Advertise on podcast: Fitness Lit Breakdown with Dr. Nick Trubee

In this episode, I dive into the research behind an intriguing combo: high-intensity progressive resistance training paired with self-talk. The featured study explores how these two strategies affect muscle strength and functional performance in older adults—and the results are worth paying attention to. I break down what the study found, how self-talk influenced outcomes, and what it all means for designing effective, evidence-based training programs for aging populations. Whether you’re a coach, clinician, or just curious about strategies for healthy aging, this episode will give you clear takeaways you can apply immediately. 👉 Tune in to learn how combining mindset and movement may be the key to unlocking better strength and performance later in life. Ferrando, V., et. al. Effects of high intensity progressive resistance training combined with self-talk on muscle strength and functional performance in older adults. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 39(7)/736-744.

In this episode, I dive into a research review that analyzed the effects of full-body resistance training in postmenopausal women. The article pulls together findings from multiple studies to assess how structured strength training impacts metabolic health, bone density, muscular strength, and overall quality of life. Whether you’re a practitioner, a postmenopausal woman, or simply interested in the science behind strength training, this episode breaks down the evidence in a clear and practical way. 🎧 Tune in to learn what the research says—and what it means for your training approach. Islam, J. et al. Characteristics of resistance training programs targeting improvements in health outcomes in postmenopausal women: A scoping review. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 39(7)/815-822.

Here’s why your split routine isn’t working… Let’s say you decided to do something adventurous and go on an ice fishing trip. You hit up the outdoor store and buy a ton of new equipment, warm clothes, supplies, etc. You jump on the plane and head to somewhere cold with a frozen lake. The day is finally here and you’re out on the ice starting to drill and pick away at making your fishing hole. Brutal work by the way. You finally get to fish and have a decent first day and catch a few fish. You say to yourself, that was a lot of work for a little return. Dissatisfied and exhausted from the work the day before, you choose to spend the rest of the week exploring the other attractions in the area.  On the last day of the trip, you decide to give fishing one more try. You grab your equipment and head back to your spot, only to notice the hole you worked so hard for is frozen completely over. You’ll have to do all that work again to be able to fish. Heck with it, you decide to pack it in and head back to the hotel. This is exactly what you’re doing with your split routine workout. You work hard for a small return, only to leave those muscle groups unattended for too long. It’s very difficult to accumulate enough volume for each muscle group to see the results you’d like to see, unless you love to exhaust each muscle group, day-in and day-out, week after week. You’d think there has to be a better, more enjoyable, and more efficient way to make positive changes, both physically and mentally. I think there is, and there is a lot of data that shows another way is possible. Want to get to know me better? Follow my on Instagram @dr.nicktrubee

Let’s talk about trust. Webster will tell you trust is “assured (or guaranteed) reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something OR one in which confidence is placed.” But what if that “one” where confidence is placed is YOU in regards to YOURSELF? Trusting others is one thing while trusting yourself is an entirely different situation. WHY? Because there is no one to blame, no one to fall back on, no one to look to when a change needs made… other than YOURSELF. This reflects many of the people I’m grateful to work with, as they have been struggling with trusting their own BODIES. Whether its returning from an injury or getting diagnosed with osteoporosis, it’s so difficult to trust that your body is still capable of great things! I understand you might think of this situation as a negative, one where you feel helpless and hopeless. However, I see this as a huge positive. It’s truly a moment in time where you get to appreciate all that has lead up to what’s current and choose to take a different direction. A direction where you get to choose the destination and all the twists and turns to get there. Interested in joining my private online fitness community? Get a free 7-day trial by tapping this link: Free 7 day trial Follow my on Instagram @dr.nicktrubee Ideas for a new episode? Email me at [email protected]

Progressive overload, simply stated is doing more work than you’ve done before, strategically over time. It doesn’t have to be linear, and really shouldn’t be. However, when you zoom out there is a trend in the upward direction. Here are a few ways to apply an overload to your current routine… 🔹Gradually adding more weight over time (again, non-linear but the trend line moves upward when you zoom out) 🔹Adding more reps  🔹Adding  more sets  👉🏻The 3 above are ways of increasing overall VOLUME 🔹Changing the velocity of the movement either concentric, eccentrically, or both 🔹Increasing time under tension (aka more work per rep) 🔹Decreasing rest time within the workout (more work per unit time), or rest time between workouts 🔹Incorporating new or novel movements - more of an effect on the neuromuscular system. This can also include working through movement progressions of similar movement patterns. 🔹Impact and plyometric training - increasing contact points, speed of the movement, height of the jump or landing. Consider trying adding 1 or 2 of these strategies to your current routine if you're in a rut, hit a plateau, or need to spice things up in order to refocus. 

