The Strength Log

Wow, you guys and gals really sent in a bunch of great listener questions today. Thank you for making this podcast both informative and fun!

How about talking about the concept of progressive overload for older lifters? Or about the often-claimed importance of having a balanced physique to avoid injuries?

See the timestamps below for all listener questions.

Also, we have merch now! Check out strengthlog.com/shop for t-shirts and coffee cups. We’ll add more products and prints soon.

Timestamps:

• 02:10 – Question 1: Is it too long between workouts if I only do full-body workouts every fifth day?
• 06:45 – Question 2: If I’m never going to compete in powerlifting, should I use a lifting belt anyway?
• 11:45 – Question 3: How do I know if my physique is balanced enough?
• 17:10 – Question 4: How do I recover from acute low back pain (lumbago) as fast as possible?
• 23:10 – Question 5: How do I count my working sets?
• 26:00 – Question 6: I have a little ribbon of fat just below my belly button that I’ve been trying to get rid of. I’m 74 years old I go to the gym six days a week and I train an hour to an hour and a half every day.
• 30:10 – Question 7: How do I adjust progressive overload goals when my body is naturally slowly declining because it’s aging?
• 36:00 – Question 8: How important is it to refill with electrolytes after a workout?
• 38:40 – Question 9: I drink a full pot of coffee during my workouts. Am I stupid?

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you want a t-shirt with ”Train hard, eat well, die anyway”, check out our shop here.

If you are a strength and conditioning coach or a personal trainer, please check out StrengthLog Coach, our online software for online coaching.

Last episode covered the three best fitness supplements to spend your money on, and three that might be worth it under special circumstances.

We flip the coin today, talking about the most overhyped supplements for strength and fitness. Either because they have been shown to not live up to the claims of the supplement companies or because they can’t be deemed safe for human consumption yet. 

Does this mean that it might be worth your money if we don’t mention a specific supplement in this episode?

Absolutely not.

The ones in the timestamps below are only the most popular ones, but there’s a lot of crap out there.

Save your money.

Timestamps:

• 04:10 – BCAA
• 09:30 – Turkesterone & ecdysterone
• 15:15 – Testosterone boosters
• 18:30 – Fat burners
• 22:45 – HMB

For a more complete supplement guide in PDF form, sign up for our newsletter here.

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you want a t-shirt with ”Train hard, eat well, die anyway”, check out our shop here.

If you are a strength and conditioning coach or a personal trainer, please check out StrengthLog Coach, our online software for online coaching.

Which supplements are worth your money, and which are not?

In this episode, we’ll examine what the science actually says about fitness and strength-related supplements, to give you our list of the best ones.

When all is said and done, not many supplements remain that are worthy of your money—the opposite of what supplement companies want you to hear. However, we hope you’ll be interested in this knowledge.

But! There are a few that will help you become bigger and stronger. And they are mostly quite inexpensive.

We’ll discuss six different ones (see the timestamps below), how they can improve your training, and to what degree they are worth investing in.

Next week, we’ll cover overhyped supplements to avoid!

Timestamps:

• 07:00 – Protein supplements
• 18:00 – Creatine monohydrate
• 26:00 – Caffeine
• 31:50 – Vitamin D
• 35:40 – Omega 3 fatty acids
• 41:20 – Beta-alanine

For a complete supplement guide in PDF form, sign up for our newsletter here.

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you are a strength and conditioning coach or a personal trainer, please check out StrengthLog Coach, our online software for online coaching.

In the final episode of our trilogy on fat loss, we discuss crash dieting.

Crash diets—also known as very-low-calorie diets and semistarvation diets—are very popular, and we’re here to tell you exactly how stupid it is to go on one and expect sustainable results. Especially if you care about your muscle mass, which we do believe most of our listeners do.

But can you do a successful crash diet, and how would that look? 

And what’s the superior alternative?

If you haven’t listened to parts 1 and 2 of our How to Lose Fat trilogy, you can do so here:

1. How to Lose Fat – The Basics
2. How to Lose Fat – Your Best Questions

Want all answers and secrets about fat loss in an easy-to-read format? Check out our ebook How to Build Muscle and Lose Fat.

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you are a strength and conditioning coach or a personal trainer, please check out StrengthLog Coach, our online software for online coaching.

In part 1, we covered the basics of fat loss. Today, we continue this miniseries on training and eating to lose fat by answering your best questions on the topic.

Is starvation mode real? How do you deal with the lack of energy on a caloric deficit? Is it a myth that strength training burns fat? How do you avoid regaining all the weight you’ve lost?

See the timestamps below for all questions!

