PODCAST · health
The Strength Log
by Daniel Richter & Philip Wildenstam
Learn about strength training, muscle growth, fitness, and health from The Strength Log podcast. Your hosts, Daniel Richter and Philip Wildenstam, are two Swedes who have spent decades lifting weights and an unreasonable amount of time reading studies about lifting weights.We break down the science, answer listener questions, and help you get bigger and stronger without making this whole gym thing more complicated than it already is.To support the show, download the StrengthLog workout tracker for free from Apple's App Store or Google Play.
Episodes
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Five Sets Once a Week vs. One Set Five Times a Week
Does it matter how you spread your training across the week? Two episodes ago, we looked at a study comparing the same training volume spread over one or three weekly workouts. Now we're back with another study on training frequency, this time comparing five sets of leg presses once a week with…
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Are You Sleeping on Muscle Growth?
How much muscle growth are you missing out on by not getting enough sleep? In today's episode, we discuss a new scientific review exploring how sleep affects your hormones, muscle protein synthesis, recovery, and ability to train hard. The evidence suggests that poor sleep makes it harder to…
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Same Sets, More Workouts, Better Gains?
If you're doing nine sets for a muscle every week, does it matter whether you cram them into one workout or spread them across three? In today's episode, we discuss a new study that tested exactly that in experienced lifters. Both groups performed the same exercises and the same number of weekly...
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How Much Should You Eat on a Bulk?
Can intermittent fasting help you build muscle without gaining too much fat? In today's episode, we review a new 12-week study comparing lifters who bulked with an eight-hour eating window to lifters who could eat whenever they wanted. But the most interesting result might have very little to do...
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Big Pecs, Big Bench?
If you add muscle mass to your pecs, will that mean you'll also be able to lift more weight in the bench press? In today's episode, we look at a new study of Paralympic bench pressers that measured their pecs, triceps, and arm length, and then compared these variables with their performance at…
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Do Muscles Compete for Growth?
If you train your legs hard, could they steal gains from your upper body? In today's episode, we discuss a new study that put the idea of muscles competing for growth to the test by having one group train only their biceps and another train both their biceps and quads. Did adding all that leg...
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How Many Calories Does It Take to Build a Kilogram of Muscle?
How many calories does your body actually need to build muscle? In today's episode, we discuss a new paper that attempts to calculate the energy cost of building a kilogram of muscle, from the energy stored in the new tissue to the surprisingly high cost of actually constructing it. We also talk...
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Should You Ditch Squats and Deadlifts after 50?
Are squats and deadlifts bad exercise choices once you've turned 50, and would it be better to replace them with similar but easier lifts? In today's mailbag episode, we discuss whether your exercise selection really needs to change as you get older, and what actually matters when choosing...
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The Muscle Growth Paradox
Let's dive into a fascinating new study on one of strength training's biggest questions: how much of your early strength gains come from bigger muscles, and how much comes from your nervous system (muscular adaptations)? The results are surprising and have important implications, whether your…
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10 Gym Debates We Can't Settle
In today's episode, we debate ten strength and fitness-related topics that science can't settle for us! How important are deloads really? Does exercise order matter a lot or a little? And will compound lifts really give you the best bang for your buck? See the timestamps below for all topics. And...
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The Science of Injury Prevention
No matter if you're an active athlete or you just enjoy living an active life, injuries are something you want to stay clear of. But are injuries a given part of both training and life, or can you train in a way that greatly reduces your injury risk? In today's episode, we discuss a new research...
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How Much Weaker Are You When Fasting?
How does fasting affect your workouts? Do you still have the same strength, power, and endurance as when you are well-fed and hydrated? That's what a new study sought to investigate, which we're discussing today! *** Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your…
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Strength Training for Running
Runners who strength train become muscle-bound and slow. Or, at least that is what many still seem to believe. But research into strength training for long-distance runners actually paints a very different picture. In today's episode, we talk about why basically every runner with even an iota of...
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Why Do People Hate Deadlifting?
Another week, another summer mailbag! And we have six great questions for you today, including ones about deadlifts, injury rehab, and sleep quality. See the timestamps below. Timestamps: 03:30 - Question 1: Why does everyone (meaning Philip) hate the deadlift? 12:15 - Question 2: Benefits and...
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If Building Muscle Is Easy, Why Is Everyone Stuck?
Summer mailbag time, and you guys and gals sent us a bunch of great questions once again! The first one deals with the hidden gap between fitness science and real life: If research shows that building muscle is easy, why isn't every person you see at the gym jacked? We spent a good deal of time…
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The Road to Your First Pull-Up
Getting your first pull-up or chin-up is a major milestone for most people who train. But how do you go about it effectively and quickly? In today's episode, we present a plan that's been proven to work time and time again, no matter if you're a woman or a man, light or heavy. We break down the...
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Vacation Training: How Little Can You Get Away With?
Summer vacation is coming up, and we gym rats start wondering how little strength training we can get away with without losing muscle mass and strength. And what if we skip training altogether? In this episode, we cover everything you need to know about scaling back your training when traveling…
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Can Strength Training Help Overweight Kids?
