Mini-Cuts and Mini-Bulks for Faster Body Recomp After 40 | Ep 463
28/04/2026 | 40 mins.
Bulking, cutting, bulking, cutting. If you've been through that cycle and ended up further from your goal than when you started, there's a reason the yo-yo keeps repeating, especially over 40. Learn about the metabolic adaptation and hormonal changes that make long diet phases more difficult (and sometimes unsustainable), a creative approach called intermittent dieting (not to be confused with intermittent fasting), a very powerful weekend refeed strategy, and the exact structure of a mini-cut and mini-bulk protocol including rate of loss, protein targets, surplus size, and the ratio of building to cutting. Plus learn the ONE warning sign that tells you to end a mini-cut early, even if you planned to go longer. Check out Fitness Lab (20% off through May 8), the AI coaching app built for adults over 40 who want daily structure, training feedback, biofeedback tracking, and meal planning that fits real life. Take the free onboarding quiz before you buy. 20% off all plans through Friday, May 8: https://witsandweights.com/app Timestamps: 0:00 - Bulking, cutting, and the yo-yo recomp cycle 5:24 - Metabolic adaptation during continuous dieting 7:10 - Hormonal disruption, testosterone, and estrogen after 40 9:20 - Muscle loss acceleration during longer cuts 10:06 - Large vs. small surplus and fat gain during bulks 12:12 - 2-week intermittent dieting blocks vs. continuous restriction 18:01 - Saturday meal planning for tight-window phases 21:31 - Mini-cut structure, rate of loss, and protein 26:06 - Mini-bulk surplus size and the 4-to-1 ratio 31:32 - Strategic cycling vs. phase-hopping 35:18 - Bonus: one reason to end a mini-cut early Episode Resources: My favorite macro tracking app (works even better alongside Fitness Lab!): MacroFactor (affiliate code WITSANDWEIGHTS for 2 weeks free)
💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week. 📱 Get Fitness Lab - My AI-powered coaching app for adults over 40. Training, nutrition, and real-time guidance to help you build muscle, lose fat, and lift weights with confidence. 👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.
👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram
Win A Free Week Of High Protein Meals (Listen for the Secret Code Word!)
25/04/2026 | 5 mins.
We're giving away a week of free high-protein meals from Trifecta to one listener who submits a 5-star review of the show! Listen to the episode for the secret code word plus instructions on entering. Deadline is April 30, 2026 so don't wait :) The giveaway is open to all Wits & Weights listeners, and it's simple to enter. Just submit a five-star Apple Podcasts review and email me your Apple username and the code word from the episode. Full details below... How to enter: Leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts from your iPhone (tap here to go to the show page). If you're not sure what to say, a sentence or two about what you've learned or an episode you enjoyed is perfect! Even if you don't normally use Apple Podcasts, you can leave a review from the Apple Podcasts app on any iPhone. Reply to any of my newsletters with your Apple username (so the review can be verified) and the secret code word from this episode. Deadline is April 30, 2026. Winner announced shortly after. Not on the email list yet? Sign up at witsandweights.com/email and reply to the welcome email. It's free!
💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week. 📱 Get Fitness Lab - My AI-powered coaching app for adults over 40. Training, nutrition, and real-time guidance to help you build muscle, lose fat, and lift weights with confidence. 👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.
👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram
5 Supplements for Stress, Mood, and Recovery After 40 (Evidence-Based) | Ep 462
23/04/2026 | 25 mins.
What supplements help with stress, sleep, and recovery after 40? The honest answer is a very short list of compounds with clinical evidence behind them, specific doses, mechanisms that matter for body composition, and specific safety profiles. This episode covers 5 compounds with clinical evidence for stress, mood, sleep, and recovery in adults over 40 who do strength training to lose fat and build muscle. Learn about the forms and doses studied, mechanisms relevant to body composition, findings from recent trials, head-to-head comparisons against prescription antidepressants for mild to moderate symptoms, and safety signals that have led one European country to ban one of these compounds. Plus a 30-second stress audit at the end to check whether recovery is the variable holding your results back. Join in Eat More Lift Heavy, the 26-week coached program where adults over 40 build the nutrition and training skills to preserve muscle, lose fat, and manage their physique for life. Timestamps: 0:00 - 5 supplements for stress, mood, and recovery 1:13 - Where supplements fit after 40 3:53 - Sleep, cortisol, and body composition after 40 6:09 - Supplement 1 9:57 - Supplement 2 12:03 - Supplement 3 15:29 - How to evaluate your supplement stack 16:30 - Supplement 4 18:53 - Supplement 5 22:00 - Bonus: 30-second stress audit
💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week. 📱 Get Fitness Lab - My AI-powered coaching app for adults over 40. Training, nutrition, and real-time guidance to help you build muscle, lose fat, and lift weights with confidence. 👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.
👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram
The Latest GLP-1 Science on Muscle Loss, Fat Loss, and Weight Regain | Ep 461
21/04/2026 | 31 mins.