Expectations can be what gives you an edge, or they can be the limiting factor to achieving your goals. Here is something to consider, are you creating your expectations based on your own reality and experiences? Or are you constructing your expectations around other's experiences and rhetoric? I've found, especially in the world of exercise and fitness, that our expectations of results, time, ability, etc. are not based in reality or the real world for the individual.  Why is that? As humans we're wired and attracted to the immediate reward for our efforts. We also have to consider how emotional we are and how those emotions weave into our decisions and expectations. Exercise exposes all of these fallacies, as it requires daily sessions of hard work, intention, focus, and dedication with no sight of physical changes. However, is the physical change really the reward we're hoping for? Or is there something deeper that will keep us coming back for more, while the results happen in the background when no one (including ourselves) are noticing. I hope you enjoy my 20-minute thought on the topic! As always, thank you for your time and attention.

We've all ridden that wave of motivation to complete a project, pass a test, get that promotion. We've especially learned to rely on it when it comes to exercise. On the horse, off the horse, waiting for that drive to be strong enough to put a few solid weeks together. But what if motivation was just a front? A Trojan horse even. Motivation is tied to emotion, and we all know how quickly our emotions change from day to day, minute to minute. And the emotion that drives motivation is FEAR. Fear of failure, fear of not meeting the work deadline, fear of putting in all the work and not losing the 10 pounds. When fear is the backbone for motivation, you'll always be trapped in survival mode. A level of scarcity that keeps you playing small and safe. But what if you left the outcome out of the picture? Entered the space with no expectations and built a trust in yourself that is so strong that you know you'll achieve the desired outcome, motivation or not. This episode dives into peeling away the conditioning we've all had and how intertwined motivation is and has always been. I hope this perspective that I'm sharing opens the door for new ideas and ultimately the results you want.

Over the last few months I've had many conversations with clients and potential clients where their previous training was typically 3 sets of 15 reps where weight was held constant for the entire workout. This may be more common than I had thought, or maybe it's just because I've never trained that way. I've always started with a lower resistance for maybe 12 reps, then started to drop reps and add weight with each progressing set. Something like a 12x10x8x6 rep scheme over 4 working sets, while bumping up resistance each set to challenge the new rep demand. So for this episode, I wanted to dive into the many things you can take advantage, both physiologically and mentally, by dropping reps and adding weight with each set compared to the prior. I think this could be a game changer for you if this is new to you :) Hit me up on IG @dr.nicktrubee or visit trubeehealth.com for more ways to connect and work with me.

Your brain is hard wired to keep you safe, to keep you alive. It doesn't necessarily care if you are alive and thriving. You know what I'm talking about... ahem survival mode. Your nervous system is so hard wired for survival that your brain will do everything it can to keep you comfortable and using as little energy as possible. Think about it, how many times have you skipped a workout because the house was warm and cozy, it was dark and dreary outside, your slippers were already on for goodness sakes. However, you had this feeling crawling under your skin that some movement would feel really good. I can almost guarantee that you can relate to this, because we are all human. However, we don't have to fall prey to our human nature. We always have a choice. So how can you make the choice to override your brain and get your body up and moving? I've got a simple and actionable system all ready and waiting for you. Tune in and get things moving in the right direction.

