pape: Why did Frank Zane use it?
• 10:47
  Philip Pape: Well, the supplement industry was very different back in the golden era and not everyone had access to the research we have today.
• 10:53
  Philip Pape: So if you want results that have been proven by decades of research, stick with creatine.
• 10:57
  Philip Pape: It's cheaper, it's better research, it is more effective.
• 10:59
  Philip Pape: That's my answer.
• 11:01
  Philip Pape: All right, question seven are essential amino acids, eaas, actually beneficial for muscle growth or are they just expensive pee?
• 11:09
  Philip Pape: I would say more the latter probably a waste of money.
• 11:13
  Philip Pape: They might support muscle protein synthesis if you're training fasted or you have low protein intake.
• 11:19
  Philip Pape: In fact they probably do a tiny bit.
• 11:21
  Philip Pape: But if you're consuming adequate protein throughout the day, your total protein then the EAAs don't really provide any benefit.
• 11:27
  Philip Pape: Um, they're, you know, a waste of money.
• 11:29
  Philip Pape: They're not magical muscle builders.
• 11:32
  Philip Pape: Your body will use what it needs.
• 11:34
  Philip Pape: It'll excretes the rest If you have sufficient protein.
• 11:36
  Philip Pape: If you're not training fasted, you don't need them at all.
• 11:38
  Philip Pape: Even if you are training fasted I alluded to earlier, you still probably could just have protein before and or after and not quote unquote break the fast.
• 11:46
  Philip Pape: But that is not my world.
• 11:47
  Philip Pape: I don't recommend training fasted.
• 11:49
  Philip Pape: Just in general, I recommend having protein and carbs.
• 11:51
  Philip Pape: So put the money toward quality food, evidence-based supplements, like creatine we've been talking about, uh, and which is the last time we're going to mention it and the one exception, I think, is maybe vegans or those with very restricted diets who'd struggle to get complete protein, in which case I would try to address the protein issue itself.
• 12:07
  Philip Pape: All right, so let's move on to some training questions.
• 12:09
  Philip Pape: Question number eight how effective is training with heavy bands compared to free weights?
• 12:15
  Philip Pape: So bands, they are just a.
• 12:18
  Philip Pape: They're like a rubber band.
• 12:19
  Philip Pape: They're a way to create variable resistance.
• 12:21
  Philip Pape: They're easier at the bottom, they're harder at the top, like when they are stretched.
• 12:26
  Philip Pape: That is a strength of them.
• 12:28
  Philip Pape: It's also a limitation, because if you're trying to do some rehab, some isolation work, like pull-aparts, for example, band pull-aparts or some of the shoulder stuff that I use a band for in my house, I actually do that.
• 12:40
  Philip Pape: They're great, but they can't replicate, for example, the consistent tension of free weights throughout a movement's full range of motion.
• 12:46
  Philip Pape: Again, that's not a bad thing.
• 12:47
  Philip Pape: I've done a combination of weights and bands as well.
• 12:49
  Philip Pape: You can put bands on a deadlift or bands on a squat.
• 12:52
  Philip Pape: That's called accommodating resistance, and if you just isolate them, though, and you look at the studies, they show consistently that free weights produce superior strength and hypertrophy gains to bands.
• 13:02
  Philip Pape: But bands are great for travel, for home gyms.
• 13:04
  Philip Pape: I mentioned accommodating resistance, rehab, all of that.
• 13:08
  Philip Pape: They're a valuable tool in your arsenal.
• 13:09
  Philip Pape: I don't think they're a complete replacement for free weights, but you can argue with me on this.
• 13:13
  Philip Pape: There are band-centric programs where there's a lot of thought behind it.
• 13:16
  Philip Pape: You're using special types of bands.
• 13:18
  Philip Pape: It's really good programming.
• 13:19
  Philip Pape: I'm not gonna be dogmatic about it, but for the vast majority of people, just stick with free weights and you're going to have great results.
• 13:26
  Philip Pape: All right.
• 13:26
  Philip Pape: Question number nine Do you really have to lift heavy just to avoid having a dad bod?
• 13:32
  Philip Pape: I don't know how to answer this one.
• 13:34
  Philip Pape: I'm going to say do you have to?
• 13:36
  Philip Pape: Depends on how we define heavy, and if we're saying above, say, 80 or even 90% of your 1RM, do you have to no.
• 13:45
  Philip Pape: I think progressive resistance, progressive loading, lifting well above 30% of your 1RM, focusing on hypertrophy, could absolutely get rid of the dad bod if combined with proper nutrition, because ultimately you probably need to lose fat.
• 13:59
  Philip Pape: You need to build muscle, you need to lose fat.
• 14:01
  Philip Pape: However, I think the most effective route to that for someone new is to use compound lifts, fairly heavy, to focus on strength First.
• 14:08
  Philip Pape: I talked all about this in last Wednesday's episode strength versus hypertrophy.
• 14:13
  Philip Pape: Check that one out.
• 14:15
  Philip Pape: You've got to build muscle and maintain muscle when you're dieting.
• 14:18
  Philip Pape: You've got to avoid excessive fat gain and lose fat if you're overweight.
• 14:22
  Philip Pape: You want to progress and be consistent, right, you don't have to be a power lifter.
• 14:26
  Philip Pape: You don't have to be always strength focused on one or Ms.
• 14:28
  Philip Pape: You have to challenge your muscles regularly and keep your nutrition in check and you can definitely get rid of the dad bod.
• 14:32
  Philip Pape: So it depends on your goals.
• 14:34
  Philip Pape: Go check out episode two, 97, on strength versus hypertrophy, for deep dive into that.
• 14:38
  Philip Pape: All right.
• 14:39
  Philip Pape: Question number 10, what is the advantage of range of motion or ROM in lifting?
• 14:43
  Philip Pape: Should you focus on skeletal range of motion or muscular range of motion, which is safer?
• 14:49
  Philip Pape: This is an interesting one, because I really don't use those terms, I just use range of motion in general.
