The Lifters League Podcast: Recent Episodes
Gus Cooke
The Lifters League Podcast dives deep into the world of strength and muscle with our hosts Gus Cooke and Ruby Cooke.
p>In this deep-dive episode, we explore the seemingly paradoxical challenge faced by many powerlifters - achieving significant weight loss while simultaneously increasing their strength. Our primary case study is Sarah, an elite lifter who successfully shed an impressive 20 kilos without sacrificing her performance.We kick off the discussion by examining the shifting landscape of powerlifting, where dietary strategies are becoming increasingly paramount. We delve into various methods of weight cutting without compromising strength, focusing on the crucial role of diet, macronutrient distribution, meal timing, and strategic planning.
Through Sarah’s firsthand account, we uncover the intricate dynamics of managing energy and strength during periods of calorie deficiency. We also shed light on the significance of the rate of loss over time, and the importance of well-structured refeed periods, arguing that properly strategized dieting throughout training can yield optimal results.
In this enlightening episode, we debunk common misconceptions about dietary planning and reveal its inextricable ties to training programs. Discover how periodizing refeeds, especially in close proximity to competitions, can help maintain optimal weight without diminishing the effects of refeeding.
Moving beyond powerlifting, we also challenge and debunk common health myths that often raise undue concerns for athletes, such as fears of kidney damage due to high protein intake and creatine. We underscore the distinct health requirements of athletes and the importance of considering their broader health-promoting benefits before reacting to certain elevated levels.
We round off the discussion by differentiating between the clinical and athletic populations in terms of health management and compliance, emphasizing the need for a holistic and natural approach to healthcare. So join our enlightening discussion and learn how to optimize your dieting strategy for your powerlifting journey!
Learn how Sarah and I got a 775kg, what we learnt and the strategies we used.
We cover:
✅ why we didn’t get 775kg at ProRaw
✅ how we revised strategy
✅ how we developed a possible new strategy
✅ mindset
✅ comp day nutrition strategies
✅ how to put 5 bagels in your diet
Join us on a captivating Live Instagram Chat with the phenomenal Sarah Rainbow as she shares her journey to becoming the number one powerlifter in Australia and unveils her ambitious strategy to clinch the title of number one in the world at her upcoming competition.
In this exclusive session, we dive deep into: ✅ Sarah's beginnings in powerlifting—discover the spark that ignited her passion. 💪 The hurdles along the way—learn about the challenges she faced and how they sculpted her into the champion she is today. 🔴 Overcoming the odds—gain insights into Sarah's resilience and the strategies she employed to overcome obstacles. 🤔 The coach's perspective—get a behind-the-scenes look at the coaching philosophies and approaches that have supported Sarah's ascent to the top. 📈 Roadmap to the top—explore the meticulous strategies and preparations underway to secure the world number one spot. 🙋♂️ Interactive Q&A session—seize the opportunity to ask Sarah and her coaching team your burning questions and get personalized advice.
Don't miss out on this inspirational story of determination, strategy, and success. Whether you're a budding athlete, a seasoned competitor, or simply a fan of extraordinary achievements, this chat promises to motivate, educate, and inspire. Tune in, be inspired, and perhaps start your journey towards your own number one.
PED Harm Reduction & Health Management with Victoria Felkar, Scott McNally, Gus Cooke & Tim Piatkowski.
In this riveting episode, we delve deep into the complex world of Performance-Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) with a panel of experts who bring a wealth of knowledge from academia, coaching, and the fitness industry. Our conversation spans the micro to the macro—exploring individual choices, societal influences, and the political landscape that impacts PED use and harm reduction.
Meet Our Esteemed Guests:
Victoria Felkar: An internationally renowned scholar and Lecturer at the University of British Columbia, Victoria specialises in the critical study of social ethics, hormonal manipulation, and performance-enhancing technologies. She also owns a successful independent consulting firm, advocating for education in the fitness industry.