It's easy to fall under the logic of complicated = better/more valuable. When in reality keeping things simple and focusing on consistency and patience tend to be the best recipe for long term success. At some level we all know this, and we play against our human nature as the long game is the most challenging one to play. Keri and I both own our own online fitness businesses and share the perspective of keeping things simple and mastering the basic controllables... Hone in on your current status and identify the behaviors that are not serving you. Take baby steps everyday and do the little things that add up over time to massive positive changes. Keri has mastered working with women and loves educating on the areas of nutrition and movement. If you are woman looking for a woman trainer who understands your past and your current mental hold-ups, she is a great resource to take advantage of and learn from. Find more about Keri and how to work with her on Instagram @_coachker

First, let's set the expectation. If you reduce the rest interval between sets of a given workout, your capacity noticably decreases over the course of your working sets. What does get taxed, however, is your aerobic energy system. When rest intervals are lengthened, your ability to produce the desired reps over the course of many working sets is spared which results in a higher training volume. Moral of the story, shorter rest intervals improve your aerobic energy system, longer rest intervals improve overall strength and muscle size. But! Is there a difference in ideal rest intervals for single-joint versus multi-joint exercises? Do you require less rest for single-joint exercises and more rest for multi-joint exercises (or vise-versa) when the desired outcome is less fatigue by the end of the last 2 working sets? Remember, a greater capacity through the entire string of working sets = more volume, which in turn results in greater improvements in muscle size and strength.  By the end of this 30-minute episode, you'll walk away with specific rest intervals for single-joint and multi-joint lower body exercises that give you the best opportunity for improvement without wasting a single minute of your workout time. Article used for this week's breakdown: Rosa, A. et. al. Repetition performance, rating of perceived discomfort, and blood lactate response to different rest interval lengths in single-joint and multijoint lower-body exercise. Journal of Strength & Condition Research. 37(7)/1350-1357.

A dad with 4 kids under 8 years old shares some tangible and actionable advice about life and fitness. Things definitely change after having kids, and shifting expectations, the way things look, and having gratitude for all of it may change the way you approach exercise and movement in your daily life. "This is who we are now" is a simple but powerful statement that Zak shared and how that has been a game changer for not only him, but his entire household. You can let time and kids be your biggest barriers to your health and fitness, or you can make them your strongest allies in becoming the best & strongest version of yourself. Thanks again to Zak for sharing his time and wisdom for this episode. To see more of Zak's content, be sure to check him out on Instagram @beardedbirdfitnessnutrition

Athletes & everyday functioning people have a time, whether it's in season or on vacation/travel, where training time is decreased compared to the typical routine. And with that less training time we start to worry at what point will I start to see decrements in my abilities, things like strength and muscle size? This investigation dives into comparing two groups of training, one using high intensity with low volume training, compared to moderate intensity and higher volume training. The kicker is, what if each group only trained for 1 session per week over 6-weeks in time. Is that going to be enough to maintain strength or maybe even improve some attributes? Be sure to tune in for the full episode, very interesting findings! Manuscript used for this week's breakdown: McQuilliam, SJ et. al. Effect of high-intensity vs. moderate-intensity resistance training on strength, power, and muscle soreness in male academy soccer players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 37(6), 1250-1258.

You've been in the gym where the person next to you is completing half reps of a bicep curl or squat and you wonder, is that helping or hurting? First and fore-most I typically recommend working through a full and available range of motion for every movement. Personally I want to be strong through the entire range, regardless of how little or large of that range I'm using. However, when it comes to hypertrophy, or increase in muscle size, is there an optimal range of motion for each muscle group that favors enhancing muscle size? For example, will squatting past parallel produce a more favorable environment  for muscle growth compared to squatting to 90 degrees? As we break down this article, we will see what the research has to say about specific muscle groups working through specific ranges of motion and how that may produce more or less enhancement in muscle size. Very interesting data to interpret with my final take on what to focus on as far as working through specific ranges of motion with your training. Article used for this week's breakdown: Ottinger, CR., et al. Muscle hypertrophy response to range of motion in strength training: A novel approach to understanding the findings. Strength and Conditioning Journal, Vol 45, number 2, pages 162-176.

Craig has a wealth of knowledge in the health & fitness industry. Over the years of applying his craft & his gift, he has pared down the need for flashy objects & complex training programs. With mastery comes simplicity and the utmost respect for the basics. It's not just about what is accomplished on a single day of training, but what is accomplished every day of training, day-in and day-out. Craig shares his training style and passion for movement throughout this episode with the underlying theme of "keeping things simple." Make the time spent training reflect the use of that earned fitness in the real world, and do it in a fashion that challenges the brain just as much (if not more) than the body. Thanks again, Craig! It was truly a pleasure having you on the show! To see more of what Craig is up to, find him on Instagram @Craig__sparta (that's a double underscore) or at his website: Sparta-fitness.uk