• 14:54
  Philip Pape: You know full ROM full range of motion typically builds more muscle because it creates greater mechanical tension throughout the movement and you hit the shortened and lengthened portions of the muscle, even though we know you could also get great results from focusing on just parts of the range of motion, and sometimes we do it deliberately right.
• 15:12
  Philip Pape: Full ROM doesn't always mean maximal ROM.
• 15:15
  Philip Pape: It means the optimal ROM for the specific exercise and also your individual.
• 15:19
  Philip Pape: You know biomechanics.
• 15:21
  Philip Pape: So for compound movements, skeletal ROM, like getting full depth in a squat, is very important.
• 15:27
  Philip Pape: For an isolation exercise, muscle ROM, like feeling the stretch and contraction, might be important, and you know safety comes from proper form within your capabilities and forcing yourself into some range that your body cannot handle.
• 15:41
  Philip Pape: That.
• 15:41
  Philip Pape: That's where injuries happen.
• 15:42
  Philip Pape: But the best approach is master technique and then increase ROM as you get better at that specific lift so that you're full ROM for most movements.
• 15:51
  Philip Pape: All right, number 11, do you need to lift heavier and heavier to keep gaining muscle, or is there another way to progress?
• 15:57
  Philip Pape: All right, this is a confusing thing for people because we talk about progressive overload, which is is a non-negotiable Like.
• 16:04
  Philip Pape: You have to.
• 16:05
  Philip Pape: You have to progressively increase the challenge to continue gaining.
• 16:09
  Philip Pape: But getting heavier on your weights is just one form of that.
• 16:14
  Philip Pape: You can increase your volume, which is sets, times, reps.
• 16:17
  Philip Pape: You can even improve your execution quality, especially when you're newer and get more efficiency from your lifts and have results that way.
• 16:24
  Philip Pape: That's more of a neuromuscular thing.
• 16:26
  Philip Pape: You can shorten your rest periods.
• 16:27
  Philip Pape: You can increase just your reps.
• 16:30
  Philip Pape: You can even add frequency.
• 16:31
  Philip Pape: There's a lot of ways the body responds to novel stimuli, right Increased challenge in all of its forms.
• 16:37
  Philip Pape: So as you advance the weight increases are going to naturally slow down.
• 16:40
  Philip Pape: You can't just forever get stronger, but you can keep progressing and build your muscles slowly over time and then build strength and then build muscle, build strength and kind of periodize over time to get bigger and stronger until you pretty much hit your genetic limit, which, I'll be honest, most people never do.
• 16:55
  Philip Pape: So the answer is no, you don't need to.
• 16:57
  Philip Pape: It's a great and simple way to do it when you're new.
• 16:59
  Philip Pape: But then eventually you go into advanced forms of progressive overload, which I've talked about in the podcast.
• 17:04
  Philip Pape: If you go to podcastwitsandweightscom you can search all our episodes and you can look for progressive overload and you'll see some good episodes on that, all right.
• 17:12
  Philip Pape: Question number 12, can you grow muscle purely from mechanical tension or do micro tears in the muscle need to occur?
• 17:19
  Philip Pape: Ooh, I like this one because again last week I talked about strength versus hypertrophy and the importance of mechanical tension across the full spectrum.
• 17:27
  Philip Pape: Mechanical tension is the primary driver of hypertrophy, that's the increase in muscle size, in muscle mass, which supports both strength and hypertrophy.
• 17:35
  Philip Pape: Past the newbie phase, microterrors, which is muscle damage, it's more of a side effect than a requirement or an input.
• 17:42
  Philip Pape: Studies show you can build muscle with minimal muscle damage.
• 17:45
  Philip Pape: And what's called the micro tear theory.
• 17:48
  Philip Pape: It's been somewhat overstated and that's why things like soreness are not a reliable indicator of effective training, because your muscles adapt to the tension that you play on them, regardless of whether you're sore afterward.
• 17:59
  Philip Pape: So I would just focus again on progressive overload, consistent training, rather than chasing micro tears.
• 18:06
  Philip Pape: Question 13, what's the deal with vibration plates?
• 18:09
  Philip Pape: Are they effective and who should and shouldn't use them?
• 18:13
  Philip Pape: All right, vibration plates, man, I think these have been around in some form or another for decades.
• 18:17
  Philip Pape: They are something you want to laugh at, but then, at the same time, they may not be completely useless for things like improving blood flow, enhancing recovery, providing some low intensity activation for people who are deconditioned, maybe for warming up, maybe for increasing circulation in injured areas, maybe as an entry point for people who are just extremely limited mobility, but they're not going to replace what we should be doing Resistance training, progressive resistance training to build strength and muscle.
• 18:45
  Philip Pape: I frankly don't give them a second thought.
• 18:46
  Philip Pape: I wouldn't even look into them.
• 18:47
  Philip Pape: For most people I wouldn't even consider them.
• 18:49
  Philip Pape: However, maybe you found a special case for them.
• 18:51
  Philip Pape: If you have bone density issues, for example.
• 18:54
  Philip Pape: It might be a negative for those things.
• 18:57
  Philip Pape: I have no idea, so I don't know much about them.
• 18:59
  Philip Pape: I don't recommend them to anybody.
• 19:01
  Philip Pape: This is not the podcast really to get into that.
• 19:03
  Philip Pape: Maybe I'll change my mind in the future.
• 19:04
  Philip Pape: That's all I have to say on it.
• 19:06
  Philip Pape: Number 14, when does overtraining actually start?
• 19:10
  Philip Pape: Is it just beyond the pump or is there a real threshold?
• 19:15
  Philip Pape: All right.
• 19:15
  Philip Pape: So overtraining, what is it?
• 19:17
  Philip Pape: It's a clinical syndrome that develops over months.
• 19:21
  Philip Pape: It's not just something that happens over a few days or weeks.
• 19:23
  Philip Pape: What most people experience in the short term is actually called overreaching.
