SHOW TRANSCRIPT

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a dumbbell, a kettlebell, or a resistance machine, your muscles contract or relax.

Your body’s different every day, so it’s not about comparison to yourself from last week, it’s what did I do today.

In any strength training workout, the best you can give is all that you’ve got.

Welcome to the Strength Changes Everything podcast, where we introduce you to the information, latest research, and tools that will enable you to live a strong, healthy life. On this podcast, we will also answer your questions about strength, health, and wellbeing. I’m Amy Hudson. I own and operate three exercise coach studios.

My co-hosts are Brian Sagan, co-founder and CEO of The Exercise Coach, and Dr. James Fisher, leading researcher in evidence-based strength training. And now for today’s episode. Hi, everyone.

It is Amy and Dr. Fisher with you today. So if you are a listener of this podcast, one thing we know about you is that you care about fitness, you care about wellness, you care about strength, and you’re pretty smart. If you’ve listened to all of our episodes before and taken notes, you are just full of knowledge in the area of fitness, strength, health and wellness. But we’ve got a little game for you that is combined with a recent research paper. And the game you may have heard the game Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? That was a show from years back. And if you know that show, today’s game is similar. So today’s game is called, Are You Smarter Than the Average Gym Goer?

Okay, so you are gonna take a little quiz with us live on the air today, and your score is gonna tell us if you are smarter than the average gym goer. Dr. Fisher is a fun-loving guy and he’s pulled a really fun research paper that we’re making into a game today and so Dr. Fisher can you introduce kind of where this game is coming from and the and the research paper that you are pulling it from? Yeah absolutely Amy, thank you. So this is a 2025, it’s a brand new research paper, it’s published in Scientific Reports, which is a derivative of the Nature Journal, so it’s a really high-end journal. And the title of the paper there, for those of you watching on YouTube, you’ll see this and I’ll put the questions up on the screen. The title of the paper is Knowledge of

Gym Goers on Myth and truths in resistance training. And it’s by some, uh, Austrian authors and they, um, they include the, I think it was, here we go, 721 participants, they sent out a survey to different fitness centers in Austria. Uh, 721 people responded of which 63% were men and 37% women, which they commented was a representative of the general gym membership of those fitness centers. And the mean age was 30 years, uh, with a standard deviation of, of plus or minus 14 years. So I found this a really fascinating paper. Uh, there were 14 statements that these authors kind of had in mind. And they went to the body of research and they looked at meta-analyses.

And a meta-analysis really is kind of a culmination of all of the research that answers any given question. And then they, so they kind of had, uh, they chose questions where they could have a clear answer. Well, there was certainly a clear body of research to support an answer. And then they simply asked true or false with these questions.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to do with the listeners today.

Right?

So, uh, we’ll, we’ll give them a bit of a test. You can test yourself at home and we’ll, we’ll make sure there’s a time like in between asking the question, um, to give you a chance to think of it and then answer it. And then you can mark your own answers.

Yes.

So grab a piece of paper, grab a pen, right? Numbers one through 14, one to 14. This is true or false.

Okay.

At the end, you’re going to grade yourself and we’ll see what your score was and see if you are smarter than the average person.

Um, I should add that we will, we’ll get into a bit of discussion on some of these as well, because some of them might be a surprise for some people. So we’ll maybe have a bit of dialogue around some of these answers to make this a little bit more interesting. But should we just jump into the quiz, Amy? Are we good to go? Yep. So again, you can see the questions on our screen if you’re watching on YouTube, but go ahead and listen to the statements. This is question number one. Okay, so question one, protein supplementation augments hypertrophy. So true or false, does protein supplementation help improve or help increase hypertrophy? Okay, so Dr.

Fisher, if somebody’s listening that doesn’t know what hypertrophy means, can you tell them what that means? Of course, yeah, hypertrophy is simply an increase in muscle size. So it’s not strength, course. Yeah. Hypertrophy is simply an increase in muscle size. So it’s not strength. It’s not health benefits. It’s simply an increase in muscle size.

So does protein supplementation help you add muscle size? True or false?

Okay. So here we go. So the answer was true. And 86% of people who completed the survey got that one correct. So hopefully you got that one correct at home as well. And if you didn’t, then we’ll talk a little bit about it as well.

We plan in the future to do a podcast on protein intake and the importance of protein. But one of the things that I would say is actually protein within our diet has been really undervalued. But one of the things that I would say is actually protein within our diet has been really undervalued. I think that most people who go to the gym are now becoming more aware of the importance of protein in their diet. Now, it doesn’t have to be protein supplementation in the form of protein powder, or a protein bar, or a protein shake, or anything like that. It’s simply if we’re meeting a certain dosage and in fact, the typical dosages by government recommendations are about 0.6 of a gram per kilogram of body weight in the UK. But actually, that should be closer to two grams per kilogram according to the scientific research for adding muscle strength and muscle size certainly. So interesting one there.

