Calvert and Milo Barbell

Thanks for the names. I’d read some articles by Berardi in the past, but didn’t take much from it at the time. I didn’t have the same kind of framework to understand this stuff back then. Definitely worth a revisit.

There’s a lot in common:

  • protein is magic. Get lots of it, regularly, under all circumstances.
  • you don’t have to get fat to build muscle and strength; at the highest BF point, you should still look pretty good
  • you need some sort of cycling of surplus (where you actually put on fat) and deficit (where you lose it)
  • the mirror is good feedback, and there are clear things to look for

There’s more than that, but those are the ones that stand out in contrast to the decisions a lot of people take. E.g., “must bulk to 200”, see-food diet, leangains, “what is my bodyfat %”, etc.


Also, Jamie’s persona is so over the top sometimes. There were definitely chunks that were a slog because of the ridiculousness.

But outside of that, I really like that he strives for completeness. Ideas from biology, evolution, social-cultural developments and history to explain things. Very broad base of knowledge to contextualize it all.

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