Every week on the podcast, Greg Nuckols and Eric Trexler discuss recent research and answer listeners’ questions about anything and everything related to training, nutrition, science, and life in general.
Here, we’ve compiled all of the miscellaneous (education, research, business, behavior change, and cooking) topics discussed and questions answered on the podcast along with time-stamped links so you can quickly jump around and find the content you’re most interested in.
You should also subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts to make sure you’re getting new episodes and answers to your questions every week.
All questions
- Education and Building a Business
- I am a newly certified personal trainer, and I am planning to submit applications for personal trainer positions at commercial facilities in a couple weeks. How does a new trainer know when they are “ready” to take on clients?
- I’m a first year psychology student. We recently had a class on how to read research articles, and many course materials laid out processes that would take about 5-6 hours for every single paper. What is your process for reading research? Does this change when you’re trying to get acquainted with a whole new body of literature versus evaluating a single paper on a familiar topic?
- Discussion about creating fitness content (with Jeff Nippard)
- Interview with Jeff Nippard: On genetic limits, FFMI, training, and nutrition
- Do either of you have any recommendations on how to seek out a quality academic reference, without being a complete jerk about it? How can someone with aspirations of becoming a researcher get their start in the research world?
- I was wondering if you guys could provide any advice for students looking to improve their writing skills for science-based fitness articles. Related to that, what would be a useful approach for getting published on well-known websites?
- In a recent podcast you suggested buying an exercise physiology textbook. Is an old edition of a textbook worth reading, or would there be too much outdated information?
- What are some of the best reading materials you’d recommend for a trainer that is just starting out?
- What are some of the biggest tips you would give someone who wants to get into an exercise science program at a university and excel academically?
- What would happen if Terry Tao started studying exercise science? What kind of progress would the field make?
- A few scientific fields have recently identified issues with replication, reproducibility, and transparency in research. How prevalent are these issues in exercise science?
- How did you (Greg) build a following in the fitness industry?
- What advice do Greg and Eric have for students pursuing a degree in exercise science?
- What are some big things that you’ve changed your mind about over the years?
- What what were the early days of evidence-based fitness like?
- As someone who went the standard business route after college and is getting minimal satisfaction from their current career, how possible is it to get proper certifications for nutrition and personal training to make a career out of something I am more passionate about?
- Reading and Interpreting Research
- New study on meta-analysis errors
- There’s a lot of faulty science out there for sure, but what is some questionable or out-right incorrect advice or insights that industry experts or researchers still circulate?
- Research Roundup: Issues in Research and Academic Publishing
- Armchair Scientist’s Corner: The state of science, and rethinking the hierarchy of evidence
- General discussion about where anecdotal evidence fits within an evidence-based approach to training, nutrition, or content creation
- General discussion on interpreting different types of research
- What are some studies you would like to see conducted?
- Is the Dunning-Kruger effect based on legit evidence?
- What are the most common errors that you see people make when interpreting statistics?
- Research Roundup: History of strength training research
- If ethics and money were no concern, what’s a study you’d love to see?
- Correlation doesn’t imply causation. But what does?
- Research Roundup – Masks
- Replication in science
- Call to increase statistical collaboration in sports science, sport and exercise medicine and sports physiotherapy
- Are questionable research practices facilitating new discoveries in sport and exercise medicine? The proportion of supported hypotheses is implausibly high
- Broader discussion on research interpretation
- Effect size discussion
- How much evidence and research would it take for you to implement new findings into your own practice? One study with a large effect size, or multiple replicated studies?
- How do you reconcile value for research, with the likelihood that there’s some degree of really bad research out there, and that many people can’t tell the difference between good and bad research?
- What is the state of research in exercise science and sports nutrition?
- Training studies are often quite short, and in relatively untrained people. Do the results from these short-term studies translate to long-term differences over a training career?
- What is response heterogeneity, and why is it important?
- What tips do Greg and Eric have for reading and interpreting research?
- Do you think that Bayesian Statistics will be used in future studies for analysis?