Yes, and for the US listeners, what we have heard recently here and tell me if I’m correct Dr. Fisher, is one gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight. If I am a 5’6 woman and my ideal body weight is 135, then I want to eat 135 grams of protein per day and most people are way under that in their daily intake of protein. Absolutely, most people are way under that and certainly as we get older it’s worth recognizing that our ability to absorb protein does decrease. So we can even start to increase that dosage slightly. So somebody in their 60s or their 70s whose ideal body weight is 135 might be needing to take in somewhere closer to 150 or even 160. A really good rule of thumb is about 40 grams of protein per meal.

And then a snack should also contain a good amount of protein as well between meals.

Okay, perfect. Question two.

Okay.

So question two, sticking with the theme of protein, timing of protein intake influences hypertrophy, true or false? So we’ve just talked about hypertrophy. We’ve said that that’s purely muscle size. So does timing of protein intake influence hypertrophy?

Now on this one I think about like before or after a workout, right? Like if I time it exactly when I’m eating my protein, is that going to affect my ability to gain muscle size? Right, so a lot of people will think before and after workout and some people will think immediately after workout. So I’ve done a workout. Oh my gosh. Now I need to REM and get my snack or my protein shake or have a meal as quickly as I can so that I can get that protein straight into my muscles. That’s what some people might be thinking. So, uh, our grand unveil, I feel like we should have a clock ticking as a timer to give people a countdown to give…

5, 4, 3, yeah.

Okay, so our answer is false. Timing of protein intake doesn’t influence hypertrophy, it’s more about the dosage during the day and the total volume during the day. Now 64% of people got that incorrect and if I talk briefly about some research by some great colleagues of mine, Stu Phillips, Brian Schoenfeld, and so forth, they’ve done some research that’s looked at this idea of there being what’s called an anabolic window soon after resistance training. The idea that we need to get protein into our body within sort of 30 minutes to an hour after our workout. And actually, they joked in one of the papers and said, it’s not so much an anabolic window, it’s more an anabolic barn door. And it’s really just about getting the right amount of protein in through the day, not the timing of it around our workouts.

So yeah, that one was false.

Okay. And anabolic, just for the listener who might not know that word. What does that mean?

So anabolic is building. We typically say there’s two phases. There’s anabolic and there’s catabolic. Catabolic is breaking down. Anabolic is building up. Our body likes a degree of homeostasis.

So for, for everything that builds up, it likes to break something down, there’s sort of cell, new cell birth and old cell death, or there’s bone building and bone breaking down. And anabolic is simply the building up of tissue or building up of muscle in this context.

Okay, so you’re saying that we have a lot of opportunity to build that muscle up as long as we’re getting adequate protein throughout the day and strength training.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think this is a really nice, a really important message because a lot of people finish a strength training workout and they don’t feel like going and eating a meal straight away or they don’t feel like consuming a protein shake or something immediately after their workout. And many people will feel like they want to do that or they can do that. And that’s great. But other people will feel like they want to have a rest or, you know, maybe they don’t have the time immediately, or maybe they have planned a meal, you know, a couple of hours later with some friends or colleagues, and they’re thinking, Oh, well I need to eat now. And then eat again in a couple of hours. You absolutely don’t, you know, it’s more about the protein intake throughout the day than it is about protein intake timing around a workout.

Okay.

Question three.

Question three, again, protein related. Animal protein affects hypertrophy more than plant protein. So this has become a very contentious issue. I think obviously people are very outspoken now about their vegetarian or their vegan dietary habits. And here we’re talking about is animal protein more beneficial for hypertrophy than plant protein.

Okay, so listeners, do you have your answer, true or false? Write that down and let’s see what it is.

Okay, so our answer is false and again 54% of people got that one incorrect. So this is a really interesting one and I must admit when I first read that question I thought oh, well, maybe animal protein is more important for hypertrophy than plant protein. But then the caveat to that would be, unless through that plant protein diet, the person is getting the essential amino acids. So we have a number of amino acids that our body can produce and the number that it absolutely has to take in through

