Episodes

Is it an old wives tale that squatting is bad for your knees? Or is there actually data behind it? Here’s what we came up with: Maybe there’s a body type that’s bad for squatting? Is the leg press somehow better? Does it possibly cause...

So many people are focusing on building personal brands or becoming “influencers”--  often through social media, YouTube, podcasts, etc. – but has the time already passed? Will it still work if you start today? We asked our good friend Omar...

We had some fun with this episode by breaking format and having an extended conversation with our good friend, Omar Isuf. Omar is a successful YouTube content creator, a partner with Silent Mike and Bart Kwan on Kizen Training, as well has pursuing...

Can people really just “suck it up” and stay disciplined and motivated? This question was prompted by a recent episode of the Joe Rogan experience.    Some of our thoughts on this question: If you choose a particular diet or workout...

Seems like a lot of lifters we know are always complaining about “tendonitis,” so we asked physical therapist (and founder of Squat University) Dr. Aaron Horschig the help us straighten out our understanding of what they’re really talking about...

For a lot of athletes, physical recovery from injury is only half the battle. How long does it take to learn to trust your body again?  Does the mental aspect affect everyone or are some people just immune? How do you keep the mental in line...

Not all exercises are created equal. That much is certain. But are any of them at best a complete waste of time, and at worst, damaging? Some of our questions were: Does anybody need Jawzercize? Do hip thrusts really do anything for powerlifters?...

Dr. Matt Johnson, a Certified Sport Psychology Consultant (and former Notre Dame quarterback), joins us to discuss a fundamental question about performance under pressure. Our thoughts: Are some people just born to be gamers? To perform at a high...

We’re committed to having a physical therapist join us in the future, but THIS time we’re talking to a chiropractor. Our questions: What’s different about their education? What’s similar about their approaches? What’s different? Which may...

We know that heat and cold shock proteins form in the body in reaction to changes in temperature, but what do they do and should we be trying hard to get them? How much do you need to change your body temperature to get a reaction? What, if anything,...

We’ve all heard the old tale about cracking your knuckles and arthritis, but what about your neck, back and all the other parts of you that crack and pop? Is there actually a connection to arthritis? Why do chiropractors and other manual...

We follow up the episode “Can You Teach Speed?” with a deeper dive into muscle fiber types that we touched on in that episode:  What’s the difference between fast twitch and slow twitch fibers? Does the mix of fibers tend to affect...

Our good friend, Jacob Ross returns as our expert to answer this question. Can you teach speed? Specifically, speed for sports? As we talked through the question, we of course came up with even more thoughts: Is it purely genetics? Are there muscle...

Or is it just skipping breakfast?

Mike’s mom, Maria Farr, is a certified olive oil judge and sensory panelist. With all the recent focus on fats in our diets, we decided to bring her on to help educate us – and you – on a particularly tasty fat. Our questions went something like...

Vertical jump has become a test of athleticism, but is it something you can train? Box jumps have come around again in popularity, but are they an important training tool...or just a cool trick? What contributes to being good at either or both? Can...

You can call it Blood Flow Restriction (BRF), occlusion, or Kaatsu, but the idea is all the same: Keep some extra blood in the muscles of your arm or leg and get a massive pump. But is this superior to working out the regular way? When should you use...

Can activities in the gym that are built around the requirements of a specific sport actually help athletes get better at that sport? Our good friend, Jacob Ross --  an athletic performance coach and consultant who currently works with Luol Deng...

We get started by talking about what’s becoming a pretty uncommon experience for a lot of people: Actually leaving your house to watch a movie. Wrapping up a run of nutrition and diet-related episodes, we talk about a group of substances that are...

Our fourth episode takes a look at the final macronutrient: fat. We spend a few minutes discussing the documentary “Transformer” about Janae Marie Kroczaleski…and our small part in it. We also discuss streaming services and how hard it is to get...

In our third episode, we take a side step from carbs into the glycemic index – the potential impact of differing amounts of carbs in foods. We kick things off with a quick discussion about the inherent strangeness of making friends with people...

Our second episode is a look at a second macronutrient: carbohydrates. After a quick discussion about the fact that we’re probably both HSP (Highly Sensitive People), we talk about some of our goals for the show and ways that you can get involved....

We’re kicking this new show off by asking seemingly basic questions about diet and nutrition. First up, “What is (dietary) protein anyway?" After a quick catch up session, we talk through the “facts” of what we think we know about this...

Introducing 50% Facts! A brand new show from Mike Farr and Jim McDonald Premiering December 5, 2018 Most of us walk around knowing about HALF of what we think we know. On this show, we take a single, granular question on a particular topic (related to...