Wits & Weights | Evidence-Based Fitness & Nutrition for Lifters Over 40

This episode is all about achieving LASTING results: finding that place where you no longer have to yo-yo diet, jump from one program to another, or feel like the only way to success is severe calorie restriction, excessive cardio, or short-term transformations.If what you’ve tried before just has NOT worked, maybe it’s time to engage the help of another person.Someone who can hold you accountable, give you some extrinsic motivation to help you build momentum and develop new, sustainable habits, so you can finally achieve the weight loss, muscle building, and body recomposition goals you desire and MAINTAIN them for the long term.Yes, I’m talking about working with a coach, especially one who understands nutrition.We are going to make the distinction between effective and not-so-effective coaching and why you might (or might NOT) actually need a coach for your particular situation.RELATED LINKSMacroFactor diet sidekick (use discount code WITSANDWEIGHTS)💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

How do you know when you’ve reached your goal?If you’re trying to lose 20 pounds, do you just instinctively change your eating behaviors and eventually magically arrive at your target weight? If you’re trying to build muscle, do you go to the gym without a program and randomly hit up different weights and machines, rep ranges, rest periods, and muscle groups?Chances are, when you’re committed to a goal, you come up with a plan and then measure progress along the way. Otherwise, how do you “close the loop” between desire and outcome?In this episode, we dive into 21 specific ways to measure progress toward your health and fitness goals, categorized into six areas: biometrics, biofeedback, nutrition, physical activity, behaviors, and self-awareness. We want to select the right measures for the job so we have clear, objective feedback that tells us whether we’re on track.With these tools at your disposal, and strategies to use them that I’ll talk about, you can crush any fitness goal with the certainty that you know how and when to adjust course. TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro03:09 - Biometrics11:32 - Biofeedback22:23 - Nutrition29:18 - Physical activity34:37 - Behaviors37:19 - Self-awarenessRELATED LINKSMacroFactor diet sidekick (use discount code WITSANDWEIGHTS)💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

In this episode, we’re talking about what to do with your carefully-honed, consistent, so-far-successful training and nutrition plans when you go on vacation!Summer’s here, and despite exorbitant gas prices and airfare, we can’t help but get away from it all, even for just a week or even a long weekend. Vacations are the perfect time to shut off those devices, relax with a drink in your hand, and enjoy that well-deserved leisure.But that raises the question, should I continue my current health and fitness behaviors when I’m off jetting about in faraway lands (or even a road trip to the next state over)? If so, to what extent?What do I do on vacation?!TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro04:13 - Establishing a routine and planning ahead05:25 - Nutrition while on vacation09:09 - Tracking macros while on vacation15:28 - Activity and training while on vacation19:32 - What I did on my recent vacationRELATED LINKSMacroFactor diet sidekick (use discount code WITSANDWEIGHTS)💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

Today we have another special interview guest!Ken Caputo is a lifelong athlete who eventually found his way to strength training in his late 30s—something he and I have in common!From an early age, he competed in swimming, track, cross country, and even pole vaulting and spring board diving at the University of Connecticut, eventually becoming an expert in martial arts.I invited Ken on today because of his passion for lifting and nutrition, and how they can keep someone healthy physically, mentally, and emotionally, as well as recover from injury.RELATED LINKSKen Caputo at [email protected] Caputo's Linktree💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

