Show Notes

The Coach opens the floor and takes questions from the audience about a variety of topics on physique, fitness training, diet and metabolism.

Don’t be fooled by unimportant factors overstated by the industry! Well-funded research and common sense often debunk these industry misconceptions that create mass confusion.

Fitness, Nutrition, Diet Strategies, Zen Mentality, and More

• Scott opens with a rant about misinformation spread online about diet.
• Sometimes a good coach doesn’t change what the client is doing, if what they’re doing can’t be substantively improved.
• Scott reads two letters from listeners who answered his last week’s question: “what’s the attraction for women to compete.”

On to the Q&A

• Lower levels of consciousness are marked by need for stimulation, validation, and attention.
  Higher levels of consciousness are marked by autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
• Credible, long-term, academic research provides overwhelming evidence that a plant-based diet is healthiest.
• Aerobic activity does have health benefits, just not cosmetic benefits.
• All training is cardiovascular…not all training is aerobic.
• Functional imbalance is contextual. For instance, a right-handed tennis player will be right side dominant. Imbalances aren’t the same as side-dominance.
• Putting a child on a diet puts them on a path to a future eating disorder.
• Heart rate monitors have no value while working out (Excludes those under medical supervision, as in cardiac rehab).
• Scott discusses the research on long-term results of keto dieting and its unfavorable long-term health results.
• Unlearning is the highest form of learning (attributed to Einstein). Being objective is difficult.
• Slow-controlled reps as with tempo training misunderstands the concept of time under tension. Tempo training attempts to externally control an internal physiologic process (i.e. muscle overload).
• Diets have to be sustainable to work. Having to do a diet twice proves the point.
• Keto causes loss of lean mass.
• What are the benefits of fruit? What aren’t the benefits of fruit.
• Losing yourself in the gym is a form of meditation. Put away the cell phone and immediate distractors.
• Complex routines are [probably] nonsense. Einstein said things should be as simple as possible.

Show Notes

The Coach shares a letter from a former female figure competitor who details her struggles with weight gain and metabolic damage after trying physique competition.

This showoff event isn’t for everyone; it requires some “genetic luck” to be able to sustain high levels of body abuse and often leads to serious metabolic problems.

The story of a former competing woman

Letter comes from a mother of three, who says she’s struggled with weight her entire life, and attended Weight Watchers religiously for 18 years. At 5’3”, started doing triathlons after her third child but couldn’t get weight to drop below 132 lbs. In addition to WW, spent two hours in gym daily. Even though she works out two hours a day and does cardio seven days a week, she continues to gain weight, even though she only eats 1400 calories a day.

A friend who competed suggested she try her trainer and competing. Personal trainers and nutritionists suggested high protein, low-carb/no-carb diets, carb cycling, and fasted cardio, tactics which led to metabolic slowdown and more serious health consequences. At one point, she was near kidney and liver failure. A doctor broke the news that her body was reacting to starvation and the solution would take a long, long time.

She never had issues losing weight until she started running then doing competitions. Scott opens the floor for discussion with his audience: What’s the attraction for women to compete in figure and bodybuilding?