Strength Chat

We’re back for the first episode of 2026 and we kicked off this week with Dr. Matt Casturo, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and Founder of The Movement System. Matt has a great skill of: 👉 taking complex performance topics 👉 stripping away the fluff 👉 and making them clear, practical and usable for coaches and athletes. If you’ve ever asked “Am I actually training for performance… or just getting strong?”, this episode is for you. What we break down in this episode: 🏋️‍♂️ The difference between being strong in the gym vs strong in your sport 🧠 How to make better programming decisions (without overthinking it) 📊 What information you actually need to improve athletic performance If you enjoyed this episode, you’ll love the newsletter. Each week I share: ✅ Coaching insights ✅ Training principles that actually work ✅ Lessons pulled directly from podcast conversations 👉 Sign up to the newsletterFollow Matt: 👉 @themovementsystem 👉 https://www.themovementsystem.com/  Follow me:  👉 @coach_cuthbert 👉 @strength_chat 

This week I was joined once again by Josh Bryant, strength coach, author and Co-Founder of Jailhouse Strong. Every time Josh is on, you walk away with something you can actually use in your training. With so much knowledge and experience helping lifters and athletes get brutally strong, this chat was packed with gold. We dug into:  🔥 What is “the zone” and how to get there  🧠 How mindset drives performance and longevity  🏋️‍♂️ Why work capacity is your secret weapon for long term progress Follow Josh: 👉 @jailhousestrong 👉 https://joshstrength.com/  Follow me:  👉 @coach_cuthbert 👉 @strength_chat 👉 Strength Chat Podcast 📬 Want weekly training & coaching tips straight to your inbox?Join my newsletter for real, practical advice to help you:✅ Train smarter✅ Coach better✅ Cut through the BS👉 Sign up here: https://mailchi.mp/ea9ee2b51d7c/built-by-strength

This week I was joined once again by Tom Sheppard, strength coach, author, educator and every time he’s on, you can guarantee you’ll learn something new. Our last episode was one of the most popular I’ve shared and this one dives even deeper. We tackled a topic that sits at the core of every great training program, the one thing that can make or break progress: effort and intent. It’s not just about working hard; it’s about how you apply that effort and whether your intent matches your goals. We covered:  🔥 What effort and intent actually mean in training  🎯 How they directly impact your results and consistency  🧠 How to tell the difference between training with effort and intentConnect with Tom: 👉@tom_kaizen Connect with me:  👉 @coach_cuthbert 👉 @strength_chat 👉 Strength Chat Podcast 📬 Want weekly tips to help you train smarter, coach better & cut through the BS?  Sign up for my blog — https://mailchi.mp/ea9ee2b51d7c/built-by-strength  

He’s back for the hat trick!  This week I was joined once again by Sean McInroy after two very popular previous episodes.  Every time Sean joins Strength Chat, the episodes have been awesome. Why? Because everything he shares is immediately actionable. You walk away with ideas you can apply in your next training session. This chat was no different. We got into:  🏋️‍♂️ Beyond the bar, what else changes as you progress  🌍 The variables outside of training that make or break results  🧠 The difference between difficulty and effectiveness Connect with Sean: 👉@sean.mcinroy 👉@apexstrengthsociety Connect with me:  👉 @coach_cuthbert 👉 @strength_chat 👉 Strength Chat Podcast 📬 Want weekly tips to help you train smarter, coach better & cut through the BS?  Sign up for my blog — https://mailchi.mp/ea9ee2b51d7c/built-by-strength  

It was awesome this week to be joined by Eric Bugera, a strength coach, Pre-Script educator, and fitness writer with over 11 years of experience in the game.  In the world of fitness and strength and conditioning, there’s this idea that if something isn’t “optimal,” it must be wrong. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Eric and I dove into what actually works when coaching real people, not perfect scenarios. Because sometimes, the “less optimal” choice is the one that gets real results. We discussed:  ❓ What to do when your coaching solution doesn’t work  ⚙️ Why the less optimal approach can often be more effective  📈 How to actually maintain progress once a goal is achieved Connect with Eric: 👉 @ericbugera Connect with me:  👉 @coach_cuthbert 👉 @strength_chat 👉 Strength Chat Podcast 📬 Want weekly tips to help you train smarter, coach better & cut through the BS?  Sign up for my blog — https://mailchi.mp/ea9ee2b51d7c/built-by-strength  