Strength training is among the best things you can do to improve your health, and that goes for both adults and children. But what kind of effects does strength training have on children who are overweight or obese? In today's episode, we're discussing a new study review looking into exactly this…
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Is the Mind-Muscle Connection Real?
If you focus on feeling your muscles work while lifting, can you increase their activity and grow them faster? In bodybuilding, this concept is known as the mind-muscle connection. But is it real, and – even if it is – should you care? The mind-muscle connection is the topic of today's episode…
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Pros & Cons of Starting Strength
Starting Strength is probably the most famous strength training program in the world, and a huge reason that barbell lifting took off 15-20 years ago. But is it really a good program for beginners in the gym? And which claims by Mark Rippetoe in the Starting Strength book have aged badly? How…
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How Bad Is Alcohol for Your Gains?
Most of us already know that alcohol can have bad consequences for our health, but how much will a couple of drinks after a workout affect our bodies' ability to recover and build new muscle mass? And what about binge drinking? That's what we're here to find out, and in this episode, we dive...
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Protein Myths & Truths
Can you slow your aging by eating a low-protein diet? Is protein really more satiating than fat and carbs? And does an upper level of safe protein intake exist? In this episode, we discuss the evidence behind eight common protein claims, aided by a new article published in Critical Reviews in…
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How Good Are 30-Rep Sets for Muscle & Strength?
If you're training with weights close to your max versus weights that you can lift 30, 40, 50, or even 60 times, what difference does it make? In today's episode, we're looking at a study that examined exactly this. And even though we were a bit underwhelmed by the study design, it led to a great...
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How to Get Big Arms
How do you get big arms? In this episode, we go over the exercises, the programs, and the muscles important for developing your biceps and triceps into big guns. To help guide us, we asked for your questions on the topic of arm training – and you guys and gals delivered once again! In total, we...
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How to Lose Fat without Losing Muscle (Step-by-Step)
How do you lose fat without losing muscle? In today's episode, we go over and rank the most important factors for achieving this holy grail, and present you with our step-by-step guide to help you focus on what truly matters. After that, we answer a bunch of your questions on the topic of fat…
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Strength Training Before and After Menopause
The mean age for menopause is 50, but some women enter perimenopause at 40 or even earlier. What do the hormonal changes of menopause mean for your strength training results, muscle mass, body fat levels, and quality of life? In this episode, we discuss a major new study comparing strength…
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Mailbag! The Ultimate Back Workout, and More
How do you combine Brazilian jiu-jitsu with strength training? What does the ultimate back workout look like? And how much do we bench, bro? We're back with another mailbag, thanks to you sending us so many great questions a week ago! See the timestamps below for all questions. Timestamps: 06:30…
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Mailbag! How to Handle Injuries, Bulking, and More
How do you get back from injuries? Balance your strength training with a competitive sport? And what is the optimal rest time between sets? We asked for questions, and as always, you guys and gals delivered! Lots of fun stuff to talk about this week. In fact, we got so many good questions that...
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Debunking 10 Popular Bodybuilding Myths
Does spot reduction work? Will your muscles grow faster if you confuse them? And does fasted cardio burn more fat? In today's episode, we look into a new article published in the Strength and Conditioning Journal, and discuss ten popular bodybuilding myths to see which ones can be debunked....
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The Problem with Exercise for Weight Loss
In theory, it's simple: just exercise more to lose weight. In practice, that is rarely what we see happen. Why is that? In this episode, we discuss a new, really cool study that looked into one of the many ways our bodies adapt and react when we suddenly start burning more calories than we eat....
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Does Intermittent Fasting Boost Fat Loss?
Intermittent fasting is gaining popularity, promising weight loss and great health benefits. In today's episode, we talk about a new Cochrane review comparing intermittent fasting to regular dieting, to examine how the evidence actually stacks up. Is intermittent fasting all that it claims to be,...
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How Important is Progressive Overload for Muscle Growth?
One of the most common pieces of advice in strength training is progressive overload, most commonly in the form of gradually increasing the weights as you get stronger. But how big a difference does it actually make for your muscle growth? That's what a new study sought to investigate, and that's...
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Let's Party Like It's Episode 100
Dear listener, we made it! Episode 100 is here! To celebrate the occasion, we're doing a Q&A where we answer as many of your questions as we can in under two hours. And today, in contrast to our usual episodes, we deviate a bit more than usual from the training-related questions and include a few...
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The Minimum Effective Dose for Strength Training
When you have limited time for training, how little can you train and still make gains? Or, if you're a beginner and don't want to invest a lot of time getting started in the gym, will your efforts be worthwhile if you strength train only once weekly? In today's episode, we're talking about the...
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Warming Up for Better Performance
How much of a difference does warming up make, and how should you warm up to maximize your performance in the gym? In today's episode, we talk about two new studies: a review of different warm-up strategies and a study on how psyching up affects your deadlift one-rep max. And we end the episode…
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Combining Cardio and Strength Training
For decades, there's been debate about and research into the so-called interference effect between cardio and strength training. In other words, are you setting yourself up to fail in the gym if you do too much cardio? In today's episode, we take a look at the current scientific picture on...
