Muscle Expert Podcast | Ben Pakulski Interviews | How to Build Muscle & Dominate Life

A few years ago Cavin Balaster was involved in a serious accident which left him in a coma with less than a 10 percent chance of survival which would have been in a vegetative state.  Flash forward to today and Cavin is not only able to lead a normal life but has also written a book about the experience.  Join us as Cavin tells his story and gives great insight on how he was able to support brain healing through nutrition and supplemental changes. 

This episode is brought to you by Four Sigmatic Mushrooms.  Lion’s Mane is the only proven supplement to improve neurogenesis, the growth of new neurons.  Use code Muscle at FourSigmatic.com for 15% off of your order!

Time Stamps

2:00- The accident that changed Cavin’s life forever and the life changing research that he did as a result.

4:45- Giving your brain its best shot.  Cavin shares advice on how to encourage brain health.

9:30- How “under the table” nutrients helped Cavin’s brain start to restore function.

14:15- The importance of gut health for brain health.

21:45- Supporting neuroplasticity with supplementation.

24:00- The mindset of change.  Why the belief of “I can” is the most important piece of the puzzle.

30:00- How Cavin’s life practices have changed since his accident.

38:30- Pain is not good or bad, it is there to let us know what’s going on.  Cavin’s long road to recovery.

42:30- How to Feed a Brain- Cavin tells us about the book he wrote on his recovery process.

45:00- How to live your greatest life with your healthiest brain, Cavin’s tips for living a great life.

50:00- Is a ketogenic diet necessary to promote brain health?

Ali Miller is a certified dietitian, the host of the Naturally Nourished Podcast, and author of the new book The Anti-Anxiety Diet.  Ben and Ali sit down to discuss how you can mitigate anxiety through diet without the short term “feel good” junk foods.  Ali gives us her 5 R’s protocol to heal your gut and reset your neurotransmitter function as well as her method for women to cycle in carbs on a keto style diet to support hormone cycles.  Make sure to pick up Ali’s new book The Anti-Anxiety Diet, available everywhere Tuesday August 7th.

This episode is brought to you by Four Sigmatic!  One of the highlights from this show was Ali’s use of cordyceps as an adaptogen to optimize executive function.  If you want to experiment with this as well check out Four Sigmatic’s line of cordycep products and use code Muscle for 15% off of your order!

Highlights

“Exercise it the most underused anti-depressant and food is the most over-utilized anti-anxiety cure.“

Remove inflammation, restore the micro biome, rebuild gut integrity, restore micronutrients, rebounding adrenals. -Ali’s protocol for removing anxiety though diet.

Using adaptogens such as cordyceps to support executive function.

Time Stamps

2:20- How the Ketogenic Diet helps support GABA and intern has anti-anxiety benefits.

6:00- Short-term lack of carbohydrates can cause low level anxiety but long term GABA support will help to reduce anxiety long term. “Exercise it the most underused anti-depressant and food is the most over-utilized anti-anxiety cure. “

8:05- The relationship between gut health and anxiety. The relationship between microbiome, micronutrients, food intolerance and anxiety.

11:45- Ali’s method for healing your gut. Remove inflammatory foods.

15:30- The effects of a healthy micro biome on serotonin, dopamine, and GABA.

23:45- Rebuilding the gut integrity with glutamine, collagen and glycine.

32:20- Ali’s nutritional and supplemental protocol for replenishing micronutrients.

38:45- Ali’s beliefs around lectins and phytic acid when it comes to gut health.

43:30- The relationship between cortisol, epinephrine and anxiety.

48:55- How can you figure out where you are adrenally though both subjective analysis and testing.

51:45- How to support executive function with cordyceps, ashwagandha, rrhodiola and more.

56:30- Carb cycling for women on a ketogenic diet.  How you can use carbs to support cycling hormones.

Dr. Mike Nelson is one of the world’s leading experts on metabolic flexibility and creator of the Flex Diet program.  Ben and Dr. Mike dive deep on what influences metabolic flexibility, the benefits of fat and carb adaptation and how to more quickly adapt to each.  Highlights include how macros can effect your heart rate variability, what you can deduce from your blood glucose levels, and Dr. Mike’s recommended diet for longevity.

Time Stamps

5:45- What causes your body to be less efficient at using fat for fuel?

11:20- What causes the keto flu and how can you mitigate it.

14:30- What scenarios would make it better to be fat vs carb adapted.

