The Catalyst

Chris Cooper

The Catalyst is your source for information about improving fitness and health. Once a week, host Chris Cooper of Catalyst Fitness bridges the gap between science and ground-level tactics in gyms and coaching practices. The Catalyst is perfect for coaches, trainers, nutritionists, athletes and general exercisers who want to learn more about training. Be sure to subscribe!

  1. -15 h

    The Truth About Muscle Memory (Can You Really Get It Back Faster?)

    If you've taken time off from training — a few months, a summer, a year after a baby, time out for injury — you've probably thought: I'm going to have to start all over again. The science says otherwise. In this episode, Coach Chris breaks down the actual biology of muscle memory — not as a motivational concept, but as a documented physiological phenomenon happening at two distinct levels. First, neural memory. Motor patterns stored in your brain and spinal cord stay largely intact during detraining. That's why strength can bounce back surprisingly fast in the first weeks after returning — your nervous system is re-activating pathways it already knows, not building new ones. Second, myonuclear memory. A 2024 Journal of Physiology study followed participants through training, detraining, and retraining. Myonuclei — the command centres inside your muscle fibres — increased by 13 to 33 percent during initial training and were maintained throughout 16 weeks of detraining, even as muscle size decreased. When retraining began, those retained myonuclei provided a head start on protein synthesis. A 2018 human study added a third layer: epigenetic changes — a "switched-on-ready" state in muscle growth genes — that persisted through a full train-detrain-retrain cycle. You are not starting from zero. You have more cellular machinery than a true beginner, better neural efficiency, and primed genes. The longer you trained before, the stronger the effect. Plus: the two caveats that matter before you go straight back to your old weights. Book your free No-Sweat Intro at catalystgym.com/free-intro.

  2. -6 j

    Why Am I Not Losing Weight Even Though I'm in a Calorie Deficit?

    You're tracking your food. You're eating less than you burn. The scale hasn't moved in two weeks — or worse, it went up. Before you conclude that your metabolism is broken or that calories don't work, understand one critical fact: body weight and body fat are not the same thing. The scale is measuring fat, muscle, water, glycogen, and everything in your digestive tract. And water moves dramatically. In this episode, Coach Chris walks through the most common reasons a calorie deficit stops producing visible results on the scale — starting with the uncomfortable one. Research shows people underestimate their calorie intake by 12 to 40 percent consistently. Omitted cooking oils, beverages, sauces, and eating back inaccurate fitness tracker estimates are the biggest culprits. The deficit is usually smaller than the app suggests. Beyond tracking, water retention is hiding genuine fat loss. New exercise causes muscle inflammation and fluid retention for two to three weeks. High cortisol from stress triggers water retention. Menstrual cycle fluctuations can mask three to seven pounds of fat loss. And the "whoosh effect" — where fat cells temporarily fill with water after releasing stored fat — can keep the scale flat for days before it drops suddenly. Add in body recomposition (building muscle while losing fat), metabolic adaptation, and the finding that 5.5 hours of sleep versus 8.5 hours on the same calorie deficit produces 55 percent less fat loss — and the full picture becomes clear. Better measurements. Longer timeline. That's the answer. Book your free No-Sweat Intro at catalystgym.com/free-intro.

  3. 16 août

    Zone 5: Your Highest Gear (And How to Actually Use It)

    Zone 5 is the zone most people think they're training in — and rarely actually are. It sits at 90 to 100 percent of your maximum heart rate, at or above VO2max, and can be sustained for somewhere between 30 seconds and 2 minutes at true maximum intensity. And it raises the ceiling for everything else. When Zone 5 develops, your Zone 4 starts to feel like Zone 3. Your threshold climbs. The entire spectrum shifts. In this final episode of The Catalyst's heart rate zone series, Coach Chris explains what Zone 5 actually is, how to accumulate meaningful time at VO2max without burning out — and the one tactical insight most people miss. That insight: Zone 5 requires your cardiovascular system to be the limiter, not your muscles. Heavy slow movements cause your legs to fail before your heart ever peaks. Rhythmic, sustained, large-muscle movements — running, rowing, cycling, hill sprints — allow the cardiovascular system to truly max out. You'll also learn the Billat 30/30 protocol, developed by French physiologist Véronique Billat, which exploits the VO2 lag phenomenon to accumulate more time at VO2max than most athletes think is possible in a single session. And newer research on how to progress from 30/30s to longer intervals as fitness develops. One session per week. Warmed up. With purpose. That's how you use your highest gear. Book your free No-Sweat Intro at catalystgym.com/free-intro.

  4. 10 août

    Ozempic, Diet and Exercise

    Everyone has an opinion on Ozempic right now — especially with a Canadian generic hitting the market. But after almost thirty years of coaching, here's what might surprise you: I'm not against it. In this episode, I break down why GLP-1 medications like Ozempic aren't a moral failure to need, and aren't a magic fix either. I share the story of a client whose bariatric surgery completely changed how I think about medical weight-loss interventions, walk through what the research actually shows about muscle loss on these drugs, and lay out exactly what you need to do — starting the day you begin the medication — to protect your metabolism, your mitochondria, and your long-term fitness. You'll learn why muscle loss is the hidden risk nobody talks about, what "zone two" training actually means, and why one hard workout a week matters more than you think. Ozempic can be a legitimate first step. This episode covers what comes after. Register for a free intro at catalystgym.com

  5. 7 août

    Zone 4: How to Get Through the Painful Zone (And Why It's Worth It)