- Goal Setting and Behavior Change
- A clarification about intrinsic motivation
- Motivation, goal setting, and behavior change
- Self-determination theory
- The COM-B model of behavior change
- A unified model combining goal hierarchies, self-determination theory, and the COM-B model of behavior change
- Q&A: I’ve lost motivation to work out, and I truly don’t enjoy it anymore. What should I do?
- How can I encourage someone who doesn’t currently exercise to start exercising and maintain it?
- Any insight on dealing with procrastination?
- Coach’s Corner: Goal alignment
- Research Review: Goal setting and behavior change
- Fake urgency
- Success rates of New Year’s Resolutions
- Temporal landmarks
- SMART goals
- Creating a goal hierarchy
- Superordinate goals
- Equifinality and Multifinality
- Mental contrasting
- Approach versus avoidance
- Flexible versus rigid restraint
- Process versus outcome
- Mastery versus performance
- Goal difficulty; “slack with a cost”
- Setting specific goals
- Implementation intentions
- Stimulus control; modifying your environment
- Social support and feedback
- How MacroFactor supports evidence-based goal striving and behavior change
- How do you make behavior change seem “sexy” or “exciting” to people? (with Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon)
- Why is it so difficult to change behavior? (with Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon)
- Cooking
- Considering the road to enlightenment: is there a vegetarian variation of the culinary shredded chicken staple?
- To Play Us Out: Protein bread
- To Play Us Out: Scacce ragusana
- To Play Us Out: Fruit bars
- To Play Us Out: Olive oil blondies of Sohla El-Waylly
- What are some recipes for high-volume, low-calorie foods for limiting hunger when you’re trying to get shredded?
- Can you rank cooking methods from best to worst in terms of how they impact micronutrient content?
- To play us out: football season barbecue tips
- The importance of cooking (with Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon)
- Chef Eric’s Easy Lentil Soup
- How to make risotto
- Cooking with mushrooms
- Sous vide cooking tips
- How to bake the perfect loaf of sourdough bread
- Homemade caramels
- Turkey roasting tips
- How do you make really, really good homemade ice cream?
- Does pineapple belong on pizza?
- Which is best: chicken wing, chicken thigh, or chicken breast?
- On the Rise
- Extremely Miscellaneous
- How do you guys manage work-life balance?
- Is sauna bathing actually beneficial, or does it just feel nice?
- Is there any detriment to mouth breathing versus nose breathing?
- Why don’t you debate <insert name>?
- Q&A: What’s the advice/viewpoint you’ve shared over the years that you most regret giving? Something you’ve totally changed your perspective on, and are embarrassed for ever having said out loud?
- Is there anything within the industry that Greg and Eric fundamentally disagree on?
- Preferred body hair removal techniques
- Biggest fitness myths on Instagram these days
- If you could redesign the Presidential Fitness Test to be science-based, what exercises would you select to assess physical fitness?
- What are some (fitness) topics where your opinion is firmly against the common wisdom and why?
- What is Ant-Man’s Wilks score?
- Research Roundup – The stress of chess players as a model to study the effects of psychological stimuli on physiological responses: an example of substrate oxidation and heart rate variability in man
- Supporting immune function
Education and Building a Business
I am a newly certified personal trainer, and I am planning to submit applications for personal trainer positions at commercial facilities in a couple weeks. How does a new trainer know when they are “ready” to take on clients?
Episode 46: Season Finale: Tons of New Meta-Analyses and Q&A Catch-Up
I’m a first year psychology student. We recently had a class on how to read research articles, and many course materials laid out processes that would take about 5-6 hours for every single paper. What is your process for reading research? Does this change when you’re trying to get acquainted with a whole new body of literature versus evaluating a single paper on a familiar topic?
Episode 46: Season Finale: Tons of New Meta-Analyses and Q&A Catch-Up
Discussion about creating fitness content (with Jeff Nippard)
Interview with Jeff Nippard: On genetic limits, FFMI, training, and nutrition
Do either of you have any recommendations on how to seek out a quality academic reference, without being a complete jerk about it? How can someone with aspirations of becoming a researcher get their start in the research world?