• 19:26
  Philip Pape: That's where your performance dips and then it resolves in a week or two once you back off a little bit on your training or you increase your recovery.
• 19:33
  Philip Pape: Maybe you need to eat more, maybe you need to sleep more.
• 19:36
  Philip Pape: Whatever it might be True overtraining, which most people do not experience, it's very systemic, so you're going to have persistent fatigue.
• 19:44
  Philip Pape: You're going to have decreased performance Even when you're rested.
• 19:46
  Philip Pape: You're going to have mood disturbances, a higher heart rate, hormonal disruptions right, there's not like a universal threshold.
• 19:53
  Philip Pape: It's very complex, based on your training history, your ability to recover, your life, stress, like all of this stuff.
• 20:00
  Philip Pape: I recommend monitoring performance metrics and markers of recovery and biofeedback.
• 20:05
  Philip Pape: And if your performance is constantly declining, despite having addressed adequate rest, adequate nutrition, adequate carbs, adequate sleep, you're likely overreaching and should scale back.
• 20:16
  Philip Pape: But again, this is different than overtraining.
• 20:19
  Philip Pape: I think overtraining is kind of like the chronic version of lots and lots of overreaching.
• 20:24
  Philip Pape: All right.
• 20:24
  Philip Pape: Question number 15, getting us halfway through here.
• 20:26
  Philip Pape: How do concepts like go to failure, go heavy or go home and forced reps impacting natural lifter versus an enhanced lifter?
• 20:35
  Philip Pape: All right, so I'm not an expert in enhanced lifting, that is, using anabolics and other uh medications and compounds to get an edge.
• 20:44
  Philip Pape: Enhanced lifters are obviously able to recover a lot from higher training volumes, from higher intensities.
• 20:50
  Philip Pape: They have artificially elevated capabilities to do that.
• 20:54
  Philip Pape: If you're natural, training to failure on every set can lead to overreaching.
• 20:58
  Philip Pape: Because you don't have that enhanced recoverability, you're going to have central nervous system fatigue, you're going to have increased injury risk without the gains to go along with it, right?
• 21:07
  Philip Pape: So research at this point is clear that stopping one to two reps short of failure in most sets is going to optimize the stimulus to fatigue ratio and it's even further from failure on bigger, heavier lifts.
• 21:20
  Philip Pape: Occasional failure sets are fine, right, like we do them all the time.
• 21:24
  Philip Pape: If you're doing barbell curls and you go to failure, that's great.
• 21:28
  Philip Pape: Intensity techniques, force reps, even cheetah reps, those are all valuable tools.
• 21:32
  Philip Pape: Myo reps, rest, pause, drop sets.
• 21:34
  Philip Pape: But I would use them strategically.
• 21:36
  Philip Pape: I would use them potentially just on the last set or the last exercise after you focused on the main priorities of your strength or hypertrophy program, maybe during deload weeks.
• 21:46
  Philip Pape: It's the accumulated volume over time that's going to build your muscle, not again how often you go right to failure or feel destroyed after each workout.
• 21:56
  Philip Pape: Question number 16, what is the threshold for overtraining and how do you know you've crossed it?
• 22:02
  Philip Pape: So we touched on overtraining a few questions ago and I mentioned that there's no universal threshold.
• 22:07
  Philip Pape: I also mentioned the warning signs like performance decreases, chronic fatigue um, that doesn't get fixed with sleep, elevated heart rate, et cetera.
• 22:16
  Philip Pape: But I wanted to bring it up here again because the thing I think you should be focusing on is having productive training and really having a lot of recovery and space.
• 22:27
  Philip Pape: Recovery and space and I use the word space to mean some of you are just doing too much.
• 22:32
  Philip Pape: Even when you're lifting appropriately, you're then filling in the days in between with lots of running or lots of cardio or, yeah, maybe you're not sleeping enough, maybe you're not eating enough, maybe you're under eating and then doing the wrong program while you're under eating.
• 22:44
  Philip Pape: So tracking recovery metrics like HRV could be helpful and your biofeedback on scores scales of one to 10, like your sleep, your stress, your hunger, your digestion and so on, your mood, even your libido, and when those scores are failing, despite the adequate rest and nutrition, that is when you've crossed the line.
• 23:00
  Philip Pape: That is the threshold to me.
• 23:01
  Philip Pape: Question number 17,.
• 23:02
  Philip Pape: Should beginners train differently than intermediate or advanced lifters, or is progressive overload always the answer?
• 23:08
  Philip Pape: Okay, so I'm going to say yes to both.
• 23:11
  Philip Pape: In other words, progressive overload is the principle no matter what, but the way that you train, the method that you train, will change based on your beginner, intermediate or advanced.
• 23:19
  Philip Pape: To achieve progressive overload?
• 23:21
  Philip Pape: Great question, because I'd love to make that distinction.
• 23:24
  Philip Pape: Training's gonna evolve with your experience.
• 23:26
  Philip Pape: Beginners are gonna benefit most from learning proper technique, having moderate volume but high frequency.
• 23:31
  Philip Pape: That means you're squatting a lot or you're benching a lot because you can recover quickly, focusing on the compound lifts because they're very efficient, they use more muscle mass, they recruit more muscle fibers, going heavier and focusing on strength and training your full body, usually three days a week, and you're going to progress not just weekly but every session as you master these movement patterns and develop that neuromuscular efficiency media.
• 24:03
  Philip Pape: And you need more volume.
• 24:04
  Philip Pape: You need weak point training.
• 24:05
  Philip Pape: You need potentially body part splits right, you need more accessory work, you need more medium and lighter intensity work for the main lifts and so on Once you become advanced.
• 24:12
  Philip Pape: Now you need periodization, specialization, specific recovery strategies like stretching out your training weeks.
• 24:18
  Philip Pape: There's so many things you know base and peak development, mesocycles and so on but progressive overload remains the same principle, no matter who you are.
