Beer N Biceps Podcast

In the second episode of our new-look podcast, we are discussing perfect warm-ups and drinking Badger beer. Well, we call it badger beer, but actually, the brewery is called Hall & Woodhouse brewery. We really enjoyed ourselves during this podcast, mostly thanks to the excellent beers! We’re loving this 30-minute format, it’s easier to listen to, and more importantly – it is a LOT quicker to perform.

Perfect Warm-Ups

I’ve changed my mind a lot about warm-ups over the years, when I started training myself I thought that they were very important. Always getting onto that Cross-trainer before a session could truly begin. After a while, I grew bored of spending 5-10 minutes per session mindlessly pedalling and started entering the gym “cold”.

This was fine, I was young, wasn’t lifting heavy, and had no previous injuries. These days I walk briskly to the gym before performing multiple practice sets for a great warm-up.

A practice set is where you perform the exercise you were planning on doing (a bench press for example) with a weight that is significantly lighter. Think about it, you are working the correct muscles required for the exercise, practising the movements, and getting a feel for the equipment.

But there are a couple of exercises that I do add in as a warm-up, which aren’t practice set exercises. For upper body, I perform face-pulls, a great exercise using a cable machine.

For the lower body, I will perform some dumbbell goblet squats. They are light, easy to do, and they warm you up great before performing barbell squats, or deadlifts. They are crucial for perfect warm-ups.

Badger Beers: Hall & Woodhouse Brewery

The beers we drank in this podcast all came from the Hall & Woodhouse brewery in Dorset. The brewery was originally opened in 1777 in the village of Ansty. It was moved to Blandford St Mary in 1899 and has stayed there ever since. The beers that we tried were Golden Champion and Fursty Ferret. They also sell Furkin Fox and Golden Glory. This brewery has always been a favourite of mine, and the beers were a perfect choice for our Best of England Beers.

Next Time

So a nice and quick podcast on perfect warm-ups and English beer, Badger Beers are a great rival for last week’s Newcastle Brown Ales. In our next episode, we will be drinking beer from Oakham Ales and discussing rest periods.

On the 4th of June 2017, Todd and I got drunk, very drunk. The kind of drunk where you stand up after a while on shaky legs, walk outside the pub and decide to create a podcast about beer n biceps. You’ve probably done exactly that yourself right? What were our qualifications to do so? I knew quite a bit about fitness and nutrition after a degree in Sports Science and 7 years as a personal trainer. Todd had been my most successful client ever. Neither of us knew anything about beer except that we loved it and couldn’t imagine doing a podcast without it. We started our brand new beer n biceps podcast with absolutely no idea what we were letting ourselves in for.

Was it a success? Well yes and no. We managed to get a LOT of listeners, far more than the 20 people we had expected. But nowhere near what the big boys were hitting. Our show could be funny at times, and we like to think it was interesting, but fucking hell was it amateur.

Todd and I would plan it out 10 minutes before the start, randomly buy a beer on the way and then google all we could about that beer just before the show started. We made promises we didn’t keep. We fucked up our live show, we fucked up our podcast in a beer shop, and some episodes we just completely forgot to promote.

So we’re doing it again, we’re restarting the podcast, it’s a reboot. We’ll cover similar themes but in a better way. We’ll be more focused, better organised, and ... Okay, I’ll level with you. It took us two weeks to record our new episode 1 and already we’re fucking things up. But in a charming way right?

Brand New Beer N Biceps Podcast

So what is different about our new podcast format? Well instead of randomly picking beers we’re following a plan. This series (8 episodes) will focus on the best of English beers. We’ll be looking at Newcastle Brown ale in this episode and then Badger beers in the second. Series Two will look at the Celtic nations (Wales, Scotland, Ireland), and in the future, we’ll look at Belgian, German, American etc ...

The episodes will also be much shorter, instead of 60 minutes + we’ll be trying to limit each episode to just 30 minutes. This will prevent us from waffling on too much and will help keep us more relevant. So that’s what you’re getting with our brand new beer n biceps podcast, so let’s get cracking with episode 1.

Training 101

As this is a January based episode (though it’ll be almost February by the time this goes live). We thought that it would be the perfect time to plan out what you are going to do WHEN you sign up for the gym. If you want success in life you’ve got to work for it. Avoiding difficult seeming tasks like signing up to a gym will only slow you down. We’re definitely of the opinion that getting out there, putting your money where your mouth is, and removing yourself from your comfort zone is the only ways to be successful.