Today’s topic may not seem exciting, but it could be the critical missing ingredient to your nutrition and recovery, whether everything else is dialed in or not.I’m talking about sleep: too little sleep, low quality sleep, irregular sleep, and poor sleep habits.Many people suffer from insomnia or a sleep disorder, and a lack of sleep can lead to terrible consequences like medical errors and car accidents. A lack of sleep can increase hunger, reduce your metabolism, impair memory, affect hormone balance, and even accelerate aging.Yet there is hope. In a paper published in 2019 by Vitale et al., called Sleep Hygiene for Optimizing Recovery in Athletes: Review and Recommendations, the authors reviewed the effects of sleep deprivation and extension on athletes to see how applying sleep hygiene methods could improve their performance.In this episode, I am shamelessly borrowing from their list of sleep hygiene recommendations. First, we talk about the tremendous benefits of improving your sleep, even just a little bit. Then, I review the list of 25 ways to improve sleep recommended by the authors, sharing some of my personal anecdotes and strategies along the way.Timestamps:00:00 - Intro01:56 - Benefits of sleep03:49 - Mindset (changing just one habit)06:02 - Top 10 ways to improve sleep hygiene13:41 - 15 more tips and tricks to improve sleepRELATED LINKSSleep Hygiene for Optimizing Recovery in Athletes: Review and Recommendations💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

I have the honor of hosting a very special guest, Tyla Serro, for the first ever interview on this podcast. Tyla is not only an engineering colleague of mine—we work for the same aerospace company—she finds time to train and compete as a raw powerlifter, placing second this March in the 2022 USPA Connecticut state championship in her weight class…and only missing first in a close tiebreaker against her training partner.I invited her on the show because I think her story is very relatable to those of us who are working professionals with busy lives, maybe a full-time job and a family, who still want to find a way to get “big, strong, jacked, swole, ripped, fit, tone, lean, healthy” whatever term you want to use. Tyla juggles work, family, and the challenges of life using a sustainable approach to training and nutrition, so I wanted to pick her brain on how she makes it all work.RELATED LINKSTyla Serro on Instagram @tylaserroRTL Powerlifting Training💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

Last year, I went under the knife for a microdiscectomy, a type of minimally invasive spine surgery where a portion of a herniated disc is removed using microsurgical tools.In this episode, I share my story of what happened, how I dealt with low back pain in the context of health and fitness, the surgery and recovery process, and lessons I learned along the way. I hope my story sheds light on some productive ways to think about pain and injury and even inspires you to consider multiple options when faced with a situation like this.Medical DisclaimerOne last thing. I am NOT a medical practitioner and am NOT dispensing medical advice in this podcast. Everything I say is my personal opinion and experience. Do NOT use this podcast as medical advice to treat any medical condition. Consult your own physician for any medical issues! Timestamps:00:00 - Intro06:18 - Different types of pain10:18 - Book recommendation for lifters dealing with pain12:10 - Things to try before considering surgery13:53 - My surgery process19:27 - Movement is the key to recovery20:51 - A surprise surgery two months later21:48 - One year after back surgeryRELATED LINKSBook about dealing with pain through screening and corrective movements:Rebuilding Milo: A Lifter's Guide to Fixing Common Injuries and Building a Strong Foundation for Enhancing Performance (by Dr. Aaron Horschig)Starting Strength article about "pin firing" for elbow tendinopathy:Elbow Tendonitis: How It Occurs and What to Do About It💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

Let’s say you’re a busy, working professional, perhaps in your 40’s with a family, a mortgage, and a high-stress job. But you want to improve your health through lifting and nutrition. That’s why you’re listening to this podcast!The last thing you want is a one-size-fits-all training program that has you lifting six days per week with 90-minute-long sessions. Something so out of whack with your current lifestyle is not exactly sustainable, and it’s a surefire way to bomb out within weeks if not days.On this podcast, we focus on maximizing your time, inside and outside the gym, for a sustainable, long-term approach you can stick to consistently. Results only come with steady application over time. That is the “first principle” of this whole deal, or else the rest is irrelevant.Therefore, you’ll probably want a training program that has you in the gym maybe 3 or 4 days a week (of course, if you can swing more and that makes sense for YOU, go for it) for maybe an hour, not counting commute time. Although we talked about the benefits of a home gym back in Episode 8, today I want to cover how to maximize your lifting sessions regardless of where you train so you can get the most out of your workout without it taking forever, while also producing the results you want.Timestamps:00:00 - Intro02:09 - Having a plan before you leave your house04:25 - Avoiding distractions and focusing on the work09:09 - Selecting programming that fits your schedule11:51 - Warmups: do you need them and how to do them19:16 - Supersets: a valuable time-saving approach for some movements21:52 - Rest periods: how long, avoiding distractions, and some hacks to save even more time💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

