Today I am reviewing The Mighty Cast, a podcast featuring Chris Young, Nicholas Ritchey and Physio X. Specifically I am reviewing Episode 65 Push It Real Good, a question of intensity.
The Hosts
I found it difficult to listen to the hosts because their “chemistry” seemed rather forced. In addition the chatter between them was annoying at the start of the podcast itself.
The Content
They started out the discussion by defining intensity as a percentage of the max effort. Of course, because it is an English podcast the weights are discussed in kilograms. They define high intensity as anything greater than 90% workload. I have an issue with this definition of intensity because to me intensity can be taking a set to failure. You don't have to do 90% of your max in order to call it an intense workout. The definition seems far too specific to me.
While these guys seem basically knowledgeable about lifting, they have their own biases. Like the definition of intensity itself, they seem to want to put things into a nice formula each time and that just doesn't work. If forumulas got you better muscles everyone would have them. What angered me was they spoke about “instinctive training” and made a lot of fun of it. They even went so far as to make a joke that “instinctive training” involves sitting on your couch drinking beer. As you all should know from reading my blog I believe in instinctive training and have defined it in a much different manner.
I personally prefer the approach of someone like Layne Norton. He is not afraid to call bullshit when necessary and he has a scientific approach.
My Recommendation
I would say that if you want to learn from a different perspective this is a podcast to put into rotation, but I would not put it i the “must listen to” category at all. Listen when you have time and skip it when you don't. It isn't that great.
