Training Partners

Weezy Shumaker and Justin McClintock

Hot Takes Held Loosely - Two Fitness Professionals, Weezy Shumaker and Justin McClintock, talk all things training and fitness. Funny, Strong, and In-Depth Conversations to make you think, laugh, and progress your fitness journey.

  1. 3d ago

    Peptides Are MAGIC

    This week we brought in a guest: Stormy Weather (@showyourworknutrition on IG) -- PA, nutrition coach, and founder of Show Your Work Nutrition, to help us make sense of one of the murkiest corners of the current wellness landscape — peptides. Two fitness professionals and a clinician walk into a podcast, and none of them are selling you anything. What are peptides anyways? You know several of them VERY well - we promise. The gray market stuff — BPC-157, TB-500, the Wolverine stack, the date night stack, the Barbie tanning peptide — how these all rode in on the coattails of GLP-1s and hormone therapy, borrowing credibility from the needle without the clinical backing to go with itThe sourcing problem is real: you're likely NOT getting what you think you are, and it's likely NOT tested. Why the biggest pharmaceutical company on the planet owns and won't sell BPC-157Why many peptide advocates are also anti-science and anti-regulation. The only peptides Stormy WOULD currently recommend.If somebody is telling you there's a simple fix for what ails you, they are almost certainly lying to you and profiting off of it. Listen up. Strong takes held loosely.

    1h 14m

  2. May 27

    MRIs Are Bad For Your Back

    If you've ever thrown your back out and immediately wondered if you need an MRI — this one's for you. This week, Justin makes a case that sounds crazy until it doesn't: getting imaging for back pain, especially in the first six weeks, actually leads to WORSE outcomes than not getting it. Studies show that early imaging correlates with longer, more invasive treatments, higher reported pain scores, and no meaningful clinical benefit over conservative careThe false positive problem is massive — disc degeneration shows up in more than half of asymptomatic 30-year-olds, and disc bulges in nearly 40%; finding something on a scan doesn't mean that thing is causing your painGetting a diagnosis can be its own harm: people tend to take on the identity of their imaging results, which drives fear, inactivity, and a cascade of increasingly aggressive interventionsMost non-specific low back pain resolves on its own within six weeks with conservative care — which is exactly what will be prescribed regardless of what the imaging showsMore information isn't always better. Sometimes the scan is the thing that slows you down. Strong takes held loosely.

    57 min

  3. May 20

    We Love AI

    No, not really. This week two fitness professionals who are both pretty skeptical of AI sit down to actually think it through. We're asking the question: when (if ever) is AI a good idea, and when is it just making things worse? What exactly IS AI anyway? What are some likely good (or at least better) use cases: coding support and debugging for non-developers, reducing decision overwhelm when human support isn't accessible, grammar and clarity editing, and summarizing long-form content you already createdWhat we don't like: brainstorming as a crutch, high-stakes decisions in medical or legal or fitness contexts, and anything where a real human with real expertise and nuance is what the situation actually requiresAI-generated art, fake client transformations, and fully AI-run accounts are a credibility problem and we hate it. Your AI headshot is ugly. The environmental footprint is real and underreported: training a large language model produces hundreds of tons of CO2, and a single query uses roughly ten times the electricity of a standard Google searchThe answer to most things is it depends, and this is no different. Use it like a tool, not like a 'thinking partner.' Strong takes held loosely.

    1h 1m

  4. May 13

    Hydration and Pain

    This week, Justin makes the case that one of the most powerful tools for managing pain and recovering from injury is something most of us already know about... but aren't doing very well. We're talking about hydration, and especially in regards to pain and injury — not as a wellness cure-all, but with actual reasons why it matters. What we cover: Why being under-hydrated keeps you inflamed longer and slows the recovery processHow synovial fluid — the stuff that cushions and lubricates your joints — is affected when you're not drinking enough.The nervous system connection: dehydration measurably increases pain sensitivity AND suppresses endorphin production, meaning things literally hurt moreWhy creatine works better when you understand what water is doing inside muscle tissueHow to find your actual hydration baseline and build from there without overhauling everything at onceWhat happens to your thirst signals when you finally start drinking enough — and why that's a good sign, not a problemIf you've been dealing with something chronic and doing all the right things, this might be the rock nobody told you to move. Strong takes held loosely.

    55 min

  5. May 6

    Shoot the Sh** - April 2026

    This week we're shooting the shit — no topic, no notes, just two fitness pros catching up. Justin shares a new volunteer pursuit that has nothing to do with fitness and everything to do with finding a third place to just be a person (naturally, he was fast-tracked almost immediately 😎). We dig into why it matters to turn the coach brain off sometimes, the client-coach relationship, Weezy's ongoing rental car saga (and her deeply principled stance on not stopping for gas), a Sustained equipment swap, and Justin heading to a coaching conference where the group chat has already gotten fully out of hand. Strong takes held loosely.

    1h 20m

  6. Apr 29

    Get Started

    This week, we're talking about GETTING STARTED — and all the reasons and ways we often talk ourselves out of it. Weezy breaks down the fallacy of the right versus wrong time, why waiting for the perfect moment almost always becomes never, and how perfectionism can actually be our inadvertent armor against a lurking fear of failure. We dig into 'all-or-nothing' thinking, and why it keeps people stuck, how you can identify the best first step (without letting 'do more research' cosplay as progress), and why carving out imperfect but realistic time beats waiting for 90 magical minutes you'll never have. We also talk about what it looks like to try to chase a past version of yourself — and why the thing that worked four years ago might not be what works now. Then Justin has a pretty lazy segment, which went better than expected (cable pull-throughs, Planet Fitness cancellation policy, and a genuinely wholesome post about what it actually means to look the part as a trainer). Strong takes held loosely.

    1h 2m

  7. Apr 22

    I Heard That's Dangerous

    This week we're digging into something that comes up constantly in our work: being told that the thing you want to do is dangerous. It started with a client who mentioned wanting to run again, but said her doctor told her not to. Rather than accepting that at face value, we unpack what "dangerous" actually means in a fitness context — because the real question is almost never whether the activity itself is dangerous, it's whether you're prepared for it. We talk about kipping pull-ups, deadlifts, squatting past parallel, running with bad knees, and why these things get labeled as risky while a golf swing or a kid on the monkey bars doesn't. We dig into why doctors issue broad restrictions as a population-level strategy (and why that's often bad for the individual in front of them). We also walk through how to actually respond when someone in your life — a care provider, a partner, a family member — tells you something you want to do is off limits: what questions to ask, how to get curious instead of defensive, and when to seek out someone with more specific expertise. Also, Weezy does a little frog thing, like, a lot.

    56 min

  8. Apr 15

    Know Your Niche

    This week, we're talking about knowing your niche — and why it's important for EVERYONE. Being able to clearly articulate what you do, who you do it for, and why you're different is one of the most overlooked tools, especially in any service business. We break down the four questions worth having a real answer to, talk about what happens when you create ambiguity, and get into why your communication style and values are just as much a part of your niche as the population you serve. We also call out the specific breed of fitness influencer, and discover Weezy's favorite flavor of protein soda. Really.

    1h 9m
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5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Hot Takes Held Loosely - Two Fitness Professionals, Weezy Shumaker and Justin McClintock, talk all things training and fitness. Funny, Strong, and In-Depth Conversations to make you think, laugh, and progress your fitness journey.

Information

  • Creator
    Weezy Shumaker and Justin McClintock
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    49
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Weezy Shumaker and Justin McClintock
  • Show Website
    Training Partners

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