Ep. #219: Research Review: Dr. Mike Zourdos on Training to Failure

01/24/18 • 36 min

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Mike Zourdos who’s an assistant professor of Exercise Science at Florida Atlantic University, published researcher, and competitive powerlifter, as well as the head Powerlifting coach at Florida State University.

Mike also produces a fantastic monthly research review along with Dr. Eric Helms and Greg Nuckols, called MASS (www.strongerbyscience.com/mass), and in this interview, Mike is going to break down one of the studies analyzed in their review.

The study he’s going to discuss is on training to failure, and in this discussion, Mike explains what training to failure is, how it relates to muscle growth, how necessary it is, how to best incorporate it into your training, and more.

6:36 - What is the study of training to failure and is it necessary
13:02 - When should you incorporate training to failure?
20:24 - How does training to failure effect strength and muscle growth?
27:10 - Does cardio with HIIT harm or improve muscle hypertrophy?
31:26 - Where can people follow you and find your work?
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Previous Episode

Ep. #218: How to Track Your Body Composition in 3 Simple Steps

Let’s face it.

A big reason we work out is to look good.

Yes, there are many other benefits beyond the physical, but what we see in the mirror every day matters. A lot.

That’s why a big part of staying motivated to stick to our meal plans and training programs is seeing progress.

And this is where the mirror can mislead.

You see, it takes longer than most of us realize to see marked changes in our appearance, and when the squishy parts don’t transform as quickly as we’d hoped, it’s easy to lose heart.

It can feel like all that work in the kitchen and gym is more or less for naught.

Well, if you learn to track your body composition properly, you can avoid these problems because you’ll know exactly what is or isn’t happening with your physique, and you’ll be able to then adjust your diet and exercise accordingly.

It’s pretty easy, too. There are just three steps:
1. Weigh yourself daily and calculate weekly averages.
2. Take weekly body measurements.
3. Take weekly progress pictures.

That’s all you have to do to always have an accurate snapshot of your body composition and a clear idea of which direction things are going in.

Let’s take a closer look at each.

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Next Episode

Ep. #220: “Muscle Memory” is Real and Here’s How It Works

If you’ve spent any amount of time lifting weights, taken a break for a bit, and then started back up again, you probably noticed that you seemed to regain strength and size much quicker than the first time around.

Well, this isn’t your mind playing tricks on you–the acceleration in progress is a scientifically verified phenomenon often referred to as “muscle memory,” but what is actually going on?

Neurological mechanisms can explain the rapid regain of strength, but not muscle size. Do muscle fibers have some sort of “memory” of their previous, more conditioned states? Or is something else responsible for these effects?

Let’s find out.

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