17:45- Will you still see a performance increase from carbs even if you aren’t training hard enough to enter your glycogen stores?

20:45- Is it possible to adapt to high training volume when you are in ketosis?

24:30- Intraset recovery when in ketosis.  Is it possible to go to failure multiple times per training session if you are fat fueled.

31:00- Dr. Mike’s tips for shortening the time it takes to become metabolically flexible.

34:15- Protein and the ketogenic diet.  Will high protein actually put you out of ketosis?

37:00- What goals does Dr. Mike recommend a ketogenic diet to achieve.

39:45- What are the implications of the ketogenic diet on your hormones and microbiome?

44:15- How macros affect HRV.

46:20- Demystifying blood glucose levels.  What can you deduce from your fasting glucose level.

49:50- What does Dr. Nelson think the ideal diet is for longevity?

54:45- What are the pros and cons of low blood sugar?

59:15- The training and nutrition variables to fat oxidation.

1:04:30- The effects of mitochondrial health on metabolic flexibility.

1:06:00- The supplemental influences on metabolic flexibility.

Joining us today is one of the top Crossfit Nutritionists Jason Phillips of IN3 Nutrition.  Ben and Jason discuss how he fell into nutrition through an eating disorder, cycling training and diet through pre, post, and competition season, and the struggles of keeping your kids on a healthy diet.  Top highlights include eating for performance vs for body comp, the psychology behind prescribing a diet, how your diet can effect your hormones and much more.

This episode is brought to you by ATP Labs.  Use code Ben10 to get 10% off your order and don’t forget to sign up for their newsletter for free shipping!

Joining us today is a woman who is leading the talk of avoiding foods that have high instances of intolerance.  JJ Virgin is the author of several NYT best sellers, has appeared on numerous TV shows as a nutrition expert and is a world renown public speaker on the topics of health and wellness.  Ben and JJ discuss how she is leading the conversation on avoiding the foods that most people can’t tolerate and her new conversation on being a “Warrior Mom”. Highlights include the importance of detoxing prior to fatloss, the seven foods JJ suggests avoiding and how to figure out what foods don’t work for you.

This episode is brought to you by BiOptimizers MassZymes.  You’re not what you eat, you are what you absorb.  MassZymes supports gut bacteria and helps breakdown what you are putting into your body.  Use code MuscleBen18 or visit MassZymes.com/muscleintelligence for 15 percent off of your order.

Highlights

Fat is the vessel in which much of our toxins are stored.  JJ answers why it is imperative to detox before losing fat. - 9:00

JJ’s Favorite “Clean” Personal Care Brands - 17:30

Using a Journal to document how your body reacts to certain foods. - 26:30

The 7 day elimination diet challenge. - 33:00

What is your greatest life, hire a coach to help you achieve it, find your achievable goal body and do everything you can to work towards it, JJ’s tips to live your greatest life in your greatest body. - 39:10

Time Stamps

6:45- How JJ became inspired to shift her focus to leading a generation of Warrior Moms.

9:00- Why it is essential to reduce your toxic burden and detox before losing weight.

11:30- The sources and effects of our highly estrogenic environment.

19:30- Toxin-free personal care- JJ shares her favorite clean brands.

22:45- The Virgin Diet- How JJ came up with her best selling practical diet plan.

28:30- How to start paying better attention to the foods your body does and doesn’t like.

31:45- The foods that JJ recommends to avoid.

35:00- The free information JJ is giving out to challenge you to eat for a great life.

38:30-  How JJ fits fitness into her busy lifestyle.

41:10- JJ’s tips to live your greatest life in your greatest body.

We are taking a deep dive into nutrition for the next couple of weeks on the Muscle Expert Podcast!  To kick things off I am discussing my personal approach to nutrition as well as answering the questions that many of you submitted via social media.

Stay tuned for the next two weeks to hear what all of our nutrition guests have to contribute.

Joining us today is Dr. Beau Hightower, the Director of Sports Medicine for Jackson/Wink MMA.  Dr. Hightower is known for keeping Jackson/Wink’s fighters in amazing health, they haven’t had a preventable injury drop out in his 3 years there.  Ben and Beau dive into best practices to prevent injury, Dr. Hightower’s unique approach to treat injuries and how he deduces what modality he should use for individual ailments.

