The vibes couldn’t be more immaculate in America right now

TIme for a rant. Why is it so hard to study performance in the lab? One major reason is that what feels like a massive improvement in the real world is hard to pick up in the lab. Take super shoes, you get a 3-4% boost in performance. Massive. You feel it on race day. But in the lab, even the largest single factor boost we get...it's hard to pick apart. Now, take it a step further to a still significant but smaller boost, say 1% from high carb fueling or bicarb or any other legitimate intervention... It's near impossible to get this to show up consistently in studies on a small number of amateur or moderately trained folks. Why? The variation in performance is too large. If you're a 6 minute miler, you don't run 6min ont he dot every time you race. On a great day, you run 6:00. On a good day, maybe 6:05. Average day 6:08. Bad day 6:15. Disaster? 6:25. Hopkins & Hewson (2001) studied the day variability of performance and basically found: Elite/world-class trained: ~1.5% Sub-elite well-trained: ~2.5% Recreational/amateur: ~4% The point is the variation in day to day performance is much larger than the intervention. For amateurs, its bigger than the single biggest performance breakthrough we've had in running (super shoes!). To counteract this, we try to use larger number of folks, but in exercise science that almost never happens because of recruiting, funding, and other constraints. So what you tend to get with small N studies is that most are statistically blind to any change under 3-4%. And yet...most of our interventions from fuel to bicarb to caffeine are all relatively small effects (0.5-2%) which are practically very significant, but hard to detect in the lab. That's why... performance in the real world tends to show what works. It's not perfect. But if you've got hundreds or thousands of elites and sub-elites taking bicarb and saying: "Hmm, I ran a bit faster in each race I used it this season..." It sticks around. One of the main reasons is athletes don't just test things in a one off study. They test it in training, key workouts, numerous races, etc. Compare notes with their training partners, etc. It's easier to surface a signal over that longer period. Again, it's not perfect. But what often happens is a new supplement, tool, tech shows up. Everyone tries it. For a brief period you don't quite know as there's a copycat nature...But if the performance boost is significant it stays. If it doesn't, it fades away. So when you see someone say, "Hey in this study of 14 amateur runners, taking carbs didn't improve performance..." the answer is almost always, ya because of day to day performance variation, you can't pick up the signal from the noise. Science is great. I love research. But don't overlook the natural trend of trial and error in the arena. It generally surfaces what has value.

According to @FitChick3 and @MalCrev of @RunnersWorldmag, staying motivated can be strategised: 🏃‍♂️ Track your training/set realistic goals 🤝 Find the right people as training buddies 🎧 Use music to fuel your fitness goals 🌐 runnersworld.com/training/a2… #runner #musicmotivation

saw a post saying we are so emotionally invested in the artemis ii mission because it shows intelligent people working together to do difficult things. and honestly, that resonates. it feels like a reminder of what is still possible

The reason people miss the 90s isn’t just nostalgia. Life was slower. Quieter. Less demanding. We weren’t designed to process constant noise, updates, and stimulation all day.

Dr. Kate Ackerman is leading a new Women’s Health, Sports & Performance Institute in Boston aimed at closing the data gap in women’s sports research 📖 Only 6% of sports science studies are conducted exclusively on women. Read more: ow.ly/yxT950Yvpjo

Breaking Points with @krystalball and @esaagar has been phenomenal the last few weeks. It’s always great but it’s been particularly excellent covering the Epstein stuff. Best news show out there. @ryangrim and @emilyjashinsky are great too. You should follow them all.

This should be taught til the end of time as an example of “listen to the fucking answers and ask a fucking follow-up question”

is it good if the average person instinctively hates your product and brand upon seeing it

This is how Batman found The Joker in The Dark Knight and I don’t like it.

Trump and Mamdani giving the country a vision of what bottom v top rather than left v right politics could look like is, if not historic, a genuinely novel development

Looking for your next audiobook? For a limited time, you can download "The Bomb Doctor" for 50% off! @FitChick3, Kirk Yeager, @FitChick3, and Kirk Yeager audiobooks.com/promotions/pr…

FLY EAGLES FLY 🦅

I’ve watched 20 minutes and there were 10 minutes of ads! Why am I paying for Peacock Premium for this crap? Ugh!!!

All of the elite athletes I know eat ice cream, pizza, candy, and have an occasional beer. All of the mediocre athletes who are big on social media: lose their minds at the thought of some of those things. This holds beyond nutrition. Build robustness, not fragility.

At your age, already experiencing glucose dysregulation from a snack bar and to the point of feeling ill, is a strong indicator of impaired mitochondrial function and poor metabolic flexibility. This reflects poor metabolic health which is a strong marker of accelerated or unhealthy aging…You are still young to be experiencing these issues…

Protecting your joints and increasing your durability, especially as you age. I shared my thoughts with fitness guru & cyclist Selene Yeager @FitChick3 & @MSN. ENJOY!!!... msn.com/en-sg/health/other/y… @PremierOrthoUSA @aossm1972 @AAOS1 @HOPCo_21 @A4MEvents

The #MoreWomenMoreMiles initiative by @Feisty_Media & Girls Gone Gravel is making waves at #UNBOUND2025! Over 500 women joined the program, with 75 extra race spots filled fast. Empowerment, community, and confidence on gravel! #WomenWhoRide Full story: endurancesportswire.com/feis…

Every woman, I repeat, every woman of every age, every color, every political affiliation should condemn this, should raise their voice about this, should be terrified about this. Just a few short months ago women’s health advocates were optimistic for the first time in generations, today we should be alarmed. Women’s health research cannot afford to be cancelled like this, our lives are on the line. science.org/content/article/…

You might never ride @SEPTA—but you still benefit from it. It keeps cars off highways, supports 10,000 jobs, and drives business in 41 counties across PA.