Ep.30 Harry Smith: Weight loss & muscle gain while training at home

The Health Scientist Podcast

Harry is a natural bodybuilding coach with Team Revive Stronger. He lives his life by a mantra: “Honesty, always. Better, together. Science matters, and so do you. No detail is too small.“

From fat kid, to skateboarder, to avid gamer / Netflix connoisseur before settling on Natural Bodybuilding. Harry has always had a deep appreciation for the Golden Era physiques of old. Wanting to replicate these physiques is what led Harry on a journey of discovery through just about every internet forum, qualification, course and publication out there related to muscle growth, Finally leading him to the coach he is today.

Harry's Instagram

Team Revive Stronger Instagram

Revive Stronger Website

In this episode we cover:

• Different ways of dealing with COVID-19 lockdown, from video games to training
• Harry's experience as a coach and his role with Revive Stronger as a bodybuilding coach.
• The reaction of Harry's own clients to the difficulties imposed by lockdown
• The importance of reassessing goals and changing markers or progress to reflect that
• What markers of progress should people focus on for weight loss or muscle gain?
• What rate of weight gain is suitable for building muscle?
• The difficulty wanting to eat more when stuck in the house all day
• The importance of allowing yourself time to deal with the situation first, before making any new plans
• Why managing your food environment and palatability can be a useful approach to dealing with cravings for food.
• Why trying to make your gym work out work at home may not be the best option for most people
• The possibility to try new training styles such as "twice-a-day" training
• Focusing on the opportunity to progress with new movements
• How to add resistance to home workouts to get the progressive overload needed for muscle growth
• Alternate-pair supersets, Pre-exhaust supersets, exercise variations, slow eccentrics, explosive concentrics, quarter and half reps, time-under-tension and how to apply them to your training program
• What factors contribute to making a set "effective" for muscle growth
• What are some of the best options for at-home equipment
• The importance of making your diet and exercise goals easier to achieve through your environment and tools.
• Are calorie-burn monitors or step counters useful for helping people to maintain activity levels?
• What are some simple ways of raising exercise levels in the home
• The importance of calories but why you don't necessarily need to track them.