Lift Free And Diet Hard with Andrew Coates
The Lift Free and Diet Hard Podcast dives deep into the science and practice of living a strong, healthy, and intentional life. Hosted by Andrew Coates, the show brings together inspiring guests to share insights, stories, and practical advice that empower listeners to build confidence, make informed choices, and stay resilient in their fitness and wellness journeys. Every episode encourages thoughtful exploration of what it means to lift free, diet hard, and live fully.
#518 Chris Hitchko - Why Most Personal Trainers Fail In Their First Year
Chris Hitchko is the founder of Show Up Fitness, one of the fitness industry’s leading personal trainer education institutions.
Chris joins me for a career-focused conversation about why so many new trainers struggle, what certifications often fail to teach, and the skills that actually help fitness professionals build sustainable careers.
We discuss:
• Whether most personal trainers really leave the industry within their first year
• Why trainer turnover is so high
• Where traditional personal training certifications fall short
• Why mentor...
#517 Meghan Callaway - How To Keep Your Training Fun
Meghan Callaway returns with more than two decades of coaching experience to discuss how to keep training challenging, creative, and enjoyable without losing sight of the fundamentals that actually drive progress.
We discuss:
• How Meghan balances advanced calisthenics with basic strength training
• The difference between exercises used for progressive training and exercises performed because they are fun
• Pistol squats and scalable single-leg training
• How social media influences the exercises coaches choose to showcase
• Sharing challenging movements without turning training into a circus
...#516 Chad Wesley Smith - Curiosity and the Pursuit of Knowledge
Chad Wesley Smith is a legend in strength and sports performance education and coaching, and the founder of Juggernaut Training Systems.
Chad joins me to reflect on the timing, curiosity, learning, and decision-making that shaped his career—and how the business of coaching and information has changed along the way.
We discuss:
• How much timing influenced the growth of Juggernaut Training Systems
• Why timing plays a major role in many business success stories
• Opportunities Chad feels he missed
• Whether th...
#515 James Krieger - Is Body Fat % Testing Reliable Or Even Useful?
James Krieger is one of the most trusted figures in the fitness industry and exercise-science research.
James joins me for a deep dive into body-fat testing, DEXA, measurement error, bone density, weighted vests, physique competition prep, and how we talk about dieting around our kids.
We discuss:
• Whether there is actually a reliable way to measure body-fat percentage
• When body-composition testing can be useful
• Whether DEXA deserves its reputation as the “gold standard”
• The difference between average measurement error and in...
#514 Luka Hocevar - The Return To Real
Luka Hocevar returns to discuss what it takes to build a successful career in fitness as automation, AI, algorithms, and information become increasingly abundant.
The opportunity, Luka argues, is not to become even more automated. It is to become more human.
We discuss:
• How fitness professionals can build and protect trust
• Why influencer shortcuts eventually damage credibility
• Why inefficiency can sometimes be valuable for creativity
• Creating alignment and clarity around your goals and career
• Why the right audi...
#513 Steven Sahyoun - Injury Rehab Through Training
Steven Sahyoun coaches performance and rehabilitation, helping people move from injury back toward the demands of training and sport.
Steven joins me to discuss why rehab should look more like training, how to appropriately load injured tissue, and why simply becoming pain-free does not necessarily mean someone is ready to perform.
We discuss:
• What Steven means when he says “tendons need load, not needles”
• Why passive treatments alone rarely rebuild physical capacity
• Peptides, needling, and the temptation to search for shortcuts<...
#512 Stuart McMillan - Sprinting and Skipping: The Need For Speed
Stuart McMillan is one of the world’s most respected and decorated sprint coaches.He joins me to share his expertise on speed, sprinting, skipping, movement quality, youth development, coaching, and the balance between complexity and simplicity.We discuss:• Why adults tend to stop moving fast and powerfully• Why speed and intensity variability may matter as we age• Whether everyone actually needs to sprint• How to move fast in ways appropriate for your ability• Why movement variability matters• Why Stuart believes more adults should skip• Hip extension and the fundamentals behind skipping• How to progressively introduce skipping• How beginners can start sprint tra...
#511 Pete Dupuis - So You Want To Be A Fitness Professional
Pete Dupuis is an icon of gym ownership, business development, and mentorship within the fitness industry.
Pete returns to share what aspiring coaches should understand before turning their passion for fitness into a career—and how the industry has changed over the last two decades.
