In today's episode of Iron Culture, co-hosts Eric Helms and Eric Trexler are joined by MASS colleague Dr. Mike Zourdos. After a brief chat about bodybuilding, powerlifting, and college football news, the crew addresses a number of questions about topics including optimal protein intake, what soreness can (or can't) tell us, detraining & retraining, vegan protein sources, heavy metals in protein supplements, training volume recommendations, pre-sleep meal guidelines, and much more.

The MASS crew records Iron Culture LIVE on YouTube, Monday nights at 7pm eastern time. Be sure to join us for a future episode and say hello in the live chat!

Time stamps:

0:00 Intro music

2:25 Introduction to an episode with a rare Mike Zourdos sighting

Ask your questions here: https://massresearchreview.com/ironculture/

6:30 Helms brings some bodybuilding news (with some college football chat)

17:15 2025 2025 Sheffield Powerlifting Championships recap

20:35 Preview for a future episode with Dr Refalo on recently published protein meta-regression

Refalo 2025 Effect of Dietary Protein on Fat-Free Mass in Energy Restricted, Resistance-Trained Individuals: An Updated Systematic Review With Meta-Regression https://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/fulltext/9900/effect_of_dietary_protein_on_fat_free_mass_in.179.aspx

21:55 Q&A 1 Rapid bounce back from a series of unfortunate events

27:51 Q&A 2 Is soreness useful for determining volume?

Gomes 2019 High-Frequency Resistance Training Is Not More Effective Than Low-Frequency Resistance Training in Increasing Muscle Mass and Strength in Well-Trained Men https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29489727/

40:25 Q&A 3 Protein ‘rapid fire’: vegan options, protein supplementation, and heavy metal contamination

Nunes 2022 Systematic review and meta-analysis of protein intake to support muscle mass and function in healthy adults https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35187864/

1:06:10 Q&A 4 Strength progress, muscle growth and neurological adaptations

Pelland 2024 The Resistance Training Dose-Response: Meta-Regressions Exploring the Effects of Weekly Volume and Frequency on Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gain https://sportrxiv.org/index.php/server/preprint/view/460

Ralston 2017 The Effect of Weekly Set Volume on Strength Gain: A Meta-Analysis https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28755103/

1:13:06 Q&A 5 Individual volume recommendation specificity

1:25:01 Q&A 6 Pre-sleep meal timing and other habits for sleep quality

1:36:07 Closing out and a preview for next week’s live episode

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Music credit:

Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Source: https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100806

Artist: http://incompetech.com/