Beer of the Episode: Newcastle Brown Ale

What an excellent beer to start (or re-start) our journey with, Newcastle Brown Ale is a superb ale. It tastes great when chilled, where it is a proper session beer (you can drink loads of it) but it takes on a whole new flavour when served at almost room temperature. In Michael Jackson’s Great Beer Guide, Newcastle Brown Ale is described as “the most popular bottled ale in Britain”. We’re not sure how accurate that is anymore. But the beer has definitely had a resurgence in popularity over the last few years.

The beer has been around since 1927 and up until 2017 has always been brewed in Newcastle. Last year Newcastle Brown Ale was purchased by Heineken and production was moved to the Netherlands. I’m not usually too fussed by bigger beer companies taking over smaller ones. But it is definitely a shame that a brewery that has been around for 90 years and is famously made in England is now going to be made in a completely different country. Makes you feel that a little bit of history has floated away.

Let Us Know Your Thoughts

So that is episode one of our brand new beer n biceps podcast finished and we’re pretty happy with the new direction that we’ve taken. But it would be great to get some feedback from you guys. Remember you can join our free Facebook group, come say hi on Instagram, tweet us on

Our last Beer N Biceps episode of the year is a xmas special where we drink Elf Juice by Bad Company and talk about the ways in which you can maintain your weight, prevent weight gain, or even lose weight over the Christmas holiday. This is not something that you need to do, and Todd and I are quite honest about why we’re not going to be following the rules too strictly ourselves. But if you decide that this is the year when you don’t gain weight over the holidays, then this podcast can really help you.

Xmas Special

This episode is quite a bit shorter than our usual ones, at a brisk 30 minutes. This was for 2 reasons: 1) We had a shorter message to share this episode, and 2) We have decided to try and keep our podcasts a little bit shorter in the future. An hour is a lot of time to perform and to ask our listeners to pay attention for that long is tough! So we have used this xmas special to try out the shorter format. Let us know whether you prefer it this way, or you enjoyed the longer episodes more.

Xmas Special Beers

We were drinking Elf Juice during this podcast, a beer from the Bad Company Brewery which is situated in North Yorkshire. While looking up this particular brewery (that has been operating for just 3 years) we found that Yorkshire really does seem to be becoming a hotbed for newish quality beers. You’ve got Saltaire Brewery which opened near Bradford in 2005, Black Sheep near Harrogate which was opened in 1992, York Brewery (1996), and Vocation Brewery in Hebdon Bridge, which we reviewed in episode six.

While Elf Juice was surprisingly nice, it doesn’t have too much competition in our opinion. Xmas special beers tend to be very overpowering, too high in alcohol, and basically a bit gimmicky (a bit like xmas special podcasts I guess). Elf Juice is guilty of all of these issues, but it seems to work in spite of this. It’s too strong tasting, filled with flavours that you’d find in mulled wine, and it’s a very dark looking beer. But we still enjoyed it a lot.

Well that’s about all we are going to talk about in this episode. Have a great Christmas, have a decent New Year, and we’ll see you in 2018 with a brand new training program, a new-look podcast, and a whole host of awesome things planned.

This episode is the last of series one, when we started out there was no plan to split the episodes up into short series (which is why series one ended up with 18 episodes). Looking back on what we have achieved so far is the focus of this episode. We’ll be looking at our favourite beers over the course of the series, and what we’ll be offering in series 2.

Looking Back to the Start

It was a Sunday afternoon and I was meeting Todd in the Duck in the Pond pub in Harrow. It’s a pretty decent pub owned by a company called Ember Inns, their beer selection is fairly up and down. Sometimes they’ll have some amazing beers on tap, while other times there’s almost nothing. We hadn’t seen each other in around 2-3 months, which was quite unusual for us. When we were in our early 20s we’d usually see each other about 6-8 times per month. But if growing old has taught me one thing, it’s that socialising is a difficult thing to do.

Friends move away, your social circle becomes fractured, and you lose touch with people. There are falling outs, and break ups that can split a group, there are an endless number of things that can affect how often you see people. As relationships grow, family becomes more of a commitment. You aren’t living with your parents any more, so now you spend weekends going to visit them. Then your partner also wants to visit their parents, suddenly 15-20 of your precious 52 weekends per year are taken up.

