Iron Culture Eric Helms & Omar Isuf

Powerlifters use techniques to milk every last kilo out of their bench press, including wide grips, tightly wound wrist wraps, leg drive, and – the most hated technique in the comment section – an arched-back to reduce the range of motion. Indeed, it can get so heated in the comments it likely even influenced an IPF rule change last year. But how many kilos does an arch really give you? How many bench pressers did this rule change impact, and was there really a need for the rule changes? Further, why do we apply a different standard for what is considered “cheating” to different lifts or athletic movements, like technical manipulation in high jump, or weightlifting? In this episode you’ll get the full complement of the Iron Culture themes: we discuss the current culture around the IPF rule change and contemporary perspectives on arched bench press, the history of the clean and press in Olympic weightlifting up to 1972 which has some very interesting parallels, and finally a recently published study which attempted to quantify how much an arch increases bench press 1RM.
00:00 Intro to an episode about when Powerlifting was Powerlifting
03:33 The good old IPF and their regulations
08:40 The bench press rule change
15:23 The motivating factor for the rule change
20:01 Trexler’s technique and thoughts on the rules
Barbend article: https://barbend.com/ipf-bench-press-rule-change-2023/
26:22 The history of Olympic weightlifting and Powerlifting and the change in rules
38:39 The Fosbury flop and the perception of different movements and innovations
44:52 Athletes finding ways to maximise performances within rules 
57:16 A recent study on arching in the bench press
Bartolomei 2024 Flat-Back vs. Arched-Back Bench Press: Examining the Different Techniques Performed by Power Athletes https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38551927/
1:05:38 The nature of the fragile ego and the final point on the perspective of the spectator

Fresh off of their successful doctoral defenses, Lauren and Kim join Iron Culture to discuss all things menstrual-cycle related for lifters! Dr. Helms had the pleasure of mentoring Kim, who recently completed her PhD at AUT, in which she surveyed and monitored the menstrual cycle symptoms of resistance-training women, and also led an intervention of mindfulness-based yoga to see the impact on menstrual cycle symptom severity. These findings are complemented by Lauren’s PhD research, recently completed at Stu Phillips lab at McMaster University, where she looked at muscle protein fractional responses to resistance training in women during different menstrual cycle phases. Covering both the applied and mechanistic side of the equation, this Roundtable discussion led by the Erics gives you the cutting-edge low down on whether or not menstrual cycle phased based training is all that it’s hyped up to be.

We’re back with another trio episode, and in this one, the hosts dig deeper into the Trex-lore. Eric Trexler has been training since his early youth, but only recently has he struggled with his fitness, and health and even had to rethink who he is as a lifter, due to lingering pain. Pain and injury are complex and multifaceted, but the body is resilient and often heals itself with time. But what can you do when nothing seems to work? When you seemingly can’t change your circumstances the only thing left is to change your perspective. Join us in this episode as the hosts share these perspectives, with a collective experience of over 50 years under the bar.

To complement the recent appearance of Dr. Wes Goodman, we now have the founder of N1 Education, Coach Kassem Hanson to join us on iron culture to discuss applied biomechanics and anatomy for bodybuilding. We discuss the limitations of research, what might be considered fundamental features of effective hypertrophy exercises, common mistakes and misunderstandings of applied anatomy, individual differences and more! Join us in this discussion of bodybuilding functional anatomy and learn how to take your, or your clients training that much closer to optimal.
00:00 The Erics introduce Kassem and the topic
Iron Culture Ep. 273- Biomechanics For Powerlifting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB6_fIlx8EA
05:09 Why and how Kassem is ruining resistance training for the youth
10:43 Kassem’s background and what he does
19:00 What the technology is actually measuring and their limitations
27:13 Exercise selection principles
40:43 Working around structural limitations and injuries
47:27 Getting into the weeds of exercise selection for hypertrophy
1:00:08 The application of biomechanics research for training
1:06:30 Making the leg press more glute or quad focused
1:16:33 Considering and balancing different variables
1:25:12 An insight into an N1 study and a quick discussion on lengthened partials
1:32:32 The application of biomechanics principles and research
1:42:15 Closing out this conceptual discussion and where to find Kassem
Kassem 
Instagram: @coach_kassem https://www.instagram.com/coach_kassem/?hl=en
N1 Education
Website: https://n1.education/
Instagram: @n1.education https://www.instagram.com/n1.education/?hl=en
N1 Training
Website: https://n1.training/ 
Instagram: @n1.training https://www.instagram.com/n1.training/?hl=en  

