Complete Human Performance Radio

In this podcast, you’ll learn what it’s really like to prepare for a bodybuilding competition from the eyes of a doctor — Spencer Nadolsky. Spencer has been on the podcast several times before to talk aboutweight loss and statins. He's been lifting weights for over a decade, and prepared for his first bodybuilding competition in 2014.

Spencer explains the mental and physical changes he went through during his preparation. Even if you have no intention of preparing for a bodybuilding show, you’ll experience many of the same things cutting to low body fat levels. If you want to get really lean, you should listen to this episode to know what you’re getting into.

What's wrong with training like a powerlifter if you want to get lean?

How do you use autoregulation for bodybuilding?

Do you need to count calories and macronutrients year round to stay lean?

You'll learn the answers those questions and several more in this episode. Denver is a professional bodybuilding coach, bodybuilder, and writer, who's been training for over a decade. In this episode, you'll learn how he helps his clients stay lean year round.

In most strength training programs, you’re told to perform all of the reps in each set without resting.

That works, but it’s not always best.

New research indicates that you can build more muscle by taking short breaks during your sets. This method is called “Rest-Pause” training, and in this podcast, you’re going to learn all about it.

“The goal with habits is not to perfectly execute a behavior pattern every day, it’s to make that effort every day. If you can be 85% “on” 100% of the time, that’s good enough.”

— Sohee Lee

10 Years ago, Sohee wasn’t happy.

She was struggling with an eating disorder, obsessing over the scale, running 15 miles a day, and barely eating.

Like many people, she struggled to find a diet and exercise program that worked for her. Eventually, she discovered weightlifting, and her life changed.

Over time, she was able to develop a healthy relationship with food, and stay lean and healthy without compromising her quality of life.

Now, she works as a personal trainer and fitness writer, helping people overcome the same problems that she did. Unlike many trainers, Sohee doesn’t focus entirely onwhat to do, she also helps people learn how to make these changes stick.

In this episode, Sohee explains the 6 main behavior mistakes people make when trying to lose weight. She also gives you clear solutions for every problem, so you can start making changes immediately.

If you’re trying to build muscle and strength, the question isn’t “should you squat?” The question is “why shouldn’t you squat?”

The squat is one of the simplest and best exercises for building muscle and overall strength, and if learned properly, it’s safe.

If you learn it properly.

There are a lot of well-intentioned people squatting with terrible form, and their knees, backs, and hips often pay the cost in the form of injuries.

Even if you’re squatting with perfect form, you might not be making the most of your workouts if you don’t pay attention to the finer details. Simple things like cuing, mobility, and tracking your workouts can have a huge impact on your performance, or lack thereof.

I’m not a world record powerlifter, so I’m not the first person you should turn to if you want a big squat with perfect technique. Luckily, I know a guy who fits both of those criteria — Jordan Syatt.

Jordan is world record powerlifter, personal trainer, gym owner, and a very laid back guy who’s great at breaking advice into simple steps. Oh, and he’s only 23.

In this episode, Jordan shows you how to teach yourself the squat safely and effectively. Here are some of the questions Jordan answers:

What’s the very first step when teaching yourself to squat?

What aspects of technique should you pay most attention to, especially at the beginning?

Should you push your knees out to the sides?

Should you use a high or low bar position?

How far apart should your feet be?

Should you use box squats, and if so, how?

Do you need to squat all the way to the floor?

How important is flexibility in squatting?

What are the best cues for keeping good form when you’re under a heavy weight?

What are the biggest mistakes even advanced athletes still make?

The first 6-12 months of weightlifting are easy.

If you try to add weight every workout, and eat enough, you’ll build muscle and get stronger every week.

It’s hard not to make gains at this point. Your body isn’t used to this kind of stimulus, and you make rapid progress.

But, after that first year or so, it becomes harder and harder to gain muscleand strength.

Many people grind away at the same program they’ve done before, and they don’t get results. In this podcast, Mike Mathews of MuscleforLife.com is going to help you design a program that will allow you to force through plateaus.

You want to lose weight, and you know that dosing tons of cardio isn’t the best strategy.

Your diet is on point, but you’re not sure how to train. You don’t enjoy powerlifting or bodybuilding type workouts, and you don’t want to spend much time in the gym.

In this podcast, Nick Tumminello, strength coach and “trainer of trainers” talks about how to use different kinds of weight training, like as circuits, combinations, and complexes, to lose weight.

You’ll learn about the proper intensity, frequency, and volume of weightlifting for fat loss, and about how to break through plateaus. You’ll also learn how to maintain your interest in training while dieting, when it’s often hard to get stronger.

Want to become as strong as possible, without getting injured? Nick Shaw of Renaissance periodization breaks down the six principles of intelligent training for powerlifting. You'll learn how to structure your workouts, plan your training routine, take systematic breaks, and more, to get stronger.

Want to get bigger and stronger, without adding excess body fat? Nick Shaw of Renaissance Periodization shows you how to eat enough to get stronger, while staying lean. You'll learn how much, when, and what to eat to get stronger and leaner.

You want to get stronger, or maybe you want to learn a new sport.

And you want to do it without getting injured.

You may have heard that you should visualize your body performing the exercise correctly.

Or, you’re told to focus on holding parts of your body in certain positions, like “keep your back flat,” and “push your knees out.”

Those seem like good recommendations at first, but they aren’t necessarily the best ways to get stronger or learn an exercise.

Research has shown that you can learn exercises faster and get stronger using a different method. In this video, personal trainer Randy Gruezo and I talk about the best ways to learn a new movement, or get better at a sport you already know.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a powerlifter, bodybuilder, runner, swimmer, or trapeze artist, you’ll get something out of this video.