Dietary through dietary habits dietary intake and again, we will have a podcast in the future That’s going to get into some detail around protein But as long as we are taking in those essential amino acids Then it doesn’t matter whether they come from plant sources or whether they come from animal sources. So if you’re vegan or vegetarian, that’s absolutely great. You can you’re going to optimize hypertrophy in the same way that somebody is a carnivore or meat eater. Yes, exactly. We just know that oftentimes in order to get the same amount of protein or get to that same grams count of protein, it is going to take more plant protein, a higher volume of it to get to the same amount of grams you might be able to get from a chicken breast from animal protein. And so that is, those are the two caveats to keep in mind is that do, does the protein, the plant protein have those essential amino acids and how much of it do you have to get to in order to hit your protein goals? But what you’re saying the answer here is that as long as you hit your goals with protein and you’re getting those essential amino acids, both animal protein and plant protein get the job done. 100%. Okay, so our next question is creatine augments strength. True or false, creatine augments strength. Now it’s worth clarifying for some people who may not know, creatine is a supplement often used by people who go to the gym. It’s typically probably used by younger people, I guess.

Creatine is a naturally occurring substance It’s typically probably used by younger people, I guess. Creatine is a naturally occurring substance within many meats and typically in red meat, but it’s not absorbed in very high doses from food. So it’s been a long time supplement that’s been studied for decades now, partly to look at the health implications, but also to check that it’s safe over prolonged periods.

It’s like a small white powder that many people will add to a drink. So the question, does creatine augment strength? Does creatine increase strength from resistance training?

Okay, so what’s the answer?

And our answer is true true and 74% of people got that correct. Now, we don’t have to talk about supplements. It’s interesting because a lot of people who first begin strength training will say, well, should I take creatine? Should I do this? And should I have a protein shake or a protein bar and so forth? And I always sort of tried to say, you know, it’s really important to get your, to create good nutritional habits, to have good whole foods in your diet, rather than processed foods.

First, the fact that somebody is engaging in strength training is wonderful. Uh, we of course would, would really encourage and promote that. And then we would encourage people to really take a look at their dietary habits.

And if they’ve then got their dietary habits kind of up to a good standard, if they’re whole foods, if there’s a good protein intake, then they might start to look at supplements like creatine or protein shakes or protein bars or things like that to help them meet that protein dosage. But certainly if you’re not strength training, or if your strength training is not very good, or if your diet is not very good, then just adding in a supplement like creatine will not do the job for you. You’ve got to get your other things right first, and then this might add that extra one or two percent, but you’ve got to get the other things right first. I think that’s really important to clarify.

All right, I hope you’re feeling good so far and that you’re getting 100% straight A’s. Let’s go on to question number five.

Okay, so question five of 14, carbohydrates increase performance in resistance training. True or false? Okay, what are your thoughts, Amy? Do carbohydrates increase performance in resistance training?

So I can see how somebody might think like, okay, I don’t feel super energized right now and I want to go in for a resistance training session. Let me just go ahead and get some carbohydrates so I can have the quick energy I want in my body to work harder during my session. So in that case, I could see somebody saying true.

Okay. Let’s see. So the answer was false and 75% of people got that incorrect. So 35% of people agreed with you, Amy, that there could be a reason why carbohydrates do increase performance in resistance training. And I find this a really interesting question.

I personally don’t like to train fasted, so I personally like to have had something, some food into my body before I do a workout, which basically means I can’t get up in the morning and do a workout as the first thing I do. I really need to have had some kind of meal or some kind of food in before I work out. I just need to feel like I’ve got that energy. Without that, I often feel maybe a little bit light-headed partway through the workout.

But the scientific evidence actually says that carbohydrate supplementation or carbohydrates don’t increase acute performance in a resistance training workout. So an interesting one there, and certainly it means that if you feel like you can train before a meal or without a meal in the day then that’s absolutely great. You know some people will be fasting for Ramadan or for further religious reasons or then maybe they just choose to go through periods of fasting and that’s absolutely fine. Carbohydrates, or the lack of carbohydrates in the diet won’t negatively impact resistance training.

So Dr. Fisher, here’s a follow-up question to that. Is there a possible difference between perceived performance and actual performance? So for example, some days I might feel like I didn’t work that hard or didn’t achieve as

Intensive a workout as I hoped because I feel tired I feel like I’m not at my best that day, but yet my muscles may have Performed just the same as usual, right? Is that a thing? Is that a possibility?

It’s interesting because ultimately there is always going to be some variation day to day. And the way I always phrase this is in any strength training workout, the best you can give is all that you’ve got. And some days that will be more and some days that will be less and some days that might be more because you feel energized, maybe because of caffeine or maybe because of carbohydrates or maybe because of the placebo effect of those things. Another day is you’ll feel like you don’t have the same energy. You might feel mentally and physically drained or emotionally drained and not feel like you’ve given the same. But ultimately, in every workout, a workout itself is a stimulus. You know, strength training and resistance training is not about what you achieve in the gym on that day. It’s about what you give to the gym in that day. You know, we had Matt Brisky on the podcast a few episodes back, and he said about this being an investment. So it’s an investment of energy on any given day, uh, not about, uh, the numbers that that day produces. So maybe on that day, you didn’t reach the same number of repetitions or you didn’t lift as heavy a weight. And we shouldn’t stress about that.

