3D Muscle Journey

Eric, Alberto, and Brad discuss the things they feel every powerlifter who wants to be successful needs to understand. The coaches talk about how beneficial being intentional with your nutrition can be and a few simple nutritional strategies they recommend. Other topics discussed include, the best way to make weight for a meet, the coaches’ thoughts on cutting to make a weight class early in your powerlifting career, and the ideal situation to be in from a nutritional perspective as you’re getting close to meet day.

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Timestamps

0:00- Introduction

8:20- There is a cost to cutting down to make a weight class early in your powerlifting career

20:44- What the coaches have observed with their performance in the gym and recovery as they’ve gotten older

29:28- Some of the first nutritional changes Alberto has his powerlifters make

44:54- Develop structure for how you eat throughout the day

48:51- Making weight

1:00:50- The benefits of having good nutritional habits year-round versus only when you’re cutting for a meet

1:11:27- Key performance indicators

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Andrea, Brian, and Jeff conduct an audience-supplied Q and A session. Topics include maximizing muscle growth, how to track volume, what you can do if you’re afraid of gaining body fat after your competitive season, and a lot more.

Timestamps

0:00- Introduction

2:24- How to grow maximally versus slowly and how to tell the difference

13:07- How to balance lifting with other forms of physical activity like running, cycling, basketball, etc.

21:48- If you aren’t working with a coach, how can you know if you’re lean enough to stop dieting and ready to step onstage 35:35- How should you count volume from compound exercises? How should you count volume from myo-rep sets? Does one set of myo-reps equal one traditional set?

42:55- Why your weekly volume, in terms of sets per week, might actually go *down* over your career

51:26- Andrea and the coaches’ advice on what you can do if you’re afraid of gaining body fat after you finish your competitive season

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Team 3DMJ’s Instagram Account- @team3dmj

In this eye-opening episode, Eric and Steve do a deep dive on the risks of testing new supplements, how you can help ensure the supplements you take are high-quality, and the supplements they use and recommend. Along with discussing the effectiveness of various supplements, the coaches go through the research showing just how common supplement contamination really is.

Timestamps

0:00- Introduction
1:00- Steve’s training on the use and role of supplements in our diet
6:57- What’s the harm of testing supplements?
16:49- How supplements are or aren’t regulated
19:57- Third-party-tested supplements
27:26- Does the supplement improve the specific outcome you care about
36:31- What are licensed ingredients?
39:30- The supplements Eric and Steve take and recommend
45:22- Mercury poisoning
48:42- BCAAs
54:55- Supplements are marketed as more important than they really are
1:01:59- Protein spiking

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Brad, Alberto, and Jeff discuss the weird and sometimes scary things that happen when we push our bodies to the extreme. The coaches share crazy things they have seen and had happen to them during prep.

Timestamps

0:00- Introduction
2:30- What happened when Jeff was vitamin K deficient during one of his preps
19:55- A time when Jeff’s dedication and discipline were too extreme
28:43- You can do everything right and still have issues
36:26- Brad’s fears around prepping this year after not having prepped for 10 years
46:02- Why Brad and Alberto want to prep this year
57:51- Final thoughts

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Brian, Jeff, and Brad discuss how to be compliant with your plan so you can achieve your goals.

Timestamps

0:00- Introduction
1:53- How to navigate food prepared by family when prepping
8:46- The importance of a good setup
20:41- Have the coaches ever been perfectly compliant with their plan for an entire prep?
38:59- Things the coaches have seen that can lead to underreporting
43:46- Working with someone who is serious, but not that serious
52:46- Working with athletes who are overzealous
1:03:18- Lowering volume
1:06:32- Working with athletes who want to compete, but are afraid to because conditions aren’t perfect

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