50% Facts with Silent Mike & Jim McD
Mike "Silent Mike" Farr and Jim McDonald are the owners of Third Street Barbell in Sacramento, CA, and veteran podcasters. On this podcast, they try to answer a single question. Any question is fair game, but most involve health, fitness, nutrition, mental health, culture…even sex. In some episodes, they examine relevant popular media (movies and documentaries) for connections to the world of health and fitness. Full episodes every Wednesday. Business inquiries: Jim@thejimmcd.com Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/50-facts-with-silent-mike-jim-mcd--5538735/support.
Episodes
August 27, 2025 • 41 mins
From 2009 to 2020, The Biggest Loser was a phenomenon. A huge cultural moment.
What it wasn’t, however, was a show about healthy lifestyles and healthy weight loss.
Netflix’s Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser examines what it was like for some contestants on the show and some members of the production. The push to keep the show in the spotlight wreaked havoc on lives, relationships, and, in some cases, health. Does the d...
What it wasn’t, however, was a show about healthy lifestyles and healthy weight loss.
Netflix’s Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser examines what it was like for some contestants on the show and some members of the production. The push to keep the show in the spotlight wreaked havoc on lives, relationships, and, in some cases, health. Does the d...
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August 20, 2025 • 60 mins
Our gym, Third Street Barbell, is blessed to have three physical therapy providers as members at the moment. Ammar and Moe work together in a clinic that treats patients covered by workers comp insurance. Are the metrics of physical therapy success different when return to work is the goal?
You can find Ammar on Instagram @ammar_alhaidar https://www.instagram.com/ammar_alhaidar and Moe at @thebuffguy https://www.instagram.com/thebu...
You can find Ammar on Instagram @ammar_alhaidar https://www.instagram.com/ammar_alhaidar and Moe at @thebuffguy https://www.instagram.com/thebu...
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August 13, 2025 • 69 mins
Some things definitely diminish with age, but the need for strength is not among them. After being introduced to designing fitness training for others in the Coast Guard and a career in the California Highway Patrol, Ralph Caggiano turned to helping clients get stronger as they age. While he does train clients of all ages, he specializes in older clients and their specific needs.
You can find Ralph on Instagram @longevity_cpt http...
You can find Ralph on Instagram @longevity_cpt http...
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August 6, 2025 • 53 mins
Unlike some powerlifters who turn to bodybuilding, Riley always knew it was something he wanted to do. Other goals and priorities simply got in the way. When the opportunity came to leave construction work and retail management for personal training, he jumped in with both feet. Riley is our head trainer at Third Street Barbell. He shares the story of his journey to the stage in this episode.
You can find Riley on Instagram @riley_c...
You can find Riley on Instagram @riley_c...
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July 30, 2025 • 64 mins
Powerlifter and Registered Dietitian Dan Feldman guests this episode to break down some nutrition strategies for competitive powerlifters. Is a crazy amount of protein necessary? Are carbs around workouts good or bad?
You can find Dan on Instagram @powerlifterdietitian https://www.instagram.com/powerlifterdietitian/. Shoot him a follow.
Join our Discord for free at goodcompanydiscord.com!
Check out our gym (Third Street Barbell) at Th...
You can find Dan on Instagram @powerlifterdietitian https://www.instagram.com/powerlifterdietitian/. Shoot him a follow.
Join our Discord for free at goodcompanydiscord.com!
Check out our gym (Third Street Barbell) at Th...
Mark as Played
July 23, 2025 • 42 mins
The former International Powerlifting Federation affiliate representing the United States, the USAPL, took to instagram recently to criticize the integrity of its drug testing program through WADA. The post using quotes from Olympic athletes casting doubt on some actions made by the testing agency. This is significant because a disagreement over the frequency of testing through WADA caused the USAPL to lose its affiliation with the...
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July 17, 2025 • 63 mins
Justin Wright is a sales executive who found himself in a position that’s all too common for executives: overweight and out of shape. Work stress, the demands of travel and entertaining, inconsistent diet, family responsibilities, etc., had taken control. He felt that he had to take it back. So, he lost 60 pounds, got jacked, and along the way, he leveraged his background in science into a system that worked for him—and would work ...
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Toby spent a decade as a first responder -- with all the stress and hazards those careers entail. Then, he left it all behind to marry a woman with a military career. Military families are used to not having control of a lot of the conditions of their lives, especially where they live and what kinds of jobs are available to spouses. A lifelong interest in fitness led to the kind of flexible work that this military spouse and dad wa...
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July 2, 2025 • 50 mins
Just a couple of days past the official Men’s Mental Health Month, we take a look at a short, but powerful documentary available on YouTube, “The Voices of Men.” It was produced in the UK and is driven by men telling their personal stories of struggle with mental health conditions such as depression and PTSD. Their faces are never seen, and their identities are never revealed. No doubt their words will resonate for many who watch/l...
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June 25, 2025 • 46 mins
Some athletes are made for super stardom on the field of play, but truly fumble in their personal lives. Brett Favre is one of them. From dick pic scandals to alleged fraud, Farve tarnished his legacy with a series of seemingly boneheaded moves. This Netflix documentary series takes a sharply critical look at one of the game’s best quarterbacks, one who maybe never understood how good he had it, and definitely didn’t know when to q...