This episode is brought to you by Four Sigmatic Mushrooms.  Use code Muscle to receive 15% off your Four Sigmatic order and through July 20th, 2018 you can receive an additional 10% off of the reduced prices for Four Sigmatic’s retiring blends.

Highlights

You should avoid stretching pre training.  Instead use light foam rolling of contributing muscles. Dynamic warmup with light weights before lifting heavy.

The evolutionary reason why certain muscles seem to always be tight.

How Dr. Hightower keeps his athletes healthy and ready to fight.

Time Stamp

5:30- Mitigating overuse injuries- Assessing contractile ability through AROM is key, from there Dr. Hightower recommends soft tissue work on the muscles around the group you are training.

7:30- How to start overcoming (tendon) injuries.  Is stretching, myofascial release and foam rolling working? You should avoid stretching pre training.  Instead use light foam rolling of contributing muscles (shoulder example- long head of tricep, lat, chest) Dynamic warmup with light weights before lifting heavy.

 17:00- Finding the right treatment to the right goal.  Foam rolling delays DOMS, temporary increased muscle elasticity, stretching will improve ROM but whether that is good or bad is goal dependent, myofascial release can help with tightness but will require extended recovery

20:50- Wired for flexion, the reason most people have tight flexor muscles.

23:30- How to balance the trade offs between increasing range of motion and maintaining the integrity of your joints. Why Dr. Hightower avoids soft tissue work with his athletes prior to competition.

30:00- Dr. Hightower’s technique for increasing hip mobility with a lacrosse ball.

33:15- Why you SHOULDN’t work on the muscles you are getting ready to work.

34:45- Why doctors should have a larger area of study to properly treat injuries. The plague of health practitioners who only view injuries through their profession’s lens.

36:30- How to find the right doc and why people are so opinionated these days.

42:15- Protocol vs unique treatment.  Why Dr. Hightower believes that we need deductive reasoning and trial and error in medicine, not just an algorithm.

43:30-  The thought process behind diagnosing an injury.  His approach to acute injury vs chronic.

47:00- The common injuries Beau sees in the UFC.  Only 3 injury pullouts in 3 years. Lots of neck injuries and shoulder injuries from .  Beau is great at keeping fighters healthy enough that they can often avoid surgery and continue to fight.

50:30- Are Beau’s patients doing strength and hypertrophy training?  He works with their strength and conditioning coaches to decrease their weaknesses and increase their strengths.  Mostly stability and explosive work such as olympic lifting.

Joining us today on the Muscle Expert Podcast is Keto Cardiologist Dr. Nadir Ali.  Dr. Ali is challenging conventional wisdom when it comes to cholesterol.  Ben and Dr. Ali discuss how our understanding of cholesterol is misguided as it is simply a transporter for energy from fat.  Dr. Ali’s insight came from watching cholesterol rise in people who are fasted.  Listen in to hear about the good side of LDL, LCHF diet and more from Dr. Nadir Ali.

Highlights

LDL cholesterol as an energy transporter.

Why a low carb, high fat diet is cardiologist recommended.

Dr. Ali challenging conventional wisdom around LDL and cholesterol.

The research that supports elevated cholesterol.

4:00-  How Dr. Ali came to believe keto was the optimal diet.

8:30- Dr. Ali’s thoughts on LDL and keto.

13:35- LDL as a fat transporter.  Why fasting will increase “bad cholesterol” in a good way.

19:50- The many functions of LDL.

21:00- The importance of CoQ10 for burning fuel.

25:30- Breaking the paradigm of cholesterol, is there actually good and bad forms? Dr. Ali gives us the studies that contrast popular opinion.

34:45- Fat intake and cholesterol levels.  Fat vs carb intake and heart disease.

36:30- Why do we still believe that cholesterol is bad despite the contradictory evidence?

39:00- The risks of challenging medical paradigms.

40:00- What happens when someone takes cholesterol reducing medications?

47:45- In Dr. Ali’s opinion is it ever wise to take cholesterol blockers?

50:00- Should you expect and be ok with High LDL when on a high fat diet?

56:00- Should you be concerned with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease?

58:30- Sex hormones and cholesterol.  The effects of hormone manipulation on cholestorol.

1:00:15- Problems with high triglycerides and fat burning.

