The Big Inside

This week The Big Inside got cancellations from not one, not two, but three guests for The Big Deal segment of the show.  But while we might get blown off you, our dear listeners, will not!  We rooted through our audio files and found a segment that was originally part of a longer piece.  We spit-polished it and have it for you as the centerpiece of this short little show.  

This week we're looking at what might be the most valuable human commodity.  No, it's not pizza.

And just as a reminder, we are onlyafew episodes away from our first break of the year.  We need to catch up show content, and on life.  We'll be back before you know it, and we still have a couple episodes to go.  Just giving you gusy the ol' PSA heads-up.

XN is back from sick leave, and we have to thank you guys for being patient while he healed up from whatever black plague sinus infection was plaguing him!  

This week on the Big Deal we ask: what is it that makes a healthy community?  We’re joined by professional StrongMan Eric Dawson to learn about his small training facility, Titan Barbell, and we discover how the way a gym community is set up may provide insight into how we can bridge gaps in society in general.

Unexpected illness happens to the best of us.  And also, apparently, to the mediocre among us, as show host Christian Matyi, aka "XN," came down with a heinous flu.  So, no episode this week.

We will be back next week however!  Stay tuned!  And thanks for the well wishes!

The human brain tends to get fixated on things. And sometimes the most familiar things – like food – are a point of fixation.  Which leads us to ask questions that can turn our heads around and cause our brains to totally fart.  

What kinds of questions? Well, in this case, some of the most important food questions ever asked!  Or at least, we think so.  We canvas a bunch of folks whose relationship with food is pretty intense – heavy weight lifters – and had them field these questions.  No consensus was reached on an answer, but it makes for some fascinating ideas about how we approach what we eat.

Meanwhile, show host Christian Matyi, aka XN, reveals a secret love affair that was destined for doom. 

Most people who love to lift weights and work out seem to have found this interest via their experiences in high school and through popular media.  Well, without these influences, could a bodybuilder still evolve?  On this week’s episode, show host Christian “XN” Matyi welcomes trainer and yoga instructor Silas Jackson to explore a unique way of entering the pursuit of lifting.  Maybe we don’t need as much as we thought to pursue the things we love after all?

Silas is a man of many physique passions.

Not an iota of irony.  
Photo credit: bodybuilding.com

Social media does a lot of things well.  And some things it does terribly.  But if you're 8-tyears old and it's 1983, it doesn't do much at all because, well, it wasn't even invented yet.  And that means all your dreams and hopes don't fall subject to public scrutiny and competition.  And so maybe you can end up like Cedric McMillan.

McMillan turned a victory in competition into an opportunity to invoke an idea about the cynicism of our times due to social media's negative effects.  Of course, his comment was a lot more gruffly worded, and it was focused on the arena of pro bodybuilding, but it nonetheless communicated a whole lot about how things that start out positive can get dragged down in the mire of their own efforts – and how social media and the internet can speed that process.

The irony here is not what McMillan said, but how it was heard by his audience.  And that is the jumping point for this episode, where host Christian Matyi, aka "XN," guides you through the landscape relevant to McMillan's comments, and then sidecar show regulars Scott Bottorff and Nick Lefebvre add their own two cents of perspective.

Also in this episode, Nick hijacks the sponsors, and Scott tells you which pine trees make you jacked.  

Please visit the amazing sponsors of this episode:

Another solo flight for show host Christian Matyi, aka "XN."  Today he presents similar to last week, a story about what can be learned from the patterns of recovery.  At the center of the tale is show regular Scott Bottorff.  (So even though Scott isn't in the Sidecar this week, he's still all over this episode!) Scott brings us through a journey of recovery that truly altered his life's outlook.

Music in today's episode was supplied by Middle Mountain, OC45, Congress, Teenender, and Graphic Melee.

This young buck joins us on the show today.

Okay, we're psyched to get this special episode to you guys!

In a feature we call "The Ballad Of R.J.," we take you back into history to the late 1800s.  We follow the story of a guy named R.J. whose experiences gave us a word so common that many of our listeners use it every day!

This was a super fun (and challenging) episode to put together.  We really are excited to get this piece of bodybuilding and lifting history to you that shows how sometimes the best parts of physique and strength sports have impact far beyond just building muscles.

Almost ten years ago on The Big Inside, we did an episode with a teenager named Mike Cavaliere who was a competitive bodybuilder.  Now it's nearly a decade later and mike comes back to the show to discuss how that experience influenced and informed his career as he became an adult.

Now, we know the first thing your probably thinking is: "Wait – The Big Inside has been on for ten years??"  Yeah, yeah, yeah – simmer down.

But for real, the ability to look at what happens to an interest in something like bodybuilding over the long run in a young person's life is a fascinating topic.  Mick Cavaliere when on to become a Doctor of Physical Therapy, and so is still very much involved with the make up of the human machine.  We talk shop a bit, and the insights the adult Mike are (no surprise) way more compelling than 19-year-old Mike.

And show regular Scott Bottorff returns this week to joins us in the sidecar.

Adam McVey knows what's up.  Or at least we hope does.

But seriously, who cares that a bunch of dudes take tons of steroids and give each other prizes?

It’s hard to pin down whether or not the extremes of bodybuilding competition, epitomized in the IFBB (International Federation of Body Builders) has any cultural or social relevance.  Yet, at the heart of a multi-billion dollar annual revenue industry, it would be hard to consider bodybuilding actually irrelevant.

So what's the deal?  Does competitive bodybuilding matter beyond itself, or not?

To help us sort out if and whether competitive bodybuilding has any cultural significance, The Big Inside’s host Christian Matyi, aka “XN,” has invited IFBB insider Adam McVey, host of the long-running and wildly popular GEAR’D UP! Podcast, to join the discussion. 

Once again Nick LeFebvre sits in the sidecar for a discussion that unravels the complexity of a sport who’s relevance is hard to pinpoint.