As a follow-up to the last episode on losing weight without losing muscle, I want to address the frustration many of us have experienced with either not being able to lose weight or hitting a plateau, usually in the form of scale weight no longer going down.This is a complex, nuanced topic that ultimately comes down to understanding the root cause behind being unable to lose weight and taking back control so YOU can do something that will nudge your fat loss back in the right direction.That’s not to say this is your “fault” but rather that, 99% of the time, we just need to identify the problem so we can apply the right solution, and YOU are empowered to uncover the problem with the right tools and information. That is the goal of this podcast!Every fat loss phase is just a bit different, even for an individual. You may sail through and shed the pounds with ease, or you may struggle with fits-and-starts, ravenous hunger, and the feeling that there’s just something else going on beyond calories in, calories out.However, at the end of the day, it really is about energy balance. The challenge is identifying which SIDE of that balance (diet vs. metabolism) and accounting for recent changes and other factors that could mess with this balance, often in subtle ways like a sneaky ninja trying to sabotage your hard-earned progress.Before I get into the list, a few caveats. First, these reasons aren’t always in a vacuum: you may be experiencing more than one at the same time, and some of these may be interrelated. Second, I want to reiterate this isn’t a blame game; while a weight-loss stall ultimately comes down to energy balance, it can indeed be challenging to identify the true root cause, which often stems from something out of your control. My intent is to empower you to take back control.Timestamps:00:00 - Intro02:42 - The 20 common mistakes that sabotage your fat loss goalsRELATED LINKS:MacroFactor app for food logging and calculating expenditure (use discount code "WITSANDWEIGHTS")💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

The last episode covered why gaining weight while training hard is an effective way to get lean by packing on muscle, increasing metabolism, and making it easier to lose fat later.Today we’re tackling the “losing fat” part of getting lean. If you haven’t listened to episode 12, go back and do that first. If you’re a newer lifter who is not extremely overweight, your best gains will come through hard strength training and eating at maintenance or in a slight surplus to improve your body composition. I recommend focusing on building muscle before you worry about losing fat.However, if you’re a late novice or intermediate lifter who has spent time in a building phase and is ready to “lean out” through a fat-loss phase, this episode is for you. After all, most of us want to maintain a healthy weight, and we can’t keep packing on muscle (along with some fat) forever. The body adapts, muscle-building slows down, and sometimes we need to “rev the engine” by taking a break, cutting some weight, and resetting ourselves for the next building phase.The challenge is losing weight at a reasonable pace while retaining as much of that hard-won muscle as possible through appropriate training and nutrition choices. Just as we want to maximize muscle size and growth while gaining weight, we want to minimize muscle loss and maximize fat loss while losing weight.Timestamps:00:00 - Intro02:39 - When to enter a weight-loss phase03:57 - How fast you should lose weight11:42 - Training and diet strategies to retain muscle17:29 - Metabolic adaptation and "diet breaks"21:58 - Biofeedback, especially as you get really lean23:35 - Recent and current fat-loss phasesRELATED LINKS:MacroFactor app for food logging and calculating expenditure (use discount code "WITSANDWEIGHTS")💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

