Research is mounting that strength training is not only good for our biceps, but also for our brains, improving our learning, memory, and focus.

That goes for other forms of exercise, too, like cardio. But which type is best, and how much of it should you do for brain gains?

In today's episode, we discuss a new meta-analysis that tries to answer these questions.

Over 9,000 brain points to anyone who listens!

***

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

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

Become a part of our Reddit community 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 improve your cardio fitness, will you also perform better in the gym and recover faster between sets?

That’s a common hypothesis in the gym world. If proven true, it would be another good reason for adding more cardio training into your routine, since better recovery should mean bigger strength gains in the long run (pun intended).

That’s the topic today, and we have a new study that examined the relationship between oxygen uptake (VO2 max) and recovery between sets, within-set fatigue, and whether men and women recover at different rates.

***

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

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

Become a part of our Reddit community 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.

Forty might be the new twenty, and for many, life feels better than ever. But physical signs of aging are starting to creep up on us at that age. Our backs ache a bit more than ten years ago; we feel tired more often; and let’s not talk about our knees and shoulders.

So, how do you go about strength training in your forties? Do you build less muscle mass compared to ten or twenty years ago? Is it more dangerous? Should you only do crossword puzzles instead?

In this episode, we discuss considerations when strength training after the age of 40, answer common questions people have about getting started in the gym at this age, and talk about whether your dietary needs change with age.

***

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

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

Become a part of our Reddit community 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.

Is there too much of a good thing, or should you just keep adding sets to your workouts to grow bigger and stronger?

In episode 32, we discussed a meta-regression analysis on weekly set volume for hypertrophy and strength gains. Now, the same researchers are back with an analysis on per-session volume.

How many sets should you do per workout for a given muscle or exercise to maximize muscle growth and strength gains? Is more always better, and if so, is there an upper limit?

Let’s talk about it!

We also have time for a listener question, around 22:30 in:

What’s the fastest way to warm up for training specific body parts?

***

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

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

Become a part of our Reddit community 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.

Ten years ago we got an awesome study on powerlifters and weightlifters maxing out in the squat daily. Now, a group of physical therapy students have replicated that study, but in the bench press instead.

You read that right. Bench press. Maxing out. Every day for more than a month. Plus back-off sets.

That’s a lot of bench pressing. But did they die?

Super fun study and lots to talk about. Afterwards, around 25 minutes in, we discuss Daniel’s results from a 6-week cycle of our training program Squat Samba.

Did he set a new lifetime PR?

***

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

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

Become a part of our Reddit community 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.

Which type of bicep curl is best if you want to grow your biceps?

How do you know if you are applying progressive overload and pushing yourself, or just ego lifting? And what’s the point of accessory exercises?

We collected ten questions from our Instagram account and the StrengthLog Subreddit, to create a really interesting and fun episode for you today.

See the timestamps below for all questions.

Timestamps:

• 02:30 - Question 1: What old-school strength training practice has been discredited by research, but you still sort of believe and/or practice? Even though you know it’s not evidence-based?
• 05:50 - Question 2: What exercises do you feel guilty about not doing because you never really want to?
• 12:55 - Question 3: If you could go down a weight class in powerlifting but don't want to lose too much strength, how would you plan to lose around 5 kg from now until a competition in September?
• 15:30 - Question 4: Are there any disadvantages to using a belt when deadlifting with lighter weights?
• 19:00 - Question 5: What is the best way to maintain a diet that provides a caloric deficit and, at the same time, helps me avoid being hungry? And how should I think about calories from fruits?
• 23:30 - Question 6: I've started to feel a slight pain in the front of my shoulder after doing dumbbell presses, rows, and military presses. Any tips on how I can adjust my technique or training to prevent this?
• 27:20 - Question 7: We know sleep is great for recovery, but do you have any tips and tricks for someone who has trouble falling asleep?
• 31:10 - Question 8: Is there any risk of wearing down or damaging your teeth while doing heavy lifts repeatedly week after week and year after year, often biting down hard?
• 34:25 - Question 9: How do you know if you are truly applying progressive overload and pushing yourself, or just ego lifting?
• 38:00 - Question 10: How important are accessory lifts really? If the goal is strength, what is the benefit of putting together a workout with both bench press and dumbbell press, plus isolation exercises for the arms and shoulders, for example?

***

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

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

Become a part of our Reddit community 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.

Which type of bicep curl is best if you want to grow your biceps?

A new, impressive bicep study adds to the evidence that just doing regular curls might not be optimal, comparing bicep growth between two exercises where one was performed with a shortened bicep position and one with a lengthened bicep position.

After discussing optimizing your bicep growth, we move on to two listener questions. See the timestamps below!

Timestamps:

• 03:20 - Main subject
• 15:20 - Question 1: If I want to increase my strength in squats, do you recommend Squat Samba or RSR in your app?
• 21:10 - Question 2: Do I have to drink my creatine supplement, or can I mix it into food?

***

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

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

Become a part of our Reddit community 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 want to build more muscle mass, is it a good strategy to bulk up first before cutting down to the same weight again, hopefully with more quality mass on your body than you started out with?

Bodybuilders do this all the time, but do you really need to if you don’t plan to compete? Another strategy is to stay at the same weight, slowly losing fat while adding muscle mass.

That’s what we’re discussing today. Using a new case study in which beginners did a 24-week bulk and cut cycle, we examine their results and talk about ways they could have been improved, and the practical takeaways for you, the listener. 

***

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

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

Become a part of our Reddit community 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 lower the weights slowly when training, will that boost your muscle growth and strength gains?

In today’s episode, we’re discussing a new meta-analysis (still in preprint) that pooled the results from eight studies on this topic, to see if an intentionally slow eccentric tempo when strength training produces better results.

The results gave us a lot to debate, so let’s dive in!

***

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

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

Become a part of our Reddit community 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 eat carbs before bedtime, you’ll become fat. At least, that’s what people have been claiming for decades—but is it true or just another fitness myth?

Today, we have a new study looking into whether carbohydrates eaten in the evening are more prone to becoming body fat, and whether it matters if the carbs are of the fast (tasty) or slow (boring) kind.

We round off the episode with a listener question about 1RM-based training programs in the StrengthLog Workout Tracker App.

Timestamps:

• 03:15 - Main subject: Will late-night carbs make you fat?
• 22:00 - Listener question: I’m about to finish my first cycle of a 1RM-based training program that’s given me great results. Should I run another cycle, and if so, how should I adjust my 1RMs?

***

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

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

Become a part of our Reddit community 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.