Synapse Performance Podcast

In this episode David is joined by Professor Martin Gibala of MacMaster University. 

 

Professor Gibala's research examines the regulation of skeletal muscle energy provision and he is particularly interested in the potential for exercise and/or nutrition to induce metabolic adaptations at the molecular and cellular levels in humans. In addition to basic, mechanistic studies, he also conducts applied research that examines the impact of exercise training and dietary manipulation on sport performance. Recently the work in his laboratory has focused on two main areas:

(1) Metabolic adaptations to low-volume, high-intensity interval training, with an emphasis on the regulation of oxidative energy provision.

(2) The potential for alterations in nutrient availability to impact the acute or chronic adaptations to exercise training.

 

David and Professor Gibala discuss the following:

 

Sprint Interval training & "The One Minute Workout"   Q2. Is only a couple of minutes of intense exercise a week really enough to elicit an increase in fitness and improve health?   Q3. What kind of increase in health and fitness can we expect to see from this low volume, high-intensity exercise?   Q4. What level of intensity / resistance should an individual use and how they determine this?    Q5. What are the underlying mechanisms that allow such a response from such little exercise?   Q6. What populations is this type of exercise suited to? Is it just for trained individuals or does it have applications in clinical and general populations? How would people go about beginning such a program?   Q7. Does everyone respond similarly to this style of training? What is the level of non-responders like? What level of dose response do we see to elicit maximal results?   Q8. What direction should future research go in this area?    For full show notes: www.hpascience.com/episode34

This week David had the pleasure of being joined by Omar Isuf.

 

Omar is a successful fitness entrepreneur who transitioned from a personal trainer to a full-time YouTuber, with a current following of approximately 600,000 subscribers. Omar provides evidence-based content for his followers and regularly collaborates with world-leading experts. Omar used his influence to launch his own apparel company, Raskol apparel. 

 

David and Omar discuss:

 

Topic 1: Building a social media brand   Q1. How vital has honesty and moral integrity been to the success of Omar's brand?   Q2. What are the key attributes to building a successful social media brand?   Q3.  What key analytics/elements that are important to monitor?   Q4. How do you encourage interaction with a fan-base?    Q5. What are the 3 key pieces of advice for people looking to grow their YouTube following?   Q6. What is the best way to deal with negative or even personal attacks on social media?    Topic 2: Networking    Q7.   How valuable have collaborations been to the continued growth of Omar's brand?      Topic 3:  The supplement industry   Q8. What impact does the supplement industry have on people? What are some of the underhanded techniques employed by the supplement industry?   For full shownotes: www.hpascience.com/episode33

In this episode David is joined by Dr. Llion Roberts. Llion began his research training at John Moores University, Liverpool, UK; before moving to The University of Queensland in 2011 to undertake his PhD in sports physiology. He specifically examined the physiological, mechanistic and applied effects of cold water immersion after strength exercise; and the acute Vs chronic implications of its use.

 

His research interests lie with understanding the basic physiological and mechanistic responses to exercise bouts, and how they can be manipulated to maximize training adaptation per se, and in athletes. After his PhD, Llion has continued this line of research, examining the mechanistic, physiological and applied aspects of recovery and intervention therapies including heat, nutraceutical supplementation; and more recently, blood flow restricted exercise.

David & Llion discuss:

 

 

Q1. What exactly defines cold water immersion? i.e. is there a maximum temperature the water must be?    Q2.  What physiological response do we observe when we engage in CWI?    Q3. From a practical perspective, what impact has CWI post resistance training on muscle adaptations to strength training?    Q4. What impact does CWI have on anabolic signalling?     Q5. What role does inflammation play in response to resistance training?   Q6. Is inflammation something we should try and embrace or something we should try and limit?  

For full show-notes see:  www.hpascience.com/episode32

This week David has the pleasure of being joined by Molly Galbraith, strength coach & co-founder of Girls Gone Strong, a global movement that provides a common voice of body-positive, evidence-based information about strength training, nutrition, having a fit pregnancy, women’s health, physical therapy and injury prevention, fat loss, mindset, and much more.

 

Molly has a wealth of experience, having competed in figure shows, powerlifting and through her own personal struggles which she talks openly about. 

 

In this show David and Molly discuss:

 

 

- What is Girls gone strong? - What is it's mission? - What has been the influence of the weight loss industry on women?   Topic 1: Common misconceptions women have regarding training   - Is the common fear of lifting heavy weights making women "bulky" justified?     - Should women exercise during pregnancy?   - What type of exercise?   - Is weight training safe?   - What is the importance or strengthening the pelvic floor muscles following    pregnancy, should every woman be doing these type of exercises?    Topic 2: Body confidence   - What are the main "flaws" women can unhealthily obsess about?   - As a personal trainer, how do you deal with women who are obsessing over body image and self-identified "flaws"?    Topic 3:   Business & social media   - How important is honesty in building a successful brand?   - What are the key elements to building a successful social media following?      For full show-notes: www.hpascience.com/episode31

This week David had the honour of being joined by Dr. Trisha Scribbans. 

 

Dr. Trisha Scribbans’s research interests include identifying strategies of improving patient clinical outcomes following athletic therapy (AT) and other allied health care treatments/therapies and advancing the role of ATs and kinesiologists within the Canadian health care system. She is also interested in the mechanisms underlying the ability of high-intensity interval training/exercise (HIT) to elicit comparable improvements in local (e.g. skeletal muscle) and systemic metabolism as moderate-intensity extended duration exercise (i.e. endurance training), variability in individual responses to exercise training, and the development of anatomical and educational models for the improvement of manual skill acquisition in novice health care providers.