We should just think, Hey, I went in there and I gave it the best I could give on that given day. And that’s really important that we still did it.

Every day is different. Your body’s different every day. So it’s not about comparison to yourself from last week. It’s, it’s what did I do today?

Okay.

So question six, magnesium prevents cramps. Now I have to clarify, I went through these 14 questions and I looked at this as knowledge of Jim goes on myths and truths and resistance training questions and I looked at this as knowledge of Jim goes on myths and truths in resistance training. And I thought, well, I’m going to get, these are going to be easy ones. And I got to this question and I went, Hey, this is a 50 50 for me.

You know, I want to ask the audience or phone a friend or, or something like that. This has not been my area of research to look at, uh, magnesium supplementation to prevent muscle cramps. Um, certainly not with the field of resistance training. So I looked at this question, I went, man, I can, the best I can give myself is 13 out of 14 without, without maybe yes or no for this question.

So, uh, so I’m going to do a big reveal now. Does magnesium prevent cramps? The answer is false. And again, 83% of people got that incorrect. So clearly the supplement industry is doing something wonderful to convince people that you should take a magnesium supplementation to prevent muscle cramps. Um, no magnesium supplementation might be beneficial for other things. Again, this is absolutely not my area and I can’t comment on magnesium supplementation, but certainly it does not, the evidence shows that it does not prevent cramps. Yes, I think it might help with post-workout soreness, but it’s there’s a difference between helping with that after a workout and preventing it.

Okay.

So question seven, resistance training reduces flexibility. Now when I read this question, I thought about some of the things that I was told when I was a kid doing gymnastics and playing basketball and swimming that if I went in the gym, then that wouldn’t be good for kind of athletic performance. And of course we’ve had Wayne Westcott on the podcast and he was told that when he was, uh, an endurance athlete in college.

So I’m going to give everybody a few, a few more seconds. Does resistance training reduce flexibility? True or false. Okay. flexibility, true or false? Okay, so our answer is false and 78% of people got that correct. The resistance training doesn’t reduce flexibility and in actual fact there are multiple studies now that show that resistance training improves flexibility, our ability to allow a muscle to lengthen under load, so the eccentric muscle action where it lengthens under load, and our ability to contract a muscle forcefully actually help to improve the flexibility of a muscle. So that was a really nice one to see. That’s kind of, in my mind, that’s one of the older myths. Um, and I’m glad to see that’s certainly dispelled in the population, uh, that this survey was, uh, was, was done with, but hopefully, uh, when you’re listening at home, you got that correct as well.

Absolutely.

So question eight, low load resistance training is as effective as high load resistance training with regard to hypertrophy. So low load resistance training is as effective as high load resistance training for muscle growth, for muscle size increases.

You would think that there would be a difference, right?

Well, I’ll do a jump ahead. Hopefully everybody’s given an answer to this. The answer is true. Low load resistance training is as effective as high load resistance training with regard to hypertrophy. And actually, Amy, I wouldn’t think that there would be a difference because that’s been a key area of my research to look at something called the strength endurance continuum to look at whether there is a difference between heavy and light loads and whether they can augment or produce different adaptations with regards to strength, muscle hypertrophy and muscular endurance. So actually there is low load resistance training is as effective as high load resistance training for muscle growth. Now, interestingly, 51% of people got that one incorrect.

So it’s pretty, it’s pretty 50 50 on the line there, but yeah, the answer is that it’s, it is true low loads are just as good as high loads for muscle growth.

Now with those lower loads, do you, do you simply just have to do more reps then?

Yeah, absolutely. So I think the key, and without getting too far into this, because I’m sure the question is going to come up, but the key really is probably the effort level that we train to. So if you can only do six reps with a load, then that’s not going to produce any difference in muscle growth than if you do a load that you can do 20 reps with and you do all 20 reps. The idea is the 20th rep is as hard as the 6th rep, you know, it’s the same effort level and therefore it produces very, very similar hypertrophy or certainly no difference in hypertrophy.