We discuss:
• Advice for fitness enthusiasts considering a career in the industry
• Realistic expectations of what working in fitness actually looks like
• The skills and behaviours that improve your chances of long-term success
• Different...
#510 Jordan Lips - A Passion for Fibre
Jordan Lips is passionate about fibre - perhaps more than anyone else I’ve met - and maybe you should be too.
Jordan joins me for a deep dive into fibre, gut health, food variety, beans, lentils, supplements, misinformation, and practical ways to increase your intake without making yourself miserable.
We discuss:
• How much fibre someone actually needs
• Why fibre intake is about more than hitting one number
• Whether you can gradually “train your gut” to tolerate more fibre
• Why incr...
#509 Brad Dieter - Lack of Disease Doesn’t Mean You’re Healthy
Brad Dieter, now CEO of FITTR, returns to the podcast to bring the perspective of his PhD in Exercise Physiology to a wide-ranging conversation about coaching, trust, health, alcohol research, GLP-1 medications, and the future of fitness.
We discuss:
• What the “commoditization of everything” means
• Why commoditization can hurt both coaches and consumers
• Where lower-cost standardized services can actually be beneficial
• Where commoditization starts sacrificing quality
• How the music industry offers a useful comparison for fitness coaching
• Why high-service coaching may bec...
#508 Sam Miller - Revisiting the PCOS to PMOS Reclassification
Sam Miller returns to the podcast to discuss the transition from PCOS to PMOS, what the change actually means, and why the conversation seemed to disappear almost as quickly as it arrived.
We also get into women’s health messaging, sleep, training nutrition, endurance fueling, and the career setbacks that rarely make it onto social media.
We discuss:
• Why discussion around PCOS becoming PMOS died down after the initial attention
• What the new terminology means for patients and future care
• Why shif...
#507 Jonah Rosner - Endurance Sport Training and Nutrition Masterclass
Jonah Rosner is a sport scientist specializing in strength and conditioning for endurance athletes.
Jonah joins me to break down the research behind endurance training, strength work, cardiovascular programming, injury risk, recovery, and race-day nutrition.
We discuss:
• Why distance runners should lift heavy without routinely training to failure
• How strength training can support running performance
• Why shorter-duration HIIT may sometimes be a more time-efficient cardiovascular stimulus than Zone 2
• When higher-intensity work makes sense and when to add more low-inte...
#506 Dan Garner - How to Improve Your Performance in Life and Fitness
Dan Garner is one of the most sought-after performance coaches among professional athletes, MMA competitors, and celebrities, while also working in performance research.
Dan joins me to share lessons from coaching high performers and explain how the same principles apply to everyday people who want better results in fitness and life.
We discuss:
• Results-oriented vs. activity-oriented thinking
• Process goals, outcome goals, and momentum
• Identity, procrastination, and performance
• Why controlling your schedule matters
• Clarifying goals and building adherence
• Emotions, decision-making, and the amygdala
• Identifying the constraint holding you back
• Appl...
#505 Elizabeth Ward & Hillary Wright - Menopause Nutrition
Elizabeth Ward and Hillary Wright are registered dietitians, authors of *The Menopause Diet Plan*, and together are known as The Menopause Dietitians.
They join me to cut through the noise around menopause nutrition and explain what actually changes, what gets exaggerated online, and which habits matter most.
We discuss:
• Whether metabolism actually slows during menopause
• Age, hormones, activity, and energy expenditure
• Why women may have less margin for gradual fat gain
• Hormones, appetite, sleep, and behaviour
• Estrogen a...
#504 Harley Pasternak - Diets and GLP-1 Use in Popular Culture
What happens when evidence-based nutrition collides with celebrity culture, fad diets, GLP-1 medications, and increasingly extreme body-image trends?
Harley Pasternak is an internationally renowned trainer, author, educator, and professor who has coached some of the most famous people in the world.
He joins me to discuss what fitness and nutrition actually look like behind the scenes—and how very different that can be from the stories presented online.
In this episode, we discuss:
• How Harley navigates popular fad diets whil...
#503 Kevin Carr - How to Train for Independent Aging
Kevin Carr is co-owner of several businesses and brands, including Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning and Certified Functional Strength Coach, and author of the new book Prescribing Movement as Medicine.