    Zone 4 hurts. Not in a vague, uncomfortable way — in a specific, accumulating, burning way. Lactate is building faster than you can clear it. Every second feels longer than it should. And it is absolutely worth it. In this episode, Coach Chris explains exactly what Zone 4 is, why it produces the most direct improvements to your lactate threshold, and how to actually get through it — physically and mentally. The physiology first: the burning sensation in Zone 4 isn't caused by lactic acid itself. It's caused by hydrogen ion accumulation. Lactate is actually a useful fuel — your slow-twitch fibres burn it. Zone 4 training teaches your body to shuttle lactate from where it accumulates to where it gets burned, faster. The ceiling rises. What feels like Zone 4 today starts to feel like Zone 3. The formats: the Norwegian 4×4 protocol — four intervals of 4 minutes at Zone 4, 3 minutes active recovery between — is one of the most researched structures in endurance science. Tabata-style intervals (20 seconds on, 10 seconds off) work for most people at Zone 4 to 5 intensity. The mental game: dissociation — counting backward, the backward alphabet, chunking to landmarks — reduces perceived exertion and improves tolerance in ways research consistently supports. And a training partner produces a measurable physiological effect that makes Zone 4 efforts feel survivable in ways solo training simply cannot match. Book your free No-Sweat Intro at catalystgym.com/free-intro.

  6. 27 juill.

    Zone 3: Training the Sweet Spot (Without Getting Stuck in the Grey Zone)

    Zone 3 has a reputation problem. Some coaches call it the grey zone — too hard for recovery, not hard enough for maximum stimulus. And when Zone 3 happens by accident, drifting up from what should have been a Zone 2 session, that criticism is fair. But the athletes who dismiss Zone 3 entirely are missing one of the most time-efficient tools in training: sweet spot intervals, deliberately executed at the top of Zone 3 for extended durations. In this episode, Coach Chris breaks down the crucial difference between grey zone grinding and intentional sweet spot training, and why that distinction changes everything. At sweet spot intensity — the upper edge of Zone 3 into the very bottom of Zone 4 — your body can use lactate as a direct fuel source. You're training your Type IIa muscle fibres to become more aerobically efficient. And you can sustain this intensity for 20 to 60 minutes, creating extended adaptation time that Zone 4 intervals simply can't match. You'll learn two formats that actually work: long sustained sweet spot intervals, starting at 2×20 minutes and building toward a single 60-minute effort, and over-under intervals — the structure used by athletes like Tadej Pogačar that alternates just below and just above threshold to train lactate clearance directly. Plus: how often to do this, how to structure recovery around it, and the one mistake that turns a great sweet spot session into wasted fatigue. Book your free No-Sweat Intro at catalystgym.com/free-intro.

  7. 25 juill.

    How to Get the Most Out of Your Zone 2 Training

    Zone 2 training is the most talked-about topic in endurance and longevity science right now. But most people doing it aren't getting the full benefit — either they're working at the wrong intensity within the zone, missing key tactics, or skipping the pre-session prep that makes a real difference. This episode is not about how to know if you're in Zone 2. It's entirely tactical — specific things you can do before, during, and after a session to get dramatically more out of the time you're already spending there. Coach Chris covers four evidence-backed tactics. First: Zone 2 has a ceiling and a floor, and the research from Dr. Iñigo San Millán is clear that mitochondrial adaptation is strongest at the top of the zone, not the middle. Most people are training too conservatively. Second: nasal breathing is free real-time feedback for your intensity — and produces nitric oxide that improves oxygen delivery. Third: your diaphragm is a muscle, and warming it up with five minutes of deep belly breathing before your session delays respiratory fatigue and extends how long you can hold Zone 2 — the free version of what those Instagram breathing devices do. Fourth: session duration matters more than most people realize — 45 to 60-minute sessions produce meaningfully different mitochondrial adaptations than 20-minute sessions. Plus: the case for occasional fasted Zone 2 training and why frequency compounds the adaptation faster than any single-session tactic. Book your free No-Sweat Intro at catalystgym.com/free-intro.

  8. 16 juill.

    METCONs Aren't Everything: Why Hard Workouts Alone Stop Working

    METCONs changed fitness. CrossFit popularized them, and before that, training to complete exhaustion in a group setting was unusual. Now it's everywhere — and for good reason. Metabolic conditioning workouts are one of the fastest tools for improving VO2max, building cardiovascular fitness, and triggering real body composition change, especially for beginners. But there's a problem. A lot of people are doing METCONs every single day and hitting a wall — weight loss stalled, strength plateaued, motivation tanked. This episode explains exactly why. Coach Chris Cooper breaks down what METCONs actually do well (and the research is solid), then covers three things they can't do on their own: they don't train your body to burn fat efficiently, they hit a strength ceiling without progressive overload, and daily high-intensity training leads to physiological burnout — not boredom, burnout — that causes most people to quit. The fix is the 80/20 principle: for every hard, high-intensity session, you need at least two zone 2 workouts — aerobic, conversational-pace training that builds your fat-burning base and lets your nervous system recover. Plus one dedicated strength session with progressive overload. This isn't about balance or injury prevention. It's about performing better, changing your body composition, and staying in the game for years — not just weeks. You'll get three specific prescriptions you can apply this week, whether you're brand new or stuck at a plateau. Listen at catalystgym.com

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À propos

The Catalyst is your source for information about improving fitness and health. Once a week, host Chris Cooper of Catalyst Fitness bridges the gap between science and ground-level tactics in gyms and coaching practices. The Catalyst is perfect for coaches, trainers, nutritionists, athletes and general exercisers who want to learn more about training. Be sure to subscribe!

Informations

  • Créateur
    Chris Cooper
  • Années d’activité
    2022 - 2026
  • Épisodes
    136
  • Classement
    Tout public
  • Copyright
    © 2024 The Catalyst
  • Site Web de l’émission
    The Catalyst

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