Briggs argues that ketogenic and paleo diets are a poor fit for glycolytic sports like CrossFit because carbohydrate is the main fuel for high-intensity work. You never see keto powerlifters or strongmen, and paleo athletes tend to get calories from nuts and seeds rather than the fuel they'll actually burn in the gym. Going actively low-carb is the wrong strategy for performance.

No powerlifters or strongmen succeed on keto
Carbohydrate is the major fuel source for muscles in high-intensity work
Paleo skews calories to nuts/seeds, not the fuel used in the gym
You won't burn much fat in a five-minute arm-wrap-style effort
Running for hours on ketogenesis forces the body to fuel from fat and internal stores

“I'm yet to see any power lifters or strongmen come out there doing a keto no it's definitely not the way to go”
Tim Briggs · 12:00

#keto#paleo#myths#carbohydrates

Myth Buster72:30

Carb backloading, carb nite and skip loading are just calorie deficits

Williamson recounts years of fad diets, carb backloading, carb nite and skip loading, and Briggs reframes them all as restricted eating windows that work only by creating a weekly caloric deficit. The same effect is achievable by spreading food across the day with far less suffering. Their shared conclusion: the best diet is the one you can sustain the longest.

Carb backloading is just a restricted eating window, not magic
Skip loading and carb nite are variants of the same idea
Most fad diets 'work' only by netting a caloric deficit over the week
The suffering, not the results, is what makes fad diets fail long term
The best diet is the one you can adhere to consistently

“most these fads are just looking at a caloric deficit”
Tim Briggs · 77:30

“the best diet for me appears to be the one that I can stick to the longest”
Chris Williamson · 85:30

#fad diets#caloric deficit#sustainability#myths

Myth Buster63:30

Before-bed casein is mostly overrated; ZMA and 5-HTP help sleep

Asked about before-bed supplements, Briggs says slow-release casein is 'mostly bollocks' though it can supply some overnight fuel during the sleep fast. The bigger sleep levers are ZMA (zinc and magnesium) and 5-HTP, a serotonin precursor. He also warns against loading simple sugars right before bed unless you deliberately want to ride an insulin crash into sleep.

Slow-release casein is largely overrated, though it can give overnight fuel
ZMA (zinc, magnesium) genuinely helps sleep
5-HTP is a serotonin precursor useful for sleep
Don't load simple sugars right before bed
A late sugar hit can wreck sleep unless you ride the insulin crash down

“the zinc magnesium that'll really help the sleep you can take things like that another one 5htp”
Tim Briggs · 64:00

#sleep#supplements#casein#zma

Hot Take· 2

Hot Take58:30

Weight-class categories: why CrossFit is healthier than MMA cutting

Briggs and Williamson praise CrossFit's lack of weigh-in weight cuts. Fighters who slash weight step on the scale emaciated and dehydrated, which they argue is neither elite nor a picture of health, and dehydration impairs cognition going into a fight. They welcome talk of intra-weight testing in the UFC to restrict how much athletes can drop.

Extreme MMA weight cuts leave fighters emaciated and shaking on the scales
Dehydration from cutting impairs brain function before a fight
CrossFit's absence of weight-class cutting is a long-term health win
Briggs' lifters compete near their stage weight, hitting maxes earlier in the week
Proposed UFC intra-weight tests would restrict dangerous drops

“we want to turn up healthy we don't wanna drop our body severely out of homeostasis”
Tim Briggs · 59:00

#weight cutting#mma#crossfit#athlete health

Hot Take81:00

If a supplement makes you feel good, the placebo effect is real value

Discussing beetroot, tart cherry and apple cider vinegar, Briggs concedes the evidence is thin but argues that if something makes you feel good, persist with it, because the placebo effect is one of the most reliable effects in pharmacology. Williamson notes the flip side: marketers exploit this by selling a sufficiently convincing story, which drives a lot of unsustainable diet hype.

Beetroot, tart cherry and ACV have thin but present evidence
If a supplement makes you feel good, persistence can pay off
The placebo effect is among the most reliable effects in pharmacology
Belief in a convincing enough story can make interventions 'work'
Marketers weaponise this to sell unsustainable or ill-fitting products

“if you get the placebo effect off a lot of these things it's another way”
Tim Briggs · 81:00

#placebo#supplements#marketing#beetroot

Explainer· 3

Explainer09:00

Match your sport to its fuel system on the energy-systems chart

Briggs maps sports onto an energy-systems spectrum to work out their dominant fuel. Explosive strongman and powerlifting sit in the ATP/phosphocreatine zone, CrossFit and football in the glycolytic zone burning carbohydrate, and only very long endurance events dip meaningfully into fatty acids. Across almost the whole spectrum, carbohydrate is the throughline fuel for athletes.

ATP/phosphocreatine powers explosive one-rep-max work (strongman, powerlifting)
Glycolytic work (CrossFit, football sprints) runs primarily on carbohydrate
Fatty acids only become a major fuel at the far endurance end
Effort and energy system, not load, determine the fuel (a 2k row = same system as a fight)
Carbohydrate runs throughout the spectrum, so athletes should fill up on it

“carbohydrate is throughout yes so that's what you'll need to fill your body with as an athlete is carbohydrate”
Tim Briggs · 10:30

#energy systems#carbohydrates#sports nutrition#crossfit

Explainer49:00

Two ways to use intermittent fasting: deficit vs performance

Briggs separates two uses of intermittent fasting. In a severe caloric deficit, compressing eating into an afternoon-to-night window makes reduced calories easier to tolerate. For a performance athlete, however, fasting into a morning session means training on empty, with diminished output, depressed immunity and delayed glycogen replenishment, leaving you vulnerable to illness. Williamson admits he trains fasted purely for convenience during a cut, not for performance.