Kevin returns to share lessons from years of coaching athletes and everyday people, including how to train for performance today while preserving strength, capability, and independence for decades to come.
We discuss:
• How Kevin programs for elite athletes and general-population clients
• Why those programs may look more similar than expected
• Training for strength, muscle, stamina, bone health, power, and explos...
#502 Luke Tulloch - How to Maximize Your Training When Time Constrained
Luke Tulloch is one of my favourite communicators of evidence-based hypertrophy training.
Luke returns to talk about how becoming a parent forced him to rethink his training, remove low-value habits, and focus on what actually produces results.
We discuss:
• How parenthood changed Luke’s training for the better
• Why constraints can improve your program
• Cutting non-essential training and tracking
• How many sets it really takes to build muscle
• Low-volume training myths
• Diminishing returns from adding more volume
• Condensing workouts without sacrificing results
• Specialization phases and supersets
• Training effe...
#501 Stan Efferding - Nutrition for Muscle Growth
Stan Efferding is an icon of bodybuilding, powerlifting, and elite evidence-based coaching.
Stan returns with his unique ability to interpret cutting-edge research and combine it with decades of real-world experience coaching athletes at every level.
We discuss:
• Whether you actually need to be in a calorie surplus to build muscle
• How large a calorie surplus should be if the goal is maximizing muscle while minimizing fat gain
• Whether the traditional “dirty bulk” is finally dead
• Why gaining weight faster does...
#500 Dr. Layne Norton - You Will Not Outwork Me
I’m honoured to celebrate episode #500 with Dr. Layne Norton as my guest.
Layne is an icon of the fitness industry: a prolific educator, author, champion, world-record-holding powerlifter, and a major influence throughout my own career.
For this milestone, Layne joins me for a wide-ranging and personal conversation about work ethic, resilience, coaching, evidence, public battles, money, family, and the experiences that shaped who he is.
We discuss:
• What Layne means by “You will not outwork me”
• Where his...
#499 Dr. Sean Pastuch - Live More, Hurt Less
Dr. Sean Pastuch returns to share lessons from his career and his new book, Live More, Hurt Less.
Sean joins me to discuss:
• How he defines “Live More, Hurt Less”
• What that philosophy looks like in real life
• Why helping people feel heard can be such an important part of navigating pain and movement limitations
• The three identities Sean believes are relevant to meaningful change
• The “Be, Do, Have” framework
• The difference between confidence and self-esteem
• Why identity work does not...
#498 Emma Storey-Gordon - Fat Loss for Women, Insulin Resistance, and Training Rep Ranges
Emma Storey-Gordon is one of my favourite authorities and communicators when it comes to combining evidence-based fitness and nutrition with practical, real-world application.
Emma returns to share her expertise and discuss her new book, The Fat Loss Coach for Women.
We get into:
• Whether fat loss is fundamentally different for women
• Which differences are physiological and which are rooted more in psychology, lifestyle, and lived experience
• The problems with the phrase “women are not just small men” when it is used to ju...
#497 Dr. Darren Candow - Creatine and Your Brain, Performance, Bone Health, and Sleep
Dr. Darren Candow is one of the world’s leading researchers and authorities on creatine and joins me to separate what we know from what is still hype.
Darren joins me to discuss:
• How to sift through the evidence and hype surrounding creatine
• What the research actually says about creatine and brain health
• Whether creatine may have a role in concussion and head-trauma research
• The current evidence around creatine and mental health
• Whether creatine can help mitigate some effects of sleep deprivation<...
#496 Dr. Tony Boutagy - Do Men and Women Need to Train Differently to Build Muscle?
Dr. Tony Boutagy holds a PhD in Exercise and Sports Science and returns to dive into the research on sex differences, muscle growth, aging, cardio, recovery, grip strength, and several persistent myths in the fitness industry.
Tony joins me to discuss:
• Whether men and women need meaningfully different training programs to build muscle
• Relative versus absolute differences in muscle-building potential
• Whether sex-based differences matter more than individual differences between people
• Why training goals should drive programming more than gender
• How personal preference...
#495 Ben Yanes - Why Your Assessment Might Be a Waste of Time
Ben Yanes makes his long-overdue first appearance on the podcast and brings his trademark nuance to assessment, biomechanics, exercise selection, injury narratives, science-based fitness, and what good coaching actually looks like in the real world.