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June 18, 2025 • 55 mins
At Third Street Barbell, we’re lucky enough to have three physical therapists as members. Jim’s been working with Patrick Bell on a shoulder injury and has been very impressed with his knowledge and how he structures and communicates his rehab exercise selections. Since Patrick’s clients are mainly online, we thought it would be good to chat with him about what makes a good physical therapy (and coaching) relationship. He works wit...
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June 11, 2025 • 62 mins
Jacob Ross joins Jim to take on the question, “Why do so many lifters resist training in groups in the current age of powerlifting?”
We also cover Jacob’s time working with the South Sudanese Olympic Basketball team in Paris for the Olympics last year. We also share stories of gym ownership (Jacob owns Be Better Barbell with Tom Kallas outside Chicago). You can find him at @jacob.w.ross on Instagram.
Join our Discord for free at go...
We also cover Jacob’s time working with the South Sudanese Olympic Basketball team in Paris for the Olympics last year. We also share stories of gym ownership (Jacob owns Be Better Barbell with Tom Kallas outside Chicago). You can find him at @jacob.w.ross on Instagram.
Join our Discord for free at go...
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June 4, 2025 • 56 mins
Mike is out of town, so Jim brought in one of Third Street Barbell’s most consistent and inspirational members, Josh Hajar.
Josh is an emergency department nurse who faced a harrowing fight with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and then suffered an injury that set back his recovery and fitness goals. When he arrived at Third Street, he was finally ready to execute a winning game plan for losing weight and getting stronger. Building on the ad...
Josh is an emergency department nurse who faced a harrowing fight with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and then suffered an injury that set back his recovery and fitness goals. When he arrived at Third Street, he was finally ready to execute a winning game plan for losing weight and getting stronger. Building on the ad...
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May 28, 2025 • 50 mins
Psychedelics in psychotherapy. That’s the theme of this four-part documentary from Netflix. Can psychedelics break damaging thought patterns and allow people to heal from depression and trauma? This doc series would like to prove that they at least hold promise to do that. We cover episodes #1 (LSD) and #3 (MDMA).
(Interesting, very recent twist: researchers have altered LSD to make it helpful to the brain but unable to cause psyche...
(Interesting, very recent twist: researchers have altered LSD to make it helpful to the brain but unable to cause psyche...
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May 21, 2025 • 57 mins
Netflix’s Untold documentary series takes a look at the phenomenon of The Liver King. Purportedly already a multi-millionaire, Brian Johnson launched a muscular social media and YouTube presence as a “primal” influencer who used raw organ meats, including testicles, rather than steroids to build his crazy physique. He amassed a huge following and reaped more revenue for his supplement company, but was he telling the truth about bei...
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May 14, 2025 • 54 mins
Under pressure from, well, pretty much everyone, it appears the IPF will allow stiff knee sleeves through the end of 2026.
World’s Strongest Man is back in Sacramento this week, just about a mile from our gym. We take a look at the history of WSM and take an online trivia quiz.
Join our Discord for free at goodcompanydiscord.com!
Check out our gym (Third Street Barbell) at ThirdStreetBarbell.com https://www.thirdstreetbarbell.com/ a...
World’s Strongest Man is back in Sacramento this week, just about a mile from our gym. We take a look at the history of WSM and take an online trivia quiz.
Join our Discord for free at goodcompanydiscord.com!
Check out our gym (Third Street Barbell) at ThirdStreetBarbell.com https://www.thirdstreetbarbell.com/ a...
Mark as Played
May 8, 2025 • 61 mins
We’ve been talking about cults and how they’re covered in the media. Back in 2021, we looked at the HBO documentary series “The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin” on a couple of episodes. It is about a crazy, scary religious cult. This week, Mike’s under the weather, and we haven’t had a chance to record, so this seems like a good time to present these episodes again as one.
As a refresher, here’s the description of...
As a refresher, here’s the description of...
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The founder of the biggest YouTube skateboarding channel is a Scientologist. Has that fact become public, explaining the channel's drop in popularity over the past few years? Was it the money he spent climbing the rungs of this cult (and not on his skaters and staff)? Or was it just the normal life cycle of a YouTube channel?
Rather than reviewing a documentary, this time we’re examining the handling of this story through several Yo...
Rather than reviewing a documentary, this time we’re examining the handling of this story through several Yo...
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April 23, 2025 • 49 mins
We’re taking a closer look at a topic that we’ve touched on briefly before: Media covering the effects and inner workings of cults. The HBO documentary Going Clear is one of the most recognizable documentaries about the Church of Scientology. Celebrities like Tom Cruise have deep ties to this cult that was founded by prolific author L. Ron Hubbard.
Some interesting aspects of this belief system are the need to pay huge sums of mon...
Some interesting aspects of this belief system are the need to pay huge sums of mon...
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April 16, 2025 • 33 mins
A couple of episodes ago, we talked about a dramatic change in leadership at the International Powerlifting Federation. The latest wrinkle is that the federation has recently notified the manufacturers of “stiff” knee sleeves that their products are banned from use in competition – immediately. Is the IPF being fair to manufacturers or its members? What prompted this sudden change?
Mike offers some insights from his past experienc...
Mike offers some insights from his past experienc...
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