• 24:26
  Philip Pape: It's just how you implement the changes right and a beginner is going to add, you know, five pounds to their squat every session.
• 24:32
  Philip Pape: An advanced lifter might add five pounds every six months to a year, right.
• 24:37
  Philip Pape: So they're still progressing, but the training variables that drive the progress shift as you advance.
• 24:42
  Philip Pape: All right, so let's move on to some nutrition and body composition questions.
• 24:50
  Philip Pape: Now we've got question 18.
• 24:50
  Philip Pape: How realistic is it to be muscular with six pack abs?
• 24:53
  Philip Pape: Is everybody on Instagram really on steroids?
• 24:56
  Philip Pape: What about those 40 or older?
• 24:58
  Philip Pape: Can they achieve that?
• 24:58
  Philip Pape: Look naturally, all right.
• 25:00
  Philip Pape: The Instagram physique, which I get flooded with it in my search tab, no matter, even if I try to search for things that have nothing to do with it, eventually it works its way back to just flooding me with these incredible bodybuilder style physiques.
• 25:14
  Philip Pape: They're pretty much all enhanced, right, and the massive muscles, they're shredded abs all year round, right For for natural lifters.
• 25:23
  Philip Pape: That is not sustainable.
• 25:24
  Philip Pape: You might get to that point for a brief period and if you want to do that, fine, have fun with it, figure it out.
• 25:29
  Philip Pape: It's fun to do that.
• 25:31
  Philip Pape: But the influencers most of them are enhanced.
• 25:34
  Philip Pape: Most of them are using favorable lighting or angles.
• 25:36
  Philip Pape: Many of them are just maintaining a specific pose or angle or condition.
• 25:40
  Philip Pape: Briefly, for the photos.
• 25:42
  Philip Pape: Actually, I appreciate some of the influencers who show what they look like five minutes apart based on two different poses and lighting.
• 25:48
  Philip Pape: You know, one case they look kind of frumpy and flabby and in the other case they're like jacked.
• 25:52
  Philip Pape: You get it right.
• 25:53
  Philip Pape: It's all manipulation.
• 25:55
  Philip Pape: But having said all that, being muscular with visible abs, you know, not necessarily dice-like like you know, totally shredded with vascularity, but really solid abs, it's totally achievable, naturally, even over 40.
• 26:07
  Philip Pape: There's no age limit.
• 26:09
  Philip Pape: I know a guy whose podcast I was on.
• 26:11
  Philip Pape: He's in his 80s, he's a competitive bodybuilder and he has abs.
• 26:15
  Philip Pape: It's just having enough muscle and low enough fat, which takes years to do.
• 26:21
  Philip Pape: You're not going to just reveal your abs immediately Now.
• 26:23
  Philip Pape: Could you cut fat down significantly and reveal abs without spending too much time building muscle, possibly based on your genetics, but for most people you got to train your abs and there are effective loaded ways to do that, and then you've got to diet down to have low enough body fat to show them.
• 26:38
  Philip Pape: But trust me, I mean myself.
• 26:41
  Philip Pape: I'm in my forties and every cycle I go through of building muscle, the abs are more and more visible at a higher body fat.
• 26:46
  Philip Pape: So it kind of takes precision initially, but then you can get a pretty impressive physique well into your fifties, sixties, beyond, by doing the things we talk about.
• 26:55
  Philip Pape: Question 19,.
• 26:56
  Philip Pape: Can you lift big without eating a ton of carbs, or do you need them for performance?
• 27:02
  Philip Pape: Oh, I love questions about carbs.
• 27:04
  Philip Pape: You can absolutely lift heavy on lower carb intakes, right.
• 27:09
  Philip Pape: Just look at any strength athlete in weight class sports who minimize carbs when they're cutting.
• 27:14
  Philip Pape: Look at myself right now.
• 27:16
  Philip Pape: I'm in a fat loss phase on very low calories, intentionally so, because I'm going aggressively for a mini cut and I'm still lifting heavy.
• 27:23
  Philip Pape: Doesn't mean I'm going to hit PRs, right.
• 27:26
  Philip Pape: There's a reason that carbs are the preferred fuel for high-intensity exercise.
• 27:29
  Philip Pape: They efficiently convert, or the carbs are converted to ATP and that helps with those explosive movements.
• 27:36
  Philip Pape: And studies always not always consistently show that moderate to high-carb intake optimizes performance for lifters and helps you build more muscle versus lower carb diets period.
• 27:46
  Philip Pape: However, the individual response matters.
• 27:48
  Philip Pape: If you're say, quote unquote keto adapted I kind of cringe at the term, but you're keto adapted or you prefer low carb for other reasons, you can definitely make gains, but then you have to really pay attention to your total calories, your protein timing, the carbs that you do have strategically around your workouts and maybe using only targeted, periodized approaches when you're talking about low carbs, but if it's not like a dogmatic thing that you feel you have to follow, just eat your carbs.
• 28:14
  Philip Pape: It's going to help you perform better.
• 28:15
  Philip Pape: You could definitely lift big in a fat loss phase while you're not eating that many carbs.
• 28:20
  Philip Pape: You just may not increase your strength or muscle, but you're definitely going to hold on to it.
• 28:24
  Philip Pape: All right.
• 28:25
  Philip Pape: Question 20.
• 28:26
  Philip Pape: We're getting there Two-thirds of the way through here.
• 28:28
  Philip Pape: Is it true that cardio kills gains or muscle?
• 28:32
  Philip Pape: What about heart health?
• 28:33
  Philip Pape: Is walking enough?
• 28:34
  Philip Pape: So cardio only kills gains when it creates a deficit in your recovery, when it impedes you from recovering or when it exacerbates your calorie deficit to push you into an extreme where you lose muscle.
• 28:49
  Philip Pape: Now it's almost hard to get there for a lot of people, because when you do too much cardio, your body will actually compensate by lowering your metabolism, but then what that ends up doing is forcing you to eat less to maintain a deficit.