Episode 29: Q&A: High Protein Diets, Hardgainers, Exercise Variety, and Bone Adaptations
I was wondering if you guys could provide any advice for students looking to improve their writing skills for science-based fitness articles. Related to that, what would be a useful approach for getting published on well-known websites?
Episode 25: Q&A: Rest Periods, Deadlifts, Bulking, and Hypertrophy for Powerlifters
In a recent podcast you suggested buying an exercise physiology textbook. Is an old edition of a textbook worth reading, or would there be too much outdated information?
Episode 21: Q&A: BCAAs, Mini-Cuts, Sex Differences, and First Meet Tips
What are some of the best reading materials you’d recommend for a trainer that is just starting out?
Episode 15: Q&A: Keto, Rapid Fat Loss, Deadlifts, and Faulty Movement Patterns
What are some of the biggest tips you would give someone who wants to get into an exercise science program at a university and excel academically?
Episode 15: Q&A: Keto, Rapid Fat Loss, Deadlifts, and Faulty Movement Patterns
What would happen if Terry Tao started studying exercise science? What kind of progress would the field make?
Episode 3: Q&A: Beltless Training, Leucine, and the Health Benefits of Strength
A few scientific fields have recently identified issues with replication, reproducibility, and transparency in research. How prevalent are these issues in exercise science?
Episode 3: Q&A: Beltless Training, Leucine, and the Health Benefits of Strength
How did you (Greg) build a following in the fitness industry?
Episode 7: Q&A: CBD, Junk Volume, Eccentric Training, and Building a Following in Fitness
What advice do Greg and Eric have for students pursuing a degree in exercise science?
Episode 2: Sex Differences in Fatigue and Recovery, and Dr. Jason Cholewa
What are some big things that you’ve changed your mind about over the years?
Episode 16:Changing Your Mind, Internet Arguments, Metabolic Adaptation, and Leigh Peele
What what were the early days of evidence-based fitness like?
Episode 16:Changing Your Mind, Internet Arguments, Metabolic Adaptation, and Leigh Peele
As someone who went the standard business route after college and is getting minimal satisfaction from their current career, how possible is it to get proper certifications for nutrition and personal training to make a career out of something I am more passionate about?
Episode 23: Q&A: Carbs, Sodium, and Experimenting with Your Training
Reading and Interpreting Research
New study on meta-analysis errors
- With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: Common Errors in Meta-Analyses and Meta-Regressions in Strength & Conditioning Research
- Meta-Analyses Are the Gold Standard for Evidence, but What’s the Value of Gold These Days?
Episode 107: Meta-Analysis Errors; Motivation and Behavior Change
There’s a lot of faulty science out there for sure, but what is some questionable or out-right incorrect advice or insights that industry experts or researchers still circulate?
Episode 105: Q&A: Ergogenic Effect of Music, Testosterone Replacement, and Misinformation in Fitness
Research Roundup: Issues in Research and Academic Publishing
- Medical Hypotheses
- The Citation of Retracted COVID-19 Papers is Common and Rarely Critical
- Is There an Epidemic of Research Fraud in Natural Medicine?
Episode 95: Restoring Motivation, Issues in Research, and Walking for Weight Loss
Armchair Scientist’s Corner: The state of science, and rethinking the hierarchy of evidence
- Tweet about systematic reviews and RCTs
- New evidence pyramid
- Many researchers were not compliant with their published data sharing statement: mixed-methods study
Episode 91: Cognitive Effects of Creatine, Nasal Breathing, and Current Trends in Science
General discussion about where anecdotal evidence fits within an evidence-based approach to training, nutrition, or content creation
Episode 87: Modified OMAD, Joint-Friendly Warm-Ups, and Muscle Retention While Cutting
General discussion on interpreting different types of research
Episode 75: Body Recomposition, Interpreting Different Types of Research
What are some studies you would like to see conducted?