So, question 9, sticking with the same comparison, is low load resistance training is as effective as high load resistance training with regard to maximal strength. So the previous question said about, or asked about hypertrophy, asked about muscle size increases, and this question is asking about maximal strength increases. So is low load resistance training as effective as high load resistance training for maximal strength? Hopefully you’ve got an answer by now whether you’re watching on YouTube or listening to the podcast. The answer is false and 68% of people got that correct. So low load resistance training is not as effective as high load resistance training for maximal strength. But I think that there are a couple of things that we should clarify around that. So I just mentioned that this was a key area of my own research and I’ve published a number of papers on this area. We actually found very, very similar strength increases or not discernibly different strength increases between low load and high load resistance training. Although we phrase them as lower load and higher load because I don’t know where high begins and ends, I don’t know where low begins and ends. So we, for example, had one group training around 50% and one group training around 80% of their maximal force, and we found no difference in strength increases. So it might be that if you’re within a certain margin, then you produce pretty similar strength increases. But if you move up to, say, 95% of your maximal force and drop down to say 40% of your maximal force or less, then there would now be a discernible difference between the strength adaptations for a low load at 40% and a high load at 90 or 95%.

And it’s worth kind of explaining why that might be. So a lot of it is thought to be the, or certainly my own hypothesis have been that there is something called a synchronous muscle fiber recruitment. Synchronous muscle fiber recruitment is simply our ability for our brain to recruit all of the relevant muscle fibers in one go, e.g. in one muscle action. Now if we practice with a high load, then we practice the exact skill of that maximal recruitment, of that synchronous recruitment.

It’s called a motor schema, the skill element to it. And if we only practice with a light load, we’re effectively practicing a different motor schema. So we’re only practicing what’s called sequential recruitment, that for each contraction we recruit maybe a different number of muscle fibers or a slow increase in the number of muscle fibers, but not all of them in one go.

So that’s why there might be a difference between heavy and light loads for maximal strength adaptations.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Question 10. Multiple set resistance training is more effective than single set resistance training. Multiple set resistance training is more effective than single set resistance training, true or false? Now for clarity, multiple set resistance training is typically proposed in the form of you do a set of an exercise so perhaps you do a set of bench press or chest press and then you rest for a given time period and then you repeat the exercise for a second set and then repeat the rest and then repeat the set for a third set and so on and so forth for as many sets as you choose. A single set training program is often proposed as doing a single set normally to failure or to a very high degree of effort and then perhaps having some degree of rest before moving on to the next exercise. Another way that multiple set training has been proposed, but not how this question is asking it, is doing more exercises per body part. So instead of just doing chest press, it might be chest press and incline chest press and pec flies and dips and. You know, inclined dumbbell press and so on and so forth. This question is more asking multiple sets of the same exercise is more effective than a single sets of the same exercise. Okay. So true or false. And our answer is false. And 90% of people got that in correct. So yes, this is really interesting.

And again, this has been a big part of my own research to show that resistance training doesn’t need to be as time consuming or as complicated as a lot of people have proposed. That actually a single set of an exercise, if it’s taken to a high enough degree of effort, can produce very, very similar adaptations or certainly not discernibly different adaptations to performing multiple sets of an exercise.

You know, I think I have a theory as to why 90% of the people that took the survey got that incorrect. And I think it’s because, you know, if you’re an exercise coach client, if you go to a strength, um, type, uh, personal training environment or atmosphere, and you exercise at a high level of effort, like we have at our studios for one set, um, per muscle group. And, and it’s just very challenging, but, but meant to fatigue you. Um, that is a unique approach that a lot of people don’t do that at the big gym.

So a lot of the people you might see going to a big gym might, I think that they are doing many sets because they don’t have that mindset. Maybe they haven’t realized that one high level or high effort set is as effective as many many sets per muscle group because they haven’t experienced the approach in the past. What do you think? Yeah I think there’s almost certainly some truth to that. I think that many people think about if I do more work, then that’s better than if I do hard work. Hard work is obviously hard. More work is generally easier. It’s more of a time investment than an effort investment. And perhaps the people you know, in this survey were more willing to give time than they were to give effort. I think that most of those people will probably realize that after a while it becomes easier to give effort than time. But yeah, certainly the research shows that single sets are as effective as multiple sets.

Oh, so true.

Good stuff.

Okay, so question 11. Resistance training to muscle failure is necessary for hypertrophy. So true or false, resistance training to muscle failure is necessary for hypertrophy. Now this is a really interesting phrase and again a lot of my research has been around effort and intensity of effort and one of the phrases used is muscle failure. So muscle failure is technically the point where you cannot complete another repetition without change to your posture or pace or so on and so forth. So you’ve got a load and you’ve maybe performed eight repetitions and you begin the ninth repetition, but you simply can’t complete it. That would be muscle failure. Now a very, very similar term, and probably a bit nicer term is what’s called volitional fatigue.

And that’s the point where I want to stop now.

Okay.