• 29:02
  Philip Pape: That's what I mean, not that that cardio itself gets into a deficit.
• 29:06
  Philip Pape: So moderate cardio, especially walking.
• 29:09
  Philip Pape: Walking, yeah, it's a form of cardio, but cycling, swimming, can absolutely enhance recovery.
• 29:14
  Philip Pape: They can help with your work capacity, with your conditioning.
• 29:16
  Philip Pape: They can support muscle growth by helping with nutrient delivery, with blood sugar, with insulin sensitivity, the list goes on.
• 29:22
  Philip Pape: For heart health, walking is the foundation.
• 29:25
  Philip Pape: If you're hitting that like 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day, it is ideal, and then adding in once or twice a week some sprinting, is a solid approach.
• 29:34
  Philip Pape: Any other cardio it's really up to you how you're able to manage the recovery program.
• 29:39
  Philip Pape: It in keep it from being intense and separate it from, like your leg workouts and, ideally, from your training days.
• 29:44
  Philip Pape: But no, it's not gonna kill gains unless it kills recovery.
• 29:49
  Philip Pape: Question 21, why do we always have room for dessert, even when we're full?
• 29:54
  Philip Pape: Is there a biological reason for sweet cravings?
• 29:56
  Philip Pape: Okay, and I joked, I think I joked and I said oh, you mean the dessert chamber, like my family's joked about for years, where you could even be stuffed from dinner and somehow still have room for ice cream or that pie, thanksgiving anyone, or the holidays.
• 30:09
  Philip Pape: So this is called sensory-specific satiety, in case you want to label it Basically your taste buds.
• 30:15
  Philip Pape: They get bored with similar flavors but then they respond to new ones that are sweet, that are novel.
• 30:21
  Philip Pape: The food science industry absolutely knows this phenomenon because our brains evolved to prioritize energy-dense foods, especially sugar, when they are available, because they were rare in our evolutionary past.
• 30:34
  Philip Pape: And sweet foods also trigger dopamine, that's your pleasure-reward chemical, and that creates a feedback loop that makes you want to eat more.
• 30:41
  Philip Pape: Right?
• 30:42
  Philip Pape: So, physiologically, your stretch receptors in your stomach might say you're full, but your hedonic hunger system that's the pleasure-based eating overrides those signals.
• 30:52
  Philip Pape: When having protein first, having a drink of water, that reduces this effect when compared to, say, starting with carbs or fats.
• 31:09
  Philip Pape: So, yes, the answer is yes, there's a biological reason for this, but it doesn't mean you have no control.
• 31:14
  Philip Pape: Question 22, how do you kill cravings for junk food and actually feel satisfied with healthy choices?
• 31:20
  Philip Pape: So I thought this was a natural segue from the last question.
• 31:23
  Philip Pape: This is both physiological that means your body, your biology, it's also psychological in your mind, which are connected.
• 31:30
  Philip Pape: We know this.
• 31:31
  Philip Pape: So the first thing is to ensure your diet has enough protein, which you want anyway.
• 31:35
  Philip Pape: It keeps you full, it's great for muscles, et cetera.
• 31:37
  Philip Pape: Enough fiber, which helps stabilize blood sugar.
• 31:41
  Philip Pape: It's great for your gut, for your digestion, also for satiety.
• 31:43
  Philip Pape: Fiber which helps stabilize blood sugar it's great for your gut, for your digestion, also for satiety.
• 31:45
  Philip Pape: And people on carnivore are missing out on that benefit.
• 31:47
  Philip Pape: And also enough fat, because fat does increase satisfaction in terms of mouthfeel, taste and so on.
• 31:52
  Philip Pape: And so cravings often hit when we are under eating satiating nutrients.
• 31:57
  Philip Pape: It's interesting, right, because you would think it comes from eating too much or eating the wrong things, but it's under eating the things that we need.
• 32:04
  Philip Pape: So that's why I like additive nutrition adding in the things that we want and need.
• 32:09
  Philip Pape: The second thing is addressing your habit loops, and that is identifying the triggers for your cravings and then create new routines around those, having a pattern, interrupt or a swap.
• 32:19
  Philip Pape: And then, third, you want to gradually replace foods with the additive approach.
• 32:24
  Philip Pape: You've got ultra-processed foods.
• 32:25
  Philip Pape: Replace them with more nutritious whole foods that have similar taste profiles and experiences.
• 32:30
  Philip Pape: Right, kind of like roasted chickpeas might give you a similar experience as potato chips, and your palate is going to adapt over time.
• 32:40
  Philip Pape: It's going to get used to things.
• 32:42
  Philip Pape: You're going to eventually not really like some of those ultra-processed foods or restaurant food.
• 32:45
  Philip Pape: Anyway, your body is going to rebel as you're eating more nutritious foods.
• 32:48
  Philip Pape: And of course, the last thing and I should have started with this, but don't make any food forbidden.
• 32:53
  Philip Pape: There is no bad food.
• 32:55
  Philip Pape: There's no good food, because what you're doing is you're increasing the psychological weight or value of the food.
• 33:01
  Philip Pape: Instead, you want to plan the occasional indulgences in rather than have them reactively, so it avoids decision fatigue and you just have them as part of your plan.
• 33:10
  Philip Pape: Consistency is always going to beat perfection and the sustainable changes like this are going to win over deprivation every time.
• 33:18
  Philip Pape: Number 23, is spot reduction of fat a myth?
• 33:22
  Philip Pape: What actually happens to fat during exercise?
• 33:25
  Philip Pape: I mean, this is kind of a loaded question.
• 33:26
  Philip Pape: It could be a whole episode by itself.
• 33:28
  Philip Pape: Spot reduction itself is largely a myth.
• 33:30
  Philip Pape: When your body needs energy, it's gonna release fatty acids from your entire fat stores, regardless of which muscles you're working, and fat is mobilized based on hormonal signals.
• 33:40
  Philip Pape: It has nothing to do with local muscle activity.
