In this episode, Eric & Lauren explore a wide range of topics from the latest trends in influencer culture, new culinary creations from Mountain Dew, the science of sauna bathing & heat shock proteins, the impact of resistance training at any age, the concept of exercise mimetics (or "exercise in a pill"), the effects of vegan diets on weight loss, and much more.

Join us for a live recording of Front Page Fitness at 5:30 pm eastern time!

Front Page Fitness is proudly presented by the MASS Research Review

massresearchreview.com

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

03:48 Mountain Dew ice cream

09:00 Gen Z's new insult: Polyester as a pejorative

13:13 Brides and fitness trackers at weddings

18:41 Women doing pull-ups

26:25 New exercise pill that "mimics exercise effects"

40:02 Low-fat vegan diet and weight loss insights

50:29 Heat shock proteins and sauna benefits

01:03:31 Women’s strength training across the lifespan

Lauren shares that the New York Post contacted her about the viral claim that "women can't do pull-ups," which opens a discussion of the data behind it and the factors that go into training for a pull-up. After a detour into "skeleton news" (the first confirmed death by trebuchet), they turn to the headlines: viral Christian men-only gyms, and the growing trend of health-tracker jewelry like smart rings and earrings. The back half leans into the science stories. They look at a conference abstract on AI photo-based calorie tracking and how well these apps estimate calories from a meal, followed by an extended discussion of a Cell Press review on protein intake, aging, and longevity, and how to interpret research drawn from cells, flies, and rodents. They wrap with listener mail — a hippo-themed follow-up to last episode's carnivore-diet segment, and a question about yoga, flexibility, and the claims that surround it, ending on the backstory of Joseph Pilates.

Join us for a live recording of Front Page Fitness! We're live every Monday at 5:30 pm eastern time.

Front Page Fitness is proudly presented by the MASS Research Review

massresearchreview.com

Chapters

0:00 Intro & the "women can't do pull-ups" story

6:11 Skeleton news: death by trebuchet

13:27 Christian men-only gyms go viral

20:51 Health-tracker jewelry gets fancy

33:48 Can AI photos count your calories?

44:00 Does less protein slow aging?

1:04:05 Listener mail

1:08:30 Yoga claims based on science and/or tradition

1:15:45 Wrap-up

Lauren is back in the US, which kicks off a tangent about her new (third) phone number and the newest "Dunkers" in the donut/soft drink industry. After that, they get into the headlines of the week. First up is "boy kibble," then a Shake Shack guilt-tipping controversy sparks a full rant about tipping culture creeping onto self-service kiosks and app-dependent businesses. After that, a New York Post piece on returning to the gym earns rare praise, followed by a less praise-worthy headline about active recovery. The back half covers a Huffington Post story on a study linking midlife TV watching to later brain shrinkage — interesting but with plenty of potential confounders and limitations. The top headline is a famous doctor (the same "alpha" physician advising RFK Jr. and JD Vance) claiming that toilet paper becomes unnecessary when you adopt his preferred diet. They close with a listener question about protecting your eyesight through a PhD.

Front Page Fitness is proudly presented by the MASS Research Review

massresearchreview.com

Chapters

0:00 Intro

4:42 Dr. Pepper Dunkers

8:07 "Boy kibble"

12:18 Guilt-tipping and app-dependent businesses

25:13 Returning to the gym the right way

31:04 Active recovery

38:31 Does midlife TV shrink your brain?

44:04 The carnivore diet & the toilet paper claim

52:07 Protecting your eyesight in a PhD

Lauren interviews Eric about his research on metabolism and energy expenditure. He describes turning down a tenure-track job to move into science communication and then evolutionary anthropology, studying how humans regulate their energy budget. He explains why people get metabolism wrong in both directions — treating it as mysterious and stretching the real person-to-person variation to impossible extremes — and walks through metabolic adaptation, why reverse dieting usually backfires, and the evolutionary logic of the body's "low-power mode." They get into why resting metabolic rate doesn't crater at menopause (the real changes from 20 to 60 are mostly behavioral), how non-exercise activity works and its limits, and what hunter-gatherer and subsistence populations reveal as a kind of "control group" for modern health. He closes with simple public-health advice — sell people on physical activity, find a sustainable calorie-appropriate eating pattern, get enough fiber from whole food sources — and discusses the ongoing debate over the constrained energy expenditure model.