Scott McNally: The creative force behind Think BIG Bodybuilding Media, Scott McNally brings a practical understanding of PEDs in the bodybuilding world. With over 1000 fitness-related podcasts under his belt, Scott is a seasoned coach who trains elite bodybuilders and educates the public on responsible PED use.
Tim Piatkowski: An academic in the higher education space, Tim focuses his research on harm reduction and applied psychology. Passionate about translating research into real-world impacts and policy change, he is currently working to reduce harm for those using PEDs and other illicit substances.
Gus Cooke (Host): A powerlifting coach with a strong scientific background, Gus Cooke is on the front lines, working with athletes in strength sports. In this episode, he shares his own ethical dilemmas and seeks to explore what the role of a coach should be in the context of PED use.
Key Topics Covered:
- Individual actions for PED harm reduction
- Societal and cultural influences on PED use
- Political factors shaping access to health services
- Mitigating risks associated with non-medical pharmaceutical steroid use
- The role of coaches and the fitness industry in promoting safe PED use
Join us for an enlightening discussion that aims to shed light on the often murky waters of PED use, offering actionable insights for athletes, coaches, and policymakers alike.
The second episode of a new series, 'Rants with Gus & Sam'. Since we are both preparing athletes for ProRaw (an international invite-only powerlifting competition), we decided to talk about our methods behind the stages of competition preparation for a powerlifting meet. Warning this comes with many tangents that explore the depths further into programming.
Hopefully the first of many series with myself and Sam Thomasson. Two coaches having a great conversation talking shop.
Hosted by Ruby Cooke, Lifters League resident Nutritionist, today had Coach Emily Stemm onto the show to discuss the importance of inner-work. How our understanding of self can better the long-term outcome of both lifestyle and performance goals.
We had guest speaker Hayley Forrest, who we have had on the show before on metabolic super-compensation. The main topic of the day is protein intake. Do we consume too much protein... the short answer is, yes. Plus plenty of other rants on food culture.
This episode is about how you should approach training and nutrition whilst travelling. We share our adventures travelling around the world and talk about what we do. Lifters League is an online coaching service for anyone wanting to get stronger, build muscle and get leaner. We incorporated strength and conditioning and sports nutrition to create a more science based approach to attaining your goals. Visit our website www.liftersleague.com You can also follow me http://instagram.com/liftersleague/
In this episode is speak to Tim Piatkowski, a researcher in harm reduction for Image and Performance Enhancing Drugs. We discuss the social cultural influences and the pressure it puts on both men and women to enhance image and performance. We look at the current strategies in place to educate and reduce harm through peer-to-peer and support programs and we discuss how Tim's research will help bolster the resources into these programs.
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
Here is my personal experience with starting my coaching business and how I have help PTs and coaches make that start themselves into coaching. If you need help with business you should seek a business advisor or you can reach out to me and I can see how I can help you. Email me gus@liftersleague.com.au
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/ You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
Recovery Management is critical for both understand and maximising the effects of your training program. Without proper recovery management we will lose the capacity to adapt to our training. People say is training and nutrition but without recovery it doesn't matter how well you train or eat.
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/ You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
I had a complete pec detachment and decided to use the research peptide BPC-157 to help with recovery.
RPE, RIR, Descriptors, Velocity, Percentage. All methods to regulate training load and I explain how the work and how you get program them more effectively.
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers.
You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
Podiatrist Stephan McMurray on Foot Mechanics for powerlifting. After my talk on the Converse shoe episode he was able to clear a lot more up and elaborate. Controversy, we discuss if the whole barefoot world has taken too far and that there is a happy balance between regular shoes and bare feet.
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
Rant on sleep to recover and increase performance.
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
How long should you rest between sets? Is it even important?
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
The famous powerlifting shoe and does it hold up to we want from a shoe for lifting performance.
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
Arousal in sport psychology is a spectrum from laid back to hysterical and somewhere in the middle is ideal for performance. This usually means you need some hype or your need to calm down. This can be as find tuned as when you take a breath, what music you play, how you apply chalk, how long you take to get ready. I have observed up to a 20% increase in performance from one set to another simply either changing a routine to increase hype, visualise before lifting to reduce overthinking or breathing to calm down to reduce anxiety.
This matters for strength development as this increase in velocity will maximise force production and creating a better adaptive stimulus. You can’t just lift, you must lift with intent.
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
In this episode, I speak with Christian Thibaudeau about neurotying, specifically how an athlete's neurotype can determine the best powerlifting prep and how they peak for a competition. We also just talk a lot of shop on powerlifting training, programming, exercise selection and much more.
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
From Renaissance Periodisation we had Dr. Derek Wilcox on the show. We discuss powerlifting research, equipped powerlifting, the finding comparing Russian to American Methodology, programming, peaking for powerlifting meets and much more.
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
We talked about a lot of things but the main topic was the prep of a prep which essentially means doing a prep phase so you are able to prep better/healthier for a comp prep. I've talked about this for years, you have to train an athlete to capable of doing a prep as the prep is a huge stress and with stress comes issues. This stress unavoidable so how to we prepare for that.
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
What an eye-opening episode. We talked to Sports Dietitian Hayley Forrest about super-compensation with dieting to manipulate the various metabolic processes to gain a performance advantage.
This challenged everything I’ve done with my athletes since... forever. But the beauty of science that it doesn’t care about your biases, when new information presents itself you adjust or change your views to align with the facts.
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
Follow me @guscooke_liftersleague
Follow Lifters League @liftersleague
Follow Hayley @hayleydynamicbodylabs
Visit www.liftersleague.com.au
Visit www.dynamicbodylabs.com.au
I this episode we had Zenia Wood from Swift Movement Academy and we talk about Injury Management over Injury Prevention plus plenty of other rambles.
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
We talk to Coach Will Crozier and Nutrition Coach Mikki Wescombe from Nexus Performance. These guys are one of Australia's leading experts in the field of strength training and powerlifting. We just have a great coaches chat about Powerlifting, programming, athletic development, psychology, nutrition and drugs.
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
You can also follow me http://instagram.com/guscooke_liftersleague/
In this special episode, we have the Head Coach of Kabuki strength Brandon Senn and Strength Coach Kyle Young. We start the conversation with a heap of programming talk from Long Term Development, RPE, Velocity, super-compensation. We also talk about foot function, personality profiling, and the controversial vertical shin conspiracy.
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
Follow the Head Coach @guscooke_liftersleague
Follow our Podcast @liftersleague_podcast
Follow my team @liftersleague
Follow Kabuki @kabukistrength
Episode 5 of the Lifters League Podcast with Coach Fuzzy. Fuzzy is a strength/powerlifting coach, gym owner of Fuzzys power gym, and a competitive powerlifter. We discuss the implication social media has had on powerlifting, how it's affecting your training, competition preparation, and neuro-chemistry. We then segway into gym ownership for coaches and provide advice on those wanting to take that path especially if you're a strength coach.
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
Follow the Head Coach @guscooke_liftersleague
Follow our Podcast @liftersleague_podcast
Follow my team @liftersleague
Follow Fuzzy @fearthefuzzys
His Gym @fuzzyspowergym
His Equipment @fuzzysironworks
In today’s episode of the Lifters League podcast we had one of the most sought after rehab spine specialist Dr. Andrew Lock. We talk about everything about his new method to spine rehab, dive into neurochemistry, hip anatomy in the deadlift, his new approach to core activation the involves the glutes and hips and his new education business for personal trainers @united_health_education
Lifters League is an online professional service for coaching people in strength training and coaching development for passionate strength coaches and personal trainers. You can message us on our website http://www.liftersleague.com.au/
Host: @guscooke_liftersleague
Podcast Page: @liftersleague_podcast
Main Page: @liftersleague
Guest: @andrew_lock_strength
Sarah Rainbow is one of the best powerlifters in the country and world. In 2018 she beatAustralia’s longest standing records held but the G.O.A.T Bev Francis taking her bench press record of 150kg with a massive 157.5kg. This also won her ProRawX which is one of the biggest powerlifting meets in the world.