What REALLY happens when you take a GLP-1 drug? Your fat loss, your muscle, your heart, your inflammation, what happens to your weight when you stop, and long-term safety. This episode covers body composition data from the 2026 semaglutide and tirzepatide trials, cardiovascular outcomes from SELECT and SURPASS-CVOT, inflammation findings beyond weight loss, weight regain patterns after stopping, and a 5-part framework to keep muscle on or off the drug after 40. Plus the 2026 safety update and recent Alzheimer's and Parkinson's research for adults considering, taking, or tapering off a GLP-1. Join Eat More Lift Heavy, the 26-week coached program where adults over 40 build the nutrition and training skills to preserve muscle, lose fat, and manage their physique for life. Timestamps: 0:00 - The GLP-1 drug narratives 5:55 - Lean mass loss in STEP 1 and SURMOUNT-1 8:30 - Organ mass, muscle quality, and DXA 10:15 - STEP UP trial and higher-dose semaglutide 11:23 - Cardiovascular outcomes from SELECT and SURPASS-CVOT 13:00 - Inflammation markers and CRP reduction 14:00 - GLP-1s and neurodegeneration research 15:32 - Habits that outlast the drug 17:00 - What happens to your weight when you stop 19:30 - Exercise while taking GLP-1s and natural production 20:48 - 5-part framework for muscle preservation 26:55 - Safety signals and long-term effects 28:12 - 3 high-protein meals when you don't have an appetite
💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week. 📱 Get Fitness Lab - My AI-powered coaching app for adults over 40. Training, nutrition, and real-time guidance to help you build muscle, lose fat, and lift weights with confidence. 👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.
👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram
Why Lifting Weights 6 Days a Week Won't Help You Lose Fat (Ben Brown) | Ep 460
16/04/2026 | 44 mins.
How much lifting is too much vs. too little? What about cardio? And how hard does your body fight back when you try to out-exercise your diet? Exercise physiologist and clinical nutrition expert Ben Brown breaks down why exercise is often a weak tool for weight loss, even when you are lifting weights and doing everything “right.” We unpack metabolic compensation, how stress after 40 changes your results, and why nutrition and fitness habits like protein, recovery, and smarter programming matter more than chasing calorie burn. We also cover GLP-1s, muscle building, hormone health, and how to use cardio strategically for longevity instead of relying on it to build muscle or lose fat. Get Fitness Lab (20% off for listeners), the #1 coaching app that adapts to YOUR recovery, YOUR schedule, and YOUR body. Build muscle, lose fat, and get stronger with daily personalized guidance. Timestamps: 0:00 - Why more exercise backfires 2:14 - What exercise is really for 5:24 - Why calories out misleads 8:38 - How metabolic compensation happens 11:56 - Cardio as a strategic lever 17:34 - Stress after 40 changes everything 24:26 - GLP-1s, weight loss, muscle 32:00 - Tapering GLP-1s and recovery 36:24 - Cardio for longevity and health Episode resources: Body Systems Coaching on Instagram: @bodysystemscoaching 30-Day Fat Loss Reset: bodysystems.com/30-day-reset
💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - A 6-month coaching program for lifters over 40 who are done collecting information and ready to have real human coaches watch their data and know what to focus on each week. 📱 Get Fitness Lab - My AI-powered coaching app for adults over 40. Training, nutrition, and real-time guidance to help you build muscle, lose fat, and lift weights with confidence. 👥 Join our Facebook community - For adults over 40 who want to build muscle, lose fat, and stop following bad advice. Weekly Q&A threads, coaching insights, and real chat with other lifters.
About Wits & Weights | Evidence-Based Fitness & Nutrition for Lifters Over 40
Wits & Weights is a strength and nutrition podcast where in every episode I put a popular piece of fitness advice under the microscope, find the hidden reason it doesn't work, and give you the deceptively simple fix that does.For skeptics of the fitness industry who are tired of following the rules and still not seeing results. If you've been lifting weights, tracking macros, and doing "all the right things" but your body composition hasn't changed, you're probably overcomplicating it. This is the fitness podcast that shows you how to build muscle, lose fat, and achieve a real body recomp by focusing only on what the evidence actually supports.Evidence-based fat loss coach Philip Pape brings an engineer's approach to strength training, nutrition, and metabolism. Instead of another generic program or meal plan, you get specific, science-based strategies for optimizing body composition, whether you're focused on building muscle, losing fat, or both. The focus is on strength training over 40, hormone health, perimenopause and menopause, and longevity.You've seen the conflicting advice. One expert says cut carbs, the next says eat more. One says train six days a week, another says three is plenty. Building the body you want doesn't have to be this confusing or time-consuming. By using your wits (systems + identity-based behavior change) and lifting weights, you can build muscle definition, improve your physique, and maintain your results for life without rebound weight gain.You'll learn smart, efficient strategies for movement, metabolism, muscle, and mindset, such as:- Why fat loss matters more than weight loss for both your health and your physique- Why all the macros, including protein, fats, and yes even carbs, are critical to body composition- How just 3 hours a week of proper hypertrophy training can deliver better results than most people get in twice that time- Why building muscle is the single most powerful thing you can do for metabolic health, longevity, and aging well- Why perimenopause and menopause don't have to derail your progress when your training and nutrition are dialed in- How shifting the way you think about fitness can unlock more physical (and personal) growth than any program aloneIf you're ready to learn what actually works with evidence-based training and nutrition, hit "follow" and let's engineer your best physique ever!Popular Guests Include: Mike Matthews (author of Bigger Leaner Stronger), Greg Nuckols (Stronger by Science), Alan Aragon (nutrition researcher), Eric Helms (3D Muscle Journey), Dr. Spencer Nadolsky (Docs Who Lift), Bill Campbell (exercise science researcher), Jordan Feigenbaum (Barbell Medicine), Holly Baxter (evidence-based physique coach), Laurin Conlin (physique coach), Lauren Colenso-Semple (nutrition researcher), Karen Martel (hormone optimization expert), Steph Gaudreau (women's strength and nutrition), Bryan Boorstein (hypertrophy coach)Popular Topics Include: hormone health, metabolism optimization, hypertrophy training, longevity and healthy aging, nutrition tracking, best protein powder selection, strength training over 40, women's fitness, perimenopause, menopause, muscle building, body recomp, macros and nutrition tracking
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