It seems that everyone wants to get “lean” these days. There’s almost an obsession with six-pack abs, visual muscularity, and thinness if you’re to believe the legions of fitness influencers who appear ready for an instant photo shoot on any given day.I’ve got nothing against maintaining a healthy weight, and in fact this podcast is all about finding a sustainable way to get stronger, build muscle, and stay healthy. But if you were to ask yourself, “what exactly is my goal when it comes to body composition?,” most of us would answer that we want to be lean, as in lower our body fat percentage.The reasons why are many, from improved performance and cardiovascular health to just feeling and looking good, often measured by whether we can fit into our favorite pair of pants again.But it often leads to a cycle of aggressive dieting and gaining back the weight (and then some) in an attempt to “see our abs” rather than a steady, consistent approach that results in “leanness” without the extreme dieting, hunger, and disappointment at failing to reach this coveted goal.Today I want to talk about a refreshingly sustainable, enjoyable approach to getting lean by gaining weight! This episode is all about the benefits of using a nice, long building phase to develop muscle, increase your metabolism, and set yourself up for a much easier dieting phase later on. You’ll be able to perform better in the gym, eat more, and eventually reach your goal without (as much) suffering.Timestamps:00:00 - Intro02:47 - The right and wrong ways to get "lean"09:22 - Why gaining weight is the sustainable approach20:58 - Recent successful 15-week building phase39:11 - Listener Q&A: wearables, calories, and dieting💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

You decided to get stronger, improve your body composition, and become more healthy. You selected a simple but effective barbell-based strength training program and committed to consistent training. During your first year of lifting, there will be many new things to learn, habits to develop, and temptations to lead you off your chosen path.After going through the process myself and talking with hundreds of other lifters, I wanted to share some thoughts to help you keep making progress and avoid some common pitfalls that could derail you. When I started lifting seriously and intelligently a few years ago, it was thanks to those who came before me that I could avoid making some big mistakes while still figuring out what worked for me as an individual. I hope these ideas help you in your first year of lifting or really any time during your fitness journey!Timestamps:00:00 - Intro01:36 - Set yourself up to develop successful new habits04:13 - Objectively measure your progress05:55 - Avoid program hopping07:59 - Stop obsessing about getting "lean"10:06 - Start obsessing about form and technique11:14 - Get feedback through a coach or online group14:39 - Prepare for early gains, things getting hard, and not failing reps18:43 - Use biofeedback for health and avoiding injury22:06 - Learn as much as you can about lifting💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

Sometimes advice from the fitness industry can be overwhelming. There are so many ways to program your lifting, eat your food, and meet your goals that we often get lost in the small details.At the end of the day, it’s the BIG details, applied consistently, that contribute the most to your progress and result in sustainable habits of success in getting big and strong, losing or gaining weight, and sculpting a healthier version of you.In this episode, I wanted to take it to a higher level, so to speak, and go over 7 “big priorities” for strength and fitness that, if you can do these at least 80% of the time, will help you accomplish your goals.Timestamps:00:00 - Intro01:23 - Get moving!03:17 - Keep programming simple and fun04:54 - Get enough sleep (recovery)06:44 - Get enough protein (as part of hitting calories)10:53 - Make your own food for most meals13:21 - Track progress16:18 - Enjoy the PROCESS (the results will follow)💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

Today I share some helpful and sometimes counterintuitive things I’ve learned over the last year about fitness and nutrition that either changed my mind or were completely new to me.As a forty-something-year-old lifter who has only been training seriously and effectively for the last few years, I used to believe a lot of nonsense—ideas, myths, preconceptions, assumptions, whatever you want to call them—that often held me back from progress or, even worse, were counterproductive.Chances are that you’ve heard some of these too, and it’s quite possible you’ll be surprised by some of my thoughts in this episode—or perhaps not. At the very least, I hope you’ll learn something new that will help you continue to remain skeptical, ask questions, and become even more informed on your journey to greater strength, better health, and long-term consistency.Timestamps:00:00 - Intro01:35 - #1 More muscle means you can eat more04:09 - #2 Metabolism is determined by body composition05:55 - #3 Genetics are no excuse07:00 - #4 Calories are the LEAST important reason to exercise08:47 - #5 Walking has more benefits than you think12:17 - #6 Carbs are not the enemy (they are crucial for training)14:34 - #7 Losing weight is as "simple" as being in a caloric deficit15:51 - #8 There are multiple ways to make objective progress17:52 - #9 Being strong makes it easy to recover from injury or surgery19:14 - #10 We don't know everything yet but learn new insights every day!💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