You can also watch this on our YouTube Channel - Lifters League
Follow me the Head Coach @muscle_nerd_ and @liftersleague on instagram
I talked to Jay Kelly on our show, he is the High-Performance Liaison Officer of GymAware. The innovators of the technology behind Velocity Based Training. We talk everything powerlifting related to velocity-based training and see what are other applications to sporting teams around the world.
You can download your free Force Velocity Profile from our blog at my website https://www.liftersleague.com.au/?p=7998
Here we also provide a discount for your own device and a case study.
Follow my instagram @muscle_nerd_ @liftersleague
Detailed show notes will be live at http://www.musclenerd.com.au/sleep-hacking/ covering:
- Signs and Symptoms of Sleep Deprivation and Sleep Apnea
- Tips for Sleep Hygiene
- Tips to treat apnea
- Tips to increase sleep performance
For the next 2 episodes we will talk about sleep . In this episode we we will talk about the risk of not sleeping, benefits to sleep, performance benefits and lots of interesting facts.
in todays episode we have a special guest, Victoria Felkar. She is world leading researcher in womens’s health and female hormone manipulation within sport and medicine. She is a practitioner, consultant, author and educator. She has spoken all over the world including the great SWIS symposium in Canada. She has worked with some of the most elite athletes from the olympics through to the Olympia
Today we are going to speak about female using performance enhancing drugs or more specifically anabolic steroids, Now I’m not for or against the use of steroids but like any other drug I believe in risk management, health optimisation and education, its the only way we are going to combat stupidity of misinformantion. Steroids are going to be used in this industry weather we like it or not but I hope from this podcast we can get women and men to critically think about their decision to use performance enhancements drugs
What all this hysteria about reverse diet. Here is our philosphy and science based approach to "reverse diet"
Episode to of the Coaching series. This series started from requests to understand programming but we believe to truely understand programming your have to understand the whole system. We provide an Athlete Management Service that with every episode we will cover our system for Coaching.
Todays episode is on goal setting and it entire complexity. This is a big topic and try to cover as much as we can in the 1 hour long episode.
We love coffee. Coffee is the nectar of he gods. It can make a bad day a good day and a good day a great day. Here is a little coffee science to brighten our morning and justify our absive of psychactive drugs.
If your a professional, physiotheripest, chiropractor, remedial theripist, strength coach who treats lifters with pain or injuries then this is for you. Today we have guest Andrew Lock giving advice for professionals who treat lifters.
Show Notes:
- SWIS Symposim - 26, 27, 28 October 2018 - Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Details here https://www.swis2018.com
- If you want to get in touch with Andrew Lock you can contract him through his facebook page Functional Strength Rehabilitation, email sportspinephysio@hotmail.com, contact number 0451785625. If your in Brisbane you will need to contact Lifters League, info@liftersleague.com.au (07)32520673
Topic of the day is attempt selection. Attempt selection makes or breaks athletes in competition. Plus we have special guest Sarah Rainbow, Pip Brown, Kit and Leoni Smith recapping ProRawX
Shoulder Pain and Bench Press with world renouned genius physiolothepist Dr. Lock. We talk about shoulder pain, shoulder rehab and prehab for bench press. We also recap ProRaw and talk about some big benchers.
The Muscle Nerd Podcast - Powerlifting, Strength & Conditioning and Sports Nutrition Science. Our first episode of The Muscle Nerd Podcast with the Lifters League ProRawX Team of Queensland, Australia including Sarah Rainbow, All Time World Record Holder, second strongest female in Australia, Biggest Female Bench, 13th biggest deadlift in the World (raw and equipped) and 14th in the 300lbs hall of fame.
We also have with us Leoni Smith, Strength Coach. Pip Brown, ProRawX Athlete and the Host, Head Powerlifting Coach of Lifters League.
Today we talk about how we programmed and prepped our proraw competitors and we cover programming methods for elite powerlifters.