The Bone Health Blueprint

How much caffeine do you intake on a daily basis? Not to anyone's surprise, but caffeine is classified as an ergogenic aid (anything that can increase a persons capacity for bodily or mental labor). Put it simply, it allows you to do more WORK. But how much work are we talking about? Does caffeine effect everyone the same way and what can a person expect in terms of increased working capacity? In this episode I review a recent evidence based research paper that dives into the world of caffeine use for runner. I also give my take on how to properly use caffeine and appropriate ways to correctly dose caffeine based on the literature. Be sure to catch up on all other episodes! Thank you for joining along!

Telomeres are the caps at the end of each strand of DNA, that serves to protect our chromosomes. The length of these "caps" serves as the aging clock of our cells, and therefore our bodies. Each time a cell replicates, the telomere is shortened, so naturally as we age this process will take place? But are there ways to slow down this shortening? Or what behaviors cause this shortening process to speed up? The study we dive into for this episode looks at our levels of fat stored in our bodies as it relates to telomere length, regardless of age. The results we find may give us some insight into a real life "fountain of youth" that we can achieve through lifestyle choices. Listen in and find out for yourself!

Are you familiar with total body workouts? Or how about split routine workouts? These two styles of programming vastly differ in what a normal training day looks like and perhaps even the results you're hoping to attain. But which style of training may be best for improving muscle size and/or strength? Something else to consider may be is one better at enhancing overall exercise technique? Episode 15 goes in depth, discussing the latest evidence based research between these two types of training.

Episode 13 dove into examining the differences between the barbell back squat and the barbell deadlift, revealing that the deadlift was a better glute activator and the squat was a better quad activator. On this episode (Ep. 14) we look at different variations of these two exercises in that of the hip thrust and the single leg elevated split squat. From measuring the amount of muscle activation of the quads and glutes during the full range of motion of these two exercises, we can pick up some key details into how we should approach each of these and get the most out of our efforts. Tune in to get all the details and how you can apply these into your own exercise practice.

We've seen in previous research that the hip hinge (deadlift) exercise tends to engage more hip extensors (Glutes) compared to the squat. Conversely, the squat exercise tends to recruit more quadriceps than glutes compared to the deadlift exercise. But why is that? What are the biomechanics that can help explain this and how can you manipulate this knowledge for improving your own training? Let's dive in!

Please feel free to include any comments/reviews in regards to this episode or any other episode or questions where you would like more clarification. Thanks!

It's Tuesday afternoon and you're about to start your workout. You're not quite feeling it, but you also really want to get your workout in for the day. So what should you do? Should you push through and do what's assigned, or should you modify based on how you feel?  Seems like a simple question but how will either choice affect the quest for the results you're seeking? I've asked a lot of questions, let's jump in and look at what the data suggest.

Have you ever had a day where you felt like you shouldn't have worked out but decided to anyway? And on top of that, decided to workout really hard even though something inside told you it might not be the best idea? This episode dives into understanding the basics of heart rate variability as an objective measure and it's ability to assess readiness for work (and intense work at that). We also discuss some subjective tools that can be used in place of HRV that potentially provide the same effect. Thank you for joining and please leave a comment/review if time permits!

We've all questioned this before, but how long does it really take to recover from a bout of resistance training? Our physiology can fatigue in many ways, such as within the muscle itself. Muscle proteins breakdown and your ability to produce force diminishes. Same can be said about our metabolism. We use energy, and sometimes at high demands, during training sessions. How long does it take to restore & replenish those energy stores? Well, it depends! The intensity & duration of the exercise bout give a window into this question, but there are some great take away points we can gain from this topic. Listen in and I guarantee you'll walk away having learned something today.

We tend to focus on resistance training as a means to improve strength for completing daily tasks & competing in sporting events/physical activity. But how can we objectively use strength as a way to predict if we are susceptible to injury? One can argue that may factors contribute to our injury risk, such as poor movement patterns, fatigue, etc., but lets see if we can even the playing field and use a repeatable, cost effective method to assess our risk for injury based purely on a measure of strength.

Should you lift heavier with less reps or lighter with more reps to improve muscle size and strength? The data has been out on this for some time, but what if we created an even playing field, where overall workload is the same? Would muscle size increase the same if you lifted a higher load for 4 reps compared to a lighter load at 12 reps doing the same amount of overall work? Would your top end strength improve the same between those two scenarios as well? So many take away messages and application tools to gain from this episode. Let's dive in!

Please feel free to rate & review this episode! Thank you for joining!