We are programmed to focus more on the negative than the positive.  This allowed us to avoid danger and humans to prosper. In modern times our stresses are generally less about safety, so where does that leave us? Joining us today is Ben’s favorite author, Dr. Rick Hanson to discuss how we can train our neurochemistry to go against what nature intended. Dr. Hanson is the author of Buddha’s Brain and Resilient to name a couple.  Today he teaches us how focusing on positivity and gratitude can help us overcome our negativity bias, reduce cortisol and change our brain neurochemistry to live a positive stress-free life in modern times.

Highlights

Overcoming your natural negative bias to live a life of positivity and gratitude.

Why compassion and empathy are the key to living a great life with great relationships.

Gratitude, the key to an amazing life?

Deficit vs abundance mindset how to change your neurochemistry.

Time Stamps

4:30- Changing your negative default.  Why you are hardwired to focus on the negative and how you can overcome that bias.

10:30- Step one to letting go.  Take action on what you perceive is the negative in your life. Step 2- Don’t marinate in the negative.  Focusing on the negative will internalize the feeling. Step 3- Exercise gives you a healthy outlet to relieve stress and reduce cortisol.Step 4- Register and acknowledge positive moments with gratitude.

17:45- Spending time with positive emotions.  Only you can control your inner emotions.

22:15- Why do we avoid celebrating the good but always address the bad.

25:00- Using the internal sensation of breathing to access your parasympathetic CNS.

27:00- How tuning into your internal body can help you tune into others.

28:00- How deficit labeling shapes our reality and outcomes.

35:30- Compassion is key, why you can’t live a great life without intrapersonal courage.

43:45- Empowerment through action.  How you can find empowerment though changing your circumstances.

47:00 Changing your neurochemistry with gratitude.

49:30- Buddha’s Brain, the functions and  evolution of our brain.

54:00- How buddhism drew Dr. Hanson to psychology and personal development.

57:00-  Inclusion, why you need to stop compartmentalizing and open up to others.

1:01:50- Dr. Hanson’s advice to live your greatest life NOW!

1:05:30- Finding the positive when you are in a negative circumstance.

1:06:45- Ben’s favorite term “Equanimity” aka staying calm in difficult circumstances.

1:09:30- Rick’s 10 minute daily meditation and gratitude practice.

Dr. Scott Sherr is one of the world’s leading doctors when it comes to Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.  On this episode of the Muscle Expert Podcast Ben and Dr. Sherr dive into the benefits and limitations of hyperbaric treatments as well as the expected results.  Tune in to learn how you can upgrade your detox pathways, angiogenesis and neurogenesis, performance and epigenetic expression with oxygen and pressure therapy.

This episode is brought to you by ATP Labs.  Use code Ben10 to get 10% off your supplement order and sign up for ATP's newsletter to get free shipping!

Highlights-

The benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy- new blood vessel growth, neurogenesis, detoxing, healing and more.

Using hyperbaric therapy to treat acute conditions such as heart attacks, strokes and concussions.

Upgrading your VO2 Max with HBOT

How you can reverse your brain age through hyperbaric therapy.

Changing genetic expression with hyperbaric therapy.

1:00- Dr. Sherr’s unique beginnings and how it lead to his hyperbaric specialty.

2:00- What hyperbaric therapy is and how it accelerates healing and other health benefits.

4:20- Using a hyperbaric protocol.  The increased benefits of multiple hyperbaric sessions.

5:50- Treating strokes, heart attacks, and brain injuries with hyperbaric therapy.

7:40- The types of hyperbaric chambers and how they differ.  Which ones should you look for when starting hyperbaric therapy?

9:00- The expected benefits of HBOT.  Neurogenesis, blood cell formation and

11:00- Increased VO2 max from HBOT.

12:30- How the hyperbaric treatments mimic the environment at the Dead Sea.

15:30- Detoxing your brain with HBOT.

18:00- Supporting neurogenesis through oxygen therapy.

20:15- The difference between hard and soft chambers. What added benefits can you possibly get by going deeper?

22:15- Your stem cells and hyperbaric therapy.  How stressing your body will increase stem cells and healing.  Can the oxidative stress be too much of a stressor?

25:45- Reversing your brain age through oxygen therapy.

27:15- Is deeper always better?  At what pressures do you see diminishing or negative returns?

31:15- The implications for bone growth from treatments. Why isn’t everyone doing hyperbaric therapy? Restrictions you should be aware of prior to treatment.

37:30- Who is the greatest candidate for HBOT?  Should it be your first choice of treatment?

41:45- Changing your epigenetics with hyperbarics.