Bonus Live Q&A: Energy Constraint Model, Training Volume, Creatine Kinase Levels, and More
Is the Dunning-Kruger effect based on legit evidence?
Episode 61: Responders, Non-Responders, and Fish Oil
What are the most common errors that you see people make when interpreting statistics?
Episode 62: Energy Deficiency, Training Frequency, and Beginner Gains
Research Roundup: History of strength training research
Study linked
Episode 59: Beta-Alanine, Training Frequency, and Strength for Hypertrophy
If ethics and money were no concern, what’s a study you’d love to see?
Correlation doesn’t imply causation. But what does?
Research Roundup – Masks
RETRACTED: Facemasks in the COVID-19 era: A health hypothesis
Episode 57: Caffeinated Naps, Intuitive Eating, and Q&A Catch-Up
Replication in science
Episode 50: Q&A: Cortisol, Hydration, Anti-Nutrients, and Deadlift Recovery
Call to increase statistical collaboration in sports science, sport and exercise medicine and sports physiotherapy
Episode 47 – Bench Angles, Appetitive Traits, and Mesocycle Progression
Are questionable research practices facilitating new discoveries in sport and exercise medicine? The proportion of supported hypotheses is implausibly high
Episode 47 – Bench Angles, Appetitive Traits, and Mesocycle Progression
Broader discussion on research interpretation
Subtopics include:
- How much do conflicts of interest matter? Are some conflicts more notable than others?
- When do we have enough evidence to justify trying something that’s unproven?
- When do we have enough evidence to conclude that something definitely doesn’t work?
- Historical perspectives: How did the steroid, creatine, caffeine, and citrulline malate literature develop over time? What would have been some ramifications of forming conclusions too quickly as the initial studies came out?
Episode 45: Betaine, Sodium Bicarbonate, and Evaluating New Research as it Develops
Effect size discussion
Power analysis for interactions.
Episode 45: Betaine, Sodium Bicarbonate, and Evaluating New Research as it Develops
How much evidence and research would it take for you to implement new findings into your own practice? One study with a large effect size, or multiple replicated studies?
Episode 19: Q&A: Fasted Training, Training Frequency, and How Much Research is Enough?
How do you reconcile value for research, with the likelihood that there’s some degree of really bad research out there, and that many people can’t tell the difference between good and bad research?
Episode 17: Q&A: Dreamer Bulks, Concurrent Training, Recovery Modalities, and Valuing Research
What is the state of research in exercise science and sports nutrition?
Episode 2: Sex Differences in Fatigue and Recovery, and Dr. Jason Cholewa
Training studies are often quite short, and in relatively untrained people. Do the results from these short-term studies translate to long-term differences over a training career?
Episode 8: Drug Testing, New Supplement Research, Squat Science, and Dr. Eric Helms
What is response heterogeneity, and why is it important?
Episode 14: Sleep, Response Heterogeneity, and Dr. Brandon Roberts
What tips do Greg and Eric have for reading and interpreting research?
Episode 20: Reading Research, the Placebo Diet, Muscle Memory, and Alex Kolliari-Turner
Do you think that Bayesian Statistics will be used in future studies for analysis?
Episode 23: Q&A: Carbs, Sodium, and Experimenting with Your Training
Goal Setting and Behavior Change
A clarification about intrinsic motivation
Episode 111: Diet Tracking and Mindful Eating
Motivation, goal setting, and behavior change
- An Evidence-Based Approach to Goal Setting and Behavior Change
- How Focusing on Superordinate Goals Motivates Broad, Long-Term Goal Pursuit: A Theoretical Perspective
Episode 107: Meta-Analysis Errors; Motivation and Behavior Change
Self-determination theory
- Research – selfdeterminationtheory.org
- Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being
- Building a science of motivated persons: Self-determination theory’s empirical approach to human experience and the regulation of behavior.
Episode 107: Meta-Analysis Errors; Motivation and Behavior Change
The COM-B model of behavior change
Episode 107: Meta-Analysis Errors; Motivation and Behavior Change
A unified model combining goal hierarchies, self-determination theory, and the COM-B model of behavior change
Episode 107: Meta-Analysis Errors; Motivation and Behavior Change
Q&A: I’ve lost motivation to work out, and I truly don’t enjoy it anymore. What should I do?