• 33:42
  Philip Pape: What happens during exercise is you create a little bit of an energy deficit in the moment, and that prompts your body to release fatty acids into the bloodstream for energy, in addition to the energy you get, of course, from glycogen, from glucose, and the fat is transported to your muscles to be oxidized for fuel.
• 33:59
  Philip Pape: There are studies that show this very tiny increased blood flow and lipolysis in areas that are trained directly, like your abs, but the effect is so small that it can't possibly create spot reduction.
• 34:11
  Philip Pape: So the most effective approach again is going to be a calorie deficit through diet, through training Resistance training helps preserve muscle and build muscle, and don't overthink trying to reduce anything in a particular area.
• 34:24
  Philip Pape: Question number 24, can targeted exercises build muscle in a specific area even if they don't reduce fat in that spot?
• 34:31
  Philip Pape: So again, I wanted to segue from the last one, because this is an absolute yes.
• 34:37
  Philip Pape: So while, like, spot reduction is pretty much a myth, spot enhancement is a real thing.
• 34:44
  Philip Pape: If you think of it that way, it will give you the physical and the physique result you're looking for without the necessity of spot reduction.
• 34:53
  Philip Pape: You can target your biceps by using more bicep curls.
• 34:58
  Philip Pape: You can target your glutes through squats and hip thrusts.
• 35:02
  Philip Pape: You can target your abs through loaded ab work.
• 35:05
  Philip Pape: Right, the caveat is that there are genetic factors.
• 35:08
  Philip Pape: You may not have a six pack or an eight pack.
• 35:10
  Philip Pape: You may have a seven pack.
• 35:11
  Philip Pape: You may have something wonky there, you can't do anything about that, but you can add muscle there and then you can lose fat, kind of like we talked about earlier.
• 35:17
  Philip Pape: Right, and the more muscle you have, the higher body fat you can carry and still see and improve the appearance of that area.
• 35:24
  Philip Pape: And also, by the way, when you have more muscle it kind of stretches out the skin and the fat in a way that is usually also aesthetically pleasing, even when you don't lose fat.
• 35:33
  Philip Pape: That's why I'm a big fan of gaining and building muscle in certain periods.
• 35:38
  Philip Pape: All right, question number 25.
• 35:39
  Philip Pape: Can you bulk without eating traditional carbs, eg just protein, eggs, milk, et cetera and will you still gain fat?
• 35:46
  Philip Pape: So you're saying basically, low carb or no carb, kind of keto, carnivore, things like that.
• 35:52
  Philip Pape: I would say I'm going to be open-minded here and say yes to both questions.
• 35:56
  Philip Pape: You can gain muscle on a low carb or ketogenic diet, provided you have a calorie surplus and you have plenty of protein diet, provided you have a calorie surplus and you have plenty of protein.
• 36:07
  Philip Pape: And there are some studies that show some comparable gains between lower carb and higher carb.
• 36:09
  Philip Pape: But most show a gap where the higher carbs tend to allow you to produce or build more muscle.
• 36:15
  Philip Pape: But there's always nuances in the variables.
• 36:17
  Philip Pape: So again, that's why I'm always open-minded about this and think a flexible approach is warranted and not to just say, no, you can't have carbs at all, but for the vast majority of people, having more carbs is going to help you build more muscle and it just makes for a more flexible diet anyway more enjoyable diet for most people.
• 36:32
  Philip Pape: For fat gain you're going to gain fat if you're in a surplus, no matter what the macros are.
• 36:37
  Philip Pape: So that has to do with energy balance period.
• 36:39
  Philip Pape: Now, if you have more carbs while you're gaining weight, there is a chance that more of the energy surplus goes toward muscle and you'll actually gain less fat than if you were low carb.
• 36:50
  Philip Pape: So that is true, but it still has to do with the surplus.
• 36:53
  Philip Pape: It still comes down to proper training, protein timing, nutrient partition, strategies that can minimize fat while maximizing muscle, the way we've talked about before when we talk about at what rate to build and how to do it.
• 37:05
  Philip Pape: So I think the bottom line is carbs can make bulking easier and more performance optimal, but they're not quote unquote mandatory.
• 37:11
  Philip Pape: All right, question number 26.
• 37:12
  Philip Pape: Should bulking and cutting be saved for years, three plus of lifting or should you start sooner?
• 37:19
  Philip Pape: I struggle with how to answer this because it's going to highly depend on the person and what they want to do.
• 37:24
  Philip Pape: For some people, bulking and cutting can be a lot of fun when I work with clients because they have my help and they can lean to me when they hit plateaus and such.
• 37:32
  Philip Pape: We will have a couple months at maintenance and then lean into a cutting phase or a bulking phase, depending on what they're going for.
• 37:41
  Philip Pape: But that's also partly because they have my support.
• 37:44
  Philip Pape: They have some accountability to fall back on, or those in our physique university same thing.
• 37:48
  Philip Pape: If you're doing it on your own, I still also think you can do it.
• 37:51
  Philip Pape: I would say at the beginning it would be helpful to be at a slight, very tiny, tiny surplus to make sure you're fully recovered and find your new and true maintenance calories while you're training, to give yourself all the resources you need to train for strength in those first three to six months, and then I would go into a fat loss phase.
• 38:09
  Philip Pape: Again, I have plenty of clients who never trained before they start training with me.
• 38:13
  Philip Pape: We spend two months in maintenance and then go into fat loss and it just depends on what you're ready for how many calories you're able to eat, based on your metabolism, whether you are starting very lean or you have a lot of weight to lose, struggling to progress, et cetera.
• 38:27
  Philip Pape: Right, some people don't like being in maintenance because it feels like they're not doing anything, and it takes its own form of psychological control, in which case even small bulk and cut cycles could be a good way to test the waters.
• 38:38
  Philip Pape: So I would say no, it shouldn't be saved for three plus of lifting.
• 38:43
  Philip Pape: I think that there's no should about it.
• 38:45
  Philip Pape: It depends on what you want.
• 38:47
  Philip Pape: I would say experiment and see how it goes and make sure you're in control and you're tracking your food and all of that, because otherwise it's actually going to be a lot harder.
• 38:58
  Philip Pape: All right, question 27.
• 38:59
  Philip Pape: Why are people still afraid of fat, which I think you mean like fat consumption and what are the negative effects of avoiding it on recovery, strength and hormones?
• 39:07
  Philip Pape: So we don't talk about fat as much as protein and carbs.
• 39:10
  Philip Pape: And there was like decades of misguided dogma on fat, like the low fat craze of the eighties nineties.
• 39:17
  Philip Pape: I grew up in the eighties so I saw a lot of that with the snack wells and the Olestra, disgusting like synthetic fat and all this stuff.
• 39:23
  Philip Pape: Um, the move toward margarine instead of butter and all that which we know.
• 39:27
  Philip Pape: There was like a back backlash in the other extreme, which always happens, but it's like very deeply imprinted in the public consciousness, despite it all being based on flawed research.
• 39:37
  Philip Pape: Okay, consciousness, despite it all being based on flawed research.
• 39:41
  Philip Pape: There are consequences when you chronically avoid fat, predominantly to your hormone production, especially testosterone and estrogen.
• 39:45
  Philip Pape: Also, fat helps you absorb fat-soluble vitamins A, d, e, k, so it's going to make that less efficient.
• 39:52
  Philip Pape: It can impair your cell membrane function.
• 39:54
  Philip Pape: It can make you more inflammatory.
• 39:56
  Philip Pape: It can decrease your satiety.
• 39:58
  Philip Pape: It could increase your consumption of sugar to compensate because of the lack of flavor, because you have no fat.
• 40:06
  Philip Pape: So for strength athletes like, having adequate fat, which is usually above a half gram per kilogram of body weight, let's say, is going to affect, or I should say having adequate fat is good for recovery and performance.
• 40:17
  Philip Pape: Having adequate fat could start to eat into that.
• 40:20
  Philip Pape: So if I have a client in a dieting phase, I never want them to go below like rock bottom.
• 40:25
  Philip Pape: Probably 20 grams, maybe 15 grams if they're super lean and we're really pulling out all the stops Like that's rock bottom.
• 40:32
  Philip Pape: But usually people are in the 20s and 30s at a minimum and sometimes often above or far beyond that.
• 40:38
  Philip Pape: Dietary fats, monounsaturated omega-3s are great, but even some saturated fats in your diet are great and certain fats actually support what we call the inflammatory resolution process.
• 40:53
  Philip Pape: That helps with training adaptation.
• 40:55
  Philip Pape: I know it sounds weird, but you get an inflammatory response from training.
• 40:58
  Philip Pape: Having adequate fats helps you get over the hump of that inflammation and come back to adapt back to a lower inflammation state.
• 41:06
  Philip Pape: I don't know if I've ever talked about this on the show, but it's kind of an interesting mechanic that goes on.
• 41:10
  Philip Pape: So the solution isn't like a high-fat diet or a keto, it's just a balanced approach.
• 41:15
  Philip Pape: I like roughly 30% of calories from fat as a starting point and then you can go a little bit up or down depending on your preference.
• 41:25
  Philip Pape: All right, so we are going to wrap up with three final questions about mindset.
• 41:27
  Philip Pape: So question 28,.
• 41:28
  Philip Pape: What podcasts do you enjoy?
• 41:30
  Philip Pape: All right, why is this under mindset?
• 41:32
  Philip Pape: Because to me, the mind is also its own metaphorical muscle that needs to be flexed and grown, and I think learning and education is a massive part of that.
• 41:44
  Philip Pape: So thank you for the question.
• 41:45
  Philip Pape: So there are some I'll say longer fitness podcasts like Stronger by Science, iron Culture, revive, stronger, that I enjoy.
• 41:56
  Philip Pape: I listen to a few new news podcasts here and there, like the journal.
• 41:59
  Philip Pape: I listened to economic podcasts like planet money and freakonomics.
• 42:04
  Philip Pape: I've got some friends in the industry, like Jeff Hain, whose podcasts I follow.
• 42:08
  Philip Pape: I like fun educational podcasts like how, um, what's it called?
• 42:13
  Philip Pape: Oh, stuff, you should know that's what it's called.
• 42:15
  Philip Pape: Let's see some other strength podcasts like starting strength, if you can take Mark Ripito's humor and political views.
• 42:22
  Philip Pape: Barbell Logics podcast, which is called Beast Over Burden.
• 42:26
  Philip Pape: I like Business Wars.
• 42:27
  Philip Pape: I like Buzzcast.
• 42:28
  Philip Pape: As a podcaster, conan O'Brien Needs a Friend is hilarious If you guys like Conan and his brand of humor.
• 42:35
  Philip Pape: And then a few other business podcasts like creator, science and honestly, that is just the tip of the iceberg.
• 42:44
  Philip Pape: I have a ton of podcasts in my queue.
• 42:45
  Philip Pape: I don't listen to every episode of every show.
• 42:47
  Philip Pape: I am very selective, based on the content, the title.
• 42:48
  Philip Pape: I do listen, sometimes at like 1.25 speed.
• 42:52
  Philip Pape: I don't want to go faster than that or else I'll miss it.
• 42:54
  Philip Pape: I like to listen while I walk, while I lift, and I get a lot of inspiration that way.
• 42:59
  Philip Pape: The common thread to me is people who are kind of changing the mold, using mental models, developing frameworks, developing systems, evidence-based thinking.
• 43:10
  Philip Pape: You know, if somebody gets too off the wall with the claims, I tend to unfollow them.
• 43:15
  Philip Pape: But if there's a good story, if there's a great topic, if there's some really extensive research that's been done, I'm all over that, all right.
• 43:21
  Philip Pape: Question number 29.