I’ve done 10 reps and it hurts and it feels hard and I feel like my veins are bulging and my sweat is pouring. And I just want to stop. That would be called volitional fatigue. And there is in some people, there’s not much of a difference, but in other people, there’s quite a big difference. Some people, you know, as soon as it gets hard, they want to stop.

And some people will, will already train to the point where they simply can’t do anymore. And of course with the exerbotics devices, then it’s not about stopping because the weight gets too heavy, it’s simply about pushing as hard as you can in that sixth, seventh, eighth rep or however many reps it might be in that program and just give in what you’ve got to give. So yeah. Okay, so our answer here was false. Resistance training to muscle failure is not necessary for hypertrophy.

So I find this quite interesting. I’m not going to labor the point here, but I definitely think that effort is a driver for muscle size increases. So and I think most people listening would hopefully hear this and think well yeah of course how hard I work is gonna dictate the adaptations that I get. And certainly if you’re trained so if you’ve been doing strength training for a while for six months or 12 months or many years then how hard you train is probably going to be the biggest driver for how big your muscles can get. But there’s also kind of a diminishing returns to this. And if you get to within one or two reps of failure, then you may have got all of the stimulus that you’re going to get without necessarily reaching that point of you simply can’t move the weight anymore. And in some cases, this is nice because in some cases, um, reaching true muscle failure, when you can’t lift a weight, well, you may need somebody there to take the weight from you if you’re in a commercial gym with a barbell or something like that. But, but I definitely think it’s important to caveat this by saying a higher effort is important.

You can’t just go in the gym and go through Ken reps, a really light weight and say, Hey, I didn’t train to failure, but my legs are definitely going to get bigger or biceps or whatever it might be. So, um, but interestingly, 52% of people got that incorrect. So again, anything around that 50% mark is, you know, is a pretty good split. Um, but most people tended to think that actually training to failure was necessary for hypertrophy.

I think people think that is synonymous with their effort. You said, you know, it’s about your effort. And so how do you measure effort?

Okay.

Yeah.

So this is exactly the point. And one of the questions that we have used over time, I mean, there are scales to measure people’s effort and people are not very good at gauging their physical effort level. There are two markers that we know that are quantifiable for gauging effort when there is zero effort and when there is maximal effort, but if I say to somebody, okay, give 50% effort. That they could be anywhere between 20% and 80% effort. And, and even in the most trained people.

So, um, and they get better at gauging their effort, the closer they get to failure, but they’re still far from perfect. Um, one of the methods that’s used is to, is to ask people, uh, how many repetitions in reserve. So for example, Amy, if you’re, if you’re there on the, uh, the cable

machine and you’re doing a pec fly. And you start doing a couple of reps and I, and while you’re doing a pec fly and you start doing a couple of reps. And I, and while you’re doing the reps, I say to you, Amy, how many repetitions do you think you can do now? Uh, or how many repetitions do you think you’ve got left? And you say, James, I think I can do six more repetitions.

Well, I’m afraid you’re not very good at guessing that. Uh, and that’s not because it’s you, that’s because most people are pretty, pretty bad at guessing that, um, they are. At best within two or three repetitions. So you may have said six, but you may only get three, or you may have said six, but you may actually be able to get nine or 10 reps. And of course, if you think you can only get six, so you stop at six, then, uh, then you’re leaving quite a few reps in the tank. You’d have been quite a lot of stimulus and adaptation on the table. Now, interestingly, if I give you a really heavy weight that you can probably only lift for two or three reps, and now I say, how many reps do you think you can do, you’re probably going to be a lot closer, but that’s only because your margin for error has come down quite a lot.

If it’s already a very heavy weight, you can only be one or two reps away at the most.

Right. I can conceptualize one rep’s worth of effort easier than six reps worth of effort.

Yeah.

Okay. than six reps worth of effort. Yeah. Okay, so question 12. Resistance training over full range of motion is superior to resistance training in partial range of motion for hypertrophy. So true or false? Is resistance training through a full range of motion superior to resistance training in a partial range of motion for muscle size increases? Now again, we might clarify a partial range of motion for muscle size increases. Now again we might clarify here full range of motion is simply the range of motion possible at a joint based on muscular contraction. So I know Brian has some comments around what is full range of motion. You know we don’t move through full range of motion because our tendons and ligaments and muscles prevent, you know, over, uh, moving outside of a normal range, so let’s consider it kind of a normal full range. For a muscle. So is that superior to partial range of motion for hypertrophy?

