Bonus Preview: Lead in Protein, Training Myths, and Cutting Weight

0:08Hey, it's Jordan from Barbell Medicine. Now this episode preview is from exclusive content that regularly goes out to our Barbell Medicine Plus subscribers. In addition to exclusive content, Barbell Medicine Plus subscribers get early access to episodes and products, ad-free listening, discounts on products and services, and the ability to ask Dr. Baraki and I questions, all for about the cost of a cup of coffee each month. And in case you were wondering, the first month is free. To join, head over to barbellmedicine.com slash plus and sign up to be a Barbell Medicine Plus member today. That's barbellmedicine.com slash plus.

0:40All right. Thanks for your consideration. On to the show.

1:09was a bill passed in 1986 in California that basically said, look, if you have a lead content higher than this per serving, you got to tell people about it. It's like a right to know labeling thing. It's not based in any sort of science as far as if you have more than this per serving or per day, you're going to have some sort of lead related toxicity. It's just a right to know labeling thing. In fact, the FDA's recommendations for lead intake For adults, it's like 12 micrograms per day total. For pregnant women or nursing women, it's like 8 micrograms per day. And for infants, it's 2.2 micrograms per day.

1:47The EU, they mandate that any sort of supplement, food, whatever, has to have less than 3 ,000 parts per billion of lead. Our whey protein supplement has 0.823 micrograms of lead per serving and has 31 parts per billion. So way under both thresholds. Interestingly, like spinach, if it's grown in a lead-rich soil, would be way above this Prop 65 threshold. It does matter on the soil and the time of harvest and stuff like that. But anyway, you can't really make vegetables, plant-based proteins, or most foods without any lead in them. There's incidental lead in them because it's a common mineral in the earth's crust.

2:31You can get additional contamination. Certainly some supplements have that, including protein powders. And most of these protein powders or supplements tend to be untested, and people will buy them because they save a few bucks. They're like, oh, I can get five pounds away for – it's cheaper than yours. We sell our WeRX, and I'm like, it's only like$3 or$4 cheaper. Like it's not worth it, at least in my mind, but different value systems. So I would recommend for supplements that they have – they're manufactured in a GMP-accredited facility. that should be on the label that they are third-party tested.

3:10So usually NSF, USP, or informed sport, that's the one that we use. That's going to also be on the label and that it's batch tested. So not just like once a year, because who cares? You want every batch that you make to be tested and we do that. So yeah, would recommend, would recommend that. Thoughts on workout classes like F45. I love lifting, but also love group classes. It gets me happy to go and see other people working out hard together. Yeah, I think the group exercise stuff is super powerful as far as like improving people's adherence to exercise participation. People get excited about it.

3:46They want to go work out more. So, yeah, no doubt about that. Generally positive, whether it's F45, CrossFit, Orange Theory, so on and so forth. The issue I have is with the programming. Basically, they pair. It's a lot of circuit training. The weights generally aren't heavy enough to drive the fitness-related adaptations we really want from resistance training. And then the actual – the way that they're paired, these circuits are paired are generally at odds with current evidence. So for example, if you were going to do back-to-back exercises like a super set or back-to-back to back exercises like a tri-set or you get the picture, right?

4:27you're doing a circuit with exercises performed consecutively. You would want non-overlapping muscle groups to that to be the order, but that's not what they do. And so that compromises the total training volume, compromises the loads that you can lift, and it compromises the force production with the loads you are able to use, which basically reduces exercise related adaptations, just the way that that's structured. So it wouldn't take a lot to make it better, but yeah, they just aren't. So I think it's better. F45, Orange Theory, all that sort of stuff, certainly better than not exercising. I think they could do a better job as far as getting more results from the people that are paying them.

5:10But yeah, as far as how I kind of square the circle, if people like doing F45, that's cool. Do it a few times a week. You should probably lift weights on your own a few times a week and do some conditioning as well. What say ye about isometrics for tendon health? isometric exercises are those where the muscle doesn't change length but still produces force. I think the unique aspect of isometrics as far as it relates to a tendinopathy, which is an umbrella term for anything, any sort of pain, injury, sort of situation we attribute to a tendon, I think that for those who cannot move, do any sort of exercise where there's active flexion, extension, or otherwise movement of a joint, isometrics represent a good sort of starting point, right?

