Do You Need a Calorie Surplus to Build Muscle? | Dr. Eric Helms
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: unle...
Radio and PodcastLive Radio & Podcasts
Health
Barbell Medicine Podcast
Podcast by Barbell Medicine
Episodes
20 of 447 episodes
Is Obesity A Muscle Problem?
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...
Who Needs Testosterone, and Who's Not Getting It I Signal Episode 4
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....
Your Fat Has a Storage Limit
In 2004 a surgeon removed about ten kilograms of fat from fifteen women and measured everything that mattered. Nothing improved. Four years...
Lifting and longevity: is 1 hour a week really the limit? Plus GLP1s and mood, training with ME/CFS, and Protein vs. Calories
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 clai...
The FDA Voted for 6 Peptides. Its Own Scientists Said No
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 t...
The Man Who Couldn’t Stop Gaining Weight | A Medical Mystery
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...
The Protein Scaries: What the Research Says About Your Kidneys, Cancer, Bones, and Body Fat
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 tha...
Is It Really Just Calories In, Calories Out? Metabolism, Insulin, Hormones and Why Counting Fails
Is weight loss really just Calories in, Calories out? The equation is true, but "just count your Calories" is bad advice for most people, an...
Is Obesity a Willpower Problem? The Biology of Weight, Diets, and GLP-1s
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...
Direct Line (Free): GLP-1 Muscle Loss and Creatine, Bulking vs Cutting, One-Hour Training, & Detraining
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...
Menopause Part 4: Training, Protein, Cortisol, Hormone Therapy, & Bone Density
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...
Menopause Part 3: Body Composition, Bone, Brain, & the Fitness Changes (The Data vs the Influencers)
Most women in 2026 are told menopause affects everything, the weight, the belly fat, the bones, the heart, the brain, and that the fix is ho...
Menopause, Part 2: The 2,000-Year-Old Lie About Women and Exercise
The story goes that hard exercise is risky for women, and that the idea is ancient. Both halves fall apart on contact. In this solo episode,...
Menopause, Part 1: What It Actually Is and the 24-Year WHI Correction
In 1889 a French physiologist injected himself with guinea pig and dog testicle extract and published a claim of self-rejuvenation in The La...
Is Creatine Causing Your Shin Pain? + Splitting Training, Endometriosis for Lifters | Direct Line · May 2026
This is the free preview of the May 2026 Direct Line, our monthly AMA for Barbell Medicine Plus subscribers. Three reader questions answered...
What’s Actually Driving Your Testosterone Down? | Signal Ep 3
Most cases of low testosterone in modern men are not a problem with the testes. The number is downstream of body composition, sleep, and ene...
Progressive Loading Part 3: Why the Novice / Intermediate / Advanced Framework Doesn't Work, and What to Do Instead
Three weeks of stalled squats. The conventional answer is to switch programs because you've crossed into intermediate territory. The data sa...
Is Your Testosterone Actually Low? Why Higher Testosterone Doesn't Do What You Think | Signal Ep 2
Out of 32 symptoms commonly attributed to low testosterone, only 3 actually correlate with it. All three are sexual. The other 29 — fatigue,...
Direct Line April 2026: Stopping Ozempic and Lifting With Osteopenia
Stop a GLP-1 and about two thirds of the weight loss comes back within a year. Three randomized withdrawal trials (SURMOUNT-4, STEP 1 extens...