But there’s one thing that you can say about Todd, that guy never turns down a beer if he can help it! We sat down and went through their entire beer collection in methodical fashion. At one point the bar staff themselves congratulated us on our collection of bottles and glasses. Well at least I think they were congratulating us, they definitely said “That’s a lot of bottles you’ve got their guys, and there’s only two of you?”. This sounds like a compliment to me.

While we drank we set the world to rights, well the sporting world anyway. But we also talked about beer, we made each other laugh, and we reminisced about the time Todd got in crazy shape for a personal training competition that I had entered. We also got exceedingly drunk. As we were heading off, Todd to the loving embrace of his family, me to a girlfriend who was just SUPER happy that I was 2 hours later than I had said I would be, I asked Todd something that I had asked only one person before. Whether he’d like to do a podcast with me.

I didn’t even mention the subject that I had in mind, because I was scared of rejection. But he seemed pretty excited. I casually mentioned beer, which he readily agreed with, and then I mentioned doing it on fitness. I held my breath (okay I probably didn’t but allow me some artistic licence here) and he said the following, incredible words “Yeah sure, whatever the fuck you want to do it on mate sounds good to me”. One day I want those words engraved on a marble statue of Todd.

Our First Episode

Usually, when I have a really good idea it falls flat almost immediately. I’ve started 3 bootcamps in my life, all of them have fallen apart in fairly spectacular fashion. The first was in Regents Park, me and a couple personal trainers decided that it would be a great way to make some extra cash. I booked a spot in the park, printed t-shirts, created flyers, and even got some media interest (two journalists and a photographer came for a photoshoot and interview).

Traditional English Ale (TEA) by Hogs Back Brewery – Tongham, UK

I offered the class for free to around 20 people, and turned up to session one with one of my PT buddies (the other had already quit) at 6:30am. Nobody showed up. We waited 20 minutes, then went to a Walkabout pub in Shepherds Bush to watch some Rugby League and have a beer (yes the pub was open at 8am and was filled with Aussies drinking).

I have failed in projects like this more often than I care to say, and a lot of the time it has been due to a burst of enthusiasm on my part, and absolutely no enthusiasm on anyone else’s. So I was surprised (and insanely pleased) when Todd and I met up just 2 days later and recorded our first episode.

I’d love to say that the episode was a home run, but it was actually pretty shit. Todd and I are prone to going off on large tangents but this episode took the piss! We covered sexism in sport, Todd’s trip to a Spanish restaurant, and about 20 other completely random subjects. The episode clocked in at 90 minutes, and we both agreed that a do-over was required.

When we finally did complete episode one we were really pleased with how it came out. All I had to do now was publish it .... This was the most frustrating week of my life. To say that apple have made publishing podcasts a difficult endeavour would be an understatement. I w...

Finally! After several tear-fuelled phone calls and an ill-advised trip to Watford with a boombox in hand. I have managed to secure the podcasting services of Mr Todd Davies. In this week’s podcast we discuss beers we’d love to drink but can’t.

The sound quality is not amazing. This is thanks to the social distancing requirements of holding a podcast (Todd was on the phone). But it was definitely worth it. Having two people on a podcast definitely improves it (in my opinion).

Going forward, I will still be publishing my solo-podcasts. And I will try and grab hold of Todd for the occasional collaboration. We’ve decided that our podcasts together will be solely beer-related. While my individual podcasts will be mostly fitness-related.

Beers We’d Love to Drink But Can’t

The idea for this podcast came to me while I was reading an article on North Korean beer (as you do). The article was pretty interesting, and was not beer specific, though they mentioned having one. Of course, I immediately went to Wikipedia to search for North Korean beer and found this article entry.

The thought that there was a beer out there that it was unlikely/impossible for me to try was sort of sad but also fascinating. I immediately started thinking of other beers that would be impossible to try and floated the idea to Todd.

Tynt Meadow

One beer that I immediately thought of was Tynt Meadow, the English Trappist Ale that came out in 2018. For a long time after it came out, it was impossible to buy as demand far outstripped supply.

But of course, it is now very easy to find. I actually walked down to my local pub who was selling it as part of their takeaway service. The beer is one of the highest-rated beers around, and I can definitely see why!

A gorgeous taste, great consistency, and it poured really nicely into my Duvel glass (I don’t have a Tynt Meadow glass ... yet). It was very different to Belgian Trappist Ales that I’ve tried, and it is also different from Abbey beers such as Affligem.