5:57So if somebody has knee, you know, we think it's patellofemoral pain syndrome, you know, or some knee tendinopathy, quadriceps tendinopathy, something like that. And they can't squat, any type of squat, tempo squat, high box squat, high pin squat, whatever, leg press, box step, they can't do any of it without some significant pain. They might be able to do a wall sit, right? So isometrics can be useful for like that sort of entry point. I don't think isometrics are uniquely beneficial for recovery from a tendinopathy or exercise performance. It's just a way that you can get somebody to be active without actually having to move the joints.

6:36And so that's – to me, it's best use cases for somebody who can't really do any sort of dynamic exercise because otherwise I think dynamic exercises are generally better for not only strength but also exercise-related adaptations pertaining to health. and sport. Yeah, that's what I think. My coach suggests endless number of mobility and stretching before the actual training session. Do you think they are going to help anyway? No. Put simply, no. But, you know, I think this highlights a few things. So maybe instead of me rambling on, we'll just focus on two things. One, like the coaching client relationship, and then two, just stretching.

7:14So we'll start with stretching. I mean, yeah, if you look at the evidence on stretching with respect to injury risk reduction, effectively, the only time that stretching improves injury risk is if it's paired with something that actually makes people stronger. So people do these like warm up routines that involve like a Nordic hamstring curl and like a Copenhagen plank or whatever and some stretching. And like that total package compared to not doing it reduces injury risk. but it's not the stretching because when we isolate it's just stretching whether it's static stretching ballistic stretching proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitative or pnf stretching partner assisted stretching yeah it doesn't reduce injury risk it doesn't make people less sore on average it doesn't improve performance i don't think it hurts performance that much either but it just doesn't really do anything right stretching and mobility specific like strength is so um the way that if you want to improve your mobility you're gonna have to do it specifically to the task, the posture, the position you want to get in.

8:12And if it's lift related, you should just do the lift or some variation thereof. So the other problem with stretching is that it takes up time, right? And most people are not training nearly enough to maximize their sort of fitness adaptations they're getting out of exercise. In other words, it'd be really hard for most people to overtrain given the amount of time they have to actually train. And so spending a bunch of time on stretching doesn't seem like a good use of time. So there's that. And so that's my thoughts on stretching. That's why I don't really program it. It can be useful for like desensitizing people who otherwise can't really exercise normally.

8:47It can be useful if people like it. It can be useful if it is specific to some sort of posture, task, or position that otherwise can't be, you know, someone can't access, right? If you want to learn to do the splits, you're going to have to gradually kind of work into that. So you would stretch to do that. But like that's, you know, a unique use case. So this coaching client dynamic, it's like, so you paid this person money to coach you. I would ask them, like, why are we doing so much stretching? You know, especially if that's not something that you expressed that you wanted to do. And the other second question is, well, why don't you hire us?

9:26I've been coaching for, you know, almost 20 years now. Have some availability with the company. So I don't take it personally. Obviously, there's a bunch of good coaches out there and we want people to have good rapport with their trainers and their coaches and such. That's all fine. But if it's any consolation, I wouldn't have you do any stretching. This podcast is brought to you by Biggs. At Barbell Medicine, we spend a lot of time talking about what it takes to build a body that can handle high level performance. But the recovery and health side is just as critical. Over the last six years, an incredible team of health care professionals did something that most people thought was impossible.

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10:30And of course, the style comes in red, white, and blue. Now, if you want the gear that the medical team behind the world's best athletes are wearing, check out the limited edition Team USA collection. You get 15 % off your first order at wearfigs.com with code FIGSRX. That's wearfigs.com, code FIGSRX. Need to cut about 20 pounds for a competition coming up. I would strongly advise against that. like if the maybe let me let's answer this in a more useful way so cutting weight before a competition a barbell sport competition is something that people do sure commonplace i tend to think that uh if it is a two-hour weigh-in and people cut are cutting more than 2 to, you know, 3 % of their body weight, you know, 5 % maybe of their starting body weight tops, to me that you're getting into trouble, their risk of performing poorly due to the weight cut.

