EP 92: Tom Herbert (Part 1)
October 25, 2021
Tom Herbert is known as the usefulcoach, and is a leader in climbing sports nutrition. We talked about common themes in clients he works with, his philosophy of getting climbers to eat more calories to support a higher training volume, muscle protein synthesis, carbohydrate recommendations and timing, food quality, leucine supplementation, and much more. You can learn more about Tom at useful.coach
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts
Listen to part 2 here.
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We are supported by these amazing BIG GIVERS:
Bryan Fast (he's the first one!)
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Podcasts Mentioned:
ClimbSci (Tom’s old podcast)
Tom on the Curious Climber Podcast
Useful Coach:
Tom’s Energy Availability Calculator
How to use the calculator (video)
References:
climbingnutrition.com (Brian’s website)
The other Tom Herbert (Yosemite guy)
Wedge Climbing YouTube Channel
John Kiefer and carb backloading
Books Mentioned:
The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price
Perfect Health Diet by Paul Jaminet
Routes/Boulders Mentioned:
‘Burden of Dreams’ V17, Lappnor, Finland
Tom’s Links:
Nuggets:
5:37 – The ambiance of Boulder, CO
6:41 – Tom’s night at an outdoor club
8:39 – The ClimbSci podcast (Tom’s old podcast project)
10:23 – How Tom’s nutrition approach has changed since the ClimbSci podcast days, and seeking critique on Reddit
12:30 – How I connected with Tom via Hazel Findlay, and my goal for this conversation
15:04 – Who is Tom Herbert (@usefulcoach), and getting climbers to eat more to get more out of life
19:45 – Common themes in the clients Tom works with
22:56 – How climbers tend to eat the least amount of food they can get away with, and the weight of food and water
27:36 – Book recommendations are not real life, and Tom’s experiment with a cycling diet of very high carb
30:56 – Michael Phelps, and Tom’s central message of eating more so we can do more training
38:34 – Weight vs. lean mass and body composition
44:53 – Gaining lean body mass while training
47:45 – Progress in your training plan as a prime metric
50:53 – My experience with being stronger and lean but “fluffy around the middle”, Tom’s experience working with physique athletes, and breaking down the ideals we have in our heads as climbers
55:47 – The disconnect between looking badass and being badass, and “we tend to want to look like we climb harder than we actually climb.”
58:35 – “Is this everything I can do with my body?”, “Am I doing everything I can do to be healthy?”, and excepting our bodies
1:01:33 – Fat loss is not a linear process
1:02:24 – Aidan Roberts’ DEXA scan, and the cost of dieting
1:06:34 – Accounting for different bodies looking different at the same body fat percentage, and the selection bias of naturally lean people in pro climbing
1:10:42 – Tracking absolute strength, and focusing on improving the quality and the volume of your training over time
1:14:57 – Staying the same weight at higher calories, and reaching a new homeostasis if you do increase weight
1:17:44 – My experience with gaining weight, finding a new homeostasis, and getting stronger than ever before
1:20:20 – Energy availability, and how many calories Tom has his athletes eat on a rest day and training day (using me as an example)
1:29:17 – Protein, muscle-protein synthesis, and eating protein 4-5 times per day
1:37:57 – Tom’s thoughts on my daily protein intake
1:40:29 – Waving carb amounts, and Tom’s recommendations for me for daily carbs
1:44:21 – Saturating the climbing/training session with glucose, and the benefits of a low carb dinner
1:51:28 – Tom’s thoughts on carb backloading
1:57:08 – Two questions about carbs, and the main 2 reasons why Tom likes to wave carb amounts
2:04:20 – Summary of Tom’s carb strategy, and thoughts on skipping breakfast
2:06:28 – Food quality
2:08:12 – Patron question from Tyler: Thoughts on protein powders and artificial flavoring?
2:13:19 – Why Tom doesn’t like BCAA’s
2:15:51 – More on food quality and nutrient density
2:20:49 – Seed oils
2:22:19 – Tom’s stance on meat and animal products
2:24:34 – Beans, legumes, and anti-nutrients
2:27:06 – Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
2:31:34 – Gratitude