In this week's Strength Chat, I was joined by Tom Swales, physiotherapist, strength coach, and founder of COMPHYSIO+ Performance Wellness, as well as the creator of the Advanced Movement Therapist Certification. Human movement can easily get overcomplicated, especially when pain, injuries, or mobility issues are involved. But Tom is changing that. He’s built a repeatable system that strips away the noise, helping clients and athletes move better, feel stronger, and perform at their best, without overthinking it. We discussed:  🧠 Why people struggle with body awareness in movement  🏋️ How to actually improve movement quality  🔎 Why zooming out often reveals the real issue Connect with Tom: 👉 @swales.tom 👉 https://www.amtcertified.ca/  Connect with me:  👉 @coach_cuthbert 👉 @strength_chat 👉 Strength Chat Podcast 📬 Want weekly tips to help you train smarter, coach better & cut through the BS?  Sign up for my blog — https://mailchi.mp/ea9ee2b51d7c/built-by-strength

In this engaging discussion, performance coach Nick Ridpath shares his journey from college football to coaching NFL athletes. He emphasizes the importance of exercise selection, revealing how choosing the right movements can uncover strengths and weaknesses. Nick argues for addressing movement faults to prevent injuries and offers insights on progressing or regressing exercises on the fly. He also explores the balance between client preferences and effective coaching, highlighting the context-dependent nature of exercise selection.

This week I was joined once again by Jason Tremblay, Founder of The Strength Guys and someone who’s made a huge impact on how I approach coaching and programming. Jason has now been on the podcast five times, and for good reason. His insight into strength training, athlete development, and data-driven programming is world class. There’s been a lot of talk lately about higher volume training as a way to build stronger lifters. But for Jason and The Strength Guys, this isn’t a new concept. It’s something they’ve been refining for years, producing national and international champions in the process. In this episode, with a few tangents thrown in, we covered:  💪 Why the conversation around higher volume is back again  🔁 How to create a repeatable system for success  📊 Managing lifter fatigue and performance Connect with Jason: 👉 @jasontsg 👉 @thestrengthguys Connect with me:  👉 @coach_cuthbert 👉 @strength_chat 👉 Strength Chat Podcast 📬 Want weekly tips to help you train smarter, coach better & cut through the BS?  Sign up for my blog — https://mailchi.mp/ea9ee2b51d7c/built-by-strength

The last time I chatted with this guest, way back in the popular Episode 163, it struck a chord with a lot of listeners.  It was great then to be joined once again this week by William Wayland, a sports performance consultant and strength & conditioning coach. In a world where everyone’s chasing “more”, whether that be more training, more results, more grind, William challenges that mindset with a simple question: What would happen if we slowed things down? We talked about:  🐢 What the Athletic Slow Life principles are  🤝 How to get athletes to buy in to slowing down  🎯 How this approach can change goal setting and progress Connect with William: 👉 @coachwwayland Connect with me:  👉 @coach_cuthbert 👉 @strength_chat 👉 Strength Chat Podcast 📬 Want weekly tips to help you train smarter, coach better & cut through the BS?  Sign up for my blog — https://mailchi.mp/ea9ee2b51d7c/built-by-strength

This week I had the pleasure of chatting with Nat Galloway, a British Army veteran, strength coach, and competitive powerlifter. 💪I’ve followed Nat’s articles for Master Athletic Performance for a while now, so it was awesome to finally sit down and go deeper into some of those ideas around training, mindset, and building consistency.Because let’s be honest, motivation comes and goes. What keeps you progressing is the system you build and the environment you create.We discussed:⚙️ How to build a system so you can train even when motivation dips🏋️‍♂️ How your environment affects consistency and results🧠 How to manage anxiety and overwhelm in the gymConnect with Nat: 👉 @coach_nat_galloway Connect with me:  👉 @coach_cuthbert 👉 @strength_chat 👉 Strength Chat Podcast 📬 Want weekly tips to help you train smarter, coach better & cut through the BS?  Sign up for my blog — https://mailchi.mp/ea9ee2b51d7c/built-by-strength