Episode 95: Restoring Motivation, Issues in Research, and Walking for Weight Loss
How can I encourage someone who doesn’t currently exercise to start exercising and maintain it?
Episode 86: Dietary Fiber, Responses to Feedback, and Encouraging Exercise
Any insight on dealing with procrastination?
Episode 85: Sumo Deadlifts, Procrastination, and Oral Contraceptives
Coach’s Corner: Goal alignment
Episode 72: ATP Supplementation, Goal Alignment, Glycemic Index
Research Review: Goal setting and behavior change
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Fake urgency
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Success rates of New Year’s Resolutions
- Auld lang syne: success predictors, change processes, and self-reported outcomes of New Year’s resolvers and nonresolvers
- A large-scale experiment on New Year’s resolutions: Approach-oriented goals are more successful than avoidance-oriented goals
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Temporal landmarks
- The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior
- Anticipated Temporal Landmarks Undermine Motivation for Continued Goal Pursuit
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
SMART goals
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Creating a goal hierarchy
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Superordinate goals
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Equifinality and Multifinality
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Mental contrasting
- Mental contrasting for health behaviour change: a systematic review and meta-analysis of effects and moderator variables
- A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Mental Contrasting With Implementation Intentions on Goal Attainment
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Approach versus avoidance
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Flexible versus rigid restraint
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Process versus outcome
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Mastery versus performance
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Goal difficulty; “slack with a cost”
- Goal Setting and Action Planning for Health Behavior Change
- The Benefits of Emergency Reserves: Greater Preference and Persistence for Goals that Have Slack with a Cost
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Setting specific goals
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Implementation intentions
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Stimulus control; modifying your environment
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
Social support and feedback
- Periodic Prompts and Reminders in Health Promotion and Health Behavior Interventions: Systematic Review
- Designing in-app messages to nudge behavior change: Lessons learned from a weight management app for young adults
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
How MacroFactor supports evidence-based goal striving and behavior change
Episode 71: Goal Setting and Behavior Change
How do you make behavior change seem “sexy” or “exciting” to people? (with Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon)
Behavior Change and Eating Habits with Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon
Why is it so difficult to change behavior? (with Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon)
Behavior Change and Eating Habits with Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon
Cooking
Considering the road to enlightenment: is there a vegetarian variation of the culinary shredded chicken staple?
Episode 85: Sumo Deadlifts, Procrastination, and Oral Contraceptives
To Play Us Out: Protein bread
Episode 67: Calorie Restriction, Protein Restriction, App Updates
To Play Us Out: Scacce ragusana
Episode 63: Metabolic Rate, Blood Flow Restricted Training, and Turkesterone
To Play Us Out: Fruit bars
Episode 64: Constrained Energy, Modeling Hypertrophy, and Effects of Aging on Performance
To Play Us Out: Olive oil blondies of Sohla El-Waylly
Episode 55: BMI, Plant-Based Protein, Stretching, and Mouthguards
What are some recipes for high-volume, low-calorie foods for limiting hunger when you’re trying to get shredded?
Episode 54: P-Ratios, Ischemic Preconditioning, and Q&A
Can you rank cooking methods from best to worst in terms of how they impact micronutrient content?
Episode 48: Breakfast, Glycine, Muscle Knots, and Trigger Points
To play us out: football season barbecue tips
Episode 47 – Bench Angles, Appetitive Traits, and Mesocycle Progression
The importance of cooking (with Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon)
Behavior Change and Eating Habits with Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon
Chef Eric’s Easy Lentil Soup
Q&A: Training frequency, reducing caloric intake on rest days, and isometric training
How to make risotto
Episode 38: Immune Function, Home-Based Workouts, Fat Burners, and Lifting with Long Limbs
Cooking with mushrooms
Episode 36: Antioxidants, Injury Risk Factors, and the Conjugate Method
Sous vide cooking tips
Episode 35: Metabolic Rate, Artificial Sweeteners, Electromyography, and Non-Failure Training
How to bake the perfect loaf of sourdough bread
Episode 34: Cell Swelling, Genetic Ceilings, Touch-and-Go Deadlifts, and Load-Specific Adaptations
Homemade caramels
Episode 33: Doping, Collagen, Goals, and Hyperplasia
Turkey roasting tips
Episode 30: Fructose, Knee Sleeves, Weight Loss Variability, and James Krieger
How do you make really, really good homemade ice cream?