 

In this episode David & Dr. Scribbans discuss:

 

Topic 1: Exercise Adaptations and Training Intensity   Q1. What is Vo2 max & how significant a role does ones Vo2 max play in their health status?    Q2. How is the exact definition of high intensity training? (Is there a difference between HIT and SIT?)   Q3. Can HIT elicit the same adaptations as conventional endurance training? Is one form of training superior to the other in terms of increasing Vo2 Max and performance?   Q4. What are the underlying mechanism that allow similar benefits to be achieved from HIT training as from endurance training?   Topic 2: Individuality and responses to exercise protocols   Q5. What role does inter-individual response play in exercise response and adaptations? Do we all respond to exercise training in a similar way?   Q6. What factors might lead to these response differences?   For full shownotes see: www.hpascience.com/episode30

This week David had the pleasure of being joined by James Krieger. 

James Krieger is the founder of Weightology.  He has a Master's degree in Nutrition from the University of Florida and a second Master's degree in Exercise Science from Washington State University.  He is the former research director for a corporate weight management program that treated over 400 people per year, with an average weight loss of 40 pounds in 3 months.  His former clients include the founder of Sylvan Learning Centers and The Little Gym, the vice president of Costco, and a former vice president of MSN.

James is a published scientist, author, and speaker in the field of exercise and nutrition.  He has published research in prestigious scientific journals, including the American journal of clinical nutrition and the Journal of applied physiology.  n his previous lay publication, Weightology Weekly, he wrote over 70 articles per year covering the latest science in a manner that was friendly and easy to understand.  James is also the former science editor for Pure Power Magazine, and the former editor for Journal of Pure Power, both publications that delivered scientific, but lay-friendly, information on training and nutrition to athletes and coaches.  In addition, James has given over 75 lectures on fitness-related topics to physicians, dietitians, and other professionals, and has been a speaker at major events such as the AFPT Conference and NSCA Personal Training Conference.  In fact, James has been involved in the health, nutrition, and fitness field for over 20 years, and has written over 500 articles.  He is a strong believer in an evidence-based, scientific approach to body transformation and health.

James and David discuss:

 

Topic 1:  Insulin & fat oxidation   Q1. What is the difference between fat oxidation and fat loss? Is fat oxidation a good indicator of subsequent fat loss? Q2. Is controlling insulin the key to fat loss? By keeping insulin low will we increase fat loss?     Q4. How important is protein intake pre & post workout? Does the anabolic window exist?   Topic 3:  Mentality and Critical thinking.   Q5. What is confirmation bias? How important is openly and genuinely considering opinions/ arguments which are contradictory to your own beliefs?   Q6. What is a strawman? How prevalent are strawman arguments in the health industry and how do we spot them?    Q7. What are the most important elements of true critical thinking and interpretation?    For full show-notes: www.hpascience.com/episode29

This week David has the pleasure of being joined by Dr. Vandre Casagrande Figuieredo, a post - doctoral researcher at the University of Kentucky, Lexington.

 

Dr. Figuieredo's main interests is in the role of ribosome biogenesis in muscle hypertrophy regulation. Vandre previously studied at the prestigious Karolinska institute, Sweden.

 

In this episode David and Vandre discuss:

 

Q1. What are ribosomes?    Q2. What is ribosome biogenesis and what role does it play in muscle hypertrophy?     Q3. From a practical perspective, is there anything we can do / should not do to maximise ribosome biogenesis following resistance training.     For full shownotes & links see: www.hpascience.com/episode28

In this episode David is joined by Dr. Kevin Murach. Dr. Murach is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Kentucky. 

Kevin has a PhD. in human bioenergetics and his PhD. research was in conjunction with NASA aiming to design optimal exercise programs for astronauts to minimise the detrimental impact of decreased gravity. 

Kevin's current research interests are in concurrent training and in this episode David and Kevin discuss:

 

Q1. What is concurrent training?   Q2. Where did the idea that endurance training hinders muscle gain come from?   Q3. What effect does concurrent training have on muscle hypertrophy potential?         - Overview of molecular adaptations of resistance and endurance training.       - What is the interference effect? What does the evidence show is the relationship    between mTOR and AMPK?     - What are satellite cells and what is their role in muscle hypertrophy? What impact does resistance and endurance training have on satellite cells?   - The results of Kevin's  review on muscle growth with concurrent training.    Q4. What effect does concurrent training have on strength and power? Would the significance be greater for advanced trainees?   Q5. What are the practical applications / recommendations can we give for anyone who wants to do aerobic exercise but also maximise muscle hypertrophy?    For all shownotes see: www.hpascience.com/episode27

This week David had the honour of being joined by Nick Tumminello. Nick is regarded as one of the best personal trainers in the world and is the NSCA personal trainer of the year 2016 & 2015 Personal trainer hall of fame inductee.

 

Nick is now known as the “trainer of trainers” and educates personal trainers about there professional development.

 

In this episode David & Nick discuss:

 

What are the main misconceptions new personal trainers have coming into the industry?

 

What are the main misconceptions veteran personal trainers have in the industry?

 

What are the best ways to attract new clients?

 

What are the best ways to retain clients?

 

Show-notes available at: www.hpascience.com/episode26

This week David had the pleasure of being joined by Ben Coomber. 

Ben is a UK based performance nutritionist, writer, speaker and educator. Ben inspires people through his highly successful podcast, Ben Coomber radio. 

In this episode David and Ben discuss:

- The importance of goal setting, both process & outcome goals. 

- The significance of stress and it's influence on our lives.

- Why "eating clean" isn't the complete answer.

For show notes: www.hpascience.com/episode25