Ben joins me to discuss:
• Why “a vast majority of the assessments you’re doing are a total waste of everyone’s time”
• Why skilled coaches are continuously assessing clients during actual training
• How training itself can function as an assessment
• The relationship between science-based and anti-science fitness communities
<...#494 Max Aita - The Best Principles From the Bulgarian, Russian, and American Strength Systems
Max Aita is an elite strength coach and accomplished competitor who joins me to share lessons from decades of training, coaching, and studying some of the most influential strength systems in history.
Max joins me to discuss:
• The history of the Bulgarian, Russian, and American strength-training systems
• How the three systems differ in philosophy and application
• The foundational coaches and figures behind each system
• Bulgarian training and the pursuit of extreme specificity
• Soviet and Russian approaches to variation, volume, and long-term development
• The evolution of American strength training
• How culture and at...
#493 Christian Thibaudeau - Training With Isometrics, Eccentrics, Complexes, and Cluster Sets
Strength and conditioning legend Christian Thibaudeau returns to share advanced training strategies for building muscle, improving performance, and programming with greater intent.
Christian joins me to discuss:
• Whether he feels pressure to remain visible and relevant on social media after a legendary coaching career
• How experimenting with long-duration isometrics changed his training
• What isometric training is and why it can be useful
• The difference between overcoming and yielding isometrics
• How to use overcoming isometrics in your own training
• How to use yield...
#492 Jason Brown - In Defense of Zone 2 Cardio
Jason Brown returns for a nuanced discussion about Zone 2 cardio, walking, conditioning, stress, recovery, and how cardio should fit into an individual’s life.
Jason joins me to discuss:
• Whether Zone 2 cardio is actually overrated
• How much of Zone 2’s benefit comes from simply getting people moving
• The value of reducing sedentary time and increasing daily activity
• The relationship between Zone 2-style activity, NEAT, and mental health
• Why getting outside and moving can provide benefits beyond fitness adaptations
• Looking at cardio and al...
#491 Dr. Austin Baraki - Are Testosterone Levels Really in Massive Decline?
Dr. Austin Baraki joins me to challenge the popular narrative that testosterone levels are collapsing across society and to examine what the available evidence actually shows.
Austin joins me to discuss:
• Whether men’s testosterone levels have declined dramatically in recent decades
• Where the testosterone-decline narrative originated
• Why viral claims often move faster than the evidence
• How obesity, alcohol consumption, sleep loss, and socioeconomic deprivation can affect testosterone
• Whether pesticides, fluoride, plastics, deodorant ingredients, seed oils, or polyester clothing meaningfully affect testosterone
• The relationship between red meat, cholesterol, saturated fat, and testostero...
#490 Q Willey - Does Training With Barbells Cause More Injuries?
Q Willey is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach who joins me to discuss barbell training, back pain, injury risk, metabolic health, rehabilitation, and the way strength training is often portrayed online.
Q joins me to discuss:
• Why no existing studies show that squats or deadlifts cause back pain
• Whether barbell lifts are inherently riskier than other forms of exercise
• How the loadability of barbells can get some lifters into trouble
• Why training systems matter more than individual exercise...
#489 Dr. Pak Androulakis-Korakakis - The Minimum Effective Dose for Muscle Building
Dr. Pak Androulakis-Korakakis returns to explain what the research says about the minimum effective dose for muscle growth, strength, health, and long-term physical independence.
In this episode, we discuss:
• The minimum amount of training required to build muscle
• Whether minimum-dose training produces meaningful real-world results
• How inactive and metabolically unhealthy people respond to resistance training
• Where diminishing returns begin as training volume increases
• Minimum effective dose training for everyday people
• Minimum-dose training for serious lifters
• Whether people accurately est...
#488 Dr. Gary McGowan - Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure, and Cardiovascular Disease
Dr. Gary McGowan drops in to share a masterclass on cardiovascular disease and its major risk factors, including:
The relationship between cholesterol and cardiovascular diseaseWhy LDL cholesterol is importantWhat causes LDL cholesterol to riseThe dietary factors that can increase LDL cholesterolNavigating misleading claims about LDL from the carnivore diet communityWhy elimination diets can appear to improve someone’s healthThe relationship between obesity and cardiovascular diseaseWhy not all fat storage in the body is associated with the same level of disease riskVisceral fat, BMI, and the personal fat thresholdWhy cardiovascular risk accumulates over timeThe role of genetics in cholesterol an...#487 Joe DeFranco - Long Live In-Person Training
Iconic gym owner, podcaster, strength coach, educator, and trainer of elite athletes Joe DeFranco returns to share insights from decades of coaching in person.