Episode 13: Q&A: Warming Up, Calculating Volume, Assessing Fatigue, and Creatine Non-Responders
Does pineapple belong on pizza?
Episode 5: Q&A: Dropping Weight, Building Strength to Promote Hypertrophy, and Training Around Pain
Which is best: chicken wing, chicken thigh, or chicken breast?
Episode 5: Q&A: Dropping Weight, Building Strength to Promote Hypertrophy, and Training Around Pain
On the Rise
Evan Peikon
Episode 44: Caffeine Genes, Brown Adipose Tissue, Concurrent Training, and Hangovers
Daniel DeBrocke
- Optimize Your Recovery For Maximal Strength Gains by Daniel DeBrocke
- Stacked Strength
- Daniel’s Instagram
Q&A: Training frequency, reducing caloric intake on rest days, and isometric training
Marco Sterpa
Episode 37: Heart Rate Variability, Antagonist Stretching, and Chrononutrition
Travis Pollen
Episode 37: Heart Rate Variability, Antagonist Stretching, and Chrononutrition
Meghan Callaway
Episode 36: Antioxidants, Injury Risk Factors, and the Conjugate Method
Extremely Miscellaneous
How do you guys manage work-life balance?
Episode 106: Q&A: Exercise Selection, Fitness Testing, and Work-Life Balance
Is sauna bathing actually beneficial, or does it just feel nice?
- Association between sauna bathing and fatal cardiovascular and all-cause mortality events
- Clinical Effects of Regular Dry Sauna Bathing: A Systematic Review
- The Cardiometabolic Health Benefits of Sauna Exposure in Individuals with High-Stress Occupations. A Mechanistic Review
- Sauna use as a lifestyle practice to extend healthspan
- What Is the Impact of Energy Expenditure on Energy Intake?
Episode 93: Cheat Meals, Sauna, and Time Off From Training
Is there any detriment to mouth breathing versus nose breathing?
Episode 91: Cognitive Effects of Creatine, Nasal Breathing, and Current Trends in Science
Why don’t you debate <insert name>?
Episode 83: Lifting & Mortality, Global Versus Localized Hypertrophy, and Pre-Sleep Meals
Episode 75: Body Recomposition, Interpreting Different Types of Research
Is there anything within the industry that Greg and Eric fundamentally disagree on?
Episode 66: Refeeds, Diet Breaks, Fructose, and Sodium
Preferred body hair removal techniques
Episode 60: Capsaicin, Multivitamins, and Time Off
Biggest fitness myths on Instagram these days
Episode 60: Capsaicin, Multivitamins, and Time Off
If you could redesign the Presidential Fitness Test to be science-based, what exercises would you select to assess physical fitness?
A brief history of the bizarre and sadistic Presidential Fitness Test
Maintenance Phase episode about the Presidential Fitness Test
Episode 59: Beta-Alanine, Training Frequency, and Strength for Hypertrophy
What are some (fitness) topics where your opinion is firmly against the common wisdom and why?
What is Ant-Man’s Wilks score?
Episode 47 – Bench Angles, Appetitive Traits, and Mesocycle Progression
Research Roundup – The stress of chess players as a model to study the effects of psychological stimuli on physiological responses: an example of substrate oxidation and heart rate variability in man
Episode 37: Heart Rate Variability, Antagonist Stretching, and Chrononutrition
Supporting immune function
Episode 38: Immune Function, Home-Based Workouts, Fat Burners, and Lifting with Long Limbs