One of our big goals on this podcast is sustainability and consistency, and the whole process of going to the gym is a huge barrier for many of us.The hassle of preparing your clothing, gym bag, nutrition, and then factoring in drive time, weather, convenience within our schedules, compounded by access to random equipment at the gym, sharing a rack or barbell with other members, and sometimes dealing with policies like “no deadlifting” are just some of the many reasons we find to just hit the snooze button and avoid our workouts altogether.That’s why building your own home gym can be a huge factor in developing good habits and consistency with your workout routine. It saves a ton of time, you can choose exactly the equipment you need, you can control the entire experience, and you can be more flexible with your training schedule. It’s a simple but highly effective step you can take to eliminate excuses and keep making progress.In today’s episode, we cover:The pros and cons of a home gymWhere in your home and how much space you need for your home gymWhat type of flooring to useBasic equipment to get started for the main liftsExtra equipment for accessory and bodybuilding movementsNice to have equipment to cover almost everything elseTimestamps:00:00 - Intro02:14 - Pros and cons of a home gym08:46 - Location and space requirements15:15 - Flooring17:49 - Basic (must have) home gym equipment31:35 - Extra home gym equipment40:35 - Ultimate gym equipment44:34 - Final thoughtsRELATED LINKS:Fitness Reality Power Rack (Amazon)Vertical Leg Press (Titan Fitness)💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

I had the pleasure of being on another podcast a few months ago called Finding Your Strength Radio Powered by Romeo Athletics, where I was interviewed by Andrew Romeo. He’s an excellent host, experienced coach, and the owner of my long-time gym, Romeo Athletics.He asked me a ton of great questions about my journey to fitness, how I got into lifting and strength training, different movements and programming, my recent bulk and cut, body recomposition, sustainable nutrition, and other random topics like metabolism, walking, and even the similarities between music and lifting.I think the conversation has some interesting and valuable information for those of you looking to transform your life in terms of strength, diet, and overall fitness.It was a fun interview, and if you want to learn more about Andrew’s podcast, Finding Your Strength Radio, I’ve linked to it below, and I encourage you to check it out and subscribe.Enjoy the conversation!RELATED LINKSFinding Your Strength Radio podcast (Romeo Athletics)💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

Today we wrap up our foundational series by diving into some practical strategies, tools, and life hacks to set your fitness and nutrition habits on autopilot.If you’re at all familiar with the autopilot in an airplane—and as a side note, I used to fly small planes years ago and still work as an engineer in the aerospace industry—you know it’s a tool to eliminate constant manual intervention by the pilot.In a similar way, we want to find ways to create consistency with our lifting and eating by using systems and tools to eliminate manual steps, barriers, and—frankly, excuses—that prevent us from taking action and developing solid habits.Given that you have enough to think about between your profession, your family, and the million other things you enjoy, why not put in place some “life hacks” so you can just get to it and make progress! A word of warning—none of this relieves you of discipline and hard work—but a little preparation when you’re more motivated will set you up for long-term success, even when you’re not.In today’s episode, we cover:Establishing a plan for your lifting ritualLocking in your programming calendar to make consistent progressRemoving the most common barriers that prevent you from going to the gym or working outEstablishing a plan for your diet and weight phases, andPlanning ahead for consistent meals and successful nutrition progressTimestamps:00:00 - Intro02:40 - Planning your lifting (gym, training program, lifting schedule/time)06:47 - Planning your programming schedule (next cycle, next week, next day)11:12 - Eliminating excuses by preparing your "go bag" and equipment14:14 - Preparing your workout nutrition15:58 - Planning ahead for your weight change goal18:57 - Meal planning23:31 - Using technology to your advantage26:42 - Bonus accountability tipRELATED LINKSMacroFactor app for food logging and calculating expenditure (use code "WITSANDWEIGHTS" to extend free trial to 14 days)💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