And our answer is true. It’s true. So as 70% of people got that correct. Now, if you listen to the podcast regularly, you would have heard a couple of episodes back. We actually did a talk about this, a podcast where we deliberately discussed range of motion within strength training, and we called it safe range of motion training. And I think that there is a big difference between full range of motion and extremes in range of motion. One of the examples that we gave was if I do a leg press. So if I do a leg press, if I get on a leg press machine and I let my knees come back to probably about a 90 degree bend, maybe just over a 90 degree bend in my knees, that is a full range of motion for my quadriceps, my hamstrings and my glutes. If I let my knees come any further back, what actually happens is my pelvis will rotate under. So the extra range of motion doesn’t come from the muscles I’m trying to train, the extra range of motion doesn’t come from the muscles I’m trying to train. The extra range of motion comes from my low back, which now will lose all of its lumbar curve and my hips will rotate. So that extra range of motion doesn’t come from the muscles that I’m trying to stimulate, I’m trying to exercise. When we talk about partial range of motion, what we’re saying is, okay, what if I only trained the last 10 degrees? What if I only trained the first 10 degrees or 10 or 20 degrees? And I think that there is a lot of evidence that supports that partial range of motion strength training can produce adaptations beyond the range of motion that you’ve trained. So if somebody is injured and can only train within a small range of motion, that’s definitely a good idea. Um, but of course, what we really want to do is train a muscle through its full and safe range of motion. Two more.

Okay. So question 13, and I, when I read this question, I was, uh, abused and appalled all in one. So the question true or false men benefit more from resistance training than women. Now I I’m going to hope that most people who are listening to this podcast have listened to other podcasts where there’s been some guidance around this, whether it’s from us in the past or whether it’s from other similar podcasts where they’ve talked about adaptations for, uh, from resistance training for males and females.

Yeah.

I, we’re going to give you a hint. Think of the name of this podcast. You got your answer.

Okay.

Our answer is false. So men do not benefit more from resistance training than women. And again, I’m used to appalled wherever it might be. 65% of people got that incorrect. Now, when I looked at that and I saw 65% of people got it incorrect, I did think, what are these people thinking?

And then I reread the question and I saw men benefit from resistance training more than women and I just started to think maybe that’s about how the question was written. Maybe the participant in the questionnaire might think, oh, well, the benefit I’m interested in is strength or, oh, the benefit I’m interested in is strength or, Oh, the benefit I’m interested in is hypertrophy. And in that sense, if you are a 20 year old male or female, then you might think that men benefit more from resistance training than women when it comes to muscle size. In fact, you would still be incorrect because it’s not the resistance training. It’s actually just the anabolic status of your body based on hormones and so forth.

The means that you are predisposed to building muscle and adding muscle. But when I think of the term benefits, I don’t think of strength or muscle size. I think of the health benefits of strength training. And there is absolutely no difference for men and women. They both benefit hugely by engaging in resistance training. And of course, as Amy said, strength changes, everything is the title of this podcast. We have talked about the brain and cognitive benefits, we’ve talked about bone health, we’ve talked about body composition, you know, we’ve talked about numerous health benefits from resistance training. CM Hopefully, if you’ve listened to this podcast for a while, you got this one correct. MW Okay, final question. Question 14. Free weight resistance training is more effective than machine-based resistance training. So free weight resistance training is more effective than machine-based resistance training, true or false? Of course, if you’re an exercise coach client, you almost certainly already know the answer because you’re familiar with the equipment that’s, uh, within the exercise coach, uh, location where you train, uh, but if you’re not an exercise coach client, then let’s put you out of your misery.

And the answer is false. And 55% of people got that correct. So shockingly only 55% of people got that correct. But let me clarify once and for all for you, your muscles do not know what they’re contracting against.

They either contract or they relax based on a neural impulse from your brain. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a dumbbell, a kettlebell, or a resistance machine. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a gallon of water, whether you’re pushing a car or anything else, your muscles contract or relax. So yeah, so free weights are no difference in how effective they are compared to resistance machines.

They’re both equally effective.

Okay.

So that was the last question, right?

That was the last question. Yeah, there we go.

Okay. So now it’s time to grade yourself. So let’s do a quick recap on the next screen here. We, if you’re watching on YouTube, we have all the answers. We also have a quick explanation. So if you are looking at the screen and you wanted to get a refresher on why something was true or false, then you can hold the, hold the still and pause the presentation to see that.

But so number, question one, true, two, false, three, false, four, true, five, six, and seven were false, eight, true, nine, 10, 11, false, 12, true, 13, 14, false.

Okay.