Timestamps:

• 05:20 – Question 1: Should my approach to losing weight differ if my goal is to retain as much strength as possible, compared to retaining as much muscle mass as possible?
• 09:00 – Question 2: Why is it so hard to lose weight?
• 11:20 – Question 3: How do you best deal with the lack of energy when on a caloric deficit?
• 14:00 – Question 4: What should I do to not gain weight quickly again after a weight loss diet?
• 18:10 – Question 5: Is it a myth that strength training leads to weight loss, or more specifically, fat burning?
• 22:50—Question 6: Why does my weight loss diet stop working and my weight loss stagnate, and how should I counteract that?
• 28:40 – Question 7: Are you two, the hosts, comfortable in your bodies, or do you want changes?

For Philip’s more extensive answer to question 7, read his column Life Is Too Tasty: Confessions of a Fat Lifter.

Want all answers and secrets about fat loss in an easy-to-read format? Check out our ebook How to Build Muscle and Lose Fat.

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you are a strength and conditioning coach or a personal trainer, please check out StrengthLog Coach, our online software for online coaching.

Losing fat is the most common fitness goal for both men and women. It’s most commonly expressed as wanting to lose weight, but it’s fat we want to lose – not our hard-earned, important, beautiful, and sexy muscle mass!

In this episode, we teach you the basics about eating and training to lose fat. Should you count calories? What should you eat? How much protein? 

In the upcoming part 2, we’ll explore the subject further with the help of your best questions.

Have a question you want answered? Leave it in our community on Facebook!

Timestamps:

• 05:30 – Why do people want to lose fat?
• 08:30 – Why do we gain weight?
• 13:00 – How to lose fat

Want all answers and secrets about fat loss right here, right now? Check out our ebook How to Build Muscle and Lose Fat.

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you are a strength and conditioning coach or a personal trainer, please check out StrengthLog Coach, our online software for online coaching.

For optimal quad growth, it’s probably not enough to just train squats, leg presses, or similar exercises. This has been bro science for decades, and today we will discuss a new study that confirms this.

The study had the participants train the leg press with one of their legs, and leg extensions with the other one. And the results of muscle growth in the quadriceps differed enough to make a long-term difference in your training!

Want to try a great leg workout? Check out this article, then download our app StrengthLog and find the same workout for free on the workout tab. It’s simply called Leg Workout.

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you are a strength and conditioning coach or a personal trainer, please check out StrengthLog Coach, our online software for online coaching.

Training volume is a never-ending topic of debate. How many reps should you do when you want to become bigger and stronger? How many working sets? 

We focused on reps in episode 5, so today it’s time to focus on our favorite way to measure training volume: the number of working sets you train at or close to failure for any given lift or muscle group.

We kick things off with a new study from Brazil on football players with plenty of gym experience, that measured the effects of different weekly set volumes.

Then we broaden our discussion, by answering a handful of questions on this topic from our listeners.

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you are a strength and conditioning coach or a personal trainer, please check out StrengthLog Coach, our online software for online coaching.

There’s been much ado about bench press in this podcast. In episode 6, we talked about the mistakes you should avoid if you want to become a great bench presser.

But that episode focused on the negatives, and today we feel much more positive.

What are the best practices of training the bench press, that you should implement immediately in your own workout routine?

We’ve gathered our 10 best tips on how to increase your bench press, no matter if your goal is to build bigger pecs or to compete in powerlifting.

Enjoy!

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the best free gym workout tracker app, StrengthLog, here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you are a strength and conditioning coach or a personal trainer, also check out StrengthLog Coach, our online software for online coaching.

You asked, we answered. And what an amazing bunch of questions you sent in! Thank you for both listening and contributing to the podcast.

The timestamps for all questions are listed below. We’ll discuss yoga, sleeping positions, high-rep training for squats and deadlifts, rest days, and more!

Timestamps:

• 04:30 – Question 1: Do you think the sleeping position matters for muscle growth?
• 08:45 – Question 2: I want tips on calluses in the palms of my hands! What do you do to keep them at a reasonable level?
• 12:40 – Question 3: What’s your view on endurance-focused strength training such as Body pump?
• 19:25 – Question 4: If you are training for strength, would you expect better gains over time (say after 2-3 months) if you did yoga (45-minute sessions) on rest days (at least 2-3 times a week) vs. just resting?
• 23:30 – Question 5: How important are rest days really?
• 28:10 – Questions 6 and 7: If one is doing suboptimal training (at least by the definitions for what is considered optimal) but still “working hard,” can gains and/or maintenance still be made? And: If you stop progressing in weightlifting and keep on lifting the same weights (same sets, reps, and weights), what happens with your strength and muscle size?
• 38:30 – Question 8: Why does high-rep training work better for the bench press than for squats and deadlifts?
• 43:15 – Question 9: What is the body recomposition method, and does it have any credibility?
• 48:30 – Question 10: How do I train to maintain being a good runner and a great powerlifter simultaneously?
• 58:00 – Question 11: Does poor form/technique when lifting weights in the gym cause injuries?

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you are a strength and conditioning coach or a personal trainer, please check out StrengthLog Coach, our online software for online coaching.