Today is the DIET and NUTRITION episode, one of my favorite topics. Although this IS a podcast focused on lifting and getting strong, what you eat—and more importantly, HOW MUCH you eat—plays a huge role in your ability to lose fat (while preserving muscle) or gain muscle (while limiting fat gain).You can’t have one without the other—and I’m going to assume you’re here because you want to get stronger AND leaner, and you want to do it productively without spinning your wheels.I’m very passionate about taking a SUSTAINABLE approach to diet because, like many of you, I’ve personally experienced yo-yo dieting, fad diets, and all sorts of crazy food restrictions and questionable supplements over the years. Only in the last two years or so did I finally make peace with the nutrition gods and realize that proper nutrition is not nearly as complicated or restrictive as I once thought.Today we’re going on a journey together that will equip you with the tools you need to eat a balanced, enjoyable diet for the rest of your life.In today’s episode, we cover:The spectrum of dieting and why traditional diets don’t work over the long-termA balanced, flexible, and sustainable approach that won’t drive you crazyFocusing on what’s important and not sweating the restAn overview of calories and macronutrients, and the phases of weight changeDetermining your individual energy needs for your goal and then adjusting for successThe phases of weight change and how they align with your goals as a lifterAnd finally, a brief foray regarding some specific foods and supplementsTimestamps:00:31 - The importance of sustainability in diet and nutrition02:37 - So many diets...which one to "choose"?06:49 - A more balanced and flexible approach09:29 - Focus on the "big things" to achieve results-----10:02 - #1: Calories (energy balance)23:08 - #2: Macronutrients ("macros")38:20 - #3: Macro targets to meet YOUR goal47:45 - #4: How to ADJUST and keep making progress-----51:01 - Some helpful tips!53:39 - Food ideas58:16 - Supplements (whey protein and creatine)1:01:29 - Recap and next episodeRELATED LINKSMacroFactor app for food logging and calculating expenditure (use code "WITSANDWEIGHTS" to extend free trial to 14 days)💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

Today we’re focusing on the “calories out” side of energy balance with a discussion of metabolism, as well as whether and how we can manipulate this “calories out” side of the equation.We will not discuss diet or nutrition, which is the “calories in” side of the equation. Stay tuned for the next episode. In the meantime, understanding metabolism and especially how to accurately calculate your own energy expenditure sets the foundation for a sustainable approach to diet later on.In today’s episode, we cover:What is metabolism in the context of your total daily energy expenditure?How to estimate your expenditure, which will be useful later for weight managementWhether it’s possible change your baseline metabolism, both short- and long-termThe truth about cardio and its effect on metabolism and fat lossA more efficient, sustainable way to burn fatTimestamps:00:31 - Energy balance and metabolism05:35 - Does more activity really burn more calories?08:44 - Measuring your daily expenditure16:59 - A surprising way to CHANGE your metabolism21:07 - The truth about lots of cardio24:03 - The optimal way to burn fat25:12 - New segment! "The Internet Gets It Wrong Again"27:25 - Recap and upcoming episodesRELATED LINKSBurn: New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy by Herman Pontzer, PhDMacroFactor app for food logging and calculating expenditure (use code "WITSANDWEIGHTS" to extend free trial to 14 days)💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

Today’s episode is all about the “S” word—STRENGTH. What is it, why is it important, and how to get it.If you’re listening to this podcast, it’s a safe bet that you have some sort of fitness related goal. You want to improve yourself physically in some way: build muscle, burn fat, get lean, get strong, improve athletic performance, look good in a bathing suit, or even improve mobility, flexibility, or balance.What if there is one attribute above all others that permeates each of these attributes of fitness—that if you just focus on this attribute for a while as your top priority, it will translate to improvements in all those other attributes?Well you’re in luck, and if I haven’t made it painfully obvious by the title and intro of this episode, that one fitness attribute is…strength!In today’s episode, we cover:What do we mean by strength?Why is strength the most important fitness attribute?Assuming strength is so important, how do you get it?Timestamps:00:31 - It's all about strength01:41 - What is strength?02:53 - Why is strength relevant?06:48 - How do you build strength?08:04 - Resistance training13:47 - Eating enough food15:36 - Getting enough protein16:58 - Stress, recovery, adaptation model18:11 - Bonus tip: physique and aesthetics18:44 - Recap and sneak preview of upcoming episodesRELATED LINKSStarting Strength: Basic Barbell TrainingThe Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40The Fitness Wiki💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