Since the beginning of the iron game, different methods have been promoted as the best approach to train for “hardgainers.” Likewise, in the scientific literature, the variability in individual response is well documented, including the identification of “non-responders” and poor responders to exercise. However, only recently have studies been undertaken to determine how to manipulate training to help poor responders to resistance training get better gains. So, is it true what they say? Does “hard work beat talent when talent doesn’t work hard”? And if so, what type of “hard work” needs to be done exactly?
00:00 Introduction to a duo episode with two of the best Erics in the fitness industry and the history of the "hardgainer”
09:48 “Non-responders” in the literature and measurement error
17:27 Individual vs group level responses
25:32 Challenging the idea of non-response to training
Montero 2017 Refuting the myth of non-response to exercise training: 'non-responders' do respond to higher dose of training https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28133739/
Lixandrão 2024 Higher resistance training volume offsets muscle hypertrophy nonresponsiveness in older individuals https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38174375/
35:20 The narratives surrounding responses to training
40:52 Changes in training to break through plateaus and variability in repetition performance
Bellinger 2020 Muscle fiber typology is associated with the incidence of overreaching in response to overload training https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32816636/
1:04:55 A quick insight into some upcoming PhD research and closing out with an advertisement for MASS Office Hours
https://massresearchreview.com/ 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTPlGKLOFok&list=PLq2Hpu55tCKbaklI9h4Z5-2kJYf5T3ren&index=36 
Barbend Article: https://barbend.com/tom-platz-legs-massive-at-67/ 

Wes Goodman recently completed his PhD in Exercise and Nutrition Science with an emphasis in Biomechanics and Motor Control at Montana State University under Dr. David Graham with our very own Dr. Helms on his committee as well. But he’s more than an academic, he’s a certified strength and conditioning specialist, gym owner, power lifter, strong man and Highland Games competitor! He studied how musculoskeletal modelling can help us understand the nuances of how the body performs squats. In this episode you’ll learn about the theory and application of motor control to lifting, the limitations of common biomechanics studies, and how modelling helps us understand that muscles can influence joints they don’t actually cross, and to Omar’s dismay, that a calf raise might actually be a squat accessory exercise!
00:00 Addressing the controversy before introducing our guest Sooper Gforce
Iron Culture Ep 269- Are Social Media PhDs Ruining Fitness? (feat Dr. Milo Wolf, Max Coleman & Dr. Pak) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgp9h5D0yqI
Enes 2024 Effects of Different Weekly Set Progressions on Muscular Adaptations in Trained Males: Is There a Dose-Response Effect? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37796222/ 
04:37 Introducing Wes Goodman and what is biomechanics?
13:15 Necromechanics, what we can measure with biomechanics and its limitations
Iron Culture Ep. 163- All About EMG and Hypertrophy (ft. Andrew Vigotsky) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIccFeOknew
28:45 The degrees of freedom problem and clarifying 
37:00 The dominant theories on motor control and neuroscience
45:04 Motor learning strategies in lifting and the theoretical/philosophical perspective
58:45 Cuing in (power)lifting and the approaches to providing feedback as coach
1:06:53 Wes’ PhD research: the intricacies of muscle function within tasks
1:20:05 Modelling in science and furthering our understanding of squat biomechanics
1:24:55 Wes’ initial thoughts on his data regarding the calves 
1:29:29 Closing out and where to find Wes
Website: https://likeironstrong.com 
IG: @likeironstrong_wes https://www.instagram.com/likeironstrong_wes/ 
ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/William-Goodman-12