Joe shares:
Why he still coaches in person, and why it's essential for both his physical and mental well-being
What keeps him energized after decades as a coach and gym owner
Why relationships matter more than anything else for client success
Who's more challenging to coach: elite professional athletes or general population clients?
The traits that make...
#486 Alberto Nunez - Zen and the Art of Bodybuilding
Coaching and bodybuilding legend Alberto Nunez of Team 3DMJ joins me for a humble discussion about the principles that have made him one of the most respected coaches in natural bodybuilding.
Alberto shares his thoughts on:
Does training advice from the competitive (and untested) bodybuilding world still work for natural everyday lifters trying to build muscle?
The differences and similarities between natural and enhanced training
Why absolute load can affect training differently than relative (bodyweight) load
Why adherence matters above all else for...
#485 Dr Andy Galpin - Sleep Masterclass
Dr Andy Galpin shares a masterclass in sleep for everyday quality of life.
Andy adds nuance to the often oversimplified and misleading claims about sleep, including:
Why your sleep is the biggest opportunity to improve your quality of life
Defining poor sleep versus sleep deprivation
What are the acute negative effects of poor sleep?
Why people are remarkably resilient after one night of poor sleep
How to build sleep resilience
Why your elaborate sleep ritual might actually be working...
#484 Dr Nick Tiller - The Health and Wellness Lie
Dr Nick Tiller joins me to share a scathing critique of the health and wellness industry, including:
Why the health and wellness industry isn’t your friend—it’s a trillion-dollar con
Defining the wellness industry
The most concerning wellness trends
Why the wellness industry has become so massive
The incentives for influencers and even credentialed "authorities" to grift on bogus wellness products
Do well-intentioned people slide into misinformation, or are most wellness grifters motivated by money from the start?
How much respon...
#483 Brad Jensen - Being A Real Human On Social Media In An Age Of AI Automation
My good friend Brad Jensen returns in a more casual conversation between two old friends catching up. We wanted to share this discussion with you, so we hope you come along for the ride.
Brad shares his thoughts on:
People commenting on "his account" as if he isn't even a real person
Never imagining the reach and impact of his content
Whether all of the engagement from social media is actually a positive experience and how he manages it
Being willing to admit...
#482 Dr Emily Dow - Cortisol, Hormone Balancing, and Zone 2 Vs Higher Intensity Cardio
The Professor of the Dark Arts, Dr Emily Dow returns by popular demand. Emily has seen a huge surge in popularity, and for good reason. Her media is thoughtful, intelligent, and extremely well communicated.
Emily joins me to talk about:
Why "high cortisol" has become the new hormonal imbalance
What cortisol actually does, and why acute elevations in cortisol are not only not bad for you, but essential to normal physiology
Is there any validity to the claim that cortisol elevation from training stress is...
#481 Ashley Hodge - Glute Training Mastery
Ashley Hodge is a strength coach and powerlifter and joins me to talk about her knowledge and experience with practical, evidence-based glute training.
Ashley shares her thoughts on:
Is glute training as complicated as glute influencers make it out to be?
Is there a difference in how you approach glute training for competitors versus the general population?
For the everyday person with time for only two full-body workouts each week, how should they maximize glute growth?
Practical wisdom for glute training that online-only...
#480 Amy Morin - The Mental Strength Playbook
I’m a voracious reader and it’s a special treat to feature as a guest a popular mainstream author whose books I love.
Amy Morin is a therapist and the author of several books including The Mental Strength Playbook and 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do.
Amy joins me to share her expertise about:
What are the most important things mentally strong people don’t do from her list
Why “not giving away your power” is the most important on the list
...#479 Dr Mike Israetel - Drugs To Build Muscle and Lose Fat Without Needing to Work Out
Dr Mike Israetel returns to enlighten you on what’s coming in the future of health, fitness, and aesthetics. Mike’s new book, The Aesthetics Revolution, is available everywhere June 23rd, so grab a copy.
Mike shares what we may see happen in the relatively near future, including:
Will we have access to drugs that build muscle without working out (and we’re not talking about PEDs)
Roughly when could we see approval and access to these drugs
How will AI expand our capacity to resear...