Front Page Fitness is proudly presented by the MASS Research Review

massresearchreview.com

Chapters

0:00 From supplements to energy expenditure

7:56 What everyone gets wrong about metabolism

10:12 Metabolic adaptation & reverse dieting

14:13 The evolutionary logic of the energy budget

16:19 Evolutionary head-scratchers

18:25 Metabolism, sex differences & aging

22:35 Non-exercise activity & step counts

28:19 What hunter-gatherers teach us

31:04 The simple public-health message

35:14 The constrained energy model debate

38:26 Wrap-up

A special interview episode: Trexler interviews Lauren about her research at the intersection of exercise, muscle physiology, and women. She explains how she backed into menstrual-cycle research after realizing it was a perceived barrier keeping labs from studying women at all, and why her finding that cycle phase doesn't much affect training adaptations should have opened the door to more research — before the internet "slapped her in the face." They cover which sex differences actually deserve attention (menstrual symptoms, PCOS, endometriosis, pregnancy, postpartum, menopause) versus the over-complication that markets special protocols off single-hormone claims. The heart of the episode is three practical questions — how to train around your menstrual cycle, how to think about hormonal contraceptives, and what to actually do at menopause — with the same nuanced answer each time: track your own response, adjust reactively rather than proactively, and match the tool to the goal.

Front Page Fitness is proudly presented by the MASS Research Review

massresearchreview.com

Chapters

0:00 Why study exercise & women's physiology?

9:12 Which sex differences actually matter

12:28 The single-hormone trap

19:49 When bone & DEXA expectations mislead

22:16 Actionable Guidance: training & your menstrual cycle

26:36 Actionable Guidance: hormonal contraceptives

30:39 Actionable Guidance: menopause

35:04 Wrap-up

The last "normal," headline-focused episode before Trexler travels. After the usual Mountain Dew mail — a Baja Blast TikTok and a sticky Australian Mountain Dew candy — they dig into three stories. First, a CNN piece calling strength training a "secret weapon" for women's heart health; they agree the underlying study is solid but the real takeaway is combining resistance training, aerobic activity, and less sedentary time, not any single magic bullet. Second, the push to tax or label ultra-processed foods, where they worry vague definitions and poor categorization could slap warnings on healthy foods like Greek yogurt, and unpack why "food addiction" is more nuanced than headlines suggest. Finally, a NYC "wellness clinic" that rewards healthy habits with perks like Botox and facials, prompting a mixed-bag take on concierge medicine and pay-to-play healthcare.

Front Page Fitness is proudly presented by the MASS Research Review

massresearchreview.com

Chapters

0:00 Intro & Mountain Dew mail

8:34 Is strength training a heart-health "secret weapon"?

14:50 Should we tax or label ultra-processed food?

26:08 Is food really "addictive"?

30:44 The complexity of eating behavior

37:00 Botox-for-checkups: the NYC wellness clinic

48:05 Goldfish redemption & wrap-up

Dr. Eric Trexler and Dr. Lauren Colenso-Semple run through the week's health and fitness headlines, starting with Lauren's suspicion that her landlord is poisoning her — and that landlord's confident counter-diagnosis that she's pregnant. The stories: a Huffington Post piece arguing novelty, not more routine, is what's missing from your life; the booming world of "Fido hacking," where owners buy dogs red light beds and AI collars; and research suggesting modern parents' sleep problem is more about perceived quality than actual lost hours. The two fitness segments both push back on sex-specific advice. On the viral claim that women are "squatting wrong," they argue stance comes down to limb proportions and hip anatomy, not sex. On the claim that caffeine hits women differently, they note that body size relative to a flat dose explains far more than estrogen does. They close with Monster-brand pasta and a warning that the show may take a short break due to travel schedules.

Front Page Fitness is proudly presented by the MASS Research Review

massresearchreview.com

Chapters

0:00 Intro - Is Lauren's landlord poisoning her?