11:32And so at that point, you have to ask, like, well, what is the point of competing, right? Is the point of competing to actually, you know, win? Or is it to set PRs? Or is it just for, you know, fun, right? It's like you're not on track to set PRs, not necessarily there to win, just trying to have fun. So identifying the goal here, right? And unless you're there to win and that is the most important thing, I think cutting weight is – yeah. The only time I would advise people to do that in a setting where they're not there to win the competition and that winning actually matters is for like a weight loss target and like making it real.

12:09So 20 pounds for a competition would not recommend. If you got, you know, 16 weeks, that's a different situation. But I would, you know, you're asking about salt bath, which that is not a practice that I recommend or use. No, I don't recommend that. But since you're asking about that, I suspect that it's sooner than that. So, yeah, I cannot really discuss the methods that you would need to use to lose 20 pounds. Some of those would be banned in tested sport. You catch my drift. I don't think that that amount of weight loss is a good idea for competition purposes. If you have to do it, money is on the line.

12:55Yeah, would start a calorie deficit as soon as possible. The last week before the meet, a gut cut, basically low-fiber foods, water cut, where you'd start with a higher intake of water, higher sodium intake, higher carbohydrate intake, relatively speaking, and then taper that all down where about two days out, you cut salt, you cut water, and you cut carbohydrates. You can switch to liquid foods. Outside of that, I don't feel comfortable giving other advice because I would want to monitor it. Also, some of it medical legally is not great, but I think it's a bad idea. I hate to be, you know, I'm not trying to nocebo you.

13:30I just am more trying to say, why don't you just go to the meet, weigh what you weigh, and set a PR, you know. For a garage gym, do I need a platform? Can I put platform? can I put a platform in the rack and do all the lifts inside of the rack to save space? Yeah, a lot of this is personal preference. I mean, most garages will have a slope, right, to drain water. You can measure that if you want. I think a platform is nice to lift on instead of the concrete, especially if it's unfinished, right, which tends to be slippery. And you can eliminate the slope. I don't think eliminating the slope, like, is going to reduce injury risk or that lifting on the slope increases risk of injury, I think it's just annoying, right?

14:12You're like, am I off-centered? Is the bar rolling? Like, this is just annoying. So I would build a platform. I'd build it eight by eight so that you can do stuff in the rack and you could deadlift outside of the rack and you can then shim the platform to make sure that it's level. So that's what I would do. You don't have to do that, but you asked me and that's what I would do. Are there any special concerns with taking the slack out of a deadlift bar or is it just like a stiff bar, but more. I don't know what the last part of that sentence means. Um, or unless you're just saying there's just more slack in it.

14:45Yeah. So, okay. When you're doing a deadlift, there's really two sources of slack, right? Or give in the system. Uh, the first part is the distance, uh, or the gap between the outer diameter. It's mechanical slack, right? Uh, there's a gap between the outer diameter of the sleeve that the weight sits on. And then the inner diameter of the actual weight plate itself. There's a little gap there. There's also a gap between the bar itself, the bushing, and whatever. So there's mechanical slack there. And then the whole system, especially as it gets heavy, can flex. There's more flex in a deadlift bar because it's longer in length and thinner in diameter than a standard power bar.

15:23Standard power bar is 29 millimeters and seven foot long. Most deadlift bars are seven and a half feet long, I believe, even 27 millimeters in diameter. There are some specialty bars like the rogue elephant bar, the kabuki bar that are longer, thinner, whatever. This is different. As far as special considerations about taking the slack out. No, it's the same. The process is going to also be the same. It's just going to require some practice. So when I'm coaching somebody who's going to go to a powerlifting meet and they're going to use either a deadlift bar for the first time or a stiff bar. Well, not even for the first time, but whatever the equipment is, that's really the main thing I want them to have exposure to before going to a meet.

16:12I don't care if they ever get to use a combo rack or use a competition bench or whatever, anything like that. I just care about the deadlift bar usually. All right, that is a wrap on this free sample of our bonus content that regularly goes out to our Barbell Medicine Plus subscribers. Again, to join, head over to barbellmedicine.com slash plus and sign up to be a Barbell Medicine Plus member today. That's barbellmedicine.com slash plus. Thank you so much for listening. We'll catch you guys next time.