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Coaching a lifter towards the Olympics is hard. How much harder does it become when the lifter is part of a refugee team and must train through COVID?

Dr Shyam Chavda analyses the three years leading up to the Tokyo Olympics, including his plans for training and athlete monitoring, the changes made along the way, and the factors that influenced key decisions.

Shyam is the Programme Lead for the Strength & Conditioning Distance Education MSc at Middlesex University and the Lead Performance Scientist at British Weightlifting.

Original research paper(s):

Chavda S. The (Rocky) Road to the Olympic Games: A Longitudinal Case Study on the Preparation, Monitoring, and Training of an Elite Weightlifter. Applied Sciences. 2025 Aug 26;15(17):9373.

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/17/9373

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🏋️‍♀️ Extended version of this interview: https://www.patreon.com/posts/is-muscle-memory-145811567 🏋️‍♀️

Is muscle memory scientifically proven? And if muscle memory is real, what is the underlying mechanism? Dr. Nate Serrano explores these questions, explaining the current state of research and where the science is heading next.

Dr. Nate Serrano holds a PhD in Biology from Arizona State University and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. His research focuses on the regulation of skeletal muscle, including muscle fiber types in relation to human performance, and the molecular regulation of muscle fibers and their role in metabolism.

Dr. Serrano was a Division I track athlete at Boise State University, where he completed his undergraduate degree in exercise science and got interested in research. He went on to complete a master’s degree in exercise science under the mentorship of Dr. Andy Galpin at California State University of Fullerton. Nate has over a decade of experience as a performance coach and competed in weightlifting for nearly ten years. He has since shifted his main hobby to rock climbing, but still lifts regularly.

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🏋️‍♀️ Extended version of this interview: https://www.patreon.com/posts/state-of-olympic-145657821 🏋️‍♀️

What if the best part of the sport is the stories of the athletes rather than the numbers on the board? In this Evidence Strong Show episode, Brian Oliver explains why highlighting athletes’ backgrounds and voices can change how we broadcast and watch weightlifting, what was really happening in Olympic weightlifting governance within the last decade, and how media in the sport are changing.

Brian Oliver is a seasoned journalist who spent 35 years in English newspapers, including serving as sports editor of The Observer. He worked at the London 2012 Olympics as weightlifting media manager and has freelanced since, focusing on weightlifting. He worked for the Insidethegames website during the sport's troubled times and now writes mostly for the IWF website, reporting on major competitions.

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All the content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical, nutritional, coaching, or financial advice, nor does it substitute for advice from your health care professional/provider. Any actions you will take, changes you will make to your nutrition, training or health care, are on your own responsibility and not mine.

🏋️‍♀️ Extended version of this interview: https://www.patreon.com/posts/strength-and-amy-145491810 🏋️‍♀️

Can eight months of heavy, high-load training reverse bone loss in older adults? Dr Amy Harding explains an exercise program using 80–85% 1RM with high-impact loading, reporting 4.1% bone mass gains in older men with low bone mass. She discusses progression, safety, coaching support, and practical takeaways for coaches and clinicians.

Dr Amy Harding is a Research Fellow in the School of Allied Health, Sport and Social Work and a member of the Griffith University Bone Densitometry Research Laboratory. Her research focuses on musculoskeletal health and fracture prevention across the lifespan. She holds a Bachelor of Exercise Science (Hons) and a PhD, and currently coordinates the Australian-based Strength Training for Optimum Prevention of Fracture program, building on the LIFTMOR and LIFTMOR-M trials.

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Original research paper(s):

Harding AT et al. High-intensity resistance & impact training for bone health in older men (LIFTMOR-M). Osteoporosis Int. 2020;32(3):451–465. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-020-05583-x

Harding AT et al. High-intensity resistance vs machine training for bone geometry & strength (LIFTMOR-M). Bone. 2020;136:115362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bone.2020.115362

Harding AT et al. Bone-targeted exercise strategies to reduce fracture risk (LIFTMOR-M). J Bone Miner Res. 2020;35(8):1404–1414. https://doi.org/10.1002/jbmr.4008

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Differences in sports performance are present between females and males. Why do these develop, how, and when exactly? Dr Shanie Landen explains what is known so far and what is currently being researched. The topics we cover include genetics, epigenetics, hormones, and muscle fibres and their influence on athletic performance.