In a deep deficit, a 2pm-10pm eating window makes low calories easier to handle
Fasted morning training means working on empty with reduced output
Post-session immunity and glycogen stay depleted, raising illness risk
For performance, put some workout nutrition around sessions instead
Williamson trains fasted for convenience during a cut, knowing it's not optimal

“you're pretty much working on empty at the time so your session is gonna be diminished by a fair few percent”
Tim Briggs · 49:30

#intermittent fasting#fat loss#fasted training#performance

Explainer39:00

The gut-brain link: digestion, inflammation and mood

Briggs connects gut efficiency to health, energy and even mood, noting the widely cited idea that the gut holds more mood-related receptors than the brain. Chronic inflammation impairs digestion and metabolism, so food that doesn't agree with you feeds back into how you feel. He mentions his brother's research into gut enzymes and a possible link to diabetes as an emerging frontier.

Constant inflammation degrades digestion and metabolism
Gut efficiency is strongly linked to overall health and to the brain
Cited claim: more mood receptors in the gut than around the brain
Mood is heavily shaped by what you eat
Emerging research is probing gut enzymes and their link to diabetes

“there's more mood receptors in your gut than around your brain”
Chris Williamson · 39:30

#gut health#mood#inflammation#digestion

Tool· 1

Tool25:30

Maltodextrin and dextrose: the 'free gains' carb hack

Briggs and Williamson frame liquid carbs like maltodextrin and dextrose as near-effortless intake, comparing them to a lifting belt or knee sleeves as 'free gains'. A big scoop of maltodextrin dropped into a post-workout shake with protein and creatine banks a large chunk of carbohydrate you'd barely notice, which is especially useful when you're struggling to hit your macros.

Liquid carbs are an easy way to add carbohydrate you won't feel
Compared to a belt or knee sleeves: 'free gains'
Stack maltodextrin, two scoops protein and creatine in one post-workout shake
Especially useful when you can't otherwise hit your carb macros
Absorption is fast enough to matter over a session lasting an hour or more

“a big scoop of any maltodextrin in a post-workout shake with two scoops of protein and a scoop of creatine”
Tim Briggs · 26:30

#maltodextrin#supplements#post-workout#carbohydrates

Takeaway· 4

Takeaway52:30

Trust progress pictures over the daily scale

Briggs cautions that bodyweight can swing up to a kilo a day from water, carb timing, hydration, inflammation and bowel movements, so a single scale reading is noise. He recommends taking regular progress pictures and holding a clear visual goal, keeping the scale as one input among many rather than the verdict, and keeping those photos private for your own motivation.

Daily weight can vary by up to ~1kg from water, carbs and hydration
Take a big pinch of salt with any single scale reading
Use regular progress pictures as your primary visual gauge
Hold a strong visual goal of where you want to go
Keep progress photos for yourself, not as a marketing display

“take your weight with a big pinch of salt just have a visual of what you want to do”
Tim Briggs · 53:00

#weight tracking#progress photos#fat loss#mindset

Takeaway67:30

Hydration on competition day: 3 litres plus 1-2 per workout

Briggs puts baseline hydration at around three litres a day, then adds one to two litres to replace fluid lost per workout, so a busy comp day can approach four-plus litres. Under-drinking relative to sweat loss risks cramps and hampered recovery, so he suggests electrolytes post-workout, either a shop drink or a homemade mix of pink salt, honey and water.

Baseline hydration around three litres per day
Replace roughly one to two litres of fluid loss per workout
Under-hydrating relative to sweat loss causes cramps and poor recovery
Add electrolytes post-workout on comp day, especially for sweaty CrossFit
DIY electrolyte mix: pink salt, honey and a litre of water

“you'll probably put your baseline hydration at three liters a day then you work out you're probably gonna need to restore about one to two…”
Tim Briggs · 67:30

#hydration#electrolytes#competition#cramps

Takeaway71:30

Protein: 1-2g per kilo, satiating and thermogenic

Briggs recommends roughly one to two grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight for most people, sometimes a little more. He nudges protein higher than some guidelines because it's naturally satiating, keeping you full for longer, and because digesting it raises energy expenditure via the thermic effect of food. The caveat: don't take that as licence for an all-meat Atkins-style extreme.

Target about 1-2g protein per kilo of bodyweight for most people
Protein is naturally satiating and keeps you full longer
Digesting protein raises energy expenditure (thermic effect of food)
Briggs pushes protein slightly above some standard guidelines
Don't overshoot into 14-pounds-of-meat Atkins territory

“eat between 1 to 2 grams of protein per kilo of bodyweight maybe a little bit more”
Tim Briggs · 71:30

#protein#satiety#thermic effect#macros

Takeaway56:30

Rough carb target: 2-7g per kilo, most land at 3-5g

As a rule of thumb, Briggs puts daily carbohydrate somewhere between two and seven grams per kilo of bodyweight, with heavy variation by sport, sex, training history and lifestyle. For most recreational athletes the practical range settles around three to five grams per kilo. Leading into a competition, that can climb toward seven to twelve grams per kilo.

General range is 2-7g carbohydrate per kilo of bodyweight
Most people land around 3-5g per kilo in practice
Sport, sex, training history and lifestyle all shift the number
Competition build-up can push toward 7-12g per kilo
Elite CrossFitters may hit 500-900g of carbs a day

“it's between two grams per kilo and about seven grams per kilo there's quite a lot of variation”
Tim Briggs · 56:30

#carbohydrates#macros#rule of thumb#competition

Frameworks in this episode

Competition Carbohydrate Ramp

FODMAP Elimination Protocol

Health-First Nutrition Base

Training Nutrition Windows

Insights & moments

⚡Myth Buster· 3

Why keto and paleo undercut carb-driven sports