This is the episode where we lay out our fitness philosophy and give you steps to take action right away.Strength training is by far the most effective way to increase muscle mass, boost your metabolism, and improve your health in more ways than you can imagine, from mobility, balance, and flexibility to reduced risk of metabolic disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and injury. It also tests you physically and mentally because it’s hard—one of the best reasons for doing it!Today is about getting you moving on a training program right away.We will definitely cover some basic principles of strength training and muscle building, but we’ll save a deep dive into all things strength-related for the next episode, where we’ll examine in great detail WHY strength and resistance training are so important.But today is all about ACTION. Getting you moving and lifting right away. No excuses.Timestamps:00:31 - The effectiveness of strength training02:05 - Understanding the lingo (defining terms)06:56 - Why follow a training program (vs. random exercise)?07:56 - Requirements for an effective strength training program10:40 - The best type of exercise and equipment for strength13:36 - What if I don't have access to a barbell or power rack?16:13 - The importance of the "Big 4" compound lifts18:05 - Proper form and technique21:15 - Choosing the right program33:07 - Your plan of action to START TODAY35:46 - Recap and preview of upcoming episodesRELATED LINKSStarting Strength: Basic Barbell TrainingGreg Nuckols - 28 Free ProgramsAndy Morgan - The Big 3 RoutineBarbell Logic "Gym Shorts" YouTube playlistThe Fitness WikiMyoTape Body Measure Tape💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

Welcome to the very first episode of Wits and Weights: Strength Training for Skeptics.If you’re a skeptical, critically-minded person like me, you’ve probably gotten tired of what the modern-day so-called fitness industry has to offer, and you just want to know what actually works.Not only that, you’re probably a busy, working professional with a full-time job or perhaps you own your own business or run several side hustles, so time is at a premium. Can you actually build a stronger, healthier body and maintain a sustainable, active lifestyle?The answer is an emphatic YES.Plenty of everyday folks have figured out what works in terms of exercise, nutrition, habits, mindset, and lifestyle, but there is so much information out there—even from highly respectable sources—that it can be overwhelming to distill it down to a single, focused plan that works for you.That’s why I created this podcast.On this very first episode, learn about my background, the importance of strength, and what you can expect in future episodes.Timestamps:00:32 - Intro02:38 - From sedentary desk jockey to strong and capable07:04 - Why is strength so important?08:18 - What you'll learn on this podcast10:37 - Unique segments and listener Q&A11:47 - Before you goRELATED LINKSFinding Your Strength Radio podcast (Romeo Athletics)💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

You've cut calories, added cardio, and followed the rules. Your body adapted and pushed back. The problem was never your discipline. It was the advice.Wits & Weights is a top 1% strength and nutrition podcast for people over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and get stronger using evidence, not fads.Every episode puts a popular piece of fitness advice under the microscope, finds the hidden reason it fails, and gives you the deceptively simple fix that does.Host and certified nutrition coach Philip Pape brings an engineering background to metabolism, body composition, hormone health, and training that fits your life.Over 500 episodes, 1 million downloads, and Top 100 on Apple Nutrition.Start with 3 of our most popular episodes:Metabolism 101 (The Science Behind Fat Loss and Muscle Building) | Ep 4214 Ways to Increase Your Metabolism by 500 to 1000 Calories per Day | Ep 23612 Rules of Training Volume to Build More Muscle | Ep 348💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week.📱 Get Fitness Lab (exclusive 20% off) - The #1 adaptive fitness and nutrition app. Daily coaching, workouts, and biofeedback-based guidance to help you build muscle and lose fat over 40.👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram