Coffee with Doc!

He won the first-ever Masters World's Strongest Man at 48 — and the title came down to a stone his rival couldn't hold onto. Now, after two hip replacements, an infection, a torn lat, a kidney removed, and a car wreck, strongman Nick Best is planning his comeback. In Part 2 of this Coffee with Doc conversation, Dr. Pierce sits down with Nick for an honest look at what it takes to stay in the game and keep your health intact. Nick walks through the dramatic finish in England, the run of setbacks that followed, and the rehab that's getting him back toward a powerlifting meet. Dr. Pierce digs into why a recent heart workup surprised Nick's own doctor, shares his theory on why so many strength athletes develop thickened hearts, and explains why creatinine and eGFR can make a healthy athlete look like he has a kidney problem, and why cystatin C can clear up the picture. Plus: lessons from Ed Coan and Kirk Karwoski, coaching tips for the yoke, the deadlift ladder, and Conan's Wheel, and a fix for blacking out while pressing. This episode is educational and is not personal medical advice. Talk with your own physician before making decisions about supplements or your labs.

🔗 CONNECT WITH NICK BEST Podcast: The Best Experience (Patreon; also on Facebook the day after the live stream, and on YouTube) Search "Nick Best Strongman" on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter

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Next up: Episode 58 of Coffee with Doc.

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Episode 57, Part 1: Nick Best — Strongman Legend on Strength, Longevity & Smart Health

Dr. John J. Pierce welcomes longtime friend and Las Vegas strength icon Nick Best. Nick is an elite powerlifter, World's Strongest Man finalist, and star of The Strongest Man in History. In Part 1, Nick traces his path from drug-tested powerlifting titles to a late-start strongman career that included a farmer's walk world record and the first 800 lb deadlift by an amateur strongman.

Along the way, Doc and Nick talk about the health side of elite strength: why untreated sleep apnea was likely a hidden danger for big athletes of the past, how a CPAP and regular bloodwork changed Nick's career, and why keeping hormones at physiologic levels under medical supervision supports recovery, muscle, and bone density as we age.

Key takeaways:

- Nick started strongman at 37 and set records within his first two years

- Untreated sleep apnea was a serious, often overlooked risk for large strength athletes

- Nick's natural testosterone once tested at just 135 despite his muscle mass

- Physician-guided hormone care with regular labs aims for physiologic levels, not excess

- Technique can matter as much as raw strength (his farmer's walk start, his grip, and Lamaze-style breathing under heavy carries)

- Modern equipment such as whippy deadlift bars has changed how lifts compare across eras

This episode is educational and not medical advice. Talk with your physician before starting any hormone therapy.

You'll spend weeks researching the right surgeon — but do you know who's doing your physical therapy afterward? On this episode of Coffee with Doc, Dr. Pierce sits down with his own physical therapist, Dr. Nate Ellis of Prism Physical Therapy, for a conversation that could change how you think about your next surgery, injury, or nagging pain. Dr. Ellis explains why the months of rehab after a surgery matter just as much as the surgery itself — and why most people never vet their physical therapist with anywhere near the diligence they apply to choosing a surgeon. They dig into what actually separates a typical insurance-based PT clinic from a cash-based one, why certain effective treatments get skipped when insurance is footing the bill, and the science behind two tools Dr. Ellis uses every day: blood flow restriction training and extracorporeal shockwave therapy. Dr. Pierce also shares his own very different recovery experiences, from a rough start after his hip replacement to major progress treating a frozen shoulder at Prism.

#CoffeeWithDoc #AgelessForever #PhysicalTherapy #PrismPhysicalTherapy #BFRTraining #ShockwaveTherapy #Rehab #SportsMedicine #LasVegas #Healthspan #PostSurgeryRecovery

He trained Francis Ngannou from his first fight in America to a UFC heavyweight title, built a professional boxing league from a conversation two strangers had on an airplane, and then — off camera, off the record, completely unscripted — told Dr. Pierce the realest story this show has ever aired. Part 2 of this conversation with Dewey "Black Cobra" Cooper covers the coaching career, the league, his daughter, and a depression he never saw coming. Dewey Cooper spent over a decade quietly training fighters before anyone called him a "coach" — years of eight-hour shifts, teaching kids at the gym, and sleeping three hours a night. In Part 2, he explains how that invisible groundwork turned into training Jessica Rakoczy to five world titles, cornering Francis Ngannou through the biggest fights of his UFC career, and co-founding what's now Team Boxing League. He also opens up about his daughter Shaolin's music career, his unconventional health habits, and — in the most candid stretch of the episode — the depression he faced when she left for college, the search that led him to Islam, and why he finally agreed to get his blood work done after turning Dr. Pierce down for two years.

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He was forging his mom's signature to sneak into Muay Thai class at 9 years old, knocking out grown men for his brother's gang by 8th grade — and 30 years later he's coached a UFC heavyweight champion. This week on Coffee with Doc, Dr. Pierce sits down with a longtime friend and combat sports legend, Dewey "Black Cobra" Cooper, for Part 1 of a conversation nearly three decades in the making.

Dewey is a two-time world kickboxing champion, a professional boxer, and one of the most respected striking coaches in the sport — best known as the longtime striking coach and cornerman for former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. But before any of that, he was a kid in 1980s Los Angeles trying to survive a childhood shaped by gang violence, and the fighter he became almost didn't happen the way you'd expect. In this episode, Dewey and Dr. Pierce go all the way back — to Muay Thai as a survival skill, the real story behind the "Black Cobra" name, the ultimatum that got his family out of LA, the mentors who built him into a champion, and the 2:30 a.m. conversation at the Vegas club where they both used to work that changed both of their lives.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Welcome to Coffee with Doc: introducing Dewey "Black Cobra" Cooper

04:00 – Reconnecting after nearly 30 years

05:00 – Growing up the youngest of eight in Los Angeles

06:30 – The crack epidemic, gang life, and his brother Paul

08:00 – Forging his mom's signature to train Muay Thai at 9

10:00 – Why he really started fighting (it wasn't Bruce Lee)

11:00 – The real story behind the "Black Cobra" nickname

12:00 – His first fight at age 10 in Upland, California

14:00 – Arrested and taken to juvie after a fight in Oceanside

15:00 – His father's ultimatum and the move to Las Vegas

17:00 – The turnaround: straight A's and a new life

18:30 – Reframing his parents' sacrifice

21:00 – Training under Grandmaster Eddie "Flash" Newman

23:30 – The first time he saw Master Nick "One Kick" Blomgren

26:00 – Reconnecting with Nick after a disqualification

28:30 – Nick's mentorship and helping troubled youth

30:00 – "Win or learn," not "win or lose"

31:30 – The other mentors: Tony Valente, TJ Blackburn, David Hayes, and Jeff Mayweather

33:30 – The FEAR acronym: Fake Emotions Appearing Real

35:00 – Struggling to make ends meet as a pro kickboxer

36:00 – Meeting "JJ" — working the graveyard shift with a young Dr. Pierce

38:00 – The 2:30 a.m. conversation: "I'm gonna become a doctor"

40:30 – Dr. Pierce's own motivation: watching Diana become a judge

43:00 – Why motivation from someone you know "hits different"

Part 2 of this conversation is coming soon — covering the K-1 circuit, coaching Francis Ngannou, Team Combat League, and Dewey's daughter Shaolin's music career.

🔗 CONNECT WITH AGELESS FOREVER Website: https://agelessforever.net/ [Add: Instagram / Facebook / TikTok / booking link]

#CoffeeWithDoc #AgelessForever #BlackCobra #DeweyCooper #Kickboxing #CombatSports #K1 #FrancisNgannou #TeamCombatLeague #Muaythai #Boxing #LasVegas #Mentorship #Motivation

IFBB Pro bodybuilder Ron Stevens joins Coffee With Doc for Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Ron has trained in Las Vegas since 1992 — one of the first nationally certified personal trainers in the city — and most recently competed at the 2026 IFBB Tampa Pro. He and Dr. John J. Pierce dig into how decades of injuries (torn pecs, a torn bicep, and a distal quad tendon torn off the bone) forced Ron to trade heavy loads for a time-under-tension approach, what it takes to eat 270-300 grams of protein a day on a cod-heavy diet, and why he handed his dieting decisions over to a coach to take the emotion out of it. The conversation closes with a candid look at Ron's sleep apnea diagnosis and the recovery stack — sauna, cold plunge, red light therapy, and a box-breathing protocol — he leans on to keep training at a pro level.

Disclaimer: The information provided by this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. It is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your healthcare provider with any questions regarding a medical condition.

In this episode:

• Ron's path from San Diego State track & football to Las Vegas personal training pioneer
• The old-school NASM certification process vs. today's online tests
• Why Ron has little patience for undertrained personal trainers
• A career's worth of injuries — and the mindset shift from "push harder" to "pull back"
• Time under tension vs. maxing out: how Ron trains legs and chest now
• John Meadows' risk-reward philosophy and why Ron applies it to his own lifts
• Ron's diet: 270-300g protein/day, a cod-heavy meal plan, and calorie cycling from 1,500-3,000 calories
• Diagnosing and managing sleep apnea — CPAP, mouthpieces, and Dr. Gil Suarez
• Ron's recovery protocol: sauna, cold plunge, red light therapy, grounding, and box breathing

Timestamps:

• [00:01:00] Introducing IFBB Pro Ron Stevens
• [00:03:00] Track star to San Diego State
• [00:04:00] Moving to Vegas, becoming a certified trainer
• [00:05:00] The Sporting House, Dana White & old Vegas gym culture
• [00:06:00] Why trainer certifications used to mean something
• [00:07:00] Ron on today's undertrained "trainers"
• [00:09:00] How training evolved after the injuries piled up
• [00:10:00] Torn quads, pecs & a bicep — Ron's injury history
• [00:12:00] Time under tension over heavy loads
• [00:13:00] The bench press injury that ended an era
• [00:14:00] John Meadows & the risk-reward of high-risk lifts
• [00:15:00] Maintaining muscle mass after 50
• [00:16:00] 270-300g of protein a day: Ron's diet breakdown
• [00:17:00] Calorie cycling & handing control to a coach
• [00:18:00] Dieting through an ER residency
• [00:19:00] Getting into single-digit body fat
• [00:20:00] Ron's daily routine & meal timing
• [00:21:00] Training once a day to maximize time
• [00:22:00] Ron's sleep apnea diagnosis
• [00:23:00] Mouthpieces, CPAP & Dr. Gil Suarez
• [00:25:00] Sauna, cold plunge & red light therapy
• [00:26:00] Ron's sauna-to-cold-plunge recovery protocol
• [00:27:00] Box breathing & the psychology of cold exposure

Joining us today is Master Nick "One Kick" Blomgren

Owner and founder of "One Kick" gym in Las Vegas, Nevada. A gym that has become one of the most respected names in Muay Thai MMA and combat sports training in the United States. Enjoy our first episode of a new series: Local Heroes.

Nick "One Kick" Blomgren Instagram: onekick

www.onekickgym.com

3490 E Sunset Rd Las Vegas, NV 89120

AgelessForever.net

Ageless Forever Instagram: AgelessForeverLV

6020 S. Rainbow Blvd Las Vegas, NV 89118

Come along with us for a VO2 Max Test With Paige and Rodrick! They take you through the testing process, the results, and answer and all questions that you could possibly have regarding this amazing way to get a full picture view of your health.

Dr. Pierce and Dr. Nate Ellis go over Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy and what it can offer!

Amazing episode packed with knowledge from the Ageless Forever and Physical Therapy world. TUNE IN!

AgelessForever.net

IG: AgelessForeverLV

FB: Ageless Forever

6020 S. Rainbow Blvd Las Vegas, NV 89118

702-838-1994

HOT OFF THE PRESSES! Dr. Pierce goes over the most recent data on two major developments that are reshaping how we think about testosterone. Tune in!

AgelessForever.net

IG: agelessforeverlv

FB: Ageless Forever

702-838-1994

6020 S. Rainbow Blvd Las Vegas, NV 89118