The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science  By  cover art

The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science

By: Nicholas B. Tiller
  • Summary

  • The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science podcast is the audio version of a monthly column published in Skeptical Inquirer: the magazine for science and reason. In each article, Dr. Nicholas B. Tiller (exercise scientist, Harbor-UCLA) reframes the health and fitness industry through the critical lens of scientific skepticism. Enjoyed the podcast? Buy the book: The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science, named one of Book Authority's "Best Sports Science Books of All Time." For more information, visit www.nbtiller.com

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Nicholas B. Tiller
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Episodes
  • 33. Back Inside the UFC’s Pseudoscience Crisis
    Jun 25 2024

    The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is to professional mixed martial arts what the NFL is to American football, the NBA is to basketball, and the MLE is to hot-dog eating: the world’s premier organization for hosting and promoting the sport. In fact, in the past three decades, the UFC has had more influence on the evolution of mixed martial arts than any other organization. In an article I wrote for Skeptical Inquirer last year (an article that got me Twitter-blocked by UFC President Dana White), I explored the organization’s penchant for alternative therapies— specifically how cupping, cryotherapy, and acupuncture found their way into the UFC’s Las Vegas performance institute. Like a father dealing with his kid’s night terrors, I thought I’d put it to bed. I was wrong. Alternative therapies are just the tip of the UFC’s pseudoscience iceberg.


    The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science BOOK: https://www.nbtiller.com

    Skeptical Inquirer magazine: https://www.skepticalinquirer.org

    Original article & references: https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/back-inside-the-ufcs-pseudoscience-crisis/


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    20 mins
  • 32. Health Club Equinox Puts a Price on Longevity: Just $42,000 a Year
    May 29 2024

    Bryan Johnson has spent tens of millions of dollars on a highly publicized quest to reverse the aging process. The tech millionaire follows a strict diet and fitness regimen, stacks multiple dietary supplements, obsesses over sleep hygiene, and subjects himself to a litany of medical tests to track his biological data. Harnessing his newfound celebrity, Johnson has become a false authority in the wellness space, touting supplements and alternative therapies and selling his own brand of olive oil.


    This article isn’t about Bryan Johnson. Rather, it’s about how Johnson could easily have been the muse for a new longevity initiative recently launched by luxury fitness chain Equinox. Their Optimize program, a lite version of Johnson’s vision, harvests biological data from its clients (via blood tests, fitness and strength assessments, and wearable sensors) and uses it to create personalized fitness and nutrition programs. The program has been described by Equinox as “the definitive approach to health optimization” that’ll “unlock the peaks of human potential.” But priced at $42,000 a year, the program is making headlines for the wrong reasons. Is Equinox’s ultra-premium service worth the membership fee, or is it another cash grab in a wellness industry that’s made longevity its latest plaything?


    The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science BOOK: https://www.nbtiller.com

    Skeptical Inquirer magazine: https://www.skepticalinquirer.org

    Original article & references: https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/health-club-equinox-puts-a-price-on-longevity-just-42000-a-year/


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    10 mins
  • 31. The Best Time of Day to Exercise: Another Media Fail?
    Apr 26 2024

    I was contacted in 2023 by a journalist writing for a major news outlet. In her email—which was written with the terseness that only journalists and famous people seem to get away with—she asked me to comment on a new study that had made a “major breakthrough” in the best time of day to exercise to elicit optimal health. It’s a subject that resurfaces periodically whenever the well of fashionable supplements or celebrity fitness trends runs dry, which it rarely does. I obliged and offered the kind of dispassionate and understated interpretation that scientists love and journalists hate. She didn’t print my response; she didn’t even reply to say thanks. I’ll tell you what I told her.


    The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science BOOK: https://www.nbtiller.com

    Skeptical Inquirer magazine: https://www.skepticalinquirer.org

    Original article & references: https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/the-best-time-of-day-to-exercise-another-media-fail/


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    8 mins

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