• 43:22
  Philip Pape: What is the biggest training myth that refuses to die?
• 43:26
  Philip Pape: I think my biggest offender here is still the idea that women will get bulky from lifting weights, when in reality most people women, men need to work incredibly hard just to gain modest muscle.
• 43:38
  Philip Pape: Trust me, I know from personal experience and I am a man and my testosterone level is just fine and I eat a lot of carbs and I do my bulks and still it's a struggle to really put on lots of muscle mass, because it's a time-based process that you have to just put effort into and not worry about getting bulky.
• 43:55
  Philip Pape: Most women will benefit a lot from maybe not a huge surplus, but a little bit of a calorie surplus to build muscle for about six to nine months and just try it.
• 44:06
  Philip Pape: Do it for me and report back and tell me how great it feels to get strong, to increase your lifts consistently, to have enough energy, sleep, to have better stress mitigation all of the things in a way that you've never experienced before.
• 44:20
  Philip Pape: And then you also fill out your clothes more aesthetically and then, when you lose some fat after that, you all of a sudden look lean in tone, like you wanted in the first place, and not bulky.
• 44:30
  Philip Pape: So that is the biggest training myth that refuses to die that I wanted to answer.
• 44:35
  Philip Pape: Today I've got about 50 more in my back pocket, all right.
• 44:38
  Philip Pape: And the last question is what is the biggest nutrition myth that refuses to die?
• 44:42
  Philip Pape: And the one I have to go with here is that any food is good or bad and you have to cut out foods to get your results.
• 44:50
  Philip Pape: So many diets still today carnivore, keto, even intermittent fasting, to a sense are depriving yourself unnecessarily, and I want to give the power back to people listening to know that their meal timing, their frequency all of that is super flexible and what you eat is super flexible.
• 45:09
  Philip Pape: As long as you bring in and add in the macronutrients and micronutrients that support you and your body and how you feel and perform, it's going to naturally work itself out and result in the balance and theents that support you and your body and how you feel and perform, it's going to naturally work itself out and result in the balance and the foods that you need and want.
• 45:23
  Philip Pape: Don't listen to the fear mongering about seed oils or plants being toxic, or carbs, or chemicals or additives or artificial sweeteners or any of that, because if you are consuming 80, 90% whole, nutritious foods, your body easily handles whatever else you throw in it.
• 45:41
  Philip Pape: You have a natural detoxification system there.
• 45:44
  Philip Pape: That's.
• 45:45
  Philip Pape: Another thing is detoxes, don't get me started, and you don't have to overthink it.
• 45:49
  Philip Pape: Just track your food, become aware, add in sufficient protein and fiber and nutrients and you'll be golden.
• 45:55
  Philip Pape: People get hung up so much on these diets and restricting themselves that they beat their head on a wall for years and years and years.
• 46:03
  Philip Pape: You don't have to do that.
• 46:04
  Philip Pape: Just track your food and shift it toward the things that your body needs.
• 46:09
  Philip Pape: All right, I don't want to make this episode much longer than it has to be.
• 46:12
  Philip Pape: I got through the 30 questions for you guys.
• 46:13
  Philip Pape: I hope you enjoy them.
• 46:14
  Philip Pape: I picked the ones that were kind of more general, that that more more most people would be interested in.
• 46:20
  Philip Pape: And as we close out episode 300, I want to thank you all again for being part of this journey.
• 46:26
  Philip Pape: You know, unlike the 300 Spartans who met a terrible end at Thermopylae sorry for the spoiler If you haven't seen the movie or read history um, our battle here against fitness misinformation will continue, for I want to say forever?
• 46:38
  Philip Pape: I hope not, but we are in this together.
• 46:41
  Philip Pape: I have your support.
• 46:43
  Philip Pape: You have my support.
• 46:43
  Philip Pape: We are allies.
• 46:44
  Philip Pape: We're not immortals, but we are intelligently trained listeners and lifters and we're going to fight on for hundreds more episodes to come.
• 46:53
  Philip Pape: Whether this is your first episode you've ever heard or you've been doing this for a while, the principles are all the same Progressive overload, adequate recovery, sufficient energy and food, an energy of balance appropriate to your goals.
• 47:06
  Philip Pape: It's the basics, it's the foundations.
• 47:08
  Philip Pape: Sleep, stress those are the foundations.
• 47:10
  Philip Pape: Tracking and measuring the right things for awareness.
• 47:12
  Philip Pape: The specifics, the methods of how you implement them are going to evolve as you progress and they're highly dependent on you and figuring out what works for you.
• 47:20
  Philip Pape: That's what we do in my coaching program, whether it's one-on-one or the Physique University.
• 47:25
  Philip Pape: That is what we do.
• 47:26
  Philip Pape: There is help you discover what works for you.
• 47:28
  Philip Pape: But the fundamentals endure and I'll leave it at that.
• 47:31
  Philip Pape: So if you enjoyed today's epic 30 Q&A episode, which they're not all like this, a lot of them are shorter.
• 47:37
  Philip Pape: They're not all like this.
• 47:42
  Philip Pape: A lot of them are shorter.
• 47:43
  Philip Pape: They're very focused topics, but I thought this would be fun.
• 47:44
  Philip Pape: If you have your own question, submit it at witsandweightscom slash question.
• 47:46
  Philip Pape: You will get a personal reply from me and I'm going to feature your question on an episode, either a Q&A or as its own topic.
• 47:51
  Philip Pape: I'll let you know and I'll give you a special shout out if you want it.
• 47:54
  Philip Pape: That's witsandweightscom slash question, or click the link in the show notes.
• 47:59
  Philip Pape: Until next time, keep using your wits lifting those weights and remember that your fitness journey is a lifelong campaign where victory comes through consistency, not a single heroic moment.
• 48:11
  Philip Pape: This is Sparta.
• 48:13
  Philip Pape: I mean, this is Philip Pape, and I'll talk to you next time here on the Wits and Weights podcast.