Absolutely. I think it’s also worth clarifying of the 700 something Jim goers who were who completed this survey, they only, the majority of people only got six answers correct and the rest incorrect. So if you can get it correct, don’t panic. You’re no different from anybody else and hopefully that’s the purpose of this podcast to kind of deliver that information to you and help guide you over your own strength training or if you’re a coach, your clients strength training. Yes, so if you got over six correct, you are smarter than the average gym goer. And if not, just you just need to study a little bit more. And there’s a couple of things I just really want to wrap up here, Amy. So there was a couple of statements at the end of the research paper, which I found really important to clarify. So I’m going to read these out. If you’re watching on YouTube, then you can now see them on the screen. But obviously, if you’re listening in the podcast, I will just read them to you. So the author said it is estimated that only 14% of the leading scientific evidence for prevention and treatment in sports science and medicine becomes standard practice after an average of 17 years now, to me, that is just a horrendously shocking statistic that of all the science that’s being done in exercise science and sport science and sports medicine, only 14% of it actually trickles through to become standard practice after 17 years. And it speaks, in 2013, I gave a conference presentation where I talked about evidence-based medicine and strength training practice.

And one of the things that I said was that the exercise community. Is is going to struggle to be seen as part of the healthcare Alliance. Uh, you know, it’s seen in the same esteem as doctors and nurses and, um, and medical practitioners because they simply don’t follow evidence-based practice. And my comments at the time were that, uh, the exercise and health and fitness industry are governed by what I phrased at the time, fads and fashions. So they, they might, uh, evolve based on, um, you know, what people are interested in any given day. And if you’re a member of a typical fitness facility, then what you may have seen every three or four years or more frequently is that they just change all their equipment and maybe they get rid of some equipment and they put in a punch bag.

And then maybe they get rid of some equipment and they put in a punch bag and then maybe they get rid of some equipment and they hang some functional trainers. T.r.x. or the brand functional trainers and then maybe they get a limpic lifting platforms or then maybe they change the mall out for capital. So i know is this kind of fashion orientation through exercise and i don’t have a problem with any of those modalities of training, but if you’re following fashion, then you’re not following science. And I think that’s, that’s worrying that the science doesn’t trickle through to the practice.

Now the authors went on and said, our results represent a call to action. They’re once again, underscore that publication outcomes are subordinated to a poorly functioning system, resulting in a lack of ecological validity, a lack of translation into practice, and ultimately a gap between research and practice. Now I read this statement and, uh, I mean, one of the reasons I’ve been, I was in academia for nearly 20 years, published, uh, you know, 130 something research papers with within a niche area of strength training, and it’s concerning that the idea of is that research doesn’t trickle into practice in a, in a gym or by coaches or by personal trainers or by trainees themselves. And of course I now work for the exercise coach. And so it’s, it’s part of my job to help transition that research into practice.

The exercise coach obviously follow evidence-based practice. We engage in the research and we deliver what the research says to exercise coach clients. And then of course, that’s one of the purposes of this podcast as well. So even if you’re not an exercise coach clients and then of course that’s one of the purposes of this podcast as well so even if you’re not an exercise coach client hopefully you’re getting something from this podcast and one of the things that I really hope that you’re you’re getting is this this gap between what the research says and what you can be doing in the gym for your own strength training and resistance training, strength benefits, muscle hypertrophy benefits, and more importantly, your health benefits as well. So I definitely see this podcast as something that is there to bridge this gap between research and practice as well.

(Speaker 2)
Yes, and thank you for your work there because it is hugely important. I think about it and it’s like, if what I’m choosing to do isn’t backed up by research that, or is proven to be effective, why am I doing, why am I doing that? How is that benefiting me? It’s sort of like just sort of one way I could be using my time. I guess it’s recreation, but is it really making the difference that I think it’s recreation, but is it really making the difference that I think it’s making? If I don’t know if the answer is yes, why am I choosing to invest my time or money into that, right? And so that is the purpose of this podcast. So thank you for that and the work there. That was fun. Well, I hope you feel good about yourself after taking this quiz. And if you feel good about yourself after taking this quiz and if you feel bad about yourself, that is okay. We have a full two seasons of information for you to brush up on your knowledge, but no, I think it was a lot of fun. It was meant to be something fun and different, but thank you for finding this for us, Dr. Fisher.

My absolute pleasure. I really hope people have enjoyed that. And yeah, like I said, you know, there was certainly one question where I didn’t know at all. So I don’t think there’s anything to worry about if you didn’t know, and that’s the purpose of the podcast to learn.

Absolutely.

Awesome.

Well, we’ll see you next week. Remember, strength changes everything. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please share it with a friend. You can submit a question or connect with the show at strengthchangeseverything.com. Join us next week for another episode and be sure to follow the show on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts so that you never miss another episode.

Here’s to you and your best health. Here’s to you and your best health.