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Building Muscle after 60 – the Elixir of Youth
Strength training is more and more looking like the closest thing we have to an elixir of youth. But how do you get started building muscle when you're over 60? And if you're already bitten by the iron bug, are there any changes you should make or be aware of past that age? In this episode, we…
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The Key to Losing as Much Fat as Possible
Preserving your muscle mass during a weight loss diet is critical for preventing sarcopenia and maintaining metabolic health. It also means you're going to look better both clothed and naked, which is kind of sweet. So, what's the best strategy to lose mainly fat? In today's episode, we're diving...
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Should You Load up on Carbs before the Gym?
Your body uses carbohydrates to power your muscles, organs, and brain. But how important is it to eat carbs before your strength workouts? That's the topic today, and we're discussing a new meta-analysis that looked at the effects of acute carbohydrate feeding on resistance exercise performance....
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Is a Full Range of Motion Always Best?
The range of motion you use when lifting can have a profound effect on your strength and muscle-building results. In today's episode, we break down a brand-new meta-analysis that compares the effects of strength training at short versus long muscle lengths. By now, we're really starting to get a...
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Maximal Muscle Mass in Minimum Minutes
One of the biggest hurdles to strength training is a lack of time. Luckily, there are several advanced techniques to cram a lot of training into a short amount of time, one of the more popular ones being drop sets. In today's episode, we're discussing a new study comparing traditional strength...
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Fat Loss or Muscle Gain – Which Should You Focus on First?
One of the most popular goals this time of year is to lose some (or a lot) of fat. But how do you go about that, and is it a good idea (like so many people do) to put off the strength training until after you've lost your fat? If you're looking to make healthy changes to your lifestyle this year,...
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2025 in Review
We're in the final days of 2025, and it's time to wrap up this podcast year on a more personal note. What have been our wins and losses, what do we want to change in 2026, what scientific findings about strength training and health have surprised us the most, and which episodes of this podcast…
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Our Cardio Experience, One Year In
We all know that cardio is great for us. But as lifters, cardio is seldom a passion, and many of us skip it entirely. 2025 was the year this changed for your two podcast hosts. As heavy guys, we had a hard time fitting cardio into our lives, and all efforts to build a cardio habit in the past had...
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Minimalist Strength Training While Cutting
When you're on a weight loss diet, strength training is the most effective tool for increasing your fat loss while minimizing your muscle loss. But how do you maximize your chances of an efficient weight cut when you're not able to spend a lot of time in the gym? That's the topic in today's...
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Plateau Busting
For anyone who's been training consistently for a couple of years, the plateau is an ever-present companion. But why do we plateau in the gym, and what can we do about it? As far as we know, there's basically no research on plateaus, mainly because that would require really long training studies....
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What Deep Squats Do for Your Knee Health
By now, it's pretty clear that deep squats are superior to half or quarter squats in basically every way: better strength gains, more hypertrophy, improved athletic performance. But what about your knee health? Squatting deep definitely puts more stress on your knee joints, so will you regret...
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Groundhog Gains, a New Premium Training Program
What happens if you squat, deadlift, and bench press daily for more than one hundred days? That's what Daniel's done, and in this episode, we discuss his experience with high-frequency training—and our new premium training program Groundhog Gains, which is available now for anyone who wants to…
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Anabolic Steroids Weaken Your Tendons
Bit of a mixed bag for you today, with three unrelated topics. First, we look into why athletes on anabolic–androgenic steroids so often experience tendon injuries. As far as we can remember, a possible explanation has been that the tendons can't keep up with the fast gains of muscle mass and...
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Rest Time Might Be Overrated if Volume Is Matched
How long you rest between sets is an important factor to consider, as longer rest times often lead to better training results since you can perform more reps in each set at any given weight compared to shorter rests. But what if you compensate for shorter rest times by doing more sets, until…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Learn about strength training, muscle growth, fitness, and health from The Strength Log podcast. Your hosts, Daniel Richter and Philip Wildenstam, are two Swedes who have spent decades lifting weights and an unreasonable amount of time reading studies about lifting weights.We break down the science, answer listener questions, and help you get bigger and stronger without making this whole gym thing more complicated than it already is.To support the show, download the StrengthLog workout tracker for free from Apple's App Store or Google Play.
HOSTED BY
Daniel Richter & Philip Wildenstam
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Strength Log have?
The Strength Log currently has 131 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Strength Log about?
Learn about strength training, muscle growth, fitness, and health from The Strength Log podcast. Your hosts, Daniel Richter and Philip Wildenstam, are two Swedes who have spent decades lifting weights and an unreasonable amount of time reading studies about lifting weights.We break down the...
How often does The Strength Log release new episodes?
The Strength Log publishes regularly with 131 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The Strength Log?
You can listen to The Strength Log on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Strength Log?
The Strength Log is created and hosted by Daniel Richter & Philip Wildenstam.
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