11:09 The one thing missing from your life

17:55 "Fido hacking": $800 red light for dogs

25:10 Are modern parents really sleep-deprived?

35:42 Are women squatting wrong?

48:26 Does caffeine hit women differently?

1:03:12 Monster pasta

1:07:34 Reddit drama & firing your therapist

In this episode, Eric and Lauren work through a batch of health-and-wellness headlines with their usual skepticism, covering viral "heatwave hacks" (damp sheets, yogurt on windows), a study claiming gossip is "good for you," a doomsday-prepping wellness trend, a face-scanning "longevity mirror" they technically invented, and whether biological-age tests and the famous "blue zones" hold up. Plenty of tangents along the way, including Homo naledi, reality dating shows, and Eric's inability to stay awake during interesting documentaries.

Join us for a live recording of Front Page Fitness on Mondays at 5:30 pm eastern time!

Front Page Fitness is proudly presented by the MASS Research Review

massresearchreview.com

Chapters

0:00 – Intro

6:35 – Heatwave "hacks"

22:45 – Gossiping is good for you?

26:19 – Tangent: Homo naledi documentary

32:28 – Reality TV

41:51 – The "future of wellness": doomsday prepping meets fitness

49:23 – The "longevity mirror" that scans your face

57:11 – Are biological-age tests actually legit?

1:05:56 – Blue zones: longevity secret or pension fraud?

1:13:06 – Wrap-up

In this episode of Front Page Fitness, Drs. Eric Trexler and Lauren Colenso-Semple run through a grab bag of fitness news, listener follow-ups, and Q&As. They open with a listener taste-test of Mountain Dew donuts and a clarification of their earlier "anxiety bag" segment, then react to M&M's cutting two colors over natural dyes and reminisce about Four Loko and other toxins of the 2010s. From there they check out "grief workout" classes, break down the idea of training for a "curvy" hourglass figure, and question whether a DNA test can really program your workouts. They also work through a "15 things trainers would never do" list, read a Gen Z listener's take on their generation, and chat about social media's downsides. The show wraps with listener questions on whether stomach vacuums shrink your waist and how circuit training stacks up against heavy lifting.

Front Page Fitness is proudly presented by the MASS Research Review

massresearchreview.com

Chapters

0:00 Intro (Mountain Dew donuts and "anxiety bags")

10:22 M&M's cuts two colors over natural dyes

16:20 Four Loko & the toxins of 2010

19:30 Inside "grief workout" classes

25:38 Building a "curvy" figure

37:51 Can a DNA test program your training?

48:03 "15 things trainers would never do"

54:49 Gen Z speaks

1:02:33 Social media

1:07:34 Do stomach vacuums shrink your waist?

1:10:35 Circuits vs. heavy lifting: what counts?

1:17:44 Sign-off & listener mail

In Episode 61 of Front Page Fitness, Dr. Eric Trexler and Dr. Lauren Colenso-Semple worry about the young people. They revisit the Mountain Dew "Dunkers" saga from last episode before digging into the headlines: an Instagram "testosterone coach" advising men to smoke and skip sunscreen, and RFK Jr.'s sauerkraut-and-fermented-foods diet, which detours into a discussion of a pricey wellness program. They then tackle the New York Post's "anxiety bags" trend among Gen Z, answer a listener email from a man whose partner's Hyrox-racing obsession is straining their relationship and finances, and close with a science question on whether you can deliberately make the placebo effect work on yourself even when you know it's a placebo.

Front Page Fitness is proudly presented by the MASS Research Review

massresearchreview.com

Chapters

0:00 Intro

6:35 The Mountain Dew "Dunkers" saga & donut backlash

9:16 Headline: The "testosterone coach" who says smoke & skip sunscreen

17:39 RFK Jr.'s sauerkraut & fermented-foods diet

39:41 Gen Z "anxiety bags," panic pouches & calm-down kits

52:40 Listener email: a partner's Hyrox obsession strains a relationship

1:07:40 Listener Q: Can you make the placebo effect work on yourself?

1:12:46 Wrap-up