We take on the third leg of the strength series with Louie Simmons, Westside Barbell, and the conjugate method. Jerred lays out the actual structure, two max effort days and two dynamic effort days a week, why the max effort movement rotates every single session instead of repeating, how the three week dynamic effort waves are built, and what accommodating resistance with bands and chains is really doing to the strength curve. Then we get into the three principles worth stealing even if you never run the program: speed increases power and power increases strength, variance is fine so long as it is constantly rotating rather than constantly random, and athleticism has to be trained or you will quietly lose it. We also cover the honest cons, the steroid question, the recovery cost of going max effort twice a week, and why Jerred rates the conjugate system a one or two out of ten for the average athlete even though he has notebooks full of respect for the man who built it. Plus the story of Accelerate Strength and Conditioning, his conjugate program written for hybrid athletes, and where that might resurface.

Chapters: 0:03 Strength Series Begins 3:07 Louie Simmons' Legacy 7:27 Conjugate Method Basics 10:51 Dynamic Effort Waves 15:07 Accessories and Bands 20:09 Speed Builds Strength 25:44 Variance With Purpose 31:34 Athleticism Must Be Trained 35:52 Hybrid Conjugate Programming 39:59 When Conjugate Fits Best

We dig into two new 2026 studies that audited five popular AI chatbots on health questions, and athletic performance came back as the weakest category of the whole audit. We cover why an LLM is a prediction machine and not an all knowing coach, the sycophancy problem that lets you argue a chatbot into agreeing with whatever you already believed, and the fake citations researchers hit when they asked for references. We also get into the hard line on steroids, peptides, and supplement advice, where AI falls short on injuries and physical therapy, why a wall of jargon is usually a sign nobody understands the question, and how Jerred is thinking about guardrails before an AI coach ever shows up inside the Garage Gym Athlete app.

Chapters: 0:03 AI Study Sparks Fitness Warning 4:26 Athletic Performance Scores Worst 8:37 Better Ways to Use AI 12:29 AI's Sycophancy Problem 16:49 Dangerous Advice on Drugs 23:31 Fake Citations and Hallucinations 26:29 Guardrails for Future AI Coaching 34:53 When AI Gets Too Complex

We answer your questions in this athlete Q&A. We cover transitioning from a full gym to the Minimal Kit version of Hard to Kill, what the research says about building strength and fitness with minimal equipment, and which kettlebells to pick whether you are advanced or just getting started. We also talk through staying strong in hotel gyms when you travel for work, how to ease back into training after a long break, how to structure your week when you can only train two or three days, and setting goals with Daily Over Decades, Fit Week, and the new Garage Gym Athlete app.

Chapters: 0:05 Listener Q&A Kickoff 2:43 Minimal Kit Transition 15:13 Travel Strength Training 19:43 Returning After Time Off 25:08 Training With Limited Time 29:37 Setting Better Fitness Goals 40:19 App Update and Wrap-Up

0:00 Strength Series Begins
1:15 Wendler 531 Basics
4:44 The Plus Set Explained
8:45 Training Max Philosophy
13:22 Accessories, Conditioning, and Balance
21:01 Build Armor, Add Mass
24:10 Walrus Program and Longevity
28:47 Final Verdict on 531

In this episode I give an update on Garage Gym Athlete after a period of burnout and uncertainty, explaining that I've spent the past seven months clarifying the company vision and rebuilding around a larger long-term mission. I cover the new website, updated branding, and new logo, as well as the move to our own web app and database — which is live now, while the Apple and Android apps are still in testing...

I also explain why owning our own platform matters: more control over the athlete experience, and access to training data that makes the programming better. Finally, I outline what's coming in video, behind-the-scenes content, and the podcast — while making the case that the community, the method, and the daily over decades mindset remain the center of everything we're building.

00:00 Why I almost quit — and what's happened since
01:28 The real subject: the 10-year vision
03:18 What's live right now: new website and branding
03:47 Why we changed the logo
05:07 Important: how to access programs you already bought
06:07 The web app is live (Apple/Android still in testing)
08:01 Why we left Train Heroic
08:29 "I thought you didn't want to be an app company"
09:29 We finally own our own database
12:20 The app roadmap — we're just getting warmed up
14:41 This is not Train Heroic 2.0
17:00 New content: YouTube, video, behind the scenes
18:08 Thank you — and why the community proves the method

In this episode we discuss a small placebo-controlled crossover study on melatonin and caffeine in trained young men, looking at sprint performance, sleep, and recovery markers. We go over the main findings, including improved performance with caffeine and better recovery measures with melatonin, while noting that the study did not show better sleep.
We also cover the study's limitations, including the small sample size and the high supplement doses used, and explain why we generally prefer lower melatonin doses and focus on sleep habits first. Later, we talk about a long-term training goal combining heavy lifts and a sub-25-minute 5K, and finish with an update on training tracking and wearables.

In this episdoe: