Enhanced Games Recap: PEDs, PRs, Recovery, and the $10M Usain Bolt Bounty | Iron Radio

In this Iron Radio episode, hosts Coach Phil Stevens, Dr. Mike T. Nelson, and Dr. Lonnie Lowery discuss the recent Enhanced Games, noting that unenhanced top-level competitors often beat enhanced entrants who were frequently retired for 5–14 years and had only about four months of prep, including roughly two months enhanced. They argue the results still showed meaningful effects, with many athletes—especially older ones—beating personal bests, and they highlight weightlifting as the sport with the most dramatic improvements, including an athlete opening 10 kg over his best and narrowly missing a world record at 30 kg over. They critique expectations of instant “Captain America” gains, discuss sport-specific tradeoffs (e.g., muscle mass and drag in swimming), mention strict FDA-approved protocols, heavy commercialization, major investors, prize payouts, Olympic bans, and a new $10M offer for breaking Usain Bolt’s 100m record, with plans toward 2027.

00:00 Show Intro and Hosts

00:46 Concert Banter and Updates

01:41 Enhanced Games Recap

03:29 Why Records Didn't Fall

04:44 Swimming vs Strength Sports

06:25 Strongman Drug Rules

08:12 Money Incentives and Olympics

11:22 Training Timeline and Oversight

12:51 Sponsors and TRT Clinics

17:18 Marketing and Mechanical Doping

20:10 Recovery Not Just Muscle

22:31 Ethics and Pro Sports Testing

24:24 Testing Is a Joke

25:00 Doping Culture by Sport

25:33 Olympics Arms Race

27:04 Genetics Skill and Reality

28:47 Bodybuilding Drug Debate

31:33 Capitalism and Sport Picks

32:32 Tech Suits and Gear Rules

34:17 Results PRs and Future

35:54 Timeframes and Supervision

37:51 Safety Monitoring Ethics

41:12 Wrap Up and Disclaimer

Donate to the show via PayPal HERE.

You can also join Dr Mike's Insider Newsletter for more info on how to add muscle, improve your performance and body comp - all without destroying your health, go to www.ironradiodrmike.com

Thank you!

Phil, Jerrell, Mike T, and Lonnie

Iron Radio: Do Supplements Beat Food for Vitamin Status? Wearable Food-Tracking Glasses + HDL, Exercise & Depression

On Iron Radio, hosts Dr. Lonnie Lowery, Dr. Mike T. Nelson, and Coach Phil Stevens discuss Nelson’s Flex Diet Certification and how supplementation topics are integrated due to time constraints, plus his creatine research PDF. They review a new NHANES-based paper (Sternberg et al., May 2026) suggesting supplement use explains more variability in vitamin biomarkers (R² ~3–21%) than reported dietary intake (~0.8–8.8%), while noting limitations like recall bias, low explained variance, and imperfect biomarkers. They then examine a 2021 AIM2 wearable device that detects eating episodes and captures food images with ~83% accuracy, debating research benefits versus privacy and data-broker concerns. Finally, they critique a 2026 cross-sectional study linking physical activity, HDL cholesterol, and lower depression odds, arguing the effect is associative and likely non-causal, and expand into broader concerns about interpreting lipids in athletic populations and medical risk models.

00:00 Show Intro and Hosts

01:05 Flex Diet Cert and Supplements

03:23 Brevity in Science Talks

05:34 Talk Tactics and Backup Slides

08:22 Supplements vs Food Biomarkers

14:04 Vitamin D and Biomarker Limits

15:21 Iron Radio Feed Update

16:32 Newsletter and Book Plug

18:21 Wearable Food Tracking Glasses

21:00 Privacy and Data Broker Fears

23:21 VR Ads and Escape

23:53 Food Illusions and Conditioning

24:27 Research Uses vs Privacy

26:20 Testing Dietary Recall Accuracy

27:39 HDL Exercise and Depression Study

30:29 Is HDL Really Causal

33:21 Selling Results in Titles

35:02 HDL Drugs and High HDL Debate

37:08 Statins Risk Models and Exercise

40:15 Athlete Labs and Wrap Up

Donate to the show via PayPal HERE.

You can also join Dr Mike's Insider Newsletter for more info on how to add muscle, improve your performance and body comp - all without destroying your health, go to www.ironradiodrmike.com

Thank you!

Phil, Jerrell, Mike T, and Lonnie

When Should You Compete Again? Timing Meets, Momentum, and Realistic Goals in Strength & Physique Sports

In this Iron Radio episode, hosts Coach Phil Stevens, Dr. Mike T. Nelson, and Dr. Lonnie Lowery discuss how athletes decide what to do next after a meet or show and when to compete again. Phil explains how competition frequency often shifts from many meets per year early on to fewer events as lifters get stronger, older, and need more time to recover and make meaningful progress, sometimes using smaller meets as non-max “training day” run-throughs for clients. Mike describes prioritizing goals to avoid competitions that distract from main objectives, and notes the added challenges in physique sports where frequent shows can create a stressful 6–12 week “gray area” and lead to issues like water retention and inflammation, especially for natural athletes. They emphasize realistic expectations, honest coaching, and the value of outside perspective for planning and psychology.

00:00 Welcome and Hosts

01:18 When to Compete Again

02:07 Phil on Meet Frequency

03:51 Clients and Progress Planning

06:13 Warmup Meets Strategy

07:49 Powerlifting vs Physique Peaks

08:50 Mike on Priorities and Goals

10:51 Physique Sports Gray Zone

16:40 Iron Radio Feed Update

17:52 Mike Nelson Newsletter

18:30 New Supplement Book

19:39 Levrone Transformation Talk

20:16 Setting Realistic PR Goals

21:26 Getting Athletes To Eat

24:03 Dreams Versus Reality

24:33 Choosing Your Strengths

27:50 Managing Warrior Mode

30:41 Why Coaches Matter

32:35 Wrap Up And Disclaimer

Donate to the show via PayPal HERE.

You can also join Dr Mike's Insider Newsletter for more info on how to add muscle, improve your performance and body comp - all without destroying your health, go to www.ironradiodrmike.com

Thank you!

Phil, Jerrell, Mike T, and Lonnie