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Dr. Ben House joins the show today to discuss his journey to a PhD in Nutritional Sciences for UT-Austin, hypertrophy, his retreat center in Costa Rica, science, body composition, service, emotional intelligence, and where the fitness industry is headed in these changing times. Like most, Dr. House was a failed athlete and found himself in the weightroom, loving it more than any sport he had played. He eventually found Crossfit and dove in head first, while academically earning a spot in med school without an undergraduate degree. Ben decided against the med school route, and decided to move to Austin,Texas where the health and fitness industry was non-existent in the midwest at the time. Here he taught highschool biology and algebra, and later worked in retail selling prepackaged healthy meals, each of which taught him valuable skills he is grateful for today. He then began his 4.5 year journey to achieve a PhD in Nutritional Sciences from UT-Austin. Ben and his wife, Steph, moved to Costa Rica and built Flo retreat center, where they host continuing education and yoga training events throughout the year. This is something they had wanted to do since meeting each other, and made a long-term plan to make it happen. Luckily, both Ben and Steph have limited wants a needs, enabling them to make sacrifices to meet their goals. More recently, they have welcomed a baby into the world and have decided to move on from the 24/7 concierge service that has been their lives since building Flo. This falls in line with a fantastic theme Ben holds, being that he and Steph do more of what they enjoy, and less of what they don’t. Next we switch gears and discuss Ben’s passion for hypertrophy and current misconceptions about the topic that pervade the industry. Ben discusses the issue of correcting others when we could be more focused on providing more context for the people that need it. While selling nuance isn’t exactly easy, he believes that you can still keep the consumer informed without talking over their heads and let your results speak for themselves. Ben then elucidates on how a blend of know-how and a high degree of emotional intelligence will separate the wheat from the chaff as the dynamics of how fitness is delivered continues to evolve.  This leads us to discuss the implications of the current environment and its implications on the fitness industry. As gyms are going out of business or limiting members, there could be a higher barrier to entry for the general population. Most big box gyms operate as a volume model, and that may be limited going forward. As technology enters the fitness arena, the ability to output spreadsheets and programs will be a commodity, however the ability to connect with others is what will set you up for success. Creating an experience for a client is what is going to keep them around, not reps and sets. Ben emphasizes the importance of going the extra mile for clients and how it can make a huge difference in the long run. This leads us to discuss the challenge that is science in the fitness realm. Things are constantly changing, and we can never be absolutely sure of something being true. James points out this is more of a spectrum, and we have to be ready for something to completely change our understanding every few years. James gives an example of the mitochondria, and how drastically different the environment becomes when studying it in a lab. There are endless limitations to science, and most people are simply just reading about it on a paper. Learning to take everything with a grain of salt and applying it correctly is what is going to keep you on the right path.  Next, Ben describes the findings of his latest study with Bro Research. The reality is that most studies find nothing, and when they do find something it is pretty boring. The study involved taking highly trained athletes and running the same workout 4 days in a row to a 9 RPE, only to find that volume did not...