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Barbell Medicine Podcast

Barbell Medicine Podcast

Barbell Medicine 433 Episodes Sep 17, 2026

Podcast by Barbell Medicine, covering topics related to strength training, nutrition, and evidence-based medicine.

Episodes

Do You Need a Calorie Surplus to Build Muscle? | Dr. Eric Helms
Do You Need a Calorie Surplus to Build Muscle? | Dr. Eric Helms Sep 17, 2026 7302 Most lifters have been told they need to eat in a Calorie surplus to build muscle. That rule has always come with a list of exceptions: unless you're new, unless you're carrying extra body fat, unless you're coming back from time off. Dr. Eric Helms joins Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum to work out what the rule is actually tracking, starting from a question with a real number attached: what doe
Is Obesity A Muscle Problem?
Is Obesity A Muscle Problem? Sep 4, 2026 4626 Muscle is where most of the glucose goes, and muscle insulin resistance is the first thing that breaks on the road to type 2 diabetes. Both of those are true, and neither one means that building more muscle is the treatment for obesity. This episode works through what actually decides whether a tissue handles fuel well: not how much of it you have, but how fast it's moving fuel through. We go
Who Needs Testosterone, and Who's Not Getting It I Signal Episode 4
Who Needs Testosterone, and Who's Not Getting It I Signal Episode 4 Aug 27, 2026 5201 Most men who start testosterone never needed it, and some who genuinely do never get treated. In the final episode of the Signal series, Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum and Dr. Austin Baraki work through who actually needs testosterone replacement, who got sold it, and what the evidence says about the risks that scared the field for a decade. We cover the blinded trial where men couldn't tell real testo
Your Fat Has a Storage Limit
Your Fat Has a Storage Limit Aug 20, 2026 2959 In 2004 a surgeon removed about ten kilograms of fat from fifteen women and measured everything that mattered. Nothing improved. Four years later, it still hadn't.That result should have ended an argument about body fat. Instead the argument got more specific, and the version you've heard most recently is that visceral fat, the fat around your organs, is the dangerous kind. I've said a
Lifting and longevity: is 1 hour a week really the limit? Plus GLP1s and mood, training with ME/CFS, and Protein vs. Calories
Lifting and longevity: is 1 hour a week really the limit? Plus GLP1s and mood, training with ME/CFS, and Protein vs. Calories Aug 12, 2026 2769 A popular paper claimed the longevity benefit of lifting disappears once you train more than an hour a week. It's a real paper, but the claim is a misread. This is the free cut of this month's Direct Line, where Drs. Feigenbaum and Baraki also take on whether GLP-1s affect your mood, the "same calories, more weight loss" protein argument, and what you can actually do in the gym whe
The FDA Voted for 6 Peptides. Its Own Scientists Said No
The FDA Voted for 6 Peptides. Its Own Scientists Said No Aug 7, 2026 3980 An FDA advisory committee just voted to open a legal compounding supply line for six of seven peptides, including BPC-157 and TB-500, over the objection of the FDA's own scientists, who recommended against all seven. Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum walks through what the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee actually voted on, why a vote about ulcerative colitis ends up governing tendon and joint use,
The Man Who Couldn’t Stop Gaining Weight | A Medical Mystery
The Man Who Couldn’t Stop Gaining Weight | A Medical Mystery Jul 31, 2026 4208 A previously healthy 21-year-old shows up with seven months of headaches and 30-plus pounds of weight gain he can’t explain. He’s eating the same and training more, and the scale climbs anyway. We hand the case to Dr. Austin Baraki cold and work it in real time: the exam, the labs, the MRI, and two diagnoses that turn a headache workup into the clearest proof we’ve got that body weight is set by t
The Protein Scaries: What the Research Says About Your Kidneys, Cancer, Bones, and Body Fat
The Protein Scaries: What the Research Says About Your Kidneys, Cancer, Bones, and Body Fat Jul 24, 2026 1961 Every couple of years a new headline warns that the protein you eat is quietly hurting you. This year the target is your kidneys. Before that it was cancer, then your bones, then the claim that your body can only use twenty or thirty grams of protein at a meal. In this episode, Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum goes through the actual studies behind each scare: the kidney trials, the 2014 IGF-1 and cancer pap
Is It Really Just Calories In, Calories Out? Metabolism, Insulin, Hormones and Why Counting Fails
Is It Really Just Calories In, Calories Out? Metabolism, Insulin, Hormones and Why Counting Fails Jul 17, 2026 1874 Is weight loss really just Calories in, Calories out? The equation is true, but "just count your Calories" is bad advice for most people, and almost every objection to it is pointing at something real. In part two of our energy balance series, Jordan Feigenbaum takes the biggest "it's not Calories, it's ___" claims (metabolism, thyroid, cortisol, PCOS, insulin, the type of
Is Obesity a Willpower Problem? The Biology of Weight, Diets, and GLP-1s
Is Obesity a Willpower Problem? The Biology of Weight, Diets, and GLP-1s Jul 10, 2026 6154 Obesity roughly tripled in about 60 years, and the genes didn't change in that time. So if body weight isn't a willpower problem, what is it? Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum and Dr. Austin Baraki walk through what actually sets your weight: the adoption and twin studies behind the genetics, the "defended range" your biology fights to hold, the food environment that does most of the eating fo
Direct Line (Free): GLP-1 Muscle Loss and Creatine, Bulking vs Cutting, One-Hour Training, & Detraining
Direct Line (Free): GLP-1 Muscle Loss and Creatine, Bulking vs Cutting, One-Hour Training, & Detraining Jul 3, 2026 2973 Once a month we answer Barbell Medicine Plus subscribers’ questions on the Direct Line. This is a free look at June’s episode. We start with GLP-1 drugs and muscle: why DEXA overstates the loss, what resistance training actually does, and whether creatine is worth taking. Then whether bulking and cutting does anything the scale can’t already tell you, how to get real benefit from one training hour
Menopause Part 4: Training, Protein, Cortisol, Hormone Therapy, & Bone Density
Menopause Part 4: Training, Protein, Cortisol, Hormone Therapy, & Bone Density Jun 26, 2026 6217 Is there really a “menopause-specific” way to train, eat, and supplement — or is most of it marketing? In the finale of our 4-part menopause series, Drs. Jordan Feigenbaum and Austin Baraki go straight to the evidence on building muscle and bone before, during, and after the transition.We cover whether menopause blunts your response to lifting (the Isenmann 2023 head-to-head trial and the 2026 met

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