Join the 3-Week Strong Finish Challenge to build strength training momentum and end 2025 strong instead of waiting until January. Kickoff call December 8th at 5pm Eastern. Get direct coaching, the flexible framework, holiday nutrition strategies, and travel workout templates you need to protect your metabolism through the holidays:
https://live.witsandweights.com

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If you're trying to lose weight by focusing on diet, cardio, and steps but skipping the weight room, you're not just leaving results on the table. You're actively suppressing your metabolism, wrecking your body composition, and almost guaranteeing weight regain with more body fat.

Discover why strength training isn't optional during fat loss... it's the primary metabolic lever that determines whether you end up lean and strong or skinny, weak, and fighting your metabolism.

Learn why up to 30% of weight loss without lifting comes from muscle (not fat), how muscle acts as your metabolic engine for insulin sensitivity and longevity, and the minimum effective dose of lifting that protects everything you're working for.

You'll understand the hormonal consequences of diet-only weight loss, why building muscle is your retirement fund for healthy aging, and how resistance training transforms your identity from "someone on a diet" to "someone who trains." This evidence-based approach shows you exactly how to build muscle, lose fat, and create sustainable body recomp, even if you're over 40 and starting from scratch.

Episode Resources:

• 3-Week Strong Finish Challenge - Kickoff December 8th at 5pm Eastern: https://live.witsandweights.com

Timestamps:

0:00 - Why skipping strength training during weight loss is terrible
2:50 - How losing muscle creates the weight regain trap
6:30 - The body composition truth: looking lighter but weaker without lifting
10:24 - Hormonal consequences and metabolic adaptation during fat loss
14:26 - Minimum effective dose for building muscle and preserving strength
21:17 - Strength training for longevity (not just vanity)
24:52 - Why muscle compounds like retirement savings
28:42 - Becoming someone who trains is a permanent identity shift

Support the show

📱 Get Fitness Lab - Philip’s science-based AI app for fat loss, muscle building, and strength training for people over 40. It adapts to your nutrition, recovery, and training to improve body composition without guesswork.

🎓 Try Physique University - Evidence-based nutrition coaching and strength training to help you lose fat, build muscle, and master your metabolism with support and accountability (free custom nutrition plan with code FREEPLAN).

👥 Join our Facebook community - Free fat loss, muscle building, and body recomposition strategies for adults over 40 who want practical, science-backed fitness guidance.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

Get your free 14-Day Rapid Start Fat Loss Guide to set up your nutrition and strength training for effective fat loss without extreme restriction or guesswork:
https://witsandweights.com/fatloss

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If you're tracking food, stepping on the scale, pushing hard in the gym, but hitting a wall with fat loss, this episode is for you.

Maybe scale isn't moving, or you're making panicked decisions like slashing calories or adding more cardio, and nothing's working.

Discover the 3 weight loss traps that derail motivated people trying to finish 2025 strong, and learn exactly what to do instead to build a leaner, stronger physique heading into 2026.

Learn to use evidence-based strategies that work with your body's adaptive system, not against it, so you can lose fat while building muscle and maintaining your metabolism.

Episode Resources:

• Free 14-Day Rapid Start Fat Loss Guide
• Fitness Lab App - AI-powered coaching for tracking signal weight and progressive training. Exclusive 20% off link for podcast listeners.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Hitting a wall with fat loss despite tracking and training
2:09 - Trap 1: Reacting emotionally to daily scale fluctuations
9:29 - Trap 2: Overcorrecting with extreme calorie cuts and restriction
20:13 - Trap 3: Thinking strength training is not required
24:52 - How muscle building transforms metabolism and body recomp
28:52 - Debunking "bulky" fears and "waiting to lift" myths

Support the show

📱 Get Fitness Lab - Philip’s science-based AI app for fat loss, muscle building, and strength training for people over 40. It adapts to your nutrition, recovery, and training to improve body composition without guesswork.

🎓 Try Physique University - Evidence-based nutrition coaching and strength training to help you lose fat, build muscle, and master your metabolism with support and accountability (free custom nutrition plan with code FREEPLAN).

👥 Join our Facebook community - Free fat loss, muscle building, and body recomposition strategies for adults over 40 who want practical, science-backed fitness guidance.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram

Ready to go beyond standard cholesterol panels and track what actually matters? Get your comprehensive performance bloodwork analysis at witsandweights.com/bloodwork (code VITALITY20 for 20% off)

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What if your blood work is missing the markers that truly predict long-term cardiovascular health? Can you build muscle, lose fat, and stay strong after 40 without risking your heart? And which biomarkers, hormones, and peptides actually move the needle for longevity and performance?

I bring on Integrative Medicine & Cardiology Physician Dr. Abid Husain into the conversation, and we get into the evidence behind cardiovascular health for lifters, especially if you're focused on body recomp, strength training, weight loss, nutrition, and fitness. We cover the labs most people never get, how inflammation and metabolism shape heart health, and why tracking APOB, CRP, and oxidized LDL matters far more than total cholesterol. We also break down hormone health, HRT safety, muscle building over 40, and the peptides that actually support recovery and longevity.

If you care about lifting weights, performance, and living longer with evidence-based fitness, this one gives you a clear roadmap. Tune in to learn more.

Today, you’ll learn all about:

0:00 – Defining cardiovascular health
3:40 – Mechanical vs biochemical heart health
7:42 – Obesity, genetics, and heart disease
12:10 – Key biomarkers to track
18:55 – Inflammation patterns and risk
23:20 – Cholesterol, genetics, and LDL nuance
28:40 – Hormone health and HRT safety
35:20 – Peptides for recovery and performance
49:55 – Calcium scoring vs CCTA imaging

*Episode resources:*

• Website: boulderlongevity.com
• Dr. Abid Husain’s Instagram: @dr_abidhusain
• Boulder Longevity Institute's Instagram: @boulderlongevityinstitute
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/abid-husain-md-facc-abaarm-00874419
• YouTube: @boulderlongevityinstitute
• Facebook: @BoulderLongevityInstitute

Support the show

📱 Get Fitness Lab - Philip’s science-based AI app for fat loss, muscle building, and strength training for people over 40. It adapts to your nutrition, recovery, and training to improve body composition without guesswork.

🎓 Try Physique University - Evidence-based nutrition coaching and strength training to help you lose fat, build muscle, and master your metabolism with support and accountability (free custom nutrition plan with code FREEPLAN).

👥 Join our Facebook community - Free fat loss, muscle building, and body recomposition strategies for adults over 40 who want practical, science-backed fitness guidance.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape on Instagram