Mark Bell's Powercast

Vertical jump has become a test of athleticism, but is it something you can train? Box jumps have come around again in popularity, but are they an important training tool...or just a cool trick? What contributes to being good at either or both? Can you make significant improvement with training?  Our good friend, Jacob Ross -- an athletic performance coach and consultant who currently works with Luol Deng of Minnesota Timberwolves – joined us as our expert to answer this question. Our ideas about the question start “from the jump” if you will, at the very beginning of the episode. Jacob shares his thoughts starting at around 26:10. Huge thanks to Jacob for being our expert. You can find him on Instagram: @jacob.w.ross. Hosted by Mike Farr (@silentmikke) and Jim McDonald (@thejimmcd). Produced by Jim McDonald Production assistance by Connor O’Neal. Theme by Aaron Moore. Branding by Joseph Manzo.

You can call it Blood Flow Restriction (BRF), occlusion, or Kaatsu, but the idea is all the same: Keep some extra blood in the muscles of your arm or leg and get a massive pump. But is this superior to working out the regular way? When should you use it, and does it have any effect on rehab/recovery? We ponder these questions and discus our own experience. Then, we bring in Layne Norton, someone with a long history of using this type of training, to help us understand what the actual benefits are. Layne holds a PhD in Nutritional Sciences from University of Illinois, and is an author, bodybuilding/figure/physique coach, and a professional powerlifter. Our ideas about the question start around 6:55. Layne runs down the facts starting at around 12:40. Huge thanks to Layne for being our expert. You can find him at BioLayne.com and on Instagram: @biolayne. Check out his new book, Fat Loss Forever, on his website. Hosted by Mike Farr (@silentmikke) and Jim McDonald (@thejimmcd). Produced by Jim McDonald Production

Can activities in the gym that are built around the requirements of a specific sport actually help athletes get better at that sport? Our good friend, Jacob Ross --  an athletic performance coach and consultant who currently works with Luol Deng of Minnesota Timberwolves – joined us as our expert to answer this question. As always, the question spawns more questions: Do better athletes just do better? What’s the role of injury prevention? Drills vs sport-adapted weight training We kick off the episode talking about how technology is getting more challenging for us to keep up with. Our ideas about the question start around 14:00. Jacob shares his thoughts starting at around 27:00. Huge thanks to Jacob for being our expert. You can find him on Instagram: @jacob.w.ross. Hosted by Mike Farr (@silentmikke) and Jim McDonald (@thejimmcd). Produced by Jim McDonald Production assistance by Connor O’Neal. Theme by Aaron Moore. Branding by Joseph Manzo.

We get started by talking about what’s becoming a pretty uncommon experience for a lot of people: Actually leaving your house to watch a movie. Wrapping up a run of nutrition and diet-related episodes, we talk about a group of substances that are common in a lot of people’s diets at this time of year: Artificial sweeteners (fake sugar). Is fake sugar’s impact on our gut micro-biome a problem? Does fake sugar cause an insulin response similar to sugar. Is there a legitimate cancer risk? How much is too much? Is all the negativity about them just fake news? Layne Norton joins use to help us sort out the reality from the fiction. Layne holds a PhD in Nutritional Sciences from University of Illinois, and is an author, bodybuilding/figure/physique coach, and a professional powerlifter. Our ideas about the question start around 10:10. Layne runs down the facts starting at around 17:25. Huge thanks to Layne for being our expert. You can find him at BioLayne.com and on Instagram: @biolayne. Check out his new book, Fa

Our fourth episode takes a look at the final macronutrient: fat. We spend a few minutes discussing the documentary “Transformer” about Janae Marie Kroczaleski…and our small part in it. We also discuss streaming services and how hard it is to get everything we want to watch in one place these days. Then, we jump into fat. We know that fat has the most calories per gram of the three macros, and that people on ketogenic diets eat a lot of it. Beyond that, we have a lot more questions: Why does fat make everything delicious? Is oil just liquid fat? Do you burn more fat when you eat more fat? Are there really good fats and bad fats? Eric Helms, PhD. helps us figure these things out. Our ideas about the question start around 12:45. Eric runs down the facts starting at around 19:13.  Eric has a BS in fitness and wellness, an MS in exercise science, a second masters in sports nutrition, a PhD in strength and conditioning, and is a research fellow for AUT at the Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand. Huge

In our third episode, we take a side step from carbs into the glycemic index – the potential impact of differing amounts of carbs in foods. We kick things off with a quick discussion about the inherent strangeness of making friends with people we’ve never met in person.  Shifting to this week’s question (and some related issues): Is the index accurate for non-diabetics? Does it really have that much of an impact on weight gain or loss? Is brown rice better than white rice? What impacts how fast the body actually processes carbs? Doughnuts are a low GI food? What's the deal with a recent study showing people eating low-carb diets burn more calories?  Layne Norton joins us to help us sort out the reality from the fiction. Layne holds a PhD in Nutritional Sciences from University of Illinois, and is an author, bodybuilding/figure/physique coach, and a professional powerlifter. Our ideas about the question start around 6:40. Layne runs down the facts starting at around 18:44.  Huge thanks to Layne for being our e

Our second episode is a look at a second macronutrient: carbohydrates. After a quick discussion about the fact that we’re probably both HSP (Highly Sensitive People), we talk about some of our goals for the show and ways that you can get involved. We run down some of our basic “knowledge” about carbs, but were left with a few questions: Are some sugars better than others? If all sugars end with “-ose?” Do you sound like a douche if you use the term CHO? Then, we bring in Eric Helms, PhD. to help us get our facts straight. Before it’s over, he also warns of the dangers of “PubMed Ninjas.” Eric has a BS in fitness and wellness, an MS in exercise science, a second masters in sports nutrition, a PhD in strength and conditioning, and is a research fellow for AUT at the Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand. Our ideas about the question start around 12:47. Eric runs down the facts starting at around 24:27.  Huge thanks to Eric for being our expert. You can find him at 3DMuscleJourney.com, muscleandstren

We’re kicking this new show off by asking seemingly basic questions about diet and nutrition. First up, “What is (dietary) protein anyway?" After a quick catch up session, we talk through the “facts” of what we think we know about this question – which, of course raises even more questions like... How much protein do you really need? What’s a complete protein? How many essential amino acids are there? Then, we bring in Eric Helms, PhD. to give us the low down. Eric has a BS in fitness and wellness, an MS in exercise science, a second masters in sports nutrition, a PhD in strength and conditioning, and is a research fellow for AUT at the Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand. Our ideas about the question start around 10:10. Eric runs down the facts starting at around 20:25. Huge thanks to Eric for being our expert. You can find him at 3DMuscleJourney.com and on Instagram: @helms3dmj Hosted by Mike Farr (@silentmikke) and Jim McDonald (@thejimmcd). Produced by Jim McDonald Production assistance by C

Introducing 50% Facts! A brand new show from Mike Farr and Jim McDonald Premiering December 5, 2018 Most of us walk around knowing about HALF of what we think we know. On this show, we take a single, granular question on a particular topic (related to health, fitness, nutrition, mental health, sex, etc.) and try to list what we THINK the answer involves. THEN we bring in a subject-matter expert to tell us what we got right and what we got wrong. We walk away with a better sense of the facts…and so do you. New shows every Wednesday!