Shanie has a PhD from Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia, where she investigated sex-specific epigenetic adaptations to endurance exercise training. She has authored 22 publications in the field of gene regulation. Shanie is interested in gene regulation mechanisms and the mechanisms by which exercise improves health and disease. She is researching how sex-biasing forces influence gene regulation and function.

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Some of the research papers mentioned in this interview:

Landen S, Jacques M, Hiam D, Alvarez-Romero J, Schittenhelm RB, Shah AD, Huang C, Steele JR, Harvey NR, Haupt LM, Griffiths LR. Sex differences in muscle protein expression and DNA methylation in response to exercise training. Biology of Sex Differences. 2023 Sep 5;14(1):56.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13293-023-00539-2

Amar D, Lindholm ME, Norrbom J, Wheeler MT, Rivas MA, Ashley EA. Time trajectories in the transcriptomic response to exercise-a meta-analysis. Nature Communications. 2021 Jun 9;12(1):3471.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23579-x

Testosterone in females in the conversation by Severine Lamon:

https://theconversation.com/do-naturally-high-testosterone-levels-equal-stronger-female-athletic-performance-not-necessarily-160009

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🏋️‍♀️ Extended version of this interview: https://www.patreon.com/posts/behind-neck-push-144125751 🏋️‍♀️

How and why does Dr. Mark Chiang recommend using the behind-the-neck push jerk? Mark discusses two of his recent studies and shares practical lessons for coaches and athletes.

Dr. Chieh-Ying Chiang, also known as Mark Chiang, is an accomplished sports scientist with extensive experience in strength and conditioning. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Sports Training Science-Combats at National Taiwan Sports University and also serves as the Director of the Master Strength and Conditioning Program.

Dr. Chiang’s research focuses on strength and power development in athletes, along with the use of sports science testing for performance enhancement and injury prevention. He has served as a consultant for the strength and conditioning division at the National Taiwan Sport Training Center and was the sports science manager for the 2024 Paris Olympic women’s boxing team. His other notable roles include serving as a sports science consultant for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic karate team and as a member of the sports science committee at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Dr. Chiang’s dedication to mentorship is also evident through his supervision of 30 master’s students and one doctoral student at National Taiwan Sport University.

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Original research paper(s):

Chiang YC, Chiang CY, Suchomel TJ. Differences in Mechanical Output between One Repetition Maximum and Body Mass-Based Load Determination in The Behind-Neck Push Jerk. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2025 Sep 1;24(3):626-33.

https://www.jssm.org/jssm-24-626.xml%3EFulltext

Chiang YC, Lin HY, Chiang YC, Chang CC, Suchomel TJ, Shiang TY. An Investigation of Kinetic and Kinematic Characteristics in the Behind-the-Neck Push Jerk Across Loads.

[under review]

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🏋️‍♀️ Extended version of this interview: https://www.patreon.com/posts/influence-of-on-143817240 🏋️‍♀️

Is music helping or hindering your lifting? EdD Michael Richards discusses available research on music and lifting.

Michael has been a strength and conditioning coach since 2017, working with youth, middle/high school, D3 college, D1 college, and professional football. He has also been a weightlifting coach since 2019, starting with T3 Barbell in Avon, Ohio, and moving to the Attitude Nation with Jon North, and a weightlifter (2025 Masters Pan American Champion (30-35 age bracket) and best lifter). He has just finished his Doctorate of Education in Kinesiology and Exercise Science.

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🏋️‍♀️ Extended version of this interview: https://www.patreon.com/posts/lifters-heart-143612670 🏋️‍♀️

Dr Jessica Orchard is an Associate Professor and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at the School of Public Health, University of Sydney. She serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport Plus, Associate Editor at the British Journal of Sports Medicine, and a Cardiac Research Fellow at Cricket Australia. In 2023, she was selected for the World Heart Federation Emerging Leaders Program and received the NSW Ministerial Award for Rising Stars in Cardiovascular Research.

Her research aims to improve the quality of cardiac screening programs to prevent sudden cardiac death and catastrophic disability from stroke. She is Director and Principal Investigator of the Australasian Registry of ECGs of National Athletes (the ARENA Project), which provides a long-term data repository to improve understanding of athlete ECG interpretation, cardiac diagnoses, and cardiovascular outcomes in screened athletes. She is also interested in digital health and legal/ethical issues in cardiac screening.

The ARENA project website:

https://www.sydney.edu.au/medicine-health/our-research/research-centres/the-arena-project.html

Great paper on the athlete’s heart:

https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2022.07.014

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